EDUCATION: Luther's Prayers Bookmarks!

500 YEARS of Luther!

As I was reading the Bible the other night and started to get sleepy, I wanted to pray Luther's Evening Prayer. We said his morning prayer in my classroom every morning, and it's similar to the evening prayer, but I'm getting old and kept getting the morning and evening words mixed up. I wondered if I might find a bookmark that had it printed on it that I could keep it in my Bible so this didn't happen again, Sure enough, I couldn't find one anywhere! So, what did I do? I designed a few. Unfortunately I can't give them away, but I want to make them available to you all because I think there are a number of ways they might be used:

• Rally Sunday gifts for education or the whole congregation
• Sunday School rewards
• Confirmation gift
• New member gift
• Make them available at the information desk or kiosk

You can see the designs below.

OUTREACH: Rally Sunday magnets anyone?

Rally Sunday is right around the corner!!

Instead of a boring flyer or an email, have your information printed on refrigerator magnets at Uprinting.com Refrigerator magnets are available in many and various sizes, one being the size of a business card or one that is a 2" by 2" square (1000 for about $66). You might think that's pretty small, but it's not too small for the Word of God! There are bigger sizes as well, but of course, the bigger they are, the more expensive they are, however, 1000 3" x 3" marketing magnets for about $120 is a pretty good deal. Handing them out on Rally Sunday is a great idea!

3" x 3"

2" x 2"

Also, if you've got a business card, you can have it made into a magnet at Uprinting.com for a very good price. You can get 100 of them for about $40 or 1000 for about $84, but really, who needs 1000 business cards... unless you're giving them away as visitor gifts!

LEADERSHIP: Marriage Counseling

I was married when I was 51 to a man who has eight children, five of which were still living in the one bathroom home. Marriage is difficult when it's just you and your spouse trying to learn how to live together, but throw in kids and everything is ten times more of a challenge, especially if you both have kids. For the first time I thanked God that I hadn't had kids.

Now, I'm pretty good with teenagers after all the years I spent teaching high school, but I was looking forward to marriage counseling because I'd never been married before and was pretty set in my ways, and because the teenagers I know usually go home every night. What did I learn during the process? NOTHING. I can confidently say that my marriage counseling from my husband's pastor was sub sub par. It consisted of a few conversations and please read these somewhat helpful love and respect books. In an ideal world those would be perfect, but we don't live in an ideal world. We live in a world where we need to be able to handle the  tough questions and there were no tough questions.

Thankfully, my cousin had great counseling and recommended a book that I wish the pastor had us read together. It's called Fit to be Tied by Bill and Lynne Hybels. Reading this book BEFORE you tie the knot is key. Asking hard questions BEFORE you tie the knot is key. Nobody wants to regret marrying the person they did a year or two down the road. You have to think and talk about the things that may seem great now, but may drive you crazy later. You know... exciting and romantic things like making the bed and paying the bills.The book is written in two parts, Part I is for pre-marriage and is called On the Way to Marriage, and Part II is called Marriage that Lasts. 

If you're someone who counsels couples before marriage or if you know people who are thinking about getting married, I strongly suggest you add this book to their required reading. Tell them to each get a notebook and as they read they should write down thoughts and questions to ask their want-to-be spouse. I'm not a big fan of the discussion guide I found in the back of the book, but if they answer the following questions as they read I think it will bring up plenty of topics for discussion.

1. What do you agree with in this section/chapter and why?
2. What do you disagree with in this section/chapter and why?

It's not about agreeing or disagreeing with the authors, it's about agreeing and disagreeing with each other. 

PARENTS: Teens, Independence, and Choice

The Independence Issue

• Teenagers already know everything about life that they think they need to know and want to be independent. 
• We want teenagers to be independent, but at 16, 17, and even 18, they're not quite ready yet. 

The Independence Solution - It's about choice.

We live in this house as a family and families are units who live together, treat each other well, work together, and support each other physically and emotionally. We live by family rules set by the authority figures we call parents (or guardians). They are the ones who have the responsibility for what happens in the house and they pay the bills. These rules, set by parents, include manners and common courtesy. Each parent gets to decide how much independence each child is allowed. As you become independent and we learn that you can be responsible and trustworthy, the amount of independence you're allowed grows. So, here's the choice. 

The people who live in our home free of charge are called FAMILY. The benefits of living together as a family include caring about each other, food (3 meals a day) and fellowship, family vacations, celebrating holidays and going to church together, and since we all live there, each member participates in the work it takes to keep the family home in good shape. When you're a part of a family there are also responsibilities. Responsibilities may include respect of people and things, curfew, chores, and putting up with parental input regarding your life choices which may result in behavioral consequences.

People who live in our home as independent adults are called RENTERS. Typically we don't rent rooms in our home, but because you are our child, we will make an exception. Of course, renting includes financial responsibilities instead of family responsibilities, but if you are unhappy with your situation you may choose to become a renter and rent a room from us. Landlords set the rules by which you may live on their property, so, for $250 - $300 a month a renter receives a single furnished room, a cupboard in the kitchen, and a small shelf in the refrigerator. You will also be responsible for a percentage of utilities, and if necessary, maid service for laundry and bathroom/bedroom cleaning. Rent does NOT include use of a car, paid gas or auto insurance, food (breakfast, lunch, or dinner), free use of WiFi, use of a family computer, or cell phone. 

Choices... Choices! 

Welcome to independence!!

FAMILY: Dry Erase Prayer Board

One of the things that people seem to struggle with is teaching their children to pray. Many, many people know and pray the common table prayer, but many families may need some hints about how to start praying more freely.

Today at dinner I brought up a few prayer requests for my teenage step-children because we've got some health issues in the family and I want them to start (if they don't already) talking to God about them. That brought me to this great idea about the prayer board. We have a dry erase calendar in our kitchen. Why not have a dry erase prayer board? The whole family can add to it and at dinner every night, after praying the common table prayer, everyone can pick something off the board to pray for. Adults can go first and last to model how simple praying for specific things can be.

Be sure to encourage prayer that's not just wishful thinking or "genie" type wishes. God is not a genie to whom we ask for stuff off of a Christmas list. We want to tell God how much we love Him, have some sort of confession or admission of our sinfulness, and thank God for the great things He has done in our lives (everything good comes from God). Among many other things, we want to:

• thank God for His Son's great sacrifice.
• thank God for giving us faith.
• thank God fot every good thing.
• ask that we can handle difficulties at school or at work.
• ask that a friend can experience the peace of the Lord.
• ask for strength to do what God expects of us.
• admit that we don't deserve the good things He does for us.
• ask God that in Him we can have confidence.
• ask God to help us trust Him more.
• ask God to work in us to help others.
• ask God give us strength of faith.
• and many other examples.

UGH!! I hate the word DONATE!

Ugh! It's come to this! For a few years now I've been giving away most of the resources I've created (pretty much every one except my books) and I've come to the point where I have to either start charging for them or need to accept donations to the cause of more meaningful congregational education. Hence, the new page on this blog called...

DONATE

I have another book in the works called The Art of Teaching Sunday School that will be for any congregation that has no idea how to train their wonderfully loving Sunday School teachers, I'm working on the Bible Reading Guides for the Gospels and Acts, and I am currently writing or updating Environmental Learning Curriculum for Camp Omega in Waterville, MN. It will have an intentional faith element and reference MN state education standards. I also have a number of other projects that I would love to share, but sadly, I can no longer do all of this for free. I am hoping and praying that God will provide a way for this educational ministry to flourish and grow.

I'm asking that you pray about it and if you've found the blog and resources helpful, that you give a small (or even medium size) donation.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 

Psalm 32:8

MEN'S MINISTRY: How can I help?

I have a friend whose husband passed on to be with Jesus. It's been about a year and she's struggling along as all widows or widowers do. She recently posted on Facebook that she has some chores that she needs help with around the house. She's sad and lonely and frustrated because when her husband died those people who said they would help have suddenly found themselves too busy. She doesn't want to be a burden, but there are things she can't do and she doesn't know where to turn. She can't carry her air conditioner from the shed to the house so she opened her windows and the one for the AC has no screen. Her irrigation system stopped pumping and she couldn't get it started. The ice maker in her refrigerator stopped working.

As Christians it's our job to help so it's time we start promoting that in our congregations. It's time to start noticing and taking care of those around us. I told my friend to call her church. The question is... what will the church do? Every congregation has people who can take a few minutes out of their week to stop in and check a problem out, perhaps solve it, and/or at least give some advice.

EVERY congregation has adults who can volunteer to help these people with these things. Don't push it off on the youth. Yes, there are things they should help with too, but true service is learned through the example of giving adults.

EVERY congregation has people who need a little assistance. What is happening in the church that we get so upset over church politics, but forget about those in our community that need a little of Jesus' love in the form of carrying an air conditioner and going the extra mile to put it in?!

What you need to do: men will volunteer to help if they know it's just a job or two once in a while. I know they will. They like to feel needed and appreciated.

• Start praying.
• Start asking. 
• Start expecting. 
• Start a list of helpers and how they can help: home repairs, odd jobs, lifting/moving, computers, small engine repair, etc.
• Let the elderly people in your congregation know you (as their congregation) are there to help and start a list of needs: emergent and not-so-emergent.

My heart aches for her that she's reaching out to Facebook for help and not her church. Have we become so consumed worrying about kids and our silly congregational politics that we've forgotten that we're here to help?

DO IT!  DO IT NOW!!