Lyrical Captivation

Some of you may wonder why is it that my blog has this man playing the guitar on top of it.  The hard copy this week had a newer picture of him to help you understand what I am talking about.

That man became one of my favorite artists back in college.  His guitar music and unique lyrics drew me to some deeper thinking in life and about myself.  John Mayer still does that for me today. I find the expression of a person’s heart in music, art or words to be unique.  I am specifically intrigued by music.  It has played so much into passionate moments in my life.  We handed out a CD at our wedding as our favor.  When our first son, Jacob, was born I made a CD for his arrival.  Most recently the song heard at installation, sung by the young man from my previous youth ministry, was one that touched the hearts of Mindy and me as we prepared to give Abby so much, but knew that only Jesus could give her everything.

I have always wanted a soundtrack for my personal life. You know--God playing all the right songs at all the right moments. Last Sunday’s beginning would have been a very creative and exciting song anticipating the future.  But this week’s song really falls into the category of one of my favorite hymns.  I told Kristen Schade, our organist, that we could not play my very favorite hymn at my installation and she asked, “Why?” I said,    “Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted was not installation appropriate.”

This week I gave Kristen free reign to pick whatever songs she wanted. You should have seen her eyes.  It was like seeing Carlos Beltran watch a ball coming right over the plate; or a reporter who caught a killer story first; or a pastor with an hour to give a sermon.  Anyway, I found it appropriate to give a musical good-bye with some awesome hymns to a family that has blessed this congregation so much.  I thought what better time to talk about how God blesses and grows us in our faith with unique tools.  Music has always been a tool with which God has blessed His people.

It is shocking to me to think of a church reformer like John Calvin who was anti-music. I wonder how he could not envision the wonderful way music touches the hearts of men and women. Martin Luther, on the other hand, took bar songs or common tunes and used them for hymns. Ray Charles did the reverse when he took common Gospel tunes and changed them into pop hits.

A song immediately can take me back to where I was when I first heard it:

Let Her Cry, by Hootie and the Blowfish takes me back to playing Madden football on our Sega Genesis at my house with all my buddies.

Love Song for No One, by John Mayer takes me back to my best friend’s dorm room, as Adam Lucky came in to show me this new artist.

Build Me Up Buttercup, by the Foundations takes me back to the wedding of one of my friends from Seminary, where he wore his bow tie and danced with his brother.  Two good southern boys dressed up and dancing with a graceful lack of rhythm.

Finally, Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted, takes me back to my home church at the 7 p.m. Lenten service.  It was just dark enough in the sanctuary to feel the gloom and sadness.  Only the choir lamps in the balcony were on, and for a minute I could feel the darkness that the people of Israel must have felt crucifying our Lord.

This week we talk about how God uses music, with the words of Scripture to bless, nourish, and encourage us in our daily journey with Him.  You will hear how the hymns and a few current songs take the words of Scripture and put them in a format with emotion and feeling.  How has God blessed you with music in your life?  How has it made you think about stuff in your own life?  How does music affect your memories?  How can music help us to communicate the wonderful message of Jesus to people that need to hear it?

God’s Peace

Will

Patiently waiting for God to take us on our new journey!

As a young boy, I sat in the pews of my home church, closely observing my pastor as he faithfully and diligently proclaimed the Good News of God’s saving love and grace. I can remember watching and learning from him. I thought his family was so cool, and I could see how lovingly he treated them. I knew then that I wanted to become a pastor, and I wondered what it would be like. I was getting ready for my time now.

Through the years I have watched my pastor transition from being senior pastor to being retired; and yet he is still helping in ministry. His sermons often involved deep, challenging messages, as well as reflections on God’s goodness to him during his ministry.  Both of these styles impacted my life.

While his transition was going, on my wife and I were becoming the team and family for which I had prayed.  In 2007 I became a pastor, and for the past five years I have devoted much time to youth work.  It was a challenging calling because youth continually moved in and out of the ministry, but God was at work.  

My wife, Mindy and I have spent the last five years learning how to love one another through the ins and outs of life and ministry.  At the same time we learned how to be parents to our three wonderful children.  God was at work.

When I received the Call to Mount Calvary, the person I had to talk to was the much respected and well liked Pastor Z. [I have to admit I was nervous for our meeting.] I just randomly called him up and asked him to meet with me to talk about my newest Call.  Pastor Z shared a wonderful story about his last five years at Mt. Calvary.  He explained that during that time, he saw the passion in the hearts of the members as they shared the love of Jesus with others.  He said God has worked on them to shape Mount Calvary for new things and new journeys.  God was at work.

And suddenly…

There we were—our family spending time in Branson the week before I was installed at Mount Calvary.  It was our first family vacation without extended family there in some form or fashion.  We had a great time at the wax museum, taking pictures of our children with all those famous wax statues.  Mindy got a birthday present at the outlet; Jacob swam with a chipmunk that had gotten knocked into the baby pool; Gavin showed us how to play mini golf by dragging the club; and Abby stole the hearts of many with her hair bows and dresses. I sat back, feeling overjoyed as a father and husband while experiencing a wonderful vacation with my deeply loved family.

And suddenly God has brought us to this moment!

I drove into the parking lot, soaking up every moment as my car rolled up the drive.  This is the church to which God has called me.  It seemed unreal; the interview, the call papers, and now today.  That moment I had dreamed of as a boy was here!  My work with youth had been a constant process—learning how to connect with youth, and how to care for them.  God did so much teaching in the past five years, and suddenly when he was finished teaching me about our youth culture, he brought me to this moment. 

Pastor Z shared another story of a lady who was struggling with the fact that he was leaving Mount Calvary.  She implored, “But Pastor Z, how can you leave us--you brought us to this moment--like through the wilderness?”

Pastor Z replied, “I may have brought you through the wilderness, but now you finish the story.”

As I heard this, I thought about Mount Calvary’s journey.  It was an overwhelming feeling to know that I was called to serve the wonderful people of Mount Calvary.

And suddenly…

God brought Mindy and me and all of Mount Calvary to this moment.

Pastor Vern and Pastor Kyle have led you on an amazing journey as you prepared for the next pastor.  They have taught you, loved you, cared for you and shared the wonderful words of Jesus with you.

And suddenly . . .

God used all of that to bring us to Sunday.  It was a joyous moment celebrating the work God has done in each of us over the last five years.  I wish each of you could have been at the front of the church with me as I watched those “Hanke Hankies” being waved!  I was overjoyed, and felt your joy as well!

It is that joy that will bring us here to celebrate God’s wonderful Word and Sacraments.  Together we will share in the joyous moments, as well as in the difficult moments.  We will share in God’s forgiveness and in reconciliation.  We will share in inviting and welcoming new people into our church family.

And suddenly . . .

God’s work will be done by His grace and mercy.  I look forward to many years of growing in faith with you, and in sharing our faith with this wonderful community that surrounds Mount Calvary.

God’s peace,

Pastor Will

Like Ice Cream

This is a book and the title is "Like Ice Cream," by Keith Ferrin.

Have you ever wondered about how you can really be engaged in reading the Bible. Sometimes it's hard even for pastors. This guy wrote a book about how to truly read the bible in an engaging way. He has a new book called, "Like Ice Cream." I saw him speak at our church, here is the main idea...

Every day of Keith's life they ate ice cream at night, sounds like a bad diet, but get this. Keith knew that every night they would eat ice cream. No one had to tell him, hey are family likes ice cream. He got it by years of examples. His family always ate ice cream. What if the Bible was like that? What if our kids just knew that is just what we do? My son sees dad reading the Bible that is just what dad's do. Awesome huh? Check out his new book coming out

Other key points: Reading the Bible is hard because we have a defender. He uses a great football example how the defender was always tackling him. That is just like how the devil doesn't want us to read the Bible because he wants to win. If we read, then we internalize and it becomes a piece of us!

Last point: Make it real. James as mentioned in a previous blog is the brother of Jesus. If you grew up with a perfect brother and then found out he was the Savior of the world, how would you feel? You probably would struggle with it, and then when you realized it was true it would change your life. This makes James a powerful book, but if you don't read it thinking he is a real person, and making it real it is just a book from Jesus. The Bible is full of people God used and it's amazing when you think how they received it and what it can and will do for you too! God's word is living and when we read it we come alive.

Check out his book... "Like Ice Cream" Keith Ferrin

Castlevania

As a kid I hated not having a gaming system. Most of my friends had Nintendos. I even remember one sad story of going over to a friend's house who wanted to play outside. I just wanted to play Nintendo with him. His dad took me down to set-up the Nintendo, while he played outside without me. I remember the ever condemning question, "Son, do you have a Nintendo at home?" I of course had to answer no, and there it was utter humiliation, but I was a kid so I played Nintendo.

One of the games I hated was Castelvania. I think I was trained to hate things like that. I was taught to fear the scary castles that might have some devil hide inside of it. Of recent I have done a lot of thinking about our Castlevania problem.

It was once said that we are a castle culture. We go and hide in our castles and don't answer the door. This was made more clear on Saturday. Mindy left to take Jacob on a play date, and Gavin fell asleep, I was thrilled, that meant I could take a nap of my own. I never sleep well after having kids. I am always listening for them. Gavin was resting but occasionally I would pop up to put his pacifier back in. Finally, he rested and I fell to sleep and was dreaming. I heard a huge pounding in my dream. I rushed from our bedroom to answer the door, and find my wife there. Yes, I looked super suspicious like I was trying to hide something. She was like, "What are you doing?" "Nothing," I said, "I just fell asleep." But this made me realize how much the Castle thing is true.

I have been thinking about this now for several weeks, and also how this blog is neglected. See I can't even answer my own door without fear of who is there. Our cultural has become one of living in castles. This is the biggest fear of social media. We hide in our castles. I spent hours watching the pro-bowl and several other shows tonight. Sure I was working on things like getting Gavin's new set of clothes out, but I hid in my castle. I was with my boys, but it just seems odd to me how we hide.

I think it goes further, we become so afraid of what they will see, when they come knocking at the door. Some of this is natural because we are sinners. We at times become a culture afraid of the things people see. Tonight in my constant desire to keep up with cultural and check out what kids are seeing, I watched a show. This show claims this is based upon what really happens in teenage lives today. Let me tell you if that is what really is happening, I have a lot more work to do. Shows claim to have this vulnerability but what about us? There is something about how vulnerability can free us from this.

You might be saying, "but Will look at how much we say on social media...we are vulnerable." Yeah, but sometimes we do those things for shock factor, like the show I watched. Trust me I get it, we don't want everyone to see what is in our head, because they would see the war. The war that would show the temptations we face and how the devil plays on them. We fear that if someone were to see that no one would like us. I hate using absolutes, but I think we all feel that.

But the problem with the Castle thing, is we have more time for the inner war to wage. Castlevania was a good guy trying to beat the castle. We fight a war that Jesus has won, but the devil just wants to convince us to part from the winner. The devil wants us to believe the war is not over. I know we still have to live in this world, but others remind me that we have won. Some of my friends said they actually grow spiritually themselves when teaching God's word. At first I disagreed with that. Seemed like a cop because their job was to preach, but today it made sense.

The devil was waging his normal war in my head. You know beating me up for all the ways I got things wrong and things I didn't do yesterday, this morning, and so on. This goes on in my castle all the time. I got in front of youth to teach the Lord's Supper thinking I don't belong up here. Anyway, I shared about Jesus' victory for us, and felt like I was speaking out loud what God had been trying to tell me all day. Really He tries to tell me this most days. And His was using me to minister to myself. All because I started to talk about about my castle. I shared a story of feeling awkward in middle school, and how God has molded my heart to share God's word with teenagers. I began to see how God had used all those castle wars to His glory. I walked away feeling redeemed and loved by my Savior.

But I went back to my castle and my thoughts at home. I have been working with a school district trying to get neighbors to interact. This would seem normal, but most of the times we are castle people. Today, I missed my neighbors. I thought we talk in the summer, and when I am grilling out, but because of snow mounds we don't talk right now. We only break from the Castle when it fits our season. I am not saying shout everything out, but I just think a few less wars in our head would be won by the devil, if we were consulting with a friend, or maybe just because we spoke it out loud, it would help us to see it better.

Thank you friends who listen to the war in my head, and don't judge me. Thank you for your love and support. I pray that God continues to provide His people to surround me, so I can work through my castle. I pray you build bigger doors on your castle today.

Whatever is in your Castle Jesus beat it!

Gavin James

I read James today. I am preparing to tell my son, why James was such a powerful name in scripture. I never thought I would be one with biblical names, but as I grew older I felt like it is a beautiful way to communicate scripture to them. Jacob was easy. He is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. Mindy said will you tell him about Jacob in scripture and why it is your favorite story? I have of course agreed, but in naming my second son I saw the challenges. I picked my favorite guy in scripture for Jacob, but now what will I do with my second son. Names were tossed around, but G James Hanke was what we liked the most. I loved Gideon feeling like that would be a great story to tell. Mindy liked Gabriel, but that seemed like a harder story to tell. Gavin was the name we came up with. There is not scriptural base with that one, yet we held to our idea of using the grandpa's first names, as middle names. This was great to have James. With Gavin not being in scripture, James became the way to talk about the bible.

James seemed to alleviate my problem about worrying about picking my favorite character for Jacob. James was a book I held dear in college. I still won't forget the Supertones song that talked about reading the book of James and praying for a wife. I did that several times. James is full of controversy. James speaks about one of the major issues in my life. The battle between law and Gospel is very vivid in this book. As a father I look at the potential to share so much with my son about my trials. James, being the brother of Jesus may have felt the challenges of a perfect brother. Although James spending so much time with Jesus, created doubt, but then greater belief. This book is showing his strong convictions towards Jesus and the Gospel.

Gavin will be faced with many challenges with a father who spends so much time with Jesus. We have seen the PK issues in the past. I pray his name will give us the very chance to discuss some of these very challenging situations.

Last night I came home after a Wednesday in Lent. Sometimes it seems a little tiring I worked a full day went and grabbed Jacob and we ate at church and went to church.

I am not sure which takes more energy to get ready to preach and then preach or to take care of 1 year old while someone else is preaching. Regardless I came home and was a little tired and only found that so was Jacob. Except when he is tired he fights it and tries to battle me with everything. He finally agreed to fall asleep. I think we saw eye to eye.

Anyway I sat down since I had been up late the last couple nights and just turned the channels to find a show. I turned it to Fight Club I haven't seen that movie in awhile. As a person who loves twists my eyes were even more focused on how they did the camera work to make sure they could never be seen as 2 characters at the end. It is amazing the lines they put in their like, "For some reason this reminded me of the first time I fought Tyler," and so on. They were making sure at the end you knew they were the same people. I am amazed as I looked so closely this time for flaws and it is amazing how they made sure there weren't any.

I finally agreed to fall asleep and closed my eyes. I awoke to my wife coming out to the living room and saying, "What are you doing?"

When you fall asleep to a movie like the wake up can be odd. I woke up wondering what was I doing and who am I? It was like I had my fight club moment for a second and wondered what am I doing? I finally reoriented and realized I was just on the couch and had fallen asleep to fight club so I must have had some weird dream about double personalities.

I finally went to bed until I woke up to my washing machine started acting like a jet engine...a little 4:30 am clothes washing for Mindy. But that is a story for another time.

I think we struggle with how can a person have 2 sides. How can Ed Norton be both characters in fight club. They look and act completely different. Brad Pitt is all cut and looks super cool but yet many of his actions are questionable. Yet I woke up feeling like I was a different person...

Falling alseep on that made me think is that really that far off? Maybe I am intrigued because it is more possible than I think. Are there times I act way different from who people think I am? Sure I can have 2 sides. No doubt.

Yet I don't like it. It bothers me well not completely. At first it is nice to put it neatly in the Sinner and Saint model (for those that don't know we are born sinners but Christ made us saints basically we were messed up and he fixed us but both sides still show). The problem with the sinner and saint model is it is too clean for this kind of thinking. We all have things we wish we were better at that we just aren't. I guess you could trace it back to the fall of man and our sin but their are just some ways we are created different.

Some of Brad Pitt character was just things Ed wanted to more like. He wanted to be cooler and more relaxed about life. If you remember he was going to all these group sessions because he was constantly in pain. There are several scenes where Brad talks about his dad and while he had a hard life he was just able to talk about it. Ed wanted to be more like that. Was that a bad thing?

There is something to be said about being happy with who we are but wanting to change things and work on things is not bad. Yet this can over take our minds. And before we know it we let the devil in and win. He is the one beating us up, and we believe his lies. I hate the devil, but we must continue to fight in this life. Keep fighting the good fight.

Saving Tigers...Penance to Repentance and everything else.

Related to my last post but not directly related I have found sadness lately in watching the downfall of many. The world stopped to watch Tiger apologize. The view they had once had of Tiger was altered by a new found reality, he is a sinful human being. He allowed fame and riches to make him think he could do whatever he wanted and acted on it in a very inappropriate way. He hurt his wife and children and also let so many down who held him up as a hero.

I found it sad driving home the other day that my image of Tiger is altered. I thought I will never think of him again as a great guy who is a model husband and a sports star who does not let fame go to his head. No I am forever altered and I was saddened by that. That made me think about all the debates people have had lately. The huge debate of whether he is truly sorry or not.

Here is what I really think. People wanted the image they had of Tiger to come back. They wanted someone to wake us up and say it was all a nightmare. They wanted someone to tell us go back to sleep it is 1985...not 1955. Whether we knew it or not, we pretended like it didn't happen until he got up and confessed it. It's like OJ, as long as he said he didn't do it there was a chance he didn't. Sadly last week we had to accept that our image of the Tiger we once knew was gone.

Some of you skeptics might say who cares. I never watched golf or cared about the sport. I don't care about how Tiger is portrayed or who is. But by the fact that the stock market stopped during his speech means we cared. Tiger changed the game of golf and made more people care about the sport. He brought this clean cut well mannered nature to the game. He truly altered the game and I think gave some of us hope that good celebs were out there. Then he had his Joshua 7 moment, where he was revealed with all of his hidden sins. I cannot even imagine how Tiger felt that day.

I recently had people argue about how he shouldn't have a second chance and in a way he should suffer. I also had people who know I like John Mayer challenge me on his latest interview. Mayer spoke inappropriately about different races and about ex-girlfriends. I know Mayer speaks without using his head all the time. He admitted it on VH1 storytellers. I realize it doesn't make it right but just shows me that all these people we respect and maybe even look up to let us down.

This is a sad tough reality to deal with. As children we grow up with super heroes, who never let us down. They start out being our fathers, until at one point or another they let us down. We move on to fictional characters and then to non-fictional pop stars or well known people. Until...yes, until they let us down. When this moment happens what do we expect??

Do we want penance or repentance? Penance is the act of doing something or suffering for our act of sin. Repentance is remorse and the turning from our sin. What I believe one of the most misunderstood pieces of theology is, after teaching teenagers, God looks at all sins the same. This is true in his true essence but often we have added our own thoughts onto it. Meaning because all sin is forgivable, except denying the Holy Spirit which is truly denying God anyway, that since it is all forgivable all consequences are the same.

This is not the case God specifically talks through Paul how he set-up the government over us. The laws have implications on our lives and Jesus even talks about the only reason to divorce is because of infidelity. The consequence for that kind of act of unfaithfulness could potentially be divorce.

We want to force penance on these stars. Is it our job to decide their punishment like we will never forgive them again? Naturally each of us lost respect for Tiger by his actions (a natural consequence) but do we punish him also? Do we cross our arms and say I will never forgive him and he should never play golf again? Does Tiger feel enough pain from Elin and his mother and of course his kids? Clinton cheated, Nixon lied, Jordan gambled, J. Williams killed people, R. Williams did drugs, that guy from Oregon punched somebody, Tiger cheated 17 times, and Milli Vanilli lip sung (?).

If so I should never be forgiven also. Matthew 5 makes it clear I fail when it comes to the law and that's why I have Jesus. I need him to fulfill the law for me. Sure many people in my life have made major mistakes naturally altering the image I had of them. Thankfully even though there are consequences on earth, God looks at sin all the same in the fact it is all forgivable. He made one way for all of us to make it to heaven no matter what earthly consequences we have faced.

I am saddened that Tiger was not more faithful and that Mayer spoke without thinking but neither of them have Jesus. I spend so much time in guilt or analyzing how I can be a better man, to have someone else push penance on me is such a painful thing. To have someone encourage me or challenge me or keep me accountable is a beautiful thing. I pray God continues to provide each of you with accountability partners and forgivers in your life to challenge and encourage. His love for ALL of us is so great...He knows how to love those who have been hurt by sin at the same time He is loving those who committed the sin. Now that is an awesome God.