HCLM BLOG

This is the last ten minutes of the last day before I get 7 days of vacation. I plan to spend those glorious days in Napa Valley and Montery and San Fransisco. This has been the longest day all month. What is it about Vacation days that allow us to rest? So I think that I have a top ten. Why vacations are good.

10. You don't have to wear a tie the whole time.

9. You can stay up late and watch mindless TV.

8. Calories don't count on Vacation.

7. Missed free throws don't bother you on vacation.

6. You eat a big breakfast every day and skip lunch.

5. You don't have to shave all week

4. The money you spend does not have to be paid back for a year

3. You can spend two hours eating a great supper

 2. You only have to spend time with people that you like

Number 1 reason to love vacation - The rest of the people that you see are all still working!

In Christ,

Paul Hoyer

I have been holding off all day. But I can't keep quiet any longer. Come on Magic!

Hit some free throws and don't turn the ball over. I love having a team to root for. You know where you care whether they win or not. I have watched all of the games, even though they frustrate, it's still fun. But seriously hit some free throws. Oh yeah and gimme some more Skip to My Lou.

So I am reading through first and second thessalonians for this weekends talk. There is some interesting stuff in those letters; several things caught my eye, but one that I'll mention here. In 2Thess 3.10 Paul says,

"If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

Now that is interesting. As I mentioned last post, I am trying to build more serving the community into my life. Just this past monday I gave some money to a guy on the street who wanted a bus ticket. I am trying to think through what Paul is saying there. I am wondering, does this apply only to folks in the church. Some churches at that time pooled some of their resources, maybe people were trying to take advantage of the generosity. Maybe some were just taking and not contributing to the pool. Is that different from folks who choose not to work and live on the generosity of others? There are a lot of questions here, but I want to take Paul seriously. I suppose it is good if the text makes me ask questions.

I got a phone call yesterday asking about a news story I hadn’t heard. Looking around on the Internet today, my only excuse for not hearing it is that I spent half the day in the car (otherwise the story would have certainly hit my ears). Tragically a man was shot Sunday morning as he was passing out bulletins at a Lutheran Church in Wichita Kansas. The person walked up and killed the usher with one bullet. Bad. Real bad.

Someone got the plate number of the car as it drove away and the police have apprehended the guy. Apparently the suspect was on the FBI’s radar as a potentially violent anti abortion activist. See the usher at the church was one of only three doctors in the United States who would perform third-term abortions.  His office has been sort of infamous: it has been bombed and attacked.

Immediately when you hear the story your heart goes out to that guy and his family. It is so weird every time we are faced with the frailty of these bodies: alive and ticking one minute, worthless the next. As I got the story on the phone yesterday I was pretty taken aback; then the question really had me back peddling. It went something like this, “How could a guy who performs this sort of abortion, be an usher at a church?” Abortion is more complex than a blog post. But the question has gotten me thinking about how much people are watching us, whether we realize it or not. I mean I looked up official statements from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Holy Cross is affiliated with a different family of Lutheran Churches). But then I realized that the belief of individual members is not found in official statements but in the choices they make everyday. What we really believe is revealed by the way we live our life at work, at home, on vacation and the world is watching.  Unfortunately, they seem to always be looking for the inconsistencies.

The second generation Hoyer family is spending the weekend in Pensacola. I have the privilege of officiating at the wedding of Megan’s cousin and our friend. We drove up after work on Thursday; the seven hours was a little long that late at night, but it was nice to have Wes sleep most of the way. When we arrived my Father-in-law was sitting amidst a whole slew of letters. He is an elected member of the school board and all the letters were from folks who wanted him to hear their opinion. Over the next half hour we got the scoop.

Some time ago the ACLU brought a suit against the school district. The union was concerned about the place prayers had been given in various aspects of the schools, including graduation ceremonies. So this year the board is being very careful: because the valedictorian and salutatorian are selected without faculty influence they can speak and even pray (if they want),however because student government officers need recommendations from faculty(which means they are somehow endorsed by the school) they cannot pray.  This has caused quite a stir.

There are signs in yards all over the area that read “Pray for Our Schools.” A local church held a rally where people came together in some show of solidarity against the changes, we saw a car this morning with “let them speak” on the windshield, and school board members like my father in-law are being pressured with slews of letters and emails.

The letters speak of disappointment and Christian foundations; the rally’s call for grand gestures and refusals to cooperate.They’re reacting like they are a church under persecution. They seem to think limiting prayer during public school ceremonies is persecution. The irony is that most of the churches pushing this view grew out of the revivals of the first and second great awakenings. The leaders of those movements were great proponents of a clear separation between church and state. They knew if the lines were blurred it would be bad for the church.

They knew that if we started relying on the government to teach creation, we’d get some watered down version like intelligent design.They knew that prayer would boil down to “our thoughts are with you” or prayers sent out to god generically (think of the political conventions last year). I appreciate a clear separation of church and state it lets Christian and government be themselves unabashedly. 

Then on the way home I was listening to a podcast (the radio in my classic ford ranger pickup doesn't work so I put one headphone from my ipod in my ear). They were telling stories of people who had lost belief in things. This one girl had lost faith in God when a friend of hers died. Through a series of funny and interesting events she ended up on the phone with a pastor/football coach. The podcast played their phone conversation as the pastor/football coach tried to share his faith.

I had told my friend earlier to remember that it's never his job to convert. All we are asked to do is "provide and answer for the hope that we have." We just put in out there, and allow the Holy Spirit to do what he will with it. A guiding principle for me in conversations of faith has been to be as transparent as possible. I don't try to sound holy or give a good answer, just the one that occurs to me.

The guy on this podcast slowly walked the girl through philosophical proofs of God, and refutations of evolution. He tried to explain to her the problem of sin, and the importance of objective truth. She got off the phone confused and frustrated. All she wanted was someone to hear her out about the loss of her friend, and help her process where God was. But instead of really listening and having a real conversation the guy loaded is barrel full of excerpts from tracts. It was pretty disheartening, and reminded me why I focus on helping people create authentic relationships; cause sharing our faith is not about proving anything it is a moment of authenticity and vulnerability...at least it otta be.

As we get ready to start this memorial day weekend, I find myself remembering high school and the Vietnam War. In the classes that graduated the three years before me they lost almost half of the boys to the war. We flew the flag at half mast most of the time as we lost so many boys to the War.

Some times I feel bad that I did not serve. It was 1972 and my draft number was "51" I was classified 1-A then they stopped the draft, but at the same time I am glad that I did not have to go. I cherish my memories of those who died and also remember those who have died since in so many conflicts. They made this country into something that we could all die for.

Today I have trouble even imagining what it must be like for parents to send their children to war. I am so grateful for the children and now grandchildren that God has blessed us with and can't bear the thought of losing any of them to war.

Here is a cool site for this memorial day.

In Christ,
Pastor Paul

   I was thinking of the bible story of the Good Samaritan and the question the young man asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" The story of the Samaritan is Jesus answer to that question. Too often we think that this story is simply about how the Samaritan treats this man that he did not know. He treated him very well, but Jesus point was that the Samaritan considered this wounded man his NEIGHBOR!  Everyone else walked by, he was unclean, an alien in their land, a gentile,         In the end Jesus makes His point that "Everyone who is in need, is my Neighbor." Which makes me wonder, what if every believer lived their life with that motto? How many people could we help? What kind of things would we do? So Who's Your Neighbor?