HCLM BLOG

Have you ever thought of looking at the world as an extra-terrestrial would?  It's really interesting, because you realize that some of the most common things you do are actually really weird.  For instance, think of how an alien would describe the world that we live in; it's filled with boxes.  We sleep on a box, within a box called a room, which is part of a bigger box called a house.  That house box is just one of many house boxes lined up in long rows and intersections which, from an ariel view are often arranged in the shape of a giant box!  In the mornings we hurriedly transition from our stationary box (house) to our mobile box (car) in order to go to another box (work).  Once we return from work, we spend the rest of our day in front of any one of a series of glowing boxes; TV, computer, microwave, etc.  Also, have you ever thought of looking at the layout of the average American house from an alien's perspective.  Think of the way that everything is arranged around the TV, which is quite often "high and exalted" upon it's own separate little stand or up on the wall.  Add to that all the time that most of us sit in front of the thing, and how hard would an alien really have to think to come to the conclusion that our TVs are an object of worship?

It's amazing how much a different perspective can change the way that you see/live your life.  I know that, as I share my moment-by-moment life with God, I am able more and more to step out of my own little world and see the big picture; to see stuff as it really is.  I think that so often we fill up our lives with all kinds of junk that doesn't even matter, but we do it and say it and think it and watch it because it's "what your supposed to do".  But every day I am blown away at how God can strip away all the "fluff" and reveal things for what they truly are.

If you're reading this and you haven't been outside of a box all day; throw that alien's observations for a loop and get some fresh air :)

For those of you who follow the pastor rotation in the preaching schedule, I am up for this week! "He will come to judge the living and the dead" That is the phrase of the Creed that I will be speaking about this Saturday and Sunday. Today we began a conversation among the staff about that topic. What does it mean that Jesus will come to Judge?

It is hard to avoid the picture of Jesus as Santa Claus, in heaven with a list and checking to see who has been naughty and who has been nice. Perhaps you have seen the billboard that reads, "Don't make me come down there! - GOD". Should we fear the second coming of Christ? How will He judge? Is He simply coming to choose the "brightist and the best"? Will I be judged against the perfect standard of Christ, or do I get judged against my fellow man? Is it my motivation? my acheivements? my stamina? or my goals and ideals? What is it that will make a difference to the Creator of all things?

If He is coming to judge, what is the role of the church here on earth? Am I able to tell just who is doing well and who has some work to do before He gets here? When He says to let everyone know that He will come again, is that so that I can help correct them? Is it possible to really be ready?

There are a lot of questions on these words and I don't know if I have all the answers, but we will look at it together this weekend, why not join our conversation?

In Christ,

Paul Hoyer

Howdy everyone, Daniel here!

So I've been here for a few months now, and I'm sure a lot of you have seen me on Sunday mornings playing with the band for worship.  However, most of you probably would not guess that, until very recently--as in the last coupla weeks--I couldn't read a single note of music.  Now, when I say music, I'm referring to musical notation or, as I've always referred to it, "dot-dot-dots", cause that's pretty much all that it meant to me:)  Several weeks ago, however, I went to my mom's house over in Edgewater, and found that my fourteen year-old sister Elisabeth could read musical notation, and was able to play songs straight from "Phantom of the Opera" (they had the song book for it).  She sounded so wonderful that in that moment, I put aside two decades-worth of resistance to the "dot-dot-dots", and asked her to show me how to read it.  

Since then, I've been practicing diligently to get this musical notation stuff down.  I'm currently writing a piano piece so that I'm forced to learn where all the notes go and what all the little symbols mean.  In doing this, I've really begun to realize how amazing music is.

Have you ever thought about that?  Until very, very recently in human history, all music was played live: no CD's, no radio, no cassette tapes, no vinyls, nothing.  If you wanted music, you had to create it.  In our modern-day culture, music is blared everywhere we go from restaurants to the car next to us at the stop light.  It seems that our culture is overflowing with music, maybe even too much.  Music is cheap, it's easy, and it's entertaining.  But this was not always so.

Think about the world before electricity, before cars, before cities; back to the world where we began.  It was a quiet world.  Anyone who has been in the woods for several days at a time knows what I'm talking about.  There is an engulfing silence that seems to fill up the wilderness, and after you've been immersed in it long enough you feel as if it may even consume you.  We don't often experience this today, because we have created a world that is filled with noise and voices and music, all directed at us and for us, but it was out of a silent world that music came forth.  In that time, music was too precious, too valuable to play as the background to a soda add, or to be sold for 99 cents on Itunes (not that they had soda or Itunes back then, but hopefully you get my point).  Music was something sacred; something that had the ability to pierce through the darkness and the fears and the silence and bring something that was not of this world, something that could touch the heart in a way that is deeper than the eye can see.

Music is a way that we can express the infinite movements of the human heart into the physical world.  

It is Sunday night and I am looking at my calendar. It has really filled up for this week. But it is one of those weeks when you can not cut anything out, you have to do it all. So how do I do all this and still let Jesus be King of my life? If I am setting my schedule how is Jesus Lord of my life? But I can't come to Sunday night and have a blank calendar for the week and wait for God to write something in for me to do.

I think that to have Jesus as my King and Lord is to have Him as a part of all of my days! Wherever i go this week i plan to have Him along. As i look at my calendar, I don't see anything that I would not want to take Him too. I wonder what He thinks of my choices for this week? Since He is my Lord all my time and talents are His and how I use them is also His business.

How does your week look? Can you take Jesus along? Will He feel you have made good use of time and talents this week?

Let me know.

In Christ,
Paul

There is a wonderful couple that lives close to our house. They walk together regularly and have gotten to be pretty good friends with my dog Isaiah who loves to spend his time sitting outside, watching people go by. They stop and give him a treat. Isaiah loves them. He is the reason that I met them. The problem is that he thinks my name is Bob. That's what he calls me. So do I make him feel uncomfortable and correct him or do I just live with Bob? (Suggestions welcome).

That got me thinking about relationships. My dad, a wonderful man who (hard to believe) died almost 15 years ago, was a man who kept personal things personal. I don't ever remember hearing war stories from WWII or how he felt or seeing him get emotional about anything. (Although friends told me they saw him cry at my ordination.) Dad wasn't a very emotional person. At least comparatively speaking, I am pretty emotional and passionate. But I do have the tendency, like my dad, to keep personal things personal. To keep my cards close to my chest. I am thankful for my wonderful wife and a select group of friends with whom I have learned to let down my guard. They are a treasure. I wonder if my dad had such a close group of people around him? Do you? Do they know your name? My name is Bob.

Ever Wonder what pastors do on the day after Easter?

On Monday I slept until 10:00am (I got up at 4:00am on Sunday). By 11:00 I was headed to shop at Home Depot, just because I could. I bought a new extension hose  to my powerwasher to make the roof accessable. On the way home from that shopping trip, I found myself turning into the Church parking lot, habit I guess. I went into the Worship Center and straight to the usher's station to check attendance on Easter, (we had 1,100 for those who care). Then I sat in the chairs and processed the day before. I mentally went through the whole service and tried to let everything sink in.

I got stuck on Pastor Jon's part of the message, Christ is Risen, Now What? It is easy to get caught up in the glow of the day and then have extreme let down in the days that follow, but he really made me think about the new life that Christ gave me. I had mentioned in the message about my feeling a lack of self-discipline, and as I sat there in the worship center on the day after Easter, I was overcome with the feeling that I was not that person anymore, and I asked myself how will that change me?

So I went home and crawled up on the roof and cleaned out the raingutters that were so full of stuff that I had weeds growing out of them, and I had to take the downspouts apart in order to make them work. From on top of the roof I had this thought,"Self-Discipline is in the eyes of the beholder!"

In Christ,

Paul

I was on the treadmill at 6a this morning listening to a podcast, trying to wake up my legs along with the rest of my body that seemed to be sleepwalking or more accurately, sleeprunning. The speaker was challenging people to think of the key phrases that they use when praying. You've probably used some of my favorites, if not all of these, "thank you for today, watch over me, and the ever popular bless me." That last one intrigues me, mostly because I have said it a lot, mostly while I'm sleep praying, trying to wake up and say what is really on my mind. Is that really what I would say to God when I see Him face to face? I imagine "Wow you are awesome" might be the first words out of my mouth. But "bless me?" I mean isn't our role to bless God, to lift Him up? And doesn't God bless His work already? And if I'm doing something that God isn't already blessing, do I really want to ask Him to bless it? Maybe a wake up call is in order. We have a God who loves us that offers us the opportunity to communicate with Him at any point of any day. God help me not sleepwalk through my prayers!

I am sorry that you did not see more posts from Israel. I found out that the hotels in Israel do not have the free WiFi that our hotels do here. So I was too cheap to keep buying that time. Also we went from 7:30 in the morning til 8:00 at night and we were too tired to type at the end of the day.

But the visit to the holyland has changed my look at holy week! As we prepare here for these holy days, my feelings run much deeper. When I think of the Good Friday service, I can not help but think of the Garden Tomb that we saw in Jerusalem. Somehow being able to see the places that Jesus walked make His suffering and death so very much more real I wish that everyone could have the experience. I stood in the prison cell that probably held Jesus before he went to appear before Pilate and we saw the steps that the soliers dragged Jesus up after they took Him in the Garden.

All of this simply reminds me that "I AM NOT WORTH WHAT JESUS HAD TO PAY FOR MY SIN!" Holy week helps us to remember that fact. Please join us for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday at 7:00pm to remember and on Sunday to celebrate!

In Christ,
Paul Hoyer

This morning I did that thing where you’re thinking, “I should call that person” then you’re like, “Shoot, I’ll just call them right now.” So I did. I called a friend of mine from school.

He lives in Wisconsin (I don’t know why. I told him it was cold and flat, but people don’t listen to me). They live in a house they bought almost two years ago. He said that would be the longest they’ve lived in the same place in almost 10 years. He was marveling and the relative permanence of his life.

Megan and I had a similar experience recently. I mean we’ve lived places for two years, but whenever we moved we would save the boxes. We knew we’d be moving again and didn’t want to have to look for boxes. For six years, three states, and six moves we’ve carried these same boxes. Six weeks ago, as we packed up our house in Sanford, we realized this is the last time for these disintegrating cardboard containers. As we unpacked in Orlando, each one was stacked in the carport, and then out to the trash. It was a cathartic experience. We got to throw out the boxes. 

As I said that, “we threw out the boxes” he chimed in, “hey I still have boxes stacked in the garage…I should throw out the boxes.”

It was exciting to get to throw out the boxes, but we are realizing the reality now of our relative permanence. It means committing yourself to a place, investing in people and engaging in their lives, not just your own.

I wonder if you’ve ever thrown out the boxes. I mean committed yourself to a place. Put forth the energy and emotion it takes to make some roots. If Jesus is a role model for you, then making roots will include serving the town you live in and the people you share life with. It would mean connecting meaningfully with other followers and loving your neighbors. It takes work but hey, we’re not going anywhere we might as well throw out the boxes.