Categories
Forward Look Journal Wisdom

A New Name for my Blog

Today we have lots of knowledge and many experiences but little wisdom.   That is a poverty!
Today we have lots of knowledge and many experiences but little wisdom. That is a poverty!

Sometimes when I see one of those big flashing arrow signs on the highway pointing to a lane closure or a detour, I reflect on how we might wish that life came with flashing directional signals that we could not miss.  I know I have needed such a thing more than once.   But life does not, and so many people lose their way amid the maze of decisions, circumstances and pressures that face people every day.  I remember when I first felt called to become a pastor, one who helps others along life’s road, one of the objectives in my mind was to be used of God in helping to teach people how to live wisely.  I hoped to help folks learn to make wise choices.  It’s a dangerous and slightly presumptuous undertaking because no matter how old or educated one is, one must undertake the task while very much a learner along the road.

 

The Good News is that one of the purposes of the Bible is to provide the principles to teach us how to live wisely.   Consider, for example, the stated purpose from the prologue of the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament.

For gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
For receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
For giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young—
Let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance— Prov 1:2-5  NIV 2011

In addition, God’s Holy Spirit has promised to guide Christ-followers in their journey.   So there is hope!

The Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.  Prov 2:6  NIV 2011

Recently, this focus on helping others live wisely has been impressed upon me again.   Accordingly, I have decided to change the title of my blog to: Learn to be Wise.  I hope that the change will accomplish several purposes.

  • It will help my blog focus more on wisdom for daily living. I want to write more in the wisdom category on my blog.
  • It will enlarge the blog’s appeal beyond those who normally look at the writings of pastors. This is an important factor in New England where fewer people have a relationship to a church that in upstate New York.
  • It aligns the title with the web address, an address chosen two years ago because we could not get one that looked like the old blog title. Could it be that God was already at work pointing in this direction?  I think so.

Of course, there will still be some family posts; that keeps the blog personal.   And there will still be some church-related posts; church gives me a great deal of context.   But overall, I trust the percentage of posts will shift toward practical comments on daily life and reflections that help us find wisdom for our daily choices.

Categories
Church Leadership Journal

Summer Sermon Series Planned for Copper Hill Church

Stop in and worship with us
Stop in and worship with us at 27 Copper Hill Rd.

This summer at Copper Hill Church, during the pastors morning messages, we are reviewing together the primary purposes of the church.    There is no better time than the beginning of a new pastorate to undertake this important review.    It gives us important Scriptural perspective for our work and decision-making and it helps us all to be on the same page.   I enjoy preaching in series of messages and when I do I like to post the series so people can follow it.    Here is the tentative plan for the current series.   

The Primary Purposes of the Church

Date Purpose Title Scripture    Key Verse
July 14 Worship Meditation on Psalm 48 Psalm 48 Psalm 48:1
July 21 Evangelism Jesus’ Primary Assignment Matthew 28:16-20 Matthew 28:19
July 28 Communion Remember We Purpose to Remember 2 Peter 1:12-2:3
1 Cor. 11:23-29
2
Tim. 2:2
2 Tim. 2:2
Aug 4   Guest speaker    
August 11 Discipleship Teaching to Obey is Different Matt. 28:16-20
Psalm 78:1-8
Prov. 4:1-7,13 
Matthew 28:19
August 18 Service Serving the Least of These Matt. 25:31-46 Matthew 25:40
August 25 Communion Prayer A House of Prayer Matt 21: 12-22 Matthew 21:13
Sept. 1 Labor Day Sunday Fellowship Cultivating Friendship Rom. 12:6-16; Eph. 4:29-32; Col. 3:12-17 Rom. 12:10
Categories
Journal Who Am I

Reflections on a small blogging milestone.

400 Entries

I’ve been blogging for almost 20 months now and today the totals on my blog dashboard went over 400 entries.   Half of them are posts and the rest are fairly equally divided between pages and comments.  I really enjoy blogging, though sometimes it takes more time that I thought it would. Though it has proven more difficult than I thought to keep counting software that works well, I have learned from watching reader counts what blog articles are read the most.

Popular articles

My most popular articles have been some in my series on seeking God.  My sermon series outlines are always popular, especially holiday series; and a few of my articles on difficult passages have proven to have ongoing appeal.   On the other hand, sermon visuals and news commentary have received little traffic. 

However, I believe that I blog best when I write about things that I’m genuinely interested in rather than when I write about things that I think my readers will be interested in.   So my blog is most successful when both conditions are true.

On the comments

I have also been surprised at the paucity of comments.  I delete many times more spam comments than I receive in genuine replies.  Readers seem to be interested in reading the articles, but not really interested in discussing them.  I have received some feedback by email as well.  In fact, it has become nearly as popular a method of contact as leaving comments. 

My purposes

In my very first blog post I set forth three purposes for my blog:

1.  To help me connect with church family and other friends

2. To provide a forum for written contemplation of a kind that might be useful to others

3. To disseminate information, especially the kind of tidbits that are interesting but don’t seem to have a forum at the time.

Reflecting on the purpose of blogging

I believe those three purposes are still very valid though I might reword them a little.  However I think there is a fourth one that has been active all along that I have become increasingly conscious of.  Blogging is a very personal journaling.  One purpose, not always conscious, is to chronicle life as I see it, to record experiences and perspectives with words and often pictures. This recording is not just for others, but very much a healthy and deliberate self-expression.

 

Current Purposes

So here’s how I would write my purposes today.

1.  To help me connect with family, church family and friends.

2. To provide a forum for written contemplation of a kind that might be useful to others.

3. To disseminate information, especially the kind of tidbits that are interesting, useful or helpful and that fit this forum.

4.  To create a personal journal, chronicling life from my perspective.