Did you hear about the “Secret Santa of Kansas City”? I read about him in the Tuesday, December 15, edition of The Dallas Morning News. He anonymously distributed about $14,000 in one day to people in need around the city. His “elves” were handing out $100 bills to people at a thrift store. They gave $2000 to a cancer patient struggling to pay for medications. Altogether, the Secret Santa’s elves anticipate giving away between $250,000 and $300,000 this year. Actually, this is a new Secret Santa. The original was named Larry Stewart. His identity became known just before his death a few years ago. He handed out about $1.3 million dollars over twenty years. Like his predecessor, the new Secret Santa wants to remain anonymous.
Wouldn’t you love to have the money to share like that? Most of us want to be generous; the problem is our bank accounts often can’t back up those feelings of generosity. Well, I have got some good news for you. Did you know, every year our church gives away $75,000 in benevolence giving? We support everything from education to disaster relief, from fighting hunger and disease to sharing the love of God with those who have never heard of Jesus. We are able to do this because you join your giving with others in this congregation and then we join that with the giving of people in hundreds of other United Methodist Churches. Combining our gifts gives us the opportunity to make significant differences in the world in the name of the One who was born on Christmas morning.
So, here is your chance to be a Secret Santa. And the good news is, it is something everyone can do as they are able. You should have received in the mail your special Christmas Offering envelope. The money you give will help many in the name of the one who was born in Bethlehem. Bring your envelope to church with you Christmas Eve night or the Sunday after Christmas or put it in the mail and send to the church. It should be above and beyond your regular offering to the church. This is a great way to feel the joy of being a Secret Santa and to lend a helping hand to someone in need.
Don’t forget our Christmas Eve worship schedule...
3 p.m.- Family Service
5&7 p.m.- Candlelight Celebration Service
6 p.m.- The Bridge
9&11 p.m.- Candlelight and Communion Celebration Service
(childcare provided at the 5, 6 and 7 p.m. services)
I hope to see you Christmas Eve night and have a blessed Christmas.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Full Churches
The headline in Monday’s edition of The Dallas Morning News read, “Churches fill across town on first Sunday after attack.” The article went on to say, “Pastors, chaplains and priests echoed themes of forgiveness and healing in the first Sunday services since Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s rampage at Ft. Hood.” The article quoted several people expressing their emotions. Twenty-nine year old Tawni Lay said, “I’m really emotional, and I feel that this is a safe place.” Second Lt. Daniel Curtis said, “The church helps gather our thoughts and recompose ourselves. It helps us cope.” I am so glad the church has been the place of refuge for the people of the Ft. Hood/Killeen area. I am glad it is a place of sanctuary, a place of healing, a place of hope. But I do have to ask, isn’t that the case every Sunday? Don’t we need “forgiveness and healing” every week? Why are churches filled only after tragedies?
I am taken back to the days following 9/11. The church I served at the time provided a special service the night of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Even though there was little time to get the word out that we would be having a service, the sanctuary was packed. We started getting phone calls in the afternoon from people (members and people we had never heard of) asking if we were having a service. The Sunday following we had to set up chairs in two of our three services. By the next Sunday, attendance was back to normal. What is it that draws us to worship in difficult times and then, in just a few days, for many it becomes perfunctory?
Is it possible that our understanding of worship has become not worshipful at all? Is worship for us, there to supply our needs and frailties, or is it our faithful response to God? Isn’t worship our adoration and glorification of God? Isn’t it our time to sing God our praises and to thank God for His beneficence? Isn’t it how we are challenged to live a life that is pleasing to the one who created us and to whom we owe everything? Isn’t it our opportunity to take responsibility to make His kingdom become a reality in this world and at this time? And aren’t these an every week responsibility and expectation? Certainly, we receive much from our worship; a time to recognize our shortcomings and receive God’s forgiveness, a moment to reflect on what is truly important in life and what is not, to be reminded that we are one of God’s precious children and that God will never leave us alone, a time to recover from the week and receive reassurance. But it is crucial for us to remember that worship is all about God and what that might mean to us.
As Tawni Lay was quoted as saying in the DMN article, “Sometimes it takes a wakeup call to realize what is important.” Thanksgiving is in two weeks. Come to worship ready to thank God for all the blessings in life and to take responsibility as one who is called His own.
I am taken back to the days following 9/11. The church I served at the time provided a special service the night of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Even though there was little time to get the word out that we would be having a service, the sanctuary was packed. We started getting phone calls in the afternoon from people (members and people we had never heard of) asking if we were having a service. The Sunday following we had to set up chairs in two of our three services. By the next Sunday, attendance was back to normal. What is it that draws us to worship in difficult times and then, in just a few days, for many it becomes perfunctory?
Is it possible that our understanding of worship has become not worshipful at all? Is worship for us, there to supply our needs and frailties, or is it our faithful response to God? Isn’t worship our adoration and glorification of God? Isn’t it our time to sing God our praises and to thank God for His beneficence? Isn’t it how we are challenged to live a life that is pleasing to the one who created us and to whom we owe everything? Isn’t it our opportunity to take responsibility to make His kingdom become a reality in this world and at this time? And aren’t these an every week responsibility and expectation? Certainly, we receive much from our worship; a time to recognize our shortcomings and receive God’s forgiveness, a moment to reflect on what is truly important in life and what is not, to be reminded that we are one of God’s precious children and that God will never leave us alone, a time to recover from the week and receive reassurance. But it is crucial for us to remember that worship is all about God and what that might mean to us.
As Tawni Lay was quoted as saying in the DMN article, “Sometimes it takes a wakeup call to realize what is important.” Thanksgiving is in two weeks. Come to worship ready to thank God for all the blessings in life and to take responsibility as one who is called His own.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
What's Going On in Celebration Hall
The answer to that question is easy… exciting things are going on in Celebration Hall. The first phase of our church campus was built in 1999. The carpet and flooring are showing the wear you would expect in a building that has experienced a decade of constant use like ours. Several areas in Celebration Hall, the hallways and classrooms are even getting dangerous to walk on. Also, over the past few years, we have had a growing number of problems with our sound system. As you know, we have had times when we have lost our sound and/or video on Sunday morning and you probably don’t know all the times we were in a panic moments before worship was to begin, praying that the gremlins in our system would leave.
In the capital fund drive for Phase III (the Robertson Activity Center), we designated monies to repair these issues. I am sure you have noticed the new flooring and carpet in some areas. Over the next week or so, carpet will be going into the church offices and Celebration Hall. At the same time, a new sound system is being installed. There will be a new screen in the back of the hall to guide those leading worship and a new sound booth will be constructed and located in a new spot. And it doesn’t even stop there! A new chancel/stage area is being built. It will give the feel we had in Celebration Hall when we had the Odes of Solomon services. It will create a “U” shaped seating arrangement for a more intimate worship experience. Don’t worry; you’ll still be able to find your chair.
A few things to note:
The church offices will be closed on October 1 and 2 to lay carpet in them.
Again, these funds are coming our of our capital funds account, not our operating funds. We will be having our annual “catch up on the operating budget” announcements as we come to the close of the year. I’m sure someone will ask, “Why did we spend that money on the flooring and the sound system if we didn’t have the money?” When that question comes up, please remember that this work was done through the capital funds, not operating funds.
Your pledges and continued giving to the capital funds account is still very important and appreciated. If you would like to contribute additional funds for any of the work I have described, please contact either me or Cindy Moreland. In 2010, we are planning a debt reduction campaign to relieve our indebtedness and help us plan for future projects.
Because of all the changes, there will be a few inconveniences. Please be flexible and understanding.
Yes, exciting things are happening in Celebration Hall. Get ready to enjoy them.
Grace and peace,
John Mollet
In the capital fund drive for Phase III (the Robertson Activity Center), we designated monies to repair these issues. I am sure you have noticed the new flooring and carpet in some areas. Over the next week or so, carpet will be going into the church offices and Celebration Hall. At the same time, a new sound system is being installed. There will be a new screen in the back of the hall to guide those leading worship and a new sound booth will be constructed and located in a new spot. And it doesn’t even stop there! A new chancel/stage area is being built. It will give the feel we had in Celebration Hall when we had the Odes of Solomon services. It will create a “U” shaped seating arrangement for a more intimate worship experience. Don’t worry; you’ll still be able to find your chair.
A few things to note:
The church offices will be closed on October 1 and 2 to lay carpet in them.
Again, these funds are coming our of our capital funds account, not our operating funds. We will be having our annual “catch up on the operating budget” announcements as we come to the close of the year. I’m sure someone will ask, “Why did we spend that money on the flooring and the sound system if we didn’t have the money?” When that question comes up, please remember that this work was done through the capital funds, not operating funds.
Your pledges and continued giving to the capital funds account is still very important and appreciated. If you would like to contribute additional funds for any of the work I have described, please contact either me or Cindy Moreland. In 2010, we are planning a debt reduction campaign to relieve our indebtedness and help us plan for future projects.
Because of all the changes, there will be a few inconveniences. Please be flexible and understanding.
Yes, exciting things are happening in Celebration Hall. Get ready to enjoy them.
Grace and peace,
John Mollet
Thursday, September 10, 2009
One Single Invitation
Pastor David told me a great story recently of one of our church family members welcoming a guest with such open arms that this guest now feels like he has found his church home. Talk about open doors! This is such a great story that I wanted Pastor David to tell it to you himself. Therefore, rather than a "Moment with Mollet" this week, how about a "Day with David?"
Grace and peace,
John Mollet
One Single Invitation
This week I had to hijack John's e-mail, because there is a story I feel you must hear. About 3 weeks ago I was finishing up our "God Must Be Crazy" sermon series in The Bridge and on the fourth and final week we were using Micah 6:8 as a reference to Jonah's needing to understand what God wanted from him. We went through Seeking Justice, Loving Kindness and Walking Humbly with God, and I'll have to tell you that I was pretty fired up after that sermon for the work of our Church. But nothing that I said gave me near as much excitement as the story you will read below. (The names have been left out, but this is a true story)
A young man moved to McKinney four weeks prior to this worship service and this was his fourth week in The Bridge. Apparently he enjoyed the worship style, the music, the preaching (and after all, who wouldn't...), but one key ingredient was missing. No one had really talked to him. No one, except I believe Ed, had enjoyed a conversation of any merit with this visitor and he was praying with God the week before the worship that if he did not make any meaningful connections the next Sunday, he would go find another church. God had another plan.
During this service, the young man was present and seemed engaged, but in the back of his mind was thinking "if no one really cares enough to talk to me, I'm going somewhere else next week." God has a funny way of acting, as when he thought this, he felt a tug on his shirt sleeve from a woman in the row behind him. For whatever reason this grandmother noticed the young man sitting by himself and invited him to go out to lunch with her family that afternoon. I was not there, but I will guess that surprisingly he accepted.
The woman and the young man met the rest of her family who had been in the Celebration Service and went out to eat. Apparently this young man is pursuing a life in the ministry, has served in all sorts of missions and ministry capacities and has a real heart for service in the world. What a shame it would have been if we missed out on the wonderful gifts that this young man could bring to the life of our church and all that we could do to foster his spiritual growth!!!
I suppose this made me wonder how many other people slip through the cracks. If you walk through the halls between or after worship time it really is mass chaos around here. Families are trying to stay together, Sunday school teachers are trying to get the right kids to the right parents, people are funneling out of one or two doors out of Celebration Hall or The Bridge and groups stand in the middle of all of this talking. I wonder how many visitors or even members feel as though no one talks to them? What a shame to have missed out on some great people, all because in the hustle and bustle, we forgot that being part of a church means inviting strangers to eat with us. I think Jesus might have done this too...I'll check.
I thank God that the woman listened to God's call to invite the young man to lunch and I hope this will inspire everyone who reads this to take a radical step of hospitality in the coming weeks and look for those sitting by themselves or who look lost. One of these people might be the next Sunday school teacher, missions leader, youth volunteer, lay speaker, chair guy or who knows...maybe that one invitation is all they need to realize hope in the world.
Pastor David
Grace and peace,
John Mollet
One Single Invitation
This week I had to hijack John's e-mail, because there is a story I feel you must hear. About 3 weeks ago I was finishing up our "God Must Be Crazy" sermon series in The Bridge and on the fourth and final week we were using Micah 6:8 as a reference to Jonah's needing to understand what God wanted from him. We went through Seeking Justice, Loving Kindness and Walking Humbly with God, and I'll have to tell you that I was pretty fired up after that sermon for the work of our Church. But nothing that I said gave me near as much excitement as the story you will read below. (The names have been left out, but this is a true story)
A young man moved to McKinney four weeks prior to this worship service and this was his fourth week in The Bridge. Apparently he enjoyed the worship style, the music, the preaching (and after all, who wouldn't...), but one key ingredient was missing. No one had really talked to him. No one, except I believe Ed, had enjoyed a conversation of any merit with this visitor and he was praying with God the week before the worship that if he did not make any meaningful connections the next Sunday, he would go find another church. God had another plan.
During this service, the young man was present and seemed engaged, but in the back of his mind was thinking "if no one really cares enough to talk to me, I'm going somewhere else next week." God has a funny way of acting, as when he thought this, he felt a tug on his shirt sleeve from a woman in the row behind him. For whatever reason this grandmother noticed the young man sitting by himself and invited him to go out to lunch with her family that afternoon. I was not there, but I will guess that surprisingly he accepted.
The woman and the young man met the rest of her family who had been in the Celebration Service and went out to eat. Apparently this young man is pursuing a life in the ministry, has served in all sorts of missions and ministry capacities and has a real heart for service in the world. What a shame it would have been if we missed out on the wonderful gifts that this young man could bring to the life of our church and all that we could do to foster his spiritual growth!!!
I suppose this made me wonder how many other people slip through the cracks. If you walk through the halls between or after worship time it really is mass chaos around here. Families are trying to stay together, Sunday school teachers are trying to get the right kids to the right parents, people are funneling out of one or two doors out of Celebration Hall or The Bridge and groups stand in the middle of all of this talking. I wonder how many visitors or even members feel as though no one talks to them? What a shame to have missed out on some great people, all because in the hustle and bustle, we forgot that being part of a church means inviting strangers to eat with us. I think Jesus might have done this too...I'll check.
I thank God that the woman listened to God's call to invite the young man to lunch and I hope this will inspire everyone who reads this to take a radical step of hospitality in the coming weeks and look for those sitting by themselves or who look lost. One of these people might be the next Sunday school teacher, missions leader, youth volunteer, lay speaker, chair guy or who knows...maybe that one invitation is all they need to realize hope in the world.
Pastor David
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Enjoying the Church
I love it when staff members of our church go to meetings with staff members of other churches. They talk with one another about the churches they serve, the challenges and joys of those churches and the pastors with whom they work. Without fail, they come back proclaiming, “I am so glad I work at this church!”
This past week I spent three days with a group of seven pastors I have known for several years. We are working on a project together, so most of our time was spent working on that, but, of course, there was plenty of time to talk about our churches. After hearing their stories of woe, let me say, “I am so glad I am a part of this church.” Let me give just a few reasons for my thankfulness.
First, we are in a dynamic, fast-growing church. Many of my colleagues struggle in churches that are not only declining, their congregations are fighting growth everyway possible. One of my friends told us that it takes him at least a year and a half to make any change at his church. His congregation wants to keep the things at their church exactly like they have been for many years. That really means they want to keep the church for themselves. Any mention of changing something so that they might be more inviting to newcomers is met with a “this is the way we have always done it and we like it that way.” Any wonder why that church has not grown in many years. In contrast, you are always ready to find new ways to meet the needs of those entering our doors. Even if it takes changing something, you are willing to try it out. The thing I love about this church is you think more about others’ experience of the church than you do your own. That sounds pretty much like the Golden Rule, doesn’t it?
Second, this is a church where people are invited to think and ask questions. Too many churches today are telling their congregations what and how to think. If anyone has an opinion that might color a little out of the lines of their doctrine they are reprimanded. The church should be a place where it is safe to ask our questions, no matter how unholy they might sound. It is through our dialogue and debate we begin to discover what we believe; and that initiates a closer relationship with God. Just the other day, a man in our congregation told me, " If it wasn’t for this church, I would not have grown in my faith like I have." We can receive no better complement.
Third, this church really is “the most joyful place on earth.” You want to know why? It is because you are nice people. One of the ministers in my group described a church we were discussing as “a bunch of mean Christians.” I am afraid there are a lot of churches that fight, grumble, gossip and complain. That is not our church. For the most part, we are pretty much a happy family. We certainly have our disagreements, but you handle them in stride and with maturity. You are also "the most joyful place on earth" because you take care of each other. I have said many times this church cares for its members and those outside our walls better than any church I know. Life is not always happy, but when someone helps you walk with Christ during those unhappy times you can be filled with joy.
I could go on, but I really just wanted you to know how thankful I am to be your pastor and how much I appreciate your work in making this church become the vision God has for it. Too often we take that for granted, but we shouldn’t because it is one of God’s blessings. I hope you join me when I say, “I am so glad I am a part of this church.”
This past week I spent three days with a group of seven pastors I have known for several years. We are working on a project together, so most of our time was spent working on that, but, of course, there was plenty of time to talk about our churches. After hearing their stories of woe, let me say, “I am so glad I am a part of this church.” Let me give just a few reasons for my thankfulness.
First, we are in a dynamic, fast-growing church. Many of my colleagues struggle in churches that are not only declining, their congregations are fighting growth everyway possible. One of my friends told us that it takes him at least a year and a half to make any change at his church. His congregation wants to keep the things at their church exactly like they have been for many years. That really means they want to keep the church for themselves. Any mention of changing something so that they might be more inviting to newcomers is met with a “this is the way we have always done it and we like it that way.” Any wonder why that church has not grown in many years. In contrast, you are always ready to find new ways to meet the needs of those entering our doors. Even if it takes changing something, you are willing to try it out. The thing I love about this church is you think more about others’ experience of the church than you do your own. That sounds pretty much like the Golden Rule, doesn’t it?
Second, this is a church where people are invited to think and ask questions. Too many churches today are telling their congregations what and how to think. If anyone has an opinion that might color a little out of the lines of their doctrine they are reprimanded. The church should be a place where it is safe to ask our questions, no matter how unholy they might sound. It is through our dialogue and debate we begin to discover what we believe; and that initiates a closer relationship with God. Just the other day, a man in our congregation told me, " If it wasn’t for this church, I would not have grown in my faith like I have." We can receive no better complement.
Third, this church really is “the most joyful place on earth.” You want to know why? It is because you are nice people. One of the ministers in my group described a church we were discussing as “a bunch of mean Christians.” I am afraid there are a lot of churches that fight, grumble, gossip and complain. That is not our church. For the most part, we are pretty much a happy family. We certainly have our disagreements, but you handle them in stride and with maturity. You are also "the most joyful place on earth" because you take care of each other. I have said many times this church cares for its members and those outside our walls better than any church I know. Life is not always happy, but when someone helps you walk with Christ during those unhappy times you can be filled with joy.
I could go on, but I really just wanted you to know how thankful I am to be your pastor and how much I appreciate your work in making this church become the vision God has for it. Too often we take that for granted, but we shouldn’t because it is one of God’s blessings. I hope you join me when I say, “I am so glad I am a part of this church.”
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
New Sermon Series
I wanted you to be the first to know. Evidently there is something special about being the first to know something. When I was growing up, the barker on the TV commercial that broke in on my Saturday morning cartoons would say, “Be the first on your block to get…” then he would go on to name the product he was advertising. To be first had the power to make you feel special. You had something on everyone else in the neighborhood. You had bragging rights. You might not have wanted the product they were selling at all, but you certainly wanted to be first. So, I want you to be the first to know the upcoming sermon series for the Celebration Service, because I want you to feel special. (You Bridgers stay tuned; I’ll also share some upcoming sermon series for The Bridge.)
Every four to six months, I sequester myself for a week and work on sermon ideas. Contrary to popular belief, these series do not come to me by osmosis or from Googling “sermon series ideas” on the internet or from a bolt of lightening sent from above. They come from a discipline of prayerful study. First, I have to get away from the church. There are way too many distractions in a busy church like ours. There is constantly an important question or someone that really needs to see me for “just a minute.” Truth be told, I can’t sit in my office with the door closed without becoming curious as to what is happening just on the other side of my office door. I am way too much an extravert for that. As the church staff would say, I am quite the social butterfly. So, I get away with a stack of twenty books or so and get to work.
My goal is to have several sermon series sketched out for an extended period of time. I want to have a series title, the primary scripture text for each of the sermons in the series, and a title and thesis sentence for each of those sermons. Then I schedule those for specific Sundays and give the schedule to the church worship staff. This gives us the opportunity to look thematically at each week. Buddy and Marla can plan ahead and fit the music with each sermon theme. Every once in awhile someone will come to me following worship and say, “Wow, the words of that song really fit what you said in the sermon." Again, that does not happen by magic. They put a lot of hours and effort into fitting the music with the sermon, so that you can have a meaningful, thought-provoking and spiritually uplifting worship experience. Having the sermons ahead of time gives the worship team time to creatively think of how we can best get the message of the morning across to the congregation. We are always working at least a month ahead.
So, here are some of the fruits of my work. First, David and I will share the first sermon series of the new school year in both The Bridge and Celebration services. We will be preaching on “Open As A Verb”, looking at how we can live out the new United Methodist Church motto of “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors”. After that in the Celebration Service we will have, “Finding the Good News When the Headlines Are Bad”, looking at our faithful responses to terrorism, violence in schools, hunger and natural disasters. We will “Go Beneath the Surface” examining our understandings of God, Jesus, the Bible and ourselves. I also have a series planned in which I will confess to you the things Christians do that drive me crazy. (That one was difficult to keep to just four weeks.) In a series I am calling “BBFF, Biblical Best Friends Forever”, we will discover some of the biblical friendships that can help us through life. At Christmas, we will travel with Mary through her pregnancy. The series will search for the meaning we can find in the anticipation of having a child, Lamaze classes, labor, the euphoria and realities of birth and ending with showing pictures. During Lent and Easter, the sermons will look at Jesus as a defendant in a trial, examining the religious establishment’s investigation of his unorthodox way of teaching the faith. After Easter you are invited to get your popcorn ready to see how the movies can help us understand and feel the power of the resurrection.
In The Bridge, David has sermons scheduled up to Christmas. After “Open as a Verb”, David (and Ed and I on occasion) will preach on “Cross –Training”, how the cross trains us up to be Christian disciples. And “The Holiness Code”; few times will you hear sermons based on the book of Leviticus, but the moral and ethical codes for living presented in the book are ones on which our society has been based.
I really did want you to be the first to know. Not only so you would feel special, but also to help you make worship a holy habit in your life. I do hope it will motivate you to invite others to come worship with you. Because, as you will remember, Jesus said “the first will be last” and that we are called “to be a servant to all”. Helping others find their special place in worship will make you feel special and it will certainly make you a servant of the Lord.
Every four to six months, I sequester myself for a week and work on sermon ideas. Contrary to popular belief, these series do not come to me by osmosis or from Googling “sermon series ideas” on the internet or from a bolt of lightening sent from above. They come from a discipline of prayerful study. First, I have to get away from the church. There are way too many distractions in a busy church like ours. There is constantly an important question or someone that really needs to see me for “just a minute.” Truth be told, I can’t sit in my office with the door closed without becoming curious as to what is happening just on the other side of my office door. I am way too much an extravert for that. As the church staff would say, I am quite the social butterfly. So, I get away with a stack of twenty books or so and get to work.
My goal is to have several sermon series sketched out for an extended period of time. I want to have a series title, the primary scripture text for each of the sermons in the series, and a title and thesis sentence for each of those sermons. Then I schedule those for specific Sundays and give the schedule to the church worship staff. This gives us the opportunity to look thematically at each week. Buddy and Marla can plan ahead and fit the music with each sermon theme. Every once in awhile someone will come to me following worship and say, “Wow, the words of that song really fit what you said in the sermon." Again, that does not happen by magic. They put a lot of hours and effort into fitting the music with the sermon, so that you can have a meaningful, thought-provoking and spiritually uplifting worship experience. Having the sermons ahead of time gives the worship team time to creatively think of how we can best get the message of the morning across to the congregation. We are always working at least a month ahead.
So, here are some of the fruits of my work. First, David and I will share the first sermon series of the new school year in both The Bridge and Celebration services. We will be preaching on “Open As A Verb”, looking at how we can live out the new United Methodist Church motto of “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors”. After that in the Celebration Service we will have, “Finding the Good News When the Headlines Are Bad”, looking at our faithful responses to terrorism, violence in schools, hunger and natural disasters. We will “Go Beneath the Surface” examining our understandings of God, Jesus, the Bible and ourselves. I also have a series planned in which I will confess to you the things Christians do that drive me crazy. (That one was difficult to keep to just four weeks.) In a series I am calling “BBFF, Biblical Best Friends Forever”, we will discover some of the biblical friendships that can help us through life. At Christmas, we will travel with Mary through her pregnancy. The series will search for the meaning we can find in the anticipation of having a child, Lamaze classes, labor, the euphoria and realities of birth and ending with showing pictures. During Lent and Easter, the sermons will look at Jesus as a defendant in a trial, examining the religious establishment’s investigation of his unorthodox way of teaching the faith. After Easter you are invited to get your popcorn ready to see how the movies can help us understand and feel the power of the resurrection.
In The Bridge, David has sermons scheduled up to Christmas. After “Open as a Verb”, David (and Ed and I on occasion) will preach on “Cross –Training”, how the cross trains us up to be Christian disciples. And “The Holiness Code”; few times will you hear sermons based on the book of Leviticus, but the moral and ethical codes for living presented in the book are ones on which our society has been based.
I really did want you to be the first to know. Not only so you would feel special, but also to help you make worship a holy habit in your life. I do hope it will motivate you to invite others to come worship with you. Because, as you will remember, Jesus said “the first will be last” and that we are called “to be a servant to all”. Helping others find their special place in worship will make you feel special and it will certainly make you a servant of the Lord.
Friday, July 31, 2009
We Are Becoming Adoptive Parents
Over my ministry, I have enjoyed going through the process of adoption with a number of couples. When I was the pastor of Chapel Hill UMC in Farmers Branch, we were one of the designated locations for the Methodist Mission Home to meet with adoptive parents as the case worker placed their new baby in their loving arms. I participated in several worship services that celebrated the event and, I can tell you, there is no feeling like the one that enters your heart when you see the joy in the faces as the eyes of the new parents and their child meet for the first time. It is the personification of love.
I have felt that same feeling these past few days as our church was presented with the opportunity to adopt one of the elementary schools in McKinney. Six churches in town have been asked if they would join with another school to adopt one of our MISD Title One schools. Title One schools are those with at least 40% of their students on the free breakfast and lunch program. We have been invited to join forces with Bennett Elementary and Wolford Elementary to adopt Malvern Elementary School. Malvern has about 87% of their students on the free meal program. I knew you would want to beadoptive parents, so I committed our church to this new ministry. Then the church staff started to find some people willing to direct our part of the mission. As is always the case when God guides you into a new ministry, the people were there just waiting for someone to ask them. We now have a team of 10 people who have agreed to be a part of the liaison team with Bennett, Wolford and Malvern.
Let me tell you a little about Malvern Elementary School. It is located at 1100 Eldorado Parkway; about a quarter mile east of highway 75. It is a vibrant and innovative community school of about 600 students. It opened in 2001 as one of the McKinney ISD sustainable schools that are environmentally sensitive in architecture and engineering. It is a “recognized” school. Sandra Barber is the principal.
There are a lot of areas in which we will be able to assist in this new ministry in the years to come. There will be opportunities for people to be mentors, reading partners and tutors. We can support and appreciate the teachers and administrators. We can assist in the workroom, the library, the clothing/food closet and with technology. They need people to join the chess club and the PTA. Some will want to be involved at the school at night; like leading parent seminars and developing a parent center. I hope some of our small groups will decide to adopt one of their individual classes. They even have a garden in which our green thumbs can play.
The reason you are receiving this email a little earlier than usual is that we have an immediate need to which we can respond. The students need school supplies. A list of the supplies needed is below:
Crayons
Pencils
Gluesticks
Notebook paper
Pocket folers
Spirals
Pencil pouches
We will be collecting these supplies so that they can be delivered to the families before school starts. Our deadline for the supplies to be brought to the church is Thursday, August 6. If you would prefer, you can make a cash donation for the purchase of the supplies.
Adoption can be the personification of love. Let us begin to share the love of God with the families of Malvern Elementary.
I have felt that same feeling these past few days as our church was presented with the opportunity to adopt one of the elementary schools in McKinney. Six churches in town have been asked if they would join with another school to adopt one of our MISD Title One schools. Title One schools are those with at least 40% of their students on the free breakfast and lunch program. We have been invited to join forces with Bennett Elementary and Wolford Elementary to adopt Malvern Elementary School. Malvern has about 87% of their students on the free meal program. I knew you would want to beadoptive parents, so I committed our church to this new ministry. Then the church staff started to find some people willing to direct our part of the mission. As is always the case when God guides you into a new ministry, the people were there just waiting for someone to ask them. We now have a team of 10 people who have agreed to be a part of the liaison team with Bennett, Wolford and Malvern.
Let me tell you a little about Malvern Elementary School. It is located at 1100 Eldorado Parkway; about a quarter mile east of highway 75. It is a vibrant and innovative community school of about 600 students. It opened in 2001 as one of the McKinney ISD sustainable schools that are environmentally sensitive in architecture and engineering. It is a “recognized” school. Sandra Barber is the principal.
There are a lot of areas in which we will be able to assist in this new ministry in the years to come. There will be opportunities for people to be mentors, reading partners and tutors. We can support and appreciate the teachers and administrators. We can assist in the workroom, the library, the clothing/food closet and with technology. They need people to join the chess club and the PTA. Some will want to be involved at the school at night; like leading parent seminars and developing a parent center. I hope some of our small groups will decide to adopt one of their individual classes. They even have a garden in which our green thumbs can play.
The reason you are receiving this email a little earlier than usual is that we have an immediate need to which we can respond. The students need school supplies. A list of the supplies needed is below:
Crayons
Pencils
Gluesticks
Notebook paper
Pocket folers
Spirals
Pencil pouches
We will be collecting these supplies so that they can be delivered to the families before school starts. Our deadline for the supplies to be brought to the church is Thursday, August 6. If you would prefer, you can make a cash donation for the purchase of the supplies.
Adoption can be the personification of love. Let us begin to share the love of God with the families of Malvern Elementary.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Reflections on Coming Back from Vacation
“Vacation – noun, from the Latin ‘vacatio’ meaning freedom; the freedom from any activity; a rest; a respite; an intermission; a period of rest and freedom from work or study; a time of recreation.”
It has been nice being welcomed back to the church after vacation the last few Sundays. Of course, being a minister, I only work on Sundays and only until noon at that, but it is nice to get a break from the routine every once in a while. Many have asked where we went on vacation and the answer is nowhere. Oh, we got away on a short junket the last few days of my time off, but most of the time we stayed home and caught up on projects that have been on our “to do” list for way too long.
This all came about when my two sons (both in their 20’s and living away from home) gave me their slave labor for a few days. This developed into a plan to lay travertine tile in the master bathroom and St. Augustine sod in the backyard. Some vacation! In defense of my seeming insanity, I had planned to be the supervisor over these projects and simply direct my sons in what to do next. You would think, after twenty-seven years of fatherhood, I would have learned better. They worked hard, but being twice their age calculated into me being twice as tired and sore. The amount of sweat I released broke every rule in the clergy code of conduct. Looking at the above definition makes me think I failed vacation miserably.
However, I have to admit, as strange as it might sound, it turned out to be a time of freedom from the everyday routine and pressures. It was restful in that my mind could take a break from creating worship bulletins, sermons and Moments with Mollet. It was a respite from what can become ordinary, usual, normal, common and it gave me the opportunity to look at things fresh again. It was recreation, not in the sense of play and fun, but a time of re-creation – giving God the opportunity to create in me again. I enjoyed the time I spent with my boys. That time gets more precious every day. And it was good to do some manual labor. For this pencil-pusher it was good to feel the muscles I don’t use as much as I should.
Coming back from vacation also helps me realize that the stuff I leave behind to go on vacation will always be awaiting me on my return. The work I left was still on my desk when I got back. The problems of the world still existed. The hurts in people’s lives were still present. No matter how long and far we go, we cannot run from the realities of our lives. However, the good news of the gospel is that God never takes a vacation. God lives through the pain and problems with us. We are never left to take on the whole load ourselves. (Read Psalm 139:1-18) I guess it was good that my sons were there to help me through these projects. Otherwise, I’d probably be dead. Shared burdens are always more bearable.
It has been nice being welcomed back to the church after vacation the last few Sundays. Of course, being a minister, I only work on Sundays and only until noon at that, but it is nice to get a break from the routine every once in a while. Many have asked where we went on vacation and the answer is nowhere. Oh, we got away on a short junket the last few days of my time off, but most of the time we stayed home and caught up on projects that have been on our “to do” list for way too long.
This all came about when my two sons (both in their 20’s and living away from home) gave me their slave labor for a few days. This developed into a plan to lay travertine tile in the master bathroom and St. Augustine sod in the backyard. Some vacation! In defense of my seeming insanity, I had planned to be the supervisor over these projects and simply direct my sons in what to do next. You would think, after twenty-seven years of fatherhood, I would have learned better. They worked hard, but being twice their age calculated into me being twice as tired and sore. The amount of sweat I released broke every rule in the clergy code of conduct. Looking at the above definition makes me think I failed vacation miserably.
However, I have to admit, as strange as it might sound, it turned out to be a time of freedom from the everyday routine and pressures. It was restful in that my mind could take a break from creating worship bulletins, sermons and Moments with Mollet. It was a respite from what can become ordinary, usual, normal, common and it gave me the opportunity to look at things fresh again. It was recreation, not in the sense of play and fun, but a time of re-creation – giving God the opportunity to create in me again. I enjoyed the time I spent with my boys. That time gets more precious every day. And it was good to do some manual labor. For this pencil-pusher it was good to feel the muscles I don’t use as much as I should.
Coming back from vacation also helps me realize that the stuff I leave behind to go on vacation will always be awaiting me on my return. The work I left was still on my desk when I got back. The problems of the world still existed. The hurts in people’s lives were still present. No matter how long and far we go, we cannot run from the realities of our lives. However, the good news of the gospel is that God never takes a vacation. God lives through the pain and problems with us. We are never left to take on the whole load ourselves. (Read Psalm 139:1-18) I guess it was good that my sons were there to help me through these projects. Otherwise, I’d probably be dead. Shared burdens are always more bearable.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Numbers Just Don't Add Up
Last Sunday I admitted to the worshippers in the Celebration Service that I was never good in math. Algebra still makes little sense to me. I was very thankful that the least math credits required for any major while I was a student at Centenary College was for a religion degree. God is gracious!
However, I do have enough math savvy to realize when the numbers don’t add up. Through the first 29 weeks of the year, our attendance in worship is up an average of 125 people a Sunday. That is an increase of almost 10%. We have already had 3,637 more people in our worship services this year than in 2008. We have had only four Sundays of the twenty-nine this year that had less people in worship than the same Sunday the year before. This is great news and a good indicator of the continuing growth and health of our church. Thank you for welcoming your neighbors into our church.
On the other hand (I’m sure you knew there was going to be another hand involved), offerings to the church have not increased with attendance. For eighteen of the twenty-nine Sundays of 2009 giving has been less than the same Sunday in 2008. Some Sundays the difference is just a couple hundred dollars, a few are down as much as $15,000. Overall, giving has decreased over these first twenty-nine Sundays by over $65,000. As the reports from our Financial Ministries Team have reassured us, we have been keeping our spending down to record levels, so the numbers are not as bad as they seem. But you don’t have to be a math genius to realize the attendance figures and the giving numbers just don’t add up. The old church adage is “giving follows attendance” and usually that is a truism. If that were the case for us, we should be having a banner financial year in 2009.
The most frightening number of 2009 is the comparison giving for the summer. Giving since June has decreased this year from 2008 by over $28,000. Of the $65,000 we are behind our 2008 giving, $28,000 of that has come this summer. That means 43% of our shortfall for the year has come over the last seven Sundays. In other words, we are going in the wrong direction…fast. Instead of catching up, we are falling further behind and the fall has increased in momentum. We cannot even blame this one on the economy – it has been picking up the past few months. Even my retirement fund increased this last quarter for the first time in the last year and a half.
Your church needs your help now. Please help us catch up these next six weeks of summer. I am asking you personally and individually to prayerful consider your response to the church’s need. We cannot allow this trend to continue without serious harm to our ministry. Starting this Sunday, we will give you an update each week on the comparison from 2008 to 2009.
In addition, in August we will inaugurate a new stewardship emphasis campaign called “One Dollar More”. Watch for details in the next few weeks. Until then, please make your additional contribution to the church so we can right the ship. Together we can make a difference and help these numbers begin to add up.
However, I do have enough math savvy to realize when the numbers don’t add up. Through the first 29 weeks of the year, our attendance in worship is up an average of 125 people a Sunday. That is an increase of almost 10%. We have already had 3,637 more people in our worship services this year than in 2008. We have had only four Sundays of the twenty-nine this year that had less people in worship than the same Sunday the year before. This is great news and a good indicator of the continuing growth and health of our church. Thank you for welcoming your neighbors into our church.
On the other hand (I’m sure you knew there was going to be another hand involved), offerings to the church have not increased with attendance. For eighteen of the twenty-nine Sundays of 2009 giving has been less than the same Sunday in 2008. Some Sundays the difference is just a couple hundred dollars, a few are down as much as $15,000. Overall, giving has decreased over these first twenty-nine Sundays by over $65,000. As the reports from our Financial Ministries Team have reassured us, we have been keeping our spending down to record levels, so the numbers are not as bad as they seem. But you don’t have to be a math genius to realize the attendance figures and the giving numbers just don’t add up. The old church adage is “giving follows attendance” and usually that is a truism. If that were the case for us, we should be having a banner financial year in 2009.
The most frightening number of 2009 is the comparison giving for the summer. Giving since June has decreased this year from 2008 by over $28,000. Of the $65,000 we are behind our 2008 giving, $28,000 of that has come this summer. That means 43% of our shortfall for the year has come over the last seven Sundays. In other words, we are going in the wrong direction…fast. Instead of catching up, we are falling further behind and the fall has increased in momentum. We cannot even blame this one on the economy – it has been picking up the past few months. Even my retirement fund increased this last quarter for the first time in the last year and a half.
Your church needs your help now. Please help us catch up these next six weeks of summer. I am asking you personally and individually to prayerful consider your response to the church’s need. We cannot allow this trend to continue without serious harm to our ministry. Starting this Sunday, we will give you an update each week on the comparison from 2008 to 2009.
In addition, in August we will inaugurate a new stewardship emphasis campaign called “One Dollar More”. Watch for details in the next few weeks. Until then, please make your additional contribution to the church so we can right the ship. Together we can make a difference and help these numbers begin to add up.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
What I Read On Vacation
Every once in a while, I read a book that stretches my traditional Christian thinking and that was the case with a book I read over my vacation. Several years ago, I was told by a church member I shouldn’t be reading such books and certainly not sharing them with others. I have to say my faith has grown much more from reading books that challenge my faith than from reading books that just confirm what I already believe. I hope, by sharing with you what challenges me, you grow in faith as well.
The book is entitled An American Gospel by Eric Reese. I decided to read it after I heard the author interviewed on the radio. Reese is the son and grandson of fundamentalist Baptist ministers and is presently a writer in residence at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. There is a lot going on in this book: Reese’s attempt to capture what he calls “the American Gospel,” which grew out of a response to the restrictive puritan beginnings of religion in America; sharing his love of American literature and its writers and finding spiritual direction in them; working through his father’s suicide and trying to make some spiritual sense of it; and a little touch of environmentalist tree hugging at the end of the book. But the reason I decided to read the book was that Reese, in the radio interview, said he no longer went to church. If the Christian church is declining, as the surveys increasingly tell us, we better find out the reasons our friends and neighbors are choosing spiritual pathways other than the church. Eric Reese’s story and faith journey did not disappoint.
In the introduction to the book, Reese begins with Leo Tolstoy and the inspiration Tolstoy received from the free spirits of American writers Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. Reese writes, “In The Kingdom of God is Within You, Tolstoy argued that one cannot believe in both the Sermon on the Mount and the Nicene Creed… In this sermon (following the Beatitudes), Jesus goes on to charge his crowd to love their enemies, turn the other cheek, give to those who beg, and avoid hypocritical judgments. By contrast, the Nicene Creed is solely an assertion of the divinity of Jesus…Tolstoy argued that either one accepts the Sermon’s rigorous demands for how we must act in this world, how we must treat others, or one chooses the Creed as a way of escaping from this world into another.”
Reese goes on to quote Tolstoy as writing, “The man who believes in salvation through faith in the redemption or sacraments cannot devote all his powers to realizing Christ’s moral teaching in his life.” What Reese says in his book is we have emphasized the divinity of Christ to the exclusion of the humanity of Jesus. We have placed personal salvation over our responsibility to love God and our neighbor – the greatest commandment as Jesus would say. We have concentrated our faith more on entering the Kingdom of God in heaven than we have building the Kingdom of God on earth.
First let me say, I don’t believe we must put such a strict dividing line between the divinity of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus – our salvation and the works of faith. As the Book of James reminds us, through our salvation (our oneness with God through Christ) flows the works of faith. One does not have to throw out the divinity of Jesus to follow the teachings of Jesus or visa versa. But Reese’s point is clear and important – as a person seeking spirituality outside of the church Reese is telling us, until I see the people of the church changing the world through the works demanded by Jesus, I will not believe of your salvation (oneness with Him) in His name. Jesus warned us of being like the hypocritical Pharisee praying in the marketplace. (Luke 18:9-14) He encouraged us to show God’s love through our lives more than anyone else. (Matthew 5:43-48) Jesus knew that was the way into the hearts of those seeking something more in their lives.
We must listen to the Eric Reeses of the world. They are telling us why they have not found the church to be a legitimate pathway to the spirit of God. They are telling us there is an incongruity in what we say and what we do and they don’t want any part of it. John reminds us of that incongruity, “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen” (I John 4:20). So put your acts of faith where your religious mouth is. Never ask someone if they are saved before you show them your oneness with God in the way you live.
The book is entitled An American Gospel by Eric Reese. I decided to read it after I heard the author interviewed on the radio. Reese is the son and grandson of fundamentalist Baptist ministers and is presently a writer in residence at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. There is a lot going on in this book: Reese’s attempt to capture what he calls “the American Gospel,” which grew out of a response to the restrictive puritan beginnings of religion in America; sharing his love of American literature and its writers and finding spiritual direction in them; working through his father’s suicide and trying to make some spiritual sense of it; and a little touch of environmentalist tree hugging at the end of the book. But the reason I decided to read the book was that Reese, in the radio interview, said he no longer went to church. If the Christian church is declining, as the surveys increasingly tell us, we better find out the reasons our friends and neighbors are choosing spiritual pathways other than the church. Eric Reese’s story and faith journey did not disappoint.
In the introduction to the book, Reese begins with Leo Tolstoy and the inspiration Tolstoy received from the free spirits of American writers Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. Reese writes, “In The Kingdom of God is Within You, Tolstoy argued that one cannot believe in both the Sermon on the Mount and the Nicene Creed… In this sermon (following the Beatitudes), Jesus goes on to charge his crowd to love their enemies, turn the other cheek, give to those who beg, and avoid hypocritical judgments. By contrast, the Nicene Creed is solely an assertion of the divinity of Jesus…Tolstoy argued that either one accepts the Sermon’s rigorous demands for how we must act in this world, how we must treat others, or one chooses the Creed as a way of escaping from this world into another.”
Reese goes on to quote Tolstoy as writing, “The man who believes in salvation through faith in the redemption or sacraments cannot devote all his powers to realizing Christ’s moral teaching in his life.” What Reese says in his book is we have emphasized the divinity of Christ to the exclusion of the humanity of Jesus. We have placed personal salvation over our responsibility to love God and our neighbor – the greatest commandment as Jesus would say. We have concentrated our faith more on entering the Kingdom of God in heaven than we have building the Kingdom of God on earth.
First let me say, I don’t believe we must put such a strict dividing line between the divinity of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus – our salvation and the works of faith. As the Book of James reminds us, through our salvation (our oneness with God through Christ) flows the works of faith. One does not have to throw out the divinity of Jesus to follow the teachings of Jesus or visa versa. But Reese’s point is clear and important – as a person seeking spirituality outside of the church Reese is telling us, until I see the people of the church changing the world through the works demanded by Jesus, I will not believe of your salvation (oneness with Him) in His name. Jesus warned us of being like the hypocritical Pharisee praying in the marketplace. (Luke 18:9-14) He encouraged us to show God’s love through our lives more than anyone else. (Matthew 5:43-48) Jesus knew that was the way into the hearts of those seeking something more in their lives.
We must listen to the Eric Reeses of the world. They are telling us why they have not found the church to be a legitimate pathway to the spirit of God. They are telling us there is an incongruity in what we say and what we do and they don’t want any part of it. John reminds us of that incongruity, “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen” (I John 4:20). So put your acts of faith where your religious mouth is. Never ask someone if they are saved before you show them your oneness with God in the way you live.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Remembering Pete Messick
On October 24 last year, we lost a cherished member of our church and the drummer in the Celebration Band, Pete Messick. Pete’s face became an iconic presence in our worship services. He found so much joy in playing songs that praised the Lord that his face became radiant when he played. I cannot tell you how many times people would comment to me on the pleasure they received in their worship watching Pete play. As I said in the eulogy at his memorial service, Pete was our Little Drummer Boy.
After some interesting years on the rock and jazz music circuit, Pete began to grow in his relationship with God. Through their professional careers, Pete and Buddy Mattei, director of our music ministries, became friends. On the way to and from gigs, Buddy and Pete would talk about the church in McKinney Buddy was involved in. Soon Pete and his wife, Joanne, found themselves in worship at Stonebridge UMC. After one of the services, Pete told Buddy that he liked the music, but the band could use a drummer. From that point on Pete became our drummer boy. If you remember the classic Christmas story, a little boy was trying to find a way to give a gift to the new born Son of God. He finally and reluctantly decided to play a song for him on his drum. This act pleased the Lord more than any other gift. Pete’s playing on Sunday mornings pleased the Lord and Pete came to understand it as his gift to God. That was the radiance you saw on his face.
To honor Pete’s memory, we are installing a prayer labyrinth on the property at the church. The labyrinth came from Greek mythology and found its place in Christianity in medieval times. It symbolizes our pathway to God. It has a clearly defined center which represents our union with God and has one entrance which is to remind us of our birth and baptism. Labyrinths are symbolic pilgrimages where we focus on our growing relationship with God. Its significance faded over time, but its spiritual use has recently experienced a rebirth. Today, you can find labyrinths in churches and parks. We have a portable indoor labyrinth we use for special occasions in the life of our church.
The Pete Messick labyrinth will go on the east side of the church building where the portable buildings used to stand. It has been approved by the church Trustees and it will be paid for from memorial gifts given in honor of Pete. If you would like to honor Pete and make this wonderful addition to our church a reality, make your checks payable to the church with Pete’s name on the memo line. You will also be able to give electronically through the Secure Give kiosk located at the information desk outside Celebration Hall or through our web site by clicking here.
This Sunday, a picture of the labyrinth will be in the church hallway close to the church office. As you imagine people walking the labyrinth, think of Pete’s face as he played. I have no doubt that radiant face will be looking down on us in joy.
After some interesting years on the rock and jazz music circuit, Pete began to grow in his relationship with God. Through their professional careers, Pete and Buddy Mattei, director of our music ministries, became friends. On the way to and from gigs, Buddy and Pete would talk about the church in McKinney Buddy was involved in. Soon Pete and his wife, Joanne, found themselves in worship at Stonebridge UMC. After one of the services, Pete told Buddy that he liked the music, but the band could use a drummer. From that point on Pete became our drummer boy. If you remember the classic Christmas story, a little boy was trying to find a way to give a gift to the new born Son of God. He finally and reluctantly decided to play a song for him on his drum. This act pleased the Lord more than any other gift. Pete’s playing on Sunday mornings pleased the Lord and Pete came to understand it as his gift to God. That was the radiance you saw on his face.
To honor Pete’s memory, we are installing a prayer labyrinth on the property at the church. The labyrinth came from Greek mythology and found its place in Christianity in medieval times. It symbolizes our pathway to God. It has a clearly defined center which represents our union with God and has one entrance which is to remind us of our birth and baptism. Labyrinths are symbolic pilgrimages where we focus on our growing relationship with God. Its significance faded over time, but its spiritual use has recently experienced a rebirth. Today, you can find labyrinths in churches and parks. We have a portable indoor labyrinth we use for special occasions in the life of our church.
The Pete Messick labyrinth will go on the east side of the church building where the portable buildings used to stand. It has been approved by the church Trustees and it will be paid for from memorial gifts given in honor of Pete. If you would like to honor Pete and make this wonderful addition to our church a reality, make your checks payable to the church with Pete’s name on the memo line. You will also be able to give electronically through the Secure Give kiosk located at the information desk outside Celebration Hall or through our web site by clicking here.
This Sunday, a picture of the labyrinth will be in the church hallway close to the church office. As you imagine people walking the labyrinth, think of Pete’s face as he played. I have no doubt that radiant face will be looking down on us in joy.
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Wonderful Cross
We sing the song in church every once in a while and I have to admit I cringe a little when we do. “O the wonderful cross…” we sing - such a melodic tune for such a violent and tragic image. My guess is Jesus wasn’t singing about the wonderful cross while he was dying on it and for us to sweetly sing of how wonderful it was negates the power of Jesus’ willingness to die for what he believed. It is to go from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday without remembering the hurt and pain of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
To think of the cross as wonderful can confuse our spiritual thinking. It can cause us to think maybe God sent Jesus to die on the cross. I believe God sent Jesus with the great hope we would listen to Him, follow Him and build the kingdom God put into His heart and mind. Jesus was the continuation of the covenant relationship God had whispered in the ear of Abraham, engraved on stone tablets for Moses and wrote on Jeremiah’s heart. It was God’s promise to always be our God and God’s demand for us to always be His people. The people were never fully able to remain loyal to the covenant relationship, so God sent Jesus to be a living, breathing connection to Him and His desires.
The cross came not by God’s direction, but because of the inability of those listening to Jesus to hear the word of God through him. His message threatened them and the religion with which they had become comfortable. It should remind us that crosses are never wonderful and are not the way God chooses to work with His people. God does not use crosses to test us or to get back at us for something we have done. Thinking this way distances us from the One who is always pursuing us that we might know His love. Crosses come not from God, but out of our shallowness, selfishness and sinfulness. They come out of our inability to see the vision of God for us.
The good news comes when God responds to the faithlessness and cruelty of the cross with the resurrection. God gives the life the world took from Jesus back to Jesus. And God continues to do so for us today. God still loves us through the hurts and difficulties of life; not making the crosses we bear wonderful, but manageable. The love of God helps us to live through the crosses to a new life – and not just a new life in the world to come, but a new life in the world we live in now.
You may have noticed crosses in Protestant churches and Catholic churches look different from one another. In Catholic churches Jesus is on the cross, while in Protestant churches the cross is empty. One recognizes the suffering of Jesus while the other emphasizes the resurrection. We should probably have examples of both in our churches, because both concepts are important for our faith. As the song says, “O the wonderful cross bids me come and die and find that I may truly live.” I hope the next time we sing these words, you will cringe a little with me.
To think of the cross as wonderful can confuse our spiritual thinking. It can cause us to think maybe God sent Jesus to die on the cross. I believe God sent Jesus with the great hope we would listen to Him, follow Him and build the kingdom God put into His heart and mind. Jesus was the continuation of the covenant relationship God had whispered in the ear of Abraham, engraved on stone tablets for Moses and wrote on Jeremiah’s heart. It was God’s promise to always be our God and God’s demand for us to always be His people. The people were never fully able to remain loyal to the covenant relationship, so God sent Jesus to be a living, breathing connection to Him and His desires.
The cross came not by God’s direction, but because of the inability of those listening to Jesus to hear the word of God through him. His message threatened them and the religion with which they had become comfortable. It should remind us that crosses are never wonderful and are not the way God chooses to work with His people. God does not use crosses to test us or to get back at us for something we have done. Thinking this way distances us from the One who is always pursuing us that we might know His love. Crosses come not from God, but out of our shallowness, selfishness and sinfulness. They come out of our inability to see the vision of God for us.
The good news comes when God responds to the faithlessness and cruelty of the cross with the resurrection. God gives the life the world took from Jesus back to Jesus. And God continues to do so for us today. God still loves us through the hurts and difficulties of life; not making the crosses we bear wonderful, but manageable. The love of God helps us to live through the crosses to a new life – and not just a new life in the world to come, but a new life in the world we live in now.
You may have noticed crosses in Protestant churches and Catholic churches look different from one another. In Catholic churches Jesus is on the cross, while in Protestant churches the cross is empty. One recognizes the suffering of Jesus while the other emphasizes the resurrection. We should probably have examples of both in our churches, because both concepts are important for our faith. As the song says, “O the wonderful cross bids me come and die and find that I may truly live.” I hope the next time we sing these words, you will cringe a little with me.
Monday, June 22, 2009
What is a Worship Leader?
In our 2008-2012 Strategic Plan, seven priority areas are identified to give us direction as we continue to seek to “change our community and world through growing relationships with Jesus Christ.” The second of those priorities is to expand on the excellence of our worship services to include a focus on passion in our worship. A team of our members was put together to think through what that might mean for us as a church.
The first consideration that came from that team was to hire a worship leader. The idea came from the book Go Big by Bill Easum and Bil Cornelius. This was the book we used to help challenge us as a congregation into our next stages of growth. In the chapter on “Staffing the Church for Explosive Growth”, the authors emphatically recommend hiring a worship leader. In fact, they say that the most important staff person following the lead pastor is the worship leader. In our setting here at Stonebridge UMC a worship leader would work with the other music and worship staff to design worship, help in choral song selection, conduct a growing number of music groups and lead in the presentation of music, particularly in the Celebration Services. In a sense, this person is to make sure the congregation is brought into a spiritual mood of worship as we begin our service. The worship leader is to help us reach our potential in our praise of God. He or she is to enable us in glorifying God.
When Don Smith started this church, he recognized the importance of music and made some of the first hires of the church our music leadership. When we started The Bridge, we knew the success of that service would revolve around the music; so we hired D-MAC to team up with Pastor Terri and The Bridge was off and running. Now, the next step for the Celebration services is to enhance the dynamic music Stonebridge has become famous for by adding a worship leader to our staff. Our Staff Parish Team has already written a job description for the position of worship leader and has approved posting the position to gather candidates for the job.
You are going to get a taste of what that might look like in Celebration Hall on Sundays, June 28, July 5, and July 12. Our very own Tracy Lastrapes will play the role of worship leader in those services to, as Emeril Lagassi would say, “crank it up another notch.” This does not mean the Celebration Service will become more Bridge-like. We want each of our services to be as distinct as always. It also does not mean it will be louder or more contemporary in style. What it does mean is that our worship will be more passionate; with the singing more robust, infectious and praiseful.
Make sure you are in church these Sundays to see the beginnings of our next steps of growth in the name of Christ.
The first consideration that came from that team was to hire a worship leader. The idea came from the book Go Big by Bill Easum and Bil Cornelius. This was the book we used to help challenge us as a congregation into our next stages of growth. In the chapter on “Staffing the Church for Explosive Growth”, the authors emphatically recommend hiring a worship leader. In fact, they say that the most important staff person following the lead pastor is the worship leader. In our setting here at Stonebridge UMC a worship leader would work with the other music and worship staff to design worship, help in choral song selection, conduct a growing number of music groups and lead in the presentation of music, particularly in the Celebration Services. In a sense, this person is to make sure the congregation is brought into a spiritual mood of worship as we begin our service. The worship leader is to help us reach our potential in our praise of God. He or she is to enable us in glorifying God.
When Don Smith started this church, he recognized the importance of music and made some of the first hires of the church our music leadership. When we started The Bridge, we knew the success of that service would revolve around the music; so we hired D-MAC to team up with Pastor Terri and The Bridge was off and running. Now, the next step for the Celebration services is to enhance the dynamic music Stonebridge has become famous for by adding a worship leader to our staff. Our Staff Parish Team has already written a job description for the position of worship leader and has approved posting the position to gather candidates for the job.
You are going to get a taste of what that might look like in Celebration Hall on Sundays, June 28, July 5, and July 12. Our very own Tracy Lastrapes will play the role of worship leader in those services to, as Emeril Lagassi would say, “crank it up another notch.” This does not mean the Celebration Service will become more Bridge-like. We want each of our services to be as distinct as always. It also does not mean it will be louder or more contemporary in style. What it does mean is that our worship will be more passionate; with the singing more robust, infectious and praiseful.
Make sure you are in church these Sundays to see the beginnings of our next steps of growth in the name of Christ.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Wear Your Shirt and Share Your Faith
A few weeks ago, our Coordinator of Adult Ministries, Suzy Cass, was presenting a devotional in which she used a video clip from a sermon by Adam Hamilton, Senior Pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. In the sermon Adam told a story about a meeting he had with his youth pastor, Dan. It was one of those weeks when time had become tight and their regular staff meeting had been cancelled, so Adam and Dan, both being night owls, decided to meet on their common agendas at a pub down the street from the church at 10pm.
They were seated at a table and talked church matters and enjoyed soft drinks and appetizers. Adam was wearing a sweatshirt with the church’s logo on it which evidently drew a few people to their table. The first was a drunken woman from the table next to them. She asked with slurred speech, “Do you guys go to that church?” They answered “yes”. Then she asked, “Why did God kill my sister?” Adam promised the congregation listening to his sermon that he would be talking about that in his sermon the next Sunday. A while later the waitress stopped by their table and asked, referring to his sweatshirt, “Is that the church on…” and gave the address. They said “yes”. And she asked, “Do you like that church.” Sheepishly, Adam answered, “Yeah, I like it a lot.” Then the woman confessed, “My life isn’t going so well. I just recently got divorced and I have a three year old child. I’ve been a pagan witch for the last eight years and that’s not really working for me. I just feel like I need something else in my life. Do you think that church you go to would let a divorced, single mother who works in a bar and has a been pagan witch come to church?” Adam responded, “I can tell you without hesitation the people of that church would welcome you.” She came the next Sunday – a little surprised to see him preaching in his robe – but that was the beginning of her journey.
As most of you know, we have been selling shirts with our church name on them. You can buy a “golf shirt”, a “camp shirt”, a “t-shirt” or even a shirt with rhinestones on it, but, whatever shirt you buy, I hope you understand the purpose of these shirts. It is not to be a fashion statement (even though I am sure you will look really good in one), but rather an opportunity to share your faith and invite people to church. For most of us, the most difficult part of our Church + 3 commitment is to share our faith. It does not seem to come naturally. Certainly we have had few good role models to show us appropriate and helpful ways to go about it and, we would probably have to admit, we are not always comfortable articulating what we believe. But wearing a shirt with our church name on it gives you a simple way to invite someone to church. First, they will come to you to ask their questions; you don’t have to feel like you are “assaulting” someone against their will. Secondly, you don’t have to be a theologian to invite someone to church.
I hope you decide to wear a shirt as a commitment to your discipleship and a sign of your willingness to share your faith and church with others. You might just find yourself telling a story about how you helped someone start their journey of faith. To order a shirt, contact Suzy Cass at suzy@mysumc.org or call 972-529-5601 x332.
They were seated at a table and talked church matters and enjoyed soft drinks and appetizers. Adam was wearing a sweatshirt with the church’s logo on it which evidently drew a few people to their table. The first was a drunken woman from the table next to them. She asked with slurred speech, “Do you guys go to that church?” They answered “yes”. Then she asked, “Why did God kill my sister?” Adam promised the congregation listening to his sermon that he would be talking about that in his sermon the next Sunday. A while later the waitress stopped by their table and asked, referring to his sweatshirt, “Is that the church on…” and gave the address. They said “yes”. And she asked, “Do you like that church.” Sheepishly, Adam answered, “Yeah, I like it a lot.” Then the woman confessed, “My life isn’t going so well. I just recently got divorced and I have a three year old child. I’ve been a pagan witch for the last eight years and that’s not really working for me. I just feel like I need something else in my life. Do you think that church you go to would let a divorced, single mother who works in a bar and has a been pagan witch come to church?” Adam responded, “I can tell you without hesitation the people of that church would welcome you.” She came the next Sunday – a little surprised to see him preaching in his robe – but that was the beginning of her journey.
As most of you know, we have been selling shirts with our church name on them. You can buy a “golf shirt”, a “camp shirt”, a “t-shirt” or even a shirt with rhinestones on it, but, whatever shirt you buy, I hope you understand the purpose of these shirts. It is not to be a fashion statement (even though I am sure you will look really good in one), but rather an opportunity to share your faith and invite people to church. For most of us, the most difficult part of our Church + 3 commitment is to share our faith. It does not seem to come naturally. Certainly we have had few good role models to show us appropriate and helpful ways to go about it and, we would probably have to admit, we are not always comfortable articulating what we believe. But wearing a shirt with our church name on it gives you a simple way to invite someone to church. First, they will come to you to ask their questions; you don’t have to feel like you are “assaulting” someone against their will. Secondly, you don’t have to be a theologian to invite someone to church.
I hope you decide to wear a shirt as a commitment to your discipleship and a sign of your willingness to share your faith and church with others. You might just find yourself telling a story about how you helped someone start their journey of faith. To order a shirt, contact Suzy Cass at suzy@mysumc.org or call 972-529-5601 x332.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Super God
“It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” No, it’s just some guy in blue tights and a cape. The other night, nothing was on television (Can you imagine, hundreds of channels and nothing to watch?), and I found myself watching the movie Hollywoodland. It is the story of the mysterious death of George Reeves, the original TV Superman, and I’ll have to say the movie took a little of the “super” out of the man. To tell you the truth, even though I grew up loving the show, I never really thought he looked all that “super.” The suit showed a little more of his body shape than it should have. It was hard to imagine him being “faster than a speeding bullet” or “more powerful than a locomotive” or able to leap much more than a foot off the ground.
My favorite part of the show was when he would demonstrate his many powers to the bad guys; bullets bouncing off of his chest, bending steel with his bare hands, using his x-ray vision to overcome a criminal and save the day. Now that was television! I hated those shows where he was weakened by kryptonite or unable to see through lead. Even though I knew he would win by the end of the show, I didn’t like it when he was vulnerable. Seeing the “man of steel” exposed as a man with a number of human frailties in Hollywoodland reminded me of how alluring the fantasy of invincibility is.
Throughout history, we have often made our gods, super gods. Huge images of the gods of Egypt, Babylon and Mesopotamia were erected to show the immense power of that god; often to instill fear and servitude. The God of the Old and New Testaments was not such a God. Yes, we proclaim our God to be omnipotent (all powerful) and believe God to be the creator of all that is, but the more we learned about the God Yahweh, the more we realized He was never an aloof God. God connected to us by making a covenant with us, became vulnerable in sending us his Son and the only image God ever wanted erected to Him is us. Too often we have tried to make God who we have wanted Him to be, rather than who God has revealed Himself to be. We would rather think of God being responsible for everything than realizing God calls us into a partnership to be responsible with Him. We want God to right the wrongs, overcome the bad and defeat evil at very turn. We want our enemies to be God’s enemies. We want God to rescue us from anything bad that might happen to us, rather than understand that God walks with us through the valleys of life. So, we have blamed God for not fixing something in our lives, blinding us from our responsibility as His partners and seeing His presence loving us through it.
We are created in the image of vulnerability rather than power. It is in giving ourselves to another person that brings the wholeness of humanity, not wielding our power over them. As I think back on it, Superman became a model for little boys. He was the epitome of masculinity. He was powerful, fearless and invincible. To be manly growing up in the 50’s meant to show your muscles, never cry or show that you were hurt and never take a chance on showing your feelings in front of someone else. Most of us took seriously those Charles Atlas ads on the back covers of comic books that said to be a man meant never to let anyone kick sand in your face and get away with it. I am afraid not much has changed.
The Bible calls us to remember that we, not some enormous idol, are the images of God in the world today. God expects us to bring the kingdom of which Jesus taught into reality. It might be fun to imagine there is a being out there fighting “the never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way”, but what makes God “super” is the love that comes out of being vulnerable.
My favorite part of the show was when he would demonstrate his many powers to the bad guys; bullets bouncing off of his chest, bending steel with his bare hands, using his x-ray vision to overcome a criminal and save the day. Now that was television! I hated those shows where he was weakened by kryptonite or unable to see through lead. Even though I knew he would win by the end of the show, I didn’t like it when he was vulnerable. Seeing the “man of steel” exposed as a man with a number of human frailties in Hollywoodland reminded me of how alluring the fantasy of invincibility is.
Throughout history, we have often made our gods, super gods. Huge images of the gods of Egypt, Babylon and Mesopotamia were erected to show the immense power of that god; often to instill fear and servitude. The God of the Old and New Testaments was not such a God. Yes, we proclaim our God to be omnipotent (all powerful) and believe God to be the creator of all that is, but the more we learned about the God Yahweh, the more we realized He was never an aloof God. God connected to us by making a covenant with us, became vulnerable in sending us his Son and the only image God ever wanted erected to Him is us. Too often we have tried to make God who we have wanted Him to be, rather than who God has revealed Himself to be. We would rather think of God being responsible for everything than realizing God calls us into a partnership to be responsible with Him. We want God to right the wrongs, overcome the bad and defeat evil at very turn. We want our enemies to be God’s enemies. We want God to rescue us from anything bad that might happen to us, rather than understand that God walks with us through the valleys of life. So, we have blamed God for not fixing something in our lives, blinding us from our responsibility as His partners and seeing His presence loving us through it.
We are created in the image of vulnerability rather than power. It is in giving ourselves to another person that brings the wholeness of humanity, not wielding our power over them. As I think back on it, Superman became a model for little boys. He was the epitome of masculinity. He was powerful, fearless and invincible. To be manly growing up in the 50’s meant to show your muscles, never cry or show that you were hurt and never take a chance on showing your feelings in front of someone else. Most of us took seriously those Charles Atlas ads on the back covers of comic books that said to be a man meant never to let anyone kick sand in your face and get away with it. I am afraid not much has changed.
The Bible calls us to remember that we, not some enormous idol, are the images of God in the world today. God expects us to bring the kingdom of which Jesus taught into reality. It might be fun to imagine there is a being out there fighting “the never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way”, but what makes God “super” is the love that comes out of being vulnerable.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Gift of Touch
In our society, the verb “to touch” has a variety of meanings. Of course, there is the obvious and usual use of the word of bodily contact, but its definition has become much broader. If you have the knack for something, we say you have the right touch. If you want just a small amount of something, you might ask for just a touch of it. The telephone company picked up on the concept of keeping in touch as communication with their “reach out and touch someone” campaign. Is it any wonder why English is so hard to master as a second language?
In the Bible, touching is understood to be a means of healing. Jesus touched the man with a withered hand or the eyes of a blind beggar or an “untouchable” leper and they were healed. Even when an outcast woman reaches out and touches the hem of Jesus’ garment she experiences the power of his healing presence. The Bible teaches us of the healing power of touch and I believe that power is still available to us today.
Robert Raines in his classic book Creative Brooding writes of a friend who had lived alone for a long time. His friend told him he suffered from “skin hunger.” As Raines explains, “The hunger to be held, cradled, hugged, caressed, touched is human and divine.” God still uses human touch to heal His children today.
I had lunch with a friend of mine who works with chemically dependent people. He told me that people susceptible to addiction often come from families where touching is not a part of the family dynamic. That is why my friend ends each of his group sessions with the participants hugging the person to their left and right. It is a part of the healing process. It heals skin hunger.
When my son Aaron was little, he liked me to scratch his back. He would put his head in my lap and I would run my fingers over his shirt. He would stop me and say, “No, Daddy, scratch my real back.” He was instructing me to put my hand underneath his shirt so my fingertips could touch his skin. He had a “touch” of skin hunger he needed healed. God’s creative presence was with us through each of those moments.
When I went to Europe during my college years, we spent a week in Italy. Our tour guide was a short dynamo of an Italian woman named Ada. She had had a lifelong love affair with Michelangelo and she shared that passion with us. She showed us how the master had the unique ability to contrast life with lifelessness in stone and with paint. I remember standing next to her in St. Peter’s Cathedral as we looked at Michelangelo’s Pieta. Jesus’ lifeless body draped over the lap of his mother, Mary, whose body was alive with grief and pain. In the Sistine Chapel, looking up at his portrayal of creation at the moment when God’s hand, energized with the power of life, reaches to touch the lifeless hand of Adam. In both of these works of art, I found myself with a deep anticipation of life; the new life of resurrection that would touch both Jesus and Mary and the gift of life that was about to enliven Adam from the powerful hand of God. Touch brings life.
Touch still has healing power. Certainly, touch has been used by human beings to destroy rather than to bring life, but when we remember its healing power, our touch can bring a hope long forgotten. Share God’s healing touch with those around you and watch them come to life right before your eyes.
In the Bible, touching is understood to be a means of healing. Jesus touched the man with a withered hand or the eyes of a blind beggar or an “untouchable” leper and they were healed. Even when an outcast woman reaches out and touches the hem of Jesus’ garment she experiences the power of his healing presence. The Bible teaches us of the healing power of touch and I believe that power is still available to us today.
Robert Raines in his classic book Creative Brooding writes of a friend who had lived alone for a long time. His friend told him he suffered from “skin hunger.” As Raines explains, “The hunger to be held, cradled, hugged, caressed, touched is human and divine.” God still uses human touch to heal His children today.
I had lunch with a friend of mine who works with chemically dependent people. He told me that people susceptible to addiction often come from families where touching is not a part of the family dynamic. That is why my friend ends each of his group sessions with the participants hugging the person to their left and right. It is a part of the healing process. It heals skin hunger.
When my son Aaron was little, he liked me to scratch his back. He would put his head in my lap and I would run my fingers over his shirt. He would stop me and say, “No, Daddy, scratch my real back.” He was instructing me to put my hand underneath his shirt so my fingertips could touch his skin. He had a “touch” of skin hunger he needed healed. God’s creative presence was with us through each of those moments.
When I went to Europe during my college years, we spent a week in Italy. Our tour guide was a short dynamo of an Italian woman named Ada. She had had a lifelong love affair with Michelangelo and she shared that passion with us. She showed us how the master had the unique ability to contrast life with lifelessness in stone and with paint. I remember standing next to her in St. Peter’s Cathedral as we looked at Michelangelo’s Pieta. Jesus’ lifeless body draped over the lap of his mother, Mary, whose body was alive with grief and pain. In the Sistine Chapel, looking up at his portrayal of creation at the moment when God’s hand, energized with the power of life, reaches to touch the lifeless hand of Adam. In both of these works of art, I found myself with a deep anticipation of life; the new life of resurrection that would touch both Jesus and Mary and the gift of life that was about to enliven Adam from the powerful hand of God. Touch brings life.
Touch still has healing power. Certainly, touch has been used by human beings to destroy rather than to bring life, but when we remember its healing power, our touch can bring a hope long forgotten. Share God’s healing touch with those around you and watch them come to life right before your eyes.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Accept the Challenge
When I became the pastor of this church six years ago, I asked several church members what they hoped for the church in the years to come. Many said they wanted this church to be a mission-led church. By that they meant that they wanted the life, the work, the money of this church to revolve around our missions ministries. I could not agree with them more.
That is why in our last two strategic plans missions has been one of our top priorities. I have to say, we are not there yet, but because of the work of many of our lay people, we are well on our way to making that a reality. What will make it happen is you - each of you - taking the challenge of being in mission through the work of this church.
The past few weeks, several of our church family members have gone on mission trips sponsored by our church. One group went to drill a water well in a poor community in Nicaragua and the other went to build a house in the desert of Juarez, Mexico. I asked some of them to share their trips with you through this email. Three things rang out loud and clear from their responses:
1. Mission is about relationships.
Skip Hirvela, who led the trip to Nicaragua, said the smiles of the people will be what will stick with him for a long time.
Alex Carter, on the same trip, said, “It was amazing to watch all the children play in the flowing water (from the well). It reminded me of when I was a kid and played with my neighborhood friends in our sprinklers.”
Going on a mission trip reminds us that, in all the ways we try to divide ourselves from one another, by borders, language and/or culture, we learn that as Alex said, “There are many more similarities than there are differences between people in different locations.” It is in these relationships that peace will come to the world. Empathy that comes from connecting yourself to someone else, like Alex seeing himself in the children playing in the water, is what builds love and the Kingdom of God.
2. God calls us to be in mission – even in places that are difficult.
Trevor Castilla, leader of the Juarez trip, said, “During the planning of this trip and up to the time we departed the church parking lot, I felt that it was an uphill battle. We started with 20 people interested in going. The numbers went south as the information about the drug cartels started spreading. Then we get news about the swine flu! We get (our cars) loaded in the church parking lot to go to the airport, and the car battery is dead. Is someone trying to tell me something and I’m just too slow to pick up on it? As we get settled in (at Proyecto Abrigo in Juarez) and listen to Jose Luis talk about the challenges in the area, I was reminded why we were persistent in making this trip happen.” Trevor goes on to say, “If you are looking for excuses not to go on a mission trip, you’ll find them every time.”
I have found there is always a force trying to stop love from happening. I asked Skip and Trevor, knowing the instability of the countries they were going to, if they thought the church made the right decision to sponsor the trips?
Skip said, “Absolutely. At no time did I feel uncomfortable or threatened. and I even had my daughter, Carly, with me! Pappa bear is very protective of his young!”
Trevor also talked about the youngest person on their trip. “During our final day, Blake Burton (10) wasn’t ready to go home and wanted to stay longer. He didn’t miss his worldly possessions, toys, games and comforts in McKinney, but saw first hand the impact that a few people can make on a family.”
How amazing it is when love takes us over, especially against the greatest odds.
3. You have been challenged.
Skip said, “After four years and four trips, each one is a blessing. I put these trips right behind the birth of my children; The pure wonder and joy of God’s miracles. You have to go through it to really understand it. God wants us to give. He returns so much more than you give, especially when it is so far from home and your comfort zone. Everyone should take that step of faith. He will not let you down.”
And from Trevor, “Accept the challenge and look for reasons to share your faith. Stop watching from the sideline and get in the game. Have faith. Do acts of kindness for someone else. James 2:26: ‘As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.’”
I could not have said it better. I hope you will thank these guys for sharing their trips with us and ask them how you can get involved in the mission work here at Stonebridge United Methodist Church.
Grace and peace,
John Mollet
That is why in our last two strategic plans missions has been one of our top priorities. I have to say, we are not there yet, but because of the work of many of our lay people, we are well on our way to making that a reality. What will make it happen is you - each of you - taking the challenge of being in mission through the work of this church.
The past few weeks, several of our church family members have gone on mission trips sponsored by our church. One group went to drill a water well in a poor community in Nicaragua and the other went to build a house in the desert of Juarez, Mexico. I asked some of them to share their trips with you through this email. Three things rang out loud and clear from their responses:
1. Mission is about relationships.
Skip Hirvela, who led the trip to Nicaragua, said the smiles of the people will be what will stick with him for a long time.
Alex Carter, on the same trip, said, “It was amazing to watch all the children play in the flowing water (from the well). It reminded me of when I was a kid and played with my neighborhood friends in our sprinklers.”
Going on a mission trip reminds us that, in all the ways we try to divide ourselves from one another, by borders, language and/or culture, we learn that as Alex said, “There are many more similarities than there are differences between people in different locations.” It is in these relationships that peace will come to the world. Empathy that comes from connecting yourself to someone else, like Alex seeing himself in the children playing in the water, is what builds love and the Kingdom of God.
2. God calls us to be in mission – even in places that are difficult.
Trevor Castilla, leader of the Juarez trip, said, “During the planning of this trip and up to the time we departed the church parking lot, I felt that it was an uphill battle. We started with 20 people interested in going. The numbers went south as the information about the drug cartels started spreading. Then we get news about the swine flu! We get (our cars) loaded in the church parking lot to go to the airport, and the car battery is dead. Is someone trying to tell me something and I’m just too slow to pick up on it? As we get settled in (at Proyecto Abrigo in Juarez) and listen to Jose Luis talk about the challenges in the area, I was reminded why we were persistent in making this trip happen.” Trevor goes on to say, “If you are looking for excuses not to go on a mission trip, you’ll find them every time.”
I have found there is always a force trying to stop love from happening. I asked Skip and Trevor, knowing the instability of the countries they were going to, if they thought the church made the right decision to sponsor the trips?
Skip said, “Absolutely. At no time did I feel uncomfortable or threatened. and I even had my daughter, Carly, with me! Pappa bear is very protective of his young!”
Trevor also talked about the youngest person on their trip. “During our final day, Blake Burton (10) wasn’t ready to go home and wanted to stay longer. He didn’t miss his worldly possessions, toys, games and comforts in McKinney, but saw first hand the impact that a few people can make on a family.”
How amazing it is when love takes us over, especially against the greatest odds.
3. You have been challenged.
Skip said, “After four years and four trips, each one is a blessing. I put these trips right behind the birth of my children; The pure wonder and joy of God’s miracles. You have to go through it to really understand it. God wants us to give. He returns so much more than you give, especially when it is so far from home and your comfort zone. Everyone should take that step of faith. He will not let you down.”
And from Trevor, “Accept the challenge and look for reasons to share your faith. Stop watching from the sideline and get in the game. Have faith. Do acts of kindness for someone else. James 2:26: ‘As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.’”
I could not have said it better. I hope you will thank these guys for sharing their trips with us and ask them how you can get involved in the mission work here at Stonebridge United Methodist Church.
Grace and peace,
John Mollet
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
His Eye Is On the Sparrow
Have you Googled your house yet? It’s kind of fun, watching the world become smaller on your computer screen until it zooms onto your house. Man, do I need to clean our pool! To tell you the truth, for a guy who grew up in the 60’s, it’s a little too Orwellian for me. You might remember George Orwell’s book, 1984, where everyone is under the constant surveillance of the authorities. They were reminded of the fact by the phrase, “Big Brother is watching you.”
Well it took us another 25 years, but it seems the thought that you could get lost in a crowd has become an antiquated anachronism. Of course, this technology has brought up all sorts of questions about privacy and the uses burglars and terrorists might find for it. You might have heard a few weeks ago about the people of a small British town confronting one of Google’s rolling roof-top mobile cameras as it started to photograph their neighborhood. I wondered what it was they were hiding, but apparently, it was more than just an irrational paranoia. Just a month before, an online magazine published a Google image of an inebriated man wearing fake antlers vomiting outside a pub. Another showed people entering an x-rated bookstore.
Of course, the message is clear; don’t do what you don’t want seen or known… and keep your pool clean, for heaven’s sake. As Jacquielynn Floyd said in her April 7, 2009 Dallas Morning News editorial that inspired this email, “At worst, it’s a privacy threat; at best, it’s an incentive for polite and responsible outdoor behavior. People wearing antlers and vomiting on the sidewalk need to know the world might be watching.”
It is a shame we are just now getting the message that we are being watched. In the twelfth chapter of Luke, Jesus is quoted as saying, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted.” (I’d like to see Google try to zoom in that close!) “Do not be afraid, you are more valuable than many sparrows.” This is the verse that inspired the old hymn, “His Eye Is On the Sparrow,” and as the song goes, “…and I know He watches me.” We are given these words as comfort and we should hold fast to them, but we must remember, we are not only more valuable than sparrows, we are held to more responsibility. God’s watchful eye has a discerning element to it as well as a comforting one. The verse just prior to these in Luke’s twelfth chapter reads, “Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.”
Maybe Google has just reminded us of a lesson we should have learned a long time ago. An authority much greater than “Big Brother” is watching you. Why don’t you join me in asking for God’s forgiveness and start cleaning out that messy pool.
Well it took us another 25 years, but it seems the thought that you could get lost in a crowd has become an antiquated anachronism. Of course, this technology has brought up all sorts of questions about privacy and the uses burglars and terrorists might find for it. You might have heard a few weeks ago about the people of a small British town confronting one of Google’s rolling roof-top mobile cameras as it started to photograph their neighborhood. I wondered what it was they were hiding, but apparently, it was more than just an irrational paranoia. Just a month before, an online magazine published a Google image of an inebriated man wearing fake antlers vomiting outside a pub. Another showed people entering an x-rated bookstore.
Of course, the message is clear; don’t do what you don’t want seen or known… and keep your pool clean, for heaven’s sake. As Jacquielynn Floyd said in her April 7, 2009 Dallas Morning News editorial that inspired this email, “At worst, it’s a privacy threat; at best, it’s an incentive for polite and responsible outdoor behavior. People wearing antlers and vomiting on the sidewalk need to know the world might be watching.”
It is a shame we are just now getting the message that we are being watched. In the twelfth chapter of Luke, Jesus is quoted as saying, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted.” (I’d like to see Google try to zoom in that close!) “Do not be afraid, you are more valuable than many sparrows.” This is the verse that inspired the old hymn, “His Eye Is On the Sparrow,” and as the song goes, “…and I know He watches me.” We are given these words as comfort and we should hold fast to them, but we must remember, we are not only more valuable than sparrows, we are held to more responsibility. God’s watchful eye has a discerning element to it as well as a comforting one. The verse just prior to these in Luke’s twelfth chapter reads, “Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.”
Maybe Google has just reminded us of a lesson we should have learned a long time ago. An authority much greater than “Big Brother” is watching you. Why don’t you join me in asking for God’s forgiveness and start cleaning out that messy pool.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Earned Trust
I was once given a plaque that stated, “In God we trust, all others pay cash.” In recent years, we have certainly been given enough reasons to question the trustworthiness of the people around us; people being cheated out of their life savings by an unscrupulous financial adviser, government officials not paying their income taxes, or uncovering the unethical, immoral and/or illegal actions of ministers. Do you ever feel like Diogenes the Cynic, wondering if you will ever find an honest person?
I often find myself questioning the motives of others. When the Ft. Worth ISD came out with their decision to close their schools in prevention of the Swine Flu, I immediately questioned their wisdom. When I hear the result of a court case I have been following, I wonder how a right-thinking jury of my peers could have possibly come to such a ridiculous conclusion. When I watch a person who has been cornered by a reporter and asked to justify a decision they made, I usually jump to the conclusion that they are either an idiot or a crook. Yet, when I stop and reflect, I realize I wasn’t in the meetings of the FWISD when they made their decision or in the courtroom to hear the testimony or the judge’s restrictions on the jury’s deliberations nor was I in the head of the person who was making a difficult decision. I am reminded of the child who asked his mother why all the idiots came out when she was driving. The truth is most people are not sitting around the room trying to make a bad decision. They are struggling with facts and parameters we have the luxury of not having to pay attention to in our questioning of their decision. How smart we can be when we question others from a comfortable distance.
I have learned a few things as I have scrutinized my uninformed questioning of the decisions of others. First, it is better to respond first in empathy rather than suspicion. Put yourself in the shoes of the person on the hot seat, and then ask yourself how it would feel to be put in the position of being responsible for making that decision. Also, ask yourself if you have the information needed to question the decision made. If not, then either get the information or, if you have no reason to disbelieve this person or group, give them the benefit of the doubt. You should never seek to build yourself up by tearing another down. Secondly, remember trust is the basis of all good relationships. Trust is earned and, once it is lost, it is difficult to regain. Commit yourself to being a person who can be trusted and find ways to show its benefits. The more we build trust with those around us, the more we create a good society and the further we grow the kingdom of God.
There are times people question the work of this church, a decision we have made or the way we have chosen to spend money. I can tell you, there is no place I trust more than this church, the leaders in it or the staff of it. The decisions that are made here are always made in the spirit of Christ. We are not perfect, but we never sit around the room wondering how we can make a bad or frivolous decision. I can promise you, every decision made here is made in prayer, seeking the guidance of God. You can trust this church, for it is in God we trust.
I often find myself questioning the motives of others. When the Ft. Worth ISD came out with their decision to close their schools in prevention of the Swine Flu, I immediately questioned their wisdom. When I hear the result of a court case I have been following, I wonder how a right-thinking jury of my peers could have possibly come to such a ridiculous conclusion. When I watch a person who has been cornered by a reporter and asked to justify a decision they made, I usually jump to the conclusion that they are either an idiot or a crook. Yet, when I stop and reflect, I realize I wasn’t in the meetings of the FWISD when they made their decision or in the courtroom to hear the testimony or the judge’s restrictions on the jury’s deliberations nor was I in the head of the person who was making a difficult decision. I am reminded of the child who asked his mother why all the idiots came out when she was driving. The truth is most people are not sitting around the room trying to make a bad decision. They are struggling with facts and parameters we have the luxury of not having to pay attention to in our questioning of their decision. How smart we can be when we question others from a comfortable distance.
I have learned a few things as I have scrutinized my uninformed questioning of the decisions of others. First, it is better to respond first in empathy rather than suspicion. Put yourself in the shoes of the person on the hot seat, and then ask yourself how it would feel to be put in the position of being responsible for making that decision. Also, ask yourself if you have the information needed to question the decision made. If not, then either get the information or, if you have no reason to disbelieve this person or group, give them the benefit of the doubt. You should never seek to build yourself up by tearing another down. Secondly, remember trust is the basis of all good relationships. Trust is earned and, once it is lost, it is difficult to regain. Commit yourself to being a person who can be trusted and find ways to show its benefits. The more we build trust with those around us, the more we create a good society and the further we grow the kingdom of God.
There are times people question the work of this church, a decision we have made or the way we have chosen to spend money. I can tell you, there is no place I trust more than this church, the leaders in it or the staff of it. The decisions that are made here are always made in the spirit of Christ. We are not perfect, but we never sit around the room wondering how we can make a bad or frivolous decision. I can promise you, every decision made here is made in prayer, seeking the guidance of God. You can trust this church, for it is in God we trust.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Nobody is Gone
Have you seen or heard about the billboards showing up on Metroplex highways with the message, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.” They were sponsored and funded by a group called Metroplex Atheists with the stated intent to help show Christians that atheists “don’t have horns and a tail.” Holly Yan, staff writer for The Dallas Morning News, wrote in an an article published on April 4 about the group's attempts to quell the stigma attached to atheists. I found the article interesting and helpful as we Christians empathically seek to share our faith with people who claim there is no God.
First, I found it interesting that there is a Baptist church in Grand Prairie, Summit Baptist Church, which was founded two years ago with part of its vision being it would “be open enough to listen to differing beliefs.” Yes, I did say it is a “Baptist” church. Not what you usually think of when you reflect on Baptist evangelistic fervor, but, following its vision, its co-founding pastor, Derward Richardson, invited Terry McDonald, the chairman of the Metroplex Atheists, to speak at his church. Again, yes, I said, “Baptist” church. About 75 people turned out for the Saturday night discussion and I am sure they are all the better for their participation.
As the great preacher, Harry Emerson Fosdick once said to a man who told him he didn’t believe in God, “Tell me about the God you don’t believe in, because I probably don’t believe in that god either.” The faithful, open, heart-felt discussions we have about the God/gods we do and don’t believe in only strengthen our faith. The article quoted an atheist who encouraged his Christian daughter, “always question everything.” I could not agree more. As I like to say, we should never be required to check our brains at the door of the church and, if you are ever asked to do so, run.
Secondly, I was interested to read the statement made at the meeting by Terry McDonald, who was a devout Catholic, going to Catholic schools and being on his parish council, yet rejected his faith in his thirties “when”, as he said, “I looked for God, he wasn’t there.” That is why open discussion and the ability to see the humanity in someone who thinks differently than we do is so important. We can hear in their voice the same cry we have uttered, “O God, where are you?” (If you have forgotten, read Psalm 13.) To see ourselves in the face of someone we might once have thought of as our enemy, is our first step in loving them as Christ commanded. It is a wonderful opportunity to share with them the God we have found. I am reminded of Shel Silverstein’s poem entitled, "Nobody”:
Nobody loves me,
Nobody cares.
Nobody picks me peaches and pears.
Nobody offers me candy and Cokes,
Nobody listens and laughs at my jokes.
Nobody helps when I get in a fight.
Nobody does all my homework at night.
Nobody misses me,
Nobody cries,
Nobody thinks I’m a wonderful guy.
So if you ask me who’s my best friend, in a whiz,
I’ll stand up and tell you that Nobody is.
But yesterday night I got quite a scare,
I woke and Nobody just wasn’t there.
I called out and reached out for Nobody’s hand,
In the darkness where Nobody usually stands.
Then I poked through the house, in each cranny and nook,
But I found somebody each place that I looked.
I searched till I’m tired, and now with the dawn,
There’s no doubt about it –
Nobody’s gone.
My prayer is that Mr. McDonald will one day discover that Nobody is gone. And he will find again somebody wherever he looks – maybe even God in your face or in mine. Remember, Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, “…if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5:46-47). As the old song says, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”
First, I found it interesting that there is a Baptist church in Grand Prairie, Summit Baptist Church, which was founded two years ago with part of its vision being it would “be open enough to listen to differing beliefs.” Yes, I did say it is a “Baptist” church. Not what you usually think of when you reflect on Baptist evangelistic fervor, but, following its vision, its co-founding pastor, Derward Richardson, invited Terry McDonald, the chairman of the Metroplex Atheists, to speak at his church. Again, yes, I said, “Baptist” church. About 75 people turned out for the Saturday night discussion and I am sure they are all the better for their participation.
As the great preacher, Harry Emerson Fosdick once said to a man who told him he didn’t believe in God, “Tell me about the God you don’t believe in, because I probably don’t believe in that god either.” The faithful, open, heart-felt discussions we have about the God/gods we do and don’t believe in only strengthen our faith. The article quoted an atheist who encouraged his Christian daughter, “always question everything.” I could not agree more. As I like to say, we should never be required to check our brains at the door of the church and, if you are ever asked to do so, run.
Secondly, I was interested to read the statement made at the meeting by Terry McDonald, who was a devout Catholic, going to Catholic schools and being on his parish council, yet rejected his faith in his thirties “when”, as he said, “I looked for God, he wasn’t there.” That is why open discussion and the ability to see the humanity in someone who thinks differently than we do is so important. We can hear in their voice the same cry we have uttered, “O God, where are you?” (If you have forgotten, read Psalm 13.) To see ourselves in the face of someone we might once have thought of as our enemy, is our first step in loving them as Christ commanded. It is a wonderful opportunity to share with them the God we have found. I am reminded of Shel Silverstein’s poem entitled, "Nobody”:
Nobody loves me,
Nobody cares.
Nobody picks me peaches and pears.
Nobody offers me candy and Cokes,
Nobody listens and laughs at my jokes.
Nobody helps when I get in a fight.
Nobody does all my homework at night.
Nobody misses me,
Nobody cries,
Nobody thinks I’m a wonderful guy.
So if you ask me who’s my best friend, in a whiz,
I’ll stand up and tell you that Nobody is.
But yesterday night I got quite a scare,
I woke and Nobody just wasn’t there.
I called out and reached out for Nobody’s hand,
In the darkness where Nobody usually stands.
Then I poked through the house, in each cranny and nook,
But I found somebody each place that I looked.
I searched till I’m tired, and now with the dawn,
There’s no doubt about it –
Nobody’s gone.
My prayer is that Mr. McDonald will one day discover that Nobody is gone. And he will find again somebody wherever he looks – maybe even God in your face or in mine. Remember, Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, “…if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5:46-47). As the old song says, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Easter is a season, not just a day.
The other day I attended a meeting that was initiated with a prayer. In the prayer, God was thanked for the beauty of the day, the bounty of our lives, the fellowship we enjoy and the holy season of Easter that just past. Now I know I should have been deep in spirit of prayer and should not have noticed, but I did and it made me sad. Easter has not passed. It is a season.
Liturgically, Easter is not a day, but a season in the church year. The season lasts 50 days until the day of Pentecost, which this year comes on May 31. Actually, the day of Easter is what determines the entire Christian calendar. The day of Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon falling on or after March 21, the first day of spring. After the day of Easter is set, then all the moveable days of the church year (Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Pentecost, etc.) can be set. This means that our calendar, as well as our lives, revolves around the resurrection of our Lord. Easter is a season, not just a day.
The Easter season is the oldest of any in the church year. It is hundreds of years older than Advent and Christmas. As Robert Wetzler and Helen Huntington write in their book, Seasons and Symbols, “Easter is the keystone in the arch of Christianity. Without it, everything else crumbles. We sing ‘Christ is risen! Alleluia!’ because it is essential to our understanding of God’s promises of eternal and renewed life.”
This is why the concept of the season of Easter is so important. The resurrection cannot be contained in one day. So we are given fifty days to get into the habit of observing how God is renewing our lives. God is constantly recreating new ways for us to experience the resurrection for ourselves. If we will stay alert to this possibility throughout the season of Easter, and on through the year, maybe we will find ourselves proclaiming “Christ is risen!” one day in October.
Liturgically, Easter is not a day, but a season in the church year. The season lasts 50 days until the day of Pentecost, which this year comes on May 31. Actually, the day of Easter is what determines the entire Christian calendar. The day of Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon falling on or after March 21, the first day of spring. After the day of Easter is set, then all the moveable days of the church year (Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Pentecost, etc.) can be set. This means that our calendar, as well as our lives, revolves around the resurrection of our Lord. Easter is a season, not just a day.
The Easter season is the oldest of any in the church year. It is hundreds of years older than Advent and Christmas. As Robert Wetzler and Helen Huntington write in their book, Seasons and Symbols, “Easter is the keystone in the arch of Christianity. Without it, everything else crumbles. We sing ‘Christ is risen! Alleluia!’ because it is essential to our understanding of God’s promises of eternal and renewed life.”
This is why the concept of the season of Easter is so important. The resurrection cannot be contained in one day. So we are given fifty days to get into the habit of observing how God is renewing our lives. God is constantly recreating new ways for us to experience the resurrection for ourselves. If we will stay alert to this possibility throughout the season of Easter, and on through the year, maybe we will find ourselves proclaiming “Christ is risen!” one day in October.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Exciting Things To Come
By now you should have the schedule for Easter and Holy Week indelibly etched in your brains. If you don’t, here it is one more time:
Prayer Labyrinth
Walk the prayer labyrinth April 6-9, Celebration Hall
Maundy Thursday Service
April 9, 7:30 p.m., Robertson Activity Center
Stations of the Cross
Friday, April 10, 3:30-7:30 p.m., Quad Room
Good Friday Service
7:30 p.m., Celebration Hall
Easter Sunday Services
Celebration Service: 8:15, 9:30 and 10:45 a.m., Celebration Hall
The Bridge: 9:30 and 10:45 a.m., Robertson Activity Center
What I’d really like you to be aware of is the services the three weeks following Easter. Even though I think all of our worship services here at Stonebridge United Methodist Church are special, the services on April 19, 26 and May 3 will be some of the most unique and moving we have ever offered. About a hundred years ago, archeologists discovered the oldest Christian hymn texts ever found. They were a part of the earliest Christian worship services; just after the time of Jesus’ ministry, during and just following the time of Paul’s missionary work. Like the Psalms in the Old Testament, we have the words to these hymns, but there was no musical notation yet invented to write down the notes to which they were sung. Recently, these early hymns’ texts were put to a very intriguing and beautiful contemporary style of music. They have come to be known as the Odes of Solomon.
On the three Sundays following Easter, we will be one of the first congregations in the area to highlight these hymns in our worship services. We will be worshipping ‘in the round’ with the music of the Odes surrounding us. The services will also include acting, dance, video presentations, choirs, soloists, ensembles and some interactive elements. You will not want to miss these wonderful opportunities to worship along side the earliest converts to the message of Christ in a most contemporary style. That is why we are calling these services “An Ancient Modern Celebration”.
Due to the style and production requirements of these services, for these three Sundays only, we will not be having the 8:15 service. We will be back to our regularly scheduled service times Sunday, May 10.
On those same Sundays in The Bridge, Pastor David will be taking on the subject of God’s message and human sexually. Some have asked why this is an appropriate topic for Sunday morning worship. The truth is we live in a sex education class. In our society, we are constantly being taught who we are and how we should act as sexual beings. We do not have the choice of whether or not we learn about sex, only what we are going to include in that learning process. I believe our faith must be a part of that discussion. Sex is God’s good gift to us as we seek to share intimately the love God has placed in our hearts. We must do that mutually, responsibly and appropriately to live a life that glorifies God. It is time for the church to help us in that process. We have subtitled the sermons as “PG – Parental Guidance Suggested”. We ask you to use your best judgment in your children’s attendance.
Prayer Labyrinth
Walk the prayer labyrinth April 6-9, Celebration Hall
Maundy Thursday Service
April 9, 7:30 p.m., Robertson Activity Center
Stations of the Cross
Friday, April 10, 3:30-7:30 p.m., Quad Room
Good Friday Service
7:30 p.m., Celebration Hall
Easter Sunday Services
Celebration Service: 8:15, 9:30 and 10:45 a.m., Celebration Hall
The Bridge: 9:30 and 10:45 a.m., Robertson Activity Center
What I’d really like you to be aware of is the services the three weeks following Easter. Even though I think all of our worship services here at Stonebridge United Methodist Church are special, the services on April 19, 26 and May 3 will be some of the most unique and moving we have ever offered. About a hundred years ago, archeologists discovered the oldest Christian hymn texts ever found. They were a part of the earliest Christian worship services; just after the time of Jesus’ ministry, during and just following the time of Paul’s missionary work. Like the Psalms in the Old Testament, we have the words to these hymns, but there was no musical notation yet invented to write down the notes to which they were sung. Recently, these early hymns’ texts were put to a very intriguing and beautiful contemporary style of music. They have come to be known as the Odes of Solomon.
On the three Sundays following Easter, we will be one of the first congregations in the area to highlight these hymns in our worship services. We will be worshipping ‘in the round’ with the music of the Odes surrounding us. The services will also include acting, dance, video presentations, choirs, soloists, ensembles and some interactive elements. You will not want to miss these wonderful opportunities to worship along side the earliest converts to the message of Christ in a most contemporary style. That is why we are calling these services “An Ancient Modern Celebration”.
Due to the style and production requirements of these services, for these three Sundays only, we will not be having the 8:15 service. We will be back to our regularly scheduled service times Sunday, May 10.
On those same Sundays in The Bridge, Pastor David will be taking on the subject of God’s message and human sexually. Some have asked why this is an appropriate topic for Sunday morning worship. The truth is we live in a sex education class. In our society, we are constantly being taught who we are and how we should act as sexual beings. We do not have the choice of whether or not we learn about sex, only what we are going to include in that learning process. I believe our faith must be a part of that discussion. Sex is God’s good gift to us as we seek to share intimately the love God has placed in our hearts. We must do that mutually, responsibly and appropriately to live a life that glorifies God. It is time for the church to help us in that process. We have subtitled the sermons as “PG – Parental Guidance Suggested”. We ask you to use your best judgment in your children’s attendance.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Easter Memories
As I hid the eggs in the damp darkness of our backyard early Easter morning and filled baskets anticipating the joy-filled faces that would find them, I was taken back to the time when I was the recipient of such surprises. Then it was I who searched for eggs hidden in places only a father could hide them and discovered the secret desires in my Easter basket that only a mother would know to purchase. I remembered the pre-dawn Holy Week services at our church that my family never missed - particularly the donut feast in the fellowship hall following the services. I returned to the glory of the Easter services of my childhood and the harkening sound of the trumpets we had in church only two times a year. Now I was the father finding just the right place to hide those multi-colored ellipticals and Susan was the one making magic with wicker and plastic grass. What a privilege to create family memories. What a blessing to have those memories in my own heart.
Garrison Keillor in his book Leaving Home tells a story with similar sentiment.
"Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted. We know that as we remember some gift given to us long ago. Suddenly it's 1951, I'm nine years old, in the bow of a green wooden rowboat, rocking on Lake Wobegon. It's five o'clock in the morning, dark; I'm shivering, mist comes up off the water, the smell of lake and weeds and Uncle Al's coffee as he puts a worm on my hook and whispers what to do when the big one bites. I lower my worm slowly into the dark water and brace my feet against the bow and wait for the immense fish to bite.
Thousands of gifts, continually returning to us. Uncle Al thought he was taking his nephew fishing, but he made a permanent work of art in my head, a dark morning in the mist, the coffee, the boat rocking, whispering, shivering, waiting for the big one. Still waiting. Still shivering."
Will you join me in celebrating the works of art; those painted in our heads and the ones we are creating for others. Let us remember nothing we do is ever wasted when it is done in love. Let us remember what was done in love for us - even the loving actions of our Lord of which we are reminded this next week
Grace and peace,
John Mollet
Garrison Keillor in his book Leaving Home tells a story with similar sentiment.
"Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted. We know that as we remember some gift given to us long ago. Suddenly it's 1951, I'm nine years old, in the bow of a green wooden rowboat, rocking on Lake Wobegon. It's five o'clock in the morning, dark; I'm shivering, mist comes up off the water, the smell of lake and weeds and Uncle Al's coffee as he puts a worm on my hook and whispers what to do when the big one bites. I lower my worm slowly into the dark water and brace my feet against the bow and wait for the immense fish to bite.
Thousands of gifts, continually returning to us. Uncle Al thought he was taking his nephew fishing, but he made a permanent work of art in my head, a dark morning in the mist, the coffee, the boat rocking, whispering, shivering, waiting for the big one. Still waiting. Still shivering."
Will you join me in celebrating the works of art; those painted in our heads and the ones we are creating for others. Let us remember nothing we do is ever wasted when it is done in love. Let us remember what was done in love for us - even the loving actions of our Lord of which we are reminded this next week
Grace and peace,
John Mollet
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