CHANGE the WORLD...a missional movement that is taking the Church into the world instead of coaxing the world into the church.
Keynote Speakers:
Adam Hamilton
Brian McLaren
Jim Wallis
Michael Slaughter
Friday & Saturday, October 24 & 25
conference registration – Friday & Saturday, October 24 & 25
• group (3 or more people from same church registering at same time)
after August 1 # of persons ____ x $119 $_________
For a brochure or to register for the conference, please contact Pastor Melissa. There are currently 4 who are registered for the conference and room for more!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Briding Personal & Social Witness
Saturday, October 18, 2008 – 8:30 AM – 3 PM
NIC: School of Evangelism: “Bridging Personal and Social Witness”
Hilltop Ministry Center, Machesney Park, IL
This event will feature keynote speaker Rev. Tony Campolo, founder of several mission organizations and author of 35 books. Dr. Campolo is an ordained minister and media commentator on religious, social and political matters. He is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. His recent books include: Red Letter Christians, A citizen’s Guide to Faith and Politics, the God of Intimacy and Action, Everybody Want to Change the World, and Practical Ideas for Social Justice. Rev. Campolo will key note on Intimacy and Action as well as lead a workshop.
Workshops will include:
Needs Oriented Evangelism – Combining Social Justice and Evangelism
How to Take Your Faith to the Neighborhood
Taking the Fear Out of Faith Sharing
Developing a Passion for Evangelism within Your Congregation
Generational Issues in Evangelism
If you are interested in attending, please contact Pastor Melissa for cost, scholarships, and other information!
NIC: School of Evangelism: “Bridging Personal and Social Witness”
Hilltop Ministry Center, Machesney Park, IL
This event will feature keynote speaker Rev. Tony Campolo, founder of several mission organizations and author of 35 books. Dr. Campolo is an ordained minister and media commentator on religious, social and political matters. He is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. His recent books include: Red Letter Christians, A citizen’s Guide to Faith and Politics, the God of Intimacy and Action, Everybody Want to Change the World, and Practical Ideas for Social Justice. Rev. Campolo will key note on Intimacy and Action as well as lead a workshop.
Workshops will include:
Needs Oriented Evangelism – Combining Social Justice and Evangelism
How to Take Your Faith to the Neighborhood
Taking the Fear Out of Faith Sharing
Developing a Passion for Evangelism within Your Congregation
Generational Issues in Evangelism
If you are interested in attending, please contact Pastor Melissa for cost, scholarships, and other information!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Guiding Questions
Hour with Melissa Guiding Questions
These are some of the questions and topics we’ll talk about when we gather together for our hour & a half conversation. Please think about these questions even if you are unable to schedule a time to meet. You are welcome to write responses if you’d like as well. These conversations are important to our life together as the church and I look forward to having these conversations with you.
~What or who brought you to this church?
~What keeps you at this church?
~What is your favorite part of being a part of this church?~What is the most challenging part of being a part of this church?
~What ministry best meets your needs as a Christian?~What ministry would you like to see changed? What are you willing to do to change it?
~How do you practice your faith outside of Sunday morning?
~What spiritual needs do you have that are not currently being met?
~How do you describe this church to your friends or family?
~How do you hear this church described in the community?
~Anything else that you would like to add?
These are some of the questions and topics we’ll talk about when we gather together for our hour & a half conversation. Please think about these questions even if you are unable to schedule a time to meet. You are welcome to write responses if you’d like as well. These conversations are important to our life together as the church and I look forward to having these conversations with you.
~What or who brought you to this church?
~What keeps you at this church?
~What is your favorite part of being a part of this church?~What is the most challenging part of being a part of this church?
~What ministry best meets your needs as a Christian?~What ministry would you like to see changed? What are you willing to do to change it?
~How do you practice your faith outside of Sunday morning?
~What spiritual needs do you have that are not currently being met?
~How do you describe this church to your friends or family?
~How do you hear this church described in the community?
~Anything else that you would like to add?
Monday, August 25, 2008
September Newsletter
Dear Friends,
While the leaves haven’t started turning colors and the air isn’t quite as cool yet, the sounds of kids & teachers heading off to school is in the air and life is becoming more scheduled which means that fall is here! What an amazing summer we have had—kid’s club, 4th of July, Cincinnati Mission Trip, Vacation Bible School, worship, conversations…So many things happening and so many opportunities to see God’s grace all around us! And yes, although there have been these amazing opportunities, they have not all been easy or without difficulties. We have worked together in some incredible ways to help to show the love of God to our friends, family, community, and world at large.
In August we took a month of Sabbath as there was very little on the calendar outside of regularly scheduled meetings and worship. What did you hear from God as we rested as a community? Did you hear God calling you to something new or embracing you as God’s child? Did you look at where God has been active in our life as a church? Have you been refreshed to continue on the journey? I would love to hear what you have experienced during your Sabbath time and what you have discerned to be your legacy.
I know what I have heard…I have heard the same thing from God that I heard when I answered God’s call into ordained ministry. I have called you to be my servant. Go and do my work and I will be with you always. There is a wonderful mission field that we have here to continue to reach out into and share the Good News of the Gospel. All of the amazing events of this summer don’t magically end when September hits, but we strive to continue to build on top of those. As each committee meets to plan out our activities and events for the year, there will be an intentional effort to build upon what has begun. Maybe you’re not on a committee, but you know where you would like to serve or you know what ministry you’d like to work with. In the newsletter there is a nomination form for you to fill out for yourself or suggest someone to join a committee. If you have any questions about a particular committee or where you feel your gifts would fit the best, please contact me and I would love to talk with you where you can best serve. The Lay Leadership Committee (formerly known as Nominations) will begin meeting this month to put together our Lay Leadership list for 2009. Please have your nomination form turned into the office by September 30.
You will also notice a few other changes as you read through the newsletter. There are several Bible studies that are being offered—both short & long term. There are opportunities for service both in our community and throughout our United Methodist Connection. Another opportunity that you will have to talk about your legacy, your calling, your desire for the church, or something that’s on your heart & mind will happen every Tuesday in the month of September. I am suspending my normal Tuesday office hours to have some scheduled time of conversation with members of both congregations. We can meet for breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee, at your home, at the church, at your work, in the park, with a group of several, individually, or with your family. Each conversation will last for about an hour and a half and sign up sheets are located in the back of the sanctuary at both Sheridan & Norway United Methodist Churches. I would like to be able to talk with every member of the congregations about your hopes and dreams both for yourself and for the church.
As we continue on this journey together to make and create disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, may we remember that God has called us to be God’s servants. As we go and do God’s work, God will be with us always!
Blessings,
Pastor Melissa
While the leaves haven’t started turning colors and the air isn’t quite as cool yet, the sounds of kids & teachers heading off to school is in the air and life is becoming more scheduled which means that fall is here! What an amazing summer we have had—kid’s club, 4th of July, Cincinnati Mission Trip, Vacation Bible School, worship, conversations…So many things happening and so many opportunities to see God’s grace all around us! And yes, although there have been these amazing opportunities, they have not all been easy or without difficulties. We have worked together in some incredible ways to help to show the love of God to our friends, family, community, and world at large.
In August we took a month of Sabbath as there was very little on the calendar outside of regularly scheduled meetings and worship. What did you hear from God as we rested as a community? Did you hear God calling you to something new or embracing you as God’s child? Did you look at where God has been active in our life as a church? Have you been refreshed to continue on the journey? I would love to hear what you have experienced during your Sabbath time and what you have discerned to be your legacy.
I know what I have heard…I have heard the same thing from God that I heard when I answered God’s call into ordained ministry. I have called you to be my servant. Go and do my work and I will be with you always. There is a wonderful mission field that we have here to continue to reach out into and share the Good News of the Gospel. All of the amazing events of this summer don’t magically end when September hits, but we strive to continue to build on top of those. As each committee meets to plan out our activities and events for the year, there will be an intentional effort to build upon what has begun. Maybe you’re not on a committee, but you know where you would like to serve or you know what ministry you’d like to work with. In the newsletter there is a nomination form for you to fill out for yourself or suggest someone to join a committee. If you have any questions about a particular committee or where you feel your gifts would fit the best, please contact me and I would love to talk with you where you can best serve. The Lay Leadership Committee (formerly known as Nominations) will begin meeting this month to put together our Lay Leadership list for 2009. Please have your nomination form turned into the office by September 30.
You will also notice a few other changes as you read through the newsletter. There are several Bible studies that are being offered—both short & long term. There are opportunities for service both in our community and throughout our United Methodist Connection. Another opportunity that you will have to talk about your legacy, your calling, your desire for the church, or something that’s on your heart & mind will happen every Tuesday in the month of September. I am suspending my normal Tuesday office hours to have some scheduled time of conversation with members of both congregations. We can meet for breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee, at your home, at the church, at your work, in the park, with a group of several, individually, or with your family. Each conversation will last for about an hour and a half and sign up sheets are located in the back of the sanctuary at both Sheridan & Norway United Methodist Churches. I would like to be able to talk with every member of the congregations about your hopes and dreams both for yourself and for the church.
As we continue on this journey together to make and create disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, may we remember that God has called us to be God’s servants. As we go and do God’s work, God will be with us always!
Blessings,
Pastor Melissa
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Communitarianism...
Comunitarianism
Well, I had shared a little over 3 years ago that I make words up…Sometimes I can take credit for personally making up the word and sometimes I’ve borrowed from someone else…I would love to take credit for the word “communitarianism” but unfortunately it’s not my word…It is a word that Randy Pausch uses in his book, The Last Lecture…As an important part of creating a legacy for bother ourselves as individuals, and especially for us as a church, He challenges us to be a communitarianist…
So, what does it mean to practice communitarianism or to be a communitarianist? It’s certainly not an easy word to say! But if you think about the ways that you label yourself or maybe how others have labeled you…Maybe you’re an omnivore or a vegetarian…a Democrat or Republican…a Cubs fan or a White Sox fan…an introvert or an extrovert…And I’m sure that you can think of the labels that have been placed on you throughout your life…But have you ever been called a communitarianist or considered becoming a communitarianist? Well, let’s talk about what that means…
So, the best way to start to define communitarianist would be to break the word down…Which maybe some of you have already done? What do you see in the word “communitarianist?” Wait for responses…Good! I’m glad that you picked up on the word Community within communitarianist! So, if community is in there and –ism or –ist usually means that you practice whatever it is that’s being defined…So a communitarianist would be one who practices community!
Practicing community…Now community is something that’s talked about quite a bit and it’s referred to in many different ways…In fact, I’ve used the idea of community in several sermons over the past few years…So, what is community? Community is more than a group of people coming together…Community is a group that comes together for a common goal…A community can develop over a particular justice issue or event…And those are important to have as community…In his book Soul Craving, Erwin Rapheous Mcadams boldly states that he is an addict…He is an addict of people—he says that he needs to be in contact with people so much that it is like an addiction…As a matter of fact he accuses each person of having that same addiction…As a human being we are all addicted to being in community…He argues that if you don’t need to be in community of any kind, then you have lost your human-ness…And losing our human-ness is a very dangerous place to be! Because we weren’t created to be anything other than humans…And therefore we weren’t created to be anything but in community. Which clearly means that community is important for the Church, but what does community mean in the church?
Well, let me be absolutely clear about community in the church…The church is not a social club…The church is not a group of people gathered randomly or just to see one another and catch up on one another’s lives…While that’s not a bad thing and something that we should be doing as a church, it’s not the sole purpose of the church. The mission of the church is to make and create disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…That is the common goal that we all have when we come together…The Church is a gathered body of believers…The church itself is meant to be a community…Now, we didn’t have any of the book of Acts used this morning in worship, but when you read the book of Acts, you will discover that book is written about the growth of the Early Christian Church…It is a story about building community around the goal of making and creating disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Believers met in one another’s homes…They spent time in the temple, then they spent just as much time in one another’s homes, breaking bread…Not only did they worship together in the temple, but they also spent just as much time together outside of the temple, breaking bread together in one another’s homes…Church wasn’t just something that they did on Saturday, but it was a way of life…They weren’t just in community with one other in worship, but they were in intentional Christian community for their entire beings…
But community isn’t something “new” or something that is only found in the New Testament, but community is something that is throughout the entire Bible! Think about the 10 commandments for a moment…The first 4 commandments are all about our relationship with God—You shall have no other Gods before me; You shall not worship any idols; You shall not use the name of the Lord in vain; Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy…All are commandments about how we relate to God and stay in community with God…The other six are about how we are in community with others—Honor your father & mother; You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness (lie); You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor…All are commandments about how we relate with others…
Now the book of Deuteronomy, one of the places that the 10 commandments are found, contains many of the laws that the Israelites, the Jewish people, followed and still follow today…Passages like ours this morning—If there is anyone in your community who is in need, help them out…Another commandment of how we are to be in community and relationship with others…Now the Jewish people practiced community within a select group—they were the Chosen People of God…As Christians, we don’t practice community with a select group of people…Because as Jesus said in Matthew—“When I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, when I was naked you gave me clothing, when I was a stranger you welcomed me, when I was sick and in prison you visited me…Because whatever you did to the least of these you did to me…” Jesus didn’t say that our community should be an exclusive group where only a few are invited and welcomed and cared for, but our community is made of up all people. All people are included in community…Jesus didn’t say, “love people as long as they look like you…smell like you…talk like you…think like you…” Actually Jesus said, whatever you do to these, you do to me…Are we welcoming Jesus into community with us?
When we enter into Christian community—when we enter into relationship with one another through the church—in service to God, we enter into a Holy Friendship…Now Holy Friendship is different than “plain friendship”…It’s a friendship that goes beyond caring for one another’s physical bodies or even emotions, but goes into caring for one another’s souls…Holy Friendship is the kind of community that we as the church are called to be in with one another…In May, my covenant group came and joined in worship and some of you may have heard about our experience with Holy Friendship…We all love each other dearly and have often dropped everything that we’re doing to care for one another…But we also challenge one another and hold one another accountable…And it’s completely different that criticizing one another for doing something or not doing something, but it’s making sure that we understand what we’re doing and the right reasons and to make sure that whatever it is that is happening is faithful to our call as pastors and our call as Christians…It’s not always a comfortable place to be in to be held accountable and it’s not always comfortable to hold someone else accountable, but in the view of our holy friendship, it’s not something that we avoid just because it’s not comfortable, but because we’ve covenanted together that it’s something that we do…We’re communitarianists together!
One of the things that I know about myself is that when I have been hurt, I very rarely let the person who hurt me see it…I very rarely let anyone see it really…I was at a meeting recently and one of the members of my covenant group happened to be there with me…Throughout the course of this meeting, I was hurt in ways that I thought I was stronger than...I felt rejected, ignored, devalued, and unimportant… My heart was absolutely broken in ways that I wasn't expecting my heart to break…As I was trying to deal with these emotions on my own, one of my covenant group members came to share in my pain…As I sobbed on his shoulder and poured out pain that I didn’t even know I was feeling, he heard every word…Sometimes he offered something to say and other times it was another few kleenexes…I’m not sure how long I cried there with him, but it was enough to go through almost a box of kleenex…As I wore myself out and have poured out all of my pain—literally and figuratively, onto his shoulders...I came to the point where I said, “well, now all that’s left to do is suck it up and deal with it.” And he offered me another kleenex and quietly said, “Can I offer something else? Instead of sucking it up…Offer it up…Give it to God.” In all of the pain, that wasn’t what first came to my mind and it took someone who was intentionally caring for my body, mind, and soul to remind me…Someone who was in intentional community with me and not just because we had some of the same interests, but because we are bonded through the same God and the same common goal of making and creating disciples for Jesus Christ…In that conversation, I experienced community in ways that I didn’t know were possible…
During Lent, we looked at 6 critical choices that Rev. Paul Nixon offers in his book, I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church. One of the choices in there is choosing community over isolation… As human beings we are addicted to community…We are meant to be communitarianists…As the church, we are called to be in Christian community—united around the common goal of making and creating disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…We are meant to be held accountable…We are meant to be in community…Where have we not allowed ourselves to be in community and instead chosen isolation? Maybe it was intentional or maybe it was unintentional…Have we shut ourselves out from the rest of the world? Have we shut ourselves out from one another? We are meant not just to share a pew space with one another on Sunday morning, but we are meant to share our lives with one another…We are meant to be in community with one another, we are meant to be in Holy Friendship…We are meant to experience God’s grace together…We are meant to laugh together, to cry together, to share together… Healing happens in community as we share where are hearts and lives have been broken...Hope is more beautiful in community...We are meant to be in Christian community with each other…We are meant to be communitarianists…
Well, I had shared a little over 3 years ago that I make words up…Sometimes I can take credit for personally making up the word and sometimes I’ve borrowed from someone else…I would love to take credit for the word “communitarianism” but unfortunately it’s not my word…It is a word that Randy Pausch uses in his book, The Last Lecture…As an important part of creating a legacy for bother ourselves as individuals, and especially for us as a church, He challenges us to be a communitarianist…
So, what does it mean to practice communitarianism or to be a communitarianist? It’s certainly not an easy word to say! But if you think about the ways that you label yourself or maybe how others have labeled you…Maybe you’re an omnivore or a vegetarian…a Democrat or Republican…a Cubs fan or a White Sox fan…an introvert or an extrovert…And I’m sure that you can think of the labels that have been placed on you throughout your life…But have you ever been called a communitarianist or considered becoming a communitarianist? Well, let’s talk about what that means…
So, the best way to start to define communitarianist would be to break the word down…Which maybe some of you have already done? What do you see in the word “communitarianist?” Wait for responses…Good! I’m glad that you picked up on the word Community within communitarianist! So, if community is in there and –ism or –ist usually means that you practice whatever it is that’s being defined…So a communitarianist would be one who practices community!
Practicing community…Now community is something that’s talked about quite a bit and it’s referred to in many different ways…In fact, I’ve used the idea of community in several sermons over the past few years…So, what is community? Community is more than a group of people coming together…Community is a group that comes together for a common goal…A community can develop over a particular justice issue or event…And those are important to have as community…In his book Soul Craving, Erwin Rapheous Mcadams boldly states that he is an addict…He is an addict of people—he says that he needs to be in contact with people so much that it is like an addiction…As a matter of fact he accuses each person of having that same addiction…As a human being we are all addicted to being in community…He argues that if you don’t need to be in community of any kind, then you have lost your human-ness…And losing our human-ness is a very dangerous place to be! Because we weren’t created to be anything other than humans…And therefore we weren’t created to be anything but in community. Which clearly means that community is important for the Church, but what does community mean in the church?
Well, let me be absolutely clear about community in the church…The church is not a social club…The church is not a group of people gathered randomly or just to see one another and catch up on one another’s lives…While that’s not a bad thing and something that we should be doing as a church, it’s not the sole purpose of the church. The mission of the church is to make and create disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…That is the common goal that we all have when we come together…The Church is a gathered body of believers…The church itself is meant to be a community…Now, we didn’t have any of the book of Acts used this morning in worship, but when you read the book of Acts, you will discover that book is written about the growth of the Early Christian Church…It is a story about building community around the goal of making and creating disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Believers met in one another’s homes…They spent time in the temple, then they spent just as much time in one another’s homes, breaking bread…Not only did they worship together in the temple, but they also spent just as much time together outside of the temple, breaking bread together in one another’s homes…Church wasn’t just something that they did on Saturday, but it was a way of life…They weren’t just in community with one other in worship, but they were in intentional Christian community for their entire beings…
But community isn’t something “new” or something that is only found in the New Testament, but community is something that is throughout the entire Bible! Think about the 10 commandments for a moment…The first 4 commandments are all about our relationship with God—You shall have no other Gods before me; You shall not worship any idols; You shall not use the name of the Lord in vain; Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy…All are commandments about how we relate to God and stay in community with God…The other six are about how we are in community with others—Honor your father & mother; You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness (lie); You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor…All are commandments about how we relate with others…
Now the book of Deuteronomy, one of the places that the 10 commandments are found, contains many of the laws that the Israelites, the Jewish people, followed and still follow today…Passages like ours this morning—If there is anyone in your community who is in need, help them out…Another commandment of how we are to be in community and relationship with others…Now the Jewish people practiced community within a select group—they were the Chosen People of God…As Christians, we don’t practice community with a select group of people…Because as Jesus said in Matthew—“When I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, when I was naked you gave me clothing, when I was a stranger you welcomed me, when I was sick and in prison you visited me…Because whatever you did to the least of these you did to me…” Jesus didn’t say that our community should be an exclusive group where only a few are invited and welcomed and cared for, but our community is made of up all people. All people are included in community…Jesus didn’t say, “love people as long as they look like you…smell like you…talk like you…think like you…” Actually Jesus said, whatever you do to these, you do to me…Are we welcoming Jesus into community with us?
When we enter into Christian community—when we enter into relationship with one another through the church—in service to God, we enter into a Holy Friendship…Now Holy Friendship is different than “plain friendship”…It’s a friendship that goes beyond caring for one another’s physical bodies or even emotions, but goes into caring for one another’s souls…Holy Friendship is the kind of community that we as the church are called to be in with one another…In May, my covenant group came and joined in worship and some of you may have heard about our experience with Holy Friendship…We all love each other dearly and have often dropped everything that we’re doing to care for one another…But we also challenge one another and hold one another accountable…And it’s completely different that criticizing one another for doing something or not doing something, but it’s making sure that we understand what we’re doing and the right reasons and to make sure that whatever it is that is happening is faithful to our call as pastors and our call as Christians…It’s not always a comfortable place to be in to be held accountable and it’s not always comfortable to hold someone else accountable, but in the view of our holy friendship, it’s not something that we avoid just because it’s not comfortable, but because we’ve covenanted together that it’s something that we do…We’re communitarianists together!
One of the things that I know about myself is that when I have been hurt, I very rarely let the person who hurt me see it…I very rarely let anyone see it really…I was at a meeting recently and one of the members of my covenant group happened to be there with me…Throughout the course of this meeting, I was hurt in ways that I thought I was stronger than...I felt rejected, ignored, devalued, and unimportant… My heart was absolutely broken in ways that I wasn't expecting my heart to break…As I was trying to deal with these emotions on my own, one of my covenant group members came to share in my pain…As I sobbed on his shoulder and poured out pain that I didn’t even know I was feeling, he heard every word…Sometimes he offered something to say and other times it was another few kleenexes…I’m not sure how long I cried there with him, but it was enough to go through almost a box of kleenex…As I wore myself out and have poured out all of my pain—literally and figuratively, onto his shoulders...I came to the point where I said, “well, now all that’s left to do is suck it up and deal with it.” And he offered me another kleenex and quietly said, “Can I offer something else? Instead of sucking it up…Offer it up…Give it to God.” In all of the pain, that wasn’t what first came to my mind and it took someone who was intentionally caring for my body, mind, and soul to remind me…Someone who was in intentional community with me and not just because we had some of the same interests, but because we are bonded through the same God and the same common goal of making and creating disciples for Jesus Christ…In that conversation, I experienced community in ways that I didn’t know were possible…
During Lent, we looked at 6 critical choices that Rev. Paul Nixon offers in his book, I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church. One of the choices in there is choosing community over isolation… As human beings we are addicted to community…We are meant to be communitarianists…As the church, we are called to be in Christian community—united around the common goal of making and creating disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…We are meant to be held accountable…We are meant to be in community…Where have we not allowed ourselves to be in community and instead chosen isolation? Maybe it was intentional or maybe it was unintentional…Have we shut ourselves out from the rest of the world? Have we shut ourselves out from one another? We are meant not just to share a pew space with one another on Sunday morning, but we are meant to share our lives with one another…We are meant to be in community with one another, we are meant to be in Holy Friendship…We are meant to experience God’s grace together…We are meant to laugh together, to cry together, to share together… Healing happens in community as we share where are hearts and lives have been broken...Hope is more beautiful in community...We are meant to be in Christian community with each other…We are meant to be communitarianists…
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Norway UMC Sunday School Hiking Trip
Norway UMC Sunday School class took a hiking trip to Starved Rock State Park--here are some of the pictures of what we saw!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Norway UMC Rally Day!
Norway United Methodist Church Sunday School Rally Day is scheduled for September 21st beginning at 9:00 am. Please dress casually-- we will be going on a hay rack ride!
Church Supper--September 8th
Sheridan United Methodist Church Supper
219 Bushnell, Sheridan, IL
The Church with the Praying Hands
Monday September 8th serving 5 – 8 pm
Good Will Donation
Carryout available call 815-496-2021
Spaghetti with homemade meat sauce
Garlic Bread
Salad
Lemonade
Desert
219 Bushnell, Sheridan, IL
The Church with the Praying Hands
Monday September 8th serving 5 – 8 pm
Good Will Donation
Carryout available call 815-496-2021
Spaghetti with homemade meat sauce
Garlic Bread
Salad
Lemonade
Desert
Sunday, August 17, 2008
It Just Never Came Up
It Never Came Up
As we continue on in our series about legacies, where we look at our own lives and our life together as the church and think about what our legacy will be…We’ve discussed that legacies, although something left behind when we’re gone…Our legacy is not about our death, but is about the way we live our life…Because whatever is said about us when we’re gone is only our legacy if it’s true…And last week as we contemplated what is important…That it’s not stuff that’s important, but that people are more important than stuff…And that is a radical and counter-cultural message to our world today…And we continue with hearing counter-cultural messages as we hear about humility…
Humility…Maybe it’s not something that you’ve ever thought or talked about…Or maybe it’s something that you’ve often thought about…There are some who may not even know what humility means…Humility is the act of being humble…Webster defines “humble” as not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive and reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission…It’s usually easy to point out what humility or humbleness is by what it is not…It’s easy to point at exaggerated examples of people who are not humble…Maybe you can think about those people that you have seen or known in your life that are certainly not humble…Many people might think right away about Mohammed Ali who is quoted as saying, “I am the greatest” or his rhymes offering challenges to his opponents…Or maybe the latest report of a celebrity acting like a “diva” and demanding that they receive special retreat because of their status…And it doesn’t have to be a celebrity in particular to be, well less than humble…Because there are probably people that you encounter often that are not humble…Many might be familiar with the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or the recently remade version, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or perhaps the book by the same title by Roald Dahl…Now, in the story of the movie and the book, Willy Wonka has decided to open up his chocolate factory up to the 5 people who found the golden tickets in their bars of chocolate…The 5 who found tickets were certainly from wide backgrounds…There’s the millionaire’s daughter, the child who ate 3 times his weight in chocolate, the gum chewing champion, the child who can’t tear himself away from the TV, and of course Charlie Bucket who is someone from humble beginnings and randomly finds a ticket and wins the opportunity to enter the factory…In this scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka is meeting the children for the first time…(Clip)…Now, in this clip Willy Wonka takes the introductions from the children and for those who we can declare as not humble right away, he dashes them, maybe without them recognizing it…
Now, you may be thinking that humility is not really a counter-cultural message, because certainly as Americans, we love to hear stories of people who came from humble beginnings to become something great…After all isn’t that the American dream? Which is true, and that’s exactly what makes Jesus’ message of humility so counter-cultural…Because although Jesus himself was a person who came from humble beginnings…It’s hard to be much more humble than being born in a stable…He also didn’t flaunt his status to get attention…As a matter of fact, after healing someone, he often told them not to tell anyone…
As we have been talking about our legacies as individuals and as a church, we have been wandering through Randy Pausch’s legacy for his children, his last lecture. Randy Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and at 47 he was given 3-6 months to live. One of the things that he did with his time was to share this last lecture at the University that he taught—Carnegie Mellon…Although the lecture has been viewed by millions and the book has once again become a best-seller, it was not Randy Pausch’s mission to become famous…It was his mission to pass on to his children who their daddy was…What has been passed on is a wonderful legacy for his young children and also a wonderful legacy for those who never knew Randy Pausch to get a peak into his life and hear his life lessons and think about our own life and our own legacies…
He shares in his book, that his while his mother was very proud of everything that he had done in his life, she was also very good about keeping him humble…She introduced her son with his title, as he was a Doctor…a PhD…But of course she introduced him as “her son the doctor…but not the kind that helps people.” But perhaps the story of humility that is shared that is the strongest is from his chapter “It Never Came Up.” In this story he talks about his father…Now Pausch says often that he won the parent lottery and he loved his parents very much and that they were some of the best parents that he could have ever asked for…When his father passed away in 2006, as he and his family were going through his father’s papers and belongings, they came across many photos and share many stories and memories of his father…Then, buried in a stack of papers they found a citation issued in 1945 when his father was in the army…His father was given a citation for “heroic achievement” from the commanding general of 75th Infantry Division. As Randy Pausch read the citation, he read this story of his father, “With complete disregard for his own safety, Private Pausch leaped from a covered position and commenced treating the wounded men while shells continued to fall in the immediate vicinity. So successfully did this soldier administer medical attention that all the wounded were evacuated successfully.” For this, his father was awarded the Bronze Star for valor…Now this is an amazing story and one that is a beautiful part of who Randy Pausch’s father was…But, Randy had never heard this story before…In fact Randy’s mother had never heard it before either…In his book, Pausch shares, “In the 50 years that my parents were married, in the thousands of conversations my dad had with me, it had just never come up. And so there I was, weeks after his death, getting another lesson from him about the meaning of sacrifice—and about the power of humility.”
It just never came up…A story of humility…In a culture where we are told that we should shout that from the mountain tops, Randy Pausch’s father hadn’t even shared his achievement with his family…Now, this is not to say that we shouldn’t be proud of our achievements by any means…For those who have overcome difficult situations or who have achieved something with much hard work…It is important to celebrate those achievements…But going back to figuring out what is important…Why are those achievements important? For the person who graduates from college…is it the degree that’s important or the fact that they are the first in their family to ever attend, let alone graduate from college…Or someone is the first in their family to own a home…Or the first to win an award…It’s not necessarily the award or the degree or even the house that is what’s important…But knowing what they have done to achieve it…And even more than that, it’s not just knowing that there was hard work done, but ultimately who it was that helped with the task…
As Jesus told the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, he knew what he was setting up…You see tax collectors were some of the most despised people in that society…tax collectors were often Jewish men who worked for the Roman authorities…So they were seen as traitors who were cheating their own people for the corrupt officials…And the Pharisees were the officials in the church who knew the law inside and out and were presumably the ones who followed it completely…So, Jesus was setting up a huge issue by comparing a Pharisee and a tax collector in his story…And of course everyone would hear the beginning of the story and might have even been one of the common jokes at the time…A Pharisee and a tax collector walk into the temple…As the two pray, the Pharisee cries out loudly all that he has done—he has tithed, he has not a thief or an adulterer or any other sinner and especially not like the tax collector…Now at this point in Jesus’ story, there were probably many who would say the same things, so they might be nodding along with Jesus as he is talking…Oh yes, we’re not like that either, they might say…But then as always, there is the Jesus twist! Because then he shares the prayer of the tax collector who simply says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” and Jesus shares that the tax collector went home justified instead of the Pharisee…He adds the lesson that all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted…
As a church, we need to recognize that when we do things it is not for our own gain or for our own fame or for our own attention, but it is to continue to work at building the kingdom of God here on earth…Just as we pray every week in the Lord’s prayer… “Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” It is not our own kingdom that is being built, but God’s kingdom… And we pray for God’s will to be done…Not our own will but God’s will…Everything that we do as a church is to further the ministry of the Gospel…to further our mission as a church to make and create disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…and our mission as Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Churches, (Mission Statements Here)…Nowhere in any of those missions or legacies does it say that we do this for our own glory or our own attention, but for the work of Jesus, the work of God, the work of the Holy Spirit to be done in us…Not our will, but God’s will…Not our glory, but God’s glory…That is counter-cultural to everything that we are told to do by our society and that’s what makes the message of the Gospel so revolutionary…It’s what makes it an amazing legacy for all…
How are we living that legacy and are we sharing that message of the Gospel…Are we preaching ourselves or are we preaching the message of the Gospel? There are certainly amazing ministries that are happening at Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Church…As we continue those ministries, may we always be pointing to the One whom the message is about and not about ourselves…As Jesus said, those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted…May we continue to strive to lay ourselves aside so that the message of the Gospel will be shared…that we live the mission to make and create disciples for the transformation of the world…that we (Mission Statements.)
As we continue on in our series about legacies, where we look at our own lives and our life together as the church and think about what our legacy will be…We’ve discussed that legacies, although something left behind when we’re gone…Our legacy is not about our death, but is about the way we live our life…Because whatever is said about us when we’re gone is only our legacy if it’s true…And last week as we contemplated what is important…That it’s not stuff that’s important, but that people are more important than stuff…And that is a radical and counter-cultural message to our world today…And we continue with hearing counter-cultural messages as we hear about humility…
Humility…Maybe it’s not something that you’ve ever thought or talked about…Or maybe it’s something that you’ve often thought about…There are some who may not even know what humility means…Humility is the act of being humble…Webster defines “humble” as not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive and reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission…It’s usually easy to point out what humility or humbleness is by what it is not…It’s easy to point at exaggerated examples of people who are not humble…Maybe you can think about those people that you have seen or known in your life that are certainly not humble…Many people might think right away about Mohammed Ali who is quoted as saying, “I am the greatest” or his rhymes offering challenges to his opponents…Or maybe the latest report of a celebrity acting like a “diva” and demanding that they receive special retreat because of their status…And it doesn’t have to be a celebrity in particular to be, well less than humble…Because there are probably people that you encounter often that are not humble…Many might be familiar with the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or the recently remade version, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or perhaps the book by the same title by Roald Dahl…Now, in the story of the movie and the book, Willy Wonka has decided to open up his chocolate factory up to the 5 people who found the golden tickets in their bars of chocolate…The 5 who found tickets were certainly from wide backgrounds…There’s the millionaire’s daughter, the child who ate 3 times his weight in chocolate, the gum chewing champion, the child who can’t tear himself away from the TV, and of course Charlie Bucket who is someone from humble beginnings and randomly finds a ticket and wins the opportunity to enter the factory…In this scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka is meeting the children for the first time…(Clip)…Now, in this clip Willy Wonka takes the introductions from the children and for those who we can declare as not humble right away, he dashes them, maybe without them recognizing it…
Now, you may be thinking that humility is not really a counter-cultural message, because certainly as Americans, we love to hear stories of people who came from humble beginnings to become something great…After all isn’t that the American dream? Which is true, and that’s exactly what makes Jesus’ message of humility so counter-cultural…Because although Jesus himself was a person who came from humble beginnings…It’s hard to be much more humble than being born in a stable…He also didn’t flaunt his status to get attention…As a matter of fact, after healing someone, he often told them not to tell anyone…
As we have been talking about our legacies as individuals and as a church, we have been wandering through Randy Pausch’s legacy for his children, his last lecture. Randy Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and at 47 he was given 3-6 months to live. One of the things that he did with his time was to share this last lecture at the University that he taught—Carnegie Mellon…Although the lecture has been viewed by millions and the book has once again become a best-seller, it was not Randy Pausch’s mission to become famous…It was his mission to pass on to his children who their daddy was…What has been passed on is a wonderful legacy for his young children and also a wonderful legacy for those who never knew Randy Pausch to get a peak into his life and hear his life lessons and think about our own life and our own legacies…
He shares in his book, that his while his mother was very proud of everything that he had done in his life, she was also very good about keeping him humble…She introduced her son with his title, as he was a Doctor…a PhD…But of course she introduced him as “her son the doctor…but not the kind that helps people.” But perhaps the story of humility that is shared that is the strongest is from his chapter “It Never Came Up.” In this story he talks about his father…Now Pausch says often that he won the parent lottery and he loved his parents very much and that they were some of the best parents that he could have ever asked for…When his father passed away in 2006, as he and his family were going through his father’s papers and belongings, they came across many photos and share many stories and memories of his father…Then, buried in a stack of papers they found a citation issued in 1945 when his father was in the army…His father was given a citation for “heroic achievement” from the commanding general of 75th Infantry Division. As Randy Pausch read the citation, he read this story of his father, “With complete disregard for his own safety, Private Pausch leaped from a covered position and commenced treating the wounded men while shells continued to fall in the immediate vicinity. So successfully did this soldier administer medical attention that all the wounded were evacuated successfully.” For this, his father was awarded the Bronze Star for valor…Now this is an amazing story and one that is a beautiful part of who Randy Pausch’s father was…But, Randy had never heard this story before…In fact Randy’s mother had never heard it before either…In his book, Pausch shares, “In the 50 years that my parents were married, in the thousands of conversations my dad had with me, it had just never come up. And so there I was, weeks after his death, getting another lesson from him about the meaning of sacrifice—and about the power of humility.”
It just never came up…A story of humility…In a culture where we are told that we should shout that from the mountain tops, Randy Pausch’s father hadn’t even shared his achievement with his family…Now, this is not to say that we shouldn’t be proud of our achievements by any means…For those who have overcome difficult situations or who have achieved something with much hard work…It is important to celebrate those achievements…But going back to figuring out what is important…Why are those achievements important? For the person who graduates from college…is it the degree that’s important or the fact that they are the first in their family to ever attend, let alone graduate from college…Or someone is the first in their family to own a home…Or the first to win an award…It’s not necessarily the award or the degree or even the house that is what’s important…But knowing what they have done to achieve it…And even more than that, it’s not just knowing that there was hard work done, but ultimately who it was that helped with the task…
As Jesus told the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, he knew what he was setting up…You see tax collectors were some of the most despised people in that society…tax collectors were often Jewish men who worked for the Roman authorities…So they were seen as traitors who were cheating their own people for the corrupt officials…And the Pharisees were the officials in the church who knew the law inside and out and were presumably the ones who followed it completely…So, Jesus was setting up a huge issue by comparing a Pharisee and a tax collector in his story…And of course everyone would hear the beginning of the story and might have even been one of the common jokes at the time…A Pharisee and a tax collector walk into the temple…As the two pray, the Pharisee cries out loudly all that he has done—he has tithed, he has not a thief or an adulterer or any other sinner and especially not like the tax collector…Now at this point in Jesus’ story, there were probably many who would say the same things, so they might be nodding along with Jesus as he is talking…Oh yes, we’re not like that either, they might say…But then as always, there is the Jesus twist! Because then he shares the prayer of the tax collector who simply says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” and Jesus shares that the tax collector went home justified instead of the Pharisee…He adds the lesson that all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted…
As a church, we need to recognize that when we do things it is not for our own gain or for our own fame or for our own attention, but it is to continue to work at building the kingdom of God here on earth…Just as we pray every week in the Lord’s prayer… “Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” It is not our own kingdom that is being built, but God’s kingdom… And we pray for God’s will to be done…Not our own will but God’s will…Everything that we do as a church is to further the ministry of the Gospel…to further our mission as a church to make and create disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…and our mission as Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Churches, (Mission Statements Here)…Nowhere in any of those missions or legacies does it say that we do this for our own glory or our own attention, but for the work of Jesus, the work of God, the work of the Holy Spirit to be done in us…Not our will, but God’s will…Not our glory, but God’s glory…That is counter-cultural to everything that we are told to do by our society and that’s what makes the message of the Gospel so revolutionary…It’s what makes it an amazing legacy for all…
How are we living that legacy and are we sharing that message of the Gospel…Are we preaching ourselves or are we preaching the message of the Gospel? There are certainly amazing ministries that are happening at Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Church…As we continue those ministries, may we always be pointing to the One whom the message is about and not about ourselves…As Jesus said, those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted…May we continue to strive to lay ourselves aside so that the message of the Gospel will be shared…that we live the mission to make and create disciples for the transformation of the world…that we (Mission Statements.)
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Tropic Thunder
I've had several members of the churches that I serve ask about recommendations about movies or information about movies that are in the theaters now. So, I'm going to try to watch a movie in a theater at least once a week (I know, I said try!) and post a review of the movie. I'll try and watch and review from as many different perspectives that I can think of, but I by no means think that I'll have the best review out there or that it will have the best advice in there. I also would say that you should not take my judgement as your own, but use this as a tool to make your decision on whether you will see a particular movie or allow your children to see a particular movie.
Tropic Thunder (Rated R for pervasive language including sexual references, violent content and drug material.)
I thought this would be funnier than it was. There were times when it was funny, especially when it was poking fun at the Hollywood community. However, there were also many scenes that were offensive. I think in some ways, there was an intentional offensive nature to it and some have described it as going up to the line sticking a toe and running back...I'm not sure...I think that there are some lines that are crossed and crossed very intentionally. The language is very rough and very graphic. Clearly this is not a movie that is acceptable for children. I love satire and I think that satire has a wonderful place to offer social commentary and help to provide avenues for change or to provide a time of thought provoking conversation. I'm not sure that this is really satire because the only social commentary that it provides is for those who seem to be involved in the Hollywood community and actors in particular. The commentary does not appear to be for anyone outside of that, other than those who may look that deep into a movie or an actor's portrayal of a character.
The social commentary that I did see was between Robert Downey Jr.'s character Kirk Lazarus and Brandon T. Jackson's charcter Alpa Chino. Robert Downey Jr. played an Australian who undergoes a controversial surgery to have his skin pigmentation augmented to be black. So, an Anglo is playing an African-American in the movie. The conversations that go on between these two men about race and racial relations is intriguing and the conversation about white privilege can certainly come forward from watching those scenes. Granted, there are times when they are not the most tactful, but there are sometimes in life that there is not a tactful way of sharing the problems of the world.
There is not any kind of faith basis in the movie and if there are any glimpses into faith, they would be forced and contrived. There is no faith basis in the movie.
Tropic Thunder (Rated R for pervasive language including sexual references, violent content and drug material.)
I thought this would be funnier than it was. There were times when it was funny, especially when it was poking fun at the Hollywood community. However, there were also many scenes that were offensive. I think in some ways, there was an intentional offensive nature to it and some have described it as going up to the line sticking a toe and running back...I'm not sure...I think that there are some lines that are crossed and crossed very intentionally. The language is very rough and very graphic. Clearly this is not a movie that is acceptable for children. I love satire and I think that satire has a wonderful place to offer social commentary and help to provide avenues for change or to provide a time of thought provoking conversation. I'm not sure that this is really satire because the only social commentary that it provides is for those who seem to be involved in the Hollywood community and actors in particular. The commentary does not appear to be for anyone outside of that, other than those who may look that deep into a movie or an actor's portrayal of a character.
The social commentary that I did see was between Robert Downey Jr.'s character Kirk Lazarus and Brandon T. Jackson's charcter Alpa Chino. Robert Downey Jr. played an Australian who undergoes a controversial surgery to have his skin pigmentation augmented to be black. So, an Anglo is playing an African-American in the movie. The conversations that go on between these two men about race and racial relations is intriguing and the conversation about white privilege can certainly come forward from watching those scenes. Granted, there are times when they are not the most tactful, but there are sometimes in life that there is not a tactful way of sharing the problems of the world.
There is not any kind of faith basis in the movie and if there are any glimpses into faith, they would be forced and contrived. There is no faith basis in the movie.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
What's Important?
What’s Important?
Last week we began our series looking at what our legacy will be…A legacy is not something that we think about in relation to our death, but in relation to how we live our lives…Also because God has fulfilled God’s promises, what are we doing to fulfill our promises to God?
Part of deciding what our legacy will be also means that we take a kind of inventory of our lives and figure out what’s important and what, well what’s not…You’ve probably heard the saying that when someone is on their deathbed or near death, they don’t say that they wish they had spent more time working or collecting stuff…usually it’s that they wish that they had spent more time with friends and family…What’s important in your life?
Randy Pausch is the professor of Carnegie Mellon who taught his last lecture titled “Really Living Your Childhood Dreams” which was viewed millions of times on the internet and turned into a New York Times Best Seller. The lessons that are shared in his lecture are life lessons and things that Randy Pausch learned upon his journey of life…But they are also ways that he lived his life. Randy Pausch fully admitted to being a workaholic, but there were times when he knew that life was more important than working. And from very early in his life, he understood that stuff was not as important as people…When he was a child, his parents let him paint his room…Whatever he wanted…He painted sayings and math equations on his walls and of course an elevator door…He said that when he painted his room he learned from his parents that creativity, imagination, and people were more important that walls and paint. But even more telling than that story is a story that he tells about his new car…
When Randy was a bachelor, he drove up to pick up his niece and nephew ages 9 and 7…He of course drove to pick them up in his brand new Volkswagen Cabrio Convertible…Now Randy’s sister, the children’s mother told them exactly how they should behave and what they should and should not do… “Be careful in Uncle Randy’s new car. Wipe your feet before you get in. Don’t mess anything up. Don’t get it dirty.” All things that I’m sure you’ve said at one point or another…And that aren’t bad rules…But as Randy’s sister was outlining these rules…He was slowly and deliberately opening a can of pop and turning it upside down and pouring it all on the cloth seats in the back…He said that his message was clear… People are more important than things. He also said that he ended up being glad that he spilled that pop because later in the time with his niece and nephew, his nephew got the flu and got sick all over the back seat of the car. Randy said that his nephew didn’t feel guilty for getting the car dirty because it was already dirtied by Uncle Randy. People are more important than things…He goes on to share with this story that as his niece and nephew are now adults, that they take his children out for events like he used to take them and when the kids mess up their cars, they think of him and the lessons he taught them…
What’s important to you? Is it more stuff or is it something else? Now, I know full well that to say that stuff and things aren’t important is completely counter cultural to the world that we live in…We live in a world that says whoever has the most toys wins…Or whoever has the best stuff is the winner…And yet that’s the opposite of what Jesus taught and did…Jesus didn’t heal people because they had the most stuff, but because they had faith…He didn’t eat with people because they had the best food or the biggest homes…He ate with them because he was invited…In a culture where we are taught that bigger is better, Jesus teaches us something different…Something opposite…Something radical…That there is something more important than stuff…
Now that’s not to say that everyone should trash their homes and pour pop all over the back seats of their cars…But instead of looking with an eye to what is bigger and better, being satisfied with what we have…And using what we have as a tool and not the be all and end all…
The way that Randy looked at his car was a way for him to drive his niece and nephew to various places…It was a tool for him to do what was really important…It wasn’t the important thing…The important thing was building the relationship with his family…What’s important?
As Jesus talks with his disciples on the top of the mountain and he’s telling the disciples what their responsibilities are in what is referred to as the great commission…Jesus tells the disciples “All authority has been given to me.” And in that statement is a boldness from Jesus…That he has all the authority on earth and in heaven…That Jesus is Lord…Not only is Jesus Lord, but he’s giving an important task to his disciples…Now, he’s not giving up any of his authority, because certainly Jesus is Lord! But, he’s giving the disciples an authority to continue to share the message of the Gospel and to continue to share his teachings with the world! Jesus didn’t tell the disciples to find a safe building and store everything that he had ever given them and hide out there until it seemed like it was safe or until Jesus returned…No, Jesus told them to Go…That the message was more important than anything else…The same commission that Jesus gave to the disciples is one that is still passed on to us…When we are baptized we are baptized into service…It’s a time when God claims us as God’s own…a promise that God makes to us that we are God’s children…But it’s also a promise that we make to God…When we are baptized, we are baptized into ministry with God…To continue the ministry of Jesus…to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…That is a charge that as baptized Christians we all have…It’s not just for those who are on committees or just for pastors or just for the saints of the church…It’s what we are all called into as baptized Christians…as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ…
After Jesus told the disciples to “Go,” he gave them the rest of the instruction… “Go and make disciples of all nations”…Go and make disciples of all people….ALL PEOPLE ARE WELCOME! We are to invite all people into a relationship with Jesus…Baptizing them in the name of God three-in-one…The triune God…The Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost…And teaching to obey the commandments of Jesus…The commandments where Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself.” And all of the teachings that Jesus shared with his disciples that helped to give examples of those commandments and those that challenged the society of the day…And those are things that we all should be diving into to work at understanding our faith…What’s important?
What are we doing as a church to encourage people to meet Jesus? What are we doing to tell them that Jesus meets them right where they are…that Jesus is present in their very lives? That Jesus is calling to them…That Jesus is calling to us? How do they know? Our mission as Sheridan/Norway United Methodist Church is…Mission statements here…That is what we have claimed as our legacy…There isn’t anything in that mission statement about stuff…it’s all about how we share the message of the Gospel…How are we living into that mission?
The message of the Gospel is radical…it’s radically different than our whole society teaches…It’s radically different than our whole culture preaches…The message of the Gospel shares what is really important…That people matter more than stuff…That love is more important than hate…That forgiveness is more important than not…That Jesus is Lord…That God fulfills God’s promises…And it’s a message that we are commissioned to share with the world…To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…Mission Statement…That’s what’s important…
Last week we began our series looking at what our legacy will be…A legacy is not something that we think about in relation to our death, but in relation to how we live our lives…Also because God has fulfilled God’s promises, what are we doing to fulfill our promises to God?
Part of deciding what our legacy will be also means that we take a kind of inventory of our lives and figure out what’s important and what, well what’s not…You’ve probably heard the saying that when someone is on their deathbed or near death, they don’t say that they wish they had spent more time working or collecting stuff…usually it’s that they wish that they had spent more time with friends and family…What’s important in your life?
Randy Pausch is the professor of Carnegie Mellon who taught his last lecture titled “Really Living Your Childhood Dreams” which was viewed millions of times on the internet and turned into a New York Times Best Seller. The lessons that are shared in his lecture are life lessons and things that Randy Pausch learned upon his journey of life…But they are also ways that he lived his life. Randy Pausch fully admitted to being a workaholic, but there were times when he knew that life was more important than working. And from very early in his life, he understood that stuff was not as important as people…When he was a child, his parents let him paint his room…Whatever he wanted…He painted sayings and math equations on his walls and of course an elevator door…He said that when he painted his room he learned from his parents that creativity, imagination, and people were more important that walls and paint. But even more telling than that story is a story that he tells about his new car…
When Randy was a bachelor, he drove up to pick up his niece and nephew ages 9 and 7…He of course drove to pick them up in his brand new Volkswagen Cabrio Convertible…Now Randy’s sister, the children’s mother told them exactly how they should behave and what they should and should not do… “Be careful in Uncle Randy’s new car. Wipe your feet before you get in. Don’t mess anything up. Don’t get it dirty.” All things that I’m sure you’ve said at one point or another…And that aren’t bad rules…But as Randy’s sister was outlining these rules…He was slowly and deliberately opening a can of pop and turning it upside down and pouring it all on the cloth seats in the back…He said that his message was clear… People are more important than things. He also said that he ended up being glad that he spilled that pop because later in the time with his niece and nephew, his nephew got the flu and got sick all over the back seat of the car. Randy said that his nephew didn’t feel guilty for getting the car dirty because it was already dirtied by Uncle Randy. People are more important than things…He goes on to share with this story that as his niece and nephew are now adults, that they take his children out for events like he used to take them and when the kids mess up their cars, they think of him and the lessons he taught them…
What’s important to you? Is it more stuff or is it something else? Now, I know full well that to say that stuff and things aren’t important is completely counter cultural to the world that we live in…We live in a world that says whoever has the most toys wins…Or whoever has the best stuff is the winner…And yet that’s the opposite of what Jesus taught and did…Jesus didn’t heal people because they had the most stuff, but because they had faith…He didn’t eat with people because they had the best food or the biggest homes…He ate with them because he was invited…In a culture where we are taught that bigger is better, Jesus teaches us something different…Something opposite…Something radical…That there is something more important than stuff…
Now that’s not to say that everyone should trash their homes and pour pop all over the back seats of their cars…But instead of looking with an eye to what is bigger and better, being satisfied with what we have…And using what we have as a tool and not the be all and end all…
The way that Randy looked at his car was a way for him to drive his niece and nephew to various places…It was a tool for him to do what was really important…It wasn’t the important thing…The important thing was building the relationship with his family…What’s important?
As Jesus talks with his disciples on the top of the mountain and he’s telling the disciples what their responsibilities are in what is referred to as the great commission…Jesus tells the disciples “All authority has been given to me.” And in that statement is a boldness from Jesus…That he has all the authority on earth and in heaven…That Jesus is Lord…Not only is Jesus Lord, but he’s giving an important task to his disciples…Now, he’s not giving up any of his authority, because certainly Jesus is Lord! But, he’s giving the disciples an authority to continue to share the message of the Gospel and to continue to share his teachings with the world! Jesus didn’t tell the disciples to find a safe building and store everything that he had ever given them and hide out there until it seemed like it was safe or until Jesus returned…No, Jesus told them to Go…That the message was more important than anything else…The same commission that Jesus gave to the disciples is one that is still passed on to us…When we are baptized we are baptized into service…It’s a time when God claims us as God’s own…a promise that God makes to us that we are God’s children…But it’s also a promise that we make to God…When we are baptized, we are baptized into ministry with God…To continue the ministry of Jesus…to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…That is a charge that as baptized Christians we all have…It’s not just for those who are on committees or just for pastors or just for the saints of the church…It’s what we are all called into as baptized Christians…as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ…
After Jesus told the disciples to “Go,” he gave them the rest of the instruction… “Go and make disciples of all nations”…Go and make disciples of all people….ALL PEOPLE ARE WELCOME! We are to invite all people into a relationship with Jesus…Baptizing them in the name of God three-in-one…The triune God…The Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost…And teaching to obey the commandments of Jesus…The commandments where Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself.” And all of the teachings that Jesus shared with his disciples that helped to give examples of those commandments and those that challenged the society of the day…And those are things that we all should be diving into to work at understanding our faith…What’s important?
What are we doing as a church to encourage people to meet Jesus? What are we doing to tell them that Jesus meets them right where they are…that Jesus is present in their very lives? That Jesus is calling to them…That Jesus is calling to us? How do they know? Our mission as Sheridan/Norway United Methodist Church is…Mission statements here…That is what we have claimed as our legacy…There isn’t anything in that mission statement about stuff…it’s all about how we share the message of the Gospel…How are we living into that mission?
The message of the Gospel is radical…it’s radically different than our whole society teaches…It’s radically different than our whole culture preaches…The message of the Gospel shares what is really important…That people matter more than stuff…That love is more important than hate…That forgiveness is more important than not…That Jesus is Lord…That God fulfills God’s promises…And it’s a message that we are commissioned to share with the world…To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world…Mission Statement…That’s what’s important…
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Church Supper
Church Supper tomorrow (Monday!) night 4:30-7:00 pm at Sheridan UMC. Dinner will be a cookout with burgers, hot dogs and side dishes! Donations accepted and all money will go to pay our apportionments.
Legacy
Legacy
What legacy do I want to leave? It’s a question that most people don’t start asking themselves until they are facing their own mortality…their own death…Unfortunately, that seems to be the time when it’s almost too late to do that…Not that there’s ever really a bad time to contemplate and think about the legacy that you want to leave, but it’s important to think about a legacy before then…Because a legacy isn’t something that’s a passing thing…a legacy is something permanent…I was watching a TV show recently where a woman came on and read her obituary. She had written it several years earlier and not because she was looking at facing a terminal illness or because she was considering suicide…She wrote it because it’s the way that she wanted to live her life…She wanted to make sure that everything she wrote in her obituary was the truth and that she could truly live her legacy…
Randy Pausch was a 45 year old father of three when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer…After an unconventional and experimental treatment, he was in better health than he had been in quite some time until August 2007 when he was given 6 months to live…As he and his wife Jai contemplated every remaining moment of their life together, Randy was scheduled to give a lecture at the University he taught at—Carnegie Mellon…They had a series that originated as a “last lecture” series…Professors were invited to give a lecture as though it was their last—what knowledge would they like to impart if they knew it was the last lecture that they would give…Randy Pausch signed up before he knew his diagnosis and after much consideration, he decided to keep his scheduled date…This lecture took on new meaning as it was probably going to be the last lecture that he would ever give. The decision to do the lecture did not come easy…It meant that he would spend time away from his family—his three small children, ages 6, 3, and 18 months and his wife…Ultimately the decision to do this lecture came not because he wanted an honor or attention…The reason why he did the lecture was to have something to give to his children…A way that he could pass a piece of who their dad was…He wanted to leave them with this legacy…
Now, the video itself will be a wonderful gift for his children as they wonder who their dad was or try and remember what his voice sounded like…and a beautiful gift for his wife Jai as she grieves the loss of the love of her life…It is also an amazing gift to all of us to get a peak into the legacy of Randy Pausch…The video itself is a tool to understand the legacy of Randy Pausch…But his legacy is much larger than that…If you were to watch the lecture or to read the book The Last Lecture you would understand that his legacy is not the book or the video…his legacy is the way that he lived his life…Each of the lessons that he conveys in his lecture and in his book are ones that he truly lived…Over the next few weeks, we will explore some of the lessons that Randy Pausch leaves behind as his legacy…Randy Pausch professes a faith and shares in his book that he has many counselors and confidantes to help him cope with his death and prepare his family for life without him, and one of those people is his pastor…The lessons that he shares in his book are not explicitly Christian or linked with Scripture passages and Randy Pausch does not use this book as an evangelistic tool…But, the lessons that he leaves behind are not all new lessons…They are lessons that he has learned throughout his life and the ways that he lived his life…Some have a deeply faith based foundation and others aren’t quite as obvious…But each has a lesson that we can learn from on what we want our legacies to be…
Because truthfully if I said that I wanted my legacy to be that I was the world’s greatest scientist and created a cure for an incurable disease…Well, that would only be my legacy if it was something that I actually did! Our legacies are not things that we just say that we want people to remember and learn from, but our legacies are ways that we truly live our lives which doesn’t start with our death, but starts with how we live our lives.
In the passage from Genesis, we have the covenant God made with Abraham…A covenant is a promise…and in a promise there are 2 parties who promise something…In this covenant God promised that Abraham’s descendents would outnumber the stars…in return, for Abraham’s part—he had to believe that God would do what God promised…Part of Abraham’s legacy is part of our legacy…God did what God promised and many nations came from Abraham as Abraham is credited with being the father of what are called the “Abrahamic faiths”—Judaism, Islam, and Christianity…God did make good on God’s promise, but only because Abraham did too…Abraham’s legacy is only his legacy because it’s true…Abraham believed God would do what God promised and in return God did it! Now certainly there’s more to Abraham’s story than that, but much of Abraham’s legacy goes back to his full trust that God would do what God promised…He believed that his wife Sarah would have a baby, he believed that God would lead them to the land that would be there home…He believed God would do what God said…That’s a pretty amazing legacy and a pretty important lesson for us…I mean to have a faith like that, that we believe that God will do what God says God will do! It means that we have to give up some of our control, which isn’t easy to do…
But in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth it’s what Paul implores as well…As Paul says that when we are weak it is God who is strong…I mean it’s a pretty arrogant statement to say that we are stronger than God…It’s also pretty arrogant for us to think that we can handle things better than God can do…And even in the arrogance of those thoughts…It’s hard to really do those things…
But what an amazing legacy if we do! What if that is the beginning of the legacy that we as individuals leave…That we trusted that God would do what God has promised? And we lived our life in that trust? We might be like Abraham who moved his whole life to follow God’s instructions…or like David who became the greatest king of Israel’s history…or like Mary who became the mother of Jesus…What would happen if we lived our belief?
And it’s not just important for our personal lives to leave a legacy, but what will our legacy be as the church? As Sheridan/Norway United Methodist Church—this is what our mission statement is…Mission Statements here…Our mission statement is a way that the church leaves a legacy…How are we as Sheridan/Norway United Methodist Church living our legacy? Contemplating what our legacies will be and how we live into them are important questions to ask ourselves…It doesn’t have to take a life threatening situation to ask this question…Because our legacy isn’t about our death…It’s about our life and how we live our life.
Randy Pausch gave the charge at the 2008 graduation at Carnegie Mellon…As Randy gave the charge to the graduates, he shared that in August 2007 he was given 3-6 months to live and that he was on month 9 of that prognosis. He said that when he shares that, people say, “Wow, you’re really beating the Grim Reaper!” And his response to that is this…“We don’t beat the reaper by living longer. We beat the reaper by living well and living fully. For the reaper will come for all of us, the question is what will we do between the time we’re born and the time he shows up. Cause when he shows up, it’s too late to do the things that you’re always kinda gonna get around to…Remember it is not the things we do in life that we regret in life. It is the things that we do not.” On July 25, 2008 Randy Pausch passed away from complications due to pancreatic cancer. He has said that his solace comes from the way that he lived his life not how he prepared for his death…That he lived his legacy…
How will we live our legacy? In the coming weeks, we’ll explore that question in many ways…through worship, prayer—both individual and corporate, through meetings, through conversations…But most importantly through listening to God and trusting in God’s promises…Because that’s where we as Christians have to begin…We have to begin with knowing that God has done everything that God said God would do…God fulfilled God’s promises to Abraham…God was with David on the throne…God sent Jesus Christ to live among God’s people…Jesus Christ rose from the dead just like he said he would…God has lived up to all of God’s promises…How are we living into our legacy? In the coming weeks as we contemplate that question together, may we live into our legacy together…
What legacy do I want to leave? It’s a question that most people don’t start asking themselves until they are facing their own mortality…their own death…Unfortunately, that seems to be the time when it’s almost too late to do that…Not that there’s ever really a bad time to contemplate and think about the legacy that you want to leave, but it’s important to think about a legacy before then…Because a legacy isn’t something that’s a passing thing…a legacy is something permanent…I was watching a TV show recently where a woman came on and read her obituary. She had written it several years earlier and not because she was looking at facing a terminal illness or because she was considering suicide…She wrote it because it’s the way that she wanted to live her life…She wanted to make sure that everything she wrote in her obituary was the truth and that she could truly live her legacy…
Randy Pausch was a 45 year old father of three when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer…After an unconventional and experimental treatment, he was in better health than he had been in quite some time until August 2007 when he was given 6 months to live…As he and his wife Jai contemplated every remaining moment of their life together, Randy was scheduled to give a lecture at the University he taught at—Carnegie Mellon…They had a series that originated as a “last lecture” series…Professors were invited to give a lecture as though it was their last—what knowledge would they like to impart if they knew it was the last lecture that they would give…Randy Pausch signed up before he knew his diagnosis and after much consideration, he decided to keep his scheduled date…This lecture took on new meaning as it was probably going to be the last lecture that he would ever give. The decision to do the lecture did not come easy…It meant that he would spend time away from his family—his three small children, ages 6, 3, and 18 months and his wife…Ultimately the decision to do this lecture came not because he wanted an honor or attention…The reason why he did the lecture was to have something to give to his children…A way that he could pass a piece of who their dad was…He wanted to leave them with this legacy…
Now, the video itself will be a wonderful gift for his children as they wonder who their dad was or try and remember what his voice sounded like…and a beautiful gift for his wife Jai as she grieves the loss of the love of her life…It is also an amazing gift to all of us to get a peak into the legacy of Randy Pausch…The video itself is a tool to understand the legacy of Randy Pausch…But his legacy is much larger than that…If you were to watch the lecture or to read the book The Last Lecture you would understand that his legacy is not the book or the video…his legacy is the way that he lived his life…Each of the lessons that he conveys in his lecture and in his book are ones that he truly lived…Over the next few weeks, we will explore some of the lessons that Randy Pausch leaves behind as his legacy…Randy Pausch professes a faith and shares in his book that he has many counselors and confidantes to help him cope with his death and prepare his family for life without him, and one of those people is his pastor…The lessons that he shares in his book are not explicitly Christian or linked with Scripture passages and Randy Pausch does not use this book as an evangelistic tool…But, the lessons that he leaves behind are not all new lessons…They are lessons that he has learned throughout his life and the ways that he lived his life…Some have a deeply faith based foundation and others aren’t quite as obvious…But each has a lesson that we can learn from on what we want our legacies to be…
Because truthfully if I said that I wanted my legacy to be that I was the world’s greatest scientist and created a cure for an incurable disease…Well, that would only be my legacy if it was something that I actually did! Our legacies are not things that we just say that we want people to remember and learn from, but our legacies are ways that we truly live our lives which doesn’t start with our death, but starts with how we live our lives.
In the passage from Genesis, we have the covenant God made with Abraham…A covenant is a promise…and in a promise there are 2 parties who promise something…In this covenant God promised that Abraham’s descendents would outnumber the stars…in return, for Abraham’s part—he had to believe that God would do what God promised…Part of Abraham’s legacy is part of our legacy…God did what God promised and many nations came from Abraham as Abraham is credited with being the father of what are called the “Abrahamic faiths”—Judaism, Islam, and Christianity…God did make good on God’s promise, but only because Abraham did too…Abraham’s legacy is only his legacy because it’s true…Abraham believed God would do what God promised and in return God did it! Now certainly there’s more to Abraham’s story than that, but much of Abraham’s legacy goes back to his full trust that God would do what God promised…He believed that his wife Sarah would have a baby, he believed that God would lead them to the land that would be there home…He believed God would do what God said…That’s a pretty amazing legacy and a pretty important lesson for us…I mean to have a faith like that, that we believe that God will do what God says God will do! It means that we have to give up some of our control, which isn’t easy to do…
But in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth it’s what Paul implores as well…As Paul says that when we are weak it is God who is strong…I mean it’s a pretty arrogant statement to say that we are stronger than God…It’s also pretty arrogant for us to think that we can handle things better than God can do…And even in the arrogance of those thoughts…It’s hard to really do those things…
But what an amazing legacy if we do! What if that is the beginning of the legacy that we as individuals leave…That we trusted that God would do what God has promised? And we lived our life in that trust? We might be like Abraham who moved his whole life to follow God’s instructions…or like David who became the greatest king of Israel’s history…or like Mary who became the mother of Jesus…What would happen if we lived our belief?
And it’s not just important for our personal lives to leave a legacy, but what will our legacy be as the church? As Sheridan/Norway United Methodist Church—this is what our mission statement is…Mission Statements here…Our mission statement is a way that the church leaves a legacy…How are we as Sheridan/Norway United Methodist Church living our legacy? Contemplating what our legacies will be and how we live into them are important questions to ask ourselves…It doesn’t have to take a life threatening situation to ask this question…Because our legacy isn’t about our death…It’s about our life and how we live our life.
Randy Pausch gave the charge at the 2008 graduation at Carnegie Mellon…As Randy gave the charge to the graduates, he shared that in August 2007 he was given 3-6 months to live and that he was on month 9 of that prognosis. He said that when he shares that, people say, “Wow, you’re really beating the Grim Reaper!” And his response to that is this…“We don’t beat the reaper by living longer. We beat the reaper by living well and living fully. For the reaper will come for all of us, the question is what will we do between the time we’re born and the time he shows up. Cause when he shows up, it’s too late to do the things that you’re always kinda gonna get around to…Remember it is not the things we do in life that we regret in life. It is the things that we do not.” On July 25, 2008 Randy Pausch passed away from complications due to pancreatic cancer. He has said that his solace comes from the way that he lived his life not how he prepared for his death…That he lived his legacy…
How will we live our legacy? In the coming weeks, we’ll explore that question in many ways…through worship, prayer—both individual and corporate, through meetings, through conversations…But most importantly through listening to God and trusting in God’s promises…Because that’s where we as Christians have to begin…We have to begin with knowing that God has done everything that God said God would do…God fulfilled God’s promises to Abraham…God was with David on the throne…God sent Jesus Christ to live among God’s people…Jesus Christ rose from the dead just like he said he would…God has lived up to all of God’s promises…How are we living into our legacy? In the coming weeks as we contemplate that question together, may we live into our legacy together…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)