A Beautiful Advent Poem by MaryAnn Jindra

This morning the Chancel Choir at Argyle UMC sang a beautiful Advent anthem with a text by MaryAnn Jindra with music by Libby Larson. It was lovely! Below you will find the poem which is a lovely reminder for us all during this season.


Lord, before this fleeting season is upon us,
let me remember to walk slowly.

Lord, bless my heart with Love and with quiet.
Give my heart a leaning to hear carols.

Grace our family with contentment,
and the peace that comes only from You.

Lord, help us to do less this busy season;
go less; stay closer to home; kneel more.

May our hearts be Your heart.
May we simply, peacefully, celebrate You.

A new ministry opportunity?

I'm thinking this just might be the new ministry for me! One of our AUMC members, Greg Bristow, has started a motorcycle ministry! I so wish I could participate. Unfortunately, there are a two key items that will keep me from being a part of this new ministry:

1. I don't have a motorcycle license.
2. Perhaps even more importantly, I don't have a motorcycle.

I suppose that, for the time being, I'll just have to support this ministry from afar!

What a cool ministry!

Thanksgiving

Ahhh...the last two days have been wonderful! Sarah, the kids and I, have been hanging with our family. We spent Wednesday with my family and Thursday with Sarah's. It's been an incredible blessing to just HANG! I hope you have had a relaxing week as well!

The Justice Revival!

Hello friends!

I am so excited about attending the upcoming Justice Revival this week in Dallas! The event is free, begins tomorrow and will be incredible! Zan Holmes, Jim Wallis, Fred Hammond, Jack Velasquez, Salvador, and Israel Houghton! Check out the website:

http://justicerevival.org/

I hope to see you there!

Pictures from the All Saints' Services at Argyle UMC and Flower Mound UMC

A Quote from Shane Claiborne

Here's a great quote from Shane Claiborne on prayer: "Prayer is not so much about convincing God to do what we want God to do as it is about convincing ourselves to do what God wants us to do."

Truth!

All Saints' at AUMC

Hello! I hope all is well in your corner of the world. I've been away from the blog for a while because I've been preparing for a series of incredible All Saints' Services this weekend at Argyle UMC and Flower Mound UMC. At the 11:15 service this week (and at 3:00 at Flower Mound UMC) the combined choirs of AUMC and FMUMC will be leading an All Saints' Service based around Gabriel Faure's Requiem. I can't wait for this worship experience to happen! In addition to the 40-45 voices in the choir we will also have a chamber orchestra and two new liturgical pieces (a bell tree and a processional cross) that have been commissioned for this service. It's going to be incredible! Pictures to come.
In the interim, have fun tomorrow and enjoy your extra hour of sleep Saturday night!
BTW, the picture is of Gabriel Faure.

A few pictures from the U2 concert

The Claw went green during "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" in tribute to the people of Iran fighting for democracy.


77,000 people singing their hears out!


Our original seats with the HORRIBLE acoustics. I can't imagine going to another concert at Cowboys Stadium unless I'm somehow able to sell a kidney to sit on the floor.


Sarah, with The Claw in the background.

A Quick Review of the U2 Concert!

Sarah and I had the great fortune on Monday night to attend the U2 concert at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. While I've been a huge fan of U2 for quite a while this was my first time to experience them in concert.

U2 didn't disappoint, in fact, they were incredible!

Cowboys Stadium, did disappoint.

The acoustics where we sat were horrendous. The opening act, Muse, was completely unintelligible. I was looking forward to hearing them but the acoustics were so bad that they sounded awful. I'm sure their performance was tremendous but there's no way I could have known!

During Muse's last song I found a place for us to stand in the end zone party pass area, where the acoustics were 1000 times better! Thankfully, we were able to stand there for the rest of the show.

U2 was, simply amazing! The Claw and adjoining screen were mind blowing and the performance was top-notch. U2's set list was as follows:

Breathe
Get on Your Boots
Magnificent
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment
No Line on the Horizon
Elevation
Until The End of the World
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy - Remix
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Where The Streets Have No Name

Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

Simply incredible! One day I hope to be able to see them live again! (Hopefully in an arena!)

An Open Letter to the President from Brian McLaren

I have great respect for both Brian McLaren and our President, Barack Obama. I must say that I am disturbed by the talk of major escalation of our forces in Afghanistan. I think this open letter from McLaren to President Obama is important. I hope you will take a moment to check it out! http://tiny.cc/7ESIV

A Good Reminder!

I found this image on the Rev. Mike Baughman's Blog www.methomergentlab.worpress.com and it made me laugh! I will post on last night's U2 concert soon!

A Poem by Thom M. Sherman that Gets to the Heart of the Matter

I am so excited! Today I am headed to the U2 concert at the new Cowboys Stadium. I have never had the opportunity to see them live before but I'm told it's like going to church! This morning I received a copy of this poem from a devotional email series that I receive from The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts. I think the timing is appropriate.

where you sit

we leave our box seats
at the symphony or ball park,
and pray you won’t catch our eye
as we pass you
sitting with the homeless;

we wait for a few minutes
at the doctor’s office
to get a $10 shot
so we won’t catch the flu,
while half a world away
you sit for a week
hoping medicine
which will cost you a year’s wages
finds its way to your village;

we sit in our home theaters,
watching the latest “reality”
on our plasma screens,
while you sit in the darkness,
rocking your child asleep,
as she cries from the ache
of an empty stomach.

Lord Jesus;
When
(like James and John)
we want to be at your side in glory:
remind us where you sit.

Amen

©2006 Thom M. Sherman
www.prayersfortoday.blogspot.com

A Poem by Thom M. Sherman that Gets to the Heart of the Matter

where you sit

we leave our box seats
at the symphony or ball park,
and pray you won’t catch our eye
as we pass you
sitting with the homeless;

we wait for a few minutes
at the doctor’s office
to get a $10 shot
so we won’t catch the flu,
while half a world away
you sit for a week
hoping medicine
which will cost you a year’s wages
finds its way to your village;

we sit in our home theaters,
watching the latest “reality”
on our plasma screens,
while you sit in the darkness,
rocking your child asleep,
as she cries from the ache
of an empty stomach.

Lord Jesus;
When
(like James and John)
we want to be at your side in glory:
remind us where you sit.

Amen

©2006 Thom M. Sherman
www.prayersfortoday.blogspot.com

A Beautiful Prayer for Church Musicians by Thomas Troeger

A great friend of mind and a tremendous musician, Carrie Chavarria, recently posted this beautiful prayer by Thomas Troeger on her facebook page. Thank you, Carrie, for sending out this incredible prayer!

A Prayer by Rev. Dr. Thomas Troeger

Source of all that is good and true and beautiful,
to whom whales and birds and crickets sing,
keep constant in your musicians
the conviction that your Spirit works through them
to reach a vast and carried hosts of souls
who gather in church
for hope, assureance, grace, beauty,
for some sign of your care,
for solace from grief and loss,
for strength to stand for justice,
for a glimpse of wonder and mystery,
for response to a need so hidden that it is known to you alone.

Assure your musicians that the rehearsals they lead,
the anthems they conduct,
the hymns they play,
the psalms they accompany,
the service music they offer,
the solos they sing,
the instrumental works they perform,
the programs they organize,
the words of encouragement they give
are again and again
the vessel of your Spirit
for healing the bruised, the lost, the broken
and for setting free the holy aspirations of the human heart.

And since the souls that are saved
be the secret ministries of music
often find it too self-revealing,
too frightening,
to offer their thanks in person,
may their unarticulated gratitude
be gathered by the wind of your Spirit
and be borne to the hearts of your musicans
as a gift to renew their faith
so that they may continue to be instruments
of proclamation and pastoral care
as they lead your people
in singing your everlasting praose
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

A Quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.

A while back I read Stephen Mansfield's "The Faith of Barack Obama." I was struck by two sections of the book that I will post about, first here, and then in a secondary post. The first element that caught my attention was a quote from Martin Luther King. The quote is as follows:

"The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will. But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it will enkindle the imagination of mankind and fire the souls of men, imbuing them with a glowing and ardent love for truth, justice, and peace."

Wow! I wonder how many of us are so blinded by our culture to realize that, in the vast majority of local churches, the church has forfeited its role as the conscience of the state?

Two excellent recent reads

I just finished two wonderful books that I would highly recommend to you: " A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller and a great little book "Sabbath" by Dan Allender.

Donald Miller's book has afforded me the opportunity to literally cry tears of joy. I can't encourage you enough to read this book!

The second book, "Sabbath," is part of The Ancient Practices Series and has been instrumental to the continual molding of my theology of the most neglected item from the Ten Commandments: the observance of the Sabbath.

In this book I read about a wonderful spiritual discipline that I have incorporated into my life recently.

I have begun the practice on the Sabbath (since I work on Sunday's I try to celebrate the Sabbath on Friday's) and the practice is this: I am going to find a quiet place, which is no mean feat in our house, and journal for a bit all of the things I am thankful for so that I can continue to become a person who is grateful to God for all that God has done.

I'm finding that this discipline helps me to lead a life that is filled with more gratitude and grace. I wonder if it might do so for you as well?

Sermon manuscript from a service honoring the ministry of Rev. John Baldwin

Two weeks ago I had the great pleasure of preaching at a service at Custer Road UMC, my home church. This service marked the beginning of youth week for the the student ministries as well as marking and honoring the ministry of Rev. John Baldwin, who is beginning ministry in a new field these days, after 20 years of youth ministry at Custer Road. It was a rare privilege to preach this service! My good friend and colleague, Rev. Dana Coker, presided at the table. Dana and I grew up together at CRUMC and have since both entered into ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. What a night! Thank you to Rev. Mike Baughman for putting it all together!

And They Went
Genesis 12:1-4

Begin w/Drum Groove (Joe, then Sarah and Matt Hammer)

“I want you to go back in time with me….to a time before this magnificent organ was here in this place, to a time before the swine flu, to a time before Jon and Kate had eight, to a time before the proliferation of the cell phone, before facebook, twitter, or even email, there was a man, a tool…of God, an instrument of the Lord’s, a servant of God. That man’s name is Baldwin, John Baldwin. But we’ll get to him later. Come back with me, farther in time, to a time before trains, planes, and automobiles, to a time before printing presses, before personal hygiene, before the Romans….their was a man, a tool of God, an instrument of the Lord’s, a servant of God and his name was Abram.”

Hear now the key story to the book of Genesis, the key piece to the first five books of the Bible, and one of the most important stories for us today as followers of Christ.

Read Genesis 12:1-4
The Word of God, for the people of God…thanks be to God.
You know this is a pretty popular verse in preaching circles! Often, however preachers stop preaching on this text after verse three, the blessing part.

But I don’t know about you, I find the fourth verse to be incredibly intriguing…

So Abram went as the Lord had told him. Abram heard from God and he went.

You know, if we listen, I think we hear from God all the time but after we calculate the costs of following, of going where we are called, as God tells us, we often, decide its much too costly, much to dangerous and we stay right where we are.

But Abram, however, gave up his security, and he went.

Consider this:

God called Abram, promised him, blessed him, saying that Abram and his descendants would bless all creation. It is important to understand what blessing means in this context, for here the word has cosmic implications. It means well-being in all aspects of life. The common good, if you will. All of the families of earth will have what they need to live, not just survive but thrive. It means that all will be blessed by the descendants of Abram.

God is promising Abram that his descendants would bless all of God’s people throughout time. It’s a big promise and a promise that Abram had to know would never see fulfilled in his lifetime…

And so Abram had a choice to make: follow God, go into the unknown, and claim God’s promises, or, he could stay where he was and stick with what he knew.

Knowing that he had a choice in the matter, Abram still chose to give up nearly everything to go and to follow God! He gave up his economic security (which is a word for us to consider in our present circumstance), his religious security (which we who worship in this beautiful place tonight without fear for our lives would do well to consider), and his social network, his social security and he went.

Abram faced this incredible dilemma when God spoke to him, as John Wesley put it, “could Abram trust God farther than he could see him?”

Could Abram have faith, could he act his faith, so that he could be a blessing to all of the peoples of God? Did Abram trust God enough to put his story into God’s story, even though he knew that he would never see the fulfillment of God’s promises of blessing to the world in his lifetime?

Could Abram do it? God had to wonder. Could he give up so much to follow? We know the answer is yes, and Abram went as the Lord told him.

What an incredible example for us of what it looks to be people of faith.

To be a tool of God, to be a servant, an instrument of God, we have to be a little bit like Abram. To be a tool of God, you have to be willing to trust more than what you can see. But, that trust is not a passive thing; rather, it is an active thing, a living thing, a vibrant way of life. You also have to work, you have to claim God’s promises by living into them and out of them, and you have to live in a way that embodies the values of the Kingdom of God as set forth by Jesus!

(pause)

To be a tool in God’s hands is to become part of something greater than ourselves. If we offer ourselves to God, we become a part of something grander than our youth group, something greater than our schools, something richer and more profound than our businesses or even our country.

For to become a willing tool of God we become agents of God’s Kingdom on earth!

And becoming an agent of God is highest calling. It requires faith, trust, community and hope, for we will not, we cannot see the end result, the final fulfillment of God’s dream in our lifetime.

But be assured…as tools of God, as tools the size of mustard seeds in the hands of God we will see the signs of Yahweh’s reign in our lives. For when we are about God’s work, when we put our story into God’s story by aligning our priorities with God’s priorities, we will see God’s Kingdom come in our lives and the world around us.

Abram was called; God blessed him, so that he would be a blessing! And, he went! And by going, he, and Lot, and Sari and the rest established a pattern for God’s people: We are called and loved by God, blessed by God and sent out by God into the world to bless others! That is part, for us, of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

They went and others followed.

Remember Moses, the one who had difficulty speaking. The one who, with God’s help, challenged and beat the most powerful man and empire in his time. And he went!

Remember David, just a small boy, who, with God’s help liberated his people from a fierce oppressor! And he went!

Remember Jesus himself, who though fully God was also fully human. He chose to speak words of love and liberation, even as he was being executed. And he went!

Remember Stephen, who acted and spoke in the love of God, even though it became the death of him. And he went!

Remember Francis of Assisi, who gave up his life of privilege to rebuild God’s church. And he went!

Remember Margaret Fell, who, while in prison in 1667 wrote Women’s Speaking Justified, citing the Bible in defense of the then crazy idea that women might have something to say of value in church. And she went!

Remember John Wesley, who though he greatly preferred the comfort of preaching in the sanctuary, chose to preach in the coalmines, thus ignited an explosion of faith in the British Isles that led to the creation of the church you worship in today! And he went!

Remember Martin Luther King, Jr., who though only 26 years old, at the urging of his colleagues decided to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Despite frequent threats and attempts against his life and the life of his family he proclaimed liberation, struggled for peace and justice. And he went!

Remember Mother Teresa, who, after her death, we learned that she had profound doubts about the very existence of God, but in spite of her doubts she chose to serve the poorest of the poor in India and thus blessed not only the poor but blessed the world by inspiring it. And she went!

Remember Shane Claiborne, our modern-day Mother Teresa, who by the way he leads his life inspires many of us to further radical love and action in the world in the name of Jesus. And he went!

And this brings us to another one of God’s faithful and precious servants, a tool of God, an instrument of the Lord. Remember our brother John Baldwin, who followed God’s call to this place, where he has been in ministry to thousands of God’s children for twenty years.

God called John to a pilgrimage life of blessing others, and John went.

We all have our own stories and memories of how John has blessed each one of us.

My initial memory of being blessed by John comes from 1990. It was the fall of my seventh grade year and the time had come for the fall retreat. Now, one of my main challenges in life, as Tim Morrison has confirmed for me on numerous occasions, is that I think too much. I had managed the week before the retreat to convince myself that there were many compelling reasons why I shouldn’t go on this retreat: I wouldn’t know very many people, I would be lonely, there was important school work to be done, I needed to practice, etc.

I had worked myself up to the point where I declared on Friday afternoon to my family that I wouldn’t be joining the other youth on Friday night. I kind of got emotional about it! I’m not saying there was a flood of tears but certainly there was moistures involved!

My mother, in her infinite grace and loving wisdom, headed up to church as people were gathering and she told John that I had decided not to come.

I will never forget the power of what happened next. I was home, feeling pretty sorry for myself and the phone rang. I picked up the phone, trying to hold back the tears from affecting my voice and said, “hello?” The voice on the other end of the phone was John’s and he said that he heard I had decided not to come to the retreat that weekend and that he was sorry to hear that because he was looking forward to getting to know me. He also said that there was still room and still time and if I changed my mind I was welcome to come. He treated me like a full person, and not a child.

Friends, to this day, I remain thankful for that phone call, and thankful that God urged me to say yes and I went.

And the retreat was AMAZING! I met lots of new friends, had a wonderful time, we went to the old Texas Stadium, I fell off the top bunk of a bunk-bed, and, I can say this because she’s not here, I even kissed a girl for the first time! (Which was reason enough to go!) It was awesome! And the retreat was good too.

God was so active through John that night! Had the Spirit not prompted John, had John not said yes to the Spirit, had he not picked up the phone and called me, I don’t know that I would be standing up here, 19 years later as an ordained in full-connection United Methodist Minister, preaching!

God called John, God blessed John so that John could be a blessing to others. And, as we all know, he is.

And God has called John to a new ministry, and because John is a man of faith, a man who trusts God’s promises, he has responded to God’s new call in his life.

So it should be for us. God is calling to each and every one of us, out of love. God is blessing each and every one of us so that we will bless every family on earth. God is calling us to love the common good! May we be inspired by John’s willingness to go where God calls him!

For those of you who are former students of John’s here by yourselves, or with your spouse or even your children, for their parents and the staff of this magnificent church, and for John’s colleagues who are here tonight, be inspired by John’s example and may the fire of faith and action that live in your hearts, may it be rekindled and renewed and strengthened by the example of the saints who have gone before us and by the very breath of the Holy Spirit!

For the students who are attending youth week, wow, this is an important week for you! As I look out over this congregation, I see friends who I made on youth week, and on tours, and retreats, who still encourage me and love me today. Undoubtedly, many of you will make friendships this week that will be with you for the rest of your lives.

But just as importantly (begin to move) perhaps more importantly, you will see God at work this week, if you choose to look for it. May you be open to hearing God’s call in your life. Make no mistake; God is calling you to a life of faith, of love, of action, of blessing for all of God’s creation. May you catch glimpses of God’s work in your life and in the lives of those around you this week. And may you have the courage to go, to put yourselves in the line of endless splendor, to claim who God has made you to be: a blessing to all of God’s creation.

In the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.

Sermon from August 2 (Wall-E)

Yup, it's been a month since I last posted. During that time I've stepped foot in all of the time zones in the continental U.S., preached to over 1500 folks, took the kids to Disney World, and helped to produce the worship for the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts 2009 National Convocation. What a summer!

Below you will find the manuscript of the sermon I preached at AUMC on August 2 during our AUMC At the Movies sermon series. I hope you will find it stimulating! Of course, I deviated from the manuscript quite a bit!

Tomorrow I will post the manuscript for a sermon I preached this past Sunday night at Custer Road UMC in Plano, Texas.

Script for Our End is Our Beginning

Voice 1 (Recording of): Tammie Nuoci
Media
Djembe ensemble

Media: House lights and stage lights fade to black—Eno’s Under Stars begins

Live djembe groove begins

Media: Moving images of creation, transitioning from rural to urban scenes

Voice: Now it’s time for a story. Many of us in this place know the beginning of this story, but, many of us, perhaps, don’t really know its end.

The story begins like this…

In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. And God called the creation not only good, but very good! From the smallest particles that constitute every thing, to the largest interstellar event, God called all that God had made very good!

Media: Begin Wall-E clip at around the 1-minute mark (without sound)

Voice: And then, as you know, because of our own selfishness, humanity messed things up. And we messed things up pretty badly. The earth, a key part of God’s very good creation, began to change in ways that God had not intended. Life cycles and ecosystems began to fall out of balance. The kingdom of death began to expand, separating creation from its fullest life. It all began to change.

(dramatic pause, djembe crescendos to a loud stop!)

It was in a time like this that the prophet Ezekiel was led to a vision.

Media: All Light’s Full

Joe reads The Valley of the Dry Bones passage, Under Stars continues…when the passage about the bones coming together begins the drums make lots of random noise and stop at the end of that section. When the breath part begins a rain stick slowly plays to a crescendo to simulate breath.







Can these bones live?
It is a question that has been with us for thousands of years, from Ezekiel’s time, to the time of the Israelites when Christ was alive, to folks imprisoned, oppressed, and enslaved throughout all time.

Can these bones live?

Can you and I, imprisoned as we might be by our addictions, by personal choices, by circumstance, by regret and disappointment, can we live again. Not just survive but LIVE!

This question, "can these bones live" is posed by the film Wall-E about the Earth. Can these bones live again?

Can the earth live without proper care, without love and stewardship from those who have been given dominion of her?

In the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 2 we find that God created humanity to till the earth, to be it’s steward. But over the course of thousands of years, we have traded, myself included, the amazing responsibility of being stewards of God’s good creation for things that are all together lesser than the gift we’ve been entrusted.

Friends, the science on climate change is firm: the earth is warming because of the emissions from burnt fossil fuels. Every other possible reason for the warming of the earth has been examined thoroughly by the global scientific community, including our own U.S. National Academy of Science (a non-partisan group of the nations top scientists that has over 200 Nobel Prize winners at the moment that is highly respected by folks on all places of the ideological spectrum) and found to be untenable. The best minds in the world say we’ve got problem on our hand in climate change.

Friends, this is real. The debate about whether climate change is fact or fiction is closed. But the debate about where we go from here is just beginning. As followers of the way of Christ we must have an important voice in this debate.

It would be easy for us to relegate our responsibility to other people, to the scientists and engineers, to the activists, to the politicians. It would be easy for us to ignore the groaning of creation itself and to believe that our primary goal as Christians is to be about “spiritual matters” to the exclusion of all else. To choose to follow that road would be to disregard the Bible in a massive, massive way.

Did you know that there are over 3,000 verses in the Bible that talk about how we are to care for the poor? There are over 1,000 verses in the Bible that deal with creation. There are 530 verses about love, and 490 verses about heaven. It is clear where God’s priorities are!

Can these bones live?

The apostle Paul speaks of this in Romans 8:19 when he says (read Romans 8:18-23)

Do you see it? God’s salvation is for humanity yes, but it is also for the entire cosmos! As N.T. Wright has said, “The whole creation—sun, moon, sea, sky, birds, animals, plants—is longing for the time when God’s people will be revealed as God’s glorious human agents, set in authority over the world. And if one dare say it like this, as God sent Jesus to rescue the human race, so God will send Jesus’ younger siblings (you and me) in the power of the Spirit, to rescue the whole created order, to bring that justice and peace for which the whole creation yearns.”
That’s bold claim! Given our track record, why would God trust us?
But why would Paul say something like this? He said this because Paul knew of God’s ultimate will: God’s dream’s for Creation will ultimately be fulfilled. What God began in the garden in Eden will be transformed and perfected in the New Jerusalem.

In the end of the Bible, we see glimpses of God’s ultimate dream for the fulfillment of his creation.

Read Rev. 21:1-5

Friends, God’s ultimate will is to dwell with us, in the new creation here on THIS earth, just as God dwelt with Adam and Eve in the garden!
Our final resting place will be back on this earth, where God has not made all new things, but rather, has made all things new. God will choose’s to dwell with us in this place, as newly resurrected beings.

Can these bones live? God gives a resounding, absolute YES!

So what we do on Earth and to Earth matters. How we conduct ourselves as stewards of God’s creation matters.

If this earth is to be our final resting place, if all of God’s dreams are pinned upon the reclamation and transformation of God’s creation through the life, death, resurrection and sending forth of Jesus Christ, and his people, we need to get on board with what God is doing in our midst!

We must align our priorities with God’s priorities; we must put our story into God’s story, and not the other way around.

God desperately wants us, God’s creation is groaning for us, to reclaim and to live out our original roles as stewards, as tillers of God’s creation.

And so even though the science of climate change is less than comforting and, perhaps, your personal situation might look bleak right now, we must remember that:

GOD IS IN THE TRANSFORMATION BUSINESS

And we are called to participate with God in transformation!!!!

When we participate in what God is doing in the world around us, partner with God in the transformation of this creation we ourselves are transformed!!! We do this by aligning our priorities with God’s priorities, just like we heard last week.

We can be transformed into the people God has made us to be! We can be made new! Regardless of what we are coming out of, God can transform us! And God will transform and renew his creation.

So are you ready? Are you ready to partner with God? Are you ready to put your story into God’s story? Are you ready to reclaim one of the roles you were made for? Are you ready to serve in ministry with the poor? Are you ready to become a better steward of all that God has created? Are you ready to cease doing that which separates you from God, and to be made new? Are you ready for your ending to become your beginning?

Sometimes our ends and our beginnings are magnificent! And sometimes they are culmination of small steps. One of the spiritual practices that we are going to embrace as a church is the wasting of extra bulletins. (Walk back to the church and encourage people to participate in the new recycling project by giving money for the program.)

Friends, let’s us give up the things that lead to death, and embrace that which leads to life! As you come to God’s table, be fed by Jesus, be welcomed and loved by him. And, if you are called, which you most surely are, put your story into God’s story and be ready to be transformed!

I am back!

I can finally let go of some guilt with the writing of this brief post.
These last four weeks have been crazy-full! Four weeks ago we had vbs,
three weeks ago I was so blessed to serve as a choral clinician at the Texas
Conference Choir Camp, and last week I have been preparing to be out of the church
for two weeks and for the 2009 Fellowship Convocation.

But now, the family and I are in Orlando, preparing for five days of amazing worship
and then a few days of vacation.

If you are on Twitter I will be twittering the conference at #FUMMWA

well, it's off to the character breakfast! grace and peace!

An Article for the Church Newsletter...about Sabbath

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I hope this edition of our newsletter finds you well. I am continually amazed how fast time flies: how can we possibly find ourselves in July? Clearly, we must relish every moment of our lives and not let the things that need to be done remain undone! However, we must also find time to rest in God, to savor the beauty of the Creator’s work amongst us, and to enjoy being human. The balance between work and rest, between struggle and Sabbath, is a place of equilibrium that we, as Americans, tend to wrestle with more than other cultures. Our fight with the demon of busyness is often brought to the fore during the summer months: the mercury rises, causing us to want to slow down, the days are longer, providing more opportunity to be together in our neighborhoods, and yet, between our time at work, privacy fences, and the smart phones that surround many of us (I do love my new iPhone!) it is so easy for us to miss what God is doing around us, to forget to rest and to renew, and Sabbath, that we wither in the heat of life.

The Sabbath is vital to who God has made us to be and to become. If we truly believe that if we cease our work for one day a week, than the world will stop functioning without us, than we have made ourselves and our busyness into an idol. Yahweh is pretty clear about his feelings regarding idols. Our God dreams for us to be whole, fully integrated and balanced creatures. How can we become what God dreams for us if we never stop to listen for God? How can we find the peace that Christ promises us if we don’t trust God enough to rest, as he commands us to do?

You know, the Holy Spirit will move where she will. I am mostly greatful for that! My intent for this column was something entirely different, content-wise, than what it has become! If you are feeling out-of-balance these days, perhaps God’s calling you to reexamine your life in light of the Sabbath. There are at least two moral/theological documents that most of us produce: our budgets and our calendars. Take some time this summer, examine both of these documents and see if they really reflect what you believe, who you are, and, more importantly, who God is calling you to become! If these documents disappoint you: DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Friends, time flies. Our time is, quite possibly, the most important gift we have, though, if we are to be honest, we ought to admit that it really isn’t ours to begin with. Before our very eyes, the seasons of our lives move forward and we find ourselves joined into the “endless line of splendor” as Wesley says. What will you do with this and the remaining seasons of your life?

Perhaps this summer would be a good time for a little Sabbath and reflection upon what God is calling you to become? Equally as important, the Sabbath is a day that reflects what the coming Reign of God will look like in its fullness. How would your life look if you lived in the reality of the coming Kingdom of God, a place where lions and lambs lay down together, where everyone has enough, where there is no more war, or hunger, or violence and abuse? How can you participate in what God is doing in this regard? How would living into this reality change who you are and how you live and treat others?

Our Jewish sisters greet one another with a beautiful phrase when the weekly observance of Sabbath begins: Shabbat Shalom. This beautiful, God-kissed phrase translates into English as Sabbath harmony, or Sabbath peace. My prayer for you this summer is for Shabbat Shalom! Have a blessed July, friends! I look forward to seeing you soon!

Grace and peace,

Rev. Joe Stobaugh