Happy New Year

Happy New Year to each of you. We have had a great 2011, and now it’s time to move into a 2012. Each of us should plan on growing in this new year, to become more faithful and to let our spiritual growth show up in our daily lives by the way we spend our time and treat each other.

   I pray for us all, to become more and more a part of God’s plan to bless your surrounding communities we come from, through our actions and love of neighbors. We each touch several lives and if we are prayerful and aware, we can see ways to offer God’s love in those connections, whether at work or school at home or community or in our play and fun times. If we pray more often, “Use me O God, in this place and time, give me a word of encouragement or hope in this conversation or situation”, we will begin to see God’s miracles too.

   We often wish we could have been around for a burning bush or the parting of the Red Sea or Jesus feeding thousands or walking on water or raising the dead. But the same kind of miracle is available whenever God is at work in our situations. Let’s be more mindful of those possibilities and we will see awesome evidence of God this coming year. Start by praying to hear God’s voice more clearly.

   I heard God speak clearly to me a while back. I was driving home after watching the Super Bowl at my brother’s house, when I heard a voice tell me to change lanes. I was driving in the left lane of two on the road. I hate driving the curb lane because I feel like I don’t have any options available to me from there. Anyway, not once or twice but at least three times I heard, move over Jeff, move over. So when I did, the car crossing the double yellow line only hit me in the corner of my car, instead of a full impact. I was spared a life or at least a great deal of injury.

   A few days later, I was very aware that God had helped me in this case, and I began to wonder what other times God had spoken to me and I hadn’t acted upon it? I still try really hard to pay attention to when God speaks to me. It isn’t always an audible voice, but the words of advice from friends and colleagues, or a word of Scripture comes to mind at the right moment. This is just as Jesus said it would happen. He said the Holy Spirit would remind us of what we needed if we let him.

   So for a New Year’s Resolution, let’s all ask God to equip us with the voice of the Holy Spirit that we recognize the guidance and warnings and advice God gives us each time we need it.

   The great thing about faith in God is that we can begin a new connection to God and a new way to live at any time, it just isn’t at or near midnight on Dec. 31, but anytime our hearts and soul is quickened to what God is up to.

   May each of you have a great New Year and may each of you see progress in your spiritual journey this year. We follow and Awesome God. All Year Long

   Blessings, Pastor Jeff

Thanksgiving

   Before I sit down with family and friends for the feast, I want to thank God for blessings and gifts and wonders that surround me today. I want all of this to be about a grateful heart. I hope it's contagious, Giving thanks, that is.


   Deborah Norville, of TV reporting fame, wrote a book on Thank You Power that I found very helpful for contemplating Thanksgiving today. It's a short book, she shares her faith with us, and reports on the power of gratitude to do wonderful things. People who learn to give and share thanks with God and others, get closer to happiness and healthy lives, than those who feel they've accomplished everything by hard work and by themselves. She bases a lot of what she says on a Duke University Study on happiness and gratitude.


   This blog today is not about her book, but her inspiration to give thanks. I want first to proclaim I am grateful to God for all that I have. The best is an eternal perspective that comes with a deep and personal relationship to Jesus. Knowing that God loves me, forgives me because of what Jesus did, makes everything else that much better.


   I thank God for Elaine. We've been sharing thanksgivings since 1998 when we had just barely met. I dragged her to Ohio to meet the family, scared her to death in the process, but she survived that introduction and it has made giving thanks to her and for her that much better. Thank you Elaine, I hope you are feeling better real soon.


   I thank God for my family, both the one that brought me here and the one I had some influence on. My dad is 92 and still going strong, and I am thankful for all that he has done as an example, and as an encouragement to me. Rocky, my Step-mom, keeps him going and out of trouble so I am thankful for her as well. Have a safe trip back from Ohio where my two brothers are celebrating together.


   I thank God for my brother Bruce, Kelly too, he gets credit here too, but Bruce is a pastor and closer in geography, and we are able to encourage and motivate each other in ministry, which has been a real blessing to me too. We've also been pretty competitive, and our churches have at times been close in size, and so there has been some natural comparisons and wondering whether he is doing better than I am... That's one of the reasons to be thankful, and to be careful about, you can't build your gratitude on what you have or don't have, sorry about that, Bruce. Gratitude goes to being aware of what is reality is, and that's very important too.


   Andy and Casey, my two sons, bring a great deal of gratitude into my heart as well. Andy and Maggie had Oscar who is now four. I get to be Pop Pop, and chauffer to Pre School sometimes, and that is a blast, even if it is really early in the morning. Casey was in a play for the last few weeks, that is a joy to watch him on stage, helping people to think and appreciate what we have in life. Good job Casey, you will continue to bless others with your acting. Here is a plug for your new graphic novel "All Fall Down" coming out soon.


   God has blessed me with a calling and a place to share that gift at Liberty Grove United Methodist Church in Burtonsville. It's been four years of ministry together that has inspired me to thank God for such a place where we love each other, and care about the community and the world and do something about it. May God continue to pour out on us his strength and Spirit to be a blessing for others.


   Food is coming and I love to eat, but it also serves as a very visual reminder of God's creative power, and the variety of food, signifies how great that love of God comes in a variety of ways, people, experiences and moments when we pause to remember how we got here, and who we really belong to.


   Have a great Thanksgiving


Pastor Jeff

Columbus Day

   Columbus Day, a chance for some of us to get a day off, like I did, yesterday. I needed it too, it's been a crazy and exciting few weeks since Labor Day. In honor of Christopher Columbus who explored new worlds, and in memory of Steve Jobs, I bought an iPhone. It's number 4 on sale to make room for the number 4S. It took me most of the day to get up to speed, with a few Columbus mistakes along the way.
   I'm writing to help us keep Christopher Columbus's plans and ideas going on into a new generation. He was convinced that the world was round and not flat, and he was willing to take the risk to find out. To explore unknown components of the world he lives in. He also was highly committed to sharing the Christian faith with those he found along the way. But he wasn't perfect.
   He thought he found the way to India, and he called those he met Indians. We've been stuck with that one for a long time. He thought he had succeeded in getting around the world, he had not. I tried to load my iPod stuff into my new iPhone and not fully understanding all the challenges to that, over rode the contacts that the phone company put in for me. So, I had to go back to the nice man at ..... and ask him to load them all again. He said it wasn't uncommon for that to happen, especially for people my age..... White hair give away?
   Any way, after fits and starts, I do have most of what I want in my iPhone. Because it's apple, I can use iTunes to upload songs and ringtones, so now I'm happy, but it was challenging.


   Enough about iPhones, I want us to keep the Columbus spirit alive of willing to explore new things. Spiritually we must always keep exploring what God has to offer us. When we reach a point where we think we know all that God intends for us to know, we have reached a bad place in our faith journey. Be open to the Spirit to guide you to new discoveries. There are places in Scripture that will be very helpful to you from a connecting to God point of view and a connecting to neighbors point of view. We need to be refreshed with new insights, new ways of dealing with life as it changes and be newly inspired to rely on God for the help we need.
   We may make mistakes like Christopher Columbus did, but he discovered far more good by trying something new. Go for it.


   I'm looking forward to seeing the new Martin Sheen/Emilio Estevez movie about a spiritual pilgrimage just for the inspirations sake. I've you've seen it let me know what you thought.


   Keep exploring what God gives you!


Pastor Jeff

Escape from Grave Clothes

   Think of the Mummy from your Halloween parties in need of unwinding. You have Lazarus just stumbling out of the tomb into bright sunshine. Jesus could have unwound him too, but he raised him back to life and invited those around Lazarus to do the unbinding. We are included in the helping those who are being transformed to come out and be made whole again. What a great gift.
   On Sunday Aug. 14, we are dealing with Jesus invitation to involve us in helping to unbind the grave-clothes. We miss a great deal of power in the body of Christ, also known as church, when we let the professionals do the work that the body has been assigned to do. I was amazed that I could find 50 verses that ask us to "One Another." There is so much we can offer each other to help each of us be better followers of Jesus. This step in the Lazarus story will invite that kind of thinking.
   If you are one of my readers who doesn't attend Liberty Grove UMC in Burtonsville, MD and you are too far away to get there, you ought to think about finding a church home you can go to. Not just be a part of a large crowd on Sunday morning, but become involved in a smaller group where the real "One Another" good stuff happens. That could be a Sunday School class, Bible Study, Choir, Praise Team, volunteer at a food kitchen, homeless shelter, or missions trip as well.
   Jesus stressed that we are to be responsible for each other. We really need the connection of flesh and blood if we are going to reach our maximum potential the way God made us.
   Facebook and other social media is great. I connect with my own family better through that than I did growing up with my relatives. All of my cousins are in my Facebook now. They are all over the country, but i keep up with what's going on with them. But as much good as a social network does, it's the face to face that really makes a difference. So let me encourage you to find a way to be in a face to face group. Weekly is best, but with hectic schedules even monthly real time connection is going to be good for the soul.
   John Wesley wanted all those who followed his teachings to be in a a dynamic small group so that they could pray for each other, support each other, help each other out in business or parenting or with the challenges of being a better disciple of Jesus. If you had to answer the questions, "How goes it with your soul today? Where have you seen progress in faith? Where are you struggling and need help?" questions each week it would make you a better follower of Jesus.


Blessings on your journey. I hope and pray you can find a small group to connect to. You could start asking people you know at church to join you if you don't find one already.


Pastor Jeff

Don't look at the Stock Market

   I hate to see us struggle so much with our economy and the latest hit to the stock market hurt me in many ways, think pension, just like millions of others. This latest one got me thinking in some different ways than I usually go with this blog. Bear with me.


   We may need a wakeup call about how much we depend on ourselves for all that we have and what we want. Maybe we can use this moment to reflect on what God wants to give us. We certainly aren't getting peace of mind from the world we live in. But that's been God's point for a long time. We can't serve both God and money. Money is such a cruel master, these days especially.


   So I'm think maybe we will be open to some creative ideas about stretching our resources to help us get through a tough time. I am not old enough to have been around in the Great Depression, but have heard enough from people who were. Some of these ideas may seem like a repeat of the past, but it's still worth considering.


   Let's get together as churches and really make an effort to help each other out. We can swap or hand down clothes for children and take a great burden off of young parents. We can find a time to share meals together, either inviting your neighbors or church friends to pot luck suppers in your own house or maybe at the church. We could save a lot of money if we pot lucked more often. Bringing one dish to share and seeing how God can multiply the loaves and fishes might help us get through tough times.


   Bring the monthly magazines you subscribe to and pass them around. I know that the publishing industry won't like that idea too much, but it might save a few trees and a couple of pounds of recycled material. Share movies/DVD's after you've seen them.


   One of the things I always thought about was a tool shed at church where people could keep tools that could be signed out, to keep track of, for those once in a while jobs around the house. We probably all have drills and saws and stuff just sitting on our work bench. It would make it difficult to start a job at night, you would have to plan ahead more, but think about the ways we could stretch the resources we have. Same goes for lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc.


   We could create a tool shed and you could put a few dollars in the collection plate for the privilege of taking a tool home for a couple of days. I'm sure there are people who are more creative than I am who could set up a system like this. I'm just the idea person.


   So can I get you to begin to think outside your comfort zone to be more closely connected to your faith community and help you out financially? I know that communities like the Amish have this all worked out for sure. I'm just thinking it's probably going to be a struggle for a while for lots of people, maybe it's time we as the body of Christ, thought more like the body and recognize that we all have parts we can put to good use for the whole body.


   If you know of someone who has pulled this off, or you are interested in brainstorming about how we can improve our community for each other, let me know. Or better yet, begin to be creative on your own. Just Do It!


   There is much power in cooperating with one another. Now might be a good time to start.
May God start your creative imaginations going. Ephesians 3:20, a favorite verse, tells us that God is far more able to do beyond our imaginations that we can ever come up. Let us let God's great imagination Spirit stir us up to good works for one another and the Kingdom/Sphere of God.


Blessings,   Pastor Jeff

Stumbling into the light

   This week we are looking at the ongoing story of Lazarus as he first steps out of the tomb. He has heard Jesus call him, but it takes every ounce of strength to move with the grave clothes tied around him. It's an important lesson for us who get so antsy when some things take longer than we want them to. We have been spoiled and now we want everything to move at blazing speed.


   Ever blown the horn at a person who didn't fire off the line when the light went green? How long did you give them before you blew the horn? Do you switch radio stations in your car or flip through the songs in your iPod without listening to them because you are bored or it's too slow or isn't your favorite song? Have you caught yourself flipping through the channels on the TV desperate to find something you can bear to watch?


   Spiritual growth doesn't happen instantly either. That's the point of this week's lesson. We are moving slowly in this new transformed state. We have years of not doing spiritual life right to get out of our system before we perfect the abundant life Jesus promised. It's not in our nature at the moment to go slowly or to be patient with slowly, but growth as a follower of Jesus will take time. Let it, please!


   The excitement of new found faith is great, but it wears off and we are faced with living the day to day as Jesus would want us to. But then we realize we don't know what Jesus would do in some of our cases and then we get frustrated, rather than thinking we need more time to know what Jesus would have done in this case. Getting off the old grave clothes so we can be whole and new takes a whole lot more time than we are willing to give it sometimes.


   Remember how frustrated you got with an upgrade in software? Or having to use something new you really looked forward to but it wasn't operating the same way you were used to? Upgrading our spiritual dimensions is like that. Promising to follow God is an adjustment. Putting aside the former things in order to be more open to God takes a lot of work. So I want you to be patient with yourself. Just don't give up, resolve to take another step.


   Maybe you were going to read the Bible from start to finish. That's a daunting task when you hit chapter 6 with all those begats. You don't care who gave birth to who at this point. A long time later, you move to chapter 7 but by chapter 11 another list of begats and your goose is cooked. May I suggest you start in the new testament with Matthew or Mark or Luke or John. Those are the stories of Jesus, it will bring back some memories if you did Sunday School as a child. This time you can decide you will imitate what Jesus did rather than just nodding your head and say how nice!


   You once were dead and wrapped up, now you are resurrecting and it will take some getting used to. Training wheels are helpful to get you started, remember? Join in the faith a step up at a time, and don't crash and burn and give up, just use that stumble as a time for thanks that at least your not dead anymore.


   Blessings on your journey, take it a step at a time, remember the pilots of the jumbo jets, didn't jump from paper airplanes to jets in a single bound, neither should you. Hang in there and start feeling the fresh air outside your tomb as a way to get started.


Pastor Jeff

Christmas IN July

   I know people just love Christmas, and it goes by so fast in December. But shouldn't the spirit of recognizing God's love be all year round? We are going to celebrate Christmas in July at Liberty Grove UMC this coming Sunday July 24th. at 8 and 10 am.


   God has said he wanted to dwell with  us and sent his Son Jesus to live among us. His birth in Bethlehem has so many great elements and dimensions of a message, it's hard to keep them all straight when they come rushing by. So why not have another opportunity to reflect on them in the middle of the hot summer. This week in the Washington DC area we are expected to hit 100 degrees a couple of times. "We could use a little Christmas, right this very minute..."


   I'm thinking about the Christmas Character, a first person message for this service, and the thought occurred to me it might be King Herod. Now he didn't actually visit Bethlehem himself, he sent the Magi to do that and when they went home a different way, he became really angry and jealous of the new born king and sent his hit squad out to kill all the boys who were two and under in Bethlehem. What weeping and wailing that visit caused.


   But we are somewhat like King Herod, in that we don't take rivals very well. He assumed that Jesus was going to become king right away and take away his power and authority. He knew he had to eliminate the competition. Jesus does come to be our Lord and Master and to ask us to give up our power and authority over our lives and give them over to Jesus. We might not think of killing the rival, but we do resist sometimes and ways that might make King Herod appreciate our struggle.


   When Jesus as an adult teaches his disciples to leave all behind, take up their cross and follow him, he was asking for a choice for us to make, whether we really let him guide our every action, or pick and chose the parts we like. We do have trouble with that. I know I do. I live in a world that makes the choices for not following Jesus look so good. We are urged to live our lives the way we want to, over and over again. The commercials, the interviews of athletes and stars, and business tycoons all point out that success and accomplishment are very important, and that we too can have all of that by choosing to follow our path to success.


   Because God so loved the world, he sent his only Son into the world, not to condemn it but to save it, to save it from our choices and invite us to accept his choices and his leadership. We are asked to let Jesus be King, Lord and Master of our lives, circumstances and situations. That means our way is out, his way is in. We can use reminders of his invitation to come and following him, have the abundant life he offers, and we really want.


   Merry Christmas in July. Sing a carol, read the story in Matthew 1: 18-25 and Luke 2: 1-20 and enjoy the gift from God. Then let Jesus grow up and be King and continue to celebrate his presence in your life.


   God bless you all, and stay cool


Pastor Jeff

Dead is Dead

   Hello followers of my blog. This Sunday July 3 we continue our journey through a very helpful book on spiritual transformation called Lazarus Life by Stephen Smith. This week we talk about Lazarus is Dead and in the tomb. Dead, Dead.

   There are always times when we feel that something died, don't you? Things die. Plans and dreams we have. Just look at the struggle we are having as a nation with the dream our forefathers and mothers had for this land, including those who came here across the ice bridge into Alaska a long long time ago. Looking for something better, for a chance to follow a dream.

   God can really help us transform and become new creatures when we admit that it's dead. Until then we think if we do something right, it will all change. We think if we can just push the right button, come up with the correct diagnosis and follow the prescription, or even say the prayers right, we will get back to where we want to be.

   The trouble with that plan, is it mostly leaves God's plan out of the picture. God sometimes wants our plan to be dead, so the Creator can make the transformation that will bring us back to real life, God's life plan. Being dead means we finally let go and let God. It's too bad most of us have to get that dead, before we admit we really need God's help to do this right. The Lazarus Life story gives us some ideas when we are that dead, and I hope to explore them in the sermon coming up this weekend.

   The hardest part is really using the dead time, to reconnect to our Creator. To admit that we have planned ourselves to death, and we would not want that anymore. God comes in with a gift of love and forgiveness, and with our permission to make changes and to guide our changing, we can come back to life. To have life as it was supposed to be in the first place.

   I'm in just as much need of transformation as anyone. I can be as stubborn as a mule, just ask my kids and my wives. (see what stubborn can lead you to!) One at a time, however. There are lots of plans we make, even if we think they are what God would want, that have to be put in the tomb. Tomb time is hard, but important.

   May God comfort you through the tomb time. May you give God a moment or two or plenty, to help you transform to be able to come out of the tomb. I'm trying, come and join in. Comment below, it will show up in my inbox.

Pastor Jeff

Lingering Jesus

   This Sunday (6/26) we are studying the story of Lazarus again, but from the perspective of the Lingering Jesus. What happens when he waits before answering our prayers? I think we all struggle with how long things take in general, and maybe this part of the story will help us to think about trusting the timing of God. That's going to be very hard for us.


   In the story, Mary and Martha send a note to Jesus who is out of town, that their brother, Lazarus, whom Jesus loves, they remind him, is very sick. Please come and heal him. Not an usual request by any stretch of imagination. Jesus gets the invitation and decides to stay where he is for a few more days. He even tells the disciples this will work out for God's glory, but Lazarus will die first. How is this going to be good?


   We all suffer from impatience. It's not our fault completely, we have been programmed by a world that get's thousands of chances to teach us to be impatient, to learn to get everything quicker than before. Right now there is a commercial playing on that promises to clean your computer so it come run twice as fast as it does now. Speed is relative and if you have an old PC anyway, cleaning it will help but it won't be like a new one out of the box. Yet we would hope it could be.


   When we pray we want the answer before we hang up. And most of us use a phone to God that only has the speaker and not an ear piece. We talk a lot to God, but don't let God talk back to us about our request. God always answers prayers, but not always to our liking. Sometimes the answer is Yes now, or it might be a Yes, but not Yet. Sometimes it could be a Yes, when you get ready to handle it. Sometimes it is NO because it is not good for us, even if we don't realize the answer we want could be bad news.


   I appreciate the illustration of the fancy stitched carpet. On the top side, the one we walk on it looks beautiful, especially if it has a picture, we really like that. But, if we flip the rug over it is covered with knots and doesn't look at all like the top half. Answers to prayer are like that sometimes. It looks confusing, knotty, and ugly to be able to get us to the whole picture we are expecting. Some knots have to occur to hold other situations in place, and we don't like the knots.


   I pray for your patience and growth in understanding when answers seem to be far off. I hope that as we look at what God has said about lingering, that we will see and appreciate the glory that is shown, even in the death of a Lazarus in our lives. That may be an important step to the lesson "I am the Resurrection and the Life" which we hear at funerals. Maybe this is a time for us to learn it as a step in our transformation and growth.


   Blessings on your journey


Pastor Jeff

June 14 Flag Day

   Today is a special day on my calendar. It's Flag Day. June 14 in 1777 the Continental Congress voted that we have a flag, thirteen stripes of alternating red and white and 13 stars, white in a blue field. On April 4, 1818 the style of the flag was changed to what we know today. Before 1818, every time a state was added to the union, they got a stripe and a star added to the flag. When it got to be 22 states it looked more like a quilt than a flag.

   The reason I get excited about the Flag Day is that I am named for the designer of the flag we have today. Peter Hercules WENDOVER (my full middle name) was a congressman from New York and he wrote the legislation that we change the flag to the original 13 stripes for the original 13 colonies/states, and just add a star every time a new state was added. President James Monroe, signed it into law. Now you know something that you might not have known or may have forgotten along the way.

   I would encourage us to keep our country in our prayers. It certainly could use the divine guidance and influence today. We face many challenges and opportunities that are really complex and difficult. It would be nice if we consistently went to God and asked for some insight and help for making the right choices. It also means we need to be very civil and polite and respectful in recognizing that it may not turn out the way we think it should. St. Paul in Romans 13 is very clear that the government is a gift from God to keep order.

   My grandmother always told us about our relationship to the pilgrims of Massachusetts of 1620. I've read a lot about their motivation for braving the journey to such an unknown land. But they were convinced that God was leading them like God led Moses to a new promised land. They wanted to live in such a way that God would bless them to be a blessing for others. They wanted to show how God would direct and lead a community and eventually a nation. They never did get a chance to try that.

   One half of the pilgrims on the Mayflower, were not believers or members of the church, but they could afford the passage to the new world, and the pilgrims needed financial help to get across the Atlantic Ocean. The Mayflower compact had to be agreed on by church members and those who weren't, and that made for some interesting compromises from the very beginning.

   The horrible winter of 1620 to 21 killed off half of the community and so they struggled even more. But God provided Squanto and his native american friends who came to their rescue in the Spring of 1621. Squanto had become a believer when he was helped to escape from slave masters in Spain and walked across Europe and got a ride home to Massachusetts by fishermen just in time to know how to speak English, how to relate to the faithful pilgrims and how to help them get the necessary food for their survival.

    Prayer is just as important today. May Flag Day remind us of all that we have been through a lot as a nation and still face an uncertain future, and ask that God would again rescue and provide for us. May we take the time to Thank God for this Nation that allows us the freedom to pray and seek God's guidance. Enjoy the flag, get goose bumps even when you see the flag, or say the pledge or watch it blowing in the breeze. Remember the banner is still waving.

Pastor Jeff

Power Boost

   Usually about 4 pm I start looking for chocolate to give me a power boost. I don't drink coffee after twelve noon, because it will be with me for a long time. But a little chocolate can do wonders for the rest of the afternoon until supper time. Anybody else have the same? I think so.

   We are coming up on Pentecost Sunday in a few days. It is the celebration of the birth of the church now. In Jesus' day it was a celebration of the giving of the Law by Moses. But just having the Law doesn't give the boost to love, that the gift of the Spirit can do. Jesus said wait until the power from on high comes upon you, and you will be able to do the things I have done and even greater things. At Pentecost, the Spirit descended on the 120 disciples in the Upper Room and the church burst forth. Peter took the message to the streets and God was able to help the people standing around to understand what Hope God has given us, even in their own language.

   I blog because for some people this is a language they understand. I'm trying to bring the message of hope from God to as many as I can through this form of communication. The same is true for Facebook. It is a language of communication we can use to connect to one another. I hope you find this helpful.

   I am thankful that the Spirit has given me the power boost to share God's story with others. I am glad that God has given strength and wisdom and help so that we can do what Jesus did and raise the dead. There is a lot of dead people spiritually around and I want to help them find God's blessings again.

   The power boost, Jesus said, was to help us go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The making disciples was to teach each other all the things that Jesus commanded us. I always pause there, because that's a tall order. To teach what Jesus commanded us. We need to find a way to obey what the teachings are about, and that should make a difference in people's lives. But I have to admit I don't always get that right.

   So as we get closer to Pentecost, let's each ask God in our own unique way, to get a power boost that will give us the energy to Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as we have been loved. That will sure make a difference in the lives of others. And as an indirect result of our power boost, they get a power boost, and the hits just keep on coming.

   Blessings on all of you, wherever you are on your journey. May the light of the fire of Pentecost help guide you away from rocks and toward a great harbor. Let me know how it's going by responding to my posts.   

   Pastor Jeff

Meeting Methodists in Baltimore

   I'm off to spend a couple of days at our Annual Conference. United Methodists are good a getting together for meetings. We will be at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland, until Saturday afternoon.

   In 1784 there were a few preachers and other people getting together to begin the Methodist Episcopal church in order to spread scriptural holiness across the land. We have lost our touch and our emphasis and our vitality. It's very hard to keep such vigor for so long. But we shouldn't give up.

   We are going to look a lot at vital churches to see if we can learn from them and copy them. We are going to be encouraged to become a vital church ourselves. That's a tough trick, can you change your personality? Not easily anyway. But by conversion to a new perspective of what God can do and what we are willing to do with God's help and God's direction, vitality can grow.

   Say a prayer for us as we gather. May we sense a movement of the Spirit above and beyond our own understanding, so that we become those who make a difference and bring a blessing from God to others.

   PS. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend. May you take time to thank God for the sacrifices that men and women have made so that we can pursue what God calls us to do with such freedom.

Pastor Jeff  (PJ)

Ending of the World

   I got up early today, I didn't want to miss any time I have left today. Well not exactly! I was thinking some of you may be wondering about this last day or Judgement Day as Rev. Harold Camping has declared. I apologize in advance if this post seems a little cynical.

   In Matthew 25, Jesus was asked about the end of time. His answer was that he did not know, no one would know, only the Father in heaven would know. If Jesus himself doesn't know, that's pretty good for me. We don't know.

   The Bible is full of ideas about what would bring the end of the earth, and we have several of those going on now, to make it look like it could be the end of the world. Wars, famine, earthquakes, floods, and lots of other troubles are all mentioned, so we could be paying special attention.

   We should be paying attention. None of us know the end of the world. And more importantly, the end of our own lives. That's more important, that we are ready for our life to end, perhaps in a surprise, so that we are prepared to meet Jesus. That preparation is very simple, and a gift from God because God loves us so much. None of us qualify for heaven on our own. All have fallen short, according to St. Paul. But out of God's love and Grace, we are given a gift, to accept or not, of forgiveness which comes with eternal life in heaven. Jesus took care of the penalty for our sins with his death on the cross. We have been forgiven. The resurrection was God's way of saying all is forgiven, and it really was what Jesus said would happen. The resurrection was God's stamp of approval on Jesus and his work on the cross, and to help draw attention to Jesus, who really is God's Son.

   So our mission, should we decide to accept it, is to ask Jesus to cover our missing the target. To thank Jesus specifically for that gift, and to live from this moment on, in that forgiven and grateful state. Our actions, should they be our last, should reflect our gratitude and our determination to live as a follower of Jesus. Then no matter what happens to us, or the world, we are going to Heaven.

   The second coming for most of us, is when we die. For some it will be suddenly and without warning. I was driving to church early Sunday morning this week and had to be detoured. Rt. 108 was closed for a traffic accident investigation. A car ran off the road hit a telephone poll and then a tree, killing three out of the five in the car. They were 18 and in their twenties. No one knows when the time comes, we all need to be ready.

   We can spend a lot of time wondering about the hints to when the whole world will end, or we can spend a lot of time, trying to make the world a better place. We need divine guidance for that challenge, and that only comes with prayer, devotion, study of Scripture to know what to do, and time with other friends in worship, service, support through a body/group/church of other believers. We can make a difference for someone else's second coming if we are constant, and authentic, in showing God's love to others, and encouraging them to find the same love and hope we have.

   I am confident, that I will see you tomorrow at church. I'm sure that we will have a lot to talk about too.

   Blessings on your pilgrimage, your journey of faith, your challenges in finding the way God is leading you, so that you won't be left behind. We can all be ready!

   I remember the advice doctor's give expectant mothers. The baby will come when the baby will come. The due date/judgment day is just an educated guess. Plan something fun for your day, just in case nothing happens. Let's party and celebrate that God's love is always with us.

Pastor Jeff

Final Episode of Smallville

   I always wanted to be Superman. I remember taking my allowance and walking the couple of blocks to downtown Silver Spring to buy the latest Superman comic. I would dream I could fly, and how handy that would be for me today. I wanted to have the strength and tools he had so much.

   When they first started out ten years ago with Smallville, I loved the show, because it developed his growing sense of discovery about his abilities. He didn't know he had all those gifts until he discovered them by accident or something happened that led him to see he could do certain things in super ways, or super speed, or super strength. It was fun watching him discover what he could do and how that eventually led him to do what he does to "Save the World!" I'm really sorry it is finally going off the air. Fortunately over the years I've collected the DVD sets so I can watch them again.

   What I love about being a pastor is helping followers of Jesus discover their gifts and abilities to find abundant life and share the love of Jesus. Trying to create opportunities for people to grow in their faith, to help them see that coming from the kingdom of God and living in the world under the SON of God we have abilities and gifts that will make a difference in this life and beyond. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would enable us to do incredible things, even more than he could do in the short time he was on earth. Imagine the way we could change our world if we could recognize the gifts we have and develop them so we could use them to help others.

   There are a lot of connections between Smallville and our Christian life and I invite you to take seriously the development of your gifts for service and love in a community of faith. Clark learned, in the final episode, that he needed both his heritage and history, as well as an ability to lean into the unknown future. It is a combination that leads to being a hero. We too, need to know we must keep track of our heritage, we need to know the Bible, we need to know some church history, in order to see how we can help the world we live in become a better more God like place.

   This Sunday we will have a visit from St. Paul, as he describes his final days and his efforts to share the love and knowledge of Jesus in his world. He couldn't break chains like Superman could, but he could use his chains to further the gospel with letter writing and encouragement and teaching others. Maybe you have some chains that keep you from doing some things, but I'll bet that there are ways God can use you even in your chains. Join us at Liberty Grove UMC in Burtonsville, MD on May 15 if you can.

   May God continue to help you discover your gifts for ministry and service as you continue to stay in a pilgrimage journey of faith. Welcome to the travel.

Pastor Jeff

The Weekend That Was

   I am challenged by the events of this past weekend. I'll try to sort through my thoughts and feelings as a way to help us consider all that is going on. The first one is easy, the Wedding, the death of Osama bin Laden is another topic altogether.

   The wedding of William and Kate, just shows us how much we still love good ceremony and large gatherings and still want the best for one another. It was fun to watch some of it and it was replayed many times. Since I use the United Methodist Book of Worship for weddings, which John Wesley adopted from his Anglican church roots, the wedding ceremony sounded very familiar. It was fun knowing what was coming next.

   I am a firm believer in the Jesus Creed which says Love God & Love Neighbors. With that simple declaration we should be able to cover all that life has to offer us. It was easy to celebrate love neighbors watching the wedding because that was a huge celebration of love.

   The death of Osama is a different story. I truthfully have mixed emotions about that. On the one hand, I am glad that one who brought so much terror to our world cannot do that any more. What does bother me is that it doesn't seem like that will end anything. Retaliation and the fear of something coming back to us as a result of this doesn't solve anything.

   Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a german Christian theologian and major teacher of the Jesus Creed, found himself in a huge dilemma with Adolf Hitler in Germany during World War II. After much prayer and struggle and Bible Study he determined that if he could stop the evil destruction of lives, that he would break his oath of pacifism, and he participated in the plot to have Hitler killed. The Bomb exploded, but the oak table it was under was too thick to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer was arrested along with the  others who plotted the assassination, and he was hanged three days before the war ended. He was in prison long enough to be able to share his struggles with us about that action of assisting in the killing by some one who was so committed to the love of Jesus. He said because he had connections and opportunity to end the mass destruction in the hands of Hitler, one life might be worth taking. It was a very hard decision for him, but he took it.

   Killing Bin Laden is kind of like that. I believe love should be the way we deal with every issue, but sometimes, the challenge of saving many lives causes us to compromise our faith. It's a lot like the decision Caiaphas the high priest made about Jesus after he raised Lazarus, it is better for one man to die, than to have all of Israel under attack by the Romans as a result of his revolution of love.

   Sometimes the death of one causes so much more to happen than we expect. In our life time the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. caused many of us to reconsider our attitudes about those who are different from us. It certainly increased an awareness and openness to some important changes in our culture.

   I am concerned/worried, that somewhere along the line following the retaliation of Osama bin Laden's death, we may regret the final outcome. This is where prayer for resolution comes in. Join me in praying the we find some peace in the midst of this struggle. I pray that this might help speed up our exit from Afghanistan somehow, saving the lives of our men and women in combat, so that we can work on peace and care of our neighbors.

   There is no perfect solution to anything, because we live in a broken world. It causes me to want to try harder to love God and love Neighbors in the Jesus Creed fashion, in order to bring hope and goodness into a world that seems so bent out of shape from what God intended when he created it all. And it also reminds me I have only the sphere of influence where I am, the lives I touch to try to instill the Jesus Creed more completely.

   Wont you join me in prayer for our Nation, our Leaders, our World, that we might find better ways to bring peace on earth and good will to men and women. AMEN.

He Is Risen, Indeed

   Happy Easter to you! We celebrate Easter because God has taken care of all of life and given us a new lease on life. Who wouldn't want one of those?

   He Is Risen, Indeed! Now we have a fresh start, especially with our relationship to God. All the failing to pay attention, our starts and stops of believing, our hit or miss relationship to our Creator is forgiven, our barriers to faith and prayer, and our failure at living the God life, are all forgiven as Jesus was dying for us. We now have a new beginning, fresh as the spring air after the rain.The Resurrection demonstrates forgiveness for the broken relationship, and a promise that there is life after death. That life after death can solve a lot of worry enabling us to have the courage to live a life like we should.

   The best gift of all is the invitation to come near to God. We know that God is loving and welcoming, because the Resurrection lets us see God as God really is. Jesus said, he who has seen me, has seen God. So our spiritual life gets a real boost in authenticity. We have confidence that the picture of God is now pretty clear, making it much easier for us to relate to God. Our prayer life can improve, because we aren't just asking God for help when we need it, but can share both the joys and thanks as well as the cries and the needing help prayers.

   Let Easter be a time for a renewed faith participation. Get more involved in forming your Spirit. Prayer, Worship, Meditation, developing close relationships with others who are growing in their faith, connecting with God in Holy Communion, in service to others, in acts of charity and financial support of the church so it can tell more and more people about the fresh start that comes with Easter.

   People Need the Lord for a variety of reasons. The need can be almost anything that isn't what it could be. God has designed the Kingdom of God, the church, to be a place where people gather. The fellowship of other pilgrims is awesome. In that community of faith, there are going to be people who have struggled or suffered as you have, and can give you the help you need to recover. They will share their experiences and growth, so you won't have to repeat every mistake. They will share with you the joy of faithfulness, so you can get to that level of abundant life sooner rather than later. The blessings of traveling with others is that it's always safer and much more fun.

   So happy Easter! I pray that it will be a new step of faith and walk with God with the joy and blessings of forgiveness and support for that life with the Spirit of God helping you each step of the way.

Pastor Jeff

Holy Week 2

   Welcome to Holy Week part two.How do you feel when people accuse you falsely of doing or not doing what they thought you should do? Jesus is confronted with being accused of wrongdoing, only they couldn't agree on what his problem was. But suddenly, Jesus is enduring the same things we go through when we are misunderstood or accused. This whole story of Holy Week, is a reminder that in Jesus we have God with us, Emmanuel. And that when we need to cry out in prayer, we have someone who has been through whatever it is that we might suffer and he can give us comfort in that.


   He remains silent through most of this. He doesn't get into a shouting match or try to out maneuver them. Most of our modern day leaders seem to make the mistake sometime of saying something they shouldn't and getting into big trouble for the utterance. Maybe they thought it wasn't being recorded? Maybe they thought no one would be offended by a little joke? Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen and their rants come to mind about now. We could use a lesson in self control and in silence from Jesus about now.


   The other issue that this trial brings up for me is that we misunderstand what God is trying to do for us. Jesus didn't meet the expectations that some of the people had for a Messiah. He didn't run the Romans out of town and re-establish the kingdom of Israel. He didn't stay away from offensive people, but actually welcomed some not-so-nice types, into his inner circle. He was accused of eating with sinners, as if there are some who aren't? He didn't seem like the mean old God of judgment and condemnation that good people want God to do to others. Jesus was a loving creature, who was showing us the essence of God, and asking us to accept that God can do what God wants, on God's terms without our getting too bent out of shape. That is hard for me to do. I try really hard to do all the right things so that I will be found to be good enough. But since I'm not really good enough, I'm sure glad we have grace because we would deserve far worse for what we have actually thought and done.


   Easter is coming, it's a sign that we are back in with God as we should be, when we accept God's love took care of the judgment we owe, on Jesus on the cross. His resurrection means all is forgiven, come on home.


Blessings on your pilgrimage


Pastor Jeff

Holy Week

   I'm getting ready for Holy Week. It is full of events that are so dramatic spiritually, it's hard to appreciate all the components. It reminds me of the opening episode of Friday Night Lights. Julie Taylor, the coach's daughter goes off to college and the family struggles with the departure. How did she get to be this old already....

   Holy Week has the arrival of Jesus to Jerusalem for Passover. He is welcomed with a parade. The King has come, but he rides on a donkey, so he can fulfill a prophecy about peaceful King not warrior King. But many don't get it. He cleanses the Temple because buyers and sellers have taken up a prayer and visitors welcome section, preventing others from witnessing the power of God at work. That starts his downward spiral with the Sanhedrin, they are now definitely out to get him, at any cost.

   Days later he is washing feet and telling his disciples about the true meaning of the new Passover. We will be saved from the slavery to sin, slavery to missing the target. We will get a whole new life, a chance to come back from the dead spiritually, emotionally, relationally, etc. They argued about who would be in charge after he is gone. The bread of escape from Egypt becomes the bread of escape from total separation from God for ever. The cup remembering the blood on the door sills of their houses in Egypt, a sign to be Passed-over, is now a cup of a covenant with God to passover our sins and set us free for all eternity. Wow!

   He goes to pray in the garden, one final chance to decide not to go through with this horrific death. But he chooses and models full cooperation with God's plans. A point we should not miss, but it get's swept away with all the other events of that weekend and we might miss it.

   He is ganged up on and arrested, Peter jumps in for the moment and slices off the ear of the servant of the high priest, Malchus. Jesus does what comes naturally for him, comforting the hurt, healing the sick, and puts the ear back on and heals him. We miss that in the commotion too.

   I'll share more later, but that should give us a chance to pause and reflect on the incredible love God has for us to work at fixing the gap between us and our Creator. Stop and think and give thanks for all those steps Jesus takes to heal and strengthen you for life's journey and pilgrimage

   Blessings on your Holy Week

Pastor Jeff  (PJ)

Palm Sunday coming

Good morning, on this April Showers kind of a day. Our Dog Abby, a Cairn Terrier, like Toto in the Wizard of Oz, needed to go out. She always lunges out the front door to chase birds, or cars or whatever, almost ripping the arm attached to her leash, out of my socket. But today, she lunges out onto the stoop and gets hit with a hard rain and before I can adjust, she is heading back inside. She doesn't like being rained on too much. We have somethings in common after all... That kind of reminds me of almost every camp out I went on as a Scout growing up in Silver Spring. The weekend I need to be able to build a fire from scratch for my First Class rank, it rained for a week prior to the camp out. Everything was soaked. I had to try fire building some other time.

   In talking about Raising the dead, we often feel rained on too, even soaked sometimes, and it's hard to move forward spiritually when you are under such a deluge. We feel like we are dead, what's the use against so much pouring down upon us. But it's in that moment that God can do great work. We have to go through the dead part to get to witness and experience the overwhelming power of the Resurrection from the dead. The rain as nasty and windy as it can be sometimes, cleanses the air, waters the ground and provides what we need to drink and to raise crops for food, and bless us with beautiful flowers. It's in the rain that rebirth comes from.

   With Palm Sunday coming up this week, we look at what Jesus did. He willingly faced the rain, the rejection, the refusal to see God in him, in order to get to the Resurrection. His tragedy became our triumph. God restored us to a fully connected to "God life", because Jesus did what he had to do, to remove the junk that got in our way, the sin we so avidly pursue. Now I see the word sin, and I think of what it originally meant, Missing the Target! I know I miss the target of what God wants for me, too often, for my comfort. But the forgiveness Jesus offered on the cross, punctuated with the forgiveness we experience in the Resurrection allows me to aim at the target and do better in another day.

   Palm Sunday is Jesus coming into town to bring us back to God, what a glorious event. It's too bad it has to rain on his parade. But God intended it for good, that's why we call it Good Friday. So I invite you to go to church and celebrate this coming into town by Jesus and remember it's for our own good!

   Blessings on all of you where ever you are in your pilgrimage. I chose the lantern for the blog to let us know God has a light out for us to follow on our journey. Thanks for stopping by for a moment.  You can share your thoughts with us by adding a comment here.

Pastor Jeff

Raise the Dead

Good Morning.  I heard another pastor tell a story on Bishop Peter Weaver, a United Methodist Bishop in the Philadelphia area at the time, share a story about a recent trip on an airplane. He was seated next to a gentleman with several books about business. After the usual, how are you, nice weather, I hope this flight gets us there on time, the topic turned to what do you do? When it was Bishop Weaver's turn, he said, "I raise the dead!" He was partially joking, but also reflecting on his work as a pastor. The seatmate, stopped talking to him for a long time. Curiosity got the better of him eventually, so they continued the conversation.

   I thought that summarized what I hope that I do in my ministry. "Raise the Dead!" It's all about Jesus and what he would do. Raising the dead can mean a lot of things. I hope they reflect what I am trying to do. Do you have places in your life, spiritually, emotionally, relationally, where you feel like it's dead? I think we ought to work on that. I hope that by teaching about Jesus, in Bible Studies, sermons, articles, blogs, programs and ministries of the church, we can help people come back to life. Be transformed, revived, renewed, by the Spirit of God within. I'm working on a sermon series for this summer just about that. I'm looking carefully now, more so than just doing the same old stuff, to see if I can somehow, raise the dead!

   This is Sunday morning, we worship God on Sundays, because it's a way to remind us that many, many years ago, Jesus was raised from the dead! He met his disciple after that Resurrection, and gave us the job of going into all the world, to do the same. If you need raising, come along. If you have been raised and want to help others come alive. Come along.

Blessings,  Pastor Jeff

Welcome to WWPJB

Hello, thanks for checking in. I'm going to post once or twice  a week, probably Tuesday and Friday, with a look back at last week's sermon and worship experience and a look toward the next week. You are invited to respond with questions or discussion about last week, and you are invited to help me explore what goes into the sermon next Sunday.

Last week I invited you to consider a step of faith in your spiritual journey. I hope we each grow closer and more involved with Jesus, not just as our Savior and Friend, but as Lord and Master. We take on more of the agenda that God gives to us and less of our agenda that the world, our families, our plans and dreams have given us. This is a life time journey or pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is for a spiritual purpose and I hope we see we are on a pilgrimage, more than just a journey to see what's out there.

My blog WWPJB is What Would Pastor Jeff Blog, is going to share my ideas and answer your questions or share in a dialogue with you about that.

This Sunday our Choir will present it's cantata. Next week we are going to look at why Jesus came to Jerusalem to die. Welcome to the pilgrimage.

PJ