Hello brother and sister pilgrims on a journey of faith. We come up on the end of our summer and begin to make plans for what God will show us in this fall season. I'm really sorry the summer is over for once again, my list of things I wanted to do didn't really happen the way I wanted it to. But I did get one or two surprises along the way.
Best surprise in the midst of challenges, we flew to Florida because Elaine's mom is having some health challenges. We did accomplish a lot while we were there, so that was good, and we had an afternoon to ourselves. We ran down to Disney's Buena Vista Marketplace shopping area. From highway 4 we saw a huge hot air balloon floating above the trees from a long way off. Now, I've always wanted to go up in a hot air balloon, but this was totally unexpected. Lo and Behold, the balloon was tethered at Buena Vista Marketplace. And it had a very short waiting line. Elaine took a chance and agreed to go with me.
It rose up 400 feet above the lake, and we could see in all directions, what an awesome view. And it was quite safe. Turns out to be a very great ride and we got some awesome pictures up there. I am thankful that Elaine was willing to go with me. HINT, God can give us a great perspective on life if we connect and focus on God's gift of the Holy Spirit and allow God to lift us up when we pray and gain a view of what may be ahead, or at least a view that tells us that what troubles us so much, is really much smaller than we imagined. So take time to pray and meditate on Scripture a lot more can be seen and understood from that altitude and attitude with God's help.
Our grandson turned six this August and his dad came up with a fantastic party. Andy discovered that Oscar really likes the star wars story now that he has finally seen some of them. Andy discovered that you can invite Star Wars characters in costume to come and visit your party. So.... Darth Vader came and surprised Oscar. It was an awesome party. And... The Darth Vader character is a volunteer and the cost of the visit goes to a charity of your choice, how awesome is that! Great idea and a lot of fun for a party.
Now the fall season is upon us, new schedules, new efforts to try to help people discover what God is doing in our midst, and an invitation to join God's plan, not asking God to bless our plans. There is a big difference. It's not easy sometimes because it can look like the opposite of what we have in mind. But God is able to do far more than we can even imagine! (Eph.3:20) So our journey of faith is to ask God to show us how we ought to go in life, in faith, in service, and adjust our expectations to God's plans, as difficult as that might be.
This fall I've decided to change some things I've done for years, you can teach and old dog new tricks... I've decided to do a series of topics and themes for sermons, as usual, but this time I've divided them up to only once a month. For instance, on the second Sunday of each month, I'm preaching on a section of Colossians, a letter from Paul that most clearly highlights the work of Jesus. On the third week of the month I'm preaching on some of John Wesley's greatest thoughts for our faith. On the fourth Sunday I'm preaching on a HOT TOPIC, something that happens during the month that deserves some sermonic (big word) reflection. I've found a great resource called Wired Word, a weekly lesson for Sunday School and preaching that highlights up to the minute events and situations and provides scripture and study material to go with the topic. I'm looking forward to that part.
On the occasional fifth Sunday we are going to spend time praying and asking for strength to meet the challenges we face and may even pray for healing for those who would be interested. That would happen in September and December this year.
Blessings on your going back to school and regular schedules this fall. Try including something new that will enhance your journey with God. Pray more often or for longer periods of time, worship more often, find a new devotion to help your Bible reading, share your faith with a friend, serve your community or your congregation in a way that will bless others. Happy September everyone!
Pastor Jeff
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Prayer Retreat
I scheduled a Prayer Retreat for most of this week. I needed an extended period of time to pray and reflect and to ask God for specific guidance in my live and work. It's been a very interesting couple of days. God does answer prayer, we just don't slow down long enough to be quiet enough to listen.
To help me do this I am using the Upper Room book called A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants. There is a section in the back for Monthly Retreat, and I've been using one each day. It calls for 30 minutes of silence, then some reading, reflection quotes, prayer, journaling and more prayer and reflection and like shampoo, Repeat.... The 30 minutes of silence is very, very hard. I set my iPad count down clock and the time just sits there. I must really need to pray even more.
I had the chance to pray going over the entire membership roster, praying for work, for family, for relationship to the congregation etc. I normally just do the birthday people, but this was for the whole group A to Z. I'm going to plan to do that more often.
I've been reading some very powerful books on prayer as well, two by a pastor in Washington DC who's churches are movie theaters. His books, Primal: a Quest for the Lost Soul of Christendom, & The Circle Maker: praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears. I'm grateful to Mark Batterson for sharing his journey with us. I've been truly inspired. I would recommend them to any of you who would like to be challenged for a deeper faith walk. We need to hear/read from others to get new ideas or to be reminded of significant ways to draw near to God in faith.
A couple of times this week, I received specific answers to urgent prayer, leading me to resources that just happened to come in the mail or email, that I had not expected or ordered, but seemed to be the direct Word of the Lord to me for my situation. God is Good. All the Time. I am so thankful for the responses that have lifted burdens and worries I was facing, with just the right guidance and influence.
Another answer to prayer was inspired by another UMC pastor who was reflecting on the important message of Jesus found in John's Gospel, chapters 14-17, so I re-read and prayed over that. The connection to the vine and the resources of the Holy Spirit to help us are awesome gifts we often forget. And then Ch. 17, Jesus prays for the people in the church today, we are prayed for by Jesus when he was in the Upper Room so many years ago. We've been prayed for, we were on his mind, that night just before he died to take away our sins. Thank you Jesus.
I need to go back to prayer, but I wanted to include you in this experience and to offer you some encouragement as well. You may not be able to do a week, but short prayer retreats are very important and worthwhile. Let me know if I can help point you in the right direction.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
To help me do this I am using the Upper Room book called A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants. There is a section in the back for Monthly Retreat, and I've been using one each day. It calls for 30 minutes of silence, then some reading, reflection quotes, prayer, journaling and more prayer and reflection and like shampoo, Repeat.... The 30 minutes of silence is very, very hard. I set my iPad count down clock and the time just sits there. I must really need to pray even more.
I had the chance to pray going over the entire membership roster, praying for work, for family, for relationship to the congregation etc. I normally just do the birthday people, but this was for the whole group A to Z. I'm going to plan to do that more often.
I've been reading some very powerful books on prayer as well, two by a pastor in Washington DC who's churches are movie theaters. His books, Primal: a Quest for the Lost Soul of Christendom, & The Circle Maker: praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears. I'm grateful to Mark Batterson for sharing his journey with us. I've been truly inspired. I would recommend them to any of you who would like to be challenged for a deeper faith walk. We need to hear/read from others to get new ideas or to be reminded of significant ways to draw near to God in faith.
A couple of times this week, I received specific answers to urgent prayer, leading me to resources that just happened to come in the mail or email, that I had not expected or ordered, but seemed to be the direct Word of the Lord to me for my situation. God is Good. All the Time. I am so thankful for the responses that have lifted burdens and worries I was facing, with just the right guidance and influence.
Another answer to prayer was inspired by another UMC pastor who was reflecting on the important message of Jesus found in John's Gospel, chapters 14-17, so I re-read and prayed over that. The connection to the vine and the resources of the Holy Spirit to help us are awesome gifts we often forget. And then Ch. 17, Jesus prays for the people in the church today, we are prayed for by Jesus when he was in the Upper Room so many years ago. We've been prayed for, we were on his mind, that night just before he died to take away our sins. Thank you Jesus.
I need to go back to prayer, but I wanted to include you in this experience and to offer you some encouragement as well. You may not be able to do a week, but short prayer retreats are very important and worthwhile. Let me know if I can help point you in the right direction.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
Monday, August 12, 2013
Life Enriching Practices gets practical
Hello and welcome to our ongoing journey to be followers of Jesus, which means we are on the road to becoming like Jesus. A very tall order, but what grace is ours in Jesus who gives us examples, gives us the assistance of the Holy Spirit, gives us a community to encourage us and keep us accountable, and gives us the Scriptures to help describe what we should be aiming for.
I'm a little excited about the new football season that is coming. The news is filled with training camp stories about the trials and tribulations of getting the players into shape, molding them into a team, getting them to follow the plays so that when the games really count, the team can win. Not a bad reminder of what we are to be doing.
We are to be living the faith we have in our heads and hearts. It's hard to do sometimes, when the voices we hear, coming from the TV, movies, celebrities, and other media tells us the complete opposite of what we should be doing.
We get way too wrapped up in keeping up with the Joneses, and not these Joneses, I can assure you. WE feel like we ought to have the things we are shown in the commercials, and in those shinny catalogs that come in the mail all the time. It's back to school, so get to the stores... even if we haven't outworn or outgrown what we already have, we are to get more. But our faith should help us hear a voice in our heads, "Are You Kidding Me!" we really don't need all that stuff.
John Wesley led people to the Lord long enough that he even began to see the prosperity that often came to those who turned their lives around, from ruining their health with bad habits, to becoming valuable citizens and employees, who became successful because they were dependable. He was often hurt by the success of his transformation, which led people away from the faith, in order to enjoy the gains they had made in their lives. So he came up with three simple rules for using our money, and it's still a helpful tool today, but the advice gets drowned out by the noise of buy, buy, buy.
Rule number one was EARN ALL YOU CAN. He was serious about being paid a proper wage and for the relationship between work and proper reward. He was enthusiastic about helping people find a better wage for their efforts. He thought that an appropriate salary would ensure that you could be healthy and a good family and a good witness to the world by following rules number two and three. If we stop at rule one, we will miss the whole point.
Rule number two was SAVE ALL YOU CAN. He was not encouraging us to hoard, but to use what we have wisely. The save all you can was about using what you needed until the very end. Don't throw away stuff before it wasn't finished being helpful. Pass it along if it still had some life left in it and you didn't need it anymore. The same advice would come into play now about the recycling encouragement to save our planet. Save it, recycle, pass it along, share it, make sure it has done all it could. That's a challenge when we are told to upgrade all the time, and usually before we actually need to. So try to stretch your stuff out a little longer, get more out of it, use it wisely so it will last longer. Eloise, the adviser on consumer products and uses, has a good point here, you can still use that somehow.
The third rule was GIVE ALL YOU CAN. John Wesley was famous for living very simply, he ended his life living on 10 percent and giving 90 percent of what he had. He was filled with the hope that God's people, who had earned all they could, and used what they had as well as they could, would naturally be able to be generous and make a difference in the world. Wesley was able to start credit unions to help get people out of debtors prison, he started schools, because that was the best way to advance and to be able to read the Bible for yourself, so God could influence you. He cared about the physical as well as the spiritual, and worked on cleaning up our bodies, our communities and with those folks giving all they could, he started hospitals and clinics to provide healthy resources to those in need.
So we take our Spiritual life seriously, and apply them to our life style. Earn all you can, save what you have by using it wisely, and give all you can to bless and help someone else.
The Empty Tomb, organization, researches human needs around the world, and they figured out that if all USA Christians would tithe, we would have enough money available beyond the local church to take care of EVERY major health concern, water to every village that needed it, food for the hungry, health resources wherever it is needed. Now that's something to think about.
Blessings on your journey and try looking at your own rule potential. Earn all you can, save all you can, and please GIVE all you can. The joy of knowing you are doing the right thing will be a glorious feeling.
Pastor Jeff
I'm a little excited about the new football season that is coming. The news is filled with training camp stories about the trials and tribulations of getting the players into shape, molding them into a team, getting them to follow the plays so that when the games really count, the team can win. Not a bad reminder of what we are to be doing.
We are to be living the faith we have in our heads and hearts. It's hard to do sometimes, when the voices we hear, coming from the TV, movies, celebrities, and other media tells us the complete opposite of what we should be doing.
We get way too wrapped up in keeping up with the Joneses, and not these Joneses, I can assure you. WE feel like we ought to have the things we are shown in the commercials, and in those shinny catalogs that come in the mail all the time. It's back to school, so get to the stores... even if we haven't outworn or outgrown what we already have, we are to get more. But our faith should help us hear a voice in our heads, "Are You Kidding Me!" we really don't need all that stuff.
John Wesley led people to the Lord long enough that he even began to see the prosperity that often came to those who turned their lives around, from ruining their health with bad habits, to becoming valuable citizens and employees, who became successful because they were dependable. He was often hurt by the success of his transformation, which led people away from the faith, in order to enjoy the gains they had made in their lives. So he came up with three simple rules for using our money, and it's still a helpful tool today, but the advice gets drowned out by the noise of buy, buy, buy.
Rule number one was EARN ALL YOU CAN. He was serious about being paid a proper wage and for the relationship between work and proper reward. He was enthusiastic about helping people find a better wage for their efforts. He thought that an appropriate salary would ensure that you could be healthy and a good family and a good witness to the world by following rules number two and three. If we stop at rule one, we will miss the whole point.
Rule number two was SAVE ALL YOU CAN. He was not encouraging us to hoard, but to use what we have wisely. The save all you can was about using what you needed until the very end. Don't throw away stuff before it wasn't finished being helpful. Pass it along if it still had some life left in it and you didn't need it anymore. The same advice would come into play now about the recycling encouragement to save our planet. Save it, recycle, pass it along, share it, make sure it has done all it could. That's a challenge when we are told to upgrade all the time, and usually before we actually need to. So try to stretch your stuff out a little longer, get more out of it, use it wisely so it will last longer. Eloise, the adviser on consumer products and uses, has a good point here, you can still use that somehow.
The third rule was GIVE ALL YOU CAN. John Wesley was famous for living very simply, he ended his life living on 10 percent and giving 90 percent of what he had. He was filled with the hope that God's people, who had earned all they could, and used what they had as well as they could, would naturally be able to be generous and make a difference in the world. Wesley was able to start credit unions to help get people out of debtors prison, he started schools, because that was the best way to advance and to be able to read the Bible for yourself, so God could influence you. He cared about the physical as well as the spiritual, and worked on cleaning up our bodies, our communities and with those folks giving all they could, he started hospitals and clinics to provide healthy resources to those in need.
So we take our Spiritual life seriously, and apply them to our life style. Earn all you can, save what you have by using it wisely, and give all you can to bless and help someone else.
The Empty Tomb, organization, researches human needs around the world, and they figured out that if all USA Christians would tithe, we would have enough money available beyond the local church to take care of EVERY major health concern, water to every village that needed it, food for the hungry, health resources wherever it is needed. Now that's something to think about.
Blessings on your journey and try looking at your own rule potential. Earn all you can, save all you can, and please GIVE all you can. The joy of knowing you are doing the right thing will be a glorious feeling.
Pastor Jeff
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Life Enriching Practices
This past week, we were talking about the value that we should put on Christian Community if we are going to grow deeper spiritually. We are looking for connections, we need to be a part of a tribe or family or something. Look at how many millions are on Facebook. That may be superficial, but it's a connection for this busy life we seem to be chasing. I'm on Facebook, and it provides a lot of reasons for me to pray for people I know, they often share what they are going through and it helps me to send up a quick prayer on their behalf at the moment I've discovered their challenges.
John Wesley was convinced that meaningful life change, a deepening and serious pursuit of faithfulness, required a community, a body of Christ to nurture and provide the right environment for it. He had the big gatherings of the Societies, but then he encouraged folks to get into classes of 12 to 15 to meet weekly and learn about their faith and learn from others what to do to grow deeper in faith. For those who truly wanted to get serious in their pursuit of Christ likeness, Wesley developed the Bands, a small intimate group of 4 to 6 who met weekly to really covenant with each other to help in the development of faithfulness. That group would ask serious questions about the work of the soul, the temptations being fought, the needs in life to be prayed for. That was a powerful way to get deeply committed people to help each other. From those bands, came leaders who were able to do might things in the community of faith.
John Wesley suggested that we all wrestle with three General Rules that would help shape our lives of faith. The three rules were, 1. Do No Harm, avoid evil of every kind. A tall order, but one worth thinking about and wrestling with in all things. The second was Do All The Good you Can, to whomever you can. That meant you really applied the Golden Rule, do to others what you would love for them to do to you. It included doing the right thing every time and to anybody, even your enemies. It also included doing the right thing for the environment and the created order. The third rule was attend to all the ordinances of God, and that included, public worship of God, the ministry of the Word, read & expounded, the Lord's Supper, family and private prayers, searching the Scriptures on your own, and fasting, or abstinence. Now there is a challenge for you.
You might see why you need friends and family of God, the church known as the Body of Christ, to help each other to get there. Three of these ordinances were public in nature, you were gathered with others, and three were private or within your own home. It's not easy to do, and if you have a mentor or guide or coach or someone holding you accountable, it maybe easier to do. And when you share in a class or band how it's going, you are going to get good ideas from others, for solving some of your life's little problems. You might just get the perfect solution for something that has been bugging you for years...
To review our 8 Life Enriching Practices, let me say that it's not a suggestion or a good idea, it's something serious Christ followers actually do. You might want to decide to actually be a better follower, especially as we gear up for the fall programs and ministries at church, to be committed to doing these exercises in faith development.
Pray, and remember it's a conversation with the Creator who loves you. It needs to be as much listening to God as it is suggestions ways God can help you and the people you love. Bible Reading, is actually a good way that God can speak to you, and it will identify the things you need to know to be a better example of Jesus to others. It can be really hard to do that on your own, because there are parts of the Bible that will really bog you down, that others might be able to guide you to the really best parts. Worship is essential for keeping a proper perspective on life. That "other" in our lives can direct and encourage and equip us far better than we can on our own. The Worship of God, is giving God the value that is deserved and the reward is a sense of presence and help in every time of trouble. Worship also includes the Lord's Supper, which is a reminder that we have been forgiven. We are separated from the junk that get's in the way with our fellowship with God, and healed and given new life. We need that regularly.
Part Four of the Enriching practices is that we are renewed and healed. Worship allows us to be in the presence of the one who can restore, renew, redirect, refresh and transform our minds by the work of the Holy Spirit, the power that swept across Chaos in creation and brought forth order, and life and light. Healing is the chance to be re created and made whole, or given the right perspective to deal with what is going on in your life.
Part Five is Christian Community. Part Six, which comes up next week is how we live, our Lifestyle, which matters to God too. Stay tuned.
Blessings on you all
Pastor Jeff
John Wesley was convinced that meaningful life change, a deepening and serious pursuit of faithfulness, required a community, a body of Christ to nurture and provide the right environment for it. He had the big gatherings of the Societies, but then he encouraged folks to get into classes of 12 to 15 to meet weekly and learn about their faith and learn from others what to do to grow deeper in faith. For those who truly wanted to get serious in their pursuit of Christ likeness, Wesley developed the Bands, a small intimate group of 4 to 6 who met weekly to really covenant with each other to help in the development of faithfulness. That group would ask serious questions about the work of the soul, the temptations being fought, the needs in life to be prayed for. That was a powerful way to get deeply committed people to help each other. From those bands, came leaders who were able to do might things in the community of faith.
John Wesley suggested that we all wrestle with three General Rules that would help shape our lives of faith. The three rules were, 1. Do No Harm, avoid evil of every kind. A tall order, but one worth thinking about and wrestling with in all things. The second was Do All The Good you Can, to whomever you can. That meant you really applied the Golden Rule, do to others what you would love for them to do to you. It included doing the right thing every time and to anybody, even your enemies. It also included doing the right thing for the environment and the created order. The third rule was attend to all the ordinances of God, and that included, public worship of God, the ministry of the Word, read & expounded, the Lord's Supper, family and private prayers, searching the Scriptures on your own, and fasting, or abstinence. Now there is a challenge for you.
You might see why you need friends and family of God, the church known as the Body of Christ, to help each other to get there. Three of these ordinances were public in nature, you were gathered with others, and three were private or within your own home. It's not easy to do, and if you have a mentor or guide or coach or someone holding you accountable, it maybe easier to do. And when you share in a class or band how it's going, you are going to get good ideas from others, for solving some of your life's little problems. You might just get the perfect solution for something that has been bugging you for years...
To review our 8 Life Enriching Practices, let me say that it's not a suggestion or a good idea, it's something serious Christ followers actually do. You might want to decide to actually be a better follower, especially as we gear up for the fall programs and ministries at church, to be committed to doing these exercises in faith development.
Pray, and remember it's a conversation with the Creator who loves you. It needs to be as much listening to God as it is suggestions ways God can help you and the people you love. Bible Reading, is actually a good way that God can speak to you, and it will identify the things you need to know to be a better example of Jesus to others. It can be really hard to do that on your own, because there are parts of the Bible that will really bog you down, that others might be able to guide you to the really best parts. Worship is essential for keeping a proper perspective on life. That "other" in our lives can direct and encourage and equip us far better than we can on our own. The Worship of God, is giving God the value that is deserved and the reward is a sense of presence and help in every time of trouble. Worship also includes the Lord's Supper, which is a reminder that we have been forgiven. We are separated from the junk that get's in the way with our fellowship with God, and healed and given new life. We need that regularly.
Part Four of the Enriching practices is that we are renewed and healed. Worship allows us to be in the presence of the one who can restore, renew, redirect, refresh and transform our minds by the work of the Holy Spirit, the power that swept across Chaos in creation and brought forth order, and life and light. Healing is the chance to be re created and made whole, or given the right perspective to deal with what is going on in your life.
Part Five is Christian Community. Part Six, which comes up next week is how we live, our Lifestyle, which matters to God too. Stay tuned.
Blessings on you all
Pastor Jeff
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Word & Table Pt. 2
Jesus continues his walk to Emmaus with the two disciples. He begins to explain to them from Moses and the prophets and psalms all the things that God has done to prepare us for life. He addresses the concerns and points us to a greater understanding in the words of the good book. Reading Scripture and the sermon or message, is one way we can hear Jesus tell us what we need to know to address our needs and concerns as we walk in life.
The worship service has two parts, the Word and Table. The Word section follows the ancient pattern that came to the early Christians from the synagogue services that they were used to. There were prayers and then reading of the selection from the scrolls, the Old Testament as they knew it and the rabbi would explain or direct them to understand what had been read to them at that time. The Word portion of worship is like that. We hear from the scripture and we receive an interpretation or explanation or direction for what to do with God's word for our lives.
I was chatting with someone the other day who asked about the scriptures that are chosen for the worship services. I have been a lectionary preacher, one who follows the multi-denominational church common text lectionary of three year guided lessons to cover the major stories of scripture over a three year period, most of my ministry. But since coming to Liberty Grove I've gone to short series or preaching on a list of major Bible stories to cover the essential moments in Biblical formation. This summer I'm preaching on the book of John Wesley's 8 Essential Life Enriching Practices, in order to remind us of the habits we United Methodists should be following if we want to grow spiritually.
The scripture lessons come out of the book to show us the relationship between the practices of habits we should be following and God's instructions about that. Last week we were looking at the walk to Emmaus scripture from Luke 24 because it shapes how we worship.The middle section of that story is the power of the interpretation of the Word into the concerns and the life of Jesus.
The early Christians added to the synagogue component of weekly worship, the Table section of the Last Supper that Jesus gave his disciples in the Upper Room and commanded them to keep remembering to share this with each other. In Methodist circles John Wesley insisted that only a duly ordained clergy person could administer the sacrament in order to keep it's meaning and importance as clearly connected to Jesus as possible. In the early days of Methodism, the clergy person would have 15 to 18 churches and would only be by to offer communion once a quarter or so. We kept that pattern of quarterly communion way past the time when most United Methodist churches have a regular ordained pastor who was there each week.
Moving to monthly communion, on the first Sunday of the month, has taken a while to be adapted as a usual practice among us. John Wesley thought it should be available every week, but he was talking about a two to three hour service each week as well, and it was possible during that time. We who are so time conscious now, can't manage a two to three hour services, so the monthly communion fits our schedule a little better.
When Jesus finished the interpretation of the scriptures concerning his death and resurrection, the two disciples had arrived in Emmaus. They begged Jesus, the stranger still, to stay with them for dinner. He accepted. When Jesus took the bread and gave thanks and broke the bread and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. He immediately disappeared from their sight. Their hearts were so strangely warmed by all of this, that they knew he was risen, and they jumped up from the table and ran to share with the disciples in Jerusalem, that he was risen indeed, and they had recognized him in the breaking of the bread.
It is my hope that every time we move toward the portion of worship that we receive the bread and the cup that our eyes will be opened to see and know that the Risen One is with us. And we should rise up from the table and be ready to share our faith in the Risen One with others too. Hopefully we see Jesus is with us when we break bread and can let that shape who we are and what we do, from then on.
May the worship with Word & Table be a powerful tool to help you grow spiritually. You can see why this is so helpful to growing faith. Come and worship. Go find a church to share in the habit of gathering to hear God speak to you and sense his presence with you always.
Blessings on each of you
Pastor Jeff
The worship service has two parts, the Word and Table. The Word section follows the ancient pattern that came to the early Christians from the synagogue services that they were used to. There were prayers and then reading of the selection from the scrolls, the Old Testament as they knew it and the rabbi would explain or direct them to understand what had been read to them at that time. The Word portion of worship is like that. We hear from the scripture and we receive an interpretation or explanation or direction for what to do with God's word for our lives.
I was chatting with someone the other day who asked about the scriptures that are chosen for the worship services. I have been a lectionary preacher, one who follows the multi-denominational church common text lectionary of three year guided lessons to cover the major stories of scripture over a three year period, most of my ministry. But since coming to Liberty Grove I've gone to short series or preaching on a list of major Bible stories to cover the essential moments in Biblical formation. This summer I'm preaching on the book of John Wesley's 8 Essential Life Enriching Practices, in order to remind us of the habits we United Methodists should be following if we want to grow spiritually.
The scripture lessons come out of the book to show us the relationship between the practices of habits we should be following and God's instructions about that. Last week we were looking at the walk to Emmaus scripture from Luke 24 because it shapes how we worship.The middle section of that story is the power of the interpretation of the Word into the concerns and the life of Jesus.
The early Christians added to the synagogue component of weekly worship, the Table section of the Last Supper that Jesus gave his disciples in the Upper Room and commanded them to keep remembering to share this with each other. In Methodist circles John Wesley insisted that only a duly ordained clergy person could administer the sacrament in order to keep it's meaning and importance as clearly connected to Jesus as possible. In the early days of Methodism, the clergy person would have 15 to 18 churches and would only be by to offer communion once a quarter or so. We kept that pattern of quarterly communion way past the time when most United Methodist churches have a regular ordained pastor who was there each week.
Moving to monthly communion, on the first Sunday of the month, has taken a while to be adapted as a usual practice among us. John Wesley thought it should be available every week, but he was talking about a two to three hour service each week as well, and it was possible during that time. We who are so time conscious now, can't manage a two to three hour services, so the monthly communion fits our schedule a little better.
When Jesus finished the interpretation of the scriptures concerning his death and resurrection, the two disciples had arrived in Emmaus. They begged Jesus, the stranger still, to stay with them for dinner. He accepted. When Jesus took the bread and gave thanks and broke the bread and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. He immediately disappeared from their sight. Their hearts were so strangely warmed by all of this, that they knew he was risen, and they jumped up from the table and ran to share with the disciples in Jerusalem, that he was risen indeed, and they had recognized him in the breaking of the bread.
It is my hope that every time we move toward the portion of worship that we receive the bread and the cup that our eyes will be opened to see and know that the Risen One is with us. And we should rise up from the table and be ready to share our faith in the Risen One with others too. Hopefully we see Jesus is with us when we break bread and can let that shape who we are and what we do, from then on.
May the worship with Word & Table be a powerful tool to help you grow spiritually. You can see why this is so helpful to growing faith. Come and worship. Go find a church to share in the habit of gathering to hear God speak to you and sense his presence with you always.
Blessings on each of you
Pastor Jeff
Thursday, July 11, 2013
8 Life Enriching Practices: # 3 Word & Table
If you want to see some progress in your spiritual life, if you would like to know that your prayers are getting through, if you would like to have the help Jesus promised for those who follow him, then you would get a lot of help in worship. The worship that focuses on presenting the story of God in Scripture and an invitation to experience real grace, love and forgiveness at the Table of the Lord.
This Sunday I shared the story of the Road to Emmaus, which is normally read around the Easter season, because it's about Easter afternoon, when Jesus joined up with Cleopas and a second disciple on their walk home to Emmaus, a village about 7 miles away from Jerusalem. It's an awesome story because it helps us to see how and why to worship. The story is found in Luke 24: 13-35. Go read the story and come back to this blog.
The story begins with Jesus joining up with the two who are very down trodden. I don't know if Emmaus is down the hill from Jerusalem or not, but they were down trodden from the grief of seeing Jesus nailed to the cross and the confusing rumor about his rising from the dead. That part had not yet been confirmed. So Jesus asked them what's the matter, why are you so discouraged.
They began to pour our their heart about their concerns, about the grief they felt. They had such high hopes and the death of Jesus really put the squash on their hopes and dreams. I proceeded to invite the congregation to share why they might be discouraged. It became a sharing of concerns and prayer requests, and one of the teaching moments about asking for prayer when we worship. It's very similar to Isaiah 6:1-8, when Isaiah heads for the temple in his grief over the death of King Uzziah. He poured out his heart to God and he felt God's comfort in that place. The reassurance, the touch on his lips declaring him forgiven and his hearing the word to proclaim God's story is powerful too.
Our worship time gives us a chance to put into God's hands the things that discourage us. We shared about a mother in the last stages of cancer, of a woman in our church who lost both father and mother within a very short time. We shared about the challenges of dealing with aging parents and the grief their dementia was giving to their children. Jesus was walking along the road with us there for sure.
Then we began to listen to what Jesus had to say about the events of that Holy Week. He began with Moses and the prophets and the psalms to tell the story. He related the words of God in scripture to the events they were experiencing. That's what scripture can do. Relate the events, concerns, challenges we face with help from God. If there were time travel available, that's my first stop, the road to Emmaus, to hear Jesus put all the events and the scripture together about what he went through. That would be the most awesome opportunity to listen in that I can imagine.
I'll get to the rest of the story real soon.
Our congregation serves a community meal the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month to all who come, there is a free will offering basket available, but you can eat for free. It's a good time to fellowship with others, to sit down and let someone else do the cooking, it's a way to stretch your budget, spend time with family, whatever..... Join us sometime. I need to go, the smell of tonight's soup is pulling me into the fellowship hall. I'll tell you the rest of the story soon, I promise.
Pastor Jeff
This Sunday I shared the story of the Road to Emmaus, which is normally read around the Easter season, because it's about Easter afternoon, when Jesus joined up with Cleopas and a second disciple on their walk home to Emmaus, a village about 7 miles away from Jerusalem. It's an awesome story because it helps us to see how and why to worship. The story is found in Luke 24: 13-35. Go read the story and come back to this blog.
The story begins with Jesus joining up with the two who are very down trodden. I don't know if Emmaus is down the hill from Jerusalem or not, but they were down trodden from the grief of seeing Jesus nailed to the cross and the confusing rumor about his rising from the dead. That part had not yet been confirmed. So Jesus asked them what's the matter, why are you so discouraged.
They began to pour our their heart about their concerns, about the grief they felt. They had such high hopes and the death of Jesus really put the squash on their hopes and dreams. I proceeded to invite the congregation to share why they might be discouraged. It became a sharing of concerns and prayer requests, and one of the teaching moments about asking for prayer when we worship. It's very similar to Isaiah 6:1-8, when Isaiah heads for the temple in his grief over the death of King Uzziah. He poured out his heart to God and he felt God's comfort in that place. The reassurance, the touch on his lips declaring him forgiven and his hearing the word to proclaim God's story is powerful too.
Our worship time gives us a chance to put into God's hands the things that discourage us. We shared about a mother in the last stages of cancer, of a woman in our church who lost both father and mother within a very short time. We shared about the challenges of dealing with aging parents and the grief their dementia was giving to their children. Jesus was walking along the road with us there for sure.
Then we began to listen to what Jesus had to say about the events of that Holy Week. He began with Moses and the prophets and the psalms to tell the story. He related the words of God in scripture to the events they were experiencing. That's what scripture can do. Relate the events, concerns, challenges we face with help from God. If there were time travel available, that's my first stop, the road to Emmaus, to hear Jesus put all the events and the scripture together about what he went through. That would be the most awesome opportunity to listen in that I can imagine.
I'll get to the rest of the story real soon.
Our congregation serves a community meal the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month to all who come, there is a free will offering basket available, but you can eat for free. It's a good time to fellowship with others, to sit down and let someone else do the cooking, it's a way to stretch your budget, spend time with family, whatever..... Join us sometime. I need to go, the smell of tonight's soup is pulling me into the fellowship hall. I'll tell you the rest of the story soon, I promise.
Pastor Jeff
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Rachel Held Evans has some thought provoking things to say
I would like you to go to Rachel's blog for a moment and think about what she has to say on our picking which people and sins we like to clobber with spiritual and scriptural verses.
rachelheldevans.com/blog/
I would also like to say she missed a really big set of clobber verses, you can't jump on them all or we will be at the bottom of a landslide, but she missed the clobber verses, which are numerous, on the lack of tithing by God's people. This is called ganging up or pilling on.... and I try to be more gracious and patient and understanding of the challenges of living today.
So I hope you go read Rachel's blog. She has thoughtful things to say. We don't always agree completely, but that is one of the unique and powerful gifts being a John Wesley follower gives us, we can be accommodating and respectful with a difference of opinion when we need to be. With charity/love towards all, if your heart is with my heart, lend me your hand. John would say.
Blessings on your exploring and thinking.
I'll have more to say about our series of sermons later.
Pastor Jeff
rachelheldevans.com/blog/
I would also like to say she missed a really big set of clobber verses, you can't jump on them all or we will be at the bottom of a landslide, but she missed the clobber verses, which are numerous, on the lack of tithing by God's people. This is called ganging up or pilling on.... and I try to be more gracious and patient and understanding of the challenges of living today.
So I hope you go read Rachel's blog. She has thoughtful things to say. We don't always agree completely, but that is one of the unique and powerful gifts being a John Wesley follower gives us, we can be accommodating and respectful with a difference of opinion when we need to be. With charity/love towards all, if your heart is with my heart, lend me your hand. John would say.
Blessings on your exploring and thinking.
I'll have more to say about our series of sermons later.
Pastor Jeff
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