
A WORD FROM
THE PASTOR
November 2009
Our state is experiencing serious financial
difficulties, and casino gambling looks like a
good way to fill our coffers. Besides, not
only does gambling provide a way for our
ordinary people to win big money, it can be
a lot of fun. So why not let the casinos in?
It sounds reasonable until you stop to think,
to remember, to analyze. Many of you
recall the days when the state lottery was
first introduced to Ohio. The big selling
point was, lottery money would meet the
needs of our public schools. Has it? What’s
become of all the promised revenue?
As for all the opportunity and fun casinos
will provide, consider these facts compiled
by the United Methodist Anti-Gambling
Taskforce:
1. Gambling preys on people who are
poor, luring them with the promise of
a life free from financial worries and
burdens;
2. If gambling is within 50 miles, the
chances of people in your community
becoming addicted increase by 50%
(75% if your community is poor);
3. 60% of casino revenues come from
gamblers making less than $25,000
per year;
4. Bankruptcy rates are 100% higher in
counties with casinos than in counties
without casinos;
5. 4.2 million Americans are addicted
gamblers;
6. Significant child neglect has been
reported, with 10-17% of children of
compulsive gamblers being abused;
7. An estimated 40% of white collar
crime has its roots in gambling;
8. In counties with neighboring casinos,
8.6% of property crime and 12.6% of
violent crimes are caused by casinos –
in counties with casinos, the rates are
much higher;
9. Suicides in cities with casinos are 4
times higher than in comparable cities
without gambling.
Yes, the facts and figures are revealing, but
here is yet a bigger reason for us to say no to
casinos. In the days of Isaiah, the people of
Israel were heading for destruction because
they were looking for help everywhere
except the one place they would find it---in
the presence of God. We call ourselves
people of faith. Now is the time to exercise
that faith and put it where it really belongs!
Remembering with you,
the Lord is our refuge and strength,
Pastor Bill
October 2009
Have you ever considered the destructive power of love?
Charles Wesley did
when he penned this odd but beautiful line: “Love, like
death, hath all
destroyed, rendered all distinctions void; names and sects
and parties fall; thou,
O Christ, art all in all” (Christ, from Whom All Blessings Flow, # 550 in The United
Methodist Hymnal). Wesley had in mind the destruction of the
traditional
dividing lines mentioned in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither
Jew nor Greek, slave
nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus.” But we should think
of the idea in more comprehensive terms.
Destruction is a concept that may sound harsh to our
sensitive, peace-loving
ears, but destruction is a good thing when the way is paved
for something
better. A forest fire is a good example. It would probably be
unwise to say to
those left homeless by wildfires in southern California that
there is a positive side
to the destruction; but the reality is, the burning of
old-growth forest makes room
for new-growth forest. Likewise, the use of blasting agents
makes possible the
construction of roads, railroads, tunnels and bridges that we
could not otherwise
have.
Is there some destruction that ought to take place in your
life? Perhaps you are
offended by such a question, but maybe God has something far
better for you
than you have yet to experience because of the hang-ups,
holdups and hurdles
blocking the way. Comparing his ministry with that of Jesus,
John the Baptist
said: “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me
will come one who
is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry.
He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Baptized with fire?
Ouch! The loving,
destructive power of the Holy Spirit, clearing the way for
the good things of God.
Is there sin in your life that has been there so long maybe
you wouldn’t even call
it sin because it doesn’t seem like such a big deal anymore?
Is there a bitterness
in your life that maybe doesn’t taste so bitter anymore
because you’ve gotten
used to the flavor? Is there unforgiveness in your life that
has been there so long
you’ve forgotten what it really is? Is there a healing that
needs to take place in
your soul, a wholeness that your spirit longs for that you’ve
all but given up on?
God loves you enough to destroy the junk. Do you love Him
enough to let Him?
May God bless you with the destructive power of His love!
Pastor
Bill
September 2009
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” We resonate
with this plea of the
young boy’s father in Mark 9. Desperate for Jesus to help his
son, Jesus told him,
“Everything is possible for him who believes.” But even
though we identify
ourselves as believers, we all know what it is to live with a
mixture of faith and
doubt.
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” How does that
happen? How
do we become overcomers of unbelief? I suppose our hope is
that God would
simply infuse our hearts with a great big feeling of faith
that would wash away all
doubt. But that’s precisely our problem—getting faith and feelings
mixed up.
Faith isn’t a feeling; it’s an activity. It’s something we
do; it’s something we
practice—even when our feelings are stretched a little thin.
So instead of giving
us stronger feelings, God invites us to do those things that
will help our faith grow.
The kind of things that the rest of the world looks upon with
suspicion. Observing
Sabbath, for example. How could God expect us to set aside an
entire day out
of what for most of us is an already short week? It’s not
just about worshipping
and relaxing, it’s about trusting God. The God who made
everything can make
six days of work more productive than seven if we will honor
Him with Sabbath.
Keeping Sabbath is a practice that grows our faith in God.
Then there’s tithing—
offering the Lord 10% of our resources. It seems like a
foolish notion, when we
know what kind of money it takes just to provide basic
necessities, when many
people live on fixed incomes, when the economy is in the
tank, etc., etc. But
tithing isn’t about making sure God has enough money to buy
what He needs
(where did all the resource to make all the money come from
in the first place?)
Tithing is about God showing us how big He is. It’s about
growing our faith. Then
there’s praying—talking to a God who is invisible, talking to
Him even when we
don’t feel like it, being expected to praise Him even when we
don’t feel like it…
It isn’t about performing some religious duty to make God
happy, in fear that He
will punish us if we don’t do it. It’s about connecting with
a God who is ready to
show Himself faithful. It’s about growing our faith.
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Is that your
prayer? Don’t feel
guilty if you don’t have all the feelings toward God that you
think you ought to
have. Don’t worry about what your doubts may do to God’s love
for you. The
fact is, they won’t alter God’s love for you one bit. He
loves you unconditionally.
Just exercise your faith, put it into practice regularly each
day, and let God
show you what He can do!
Growing with you,
Pastor Bill
August 2009
Vacation Bible School time again. I love VBS because it
provides the
opportunity to interact on a large scale with child-like
attitudes. Jesus speaks
about these attitudes in Mark 10 when He says: “Let the
little children come to
me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these. I
tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom
of God like a little
child will never enter it.” While this simple message is part
of a simple Gospel, it is
a profound truth that I, for one, find myself pondering again
and again. Just
what does it mean to be “like a little child”? The basic
answer deals with
receptivity, for Jesus says we must “RECEIVE the kingdom of
God LIKE A LITTLE
CHILD.” Little children seem to have a natural receptivity
that we tend to grow
out of as we grow older. In relationship to the Lord, we
can’t afford to lose that
natural receptivity.
Back to Vacation Bible School though. A tendency in small
children, that can be
a frustration to teachers and staff (and parents at home), is
the way they
become absorbed in the moment at hand—absorbed to the point
of not
following through with a project or not being able to see
“the larger picture” we
are trying to convey. Some of you are thinking, “Of course
they don’t see the
larger picture. They’re little children. Cut them some
slack.” I do, and actually I
marvel at this total absorption thing—the way they can become
totally
absorbed in the music, the teaching, the snacks, crafts,
recreation, or whatever
is in front of them. Their attitude can be inspiring and
contagious.
Absorbed in the moment at hand—is this what Jesus was talking
about when He
said, “…do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself”? No
doubt, many an adult has read that and thought it sounds
irresponsible. It’s not
irresponsible, it’s childlike. We cannot undo our past and we
cannot live in the
future (we aren’t there yet). But we can make the best of
RIGHT NOW. Not that
planning and goal setting should be ignored, but we should
greet each new
day with the question, “What is God calling me to do right
now?” Then jump in
with both feet. That’s what a little child would do!
From one who is getting older but refuses to grow up,
Pastor Bill
July 2009
Two words that sit
very close together in the dictionary are “momentous” and
“momentum.” We often use the word “momentous” to describe an
occasion of
great consequence, as in, “This is a momentous occasion!”
Graduations and
weddings come to mind. They are momentous occasions.
Hopefully, they are
also MOMENTUM occasions; i.e., occasions that provide the
impetus to go on to
even greater things. A graduation isn’t just the end of a
journey, it’s the
beginning of an adventure. Getting married doesn’t mean you have
arrived so
much as it means that you have been launched!
I fished out of my file a copy of the letter I wrote for the
church newsletter
exactly seven years ago. A couple of excerpts reveal the
excitement and
anticipation that we were feeling then: “For many churches,
summer is
traditionally a time to shift into a lower gear. Here at
Shreve UMC, we have
shifted into a higher gear, especially with all the activity
swirling around the new
building project. Dirt is finally moving and the landscape is
changing!...Our hope
for all that we will be able to do with our beautiful new
facilities is not a weak
wishing for what possibly might be, but rather a solid hope
in the call and power
of the sovereign God who has great work laid out for us to
do.”
Here we are, formally celebrating on July 19, the completion
of the BRIC
campaign to pay off the debt on the building. As the old song
says, “We’ve
come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord…” It is by the
grace of God that we
are where we are. This is indeed a momentous occasion! May it
also be a
MOMENTUM occasion. Not only have we ended a journey, we’ve
begun an
adventure. Not only have we arrived, we’ve been launched. God
had great
work laid out for us to do in July of 2002, and as we look to
the future He has yet
greater work for us to do.
Let us enter His presence, seek His face, and seek His will.
As we come before
Him with grateful hearts, let us come before Him with
receptive hearts. Let us
pray, “Lord, as you have blessed us, may we bless others. May
we be good
stewards of all your gifts to us. As you have chosen us to
bear fruit, may we bear
fruit that will last for all eternity. Lead us, Lord. Let us
be caught up in the
momentum of living for your honor, glory and praise. In
Jesus’ name, amen.”
Grace and peace to you,
Pastor
Bill
June 2009
Why did they die? Memorial Day is a time to honor those who
have given their lives in
time of war, but it’s worth asking, why did they do it? The
standard answer seems to be,
they died for our freedom. But then we need to ask, freedom
to do what? I hope it’s more
than freedom to have cookouts and parades and launch
ourselves into summer. I hope it’s
more than freedom to do whatever is legal.
You may be familiar with the rantings of the “Rev.” Barry
Lynn, Executive Director of
Americans United for Separation of Church and State. In one
of his most recent forays
into public service, he was advising Oklahoma Governor Brad
Henry to veto legislation
authorizing a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the
state capitol. Lynn
wrote: “The government cannot endorse one religious belief
over another, nor can it
prefer religion over non-religion.” As I understand Lynn, he
is not against religion—he’s
against religion being connected in any way to the governing
of our country. Practice it in
the privacy of your homes and churches, but don’t inflict it
upon the general population.
Apart from misinterpreting the Constitution, people like
Barry Lynn have to ignore the
Bible, which says: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is
a disgrace to any people”
(Proverbs 14:34). While it is true that we cannot (and should
not) allow our government
to establish a religion for us, we cannot dismiss the
righteousness of God and expect to
prosper. When Proverbs and other Scriptures speak of
righteousness, the reference is to
what is right in the eyes of God—not what we determine on our
own to be right.
Why did those brave men and women give their lives in the
service of this country? I
would hope that, above all, it was so we could have the
opportunity to live lives that
reflect the righteousness of God. By the way, Governor Henry
ignored Barry Lynn and
crew and signed the proposed legislation into law. Let us
pray that such efforts on the
part of our elected officials will be blessed. And let us
stand with them for the
righteousness of God, that the sacrifices of the fallen will
not be in vain.
Grace and peace to you!
Pastor Bill
May 2009
If you’ve been watching the reports in the bulletin, you have
known for some time that
we have been getting very close to paying off the debt on the
new building. For those who don’t
know by now, we are there! Praise God, we now have sufficient
funds in the BRIC account to
pay the balance due! (Because of the way the payment schedule
is set up, we can’t yet write the
final check without incurring a penalty, but we are ready to
finish it off shortly.) The words of
the Doxology come to mind: “Praise God, from whom all
blessings flow…” Indeed, we do give
thanks to God, for apart from Him, we can do nothing, and
with Him all things are possible.
A sincere thank-you to each of you who have given so much to
make this moment
possible. I am finishing my ninth year of ministry here, and
I know that it was well before I
arrived that you had begun to meet, to pray and to plan this
enormous undertaking. Remember
how daunting the whole thing seemed early on? There were
doubts and fears and worries, but
faith pushed those aside and carried on. My desire as a
pastor has always been to connect with a
group of people who want to do great things for God—and I
have met them here at Shreve.
We wanted to get the word out by every available means that
all of you who committed
to the last three-year pledge cycle now have two options. The
first option, of course, is that you
can consider your pledge fulfilled and leave it at that. The
other option—the one Robin and I
have chosen—is to continue to pay the pledged amount into the
church’s capital improvement
fund. The Trustees and the Church Council are asking you to
give this option serious thought
because there are plans to make some significant (and
much-needed) improvements to the older
part of the building, including new heating/air-conditioning,
better lighting, etc. The Finance
Committee is preparing a formal letter, explaining these
options to all who have pledged. In
addition, you can expect to hear soon about a time of
celebration that is being planned.
My mind goes back to the covenant God made with Abram in
Genesis 12, which says in
part: “I will bless you…and you will be a blessing.” It is
from this covenant that we derive the
expression “Blessed to Be a Blessing.” God blessed Abram for
two reasons, because He loved
him and because He expected Abram to make good use of the
blessing. Is this not what God has
done for us? He has blessed us out of His love for us, and He
expects us to make good use of our
blessings—to honor Him and to serve others. Let us remember
this as we journey with rejoicing
into the days ahead.
Praising God, and thanking Him for you—
Pastor Bill
Bill
Lawson, Pastor
April 2009
If Only. I remember Dr. David Seamands saying one time that
“If only” can be the deadliest pair
of words in the English language. So often we use “If only”
to introduce our belief that a
situation is beyond hope, that there’s no way out, that
things can’t get any better. So often we use
“If only” to deny our faith—to say that Jesus really is not
the resurrected Lord of life. Two of
Jesus’ close friends, Mary and Martha (see John 11), said,
“Lord, if only you had been here, our
brother would not have died.” As if to say, “Since you didn’t
answer when we called, all hope is
lost;” “Sure, you are the Lord, but now the situation is out
of hand.”
Has an “If only” trapped you in your personal life? “If only
I didn’t have this temper, I could be
a good Christian.” “If only I could kick this habit, I could
live victoriously.” “If only I had more
money, everything would work out.” “If only I didn’t have to
face this terrible illness…” “If
only I had not been abused as a child…” Might there be an “If
only” paralyzing your
relationships with other people? “If only I could forget what
_____ did to me.” “If only I could
forgive _____.” “If only I had an easier time talking to
other people.” “If only I could work
things out with _____.” “If only I had married someone else.”
Our lives are full of “If only’s.” Even pastors fall into
this trap. I must admit that there are many
times when I have more than one “If only” floating around in
my head at once. “If only I had
done this…if only I hadn’t done that…” On and on we go,
perhaps not realizing how much we
deny the power of the Risen Lord. Yes, “If only” can be the
deadliest pair of words, but seen
from Jesus’ perspective, they can also be the most
life-giving words. Jesus counters the “If
only’s” of Mary and Martha with an “If only” of His own: “If
only you will have faith in me, you
will see the glory of God” (John 11:40). We can allow disease
and death and disadvantages and
dysfunctional families to trap and paralyze us. And we can
allow mistakes, missed opportunities
and other circumstances to rule the rest of our lives—or we
can believe in the Jesus who lives
and reigns and wait upon Him to show us the glory of God.
Put this question to Jesus: “Lord, what can you do for me
where I am?” Not as a question of
sarcasm, but as an honest question of faith that is reaching
out…and maybe struggling. It may be
a faith so battered and beaten up by what you’ve gone
through, or are going through, that it’s a
faith that almost isn’t there. That’s OK. Let Jesus meet you
where you are, and let Him show you
His glory!
The joy of the risen Lord be yours!
Pastor Bill
March 2009
The season of Lent will soon be
upon us, that forty-day period proceeding Easter which is
traditionally a time for Christians
to engage in self-denial and self-examination in order to draw
closer to the Lord. But what exactly
does that involve? How do we approach that vital task?
Fred Rogers, the “Mr. Rogers” of
children’s television fame, used to say that we have a tendency
to make life complicated and
shallow, while God is calling us to life that is simple and deep. He
makes a good point, because so
often Jesus gives us instructions that are easy to understand but
that require us to walk beyond
where we are normally willing to walk.
Consider what Jesus says in Matthew
11:15: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” What is
He talking about? Listening, paying
attention. It’s not hard to figure out, but why does Jesus say
it over and over again in the
Gospels? Because even though we understand what it is, we tend
not to do it very well. Do you
listen when you hear? We could all do better, couldn’t we?
Hearing of course, is a physical
thing. If our ears and the rest of our hearing mechanism is in
good shape, we will hear well. But
listening is a different matter. Listening is primarily
volitional; that is, it’s a matter
of will, a matter of choice. We have to be intentional about it to
do it well. Every one of us has had
the experience of somebody hearing us without listening to
us---and we don’t like it, do we?
We can feel the distraction, self-absorption and disrespect on
their part.
So here’s Jesus, saying over and
over again, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” We
wonder what it means to really love
God. Isn’t a big part of loving Him paying attention to what
He’s trying to say to us? We wonder
what it means to really worship God. Isn’t a big part of
worshipping Him listening to Him?
We wonder what it means to love as godly people. Aren’t
godly people listening people? Of
course!
Many times I have heard Christians
say they wish that God would talk to them more. But why
would God talk to us more if we
aren’t listening most of the time? Remember that God is big,
but He does most of His talking in
a small voice---maybe because He wants to know who cares
enough to really listen. Let me encourage
you, in this Lenten season, to work at grabbing some
quality quiet moments each day,
when you can talk to God---and when you can be silent before
Him. Let me encourage you, when you
are in the Scripture, to slow down just a bit and pay
attention to what He may be saying
to you personally. Let me encourage you, when you are in
worship, to be intentional about
focusing your thoughts on the Lord and away from yourself, so
you can listen for what is on God’s
heart and mind.
Take delight in the Lord as you
journey through Lent!
Pastor Bill
February
2009
February: the month with Valentine’s Day, a time to focus on
love. Love seems to be an
inexhaustible subject. Countless books, poems, plays, movies
and songs have been written about
it. So, in a way it’s kind of amazing that the great “Love
Chapter” in the Bible, I Corinthians 13,
is relatively short. In fact, when the Apostle Paul gets
right down to defining it, he does so in
four verses. Maybe that’s because love is such a talked-about
thing that we all have a reasonably
good handle on it; yet there are a few particulars that are
the most often forgotten, sometimes
trampled, particulars of love. Consider the particulars.
-Love is patient. When you are staring at someone who is hard
to love, hard to forgive—
someone who “pushes all your buttons”—try to imagine what
they would be like if God changed
them and continue to pray that image. That’s the patience of
love.
-Love is kind. Kindness is simply love being put to the test
in little, everyday encounters.
Kindness is important because we can offer it to others we
may never have the opportunity to
love on a grander scale.
-Love does not envy. Can you be happy if someone else is
enjoying a blessing that you wish you
had, but don’t? If you love them, you can.
-Love does not boast, it is not proud. We all know what
boasting and pride are. Just consider
this: if God stoops to love US, how can any of us be too
proud to love absolutely anybody He
puts in our path?
-Love is not rude. Have you noticed that when a person is
filled with the love of Christ—no
matter what their upbringing—they radiate courtesy and
civility? John Wesley said it best:
“…love supplies all defects. It supplies all the essentials
of good breeding, without the help of a
dancing master.”
-Love is not self-seeking. What is the opposite of
self-seeking? Others-seeking—seeking to bring
out the best in others.
-Love is not easily angered. Notice it doesn’t say “never
gets angry.” Christian anger is only
expressed with good intent, tempered by love, remembering we
are all accountable to Christ.
-Love keeps no record of wrongs. Save your sales receipts.
Save your tax returns. That ledger,
where you record who does you wrong—burn it!
-Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Though we would most likely not do it
outwardly, we should watch lest we take silent pleasure in
someone else’s trouble or downfall.
And “rejoices with the truth” steers us away from that giddy
kind of love that excuses sin in
others.
-Love always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres. To quote
(very loosely) John Calvin, this does
not mean turning a blind eye to the bad things people around
you do. It means that when love has
no evidence to go on, it believes the best. When the evidence
is adverse, it hopes the best. When
hopes are disappointed, it still courageously waits.
Let us mind the particulars of love!
Pastor Bill
December---January
2008-2009
“So, how do YOU get fed?” I first heard this question asked among
a group of ministers some
years ago. The idea behind the question was that if you are
the pastor of a local church,
preaching every Sunday, you need to get away from that
setting and that activity in order to be
spiritually nourished—that you are giving out and giving out
Sunday after Sunday and not taking
in. While there is certainly value in getting away now and
then, and sitting before other preachers
and teachers is good for all of us, I haven’t found it to be
true that I need to be somewhere else in
order to be “fed.” There are two reasons why. First, a whole
lot of “feeding”—by way of
spending time with the Lord, spending time in the Word,
reading and listening to what others
have to say—needs to come BEFORE preaching or teaching, and
all this can happen wherever a
pastor happens to be. But the second reason is this: some of
the best spiritual nourishment comes
not from hearing sermons and lessons, but from being with
others in the church who love the
Lord.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians: “I thank my God
every time I remember you. In all
my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of
your partnership in the gospel from
the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who
began a good work in you will carry
it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Don’t you
get the idea that Paul was fed by his
fellowship with the Philippians? I know that I am fed by my
fellowship with you. The Sunday
before Thanksgiving, I preached about the place of praise in
the life of the Christian and
suggested that our most God-honoring praise comes in the
times when life is not going the way
we want it to, when we are beset by pain and struggle. Time
and again, as I have journeyed with
the people of Shreve United Methodist Church, I have heard
the praise of God rising up in the
midst of your personal difficulties, and I have been fed!
Last week, at Charge Conference, our
district superintendent began handing out certificates to the
other churches who had paid 100%
of their apportionments. After all those certificates had
been handed out, she looked at the
Shreve people and told us she couldn’t give us a certificate
for paying 100%--because we had
paid 121%! Some of the people from the other churches gasped
in astonishment, but it didn’t
surprise me. Yes, I was happy, but not surprised. That’s
because I know the hearts of the people
here. You are generous with your time, your talents, your
gifts and your resources. I have seen
this over and over again, and I have been fed!
As we celebrate the joy of Christ’s birth in the Christmas
season, and as we prepare to enter the
new year together, I just want to say thank you for all the
nourishment that I receive by being in
the partnership of the Gospel with you. I have been fed!
Blessings to you through Christ Jesus our Lord,
Pastor Bill
November 2008
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on
the vines, though the olive crop
fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no
sheep in the pen and no cattle in the
stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in
God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my
strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He
enables me to go on the heights”—
Habakkuk 3:17-19. What a beautiful declaration of unconditional
trust in the Lord!
Though Habakkuk had what to us is a strange-sounding name,
and though he lived a long time
ago in a faraway place, we have something very much in common
with him. He liked to ask God
the “Why?” questions. “Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?”
(1:3). “Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you
silent while the wicked swallow
up those more righteous than themselves?” (1:13). Those same
kinds of questions plague us
today, along with the “What?” questions. “What is going on in
the world around me?” “What
ARE the best choices for our country?” “What is going to
become of us?” The questions of
doubt, fear and worry come readily.
Though Habakkuk is a short book, you get the idea that he had
many in-depth conversations with
the Lord, not all of which are recorded for us. The text
quoted at the beginning of this letter
comes at the end of Habakkuk’s prophecy, and it’s apparent
that God had revealed enough to
him that he was willing to forego specific answers to most of
his “why” and “what” questions
because he now had enough information to walk confidently on.
Imagine if they celebrated
Thanksgiving Day back in Habakkuk’s time, and they, like us,
gathered around the dinner table
to share what they were thankful for. One would say, “I’m
thankful there were plenty of grapes
on the vines this year.” Another would say, “I’m thankful we
harvested an abundant crop of
olives.” Still another would say, “We have been blessed with
healthy flocks of sheep and herds
of cattle.”
We do this at Thanksgiving. We thank the Lord for all the
good things that He has given us. And
even when we suffer misfortunes here and there, we are
usually able to thank Him that THINGS
aren’t as bad as they could be. But the beauty (and example)
of Habakkuk is in how he is able to
look beyond things to the One who is our Creator, Redeemer,
Sustainer, and Sovereign—and
even our Father. No matter what our present circumstances may
be, He is in control, we are in
His hands, and we have His promise to never leave us or
forsake us. “O God, You are my God,
and I will ever praise You. O God, You are my God, and I will
ever praise You. I will seek You
in the morning and I will learn to walk in Your way; And step
by step You’ll lead me and I will
follow You all of my days” ( Step by Step, a song by
David Strasser).
Our God reigns! Let us rejoice!
Pastor Bill
October 2008
Who are the saints? According to the New Testament, they are
the Christians of every time and
place. This understanding is particularly evident in the
letters of the Apostle Paul: “To the saints
in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus…” (Ephesians 1:1);
“To all the saints in Christ Jesus at
Philippi…” (Philippians 1:1).
So what is an “All Saints’ Day” service? It’s a time to
celebrate the eternal life we have in Jesus
Christ! “All Saints’ Day had its beginnings at least as far
back as the third or fourth centuries,
AD, when the Christian church set aside an occasion to honor
its martyrs” ( The Pastor’s
Guidebook: A Manual for Special Occasions, Marion
Aldridge, Broadman Press, 1989). Most
people today, however, are more aware of the counterpart to
All Saints’ Day, known as
Halloween, which is a shortened form of Allhallows (All
Saints) Eve.
How did it come to be that we have a day known as All Saints’
Day and a day called Halloween
so mixed up and so close together on the calendar? Back in
835, Pope Gregory IV had set the
observance of All Saints’ Day to occur on November 1. In
another part of the world, the Druids,
the pagan priests of the British Isles, observed October 31
as the festival of Samhain, the “lord of
the dead.” Their religious practices made use of skeletons,
black cats, bonfires, jack-o’-lanterns
and many of the just plain weird and creepy things that we
associate with Halloween. When the
early missionaries came to the British Isles, they brought
their Christian celebrations with them,
but were not successful in eliminating all the pagan
practices, such as the festival dedicated to
Samhain. So now, you had this Christian celebration
immediately preceded by this pagan
festival, which morphed into Halloween.
Sadly, today, everybody seems to know about Halloween, while
not so many have even heard of
All Saints’ Day, or its original purpose. I say, why not
reclaim some old territory for the Lord?
As one writer on the Jeremiah Project web site says, “As an
alternative to the celebration of evil
and death, Christians should rather do what Christians are
supposed to do every day and that is
shine the light of Jesus Christ.” In keeping with this
thought, we are planning an All Saints’
service for Sunday, October 26, 7:00 P.M., here at our
church. Our Music Director, Arn Preston,
has been working with Ron and Linda Sprunger of Ashland Seminary,
Technical Director,
Jeremy Burnison, our choir and others, to put together a
service that promises to be a wonderful
time of celebrating the eternal life that we have in Jesus
Christ. You won’t want to miss this!
Stay tuned for details…
Pastor Bill
Bill Lawson, Pastor
September
2008
You don’t have to go back too many years to see the radical
changes that have come to
television news. Remember when, if you wanted to see the
news, you had to be satisfied with
6:00 P.M. or 11:00 P.M.? Of course, they would interrupt
“regularly-scheduled programming” if
something big was happening. Now, you can get the news 24/7,
from around the world via
satellite, and, thanks to video surveillance, night vision,
hidden cameras, and other technological
wonders, you can even get in on the action that was
previously unavailable. Those changes are
good, I suppose, giving us greater access to what’s happening
in our world in a timely manner.
But not all the changes are good. Have you noticed the marked
loss of civility? In
particular, the way they set up those point-counterpoint
situations and encourage people to try to
talk over one another? You see it constantly. There’s some
kind of story out there (maybe not
much of a story really, but when you have to provide “news”
24/7, you have to come up with
something), so they invite at least two guests to give their
opinions. You need at least two guests
if you want to start an argument. Then, instead of hearing
anything substantive, they go after
each other—in sound bites, because they have to leave plenty
of room for commercial messages.
I don’t get much out of that kind of exchange, partly because
it’s hard to pay attention to more
than one person talking at a time, but mostly because I find
it so annoying. Did your mom and
dad teach you that it’s rude to interrupt? Mine did. In fact,
if we kept interrupting, we were
invited to keep our mouths shut. They wanted to make sure we
grew up civilized.
Yet, there are times when it’s a good and necessary thing to
interrupt. Once, early in our
marriage, when Robin and I were eating dinner, and I was
waxing eloquent about something
important, she broke in with, “Bill, could you please get the
fire extinguisher? The oven is on
fire.” (My back was to the oven, and she was facing it.) An
occasion such as that merits
interruption, don’t you think? Sometimes, what the other
person has to say is much more
important than what we have to say, so we should be prepared
to receive interruptions
graciously.
Has the Lord interrupted you lately? The tricky thing about
hearing from the Lord is that
He so often speaks in that “still, small voice.” It’s
actually pretty easy to talk over Him. I don’t
know about you, but I’m thinking that any time God wants to
talk, what He has to say is WAY
more important than what I have to say. So let’s practice
receiving His interruptions graciously.
Better yet, let’s take advantage of every opportunity to
listen—so He doesn’t have to interrupt.
Grace and peace to you,
Pastor Bill
August 2008
I have long
wondered about the movement to eliminate competition from the childhood
experience. You know, the people who say children should not receive grades,
because the ones with lower grades should not have their feelings hurt; and in any
sporting event, nobody should get a trophy unless everyone gets a trophy
because we’re all equal, etc. No doubt, these ideas come from well-intentioned
people, but the fact remains that we do face competition from our earliest days
upon the earth. Storyteller Garrison Keillor recalls the childhood pain of
being chosen last for the baseball teams: “The captains are down to their last
grudging choices: a slow kid for catcher, someone to stick out in right field
where nobody hits it. They choose the last ones two at a time—‘you and you’—
because it makes no difference. And the remaining kids—the scrubs, the
excess—they deal for us as handicaps. ‘If I take him, then you gotta take him,’
they say. Sometimes I go as high as sixth, usually lower. But just once I’d
like Darrel to pick me first and say, ‘Him! I want him! The skinny kid with the
glasses and the black shoes. You, c’mon!’ But I’ve never been chosen with much
enthusiasm.” Who among us has not felt the pain of not being chosen for the
sport we want to play, the job we want to have, the position we want to hold?
And maybe, if we are chosen, we are not chosen with much enthusiasm. That’s
life! But listen to God’s Word in Ephesians 1:3-6: “Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with
every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation
of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us
to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure
and will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in
the One He loves.” Who is the object of God’s desire and choosing? You are!
Along with all the others He chose first, He chose you first. In fact, did you
see that He chose you before He even created the world? Amazing! And along with
all the others He chose, He chose you with the greatest enthusiasm! How could
you ever turn your back on a God like that? Why would you ever want to avoid a
God like that? Let us enter His presence with receptive hearts, and let our
praise abound to the Lord, for He is
worthy of all praise! Chosen with you, Pastor Bill
July 2008
“How was your trip?” Have you ever gone someplace for a few
days and returned to hear that
question, but found it difficult to answer in a sentence or
two? That’s how it was traveling to
Greensburg, Kansas with the work team from our church. We
were only gone a week, but our
stories could easily fill a book. For any who don’t know,
Greensburg is (was) a town about the
size of Shreve that suffered a direct hit from an EF-5
tornado on May 4, 2007. That’s the
strongest a tornado can be, based on the Enhanced Fujita
scale. Sustained winds were in
excess of 200 miles per hour, and the devastation was
horrific. When you see the place, you
can understand how miraculous it was that so few were killed.
An amazing amount of cleanup
and rebuilding has already been done, but an amazing amount
still remains.
You might expect that, after staying in Greensburg a while,
you would begin to hear stories of
despair and bitterness. Perhaps those stories are there, but
I didn’t hear any. What I did hear
were many stories of God’s love, faithfulness, protection and
provision. That made me come
away from Greensburg feeling a bit smaller. It’s kind of like
hanging out with the Christians in
Cuba. To be with people who have been deprived of so much,
yet who revel in the glory and
goodness of God, is truly a humbling experience. They seem to
be walking higher, deeper, closer
with the Lord. You come away saying, “Lord, I want more of
what they have!”
Of course, it’s not all a rosy picture. The stress of daily
life is enormous for the people of
Greensburg, and new storms bring back the pain and fear. Many
live with a sense of
vulnerability that they didn’t have before. But they hear God
calling them away from a bondage
to fear. One Greensburg resident, Roger Yost, quotes these
words: “Fear is a tormenting spirit.
It can be a very discouraging factor in our lives if we allow
it to take us down that road. The
right kind of fear is a healthy fear of God and it brings
godly wisdom and humility. This other
fear brings about crippling, suffering, and death.”
During our time in Greensburg, it was our privilege to
conduct a Vacation Bible School for the
children there. One afternoon, we dealt with the text that
finds the disciples terrified in a fierce
storm on the Sea of Galilee. When they cry out to Jesus for
help, He calms the storm then
asks, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
That lesson seemed to be especially
reassuring to the children of Greensburg, but every one of us
should recall His words as we face
the storms in our own lives. John Wesley was fond of saying,
“Best of all, God is with us!”
God be with you,
Pastor Bill
June 2008
I was doing a little research on Father’s Day and was
surprised to learn that it’s celebrated
throughout the world, but not necessarily on the same
day as we celebrate it. In Iran it’s March 14, and in
Thailand it’s December 5—with various countries’
observances everywhere in between. In Germany they have
what strikes me as a rather odd tradition, called Herrentag. This
“Father’s Day” observance involves groups of
men getting together and setting out on hiking/drinking
tours. They load up little wagons with beer or wine
and traditional regional foods (such as blood
sausage—yum!) and hike together through meadows and
forests, stopping now and then to drink and eat. As
far as I know, that’s all they do, so perhaps when they
have consumed all the alcohol and food, they use the
little wagons to haul back the guys who are no longer
able to walk. Anyway, I wonder what led to such a
custom in the first place. Maybe the men weren’t receiving
proper honor from anyone else, so they decided to go
off and “honor” themselves.
Thank you, Lord, for a day set aside in this country
where we sincerely put forth some effort to honor our
dads. Being a dad is a high calling, a great
responsibility, and a tough challenge to do right. I think I can
speak for the majority of fathers out there when I say
we continually wonder if we are doing it right, but we
certainly have a heart to do so. And I have no doubt
that when a father asks the Lord to help him do his job
well, that prayer falls on sympathetic ears. After
all, God has endured countless disappointments in His efforts
to be a Father to us. To our shame, we have many ways
of making His job much tougher than it ought to be.
I’m reminded of a saying that I first heard many years
ago: “Any man can be a father, but it takes someone
special to be a daddy,” meaning, of course, that
pouring yourself into the relationship involves infinitely more
than bringing the child into the world. And that’s
exactly what God wants to do with us—pour Himself into
the relationship. That’s why Jesus invites us to call
our heavenly Father “Abba,” which translates as “Daddy.”
God is not satisfied with being our Creator, our
Maker. Bringing us into the world is just the beginning of His
plan. He wants a close, personal relationship with
each of us, but that won’t happen unless we want it to. He
gives us the power to decide whether or not He will be
Daddy to us. What do you say to His offer?
“But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son,
born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those
under law, that we might receive the full rights of
sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son
into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba,
Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you
are a son, God has made you also an heir”—Galatians
4:4-7.
Thank you, Lord! And please bless ALL the daddies out
there!
Blessings,
Pastor Bill
May 2008
In 1775, the Continental Congress called
for colonists to pray for wisdom in forming a new country. In
1863, President Lincoln asked for
prayers to help heal a splintered nation. In 1952, Congress passed
a joint resolution and President
Truman signed into law a bill designating one day each year as the
National Day of Prayer. In 1988,
President Reagan signed into law a bill which permanently fixed the
first Thursday of May as the
National Day of Prayer. So this Thursday, May 1, we celebrate the 57th
annual National Day of Prayer. Can
there be any doubt that such an observance is greatly needed?
Let it be a time for us to praise
God for who He is and thank Him for all He has done for us. Let it be a
time for us to confess our sins and
the sins of our nation, and to cry out to God to heal our land. Let it
be a time for us to pray for our
leaders and for those who defend our country. Let it be a time for us to
seek the Lord’s wisdom and
guidance. Let it be a time to inspire us to make sincere prayer an integral
part of our daily lives.
This year’s NDP theme is “Prayer!
America’s Strength and Shield,” and is taken from Psalm 28:7:
“The Lord is my strength and my
shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.” The Honorary
Chairman of the National Day of
Prayer Task Force, Dr. Ravi Zacharias, offers this “2008 Prayer for
Our Nation,” and I commend it to
you for your own personal prayer time:
“Holy Father, in a world where so
many are hungry,
You have given us food in
abundance;
In a world where so many are
hurting,
You offer to bind up our wounds;
In a world where so many are
lonely,
You offer friendship to every
heart;
In a world longing for peace,
You offer hope.
Yet, we are so stubborn and
resistant.
Have mercy upon us, Lord.
Our nation is at a crossroads this
year;
We look to you to be our strength
and shield.
Please give us the guidance to
elect one who will honor you
And to respond to the wisdom from
above
So that our hope may be renewed and
our blessings be treasured.
In God’s holy name.”
Blessings,
Pastor Bill
April 2008
No
doubt all of us are bothered and bored by needless repetition. How about that
new kind of TV advertising where they show you a commercial, then another one,
then immediately go back and show you the first one all over again? It
trivializes our intelligence and overstates the importance of whatever product
they are trying to sell. I decide then and there that I am NOT going to buy the
product, whatever it is, just because the advertising is so annoying!
On the
other hand, some things are worth repeating, perhaps again and again. Take the
Gospel story, for instance. Have you gone as far as you can go with it? I find
that I have not. The other day, I was reading Matthew 27 again (I have no idea
how many times I have read it in my life so far), and it spoke to me
powerfully. Reading the details of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, it was as if I
were reading it all for the first time. I think a big part of what moves me is
the gripping awareness that Jesus died in my place! Theologians have a long word
for that—just as they have a long word for most everything. The word is
SUBSTITUTIONARY. That is, Jesus died as our substitute; He died in our place.
That tears at my heart every time I think about it. Do you have the same
reaction?
And do you
have something of the same reaction when you hear about the line of duty deaths
of military personnel, police officers, firefighters or other public servants?
It occurred to me one day, as I was reading the newspaper, that even though
every issue contains numerous death stories, the ones about our public servants
who die doing their duty are particularly poignant. I think I know why. Their
deaths, too, are substitutionary. Oh yes, it’s true in every case. Every one of
them has died in our place. Think about it—whose responsibility is it to defend
our land and protect the public interest? The responsibility belongs to all of
us. It’s just that certain people step up to get the job done for the rest of
us.
So let’s
show our gratitude at every opportunity. Would it be too much to thank Jesus
every day for what He has done for us? And would it be too much to go out of
our way to show our appreciation for those in our society who put their lives
on the line so we don’t have to? Let us be intentional about doing so.
With a grateful heart,
Pastor Bill
MARCH 2008
As we look
forward to the Easter season, I’m excited to tell you that we’re working on
some unique programs to inspire, bless, and bear witness to the glory of Christ.
Allow me to talk briefly about two particular events.
On Palm
Sunday, March 16, we will be hosting a Passover Seder. No doubt you are at
least somewhat familiar with Passover, an annual event celebrated by the Jewish
community in commemoration of God’s delivering His people out of Egypt
centuries ago. (Seder is a Hebrew word that simply means “service” or
“arrangement.”) But the Seder is much more than a Jewish observance. It is a
powerful object lesson that beautifully explains the fulfillment of Old
Testament prophecy through Jesus, the Messiah. Thus it is a service to which
all Christians can relate and by which we can be wonderfully blessed. Jews for
Jesus, as well as other Messianic Jewish organizations have put together
worship materials that make it quite simple for us to conduct the service on
our own, and we have their invitation and blessing to do so. So, all are
welcome to gather on Palm Sunday in the new fellowship hall for the Seder. The
service will begin at 5:00 P.M., and the entire event will last approximately
two and a half hours. That sounds like a long stretch, but it includes a full
meal and a good bit of interaction among those attending. Parts of the service
are geared particularly toward children, so of course families with children
are most welcome. In order to prepare adequately, we will be including sign-up
slips in the church bulletins, so please watch for those and take time to fill
one out.
Later in
Holy Week, on the day we traditionally refer to as Maundy Thursday, you will
have the opportunity to worship in the “Living Last Supper Celebration.” This
will feature a reenactment of the Last Supper modeled after Leonardo da Vinci’s
famous painting and based on Scripture, as well as special music and Holy
Communion for all. This service will start at 7:00 P.M. I believe that both the
Passover Seder (Old Testament) and the Living Last Supper (New Testament) will
bring alive for you the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection as
perhaps nothing else has.
As Easter
draws near, let us anticipate great things from God!
Standing with you in grace,
Pastor Bill
FEBRUARY
2008
“Praise
the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting
to praise Him!” (Psalm 147:1). Yesterday was a very long day, but late in the
evening, when my head hit the pillow, I thought, “Lord, this has been a very
good day because you have shown me once again how blessed I am, and how blessed
we are as a church.” During morning worship, we took time to celebrate how far
we’ve come with the BRIC campaign, and then we launched into the last phase of
paying off the new facilities. If you weren’t there at the end of the dinner to
hear the report of what has been pledged to this point, know that the response
has been outstanding! Many thanks to all of you who have already made a pledge,
and to those of you who are still deciding what your contribution will be. We
give God praise for every gift—“Fulfilling the Vision” is on the horizon!
But
that was just the morning. In the afternoon, seven of us traveled to Wadsworth
for a district training event, with numerous workshops for various church
leaders. We went our separate ways for the workshops, then riding back home in
the van we began discussing what each of us had learned. For me, what we
learned wasn’t as important as what we were reminded of. As each of us began
reflecting and sharing the conversations and interactions of the day, we hit
upon a common theme: God has blessed us tremendously at Shreve United Methodist
Church. During the afternoon, intermingled somehow with the workshop content,
were the stories from other churches of aggravations, frustrations and troubles
that God has spared us. No, my name is not Pollyanna; yes, I know we have
aggravations, frustrations and troubles here. We are not perfect, and we all
(myself at the head of the class) have our faults and weaknesses. But when you
step outside this church and take note of life in the larger church, it becomes
apparent that God has blessed us in great ways.
All of you
who have been married for any length of time know that one of the intriguing
things about marriage is that while the passing of time can reveal
imperfections, it can also reveal wonderful possibilities. Part of the secret
of good marriage, then, is looking for and working with those possibilities.
Isn’t this true as well in the life of the church? The longer we are around one
another, the more we can detect the imperfections. But we should also ever have
that eye of love and grace that looks for and embraces the wonderful
possibilities within the Body of Christ. The longer I am here, the more I
interact with you, the more I see in your lives and mine the wonderful
possibilities to know Christ more deeply and serve Him more fully. “How good it
is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him!” Let us
give God the glory for where He has led us from, what He has brought us
through, and where He leads us now. The possibilities are wonderful!
Blessings,
Pastor Bill
December
2007
“I believe
in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His
only Son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin
Mary…” Thus begins “The Apostles’ Creed,” a traditional statement of our belief.
But how many believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of
the Virgin Mary—and does it really matter whether we believe it or not? One
pastor said to me recently that although he personally believes that Jesus was
born of Mary in her virgin state, “To me, this is not an important fact; I do
not consider it a dogmatic point. She may have been a virgin, or she may not
have been. It is not important to me because the remainder of Jesus’ life
proves His divinity much more than a small detail such as a virgin birth.” What
do you think? Is the virgin birth a small detail?
J. Gresham Machen certainly did not
think so when he wrote his classic book, The Virgin Birth of Christ. The
primary focus in Machen’s argument is the authority of Scripture. Beginning
with the Old Testament prophets and continuing with the testimony of the
Gospels, the Bible teaches plainly that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. To
say it’s not an important fact is to compromise the integrity of Scripture, and
that is not a small matter! “Moreover,” Machen writes, “the knowledge of the
virgin birth is important because of its bearing upon our view of the
solidarity of the race in the guilt and power of sin. If we hold a Pelagian
view of sin [Pelagius was a 4th-century monk who denied that we are
born sinners], we shall be little interested in the virgin birth of our Lord;
we shall have little difficulty in understanding how a sinless One could be
born as other men are born. But if we believe, as the Bible teaches, that all
mankind are under an awful curse, then we shall rejoice in knowing that there
entered into the sinful race from the outside One upon whom the curse did not
rest save as He bore it for those whom He redeemed by His blood…How, except by
the virgin birth, could our Saviour have lived a complete human life from the
mother’s womb, and yet have been from the very beginning no product of what had
gone before, but a supernatural Person come into the world from the outside to
redeem the sinful race?”
The virgin birth gives us the full
impact of the Incarnation, of God becoming man. If Jesus were conceived
naturally, through the union of a human mother and father, then that means that
whatever divinity was in His nature came at some later point in His life. At
His baptism? At the cross? Who knows? But if Jesus’ birth involved the
supernatural act of God entering human flesh at its earliest stage of
development, then we know that God did indeed live a complete human life upon
this earth. That means, then, that He can identify completely with us in our
humanity! That’s the beauty of Christmas!
Let us be careful, then, not to
treat casually our cherished beliefs, lest we lose a precious part of the
blessing of God’s truth.
Christmas and New Year’s blessings,
Pastor Bill
November 2007
What do healthy people have
in common? We’ve heard the conventional wisdom about proper nutrition, regular
exercise and adequate sleep, but here’s a new one: GIVING THANKS. Research from
the University of California-Davis (cited in Time, 10-22-07) says,
“Here’s another reason to look on the bright side: Folks who are generally
grateful and optimistic are healthier than those who aren’t…The power of being
positive seems to work in a couple of ways, researchers say. Grateful people
are more likely to take good care of themselves, meaning they exercise, go to
the doctor regularly and eat well. And optimism is also linked to a healthier
immune system. Next time you’re stuck in traffic, make a mental list of things
for which you’re grateful. You just might get an instant feel-good boost.”
This
shouldn’t surprise us. The same God who designed us to need food, exercise and
rest also designed us to be instruments of thanksgiving and praise. In Psalm
50:23 God says: “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me,…” And Hebrews
12:28 says: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,…” And
now it seems we have scientific evidence that the praise that flows from our
hearts to bless God brings blessing upon us as well, even in the form of better
physical health.
We often
remind each other that we have much for which to be thankful. God has indeed
given us many wonderful gifts, one of the biggest being His body, the Church,
the fellowship we have one with another. No doubt you heard somewhere along the
line that October was Pastor Appreciation Month. This was an idea started by
Focus on the Family several years back, and hey, when it leads to things such
as our annual Staff Appreciation Dinner, I say, “Why not?” If we can find a
good excuse to get together and eat a good meal, let’s go for it! But it was in
the course of receiving appreciation in the month of October that I reflected
on how grateful I am for you—for the gift of God that you are. As the months
(and the years) have rolled by for me in this church, I continue to see so many
people who have the heart to do big things for God. I see people who volunteer
long hours and expend a lot of energy to serve the Lord. I see people who
recognize that God has given them gifts and talents, and they do their best to
use those gifts and talents for the glory of God. So here’s a word addressed to
all of you out there: THANK YOU!
Thanking God for you always,
Pastor Bill
OCTOBER
2007
Did you know that God is calling you to be an evangelist? Most
of you who just read that sentence are saying, “I doubt that very much. One
thing I am not called to be is an evangelist.” That’s probably because of
certain stereotypes that come to mind when you think of evangelism. You may be
thinking of TV preachers, or the people who knock on the doors of strangers to
explain the plan of salvation, or those who stand on street corners handing out
Gospel tracts. And you may be saying, “That’s not me. I’m not wired for that at
all. Evangelism is not my thing.” If that’s what you’re saying, the problem
isn’t that you are not called to be an evangelist; the problem is that you don’t
know what evangelism is supposed to be.
The word
evangelist is derived from two Greek words that, when combined, simply mean
messenger of good news. Now I know that you like to share good news. Everybody
does. When you receive an unexpected “A” on a paper in school, you’ve got to
tell somebody. When you receive a nice raise in salary, you’ve got to tell
somebody. When there’s a new baby in the family, you’ve got to tell somebody.
You know how it goes. Usually, when we have good news, it’s hard to keep quiet
about it. That’s how it was with the crippled beggar in Acts 3. Upon being
healed, verse 8 says: “He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went
with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.” Upon
being healed, he was transformed into an evangelist (though I’m sure he had
never even heard the term). God had done something good for him, and he wanted
other people to know about it. That’s evangelism!
Think about
the difference Jesus has made in your life. Other people need to know. Think
about the good things the Lord has done for you. Other people need to know. You
don’t need to preach to them. You don’t need to harass them or argue with
them—you just need to tell them. Evangelism can be done on the most ordinary
day, in the most casual conversation.
Peter
preached a great sermon to a great crowd that day at the temple, in Acts 3. But
that was only after our brand-new evangelist had made known what God had done for
him. The crowd gathered because they had already heard some good news. Please,
never underestimate the power and potential of the good news you have to share.
God bless you as you do the work of
evangelism!
Pastor Bill
September
2007
I
was roaming through my United Methodist Hymnal and came across a line that
caught my eye. Brian Wren’s hymn entitled “There’s a Spirit in the Air” (No.
192) has this recurring invitation: “Live tomorrow’s life today!” It struck me
how much this sounds like a line from many of the advertisements we hear these
days—advertisements that flatter us and sweet-talk us and invite us to
over-commit ourselves. “Buy this new living room set today—no payments until
March 2009.” They should add: “First, you’d better figure out if you’ll be any
better able to pay for it in March 2009 than you are at present.” How about,
“You can own the home of your dreams right now”? Well, maybe you are dreaming
about it, but don’t let them be the judge of whether you can own it right now.
You will have to make that decision on your own. When it comes from the modern
marketplace, “Live tomorrow’s life today!” can suck us into trouble. But when
we consider the same line in the context of God’s Word, it is full of blessing
and promise.
The full
text of stanza 2 of the above-mentioned hymn reads: “Lose your shyness, find
your tongue; tell the world what God has done. God in Christ has come to stay.
Live tomorrow’s life today!” God in Christ has come to stay…we don’t have to
wait for tomorrow to live with Jesus. In the last verse of the Gospel of
Matthew, Jesus proclaims, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of
the age.” Stanza 4 reads: “Still the Spirit leads the fight, seeing wrong and
setting right: God in Christ has come to stay. Live tomorrow’s life today!”
Still the Spirit leads the fight, seeing wrong and setting right…our battles
are God’s battles, and victory isn’t just for when we get to Heaven, it’s for
today! Let us say with David, as he faced Goliath: “All those gathered here
will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle
is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands” (I Samuel 17:47).
And we say with Paul in I Corinthians 15:57: “But thanks be to God! He gives us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (not will give, but does give).
Stanza 6 of our hymn reads: “May the Spirit fill our praise, guide our thoughts
and change our ways: God in Christ has come to stay. Live tomorrow’s life
today!” There are many people who think that we don’t overcome the challenges
of life until we die. We don’t have to wait to be overcomers. Listen to what
happens now in the lives of those who trust in Jesus: “…for everyone born of
God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even
our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus
is the Son of God” (I John 5:4-5).
In one
sense, we can only live today. Yet, in a very real way, connecting with Jesus
connects us with tomorrow—with the life of tomorrow and the victory of
tomorrow. So go ahead and “Live tomorrow’s life today!”
Blessings,
Pastor Bill
August 2007
Each year, every United
Methodist Church looks at its various ministries and leadership positions and
works to find the multitude of people necessary to take on these
responsibilities. This is in keeping with how the Apostle Paul describes for
the Corinthians life in the Church: “There are different kinds of gifts, but
the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord”—I
Corinthians 12:4-5. In other words, the Lord has called each of us to serve Him
in our own way. What is the Lord laying on your heart to do? I’m including with
this letter a brief survey that covers key areas of ministry in our church and
inviting you to let me know how you might “plug in.” Please take a few minutes
to fill it out and return it to me in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks! Pastor Bill.
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MINISTRIES
THAT I PERSONALLY CONNECT WITH (choose as many as apply):
WORSHIP: Choir__ Bell Choir__
Instrumentals__ Vocals__ Greeter__ Usher__ Lay Leader__
Communion
set-up__ Technical (sound, lights, etc.)__ Other_____________________
MISSIONS: Local work teams__
Long-distance work teams__ Caring for the needy__
Sewing projects__ Preparing meals for
those recovering from surgery, etc.__
Missions
planning and oversight__ Other_____________________________
OUTREACH: Visitation to newcomers__
to shut-ins__ to those in the hospital__
Personal
evangelism__ Evangelism events planning__ Other_________________
CHILDREN’S MINISTRY: Sunday
school__ Nursery__ Jr. Church__ Explorers__
Vacation
Bible School__ Kid’s Choir__Other____________________
CARE OF BUILDINGS/ PROPERTY/
EQUIPMENT: Planning and oversight__
Hands-on
work (please specify)___________________________
FINANCES__
STAFF-PARISH
RELATIONS (liaison between staff and congregation)__
CHURCH
COUNCIL (governing board of the church)__
OTHER
MINISTRY NOT NAMED ABOVE________________________________
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
July 2007
There is
plenty to complain about in Cuba: food rationing; the lack of basic necessities
such as soap, toothpaste, and toilet paper (not to mention toilet seats!);
inadequate water pressure; poor transportation; extreme shortages of medical
supplies (Michael Moore, which Cuba were you visiting when you made your
documentary?); endless waiting in line; and severely restricted freedoms. This
list is not exhaustive, by the way.
So it was
that I felt the pain of conviction when our Cuban friend, Willie Santiago, said
to us Americans gathered on his front porch, “Please don’t ever complain. You
have so much to be thankful for.” I felt the conviction because it was apparent
to me that this “deprived” Cuban had a greater sense of my life of blessing
than I had. But having recently reread the book of Proverbs, I was able to
receive his words with grace. Verses such as 12:1 and 17:10 came to mind:
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid,” and, “A rebuke
impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool.” I don’t know
if I can speak for you, but I certainly deserve a word of discipline and rebuke
when it comes to complaining. One day recently somebody asked me how I was
doing, and I immediately thought of a whole list of things I would like to
complain about. Just as quickly, I realized that not one of the things I wanted
to complain about was truly significant. In Cuba, they have plenty of
significant things to complain about. But they don’t. At least not the way we
would. The Christians there are too busy praising God and living their lives as
fully as they can.
Somebody might say, “Well,
they don’t complain in Cuba because they aren’t allowed to. And anyway, what
good would it do them?” True, they aren’t free to complain the way we are. Part
of the beauty of our system is that it provides us with the luxury of
complaint. We have the right to complain, just as we have many other personal
rights. But isn’t it our great crime that so often we confuse rights with
obligations? Just because we have a right to do something doesn’t mean we
should feel obliged to do it. Just because we have the right to complain
doesn’t mean have to complain. Should we complain sometimes? Of course! When we
are looking at true injustice, true victimization or obvious sin, by all means,
let us complain. But let’s consider closely the sense of dissatisfaction that
arises so easily within us, and let us strive to weed out the pettiness,
peevishness and whining that have no place in the life of a follower of Christ.
“Rejoice in the Lord always.
I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord
is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of
God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus”—Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV).
Let us rejoice in our
blessings!
Pastor Bill
JUNE 2007
As I write
this letter, Memorial Day is fast approaching and Father’s Day is not far
beyond. These are two days that make me think of heroes. We like to refer to
all the fallen dead whom we honor on Memorial Day as heroes, and “heroes” is a
label that we routinely place on our dads. Why do we do that? Is it because we
get carried away with sentimentalism? No, there’s truth behind the title.
Let’s
consider what it is that makes a hero. Using Webster as a reference, I find
three primary definitions: 1. “in
mythology and legend, a man of great strength and courage, favored by the gods
and in part descended from them, often regarded as a half-god and worshiped
after his death…” 2. “any person
admired for his qualities or achievements and regarded as an ideal or model.”
3. “any man admired for his courage,
nobility, or exploits, especially in war…” The problem with the first
definition is that we can’t really identify with it. The men of myth and legend
are few and far between. Actually, nobody really fits that first
definition, do they? The problem with the second definition is that we are much
too careless with it. Too many people in our culture amass great fortunes or
achieve great fame while being lousy role models, and we wind up calling them
heroes anyway. When we do that, we do injustice to the real heroes—most of whom
are quite ordinary people.
And what is
it that makes heroes of these ordinary people? The common denominator, I think,
is the giving of self for the benefit of others. We see these news reports of
the person who rushes into a burning building or jumps into floodwaters,
risking life and limb to save another human being. The TV reporter catches up
with them and asks, “So, how does it feel to be a hero?” Often, they struggle
with the question because they hadn’t contemplated being a hero. It’s just that
they were willing, when the opportunity was thrust upon them, to forget about
self-preservation. Remember that line from America the Beautiful, “…who
more than self their country loved…”? Most of the fallen dead we honor on
Memorial Day didn’t do anything extraordinary, but they did do something great
in giving their lives for liberty—and that’s why we rightly call them heroes.
Many of the dads we honor on Father’s Day aren’t extraordinary in any objective
sense of the word, but those who faithfully give of themselves for the sake of
their families rightly deserve to be called heroes.
Come to think
of it, when Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me,” He was inviting us not only to
discipleship, but also to heroism.
God bless all you heroes out there!
Pastor Bill
MAY 2007
Yes, indeed, “Heaven help
us” is the thought that came to mind as I finally made my way over to the
National Day of Prayer website. I had been checking out the main events
preprinted on my May calendar and landed first on Sunday, May 13, which most
people know as Mother’s Day. But for some years now, the second Sunday of May
has also been listed on the official church calendar as Mother’s Day/ Festival
of the Christian Home—some kind of two-for-one deal. The heading in The
United Methodist Book of Worship contains this brief explanation for the
Festival of the Christian Home: “Observed the second Sunday of May, this day
celebrates the gift of Christian homes and affirms the Christian family in its
wholeness.” Sounds good to me; I can plug into that.
Wondering just how the fine
family of the Church celebrates this fine festival, I went to the internet for
some research, innocently typing in “Festival of the Christian Home.” The entry
at the top of the list was perplexing: “Clergy For Fairness: Festival of the
Christian Home.” There I found the rantings of representatives of major
religious groups opposed to the “Marriage Protection Amendment.” (You may
recall this as the proposed constitutional amendment containing this key line:
“Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a
woman…” The proposal failed.) Also available on this site is a set of appalling
sermons with memorable lines such as this from The Rev.(?) Dennis Alexander:
“Families, like people, fish, flowers, and snowflakes are wonderfully and
frightfully different. Where the family is concerned, there is no one form that
has divine approval!” You can guess where he was heading with that tripe.
Clearly, the assault on the family is coming from within the Church every bit
as much as it is coming from without. We’re in trouble! Together, we need to
cry out to God for His mercy and help.
More than ever, we need
events such as the National Day of Prayer. The first call to national prayer
came in 1775 when the Continental Congress asked the colonies to pray for
wisdom in forming the nation. In 1952, President Truman signed a joint
resolution by Congress declaring an annual national day of prayer. Then, in
1988, the Truman law was amended and signed by President Regan, permanently
establishing the first Thursday of May as the National Day of Prayer. So it’s
on the calendar to stay, but it’s up to us to decide what to do with it. May
this event be not an isolated observance, but the springboard for an
intentional, united seeking of the face of God by the people of God!
Thanking God for all of you who make time to pray,
Pastor Bill
April 2007
We marvel at the resurrection of Christ, and we celebrate
that resurrection, but what does it really mean for us? Perhaps we would sum it
up with a verse such as I Corinthians 6:14: “By his power God raised the Lord
from the dead, and he will raise us also…” In other words, the same power that
brought Jesus out of the grave will bring us out of the grave and on to life
eternal. “So it will be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is
sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown is dishonor, it is
raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power…” (I Corinthians
15:42-43).
But there’s much more.
Resurrection power isn’t just waiting to meet up with us at some point in the
future when we drop dead. It’s meant for the here and now. Have you ever
thought about the way Colossians 3:1 is worded? “Since, then, you have been
raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above…” Not WILL be raised—it’s
HAVE been raised! In some sense, when we receive Christ, we HAVE been raised.
How this works in day-to-day living was brought home to me by something Billy
Graham wrote:
“Suppose I gave everything I had to charity. You probably
would say I was a very good person—a fine Christian. But Paul said that unless
I acted out of love, ‘I am nothing’ (I Cor. 13:2). George Sweeting has said,
‘Life minus love equals nothing!’
Do you have this kind of love—a love that puts others ahead of
yourself? Without Jesus Christ in your heart, without the Holy Spirit in your
life, you can’t produce this love. This is the kind of love Jesus had for us,
when He willingly left the glory of Heaven and went to the cross for our
salvation.
Only God can give us a selfless love for others, as the Holy
Spirit changes us from within. This is one reason we must receive Christ, for
apart from His Spirit we can never be freed from the chains of selfishness,
jealousy, and indifference. Will others see Christ’s love in your life today?”
You see, we can’t live the
way we were meant to live without the Living Christ living within us. We can’t
love the way we were meant to love without the Living Christ living within us.
We can’t manufacture that kind of love; it’s too deep and wide for us to
produce on our own. So praise God for the resurrection of Jesus and the
blessing it spells for us even now!
“Now to him who is able to
do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is
at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout
all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Pastor Bill
March, 2007
The Valentine’s Day
snowstorm postponed it, but as soon as we can reschedule, a large number of
Wayne County clergy, along with local judges, will gather to sign a “Community
Marriage Covenant.” The idea of a community marriage covenant comes from an
organization known as Marriage Savers, founded in 1976 by Mike and Harriet
McManus. The purpose is to join together to make healthy marriages a priority.
I thought it important to share the text of this covenant with our church
family. It reads as follows:
“We, the clergy of greater
Wayne County, recognize that marriage is a blessing from God as recorded in the
pages of Holy Scripture. It is through marriage and family that all of society
is blessed. Yet, we are troubled to find that marriages are threatened by the
instability that plagues our society. Homes that are shattered by divorce
result in lives that are broken and in pain. And so, we feel called as a faith
community to address this problem by enriching and strengthening marriages from
their inception. It is our endeavor to aid couples in discerning their
covenantal commitment to one another, strengthening their bond to each other
and thereby reducing the number of divorces in Wayne County. We accept, as clergy, the responsibility to
raise the level of commitment in those whom we marry as well as those married
couples who look to us for spiritual instruction. We understand that while a
wedding is but a day, a marriage is for a lifetime. We, therefore, recognize
the need to approach marriage preparation seeking life-long benefit. We believe
that creating an increased commitment to marriage through counseling and
mentoring will result in the reduction of failed and failing marriages. And so,
as Godly people, we believe it to be our responsibility to encourage couples to
set aside time for marriage preparation. As leaders of participating
congregations, we desire to align with neighboring faith groups in developing
this marriage covenant and agree to move toward full compliance, as expeditiously
and prudently as possible. What God has joined together, let us now and forever
hold together.”
To strengthen and enrich
marriages, we are working to implement the following: a minimum of 4 months of
marriage preparation; the use of pre-marital inventories; the training of
mentor couples (older, solidly married couples) to work with prospective
couples; encouraging courtship of at least one year; endeavoring to provide
sessions for newlyweds for at least a year after the wedding; providing annual
activities for marriage enrichment in each congregation; sharing resources
among local congregations; offering training for “back from the brink” couples
to mentor other couples who are in crisis in their marriages; encouraging the
use of “step family support groups;” promoting chastity outside of marriage;
seeking to involve civic, political, judicial, business and educational sectors
in our endeavors.
This is quite a tall order.
It will take some time before it really comes together. But we’ve pledged
ourselves to work at it, and so we covet your prayers and support. I will put
out more information as it becomes available, and in the meantime I will be
glad to talk to anyone who has questions or feedback.
Blessings,
Pastor Bill
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February, 2007
“If you have any encouragement from being united
with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit,
if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being
like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose”—Philippians
2:1-2.
I was sitting in my office
the other day MARVELING; that is, I was full of wonder thinking of the ways
that the people of this church live out what the apostle Paul was calling us to
in the passage above. There is a like-mindedness, a Christ-like love, a oneness
in spirit and purpose that is a joy to behold. When I say “like-mindedness,” I
don’t mean that we all think the same way all the time. That would probably not
be a good thing. Diversity in and of itself is not necessarily good, but when
we truly love Jesus and one another, with diverse thought and opinion we can
properly challenge one another and help one another grow. No, being like-minded
in this text refers to a group of people who all want to see Jesus glorified
and the Kingdom of God flourish. That common desire is evident in this church.
As for Christ-like love, we aren’t doing it perfectly, are we? (Who is?!) But
it’s here in big measure—we’re growing in it; we’re working at it; we’re
longing for it—glory be to God! As for “being one in spirit and purpose,” I
thank the Lord for your faithfulness and perseverance in serving the Lord, in
giving to the Lord’s work, and in continually, creatively thinking of ways to
advance God’s purpose.
Let me give a few examples
of what I mean. Just recently we passed the two million dollar mark in giving
to the new building project, and we’re on our way to getting it paid off. This
has come not by anyone’s begging and harping, but by the faithful and generous
giving of people of like mind. All the while, you have been supporting the
ministries and mission of this church with enthusiasm. As with most any church,
we represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and opinions, but there is
a genuine love for Christ here that motivates us and binds us together in
discipleship, worship and service. Sometimes we step on one another’s toes,
sometimes we offend, but we walk together with love and grace; and with
teachable spirits, we learn from one another. Over and over, I see self put
aside that Christ may be honored.
“…until we all reach unity
in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”—Ephesians 4:13. By
the grace of God, that’s where we’re heading. I praise the Lord for all that He
has enabled us to do, and for the promise of greater things yet to be. And I
praise the Lord for you!
Praising God, from whom all blessings flow,
Pastor Bill
December 2006
Do you sometimes think that
the Christmas season takes up too much of the year? Certainly, on the
commercial level the holiday seems to occupy more than its fair share. The
Christmas catalogs begin arriving when the weather is still warm, and they
don’t let up until the last possible moment, when the merchants assure us it’s
not too late to get that order in. Oh, the trees that have been sacrificed in
the paper mills! And the bell ringers are out before we even get a chance to
celebrate Thanksgiving. At one time I served as Kettle Chairman for our local
Salvation Army unit, and one night the bell mysteriously disappeared from its
lockup in the grocery store hosting one of our kettles. We never found that
bell, but it got around to us that several store employees were annoyed with
the constant dinga-dinga-dinga…, day after day.
Yes, in one way Christmas
seems to get dragged out, but in another way we’ve compressed the best parts
too tightly together. Take the Nativity scene for example. In the traditional
setup, we find the Wise Men paying tribute to Jesus in the manger, along with
the shepherds, animals and others. Looking to Scripture, however, we see that
the Wise Men actually came some time after the Nativity. “On coming to the house,
they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him”
(Matthew 2:11). I guess it’s just more convenient to package it all together.
Consider too Christmas Day itself. We build up to it, then it’s all over so
quickly. Who’s still celebrating the day after Christmas? Traditional church
calendars extend the celebration of Christmas through two Sundays after
Christmas, in the season officially known as Christmastide. But what has become
of Christmastide? Most people have never even heard of it.
Except for those who make
their living off the Christmas season, I think everyone would agree that
there’s too much buying and selling, too much hassle and hustle, too much
excess and a weariness that comes with overdoing it. But can’t we all agree
that there are also those good parts of Christmas that unfortunately fade and
are too soon forgotten? There’s that thing called “Christmas spirit” that
brings a softening of the heart toward those around us; that makes us more
lighthearted and hopeful; that gives us a receptivity and a fresh hunger to worship
the Lord; that causes us to overflow with an unusual sense of generosity; that
puts a song in our heart and a spring in our step. If that’s what Christmas
should really be about, I say let’s spread Christmas all over the year!
Blessings to you as we
celebrate Christmas and prepare to enter the new year!
Pastor Bill
November 2006
I’m so glad our ancestors
grabbed the fourth Thursday in November to celebrate Thanksgiving. Back when I
was a kid (translation: an old guy is writing this), we had plenty of free
space on the calendar that wasn’t taken up with the likes of “Pizza
Appreciation Month,” “Climate Change Understanding Week,” or “Rutabaga
Awareness Day.” Does anybody actually eat rutabagas?
Joking aside, we HAVE set aside some important slices of time to
bring awareness and generate support or action for meaningful causes such as
breast cancer, fire safety, and even car care. We all know that if you take
care of your car it will take care of you. So “National Car Care Month” is no
joke.
Back to Thanksgiving. This
harvest festival, during which we give thanks to the Lord for all His
blessings, was first celebrated in North America in 1619 in Charles City,
Virginia. Thanksgiving Day is always characterized by feasting and often
characterized by worship. Can we agree that it should ALWAYS be characterized
by worship? Is there any enterprise more important than giving thanks and
praise to God? “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures
forever” (I Chronicles 16:34). “Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make
known among the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His name is
exalted” (Isaiah 12:4). “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:57). “So then, just as you received
Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with
thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7).
I rejoice that Thanksgiving
is a day, and more. It’s a season. It needs to be at least a season—the Lord is worth it! It needs to be
a season that sets the tone for the living of each day and for the prayers of
each day. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your
gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about
anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, WITH THANKSGIVING, present
your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7). There’s
an encouragement and a promise for you!
During this Thanksgiving season, bless the Lord and
let Him bless you!
Pastor Bill
OCTOBER 2006
Jesus said to His disciples: “You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew
5:13). In the following verse, He said to them: “You are the light of the
world.” He was calling us to be, for the Kingdom of God, an influence on the
people and culture around us. One of the most important ways we can be salt and
light is by exercising our right to vote. Allow me to share an excerpt from a
Focus on the Family pamphlet entitled “Why Christians Should Vote.” “Americans
are blessed to have a ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the
people.’ But democracy has one key requirement: our participation. The most
basic democratic participation is voting, yet it can also have the most
profound impact. When you vote, you help determine who will lead our nation,
make our laws and protect our liberties. More than a right, voting is a
privilege that millions of people in other parts of the world can only dream
about. Still, many Americans choose not to vote. According to the U.S. Census
Bureau, as many as 35 percent of eligible Americans are not registered to
vote—that’s 45 to 65 million people! Less than half of the voting-age
population actually votes in any given election. What’s worse, Christians often
vote at an alarmingly low rate. For example, in 2002, the last non-presidential
election year, only 43 percent of evangelical Christians actually bothered to
vote. When people of faith fail to vote, is it any wonder that policies are
enacted that are contrary to believers’ core values?”
Billy Graham
has said, “If America is to survive, we must elect more God-centered men and
women to public office—individuals who will seek Divine guidance in the affairs
of state.” And this from Dr. James Dobson: “We live in a representative form of
government where we are its leaders. It means that every citizen has a
responsibility to participate in the decisions that are made, and that includes
people of faith using their influence for what is moral and just.” It would not
be going too far to say that our right and responsibility to vote is, in fact,
a ministry to which God has called us. When we vote, we are directly and
indirectly impacting people’s lives. By the people we select and the ballot
measures we support, we are making a practical difference—for good or bad—in
the lives of unborn children (abortion policy); impressionable youth
(pornography laws and education policy); husbands and wives (marriage &
divorce laws); and hurting souls (religious freedom laws)—to name a few.
It’s
important that we vote, but it’s even more important that we cast an informed
vote. Please take the time to learn about the candidates and the issues. There
are probably quite a number of informative websites, but two that I have found
to be especially helpful are ivotevalues.com (to check out the candidates) and
ohioprosperityproject.net (to check out the issues). The Ohio Secretary of
State’s website also has a lot of good general voting information.
May God continue to bless others through you!
Pastor Bill
September 2006
What is worship? Lots of
people have lots of different ideas on the subject. Tom Kraeuter, in his book Worship
Is…What?! writes: “…people frequently formulate their ideas about worship
more from their experience, both their own and others, than from a truly
scriptural perspective. Often past recollections mold and shape our thoughts
about worship. The things we experienced in church as children, or the style of
worship in the church where we first came into a saving relationship with Jesus
will too frequently hold more sway in our lives than what the Bible has to
say.”
I believe that a good Biblical perspective on worship is summed up
in the classic words of the Westminster Confession: “The chief end of
man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” That statement speaks to every realm
of worship: to individual worship, to what we call corporate worship (gathering
with other believers for church services), and even to the worship that should
be part of the living of daily life (see Romans 12:1). Key to true worship is a
focus ON God and a connection WITH God. Kraeuter further observes: “There are
two great passions in the universe: God’s passion to be glorified and man’s
passion to be satisfied. However, these two do not need to conflict. They can
come to simultaneous fulfillment through worship, because God is most glorified
in me when I am most satisfied in Him alone.”
Where am I going with all
this? True worship is not defined by styles, methods, techniques, places or
times. It is defined by our relationship with the Living God. Psalm 63:3 says:
“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” And Psalm
103:17 says: “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those
who fear Him…” It’s a glorious snowball effect—I worship Him because of His
great love/ He loves me all the more because I worship Him/ I worship Him all
the more because He loves me all the more… It’s when we get caught in this
avalanche of the majesty of God that we experience worship as it was meant to
be! True worship, then, transcends every style, method, technique, place and
time we offer to God—and yet can be found in every style, method, technique,
place and time we offer to God. Likewise, if my heart is not truly set on the
Lord, no style, method, technique, place or time will enable me to worship Him.
I’ll just be going through the motions. To the woman at the well Jesus said:
“God is Spirit, and His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.
Worship that is from the heart; worship that is genuine—that’s what God is
expecting. That should be our aim.
May God bless you and may you bless God as you
worship!
Pastor Bill
August 2006
Sometimes people share stories, emails, poems, etc.
that I find particularly moving and meaningful, so I file these treasures away for
future reference. One little piece that somebody copied for me several years
ago is simply entitled “What If…” I don’t know who the original author is, but
I hope it makes you think the way it made me think.
“What if…God decided to stop
leading us tomorrow because we did not follow
Him today?
What if…We never saw another
flower bloom because we grumbled when God sent
the rain?
What if…God
didn’t walk with us today because we failed to recognize it as His day?
What if…God
took away the Bible tomorrow because we would not read it today?
What if…God
took away His message because we failed to listen to His messenger?
What if…the door of the
church were closed because we did not open the door of
our heart?
What if…God stopped loving
and caring for us because we failed to love and care
for others?
What if…God
would not hear us today because we would not listen to Him yesterday?
What if…God
answered our prayers the way we answer His call for service?”
(POINTS TO
PONDER!)
I am writing this letter on
the heels of our Dayspring Revival with Wes Putnam. I trust that you found
great blessing and spiritual renewal as I did!
I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who prayed and worked and gave of
yourselves to make this a wonderful event. Some of you were out front, and some
of you were behind the scenes, but you are all precious servants of God. To God
be the glory!
Have a blessed August!
Pastor Bill
July 2006
The birth of our nation and the birth of Methodism in America go hand in
hand.
“American Methodism began in the 1760’s as a tiny seed that sprouted in
the fertile soil of an
emerging nation. When America’s War of Independence ended in 1783, the
Methodists were
among the smallest and least impressive of the American religious
movements. Other
denominations in this country had enjoyed religious prominence for
almost one and a half
centuries. It is no exaggeration to say that the clergy of America’s
established churches
regarded Methodism as an upstart company of religious zealots showing
no promise of becoming
a significant spiritual force in the new nation…Nonetheless, to the
surprise of many, within a
few decades the Methodist Episcopal Church listed more members than the
Congregational,
Episcopal, and Presbyterian Churches combined. By 1850, American
Methodism claimed onethird
of all church members in the United States. Furthermore, Methodism’s
religious and social
impact on nineteenth-century America was greater than that of any other
religious movement.”
(Kenneth Kinghorn, The Heritage of American Methodism, Abingdon Press, 1999.)
What was happening in and through the Methodist Church? In a word,
REVIVAL. The early
Methodists sought the Lord in earnest, and the Holy Spirit was poured
out in great power. In
fields and factories, camp meetings and churches people were coming to
Christ by the
thousands. It was a time for the lost to be found and the Christian to
be renewed. In his
description of an 1803 camp meeting held in South Carolina, circuit
rider Jesse Lee writes:
“Many sinners were on the ground crying for mercy, and many believers
crying for perfect love.”
Hearing this reminded me of the modern-day motto, put forth by the
Willow Creek Church:
“Reaching Seekers—Building Believers.” This is at the heart of what we
should be about.
You might say that we people called Methodists have revival in our
genes, imprinted on
our DNA. So let us take advantage of every opportunity to pray for and
work for revival in our
day. July 16-19 presents us with such an opportunity. Our series of
meetings with evangelist
Wes Putnam and the revival team is a time that can be greatly used of
God to reach those who
don’t know Jesus and to breathe new life into the hearts of God’s
people. I say CAN be because
I am convinced that God does His wonderful work in our lives only to
the extent that we are
ready to receive what He has for us. Are you praying? Are you
expecting? Are you ready for
the fresh wind of God’s Spirit?
May this month bring a time of great blessing to you and those you
love!
Pastor Bill
June 2006
If you ask
most people what the biggest days of the Christian year are, they will probably
say Christmas and Easter. Not so many will say Pentecost. That’s a shame
because Pentecost really is the birthday of the Church. Pentecost is a
funny-sounding word that comes from the Greek word meaning fiftieth; and
Pentecost is the Greek equivalent for the Old Testament Feast of Weeks, which
comes fifty days after Passover. What does this have to do with us? Well,
remember that Jesus was crucified and resurrected during the Passover season,
and the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples some fifty days later,
during the Pentecost celebration. That’s why we associate Pentecost not with
the ancient Jewish feast, but with the birthday of the Church. The resurrection
of Jesus gave the disciples the change of ATTITUDE they needed to serve God
(going from the despair and separation of the Cross to the exhilaration and
confidence of walking with the living Lord); but it was Pentecost that gave them
the POWER they needed to serve God, when the Holy Spirit was poured into their
lives. Every year our church calendar lists Pentecost Sunday, which is always
the Sunday as close as possible to fifty days after Easter—June 4th
this year.
The gift of
the Holy Spirit is a most precious gift of God to us, because the Holy Spirit
is the gift of God Himself to us! Search the pages of the New Testament and you
will find that the Holy Spirit blesses us in a multitude of ways. The Holy
Spirit is the one who makes it possible for us to experience our new birth in
Christ (John 3:6); the Holy Spirit teaches us and reminds us of God’s Word
(John 14:26); the Holy Spirit gives us the power we need to witness for Christ
(Acts1:8); the Holy Spirit pours God’s love into our hearts (Romans 5:5); the
Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us with inexpressible
“groans” (Romans 8:26); the Holy Spirit gives us special abilities called
spiritual gifts, to use in the Church’s work and ministry (I Corinthians 12:7);
the Holy Spirit plants and nourishes within us the “fruit” of love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Do all you
can to make the Holy Spirit welcome in your life. And let us pray together
that, just as the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the early Church so long ago,
God may pour out His Holy Spirit upon us anew and afresh. We need that
cleansing of God, that love of God, that power of God in our lives! And as we
pray, let us remember the revival we have scheduled this July 16-19. (Actually,
we cannot schedule revival. All we can do is schedule the meetings. Revival can
only come from God, by way of the wonderful Holy Spirit!)
Seeking God with you,
Pastor Bill
May 2006
Habakkuk is a strange, choppy
name. But the name of this Old Testament prophet, sandwiched between Nahum and
Zephaniah, has a significant and beautiful meaning. Habakkuk means “embracer”
or “wrestler.” The name is quite fitting, for when you read what he wrote, you
find him to be one who embraced God without reservation and one who wrestled
with God in prayer. His prayer in chapter 3, verse 2 deserves our
consideration: “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds,
O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known…”
Let me assume that you too
have heard of the Lord’s fame and that when you contemplate His deeds, you
stand in awe. But let me ask, do you think of God’s great deeds only with a
wistful look back into the past? What of your hopes, your dreams, your
expectations of great deeds yet to come? Are you looking in both directions?
Habakkuk was. He loved to hear the stories of what God HAD DONE, but with faith
in what God CAN DO, he prayed for RENEWAL. There is something dangerous, deadly
and faithless about assuming that God has already done His best work in our
lives and in our church. That’s why we need always to be praying with an open
mind and heart; why we need always to be willing to repent and seek God’s face;
why we need always to be expecting another wave of God’s wonderful work.
With this in mind, I commend
to you our Dayspring revival with Wes Putnam this July 16-19. Four short days
that will be here before we know it and then be gone before we know it—but
precious opportunity for renewal, and a time that can truly count for eternity!
I encourage you to mark this event on your calendar and plan to participate as
fully as you can. Above all, I ask you to join me in prayer for the days ahead.
To pray with integrity, we have to begin with ourselves. What I mean is, I have
to begin with myself, and you have to begin with yourself. Let’s invite the
Lord to search our hearts, then give Him free rein to make whatever changes He
deems necessary. Next, let us pray for our families and for our brothers and sisters
within the church family. God has great things in store for them! Then pray for
Wes and everyone who is working on the Dayspring. Ask God to protect them,
prepare them, use them and bless them. Finally, let us pray for people close to
us who don’t know Jesus. Here is a suggestion to keep it simple and direct:
Pick three people, write their names down on a prayer card, and remember them
daily before the Lord. Your prayers don’t have to be long and complicated—just
be faithful, and ask the Lord to share His heart of love with you as you pray.
Praying with you, praying for you,
Pastor Bill
April 2006
Triway fans have every
reason to celebrate another great season of boys basketball, in spite of the loss
to Dayton Dunbar in the state final. The 58-56 win over St. Francis DeSales the
day before was not only a moment to rejoice, it was just plain fun to watch!
Because it was such a close game all the way through, everyone stayed on the
edge of their seats. In conversation with Pastor Tim about Friday’s game, he
brought up the subject of “blowouts”—games where there really is no competition
and one team leaves the other in the dust. Since pastors are in the habit of
looking for spiritual implications in any given event, we wondered aloud if
blowouts have a place in the Bible. (No doubt you’ve wondered about this
yourself…no doubt.)
In recent days, we’ve seen
quite a renewed interest in the study of the end times. Ever-popular are books
covering the Rapture, the Second Coming of Jesus, the Judgment, the final
destiny of mankind, etc. (By the way, if you are a student of end times ideas
and you want to impress your friends, tell them that you study eschatology.)
Now, back to the subject of blowouts. There are two big ones near the end of
the Book of Revelation that you need to know about, blowouts that bring total
defeat to Satan and all his forces. The first is in Revelation 19, verses
19-21: “Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered
together to make war against the rider [Jesus] on the horse and his army. But
the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet…The two of them were
thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were
killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse…” As
you read through this passage, you will notice that even though the beast, his
followers and their armies assemble for a battle, there is no battle—it’s a
BLOWOUT! In the following chapter we see the end of Satan and his hosts. Again,
we see the bad guys preparing for what they think will be a real battle: “When
the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go
out to deceive the nations…to gather them for battle. In number they are like
the sand on the seashore.” Again, however, we see a blowout: “But fire came
down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil…was thrown into the lake of
burning sulfur” (Revelation 20:7-10).
As you go
through the daily struggles of life on this earth, and as you hear the constant
news of greed, abuse and destruction, you may be tempted to think that you are
witnessing a spiritual battle that is too close to call. And you may wonder how
it will all turn out for you. Wonder no more! The power of God that was more
than sufficient to raise Jesus from the grave, that is more than sufficient to
bring an end to Satan and his schemes, is more than sufficient to see you
through. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20).
The peace of Christ be yours in this Easter Victory
season!
Pastor Bill
March 2006
St. Patrick’s Day is, as far
as I know, the only holiday we celebrate in America that ties us to a foreign
country. Even if we’re not Irish, most of us like to identify ourselves somehow
with the Irish on that day. Our celebration may be as simple as digging through
our closets to find something green to wear, or it may be a bit more elaborate.
I remember one year early in our marriage, Robin thought it would be fun to
prepare some green food; so she baked a loaf of green bread, and I had green
eggs and toast for breakfast. The only problem is, when you toast green bread it
looks pretty nasty (as if green eggs don’t). Anyway, the green food tradition
ended after the first year.
In my growing
up years, several on my mother’s side of the family were staunch Catholics,
which is how we came to be acquainted with a couple of the saints from that
tradition. We had a St. Christopher medal pinned to the sun visor in the car
because my mom said St. Christopher would help us remain accident-free. Then
there was St. Patrick. Mom and Grandma told us that St. Patrick’s big
accomplishment was driving all the snakes out of Ireland ages ago. Now,
according to my research, there actually are no snakes of any kind in Ireland
(Make a note of that, all you snake-haters—great vacation spot!); but even as a
boy, hearing these kind of things made me wonder about the separation between
myth and reality.
To me, the
reality of the man who came to be called St. Patrick is much more fascinating
than the legend. Born in Britain in the fifth century, Patricius, or Patrick
was captured by Irish raiders at the age of 16 and sold into slavery in
Ireland. Sometime during his six hard years of labor there, he turned with
great fervor to the Lord. Eventually, he escaped and began making his way back
to his family. He nearly starved and suffered a second brief captivity before
regaining his freedom. That would make for a classic “lived happily ever after”
ending, but the story doesn’t end there. One night in a dream, he hears the
voice of the Irish people begging him to return to them. These are the same
people who attacked his family home, enslaved him and made his life miserable.
It would be quite understandable for him to try to forget or even ridicule the
dream, but knowing that he came to be called the patron saint of Ireland, you
can guess what he did. He returned! He took Christ back with him, and is widely
given the lion’s share of credit for spreading Christianity across that
formerly pagan land.
Instead of getting back at
his enemies, he went back to his enemies; instead of giving up on them, he gave
himself for them. How Christ-like! With St. Patrick’s Day soon upon us, as you
wear your green and have fun with the shamrocks, leprechauns and pots of gold,
remember the man behind it all—the man who gave himself for his enemies. May we
all have more of the heart, more of the mind, more of the attitude that was in
Christ Jesus our Lord, who gave Himself for those who despitefully used Him.
Blessings!
Pastor Bill
suggested to his new pastor
that their church schedule a revival, the pastor responded with, “What’s a
revival?” The man thought his pastor was joking because he just assumed
everyone knew what a revival was. Obviously, that’s not a safe assumption, even
though the concept is quite easy to understand. Revival comes from “revive,”
which means to bring back to life/ to bring back to a healthy, vigorous, or
flourishing condition after a decline (Webster). Simply put, revivals are all
about new life.
One of the most refreshing
texts in the Bible is Jesus’ declaration to the woman at the well in John
4:13-14: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever
drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him
will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” As I
understand it, Jesus’ offer of salvation is about much more than a “ticket to
Heaven.” He wants true life to bubble up and flow out of us from the moment we
first encounter Him. But alas, it isn’t always this way, is it? For a number of
reasons—sin creeping into our lives, wandering away from God, the cares of
daily life overwhelming us, getting stuck in a rut, or whatever—our spiritual
lives can suffer, can grow stale, can even decay. This is when we need revival!
I don’t know about you, but I’m looking for revival in my life on a regular
basis. I want “that spring of water welling up to eternal life,” don’t you?
I am happy to announce to
you a very special opportunity we will have to experience revival together. We
have invited Wesley Putnam from Wesley Putnam Ministries, Bedford, Texas to
conduct a “Dayspring” Revival this summer in our church. Summer may seem a long
way off, but I urge you to put this event on your calendar now. You’ll want to
mark down July 16 through 19, Sunday through Wednesday.
I remember Wes from my days back at Asbury Seminary,
and over the years I have watched his ministry blossom and flourish. He is a
gifted preacher, musician, composer and actor.
In creative, exciting, yet down to earth ways he applies the principles
of God’s Word to everyday living. Wes has a unique way of relating to people of
all ages, so you will definitely want to bring the whole family along. Our Evangelism Committee is already hard at
work to make this event well worth your time. You’ll be hearing more in the
coming weeks, but for now, think
July 16-19!
God bless!
Pastor Bill
What name will we choose for
our new baby? This is a question that can stir endless thought and conversation
among expectant parents and their extended family. This wasn’t an issue for
Mary and Joseph though, because an angel of the Lord appeared during Mary’s
pregnancy and said, “You are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save
His people from their sins.” But long before the angel’s appearance, Jesus was
recognized by other names. Isaiah prophesied, “For to us a child is born, to us
a son is given, and the government shall be on His shoulders. And He will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”
(Isaiah 9:6-7).
Jesus is the Wonderful
Counselor. Over the years that I’ve been a pastor, I’ve noticed quantum growth
in the field of counseling. Everywhere you turn, this advice is being given: “You
need counseling; you need professional help.” There are more counselors and
clients than ever. More than ever, you hear terms like “addicted,”
“dysfunctional,” “co-dependent.” Why is this so? Is it not for many reasons,
among them increased fragmentation and brokenness in our lives, the hectic pace
of a technologically-advanced culture that more and more treats us like numbers
instead of people, the decrease of neighborliness, and the lack of folks
willing to help, to visit, to listen? As I ponder this situation, I recall the
words of noted Christian psychologist Dr. Kenneth Haugk, who said that the best
we human beings can offer to one another is care. We can never offer a cure.
There is only one who can do that. His name is Jesus. He loves you, He will
take the time to listen to you, and best of all, He has the cure for what ails
you—He is the Wonderful Counselor!
Jesus is Mighty God,
Everlasting Father. Think about this! The Son is so closely identified with the
Father, He is called the Father. This speaks powerfully to us of the oneness of
God—the truth of the Trinity. There are quite a number of cults, sects, and
religions that will try to tell you that Jesus is not God—something less than
God. If you want to believe that, you must take scissors and cut Isaiah 9:6 out
of your Bible. The one who was born in the manger was God Himself. The one who
carried the weight of your sins to the cross was God Himself. When you go to
prayer to “have a little talk with Jesus,” you have the attention of the
Everlasting Father Himself.
Jesus is the Prince of
Peace. The world’s expectations aren’t really that high when it comes to
wanting peace. Most of the time, we’d be happy just to have the fighting stop.
I remember a few times when I was a boy, my brother and I would get into a
knock-down, drag-out fight (we love each other now), and my mother or father
would come storming into the room and yell, “I want peace in here!” They
weren’t looking to change our hearts or attitudes so much as they just wanted
quiet. We’d be happy for that much in Iraq, wouldn’t we? But the original Bible
word for peace, shalom, means so much more than the absence of noise and
fighting. It means the presence of God in your life, filling your heart with
good things. One day this kind of peace will reign supreme, but in the
meantime, you need to know that you can have this quality of peace in your very
own heart and life. When you let the Prince of Peace into your heart, you
experience more than the end of the battle. You experience the beginning of
joy. Is there a battle raging in your heart? Welcome the Prince of Peace!
May the Lord bless you
richly in this Christmas season and in the journey toward a new year!
Pastor Bill
November 2005
Sometimes I wonder
if I am turning into a curmudgeon.
There are certain aspects of modern life that make me want to
grump. I still haven’t figured out why
such a large segment of our population finds it necessary to jabber incessantly
on cell phones. And I remember when
palm pilots first came out, a pastor friend of mine insisted that I had to get
one. “How could I have an organized
life without it?” he wondered. I don’t
know, I believe my life is reasonably organized. (He is no longer in the ministry by the way. I think his palm
pilot drove him to distraction.) And
why do we need 24-hour news? “Well, because if something really important is
happening, they can break in and tell you.”
They used to do that anyway. Remember, “We interrupt this
regularly-scheduled program with an important announcement…”? I’m not really
against technological advancements and other progress. It just seems that so much of what is
supposed to make life easier and better is sucking up valuable time,
distracting us from building relationships with one another, and putting a
drain on our minds and spirits.
Advertisers convince us we need more stuff, improved stuff, so we keep
rushing out to buy all that stuff—and we are activity-ed to death. There’s more for us to do, and we feel a
need to do it, but at what cost? We are
in more of a hurry than ever before, but is life better?
Life in Cuba
is an interesting contrast to life here.
The overall pace is WAY slower. You don’t talk on your cell phone all
the time… but then you don’t have a cell phone. You don’t jump in your car and rush here, there and
everywhere…but then you don’t have a car.
You don’t have TVs blaring in every room, not only because you don’t
have TVs in every room, but there’s nothing worth watching anyway. Please understand this: no way do I want to
exchange my life here for life in Cuba.
I cherish our freedom and opportunities. But the Cuban Christians can certainly teach us something important
about how to live life. Their lives are
hampered by poor transportation, poor communication and government bureaucracy,
and yet they find time to do the things that really matter: serve the Lord,
build the Kingdom of God, take time for good conversation, nurture family life
and friendships. How do they do
it? They’re not saddled with endless
distractions and the insane sense that they have to be going everywhere, buying
everything and doing everything. They
know they can’t do everything, so they concentrate on doing what matters most. They are specialists in prioritizing. They put God’s Kingdom first and let the rest
fall into place as it will. If we can
learn that lesson, our daily lives will be infinitely more blessed.
God bless you as you seek to use wisely the gift of
each day!
Pastor Bill
“Unbelievable” is a
description that we have heard countless times in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. Too many aspects of the storm’s devastation are unbelievable in that
they boggle the imagination. Here is one for instance: try to think of how many
personal plans were derailed or destroyed within a matter of minutes. Some were
planning to start the new school year; some were planning weddings; some were
planning new business ventures; some were planning vacations—I could go on and
on—but the point is, lots of folks were planning to do lots of things that are
now postponed indefinitely, or maybe out of the question forever.
I have a
passage of Scripture to quote, but before I do, please understand that I’m not
quoting it with the idea of condemning anyone in the Gulf coast area. I’m
quoting it for OUR benefit, and I’m using the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina
because it reinforces the point that we need to apply to our own lives. James
4:13-15 says: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this
or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you
do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist
that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If
it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” It is a sobering
truth that not a one of us can make any personal plans that are absolutely
guaranteed, except for where we will spend eternity. Our money is not a sure
thing; our health is not a sure thing; our schedules are not a sure thing. This
subject has often come up in conversations, both in the nursing home, where a
resident is reflecting upon what they see as their short, final days, and at
the bedside of one who is struggling with terminal illness. When it is obvious
that the medical community has done all it can to preserve life, and all those
options are exhausted, we often say, “It’s in the Lord’s hands now.” That is
true, but actually it had always been in the Lord’s hands for those precious
souls—just as it is always in the Lord’s hands for every one of us. That means
we shouldn’t reserve “It’s in the Lord’s hands” for such times as when physical
death seems imminent. And we shouldn’t save it only for those times when we
feel like saying it with resignation. It should be in our thoughts and prayers
as we set our schedules make our plans and dream our dreams. Furthermore, let
us say it with joy and confidence, because I don’t know about you, but I have
come to the realization that my life in God’s hands is infinitely better than
my life would be in my hands. I’ll trust His wisdom, direction and will over
mine any day!
An old proverb says, “Man
proposes, God disposes.” That’s a GOOD thing.
Peace to you as you put your life in the Lord’s hands!
Pastor Bill
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Hunger is something most of us don’t give
much thought. Clean drinking water is something we take for granted. But these are
serious issues for hundreds of millions of people in the world today. We hear
the statistics; we are numbed by the statistics; and somehow we remain largely
unmoved by facts such as these: 840 million people in the world are
undernourished…6 million children under the age of five die each year as a
result of hunger…More than 33 million Americans cannot afford enough food to
meet their basic needs…Amount the U.S. spends annually on foreign aid--$10
billion. Amount people in the U.S. annually spend on diet and weight loss
products--$33 billion (source: Church World Service fact sheet). Rev. James
Forbes has said, “If I don’t stop just talking about helping the poor and start
doing something to help the poor, I’m going to be embarrassed to meet God.” He
has a point!
None of us can help all the poor and
hungry, but all of us can help some of the poor and hungry. Would you like to
help? I know one good way you can—walk in the CROP WALK. Each year in the
United States some 2,000 communities sponsor CROP Walks. CROP, a ministry of
Church World Service, raises money to support grassroots, hunger-fighting
efforts in more than eighty countries. (Church World Service was founded in
1946, when six Protestant denominations joined their resources to respond to
the humanitarian crisis in post-war Europe. Today they are the relief,
development, and refugee assistance ministry of 36 Protestant, Orthodox, and
Anglican denominations—comprising 50 million U.S. Christians—with partnerships
in more than 80 countries.)
This year’s Wooster-area
CROP Walk will again be held in Shreve, with the starting and finishing points
right here at our church. The date is Sunday, September 25, and the starting
time is 2:00 P.M. The route is being re-worked this year, so veteran walkers
can enjoy some new scenery. The plan is also to have a two-part route, with a
long and short leg to suit the needs of more walkers. The way the walk works is
this: walkers ask sponsors (family, friends, whoever) to sponsor them so much
for total distance walked, or a lump sum for the entire walk. Just stop in the
church office to get a form, or contact me, and I will make sure you get one.
One nice feature of the CROP Walks is that if you so desire, you can designate
your pledges to any number of other approved international hunger-fighting
agencies, including, but not limited to: American Friends Service Committee,
Baptist World Aid/ Baptist World Alliance, Heifer International, Project HOPE,
Lutheran World Relief, Mennonite Central Committee, Nazarene Compassionate
Ministries, Outreach International, Southern Baptist International Mission
Board, and World Relief/ National Association of Evangelicals.
Let’s make a difference—together!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Bill
August
2005
If
you do much traveling around this great land of ours, you have probably noticed
that you can find Methodist churches in some of the most out-of-the-way places.
That’s because those out-of-the-way places used to be IN-the-way-places. That
is, the Methodist Church in America was born shortly after America was born,
and our church followed the people wherever they went. After the middle of the
nineteenth century, there was a common saying, “There are more Methodist
Churches in America than Post Offices.” One of the great leaders of the expansion
back then was Bishop C.C. McCabe, a one-time chaplain with the 122nd
Ohio Infantry, who at one point was captured and spent time in a Confederate
prison. Prior to becoming a bishop, he had served for sixteen years as
Secretary of the Methodist Extension Society. In this same era, Robert G.
Ingersoll, the famous agnostic, proclaimed on one occasion (obviously without
checking his facts), “The churches are dying out all over the land; they are
struck with death.” McCabe happened to read the quote while traveling by train,
and at the next stop, he wired Ingersoll, “Dear Robert: ‘All hail the power of
Jesus’ name.’ We are building more than one Methodist church for every day in
the year and propose to make it two a day. C.C. McCabe.” This reply inspired Alfred
J. Hough to write a song, of which the first stanza reads: “The infidels, a
motley band, in council met, and said: the churches die all through the land,
the last will soon be dead. When suddenly a message came, it filled them with
dismay: ‘All hail the power of Jesus’ name!’ We’re building two a day.”
It’s not only our calling,
it’s in our blood to build churches where they are needed. The challenge was
re-issued at Annual Conference this year. We voted to approve a program
entitled “New Generation Builders.” A major part of the resolution passed at
Annual Conference is that each church would work at enlisting a minimum of 15
people to be New Generation Builders. The thought is that some churches can
recruit more than that, while others cannot recruit that many. The New
Generation Builders would agree to receive three calls a year, with receipts of
each call going toward new church starts, redevelopment grants and land
acquisitions or new buildings, respectively. The request for each call is $30,
making a total of $90 per year commitment for each New Generation Builder. New
Generation Builders will each receive a lapel pin recognizing them as such.
Bishop
Hopkins has already issued the first call—to start two new churches in the East
Ohio Conference. These churches will be City Hope in Canton and Iglesia
Metodista de la Fe, an Hispanic church in Cleveland. Both churches will be
engaged in vital ministries. You can read more about these churches by picking
up a copy of the “Reaching New Generations with the Gospel” newsletter on the
big table in our church narthex. If this is a project that God is laying on
your heart, check out the invitation and response form contained in this
newsletter.
Let God bless you!
Pastor Bill
(Information on C.C. McCabe from Kenneth Kinghorn’s The
Heritage of American Methodism, Abingdon, 1999.)
Ah, July is upon us with its
cookouts, swim parties, lemonade and ice cream. And don’t forget the fireworks!
Fireworks, like balloons, are one of life’s simple pleasures that everyone
seems to enjoy. Some of my neighbors enjoy them so much that they just can’t
wait for the official Fourth of July extravaganzas. One would not even need a
calendar to know that Independence Day is a few days away, as kindly neighbors
launch gentle reminders into the nighttime air.
Independence
Day is a cherished day for us—one might even say a SACRED day, for though it is
not a religious holiday as such, it is a celebration of a concept that we hold
as sacred: Independence. “Live free or die” and “Give me liberty or give me
death” are sentiments that strike a cord deep in our souls. So much so that it
is natural for us to look at DEPENDENCE as something to be avoided. Who wants
to be dependent if they don’t have to be? That’s why nursing homes are doing a
great business with the addition of “independent living” facilities. Most
Americans could say “Amen” to Paul’s words in I Thessalonians 4:11-12: “Make it
your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with
your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of
outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” But it would be a
mistake to take these verses out of the greater context of Scripture and say
they are the last word on dependence/ independence.
Ancient Israel fell into
trouble many times because they tried to operate independent of God. The
prophecy against them in Hosea 10:13-14 reads: “Because you have depended on
your own strength and your many warriors, the roar of battle will rise against
your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated…” The condemnation
of Jeremiah 17:5 is more severe: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who
depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.”
There is a sense, then, in which independence is folly. Our life, our health
and our strength is in the Lord, and we should joyfully and eagerly depend upon
Him.
We all value
our independence (I as much as anybody), but let’s remember that God our Maker
has not designed us to stand alone. We need Him, and we need each other. That’s
why He calls each of us to be an active part of His family, the Church. So as
we celebrate our independence, let us also celebrate the relationships we have
with our Lord and with one another. Likewise, let us do all we can to
“encourage one another—and all the more as you see the day approaching”
(Hebrews 10:25).
Thanking God for you,
Pastor Bill
June is here, so it’s Annual
Conference time again. Annual conferences are a vital component of The United
Methodist Church, but they probably don’t seem like such a big deal to the
average church member. That’s because most of your interaction with the annual
conference is on an indirect basis. There is also some confusion as to just
what an annual conference is. That’s quite understandable, because an annual
conference is actually two different things!
As the name implies, it is an annual gathering of United Methodists.
United Methodists from where? From all over the annual conference. I’m really
not talking in circles here. Annual conference is the name we give to a region
of the church presided over by a bishop, and all the pastors and delegates from
all the local churches in an annual conference meet annually with their bishop
officiating over the session. So annual conference is both a region and a
meeting. Each session of annual conference lasts the better part of a week and
is a time of worship, planning, debate and decision-making. The decisions made
there affect the outreach and ministry of every local United Methodist church.
Some may wonder why such a group is making decisions that affect our church.
It’s because The United Methodist Church is what is called a connectional church.
That means that each United Methodist church is tied, administratively and in
mission, to every other United Methodist church. Our annual conference is
called the East Ohio Annual Conference and encompasses an area approximately
half the size of the state. Take out your map and draw a line from just north
of Marietta to just east of Toledo—everything east of that is our annual
conference. We meet every June in Hoover Auditorium, Lakeside, Ohio, but the
administrative offices are located in North Canton. John L. Hopkins is our
resident bishop.
If you’ve made it this far
in the letter without dozing off, it probably means you have an interest in all
this organizational stuff. So you may be interested in hearing about what’s
happening with our districts as well. Each annual conference is divided into
districts, and for many years now our annual conference has comprised twelve
districts, each named after the city in which the district office has been
located: Akron, Cambridge, Canton, Cleveland, Mansfield, Mt. Vernon, Norwalk,
Painesville, St. Clairsville, Steubenville, Wooster, and Youngstown. As of this
annual conference, the district lines will be re-configured to form ten
districts, with new names that reflect more of a geographical identity: Canal,
Cuyahoga, Firelands, Mid-Ohio, Mahoning Valley, Ohio Valley, Southern Hills,
Three Rivers, Tuscarawas, and Western Reserve. We are now in the Wooster
District; after conference we will be in the Canal District. James Roberson
will be our new district superintendent. As of this writing, it still has not
been determined where our district office will be located, though they’re
aiming for someplace in the Doylestown area.
Please pray
for all of us meeting at this year’s session of annual conference, June 20-23.
And please pray for our annual conference as we go through this challenging
time of transition.
Many thanks!
Pastor Bill
Study your calendar and you will see that May is a
month of both celebration and remembrance. In the Church, we celebrate the
“Birthday of the Church” on Pentecost Sunday, May 15. Mother’s Day and Memorial
Day are no doubt the most popular May events in the general population, but
then we also have Holocaust Remembrance Day (May 5) and Armed Forces Day (May
21—Originally, each branch of the armed forces set aside a day to honor the
founding of their particular service. On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense
Louis Johnson announced the creation of this single-day celebration, the result
of the unification of the armed forces under the Department of Defense). If
you’re really into keeping track of dates, Mother’s Day in Mexico will be
celebrated on Tuesday, May 10.
There are several other dates that do not appear on
most calendars, but I think they should. They focus on our dedicated public
servants in the law enforcement community. May 15 is Peace Officers Memorial
Day and the beginning of National Police Week. May 13 will mark the seventeenth
annual candlelight vigil in Washington D.C. to honor police officers who have
lost their lives in the line of duty. Another important component of law
enforcement is recognized during National Correctional Officers Week, which
begins May 1.
Yes, I know we now have many national “Honor
This-That-and-the-Other-Thing” days clogging up our calendar, but if anybody
deserves recognition and remembrance, the men and women of law enforcement
certainly do. It is a kind of work that takes an inestimable toll on body, mind, and spirit. The risks are
great, the frustrations are great, and the pay is not! Most people have no
actual contact with law enforcement on a regular basis, but many who do are
ever ready with their ridicule and abuse. We take their service for granted,
yet we would be in deep trouble without them.
So, I have a couple of suggestions. When you see a
law enforcement officer making a traffic stop, or responding to a call, or just
out on patrol, take a moment to say a prayer for them and their family. And if
you have the opportunity, offer them your thanks. If they ask what for, say,
“For all that you do.” Believe me, they won’t forget your words!
Grace and peace to you in the month of May!
Pastor Bill
Permit me to
write to you concerning a subject about which I know very little: BAKING. I’m sorry
to disappoint those of you out there who would likely call me first with any
technical questions you may have about your baking projects, but it’s true—you
would be better off to seek advice elsewhere. I do know a couple of important
things about baking though. One is that bakers generally follow recipes; and
with many recipes, if you leave out a step or reorder the steps, you can turn
your baked goods into baked disaster. As it is with baking, so it is with daily
living and walking with Christ.
Take something
as ordinary and routine as conversation. Ideally, good conversation involves
two or more parties listening and speaking to one another. But how many
“conversations” have you been a part of when no real listening actually took
place? Sometimes what we call conversation is nothing more than people talking
AT each other. You may have heard James 1:19 before: “My dear brothers, take
note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to
become angry,…” There are several ways to look at this verse, and one is to
look at it as a recipe. The FIRST ingredient to be added to the mix is
LISTENING—and a large measure should then be liberally sprinkled throughout.
How many fights, arguments, hurt feelings and misunderstandings could be avoided
if we just got the recipe right? The gift of listening is one of the most
precious gifts we can offer to one another.
Now consider
how we use the most basic rule we have for our Christian faith and practice:
the BIBLE. The greatest help humanity has ever found is to be discovered within
the pages of the Bible, yet some of the most horrible abuses ever perpetrated
upon humanity have been launched by Bible-reading people (Hitler comes to
mind). How can this be? Messing with the recipe! When we leave out some of the
ingredients, or add some not called for by the recipe, or reorder what should
be there, we can make the Bible say anything we want and justify any evil
purpose. With just a little fiddling here and there, the goods turn into
disaster. Paul’s admonition to Timothy applies to all of us: “Do your best to
present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be
ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15). Correct
handling of the word of truth means paying attention to what should be in the
recipe, leaving out what should not be in the recipe, and working to understand
how the whole mix goes together.
Following the recipe is all
about putting the right things in the right order in the right measure. It’s not
hard to understand. Jesus said all of God’s law hangs on two commandments:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind…Love your neighbor as yourself.” Here we have the ingredients (love
and love), the order (God, others, self), and the measure (all and as).
Grace and peace to you,
Pastor Bill
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In his
younger years, before he became established as a great evangelist, D.L. Moody
was called upon to preach a funeral sermon with little advance notice. Thinking
that Jesus might provide some good examples, he hunted through all four Gospels
trying to find one of our Lord’s funeral sermons but searched in vain. What he
discovered instead was that Christ broke up every funeral He ever attended.
Death could not exist where He was. When the dead heard His voice, they sprang
to life!
Easter is the time to
celebrate Jesus’ triumph over the grave and to be reminded that all who believe
in Him have resurrection and life. It takes faith to hang onto this reality,
but sometimes our faith wavers, doesn’t it? Sometimes we wonder if it can
really happen—resurrection, that is. The Corinthians had the same problem, the
same lack of faith. “How are the dead raised?” they asked.
St. Paul’s reply: “How foolish!
What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not
plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something
else. But God gives it a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed He
gives its own body” (I Corinthians 15:36-38). Jesus Himself said: “I tell you
the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains
only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). In
both places we are reminded that what seems to be ordinary is in fact
miraculous. We cannot fully appreciate this “death” and “resurrection” in the
plant world, only because we see it happening around us literally millions of
times each year. Perhaps familiarity has bred a bit of contempt.
Some years
ago, Lord Lindsay and company were exploring the pyramids of Egypt and were
permitted to open one of the mummy cases they had discovered. In the hand of
this mummy, buried 3000 years prior, they saw a large rose. As soon as the air
touched the mummy, the rose crumbled, but the seeds were retrieved and planted
in Lindsay’s garden in England. Beautiful flowers blossomed on the plants
produced by these seeds, “dead” for thirty centuries! Yes, I know we have a
natural explanation for this, but could it be possible apart from SUPER-natural
design? How could it?
As you see
the apparently dead plants bursting forth in life and beauty this spring, be
strengthened in your faith. Be encouraged to trust Jesus, who is the
Resurrection and the Life, with your life!
With you, I am looking forward to SPRING!
Behind every song there is a
story, and I thought you might enjoy hearing a bit of the story behind several
of our favorite Christmas carols. Most of this information is gleaned from two books
by Kenneth Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories and 101 More Hymn Stories.
“O Little
Town of Bethlehem” was written by one of America’s greatest preachers of the
nineteenth century, Phillips Brooks. Brooks was not only a spiritual giant, at
6’6”he was a giant! He had a great rapport with children, and it is said that
he kept supply of toys, dolls and other objects of interest in his study so the
youngsters would be encouraged to stop by and chat with him. “O Little Town of
Bethlehem” was, in fact, written as a new carol for the children of Brooks’
church to sing in their Sunday School Christmas program. Brooks gave a copy of
the newly written carol to his organist, Lewis H. Redner, and asked him to
compose a simple melody that children could sing easily. Redner struggled for a
considerable time to come up with the right tune, and time was running out. On
the evening before the program was to be given, he suddenly awakened from his
sleep and quickly composed the present melody. He always insisted that the tune
was a gift from Heaven.
“Hark! the
Herald Angels Sing” was written by our own Charles Wesley. I call him our own
because as the brother of John Wesley, Charles was the man behind the music of
the early Methodist movement. A prolific writer, he penned more than 6500
hymns! According to John Julian, noted hymnologist, “Hark! the Herald Angels
Sing” is one of the four most popular hymns in the English language. Something
you need to know about Charles Wesley is that his goal in writing was not only
to inspire but to teach. English hymnist, Eric Routley, has observed that
Wesley’s hymns “were composed in order that men and women might sing their way,
not only into experience, but also into knowledge; that the cultured might have
their culture baptized and the ignorant might be led into truth by the gentle
hand of melody and rhyme.” And so it is that each verse of “Hark! the Herald
Angels Sing” is packed with Biblical doctrine.
“Silent
Night! Holy Night!” seems to be the popular favorite of all Christmas carols.
The author, Joseph Mohr, was a Roman Catholic priest serving a parish high in
the Austrian Alps. The composer, Franz Gruber, was the village schoolmaster and
church organist. Somewhere in their conversations, these men had concluded that
the perfect Christmas hymn had not yet been written. This, along with the fact
that their organ was broken, compelled them to pour their hearts into the music
for a special Christmas Eve Mass that was fast approaching. The hymn was
completed in time, and Father Mohr and Franz Gruber sang their hymn to the
accompaniment of Gruber’s guitar. (And you thought using a guitar in worship
was a new idea!)
Have a blessed Christmas!
Pastor Bill
On page 55 of Rick Warren’s book, The
Purpose-Driven Life, is a statement that shows a keen understanding of what
it means to properly honor God: “We bring God glory by worshipping him. Worship
is our first responsibility to God. We worship God by ENJOYING him (emphasis
mine). C.S. Lewis said, ‘In commanding us to glorify him, God is inviting us to
enjoy him.’ God wants our worship to be motivated by love, thanksgiving, and
delight, not duty.”
I recall a message by Rev. David Seamands, delivered
some years ago, entitled “When Duty Becomes Delight,” in which he develops this
idea that we don’t really know God until we have learned to take delight in
him. What a beautiful thing it is when we cross over from duty to delight: when
we come to church not because we have to but because we want to; when we
witness to others not out of a sense of obligation but out of a sense of
privilege; when we pray and read our Bibles regularly not because we think God
is keeping score but because we enjoy being in His presence; when we give
freely not to earn points but because we love the Lord.
In the month of November, we take time in America to
focus on thanksgiving. We all know that there is a big difference between
saying we are thankful and being thankful. True thanksgiving flows from the
heart. It is a reflection of the delight we take in the Lord and His blessings.
I trust that you will be able to “delight yourself in the Lord” as you go
through each new day and even as you face the responsibilities and challenges
of life. And I wonder, can we at Shreve United Methodist take delight even as
we launch what we hope is the last stage of raising funds to complete our
building project? I think we can. I think we should, don’t you? God has been so
good to us!
Thank you for giving, for loving, for serving, for
doing, for being who you are. Over and over again, I see the glory of God
reflected in your lives!
With a grateful heart,
Pastor Bill
Apathy is
one of those attitudes that has no place in the Christian faith. A graphic illustration
of the consequences of indifference is found in the reflections of German
pastor Martin Niemoller, who laments his own lack of political concern during
Hitler’s rise to power:
In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t
speak up because
I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I
didn’t speak up
because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for a trade
unionist, and I didn’t speak
up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for
the Catholics, and I
didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they
came for me, and by that
time there was no one left to speak
up.
In Matthew
5:13, Jesus says to His disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.” Now sometimes
Jesus’ words are difficult to understand, but those words aren’t. Everyone
knows that salt flavors and preserves its environment. It is part of our
calling as Christians to flavor and preserve life around us. Proverbs 11:11
puts it this way: “Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but
by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed” (NIV). Another version translates
it: “The good influence of godly citizens causes a city to prosper…”
Consider
the issue of voting. We hear it said all the time that we live in a democracy
and that the big decisions are in the hands of the majority. While it is
possible that it could be that way, actually it isn’t. (And I’m not referring
to that whole debate over electoral college versus popular vote.) The statisticians
keep telling us that in election after election, many people who are registered
to vote don’t bother to vote and that many people who are eligible to be
registered don’t bother to register. If you think that the decisions in this
country are being made by the majority of the people, you’re wrong. The
decisions are being made by a majority of the people who take the time to vote!
Polls have
consistently revealed that the Christian population is as apathetic as the
general population when it comes to voting.
Is it because we think our individual vote isn’t all that important, or
that God will just take care of putting in the leaders He wants all by Himself,
or that politics has nothing to do with spiritual matters? We can come up with these and other excuses,
but we really can’t excuse ourselves. It has been said that voting is both a
privilege and a responsibility. Surely it is a greater responsibility for
Christians because God holds us to a higher standard than He does the general
population. He calls us to be His ambassadors to the world around us.
Please take
the time to register, to vote, and to encourage others to do the same. It is
one vital way you can stand up for what is right.
God bless. Pastor Bill
I want to use this month’s letter to tell you about some
upcoming events that are close to my heart. The first is a study on “The
Purpose Driven Life” that will begin on Wednesday, September 8. “Purpose Driven
Life” is an expression that is familiar to many of you by now. Pastor Rick
Warren’s book by that title has helped a great number of people gain a whole
new perspective on God’s plan for their lives. My goal for the study is
two-fold: to use the concepts in Warren’s book as a launching pad for
discussion and to truly make this a Bible study. If you have read the book
already, you have noticed that Pastor Rick quotes a ton of Scripture; but
because of the more devotional nature of the book, there is not a lot of real
digging into the texts. We will take a chapter each week and do some valuable
digging. We will meet 7:00-8:00 P.M. each Wednesday in the “Sanctuary” class in
the new fellowship hall. You will need
your own copy of “The Purpose Driven Life”, which is readily available
at Christian bookstores, Walmart, etc., at a decent price. If you have any
trouble obtaining a copy, please let me know, and I’ll track one down for you.
I believe this study will be a great blessing to you!
The next
event is the “CROP” walk, which will take place in Shreve on September 26,
beginning at 2:00 P.M. Each year in the United States, some 2,000 communities
sponsor CROP walks, raising money to support grassroots, hunger-fighting
efforts in more than eighty countries. CROP is a ministry of Church World
Service. There are several regional CROP walks near us, the closest being the
Wooster-area, which, as you might guess, is usually held in Wooster. This year
the Wooster-area walk is being held in Shreve, with our church hosting. The way
a CROP walk works is pretty simple. When you sign up to walk, you receive a
sponsorship form which you use to solicit funds from individual donors. There
is no minimum amount you have to raise in order to participate. Twenty-five per
cent of everything we collect will go to People-to-People, headquartered in
Wooster and serving the needs in our immediate area. The walk will give you
some good exercise but is not terribly strenuous. It will take in about two
kilometers within the village limits. You can contact yours truly to obtain a
sponsorship form. Another opportunity for you to be blessed—and certainly to
bless others!
Finally, keep
your eyes open for more information about an event called “Lay Witness
Mission.” Our Evangelism Committee is making plans now to host a Lay Witness
Mission Team this coming March. Those of you who have participated in a Lay
Witness Mission know you can expect great things from God. I do not doubt this
will be an experience to cherish for eternity. (I am not exaggerating.)
Many blessings on you as you journey through September.
Pastor Bill
In the Gospel
of Mark, chapter 6, we find the people of Jesus’ hometown caught in a sad kind
of amazement: “Jesus left there and went to His hometown, accompanied by His disciples.
When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard
Him were amazed” (vv.1-2). “Derailed” or “sidetracked” might be a better word
than “amazed,” for we see them lost in a cloud of questions. “’Where did this
man get these things?’ they asked. ‘What’s this wisdom that has been given Him,
that He even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and
the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with
us?’ And they took offense at Him” (vv. 2-3). You are left with the impression
that had He been a mysterious stranger from another town, they could have
accepted His ministry.
There is more
than enough amazement to go around. Those who heard Him teaching in the
synagogue were amazed. He was amazed at their lack of faith (v.6). And the
reader is amazed to find that Jesus’ wisdom and miracles were apparent to these
people who could not bring themselves to believe in Him. It’s not as if He were
presuming to be wise or pretending to do miracles. They could hear and see for
themselves—to a point. Then the questions set in. It seems they were willing to
go only so far as they could see. “We don’t see how a guy who worked as a
carpenter can be imbued with the wisdom of Heaven. We don’t see how a guy with
an ordinary mother and ordinary sisters can do miracles. We don’t see…” What
they could see took them only so far, questions set in, and faith was cut off.
This happens
to us, doesn’t it? What we can’t see leaves us wondering: “I don’t see why this
should be happening to me.” “I don’t see why God can’t just fix my problem.”
Then questions set in, and faith is cut off.
When this happens, we have missed the point of what God is trying to do
in our lives. He is trying to get us to step from the realm of sight into the
realm of faith. He is trying to get us to walk by faith. Something in our brain
tells us, “You have questions, so you must stop believing.” Our response should
be, “I have questions: time to shift into faith mode.” “Preacher, don’t you
realize that it’s harder to live by faith than by sight?” Of course I do. I
have to walk by faith too, and frankly, there are times when I find it to be
extremely challenging. But listen…
“And without faith it is
impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He
exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). When
questions come, don’t let them be a roadblock to faith. Let them be a doorway
to faith.
Grace and peace to you,
Pastor Bill
July
2004
As
I write this letter, Robin and I are preparing to go “off to Conference.” Most United Methodists know that Conference
is a yearly event attended by their pastors and delegates from their local
churches. Beyond that, however, there
seems to be only a vague notion of why we have these annual conferences. In fact, whenever we inject words such as
“conference” and “district” into our
churchly conversations, I find that the average church member is left somewhat
mystified as to what we are talking about.
That’s O.K., because it is a little complicated, until you take the time
to study it through. Give me a few
moments, and I will try to de-mystify it for you.
The
really big conference in our church is GENERAL Conference. General Conference is the term we use to
describe the every-four-years gathering of delegates from the entire United
Methodist Church. General Conference
meets in a different major city each time, and its primary purpose is
legislative. That is, General
Conference delegates make decisions affecting our “Book of Discipline.” Our church
is then divided into regions called JURISDICTIONAL Conferences. There are five of these in the United
States; they also meet every four years, and their main purpose is to elect and
appoint bishops. We happen to be in the
North Central Jurisdiction. Each
jurisdiction is then divided into Annual Conferences. Annual Conferences are the main structural units of the United
Methodist Church, and it’s at this level that we roll up our sleeves and do
most of the work of the greater church.
In case you haven’t figured out by now, Annual Conference is the place
we pastors and delegates are talking about when we say we’re going “off to
Conference.” Our annual conference is
the East Ohio Annual Conference, with headquarters in North Canton. Each annual conference is presided over by a
bishop. Each annual conference is
further divided into Districts. Right
now, there are twelve districts in the East Ohio Conference, although by this
time next year we will probably be reorganized into ten districts. We are currently in the Wooster
District. Each district is divided into
CHARGES. A charge is a unit of one or
more local churches to which a pastor is appointed. Two churches with one pastor is called a two-point charge, three
churches a three-point charge, and so on.
The yearly conference which every charge has, presided over by the
District Superintendent, is called…you guessed it—CHARGE CONFERENCE.
There you have
it---five levels: General Conference,
Jurisdictional Conference, Annual Conference, District and Charge
Conference. If you would like to know
more, I’ll be happy to supply you with all the information you want.
God bless you mightily in this month
of July!
Pastor Bill
I begin this letter with a few
words about our new youth pastor and his family. Tim and Helena Ritchey have just moved to Shreve from Jonestown,
Pennsylvania (a few miles east of Harrisburg).
Their children include Kenny, Timmy, Maria, Katee and Shari. We rejoice that they are here with us and I
rejoice as I have seen how quickly you and they are getting to know one
another. I was there the evening they
moved in, and it was wonderful to be among so many of God’s people who turned
out to help them get settled. It
brought back warm memories of your gracious reception of us when we moved in
almost four years ago. You know how to
make people feel welcome!
Pastor
Tim is a graduate of Philadelphia Biblical University, with a Bachelor of
Science in Bible. In addition, he has completed extensive course work at Bethel
Seminary, Dresher, PA. He is trained as
a Teen Director and Camp Director with YMCA, and is a certified YMCA Camp
Director. He is trained in and has
extensive experience with the Son-Life curriculum, and teaches individuals how
to become leaders with purpose. He
worked as Program Director with the YMCA for three years, and has fifteen years
experience in both part-time and full-time youth ministry. He is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force,
with training as a carpenter and heavy equipment operator. His self-stated objective in ministry: “God
has burdened me to win, build and equip teens to serve Him with a
passion!” As I am getting to know Tim,
I find that statement is indeed true to his heart. Please pray for Pastor Tim and his family as they get adjusted to
life in Shreve, and introduce yourself to them as soon as you get a
chance.
I
write this letter two days after our older son, Jonathan, entered into the
covenant of marriage with our new daughter-in-law Amy. We are greatly blessed to see them starting
life together! Going through this whole
experience has been a vivid reminder that the God who calls us to make
covenants with one another is the God who invites us to enter into covenant
with none other than Himself. And the
reason He expects us to take seriously our covenants with one another is that
He takes seriously His covenants with us.
In fact, you will find, as you read Scripture, that the idea of covenant
helps describe the kind of God we serve.
His love is not fleeting and His grace is not occasional because He is a
covenant-keeping God. His forgiveness is sure and certain and His promise of
eternal life is solid because He is a covenant-keeping God. WE are safe and secure in covenant with
Him! Praise the Lord!
Grace and peace to you!
Pastor Bill
Having
just returned from our mission trip to Cuba, my heart is full of that
experience. It became obvious to me, after only a short while there, that none
of us would be able to relate all at once what we had seen, heard and felt
during the course of our stay. It will take many conversations and testimonies
and much film to give you a complete picture; but with this letter, I want to
give you a "slice."
One
of the first things you realize traveling in Cuba is that many of the
stereotypes have to go out the window. For example, the physical appearance of
the people. It would be impossible to say that somebody looks like a Cuban,
because Cubans come in all colors, shapes and sizes. A crowd of Cubans will be
as diverse in appearance as a crowd of Americans. Of course, the inaccurate
stereotypes that were of most interest to me were the ones relating to missions
work in that country. Many of us have come to think of mission trips primarily
as opportunities to evangelize or build buildings or provide medical care.
Obviously, there are many unsaved people in Cuba, and there are those occasions
for outsiders to present the Gospel; but the Cuban Christians themselves love
the Lord with an intensity and devotion that, frankly, made me feel ashamed of
myself. They live for Jesus every day and speak of Jesus as often as they can,
in as many ways as they can. And they are willing to take tremendous personal
risks to serve the Lord. As to building buildings, yes, they could certainly
use more and better buildings. It is heart- rending to see some of the places
they use to live and worship. One church we attended holds services under a
mango tree! That's all they have. But there are more than enough skilled
builders and craftsmen in Cuba. The main obstacles they face are lack of
permission from the government to expand or upgrade facilities and lack of
money to buy building materials when they do have permission. While they are
most appreciative of our donations and our willingness to lend a helping hand,
they could survive in this regard without us. Concerning medical care, here too
they are blessed with some well- trained national personnel. What they lack is
the equipment and supplies to get the job done. That's why each group that goes
down packs in a load of medical necessities.
So
if neither evangelization nor builders nor medical personnel is the priority
for us, what is? Well, imagine yourself living in a land where the powers that be
work overtime to make you feel foolish and marginalized for serving God; where
you do the best you can with what you have, but you wonder if it's good enough;
where you live with the daily stress of maybe crossing a line that will lead to
you or you loved ones being punished; where you are in most ways cut off from
the outside world. What would you need most from other Christians? You would
need the prayer, encouragement, personal contact and personal relationships
that would strengthen you and spur you on to fight the good fight and run the
good race. That's what our Cuban brothers and sisters want most from us. Please
do two things: remember the Cuban Church in your prayers, and be open to God
using you to bless them in some way.
Grace
and peace--Pastor Bill
April 2004
The
announcement wasn’t exactly on the front page, but it was in the “A” section of
last Monday’s Daily Record. “Lesbian minister’s congregation celebrates
her victory.” The story was also
carried by one major TV network last Sunday evening. It is the story of United Methodist minister Karen Dammann, who
was acquitted, in a church trial, of the charge of violating church doctrine by
living in a lesbian relationship. It is
probably not news to anyone that the political pressure has been on for some
time to normalize the practice of homosexuality not only within the culture,
but even within the Church. The thing
about political pressure is it can make us begin to wonder whether what we
believe about what is right and wrong is really right and wrong. If enough people disagree with you long
enough and loudly enough, you may start to question the validity of your
stand. Exodus 23:2 gives us a clear
caution in this regard: “Do not follow
the crowd in doing wrong. When you give
testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.” In the midst of the political pressure
within the Church is the call for us to be more loving and peaceful with one
another. Of course, I’m all for the
practice of love and peace—both are major Christian principles—but so are
faithfulness and righteousness! Try
Psalm 85:10 on for size: “Love and
faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” It appears to be a package deal.
Here’s
what we should do. We should love Karen
Dammann. We should also expel her from
the ministry. We should look for
loving, creative ways to reach out to the homosexual community. We should also remain steadfast in our
passion for upholding the truth. In
spite of all the rhetoric to the contrary, tolerance does not set people
free—truth does (John 8:32). We should
pray for one another with sincere compassion; especially for all who struggle
with who they are and who God wants them to be. With the pressure on, we should pray fervently for our country
and the Church. We should pray for the
General Conference of the United Methodist church, meeting April 27, through
May 7, in Pittsburgh. The General
Conference, which meets every four years, is THE legislative body of our
denomination. They are the ones who
write the Book of Discipline, so if
any group needs godly wisdom, this one does.
May God grant you a
loving—steadfast--heart!
Pastor Bill
MARCH 2004
By the time you
read this letter, the movie, “The Passion of the Christ” will have been playing
to general audiences for several days. Selected audiences have already seen the
film at special showings, and people everywhere are talking about it. There is an endless stream of newspaper,
magazine and TV coverage. The critics
have been offering their criticism, and the counter-critics have been offering
theirs. The Christian bookstores even have a line of “Passion” jewelry and accessories
available for purchase! To say that the
movie has caused a stir would certainly be an understatement.
Just what it is that is drawing people en
masse to want to see “The Passion”?
Partly, the fact that it is a full-blown, first-rate production by a man
who is still a major box office attraction and partly, the insatiable curiosity
to understand the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. This continues to be a worldwide phenomenon. Perhaps the biggest draw, though, is how
realistic the movie promises to be. Any
thinking person who has read the Bible knows that just about every treatment of
Jesus’ last days, whether coming from Hollywood or the world of fine art, has
been either sanitized or distorted.
Sanitized mostly. Who has
succeeded so far in capturing on screen or canvas the true suffering of the
Messiah? Most artists either cannot or
will not because the truth is far too graphic.
Because it is so graphic, I’m afraid there
will be those who will go to the theatre simply to satisfy their craving for
morbid entertainment. Many others,
however, will go out of a sense that—and I don’t know whether these are
feelings of guilt, sympathy or justice, of some combination of the three—Jesus
suffered horribly; and we don’t understand how much…but we need to. Certainly, we need to understand the
suffering of Christ better than we do, and I hope “The Passion” helps us to do
so. But I don’t think we will ever be
able to fully comprehend what Jesus went through for us. Yes, we can measure the agonizing hours He
hung on the cross; we can measure the number of times He was beaten; we can
measure the amount of blood He lost; we can count the sharp thorns in the
crown. We can begin to imagine what it
felt like to be pierced by nails and the spear, and to hear the scorn of the
crowd.
But Jesus experienced a dimension of
suffering that transcends our ability to fathom, no matter how imaginative or
empathetic we may be. Who can measure
the toll upon the body, and spirit that came to the One of whom it is
written:”…the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all”? Therein lies His greatest suffering—and
greater than anyone else can or will ever know.
He did it for you. He did it for me. We
cannot understand, but we can receive.
Praise be to God!
Pastor Bill
Love can be so
mysterious. Try this experiment some
time: find two young people deeply in
love and ask them to define love for you.
Actually, I have done this very thing many times and have encountered a
consistent reaction—blank stares! It’s
easy to see what’s going on in their minds: “How could we begin to define
love? It’s so big, so MYSTERIOUS. All we know is it’s real, we have it, and
that’s good enough for us. “ It’s much
easier to find it and experience it than it is to get a handle on it.
Ironically, love can also
help us RESOLVE certain other mysteries.
Love can help us make sense out of some things that don’t otherwise make
sense. They can only be explained by
inserting the love factor. This is
especially true when dealing with God and the way He does what He does. For example, free will. Why does God give each of us a will that we
can use to make bad choices as well as good choices? Why doesn’t He just program us to always make good choices? That way, we wouldn’t be hurting one another
and causing so much evil. Only love
explains it, for the only way that we can give and receive love in an authentic
way is if we are free to do so or not.
Think about it—it’s true! And
it’s more important to God that we be able to love truly and fully than that we
be forced into compliance with His righteousness.
Then there’s the whole
matter of this salvation business. Why
would God leave the splendor of Heaven to live as a first century peasant? Only love explains it. Why would He subject Himself to abuse and
agonizing death for people who didn’t understand and didn’t care? Only love explains it. How could He devise a plan so simple that a
little child can understand it, so generous that it relies completely upon the
merits of His death and not at all upon my ability or good works, so
far—reaching that something that happened to Him on a cross 2000 years ago can
utterly and eternally conquer my sin problem?
Only love explains it!
He is God. He could control us. He could destroy us. He could make us squirm and grovel to
receive what He has for us. Instead,
all that stands between us and Him is a modest prayer of
confession and acceptance of what He
has done for us. Something like
this: “Lord, I know that I am a sinner,
unworthy of your love. I believe that
Jesus died for me, and now I gladly accept the gift of salvation. Take me, wash me, and make my heart
new. I honor you as Savior and Lord,
now be MY Savior and the Lord of MY life. Amen.” I won’t say
believe it or not, I will say believe it, for such a prayer will take you from
death to life and put you in a right relationship with God. It seems
incredible, doesn’t it? I can’t explain it. But love can.
Give in to His
love!
Pastor Bill
Though I am
writing this letter in November, I can clearly see that the Christmas season is
already here. Time for us
preacher-types to begin railing against the crass commercialism, consumerism,
and all the other ism’s that bring a blight upon what should be a holy celebration
of the birth of our Lord. We have our
righteous point to make, of course, but I wonder if sometimes we go too
far. I’m thinking of the suggestion
I’ve heard more than once, that we should abandon the holiday practice of
giving gifts to each other because, after all, Christmas isn’t about us, it’s
about Christ. I have heard this idea
ever since I was a small boy, and I can distinctly remember hoping back then,
that the reformers wouldn’t get their ways, at least until I was grown up, when
getting presents wouldn’t’ be such a big deal to me.
That part of the joy of
youth: anticipating presents! Do you remember? It wasn’t so important that you received the best, the most expensive,
or exactly what you had asked for. The
fun was in the experience itself. The
long-awaited day had arrived, and you would tear through the shiny paper and
boxes with your adrenalin pumping to indulge in the adventure. This is how kids were wired, to be excited
over the prospect of receiving gifts.
The question is, how do they come to be wired this way? The answer is found in David’s praise to God
in Psalm 139, verse 13: “For you
created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Aha!
God did the wiring job on us. It’s His fault we love getting gifts—and I
think He gladly takes credit for it.
The problem is, over time we mess with the wiring. Could it be that when Jesus said, in Mark
10:15, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God
like a little child will never enter it,” that He was warning us not to revise
our childlike way of thinking…that you have to think like a child to appreciate
and receive what God has for you?
Growing and maturing, the way God sees it, means getting rid of
childISHness; but it also means developing and nurturing childLIKEness.
Perhaps our habit of giving
gifts to one another, if done thoughtfully, can help nurture the necessary
childlike attitude in us. We are, after
all, imitating the One who loves to give gifts to us, who loves it when we give
of ourselves to Him, and who, at Christmas, gave us the greatest Gift of
all! Receive your presents with
childlike joy!
Pastor Bill
November 2003
Whine—1. to
utter a low, protracted, peevish, somewhat nasal sound, as in complaint, distress,
fear, etc. 2. to complain in a childish, undignified way. (Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary)
Do
you ever whine? I confess that
sometimes I do, although I don’t usually make the low nasal sounds—I just whine
on the inside. I would like to say that
I catch myself whining, but it’s probably more a case of the Lord catching me
in the act and reminding me that I should knock it off. The Bible that speaks of a God of love and
patience also speaks of a God who doesn’t tolerate whining very well. Remember the Lord supplying manna to feed
the Israelites in the wilderness?
According to Numbers, chapter 11, they began to grumble about their
daily fare: “But now we have lost our
appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” (v.6). “Moses heard the
people of every family wailing (whining), each at the entrance to his
tent. The Lord became exceedingly
angry…”(v.10).
Isn’t
whining something that only the privileged can afford to do? People who are truly poor or in serious need
don’t whine. They may complain or cry
out, but it is with good reason. There
is nothing peevish or childish about it.
Now, you may not think of yourself as privileged because we tend to evaluate
our status by comparing ourselves with our neighbors rather than with the rest
of the world. But let’s compare
ourselves with the rest of the world and see where we stand. Are we more likely to complain that our
steak was served “well done” instead of the “medium” we ordered, or that there
is no food available to us this particular day? Are we more likely to complain that our drinking water tastes a
little funny, or that we have no supply of drinking water that is safe? Are we more likely to complain that we got a
“B” instead of an “A” on the test, or that there is no decent school nearby to
attend? Are we more likely to complain
that our candidate of choice was not elected, or that there was no election in
which to participate? Are we more likely
to complain that it hurt a bit when the doctor probed too hard, or that there
is no medical care available? Are we
more likely to complain that church lasted longer than we thought it should, or
that it is illegal to attend church?
We are
undeniably privileged! This month we
are privileged to vote. This month we
honor the veterans who sacrificed for the freedom that we count as our
right. This month we celebrate
Thanksgiving Day. So, let’s enjoy the
turkey and dressing, the mashed potatoes and gravy, the pies and whipped
cream—but let’s skip the whine!
Let us rejoice
in our blessings,
October
2003
We’ve
all heard it taking place in the grocery store—the wearing-down process: “Mom,
can we get this cereal?” “No.” “Please?” “No.” “Pretty, pretty, please?” “No,
put it back.” “But, Mom, this is my most favorite kind.” “I don’t care, it has
too much sugar.” “But, Mom, I really, really like it!” “No.” “Mom, this is the
only thing in the whole store I want. I won’t ask for anything else today.”
“No.” “Tell you what, Mom, if you let me get just this one little box, I’ll
clean up my room without complaining AND I’ll be nice to my sister all the way
until next month. Please, Mom, please, please, please?” “Well, I guess one
little box won’t matter…” Wear ‘em
down, that’s the strategy! And often a very effective one too.
There
is danger in being worn down. Danger that important things don’t seem so
important anymore. Danger that we compromise our beliefs and ourselves to the
point of no return. Danger that we no longer stand for things we ought to stand
for. I got to thinking about this the other day as I was reading the words to
the hymn Nothing but the Blood. It sounds old-fashioned, not so much
because it was written a long time ago, but because it speaks a clear and
absolute message about the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The truth is, people
don’t talk about the blood of Jesus the way they used to. They don’t rejoice in
the blood the way they used to. The shedding of blood is not nice, and we’ve
decided we want our imagery to be as nice as possible. The shedding of blood is
violent, and we want to avoid conversation about violence. Some people are offended by our talking
about the shedding of blood, so let’s not talk about it, O.K.? We have been
worn down by this kind of thinking. (None of this changes the fact that apart
from the blood of Christ, we’re sunk!)
We
allow ourselves to be worn down in other ways as well. The debate over
homosexuality is one arena where the wearing-down process has taken its toll.
Much of our society has accepted as O.K., or at least tolerable, what was
unthinkable only a generation ago. Worse still, the increase of tolerance for
what is wrong has brought with it an increase of intolerance for the voices who
dare to speak against the wrong. They are treated sometimes as ignorant
fanatics and sometimes as dangerous criminals.
The
subject of Jesus’ blood and the issue of homosexuality are but two examples of
the bigger problem. Please don’t give in to the wearing-down process. Don’t
judge another person’s argument or stand based upon whether you find them to be
annoying or pleasant, but upon whether they are right or wrong. Don’t ever
stand with the majority when the majority is out of line. Don’t strive to be
comfortable with what you believe; strive to be where you need to be with what
you believe.
The
wearing-down process is an old one, as we see reflected in Paul’s admonition in
II Thessalonians 3:13: “And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is
right.” Good words for us to keep firmly in mind!
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with you.
Pastor Bill
September 2003
I am writing this letter to you just a few hours before Robin
and I are planning to depart for some vacation time. So thoughts of time off, leisure, and Sabbath are floating in my
mind. This is an area of life that has
long fascinated me, as it relates to theology—especially as it relates to God
Himself. I confess that, to me, there
are a few pertinent texts of Scripture that are as mysterious as they are
wonderful. For example, Genesis 2:2
says: “By the seventh day God had
finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all
His work.” What exactly does it mean to
say that God “rested”? How is it that
the One who is ever watchful over His creation, the One who holds the universe
together, rests? I wonder. About this there is not doubt, however; the
God who ordained the Sabbath expects the people H created to honor and
celebrate it in their lives.
Here is another
time-related, God-related point to ponder. In the old hymn,” Immortal,
Invisible, God Only Wise, which reflects upon a number of God’s attributes,
this divine quality is mentioned: “unhasting.”
It is true, isn’t it? God, whose
work and position are of ultimate importance, never gets into a frantic
hurry. He gets done what He needs to
get done, all in good time. And He bids
us, His children, His servants, to work hard—yes—but at the same time to wait
upon Him, to trust in Him, to give Him our worries and anxieties, to rest in
Him. Which brings me back around to
thoughts of personal time off. What
should we be doing with ourselves when we manage to take time off? This will vary somewhat, since what is
renewing and refreshing for you may not be renewing and refreshing for me, and
vice versa. But we all have this
“common denominator’ in our lives: our source of life and strength is the Lord
Himself. So the best time off is that
which is spent in God’s presence. I certainly
don’t mean to say that days off and vacations need to be taken up with churchy,
religious activities. What I mean is,
time off should allow us to focus on honoring and restoring the image of God in
us—humanity at its best, if you will.
Time off should mean walking away from worry and business (and busyness)
and looking to the Lord for revival of body and spirit. It should never mean walking away from
God. Taking a vacation from God is like
taking a vacation from food, water and air.
This is what I plan to do
with my time off, and this I encourage you to do with yours: look to the Lord
for new vitality. Enjoy His love for
you! Feast in His presence!
The grace and
peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be yours,
Pastor Bill
August 2003
Surreal is the word I
would use to describe my feelings when, at 7:00 P.M. last Sunday evening, I
stepped up to the pulpit of the new sanctuary.
Excited, yes; happy, yes; thankful, yes--but surreal nonetheless. It was hard to believe that I was where I
was doing what I was. Ever since I
arrived in Shreve, I have been hearing about the church that was to be built. Over the past year I have
been walking through the mud and by the fence surrounding the church that was being built. All of a sudden (it seems), here it is! It's BUILT!
I have a keen sense that these new
facilities are truly the result of God's inspiration. Not inspiration coming from one person, or one particular group,
but from the church as a whole. As I
wander through the various rooms and around the outside, I hear the thoughts of
many minds behind the planning of it all.
This is the way it was built, and this is key to how we will best serve
God with what we have. It is true that
our church operates with a representative form of "government,"
meaning we have boards, committees and councils to make decisions, set goals,
etc. And it could be that if you aren't
serving as an official member of one or more of these groups, you may be
comfortable thinking that "they" are off taking care of everything. Or you may be frustrated that you have good
ideas (inspirations) worth sharing, but you aren't part of
"them." Well, I have news for
you: if you are in any way part of this
church, you are part of "them."
"They" need you. We
need each other, and we need to hear one another's ideas.
Please
share your ideas with me. The Lord can speak through you as well as through
anybody else. How can existing
ministries be improved? What new ministries should we consider? How can we make the best use of these wonderful
facilities? I do not promise that every
idea I receive will be implemented, but I do promise that every idea will
receive a fair hearing in the appropriate setting. This is not a one-time-only invitation. I leave it open because I cannot presume to set bounds or a time
line on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for
doing your part in the body of Christ.
Pastor Bill
July 2003
An old but
ongoing debate was revisited at Annual Conference this year. A proposal was set forth to ask our
denomination to fund a program to help homosexuals break free of their
lifestyle. I was blessed by the
testimony of a mother who told how her son had recently been delivered from
said lifestyle and was now on the road to healing. I was not surprised by the remarks of a man who identified
himself as homosexual and then complained how hateful (emphasis his) that
anyone should strive to bring transformation to the homosexual community. "Why can't you just accept us as we
are? To do otherwise is to hate us
because obviously God made us this way." Etc., etc. No doubt you have seen
similar questions and statements in recent issues of The Daily Record.
The accusation
of hatefulness can hit hard. Any
parent, whose child says to them, "You don't love me--you HATE me,"
feels that kick in the stomach, even if they know the charge is absurd. And, assuming real Christians are sensitive
people with loving hearts, this tactic can prove quite effective when employed
by others, as well. We shudder to think
that anyone would call us hateful. We
will take steps to avoid being called hateful, even if those steps lead us in
the wrong direction.
Here is a key question that is too seldom
answered Biblically and logically: Is it possible to absolutely disagree with
someone, even to condemn their behavior, and at the same time love them
fully? If the nature of true love is to
seek what is best for the other person, the answer to the question is a
resounding yes! There are times when
loving someone fully REQUIRES that we absolutely disagree with them and condemn
their behavior. Exhibit A for me is Jesus
Himself. Yes, the very Jesus who is our
prime example of grace, compassion and love.
The same Jesus, to whom homosexuals will point and ask, "Didn't
Jesus accept people just the way they were?" Yes He did; but the Jesus whose constant invitation was,
"Come to me as you are," quickly added, "You can't stay the way you are." This is a demand that He places before all
of us who are less than, or other than, what He expects us to be. Accepting the love of Christ rightly includes
accepting His challenge to be made Christ-like.
May the peace of Christ dwell in you, as you
love others authentically in His name!
Pastor Bill
June 2003
Quick,
what color is our terror alert right now?
I don't remember either. I'm
pretty sure it's yellor or orange--I'm sure it's not red--and I know it's not
one of the other colors; although for the life of me, I can't even remember
what the other colors are. Now, don't
get me wrong, I'm not trying to make fun of the system of color-coding the
terrorist threat, because it represents an honest effort on the part of our
leaders to help us understand the varying levels of danger. It seems also to give the public safety
people a standard by which to measure and position their resources so that they
will be ready in the event of an attack of some kind. It's just that I'm not quite sure what to do with this sort of
information on a personal level. I like
to think of myself as a resonably alert individual, but I am also a human
being. Sometimes I need my sleep. I cannot stay up all night watching for
terrorists. I also don't think I am
capable of six or seven levels of alertness (corresponding to however many
colors there are). So, am I letting
down my family, my community, my nation?
I don’t think so.
To
be sure, fear can be an incapacitating adversary. For example, when we trace the journey of the Israelites out of
the land of Egypt and toward the promised land of Canaan, we see God's repeated
pledge to go before them and take care of their enemies for them. How exactly does the Lord deal with the
foe? Listen to Joshua 2:24: "They
said to Joshua, 'The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all
the people are melting in fear because of us.' " All God needed to do was instill fear in the heart of the enemy,
and the battle was won! But God's
desire is not that we be a people living in fear. The God who can deliver fear is the God who wants to deliver us from our fear. We are safe when we trust in Him. Psalm 27:1 says:
"The Lord is my light and my salvation--whom shall I
fear?" And in Isaiah 41:10, God
tells us: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am
your God. I will strengthen you and
help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
Yes,
we need to be alert, no matter what the color is. Alert to the fact that there are
plenty of bad guys out there who want to kill us simply because they hate us
for no good reason. But we must not be
consumed by that realization, or even worried by it. Someone Else is out there.
He is ever alert. He is ever in
control. He loves you supremely. He invites you to put your life in His
hands. You are safe there.
Shalom to You
Pastor
Bill
May 2003
A few days ago, I received a call from
the Ohio Secretary of State’s office thanking our church for the large number
of signatures we collected last year in opposition to expanding the state
lottery system. The representative who called me informed me that there is a
plan in the works to promote the use of video lottery terminals (or VLT’s) in
the election next November. She asked if we would be willing to speak up once
again.
I got to thinking about the tenor of
conversation I often have with other Christians over the issue of gambling. It is
very much like the conversation we have over the use of alcoholic beverages.
There are a few on both ends of the spectrum: those who say it is evil, stay
away from it, case closed; and those who say there’s nothing wrong with it if
done in moderation, so mind your own business. The majority, though, seem to be
somewhere in between. They see it as wrong in certain forms and O.K. in certain
forms—or “sort of” wrong but not wrong enough to fuss about. Plainly, lots of
people gamble, and lots of people have fun gambling, and once in a while
somebody wins lots of money gambling. So why make a big deal out of it?
For starters, it should be obvious to
anyone who really thinks about it that ALL systems of gambling are stacked
against the gambler. That’s why gambling operations always turn a profit for
those who run them. But, as Christians, our motivation for doing what we do
runs deeper than doing the math and figuring the odds. One, in spite of all the
glitz and glamour, gambling sucks the life out of the poor in our society.
Jesus says we ought to care about that. Two, gambling is poor stewardship.
Jesus says we need to take seriously the stewardship of resources with which
God has blessed us and use our money wisely. Three, we need to remember that
God calls us to live according to a standard higher than the world around us
considers acceptable. Our focus, according to Philippians 4:8, should be on
“whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable.” How does gambling fit into any of
these categories? We would get to the point much faster if, instead of debating
whether gambling is actually evil, we debated whether it is actually good.
If you care to make your voice heard
and speak in opposition to VLT’s, contact Senator Ron Amstutz, who sits on the
Finance Committee. He can be reached at: Senate Building, Room 140, First
Floor, Columbus, OH 43215/ email, sd22@mailr.sen.state.oh.us.
God bless you in your stewardship and
in your witness!
Pastor Bill
April 2003
I
write this letter just hours after our armed forces have begun the move to
disarm Iraq and dethrone Saddam. These
are challenging times, times of great debate.
As a pastor, I know I have to be careful with the advantage I have of a
pulpit from which to preach and a newsletter in which to write. Neither the pulpit nor the newsletter is my
personal property; both belong to God.
So I strive to look beyond my own opinions and feelings and speak what
is in keeping with God's Word. That
being said, I believe that while peace is always to be desired over war, there
is such a thing as a just war; and
this present conflict falls in that category.
I welcome the opportunity to talk with you further if you want to
disagree with me. I will steal a line to say hello to my
son, Stephen, and any of the other crew aboard the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt
who may be reading this letter. You are covered in prayer!
Speaking of
prayer, I have shared with some of you how occasionally I like to scan the
hymnal for prayer ideas. How
appropriate and useful are these words from "America the Beautiful:"
"America! America! May God thy gold refine…" Yes, we have much gold,
much that is precious, much to cherish in this great land--but we still need
much refining. "America! America!
God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in
law." Someone has rightly observed that freedom is not free; it comes to
us at enormous cost, and so must not be exercised carelessly. It must be exercised within the bounds of
laws and guidelines that are righteous and good. So note this line from another hymn, "God of the Ages:"
"Thy love divine hath led us in the past.; in this free land with thee our
lot is cast; be thou our ruler, guardian, guide, and stay, thy word our law,
thy paths our chosen way." So be it, Lord!
In closing, I want to bring up an
entirely different subject and invite you to hear a unique individual with an
amazing ministry who will be speaking at our church on Friday, April 11, 7:00
p.m. Willie Santiago, a citizen of
Cuba, and a coordinator of outreach for the Cuban Methodist Church, will be
here to talk about the fire set by the Holy Spirit in that island nation.
Friends, you may have trouble believing the story he has to tell, but it is
true, and it is awesome! You wonder why
we've scheduled him to be here on a Friday night, of all times? It's the only time we could get him
here. I encourage you to make every
effort to attend (in good Methodist tradition, refreshments will be served
following the presentation).
Rejoice with me in serving the risen
Christ,
Pastor Bill
Pause for Prayer
As war looms in the immediate future,
and we continue to fight the war on terrorism, we think of our fellow Americans
serving in the military, and the sacrifices and demands their job places upon
them and their families. We are in deep
gratitude to them. Whether they are serving in our homeland, or overseas, their
task is a great one.
We have been
called upon to pray for them during these desperate days. In an effort to pray
more consistently and effectively this list has been compiled. There is one
prayer focus and related verse for 31 days.
As long as "the war on terrorism" exists, let us be faithful
prayer warriors in behalf of our fellow citizens who have committed themselves
to defending our America.
1. Protection—Psalm
34:7, Psalm 32:7 17.
Children of military—Isaiah 54:13, Psalm 68:5
2. Wisdom—James 1:5 18.
Spouses of military—Isaiah 40:11
3. Peace—John 14:27, Philippians 4:7 19. Patience while waiting—Psalm 33:20
4. Presence of
God—Psalm 46:1 20.
God directing their steps—Psalm 32:8
5. Inner
Strength—Ephesians 3:16 21.
Diligent in their work—Colossians 3:23
6. Clear Mind—2 Timothy 1:7 22.
Resist temptation—1 Corinthians 10:13
7. Security—Psalm 17:8 23.
Discernment—Philippians 1:9
8. Health for
Physical Body—Philippians 4:13 24. Traveling safety—Psalm 121:7-8
9. Courage—Joshua 1:9 25.
Fighting Depression—Psalm 42:5
10. To Help
Others—Philippians
2:3-4 26. Protection from Evil—2 Thessalonians 3:3
11. To be
aware of God’s love for them—Psalm 42 27.
Encourage those around them—Proverbs 11:25
12. Family
concerns—1 Peter 5:7 28.
Personal prayer life—Jeremiah 33:3
13. Rest—Matthew 11:28-29 29. Deliverance from the enemy—Psalm 31:15
14. Adjust to
time change, sleep—Psalm 4:8 30.
Angels to guard them—Psalm 34:7
15. Unity in
purpose—1 Peter 3:8 31.
Persistence for the task—Galatians 6:9
16.
Loneliness—Genesis 28:15
We should also be in prayer for our
president during this time of difficult decisions. Please pray for President Bush in the following areas:
·
Protection for the lives of him and his family
·
Peace and clarity of mind as he stands in leadership and
the defense of liberty
·
For the perfect will of God to be revealed to him
·
That God will provide wise and godly counsel in his
administration
·
That he will draw aside to fast and seek the Lord
·
Godly character and decision-making
·
That he will perform the will of God relating to world
events
(from Dr. Charles Stanley intouch.org)
March 2003
If
you and I were sitting down to have a conversation about evangelism, and I
asked you to share your true thoughts on the subject, what would you say? I am certain you would be in a clear
majority of church people if you said, "Evangelism is important work, in
which the church should definitely be involved. Please don't ask me to do it,
though, because I'm just not cut out for that sort of thing." The prospect of doing evangelism can be
intimidating if you think of it as sticking your neck out in ways that are most
uncomfortable to talk to strangers about subjects they don't want to talk about
and to try to persuade them to do things they don't want to do. Is that kind of what you think evangelism
is?
Here's
the real story: evangelism is a combination of two Greek words that mean,
"to be a messenger of good news."
In a general sense, then, any time you tell somebody good news about
anything, you are an evangelist. I like
to tell people good news, don't you?
It's fun! Of course, evangelism
is a concept promoted in the Bible; and, of course, there are extraordinary
evangelists in the Bible--but there are others who are quite ordinary. In John, chapter 1, after Philip meets Jesus
he says to Nathanael: "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law,
and about whom the prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph…Come and see." Nothing
complicated. Just, "Come and meet
the One I've met." In John,
chapter 4, after the woman at the well has a life-changing conversation with
Jesus, she goes and tells her fellow townspeople about the encounter, and they
decide they'd like to meet Him too.
Again, nothing complicated. Just
sharing some good news.
Are you happy to have met Jesus? Then you have some good news to share with
your friends. That's really all there
is to evangelism. By the way, there is
an easy opportunity coming up for you on March 23. We will be celebrating Friendship Sunday during Sunday school and
worship. Invite a friend or two to come
with you that day. You can help them
hear and understand the Good News you have found in Jesus Christ.
Grace
and peace to you,
Pastor
Bill
FEBRUARY 2003
I am writing this letter shortly after
walking our dog, Galley, in the thirteen-degree predawn morning. The air is beyond brisk. I am not
complaining--I still have not forgotten the unbearable heat of last
summer. I am thankful because my legs
work fine, my lungs work fine, I can get some exercise, and Galley can release
some pent up puppy energy. Is it
foolish of me to say that I was quite content roaming through Shreve in the
cold darkness? Should I wait for a warm
(but not too hot… and no bugs, please), sunny (but not unbearably so), dry (but
not too dry) day to claim contentment?
There
is, in most of our minds, a fine line between contentment and foolishness. We see contented people all the time who
don't work very hard, who waste time, who don't take very good care of
themselves or their property, or who seem oblivious to circumstances which we
think they should be a whole lot more concerned about. It is easy for us to associate contentedness
with careless, under-enthusiastic, under-motivated, under achievers. Which is why we look with suspicion at the
Apostle Paul's words in Philippians 4:11-12: "…I have learned to be
content whatever the circumstances…I have learned the secret of being content
in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in
plenty or in want." Be honest, doesn't that sound kind of foolish?
It
is not at all foolish when you realize that Paul was relying on the Presence
and the Promise; that is, the presence of an almighty, loving, providing
Heavenly Father and the promise that He would always be there for him. Paul's perspective was based upon these
solid realities. For the June 10, 2002
issue of Time magazine, Christine
Gorman wrote an article entitled "The Science of Anxiety," which
raises these questions: "How is it
that two people facing the same circumstances can react so differently? Why are some folks buffeted by the
vicissitudes of life while others glide through them with grace and calm? Are some of us just born more nervous than
others? And if you're one of them, is
there anything you can do about it?"
She then goes on to explore in detail the possible biological, chemical,
and genetic reasons why some people "get all worked up" (my
paraphrase) more than others.
Of
course we are biological, chemical creatures with inherited characteristics,
but we are also called to be people of faith.
To be sure, we all need a bit of the "good" kind of discontent
and dissatisfaction, for that is what drives us to excel. And perhaps we even need a bit of
"good" anxiety--if that's what we should call it--that healthy fear
that helps us survive in a dangerous world.
But to be absorbed, or even sidetracked, by discontent, dissatisfaction,
or anxiety is to lose sight of God's Presence & Promise.
Peace
to you!
Pastor
Bill
DECEMBER 2002
There is a
lesser-known birthday that we can celebrate at Christmas time. In what we now refer to as the
"Christmas Conference," the Methodist Church was born in America in
1784. This event in no way rivals our
Lord's birth; but a look at the details of this gathering will not only help us
understand something of our heritage, it should also inspire us as we carry the
torch passed on to us by our ancestors in the faith.
As
you can tell from the date, the Methodist Church in America was born in a
brand-new America. Methodism was begun some years earlier in England by John
Wesley and others. They originally had
no intention of beginning a new church; they just wanted to foster revival
within their native Anglican Church.
The wildfire of the Methodist movement that had spread throughout
England soon jumped the Atlantic Ocean, but at the time there was not
sufficient numbers of church leaders here to shepherd the flocks of new
converts to Christ. To complicate
matters, when Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington at
Yorktown in October 1781, the bond between England and America was finally
broken. It was not longer practical to even try to supervise from England
anything that was happening in America. It was time for the Methodists in
America to try and stand on their own.
Not yet a church in 1784, American Methodism had 83 preachers, 64 stations and circuits, and 14,988 members. These were people who had a passion to win the lost and see the world transformed for Christ. Along with several leaders who had sailed over from England, the American leaders agreed to meet December 24, 1784 at Lovely Lane Chapel in Baltimore to organize a new church. Preachers Freeborn Garrettson and Harry Hosier were dispatched to personally notify all the American Methodist preachers of the great event. On horseback, the two men covered about twelve hundred miles in six weeks. Sixty of the eighty-three Methodist preachers received sufficient notice to enable them to attend. As you can imagine from the time of year and the primitive state of the American frontier, many of these men traveled and slept in the harshes