New
Life News – May 2009
(A
monthly publication of the New Life Emmaus Community)
ALERT!!!!!!!
ALERT!!!!!!!ALERT!!!!!!! NEW LIFE
WOMEN’S WALK 1503 IS IN JEOPARDY OF BEING CANCELLED. Walk 1503 currently has only one half the
required pilgrims (see Lay Directors comments) signed up for it to make. We need a minimum of ten additional pilgrims
signed up by 27 May 09 or the walk will be cancelled. Please get those pilgrim applications in
ASAP.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT : Please forward items that you feel might be appropriate for this section to Rakbuck@flash.net . This month’s Food for Thought was sent in by Betty Rader and is entitled “Who Is Jesus Christ”
Who Is Jesus Christ?
One of the greatest statements ever made about the person of
Jesus Christ was made by the great black preacher, S.M. Lockeridge. He is in
Heaven now. And I cannot do justice to how he said this. But I want to share
this statement with you, because it will bless your heart, stretch your mind,
and move your soul. This is probably the most powerful statement anyone has
ever made about who Jesus Christ really is. Dr. Lockeridge says of Jesus:
“He’s the sinner’s savior. He’s the centerpiece of civilization. He stands
alone in Himself. He’s unique. He’s unparalleled. He’s unprecedented. He’s
supreme. He’s preeminent. He’s the loftiest idea in literature…. the highest
concept in philosophy... the fundamental truth in theology... the cardinal
necessity of religion.
“He’s the miracle of the age. He supplies strength for the weak. He’s available
for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He guards and He
guides. He heals the sick, He cleans the lepers, He forgives sinners, He
discharges debtors, He delivers captives, He defends the feeble, He blesses the
young, He serves the unfortunate, He regards the aged, He rewards the diligent,
He beautifies the meek. Do you know Him? He’s my king!”
He’s “the king of knowledge… the well-spring of wisdom… the doorway of
deliverance… the pathway of peace, He’s the roadway of righteousness… the
highway of holiness… the gateway of glory… the master of the mighty… the
captain of the conquerors… the head of the heroes… the leader of the
legislators... the overseer of the overcomers, He’s the governor of governors,
He’s the prince of princes, He’s the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Do
you know Him?”
“His life is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting.
His love never changes. His word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is
righteous. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.”
Dr. Lockeridge would slow down at that point and say, “I’m trying to describe
Him to you.” But then he’d say, “But the problem is, He’s indescribable. He’s
irresistible. He’s incomprehensible. He’s invincible. The Pharisees hated Him.
The Jews rejected Him. Pilate condemned Him. The Romans crucified Him. Our sins
killed Him. The rich man buried Him. But the grave could not hold Him. And
death could not handle Him. And He rose triumphant on the third day, and He
ascended into Heaven, and He sits enthroned at the right hand of God the
Father. He is the Lord of Heaven, the Lord of the Church, the Lord of our
lives. He is our High Priest in Heaven. He is our coming King. That’s who Jesus
is. Do you know Him? Is He your king? Is He your Lord?”
THIS
MONTH’S GATHERING : The
May gathering will take place at 7:00 pm this coming Tuesday, May 19th
at 1st UMC New
Braunfels. Directions: Take I-35 north and get off
at Walnut St exit 186. Go to Walnut and
take a left. You will pass the HEB on the right. Go straight through the light at Business
35. Go about 6 or 7 streets to San
Antonio Street. Turn right on San
Antonio Street. The church will be on
your left a few blocks down. Join us as
we consecrate the team for Walk 1503 to be held in June.
2009 GATHERING SCHEDULE :
May 19 New Braunfels 1st
UMC, 572 W San Ant St, New Braunfels, TX 78130 830-625-4513
June 16 Alamo UMC,
4071 Foster, SA, TX 78244 210-661-6265
July Joint
Gathering: TBA
August 18 Schertz
UMC 3460 Roy Richard Dr (3009), Schertz, TX 78154
September 15 New
Hope UMC, 10155 Old Cimarron Tr, Converse, TX 78109 210-658-1220
October 20 Bethany UMC, 4102 Eisenhauer, SA, TX 78218 210-655-5473
November 17 St Andrew's UMC, 7222
Robinhood, S.A., TX 78209 210-824-2465
December (no gathering
scheduled)
January 19, 2010 Rolling
Oaks Christian DOC, 7150 Stahl Rd, SA, TX 78247 210-654-1744
If your
church/community is interested in joining the New Life Emmaus community for
Northeast San Antonio, please contact the Lay Leaders to be added to the 2009
listing.
LOCAL
CHURCH GATHERINGS :
We are posting the day & date of local church gatherings
in the newsletter to invite others to come.
Please update this information by replying to this newsletter if your
church changes/cancels your meeting.
Local Gatherings scheduled:
Alamo UMC: 2nd Sunday of every month, 12:15 pm, pot luck.
First UMC New Braunfels: 4th Tuesday of every month, 7 pm.
Northern Hills UMC: Last Monday of every month, 7 pm.
Schertz UMC: 1st Tuesday of every month, 6:45 pm.
St Andrew's UMC: Fridays, quarterly.
Universal City UMC: 1st Sunday, every even month (except
Dec) 7 pm – Next Gathering will be in June.
2009
WALK SCHEDULE :
Walk# Dates Lay
Director Site
1503 June 11 –
14 Chivi Dagg Concept Therapy Center
1524 October
8 – 11 Joe Amend Mt Wesley
Walk 1503 : To be
held at Concept Therapy Institute (CTI), 25550 Boerne Stage Road, San Antonio,
Texas 78255. Women’s Walk 1503 is
well into the training process – we have completed 3 team meetings, and
Saturday, May 16 will be the 4th and last. The team has come together
wonderfully!! And the characters are REALLY characters!! All we need now
are Pilgrims! I’ve heard that there are several “in the works”, but all
that counts are the ones “on the books.” To date we have 9 confirmed
Pilgrims. Team consecration will be held at the New Life Gathering in New
Braunfels on May 19. We would love to see as much of the community as
possible there. New Life has been a wonderful support, and it would
be awesome to have you all there to share in the consecration with us!!
Chivi Dagg, Lay Director
Women’s Walk 1593
FROM THE LAY DIRECTOR
:
I hope everyone had a nice Easter and Mother's Day. It is
also Graduation season and many of you probably have activities planned in some
capacity like traveling to or planning for a graduation party. However,
in case the time has slipped away from some of you, we are rapidly coming to
the cut off date to have enough pilgrims to attend Women's Walk 1503.
Chivi Dagg and her team have already put in a lot of hours getting the
team together and preparing them to be servants for Walk 1503. As of this
writing (May 12) there are nine confirmed pilgrims for this Walk. I have
been informed that some people are working on applications, but the cold hard
fact is that if the application has not been processed by the conference office,
it doesn't count, and if there are not at least 20 confirmed Pilgrims by two
weeks before the Walk, it will be cancelled.
The last Team Meeting is scheduled
for May 16th and this is the only Women's Walk New Life is sponsoring in 2009.
Women's Walk 1504, was also scheduled in June, but it has already
been cancelled. There is another Women's Walk scheduled to start this Thursday,
May 14 and there are a few Women on a waiting list for that walk, but we can't
count on anything except for many New Life members to do some serious
recruiting. I am not asking for people to twist arms and threaten bodily
harm, but I am asking that if you know of a person that has any desire to
attend a Walk to EMMAUS, we would like to suggest that June of 2009 is a lovely
time to do it. Schoolteachers should be out for the summer, and the
weather should still be somewhat cooperative (compared to late July and August)
and of course God will be there. He is counting on us to help motivate
those women that may be a little reluctant to step forward, but can be
encouraged to take this opportunity to spend some time with our Lord and
Savior, and evaluate their personal faith journey.
There are ten churches in New
Life. Doesn't it seem reasonable that that are at least two candidates
from each church? Many things in life aren't easy, but we all know
what this Walk can mean for most people. I think we can do this if we
try. What do you think?
2. New Life Men's Walk # 1524 -
October 8 -11, 2009 - Mt Wesley, Kerrville Texas
Please be advised that there have been some changes for Men's Walk 1524.
The first change is that Seth Walters will be a Lay Director at a later
date. Seth is currently in some life changing situations, which
necessitated his primary priorities focus on a new job, since he has recently
changed careers. We wish him the best of luck with his career, new
responsibilities and appreciate his willingness to step up at a later date.
The New Life Board asked for
volunteers to be Lay Director at the April Gathering, and as a result of that
request and an e-mail that was sent out there were five people that
volunteered. Of those, two individuals did not meet the Upper Room and
Conference minimum qualifications, but we are going to work to get them qualified
as soon as possible. At my recommendation, the New Life Board as the Lay
Director for New Life Men’s Walk 1524 has selected Joe Amend. Joe attends
Schertz United Methodist Church, and moved to our area a little over a year
ago. Joe has been active in EMMAUS in both Ohio and Southern Maryland in
addition to our area. Since he arrived here, he has attended the New Life
Gatherings and is active at Schertz UMC. Joe is looking forward to being
a Lay Director in New Life and has seen Mt Wesley during some training.
He is looking forward to meeting lots of new people in New Life.
Unfortunately, Joe's schedule will require him to miss the May Gathering
because of business, but if that changes, he will attend the meeting, and would
love to meet you.
Please take the opportunity to
congratulate Joe when you see him and get to know him as our new Lay Director
for Walk 1524.
3. Men's Walk 1524 Team Selection
Normally, the team selection for
Men's Walk 1524 would have been held after the April 2009 New Life Board
Meeting. Because of the need to find a new Lay Director, it was agreed
that team selection would be postponed. I anticipate that it will get
scheduled in early June.
We have also mentioned that we are
trying to rebuild the Team Servant lists that the New Life Board Rep keeps.
As many of you know, we have people that are more or less permanent
volunteers to serve as needed. Unfortunately, you may think you are a
volunteer but we may not know it, so I am asking that if you might be a volunteer
to be a servant for Men's Walk 1524, please submit a new Team Service Form. You
can turn these forms in to Barbara Becker (Team Selection Chair), Joe Painter,
Rick Bernhardt, Johanna Daily or Elaine Gerlach (Team Selection Committee
members), Joe Amend (Lay Director) or me, whichever is easiest for you.
If you want to submit a form but can't turn it in Tuesday night May 19th
at First UMC New Braunfels, let us know that you are interested and we can help
you get the application form located and/or completed.
We especially need people that
have never served on a team, or may have served on one or two teams. The
Walk has been moved to Mt Wesley, and although anytime is a good time to serve
the Lord, October in Kerrville is historically extremely nice as well.
If you are willing and have a
servant's heart, please talk to one of us very soon. You can send me an
email if you can't make the Gathering May 19th. Send it to talbott65@satx.rr.com and I will make sure it
gets filed for Walk 1524 and others if you so indicate.
DeColores
Jim Talbott, New Life Lay Director
FROM THE SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
:
On
the Roster....
The prayer was no sooner prayed than it was
answered. Jesus called twelve of his followers and sent them into the ripe
fields. He gave them power to kick out evil spirits and to tenderly care
for the bruised and hurt lives.
This is the list of the twelve he sent: Simon (they called him Peter, or
"Rock"; Andrew, his brother; James, Zebedee's son; john, his brother;
Philip; Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew, the tax man; James, son of Alphaeus;
Thaddaeus; Simon, the Canaanite; Judas Iscariot (who later turned on him);
Jude.
- Matthew 10: 1-4 (The
Message Version)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The
bell rang.
The
crowd gathered around the recently posted list on the gym wall.
"Did
you make it?"
"Whoo-hoo!!"
"Hey
Joe, your name's over here!"
Elation.
Dejection.
Acceptance.
Rejection.
142
tried out for the team.
56
names were on the gym wall.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It had
been a long road.
Medications.
Hospitalizations. Surgeries. Hopes. Prayers.
Now
her only hope, her only prayer, was to make the list. The transplant
list.
She
needed a new heart - soon.
Would
she make it? Would she be chosen?
Without
a new heart, well...
She'd
die.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
How
many names do you think these people noticed on those lists?
Well,
perhaps they'd notice a friend or relative's name. Perhaps.
But
honestly, that first scan of the list told them if they were....
in or out
included or excluded
accepted or rejected
Not many of us can name all 12 of the disciples. Even the Gospel
accounts differ on some of their names (and their order on the list).
So what does it take to be on the 'Jesus-roster'? This question was posed
to a group of young men and women. Some were very involved in their
churches, some 'sort of' involved, and some not at all. Hear some of
their voices:
'You've got to be real.'
'Jesus-people lay it on the line.'
'Be hurt and healed, like me.'
'Live like God really loves you.'
'You gotta want to.'
'Check it out. You're there. See it?'
'Roster? Like the 12 guys? Nope, not MY name!'
So, what if you're Jude and you're checking this Jesus-roster
(others are in Mark 3:14-19 and Luke 6:13-16)? Well, if you're reading
Luke's list, you're in! But if you're looking at Matthew's, list,
well.....you're out!
And what if you're Thaddaeus? I had a friend named Thaddaeus
once. We called him Thad. He wouldn't even read Luke's Gospel,
because, well - Luke left him out!
Remember those young men and
women who talked about the 'Jesus-roster'? As we wound up our sharing
time, one of the guys said something very interesting - and profound.
Here it is:
'You know, for every one of those guys who's named on that list,
there are thousands who aren't. It's a forever list -
they're just the beginning! They're there, but we'll only know it
if they show it, you know?'
Christopher Wren, a great English architect, walked one day unrecognized
among the people who were at work on the building of St. Paul's cathedral in
London, which he had designed.
"What are you doing?", he asked one of the workers. The worker
replied, "I'm cutting a piece of stone." As he went on he put
the same question to another worker, who replied, "I'm earning five
shilling two pence a day."
But when he came to a third worker, this one answered, "I'm helping Sir
Christopher Wren build a beautiful cathedral."
That worker had vision to see beyond the stone cutting, beyond the earning of a
daily wage, to the creation of a work of art for the glory of God.
What are we doing this week?
Are we on the
'Jesus-roster'? How do people around us know? How do we show it?
Are
you a 'rock', like Simon Peter?
A
brother (sister) like Andrew?
A worldly
'tax man' type, like Matthew?
Or
maybe an 'eager one' like Simon?
Sometimes
included, like Thaddaeus or Jude?
A
'show-me' type, like Thomas?
Or
maybe you're more mysterious, like Bartholomew?
Have
you betrayed Jesus, like Judas Iscariot (we all have, in some way, you know)?
No matter. All are invited. The Jesus-roster is so much longer
than it looks. It's an eternal list of Jesus-followers, disciples much
like you and I. What will we do about it?
Those
who say yes come in response to Jesus' call to those who are 'carrying heavy
burdens' to come to Jesus for rest; those who pick up the 'yoke that is easy'
and the 'burden that is light' (Matthew 11: 28-30) - those who experience the
incredible grace and healing that comes in a life of discipleship to
Him.....
It's those who are indeed called to stand against the evil in the world and to
be the Body of Christ, tenderly caring (and restoring) the bruised and hurt.
You see, whether we choose to see it or not (and unlike the gym rosters,
promotion rosters, and transplant lists, our names ARE there), we are on
the 'Jesus-roster'! We are called to know - and show - God's amazing,
life-changing, world-changing........................Good News Grace!
De
Colores!
Rev Al
Adams, New Life Co Spiritual Director
FOR
YOUR CONSIDERATION :
GREG COPLEN - Worship Leader, Singer/songwriter and speaker will be at Universal City UMC at the 9:30 service (only) on May 31, 2009. His testimony will tell the story of his lifetime battle with alcoholism and
God's intervention that lead him to discover freedom in Christ. His "presentation" is centered around the story of the Prodigal Son and how that played out in his life. The majority of the music Greg writes and performs
comes from his struggles with alcoholism and his subsequent recovery. God has called Greg to share his story. Greg is proof that God is always there for you no matter how lost one might be. Only a few times in one's life do you hear a new artist whose words and music make time stand still. Greg Coplen and his unique heartfelt sound marks one of those times. Greg's debut CD "Coming On Again" is an intimate peek into the highs and lows of Greg's journey, one in which his lyrics can bring you to your knees.
Thank you,
Charlie Farrell
PUN OF THE MONTHJJJ :
Courtesy of Neil Bys
I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find
any.
PRAYER REQUESTS
: In order
to provide timely response in this area, we request that you forward any prayer
requests that you have by “reply” to this letter. Those requests will be sent out VIA immediate
distribution to all members of the New Life e-mail chain. Two members of our community, Alison Buck of
UCUMC and Jess Jones of Alamo UMC underwent successful joint replacements this
past week and are now resting and recuperating at home. Praise God.
Please continue to pray for their successful recoveries.
PRAYER
VIGILS :
If you are a Prayer Vigil coordinator for your local church, don’t hesitate to
reply to this email if you are having trouble filling your requests. We’ll put out an e-mail alert and get them
filled ASAP. If you have questions
contact Joanne Lawrence at Granny9001@hotmail.com
.
NEW
LIFE WEB SITE :
Check it out at http://www.gbgm-umc.org/newlife-sanantonio
.
CLOSING THOUGHTS : Sent in by Neil Bys
Four things
I wondered why it rained when sun was what I needed. Then I realized the rain washed away the dust that settled so easily on me as I had recently taken to standing still.
I wondered why life seemed to pass me by. Then I realized I was not living, just simply existing. Living requires participation.
I wondered why no one ever listened to what I had to say. Then I realized I had only been talking about myself, and all my troubles. I was the one not listening to them.
I wondered why God had abandoned me. Then I realized I had abandoned God.
I wondered why I was not happy. Then I realized standing still, simply existing, whining and turning my back on God, does not make for a happy life.
Four things...
1. See the sun when it rains.
2. Accept that life evolves with you; it doesn't revolve around you.
3. Understand that God gave you two ears and one mouth. You need to listen more than you speak.
4. Plan with God for He has plans for you.