Kathy's Korner

Contact Kathy!

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In September we have observed OPEN HOUSE month.  I want to extend my thanks to all of you who have taken the initiative to invite others to worship and church events.  A personal invitation is the way that most people find their way into a new church family.  YOU are the key to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others.  September may be ending, but the invitational process continues.  Bless you as you share your faith, especially in these difficult days when others may need you the most.

Of course, as we began September we had no idea of the terrible events that would befall our nation on the 11th.  All of us have been struggling with the grief and shock, fear and anger these terrorist attacks have brought people everywhere.  I have been moved by the sight of millions of people turning to faith for comfort and hope in the face of suffering.  Proclaiming and giving witness to our belief in a God of grace in the midst of the destruction is a critical act of resisting evil.  As Christian people we know that we are called to the hard road of not returning evil for evil but rather practicing the compassion of Christ.  I pray each day that I and Christians everywhere may be able to live up to the highest calling of our faith and stand firm in our hope.  We will grieve for a long time.  Indeed we will no longer be the same.  But God can lift our eyes beyond the horizon to see the dawn of new creation.  God does not leave us alone, but labors always to redeem and save us.

If you find yourself struggling with depression or grief in the days ahead, please seek out your pastors or friends in your church family.  You do not need to bear your grief alone.  God has created us for human community and we serve one another.  Your pastors are always available.  Please do not feel as if you grief of struggle is insignificant.  I have resources available if you need assistance talking with your children or grandchildren about September 11.  Also, please remember the United Methodist Committee on Relief Domestic Disaster fund.  Donations can be given in morning worship, to your church treasurer, or to your pastors for sending to the fund.

In the last weeks I have received many messages from friends and churches around the world.  They grieve with us and pray that we will be able to work together across God's beautiful world to end violence everywhere and bring God's people peace.

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IGNITING MINISTRY... 
During September, watch for the national television ads highlighting the ministry of the United Methodist Church.  The ads are aimed at persons who have no immediate spiritual connections but may be searching for faith for themselves and their children, and will issue an invitation to meet us at our churches.  Each TV spot ends with "Our hearts, our minds, and our doors are always open.  The people of the United Methodist Church."  With this promise made, and this invitaation issued, we need to be ready for company.

OPEN HOUSE...
As a part of Igniting Ministry, September is "Open House" month in all our churches.  This means having open hearts, open minds, and open doors for newcomers.  Any time someone new comes through our doors we have the opportunity to show forth the grace and love of Jesus Christ to them by how we welcome them.  So extend your hand and your hospitality.

Open House also means making a special effort to invite new persons as well as old friends to our church worship and other events during the month. "Open House" cards will be available at each church for you to send personal invitations to neighbors and friends in your community.  You are also welcome, of course, to simply call persons or invite them in person.  Who can you ask?  Who lives near you who may be seeking faith and needs you to introduce them to Christ?  Who lives near you who needs the love of Christian fellowship?

As we read from Isaiah recently in church, we can be a "well-watered garden" in the midst of parched land.  Invite!  Welcome!

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September is OPEN HOUSE month for all United Methodist Churches across the United States.   The nationwide UMC media campaign "Igniting Ministries" airs a new set of television spots on many different stations starting in September drawing people's attention to the UMC.  On the local level, we need to be making an effort to invite friends, neighbors, and new residents to come to church on a September Sunday.  When going through a crisis, I hear so many persons says, "I don't know what I would do without my faith," or "I don't know what I would do without my church family."  Everyone needs the hope and life meaning that faith provides and everyone needs the bonds of community to give purpose to their days.  As Christians we know that the grace of Christ is our hope and that His love binds us together.  When you invite someone to church to worship God with you, you are proclaiming how important these gifts are to you and you are encouraging someone in their own faith journey.  Think and pray about the person you can invite.

September is also a time of new beginnings, as school starts and all the activities get in gear.  It's important to think about where church and making a commitment to deepening your Christian faith fits in to all the "busy-ness."  How you spend your time reflects your priorities.  Christian education and spiritual formation for children, youth and adults should be a priority for our churches and their members.  We have some work to do to move these things "up the list!"  Please watch your mail for a Christian education/spiritual formation interest card, and please take time to respond.  In dialogue together we can provide opportunities for everyone to grow in Christ.

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Another Kansas West Annual Conference is complete and your pastors are officially coming back for another year.  

A very happy 3rd Anniversary this month to our Rush County Parish.  It has been such a great joy to be your pastor through this formative time.  I talk about you as a successful cooperative parish ministry model for churches everywhere I go!  I give thanks daily for the strong lay leadership in all of our churches.  The way so many of you put your spiritual gifts to work for the body of Christ is uplifting to me and to our congregations.  A special thanks this month to our dedicated lay delegates to Annual Conference:  Thelia Brack (Otis), Lester Seuser (Bison), Ruthetta Hansen (LaCrosse), and Elizabeth Connor (McCracken).

One of the highlights of conference for me was a service of repentance recognizing the way that racism has divided the Methodist church.  We have some excellent study materials to help us understand this history I hope we can use in adult classes this fall.

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On Sunday, June 3, we read the powerful story of Pentecost from the second chapter of Acts.  This story marks the beginning of the church as the Holy Spirit descends on the believers and they are sent to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.  The words to one of the hymns in our UM Hymnal express the meaning of Pentecost for Christians today and is my prayer for our Parish:

Filled with the Spirit's power, with one accord the infant church confessed its risen Lord.  O Holy Spirit, in the church today no less your power of fellowship display.  

Now with the mind of Christ set us on fire, that unity may be our one desire.  Give joy and peace; give faith to hear your call, and readiness in each to work for all.

Widen our love, good Spirit, to embrace in your strong care all those of every race.  Like wind and fire with life among us move, till we are known as Christ's and Christians prove.

Words:  John R. Peacey, UMH #537

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Most preachers I know have certain themes that they return to again and again the their preaching.  A theme long important to me (talked about, I'm sure, in this space before!) is hospitality.  Hebrews 13:1-2 tells us:  "Let mutual love continue.  Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it."  Jesus models hospitality for us throughout the gospel story and insists on servanthood as a way of life.  As Christians we are compelled by our faith to make our churches centers of Christ's hospitality in the midst of our communities.  This means being welcoming to each other and to strangers in every possible way:  in worship, in fellowship, in extending our service and even our buildings to meet needs around us.  Such humble practice helps our faith grow and increases our witness for Christ to those around us.  Besides, you never know who you might be welcoming!

Some seeds of hope I'd like to share this month:

The McCracken UMC Sunday School during Lent took up the challenge to fast from violence. They have talked about violence and the need to care for both victims and perpetrators of violence.  They have also collected personal care items and money to donate to local battered women's shelters.

The Bison UMC has responded to the UM Bishops' Hope for the Children of Africa campaign, donating the equivalent of $10 per member for a school in Liberia sponsored by the Kansas West Conference.

A dedicated "Faith Quest" class at the LaCrosse UMC recently completed a seventeen week curriculum about strengthening our church for making disciples for Jesus Christ.  The group's energy for witness and service is a great gift.  

The Otis UMC United Methodist Women recently visited UM Urban Ministries in Wichita.  The Otis UMW and the church have supported Urban Ministries with many mission offerings in the past and it was great to see the ministry in action, everything from a large food bank to clothing to social services of every kind.

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Liturgical Trivia Note:  I was recently asked how the date of Easter is determined, since it moves around from year to year.  Easter Day is the first Sunday after the first full moon that falls on or after March 21 (spring equinox).  This was determined by the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, but the Eastern Church and the Western Church use different antiquated astronomical tables to establish the date, which usually means two different dates for Easter among Christians.  This year, however, our celebrations fall on the same day.  A good way to start the new milleneum!

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Welcome to the holy season of Lent.

Lent always seems to creep up suddenly and surprise me.  Didn't we just have Christmas and Epiphany?  Couldn't we have a bit more time to get ready for this penitential season of prayer and fasting and giving and going deep into our relationship with God?  At the threshold of Ash Wednesday, I find myself both standing back with a certain amount of hesitation and leaning forward in great expectation.  For if Lent does its work in me it will mean change and repentance and coming face to face with the transient nature of my pilgrimage through this life.  This brings a certain amount of fear (who wants to do these things?) and yet on the other side a powerful sense of hope and assurance and salvation in Christ.

A time-honored practice during Lent is giving something up.  At our house, this means putting away the television until Easter.  It usually takes a few days before Hannah comes to terms with the fact that she's not being punished but that our family is being invited into a faith adventure together--to be present to each other and to God with one less distraction.  Putting away the television will also be part of our Lenten fast from violence, abstaining from the consumption of violent images and violence as entertainment.  It is something simple, but not insignificant.  

Byzantine vespers from the early centuries of the Church have this to say of Lent:  

While fasting with the body, brothers and sisters, let us also fast in spirit.  Let us loose every bond of iniquity; let us undo the knots of every contract made by violence; let us tear up all unjust agreements; let us give bread to the hungry and welcome to our house the poor who have no roof to cover them, that we may receive mercy from Christ our God.

May this Lent be a time of renewal and healing and spiritual journeying for all of us as individuals and as churches.

God bless you!

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February blessings of love and joy to you!

By the time you read this, I will be in Berlin attending a governing body meeting of the World Council of Churches.  The Berlin wall came down in 1989 and the nearly 12 years since have been a fascinating period of reconciliation and rebuilding.  At this meeting the WCC will begin a Decade for the Overcoming of Violence, an effort to get churches and individual Christians thinking about alternatives to violence and how we make peace in our conflict-ridden world.  Berlin seemed like an appropriate place for us to begin.  The Council has long been involved in efforts for peace and conflict-resolution, indeed this has always been part of it's reason for being.  But it is imperative for the member churches in their own regions and local communities to also be engaged.

Here in the US, we are proposing that Christians use the period of Lent to engage in a fast from violence, to abstain from ways in which we consume and support violence.  Some examples of violence from which you might fast include violent TV shows and movies, music that glorifies violence, products manufactured in sweat shops or by child labor, financial investment in companies that produce violence.  We sometimes think that here in Rush County that we are insulated from the violence "out there"-- and this may be true to a point.  But all of us in this country are complicit, I believe, in a culture of violence that tells us that violence is the way to solve problems.  And we are not completely insulated from violence in Rush County, certainly not from domestic violence.  An important part of determining a fast in your household would be talking together about the ways that you see violence around you.  During the Lenten fast from violence, Christians are also asked to pray each day the prayer of St. Francis (see News & Notes) and to engage in some practical action of peacemaking or reconciliation.  In the weeks ahead I will be including more information in our worship bulletins.

Violence is a spiritual challenge.  Can we offer the world around us God's way of love in Christ instead?  First we must live it ourselves.  Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on February 28.  God bless you as you consider a fast.  And thank you for your prayers while I am away.  You will be in my prayers, as well.

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After Christmas each year I love the hope that a new year brings, a chance to begin again, to try something new, an opportunity to make once more all those resolutions that I probably won't keep but like to dream about anyway.  This hope has practical aspects, too--which are interrelated to each other.  Much of my hope, practical and spiritual, revolves around "cleaning out" and living with greater simplicity and clarity about what really matters.

I resonate with what Jose Hobday writes in his book Simple Living.

"Simple living is not about elegant frugality.  It is not really about deprivation of whatever is useful and helpful for our life.  It is not about harsh rules and stringent regulations.  To live simply, one has to consider all of these and they may be included to some degree, but simple living is about freedom.  It's about freedom to choose space rather than clutter, to choose open and generous living rather than a secure and sheltered way.

Simple living has fewer knots and more bows than scattered and cluttered living.  More standing on tiptoe, more quiet waiting.  More openness to the next moment.  Or the next day.  Or the next year.  The options are more obvious is one is living simply.  So are the choices."

The freedom of simplicity is a gift our Lord Jesus extends to us each day so that God might have more room to dwell in our lives.  Are you ready for fewer knots and more bows?

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So you have some homework!  How would you answer these questions?  May you know God's love and grace in your faith journey through the fall.

Marilyn's Message  

This is the first spring Dad will not watch the new calves with earthly eyes, but what marvelous things he must be seeing.  If God can make the beautiful, intricate world, how much more amazing must heaven be.  "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things God has prepared for them that love Him."  (1 Cor. 2:9)

This is what we remember and celebrate through Lent and Easter.  God is God.  "For God so loved the word that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  (John 3:16)

The old rugged cross and the empty tomb proclaim "This world is not the end."  Jesus is preparing a place for us.  

Regardless of what happens on the world scene, regardless of what happens in our individual lives, God is faithful.  God is forgiveness.  God is love.  God is good.

Celebrate Easter and each day.  God loves you.

(April 2003)

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Have you ever wished you could change your physical appearance?  Some photography studios or beauty shops specialize in transforming individuals from the ordinary into the glamorous fro a special picture or occasion.  Through lavish hair styling, makeup, and stylish clothing, the person appears to be someone very different from their every day personage.  

Did you know that we actually can be transformed every day of our lives without a great expenditure of time or money?  Romans tells us we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

One great mind renewer that we should use daily is an attitude of thanksgiving or gratitude.  When we get out of bed in the morning, it is easy and natural to focus on our aches and pains and what we have to do that day.  Just as we choose what clothing we will wear, we consciously or unconsciously choose what attitude we will put on each day.  

We can choose to be thankful for the day we have been given and rejoice in the wonder of being alive.  Instead of counting our losses, we can count our blessings.  Instead of dreading our tasks, we can praise God for the ability to complete them.  We can ask God what we can do to make the day a blessing for others.

Our attitudes make all the difference in our day.  An attitude of openness and praise to God paints the canvas of our lives with hope and joy rather than despair.  When we realize that God is really in control, we can relax and enjoy our lives.  Our attitudes affect not only our quality of life but our witness for Christ as others look at us as examples of Christ's followers.  When we adopt an attitude of gratitude, just as surely as the Kansas wind will be there to wreck havoc on a new unprotected hairdo, so temptation to change our attitude will come. 

Romans 12:12 gives us a prescription for those times when we feel our attitude souring.  "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and continue instant in prayer."  To maintain a good attitude, apply God's Word to your life, and call God any time of the day or night.

(October 2002)

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It seems ironic that the devastation at the World Trade Center should happen on September 11 forever etching that familiar emergency call number on our minds.  Indeed, it seems that everything about 9-11 brings a sense of urgency and uncertainty.

We grieve with those who have lost loved ones, who have been displaced, and are suffering economically as a result of the tragedy.  At the same time, live goes on for us with the loss of ones we love and illnesses as well as times to celebrate with new babies being born.

We speculate what the future holds for our children and grandchildren as well as for ourselves.  In the midst of our questions, there are some truths we can claim.

Life has always had its uncertainties and challenges, and we have survived them both as individuals and as a nation...Life is never certain.  We like to live as though we have forever.  We forget that it does not take a terrorist to bring our lives to an end.  We are much more likely to die from an automobile accident or illness...God did not bring about this evil act, but God can bring good even out of chaos.

As a nation and as individuals, we are forced to examine our priorities.  Are we living for that which is superficial or are we living for eternal values? 

We are reminded that "nothing can separate us from the love of God" - not terrorists - or wars - or anything that can come upon us.  With God as our Father, we can face the future with hope.

We can claim 911 as a time to recommit ourselves to God.  We can get to know God better through reading the Bible, prayer, reaching out to others, and just taking the time to be still and hear God speak to us.  God loves you.

Remeber that your pastors are always available to visit with you in your home or the office.  Just give us a call.

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September is always a busy time with school starting.  Even those in the community who do not have children seem to catch the feeling of change and of a new beginning  There is a sense of excitement as students enter a new grade and become acquainted with their new teachers.

September is also a time to "start again" with Church activities.

Along with Open House Month in September, we will be celebrating Disability Awareness Month throughout the Conference.  We will consider not only the ways in which our congregations can be open and accessible to those with disabilities, but also the ways in which all persons can be a part of the ministry of the Church.

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Tending The Sheep

An inventor was looking for financial backing for his new machine so he went to a banker.  After the banker listened carefully to the inventor's explanation of how the machine worked, he said, "Before I invest in your machine, I need to see a working model." 

Many in the non-Christian world are looking at the church to see if our lives are so changed by Jesus Christ that we are a working model in which they want to invest their time and lives.

A quick check of the LaCrosse UMC Directory, identified seventeen persons residing in care facilities and twenty-six persons confined to their own homes or able to go out only on a limited basis.  Each of the other Parish churches has those with similar limitations.  Each church has newcomers to the community, single parents, yount families, college students, and children who would be grateful for caring concern.

It is not humanly possible for your pastors to meet each of these needs and also minister to persons in times of crisis.  Would you be willing to give a few hours a month to reach out with the love of Christ as a representative of your Church?  We are looking for persons willing to follow the example of the Good Shepherd and be a Shepherd to at least one other person.  

You will be matched with an individual or individuals according to your interests.  Through a personal visit, a phone call, a note, or a card each person would be remembered at least once a month.  If there is a need for a pastoral visit, the pastors can be notified.  

A meeting of the Shepherds would be held periodically for learning, fellowship, fun, and support.  

Why not prayerfully consider this opportunity today and return the interest form found in your monthly newsletter to the church office or the pastors.  You will be invited to n organizational meeting in September.  If you have questions, please see Pastor Marilyn or Pastor Kathy.  Don't pass up this opportunity to make your life count for others!

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Celebrating Our Independence

On July 4, we celebrate the independence of our country and the freedom we enjoy.  This freedom did not come without sacrifice on the part of those who gave their lives so that we might be free.  Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, five were captured and tortured by the British as traitors before they died.  Nine died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.  Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army.  Others suffered great hardship for their involvement in securing our freedom.

A foundational concept in the fight for independence was the freedom to worship God and the inherent belief that God has ordained for persons to be free.

As Christians we experience even a great freedom, the freedom from the fear and bondage of sin.  the sacrifice of Christ enables us to be free from the bondage that sin would hold on our lives.  

Many today view freedom as their right to do what they please, and they pay a terrible price.  The misuse of alcohol, drugs, and sex, exacts a great toll not only on those involved but upon society as a whole.

Through Christ we can find freedom in the midst of life's difficulties.  When life tends to fill us with worry we can stop and claim the truths of God.  We can claim God's promises:  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding:  in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight." (Prov. 3:5-6)  We can take time to find joy and laugh.  "The joy of the Lord is your strength." (Neh. 8:10)  

We can praise God for the world He has made and His promise to always be with us.  Find a scripture promise, write it down, and claim it for today.

Don't surrender your freedom, find it in Christ!

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What would you be doing today if you knew you only had one day to live, or one month, or one year?  What have you really wanted to accomplish in your life that you have not seen happen?

With another birthday slipping by, I am reminded of the advice from Psalm 90:12, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom"(KJV).

Do you sometimes feel as if you can not even number the years as they go by so quickly?

The Word in Life Bible reads, "Teach us to use wisely all the time we have."  It boils down to a matter of priorities.

Psalm 90 reminds us of a profound truth.  God is eternal and unchanging, while we are only upon this earth for a short time.  The psalmist seems to be praying that God would give us meaning in our life and our work - meaning that lasts for eternity.

Actually, all of life becomes more meaningful when we realize that "God is our dwelling place in all generations."  This seems particularly comforting at Memorial Day as we remember those we love who have gone before us.  The God who has always been and will always be wants to give us God's beauty and establish the work of our hands(Ps90:17).

What would you really like to do with your life?  What would you like to do today?  What is God leading you to do?  Why not take time today to ask God and then take one small step to use your time wisely and for eternal good.

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Celebrating the Wonder of Easter

Amid the many images that come into my mind as Easter approaches, the one that seems to come often as a fond remembrance is that of the Easter lily.  As a small child, I was in awe of their pure and stark beauty in contrast to the dark wood of the alter rail as they adorned our small country church.

Flowers on the altar were usually lovingly picked from someone's flower garden, but Easter always meant the Easter lilies...How can a bulb, rather ugly in itself and seemingly dead, placed in the dark earth give rise to beautiful blossoms of purest white?  What a show of beauty to last for a short time and then fade away!

As we think of the crucifixion, we remember blood and pain, suffering and abandonment, grief and loss.  Jesus' death on the cross, no matter how we may glamorize it, was not a pretty one.  His earthly body was dead - laid in a borrowed tomb.  It could have ended there but it didn't.  

Easter Morning came!  Christ arose!  He lives that You and I might live also.

Jesus Christ without sin took on sin and death so that we need never die in our sin.

Have you embraced the purity, the wonder that is Jesus Christ?  Have you asked Him to come into your life and make a difference?  The wonder of it all!  Christ died and rose from the dead for You.

He does not plan for us to only have a short time of splendor like the Easter lily, but has provided for us an eternal home more beautiful than we can think or imagine.  

"I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.  (Jn 10:10)  Don't celebrate Easter without Him!  Make your heavenly reservations!

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Conversation   relationship   discipline   supernatural   talking with God   reverence to god and others   adoration   confession   thanksgiving   peace   blessing   comfort   openness   power   change   closeness to god and others   any time   personal corporate listening to god   encouragement   joy   supplication   spontaneous   release from tension   privilege   two-way communication   all inclusive

The above concepts were all responses from the Thursday Bible Study to "prayer is:"

On March 2 we will observe the World Day of Prayer at the LaCrosse UMC.  The importance of prayer can not be overstated.  For many the subject of prayer seems boring or like another task nagging to be done.  But prayer is so much more.  Roberta Bondi said, "Prayer is sharing life with God."  It has also been said, "You are what you pray."  

In this season of Lent, we acknowledge our need for grace.  We acknowledge our need for a God who is not distant, but who goes through life with us.  Prayer connects us to this god who loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son for us.

There is a daily discipline to prayer.  We must be intentional in taking some time daily to invite the presence of God into our lives.  We do not just talk to God but talk with God.  God will speak to us through the Holy Spirit when we truly seek to know Him.

As we open ourselves to God, we also share our lives with God each moment of the day.  As our hearts are open to God, we also become open to the needs of those around us.

This is my prayer for you for this Lenten season:  "I pray that out of His glorious riches, God may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in you inner being, so that Christ may dwell i you hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."  Eph. 3:16-19

Think of a loved one and pray this prayer for them each day substituting their name for "you."  There is power in prayer.  It is a give you can give to another regardless of where you are and where they are.

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Reflections

It seems fitting that Valentine's Day and the beginning of Lent both take place in February.  Both speak of Love.

We know that there are degrees of love.  There is the earnest longing to be special that makes the child or young person search through their valentines to find one with that magical word "love."

The love pledged at weddings and developed through the years may be fulfilled as one spouse cares for the other as life takes its toll.  There is great joy and sometime sorrow as we experience the great love we have for our children and grandchildren.

But whether you receive a valentine this year from a spouse, child, grandchild, or someone special; or whether your mailbox is empty; there is one truth that stands:  You are a very special person because God loves you.  He loved you so much that he sent His only Son to live on this earth and die for you.  Try inserting your name into the scripture of promise.

"For God so love (me) that He gave His only begotten Son that (I) who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  (John 3:16)  

This amazing love of God is available to all of us.  Just as earthly love comes through building a relationship so we experience God's love when we take time to be in relationship to Him through prayer, reading the Bible which is His love letter to us, and in being still before God so we may hear Him speak to us. Best of all the love of God for us is truly eternal.

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Reflections for the New Year

"My friends, the Lord loves you, and it is only natural for us to thank God for you.  God chose you to be the first ones to be saved.  His Spirit made you holy, and you put your faith in the truth.

God used our preaching as His way of inviting you to share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

My friends, that's why you must remain faithful and follow closely what we taught you in person and by our letters.

God our Father loves us.  He is kind and has given us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope.

We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father will encourage you and help you always to do and say the right thing.

Finally, our friends, please pray for us.  This will help the message about the Lord to spread quickly."

(2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:1, The Promise).

These words from Paul sum up my thoughts as I thank God for each of you.  We have had many good times of worship and fellowship in the Parish during the advent season.  There is much for which to give thanks.

I ask for your continued steadfastness in faithfully supporting God's Church by your presence, participation, and offerings.

Please remember to pray for your church and your pastors and to let us know when you would like for us to visit you in the hospital or your home.

Lloyd and I would like to extend our personal thanks for all of the expressions of caring, cards, and gifts that you have so generously extended to us.

May your New Year be a very blessed one as you walk each day with our Lord.

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We can say the Lord's Prayer in just fifteen seconds.  It may take thirty seconds if we are saying it together slowly as a congregation.

The Lord's Prayer is prayed by millions of Christians of many denominations and those who may not claim any faith group.

It is the prayer given to us by Jesus Christ, Himself.

As we recall its beautiful words at worship services, weddings, funerals, or in our own prayer time, do we really expect great things to happen?  Do we really hear its message to us?

Charles Allen says few people ever learn to pray the Lord's Prayers.  "The power comes," he says, "not in the saying, but in the praying of the prayer."

Allen explains that praying is not saying words.  Words merely form a frame for our thoughts.  So the power of the Lord's Prayer is not in the words, but in the pattern of thinking,  Paul reminds us to:  "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2).  As our thoughts begin to flow in the channels of the Lord's Prayer, our minds become new and we are transformed. 

As we think the thoughts of Christ, we find the power of Christ.  The king in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" fails miserably in prayer.  He says:  "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.  Words without thoughts never to heaven go."

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We sometimes sing:

"I am the church!  You are the church!
We are the church together.  All who follow Jesus,
all around the world!  Yes, we're the church together!

The church is not a building,
The church is not a steeple,
The church is not a resting place,
The church is a people.

We're many kinds of people, with many kinds of faces, 
all colors and all ages, too,
from all times and places."

As we celebrated World Communion Sunday, October 1, we recognized our oneness in Christ throughout the world.  We recognized that the church is made up of people who worship in many places and styles.

As His people, we have a responsibility to represent Christ to those we come in contact with throughout the week and on Sunday and to the world.  Do people look at us and see something (or Someone) they want in their lives?

The story is told of a congregation who walked or drove their buggies to church.  Each brought their lantern not only to light their way but also to light their part of the church.  If an individual or family was not there, that part of the church was dark.  When you are not in church, your light is missing.  No one can take your place.  WE ARE THE CHURCH TOGETHER!