It was good to be back at church after being away forAnnual Conference last weekend. Thanks to John Miller for sharing last week. Among many other things that took place at Annual Conference was the "fixing of appointments." We Methodist preachers are assigned to a church each year. All the Platte Woods UMC pastors were reappointed to serve this year. We are thrilled to be in ministry here.
Today we started a new sermon series - Lyrics. We will be taking four different hymns and looking at the messages. In earlier days the hymnal was the book where people looked to understand their theology or the way they understood God.
Today we looked at "Amazing Grace." The next three weeks we will look at the theme of joy - "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" - then "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." (By the end of June we will be looking for a Christmas carol.) Finally "I'll Fly Away."
On another note - one of the highlights of Annual Conference (check http://www.moumethodist.org/ and find the video summary) was our own Brody Smith. Brody spoke during the service our conference youth led on the last day of conference. His witness of faith and mission was totally inspiring.
On another note - Aaron Brown (pastor of St. Paul's UMC in Joplin - a church whose worship center was destroyed in the tornado) provided as inspiring a moment as I can remember from an Annual Conference session. Aaron's witness of faith in the midst of the tragedy had us totally engaged.
On another note - Cindy and I took a side trip to Joplin following conference. There are no words to explain what we saw. Joplin is a good mid-sized town (50,000). We were on the west side of town and could look across to the far east side - no houses, no trees, no buildings - But we are seeing the cleanup and it will be followed by rebuilding. We will continue to receive special gifts to send to Joplin.
On another note - watch for a complete update of the 'Trash & Treasure' sale. Sarah Majors organized the sale this year. She had great help from many, including Chris Sams. Bottom line is the sale has generated nearly $17,000 to this point. (If you need a high chair we are the place to come!) Amazing work - funds go to missions.
That about does it for today. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too.
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