Reflections From Sunday Evening

Today we talked about "We Are More." Bishop Schnase used the phrase some time back when he was addressing a group in preparation for General Conference. Kim Jenne, our Connectional Ministries director has done some great work expanding the idea "We Are More". wearemore.faith. Check it out. We are more than our attendance averages. We are more than our buildings. We are more than "cash". We are more than "A,B,C goals". We are more. A huge point in this is that we are more than the issues that divide. Feel free to check out today's message on our website (www.plattewoodschurch.org) and hear what I was talking about in this context. I'll give you the bottom line. We are more...because we are followers of Jesus Christ. This is more than ethnicity, age, gender or anything that makes us different. We are more. We are more because we are followers of Jesus Christ. Remember this...When you follow Jesus there is a great likelihood that you will fall in love with Jesus and when you fall in love with Jesus you will want to honor and serve him. That sounds like a pretty good path of discipleship. Remember, We Are More. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too and may this Memorial Day weekend be a blessing to you. steve

Reflections From Sunday Evening

It is good to be home from General Conference where United Methodists have debated the issues and worked to govern our denomination for the past two weeks. Many of you have probably followed the events and know we continue to do ministry in the name of Christ in churches all over the world. There were contentious debates but many of these were countered with Spirit-filled worship and inspired preaching. The conversation around human sexuality impacted much of our conference. At the end of the day the Council of Bishops have been charged with providing denominational leadership to help us find the way forward from what feels like an impasse. There are some matters that affect the local church more than others. For instance we approved a 604 million dollar budget for the next four years. I will be glad to speak to the some of the matters discussed and acted on at General Conference when I share what all is taking place in our church on June 14. I look forward to talking with you about the exciting things happening at PWUMC. It was a joy to be in church this morning and be blessed by Pastor Ginger's sermon. It was also a joy to hear John Miller talk about the progress being made to do something about predatory lending in the state of Missouri. I appreciate John's work in this area. This will be a busy week at church. We are seeing progress on the parking area and the building continues to rise. Plans are being made to insure funding for the project in addition to our on-going ministry. I will be preaching next week on "We Are More". Frankly we are More than General Conference, debates, disagreements, things that divide and distractions to the mission of the Church. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Today we talked about being "in sync" with Jesus. The illustration related to the invention of the pendulum clock. (Google Christiaan Huygene Pendulum clock). The story goes on about how he observed that clocks placed on the same shelf would synchronize together. It has been determined that slight vibrations connect the clocks and then they synchronize. We could think about how we sync our iPods, iPads, computers and other electronics but for these purpose we stay "old school" and look at pendulum clocks. The application relates to the manner in which the heart of Jesus (who is alive and well today) continues to beat. The heartbeat of Jesus is a vibration of love for people. When we connect by faith the vibration of Jesus' love for us will bring us in sync with Him. In other words our hearts will beat with the heart of Jesus. What would your life look like if your heart was beating with the heart of Jesus for... justice mercy love kindness those who do not know the Lord? We get connected by faith. Simply believe that our desire to have a connection with Christ will be honored and our lives will be synced with his. Often we seem to get "un-synced". What puts you out of sync with Jesus? Fear? Worry? Sin? We can all fill in our blanks on this one. But the good news is that the heartbeat of Jesus continues. We may connect. We may be re-synced. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good (Mother's Day) too. steve - The "Sync" idea comes from a sermon by Leonard Sweet, "Sync It". See sermon for April 10, 2016 on preachthestory.

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Just got home from Sunday evening service where our graduating seniors were recognized. Wow. What a great group of young people. They introduced themselves and shared their future plans. Impressive! Their parents joined them at the front and others surrounded these soon to graduate seniors, laid hands on them and were led in prayer by Britton Fields, our Youth Minister. It was a powerful moment. This truly is a significant transition in the lives of our young people and their families. Perhaps parents face this moment with a sense of great pride and also a bit of sadness. These kind of changes make things different. We are never the same. We are never the same. This is how it works with transitions in life. We change. We move forward. Here is some good news. This is precisely at the heart of Christian experience. Jesus changes us. We are never the same. With God in our lives we constantly move forward. Things change. We are never the same. So as we pray for our seniors and their families we do so with confidence that God is in the midst of the transitions and they will never be the same -- just better. Embrace the changes Christ is working in your lives as you walk in faith, hope, love and trust. You will never be the same. blessings, steve