Reflections From Sunday Evening

We enter the Advent season and realize that during these next few weeks we are likely to have a number of people visit church. We may not think much about it but with an influx of new people dynamics change. This makes me ask three questions. (And a few more to go with them.) 1. To whom do we speak? Do we speak primarily to long time church members? Do we speak primarily to committed Christians? Do we speak primarily to nominal Christians? Do we speak primarily to skeptics? Do we speak primarily to seekers? This is not an exhaustive list but it may get us thinking. 2. To whom do we want to speak? Is there another group of people we long to reach? Is there an age group that is missing we seek to reach? Do we really want to speak primarily to people like us? 3. To whom will we speak? This is a loaded question. It will cause us to ask a number of other questions. What are we speaking? What does our architecture say about us? What do the songs we sing say about us? What does the message imply? I hope to spend some time in the coming months talking about these questions and many others. This is a great time in the Church Year. I pray we be ready, willing and able to speak to new people God brings our way. Its been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve

Reflections From Sunday Evening

This past week Baby Boomers and Builder Generation people spent time reflecting on where we were and what we were doing when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. November 22, 1963 was certainly a significant day in American history. For those of us who lived in that time we remember watching the events unfold on television. One of the iconic images that continues is that of John Kennedy saluting his father's casket. The world was on edge. It was a very difficult time in our history. There were other things that happened on November 22, 1963. Perhaps you read the story in the Kansas City Star this week about the queen of the auto show and that the decision was made to go ahead with their program. Maybe you remember that a number of college football games were cancelled that day, however Oklahoma and Nebraska did play that weekend. In a controversial decision then commission of the NFL, Pete Rozelle, had the games played on that Sunday. There were some other events. My wife Cindy's grandmother died on November 22, 1963. There were two other notable deaths on that day. The author and intellectual Aldous Huxley died that day. C.S. Lewis, the great Christian thinker and author also died on November 22, 1963. It seems interesting to me that huge events do not cause the seemly endless series of "normal" events to cease. Might I put that in a Christian context. We may have "big" events or experiences in the Christian life but that does not negate the significance of the hundreds of moments of grace that we continually live. A grand moment takes place that effects thousands of people and at the same time a child is influenced by a Sunday School teacher. Some big event takes place and a person with very limited financial means gives to make a difference in another life. I pray we never see anything like the death of a sitting president. I also pray we never lose sight of the many, many small moments of grace that truly change lives. On another note... Have a very blessed Thanksgiving Day. I hope you have time with family and friends. I hope you eat just enough! I trust you will allow your heart to overflow with thanksgiving. It's been a good day. (I know the Chiefs lost but of greater significance Baker U. won their first playoff game since 1993 and moves into the national quarterfinals next week. But I digress.) It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve

Reflections From Sunday Evenin

Last week I noted that following the capital campaign was a good time to take a few days off. During the past couple of weeks I have been in the office a few times, done a couple of days in meetings and officiated at a funeral service for a friend's family member. Cindy and I have also taken the opportunity to visit a couple of churches these past two Sunday's. It is good to find people gathering to worship in United Methodist Churches in the area. I have heard good preaching. I have experienced meaningful worship. I have been able to join with others in worship. It is my observation that churches are very aware of new people potentially being in their midst. Churches "say" things that note the possibility of visitors being present. Some take further steps to make new people be welcome and find their way. Another observation is that churches are difficult to navigate. In a mega-church it is clearer where people are going. The coffee shop is obvious. The restrooms are well marked. It is clear that a particular door(s)leads to the worship space. Churches like ours are not as clear. A person tends to need a basic understanding of where they are going and what they are looking for. People are great. What to do once you show up is not as clear. Hopefully I can gain some learning from the past couple of weeks. One thing I note is that we do a very good job with hospitality -- and we have opportunities to do even better. There are times when we need people in the parking lot giving direction to those coming at high traffic times. We will make it even clearer where to go when a person steps out of the car and heads to our building for the first time. Once inside I love our people! I would rather be in worship at PWUMC than anywhere. (I am biased but wouldn't you hope I would be!) We will continue to strive to provide an experience that is relevant, meaningful and compelling. It is a joy to serve with you and work with our staff and leadership to offer Christ to our world. It's been a good day (so far). I hope you've had a good day too. -- Now for a couple of other things. Chiefs - Broncos. My heart says Chiefs, Chiefs, Chiefs!!! but...at Denver - Peyton Manning. Enjoy the game and see what happens. On a much more significant note - Baker University finished their season with a 10-1 record and will head to the N.A.I.A. playoffs next week. I got to see their game yesterday. There is not quite as much hype over small college football but the kids show up and play. They seem to have a good time. The games take about 2 and 1/2 hours (instead of the 3-4 when TV is involved). All in all it is a good experience. It makes me ready to come back for more. Well...that is what we seek to create in church. A great experience and something that people want to come back for more. steve

Reflections From Sunday Evening

I have been told that when a pastor completes work with a capital campaign they should take some time off. For one of the few times in my life I have taken that sort of good advice! Following several months of active involvement where the people of PWUMC pledged over 7 million dollars and have contributed 2.1 million to date, it is a good time to step back and re-charge. Last week Cindy and I took a few days and got away. That was good. Today Cindy and I met Bobby and Leslie and Andrea and Billy at Church of the Resurrection and went to church together. The worship was good, Adam Hamilton's message was great but being together in worship was best of all. After brunch together it is home for an afternoon with no responsibilities. Nice. I've been reading a book comparing and contrasting the thought of John Wesley and John Calvin. (This is what preachers do for fun.) There are many similarities but also significant differences. As I read these two great church leaders I see the basic difference lying in Calvin's tremendously astute insights into theology and Wesley's practical theology. Calvin explains things very logically. Wesley puts theology into practice. Wesley would have us live the faith. These are the two primary theological schools of thought in our culture today. (at least I choose to think so.) This new Calvinism seems to be embraced by a larger number of people, in particular younger Christians. This makes me want to do a better job of sharing and living the gospel in our Wesleyan context. So this is what I've been doing the last few days. It is not merely thinking about theology. In rest and restoration we find ways to live our faith. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Today we took a look at some passages in the Book of Nehemiah. Specifically Nehemiah 10:32 and 10:35. There is a phrase in the beginning of those verses that sets the stage for understanding the way the people approached the life of faith. "We assume the responsibility..." A governing principle in the Old Testament is assuming responsibility. This is grounded in commandments, or the Law, rules and regulations. If you read through the passage you find the practical way they fulfill this. They pay a Temple Tax. So the principle is "assuming responsibility", grounded in the Law and lived out by paying the Temple Tax. Here is a New Testament way of approaching life. The governing principle could be "invitation to participation." The invitation is grounded in grace. We live the faith in communion, or relationship with Jesus Christ. Invitation to participate in the life of grace does not negate assuming responsibility. It merely puts responsibility in a different perspective. Grace offers a way to the Lord that succeeds where law fails. Communion beats taxes! You are invited to the life of grace. You are invited to participate in the life of grace. On another note...We announced our current amount pledged to the HOME campaign. When I left church today we stood at $7,001,000. That is amazing! I am certainly looking forward to what God will do with this strong willingness to give and move into our future. We have been working on this campaign in earnest since July. It is well worth the effort. Cindy and I are going to take a couple of days off and get geared up for the next step. It's been a good day. (How 'bout them Chiefs!) I hope you've had a good day too. steve

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Baptism. We use water. That little guy Pastor Curtis baptized today had a look on his face like "what are you doing?" I really like it that way. When a person identifies with Jesus Christ and the Church water is involved. I think it is good to use plenty of water. We really do not practice "dry cleaning." The Church is different from other organizations. Civic clubs have dues and/or fund raisers. Civic clubs and community organizations provide services to communities. They clearly make a positive contribution to the world. You might offer an application and an initial contribution and you are in. The Church is different. Oh, we contribute to the communities where we serve. We do so many good things it is impossible to remember them all. But our initiation process is different. We come to the church and somebody pours a boat load of water on your babies head. We might have you kneel in front of the church and we will douse you with water than falls over your head and onto your shoulders. We might even take you somewhere and half drown you in a pool of water. What do we make of all this? Baptism. It is the sign of a covenant. God makes a covenant with people. God provides you with forgiveness for all your sins and then treats you like you had never done anything to offend Him. God gives you His Spirit to empower your love, witness and service. God promises to be with you in all things at all times and in all ways. God gives everything we could hope for to live an abundant life of grace and eternal life as well. In return God calls for us to believe in him. It is not believe in just the right way. It is an expectation that we believe in God. We find our faith best located in Jesus Christ. So there is your part. Believe and baptism becomes the sign of a covenant God establishes. We witnessed God's part today. We do so fairly regularly in our church. People come and find themselves covered with the waters of baptism. We are people of promise. I pray you discover the joy of living in the promises of God. I pray you discover the joy of living on the blessings of God. I pray you experience the joy of being in a covenant relationship with the Lord. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Ebenezer! It could be simply Scrooge's first name. I suppose someone might actually name a child Ebenezer. It could be the name of a town. Actually there is an unincorporated community in Green County Missouri, six miles north of Springfield that is named Ebenezer. There is even a church there. The Ebenezer United Methodist Church worships there. But today I had another emphasis on "Ebenezer." When we sang "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" we sang verse two..."Here I raise mine Ebenezer..." Some of us have been singing that hymn most of our lives. Did you ever stop and wonder "what is an Ebenezer?" Take a moment and look up I Samuel 7:12. Now that you have done that...you know Ebenezer is basically a pile of rocks. But the meaning is significant. "Stone of help" sounds good. In the Bible story the Ebenezer stone reminded the people of the fact that "thus far the Lord has helped us." So today we did a little activity in church. There were all these dusty, dirty pond rocks placed all over the communion rail. We talked about issue number two in our HAUNTED series. It is a fact that there are people haunted by "guilt." Something was said or done in your past and every once in a while it pops back into your mind. People carry around guilt that they need not carry. But I am doing my message again. Suffice it to say it is not satisfactory to merely suppress guilt. We need our guilt removed. That brings us to a couple of "good news" ideas. Isaiah 6:7; "...your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." Dare to believe that as a child of God's, in relationship with Jesus Christ your guilt is taken away. Going back to the dusty stones on our communion rail today. We sang "Come, Thou Fount" and invited people to come and take a stone. A trade was offered. Leave your guilt and receive God's grace. I trust many experienced a really good deal today. I would always give up my guilt in favor of God's grace. It's been a good day. I trust you've had a good day too. steve