Monday, November 23, 2009
Confirmation video
Woodville UMC welcomed 6 youth into the family of faith this Sunday! Check out this confirmation video we showed in worship. It's about 7 minutes long and captures a bit of their journey this Fall. www.woodvilleumc.com
Giving thanks in all times
Give thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Ephesians 5:20
I want to share with you a Thanksgiving reflection here from the writings of Dr. Leonard Sweet, professor of preaching.
Back during the dark economic days of 1929, a group of ministers in the Northeast, all graduates of the Boston School of Theology, gathered to discuss how they should conduct their Thanksgiving Sunday services. Things were about as bad as they could get, with no sign of relief. The bread lines were depressingly long, the stock market had plummeted, and the term Great Depression seemed an apt description for the mood of the country. The ministers thought they should only lightly touch upon the subject of Thanksgiving in deference to the human misery all about them. After all, there wasn't much to be thankful for. But it was Dr. William L. Stiger, pastor of a large congregation in the city that rallied the group. This was not the time, he suggested, to give mere passing mention to Thanksgiving, just the opposite. This was the time for the nation to get matters in perspective and thank God for blessings always present, but perhaps suppressed due to intense hardship.
I suggest to you the ministers struck upon something. The most intense moments of thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when difficulties abound. Think of the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. Half their number dead, men without a country, but still there was thanksgiving to God. Their gratitude was not for something but in something. Their gratitude was rooted not in what they had but in who they were and in who God is. It was that same sense of gratitude that lead Abraham Lincoln to formally establish the first Thanksgiving Day in the midst of national civil war, when the butcher’s list of casualties seemed to have no end and the very nation struggled for survival.
Perhaps in your own life, right now, there is intense hardship. You are experiencing your own personal Great Depression. Why should you be thankful this day?
Dr. Leonard Sweet suggests three things. Reflect on these with me.
1. We must learn to be thankful or we become bitter.
2. We must learn to be thankful or we will become discouraged.
3. We must learn to be thankful or we will grow arrogant and self-satisfied.
Woodville UMC brothers and sisters, Christian disciples are grateful people yes because of blessings like family, friends, and community. However not everyone shares these blessings. Not everyone has a table with plenty of food this week. Many have an empty chair at their Thanksgiving table this week which used to hold a loved one who is gone. So we are a grateful people because Jesus says "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for rigtheousness, for they will be filled." What we have and what we lack is not the measure of our being a blessed people. We are a blessed people when we seek after Christ. We are blessed because we have been created by God, chosen in baptism and yearned after by the Holy Spirit.
Bethany and I count each of you a blessing. God bless your Thanksgiving!
I want to share with you a Thanksgiving reflection here from the writings of Dr. Leonard Sweet, professor of preaching.
Back during the dark economic days of 1929, a group of ministers in the Northeast, all graduates of the Boston School of Theology, gathered to discuss how they should conduct their Thanksgiving Sunday services. Things were about as bad as they could get, with no sign of relief. The bread lines were depressingly long, the stock market had plummeted, and the term Great Depression seemed an apt description for the mood of the country. The ministers thought they should only lightly touch upon the subject of Thanksgiving in deference to the human misery all about them. After all, there wasn't much to be thankful for. But it was Dr. William L. Stiger, pastor of a large congregation in the city that rallied the group. This was not the time, he suggested, to give mere passing mention to Thanksgiving, just the opposite. This was the time for the nation to get matters in perspective and thank God for blessings always present, but perhaps suppressed due to intense hardship.
I suggest to you the ministers struck upon something. The most intense moments of thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when difficulties abound. Think of the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. Half their number dead, men without a country, but still there was thanksgiving to God. Their gratitude was not for something but in something. Their gratitude was rooted not in what they had but in who they were and in who God is. It was that same sense of gratitude that lead Abraham Lincoln to formally establish the first Thanksgiving Day in the midst of national civil war, when the butcher’s list of casualties seemed to have no end and the very nation struggled for survival.
Perhaps in your own life, right now, there is intense hardship. You are experiencing your own personal Great Depression. Why should you be thankful this day?
Dr. Leonard Sweet suggests three things. Reflect on these with me.
1. We must learn to be thankful or we become bitter.
2. We must learn to be thankful or we will become discouraged.
3. We must learn to be thankful or we will grow arrogant and self-satisfied.
Woodville UMC brothers and sisters, Christian disciples are grateful people yes because of blessings like family, friends, and community. However not everyone shares these blessings. Not everyone has a table with plenty of food this week. Many have an empty chair at their Thanksgiving table this week which used to hold a loved one who is gone. So we are a grateful people because Jesus says "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for rigtheousness, for they will be filled." What we have and what we lack is not the measure of our being a blessed people. We are a blessed people when we seek after Christ. We are blessed because we have been created by God, chosen in baptism and yearned after by the Holy Spirit.
Bethany and I count each of you a blessing. God bless your Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Confirmation Sunday
This Sunday, November 22nd we will welcome and celebrate new Christians and members of Woodville United Methodist Church. In the United Methodist tradition we take part in something called confirmation. Seven youth have been engaged in confirmation now for 10 weeks. We have learned together about who God in Jesus Christ is, what the Holy Spirit is about, the sacraments of the church (Baptism and Holy Communion) and living a life of discipleship. Of course confirmation represents not an end but a beginning of a life of learning and living with God. It has been a privilege to share in this journey with them.
In confirmation we affirm the good work that God has already begun in each of these persons, the grace that has been at work during their life-times and the new work that God is now doing in them. This Sunday they will have the opportunity to repent of sin, make a public profession of faith in Christ and become full members of Woodville United Methodist Church. Please join me in intentional prayer this week for the following young people –
Dustin Ivey
Haley Wesley
Michael Zhang
Anna Pate
Dylan Hampton
B.J. Hutto
Levi Watts
We owe our thanks and gratitude also to the mentors who have prayed for these young people. They are Doug Libby, Lacey Villa, Jerry Wilson, Amanda Boyd, Ronnie Brown, Clay Hart and Russ Nalley.
This Sunday’s worship will include special music and different elements to worship to focus us on praising God for the commitment these young people are making. It will also be an opportunity for you and me to renew our faith and rededicate our lives to Christ and His church.
In confirmation we affirm the good work that God has already begun in each of these persons, the grace that has been at work during their life-times and the new work that God is now doing in them. This Sunday they will have the opportunity to repent of sin, make a public profession of faith in Christ and become full members of Woodville United Methodist Church. Please join me in intentional prayer this week for the following young people –
Dustin Ivey
Haley Wesley
Michael Zhang
Anna Pate
Dylan Hampton
B.J. Hutto
Levi Watts
We owe our thanks and gratitude also to the mentors who have prayed for these young people. They are Doug Libby, Lacey Villa, Jerry Wilson, Amanda Boyd, Ronnie Brown, Clay Hart and Russ Nalley.
This Sunday’s worship will include special music and different elements to worship to focus us on praising God for the commitment these young people are making. It will also be an opportunity for you and me to renew our faith and rededicate our lives to Christ and His church.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Disciple: Being One, Making One
I hope you have been challenged and inspired by the sermon focus this Fall on Discipleship. We have called it, Disciple: Being One, Making One. We talked last Sunday about how a disciple of Jesus Christ is one who has been transformed and is being transformed by God's grace. This Sunday we will turn to what it means to make a disciple. This is one that we have the hardest time with. Please read Matthew 28: 16-20 this week. In it, Jesus makes clear to the first disciples and to we present day disciples, that making disciples is our business. Being Biblical Christians means taking seriously this, which is known as "The Great Commission."
Before we are overwhelmed with that responsibility, Jesus reminds us in that passage that he is with us, not just now or tomorrow or this year but "to the end of the age," meaning until Christ comes again.
I have a book on my desk I am reading a little at a time called "Making Disciples - One conversation at a time." In it, the author Michael Henderson emphasizes one key thing among others - relationship. Trusted relationships with the people in our lives and building trusted relationships with new people, is the beginning of disciple-making. Of course we remember all the time that while we make disciples, we continue to be formed as disciples ourselves.
I'm grateful to share the journey of discipleship with you.
Before we are overwhelmed with that responsibility, Jesus reminds us in that passage that he is with us, not just now or tomorrow or this year but "to the end of the age," meaning until Christ comes again.
I have a book on my desk I am reading a little at a time called "Making Disciples - One conversation at a time." In it, the author Michael Henderson emphasizes one key thing among others - relationship. Trusted relationships with the people in our lives and building trusted relationships with new people, is the beginning of disciple-making. Of course we remember all the time that while we make disciples, we continue to be formed as disciples ourselves.
I'm grateful to share the journey of discipleship with you.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Offer them Christ
Dear friends, it's a thrilling time to be a part of the Woodville UMC family. This week the construction of the Wesley Center has taken great leaps forward. If you have driven by the church, you'll see that there is frame up, rafters are being set in place and later this week, walls will begin to be filled in. The expectation is that if rain stays away for a couple of weeks, we will have a "dried in" building by Thanksgiving. The inside work is what will take longest. The workers will spend Winter and Spring getting the inside ready for use. As of now we don't have a target completion time but we look forward to the ministry and mission that will happen in that space.
Now is as a great time as any to invite someone to church. Bring them to worship with you, invite their children and youth to participate in Sunday school and Sunday night youth time. Every Sunday night at youth we average 18-25 youth. We have 7 in our confirmation class, several of whom will be confirmed November 22nd.
Most of all, let's be diligent in our prayer for the ministry that God can do through us. Wesley Center is but a vehicle, an instrument, a space for ministry for the glory of God. It will be a beautiful structure that will tie in to our church campus magnificently. That in itself is a testament to our faith. However we are most passionate about what will occupy that space, the lives that will be changed in that space because of their encounter with God, the joy, the fellowship, the worship, the mission that will happen, all because we are making room for it. That's really what this is about.
As we grow together in Christ, let's invite others to grow with us. Keep your "evangelism antenna" up. Offer them Christ through experiencing this community of faith we call Woodville UMC.
Now is as a great time as any to invite someone to church. Bring them to worship with you, invite their children and youth to participate in Sunday school and Sunday night youth time. Every Sunday night at youth we average 18-25 youth. We have 7 in our confirmation class, several of whom will be confirmed November 22nd.
Most of all, let's be diligent in our prayer for the ministry that God can do through us. Wesley Center is but a vehicle, an instrument, a space for ministry for the glory of God. It will be a beautiful structure that will tie in to our church campus magnificently. That in itself is a testament to our faith. However we are most passionate about what will occupy that space, the lives that will be changed in that space because of their encounter with God, the joy, the fellowship, the worship, the mission that will happen, all because we are making room for it. That's really what this is about.
As we grow together in Christ, let's invite others to grow with us. Keep your "evangelism antenna" up. Offer them Christ through experiencing this community of faith we call Woodville UMC.
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