Transitions

Dear friends,
By now, many of you know that I have received a new appointment effective June 7th of this year. Our bishop has appointed me to serve as Senior Pastor of Westbury United Methodist Church in Houston. While Bethany and I are genuinely excited about what God has in store for us, our hearts are heavy. It is a bitter sweet time for us because of the great love we have for you.
When Bethany and I arrived here 5 years ago, we had been married just 7 months. Now, we have two children who have been baptized here and loved by you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for loving me and loving my family in the way you have. This kind of love only comes from God, shared through His people. The people of Woodville UMC are a blessed people and we are blessed to have shared with you in ministry these years. We will always treasure our time here and will anticipate the good work that God will continue to do among you. You are strong. God's church here is strong and has a bright future!
In terms of future, our District Superintendent also announced last Sunday, when he was with us, that your new pastor come June will be the Rev. Bryan Harkness. Bryan is an associate pastor at Klein UMC in north Houston. Klein is a large church where Bryan has done great work and given tremendous leadership. Before that, he served small churches in the Tyler area. Bryan and his wife Carol have two children, Rachel, who will enter kindergarten in Woodville this Fall, and Brayton who is 3 years old.
Bryan had a brief first career in the community mental health field, living and working in Liberty County for seven years and then working at the Denton State School for 3 years before entering seminary. He is an Aggie and then a graduate of Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. Bryan brings a warm heart, a passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a good deal of experience to what will be his new ministry here in Woodville.
While we spend these last months together, let's talk and share memories and nurture our friendships, because those will never go away. Let's also pray for the Harkness family and their new ministry with you. It is a time of transition for all of us and yet our never changing God remains faithful and true to guide, strengthen and build His church.
I look forward to sharing in Holy Week services with you this week and focusing ourselves on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Palm Sunday and Holy Week

This Sunday March 28th, we celebrate Jesus' final entry into the grand city of Jerusalem. Our children's choir will sing and we will all wave palm branches just as the people did two thousands of years ago when they welcomed Jesus that first palm day. The story is recorded in all four Gospels (Matthew 21: 1-11; Mark 11: 1-11; Luke 19: 28-40; John 12: 12-19).
Palm Sunday begins what is called Holy Week or Passion Week. The earliest Christians remembered Jesus' final days with devotion, reverence and worship. We will have worship on Maundy Thursday (remembering the Last Supper with His disciples and Jesus' commandment to celebrate it), and Good Friday (remembering His death on the cross). I've said it many times but it's worth repeating, your Easter experience will not be what it can be without experiencing these holy days.
This year the annual Dogwood Festival here in Tyler County falls on this Good Friday and Easter weekend. It did a couple of years ago as well. Some of you have commitments of involvement in various activities surrounding this great festival that we enjoy. Let me suggest a way in and through it all to focus on Jesus next week.
Enjoy Dogwood as always. Enjoy the Springtime, it's God's reminder of new life. He designed creation this way. We'll hope for good springtime weather but whether its' rain or shine, dogwoods blooming yet or not, God will have His way with this world and resurrection will come. It came in Jesus Christ and it can for you too!
Pray daily. Pray for resurrection in your life. Walk with Jesus, worship on Sunday, Thursday, Friday and Easter. Fast. If your health allows, join me and others in fasting on Maundy Thursday. When you wake up on Thursday morning, abstain from breakfast and lunch, drink water and then come to Thursday service. The first taste on your tongue will be the bread and juice of the Lord's Supper. After worship, go enjoy a filling supper.
Finallly, I encourage you to spend time in God's Word. Read a different version of the palm passage I gave above, choosing to read one Gospel each day perhaps. Let the Spirit reveal insight and wisdom to you.
It is a joy and privledge to share this Lenten journey with you and our Lord.

This Sunday

This Sunday we welcome two special groups to our worship service. We are celebrating "Scouting Ministry" Sunday. We have some very active girl scouts in our church and a couple of boy scouts. They are encouraged to wear their uniforms. If any of you were an Eagle Scout, you're encouraged to wear your Eagle Scout tie pin. Scouting is a life-changing ministry for young people that teaches leadership, character, team work and skills for life. I am Eagle Scout along with my brother and Dad and count those memories as some of the best of my growing up years. I look forward to the day when I can share that experience with my son Samuel.
The second group coming are our Wee Wisdom children. Your school is thriving! With the direction of our board, chaired by Melissa Castillo, and the leadership of our pre-school director, Mary Nell Rainey, our school is doing great. Their enrollment is full with many already pre-registered for the Fall. They are financially strong because of this strong enrollment and with the support of generous people like many of you. The board is providing good fiscal stewardship as well.
Central to it all, we are being faithful to our mission, to provide "a quality pre-school education in a Christian environment" with an emphasis on the social development of the child and their preparation for kindergarten. We have an excellent teaching staff and involved parents who are very supportive. No doubt, several of our children will not be in worship because many of them will worship with their families in their home church. However, the ones who come will sing the songs we've sung during our Wednesday Chapel Services and we'll enjoy welcoming them and their families to our church.
Make an effort to celebrate with us this Sunday in these ways and walk the Lenten journey together to Easter. I promise that if you do that, your Easter celebration will be all the more meaningful.

The Lenten journey

I pray that your Lenten journey is transforming you by God's grace this year. Remember that the Christian life is not about trying to be somebody we're not, it's about becoming more fully who God intended us to be in the first place. Be firm and intentional about your spiritual disciplines but be gentle and humble too. If we hold those seeming opposites together, I believe we'll find where God meets. Our Lenten disciplines are not meant to make us heroic but more like Christ. If you have tried some practices and failed, offer that to God too and begin again. If you haven't undertaken spiritual disciplines this season, it's not too late to commit. Name a time of day to pray, if health allows, fast, be regular in your worship attendance and your giving, participate in our Lenten mission - Health Kits, read the Scriptures faithfully, use a devotional. My prayers are with you in whatever your choices have been.
I want to shift briefly to lift up where we are in the "Embrace our Heritage, Build Our Future" Capital Campaign. The year 2010 began the second of our three year pledge committments. The first year was very fruitful in that pledges fulfilled totaled where we needed to be at the end of year one. I encourage you to continue that faithfulness to your pledge. If you did not make a pledge at that time, you can always make a pledge now and give to the construction of the Wesley Center. It is coming along very well and we look forward to experiencing mission and ministry in that space.
Always remember that our pledges to the Capital Campaign, are "above and beyond" giving. They are gifts given in addition to our regular giving to the ministry of the church. We have many ongoing ministries that continue to make a grace-filled difference in the lives of children, youth and adults. Our ministries are growing and need our support to remain strong. By giving, we are "embracing our heritage and building our future" together in ministry. To God be the glory!

Open Table

I want to celebrate a new ministry with you in the area of missions. Second Friday lunch is a new ministry with the poor in Tyler County. Elizabeth Adkisson, our missions chair, began to feel the call of God to serve a hot meal to folks who need it, and to build relationships. We are beginning this on a trial basis on Friday, March 12th and doing it once monthly through May. At that point, we'll evaluate the program.
As Elizabeth shared her vision with others, she invited prayer. We prayed about it during our Wednesday night prayer time. She solicited input from others and finally came to the Church Council for their discussion and approval. They unanimously approved this new mission.
Second Friday Lunch is a mundane name but a helpful one that communicates clearly what is being offered and when. The spiritual concept here is an open table. The open table captures the heart of Methodist Christianity. It refers to our belief about the Sacrament of Holy Communion as a holy meal, open to all who seek Christ. It conveys our belief that all people are welcome in the church. It also goes further by saying that we too need the grace of God offered at the table. Our servers will be eating with our guests. This meal will be holy and sacred because it comes out of a heart of love for God's people.
When you survey the Gospels, Jesus spent a great deal of his time sharing meals at a table with many. Think about Zaccheus. Jesus called Zaccheus out of the tree and went to his house. I know that they shared a meal there. Think about the Emmaus experience after the resurrection. The disciples didn't recognize Jesus at first but they invited the unknown traveler for a meal. And "they knew him in the breaking of the bread." They recognized him as they shared a meal at the table with him. We trust that we'll not only provide a service but that we will indeed encounter Christ himself at the Second Friday Lunch open table at Woodville UMC. Please continue to pray for this ministry.