Dear Christian friends of Woodville UMC,
This will be my last column written as your pastor. This week, I am attending the annual meeting of Texas Conference Methodists in Houston. During this conference, as happens every year, our Bishop will formally make the appointments that have already been announced in the churches. For several years running, I have been reappointed to Woodville but now after 5 years as pastor of Woodville UMC, the Lord is sending me to a new place for ministry. This Sunday, June 6th, will be our last Sunday in worship with you as your pastoral family. The very next Sunday, I'll be preaching at Westbury UMC in Houston. We go with joy, anticipation and obedience to God's call but with a deep love and gratitude in our hearts for you.
The apostle Paul did this several times in his ministry. Although not who we would call a local church pastor, he did begin, shepherd, and mentor many churches and did itinerate and move around like we Methodist preachers. He was clear as Methodists are today that the church is the people, you, who live, work and serve in your community. We pastors are pilgrims passing through. While feeling every bit a part of this community and fully engaged here, we are much like the Levite priests of the Old Testament who do not take up residence on particular plots, so to speak, but serve the people and rely on your generosity. You have been exceedingly generous with us!
What has meant as much to me as anything else has been your generosity with my family. Bethany, Addie and Samuel have had beginnings here in their lives and their ministry with me. Addie and Samuel were baptized here. Woodville UMC and Tyler County will hold a special place in our hearts because of these beginnings and the way you welcomed and included us with such grace.
Bryan, Carol, Rachel and Brayton Harkness will of course be saying goodbye to Klein UMC on the 6th and hello to you on the 13th as well. One of the unique things about the Methodist way is the continuity of pastoral leadership that it provides. Most all the time, churches do not go without a pastor. Even as difficult as it can be emotionally to say goodbye and hello so quickly between pastors, there is also such a great continuity of leadership and care that provides stability and confidence for the church. I'm grateful for that.
Grateful is what I feel most of all. I share with the apostle Paul his words to the church at Philippi. "I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the Gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the One who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ."
To the past and present staff and lay leadership of Woodville UMC, I am thankful for the ministry we have shared together and for our friendships. To all the people of the church, I thank you for sharing your life and faith with me, for the privileged moments we have shared, for the way you have sharpened my own faith and grown me as a pastor. You have been patient, kind, gracious, affirming and bold. I have already spent much time in prayer over each of you by name and your families and will continue to hold you close in love.
Bryan and Carol are very excited to be coming to Woodville and I know you will welcome them in the same fine way you welcomed us. Your attentiveness to the Lord's work through him will be so vital to your continued growth as God's people in Tyler County.Bethany, Addie, Samuel and I love you and always will. Hold us in your prayers when you think of us and do the same for your new pastor and his family. They are coming to a great church. Continue to Embrace your Heritage, continue to Build your Future, with God's leading. May God bless you and keep you Woodville United Methodist Church from this day onward and forevermore.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Goodbyes and Hellos
Bethany and I want to thank the Young at Heart Sunday School Class for hosting our farewell reception last Sunday afternoon. It was a delightful informal occasion that allowed us the opportunity to share some more lengthy conversation with some of you than we would have otherwise. Your generous love offering and your notes wishing us well, will be treasured for a life time. We can't thank you enough for your extraordinary grace and affirmation of our ministry together. Know that I hold you in my prayers, giving thanks to God for the ministry we have shared, and praying God's blessings upon your ministry in the future. Bryan Harkness' first Sunday here will be June 13th. I encourage you to come that day to worship with Bryan, his wife Carol, and his children Rachel and Brayton. Your support for their beginnings in ministry are just as important as the affirmations you have given us in our endings.
We have two more Sundays to share in worship with you. Our last Sunday with you is June 6th. I hope to see all of you both Sundays or at least one of them so that we can say goodbye to each other. I know that our paths will cross with some of you because of the interconnectedness of the Methodist church and simply the highways and byways of life. Even though sad, I know there are others of you we'll never see again in this life. The joy for me is our common love for God and common love for His church. Your best gift to the world is your love for His church and its mission. One day, we will see one another again, in this life or the next.
My mind has been attracted to poetry lately, I suppose because poets can often give voice to life's realities in unique ways. I've removed this short piece from a long Robert Frost poem entitled, "1916 Mountain Interval, In the Home Stretch." This poem is about many things, but it centers around a person who is moving from one house to the next.
"You're searching, Joe,For things that don't exist; I mean beginnings.Ends and beginnings-there are no such things.There are only middles."
This time in your lives and ours feel like an ending and a beginning all at once. For us, it is the ending of our ministry in Woodville and the beginning of a new one in Houston. For you it is the ending of a pastoral relationship and personal relationship perhaps with me and my family, and the beginning of a new one with the Harkness family. Maybe though, in God, who is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, it is all middle, as the poem says. It is most suredly a place of change and transition with very real goodbyes and hellos, but it is also one place along an eternal journey that has its beginning and ending with God. Thank you for sharing with us in the middle of this eternal journey.
We have two more Sundays to share in worship with you. Our last Sunday with you is June 6th. I hope to see all of you both Sundays or at least one of them so that we can say goodbye to each other. I know that our paths will cross with some of you because of the interconnectedness of the Methodist church and simply the highways and byways of life. Even though sad, I know there are others of you we'll never see again in this life. The joy for me is our common love for God and common love for His church. Your best gift to the world is your love for His church and its mission. One day, we will see one another again, in this life or the next.
My mind has been attracted to poetry lately, I suppose because poets can often give voice to life's realities in unique ways. I've removed this short piece from a long Robert Frost poem entitled, "1916 Mountain Interval, In the Home Stretch." This poem is about many things, but it centers around a person who is moving from one house to the next.
"You're searching, Joe,For things that don't exist; I mean beginnings.Ends and beginnings-there are no such things.There are only middles."
This time in your lives and ours feel like an ending and a beginning all at once. For us, it is the ending of our ministry in Woodville and the beginning of a new one in Houston. For you it is the ending of a pastoral relationship and personal relationship perhaps with me and my family, and the beginning of a new one with the Harkness family. Maybe though, in God, who is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, it is all middle, as the poem says. It is most suredly a place of change and transition with very real goodbyes and hellos, but it is also one place along an eternal journey that has its beginning and ending with God. Thank you for sharing with us in the middle of this eternal journey.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Seasons of Life
This Sunday, May 16th, we honor high school graduates who are connected with our church. This year, we honor six graduates from Woodville High School, including two exchange students who have spent the year with us. Please note some information about them in this newsletter. I strongly encourage you to be present in worship to praise God for this achievement in their lives and to pray God's blessings on them in the next step in life's journey.
Life is a series of passages. We are born, as Eugene Peterson says, "into a world we did not create, into a life we did not earn" but God graces us with blessings. Along the way, we encounter great joy and great struggle. Sometimes the joys carry us for a long while and sometimes the struggles consume us. Children grow into an awareness of an abstract world, discovering fears and experiencing rejections. They also can learn what it is to love and be loved. Every day, learning of all kinds are taking place. As they pass into young adulthood, they can experience a big, wide, complicated world of victories and defeats, betrayals and acceptance, and hopefully grace along the way. Adulthood is spent working, raising a family perhaps, trying to make a difference, readying oneself for retirement. Older adulthood comes and it's almost as though the life cycle starts over. We begin and often end this life needing the care of others. Life's ultimate passage happens in the form of physical death, when we pass into that unseen life.
Some do not make every season. Sometimes life is cut short. Sometimes we are so consumed with the struggles that it's not death that cuts short life but defeat and fear.
One of my favorite quotes from a saint of the church comes from Iraneus, many centuries ago. "The glory of God is a man fully alive." Are you alive today? Are you really alive? God is looking for people who are full of the Spirit, seeking His grace, searching for opportunities to serve, in good season and bad.
The great Christian hope is that through the various seasons of life, the grace of Jesus Christ is abundant and available for us, not only to survive but to thrive in this life in service as a disciple of Christ.
Join us Sunday as we celebrate the life passage of these high school graduates from this step to the next step. Let's begin praying now that they won't just "make it" in life's journey but that they'll be found by God to be "fully alive" in Him.
Life is a series of passages. We are born, as Eugene Peterson says, "into a world we did not create, into a life we did not earn" but God graces us with blessings. Along the way, we encounter great joy and great struggle. Sometimes the joys carry us for a long while and sometimes the struggles consume us. Children grow into an awareness of an abstract world, discovering fears and experiencing rejections. They also can learn what it is to love and be loved. Every day, learning of all kinds are taking place. As they pass into young adulthood, they can experience a big, wide, complicated world of victories and defeats, betrayals and acceptance, and hopefully grace along the way. Adulthood is spent working, raising a family perhaps, trying to make a difference, readying oneself for retirement. Older adulthood comes and it's almost as though the life cycle starts over. We begin and often end this life needing the care of others. Life's ultimate passage happens in the form of physical death, when we pass into that unseen life.
Some do not make every season. Sometimes life is cut short. Sometimes we are so consumed with the struggles that it's not death that cuts short life but defeat and fear.
One of my favorite quotes from a saint of the church comes from Iraneus, many centuries ago. "The glory of God is a man fully alive." Are you alive today? Are you really alive? God is looking for people who are full of the Spirit, seeking His grace, searching for opportunities to serve, in good season and bad.
The great Christian hope is that through the various seasons of life, the grace of Jesus Christ is abundant and available for us, not only to survive but to thrive in this life in service as a disciple of Christ.
Join us Sunday as we celebrate the life passage of these high school graduates from this step to the next step. Let's begin praying now that they won't just "make it" in life's journey but that they'll be found by God to be "fully alive" in Him.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Reflections on Discipleship University at Woodville UMC
Discipleship University has been a great joy and enriching experience for me this semester. Since January, a combined group of 15-20 have been reading and discussing challenging Christian books that probe theological issues, and ask what it is to be a growing Christian disciple. We are currently reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book Life Together, exploring what it means to live in Christian community. Let me lift up a few quotable insights from that book for your thoughts and prayers this week.
"He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial." Bonhoeffer is encouraging us to not be overly idealistic in our view of Christian community but rather let it be a place where we can be vulnerable with each other, take away the facades that seperate us, and truly be together.
"Only he who gives thanks for little things receives the big things...How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?" I think of where the Lord's Prayer leads us to pray not for a grand feast or a life time supply of our favorite meal but for "daily bread."
"Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day as God pleases." This is a good reminder that it is God who grows us as a church.
Finally, Bonhoeffer writes about the uplifting experiences we have in Christian community and the blessing of that, but he cautions that "we do not live with other Christians for the sake of acquiring them (experiences)." It is not the experience of Christian brotherhood, but solid and certain faith in brotherhood that holds us together...We are bound together by faith, not by experience."
Here Bonhoeffer returns us to the New Testament and reminds us that what the church is, is the Body of Christ. We are formed and held together in Christ and through Christ, and it is our common faith in Him that holds us together, not a string of inspirational experiences alone, but our unity in Christ.
What a good word for all of us.
"He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial." Bonhoeffer is encouraging us to not be overly idealistic in our view of Christian community but rather let it be a place where we can be vulnerable with each other, take away the facades that seperate us, and truly be together.
"Only he who gives thanks for little things receives the big things...How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?" I think of where the Lord's Prayer leads us to pray not for a grand feast or a life time supply of our favorite meal but for "daily bread."
"Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day as God pleases." This is a good reminder that it is God who grows us as a church.
Finally, Bonhoeffer writes about the uplifting experiences we have in Christian community and the blessing of that, but he cautions that "we do not live with other Christians for the sake of acquiring them (experiences)." It is not the experience of Christian brotherhood, but solid and certain faith in brotherhood that holds us together...We are bound together by faith, not by experience."
Here Bonhoeffer returns us to the New Testament and reminds us that what the church is, is the Body of Christ. We are formed and held together in Christ and through Christ, and it is our common faith in Him that holds us together, not a string of inspirational experiences alone, but our unity in Christ.
What a good word for all of us.
The Easter Season
We are enjoying worship with you these days as we celebrate the Easter season. You may or may not know that after Easter Sunday, the Easter season continues through until Pentecost Sunday later in May. Celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a year-round, life long joy and this season focuses us on that great victory of God.
In these next few weeks, the school year will close and many of you will be off to travel, vacations, camps, and everything else that summer brings. As you do that, I hope you will make a few things a priority. First, be present to welcome your new pastor, Bryan Harkness and his family. Their first Sunday will be June 13th. Second, take note of all the summer ministry happening at Woodville UMC and shape your family calendar with those dates for camps and Vacation Bible School in mind. Finally, be sure to continue your financial committments to the church. Your giving to general ministry of the church is most important. It is what allows us to have great Sunday school curriculum for adults, children and youth. That giving allows us to give to world-wide missions that support methodist universities, scholarships for young people, and help for the needy. Your giving makes a difference, whether it's keeping the lights bright and the air cool this summer at church or if its sending a child to camp. Your faithful giving is vitally important for us to continue to grow in being disciples and making disciples of Jesus Christ.
While secondary to your general offering, your giving toward Wesley Center's building progress is also important. We are projecting 8-10 weeks for completion of Wesley Center, which means that in all likelihood, that place will be buzzing with activity in a matter of time. Thanks in advance for your faithfulness to welcome the Harkness', your participation in ministry and your giving commitments. Please know that I continue to pray for you and for the ministry of Woodville UMC now and in the future. I share these words from Paul's letter to the Colossians for your reflection this week.
"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." - Colossians 1: 10-14
In these next few weeks, the school year will close and many of you will be off to travel, vacations, camps, and everything else that summer brings. As you do that, I hope you will make a few things a priority. First, be present to welcome your new pastor, Bryan Harkness and his family. Their first Sunday will be June 13th. Second, take note of all the summer ministry happening at Woodville UMC and shape your family calendar with those dates for camps and Vacation Bible School in mind. Finally, be sure to continue your financial committments to the church. Your giving to general ministry of the church is most important. It is what allows us to have great Sunday school curriculum for adults, children and youth. That giving allows us to give to world-wide missions that support methodist universities, scholarships for young people, and help for the needy. Your giving makes a difference, whether it's keeping the lights bright and the air cool this summer at church or if its sending a child to camp. Your faithful giving is vitally important for us to continue to grow in being disciples and making disciples of Jesus Christ.
While secondary to your general offering, your giving toward Wesley Center's building progress is also important. We are projecting 8-10 weeks for completion of Wesley Center, which means that in all likelihood, that place will be buzzing with activity in a matter of time. Thanks in advance for your faithfulness to welcome the Harkness', your participation in ministry and your giving commitments. Please know that I continue to pray for you and for the ministry of Woodville UMC now and in the future. I share these words from Paul's letter to the Colossians for your reflection this week.
"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." - Colossians 1: 10-14
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Heritage Sunday
What a glorious Easter season and celebration we have shared together! Our worship attendance has been sky high for three Sundays in a row. We have been close to 200 two of those Sundays and close to 300 on Easter, as you'll see below. Sharon Dominy and I looked back at our records and find that our Easter crowd was the largest Easter attendance in almost 20 years! Truly the Lord is doing a powerful work among us.
I am so thrilled at the continuity of ministry that I trust Bryan Harkness will bring to Woodville. Our lay leadership met him and his wife Carol last weekend. Bryan is a passionate Christian, a good listener and an experienced pastor. He will bring strong and capable leadership to Woodville. He and Carol are impressed with the visionary leadership of our lay leaders and are looking forward to coming to a small community. As you have read, they have two small children, one who will enter kindergarten this Fall here and another who will begin in our Wee Wisdom pre-school. Join me in praying for Bryan, Carol, Rachel and Brayton and their ministry in Woodville come June.
This Sunday, April 18th, we will celebrate our annual Heritage Sunday. Every year, Woodville UMC gives an award to an outstanding lay person for Christian service. This person is selected by ballot among our Church Council. This year, we will also award an honorary Heritage Award. You won't want to miss this celebration as well as the passionate worship we'll give to God together. After worship, we'll enjoy a Covered Dish lunch to honor our receipients and to share in time of Christian fellowship and community.
I am so thrilled at the continuity of ministry that I trust Bryan Harkness will bring to Woodville. Our lay leadership met him and his wife Carol last weekend. Bryan is a passionate Christian, a good listener and an experienced pastor. He will bring strong and capable leadership to Woodville. He and Carol are impressed with the visionary leadership of our lay leaders and are looking forward to coming to a small community. As you have read, they have two small children, one who will enter kindergarten this Fall here and another who will begin in our Wee Wisdom pre-school. Join me in praying for Bryan, Carol, Rachel and Brayton and their ministry in Woodville come June.
This Sunday, April 18th, we will celebrate our annual Heritage Sunday. Every year, Woodville UMC gives an award to an outstanding lay person for Christian service. This person is selected by ballot among our Church Council. This year, we will also award an honorary Heritage Award. You won't want to miss this celebration as well as the passionate worship we'll give to God together. After worship, we'll enjoy a Covered Dish lunch to honor our receipients and to share in time of Christian fellowship and community.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
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.
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.
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