Month: May 2008

I’m a little late with the announcement, but, as if you needed any additional reasons to attend worship tomorrow, both Kenedi Redden and Bennett Thompson will be baptized at the 10:50 service tomorrow.

From N.T. Wright in his “blogalogue” with the agnostic Biblical scholar Bart Ehrman:

“I once heard Rowan Williams suggest that it might actually be immoral to try to ‘solve’ the problem of evil, because as soon as you say, ‘There, look, that makes it all right, doesn’t it?’ you have radically belittled the problem, blinding yourself to the real, powerful and radical nature of evil.”

*The problem of evil might best be summarized as follows: God is omnipotent (all-powerful and all-knowing), God is omnibenevolent (completely good), and yet evil exists. How can these three be true at the same time? The particular problem of evil I’m currently struggling with the most is: God is omnipotent and omnibenevolent and yet my daughter has Type 1 diabetes.

We just got word that Travis Walker has been selected to receive a matching award through the 2008 United Methodist Dollars for Scholars program. Through this program, First UMC sends $1,000 in to the United Methodist Foundation (which we already have done). Since Travis will be attending Iliff School of Theology in the fall, which is a Triple Your Dollars institution, Travis’s total Dollars for Scholars Scholarship for the 2008-2009 school year will be $3,000.

This post has to do with the inner workings of this blog. Blogger is now offering “Scheduled Post Publishing” which allows me to write a post at one point in time and schedule it to be published here at another point in time.

Many times I’ve encountered several nonurgent matters I want to post about on one day (often within the hour) and then nothing for several days in a row. I’ve tried to save those different matters for posting at a later date on my own, but I tend to lose track of where I read something, or forget what I was going to say.

This new feature (“Scheduled Post Publishing”) allows me to spread these posts out and better ensure that something new will be up every day when you check in. In fact this particular post was one I wrote yesterday.

UMCOR has begun responding to the cyclonic disaster in Myanmar (Burma) by working through Church World Service. You can read about the response here. If you feel moved to contribute you can read how here. If you put your gift in the plate this Sunday marked “UMCOR Advance No. 3019674” we’ll be happy to forward it. As the website says,

“We’re [UMCOR] 100% efficient. Every dollar you give to this emergency will provide humanitarian relief and recovery only for this emergency. That’s because gifts to the One Great Hour of Sharing offering covers UMCOR’s costs to administer your gifts.”

Jenny and I really enjoyed Youth Sunday and many of you have told us that you feel the same. If you haven’t told the youth, I would encourage you to do so. Thanks for all your support of our youth.

We’ll be offering official congratulations to graduates the Sunday after next (May 18). If you know of a graduate who didn’t make it on the list in the bulletin or newsletter please call the church office or email Linda at linda@coffeyvillefirstumc.org.

The organ will be tuned Thursday, Friday, and maybe Saturday. I’ll be working from home because of the noise. It doesn’t sound anywhere near as good when it’s being tuned as it does on Sunday morning.

The Wednesday Gathering will be on Hiatus from now until June 11, 2008.

I feel that I could have written this. The difficulties of tending to both the established vines and planting a new vineyard at the same time.

Via God’s Politics:

“And thus I understood that any man or woman who deliberately chooses God in this life, out of love, may be sure that he or she is loved without end. This endless love produces grace in them. For God wants us to hold trustfully to his: that we be as certain, in home, of the bliss of heaven while we are here as we will be, in fact, when we are there. And always the more delight and joy we take in this certainty, with reverence and meekness, the better it pleases God.”

—Julian of Norwich

This Wednesday’s Gathering will be a meditative Taizé service. I’ll be working on arranging child care and I’ll let you know.