We had 31 people at last Friday’s family movie event: 19 kids and 12 adults. The above picture seems to have miraculously captured a moment when all the kids were still.
Graveside Service for Harry Brighton
There will be a graveside service for Harry Brighton, formerly a member of First United Methodist Church, on Monday, October 1, 2012 at the Veterans Memorial Patio in Fairview Cemetery.
Voice of the Day: C. S. Lewis
“The rule for us all is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him [or her].”
— C. S. Lewis
This is a very Wesleyan sentiment. But John Wesley would hasten to add that we can find ourselves loving him or her only because of the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
Hat tip: Sojourners
Keep Calm and Carry On
Wikipedia provides a good introduction to the original World War II Era Keep Calm and Carry on poster:
“Keep Calm and Carry On was a propaganda poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 during the beginning of the Second World War, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of a Nazi invasion of Britain.”
At the time, invasion looked imminent and unescapable as Nazi Germany had already swept through Europe. When the expected invasion came, it would be important that the people of the United Kingdom not panic and continue to behave productively, or more poetically, that they “keep calm and carry on.” The idea was that the posters would be publically posted after the invasion started. The invasion never came, and thus the posters were long forgotten until one was rediscovered in a used book store. I’ve liked the poster ever since I read about it at the Barter Books website and ordered two reproductions (one of which is hanging in room 102).
The original poster has a symbolic representation of the crown of the queen of England. I’ve substituted a crown of thorns for our purposes as a reminder that our King is the King of Kings, who rose on the third day as the first fruits of God’s new creation and thus we have every reason to “keep calm and carry on.”
For promotional purposes, we’re having some T-shirts made with the altered poster design on the back and the church logo on the front (pocket sized). If you want one drop me a line at john@revcollins.com. If you want to make a donation to help defray the cost, $10 is suggested.
Funeral Service for Charley Hayes
A Service of Death and Resurrection for Charley Hayes will be held Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 10 am in the sanctuary. Visitation will be tomorrow at the funeral home formerly known as Penwell-Gabel from 9 am to 8 pm, with the family present from 6 pm to 8 pm.
Sunday's Sermon
This coming Sunday (September 30, 2012) I’ll be preaching on Psalm 22 and Matthew 27.45-54 (the Matthew passage quotes the Psalm). The working sermon title is “Not Buying It” and for those of you who are fans of The Princess Bride, there will be a reference, perhaps even a clip.
Meeting Notes: Vision Team
The Vision Team met tonight. The first item for discussion was a request Jenny received from one of our clergy colleagues who is working on his D.Min. He is studying the role of silence in the Christian life. He requested that we incorporate periods of silence into meetings and worship and let him know how it was received. The committee was agreed that this would be difficult to accomplish during the Sunday morning services, but then another possibility arose. It’s long been my experience that people not only appreciate my prayers with them during a visit but that they also appreciate the promise of being put on the church’s prayer list. The problem is that, aside from the Monday Morning Prayer Breakfast, we don’t have a time set aside for corporate prayer for those on the list. For this reason, as well as others, I’ve long felt the need for a midweek prayer service. So it was decided to start a Wednesday Evening Prayer Service. The chapel will be open from 5:30 to 7:30pm every Wednesday evening during October and everyone is welcome to come and go as they please, but there will be a brief, somewhat organized service from approximately 6:15 to 6:30pm. In that fifteen minutes, we will have a call to worship, a scripture reading, a time for sharing joys and concerns, a reading of the prayer list, and a time of silent prayer followed by the Lord’s Prayer. As a bonus, this service should prove much more conducive to the three minutes of silence that our colleague has requested that we experiment with than the Sunday morning service. This service will very much be a work in progress and changes may be made from week to week. If all goes well, it will be continued after October.
The second item of business was the approval of a new design for T-shirts about which there will be a separate post. Turning to the third item of business, the team affirmed that we will again be having Trunk-or-Treat this year. Please let Jenny or me know if you’re willing to volunteer and lend a hand. We also learned that Lannings is again willing to cater the Great Thanksgiving Dinner and that information will be relayed to the Finance Committee.
Family Fun Event Update
Because we haven’t yet received The Penniless Princess, we’ll be screening Lyle the Kindly Viking this Friday.
Here are the details:
A Family Fun event has been scheduled for Friday, September 28, 2012 at 6 pm in the Fellowship Hall downstairs at the church. Children on their own are welcome, but their parents are also invited as we’re combining a meal (pizza) and a movie. We’ll be screening the VeggieTales video Lyle the Kindly Viking.
We’ll have coloring sheets for those who arrive early or want to stay late. This is a free event, everyone is invited, and you’re encouraged to bring friends. Feel free to bring sleeping bags, camp chairs, and whatever else you need to get comfortable.
Evaluating the Healing Service
Yesterday we held our first healing service during our appointment here to Coffeyville First. I would love to have some feedback. You can talk to me in person or drop me a line at john@revcollins.com.
No, We Won't Be Holding Hands
We’ll be having a healing service tomorrow (Sunday, September 23, 2012). And to answer one of the concerned questions I received: no, we will not be holding hands. This also won’t be a Benny Hinn “miracle crusade,” nor will Jenny or I be kicking anyone in the face. Instead, this is a calm, somewhat meditative based in those found in The United Methodist Book of Worship (never a repository for radical Pentecostalism) that addresses more than just our physical maladies. As The Book of Worship puts it:
“A Service of Healing is not necessarily a service of curing, but it provides an atmosphere in which healing can happen. The greatest healing of all is the reunion or reconciliation of a human being with God. When this happens, physical healing sometimes occurs, mental and emotional balance is often restored, spiritual health is enhanced, and relationships are healed.”
The entire service is firmly grounded in the scriptural witness of such passages as James 5.14-16. Hope to see you there.
Family Fun Event Reminder
I’m reposting the following as a reminder:
A Family Fun event has been scheduled for Friday, September 28, 2012 at 6 pm in the Fellowship Hall downstairs at the church. Children on their own are welcome, but their parents are also invited as we’re combining a meal (pizza) and a movie. We’ll be screening the VeggieTales video The Penniless Princess.
We’ll have coloring sheets for those who arrive early or want to stay late. This is a free event, everyone is invited, and you’re encouraged to bring friends. Feel free to bring sleeping bags, camp chairs, and whatever else you need to get comfortable.
Celebration of Episcopal Assignment
The Great Plains Episcopal Area will celebrate the assignment of Bishop Scott Jones to the new Great Plains Episcopal Area (which includes all of Kansas and Nebraska) with a worship service on Saturday, September 29 at 10:30am at St. Mark’s UMC in Lincoln, Nebraska. The good news is you don’t have to make the trip to participate. This event will be streamed online at greatplainsumc.org.