I wish I had been able to share this yesterday, but it just popped into my inbox this morning:
“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” — W. T. Purkiser
Hat Tip: Sojourners
Graveside Service for Norma Dalton
Graveside services for Norma Dalton will be held at 2 pm on Thursday, December 4, 2014 at the Union (Livingston) Cemetery north of Abilene. I (John) will be officiating.
Funeral Service for Gary Vincent
A Service of Death and Resurrection for Gary Vincent will be held Friday, November 28, 2014 at 10:00 am in the Sanctuary of First United Methodist Church. Interment will follow at the Abilene City Cemetery. Jenny and I will preside.
Advent Sermon Series: The Road to Christmas
Jenny and I are going to try something new this year: an Advent sermon series on the passages of Luke leading up to the birth of Jesus. In these passages, Luke lays the groundwork for understanding the significance of Jesus. We plan to split the passages up as follows:
- First Sunday of Advent: Luke 1.5-25*
(The birth of John the Baptist foretold.) - Second Sunday of Advent: Luke 1.26-38
(The birth of Jesus foretold.) - Third Sunday of Advent: Luke 1.39-56
(Mary visits Elizabeth.) - Fourth Sunday of Advent: Luke 1.57-80
(The birth of John the baptist.)
We hope you’ll be able to join us for the entire series.
*The first four verses are not part of the story, but rather serve as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke, itself.
Church Office Closed for Thanksgiving
The church office will be closed on Thursday, November 27, 2014 and Friday, November 28, 2014 to celebrate Thanksgiving. In addition, there will be no Wonderful Wednesday activities on November 26, 2014.
Why Bother to be Good?
Last week in Sunday School, I was asked one of the perennial questions of the Christian faith. It was asked in good faith by someone who very much wanted me to be able to give an answer. I did my best at the time, but I got to thinking that it is a question that deserves a well-considered answer. To that end, I am trying to be both comprehensive and brief in my answer.
The question: If salvation is by grace through faith why bother to be a good person? Different Christian traditions have different responses to this question. What I’m about to give is not a Lutheran, Calvinist, or Roman Catholic response, but a Wesleyan (United Methodist) response. A Wesleyan response works better with a Wesleyan question, so to put the question in Wesleyan language, why should we attend to the means of grace (works of mercy such as feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and other good deeds; and works of piety such as prayer, reading the Bible, attending worship)?
Answer: Before we turn to God, God is reaching out to us through the Holy Spirit with the grace that enables faith.* Through faith we have the relationship with God (sometimes called the love of God) that is our salvation (which begins in the here and now of this life and continues throughout all eternity). Like any relationship, our salvation has to be attended to. We attend to our relationship with God not to earn our salvation, but to continue to experience it. God tends to the relationship by granting us grace through the Holy Spirit. We tend to that relationship with God by attending to the means of grace (works of mercy and works of piety). When we tend to our relationship with God, we are not earning our salvation by works, because the ability to tend to our relationship with God is itself an unearned, unmerited gift from God.
Attending to the means of grace strengthens both the relationship to God that is our salvation and the faith we have that makes it (the relationship) possible. God, whose very nature is perfect love, never fails to attend to that relationship. Unlike God, we (who have all fallen into sin) sometimes/often/almost-always fail to attend to the relationship.
When we fail to attend to our relationship with God, that relationship (the relationship that is salvation) atrophies and falters even though God’s love for us never fails. If we neglect the relationship long enough, it and our faith cease to exist. However, if and when we turn back, God welcomes us with open arms.
To put the matter as succintly as I can: our relationship with God is never static. We’re either moving closer to God or further away from God. We attend to the means of grace (we bother to be good people) in order to move closer to and grow more deeply in love with God and thus more fully experience our salvation.
*The technical Wesleyan term for grace at this point is prevenient grace, meaning the grace that goes before and reaches out to us when we haven’t yet turned to God.
Hanging of the Greens 2014
Please join us following the 8:15 Worship Service on November 30, 2014 for the “Hanging of the Greens.” We will be adorning the church with the signs and symbols of Advent and Christmas.
Wreaths Are In
The wreathes and other greenery sold by the youth are in and available for pick up from the church office. In case you’ve forgotten whether or not you already paid for your order, you’ve paid for it. Thank you for your generous support of our youth.
Pray for Alco Employees and Their Families
Please keep Alco employees and their families in your prayers. Today’s news is the hardest in a long string of blows.
The High School Musical: High School Musical
Please allow me to take a moment of personal privilege and put in a plug for the Abilene High School production of “High School Musical.” The name drives me to distraction, but it promises to be a great production.
There are three shows: Thursday, November 20, 2014 at 7 pm; Saturday, November 22 at 7 pm; and Sunday, November 23 at 3 pm. Tickets are $8. Reserved tickets are available at the AHS Office or the office of Dr. Jeffry Luty.
I can’t tell you the names of all the youth from First UMC that are in it. But I can tell you that Jordan Luty and Mary Graefe of our Youth Praise Team are on the publicity posters.
More on 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18
I think things went fairly well with this morning’s sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18 and our discussion of the rapture. Most of what I read in preparation for today’s sermon was offline, but I did find a few online references for those of you who would like to read more. The first place I read a traditional, non-rapture explanation was here in this article by N. T. Wright.
There is a good introduction to the Greek word apantesis (translated “meet” in 1 Thessalonians 4.17 of The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) here.
I’m still looking for a good link for parousia which is translated “coming” by the NRSV in 1 Thessalonians 4.15. However, I found the following definition by Alexander Scouter to be accurate, widely used and in the public domain: “in ordinary Greek = presence, arrival; also, technical term with reference to the visit of a king or some other official, a royal visit.”
Links:
http://goo.gl/EIgf5j
http://goo.gl/PLZGgd
Meeting Notes: Finance Committee
The Finance Committee met Tuesday, November 4, 2014. Overall the financial condition of the church is about where it usually is this time of year: fair to middling.
A preliminary budget for 2015 was approved. This was done with the understanding that changes will have to be made as information from the upcoming 2015 stewardship campaign (Consecration Sunday will be November 23) and the 2014 end-of-year finance report become available.
Members also signed a resolution to set up a special account at Pinnacle Bank for receiving online donations. This will be done through a company endorsed by the United Methodist General Committee on Finance and Administration.