Thoughts and Musings from My Faith Journey
There was an intermittent* high-pitched sound not unlike the early phase of a feedback cycle during worship morning. I just wanted you to know that we’re aware of it and we’re working on it. Thanks for your patience.
*A big part of the problem is that it’s intermittent. We haven’t managed to reproduce the noise outside of worship when we could better troubleshoot it.
The Judicial Council (the United Methodist version of the Supreme Court) has ruled that the consecration of self-avowed practicing homosexual is contrary to church law. The ruling was long and complicated, but you can learn more about it here. You can also read the response of Great Plains Bishop Saenz here. I’m still processing, so I don’t yet have that much to add except that I’m disappointed, but not surprised.
Links: www.umc.org/news-and-media/consecration-of-gay-bishop-against-church-law and
www.greatplainsumc.org/newsdetail/bishop-saenz-issues-statement-on-judicial-council-ruling-8112539
A friendly reminder that there will be an all-church potluck dinner this Sunday (April 30, 2017) following the 10:30 a.m. worship service.
So far this year Abilene First United Methodist Church has given a total of $2,401.37 to UMCOR (The United Methodist Committee on Relief). Thank you for your generosity!
You can learn more about UMCOR here: http://www.umcor.org/
Jared Thomas Vinduska was born this afternoon at 3:12 p.m. He was 9 pounds 8 ounces and 19.25 inches long. Jared is the son of Jeremy Jason and Kristina (Krissy) Vinduska. He’ll be baptized soon, but don’t get too excited. Krissy has ruled out immersion.
A note about the correction: In my defense (for naming Jared’s uncle as his dad), Jeremy was in the room (and Jason was not) when I got in to see Jared. That said, please don’t tell Krissy about my mistake.
I’m working on a sermon based on John 20:19-31, which is the story commonly known as “Doubting Thomas.” I looked up “Doubt” in Beyond Words and was once again struck by Frederick Buechner’s way with words. I know that this is the third day I’ve quoted him, but this is really worth sharing. I promise that I won’t have any mention of him here tomorrow.
Whether your faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don’t have any doubts, you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.— Frederick Buechner 1
In what ways have your doubts kept your faith awake and moving?
1 Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004), 85.
Another day, another succinct definition from Frederick Buechner:
Compassion is the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it’s like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. — Frederick Buechner 1
1 Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004), 65.
From Frederick Buechner’s twitter feed:
A Christian is one who is on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, and who has at least some dim and half-baked idea of whom to thank. — Frederick Buechner 1
1 Frederick Buechner. Twitter post, August 24, 2016, 12:13 p.m., https://twitter.com/Fred_Buechner.
From Julie Mayden:
Abilene First UMC will again provide camp scholarships to all children of the church attending a United Methodist Camp. As has been the practice in the past, the church will pay one-half of the camp registration fee. Simply email julie@abilenefirstumc.org or bring in proof of camp registration to the church office and the church will reimburse you. You can learn more about the United Methodist Camps from brochures available in the narthex or by visiting http://www.greatplainsumc.org/camps. Contact the church office at 785-263-2623 or email Julie at the above email address for more information about the scholarships.
Christianity Today has an article titled “From Mao to Moses” on Chinese artist He Qi, whose work we often feature on the screens and bulletins in worship.
Link: https://goo.gl/bRqSg6
From Rachel Held Evans:
One of the most destructive mistakes we Christians make is to prioritize shared beliefs over shared relationship, which is deeply ironic considering we worship a God who would rather die than lose relationship with us. — Rachel Held Evans 1
The above quote reminds me of Abilene First United Methodist Church, where I’ve witnessed deep, profound relationships across diverse sets of beliefs. We are not unified by a set of identical beliefs, we’re unified by our love for God and each other.
1 “My Parents,” Rachel Held Evans, accessed April 19, 2017, https://rachelheldevans.com/blog/my-parents-faith-doubt.
In light of our proximity to Easter Sunday, it seems appropriate to share the following:
Resurrection and forgiveness belong together. Both are the direct result of the victory won on the cross, because the victory won on the cross was won by dealing with sin and hence with death. Resurrection is the result of death’s defeat; forgiveness, the result of sin’s defeat. Those who learn to forgive discover that they are not only offering healing to others. They are receiving it in themselves. Resurrection is happening inside them. The wrong done to them is not permitted to twist their lives out of shape. Forgiveness isn’t weakness. It was and is a great strength. — N. T. Wright 1
“Forgiveness isn’t weakness. It was and is a great strength.” May God grant you the grace and the courage to be strong.
1 N. T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2016), 386.