Month: October 2018

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Little Free Pantry

Last Sunday I encouraged you to bring items to restock the Little Free Pantry this coming Sunday (November 11, 2018). A few needs: canned fruit, canned vegetables, canned soup, and canned meat; cereal, breakfast, and granola bars; macaroni and cheese, ramen, spaghetti (and sauce); peanut butter and jelly, crackers (especially saltine crackers—they’re good for putting peanut butter and jelly on); add water only pancake mix and syrup; and fruit snacks.

A few final encouragements: ask yourself if you would eat what you are bringing and remember that the Little Free Pantry is, well, little.

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Voices: We Must Take Sides

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. — Elie Wiesel [1]

As Christians, we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; we worship a Jewish Messiah; we seek to live in the same Holy Spirit that spoke through Isaiah, Jeremiah and the other Jewish prophets of old. At it’s best, our faith is completely incompatible with anti-semitism. Sometimes we must interfere. In the face of the recent rise in anti-semitism, we must take sides, we must speak up.

[1] Elie Wiesel in his December 10, 1986, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech. Found in Elie Wiesel, Night, translated by Marion Wiesel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006) Kindle.

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Funeral Service for Jerry Sleichter

There will be a funeral service for Jerry Sleichter tomorrow (Monday, October 29, 2018) at 2:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary. Visitation is today (Sunday, October 28, 2018) at Danner Funeral Home from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

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Judicial Council on the One Church Plan

Below is a statement posted on facebook yesterday [Friday, October 26, 2018] by Mainstream UMC. Information and elaborations contained in [brackets] are my additions for clarification.

The Judicial Council just released Decision 1366. It is very good news for the One Church Plan [the moderate plan] and devastating news for the Traditional Plan. Since the Connectional Conference Plan acknowledged the need up front for 8 constitutional amendments, the Judicial Council did not review it.

In short, the JC [Judicial Council] ruled only 3 minor provisions of the One Church Plan to be unconstitutional. But it ruled 7 of the 17 petitions of the Traditional Plan unconstitutional as well as 4 other provisions. It will take further review to see if the Traditional Plan can be revived by its supporters.

You can read the full decision on our website here (pro tip, you get the gist in the first 4 pages): https://mainstreamumc.com/…/10/JCD-1366-Docket-No1018-12.pdf [1]

An official, Great Plains Conference explanation of the three plans can be found here, or feel free to contact Jenny and me (John) with questions.

Here is the report from United Methodist news service, which includes the detail that the decision was unanimous.

[1] Mainstream UMC. Facebook post, October 26, 2018, 11:37 a.m., https://bit.ly/2RoWIFR.

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The Biblical Story in a Nutshell

This Sunday, I (John) will be preaching on John 3:1-17 with a particular focus on the familiar sixteenth verse. However, I’ll be doing this within the context of retelling the entire biblical narrative. Don’t worry though, I practiced this sermon on my mom, and it only went for 20 minutes.

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Voices: The Story of Jesus

I am a Christian because the story of Jesus is still the story I’m willing to risk being wrong about. — Rachel Held Evans [1]

[1] Rachel Held Evans, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again (Nashville, Tennesee: Thomas Nelson, 2018), Kindle, 164.

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Voices: All Shall Be Well

In the first published book written in English by a woman, Julian of Norwich recorded sixteen mystical visions. The book was published in 1395 when the world was no less a stranger to evil, sin, suffering, and death than it is now. And yet, from Christ, she had these words of comfort:

‘It is true that sin is cause of all this suffering, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.’ [1]

Evil, sin, and death are real and life is hard, but God is good, and in the end, all shall be well.

[1] Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, trans. Barry Windeatt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), chap. 27, Kindle.

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The Baptism of Trace Larson

I have been remiss in announcing the Baptism of Trace Jackson Larson, son of Shauni and Brady Larson, on July 22, 2018, at the 10:30 service. It was a delight to welcome Trace (and his mom) into membership at First United Methodist Church.

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In the Same Church

My friend and colleague, David Livingston recently wrote a blog post titled “The Power of And.” That got me thinking about the United Methodist Church in general and Abilene First UMC in particular.

You often hear something along the lines of: “we disagree, but we can be in the same church.” As I shared yesterday, I think it would be better if we said: “we disagree, and we should be in the same church.

I make this assertion because I firmly believe that in the church, God, through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, is working reunify humanity. As Paul wrote in Galatians 3:38: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” To have people of different persuasions and opinions sitting side by side in the same pew is one of the reasons God created the church. Here at Abilene First UMC, we’re doing that, let’s keep doing it.

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Fall Family Fun Event

The annual Fall Family Fun Event is today (Sunday, October 21, 2018) at 4:00 p.m. in Brown’s Park. Everyone is invited for hot dogs, s’mores, chips, games, pumpkin decorating, apple and doughnut bobbin’, a hayrack rides and lots of fun!  Families are encouraged to bring a side dish to share.

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Voices: Putting Away Childish Things

When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. — C. S. Lewis [1]

I think back to this quote every time I want to revisit The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

[1] C. S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories (New York: HarperOne, an Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2017), Kindle, 38.