Wesley House at Kansas State University is looking for a Building and Grounds Manager. This position would be responsible for routine maintenance, groundskeeping, and ongoing care of Wesley’s dorm. Successful applicants will have a background in general maintenance and upkeep inside and out, a positive attitude, and a wholistic approach to care for the facility. This is a year-round position, up to 15 hours per week, paying $15 per hour. To apply, submit a resume and cover letter to 1001 Sunset Ave, or email to Kstatewesley@gmail.com.
Volunteer Day at Ogden Friendship House
College Avenue UMC will have an Intergenerational Volunteer Day at Ogden Friendship House of Hope on Thursday, July 21, 2022 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Those who want to carpool or ride the shuttle bus can meet at the church at 12:30 p.m. All ages are encouraged to join in this service project.
All Day Zooming
I won’t be in the office at all today because I’m working from home, attending an all-day (9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) Zoom meeting of the Conference Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry. I’m inclined to complain about this, but as a clergy person, my “church membership” is in the Great Plains Annual Conference. That means my serving on this committee is equivalent to the many meetings that you all attend for College Avenue UMC. So I’m going to suck it up and do my best.
Worship — Sunday, July 17, 2022
Here’s a link to the original video: https://youtu.be/9ghN-fA9q9U
Looking for a previous service? Here’s the College Avenue United Methodist Church YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/caumcMHK
Youth Group Mission Trip
The CAUMC youth will be headed to Memphis, Tennessee on July 24-29, 2022 for their Mission Trip. Partnering with Street Reach Ministries, the youth and their sponsors will be ministering to neighborhood children by running Bible Club in the mornings. Afternoons will see the youth doing service projects throughout the community.
Zoom Meeting Place
College Avenue UMC is now offering a recurring Zoom meeting place on our website. Feel free to jump on and meet 24 hours a day. Please contact the church office at 785-539-4191 or pastor John at 620-252-9622 with any questions, or if you have trouble accessing the site.
Link: https://bit.ly/3AOWXnf
Worship — Sunday, July 10, 2022
Here’s a link to the original video: https://youtu.be/GIwJa7fSGI4
Looking for a previous service? Here’s the College Avenue United Methodist Church YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/caumcMHK
Voices: Kierkegaard
In my “witness” this morning I mentioned the importance of Soren Kierkegaard in my faith journey. He wrote one of my favorite prayers. I find often find myself praying this prayer when I’ve worked myself into a frenzy over my inability to successfully think through a theological issue or challenge.
Here it is:
“Teach me, O God, not to torture myself, not to make a martyr out of myself through stifling reflection, but rather teach me to breathe deeply in faith.” 1
Amen and Amen.
1 Soren Kierkegaard, The Prayers of Kierkegaard, ed. Perry D. LeFevre (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1956), Kindle, 36.
Of Family Reunions and Churches
Yesterday, Jenny, Liz, and I went down to Council Grove for the Taylor Cousin reunion. (Taylor being the last name of my great-grandparents on my Mom’s side.) I had even more fun than expected hanging out with people I often had very little in common with aside from those two common ancestors. It got me thinking about individual congregations—or as we often rightly call them, church families. We don’t need to have a lot in common for God to bind us together into a joyful community. I’m fortunate to have been born into the Taylor clan. I’m happy and honored to be part of the College Avenue UMC community.
Is the UMC Really…? (Part 1)
An excellent, rumor-debunking article from United Methodist Communications.
Link: https://bit.ly/3c1RHTa
Church Office Closed Tomorrow
A gentle reminder that the church office will be closed tomorrow (Friday July 8, 2022).
The Apostle’s Creed: “Credo”
When we recited the Apostles’ Creed last week, you may have noticed that the words “I believe” were nowhere to be found. The reason for that is that we’re using an updated translation that translated the original Latin word “credo” of the creed as “I commit myself,” “I set my heart upon,” and “I place my trust in.”
The best concise explanation I can find for this change comes from church historian Diana Butler Bass:
“To believe” in Latin (the shaping language for much of Western theological thought) is opinor, opinari, meaning “opinion,” which was not typically a religious word. Instead, Latin used credo, “I set my heart upon” or “I give my loyalty to,” as the word to describe religious “believing,” that is, “faith.” In medieval English, the concept of credo was translated as “believe,” meaning roughly the same thing as its German cousin belieben, “to prize, treasure, or hold dear,” which comes from the root word Liebe, “love.” Thus, in early English, to “believe” was to “belove” something or someone as an act or trust or loyalty. [1]
[1] Diana Butler Bass, Christianity after Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2013), Kindle, 117.