The View from the Pulpit – 7/6/10
July 6, 2010 by Gary Carter
Filed under View From The Pulpit
Dear Church Family:
Grace and Peace to you all as we begin another year together. What? A new year? You may be wondering if the Pastor got a little too close to those “rockets bursting in air.” No. It did get a little loud in our neighborhood but nothing that would make me lose my mind. It’s just that United Methodist’s are a little strange. We celebrate not only a new calendar year but also a new liturgical year and a new appointive year. One begins on January 1st. The second begins on the First Sunday of Advent. In Missouri, the third begins on July 1st.
I just remembered that we’ll be celebrating another New Year in August when schools begin another academic year. Do you have other “years” you celebrate? Isn’t it great to have all these opportunities to start new?
We celebrate God’s gift of new beginnings every Sunday morning when a new week begins. We gather to recalibrate our vision and priorities in order to keep them in line with our Master’s creative vision. That’s one of the reasons worship is so important for us as Disciples of Christ. Gathering together to praise, pray, listen, and respond to God’s Word to us helps us stay on The Way.
I thank God for the faithful who have committed to being members of this group of Christians called United Methodist in Kennett. I thank God for their faithfulness and fortitude and energy that remembers God’s call upon them.
We celebrated remembering this week as we gathered around God’s table to be filled once again by the body of Christ and the new covenant of forgiveness that offers new life – new beginnings – new hope. We prayed for all our friends who were off celebrating the memory and promise of a new country. And we worshiped the One who gave those who began it the vision and courage to begin something new.
In Christ’s Love….Gary
What’s Happening This Week?
Tues. 6:00pm – “Whispers of Hope” meets in Nursery II
6:30pm – “Led by Thread” meets in the Parlor
7:00pm – “Hour of Prayer” in the Sanctuary
7:30pm – “A Service of Healing & Anointing” in the Sanctuary
Wed. 9:30am – “Ladies Prayer & Share Bible Study” meets in the Parlor
Church Campers
It is time for 1st UMC Kennett to join invasion of Blue Mountain United Methodist Camp and Retreat Center near Fredericktown. This week six will attend “Wilderness Camp”; Shelby Johnson, Joelle Siebenhuener, Elise Siebenguener, Alison Lynn, Kayton Harris, & Hadley Hilburn are swimming, fishing, cooking, eating, and sleeping God. Please keep them in your prayers.
Thanks Again
Dianne and I just want to thank you again for the Welcome Back Dinner on June 27th. It was great.
A Letter from our District Superintendent; “David’s Harp”
In March moving companies across Missouri and the surrounding states – Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois – start getting inquiries from pastors preparing to move the last week in June. As one moving company noted to an inquiry – ‘you’re a part of that church where all the pastors move on the same day!’ The last two days of June were filled with many moves including several in the Southeast District. The first day of the 2010-2011 Appointive Year for United Methodist pastors in Missouri is July 1. We WELCOME pastors to new appointments:
–Benton: Virgil Bunch, a retired Associate member of our conference, will share ministry.
–Essex-Parma: This is a new charge alignment. Roy Sherfield, Local Pastor, who has been serving at Essex for five years, will lead this new charge.
–First: Chaffee/Grace: Rockview J. Michael Davis, Elder, retired at annual conference after serving at Milan/Green City in the Mark Twain District. He will serve part-time.
–First Dexter: W. Michael Woods, Elder, who served at Trinity (Piedmont) for eight years will become Senior Pastor.
–First New Madrid/Lilbourn/Kewanee: Jeff B. Long, Elder, will serve this new charge alignment. He served New Madrid/Kewanee last year. This will be his fourth year in our district.
–First Senath/Coldwater Chapel: Ron Dunavin, Elder, retired at annual conference after serving as a chaplain for Legacy Hospice. He will serve part-time.
–Hobbs Chapel Cape Girardeau/Wesley Fruitland: Debra Arvelo, Provisional Elder, returns to the Missouri Conference after serving in the Kansas West Conference.
–Malden/Holcomb: Pam Ekey, Provisional Elder, comes from Theodosia in the Ozarks South District where she served for four years.
–Maple, Cape Girardeau: Barron Willer, Provisional Elder, comes from Braymer-Breckenridge in the Heartland North District where he served for three years. He previously served at Campbell/Holcomb in our district.
–Marble Hill: Janet Hopkins, Local Pastor, moves from Hobbs Chapel (Cape Girardeau) after serving ten years.
–Marquand/Patton/Rhodes Chapel: Sarah Hamilton, Elder, moves from Byers Avenue (Joplin) in the Southwest District. She previously served Advance in our district.
–Neelyville: Almarie Reynolds, retired Associate member of the conference, returns to Neelyville after a year away dealing with health issues.
–New Salem: Doug McClellan continues to serve as a local pastor in this new charge. Old Salem closed at the end of June.
–Old Union: Steven Koerner, a member of Centenary United Methodist Church, will serve as lay supply.
–Perryville/York Chapel: Anne Saegesser, Local Pastor, comes from Washburn/Simsberry in the Southwest District where she served the past two years.
–Sedgewickville/Crossroads: Greg Dowler, Associate member of the conference, moves from Malden/Holcomb where he has served for the past three years.
–St. Luke’s Hayti: Karl Humes comes to serve this congregation from another denomination. He has been serving as supply at St. Luke’s.
–Trinity Piedmont: Ed Rhodes, Elder, comes from Arcadia Valley, Gateway Regional District, where he has served for the past eight years.
–Zion Gordonville: Joel Kidwell, Elder, comes from New Hope/Terrace Lake in the Heartland Central District where he has served for the past four years.
Congratulations to Jeffrey B. Long, New Madrid/Lilbourn/Kewanee, and Daniel Taylor, LaCroix, who were ordained Elder at this session of the annual conference. Congratulations to Andy Lambel, Bell City/Sadlers Chapel, and Jan Dillard, Wesley Memorial (Steele)/Cooter, who were commissioned as provisional elders, Jeremiah Reeve, Sikeston First, was granted a ‘leave of absence’ as he examines new ministry options. Congratulations to incoming pastors Sarah Hamilton and Joel Kidwell who were ordained Elder.
The month of July also marks the beginning a new appointive year for those pastors who continue to serve in our district. This includes your district superintendent who begins year six. Mary and I look forward to another year serving with and for you.
Praying with you and for you,
David Norbury – Southeast District Superintendent
Missional Appointment Process
Bishop Schnase recently spent some time trying to remove some of the mystery that has traditionally surrounded the process and thinking behind the way United Methodism does pastoral appointments. We’ve got a DVD copy of the session he taught at this year’s meeting of the Annual Conference. This would be an excellent resource for a Sunday School Class, UMW, UMM, Youth, or Small Group meeting. Mainly because it provides us all the opportunity to think about the “why” of church and our relationship to that “why”. If you’d like to schedule a showing and would like me to help guide the discussions, let me know.
New Calendars on Our Website
Ever wonder what’s going on here at 1st UMC? Jobeth & Steven Pellham recently made is a whole lot easier for you to find out. They’ve added two calendars to http://1stumckennett.com .
The first shows up on the “Home” page as a list of “UpComing Events” along the right side. At the bottom of that list click on “View All Events” for a calendar shaped page. The second shows as the first link on the fourth line from the top of the “Home” page. Click on “Birthdays” and you’ll see the first few birthdays in the month. Click on the “Month” (right now its July) and you’ll see a complete listing of the July Birthdays.
If you’d like to include an event or add/correct a birthday listing, contact JoBeth at the church office (1stumckennett@sbcglobal.net) or leave a comment.
A Pastor’s View
Spiritual Disciplines are things we do to put ourselves in God’s way. United Methodists talk about “works of mercy” (those things we do that focus on others to help us mature our faith in God) and “works of piety” (those things we do that focus on ourselves to help us mature our faith in God) when they name the various Spiritual Disciplines. Visiting home bound neighbors, volunteering at “Helping Hand”, and work camps are examples of “works of mercy”. Personal prayer, daily devotions, personal bible study, and worship are examples of “works of piety”.
Keeping a spiritual journal has proved to be a productive tool for many who take seriously their walk with God. These journals take many forms. Their only purpose is to help us communicate with God. They provide opportunity for us to find words for the questions we have about the world and God’s plan. They may provide a place for us to thank God or complain to God when we just need someone to listen. God offers us that ear. There is no “right way” to keep a spiritual journal. It grows from your relationship with God.
If you’d like to see how I do it, visit http://bootheelpastor.wordpress.net . And if you’d like some encouragement along the way, give me a call.
“Outside God’s Window – Truth = Freedom”
Psalm 30
John 8:31-38
I used to get in trouble for staring out the window. Mostly it happened in grade school, when I was supposed to be listening to the teacher. It took more than a couple years for those teachers to train me to keep my focus in the room. I have to admit there are times when my mind wonders outside but for the most part I’m pretty good at “staying in the room.”
Problem is that now that can be the problem. I can get so focused on what’s happening in whatever space I occupy that I don’t notice what’s happening around me. I miss a lot of what’s going on around me. My vision of the world becomes skewed, including only those events that involve me. So now, when I look out a window, too often see only what affects me. How do you describe what you see?
It was actually next week’s reading from the prophet Amos that started my mind wondering what’s outside of windows again. There are a few scriptures that give strong suggestions about how God sees the world. We’ll be looking at some of those every Sunday in July. This week I remembered the time Jesus was confronted with a hungry crowd after he’d taken his Disciples across the sea for some alone time to deal with John’s beheading. When Jesus saw the crowd it was noted that he saw people who were like sheep without a shepherd. All the disciples saw were a bunch of hungry people who most likely want something from them. I wonder if God still sees sheep without a shepherd outside His window?
You need to know that I’m not convinced that being seen as a sheep is a good thing. I’ve not spent much time around sheep but the time I have spent with them reveals that perhaps the best thing we can say for them is that they are cute and that we enjoy the sweaters we make out of their wool. The reason sheep need shepherds to stay with them all the time is that they really don’t know what’s best for them. They’ll eat poison if they happen to run across it while they’re grazing. They’ll wander off and get lost and usually not even know that they’re lost. We’d like to think of them as clean but I went with a Sunday School class once who offered to help one of their members when the traveling sheep shearer was in town. It was my job to pick the “dirt” off the part of the wool that came off the bottom end of the animal. I think of that every time I see that new “Charmin” commercial when the mama bear is checking on the cleanliness of baby bear’s bottom. Just take my word for it, we do not want to continue living our relationship with God as sheep. Better to become daughters and sons.
About the only worse title anyone could give us is, “slave”; which is what John remembered Jesus calling our Jewish ancestors as he taught in the temple after the Feast of Booths. Our hair would surely stand on end at the thought of being called a slave, particularly on this day, July 4th – Independence Day, when our ancestors declared their freedom from the British king. We’d be up in arms if he ever used those words to describe us. Just as they were children of Abraham, we are children of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and Matthew Thornton. Whatever could have Jesus meant? Maybe we better hear the rest of the story so we can know whether to be upset or not.
Jesus came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths, a harvest festival when God’s people moved out of their homes and into booths made from reeds and branches. It was to remind them of the time they wandered in the wilderness with only God as their guide who provided manna and water from a rock. Jesus stayed in the temple teaching God’s word in ways the people had never experienced before. The Pharisees accused him of not knowing The Law, saying all who believed him were accursed.
Jesus returned to teach the next day where he was confronted by the scribes and Pharisees who had caught a woman in adultery. They quoted the Law that said the woman had to be stoned, picked up some rocks and asked Jesus what he thought. While he knelt, drawing with his finger in the loose dirt, Jesus suggested that the one who had not sinned should throw the first stone. The Jews were silenced as they dropped their stones and moved away unable because of their sin to throw even a pebble at the woman. Only the woman, Jesus, and the ones who had gathered to learn from him remained. Jesus told her he would not condemn her and that she should leave and sin no more.
So they tried to trick Jesus but he instead tricked them into confessing that they were sinners. Jesus taught again about his death and resurrection. Some believed in him. What they believed was that he was the Son of God. He told them that if they continued in that belief they would become his Disciples and learn the truth and the truth would set them free.
It was as they thought about being set free that those who believed realized that if they needed to be freed it meant that Jesus thought they were enslaved. (Maybe he too saw them as sheep.)
That’s when they played their Abraham card and Jesus taught, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. 38I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.” (John 8:34-38 NRSV)
John doesn’t remember Jesus spending much time telling us what this Sin is that enslaves us. But you can see it in the faces of the men who brought the woman to be stoned to death. You can hear it in the voices of those who cursed all those who didn’t interpret The Law the same way they did. Soon we’ll read it as John remembers what happened to the man born blind after Jesus gave him sight. The negative signs of Sin fill John’s gospel providing a reason for all the positive signs that Jesus is God’s Messiah.
Today we celebrate the declaration of our political freedom to decide for ourselves what is best for all of us. What we sometimes forget is that the declaration of political freedom is the result of the freedom God first offered to us through Christ. It is interesting to think that most of those who were inspired by God to write the letters, gospels, and apocalypses that we now call the “New Testament of God through Jesus Christ” did not experience the kind of political freedom we take for granted. Their freedom to choose to follow God’s vision of life was what frightened and awed those humans who would be their masters. Because the truth is that the purpose of the freedom God offers to us to awaken a desire to live a LOVELY life, not love that asks, “What’s in it for me,” but LOVE that asks, “What can I give so that others might know true freedom?”
True life is gathered up on this table of bread and juice around which we gather today. With the bread we remember God in the flesh, Jesus, walking with us, teaching us, and showing us what life truly is. With the juice we remember the new covenant of life based upon God’s forgiveness of our Sin. New life filled with the Spirit’s power to overcome Sin and live truly free from the fear of death because we know life with God is eternal. So nothing can separate us from this God who speaks the truth. Nothing can enslave us because Jesus has set us free and we are free indeed.
It is that freedom to live that we celebrate each Sunday as we worship the One who sets us free. It is that freedom that God offers to you today. Accept this gift and experience true freedom. Amen.
Next Week
Scripture:
Psalm 82
Amos 7:1-17
Sermon:
“Outside God’s Window: A Plumb Line”
Where Have You Seen God?
Visit us at http://1stumckennett.com and look for “How Did You Experience God; An Invitation”, on the “Prayer” page. Chris recently added some words about this past weeks’ work camp experience in New Orleans. And while you’re there, take a moment to comment on your most recent experience of God. It is important that each of us find our words so we can tell others about the difference God makes. You’ll also find a link to our virtual prayer room, which would be a wonderful place to look for God if you’ve not experienced him lately.
