Doctrinal Standards

Dear Trinity Tribe,

Good morning! I am amazed at how much snow is still outside in the parsonage yard! I hope you are safe and warm this morning!

One of the critiques that the United Methodist Church has faced by some corners is that we do not have a doctrine. Now, the way that some people define doctrine, that would be a fair assessment. Some people use doctrine as a measuring stick to include or exclude people in church membership. Unlike some denominations, we do not have a list of items that we verbally agree to when we join the church. We do not have to memorize the Westminster Shorter Catechism when we join a United Methodist Church. However, we do have doctrines that outline what we believe as United Methodists. They are not dictatorial and legalistic. And as Captain Barbosa says on Pirates of the Caribbean about the Code of the Brethren, "the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules." Our United Methodist doctrines sum up what we believe. However, they are living documents that we must continually reflect upon, interpret, and expand upon in light of scripture, tradition, reason, and our experience in the world today.

When John Wesley sent the first four bishops to the young United States, he gave them 25 articles to guide the church. These Articles of Religion explain what we believe about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, and the Bible among other topics.

In Bible study this year, we studied these Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church as contained in the 2008 Book of Discipline. These 25 articles, along with the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church (the denomination that merged with the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church in 1968), John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the New Testament and John Wesley's standard sermons form our foundation of belief.

Here is a link to our the documents that are our doctrinal standards:
http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=1648

I invite you to poke around and discover what depth and breadth our doctrinal standards have. There, of course, is language that points to the context in which the documents were written. You will not find inclusive language in these statements of faith. However, we give John Wesley charity and understand the environment in which he lived. When you read the Articles of Religion in particular, you will see in black and white, John Wesley's disdain for Roman Catholic practices again pointing to the time in which he lived. This is where we use scripture, reason, tradition, and our own experiences as a lens with which to view the documents. We know that women are an integral and important part of the church and its leadership. Therefore, we see where Wesley wrote "men" and expand the meaning of "men" to include men, women, youth and children that are active members and participants within our congregations. We bring John Wesley's words forward into 2010, almost 2011.

Even with these cultural markers of John Wesley's time period, the doctrines of our faith are amazing statements of what we believe. They point to why I choose to be United Methodist and why I feel we hold the best expression of living out the Gospel in the world as the Church. I invite you to read and be convicted in why you choose to be United Methodist as well. And for those of you who are not United Methodist who read this, I invite you to see what we believe and push back using your statements of faith and doctrine. In that conversation, perhaps we can better understand one another and our own doctrines.

Have a blessed day!

Talking it out

Good morning Trinity Tribe!


The United Methodist Church launched a redesigned website aimed at spiritual seekers on December 15th. RethinkChurch.org invites visitors to question, discuss, get involved and make a difference. They advertised this website on cable TV channels like Comedy Central and MTV over the holidays. That subset of the UMC produced the videos that we loaded on our Facebook page as well as the dramatic readings we used during the worship services in Advent. I am glad that the UMC is using media that young people use in order to engage them in conversation. I was browsing through the website and stumbled upon this post on one of the discussion boards:

I don't know what I am or who I am; just that I want to help:
by lauragurl

I'm an agnostic teenager... I was raised a presbyterian but I no longer have faith in who I am or what I belive. I want to know who to belive in but I cant seem to find a single religion that mirrors my very beliefs. I want to help people though... I want to give back to the world, i just want to know how to do it... I'm so young I can't change anything, I have to sit here helplessly when there's people out there dying. How can I change the world before I'm legal? and through this can I find my faith that I lost so long ago


So, Trinity Tribe, what would you say to lauragurl? How would you say it? How can she change the world? If this was written by one of the teenagers in our church, what would you say? What can teenagers in Red Springs do to change the world?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lQJiRztNpc

Being invitational

Good evening everyone in the Trinity Tribe!

I hope you are safe and warm tonight! With the weather, Claire's flight got postponed until tomorrow. So, I will not be in the office until later in the afternoon. I will be doing the newsletter then. So, please get me any information you want included in it by afternoon.

If you want to make a gift to the church that will be eligible for 2010 tax deductions, feel free to call and I can meet you during the week or you can drop by in the mornings.

Lots of people make new year's resolutions this time of year. I know I have made resolutions about exercising and being better about sabbath in the past. Many people assess the state of their lives at this time of year as well. I had shared tips for increasing worship attendance several weeks back. The last two bits of advice seem very applicable at this time of year:

15. Know that personal invitations are the most effective method of increasing worship attendance. Invest sixty seconds once a week to invite someone to attend worship with you.

16. Continue to invite a person every two months even if they decline your invitations. Those invited may eventually come to a season of life when they are receptive to attending worship. Regular invitations are more likely to overlap one of these seasons.

What if we all had a short list of people that we are praying for to become Christian and/or visit our church?

What if we were also be on the look out for people who are in a season of their lives that would make them open to hearing about how Jesus can change your life? We never know what one kind word could mean to someone in a difficult spot. The fact that you or I got through a difficult time might give someone else the hope that they can get through a difficult time. The way we live our lives might make someone wonder how we can be peaceful when our lives are so hectic. We just never know how God may use us to speak to someone else. So, we always have to be ready!

Blue Christmas

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

Our family has spent a lot of time listening to Christmas music on the radio in the last month. It has been a lot of fun. However, one of our jokes is that there are just some artists that have no business making a Christmas album, at least in our humble opinion. Prince and Bon Jovi really have no business in the Christmas genre.

One of my favorite musical groups in college were the Indigo Girls, folksy melodic due out of the Atlanta area. They have great lyrics and a smokey vocal quality that I just love. It turns out that one of the Indigo Girls has a father who is a professor at a United Methodist Seminary (Candler Theological at Emory University). I offer this video to you as one artist's take on turning the struggles we face at Christmas with loss into something beautiful.

http://youtu.be/qGLA3QNEyVA

This can be a very difficult time for people. Christmas is all about family and cuteness and presents. What if people you love have died? That hole in your heart gets bigger this time of year. What if you are fighting with your family or friends or spouse? Having to put on a happy face could be a huge punishment and area of stress. Just imagine what the loss of a child feels like at Christmas…that might be almost too much pain to bear.

I invite us all to take a moment from our shopping and wrapping and decorating to spend time in prayer for people who are hurting this Christmas. Do you know anyone who is hurting? This might be the perfect opportunity to reach out to them and let them know that you care and that you are willing to listen to their pain. You could be that one friend that they don't have to hide what they feel around you. What a blessing that would be.

Added bonus:

One of my new favorite TV shows is Glee. It is an odd-ball show chronicling the lives of the high school glee club in Lima, OH. This YouTube video doesn't do justice to the song, but there weren't a lot of other options.

http://youtu.be/YilUKDhBxjE --

Standing in place

Good morning Trinity Tribe!

Update: Betsy is doing better and is now in room 725 at Southeastern in Lumberton.

One of the best parts about being the pastor is that you get to stand in place of the congregation when it is unfeasible for the whole congregation to show up to something. I got the pleasure of doing that yesterday. When I went to visit Betsy in the hospital yesterday, I brought the gifts that people gave for the children that live at the Methodist Home for Children in Lumberton and stopped by there on the way back to Red Springs. Thank you for letting me have that neat experience on your behalf! Everyone was SOOOOO appreciative of our gifts. I have a card to all of us to share at worship this week.

8-10 young people live at the MHC. Most of them have had truancy issues…poor behavior…issues at school…etc. Most of what brings them there could have been avoided if their parents were better at parenting. Therefore, one of the biggest things they do there is to work with the families. Tamara took me on a tour of the facility. It is VERY clean and cared for. They have a kitchen where all the food is prepared. A teacher comes in and teaches the students there at the facility. She was very nice and had just done a math lesson on measurement using Christmas cookies. They are going visiting at another youth home and are bringing cookies. Each child has chores to do every day. They are in school from 8-3. They can only watch TV for limited time a few days a week. They play family board games and cards and things on the other nights of the week.

I was impressed by the staff and the young people I met. The young people were polite. You could tell there was a lot of structure. We are doing real good and helping people in a profound way. I don't know what the statistics are like after kids graduate from the program. However, they have been given tools to succeed in the world during their stay there.

You can be proud that the United Methodist Church does good work in the name of Jesus Christ like this. If you want to read more about the MHC, please visit their website at : http://www.mhfc.org/home/ This is one of those things that an individual church just cannot pull off by itself. It takes the hundreds of congregations in the North Carolina Conference to put our hearts, heads, and offerings together to do something of this scale and depth. In Matthew 25:45, Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." We are certainly following Jesus' command in this way. Give yourself a pat on the back and send a prayer to God for each of these young people to be transformed.


Epiphany at the Parsonage
You are cordially invited to Epiphany at the Parsonage! Come on over to see the renovations that were done this year on the parsonage and visit with your neighbors and enjoy a Christmas cookie or two. We will have Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors from 3-5pm on Sunday, January 2nd.

Music in the air

Good Morning Trinity Tribe,

I pray that you are well this morning! I am busily trying to get three bulletins together for the next week. December 26th is done. I just need two for Christmas Eve! Yay for progress!

If your children are home this week and complain of boredom, I could use some more bulletin covers for Christmas Eve and on into January. Pen and ink works best but very dark pencil seems to copy well.

If you were not in worship on Sunday, you missed a treat! The Cantata was AMAZING! Thank you to Penny and the whole choir for all their very hard work! The music was wonderful and the words were meaningful! We especially thank Joseph (Penny's grandson) for setting up a sound system that enabled everyone to hear well.

Being able to hear something makes a big difference. I know as we grow older it is so frustrating to not be able to hear like we once did. Many people we know suffer…and I mean suffer…because they cannot hear certain frequencies or certain sounds or in certain places like ones with lots of background noise. Not being able to hear causes hurt feelings, sadness, and a sense of isolation.

Sometimes we have a hard time hearing God's voice as God speaks to us. I know it has taken God hitting me with a 2x4 sometimes for me to listen to God. I find it especially hard to hear God when there is a lot going on.

In Hebrews 4:12, we find this verse: For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

I invite us all to take some time to listen to God over the Christmas holidays. It might mean that we have to get up earlier than everyone else. It might mean that we need to take a time-out from all the chaos of wrapping and shopping and cooking. However, if we take that time to listen, really listen, God has many things to tell us.

Have a blessed day and be a blessing to someone.

Christmas giving

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

I pray that you are being careful if you have to be out this morning. There is certainly ice out there, so be slow and wear golf shoes today!

One of the things I like best about being United Methodist is our connection to other churches. We are not some island of a congregation. We, instead, are connected to other United Methodists all over the world and even in our backyard. We may not all do things the same, but we are connected at a deep level because of our theology and love for Christ. Because we are connected, we can do more good than if we were just one church by ourselves. I may never go to Africa, but money I have returned to God through Trinity United Methodist Church, is in Africa right now, caring for others, allowing people to be educated at Africa University, and helping orphans develop businesses that support them and their siblings.

While some of the money that the UMC collects goes around the world, most of it stays here at home. One way we can all participate in that, is the district Christmas offering. It is traditional for churches to give the offering collected on Christmas Eve to one worthy project in the District. For example, one year in the Fayetteville District, we gave the money to help one of the pastors pay for his daughter's kidney transplant. This year, our offering will go to the restoration of St. George's UMC church. The building has become unusable for worship due to structural issues. The entire Maxton community has rallied around this church….providing a place to worship and financial support to the rebuilding effort.

Here is what our wonderful District Superintendent, Leonard Fairley, had to say about our Christmas Eve offering this year:

The 2010 Rockingham District Christmas offering is designated for St. George United Methodist Church Restoration Project. This project has been embraced by the entire Maxton Ministerial Alliance. I have had the joy of being present at each of the events sponsored by the City of Maxton Ministerial Alliance, and have come away each time with a new appreciation of how the different denominations and races have partnered together to help restore this historic African American Church. I am asking each church in the Rockingham District to prayerfully give generously, and join this effort to restore one of the district’s historic churches. Please know that my prayers are always with each of you as we continue to partner together in kingdom building.

I wanted you to be informed about what a wonderful opportunity we have to do something meaningful for a church just down the road.

“Through him we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others . . . .
You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ!”
--Romans 1:5-6, The Message

Being a welcoming church

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

I hope you are well! We had a fabulous time seeing the new Narnia movie yesterday. It was quite good! If you have a chance to see it, I recommend it. Look for the themes of self-sacrifice and temptation. This would be a great movie to take someone you know who is not a believer in Christ. It raises questions of sin and forgiveness that might the perfect jumping off place for you to share why you believe in Jesus with someone else.

Please send in any announcements as soon as possible! I would love to have the bulletin done and printed early this week. I would also like next week's bulletin printed this week as well. If there are any announcements, I would love to have them extra early.

We do have one more name of a needy middle school student that needs to be adopted. If you feel called to help someone in this way, please let me know ASAP. Remember, all gifts and food items must be at church by Wednesday. Or feel free to drop them off with Becky or on the parsonage porch.

Christmastime is a time of year when people may walk through our doors at Trinity. People are searching for a deeper meaning to life. They may have fond memories of childhood from church. They may want to sing carols. Or they may just stop by on a whim. We need to be ready. I gave each of you an invitation to use to invite someone to worship next week. If you didn't get one, stop by the church office to get one or two or ten.

Knowing that we will have visitors in the next few weeks, I thought it was important to think about how we need to be prepared for visitors. How welcoming is our church, really? Every church thinks it is a welcoming church, even the churches where the people will yell at you for sitting in "their" seat. How can we make people that walk through our doors at Trinity feel welcome?

There are some people that I can count on speaking to a visitor during our greeting time in the service. Thank you for going out of your comfort zone to do that. I pray that God gives all the rest of us courage to do that. Most visitors sit towards the back. I usually don't get that far, so thank you to you back row people for your hospitality to visitors!

I know for a fact there will be visitors in the pews this Sunday. Several of Kenna and Hanna's guests are coming are from a different denomination that doesn't worship in the same way we worship. How can we make them feel comfortable? I have tried to put more information in the bulletin that would help a newcomer…for example not everyone knows the Apostle's Creed or the Lord's prayer. So, I am intentional about page numbers. I have tried to add directions to the restroom in order to be hospitable. I try in my welcome to extend radical hospitality and be visitor friendly. Holding hands and singing "The Family of God" could be a very uncomfortable time for a visitor. Therefore, I try to explain it in my welcome. What have I missed? What made you feel comfortable or even uncomfortable the first time you came to Trinity? Or what made you feel comfortable when you have visited another church?

I visited a church at the beach many years ago. They had the visitors stand up, introduce themselves, and then they gave us a loaf of bread. I appreciated the delicious bread. However, standing up and introducing myself was VERY UNCOMFORTABLE for me! However, that was one of the church traditions. THe members liked it because they got to know a little about the visitors. I can't blame them for wanting to know who was worshipping with them. However, it was not comfortable for me, the visitor.

Here are some easy yet solid ideas about being welcoming to newcomers. I invite you to share your ideas as well! What makes you feel welcome in our church or in another church you may visit? What else could we be doing to make people feel welcome?

Welcoming Ministry
TRAINING MANUAL and PLANNING HANDBOOK
Here are some ideas that might make it easier for you to welcome others to our church. Feel free to come up with other ideas or adapt these on your own. These are just to get you thinking about welcoming as a personal ministry, right there in the pew, and a lifestyle for our church.

Circle of 10: Greet anyone, member or guest, who comes within ten feet of you. Make a special effort to greet the people you don’t already know within your Circle of 10.

Rule of Three: Please do not talk to other members for the first three minutes after the service. Talk only to those you don’t know or people you know are guests. It takes guests about three minutes to exit the church after worship and we need to make sure someone has made contact with them before they leave.

Don’t know what to say to a guest? Here are a few conversation starters:
1. Offer a handshake and say, “Hello.My name is _____________, and you are ...?”
2. Wait for a response and repeat the person’s name so you make sure that you get it right and so you can more easily remember it.
3. If you think you know the face but can’t recall the name, try this approach:
“Hello, I’m ____________________. I believe I’ve seen you here before but I don’t know that we’ve had the opportunity to meet.What is your name?”
4. Don’t be embarrassed if you’re greeting a member and don’t know that person’s name—or be offended if someone doesn’t remember yours. We need to offer grace to one another, just as we would to new people.
© 2010 United Methodist Communications. Permission is granted to reprint and distribute for use within The United Methodist Church.

Young Clergy

Good morning Trinity Tribe!

On Tuesday, I traveled to the new North Carolina Conference denominational office for a meeting of young clergy. When something with the word "young" in the title invited me, I jumped on the chance to attend! Our BIshop, Al Gwinn, addressed us, then there was a time of question and answer. We ended the discussion portion of the day with a discussion of what the United Methodist Church is doing to encourage young people to answer a call to ordained ministry as well as to support them when they have answered the call.

Our Annual Conference has around 5.5% of its clergy under age 35. The median age of clergy is 54 in the whole UMC. Why does this matter? First, it is sad that the Church is not encouraging young people to enter ministry. What are we doing as local congregations that make being a pastor so unattractive? Are we being intentional about helping young people hear God's call in their lives (whether it is a call to be an ordained minister or a godly veterinarian or a business leader who is also a crackerjack Sunday School teacher.) Secondly, younger pastors bring things to the table that a clergyperson who is 60 cannot. Besides energy, young people tend to bring more creativity and new ideas to a local congregation. While some pastors with experience are continually learning and growing and are on the cutting edge of research in the field, other older pastors left their thirst for learning in Divinity School. New tools for evangelism and church leadership are necessary in this different time in which we live. Next, younger clergy are able to identify with younger congregations more effectively. People respond when they see someone who looks like them speaking from the pulpit or even singing in the choir or praying the prayers of the people. (That applies to lay leadership and lay worship leadership as well as clergy.) Lastly, if we do not have clergy who are under 35, what will happen in 10 years when they are 45? We will not have the next generation of seasoned leadership for the church.

I am not under 35, of course. But I do care what happens to the United Methodist Church in the future. I invite you to join me as we pray for the future of our congregation at Trinity as well as the United Methodist Church as a whole. Let's pray intentionally for the young people in our congregation. How is God calling each of them? How can we, as their family through baptism, nurture them to be the wonderful godly people God has planned them to be? Let's pray intentionally for Trinity. How can we better develop leaders in the present as well as the future? Let's pray for the Church. How can we nurture and help people hear God's call on their lives?

I have attached a proposal from the young clergy of the UMC in case you want to read it. Also, here is the study looking at ages of clergy in the UMC.

http://www.churchleadership.com/research/um_clergy_age_trends08.htm

Have a blessed day!

Direct Access

Good morning everyone,

I hope you are all well and warm this morning! It in warm in the office. It looks like a snowstorm of paper has descended on my desk. However, I will be working on that momentarily. I took the Trinity Tribe on an outing on Monday to the fruitcake factory. We had a wonderful time! Please join us next trip! Email or call the office with any suggested trips that we could take. I would love to go to Seagrove and look at pottery, but that would be more fun when it is warm. So, if you have an idea for an inside trip, please let me know!

Yesterday I joined the Young Clergy Council for a general meeting with the Bishop. We had a fruitful conversation. I will write about those discussions later. I have something else burning on my fingertips today!

I was going through the mail this morning and decided to take a long hard look at our phone bill. It seems so high, as do most bills these days. I found something interesting on page 10 of 10. A third party had billed us for something that I couldn't figure out, so I called CenturyLink. They were very helpful. It was indeed for a suspicious charge, but I have it all straightened out now. However, it took me talking to four people at three different companies to get it all straightened out. Isn't it nice that God doesn't work that way? You and I can go straight to God with our prayers. You don't need me to pray for you (though, I certainly do). Priests' prayers are no more holy that yours or mind. You don't need a saint to whisper in God's ear for you. Through Jesus becoming our brother, we have full access to God.

In John 15, Jesus says 7 "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." But we find instruction in the Old Testament as well like in Jeremiah 29:13, "13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Let's be bold today and pray what is on our hearts to God. We get direct access. We don't need third-party prayers. Through our brother, Jesus, we get direct access that is available 24/7. God is good!

Come, Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created
And you shall renew the face of the earth.
O God, who has taught the hearts of the faithful
by the light of the Holy Spirit,
grant that by the gift of the same Spirit
we may be always truly wise
and ever rejoice in his consolation.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Why do we take up the offering after the sermon?

Good morning Trinity Tribe!

Things are going well in our house this morning. I hope they are going well in yours!

Last call for Christmas at Camp!

Why offering in the place you put it in the service?

I had a great question posed to me last week. Why had I moved the time of offering from where it had always been to following the sermon? I don’t do anything related to worship lightly or without good reason. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to share with you the “why” behind the tweaking of the worship order.

When John Wesley sent the first Bishops to the United States, he sent them with an order of worship called the Sunday Service. The worship service, then and now, was to be focused on Holy Communion. However, that service could not be fully utilized in the young United States. There were not enough ordained clergy to officiate at Holy Communion at the Methodist Episcopal Churches. Instead, the ordained clergy would ride a circuit, often on a horse, and serve communion quarterly. Therefore, the tradition of having communion quarterly began. Because of the lack of ordained clergy, the service of worship focused towards the sermon because that happened every week.

That is where the discussion of where to put the offering comes in. During the communion service, the time of offering was not just a time to “pass the plate” so to speak. Instead of being placed on the Lord’s Table before the beginning of the service, the bread and the juice were actually brought in by lay people as an offering to God. Therefore, the offering time included the communion elements as well as monetary gifts. Both were brought forward after the sermon and just prior to Holy Communion. In the preaching services of the 18th and 19th centuries, there would be no time of Communion, so the offering began to be collected prior to the sermon. As time progressed, the clergy shortage ended. Seminaries were available in all parts of the United States. Therefore, an ordained elder served most congregations. Now, congregations could celebrate communion every week. However, as you know, when a tradition is engrained in a congregation, it takes time to change. At Trinity, I believe it was Peter Belec who changed communion from being quarterly to being on the first Sunday of the month.

If you turn to the front of our hymnal, you will notice John Wesley’s Sunday Service included. We gather. We hear God’s word. We respond to God’s word by an expression of faith and confession of sin. We offer of ourselves and our gifts to God. We lift up prayers of thanksgiving. We dine at the Lord’s Table. We are dismissed to love God and neighbor. Our worship order is based on century after century of Christian practice. In fact, the Early Church always included communion as well as preaching and discussion of God’s Word. However, our church and many others have kept part of the frontier style of worship for our worship order. If you compare our bulletin to that of the service in the front of the hymnal, you will notice that we do not celebrate communion every week as is suggested. And until the last couple of weeks, we collected the offering after the sermon. (I have to videotape a sermon and a worship service with communion to send to the Conference as part of my ordination process. So, I have moved the time of offering so that we are “by the book.”) I have enjoyed having the offering following the sermon. To me, it feels as if we are able to respond to God’s Word for us for the day. I would like to include elements of response to God’s Word in addition to our collecting of God’s tithes and our offerings that are linked to the scripture of the day. One day, I would like for us to carry the bread and the juice into the worship service during the offering as part of our response. I like that symbolism of us bringing God the ordinary things that God makes holy. It would be meaningful to have someone bring the water in when we baptize new members as well. I would love to know what you think. How do you best respond to God’s word? How else could we as a congregation respond to God’s word? What parts of the worship service are meaningful to you?

Giving

Good morning to the Tribe!

I hope you haven't blown away this morning! Penny and I have been working on the service of worship with the Cantata coming up on December 19th. I am excited about that day! Though, to be honest, I am excited every Sunday we get together to worship. Today, I have also been thinking about the time of the offering. So, this is a two part thought. Stay tuned tomorrow to find out why the offering is placed in the service where it is….

Tithing is one of those tricky subjects in church. I found this section of a sermon by Victor D. Pentz, which I found thought provoking…

In my years in the church I have noticed two prevailing schools of thought about the offering. The first is what I call the old realist approach. The old realist is usually some no nonsense businessperson who says, "Look, you have to pay the bills. You have to keep the ministers fed, the lights on and the building maintained. The missionaries have to be supported. And nobody's ever come up with a better way of getting it done than to call a 'time out' after the sermon and have the organist play something pretty while you pass the hat and ask everybody to dig down deep in their pockets and pitch in their fair share." The old realist sees the offering as a necessary evil.


Across the aisle from the old realist sits the young idealist. He or she sees the offering as an unnecessary evil: "Why don't we live like the lilies of the field in this church? Why don't we just have faith and trust God to make ends meet? Why don't we pray instead of having stewardship campaigns and pledge cards and fund appeals?


…In my observation in the last decade, we don’t do either of these approaches and have come up with a third approach. In the church, we try our best to avoid talking about money at all and just hope for the best. We provide a time to collect it, but we don’t do a good job of explaining why we do. That is certainly the case with some of the pastors I have known. In divinity school, they don’t officially tell you to never talk about money and tithing, but it seems to be one of those unwritten rules. Some people say that it come across to people that the pastor is a money-grubber and just wants a raise. As a result, we don’t organize a pledge drive. We avoid stewardship campaigns. Other than asking the ushers to come forward to collect it and praying over it as it sits on the Lord's table, we don't speak much about the offering at all.



In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “Regarding the relief offering for poor Christians that is being collected, you get the same instructions I gave the churches in Galatia. Every Sunday each of you make an offering and put it in safekeeping. Be as generous as you can. When I get there you'll have it ready, and I won't have to make a special appeal. Then after I arrive, I'll write letters authorizing whomever you delegate, and send them off to Jerusalem to deliver your gift.” He sounds pretty point-blank about the whole subject to me.



So, why do we take an offering? First, it is a way we participate in God’s work in the world. From having a place to gather as God’s people to worship to feeding people in our kitchen to the laughter that comes out of classrooms on Scout night…all these things are ways we participate in God’s plan. God is our creator therefore being able to participate in God’s plan for the world is a privilege we shouldn’t take lightly.



Secondly, we worship rightly when we bring something to God. In Exodus 20, God says, "Every firstborn from the womb is mine, all the males of your herds, your firstborn oxen and sheep. … No one is to show up in my presence empty-handed.” The Israelites brought pigeons and doves, calves and sheep. In today's world, we bring our financial bounty as well as bringing our acts of service or the loaf of bread for communion. We don’t have to have the priest sacrifice our firstborn goat on the altar of the Lord. When Christ came, we all became priests. Therefore, we worship by bringing generously of what we have and offering it to God.

Next, we give of ourselves to God as a means of thanking God for what we have and reminding ourselves that it wasn’t really ours. God has given us our lives and our breath. Giving God the money that we might spend at O’Charley’s or at the mall helps us remember to be grateful. It is a way to say to God, “I know that you gave me this breath that I breath…the good things in life that I enjoy from peppermint sticks to sunshine…that you have a plan for me…” Giving what we have in this life helps us remember that the almighty dollar isn’t all there is. There is heavenly treasure that has way more value than a checkbook.



I invite us all to prayerfully consider how we tithe. Are we willing to give what God asks of us? Do we lay up our treasure in heaven or at Bank of America?

Have a great day!

A Most Extravagant Grace

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

I hope you are well this day! I have dropped the newsletters off at the Post Office, so I am in a great mood. We also had a wonderful and meaningful time at Bible study today. Trinity is a great place to talk about how we work on our faith and keep trying to live it out day by day.

I have been thinking about divine grace a lot this week with the beginning of Advent. If humanity hadn't sinned, we wouldn't need divine grace at all. However, we do have free will, therefore we choose to turn away from God. Sometimes that turning away isn't intentional in that we say to ourselves, "I will lie to my friend today so that I can turn away from God." For me, at least, it doesn't work like that. I choose to bite Mark's head off about something or skip doing my morning devotional or whatever the sin of the moment is for a different reason. I bite his head off because I am worried about something and didn't get enough sleep and didn't take a deep breath before I spoke, for example. I didn't think about God in the equation at all. And that is the problem. When we sin, it has eternal consequences. Whenever we sin, we turn away from God. We don't cheat on our taxes or drive too fast or drink too much to intentionally hurt our relationship with God, but that is the eternal consequence of those sinning ways.

Therefore, no matter how hard we try to be perfect and live according to God's teachings, we are going to sin. Therefore, God's extravagant grace is needed. No matter what we do, we can choose to receive grace. God always offers it, no matter how much we sin. We can turn away from God, but we can also turn toward God. God continually reaches out to us in love, we must merely choose to accept it. Becoming human and walking and talking and living was God's way to show us how much love God has for us. Jesus embodies love and grace.

Grace isn't a one time thing like a vaccine against sin. Grace is constant. Grace is extravagant. God is always working on us to give us a different life. We can do little or nothing on our own. But, through God, all things are possible. We don't just get "saved" once and then we are good…sin continues to haunt us. Receiving and responding to God's extravagant grace is a daily process. We continually awaken to God's work within us…we continually see God's work in the world…we continually feel God's hand guiding us…we continually turn towards God's love…we continually love God in response. Through grace we are transformed from what we were in sin to what we will be in Christ.

Verses 1 and 5 of "And Can It Be," a beautiful Wesley hymn help me understand this wonderful gift we receive in Jesus.

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.

Happy New Year

Good morning Trinity Tribe!

Happy New Year! Yesterday was the first day of the new church year! We didn't celebrate with streamers, blow-horns, and confetti. We celebrated by decorating the church symbolically yesterday. We hung wreaths on the door of the church welcoming Christ into our midst. We strung pine garland on the kneeler rail to remind us of our need to repent and return to God's loving arms. We lit our Chrismon tree which has physical symbols to remind us of the doctrines of our faith. We lit the Advent wreath to remind us to have the splendid light of Jesus in our hearts.

How else are we preparing for Christ's birth? At our house, we have put up an advent wreath on the dining room table. As an adult, I have never celebrated this ritual at home. However, I look forward to lighting the candles and talking about preparing our hearts for Christ at home. We have advent calendars for the girls, which will be a fun way to mark the days until Christmas. We will be getting the Nativity scenes out this week as well.

One of my friends from Divinity School, Kathy, is of Polish extraction. Down the family tree they were Roman Catholic, but they are now United Methodist. However, one of their family traditions on Christmas Eve is to have a very large piece of communion wafer that has a nativity scene etched in it. Each person breaks off a piece of the bread while standing with a second family member who also breaks off a piece of the bread. They each wish one another the peace of Christ and say Merry Christmas and then move on to the next family member. It was a neat tradition when I spent a Christmas Eve with her family several years ago. We ate Christmas cookies and read the Christmas story about Santa. However, Christ's birth was a real part of the celebration.

On Christmas we remember that God has saved us from ourselves and our sin by walking and talking and living life as a human being. As the Bible says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” — John 1:14, NIV. That little bitty baby will grow up and teach us to live well.

How are you preparing your hearts and minds and homes for Christ to come in? What traditions do you have from your family? What decorations do you use to remind you that Christmas is about more than the shopping? Do you have a special food that you eat?

Leaving a forwarding address

Good morning everyone,

I hope you are enjoying the sunshine and kids being out of school! If you will be traveling this weekend, I pray that you will have traveling mercies and no wrecks on the highway! We are heading to Kentucky to have a brief visit with Mark's 80 year old mother and two brothers. We will get to see his daughter, Claire, briefly. All in all exciting, but a short visit compared to the long drive. Sigh…

I got, what I hope is the last, "unable to forward/no such address" returned November newsletter. I have a whole stack of people that I do not have forwarding addresses on. (If you are not getting our newsletter, please let me have your address. It is good reading!) Are we like that with God sometimes? I know I have been. When something bad has happened, I have shut down. I have quit praying. I have pouted. I have pretended that I have not left God a forwarding address so that God's love can get to me. Of course, that is ludicrous since God's love is never ending and always surrounding me, however I have certainly felt unlovable even to God.

It brings this scripture to mind: "God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them" (NLT, 1 John 4:16). God is love. We cannot escape God's love, even when we feel lower than dirt. We cannot escape God's love when we hate ourselves. We cannot escape God's love when we feel like no one loves us. God loves us. Period. No matter what.

I pray that you feel God's love today and everyday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Remember to sign up for Christmas at Camp which is 10am on Saturday, December 4th. Sign up also for our trip on December 6th to the Southern Supreme Fruitcake factory.

Being invitational

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

I hope you are well! I am trying to make the bulletin look like I want it to this morning. Hopefully, I am winning the battle! We will see when I hit print in a couple of minutes!

If you are making pies for the Community Thanksgiving Dinner, please have them at the church by 10am tomorrow or drop them by the Mission Camp by 2pm. People that are helping tomorrow, thank you for your service! A special thanks goes out to Tommy Lewis who has coordinated our participation in that wonderful mission.

Poinsettias have gone up in price everywhere this year. The cost will be $18.50. You can dedicate one or many in honor or in memory of a friend or loved one. Order forms will be in the bulletin this week, or you can email me directly.

Please sign up for Christmas at Camp on Saturday, December 4th from 10am to 2pm. We get to eat…play…talk and get ready for the season! Friends are welcome! There will be fun for all ages!
http://camprockfish.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=189:christmas-at-camp


Now on to my thought for the day…

The Columbia Partnership is a group of presenters, pastor-coaches, and leadership development professionals from whom I receive daily emails. I have taken a class with one of the presenters who was quite good and helpful. The email today captures perfectly something I have been thinking and praying about. So, I am going to print it below.

Having Trinity grow to have standing room only at worship is a goal…not so I, as the pastor, look good…but because God told us to go and make disciples. We need more disciples learning and growing alongside us at Trinity. There is plenty of room in the pews for more disciples. I, as the pastor, cannot make this happen. I am just one person. If I meet one person a week and invite them to church, we will only grow by 52 people in a best case scenario. But if everyone sitting in the pews does the same thing, we could grow exponentially.

So, I would ask you to do these things today:

1. Read the article (it's not full of pastor mumbo-jumbo or anything)
2. Pray…pray for the next 25 members of our church
3. Think…think about the people you run across on a daily basis…are there people in your life that are asking questions? In a time of transition? They would be people that might be open to an invitation.
4. Invite…invite someone to church…it could be someone you know or someone you barely know
(It doesn't have to be an invitation to worship. For example, if you are a Methodist Man, the Methodist Men's dinner might be a good place to invite someone.)
5. Prayerfully consider how we make visitors feel at Trinity and how we can get them plugged into our ministries and small groups quickly. That is how we make disciples.

A Travel Free Learning Article
By Gary Straub, Ministry Colleague with The Columbia Partnership

Voice: 502.320.4336, E-mail: GStraub@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, Web Site: www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org

[This article builds on the theme of a previous one: Improving your Congregation’s I.Q. In case you wonder, I.Q. stands for Invitational Quotient.]

A congregation fully engaged in the process of revitalization can get so intense on institutional survival, constitutional change, and internal governance issues to the near neglect of its mission, heartbeat, reason d’être; welcoming folks to the heart of God through Jesus Christ. This conversation seeks to provide not only a snap-back, but a place to jump-start the action.

Who are the Next 25 Members of Your Congregation, and Where Will They Come From?

Here are six clues about these next 25:

They will come mostly because they are asked.
They will come back only if we learn what’s next after hello.
They will join for five top reasons.
They will likely start coming in certain seasons.
They will need to hear your clear answers on their crucial questions.
They will tell you what their spiritual needs are, if you listen closely.
Let’s Explore These Six Clues:

1. They come because they are asked. While general traffic in the building or general curiosity may account for a small percentage of first-timers, over 60 percent make their first visit because they were asked. Therefore, you already know the next 25. They are your Friends, Relatives, Acquaintances/Associates, or Neighbors. Thus the acronym for the next 25 is that they are already your F.R.A.Ns.

2. What’s next after hello? I have yet to meet a church that does not consider itself friendly. So after “hello”, what do you say? Do you have a path charted that invites folks to walk with you from first time visitor to first anniversary of membership? This path need not require elaborate strategizing or be highly formalized. Yet we do need to get much more intentional about offering pathways for folks to walk deeper into discipleship with Christ and fellowship with the body of Christ.

3. Five top reasons. a) There’s just a piece missing in my life and I think its God, so that brought me to the church door. b) I have been thinking about religious matters for some time and now the time has come to follow through. c) My kids, and the needs of my family, are bringing me through the church door. d) I have a relationship to God that I know I need to nurture. e) The classic life passages of birth, marriage, and death brings me to reevaluate my relationships.

4. Seasons of life. In addition to the perennial Christmas and Easter times when folks are most likely to consider church attendance, and family moments of funerals and baptisms, occasions of serious life transitions, seasons of sea-change, upheavals, and trauma may prompt a church visit.

5. Crucial questions. While these inquiries may seem elementary to veteran church goers, new folks bring their own elemental questions. What about sins forgiven? What’s the meaning and purpose of my life? Is a real relationship with God possible? Can I really have eternal life? The clarity and charity of our responses need to resonate with them.

6. The gift of listening. When a guest gets their initial questions answered with some measure of satisfaction, it opens the door for their larger and deeper questions. Respectful listening is the gift that opens this door and invites deeper spiritual connection. We honor people by listening.

Where do we begin work on this goal of the next 25 members of our church?

On a personal level, it often begins with a simple daily affirmation: “I want to live my life with such radiance and resilience that people ask the reason for such joy.” Practicing this affirmation may open us to a prayer that begins a process of simply noticing people who surround our daily life. We then ask, “Lord, who in my life needs a touch of your grace? Is there a conversation I need to offer and an invitation I need to make?” It may well be that this prayer opens the door to opening the door for an invitation, which is how 75% of church guests get there!

On a congregational level, there are at least three things your next 25 members will need almost immediately:

1. A path to walk. How does a person move from first time guest to first anniversary of membership? A flow experience needs to be identified and captured. We cannot rely on using the nominating committee to put new folks on the official board as the best plan for assimilation. Think about the sequencing of first time hospitality with a guest luncheon, a welcome class, spiritual gifts inventory, and small group connection. Let’s devote energy to a regular rhythm of invitational events and sustaining this pathway through the hospitality ministry.

2. Need-meeting ministries. People may come the first time on the strength of your invitation. They come back on the authentic warmth of the welcome and some sense of connection with the personality and preaching/teaching of the pastoral leader. Then, a relational bridge must be built to a ministry that meets their needs as they begin to identify them.

3. The tools to break-and-enter your church. The burglar analogy fits because we, as insiders, quickly forget how intimidating it is to attend a church for the first time and how much of a sub-culture each congregation creates with its traditions, local customs, and patterns of doing things. We need navigators to guide, advise, encourage and bless. In addition to the God connection, new folks need a sense of belonging born of authentic friendships.

If the core leadership of your congregation has prayed toward a significant level of consensual spiritual agreement around these insights and worked through a strategic conversation that creates a grace-filled accountability for actions you are taking, then you are well on your way to being ready for your next 25!

Important Things to Know

Gary Straub is a Ministry Colleague with The Columbia Partnership. He is part of the Transforming Congregations Team. The Columbia Partnership is a non-profit Christian ministry organization focused on transforming the capacity of the North American Church to pursue and sustain Christ-centered ministry. Travel Free Learning is a knowledge sharing emphasis. For more information about products and services check out the web site at www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org, send an e-mail toClient.Care@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, or call 803.622.0923

Advent

Hello Trinity Tribe,

I hope you are enjoying the sunshine today! We started out foggy but the sun broke through!

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul writes, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." The old liturgical church year is passing away and this Sunday the new church year begins with Advent. I am thinking about how we change from the old calendar year into the new one. We have parties. We throw streamers. We make a huge mess in Times Square. We write New Year's Resolutions. The feeling at the beginning of the church year is quite different. It will sneak in while we are still fat and happy from the turkey on Thursday. I haven't ordered any streamers or balloons.

However, it is an important time for the church and for our personal piety. We spend the four weeks prior to Christmas Day preparing our hearts for the birth of Jesus as well as preparing our hearts and our lives for Jesus' coming in glory and final victory. Advent is a time of self-reflection…of fasting…of good works…of prayer…of making our hearts soft and ready to house the baby Jesus.

We will light Advent candles. We will dream of stars. We will listen for the rumble and jumble of the shepherds.

How will you prepare you heart this Advent for Christ?

At Bible study this evening, we will contemplate this very thing. Please join us at 6:45 in the Education Building.

Students

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

I have been up early again, though it was by choice and not by nightmare! I have worked some more on my assessment as well as doing sermon research.

I got an unexpected letter in the mail yesterday. I was notified by Duke Divinity School that my Perkins loan had been paid off! Hip, hip hooray! I still carry debt from my seminary education. However, at least one of those loans is paid in full! I was excited to read those words yesterday. If it hadn't been for loans and scholarships, I would not have been able to answer God's call to ministry.

SInce the days of John Wesley, Methodists have valued education. United Methodists around the globe invest in higher education. However, the economy has hit the scholarship fund as hard as anything else in church. In fact, nearly 1,000 United Methodists who qualified for a scholarship this year walked away empty handed, and even more students are expected to be disappointed in 2011 unless giving to scholarship funds increases dramatically.The last Sunday of November is designated on the United Methodist calendar as United Methodist Student Day. United Methodist Student Day is one of the six churchwide Special Sundays of The United Methodist Church. United Methodist Student Day furnishes scholarships and loans for students attending United Methodist-related and other accredited colleges and universities.

United Methodist Student Day offerings have declined from $602,309 in 2007 to $484,188 last year. In 2010, 2,411 students received scholarships totaling $3.3 million. Ninety percent of Student Day collections go to the United Methodist scholarship programs, while 10 percent is for student loans. Each United Methodist-related college gets money from the offering for scholarships, and each participating annual conference gets 10 percent of Student Day receipts to award to their own merit scholars.

Prov. 4:7 - "Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding."
Prov. 2:3-5 - "Call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God."

I invite you to prayerfully consider participating in United Methodist Student Day with extra giving above your tithe to the Church. The money you give will go directly to help an undergraduate or graduate school student better themselves and enable them to live into whatever God has called them to do. I also invite you to tell other people how the United Methodists invest in higher education. Don't forget to tell your children and grandchildren that they can apply for scholarships through the UMC when they head off to college as well.

Looking at ourselves

Good Morning Trinity Tribe!

I woke up with a nightmare this morning at 4, so I have already been hard at work on my sermon and my pastoral assessment this morning. The North Carolina Conference asks each pastor to assess his/her gifts for ministry and growing edges in ministry every year. The Pastor Parish Relations Committee also prayerfully considers each pastor's gifts and growing edges. We both create documents outlining gifts and growing edges. In this way, your ministers are always pushing themselves and receiving important feedback. This assessment is due in December, but your Pastor Parish Relations Committee is crackerjack and is already at work on this document!

Now, I will tell you that I like receiving feedback. However, I need to hear it in a context of love and helpfulness. Screaming at me or being sharply critical or deeply personal in critique is not easy for me to receive. You are probably the same way. Unfortunately in most realms of the world today, you only receive negative feedback. Few people stop to compliment the clerk when he/she makes the check-out experience at Food Lion enjoyable. However, many people will scream at the same employee if s/he messes up your order. Few people stop and thank the janitor. We have to have "holidays" like Teacher Appreciation for many teachers to be noticed or appreciated. And how many times do you hear people on ESPN or in the stands compliment the referees for a game that was well called?

I invite you this week to be mindful about positive feedback. Who can you give a real compliment to? Who can you notice to thank them for their service?

I also invite you to give me feedback. Did you find a sermon meaningful? Was something I did helpful or hurtful? Is there something that I missed? Do you have an idea on something I can improve on in preaching or teaching or some other area of ministry? Where do you see my gifts for ministry playing out? I need to know where I need to grow as a pastor and a person. I also need to hear that I have done something well.

I will be prayerfully considering these items as well. I will be taking a long look in the mirror this week as well as the next several months as I work towards writing my final papers for ordination. I invite you to participate in this journey with me.

Roadkill

Good Morning Trinity Tribe,

We had a lovely trip to the Billy Graham Library yesterday. If you haven't been, it is quite interesting and well done.

On my way to Durham and back over the weekend, I listened to a lecture I had taped last year. It was Bishop Ken Carder who was one of my professors at Duke Divinity School. In his talk, he wanted us to consider what the metaphor for our church would be.

Looking at Dictionary.com, a metaphor is a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.” Or a metaphor is something used, or regarded as being used, to representsomething else; emblem; symbol.

Is it a tree or a lion or something else entirely? And then we are to explain it, of course.

The provocative example that a young pastor in a previous class had shared is that his church was like roadkill. The church was like that animal that has just been hit by an automobile…somewhere between life and death… The church he was referring to had 16-17 members in attendance…didn't want to have any new members unless they were just like the current ones…doing no outreach…etc. As horrible as that metaphor was, it has certainly stuck with me the last couple of days.

In Matthew 28, Jesus says this: 18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

I do not believe that roadkill churches was what Jesus was talking about. We must go out and make disciples which requires going out not just sitting in our safe sanctuary.

I have been thinking and praying about what metaphor we could use for Trinity UMC today and the Trinity UMC we want to see in the future. I want your input! What metaphor describes Trinity for you? What symbol would represent how you feel about Trinity? Please email me back or post your idea on our Facebook page.

By the way…some of our apportionment money to the Annual Conference goes to support people who support us as church leaders, church members, and as learners. One of those is our Conference Media Center. Here you can check out Bible study materials, personal study materials, and the like. Here is a brochure describing the services they provide.

http://nccumc.org/mediacenter/files/Media-Center-Brochure.pdf


If your Sunday School class needs some new material, here is just one of the many items they have in the Media Center:

The Media Center has a brand new bible study ready for your small group. Stephen Skelton of the Entertainment Ministry brings us a new series of modern parables featuring TV episodes of “The Lucy Show.” Skelton relates each episode to a biblical principle using scripture references and discussion questions. The Media Center has obtained a Certificate of License so that you can make copies of the provided study guide for everyone in your group.

A girl named treasure

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

The girls and I had a nice experience at Peterson Elementary today at Awards Assembly. Kayla got an award for good grades! I was amazed to learn there are seven Kindergarten classes at Peterson. That is a lot of little ones in school! So, if you ever have time to volunteer, I bet there is something a Kindergarten teacher would love for you to do!

I noticed some neat names as the kids were called to receive awards. There was a Moses…several young men with the name Jesus…a Mary… There was a Shania and a LeBron. But there were two young ladies named "Treasure" that caught my attention. What a name to be called! From your very first day on earth, your parents want you to know that you are a beloved treasure to them. I don't know these young ladies, but I would imagine they have great self-esteem. Their parents consider them a treasure.

Our heavenly parent, God, considers each one of us a treasure as well. In Ephesians 2, we find this passage: 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We are each God's treasure. God loves us so much that God doesn't leave us to sin. God came to earth, suffered, died, and rose again so that we could be set right with God. So, perhaps we all need to amend our birth certificates to read "Treasure" as our middle name.

Have a great day!

Like the white rabbit

Good morning Trinity Tribe!

I hope you are well! It is UMW Circle meeting day! I am excited to see what is happening in the UMW World today!

Today, I was a whole day early for something. Kayla (who is a little girl who is living with us at the moment) will be recieving an award at the awards assembly at Peterson Elementary for Kindergarten. I wanted to make sure that I was there to support her. So, the girls and I ran around after yoga this morning getting out the door to be on time at Peterson at 9am. However, the awards assembly is actually tomorrow. So, we were 24 hours early. That is good for me! I am sometimes a few minutes early. And sometimes a few minutes late. But never quite THAT early! However, it is better to be early than late! It is better to be ready!

That is what these young women found out in Matthew 25
Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids

“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids[a] who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, 4 but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. 5 When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’

7 “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. 8 Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’

9 “But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. 11 Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’

12 “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’

13 “So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.

We always have to be ready for Jesus. We don' t know if he is coming back today or tomorrow or sometime in 2012 or even some time in 3012. So, we must always be confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness…loving our neighbor…caring for one another… We cannot wait until the last minute to get ready for Jesus!

Have a blessed day! And be on the lookout for Jesus!

Spirited Life

Good Morning Trinity Tribe,

I hope you are all well on this chilly morning! I am off to Fayetteville this morning. The North Carolina Conference has started a new initiative with Duke Divinity School, the Western North Carolina Conference, and the Duke Endowment to help pastors be more healthy. They are encouraging us to loose weight, eat healthily, get all our medical tests, and the like. I am fasting and will have my blood sugar and cholesterol tested and what not this morning. They might even pay for my health center membership if I get selected for that particular group!

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6 that "19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
I hope this initiative will help me better honor my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. I certainly try. However, I can always do better.

How will you take care of your temple today?


If you want to read more about the initiative, check it out here: http://spiritedlife.org/

Christmas Gifts

Good Morning Trinity Tribe,

I missed Wednesday's email because I was working like a madman trying to get the newsletter out into your mailboxes. So, here is a bonus Friday thought for the day! We will be remembering our Saints and recognizing and remembering our Veterans on Sunday. So you will want to be here at Trinity for this special service.

I don't know about you, but I have noticed the Christmas advertising poster on the windows at Peebles as I drive down Main Street. It is barely Fall but, according to the retailers, we must prepare for Christmas! There are gifts to buy! Presents to purchase!

I don't know about you and your family, but my parents and other relatives have enough stuff! You don't need clothes. Your coffee pot is brand new. There just isn't anything other than a book or two you might want to give. So, why don't you give a gift that keeps on giving? I have two opportunities for you to consider as you plan your Christmas gift giving.

One, is the United Methodist Advance Alternative Christmas Gift program. The Advance is an accountable, designated giving arm of The United Methodist Church that ensures 100% of each gift is used for its intended mission or ministry. Their work fulfills both physical and spiritual needs through a variety of partnerships worldwide, to reach mutual goals that make a life-changing and long-lasting impact. As we grow into becoming wise givers, we understand the process is not about filling a box with more “stuff.” Mission is about giving, a gift to be treasured long after the special occasion passes.
The Advance offers perfect opportunities to give beyond the ordinary with alternative gifts – the practice of giving a donation in someone’s honor rather than a physical gift. Alternative giving works for all occasions, from Christmas and birthdays to anniversaries and retirements.

It is really two gifts in one – a gift through The Advance to the people it helps and a gift to the person you honor. 100 % of your gift reaches its intended mission and ministry. Here are some different ministries that are funded by gifts from people like you and me through the Advance….

#00545A – Community-BAsed RehABilitAtion in FARyAB PRovinCe, AFghAnistAn: $11 can help train a woman to become a midwife, thereby reducing the high rate of childbirth-related disability and death.
#15021B – BAltiC methodist theologiCAl seminARy, estoniA: $12 can provide a library book to educate young church leaders from Russia and Eastern Europe.
#11580A – shAde And FResh WAteR, BRAzil: $20 can offer tutoring and Christian education to at-risk children.
#13738o – RenovAtion oF Betty CAReW Women’s tRAining CenteR, sieRRA leone: $45 can purchase a bed for a woman living in extreme poverty.
#171282 – Feed my stARving ChildRen: 15 cents can provide a meal to a child in Haiti, Ethiopia, India and around the world. $55 can give a child a meal every day for a year.
#581540 – Amigos del vAlle, neW mexiCo, united stAtes: $60 can give an older adult home-assistance care for a year.
#12017A – Bethlehem BiBle College, the shePheRd soCiety, isRAel And PAlestine: $75 can pay a week’s salary for a worker to buy medicine, food and shelter for his or her family.
#14578A – Amity FoundAtion Blindness PRevention PRojeCt, ChinA: $85 can give sight to a blind person suffering from cataracts.
#14932A – vietnAm mission initiAtive: $100 can help start a new church in a country recovering from war and where less than 1 percent of the population is Protestant.
#07629A – give ye them to eAt, mexiCo: $120 can buy a female goat for a village to provide milk, food and baby goats.
#15057A – neW liFe, zAmBiA: $250 can buy a PET (Personal Energy Transportation) hand bike for a person unable to walk.
#14846A – ACCion mediCA ChRistiAnA, mAtAgAlPA, niCARAguA: $300 can buy a cow for a village woman, enabling her to earn money and give calves to other women in the community, who will repeat the cycle.
How to give:

• Online: www.advancinghope.org • By credit card: call (888) 252-6174 • By check: Write your check payable to your local church. Include The Advance # and give your gift to your local church treasurer. OR • Write your check payable to “Advance GCFA.” Mail check to: Advance, GCFA, P.O.Box 9068, GPO, New York 10087-9068.
Then tell the honoree about your gift by using The Advance Alternative Giving card. Call (888) 346-3862 to order the Alternative Generic Giving Card #87403008 or the Alternative Giving Christmas Card #87403708 or order online at umcgiving.org. I have ordered some of these for Trinity. They should be here in a week or two.

Secondly, ZOE Ministry (Zimbabwe Orphan's Initiative) is a wonderful mission started by a pastor in our NC Conference who's heart was broken by all the orphans in southern Africa. Greg Jenks' ministry has grown into multiple countries and now has multiple foci. They continue to feed orphans meals. However, they have begun a micro-business project in the last several years that I LOVE. They form orphans who are heads of household into groups. These groups become entrepreneurial enterprises. They work to prepare every one's land and receive training and then receive seed or animals. They are then expected to pay back what they have borrowed and to mentor other orphans to become self sufficient. Most orphans are completely self sufficient and earning a good living and supporting their brothers and sisters by the end of the three year program. For a Christmas gift, you could purchase an animal for their animal projects. A cow, pig, even a goat can be a first step toward transforming the life of an orphan who is left to care for younger brothers and sisters because the AIDS pandemic claimed the lives of their parents.
The ZOE Orphan Empowerment Project equips these children with essential life skills such as farming, animal husbandry and small business training while sharing the good news of Christ’s love.
An animal provides income, fertilizer for fields, and nourishment as orphans journey through ZOE’s Empowerment Project. Read more at the website below and watch the moving video.


http://www.zoeministry.org/you-can-give-hope/seasonal-zoe-resources/advent-christmas-resources/hope-for-christmas-animal-project

Jesus didn't tell us to collect more stuff. Jesus told us to love one another. Let's take Christmas back from the retailers and use it for what it was intended: spreading God's love around the world!

Have a great weekend! See you on Sunday!!!

Restoration

Good Morning Trinity Tribe,

It is chilly this morning! Now I can believe it is fall! If you are near the church at all today, you will see there is a lift here with our friend, Rob, on top of it. He is scraping and cleaning and then painting all the trim around the church. The Trustees have done a huge amount of work on the building in the last several months. Thank you to everyone who has been working to restore the building. Just like buildings, our souls need restoring. We cannot be complacent as Christians. We must be constantly learning and growing about our faith. You might be a reader like me and read books like Girl Meets God or Blue Like Jazz or you might listen to your favorite preacher on iTunes through a podcast or you might listen to Christian music on your radio as you drive around town. Prayerfully consider how you can restore your soul today and everyday.

Psalm 23

1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

Homecoming

Good morning everyone!

I am safely back from my class in the mountains, which was wonderful and very helpful. I will write more about that later in the week.

Yesterday's homecoming was wonderful! Thank you so much to all the people who did things behind the scenes to make the service and lunch afterwards so wonderful!

In Acts 2, Luke writes, "42 [The believers] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Breaking bread together is important as believers. There are conversations that take place around a dinner table that wouldn't be able to happen in worship…or at a baseball game…or even in a restaurant. There is something special that happens when you gather together and share food that has been lovingly prepared for a specific group of people. For example, I thought that it was brilliant that someone cared enough about my picky-eating children to have hot dogs available. There were some items that a vegetarian could have eaten yesterday. I am not sure that the diabetics did so well, but the dessert table was beautiful! ;-)

The internet was down at Hinton Rural Life Center last week. So, I am attaching last weekend's sermon and bulletin as well as this week's.

Black Widows

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

I had a bit of a fright over the weekend. I was trimming bushes around the parsonage…trying to get all the vines out and the dead branches. I was trying to get rid of a volunteer pecan tree intertwined with an azalea clipped out. I looked at my clippers and saw a huge black widow spider within an inch of my finger. And when I say huge, I mean huge. Her body was the size of the end of my thumb. I screamed like a girl and backed away from the bushes. Mark thought I had been bitten by a snake. We worked together as a team to catch and murder the black widow. It really upset me, so I was done trimming for the day after that. However, I will have to face my fear and get back to trimming. The landscaping needs some serious TLC. However, this time I will actually wear gloves. I don't like gloves because I like getting my hands dirty and it is easier to grab things. However, I forgot about the dangers of the out of doors. I didn't take good care of myself. Now, I think I have learned my lesson!

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul reminds us that we must take care of our bodies. "9Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

So, how are we going to take care of our bodies this week? Are we going to walk for 15 minutes? Are we going to wear clothing to protect us from the sun? Are we going to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables? Let's take good care of our gift from God today and every day!