The Cocoa Motion

Hello and greetings on this muggy morning!

Whew! Our house in Stedman is now empty. The cleaners came yesterday (and did not do a good job, I might add.) The carpet cleaners will be there in a little while. And then the house will be ready for our new renters! Well, except for the rest of our worldly possessions that are in the garage. Mark and I packed until 1am Thursday and then we got the rest of the items into the garage and the suitcases packed Thursday morning. I have had the mail forwarded. We have both decided to never try to move stuff by ourselves again. We have also decided that we have too much stuff. That is one of those tricky things. For example, someone we like gave us a "Cocoa Motion" as a wedding present. For those of you not familiar with this device, it is designed to heat water or milk and then to stir in the chocolate powder to create delicious hot cocoa without all the tedious stirring. The girls LOVE it. What do you do with things like that. It is perfectly good. It does make cocoa to the perfect temperature. However, do we really need it? No. But what to do…someone was very kind and gave us a gift. It works. But do we really want to pack it up and move it?

We have things in our hearts and minds just like that, though they are usually negative. Do we have anger jingling around in our minds against someone who do something to us 20 years ago or 20 minutes ago for that matter? Are there hard feelings that are hiding deep in our souls against that relative that always seems to make us feel bad? How do all these negative feelings weigh us down? Do they make it harder for us to go from one place to another? Do they impede our ability to be happy or to love others?

Let's free ourselves from the chains of anger and resentment and fear. Let's let God help us let go of those hard feelings. It will feel so much better to forgive because forgiving means that the other person no longer has power over you.

Now, I admit that the Cocoa Motion is still with us. Perhaps soon we will be willing to send it on to the thrift store. (However, if anyone feels like they need a Cocoa Motion, we can certainly hook you up!) The more we can say goodbye to, the easier and less cluttered our lives will be. And, of course, that goes for our hearts as well as our closets!

Have a great day everyone! We are going to the beach today but will be staying in Laurinburg with my parents starting tomorrow until the parsonage is ready. So, if you need me, the cell phone is the best way to go!

Have a great day and a wonderful weekend! See you on Sunday at 9:30 for Sunday School!

Inspirational Preaching….is that an oxymoron?

Dear Trinity Tribe,

I am sorry this is late today! Cindy Boyles has been kind enough to help me get the August/September newsletter together and we were working steadily on that this morning.

You can participate in making the newsletter meaningful by sending in articles, advertisements from your ministry areas, and anything you think people need to know about! We especially need help updating the prayer list. If you have a friend or family member that needs to be on that list, please let me know via a phone call, email, or carrier pigeon as soon as you can.

Today is day four of the discussion of characteristics of vital United Methodist congregations.

To catch you up…

According to a study of the United Methodist Church, the four main drivers of vitality in a congregation are:

A mix of both traditional and contemporary worship services
Small groups including programs for children and youth
Inspirational preaching and length of pastoral appointment
Lay leadership
Inspirational Preaching
This is a tricky point for people who stand in front of others proclaiming the Gospel week in and week out. I have written many things in my 40 years of life, but a sermon is one of the most difficult ones. There has to be a balance in a sermon…it helps if you are easy to listen to and to follow…it helps if you are a good speaker…it helps if you know the Bible…it helps if you have stories at your fingertips. However, this is not something you can train a monkey to do like the Progressive car commercial on TV. A sermon is a creation between God, the preacher, and the congregation. A sermon may be written down on a piece of paper, however a sermon does not live until it is preached.

I typically spend many hours in prayer, study, and preparation for each 15-20 minute sermon. There are literally pages of biblically solid, interesting, and sometimes funny material that God does not want me to use. In fact, God works on me throughout the whole process. God gives me ideas. God leads me to scriptures. God has me cut out whole pages and rewrite them at 5am on a Sunday morning at times.

Plus the way the congregation responds or doesn't respond changes how the sermon comes off in the pulpit. God gives me ideas last minute as I preach as well. That being said, if I do not spend the time in preparation and therefore preach a sermon that is difficult to follow, I have missed a key element of my charge to preach the Gospel to God's people. If I preach a sermon that is all jokes and no Jesus, I have also missed the boat. If I focus on how funny and clever I am, then I have fallen off the boat entirely.

For me personally, an inspirational sermon applies to my life. It helps me see Jesus more clearly. It helps me apply biblical principals to my life. It helps me look at my sin, really look at it, and ask forgiveness for it. An inspirational sermon helps me move past the mundane into the miraculous.

For me to be an inspirational preacher, I need your help. Let me know when God works through me to touch your heart. Similarly, let me know if I am missing the mark and not speaking to your heart. I cannot learn and grow without feedback, so I welcome it. (However, I do listen best when there is a little honey in the vinegar. )

I also need your help with real illustrations for the sermons. Lots of people copy stories off the internet when they write sermons. However, I would much rather use your stories. For me a story about Abigail or Howard or Adelle would be much more helpful and meaningful and applicable than a story about Joe Schmoe. Please help me learn your stories. When I get unpacked, I will be laying out the sermons for the next quarter or two. I will publish these, probably online. When I do, I want you to be on the look out for stories or articles that would help illustrate the points of the sermon. I will continue to put ideas that need your input on the Facebook page and in my devotional emails. So, feel free to put your two cents in there as well!


Chicken Salad Plate Sale Tomorrow!!!
Don't forget that you won't have to make lunch tomorrow! The Scouts are selling chicken salad plates and sandwiches beginning at 11-2.


"The best is yet to be!"
~John Wesley

Next up…the pastor

Good morning to the Trinity Tribe!

I hope you are somewhere safe and dry and not out and about. I almost got trapped in the Piggly Wiggly with the storm and lack of power. Luckily, I was able to get my milk and apple and head to the office!

Today is day three of the discussion of characteristics of vital United Methodist congregations.

Here's the data, if you would like to see it:
http://www.umc.org/atf/cf/{db6a45e4-c446-4248-82c8-e131b6424741}/CV_PRESENTATION.PDF

According to the study, the four main drivers of vitality are:

A mix of both traditional and contemporary worship services
Small groups including programs for children and youth
Inspirational preaching and length of pastoral appointment
Lay leadership
Today I am going to think about how the pastor affects church growth.

The pastor is certainly the most visible face of the church. I got a front page story and photo thanks to Terry at the Citizen. When I go somewhere I often have people know who I am because of that or because of the grapevine. And no matter the organization or group, the leadership matters. We have all worked for someone who was not a good leader. Either the person was passive aggressive or maybe he was too busy climbing the corporate ladder or a million other things that made him/her a poor leader.

This study points out two factors of healthy churches' pastors. They do a good job inspiring people through preaching and they stick around a long time. (I will talk about the first point tomorrow.) I have been a United Methodist since about 1980. I remember the deal: the pastor is at a church for four years, then they move. That usually happened whether you wanted him or her to or not. That was just the way that particular bishop operated, from what I understand. If you look at the Trinity Hall of Fame outside the parlor and look at the tenure of some of the pastors, you might gasp. Some of them were here only a year or sometimes two.

What sort of impact could someone have in 365 days? Granted, I have only been here 5 weeks, but I do not know everyone's name. I don't know everyone's story. We haven't gone through a liturgical year together and celebrated Advent and Christmas and Lent together. I hardly know where the copy paper is, much less what the DNA of the congregation is.

There is no way that I could be an effective minister here for a year or even two. It takes years for us to learn each other. It takes years for us to build deep trust in one another.

That being said, I am here intending to stay until I retire. (I am a realist and know that may or may not happen. However, I do know that I am not using Trinity as a stepping stone to some place else.) I want to stay here and learn your stories and be with you during good times and bad. I want to invest in you, and I want you to invest in me. We may not always agree on everything. We may even get mad at each other. Yet, in Christ, we will come back together and forgive one another.

It is kind of like when you get married and join a family. At first you are nice and polite to your in-laws and they are polite and kind and welcoming to you. But there will come that point when you don't feel embarrassed that your mother-in-law sees you with unwashed hair or in a grubby yard-working t-shirt. There will be that point where your father-in-law becomes a trusted friend. You aren't family by birth, but you become family by choice, by time spent together, and by the blood, sweat and tears of life.

So, I pray that we become that to one another. I pray that we can work together to bring Christ to Red Springs. I pray that we continue the decades of wonderful ministry that Trinity has already accomplished. I pray that we grow into one another like family.

Where do you fit in?

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

If you were not with us yesterday for worship, we missed you! You missed an a cappella Sunday! With Penny on a well deserved vacation, we sang a cappella so that we could truly appreciate her when she returns. You also missed the first episode of the God Box. Each Sunday, one of the children takes the God Box home and puts something inside it. It might be something that makes them think of God or of Church or of Jesus or of their family. This week Sam was kind enough to bring a large green rubber snake! After my screaming stopped, we had a talk about how sin is sneaky and can whisper in our ears and convince us that something wrong is something right.

Sean Boyles shared an article with us last week. I am going to continue thinking about the four things that vital congregations have going on that makes them vital!

Here's the whole list:
According to the study, the four main drivers of vitality are:

A mix of both traditional and contemporary worship services
Small groups including programs for children and youth
Inspirational preaching and length of pastoral appointment
Lay leadership
Small Groups for everyone, including children and youth

John Wesley was a proponent of small groups within a larger group structure. He studied small groups within different organizations and denominations of his time and developed a system of small groups that led millions of people to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. Wesley described small groups this way, . . . ‘a company of men [and women] “having the form, and seeking the power of godliness” (see 2 Tim. 3:5), united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their salvation’ (see Phil. 2:12). These small groups are part of what made Methodism grow like wildfire in the 1700s and 1800s. Small groups gave people a place to belong. They gave people a place to be accountable in their Christian journey. They gave people a place where it was safe to talk about and learn about their faith.


For us, small groups is an area that Trinity can achieve much growth in and build on what we have already as part of our community. We have several exciting and biblically based Sunday Schools for adults. We also have Sunday school for preschoolers, and one for children and youth. However, we have realized that the age range for children's/youth Sunday School is too broad. The older kids don't want to come because it is too "babyish". The younger kids don't get out of it what we might hope. So, in the fall, we will reorganize those groups into more effective age groups. Thank you to the Fellowship and Education Committee for taking care of that and keeping the pulse of the church in mind.

We will also add a new "younger" (you can define that however you would like ;-)) adult Sunday School to our mix. I will be teaching it, but it will be a discussion-based class with topical materials. If you aren't currently in a Sunday School class, we would love to have you join us! Sunday School isn't just for kids. Sunday School is for life! It is a great way to learn and grow as a Christian, but it is also a wonderful way to develop community. Jesus surrounded himself with 12 friends. They shared meals, laughter, ministry, and pain with Jesus. Don't we want the same thing? In this world of isolation and chaos, it is wonderful to have a place where people know your name and know your story and are there for you when it matters most.

If you are looking for a small group, a Bible study is a great way to find one. We want to have one or perhaps two of these at Trinity in the fall. What night or day would be good for you? What would you like to study? Do you want a short-term study? Or one that is more long term? Please let me know what YOU are interested in and when you would be interested in meeting.

Scouting…both Boys/Cubs and Girls, is another area of strength we can build on at Trinity. We have many children from throughout the community, many without a church home, that come through our doors on a weekly basis. We are grateful for all the wonderful adults that give of themselves to invest in our young people and the young people of Red Springs. Let's continue to be invitation to those who don't call a church home. Using the momentum of those vibrant programs, we will begin a new children's program here at Trinity. We are still in the planning stages, but we will mix music, crafts, games, and Bible teaching together to create a fun and safe environment for kids to learn about Jesus, themselves, and people who love them in Christ.

One of the things I thought was neat about Trinity was that we have a cooperative youth group with the Presbyterians and Baptists. I like the ecumenical nature of that along with the practicality of working together. However, we do need to do things that encourage our young people to be a part of our church in Sunday School, in worship, on committees, and in leadership roles. We are starting a new youth-only Sunday school. We are working on some things to make that especially cool and fun. If you have teenagers in your house, I would like your help encouraging them to take part in church. We want their perspective on committees. We want youth to be liturgists. Youth are not the church of tomorrow. They are the church of right now.

I don't know about you, but it wasn't the worship service that had the most impact on my growth as a Christian. That is certainly an important part, but the most change in my life has been through the people that know me best. The deepest impact on my walk with Christ has always been in a small group. It was my small group at Divinity School that got me through my divorce through their love and caring. It was my Disciple Bible Study class that helped me be brave enough to answer God's call to ministry. It was my youth group that helped me to start living my faith rather than just talking about it.

So, if you are not a part of a small group, I invite you to begin to pray about that. With whom can you study the Bible? Where can you be vulnerable? Where can you work on going on to salvation with others? If you are in a small group, bravo! Do you need to be more dedicated to it? Where can you invest more in the lives of other group members? How can your group "Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can," as John Wesley would say?

Worship Wars

Good morning Trinity Tribe!

I cannot believe that it is already Thursday! Ever since I came to Trinity, time seems to fly! I have now been in ministry with you for a month! August is just around the corner! Ahhh! We are not ready for fall to happen! Eek!

Sean Boyles was kind enough to point out an interesting article on the United Methodist News Service yesterday. I will include the link at the bottom of this email, if you didn't get a chance to read it yet. The point that struck me, since I am working on planning today, is what a new study out said about vital congregations in the United Methodist Church.

According to the study, the four main drivers of vitality are:

A mix of both traditional and contemporary worship services
Small groups including programs for children and youth
Inspirational preaching and length of pastoral appointment
Lay leadership
As Trinity continues to examine where we have been, where we are, and where we are going to do ministry in the future, I thought it might be helpful for us to pray about and pick apart these four drivers of healthy congregations.

A mix of traditional and contemporary worship services…
This point is one that makes many people uncomfortable. They call it the worship wars. Churches of other denominations have split over worship music styles. Changes in worship cause tears and hard feelings. No matter what age you are, there are certain things that make worship comfortable to you. If the music is familiar, it helps you feel comfortable. If the people leading worship look like you, it makes you feel comfortable. If the congregation worships in a manner you have worshipped before, you feel comfortable.

My parents went to an Episcopal Church while I was in my 20s and 30s. So, when I went home to visit, I would worship with them. However, I felt so uncomfortable there. Much of the worship service was similar to what I had experienced, however, I never knew where the page numbers were. I didn't know if I should have the hymnal or the prayer book. We were always flipping back and forth. I never knew what to expect next, even with a bulletin. They would stop the hymn in the middle of it to read the Gospel. I didn't know what to do and always felt like a fish out of water.

I felt the same way the first time I worshipped in a contemporary service in the UM church I attended in my 20s. People raised their hands during the music. We sang 5 or 6 songs in a row…then read the scripture…then had preaching….then the offering and we would sing and then leave. There was no liturgy to speak of. Everyone else knew what was coming next. And there was no bulletin! Again, I felt like a fish out of water.

However, God was glorified and worshipped in both settings. With liturgy and without, people were brought closer to God. With drums and without, people sang praises. With priests in robes and without, people were in awe of their creator.

One common thread through both of these experiences was my feeling of uncomfortableness. I did not feel like I belonged. I did not know what the insiders knew. I also had a bit of a "holier than thou" attitude when I thought the way that I felt comfortable worshipping was the best. I see now that that is not the case. My way of worship is not better, it is just different. It is comfortable to me, but that doesn't make it better or even optimal. For example, people who worshipped by singing along with guitars and reading the words off the screen actual sang better than when my congregation sang out of the hymnbook. People were more into the worship. They were participants rather than spectators. They answered the pastor when he preached. They participated in the sermon. After I became more comfortable, it was more fun and meaningful in many ways than a traditional worship service.

That beings said, I am the daughter of a church organist. So, there is nothing that feels holier to me than the Hallelujah Chorus. However, that rises out of my story. What if in your story, you had never attended a church? Would those hymns with "thee" and "Thou", words that aren't even in your vocabulary, feel comfortable? If you are used to 30 second sound bytes and constant communication, would sitting silent during a 20 minute sermon feel comfortable?

I do not know how we will address styles of worship here at Trinity. I certainly don't want people to feel uncomfortable as they worship. I don't want people who like the organ to feel uncomfortable when a praise team plays. However, I also don't want young people that have grown up with guitars and drums to feel alienated by sedate organ music. I am reminded that Bach was once avant guard in his day.

How can worship be fresh and alive no matter what the music style is? We don't want people who worship God well in traditional music to feel kicked to the curb. So, how can we create an alternate entry point for people who feel comfortable worshipping differently? How can we have the best of both worlds?

Lots to think about! Lots to pray about!

Have a blessed day!


Article on Vital Congregations and other UM things to ponder:

Packing Up

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

Those of you who are lucky enough to not have had to move will not really identify with what I am saying here, but try to imagine what it is like! ;-)

I spent the a bit of the morning sorting and packing the rest of the girls' clothes today. The girls have finally outgrown all the little kid socks, so they headed to the trash bin. I pulled out clothes that Hanna and Kenna have never worn and put them in the donate pile. And I packed what was left. It is amazing how heavy tween's clothing can be when it is piled up in a box!

My next task is to clean out the filing cabinet upstairs. That will be a treat. I did sort out all the manuals for the appliances that will stay with the house when we move the other day. However, I will still have to go through many file folders to see if the paper inside needs to be saved or if it is safe to recycle it.

How often do we clean out our hearts and our minds like we clean out drawers when we move or when the seasons change? Do we examine old hurt feelings and decide that the issue just isn't important anymore and then forgive the perpetrator? Are we willing to examine those things we have done to hurt others and ask forgiveness ourselves? Similarly, do we pull out those feelings of joy or happiness that we have experienced and savor them? Do we, perhaps, share those memories with people and let them know that they mattered? Someone I know was blessed by a letter she received yesterday. The person who wrote thanked her for the fond memories they shared and how my friend had invested in her life. That letter meant a lot to my friend.

If we are willing to pack up those hard feelings, our lives will be better. If we are able to forgive those people who have hurt us, those people will no longer have power over us. If we let people know how much they have meant to us, they will be richly blessed.

Imagine if you received this phrase in a letter that Paul writes to the Phillipian church in chapter 1:

3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

So, let's all do a little sorting in the drawers of our hearts as July comes to a close. Let's let go of anger and hurt feelings and enjoy the freedom God gives us. Let's let other people know that they mean something to us. Let's let them know that when they walked along side us, it made the journey easier and more enjoyable.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Taking that first step

Dear Trinity Tribe,

I am not sure what first brought you through the doors at Trinity. I am here because with prayerful consideration the Bishop and the twelve District Superintendents thought I would be a good fit for this congregation. I appreciate how warm and open everyone has been to me and to Mark and Kenna and Hanna. Most of you, unlike me, didn't walk in where everyone knew your name.

Walking into a church for the first time is a weird thing. You don't know where to sit. You don't know the music. You don't know the people. You don't know how they do things, even the familiar ones. So, for all of you have walked into this church as a youth or an adult for the first time, BRAVO! You did something very difficult! It felt weird and uncomfortable, but you did it anyway.

There are things that we can do that make it easier for visitors. First, we can invite people to attend church with us. Whether it is a neighbor who moves in next door or that person you have known your whole life that doesn't have a church family, you can invite them to come. That way they have someone to sit with. They have someone to help them find the page number. And they have someone to eat lunch with afterwards. That is a powerful gift that you can give to a friend…a personal invitation to spend time with his/her Lord and Maker and to get together with some other parts of the Body of Christ.

Secondly, we can make our church easy to walk into. If there is someone at the door who sees you come out of your car in the rain and runs to meet you with a big golf umbrella, that would be a great first impression. If someone in the narthex showed you to a seat and sat you next to someone who was about your age, that would go a long way to make you feel comfortable. If someone called you by name, that makes you feel wanted and welcome! If someone introduces himself to you, you feel important. If the pastor or liturgist is careful to explain items of the service, it makes you feel more comfortable and like an insider rather than an outsider.

Let's all pray about who we can invite to church. Let's also pray about how we at Trinity can be more welcoming and how we can make first time visitors feel like insiders.

Also, I would love to hear stories about your first visit to Trinity. What felt good? What made you come back? What made you feel uncomfortable? Have you visited other churches that are doing something right? If so, let us know so we can shamefully adopt the practice! ;-)

Have a wonderful day!

Going Postal

Part of my routine of the day is dropping by our local United States Post Office to get the mail from Box 48. Today, I actually saw our friendly, neighborhood Postmaster/Church member, Kathy McGirt! I think it is really neat to see people you know in leadership positions in the town. Plus, seeing people you recognize and recognize you is always a great way to start the day! Does it drive you nuts when you see someone who should recognize you not even speak to you? I admit that it hurts my feelings! We need to feel part of a community, it's in our DNA. We need to feel noticed. We need to feel important.

How well do we do that at Trinity? Are we good at noticing people aren't here and then doing something about it? Are we good at recognizing people for accomplishments? Are we good at helping people with their struggles?

Are there people we know that should be at church but aren't? If so, have we invited them to church lately? Would it be possible to invite them to come over after next week's worship service for a sandwich?

Or was that person who usually sits in the pew behind us absent yesterday or the week prior? Here comes the hard questions: did we do something about it? Did we pick up the phone to check on that person? Did we send them a note?

Could we at Trinity take on a ministry via the Post Office? Could we write notes to our homebound members? Could we put cards in the mail when you hear that a child or teenager did something cool at school?

This is an area that I need some help with. I am to the point where I know a lot of names, but I don't always know when people are on vacation or sick. I'm not plugged into the grapevine quite yet! ;-) I don't always know when a kid gets straight A's or wins a prize in 4-H. However, I do want to know. Since we are all family in this church, it isn't bragging to share the excitement you feel about your child's good grades or the concern you feel over your neighbor's illness. God knew that we need support from others. That is why he gave us to each other as the Body of Christ.

So, I invite you to make a phone call…send a note…send an email… Let one of your brothers or sisters in Christ know that he or she matters to you. Let them know that you recognize them as the wonderful creation of God that they are. Let them know that they are missed when they are gone from the Body. Let them know that you are proud of them and that you care. So, excuse me while I get a note and a pen...

Prayer…it's not just for bedtime anymore!

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

I'm not sure about you, but I have always been scared of prayer. Until I went to Divinity School, I had never prayed out loud, other than "God is Great, God is Good." I had heard minister after minister pray these beautifully constructed, theologically sound, big word-filled prayers. I KNEW that I could not pray like that. I couldn't get up in front of other people and have them hear me stumble around a prayer. I couldn't let other people hear what I was saying to God. It wouldn't be formal enough. It wouldn't be grammatically correct enough. It wouldn't be good enough.

However, it doesn't say that prayer has to be like that in the Bible, at least anywhere I can find. We are to pray without ceasing. We are to pray for ourselves and for others. And, if you read the Psalms, you see real raw emotion. David even yells at God in his prayers. There is weeping. There is laughing. Paul is constantly praying for the churches to whom he writes.

We do not need to be afraid to pray. We can pray out loud. We can pray in a whisper. We can pray with our bodies…in today's motionless world full of watching TV, perhaps this would be a great spiritual discipline to take up. What if we took a cue from our Muslim cousins and prayed while laying on the floor five times a day? What would our hearts be like if we took prayer that seriously that we stopped everything we were doing in order to pray? What if we prayed normal words and didn't try to sound like a Bible professor?

Prayer is merely acknowledging God's presence around you and with you. It isn't as hard as we make it out to be. I challenge all of us, myself included, to spend more time in prayer. It might be while you drive to work…it might be stopping 5 times a day to acknowledge God's presence. It might be praying for something specific. It may just be remaining silent and listening to your heart beat and your breath wash in and out of your lungs. No matter how or when we pray, it is time well spent at the feet of our Creator.

1 John 5:13-15 My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening. And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.

Road Trip!

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

I hope this note finds you all well…full of a healthy breakfast…full of excitement for the day!

I am feeling more and more at home here in Red Springs even though I haven't officially moved in yet! I am learning more people's names. I didn't get lost yesterday. I even had my first strange dream about Trinity! I don't remember the story line, but the dream was definitely set here. I keep having moments where I feel comfortable, like when you snuggle under a blanket on the sofa and watch old movies as the snow falls outside. One of those cozy moments happened yesterday at Wesley Pines, the United Methodist sponsored elder care facility in Lumberton.

Trinity has two long-time members who now reside there. Betsy was once the church secretary and gave lots to this church. Dot was a faithful member who volunteered at the church. One of our United Methodist Women's Circles took a road trip to visit them yesterday. We picked up our two friends and dined with them in a private area of the dining room there at Wesley Pines. We shared a wonderful meal! We laughed! We shared stories! We cracked a joke or two. It was a moment that captured what Christian fellowship is all about. I had only met our two guests of honor a week prior, yet we could hug and laugh like old friends. We swapped stories! While I don't know all the Trinity stories, but I am learning. It is such a blessing to be a part of people's lives. I am honored and grateful that I get to do that.

When was the last time you made a visit to a nursing home? Or when was the last time you paid a visit to someone who doesn't get out much? I know that people in their 30s and 40s, we aren't used to dropping by and visiting people. That requires cleaning our messy houses! We are often so busy that we don't have time for such things anyway. However, I think it is a lost art that we could easily capture. It feels so good to sip ice tea and listen to stories of times gone by. It is also neat to share stories of times today. It is then we learn that things have changed, but they aren't that different somehow. No matter the decade, teenagers look forward to the freedom of a drivers license…ice cream tastes good on a hot day…and people worry about the future…

I look forward to hearing your stories and sharing some of mine!

Nerds and Geeks

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

With my almost hour long commute, I get a lot of time to think and pray and listen to the radio. Today, I listened to a bit of a radio show and learned that today is an important day….Embrace your Geekness Day!

http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/July/geeknessday.htm

The show discussed the difference between geeks and nerds. I'm not sure what your definition is, but from the show and a little internet research, here is what I have come up with. A nerd is someone who is highly intellectual. A nerd often has a focused set of interests and is an expert in those interests e.g. Star Trek trivia. Nerd seems to have popped into the American vocabulary in the 1950s lifting the title from a Dr. Seuss book. The word "nerd" is always pejorative and points to someone being boring and annoying who has poor social skills.

In contrast, the word, geek, came into the vernacular from circus side shows. A geek has normal intelligence but has a specialized job that seems bizarre to the general public e.g. being able to fix computers. Geek has a more positive connotation. Geeks tend to have social skills.

Now, I don't know about you, but I had no idea that there were entire websites dedicated to the difference between geeks and nerds. Most of the time, I tend to use these words interchangeably. Isn't that true of how the general population uses Christian and hypocrite? If you ask 10 non-Christians or even 10 atheists, most of them will describe a Christian with the same words we would use to describe a hypocrite. In They Like Jesus But Not the Church, Dan Kimball writes, "Today, Christians are known as scary, angry, judgmental, right-wing finger-pointers with political agendas." He goes on to say, "While some Christians might fit those categories, most of us don't! Sadly, the most vocal and aggressive voices that people are familiar with do…I think at the core of a lot of the confusion is the fact that most people are making conclusions about Christians and Christianity based on a few bad experiences."

I don't know about you, but I have had bad experiences with Christians and churches. I have not chosen to play church political games and have paid for it. I have been hurt by church people. I have been lied to by church people. And I, as a church person myself, have done my share of sinning as well thus sullying the name, "Christian".

So, sharing our message of love and hope found in our Savior, Jesus Christ, is a difficult task. We must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live the Gospel. We must live our lives with integrity. We must work hard to not be hypocrites. We must approach non-believers with love and a realization that they may have preconceived notions of us and church because of past bad experiences with church and church people. We must live the words of James and "be doers of the Word and not hearers only" in all that we do not just from 11 to noon on Sunday mornings.

Let's all pray and ask God to help us live and walk the walk and not just talk the talk and be effective ambassadors for Christ.

Enjoy your geeky day and watch Star Trek or Star Wars tonight!

The Good Samaritan

I keep thinking about the scripture from yesterday, the parable of the Good Samaritan.

In the Message version of the Bible, Luke Chapter 10, verse 27 goes like this:
He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself."

The scriptural mandate is to love your neighbor unconditionally. I got a good picture of how to love someone well yesterday. My dear husband, Mark, took his Sunday afternoon to replace the toilet and sink in the office here at Trinity. He got all sweaty and covered with gunk to do an act of service for me and the church.

Of course it is easy to do acts of service for people you are close to. However, the Good Samaritan did an act of service for someone he didn't know and someone his people considered an enemy. I hope we all will be on the lookout for people we don't know that we can do acts of service for. It might be difficult to do or feel weird at first, but the blessings will be many. It can even be simple things. I have been working on reaching out to people who are in service to others like cashiers and wait people. I have been working on calling them by name and being intentionally thankful. For example, I saw a man in the grocery store light up when I smiled at him this morning. He seemed surprised that I smiled and said hello to him. That doesn't compare to what the Good Samaritan did, but hopefully it made that gentleman's day a bit better. It did bless me to see him smile.

Names

Good morning everyone,

I hope you will have an enjoyable and productive day!

You may have noticed by now that Mark, the girls, and I all have different last names. Mark is a Merryman. Kenna and Hanna have their father's last name, Berg. I use my maiden name. While there had been many many generations of McClures in centuries prior, my grandfather had two children, a boy and a girl, so only my father carried on the family name. Then my father and mother adopted two girls. When my sister and I both got married, the name McClure disappeared. I decided several years ago that I really missed my last name. I had been a McClure much longer than I had been married into the Berg family. While I had been adopted and am not genetically related to any McClures, I felt like a McClure. I have the family crest on my wall at home. My great-aunt has traced the family heritage back to the Old Country. So, I changed my name because McClure carries meaning for me. I have no birthright to the name, but I claim it and it holds important meaning and memories for me.

Our name of "Christian" works the same way. In baptism we are adopted into the family of God. We become a child of God. We become a brother or sister to Jesus the Christ. Yet, we have no right to be children of God. We are sinners. We continually turn away from God. However, God is a God of grace and mercy. Through grace we are saved by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Because of Jesus being fully human and fully divine and sacrificing himself for our sins, we get the privilege to call God, Daddy, and Jesus, brother. We did not save ourselves, but in baptism we are lovingly adopted by God. In the fourth chapter of Galatians, Paul writes,

4-7But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

I look forward in the coming months to hear the stories of your names. Who are you named after? Where did your family come from to move to Red Springs? What children do you have that are named after your great-aunt or favorite uncle? However, I encourage you to never forget your true name, the name given to you by grace and through sacrifice, beloved child of God.

Hanging Out in the Desert

The Desert Fathers were monks during the centuries following the birth of the church, who removed themselves from society in order to better hear God and better follow Christ. I would imagine that living in the Egyptian desert did give one more time to contemplate God than in our busy lives today. Here is a quote handed down from Abbot Pastor as he lived this life apart.

"If you have a chest full of clothing, and leave it for a long time, the clothing will rot inside it. It is the same with the thoughts in our heart. If we do not carry them out by physical action, after a long while they will spoil and turn bad."
~Abbot Pastor, one of the Desert Fathers

Abbot Pastor speaks the truth. If our religious thoughts remain thoughts only they do not fully embody the power of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. At Trinity we have many places for you to live out and live into your faith. If you are young, you might be an acolyte or visit a member who is homebound. If you are a teenager, you might visit the nursing home or clean out the garage of someone who cannot get around as well as they used to. If you are an adult, you might deliver Meals on Wheels, cook for Feeding Jesus, or help glean in a field with the Society of St. Andrew. The choices are many. In our busy lives, we just have to make the time to do such things. Errands and deadlines seem more pressing at times than acts of kindness and acts of service. However, it is in those times of giving of ourselves that we grow closer to God and to our fellow human beings.

Where can you live out your faith today? What acts of service are waiting for you to accomplish this week?

Job vs. Vocation

Good morning everyone!

I went to get the mail this morning and saw a picture of me peeking out from the Citizen newspaper box. That is pretty cool! I truly appreciate how kind and welcoming everyone has been to me and my family.

I am about half way through Barbara Brown Taylor's book, An Altar on the World, for my devotion and prayer and reflection time. Today's chapter was entitled, "The Practice of Living With Purpose." Taylor went to Divinity School without a calling of what to do with that degree. Her classmates could share the story of how God had called them to ministry or to teaching. However, she had no story to share. So, she went to the top of a fire escape in a building next to the Divinity School and began to pray for guidance on what to do next. She learned to pray without words and instead prayed with her heart after spending much time on that rickety piece of metal. After much prayer, God answered her. God said, "Do anything that pleases you and belong to me."

Some people think being a pastor makes you more holy. Some pastors even believe that. While I love being a pastor and am grateful for the places God sends me, it doesn't make me better or more holy than the next person. My prayers don't get answered before the guy who bags my groceries at Food Lion. My work for the Lord is no more valued that the woman who volunteers every day reading to the kid who has no one to read to him at home. I don't sin any less that anyone I pass on the street. I am just called to a different task. According to the Book of Discipline 2008 of the UMC, "Ordained ministers are called to a lifetime of servant leadership in specialized ministries among the people of God…ordained ministers devote themselves wholly to the work of the Church and to the upbuilding of the ministry of all Christians" (Paragraph 138, page 93). I have gifts that God can use in the church, but so do many other people. I am merely called to devote a larger part of my time to the work of the Church.

I have loved many of the jobs I have had over the years. I really enjoyed working at Office Depot and being an expert in specialty paper and customer service. I loved teaching school because of the relationships and the opportunity to make a difference in someone's life. However, I have never been as excited to get up in the morning as I have been in the last two weeks. I am in a place where I can use my gifts and job skills in a place I am called to be. I have a vocation rather than just a job.

Dictionary.com defines a vocation as "a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life." A vocation may or may not be what you do 9-5 or 3-11 to pay your rent and buy groceries. Your vocation may be what you do on the weekends. It may be what you do two weeks a year. A vocation is what God has called you to do that shows you belong to God. What is your vocation? I want to know! If you do not have a vocation, I invite you to find your proverbial fire escape and pray and ask God what that could be for you. What skills do you have that God can use to bring about the Kingdom? Who can you touch with your gift of cake baking? Who can know that God loves him because of your gift of conversation? Who can have hope because of the hammer you swing?

All who wander are not lost

Good morning all,

I do not know many of your stories yet and you do not know many of mine. We will have many long years to share stories, of course. I look forward to hearing yours and sharing mine. One of the things you will learn about me quickly is that I spend a lot of time getting lost. That phrase that says "he can't find his way out of a paper bag" is one that speaks truth for me. I remember that as a child I would often get lost under the covers as morning came and be unable to find my way out of the coverlet. I have a vivid memory screaming for my mother after becoming trapped under my Kentucky blue blanket. Mark, who has an incredible sense of direction, is becoming used to my penchant for being lost. For example, I was 15 minutes late coming home last night because I got lost in Red Springs. I know that sounds ridiculous to those of you who could draw a map of Red Springs with your eyes closed. I just could not make my brain figure out the way home. So, I did what I often do, I turned on the GPS. In 45 seconds I was pointed in the right direction and headed home.

If you flip through the Bible, you find many people who spent time lost and wandering. Of course, you think of the Israelites. They spent not 15 minutes but 40 years wandering in the desert until they found their way to the Promised Land. There is that joke that if Moses had just stopped and asked for directions they would have arrived years sooner. However, if you dig deeper into the story, you find that the journey was formative for those poor lost souls. The people of Israel had to be broken. That had to grow to trust the Lord.

In Numbers 32, Moses said, "7 Why do you discourage the Israelites from going over into the land the LORD has given them? 8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. 9 After they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them. 10 The LORD's anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: 11 'Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old or more who came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob- 12 not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the LORD wholeheartedly.' 13 The LORD's anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.

The Israelites did not choose to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. They did not put their whole trust in His grace. They let fear guide them rather than the Word of God. We, of course, do the same thing. We take matters into our own hands rather than wait and pray for God's direction. We marry that person because we think our parents want us to rather than waiting to be called into a marriage by God. We take that drink to make ourselves feel better rather than putting our worries and hurts at the feet of the cross. We take something from our employer because they owe us, after all.

Yet we are not lost in sin. We are not trapped in our mistakes. They Israelites, as a people, had a second chance just as we do. Sometimes it takes that moment when we hit rock bottom, when we are lost, that we are willing to reach out to the hand of Jesus and get pulled out of sin.

Next time you are lost, I invite you to see what you can learn on the journey. Perhaps you come across a lovely patch of wild lilies. Perhaps you will find a farmer's stand that you didn't know was there. Perhaps when you get completely lost and hit rock bottom, you will realize just how much God loves you.

I will leave you today with a quote from Barbara Brown Taylor, "You will think of other ways to get lost, or to accept that you really have gotten lost through no choice of your own. It can happen anywhere, in all kinds of ways. You can get lost on your way home You can get lost looking for love. You can get lost between jobs. You can get lost looking for God. However, it happens, take heart. Others before you have found a way in the wilderness, where there are as many angels as there are wild beasts, and plenty of other lost people too. All it takes is one of them to find you. All it takes is you to find one of them. However it happens, you could do worse than to kneel down and ask a blessing, remembering how many knees have kissed this altar before you."

Blessings,
Mary Frances