September 11

Dear Trinity Tribe,

What a week this has been friends. We go into the weekend with heavy hearts and a few tears along with the rejoicing we are doing because some of our beloved have been reunited with Jesus. Continue to love and support the families who are missing important parts of their own tribe. Cards, calls, and other expressions of love are important in these days and will continue to be important in the weeks and months and years to come.

Please keep Aileen in your prayers. She is doing well, but I am sure she would appreciate prayers as her knees continue healing.

I wanted to share with you what our UMC Council of Bishops have to say about September 11th. The pastor of that non-denominational church in Florida has certainly grabbed his 15 minutes of fame by threatening to burn copies of the Quran. While Americans certainly have right to be angry with the terrorists who killed so many and destroyed so much on September 11, 2001, those terrorists are dead and past being targets of our anger. However, I can find no scriptural basis to think that Jesus would think burning copies of the Quran would solve or prove anything. Jesus said to love our neighbor, not to torment him. If a non-Christian group decided to burn lots of copies of the Bible, it would cause me to feel nothing but anger and hurt. Jesus lived a life of love and reconciliation not anger and hurt.

Therefore, I invite you to spend time in prayer on September 11th: prayer for the families that were affected on that tragic day as well for the peace so dreadfully needed in this world of ours.

UNITED METHODIST COUNCIL OF BISHOPS STATEMENT ON SEPTEMBER 11



As we approach yet another September 11, we are reminded that the world we live in continues to be fragile place where emotions and tensions run high. There are not many of us who will ever forget where we were on that September morning nine years ago. We should never forget those whose lives were taken away in the horror of just a few hours.

September 11 should be, for all of us, a day of prayer for peace in this world. It should be a day for quiet remembrance and reflection as we seek to find and live in the ways of peace. We think of Jesus pausing on his way into the holy city of Jerusalem on the day we call Palm Sunday. He wept over the city – not so much for what was about to happen to him, but because the people did not know the things that make for peace (Luke 19:41-42). We suspect he still weeps, looking out over the world we currently inhabit.

September 11 should be a day of prayer for rebuilding and restoring relationships, and for reaching out to find ways to work and live together in this world. It is not a day for burning the holy book of another faith tradition. Tragically one person has garnered headlines for advocating such a thing. There is nothing of Jesus in such an action. In fact, as we recall, there was a time when the disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven on the perceived enemies for refusing to receive Jesus. No, Jesus said; in fact he “rebuked” those who advocated such a means. (Luke 9:51-55). Such an action is not the way of Jesus, nor the way of peace and love.

There was a meeting earlier this week in Washington, DC, of religious leaders of many faith communities. The United Methodist Church and its Council of Bishops was represented by its Executive Secretary, Bishop Neil L. Irons. The members of the group, in a formal statement, said: “We are committed to building a future in which religious differences no longer lead to hostility or division between communities. Rather, we believe that such diversity can serve to enrich our public discourse about the great moral challenges that face our nation and our planet. On the basis of our shared reflection, we insist that no religion should be judged on the words or actions of those who seek to pervert it through acts of violence; that politicians and members of the media are never justified in exploiting religious differences as a wedge to advance political agendas or ideologies... We work together on the basis of deeply held and widely shared values, each supported by the sacred texts of our respective traditions. We acknowledge with gratitude the dialogues between our scholars and religious authorities that have helped us to identify a common understanding of the divine command to love one’s neighbor. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all see an intimate link between faithfulness to God and love of neighbor; a neighbor who in many instances is the stranger in our midst.“

“We are convinced that spiritual leaders representing the various faiths in the United States have a moral responsibility to stand together and to denounce categorically derision, misinformation or outright bigotry directed against any religious group in this country. Silence is not an option. Only by taking this stand, can spiritual leaders fulfill the highest calling of our respective faiths, and thereby help to create a safer and stronger America for all of our people.”

We urge all of us to approach the remembrance of September 11 in prayer and hope for peace; and in resolving to do everything we can individually and collectively to live the way of Jesus. It is our prayer that this weekend be filled with prayers and not the fires of hatred and irrational rage.



Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster President, Council of Bishops

Bishop Neil L. Irons Executive Secretary, Council of Bishops

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!

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.

Good morning everyone,

This quote comes from one of my favorite theologians who is quite a character. When he would lecture at Duke, you never knew what he might say. This comes from the book I am reading for devotional time, An Altar on the World by Barbara Brown Taylor.

"Christianity is not a set of beliefs or doctrines one believes in order to be a Christian, but rather Christianity is to have one's body shaped, one's habits determined, in such a way that the worship of God is unavoidable."
Stanley Hauerwas

How are our bodies being shaped at Trinity UMC? What do we do every day that shapes us more like Jesus Christ? What sort of habits do we have that create a spirit of worship within our hearts and minds? If you don't feel like you are being shaped, I invite you to take time and be silent. Listen to your breath and your heartbeat. Listen to the birds chirping and the bugs buzzing. Pray with a spirit of openness rather than a laundry list of issues. Read the Psalms. Read the book of James. Look in the mirror and marvel at the work of God's hand. Do something today that shapes your body to be one of worship and praise.

Blessings,
Pastor Mary Frances