This weekend in worship, we will celebrate two of my favorite events.  One, we will again gather around the banquet table of God and receive again, those symbols of God’s grace – the bread and cup of Holy Communion.  Each month when we receive those elements, we return again to the means in which God’s grace can reach us and we rise from the table prepared to be God’s people in the world.  There is no richer time for Christians than that.Two, we will celebrate the graduation of seniors who have been part of our congregation and its ministry.  They will be looking to rise from the graduation “table” and commence from there to life as an early adult.  They will be commencing from that ceremony to walk into life and prepare for the remainder of what they will do with the gift God and parents have given them.  As we celebrate them in the late service on Sunday, the seniors will help us at the Lord’s table by serving us the bread and cup.

For me, the two could not be more related.  Seniors commencing into the world, since graduation does not just mean something is complete, also means something new is beginning.  As we gather at the Lord’s table, we too are those who are completing something and commencing something new.

Hopefully, we are completing a sinful past and rising in the grace of God to live life anew and commencing into a new level of obedience to God.  Hopefully, we are commencing away from the table to be witnesses to Christ in the world by invitation and holy living. Hopefully, we are graduating from the pettiness of unforgiving attitudes and commencing a life of peace with our neighbors.  Hopefully, we are graduating from unloving behavior to loving others in the same way we love ourselves.  Hopefully, we are commencing to live lives of light and joy in a world that is sad and dark in many ways.  Hopefully, we are commencing into a new lifestyle that counters the greed of the culture with generous giving and serving.  Hopefully….well, you see the point.

See you soon, in the place where “Pomp and Circumstance” is replaced by sacrifice and praise.
Pastor Mark

My fingers are sore today as I type this update, and it is all your fault.  Well, not really, I do have some responsibility.  Your part was to choose to participate in our United Methodist Change the World Weekend.  You may not have chosen to sign up for one of the day-long mission projects.  You may have only consented to pray for us and those we are serving.  You may not be working on a roof, serving in a food pantry, cleaning up and beautifying grounds elsewhere, or serving lunch to sweaty and weary workers.  But if you have given something toward the weekend, from your resources of treasure or food from your own stores, you are still a part of changing the world.

Now, to the sore fingers (and back, and legs, and….).  I spent all day yesterday on the roof of a home in Fabens that most of us would only consider to be a worthy storage facility for cast-off goods.  However, inside the home is a grandmother who is raising three grandchildren in less than livable conditions.  We could have spent thousands of dollars and hours on the home, but this year we are helping with some essentials – a new roof to keep out rain and cold and provide better shielding against the heat in a non-air-conditioned environment.  New paint for walls that were “tagged” by gangs before the family moved in, renovations in rooms to repair holes in dry wall and tuck away some plumbing issues that look more like they belong in the third world.

Lyle Fraka, Barry Putnikci, Dave Dunning, and I worked alongside a few members of the Fabens UMC congregation, as well as the mayor of Fabens, to prepare the house for its repairs and a fuller crew on Saturday to finish the work.  Change the World may sound bolder than it really is, but for a family living on the margins of life with little to ensure safety and survival, I believe that we are changing their world.  Besides, we know that serving them often changes ours.

So, thanks for the soreness.  You are great bunch of Christians.  And, say a word of thanks to Amy Mercer for her diligence in making sure that logistics and legitimate projects were scoped and significant enough to make our time “world changing.”

See you soon, in the place where He calls us to greatness by asking us to be servants of all,
Pastor Mark

There is an old, old song (written in 1914 by Howard Johnson) called “Mother – A Word That Means The World To Me.”   When I was in grade school, I remember my grandmother playing the piano and teaching it to us – and we sang it with all of our might – even though it was off-key I am sure.  I had to look up the lyrics – because they have faded from my memory.

When I was but a baby, long before I learned to walk,
While lying in my cradle, I would try my best to talk;
It wasn’t long before I spoke and all the neighbors heard,
My folks were very proud of me for “Mother” was the word.
 Although I’ll never lay a claim to fame, I’m satisfied that I can spell the name:

“M” is for the mercy she possesses
“O” means that I owe her all I own
“T” is for her tender, sweet caresses
“H” is for her hands that made a home
“E” means ev’rything she’s done to help me
“R” means real and regular, you see
Put them all together they spell MOTHER, a word that means the world to me.

We will be looking at Proverbs 31 in worship on Sunday. In Hebrew it too is an acrostic poem- extolling the characteristics of “a capable wife, a virtuous woman.”  While we take this Sunday to give thanks to God for our mothers; as Christians there is another word that should mean the world to us: JESUS.  And if you have a hymnal handy – look up the words to that hymn – Jesus is all the world to me… written in 1904 the first line is a good one to memorize:

Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all;
He is my strength from day to day, without Him I would fall.

See you in church on Sunday – where we acknowledge that our strength is in Christ alone.
In His Service,
Pastor Amy

We hear the words all of the time, and we make judgments about buying into them:  ”Well, my fear is ….”, “What frightens me is….”, “I’m anxious that….”, “What scares me is…”.  I have been watching the live stream internet casts of our United Methodists meeting in General Conference this week as the Conference seeks to pass legislation that not only insists upon change in our denomination, it seeks to change the way we accomplish our mission in the world.

For some on the outside looking in, the legislation may seem trivial and the process tedious.  For United Methodists who are loyal to the denomination and its mission, trivial is a great pejorative.  Tedious, yes, as we seek to listen to one another, but trivial no, for we know the sake of Jesus the Christ is involved.  However, speaker after speaker on the Conference floor begin and have begun their comments and proposals with those kinds of word, acknowledging their own fear and seeking to invoke it in others.  When speakers are not forthcoming with the word, they utilize euphemistic terms:  ”My concern is….”, “I worry about…”, and “What bothers me….”.  All are fear based statements or questions (and usually questions that are more statements than pure information seeking).

What is clear to any observer is this: Fear runs rampant when we do not trust God particularly and each other especially.  It matters not if we are legislating the church, our government or our homes, fear is rampant when we lack trust or have broken trust between us.  The interesting thing is, we have to learn fear.  Psychologists tell us that there are only two fears that come inherent in the human psyche.

One is the fear of falling and the other is the fear of loud noises.  What often happens to us however, is that we experience the fear of a fall after having fallen, or the fear of a noise of the unknown after having heard something.  Once we associate fear with what is innate, it is only a short leap to be afraid of many things – the unknown, the boogie man we heard about from an older sibling, the outcome of a decision or previous consequences (healthy fear) and all the rest we carry with us.

But, if fear is learned, it can also be unlearned.  Often, it means staring that which makes us afraid directly in the face.  David stared down Goliath, Abraham stared down Mt. Moriah with Isaac in tow, Moses stared down a pharaoh, sea, and mad mob more than once, and Jesus faced a horrific death.  Their responses to those moments were not due to an absence of fear. That is not courage.  Courage is the ability to overcome our fears by unlearning.

My mother, who sometimes was a fearful individual, once penned a quote to help her un-learning:  ”Fear knocked at the door.  Faith answered and no one was there.”

What do you do about your fear?  Is your fear based in the learning of and association with moments of fearfulness?  Does your faith (essentially trust in God) inform you?  How does that work itself out in your behaviors, your prayers, your attitudes or even your inaction?

See you soon in the place where our God tells us, “There is no fear in love.  Perfect love casts out fear,”  and who affirms to us again and again, we are perfectly loved.  In fact, one of the most prevalent words to God’s people has always been, “Fear Not!”

Pastor Mark