Memorial Day

My friend Tom Butts from Monroeville, Alabama wrote about Memorial Day in a quite moving way. Without his permission, I would like to share it for this upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

Soon . . . we commemorate Memorial Day originating in 1868, when Union General John A. Logan designated a day when graves of Civil War soldiers would be decorated. Known as Decoration Day, the holiday soon changed to Memorial Day, becoming a holiday dedicated to the memory of all war dead. It became a federal holiday in 1971. There is also a Confederate Memorial Day, variously celebrated in some of the southern states. Memorial Day helps us remember Veterans.

A thoughtful writer put it this way:

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote.

What veterans do for our country and the church lives in our hymn “They’ll know we are Christians by our love” suggests: “We will work with each other we will work side by side . . . And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride.”

As we remember to remember may I quote myself from last Sunday’s sermon: “We are at our best when we remember; we are at our worst when we forget!”

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On Confirmation

On 19/20 May 2012 we as a church will confirm some 40-odd young people in our church—and by odd I mean numerically because the exact number always seems like a moving target.

Confirmation is an old and traditional way for believers to be connected with the past’s saints. It is not graduation from the church (the confirmands never to be seen again), but rather a way to take another step toward being mature believers in Christ. Confirmation is part of a constant journey toward God and life in Christ. This journey begins at baptism, when God gives us our Christian name to grow into, and goes on until we go to be with God. Part of our confirmation celebration embraces a worship service where the confirmands obtain a blessing and the openly confirm the baptismal vows made for them by their parents or sponsors at their baptism.

Confirmation is also a way for new believers to connect with the current believers of the congregation. From the point of view of the church we see our new confirmands as adults. Thereby they are now eligible to participate in the church’s functional work, mission outreach, and make a financial pledge to the life of the church. This activity is all part of our vow to support the church with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. We make this pledge in front of family, friends, and God!

Finally confirmation aims believers in a direction to grow in grace and to seek the sanctification for which John Wesley made Methodists famous. In fact sanctification frequently appears in Wesleyan theology. John Wesley clearly believed that God saved people in an instant by declaring them justified by faith.

However, Wesley also believed that that is not where the Christian life ended. A saved person could still “go on to perfection” by “growing in grace in this life.” What Wesley offered believers was a way to continue their journey with God to the end of their lives. Thus, the journey toward God is never complete. We can always grow in grace and for Paul and John Wesley and our Grandma this meant that God could always offer even the most devout believer “entire sanctification.”

Confirmation is the beginning of a journey and we here at church welcome our confirmands along for a glorious trip with us toward God!

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Thank God For Mothers

An article in National Geographic a decade or so ago, provided a penetrating picture of God’s wings. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree.

Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently pushed it, three tiny chicks scurried out from under the dead mother’s wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. Then the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die so those under the cover of her wings would live.

Psalm 91:4 reminds us of God’s care for God’s children. It well illustrates this story from Yellowstone: “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.”

Someone described us modern people too well when he/she wrote these lines:

We take the silver out and polish it
With all the zeal that we can muster,
But leave religion on the upper shelf
Expecting it to hold its luster.

Supposing our children to be with us, we travel on.
Are your children with you? 

Thank God for the mothers who try to give their children a sense of direction and purpose greater than their own self-gratification.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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National Day of Prayer

Today, many Americans will celebrate the National Day of Prayer. It is a time for people of all faiths to pray together in their own way. May we honor prayer by practicing it!

A scripture verse that is fitting to attend to prayer is Genesis 14:18-20.

“And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. Melchizedek blessed Abram and said,

‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
maker of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!’

And Abram gave him one tenth of everything.”

I heard that a church in Georgia once published a rather long prayer list. They thought it would be helpful to identify the reason for each person being on the list. In this way, people could pray for specific needs and problems, rather than praying in vague generalities. There were all the usual things: hospitalized, bereaved and facing surgery.

But beside the name of one man was written “pain in the neck.” Most churches have a member or two who deserves such a description, but few put it in print! And it does seem sometimes that only prayer can cure that affliction. Prayer is a powerful spiritual weapon against the forces of evil. Pray today for Arlington, for our church and for our nation. Prayer is our best and brightest hope.

Prayer makes us a part of the solution rather that part of the problem—and we are usually one or the other.

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Book Carnival and One Mile Mission

I am so proud of our church and the merry band of workers who are now bringing us our third annual Book Carnival. It will be on June 2, 10:00 am–2:00 pm, in the Activities Building (across from the sanctuary on North Street).

Basically, the Book Carnival collects and gives away books to children who might not otherwise get any.

Each year, this grand occasion is not only a wonderful event for neighborhood families, it is a great blessing for FUMC of Arlington as well—and a splendid opportunity to participate in One Mile Mission. Our One Mile Mission projects remind others and ourselves that we not only confess Christ, but we try to put the principles that Jesus taught into practice.

You may support FUMC of Arlington’s Book Carnival Committee efforts by

• Praying for neighborhood children and their families

• Donating gently used or new children’s books—we have about 1,600 books so far (Goal: 6000 books)

• Donating books from garage sales, Half Price Books, Scholastic, etc. 

• Signing up to volunteer for part or all of the day

• Signing up to be a Spanish speaking volunteer for part or all of the day

• Preparing snack bags for each child

• Placing lawn signs out the week of May 28 and retrieving them June 3

If you would like to help, please contact Rev. Kay Lancaster at 817.274.2571 or email Kay at klancaster@arlingtonmethodist.org.

P.S. I cannot tell a lie, this selfless endeavor makes me very proud as your pastor.

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Stewards of the Earth

I can only credit Tim Coltvet with what comes below. As a kid in elementary school, I remember Earth Day was a good day for us because we got to go outside and root around in nature—and this was fun—but also educational. On behalf of those who understand that we are caretakers of God’s good earth, I want to thank Tim Coltvet for his thoughtful and thought-provoking words.

“God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth’” (Genesis 1:28).

Earth Day is today. Although this day is not acknowledged on any liturgical calendars, the fact of the matter is a lot of people in the church are talking about creation and our role as stewards of the earth. Pastor Kjell Ferris of Christ Lutheran Church in Blaine, Minn., and his wife Heidi are two such people. "Urban gardeners" might be another way of describing their commitment to being co-creators with God.

In a recent sermon focused on God's creation and our role as co-creators, Kjell said, "Human beings are created to subdue the earth. The word subdue helps us to understand that creation being good does not mean that the creation is perfect, in the sense of needing no further development or attention. The word subdue suggests bringing order out of disorder, drawing the world along to its fullest possible potential."

"Creation is not complete but is always changing; Human activity is crucial for the ongoing creation. God creates a dynamic world in which the future is open to a number of possibilities of which our activity is crucial. We are called not to passivity relative to the earth, but to genuine engagement, the nature of which will have significant implications for the future of God's environment."

As a pastor and a science teacher, respectively, Kjell and Heidi have convictions of faith and of science that fuel their joint passion for reclaiming sustainable living. They desire to educate future generations about the basics, which seem to be a long lost art. Namely, raising one's own food—both in their home residence in Minneapolis as well as at their faith community in Blaine, Minn.

As you approach Earth Day, consider some ways that your faith community might join others in caring for and learning more about God's marvelous creation. "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?" (Psalm 8:3-4).

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Following Jesus after Easter

[This essay by Bishop Willimon spoke to me and I offer it to you] 

I am still haunted by a long conversation I had with a man who was a member of one of my early congregations. He told me that one evening, returning from a night of poker with pals, he had a stunning vision of the presence of the risen Christ. Christ appeared to him undeniably, vividly.

Yet though this event shook him and stirred him deeply, in ten years he had never told anyone about it before he told me, his pastor. I pressed him on his silence. Was he embarrassed? Was he fearful that others would mock him or fail to believe that this had happened to him?

“No,” he explained, “the reason why I told no one was I was too afraid that it was true. And if it’s true that Jesus was really real, that he had come personally to me, what then? I’d have to change my whole life. I’d have to become some kind of radical or something. And I love my wife and family and was scared I’d have to change, to be somebody else, and destroy my family, if the vision was real.”

That conversation reminded me that there are all sorts of reasons for disbelieving the resurrection of crucified Jesus, reasons that have nothing to do with our being modern, scientific, critical people.

Theologian Jürgen Moltmann says that a major reason for disbelieving in the truth of the resurrection is that, if the resurrection is true, then we cannot live as we previously have lived. We must change or be out of step with the way the world really is. If the world is not in the grip of death and death-dealers, how then shall we live?

Re-posted from A Peculiar Prophet

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