Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time . . . - Ephesians 5:15

When you ask someone how they are, what is the most common response you get? Most often you hear, “Fine.” That quick retort might mean many things. From the tone of voice you might decipher the real meaning. Here are some possibilities:
• “This is just a social nicety that allows us to move on to the real purpose of our interaction; I don’t actually mean to convey any real information about myself.”
• “It’s complicated, and this is neither the time nor place to go into it.”
• “I’m not fine, and YOU should know that because YOU are the reason I’m NOT fine.”
• “I don’t actually believe you care about my actual life, so let’s just say, “fine,” and move on.”
• “Things are really going well for me right now; thanks for asking.”

The other common response people make when others inquire about them is, “I’m busy!” Some time ago, I made it a point to stop saying that when people asked me how I am. What does it mean to be “busy” anyway? How do you know if you are busy? Is it good to be busy?
I realize some people mean this in a very good way. If you own your own business, you might say, “We’re busy” with a tone of relieved enthusiasm. “Hurray! We have lots of customers. Things are going well!” Someone who has known the scarcity of being unemployed or the doldrums of depression might say, “I’m busy!” and mean that they are fruitfully engaged in productive, meaningful activities – at last!
Most often, though, I hear things that concern me when people tell me they are busy. Sometimes it seems to me that people fill their lives with activity as a way of escaping from troubling thoughts, difficult relationships, fear, and nagging problems. Being busy is a distraction from living fully the life God gave us. If things slow down and people actually have time to think or feel, it frightens them.
Sometimes I see that people are overwhelmed. Day after day, they end the day with a list of commitments longer than when they started the day. Life feels frantic and overwhelming and stressful because there doesn’t seem to be a way to get it all done. Everyone in their lives is demanding something, and it is hard to meet everyone’s expectations. Often when I hear people say, “I’m busy,” I interpret it as, “Stop bothering me. I can’t handle any more. Don’t expect anything more of me. Don’t demand anything of me.” Saying that you are “busy” is a sort of shield of protection.
Several years ago, I intentionally decided not to say, “Busy!” when people inquired about me. Yet, I still fall into the same trap. I feel busy when I don’t get everything accomplished that I wanted to get accomplished in a day and my list for tomorrow becomes impossibly long.
Our Friday mid-day small group just finished reading the book, “Following Through – How to Finish Anything You Start,” by Steve Levinson and Pete Greider. One of the closing chapters suggested that we “date” an intention before we “marry” it. I’ve found that excellent advice. When an opportunity arises, it is part of wise living to spend some time prayerfully pondering whether this opportunity is the right one for us at this time. We might try it out a little to see how much time is really involved, if the activity is really the right thing for us before we commit to ourselves and others that we will do something. We are wise to give ourselves the option of saying, “no” before we get to the altar!
Certainly, we can always look for ways to improve efficiency and organizational skills. But we often have unrealistic expectations of what is possible. Too often, we move through life with a frantic and frazzled demeanor. Expecting ourselves to do everything on our daily “To-Do” list is a little like expecting to drive from Modesto to Washington D.C., in 12 hours. It doesn’t matter how well we organize the trip, how efficiently we plan the route, what breaks we get in traffic and weather, attempting to drive a normal automobile almost 3,000 miles in 12 hours defies the laws of physics. Yet we seem to expect this of ourselves in our daily tasks.
Lent is a time of self-examination and repentance. So if we find ourselves often saying, “I’m busy,” let us consider these questions. Is the life of Discipleship really about being busy and frantic and overwhelmed? Do your family and friends feel neglected and resentful? Do you know your neighbors? Are you engaged in community within and without the church? I think that Jesus did not intend the Church to become a place of burnout. Rather, I think that Jesus intended church as a community, Christ’s body, to help us experience God’s presence, to encourage us to authentically know others and be known in return, and to nourish us for service so that we might make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
We began the Lenten Season on Ash Wednesday with ashes applied on our foreheads hearing the message “Repent and believe the Gospel!” Jesus came to give us life. A real life. Not just busyness.

Walking with you as we follow Jesus,
Debra

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me. -Rev. 3:20

When I was a child, a dominant metaphor of beginning the Christian life was “asking Jesus into your heart.” At the conclusion of every Sunday School class, Good News Club meetings, and youth events, we were asked to bow our heads and close our eyes for prayer. The leader would always include a challenge to raise your hand and then silently repeat a prayer of invitation if you wanted to ask Jesus in your heart.

I raised my hand and said this prayer of invitation many times in my childhood and adolescence. The church taught that one needed to take this action only once to be saved. I repeated the process lots of time because I wasn’t always sure Jesus actually came in. I thought it should feel more miraculous afterward. I thought I should behave more perfectly afterward. I was afraid that somehow I had inadvertently blocked the door or wasn’t sincere enough. Truthfully, while I found the possibility of an intimate relationship with Jesus compelling, I was equally terrified of the consequences (hellfire) if I didn’t do it right.

As an adult, I have found the metaphor of “journey” to be much more helpful in understanding my relationship with God through Christ. Journey is a metaphor which created compassion for the twists and turns of my life. It gave me a lens of grace. Journey is a metaphor I use a lot. In fact, I always sign my columns and letters using that metaphor: “Walking with you as we follow Jesus.”

Last summer, I was “shopping” for reading material to down load to my new Kindle (a type of electron book made by Amazon that allows you to download various reading material electronically and read it on a type of computer screen). I found a title familiar to me in childhood by Robert Boyd Munger called “My Heart – Christ’s Home: A Story for Old and Young.” It was first published by Intervarsity Christian Fellowship in 1954 before I was born. The most recent edition was published in 1992.

I downloaded it partly out of nostalgia. And, I wanted to reconsider the heart metaphor for my own discipleship. The author describes his conversion and then narrates the process of Christian growth. The reader listens and watches the author give Jesus a tour of the new home. As they move together from room to room, certain opportunities for change become evident.

Much of the rhetoric reflects a much more private and narrowly moralistic understanding of the Christian life than is typical for the United Methodist understanding of faithful discipleship. It relies a little too much on shame for my sensibilities. Yet it stimulated my thinking about the potential power of this metaphor as I reflection upon the ways that conviction can lead to healing, transformation and a more powerful, purpose-centered life.

I’m telling you all of this so that you will understand the background of our worship theme for Lent: “My Heart – Christ’s Home: A Blueprint for Discipleship.”

I hope that you will be intentional about fully and regularly participating in worship this season. Pray for the courage to take these intentional, challenging and more intimate steps in your own spiritual life. Be open to what God will do in you and through you as you as you consider this opportunity to invite Christ to live in your own heart.

Walking with you as we follow Jesus,
Debra

Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendor. –Ps. 29:2

Our worship during this Season after Epiphany is off to a fabulous start! When we read Psalm 29 out loud in worship (January 10th) – each one at her/his own pace and interpretation – it was a moment of “holy splendor.” One person emailed me and asked whether we had recorded ocean sounds playing as we read. We did not. But reading together created that sense of power and sound. It gave me chills as I felt God presence in the midst of our voice storm!

As we kicked off this series on “Things that Survive the Storm,” I sensed how much more engaged worshippers seemed. Worship happens when each person shows up authentically and actively participates. The word “liturgy” literally means the “work of the people”. Worship is not entertainment or a passive spectator activity. We create something different with God when each worshipper is fully engaged.

Many of you have commented recently that something seems different about our worship lately. I think it is because we have transitioned to a new way of planning and implementing worship. Traditionally, the pastors presented a sermon theme or ideas for series to a Worship Committee of people serving a 3 year term and then music and liturgical paraments were chosen accordingly. The preacher was the one who generated the majority of ideas.

We are now planning worship in seasonal Worship Design Teams. We have a core group that includes the pastors, music staff, lay leader, and three Worship Coordinators elected by the congregation. Other participants join the team to brainstorm, plan, design and implement a season that is typically 4 to 8 weeks in length. By bringing together a diverse group of people with different skills, gifts, ideas, life experiences and ways of being nourished by worship, we create a very rich environment for creativity.

Would you like to be part of a Worship Design Team? I know that some of you are thinking, “Oh, I’m not creative; I can’t do that.” Yes you can. All of us are creative in some way. God made us that way! We need extroverts and introverts; plan-ahead folks and extemporaneous; linear thinkers and organic thinkers; musical or artsy folks and engineers and mechanics; old, young and in-between. The more diverse we are culturally in our planning, the richer our worship will be!

A great example of the power of diverse skills is found in watching Bobbie and Bud Young work together with their daughter Mona Simas. Bobbie is the lead Worship Coordinator and she generates great metaphors and ideas that will connect with the scripture and theme of the season. Mona is a skilled Interior Designer and has a great eye for color, balance and other aesthetics. Bud can build anything and is a very skilled craftsman. The shipwrecked boat and accompanying stormy symbols that grace the sanctuary are a product of their creative teamwork!

Our next Worship Design Meeting will cover Easter Sunday through May 2. We will gather for brainstorming on Saturday, February 6 from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. If you participate (even if you don’t know exactly how), please email or call me and I’ll give you the details. I guarantee that you’ll find the experience very rewarding and it’s just a three month commitment. If you are interested but can’t make this planning session, let me know that, too.

As worshippers spoke with me after church, I was touched by the way God was speaking to them through worship and the connections they were making through the various metaphors we used in reflecting on the meaning of Jesus’ baptism and our own as part of our identity that survives and is honed through any of life’s storms.

Lynn Hansen went home and wrote a poem about her worship experience. She gave me permission to share it with you – even though she said it might continue to evolve as the series progresses.

Thank you for actively participating in meaningful worship. You never know how God is using you for good in the process!

Walking with you as we follow Jesus,
Debra

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Sea Glass

I Sea glass is one of the few valuable items created by actions of the environment on litter.
II Against the dulled background of beach sand, glitter of sea glass catches the eye.
III Once solid, bottles, glasses, plates,broken by the sea, polished fragments of sea glass become art.
IV Smoothed by battering against rocks, abrasion against others, sea glass loses the sharp edge of brokenness.
V In our own brokenness, sea glass reminds us that we are also valuable.
VI Though divided into many pieces and worn, sea glass adds color and dimension to an otherwise uniform landscape.
VII Fragments of their former selves, sea glass never loses its integrity. It is still glass.
VIII Sounds of sea glass clinking together in baskets, a joyful noise sings back into the storm.
IX Sparkle of sea glass reflects rainbow colors of light, we can envision new possibilities for this form.
X Each piece of sea glass is unique, no shape, size or form is exactly like another. So too are we.
XI Once a strong container or protector from the elements, each had its unique breaking point when it became sea
glass.
XII With each wave of the storm, sea glass is sorted and distributed along distant shores where it can engage in a new
purpose.
XIII Sea glass is a gift of the storm, made possible and delivered by the collision of violent seas with rocky shores. We too are gifts.

© Lynn M. Hansen
January 10, 2009

“I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?” – Psalm 42:9

This edition of our newsletter is being sent out on Epiphany – the final day of the Christmas season. Last year, I still had some Christmas lights up in July but I imagine that most of you have packed away your holiday decorations and are moving with gusto into the new year.
I also imagine that some of you are working on New Year’s resolutions to end a bad habit, start a good habit, or do more of something you don’t do enough of (like spend time with friends and family). Many of you gave up making resolutions long ago as it just feels too bad to fail at them year after year.
Thus, I thought it time to give you an update on what I’m learning in the Friday lunch time “Following Through” group led by Brenda Morris. (If you missed my previous column on the topic, see the October 7, 2009 edition of the Cornerstone.). Our group gets its name from a book we are reading together by Steve Levinson and Pete Greider called Following Through – A Revolutionary New Model for Finishing Whatever You Start.
The first part of the book explains the human dilemma of why following through is so difficult for most of us and why logical approaches simply do not work. We are now 80% through the book and have learned several very practical approaches to help us follow through on our intentions. I want to share with you one of the things I’m trying.
I have always been a “work-to-deadline” person. My husband Steve, just now reading over my shoulder, asked “Why don’t you just admit that you are a procrastinator?” Call it what you will, I find it impossible to get things done when it would be most convenient for me if my self-imposed deadline is prior to the real, absolute deadline. I even miss the deadline if there is any wiggle room no matter how early I start on the task.
I know how to plan, organize and manage both time and tasks and have actually demonstrated my competence at such skills. I really do desire to get things done early. I hate the stress of waiting until the very last minute. I earnestly pray for God to help me. Still, I find myself scrambling, cutting into my leisure activities, family time and sleep to finish an assignment. Looming deadlines have often felt like enemies and I have had more than one crisis of faith wondering why God doesn’t just zap me will more will power!
My problem isn’t a matter of needing more knowledge, skill, desire, priorities or faith. I have a problem with “wiggle room.” When it really matters, I get down to business. Until then, my brain is always flitting – creating new possibilities, being distracted by other things that need to be done and resisting my very good intentions. One strategy recommended by the authors of the book is to “create a compelling reason” to get your intention complete which allows no wiggle room, that also fits your needs and personality, and will make the intention matter now!
Modifying an idea I read in the book, I decided to try this approach with getting my Cornerstone columns turned in to our Editor on time. The deadline is always on a Wednesday usually one week before the newsletter is mailed. However, I know that the Editor always leaves a certain amount of space for me and even when I turn my column in the day before it is mailed, she always accommodates me. I feel bad for making the Editor wait and that it often causes her to reshuffle things and have no time for proof-reading. But my regrets have never been a compelling enough reason. Thus, I adopted a plan that will be a compelling reason.
I needed a no-nonsense partner in my plan and so I asked our Administrative Assistant (who also is the Cornerstone Editor), Deb Howey, to participate in my scheme. As I predicted, she was quick to whole-heartedly agree. She has something to gain, too! I wrote Deb a personal check for $400.00 and asked her to cash it and place 20 twenty dollar bills in an envelope marked “Cornerstone Deadline” and hide it. There is one bill for each edition of the Cornerstone during the year.

If I do not have my Cornerstone column done by the time our staff meeting begins at 1:45 p.m. on deadline days, then our staff meeting will begin with Deb removing one twenty dollar bill and shredding it in the paper shredder in front of the whole staff. Are you aghast? So was the rest of the staff when I told them! “Why don’t you just have Deb give it away to a homeless person?” they asked. “Because,” I replied, “that would make me happy. I’m a generous person. But I am also a good steward and I know that all of you could use extra help with your own grocery budget. I would be appalled and ashamed to have to watch you witness my lack of follow through result in destroying cold hard cash.” The authors encouraged us to choose something that pushes us to an extreme and this is what I think will do if for me.
If I do have the column complete, then Deb will take the $20 bill and place it in another envelope marked “Staff Retreat” to save as grocery money for our annual staff get-away. That feels very rewarding to me! Will this work? I think so but feel free to check in with Deb Howey. This issue is the first test and I have five minutes to go before my deadline.
I realize some of you are shaking your heads and wondering if I lost my marbles over the holidays. I can assure you that I’m very excited to discover some new approaches that are actually working in my life after many years of flailing. I’m sharing this rather vulnerable example from my own life as a way to encourage you to refrain from beating yourself up about the intentions on which you might not be following through. Where is God in all this? Right beside me. Smiling, maybe even a little impishly at having created such complicated beings as we are!

Walking with you as we follow Jesus,
Debra

You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm. — Job 30:22

Job was a man who knew what it meant to be tossed by the storms of life. Through no fault of his own, and through the seeming capriciousness of heaven, Job lost his children, his livelihood, his savings and his health. His friends berated him and exhorted him to confess his sins, give up his arrogance and get right with God. Job answered his friends and defended his character. Finally toward the end of the book, Job loses his patience and begins a rather vehement conversation with God demanding an explanation or at least a response of some kind.
As I listen to your life stories, including the dire predicaments many are in right now due to the economy, I’m reminded of Job. Most of us know what it feels like to be battered by the storms of life. Many of us feel uncertain about how we are going to survive. Joblessness, uncertainty, mortgage payments, health, family troubles can feel like crashing waves threatening to sink our boat. We wonder where God is. Who will save us? How do we keep our faith?
As I reflect on my journey of faith, the truest thing I know about God is that God can redeem all things for good. Even the worst things that people do to us, God can hone into compassion and gentleness. Even frightening economic times and poverty can be honed into a passion for justice, faith, and excellent stewardship. The people with whom I most enjoy being in relationship are those that have a deep wisdom and compassion that comes only after weathering some tough storms and coming out on the other side.
After Epiphany, we will begin a 6-week sermon series called “The Things That Survive the Storm.” One of the key metaphors that will help guide our worship is Sea Glass. Sea Glass was once trash thrown overboard in the ocean or left discarded on the beach. After years of being tossed in storms and bashed on the rocks, the very thing that was once trash is transformed into beautiful and much sought-after pieces of art. In our worship we will study the scripture and identifies the things in our lives of faith that survive the storm when everything else is washed away. How are the storms of life a tool that God can use to shape us into something beautiful and allows God’s light to shine through us? What are the essential things about us in our life as disciples that won’t be washed away?
I trust that God will use this series to bless and encourage you in the storms you are facing now. I encourage you to invite a friend who is struggling to join you in worship. In the meantime, may you grow in grace as we continue our preparation for and celebration of the birth of God’s Messiah.
Walking with you as we follow Jesus,
Debra

I just finished reading Pastor Debra’s Cornerstone article on the Advent Conspiracy. We have all been invited to join. If you have not read it, stop here and go back and read the last Cornerstone. Worship Fully, Spend less, Give More and Love All. Pastor Debra, do we have time for all this, because the Season of Advent has already begun! There is so much to do!
The Season of Advent IS underway! For many of us, rather than being a time of quiet expectation, the four weeks of advent are filled with the rush of seasonal activities. There is shopping to be done, the tree to put up, the cooking of favorite and traditional foods, decorating the house, the yard, and making the usual round of pre-Christmas parties and social gatherings.
This season of advent, leading up to Christmas can be a time of contradictory feelings and emotions. We are excited about the holidays, but all that we are expected to do can wear us down. We can feel very sentimental about family traditions; and at the same time we may resent the time and effort required to meet other people’s expectations. Seeing family and friends can be exhilarating; and yet we can also feel pangs of loneliness and despair. The media bombards us with the message that this is a time of love, hope and joy. But the love and joy that the season represents can also be mingled with worry about money, jobs, children and our relationships. Hope can be threatened by current events. In the end, all the hustle and bustle of this season can leave us emotionally and physically drained.
For some reason the Advent Conspiracy verses what we think we are suppose to do reminds me of the Martha and Mary story. It comes from the Gospel of Luke and the beginning words may have a familiar ring:
“ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word.
But Martha was burdened with much serving, and came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me.
And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are careful and worried about many things: But one thing is needful; and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Martha is the perfect host. Can you see her in the kitchen stirring a pot with a big wooden spoon, her hands and face white from the flour used to bake bread? Can you see her moving quickly from pot to pot—the potatoes are boiling over, the meat dish is overdone in the oven, the table still needs to be set and to make matters worse, Mary has invited guests for dinner. So when Martha walks out into the front room looking for some help and support from her sister, what is Mary doing? Well, to Martha’s mind she isn’t doing much. Mary is sitting on the floor engaged in conversation with the guests.
I’d like to think that they are catching up on important events in their lives, sharing stories, possibly even some local gossip. In short, they are talking about the essential matters in life. Issues dealing with faith, hope and love.
Now, picture the situation coming to a head as Martha goes barging into the front room wondering why in the world her sister isn’t helping her in the kitchen. But what is interesting here, is that Martha does not direct her remarks to Mary but to Jesus. She scolds Jesus. “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? By her words, she implies that all this extra work she must do is somehow his fault and in a way she tells him off by saying, “Don’t you care that I am stuck in the kitchen doing everything by myself? Tell Mary to help.”
Now Jesus has apparently attended self-esteem workshops and is well versed in issues around manipulation and triangulation and he quickly realizes that Martha is trying to get him to take sides. And how does he reply?
Martha, Martha, you are too busy with all your cooking and all your preparations—you have too many things on your plate (!)—but Mary has chosen to sit and talk with me. Long after the meal is over, she will carry the memories of this time we spent together. And this is the end of the story. We don’t know whether Martha suddenly realized that Jesus was right, took off her apron and entered into the conversation; or whether she took on a major martyr attitude and slunk back into the kitchen being resentful and feeling sorry for herself.
What an instructive story this is for the weeks leading up to Christmas. How many of us are like Martha—running around trying to decorate the house, wrapping presents in just the perfect gift wrap, writing cards with a personal note in each, and cooking everyone’s favorite foods?
How quickly do we become angry or jealous of those who seem to have found the time to relax, to visit, to talk with one another about their shared hopes, shared dreams and shared visions for what this troubled world might be. How many of us become resentful and feel like we are “stuck” doing all the things no one else will do?
It is in this spirit; I think we should re-read Pastor Debra’s cornerstone article and embrace the Advent Conspiracy. Let us spend time sitting at Jesus’ feet. Let us Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, and Love All. My Christmas wish for this year is that we would all try to behave more like Mary and a little less like Martha. How I wish we could spend more time listening to each other, really listening and hearing the stories of joy, of pain and of discouragement. All too soon even the most elegant meal is leftovers; the beautiful wrapping paper is in the re-cycling. But the time we spend with friends and loved ones—our families and our friends—this time is precious. This is the good portion that can not be taken away.
Blessings on The Journey,
Cindy

Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy and do not fear what it fears, or be in dread. –Isaiah 8:12
You are hereby officially invited to join in “The Advent Conspiracy.” Let me define some terms. Advent is the season of the four Sundays prior to Christmas; it begins a new cycle of the Christian year. In normal usage, advent means to arrive or to happen. Christians have used this word with relationship to the coming of Christ.

The Season of Advent has been celebrated by Christians in some way since perhaps the fourth century. It is a time of penitence as we prepare for the coming of Christ both as a baby in a manger and in the final fulfillment of God’s reign. The story of Christ’s birth is a story of promise, hope and a revolutionary love. Yet, our theological focus often gets drowned out by the frenzy around us so that it becomes a season of stress, traffic jams, shopping, and long to-do lists. We end the season with credit card debt and exhaustion.

Thus, we are inviting you into a conspiracy. The most common use of this word has a negative connotation as though we are inviting you to break the law! But the root of the word means “to breathe together.” We are inviting the congregation to breathe together with God as we conspire against the cultural frenzy of the season.

Advent Conspiracy is larger than our congregation. It was started in 2006 buy five pastors who decided to make Christmas a revolutionary event by encouraging their faith communities to Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More and Love All. The response was overwhelming and the Conspiracy was born. The vision for this project is collaboration between Rick McKinley of Imago Dei Community in Portland, OR; Greg Hold from Windsor Crossing in St. Louis, MO; and Chris Seay of Ecclesia in Houston, TX.

They have created resources for congregations like ours but this is not a money-making venture for them. No funds go to them. Instead, they encourage us to dedicate part of our Christmas budget to those in need.

Here are ways we are inviting you to conspire together:

1. Worship Fully: Attend worship each week in Advent (begins November 29) and on Christmas Eve (If you are out of town find a church wherever you are.). If something prevents you from Sunday morning at 10 a.m., consider these two additional services:
December 6 at 5:00 p.m. Jazz Vesper Service
December 16 at 6:30 p.m. Advent Taize

2. Spend Less: We all like gifts. Our kids like gifts. But so often our Christmas gift-giving is obligation and money is spent on gifts that no one needs or even wants. Consider buying just one less gift this Christmas. Just one! This sounds insignificant, yet collectively this adds up to something like a miracle! If you are up for more of a challenge, try committing as a family not to have any Christmas Gift credit card debt at the end of the season!

3. Give more: UMC Pastor Mike Slaughter was quoted in the current Interpreter Magazine commenting on how Christmas has become the number one self-focused consumer holiday. “Christmas is not your birthday!” (Of course, some people are born on Dec. 24 or 25 . . . so you get a pass!). God’s gift to us was a relationship built on love. So it’s no wonder why we’re drawn to the idea that Christmas should be a time to love our friends and family in the most memorable ways possible. Time is the real gift Christmas offers us, an no matter how hard we look, it can’t be found at the mall. Take time to make gifts, spend time with your kids, or your parents, or your friends. Take time to bake cookies, go caroling, make ornaments. Here are two family activities that will allow you to give more as a family:
December 5 Hanging of the Greens 9:00 a.m. to Noon – a great family activity to prepare our sanctuary for Advent and Christmas worship
December 13 Santa Bingo at 5:00 p.m. – a fun family evening of games, caroling and refreshments in the fellowship hall.

4. Love All: When Jesus loved, he loved in ways never imagined. He loved the poor, the forgotten, the overlooked and the sick. He included those on the margins. By spending less at Christmas we have the opportunity to join him in giving resources to those who need help the most. When Advent Conspiracy first began, four churches challenged this simple concept to its congregations. The result raised more than a half million dollars to aid those in need. Here’s how you can participate.
November 29 – Offering for Larry & Jane Kies – our missionaries in Zimbabwe
December 6 Communion Offering: Unsafe water is a serious problem in developing countries, but the solution is simple. The New Life International Water Purifier makes safe water possible for those who need it most.

If you would like more ideas about how to conspire with God to reclaim this season as one of joy and shalom, check out the website www.RethinkingChristmas.com.

I look forward to breathing together as we watch for the coming of Christ in our hearts, our church, our community and our world.

Walking with you as we follow Jesus,
Debra

The Advent Conspiracy Worship Season

November 29 Worship Fully
December 6 Spend Less and Give more
5:00 p.m. Jazz Vespers – Christmas Carols
December 13 Revolutionary Love
December 16 6:30 p.m. Advent Taize
December 20 The Mystery & Majesty
December 24 5:00 p.m. Family Service Christmas Pageant “Double Take”
11:00 p.m. Candle Light Communion Service

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Too busy to Pray?
Last week, I ran into the grocery store to purchase Halloween candy. Like many of you, I wanted to be ready to hand out treats to Spiderman, Sleeping Beauty, witches, goblins, and other creative characters kids decided portray.
In the store I not only found the Halloween candy display, but also the stacks of pie crusts for Thanksgiving and Christmas tree lights in a variety of colors. All of a sudden I felt the rush of the holidays crashing in on me. So much to do! Serious planning needs to take place and then the follow through. Remember to bake, cook, buy cards, send cards, decorate the house, buy gifts, invite people, work on the Christmas play, attend all the holiday events and still get on with my regular daily duties. This is the time I wish there were a few more hours in each day, but I know that is not going to happen.
Did you notice in the Ecclesiastes verse, the author (King Solomon) did not say there is time enough for everything? He just said there is a time for everything and a season in which it must take place. I’ve spent much time searching for a verse or a passage somewhere that would tell me how to get everything done, and the verse above is about as close as it gets. Yet, it is vague at best. There are so many things to do – where does it all end? And when?
Reading the verse again, I think we can find some valuable information! It says “There is A time for everything”, and for everything, there is its proper season. Perhaps that means that some of the things we find demanding the most attention and time commitments are things that are important, yet are not really as pressing as we might think to begin with. If each of us were to make a list of the things we have to get done today or tomorrow, I wonder how many of those seemingly urgent things actually could be rescheduled, deferred, or even, upon further contemplation, dismissed. Some say it is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. This seems to imply that the person that yells the loudest over a task competing for our time is naturally the one who gets their way. But is that efficient or even logical? We all need to be in charge of our time. Prioritize the things that compete for our time and make choices based on real importance and urgency, and not just whoever (or whatever) is making the most noise. Above all, make time for ourself – and for God.
Paul gives us some really important clues in how to manage our affairs and our time. “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) I think that usually the first things to drop off the list when we get busy are joy, prayer, Sunday morning worship and giving thanks. Some of that may seem to make sense: our sense of joy tends to get lost when we are overbooked, and we seldom remember to take the extra time to give thanks when we get over stressed. And of course, other than a fleeting prayer uttered over the top of the steering wheel, our prayer life suffers when we are busy. BUT!!! Amazingly, when we remember to take joy in what we are doing, things seem to go so much smoother.
What if in our prioritization we discarded most of what we are not joyful about? That might make a difference. Give thanks in all circumstances. Remember how exceedingly well God has gifted us. Often when we do this, we will notice our joy returning and discover things really aren’t that bad after all.
Too busy to pray? Maybe, we are simply too busy NOT to pray.

On the Journey,
Cindy

Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others . . . – 2 Cor. 9:13

When people become members of a local United Methodist Church, they enter a particular covenant. A covenant is not a guarantee but based on promises we make and thus is protected from failure by our vigilance and will. The covenant is meant to bind us to one another especially in times when we don’t feel like keeping the promises. As in all things we ask God to encourage and strengthen us to keep the promises we’ve made.

In our tradition, members enter this covenant as they answer two important questions with “I will!”
1. As members of Christ’s universal Church, will you be loyal to the United Methodist church, and do all in your power to strengthen its ministries?
2. As members of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service and your witness?

This fall, our sermon series on “Church is a Verb” is asking us to rethink church. We are looking at five ways that church is a verb describing who we are and what we do rather than just identifying a place we attend. I am teaching these five practices to the people attending the Discovery Class so that they will know about our culture and what we expect of members. The covenant we enter in membership presumes that we will do certain things and live as certain kinds of people.

One of the ways that we live as though church is a verb is to communicate our financial giving plans for the following year in order that our leaders can develop a ministry budget. It is one way we practice “Extravagant Generosity.” On November 8th, you will be given the opportunity to participate in a special time of consecrating your 2010 financial plans. We tend to call such commitments “stewardship.” But the membership questions invite us to remember that our financial stewardship is only one aspect of a larger covenant of partnership and sharing.

Each time we receive new members, the whole congregation welcomes them by reaffirming their own covenant of membership – prayers, presence gifts, service and witness. Thus it seems fitting that as we prepare to receive new members on November 15th, we will be practicing one of the promises we made when we became members of this congregation by consecrating our financial plans for next year.

You should have recently received a 2010 Faith Promise Card in the mail. Please prayerfully consider how God is guiding you to give financially next year. You will have an opportunity to indicate the progress you are making in moving toward a tithe (10% of your income) or beyond. As you plan for 2010 giving, I want to address some frequently asked questions.

Do I tithe on my gross or net income? That depends. Does God bless you gross or net? If you are a beginner, start with your after-tax income. If you are ready for a greater spiritual challenge, calculate your tithe on your gross income.

When I complete the 2010 Faith Promise Card, do you want me to put all the money I plan to give for everything or only for the “general fund?” Please only put the income that is non-restricted that can be used for our ministry budget next year.

Must all of my tithe go to the local church? No. Certainly you may want to give part of your tithe directly to a Christian organization that is doing God’s work in the world such as Habitat for Humanity or The Salvation Army. While Steve and I give these kinds of gifts, most of our tithe to the local church because it is the place we are in community and accountable.

Here’s a recommended process:
• Calculate what percentage of your income you gave or will be giving in 2009.
• Estimate what your income will be next year and then pray about how God is challenging you to take the next step as you move toward a tithe or beyond it.
• Talk it over and pray with your family. Discuss ways you are being called to give sacrificially. How are you being called to grow spiritually? This is a great way to teach your children about stewardship!
• Take into account the gifts you want to give for special offerings and also gifts you may want to give to other Christian organizations. Subtract that amount from your total planned giving.
• Record your giving plan on the 2010 Faith Promise Cad that you received in the mail and bring it with you to worship on Sunday, November 8th (or drop it by the church office or mail it if you can’t join us on Sunday). We will have extra cards on Sunday if you misplaced yours.

Church leaders are in the process of writing down their hopes and dreams for next year and thinking through the impact on the operating budget. Certainly we will spend more next year just maintaining the same level of ministry we are doing this year. However, there will be no whining and pleading “to meet the budget.” No one will show up at your front door or call you on the phone to ask about your pledge. Whatever you give from a sense of faithful discipleship will define the scope of our ministry.

Walking with you as we follow Jesus,
Debra

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. –Romans 7:19

I joined a new small group this fall. It is called “Following Through” and is led by Brenda Morris. We meet in the Church Library on Friday’s from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The group name comes from a book we are reading together by Steve Levinson and Pete Greider. We are reflecting on the human phenomena that even the Apostle Paul described in Romans chapter 7. Why do we so often fail to follow through on our good intentions?

Our failure to follow through on our intentions has significant consequences for our well-being in any way you measure it – spiritual growth, financial security, relationships, parenting, physical health, job satisfaction, etc. Sometimes these consequences are immediate but many of the things we do not follow through on (like eating a healthy diet) have longer term consequences so it is easy to be lulled into a sense that that healthy lifestyle choices don’t really matter all that much. Plus, we all know people who do not do what they “SHOULD” do (like saving money, eating right, exercising) and things turn out okay for them. We also know people who do all the right things and still things go wrong for them or they die young. We pray and pray for strength to do the right thing and other people don’t even believe in God and yet we trip up and they seem to sail along.

The authors point out that these human conditions alone are enough to undermine us in following through on our intentions. Like others in the group, I find myself tempted to skim quickly over the early chapters which explain the dilemma and futility of what humans usually do. I’m tempted just to jump to the “How do I fix it” part. But we are all committed to trusting the process of letting this unfold in a very deliberate way in our lives.

I have found the book to be very grace-filled even though it is not an explicitly religious book. I can see from what I have read so far how futile and even undermining it is to punish and scold ourselves when we fail to follow through. It does not help and in fact makes things worse when we walk around in a cloud of guilt and self-recrimination. I am finding ways to look at our human condition through the lens of compassion.

Contemplating this “following through” dilemma has caused me to reflect on my own preaching and pastoral care. If often recommend that people adopt certain practices in response to various dilemmas. For example, we just finished a long sermon series on Conforming to the Image of Christ. We met nine modern day disciples and for each one, I suggested practices that would help this person heal and grow in spiritual, psychological and physical health. When people meet with me privately and express a yearning to feel more spiritual or to grow in faith, I generally suggest spiritual practices.

Emphasizing the importance of regular practices is at the very heart of the United Methodist tradition. People started calling John Wesley and his friends and followers “Methodists” because they subscribed to certain methods or practices for living as faithful disciples of Jesus in the world. Most people see the benefit of such practices. But most people find it difficult or even impossible to stick with the practice they intend to do. They see me later and blush or shrug in embarrassed self-defeat. Some avoid me and church all together when they fail to follow through. I think this book and small group experience will help me not only in my own desires to follow through on my intentions but also to be more effective in coaching and supporting others in their efforts.

We are just beginning a new series that ponders what it means to rethink “Church.” What if church was a verb rather than a noun? What if “Church” was not about a place we belonged or attended but described who we are and what we do? We are looking at Five Practices (there’s that word again!) that when we do collectively, helps us be a more fruitful congregation. These practices help us live church as a verb.
Yet, the same dilemma of follow-through can plague us as a congregation. One key difference is that in our collective practice, we have some built-in mechanisms for support, encouragement and accountability. I’ll continue to share with you as I learn more about following through.

Walking with you as we follow Jesus,
Debra