EVERY SINGLE BLESSING: Life with a Purpose

Good Lord, it was freezing this morning! And I LOVE IT. Not a big fan of snow here, but Fall I love. Love, love, love. Wrapping up tight in the blankies, drinking something warm and watching the Cubbies. Life is good.

Anyhoo, hello church folk! So much good stuff happening around here. It was early Christmas this week in the office, as our bibles arrived! I am so excited to have bibles for all ages in our church, some of which will be in the pews for us to use during worship, others will be in the Sunday School classrooms, and others will be given as gifts to our preschoolers, 3rd graders, and confirmands to have at home as their very own. They are in a little Bible Mountain in the sanctuary right this minute, for us to pray over and bless tomorrow morning in worship. 

We are also putting together cleaning kits for United Methodist Committee on Relief! Here is a link to the specifications, and a lot of great information about UMCOR. Kathy Fraker will tell us more about it during worship. The UMCOR truck is coming through Reno in mid-October, so we want to have as many as possible ready to send with them. You are welcome to donate particular items, or build your own buckets yourself and bring them to church any time in the next couple of weeks. You are also welcome to donate money to UMCOR via their website; you can do so with confidence that every single penny goes directly to the relief effort you specify. 

http://www.umcor.org/umcor/relief-supplies/relief-supply-kits/cleaning

AND our District is putting together a district celebration and special event called "Unlocking the Spirit of Innovation" led by Marlon Hall that is getting RAVE reviews. It will be held on Saturday, October 7 at Loomis UMC. We are all strongly encouraged to go; let's get a carpool together and go together!

Tomorrow morning in worship we finish our series on the blessings of belonging to a church family. The first week, we celebrated our personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ and the ways that he continues to save and heal us; last week we talked about the gift of belonging, and the ways to be in Christian community. This week, we will talk together about grace, and evangelism, and carrying that gift of community out into the world.

See, here's the thing: this may sound bizarre, but the gift of salvation is not primarily for us. God's work in us not only brings us fully to abundant life, through Jesus Christ it transforms US into a gift for the world. Take a look at chapter 3 of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, especially the last part. Heck, read the whole thing if you can, Ephesians is great. Check out God's words to Abraham in Genesis 12:,2 and Paul's to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 9:8. If you don't have a bible handy, click the link below to Bible Gateway:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians+3&version=NRSV

See you in worship! 9am, with Sunday School to follow. And! For those new-ish to the church, or for those who have been around awhile and want a refresher, or for anyone who just wants to sit and enjoy each other's company, join me after worship for a Methodism 101 class. Have a great Saturday, rest well, and see you in the morning. :-)

Love and blessings,

Pastor Dawn

Every Single Blessing: "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" Part 2

Good morning, church family!

This week has been full, and joyful. From singing and praying with folks at the 9/11 memorial ceremony on Monday to meeting the new chaplain out at the base, Chaplain Brown, to celebrating successful medical procedures and answered prayers, to spending a couple of hours with Marshall and Joanne Brown to tour their farm, to just spending time with good friends, I have felt surrounded by the love and power of God. I hope you have, too.

This month is Back to Church Month around the country, where we all mentally and physically return from our summer pursuits to the ministries and sacred rhythms of the year. We started with an AWESOME ice cream social -- huge thank you to everyone who brought and set up all of the goodies! It was so much fun -- and the beginning of a sermon series using the verses of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" to celebrate the blessings of God that we receive through our family of faith.

It's one of my favorite hymns, this one. I love the melody, I love the imagery of God "tuning" our hearts like an instrument toward perfect praise. I love the heartfelt sweetness expressed in thanks for God providing safety, help, sacrificing everything for us. I love the acknowledgement that God has been with us always, through every moment, bringing us safely through times of joy and struggle. And I love the very last verse, a beautiful one that isn't even in our hymnal! Don't want to give that one away just yet though...we will talk about it next week. :-) Last week, we focused on the first verse:

Come, thou Fount of every blessing, 
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount; I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of thy redeeming love.

And so we gave thanks for worship, and talked about how the people of God have sang of their love and thanks for God's mercy for thousands of years. We talked a bit about the legacy of worship and music given us by our forebears, and how new music is constantly being written as God's mercies touch the hearts and change the lives of more people every day. We talked about our identity as the beloved, forgiven children of God, empowered and set free. This week, we will talk together about belonging...and about how God's grace is not only given to us as individuals, but to us in community.

75 years ago or so, Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs...a pyramid of things that human beings need for survival and a fulfilling life. Obviously, the most basic ones are the need for food, shelter, and safety. The very next one is the need to belong. As God notices immediately in Genesis, after creating all that we see and calling it very, very good, "It is not good that the human being should be alone." We are, all of us, created for community. Love only exists in relationship, in community. The love of God is only made known in relationship. We will sing together the second verse of the hymn that begins "Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I'm come..." but my pastor friend Becky Stockdale (shout out to Portola UMC!) brought another song to mind that now I can't get out of my head:

Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You wanna be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same.
You wanna go where everybody knows your name.

Aaaaand now it's stuck in your head, too. You're welcome. :-)

Seriously, though. To know, and be known. To be in a place and among people who are glad you are there. Who understand your struggles, and share their own. Who laugh and rejoice with you, and whose happiness is even more important to you than your own. Who love and care for you, and who you love and care for. That -- not a particular geographical location -- is what home is. Paradise.

Let's worship together tomorrow. You might like to read Isaiah 43:1-4a, and pray on it as you prepare your heart for worship. See you in the morning!

Love and blessings,
Pastor Dawn

At First....

There is an old Zen proverb that says something like “at first the river is a river and the mountain is a mountain...then the river is no longer a river and the mountain is no longer a mountain...and then later the river is a river again and the mountain is a mountain again.”

This is a pretty vague proverb and can be interpreted in as many ways as there are people looking to interpret it. I thought I would share my own......

As is expected of proverbs, this proverb has nothing to do with the actual, physical makeup of the proverbial landscape; it has everything to do with how we experience the proverbial landscape. Growing up we develop a way to see and navigate the world. Our way is shaped and molded by many things, but in the end it is our interpretation of all the input that makes us see what we see and feel what we feel. It makes sense to us and it works. Until it doesn’t.

In many conversations I’ve learned that we all, new and long-time Bible readers alike, have had the experience where we learn a Bible story or passage, or even just one verse, at some point, but then we read it again later and it means something totally different, or maybe it doesn’t even make any sense. We’re experiencing this passage in a new light.

At first the river is a river....

The whole river/mountain experience can be in any part of your life, but since we’re all a church people let’s look at a relevant example, shall we? How many times have we looked at The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11, Luke 6:20-23). Even as children we think “oh yeah, I know...Blessed are those who blah blah blah for they will blah blah blah...”. We can look at the words and intellectually know what the words “poor” and “mourn”  and “mercy” mean and it all makes sense.  Until we are in them. Until they are in us.

Then the river is no longer a river....

You can find “those who are poor” all throughout the Bible, right? There’s Ruth and Naomi (you can find their incredible story in the book of Ruth) or the parable of the Widow’s Mite (Luke 21:1-4) to name a couple. Beyond the idea of poverty, the Gospel of Matthew quotes Jesus as saying “Blessed are the poor IN SPIRIT...” which can also be translated as “humble”.  So, blessed are those who are humble.  The Bible gives us many examples of these as well; some in stories as unfamiliar as that of Epaphroditus, who saw his own life as expendable for the sake of the Gospel (his story can be found in Phillipians, he’s Paul’s right-hand man!), or stories we all know almost word-for-word as in the most humble of beings EVER washing the feet of those who serve Him. From Naomi and Ruth to Jesus, none of them could look forward and KNOW that their lives would be changed so drastically, whether by tragedy or epiphany (Okay, fine, Jesus probably could have....). However much we try to relate or understand, we can’t begin to KNOW what it is to be poor until we have to prioritize for ourselves which bare necessity is most important for surviving to the next day. We can’t KNOW humility until we serve the unworthy as Christ served our unworthy world. And when we KNOW, nothing looks the same as it did before and everything we thought we knew no longer makes sense and often it’s a little scary. We have been given a new way of seeing and feeling an d experiencing. Our proverbial landscape has shifted.

And then later the river is a river again....

After a time of questioning and researching and generally relying on our faith for understanding this new landscape, things will once again come back into focus, we have a new normal. Anyone who has ever lost someone they loved, or moved far away from home knows exactly what this new normal feels like. More often than not, the refocus is so gradual that you don’t even realize when it happens. You don’t ever stop wishing your loved one could be by your side again, and you don’t stop missing that place you called home, at least that’s been my experience with both, but you do learn to live a life that is full of love and laughter. Things once again make sense, even with the longing.

We all are on a journey. Some of us are experiencing the river as a river and everything is right, it can be hard to understand why others are not seeing the river.  For some of us, the river is no longer a river and we feel like we are lost or disconnected and we can’t understand how anyone can experience the river as a river in such a time as now. Wherever you are on your journey, you will be okay. You are loved. And you will be used by God to build His kingdom and to bring His glory.

In Christ's Work,

Ashlee

EATING OF THE TREE OF LIFE: Fruits of the Spirit Part 9, Self-Control

Happy Saturday, beloved!

Lots to consider this morning, as this beautiful holiday weekend begins. I like to think of Labor Day weekend as one long Sabbath rest, a gift of God to re-center and nourish us, a time to rest and play and give thanks for good work. A reminder that work in any form, paid or not, is a gift of God...and at the same time, a reminder that whatever our work is, it does not define us or establish our worth. A Sabbath rest reminds us that we are not defined by what we accomplish. No matter what we do, what we can no longer do, what we wish we had done but never did, we are beloved and belong to God. And life is GOOD. Wherever you are spending it, at home or elsewhere, I hope that you take time to make it holy.

This Sunday in worship, we finish our series on the Fruits of the Spirit with the last one Paul lists in Galatians 5:22-23: self-control. This one, at least on the surface, seems different from all the others. All of the others we can see begin with God. We can see God's own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and gentleness is expressed toward us, and how it transforms us. We can feel the seed planted within us, feel how it grows in us, see how it changes the way we live and move in the world. When we nourish that seed with prayer, worship, study, obedience, and service, we experience how the seed God planted becomes a strong and healthy plant, producing the fruits of the spirit in US. We become loving, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle people...we become a gift to all of those around us, through whom God can plant more seeds in more people. And pretty soon, the earth becomes the Garden of Eden restored, with the Tree of Life right in the middle. Paradise.

Self-control, though? It feels different. And it is. Our God is blessedly extravagant, loving and forgiving us in a no-holds-barred, carefree, utterly uncontrolled, passionate way. God created the earth in a burst of creative abandon, resulting in an impossible variety of people and creatures and things that live in wild, interconnected perfection. That paradise we look forward to, the complete joyful freedom in it, the Tree of Life with all of its fruit, the abundant life Jesus promises us, these are limitless, boundless things.

And yet...

I don't want to give it all away here. Just read Luke 15:11-32. This -- self-control -- this is the big one. See you in worship.

Forgiven and free,
Pastor Dawn

PS We are having an ice cream social next Sunday, September 10! If you are able, bring your favorite ice cream or topping, fresh fruit, cookies or brownies, whatever you love best with ice cream, and celebrate the end of Summer and the return of our Bible studies, choirs, and Sunday School.

PPS Hope to see you at the Labor Day parade! We are still collecting candy for the kids, so bring a bag or two to church on Sunday if you can!

PPPS THANK YOU for your donations for new pew Bibles!! Because of your generosity, we already have nearly enough to buy them, just need about $200 more. Any extra you provide we will use to provide preschool-aged Bibles to our little ones (they are so cool, all stories and colorful pictures, along with a CD for them to listen to!), Bibles for young readers to our mid-elementary aged students, and adult Bibles to our high school graduates. The more Bible reading in the world the better, and the younger the better, amen? AMEN.

Hello from Atlanta!

Good morning from Atlanta! Where the people are friendly, the food is amazing, and everything is damp and sticky. J

Together with several hundred other pastors and church leaders from around the country, we have worshipped and prayed and praised and talked a whole lot about the history, the present, and the future of the church. We have looked at different ways of “doing” church: traditional, with giant pipe organs and hymnals from the 1930s; wildly contemporary with elaborate artwork, poetry, modern music, and church “in the round”; ancient chants, careful liturgy, and beautiful singing with no instruments at all, led by a brilliant tattoo-covered pastor who is a recovering addict. We have talked about ways to provide worship that is meaningful in this day and age, ways to encourage church members to bring their faith into real life, ways to satisfy the needs of our communities, ways to bring people suspicious of church into life with Christ. In all of it, we have come away with pages of notes and questions, and one real conclusion:

People are hungry. Starving.

We are starving for love and acceptance, starving for a life with meaning, starving for truth and justice and forgiveness and grace. We are starving for a place where we are welcome and loved, no matter what country we come from, no matter what color our skin is or what language we speak, no matter what our history was or our present is. We are starving for the gospel, sung and proclaimed and especially lived out, in which all are welcome and all are fed.

Earlier this week, after the horrible events in Charlottesville and then later in Barcelona, I was reading an interview with a young man who had joined some white supremacist group or other. He described feeling lost in the world, rejected and angry, and said that the group he joined gave him identity, community, and purpose. I remember reading the same thing about gangs in this country, and about young people who join ISIS. I remember reading the same thing about drug culture, too, these same needs expressed in despair, numbness, and self-destructiveness. I am heartbroken that these needs in us are so deep that we look to satisfy them in the most horrible, corrosive ways. And I know that the church has a desperately important, vital purpose.

In the sanctuary here at Peachtree Road UMC, full of all different kinds of people, we sang and prayed and shared Holy Communion, and we are galvanized. Joyful, even. Because we know that ESPECIALLY now, God is moving. The church is moving. We are here to tell people that we DO have an identity: children of God, deeply loved, cherished, healed and forgiven. We DO have a community: a church full of beautiful misfits who listen to and support and love each other, in good times and in bad. We DO have a purpose: to love God and each other so deeply and fully that no one ever feels lost or rejected, ever again, and all of the twisted, corrosive, destructive, evil powers of this world lose their power. I see God moving and people being fed, body and soul, in our worship every Sunday, in meals at Fallon Daily Bread, in the ways you love and care for each other, in the ways you lead Bible studies and teach and preach and cook and clean and visit each other, in the ways we sing loud and clear and strong. People of Epworth UMC, God is moving in you! And I am so blessed to be a part of it.

In the endless love of God,

Pastor Dawn

THE FRUIT OF THE TREE OF LIFE: Faithfulness

Hello church!

Wow, life has been a whirlwind lately, hasn't it? Births and rebirths and saying goodbye to women and men who have been so important to us...prayer and praising, study and planning, deep and important discussions and sitting at Sandwinds casually with friends. It was so good to hear all of you tell stories today about Donna Colt, and how much she meant to you. Life is full, beloved, and God is good.

This week in worship, we will talk together about faith, and faithfulness...about what it means, and how it acts, and why it is so important. We will talk about fear, and hope, and what we can be sure of.  In the meantime, a few questions to consider:

What does it mean when Jesus says, "Your faith has made you well?"

What do you think about Jesus' brother James, who writes in the second chapter of his letter, "Faith without works is dead"...especially when you consider that Paul writes in Ephesians 2, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith'?

What do you most have faith in, in this life? Besides God, who or what can you trust?

There are a thousand scriptures that speak to all of this. If one comes to mind for you, I encourage you to go pull out your Bible and read it tonight or tomorrow morning, and pray on that. In worship, we will be talking together about the faith of a Roman soldier in Matthew 7:1-10.

See you in the morning!

Love and blessings,
Pastor Dawn

Sweeter than Honey: The Fruit of Human Kindness

Call me crazy, but sometimes I think civility is a little bit lacking in our modern discourse.

It's a shocking assessment, I know (*she says sarcastically*), but in my experience over the last couple of years folks seem to spend a lot more time hollering at each other than caring about each other. We even spend time hollering at each other about how to care about each other! We fight about what kindness should look like, whether or not our kindness is doing more harm than good, whose job it should be. It's as though we have developed an outrage habit that opens our mouths and shuts off our ears and our brains and our hearts, and we have all become boxers just waiting in our corners for Pavlov to ring the bell so that we can come out swinging.

And then...Monday or Thursday rolls around, and we all gather and cook and clean and eat and talk, to feed and be fed.

And 500+ people line up down the block at Oats Park, where churches and community groups stand in the hot sun and give away free school supplies to preschoolers through high schoolers with heart-deep smiles on our faces, easing the burden of parents and grandparents and foster parents. And when we run out, we talk about how we can do it even better next year.

And a member of our church family has a crisis, and a bunch of prayer warriors gather spontaneously to pray over her.

And people we love pass from this life into the next one, and the first thing we think of is how best to love and comfort those they have left behind.

And we are reminded what really matters.

Cory Booker is a US Senator from New Jersey. I know nothing about his politics (please see opening paragraph, above), but I ran across something powerful he once said that has always stuck with me.

Before you speak to me about your religion, show it to me in how you treat other people.
Before you tell me how much you love your God, show me in how you love all of his children.
Before you preach to me about your passion for your faith, teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors.
In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell and sell as in how you choose to live and give.

Tomorrow morning in worship, we will remember together what really matters. As we continue to prepare for and care for, cultivate and taste the honey-sweet fruits of the spirit, we will think about kindness and its place in our life and in our faith. You might like to take a look at Luke 10:25-37, and Micah 6:6-8 as you prepare your hearts for worship.

See you in the morning, beloved.

In His grip,
Pastor Dawn