Online Worship (May 29/Ascension of the Lord Sunday) Athens First UMC

Welcome to our 

May 29

(Ascension of the Lord)

online worship service!

Athens First UMC

2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701

[Live-Stream Begins @ 10:25 AM]

Holy Hump Day (May 25) with Pastor Robert

Today’s Focus:

Memorial Day Reflections 🇺🇸

Sermon (May 22) by Rev. Robert McDowell

     As we approach Memorial Day, I was reading about the first woman to receive the Purple Heart award. Her name was Army Lieutenant Annie G. Fox.

     She received this prestigious military award in 1942. She was recognized for her heroic actions that were taken during the December 7 Pearl Harbor attack a year earlier.

     During the Japanese attack, she remained calm and successfully directed the hospital staff under her care to tend to the wounded who were brought in from the harbor. 

     More specifically, “she administered anesthesia to patients during the heaviest part of the bombardment, assisted in dressing the wounded, taught civilian volunteer nurses to make dressings, and worked ceaselessly with coolness and efficiency, and her fine example of calmness, courage and leadership was of great benefit to the morale of all with whom she came in contact…”

     The color of this award is purple because it’s a color that is traditionally associated with courage, bravery, and sacrifice. 

     I know it’s not the same thing, but in today’s Acts scripture reading, we read about another woman who demonstrated courage and sacrifice. Her name was Lydia. 

     We are told that she was a business woman who made and sold very valuable purple cloth to people in the greater Greco/Roman world. We are also told from our reading that she was someone who had an open heart. And because of this, I like to think of Lydia as being someone who had a Purple Heart.

     Here’s why. Lydia became the very first person on the continent of Europe to become a follower of Jesus. The very first one!

     And after she and her household were baptized into the Christian faith, she immediately offered her home and her resources to the Apostle Paul so that he would be able to have a base of operations in sharing the good news of Jesus. Without Lydia’s open heart, Paul would not have been able to continue in his missionary journey. 

     Lydia’s sacrificial spirit is what Paul desperately needed especially since just before this story, we read how Paul had been turned away again and again from continuing to share the good news of Jesus to the wider world. This story reminds us that even though we will face obstacles and challenges in living out our faith, God has a way of putting the right people along our path who will help us to continue to move forward.

     What makes this story even more amazing is that Lydia wasn’t even Jewish. She was a Gentile who had a curiosity about the Jewish faith which is why she and some other women had gathered by the river on the Sabbath. They had gathered to pray. Our scripture reading even refers to that area by the river as a place of prayer.

     Think about all that Lydia was risking in becoming a follower of Jesus. By all indications, she was well off because she was a dealer in the much sought after purple cloths. In that time period, only the wealthy including Roman senators would have been able to purchase this very expensive cloth.

     There would have been absolutely no social advantage for this successful business woman to be associated with this new and strange movement called Christianity, not to mention her curiosity with the Jewish faith, since both were considered to be fringe movements in the Roman Empire during that time. 

     And yet, when Paul shared the good news of Jesus with her, she was willing to not only be baptized and become a Christian, but to go all in by offering her home and her livelihood in any way she could. 

     Lydia truly had a Purple Heart!  

     I’m sure you can think of some key people in your life, who like Lydia, were people of Purple Hearts, people who just when you were thinking all hope was lost, and you were facing yet another dead end, enabled you to keep moving forward.

     This Tuesday will mark the 284^th anniversary of John Wesley’s heart-warming experience in London, England. Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement of which we are heirs today, said on that day during a prayer meeting that he was attending, “I felt my heart strangely warmed.” He said this because he knew in that moment without a doubt that his sins were forgiven and he belonged to Christ. 

     This is why Methodists are known as people of warm hearts, because of this wonderful gift of assurance that Wesley had been missing in his life and was now just receiving. Even though he had preached about the good news of Christ many times, he had never experienced this assurance of faith himself. 

     But what is sometimes forgotten about Wesley’s famous quote are the events that led up to that heart-warming experience.

     For the past several years, Wesley was feeling spiritually empty inside. Even though he had been busy preaching and organizing class meetings to help reform the Church of England, he was struggling with his own relationship with God.

     In 1735, three years before his heart-warming experience, Wesley led a missionary group to Georgia here in the new world with the goal of converting the Native Americans to the Christian faith. Wesley and his group failed to convert anyone during that trip. 

     In his journal about his frustrating experience in America, Wesley writes, “I went to America to convert the Indians, but who shall convert me?”

     While on a ship back to England, the Atlantic storms frightened him. And during those storms he noticed this strange group of people who were known as Moravian Christians who didn’t seem afraid at all. 

     During those storms, they sang hymns and prayed; men, women, and children, they all were undaunted by those storms. They seemed to have full confidence in God and were not fearful of death because they knew that they belonged to Christ as the scriptures remind us.

     That voyage on the way back to England helped Wesley to see what was missing in his life. An assurance of God’s love. An assurance of God’s forgiveness. An assurance of God’s peace.

     Like Lydia in our scripture reading today, those Moravians had Purple Hearts, hearts that were open to God, hearts that by their example would lead this troubled Anglican Priest to have his own heart-warming experience, not too long after arriving back to England.

     We are a people of warm hearts but we are also a people of Purple Hearts. 

     I don’t know that Lydia knew at the time that she was being courageous and sacrificial when she offered her home and her resources to help Paul continue his missionary journey. 

     I think she was so overwhelmed with her own new found faith in Christ, that she was willing to do whatever was needed so that others might come to know Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and offers salvation, peace, joy, hope, and new life. 

     Maybe you have noticed some Lydias along the way, people whose hearts are open toward others and who share whatever resources they have in sowing seeds of faith along the way.

     I was attending a school event several years ago when I noticed a woman who was cleaning up the leftover trash from the students who had just left the school cafeteria.

     And as she was spraying the tables and wiping them down she said to me, "Pastor, I'm a Christian. And I know that I'm not supposed to force my faith on any of these students. That's why I simply try to sow some seeds of my faith here and there with these kids. They call me 'grandma' around here because of my age and I think they feel that they can talk to me if they're having a problem."

     "God bless you," I said to her as I was leaving the cafeteria. And as I drove home from the school, I thanked God for the people he places throughout our schools and communities who like that woman at the school sow seeds of faith in loving and caring ways.

     There are Purple Hearts all around us who are sowing seeds of faith and hope. 

     For the past several months our Leadership Board has been guiding us through a visioning process. We started this process last fall while we were still in the height of the pandemic because we thought it would be a good time to start thinking ahead to God’s preferred future for our church.

     During our first visioning meeting, you could sense the positive energy that was present during that time of discussion, prayer, and reflection on where God might be leading us. 

     It had been a long time since we had dreamed about the future together since most of our energy and time had been focused on our church’s response to the pandemic. I am so thankful for your support, encouragement, and patience during that very long and challenging time for our church. 

     The Leadership Board began the visioning process by conducting a SWOT analysis in which we identified our church’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. While we did identify weaknesses and threats to our church, our list of strengths far outnumbered both of those other categories combined! 

     We also included the thoughts and ideas of the wider congregation through a visioning questionnaire this past Winter that was sent out to everyone.

     The Leadership Board continued to meet and pray about all of these new ideas and it’s so exciting to see that we are beginning to live into this new vision for our church. 

     After each of those vision meetings, I remember leaving feeling so positive and hope-filled for our church. We were so excited to share that vision with all of you this past March during a morning worship service. 

     God has so much in store for us as we continue in our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and world! I thank all of you, the people of Athens First United Methodist Church, for your open hearts, your strangely warmed hearts, and your Purple Hearts especially over these past two years when we were facing the challenges of ministry during a global pandemic. 

     Like Lydia, who opened her heart and offered her resources so that the mission of the church would be able to continue, you also have opened your hearts in offering your prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness when we needed them the most.

     Friends of Athens First United Methodist Church, in gratitude for the many seeds of faith that you so faithfully have sown and continue to sow for the mission of Christ and his church, on this the 22^nd day of May, 2022, I present to each of you this Purple Heart. 

     Well done, good and faithful servants!

A Purple Heart

Sermon Discussion Questions

Acts 16:9-15

May 22, 2022

In our Acts scripture reading, we are introduced to Lydia who was a woman known for her expensive purple cloth retail. We are also told that Lydia had an open heart in providing her home and her resources to help Paul continue in his missionary journey. Lydia lived on the European continent, thus becoming the 1st Christian convert in Europe. In combining these two features of her having an open heart and a maker of purple cloth, Pastor Robert has given her the distinction of being someone who had a “Purple Heart.”

What do you think the writer of Acts means when it says that Lydia had “an open heart?” Why is it important to be someone who has an open heart?

Thanks to Lydia’s open heart and her willingness to share her resources, the Apostle Paul was able to continue with his missionary journey.

Who are the Lydias in your life who have shared their open heart and resources to help you during a time when you didn’t know how you would be able to continue in reaching a goal?

Share a time when you were a Lydia for someone through offering your open heart and your resources. 

Pastor Robert shared about meeting a school cafeteria employee who was known to the students as “grandma” because of her open heart and kindness. She said to him, “I know that I'm not supposed to force my faith on any of these students. That's why I simply try to sow some seeds of my faith here and there with these kids.” 

What other examples have you witnessed where people are simply trying to “sow some seeds of their faith here and there.”

May 24 will mark the 284th anniversary of when John Wesley, the founder of Methodism had his “heart-warming” experience in which he received an assurance in his faith that his sins were forgiven. That experience led Wesley to continue in his remarkable ministry of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with people that the Church of England was not reaching. Just before his heart-warming experience, Wesley met some Moravian Christians who demonstrated an assurance of faith and a sense of peace that he was seeking in his life. Those Moravian Christians were like Lydia for him. Their open hearts led Wesley to have a “warm heart.”

Who has helped you to have a “warm heart” along your faith journey? In what ways can we help others to have warm hearts and an assurance of God’s love and peace?

Close your time by offering this prayer from Sunday’s worship service:

Gracious God, open our hearts to listen eagerly to what you want to say to us. Open our our hearts to receive with joy your message of salvation. Open our hearts to become partners with each other in sharing your good news. Open our hearts to use our gifts and resources for the building of your kingdom here on earth. Open our hearts to be faithful with the tasks you have entrusted to our care. Forgive us for any time that our hearts have not been open to you. With our hearts open wide, we offer this prayer. Amen.

Online Worship (May 22) Athens First UMC

Welcome to our 

May 22

(6th Sunday of Easter)

online worship service!

Athens First UMC

2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701

[Live-Stream Begins @ 10:25 AM]

Holy Hump Day (May 18) with Pastor Robert

Today’s Focus:

Hearts Strangely Warmed

Sermon (May 15) by Rev. Robert McDowell

     Maybe you heard the joke about a man who enlisted in the army. And the first night while he's lying in bed contemplating his new surroundings, he hears someone yell out, "44!" Followed by laughter from the other soldiers.

     He thought that was pretty odd, then he heard someone else yell out, "72!" Followed by even more laughter.

     "What's going on?" he asked the guy next to him.

     "Well, we've all heard every joke so many times, we've given them each a number to make it easier."

     "Oh," he says, "can I try?"

     "Sure, go ahead."

     So, he yells out "102!" and the place goes nuts. People are laughing in hysteria. He looks at the guy nearest him rolling on the ground with tears in his eyes from laughing so hard.

     "Wow, good joke, huh?"

     "Yeah! That’s one we’ve never heard before!"

     I’ve been thinking about this old joke when I was reading over our Acts scripture reading for today, because it’s a story that was already told just a chapter earlier, and it’s kind of a long story. Sometimes I wonder if we should assign a number to each of these stories so why don’t have to repeat them word for word.

     Do you know of anybody who tells you the same story over and over again? Hey, don’t look at me like that! I mean, besides preachers!

     You can probably think of someone right now who tells you and others the same story over and over.

     These moments can get a little awkward because as soon as you realize they’re telling you that same story again, it can come across as rude if you would interrupt and say, “already heard it, like a million times!”

     I’m wondering if we were tempted to do the same thing just a little bit ago when we heard our Acts scripture reading. Here in Acts, chapter 11, the disciple Peter tells the other disciples the story of what happened to him one chapter earlier.

      I don’t know if you caught this or not, but before Peter tells them the story of what happened to him, we are told that Peter explained it to them step by step. When you hear those words, you know you’re going to get the long version! And Peter isn’t going to say halfway through, “And to make a long story short.” No, we have to hear the same long story that we already heard just one chapter earlier. 

     So, step by step, Peter tells these other disciples of how he was praying one day and he received a vision. And in this vision he could see a large sheet coming down out of heaven and it got really close to Peter, uncomfortably close.

     And all of these ritually unclean animals were on this sheet that was being lowered to earth. And Peter could hear a voice telling him to kill and eat. But then he says how there was no way that he was going to eat these animals even though he was really hungry at the time, because the bible clearly says to not eat these particular animals, but then the voice spoke again, “Peter what God has made clean, you must not call profane.” He goes on to say how everything in that large sheet was all of the sudden pulled up into heaven.

     This long story continues…

     And then Peter tells them that just then, three men appeared to him from the gentile city of Caesarea, the ritually unclean city of Caesarea, I might add. And the Holy Spirit told him to not ask questions, just go and follow those men to that Gentile city. 

     And when they arrived there at this Gentile house, (told you this was a long story), they told Peter that an angel had appeared to them telling them to send men to Joppa and find a person named Peter to bring back to their city. The angel said that this man will have a message to share with them about salvation.

     Peter said that when he began to preach there in that Gentile and ritually unclean house, surprisingly the Holy Spirit descended upon everyone and everyone in that house was saved. The point of this story is that God had to send Peter a strange and powerful vision to help him see his faith in a radically new way in which Gentiles were no longer to be viewed as outsiders of the Jewish/Christian faith. God’s all-embracing love was meant for all people.

     The reason Peter shared this long story with the other leaders of the early church is because they had asked him or more likely demanded of him to answer the question, “Why did you as a faithful Jew even think about entering the house of someone who was outside the Jewish faith? Don’t you know your own bible? You know we don’t do that! Explain yourself, Peter and you better have a good answer.”That’s my paraphrase of this part of the story.

     Now, what do you think would have worked best? For Peter to give these church leaders a lecture on the importance of being inclusive or telling them this amazing story that led to a whole non-Jewish household receiving the good news of Jesus? When trying to help people look at their faith and belief system in a new way, stories can be so much more impactful.

     I notice how so much of the Bible is in story form rather than bullet point statements. And often times these stories get told and retold over and over again. Stories are what shape us as human beings. Families have stories that are shared again and again and they serve to remind us of who we are. They shape us and give us an identity. But these stories can also challenge us to think about our faith in a new way, especially the new stories and experiences in life that we encounter.

     There are many other examples of stories getting repeated in the Bible. We have this one that became a game-changer in helping those early church leaders to see how God was breaking down cultural and religious barriers in order for the gospel to include more and more people.

     These stories get repeated because each time we hear them, God has a way of helping us to see our faith in a new way. Same old story, but it connects with us in a new way.

     This story that Peter shared about the Holy Spirit coming upon a non-Jewish household opens us up to how God is inviting us to move beyond the established boundaries in our worldview and be part of the new thing that God wants to do in and through us.

     Pastor Cyndi McDonald tells the story of her niece, Samantha who upon turning 10, asked to invite ten friends to her birthday party. Everyone would bring their overnight bags, but her plan was that after the dinner, cake and gifts, she would present one of her guests with a rose. All the other guests would return home. Her mother was shocked and dismayed that her daughter would even think of an idea like this. 

     The reason that Samantha thought of this was because unknown to her mother, she had been watching The Bachelor show on TV. On The Bachelor, that’s what they do. The person gives a rose to the person they like the most and the others go home. You see, it’s not only the Gentiles of Peter’s time who are told they are not worthy of being included.

     Pastor Cyndi goes on to say that she shared this story about her niece during a sermon with her small rural church in Missouri. The next Sunday, during the last hymn of the worship service, Pastor Cyndi passed out a flower to everyone in worship that morning, repeating to each person the words, “Everyone gets a flower. Everyone gets a flower. Everyone gets a flower.”

     She said that she wondered how her idea might have impacted the people who were there that Sunday in worship. Sometimes, we preachers have great ideas and other times, not so great. 

     But later that week, Pastor Cyndi ended up talking with a soft-spoken bachelor farmer who always sits in the back pew because he likes to arrive late and leave early to avoid talking to people. This farmer had called her to say how much the flower meant to him. He said that in his 70 years, no one had ever given him a flower. 

     It was the first of many conversations she would have with him about the meaning of God’s grace and the pain of feeling left out. He had always wondered about these questions and because of that flower, he now felt comfortable to talk about it.

     Now, I’m sure Pastor Cyndi could have gone with a different approach in getting her point across about the importance of widening the circle and including others in the church, but that story about Samantha and the giving of a flower to each person, was something that little congregation will never forget, especially that soft-spoken bachelor farmer who now felt included and welcomed.

     When I first heard about this story, I couldn’t help but to think of another story that has always stayed with me. A pastor friend of mine said that it was the custom in his church on Mother’s Day for a church member to give all of the mothers a flower during the worship service. 

     He said that one year he had a guest preacher fill in for him that Sunday and this guest preacher’s wife was in the congregation. For some reason, when the church member came to her pew, he started to hand her a flower, but then realized she was a visitor, and he said, “Oh, you don’t get one. These flowers are only for our church members.”

     When the pastor of the church heard about what happened to this guest preacher’s wife, he called and apologized. He was so embarrassed. This guest preacher’s wife graciously thanked him for his concern, but he still felt really bad about it.

     I had another pastor tell me that they went back to worship at a church they had served several years ago. They sat down in one of the pews waiting for the service to begin when another couple came up to them and said, “Please move over, you’re sitting in our seats.”

     No wonder that the Bible wants us to hear these same old stories over and over again, these stories of how God is always seeking to break down barriers and move us beyond our comfort zones so that more and more people are included and welcomed in God’s family.

     Thankfully, I know of many more stories where I see people including others. Someone new comes to a church event and a church member welcomes them and helps them to feel at home.

     A United Methodist pastor who had always believed in being inclusive but never really spoke out regarding his denomination’s ban on conducting same sex weddings or allowing the ordination of those who are gay because of his previous theological interpretation of scripture. He finally speaks out in protest because God opened his eyes to the tremendous emotional pain that is caused when people are forced to suppress their sexual orientation. 

     A church choir director watching a TV remake of the 1973 musical, Jesus Christ Superstar becomes inspired and receives a vision from God to direct that same musical in his local area with the purpose of reaching people beyond his own church. Instead of performing it in his church where their events are usually held, he has it performed under a massive tent on the grounds of a popular local winery where over 2,000 people end up coming from all over the county to watch it and reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ teachings and ministry and his willingness to die on a cross. 

     A church’s preschool and Monday lunch ministry decide to partner together and provide a community blessing box of canned goods and children’s books so that people can have access to these essential resources.

     These stories are what lead us to break down barriers. These stories are happening all around us because of the same old story of God’s desire for everyone to be welcomed and included in God’s family.

The Same Old Story

Sermon Discussion Questions

Acts 11:1-18

May 15, 2022

Since most of the Bible is in narrative (story) form, a lot of stories get repeated. Such as this case for this past Sunday where our appointed Acts reading in chapter 11 is a retelling of the same story a chapter earlier! As a reader of the Bible, it might be tempting to skip over the retelling of the story that we just read! But, the scriptures invite us to hear the same old story more than once.

Does your family have a story that often gets told when you get together? Why are these stories important to hear, especially those that get repeated several times?

In our scripture reading from Acts, Peter tells the other church leaders why he baptized gentiles (non-Jews) into the Christian faith. Up to this time, gentiles were first expected to become Jewish and then become followers of Jesus. Peter tells them the long story of how he was at his home when God sent a vision of a large sheet being lowered from heaven containing several unclean animals that no faithful Jew would ever eat. The voice tells Peter to eat anyway. After Peter has this vision, some gentiles from the ritually unclean city of Caesarea come to see Peter. They were told in a vision to come and get Peter and bring him back to their city to meet a gentile and his family. Peter does so and when he arrives, shares the good news of Jesus with them and they were all baptized! 

Why do you think Peter in order to defend his actions, told those early church leaders this long story to explain why he baptized gentiles? Why do you think stories can be more impactful and convincing then other methods?

Pastor Robert shared the story of a a pastor’s niece who hosted a birthday party at her house for her 10th birthday. She told her mother that she was going to give just one of her friends a rose, at her party, the friend she liked the most and send her other friends home. She wanted to do this because she had watched The Bachelor on TV and that’s what they do on the show. Her mother explained that this was not a nice thing to do because it would make her friends feel bad. 

What are some other examples of people seeking to excluding others? Why do you think people do this?

Share an example of where people were welcoming and included others who were new. What do you think motivated them to be inclusive and welcoming of others?

Close with this prayer from Sunday’s worship service:

O God, we confess how easy it can be for us to forget the stories of our faith. Thank you for your repeated reminders of who you are and who you are calling us to be. Quicken our hearts and minds so that we hear your Word in a new and fresh way today. May we never tire of hearing the old, old story of Jesus and his love. Like the disciple, Peter, lead us to share the good news of our faith with others, not just once, but again and again. Amen.

Online Worship (May 15) Athens First UMC

Welcome to our 

May 15

(5th Sunday of Easter)

online worship service!

Athens First UMC

2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701

[Live-Stream Begins @ 10:25 AM]

Holy Hump Day (May 11) with Pastor Robert

Today’s Focus:

Thoughts on the Importance of

Sharing Our Faith

Sermon (May 8) by Rev. Robert McDowell

     Every year toward the end of March or early April, Penny and I will be driving somewhere during one of those first warm and sunny days, and I will exclaim with joy, “everything looks so green!”

     I always look forward to that day when I become overwhelmed with the signs of spring and new life all around us, especially after a long and cold winter.

     Today is what has become known as “Shepherd’s Sunday.” It’s around this time every year that the shepherd’s psalm, Psalm 23 is paired with the Good Shepherd scripture reading from John, chapter ten. 

     This Good Shepherd Sunday and my “everything looks so green” day always lifts my spirit and restores my soul. 

     In a bible commentary that I was reading about our Gospel reading for today where Jesus refers to himself as the “Good Shepherd,” it said that a more fitting word would be “beautiful.” Jesus is our “beautiful” shepherd. By the word, “beautiful” this bible scholar was not referring to the shepherd’s physical appearance but to what this shepherd offers his sheep. 

     We are drawn to the shepherd’s unconditional love, mercy, forgiveness, wisdom, protection, hope, strength, companionship, and of course, the shepherd’s saving grace. This is what makes Jesus so beautiful and why people are so drawn to Jesus.

     Thinking of Jesus as our Beautiful Shepherd in this way helps us understand why Jesus says in our Gospel reading, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.”

     Where does Jesus as our beautiful shepherd lead us? Think of Psalm 23. “He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters.”

     Green pastures! GREEN pastures! Our shepherd invites us to “go green” which refers to that place where our souls can be renewed and replenished. 

    When Jesus calls our names, he calls us to “go green,” and to find that space where our souls can find peace. Where is your green space that Jesus is calling you to follow him so that you can find that sense of peace, security, and protection? 

     I served a church near Dayton, Ohio and while we were there, they built an outdoor shopping area like Easton in Columbus and it’s called, “The Greene.” 

     Everybody couldn’t wait to go to “The Greene” to go shopping and we did on a number of occasions while we lived in that area. During our time there, I came across a young pastor who felt called by God to begin a new church start in the middle of that new outdoor shopping center. 

     He explained that he wanted to provide a church presence in that shopping area for store managers, retail workers, groundskeepers, and shoppers and to provide a sense of community and spiritual support for the people of that retail community.

     For this young pastor, to “go green,” meant to go to “The Greene” and to be a blessing to the people in that retail community. If going green can lead us to a shopping center, what about a hotel room?

          Twelve years ago at a church I was serving, I officiated for the funeral of an elderly church member. She didn’t have a lot of surviving family members, but her brother who drove up from South Carolina met me at the church to help me prepare for the funeral service.

     He was very nice and told me a lot about his sister. And then I asked him if there was any particular scripture that he wanted me to read during the service. And he said to me, “Yes, my favorite scripture is Psalm 23. I’d like you to read that during the service. It has special meaning for me.” And so I asked him what he liked about this psalm, and he told me the most amazing story.

     He said that he was in his hotel room in Philadelphia many, many years ago. He said that he couldn’t get to sleep because he was feeling very nervous and anxious that night. He said that he opened the nightstand drawer in his hotel room and found a bible. He opened it to Psalm 23 and after he read it, it really helped him to feel at peace and he was able to get some needed sleep that night so that he would be rested for the next day. 

     But he wasn’t done with his story. He said that the reason he was so nervous that night was because he was going to be the starting pitcher for a baseball game the next day. And he said that he ended up pitching one of his best games he ever pitched. He said that they beat the Philadelphia Phillies that day and that he was able to strike out Richie Ashburn to help win the game.

     And it was at that point when I said, “Excuse me? What did you say? Were you a major league pitcher?”

    To make a long story short, I discovered that I was talking to Jim Waugh who was a starting pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1950’s. He grew up in Lancaster, Ohio. And he told me that he had the record for being the youngest pitcher to win a game for the Pittsburgh Pirates when he was just 18 years old.  Joe Garagiola was the catcher for that game.

     And he said that’s why Psalm 23 has so much meaning for him. It helped him to know that the Lord was his shepherd and he didn’t have anything to fear.

     For this young Major League Baseball pitcher, a bible in his hotel room was the green space that he needed to calm his nerves and place his trust in his loving shepherd.

     My family has a cottage in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. My mom and dad bought this as a vacation home back in the 1970s. They would take us there during the summer. It was about a two and a half hour drive from where we lived. The cottage is located along a mountain range that’s very secluded and near a beautiful state park. Even though mom and dad are no longer with us, I feel their presence whenever I visit there which is about once a year. 

     My mother’s bible is still there in the cottage near one of the windows where she would enjoy looking out at the beautiful green trees surrounding her. I can still picture her reading that bible with a cup of coffee next to it. Sometimes when I’m there visiting, I’ll open her bible and see where she highlighted some verses and scribbled some notes in the margin. That was where my mom and dad “went green,” in that little escape to the mountains of Central Pennsylvania.

     Our shepherd has many green spaces where we our souls can be restored. 

     When one of my uncles died several years ago, my family asked me to read Psalm 23 during the funeral service which was held in northern Maryland near where he lived. My uncle was a farmer all his life and that small country church was packed with other farmers and their families. I began reading this Psalm like I usually do, using the King James Version which is the common way this psalm is read and the way most of us have learned it.

     And so I started reading it, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures…”

     And I just stopped reading it after that first line of the Psalm because I realized in that moment that Uncle Bill’s whole life was about spending time in green pastures on his farm. I think people at that funeral were wondering if I was OK because I just stood there for a few moments of silence thinking about that line from Uncle Bill’s perspective. He literally spent his whole life living out Psalm 23 by working on his farm.

     My green space is in the study of our house. Every Monday, I have an all day appointment with Jesus and I spend that time in prayer, listening for the shepherd’s voice, and writing sermons. I refer to this as my “Mondays with Jesus” time. I’ve been doing this for the past 27 years. 

     I have other green spaces as well, but those Mondays in my study are a time for me to not only work on sermons, but to invite God to restoreth my soul. And depending on how it went on Monday, sometimes, I also need to have Tuesdays with Jesus, and Wednesdays with Jesus and maybe even Thursdays with Jesus in order to finish the sermon.

     Actually, Jesus calls us to go green everyday, to find those green pastures and still waters where our souls can be renewed. 

     This sanctuary is a green space for us. I love how we refer to our church building as “a haven of blessing and peace.” This is holy space for us where we worship, fellowship and encourage one another as we listen for the shepherd’s voice calling our names.

     What would lead a young pastor to begin a new church in an outdoor shopping center?  What would lead an anxious young man to open a bible in a hotel room because he can’t sleep? What would lead a mother to always have a bible next to a window looking out toward the trees along a mountain range? What would lead a farmer to spend his whole life taking care of green pastures? What would lead a pastor to escape from the world for a day each week to see what God might want to say through him? And what would lead some people every Sunday morning to meet in this place to have their souls restored?

     I know what would lead us to do such a thing. The voice of a good shepherd, a beautiful shepherd who calls each one of us by name, who leads us to green pastures, and who restoreth our souls.

     Go green!

Go Green!

Sermon Discussion Questions

Psalm 23 & John 10:22-30

May 8, 2022

Today is what is known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” on the church calendar. All of the appointed scripture readings for this day are focused on God as our Good Shepherd. In Psalm 23, the psalmist says that the Lord who is our shepherd leads us still waters and green pastures. What a beautiful image of what it means to “go green” and follow our shepherd to those places where our souls can be restored as the Psalmist says. 

Share where your “green space” is that helps your soul to be restored. What is it about that space that provides renewal for you?

 Pastor Robert shared several examples of how people “Go Green” in finding renewal for their souls. 1) A young pastor who started a ministry in an outdoor shopping complex which ironically is called, “The Greene” which is located near Dayton, Ohio. 2) A Major League pitcher who couldn’t sleep in his hotel room the night before a big game so he pulled a bible from the drawer of the nightstand and he read Psalm 23 which gave him a sense of peace and he was able to get to sleep. 3) A couple who had a vacation home along a mountain range 4) A farmer who spent his whole life farming green pastures. 5) A pastor who spends every Monday in his study praying, reflecting, and preparing sermons.

What are some other places that people use to “Go Green” where they can hear the Shepherd’s voice and where their souls can be restored and renewed?

At Athens First UMC, we have often referred to our sanctuary as “a haven of blessing and peace.” Our sanctuary is a holy space where we can “go green” each week and have our souls restored and renewed. One church member commented that every time he comes into our sanctuary, he feels a sense of peace.

In what ways does weekly Sunday worship restore and renew your soul?

Share in this “Go Green” closing prayer from our Sunday worship service:

Loving Shepherd, all of heaven is proclaiming, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb!” We desperately want to hear these words of victory especially when we are feeling alone and discouraged. Like sheep, we get get easily distracted and stray from your ways. Lead us back to green pastures and still waters where we can hear your praises above the noise and distractions of our busy world. O Shepherd, open our ears and help us to listen. Amen.

Online Worship (May 8) Athens First UMC

Welcome to our 

May 8

(4th Sunday of Easter)

online worship service!

Athens First UMC

2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701

[Live-Stream Begins @ 10:25 AM]

Holy Hump Day (May 4) with Pastor Robert

Today’s Focus:

Update on the Future of the

United Methodist Church

Sermon (May 1) by Rev. Robert McDowell

    Recently, a church member asked me if there were any humorous stories in the Bible. I appreciated his question because there is more humor in the Bible than we might imagine.

     Sometimes the humor is lost in translation since the Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek, and humor in one language might not translate well into another. But if you look underneath the surface, you will find plenty of inside jokes, playful use of words, comical situations, and some sarcastic references here and there.

     Our scripture reading this morning from the Book of Acts is one of those humorous stories. Of course, for anything to be funny, there needs to be some context to set up the punch lines.

     Our Acts scripture reading is about two of the most unlikely people becoming friends, Saul and Ananias.

     Ananias was a follower of Jesus and Saul was a religious extremist who wanted to kill followers of Jesus. Yeah, these two people became friends.

     Usually when people are looking to make new friends, they gravitate toward people who aren’t trying to kill them, at least that’s been my experience. That’s what makes this story feel a little bit like a TV sit-com.    

     The humor in this story is set up in verse 1 of our scripture reading. It says, “Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murders against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

     Now, what Ananias doesn’t know is that while Saul was on his way to persecute Christians, he had a “come to Jesus meeting,” and I mean that literally. As Saul is breathing threats against Christians, this is when this religious extremist, this terrorist encounters the Risen Christ. 

     He is knocked down by a heavenly light and a voice from heaven which is Jesus, tells him that he is the one he has been persecuting all this time.

     I know that there are many different ways that people become followers of Jesus. For Saul, it was what is known as the 2 x 4 approach. Knocked to the ground, Saul finally sees the light, as they say.  

     What a dramatic conversion story! Saul, now blinded by that light has to be guided into Damascus, the place where he was heading to round up Christians to take them back to Jerusalem.

     And then the story shifts to Ananias, who we don’t know anything about except that he was a follower of Jesus and was in Damascus at that time. Ananias receives a vision from God telling him to go to a particular house to lay hands on Saul to restore his sight.

     Now, don’t you think it would have been helpful if the Lord would have also mentioned to Ananias that this ruthless religious extremist just had this conversion experience? I think that might have been helpful I nformation.

     Which leads Ananias to respond to the Lord and I’ll fill in the blanks a little bit to flesh out this story, “Uh, Ok, Lord, but just want to remind you in case you haven’t noticed, that this guy wants to kill us.”

     The Lord fully aware of who Saul is tells Ananias that he’s now a changed man so everything will be alright.

     So Ananias goes to the house where Saul is staying probably still wondering if he will leave that house alive. And the first words out of Ananias’s mouth when he greets this murderous man is, “Brother Saul.” And just like that, they are instant friends. 

[Saul & Ananias Painting by Ciro Ferri, 1660]

     Saul, whose name will later get changed to Paul is who we end up remembering the most of these two people. But without Ananias’s willingness to trust the Lord and accept Saul as a brother in the Lord, Saul wouldn’t have been able to start his ministry which led to the gospel being shared throughout the world.

     There are really two miracles in this story; Saul’s dramatic conversion and Ananias who was willing to say to this recently converted terrorist, “Brother Saul.”

     I’ve grown up in the church all my life, and I continue to find it fascinating that God is able to bring such a diverse group of people together where we become a family. We truly are the church together!

     What is it about the church that often leads to this sense of belonging and community where we are brothers and sisters? I think humility is a big part of what brings us together. Saul was humbled when he was on his way to Damascus and encountered the Risen Christ. Ananias was humbled when he was reminded that people can change, even people like Saul who was seeking to do harm.

     Humility is what reminds us that we are all in need of God’s grace. We all have our share of flaws and brokenness. Thank God that we don’t have to pretend that we have our act together. 

     The church is that place where broken people can come together in humility, and be there for each other. It’s that place where it’s not uncommon for someone to say something like, “I know you don’t know me very well, but when you offered that special music last Sunday, that song was just what I needed to hear. It helped me to get through the week.”

     Or “thank you for that prayer shawl you gave me. I keep it right next to me and it reminds me that I’m not alone.”

     Or “I don’t know what I would have done without the support of my small group when I found out I lost my job.”

     I went to see a church member in the hospital one day. A group of people in the church who knew I was going had all signed a get well card for me to give to him. There were probably 20 people who had signed that card and included brief words of support next to their names.

     This church member was in ICU with all kinds of tubes attached to him. I gave him this card with all of those signatures. He opened it and a big smile came to his face. Because he was so weak, he could only whisper to me, “thank you. This means a lot.”

     After I chatted a bit with him, I offered a prayer. As I started to walk out the door, I looked back at him there in the bed and noticed that he was now clutching that card against his chest.

   The church really is that special place where even when we are separated by distance, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, supporting, encouraging, and praying for each other.

     In her book, Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott shares how the church has been a family for her just when she needed it the most.

     Struggling with alcoholism, an eating disorder, and trying to pay bills, Anne lived in a tiny cabin on a houseboat outside San Francisco. One day as she was walking to a flea market, she could hear singing coming from a nearby little church. She wandered in and ended up staying for the singing but then left when the sermon started.

     But she found herself coming back to that little church each week, lingering a little longer each time. The quiet acceptance of those church members helped Anne kick her addictions for good and finally accept the helping hand of Jesus in her life. Sometimes people just need a little space and a little time.

    Several years ago, the church I was serving was in need of an Associate Pastor. My District Superintendent called me to say that he had someone in mind for our church. He set up an introductory lunch meeting with the three of us to see if this would be a good match.

     These meetings are kind of like blind dates. I didn’t know this pastor at all. We had never met. Turned out that we were about the same age and shared a similar approach to ministry. He also had the particular gifts that our church was seeking in an associate pastor. We also found out that we kind of had the same sense of humor which is kind of scary.

    We ended up serving together in that church for the next five or so years. Our families ended up becoming really close since our children were about the same age. Our families even went to England together. I would end up officiating at the wedding of one of his daughters and he officiated at the wedding for our daughter.

     Mark and I continue to meet up with each other at an annual sermon planning retreat. We’ve been doing this the past twelve years. People refer to us as brothers. And that’s true because even though we are serving churches that are hours apart, we know that we can always call each other at any time.

     We became brothers in Christ through this community called the church. 

     Noted preacher, Fred Craddock tells of being stuck in a Canadian snowstorm, in a bus station café. The weather was freezing and the wind bitter; travelers would call out, “close the door!” every time another stranger straggled in. The watered-down soup in that café tasted horrible, but both the soup and the room provided needed warmth. 

     When the manager tried to turn away a woman unable to purchase some soup, all of the customers got up to leave with her in protest. The manager relented and let her remain, not waiting to lose all his customers.

     Fred said that as he sat there at his table reflecting on what everyone was willing to do for that one person, he recognized a new flavor to that tasteless soup. He said it was something familiar. “I don’t know what was in it, but I do recall when I was eating it, it now tasted a little bit like bread and wine. Just a little bit like bread and wine.”

     When the Risen Christ appeared before Saul on that road to Damascus, thanks to Ananias he became part of the community of people he had been seeking to destroy. These two unlikely people became brothers in Christ.

     Whenever we gather around the table to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we gather as brothers and sisters in Christ. We gather as a community of people who not only receive God’s grace, but who also share that grace with others.

     Diverse as we are, we become unlikely friends around this table. We become family.

Unlikely Friends

Sermon Discussion Questions

Acts 9:1-20

May 1, 2022

Our Acts reading about Saul and Ananias is an example of how the Bible has a sense of humor. Saul who has been persecuting Christians has a dramatic conversion and is left blind. The Lord then calls upon Ananias to go to this religious extremist’s house and lay hands on him to restore his sight. When you read this story, you can almost hear Ananias saying to the Lord, “Uh, Ok, Lord, but just want to remind you in case you haven’t noticed, that this guy wants to kill us.”

If you were Ananias and knowing that Saul has been killing Christians, how would you have responded to the Lord’s request to go and lay hands on him??????

When Ananias makes it to Saul’s house, the first thing he does is lay hands on Saul and say, “brother Saul.” By referring to him as “brother Saul,” Ananias was accepting him as part of the family! They say that this story really involves 2 miracles; Saul’s dramatic conversion and Ananias’s willingness to take a risk and lay hands on this former terrorist!

Which of these two miracles stand out for you the most and why?

Pastor Robert shared several stories of how God brings unlikely people together to become brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Have you become friends with someone through the church? What was it that connected you besides sitting in the same building for worship or a church event? What helps unlikely people to become friends in Christ?

Pastor Robert shared the story of a preacher who along with several other people were stranded in a bus station cafe because of a bitterly cold snowstorm. The only food the cafe had to serve was really weak tasting soup. Someone who didn’t have any money asked the owner if she could just have some soup because she was so cold, but he refused and told her to leave. As she started to leave, the rest of the people who were stranded all threatened to leave the cafe as well. This led the owner to allow her to eat some soup for free. Even though those people were complete strangers, they bonded together in support of this woman in need. The preacher said that after witnessing this incredible moment of human solidarity and compassion, his soup didn’t taste weak anymore. He said it actually tasted like bread and wine. He was referring to the Sacrament of Holy Communion and how the bread and wine are known to bring unlikely people together and form them into brothers and sisters in Christ.

How does this story of the strangers in the cafe give new meaning to the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Does the bread and wine taste better when you are reminded that even in our diversity, through Christ we are brothers and sisters in Christ?

Close by saying this prayer from Sunday’s worship service:

God of surprises, you are at work in mysterious and unexpected ways. Sometimes you choose the least likely people to fulfill your purposes. We confess that our expectations and our plans do not always line up with your divine vision. Open our eyes and our hearts to see others as you see them, as people created in your image with unique gifts and callings. Thank you for bringing such a diverse group of people together to be your church. We are your church together! Amen.