Video Greeting to West Ohio Churches from Bishop Gregory V. Palmer

Bishop Palmer began his episcopal duties on September 1st in our West Ohio Conference.

Sunday Worship Preview - September 16

Sunday, September 16 - (9:00 & 10:30 Services) & Wednesday, September 19  (6:30 P.M. Casual Service @ Crossroads, 2095 Fair Avenue)

Presentation - Bicentennial Celebration Music Sunday

Features - Season After Pentecost & Commissioning of Bicentennial Anthem

Theme - We continue to celebrate our church's bicentennial year by singing out our faith, like good Methodists!  Our Chancel Choir will debut our newly commissioned bicentennial anthem, "Ring Out the Message."

Sermon (September 2) By Pastor Cheryl Foulk - "Work: Faith Lived Out"

 

Remember your first job?

Perhaps you babysat- mowed lawns- delivered papers- worked at McDonalds- - bagged groceries- helped with  chores at home. Remember the feeling of receiving your first paycheck?

My dad began work when he was 14 at his uncles' lumber yard after school. He ended up being employed there until he was 70 years old.. He lived out his calling of being a lumber man. He could grade lumber, sell lumber,  and advise people in their  building projects. His  calling as a lumber man was affected by his faith. His guidelines were loving the Lord our God,  following Jesus, and serving others. He tried to do that wherever he was- in the lumber yard, at home, in our community, at church.

You may think  that pastors, missionaries, church staff have a calling with a big “C”  and everyone else has a calling with a little “c”. Not true!  Or that  some work must be more important than other work.  Each of us have an important calling and it is lived out wherever we are.  We may get paid, we may volunteer, we may do our work at home- God's work happens everywhere. 

Dave and his wife own a company that produces gift items. Here are his thoughts: 

“We no longer have a sense that there are more significant or “spiritual vocations”... (In our business) we try to create a place where every decision matters, where the way we negotiate contracts matter,where the beauty of the buildings we build matters...how we treat our partner factories, our UPS drivers, the artisans we work with, and the team that cleans our facility every night matters; it's a reflection of our beliefs and view of work...we determine daily , through our thoughts and words  and actions, whether we choose to honor God through our work. And what a joy it is to sense his pleasure when we do.”  Dave CEO  (from Work Matters, p.32)

I am very grateful for how my life is sustained by the work of others. Through the ministry of mechanics, and road construction workers, I can get where I need to go.  I enjoy the fruits of the labor of  farmers, and of the factory workers. Office workers, cooks, police officers, firemen, trash collectors, computer techs, medical staff, the list is endless : all become  part of God's plan to care for this earth and its people.  All have high callings.

We were created to use our gifts and talents in work. When we do the best that we can do, it can be an action of love that glorifies God and blesses others.

We don't have to leave work in order to serve God.

We can be part of God's creative work  when we also create, fix,  cleanup, envision, invent.

As neighbors, we depend upon each other to do good work. We depend upon the builder to construct a safe building, the surgeon to perform a surgery for our benefit.

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. encouraged others with these words: “If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep the streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and earth will have to pause and say ”Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”

Why do we work?  Obviously to pay the bills, to support our families, to give back what we have received,  and excitingly, to partner with God.

Whom do we work for?  Paul helps us understand that dimension.  He writes:

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not for men”.

Our accomplishments have  importance – but greater importance in God's eyes seems to be how we did our work.

William Barclay, the British pastor and theologian wrote : “.. We do not work for pay or for ambition or to satisfy an earthly master; we work so that we can take every task and offer it to Christ. All work is done for God so that ... men/ women have the things they need for life and living. The boss must remember ... “This is God's business. He has put me in charge of it. I am responsible to him.”

As we gather here,we worship and honor God in this hour. The work that we do the other days of the week can also be worship as we reflect God's image and greatness through our daily actions.

These are great thoughts about work,  but then comes Monday morning!

Reality is that work can be stressful, demanding, boring, and a struggle.

It is not all that we wish it could be.

We  can feel unappreciated, underpaid, underemployed ,pressured at our work, even harassed.

Computers crash, deadlines pile up, and people can be difficult.

But what if we looked at our work with the  hope that God is able to do some remarkable things even in the midst of workplace  challenges?

Young man could not find a job in his field and was working as a temp. He begged in his prayers for a steady  job.  In the meantime,he spent time loading trucks, sorting cans.  Then he found a job putting calendars in bags of cat food! It was loud at the plant, and he quickly grew tired of the routine. Bag after bag of cat food on the assembly line! He was bored and discouraged. One day he decided that he could pray as he worked. He prayed for the pet owners, and all the cats (stray ones and cats that had families) who would eat the food. He prayed for the others guys on the line filling the bags, and the ones loading the trucks. His days at work grew into days of intercession.

His tasks  continued to be  monotonous  but he felt that he was doing something worthwhile.

He said “Life is never without an undesirable, difficult chore to be done. Whenever that happens, I pray, and I realize that all work is really God's work.”    

I hope that you also   pray about your work: your decisions, conflicts, possibilities, and about doing your best.

Our attitude is crucial. Whether we are washing dishes, changing the oil in the car, studying for an exam, or leading a board meeting, we are doing our daily work and it is significant to God. Your work has a bearing on God's kingdom. As we serve others, God works with us and will empower us to be part of his plan that could change this world.

In the mid- 1990's there came out a film entitled Mr. Holland's Opus .It becomes the study of a man's entire work life . As a young musician, Mr. Holland wanted   to compose and direct world class music in prominent concert halls. But first, he began a career in teaching public school music and that lasted for 30 years. At the end of his career, he lost his position through budget cuts, and so he was going to retire. He was downhearted about how his life had turned out and what he actually had accomplished.

Had his life made a difference? On his last day at school, his many former students gathered to give a surprise   concert and play  the original composition that he had worked on  (behind the scenes) for so many years.  That concert was their loving tribute for his  years of being faithful to his high calling. 

Yes, it's a movie and few of us will  have an auditorium of people thanking us for our constant work.

We will not have affirmation of that magnitude.

And yet, our work has always been noticed and has been cherished in God's eyes.

In the last month I read an obituary of a person  in the local paper.

Included were these words: “Wherever she lived and worked, she served others.”

I hope that this will be said about me, and I think that you would want it said of you also.

Daily, through our work , we  live and care as Jesus would. We accept the importance of what we do each day.

On this Labor Day weekend,  thank you for your sweat, your tireless work, your commitment. Thank you for your persistence. Thank you for adding to this world, and easing the burdens of others. Thank you for using your gifts. Thank you for accepting your high calling!!

Agape Centre

This past weekend, my sisters and brother met at our family mountain cottage located in central PA.  It's where our parents took us for summer trips, opening of deer hunting season, and other times during the year.  The cottage is actually a mobile home which our dad expanded into a cottage several years ago.  Dad gave up many weekends to make the two and a half our drive from his home in southern PA to make this a special place for us.

Nestled at the base of a mountain range, it is in the heart of Amish country.  Driving into the nearest little town early in the morning is a true gift of God as the sunrise is mixed with a little fog hovering just above beautiful and spacious farms in the valley.

Over the Labor Day weekend, the four of us and our families relived our mountain cottage traditions of playing uno, grilling out, enjoying campfires and smores, walking/running through mountain trails, playing horseshoes, and doing some needed repair work.

This picture is of the four of us in front of a sign mom and dad had made for the cottage.  They called it "Agape Centre" named after the biblical Greek word for love and the county where it's located.  Mom and dad always wanted this to be a place of encountering the presence of God and leaving renewed.

As I reflect on my trip this past weekend, I am reminded that every home, church, and location can be an "agape centre" where God's unconditional love is celebrated and we leave with a deeper sense of God's presence in our lives.

Think of each place you visit this week as an "agape centre."

A Plea for Unity As We Approach the Presidential Election

 

Recently, I felt a nudge or a push from the Holy Spirit to submit this article to the opinion page of the Lancaster Eagle Gazette. The motivation for this article is because I have been dismayed and disapointed in the number of people who have chosen to turn politics into a war of words, neglecting to seek unity and common ground to help us move into a more preferable future.  Instead of listening to various viewpoints with open minds, we try to outshout our opponents, label them, and hide behind shallow sound bytes.  But there is hope and I am reminded of this hope every Sunday morning at First United Methodist Church in Lancaster, Ohio.

A Plea for Unity As We Approach the Presidential Election

On any given Sunday morning, chances are good that Republicans and Democrats will be worshipping side by side in the church I pastor. Chances are also good that each person who enters the sanctuary that morning, including me, will bring his or her preconceived particular political viewpoints and biases on various issues. In our increasingly politically polarized environment, the simple act of a diverse group of people gathering for weekly worship has become, for me, a very refreshing counter-cultural visible expression of unity.

I lift up my diverse congregation in these weeks leading up to our presidential election as a positive example of what it means to agree and disagree within a spirit of unity and mutual respect. Not that we don’t have our moments, but for the most part, I’m privileged to be part of a faith community that seeks to be a place of open hearts, open minds, and open doors.

In a place you would least expect, the Middle East, there are a number of positive examples of where Muslims, Jews, & Christians, who have lived next to each other for centuries, have become close friends and loving neighbors. I continue to be amazed at this surprising display of unity in a part of the world where there is so much hatred and distrust at the political level.

During this time of political polarization and national negativity, I hope that our Lancaster community, with all of our diversity and opinions, can be a positive example of what it means to work together in unity and in a spirit of civility.

Sunday Worship Preview - September 9

Sunday, September 9 - (9:00 & 10:30 Services) & Wednesday, September 12  (6:30 P.M. Casual Service @ Crossroads, 2095 Fair Avenue)

Sermon - "Are You a Believer?"

Features - Season After Pentecost & Beginning of Fall Sunday School Schedule

Scripture - James 2:1-10, 14-17

Theme - The letter of James is a very challenging book in the New Testament.  James challenges us to think about if our faith matches our actions.  Are we really believers in our glorious Jesus Christ?

Holy Communion in the Sea of Tranquility - In Loving Memory of Neil Armstrong

 

This tribute is from this morning's "The Daily Office West" website. I love to read how the Sacrament of Holy Communion is a tangible way of helping us to become conscious of God's grace and presence in our lives no matter where we are.

 

A statue of Neil Armstrong as an undergraduate at his alma mater, Purdue University, now decorated with signs of mourning and gratitude. Here’s something you may not know or might have forgotten: “In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.’ … Eagle’s metal body creaked. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements.” — Buzz Aldrin & Neil Armstrong receiving the 1st Communion on the Moon, 1969