[Fellow staff member, Jill Warner and I modeling the new and super cool "praying hands bump."]
Are you getting a little tired of the boring handshake during the worship service greeting time? It's a secular gesture anyway and so worldly. Is it a little uncomfortable for you to high five the person seated next to you when you have just heard an awesome choir anthem? Does a fist bump seem out of place when you greet somebody next to the donut table during Fellowship Hour?
That's why I am proud to announce a new greeting gesture that I think you're going to love. I'm calling it, "The Praying Hands Bump." Here's how this works. During worship, the pastor invites the congregation to greet the people around them. When you approach a co-worshipper, you simply clasp your hands together in the form of a prayer with the other person doing the same and you do the praying hands bump.
This idea came to me one day when I asked myself, "Why does the secular world have to have all of the good greeting gestures?" By the way, contemporary Christian music started when someone asked, "Why does the devil have all the good music?"
There are a couple of advantages to this new 21st century church method of passing the peace. First of all, the praying hands will remind you and your buddy, that you both depend on God because prayer is that important. And secondly, there are a lot less cold and flu germs spreading by having just the sides of our hands bump another set of side hands.
I really think this will catch on. Maybe, I need to make a YouTube video of this so it will go viral and spread across churches all over the world. Maybe the new Pope who is into innovation and change will like it and start a new tradition.
I've introduced this to a few people at church and they are beginning to greet people this way. Don't wait to try this six months or a year from now. Be a trail blazer. Prayer bump your co-pew friend this Sunday!
Recently, our staff met
with Rev. Jim Waugh who is the Assistant to the District Superintendent. Jim
shared demographic information with us about our Lancaster community. Here are
some key points from our time together:
Servant evangelism ministries in
our community such as our monthly Second Saturday outreach are an
important way of reaching people beyond our church walls.
Hospitality ministries are
extremely important for first time worship guests especially if they have
strollers, infants, and children with behavioral issues. Placing greeters
at our parking lots and at our building entrances will go a long way in
helping our guests feel a calm and loving spirit upon arrival at our
church.
Short-term study groups tend to
work best rather than long-term classes for many people in our community.
Also, offering child care during study groups is very important for young
families.
Recreational activities and
fun/inexpensive trips to the zoo, park, etc. are usually well received.
Hosting special family friendly
events designed for the community provide a bridge for people to begin
attending church.
Finance/stewardship/budgeting
classes appeal to many people in our community who are experiencing high
debt.
A Sunday School program that offers
both a traditional curriculum as well as a more experiential based
approach is desired. The diversity of educational needs in our community
shows that both approaches are important.
People who are not accustomed to
tithing their money on a regular basis to the church are more likely to
donate items or offering money for specific needs.
There are also other
important points that we are discussing about our surrounding Lancaster
community. It’s interesting that we have already been focusing on some of these
areas. I invite us to pray about how we might continue to be a church that
reaches out to our community with the love of Jesus Christ.
Some commercials are pretty creative.I remember an animated Coke commercial which
had a man driving through a city and he parked his car. He then got out of his
car, walked into a store, bought a bottle of coke and drank some of it.
He
left the store, and proceeded to go down the street helping anyone he could
help.First he gave someone a free bottle
of coke, then he gave a homeless man some money, he saw a fire in a can and put
it out, he opened a car door for someone, he stopped a thief from robbing an
elderly woman, he turned a negative religious sign into a positive message, and
before too long, the entire city was walking along with him and singing.
All through the commercial, you hear the words, “You give a little love and it all comes back to you.”
And of course, at the very end of the commercial, they show you a
close-up of a billboard on top of a building advertising Coca-Cola.
Let’s watch the commercial.
I
loved this commercial so much that I decided to see if Coca-Cola could do the
same thing right here in Lancaster, Ohio. I wanted to see if this famous soft
drink would start a chain reaction of people helping others. And I wanted to
know if the 38,000 people of Lancaster would end up following me down the
center of town.
Since this was a very challenging experiment, I didn’t want to do it
alone. I asked Karen Taskey, Garrett Warner and Kyle Graf, members of our
church to join me. We began with prayer inviting God to help us be a blessing
to others.
After
the prayer, we all went to a grocery store here in town bought several bottles
of coca-cola for ourselves and to give away to others.
All three of us drank some of it just like the guy in the commercial.
As
you can see by the looks on the faces of the people near us, we didn’t get the
reaction we were hoping for…It was nothing like the commercial!
But that was just the beginning of our grand experiment. The four of us
learned three very important lessons that day.
The first thing we learned is that it’s not a good idea to drink a
carbonated beverage too quickly especially when you’re walking for several
hours in 90 degree heat.
A
second thing we learned is that helping people just by doing little things can
mean more than we will probably ever know.The first nice thing we did that day was give a bottle of coca-cola to
Sarah Cline, a church member who happened to be leaving the grocery store as we
were getting started.
We
were hoping that she would immediately open the bottle and start guzzling the
cool and refreshing beverage just like we had done. After she thanked us for
the nice gift, she said, “I’ll give this
to my husband, Russ. He might drink it.
We had to regroup. Was this Coca-Cola experiment
really going to work? Would we be brave enough to still give this thing a try?
That’s when Kyle got a great idea. He said, “Since
it’s a hot day, maybe we should hand out bottles of water as an option.” So
Kyle went back into the grocery store and bought a huge carton of water bottles
and carried it on his shoulder the rest of the day.
Here’s a picture of where I gave this hard working man an option. He had
the choice of a cold bottle of coca-cola or a cold bottle of water. With sweat
dripping down his forehead, he chose the water. He thanked me for doing such a
nice thing for him, especially on a hot and humid day.
OK,
now we were on a roll.
Karen spotted an elderly lady who had just finished putting her
groceries in the trunk of her car. She
offered to take this nice lady’s grocery cart to a corral for her. She was very
grateful for this nice gesture.
Now, things were picking up. We then decided to go to Rising Park,
thinking that we might be able to do nice things for people there. Wow, there
were all kinds of opportunities.
As
the day got hotter, the beverage of choice for people was good old fashioned
water and not a bottle of sugar filled corn syrup. Who would have thought?
It
didn’t matter if you were enjoying a day by the pond.
Or fishing.
Or
relaxing on a bench.
Or
playing with your children on the playground.
Or
taking a walk in the park.
Just these simple gestures of kindness made an impression on everyone.
People thanked us. They smiled. And one person said, “I wish more churches would do nice things like this in the community.”
And there was no surprise which drink this Division of Water employee
wanted that day. He chose the bottle of water! Of course!
By
this time, all four of us were having a great time. We felt good that we were
making a difference just by doing little acts of kindness by offering people a
drink. The only problem was we still hadn’t formed a parade of people like in
the Coca-Cola commercial.
But that’s when we came across this nice group of people who were having
a picnic in the park. And look what happened. They formed a parade.
After the park, we stopped by our church where we knew people in our
church were serving one of our weekday lunches for people in need.
Our church serves lunches every week on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
There were a lot of people at the lunch that day and we were glad to help.
This is where we experienced another little parade. Some people at the
lunch wanted to be part of our fun day of making a difference.
The
last thing that we learned from this little Coca-Cola experiment was this.It’s not the soft drink that makes a
difference in people’s lives.It’s the
love that we offer people that counts, a love that comes from God.
I
notice that the prophet Elijah didn’t have a coke bottle in his hand when he
did a kind thing for a struggling widow who was finding it hard to make ends
meet.Living during a time of a severe
drought, all she had left were a few ingredients to make a biscuit.And with that one last biscuit, she would try
to make a meal out of it, perhaps their last meal as a family.
But by reaching out to this family in need, Elijah was able to share
with her that God would be able to make those last few ingredients last until
the drought was over.To this woman’s
credit, she trusted in what Elijah told her to do and that little food she
offered to Elijah and to God never ran out.
But that’s not the end of this story.After some time, this widow’s son becomes ill and dies.Elijah offers prayers to God, stretches over
this boy three times and her child came back to life.And because of this, this widow knew that
Elijah was truly sent from God.
Just
at the right time, this woman was reminded that God was with her.
I
think of our own community and single parents who are trying to make ends meet.With bills to pay, and trying to keep a
steady job, when would you ever have time for yourself?And what if you don’t have any extended
family to help?
I remember reading about a single mother here
in Ohio.Her name is Rachel, a single
mother of two children who was homeless.She suffers with epilepsy.She
had lost her apartment and had nowhere else to turn.As a last resort, she stayed at a homeless
shelter.
During her stay, counseling sessions revealed Rachel’s wonderful gift of
writing poetry.After her 60-day stay at
the homeless shelter, she was able to turn her life around and move into her
own apartment.She published her first book
of poetry.
Here is one of her poems.This
one is called “Earth Angels.”
“You hear people talking about seeing
guardian Angels everywhere you turn today.I don’t know if they exist of not.I am sure that one day I will have the answer to that question.”
“But I am sure of one kind of Angel that
goes unnoticed.That is the kind of
Angel that lends a helping hand to those in need and does not think to look
down upon them.But strives to lift them
to higher firmer ground.Or the ones who
drop a kindly word to help ease the ache of sorrows dark.”
“Then there are those who will stand
strong and sure against life’s stormy seas.For those of us that can not withstand its rushing waves.”
“These kinds of Angels do have wings and
they are heavenly beings.They are
mortal flesh and blood.But still they
give of themselves to me.These are true
earth angels.”
“Thank you from our hearts.”
It’s amazing what even a little love can do.
The
Psalmist cries out, “Happy are those
whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.The Lord watches over the strangers; he
upholds the orphan and the widow.”
Hundreds
of years after this story of Elijah, the widow and the little boy, a funeral
procession makes its way down a dusty road in Galilee.A widow’s only son has died.She walks slowly behind the coffin and as
they make their way toward the family burial plot just outside of town, a
stranger approaches the procession and has great compassion for her.
He
then does the unthinkable.He breaks
social and religious custom by touching the coffin which would have been
considered unclean.And if that wasn’t
enough, he then tells this young man in the coffin to rise.To everyone’s amazement, he does!Jesus brought this widow’s son back to life.
Everyone begins to glorify God and the word
about Jesus begins to spread all over the surrounding country.
We
can’t but wonder, if by recording this story of Jesus healing this widow’s son,
Luke might be giving us a foretaste of what is to come.
Toward the end of his Gospel, Jesus’ himself will be carried off to a
burial place just outside of Jerusalem.His widowed mother’s only son.
He
will be placed in a tomb.On the third
day he will rise to new life and will be given a new body.A resurrected body.
The stories of these two widows, the one from the Book of I Kings and
the one from the Gospel of Luke, show us of God’s care and concern for all
people, and especially for those who are the most vulnerable in our
society.In the midst of heartache and
despair, God reaches into our lives and offers us more than enough hope, love,
and new life.
Penny and I ate out for dinner one evening.We talked about how our days went, enjoyed
our meals, and went to the cashier to pay the bill.We’re about ready to go out the door when Penny
says, “Hold on.”
I stand at the door thinking that she forgot
something.When she comes back, I notice
that she now has this great big smile on her face.Out of curiosity, I ask her if everything
was OK.She tells me, “Everything’s fine.I bought some candy for the children who were
at the one table near us.Weren’t they
adorable?” she asks me.
I nod my head in agreement, not wanting to
admit to her that I never even noticed them.And then Penny tells me, “Well, I told the mother that her children
were adorable and thought they would enjoy some candy.And she thanked me.”
As
we left the restaurant, I could swear that I heard someone singing, “You give a little love and it all comes
back to you.”
Sunday, June 16 - (7:30, 9:00, & 10:30 Services) &
Wednesday, June 19 (6:30 pm Casual Service @ Crossroads, 2095
Fair Avenue)
Sermon - "I Can See the Headlines Now"
Features - 4th Sunday After Pentecost; Fathers' Day; Peace with Justice UMC Special Offering; & Holy Baptism (9:00 am)
Scripture - I Kings 21:1-21a & Psalm 5:1-8
Theme -The story of Naboth, Jezebel, & King Ahab in our I Kings reading forces us to reflect on the injustices and the evil we see in our world. How do we keep our faith when we read headlines that tell of bad news time and time again? Does God have a headline that will help us keep the faith?
In our
Old Testament reading, King Solomon of Israel has the Ark of the Covenant
placed in the Temple in Jerusalem. To celebrate the occasion, several singers
and instrumentalists offered music in praise of the Lord.
Verse
13 - The music played at this special dedication of the Ark of the Covenant is
similar to the psalms that were used when David brought the Ark into Jerusalem.
(I
Chronicles 16:34)
Music
is an important part of worship. How does music help you worship and praise the
Lord?
Revelation
22:1-5
Book of
Revelation – Written by John (not sure which John this might be) on the island
of Patmos because he was in exile for his faith. He is encouraging the churches
in Asia Minor to continue to hold fast in their faith. He is letting them know
what is happening in heaven in the present moment. All the saints are
worshipping and praising God!
The
author of Revelation is also pointing to the future when heaven and earth will
be made new. This is the ultimate glorious hope of the Christian faith.
This
book has been widely misinterpreted as a book that is prophesying about events
that will happen in the 20th and 21st century as if the
historical context of the author’s time of writing was unimportant. We need to
understand the historical context in which the author was writing (such as the
church was facing persecutions by the mighty Roman Empire) and then ask the
question, “what do these passages of scriptures mean for us today?)
We also
tend to use a concrete understandings of the symbols and images found in this
book of the Bible when many of these are metaphors to help describe the
presence of evil in our world and the significant ways God is overcoming (and
will overcome!) evil.
Key
verse (Verse 5) – “The one who sat on the throne said, “Look, I am making all things new.” Where do you see the Lord
making all things new in our community and world?When you see how God is at work in making
things new, is your response to worship and praise the Lord?
[Above Picture: A First UMC Second Saturday Outreach volunteer helps a Crestview Nursing Home staff member with the ever popular Saturday morning bingo game. Playing bingo helps the residents with their cognitive skills and provides fun fellowship. The games can also become competitive!]
Chair volleyball, bingo, blankets, fruit & cookies deliveries...these are the many ways that our church has been involved at Crestview Nursing Home through Second Saturday Outreach. Our church was recently recognized by Crestview Nursing Home for the many ways that we help at their facility.
One of our church members who is part of this outreach said, "I'm proud of all the volunteers and our church. Congratulations!"
Second Saturday is a ministry outreach that meets on the second Saturday of each month in the morning beginning at 8:30 am at our Crossroads facility, 2095 W. Fair Avenue. From there, several members of our church go out to to serve in our community in a variety of ways such as cleaning up the parks, painting park benches, serving breakfast at Foundation Dinner, making blankets to give to community agencies, splitting wood to give to people who need heat during the cold season, offering free car washes, and volunteering at Crestview just to name a few.
Join us for our Second Saturday outreach. There's something for everyone to do!
Today, we remember and give thanks for those who have served in the military and are no longer with us. We thank them for their brave service to our country.
Prayer for Heroic Service: Memorial Day (Book of Common Prayer)
O Judge of the nations, we remember before you with grateful hearts the men and women of our country who in the day of decision ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy. Grant that we may not rest until all the people of this land share the benefits of true freedom and gladly accept its disciplines. This we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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