A Church With or Without Power?

As of Tuesday night, Faith Community continues to be without electrical power from the aftermath of Hurricane Ike which blew through here Sunday. Notice how I phrased this. I specifically mentioned "electrical power."

A pastor in our district who serves a church that hasn't lost electrical power called me today to tell me that she wanted to put a message on her church sign that said, "Our church has power. All are welcome." Catching the double meaning, she said, "maybe I should be more specific!"

Well, let's hope that every church is a church that recognizes that it has the power of the Holy Spirit to live out the good news of Jesus' resurrection in our community and world!

Today marks the 2nd day of a 40 day Prayers, Presence, Gifts, & Service church-wide stewardship campaign at Faith Community. This week's readings are on the theme of preparing us for what God has in store for us during this journey which will last until Sunday, October 26. For the first two daily readings, I've been jotting down some reflections in my workbook that came with the free book for the campaign.

Yesterday, I wrote in my workbook how spiritual journeys have a way of helping me to sift through what's important and to learn to truly listen to God. My thought from today's reading is that I am looking forward to the journey but I also have a little fear in how my life might change by becoming a more fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

For those of you who are participating in this campaign, I hope these 40 days are meaningful to you. And for all of us, may we always remember that whether or not our church has electricity, we do have power...the power and presence of the Holy Spirit!

Sunday Worship Preview - September 21

Sunday, September 21 (8:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. Traditional and 9:45 A.M. Contemporary)

Features -19th Sunday After Pentecost

Sermon Title - “Prayers, Presence, Gifts, & Service – A Forty Day Journey”

Scriptures -Exodus 24:15-18; Acts 1:1-5; & Matthew 4:1-11

Theme - This is the first sermon of a six-part sermon series on “Prayers, Presence, Gifts, and Service: A Forty Day Journey.” On this first Sunday of our forty day journey together, we will reflect on the first week of readings and hopefully, we’ll hear some travel tips that will be of help to us for the rest of the journey.

9/11 & the Cross

Coming back from making a hospital visit in Dayton yesterday, I decided to call my brother who lives in Pennsylvania. He was returning from Pittsburgh, having made a prison visit which includes a four hour drive. My brother has been making these visits several times over the past several years, but that's another story.

Toward the beginning of our conversation, my brother, who was at that moment traveling just north of where United Airlines Flight 93 had crashed on that same day, seven years ago, told me of his location on the highway. We then began to reflect a little on how the 9/11 anniversary has a different feel as each year passes by.

And then my brother made an important point. He shared how Jesus' death on the cross 2,000 years ago is still a significant annual remembrance to this day, even in an increasingly secularized culture. His observation was an important one and leads to this thought: Of all the tragic events in ancient history, Jesus' death on the cross has its own unique and enduring quality to it.

The earliest New Testament books weren't written until approximately two decades after Jesus' death and resurrection, and yet even after some time had passed, the New Testament writers all highlight the cross in their understanding of who Jesus was and what Jesus was able to accomplish through his life, death, and resurrection. In other words, time did not erode the remembrance or the significance of the cross for those early Christians.

By dying on the cross and rising to new life on Easter, Jesus was able to take upon himself the sin, the brokenness, and the heartache of the world, and win the victory (nikos) over the enemies of sin and death. How appropriate that on the 7th anniversary of 9/11 we also remember the meaning of the cross and the hope and promise it gives us in the midst of our present day sufferings.

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory (nikos) through our Lord Jesus Christ." - I Corinthians 15:57

10 Trained - 90 More to Reach Our Goal!

Good news! Tonight at our Wednesday Common Cup program, ten people received the first part of a two-part training to become Local Links for the Impact World Tour campaign which will be held September 23 & 24 at Xenia High School. Next Wednesday, September 17, beginning at 6:30 P.M., the 2nd part of the training will be offered as well as the 1st part for those who weren't able to attend tonight's training. (The 2nd part of the training will be offered first.)

A trained local link is someone who will attend the September 23 & 24 Impact World Tour events at Xenia High School, come alongside a person who accepts Christ, and offer a personal contact over the next eight weeks by encouraging that person in the faith and inviting that person to be involved in a fellowship group at a church.

For those who weren't able to attend tonight's training, you can still become a trained Local Link by coming to our Common Cup program next Wednesday, September 17, and receive the two-part training.

Our goal as a Common Cup is to train at least 100 people to become local links. The United Methodist Churches in our Common Cup ministry represent over 2,000 members. We can do it!

Change the World Conference - October 24 & 25

Our 16 Xenia area United Methodist Common Cup churches are encouraging church members to register for the Friday to Saturday October 24-25 "Change the World Conference" at Ginghamsburg UMC located in Ginghamsburg, Ohio.

The plenary speakers will be Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, Adam Hamilton, and Mike Slaughter. There will also be break-out sessions on many different areas of the life of the church.

For lay members with at least 3 from one church, cost is only $119 per person. The clergy rate is $79. I have been challenging Faith Community to have at least 25 lay people from our church attend this conference.

As a follow-up to the "Change the World" Conference, our Wednesday Common Cup Food Court/Growth Group program will offer a conference debriefing gathering on Wednesday, October 29, 7:00 P.M. at Faith Community. This is open to those who attended and those who are interested in learning about what was shared at the conference.

"Change the World" sounds a lot like our church's mission statement - "Make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."

Sign up soon!

2009 Worship/Sermon Themes

I just got back from a week long 2009 worship/sermon personal planning retreat in the remote mountains of central Pennsylvania. This is the first time in my twenty plus years of pastoral ministry that I have been this intentional in planning out each Sunday's worship theme for the upcoming year.

In addition to quality sermon/worship planning time, I also was able to take walks in a park near where I stayed (see attached picture of sunset streaming through the mountain pines this past Thursday night.) A bounteous Amish meal, worship at a vital and growing United Methodist Church, receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion, and praying for the Faith Community congregation as we prepare to hear and respond to God's Word in 2009 were some other highlights of the week.

For anyone who may be interested, I highly recommend spending some time away from home each year in order to reconnect with God in an intentional way. Yes, I developed my own personal agenda before leaving for the retreat in order to keep me accountable to my primary task of working on next year's worship schedule, but I also allowed time each day to enjoy God's creation which wasn't difficult to do since it was all around me!

I want to say a big thanks to the several people who provided thoughts and suggestions on possible worship/sermon themes for 2009. While I wasn't able to incorporate all of the ideas, your input helped me to have a better idea of the needs of the congregation. Again, thank you for taking the time to let me know of your ideas.

Here are the upcoming 2009 sermon/worship themes: (Lectionary refers to the assigned texts for particular Sundays that may or may not be part of a multi-Sunday sermon series theme. I have found that it is good to incorporate the Lectionary throughout the year to allow for some spontaneity and to remind ourselves that these texts are also being read in churches throughout the world on the same Sundays symbolizing our unity in Jesus Christ.)

January

High Def. Christianity (Two Part Series based on the Lectionary)

Love for a Lifetime (Four Part Series based)

February

Love for a Lifetime (Continued)

Lectionary (Two Sundays)

March

Five Practices of a Fruitful Congregation (Five Part Series)

April

Lectionary (Two Sundays)

Though I Walk Through the Valley (Five Part Series)

May

Though I Walk Through the Valley (Continued)

Lectionary (Two Sundays)

June

Hitting Your Stride (Four Part Series)

July

Lectionary (One Sunday)

United Methodist Men (One Sunday)

The Letter of Ephesians (Seven Part Sermon Series based on the Lectionary)

August

The Letter of Ephesians (Continued)

September

Lectionary (Two Sundays)

Prayers, Presence, Gifts, & Service (Six Part Sermon Series)

October

Prayers, Presence, Gifts, & Service (Continued)

November

Lectionary (Four Sundays)

December

Lectionary (Four Sundays)

Sunday Worship Preview - September 14

Sunday, September 14 (8:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. Traditional and 9:45 A.M. Contemporary)

Features -18th Sunday After Pentecost & Coins for Missions (Coins placed in the offering will help support St. Paul UMC Outreach Center in Dayton, FISH Food Pantry, the Caring Place Meal Ministry in Xenia, & IHN which provides temporary housing for families in need.)

Sermon Title - “Red Christians and Blue Christians”

Scriptures -Romans 14:1-12 & Matthew 18:21-35

Theme - We live in a labeling culture. When we disagree with someone, we tend to label that person as liberal or conservative which helps us to dismiss that person and not really listen to him or her. In this election year, what can we learn from the Christians in Rome who also played the labeling game? What does Paul teach us about relating to people in the church who hold different or even opposite opinions on issues we consider to be important?