Fit for Life :: Emotional Health :: 8.16.9 August 17, 2009

We started a new series tonight!  
Our theme verse for this series is 1 Timothy 4:7-8 (Today’s New International Version)
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.  For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

So we hope that in the course of these 5 weeks we can take a look at our health – from several angles – and be challenged to be more godly in all those areas.  On this first night of the series we started with the idea that we’re all starting from a place of brokenness.  All of us struggle with health in different ways.  If you don’t, then you might not be in the right place!  Because Jesus said this about the idea…

Mark 2:15-17 (New Living Translation)
Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”  When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

“A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”  ~ Abigail Van Buren

 This family of ours, the church, is a place where you can hold up that injury and ask for healing, and as we start this series, I’m hoping we can work on that – because we don’t always do a good job of this.  Here at RUMC, I’ve seen amazing examples of the “hospital” – and we want to always be working to make that more and more apparent.

We passed out band aids – and asked everyone to attach theirs somewhere visible.  We then thought about one of our health issues, and mentally named that bandaid.  We imagined that the word was written on your Bandaid for all to see.  Would that make you nervous?  I wish it didn’t – that we could all be this transparent and that it would be ok!  We left the bandaids on so that through the service we could practice being ok with our issues out in the open – seen but not judged.

Part of our decoration in the room for the series are framed photos of people.  People who represent fitness in different areas of life.  Not that they’re perfect, but that they have set good examples to follow.  This week’s topic of health is EMOTIONAL.  So I pointed out Maya Agelou & Anne Lamott, who I think both exemplify a life of honesty and beauty as they have worked through the ups and downs of emotion.   

Maya said this about her profession: “The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.” 

She also said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

Anne said this about writing: “I try to write the books I would love to come upon, that are honest, concerned with real lives, human hearts, spiritual transformation, families, secrets, wonder, craziness — and that can make me laugh. When I am reading a book like this, I feel rich and profoundly relieved to be in the presence of someone who will share the truth with me, and throw the lights on a little, and I try to write these kinds of books. Books, for me, are medicine.”

As we move through the series, we’ve invited the congregation to bring in their own pictures of “fit” folks, so that a room of faces can smile to us that there is hope!

We opened the night with “Unchanging” by Tomlin, and then watched a video.  Each week we’ll be journeying with a young man (Andrew) who has hopes of winning the Mr. Universe Competition.  He’s being trained by The Coach (McKenzie) and as he wrestles with his fitness level in each area, so will we!

After sharing the big idea of the series, the band aid thinking time and the pictures on the walls, Amanda took over and talked to us some about Emotional Health.  She shared some very insightful facts about emotional health issues – how common they are, signs to look for, how to react and respond, resources for finding help and ideas for working through emotional issues on your own.  She offered a handout at the end of the night which included a relaxation exercise, some on-line resources and a “Emotional Bill of Rights” that was very helpful to her as she worked through many of these issues herself.  (Leave me a comment if you’d like any of these things.)

She particularly lifted up prayer and thanksgiving as a tool for combating emotional distress.  Paul said it this way in Phillipians 4:6-9 (The Message)

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Our response to all this came in the words to the song we sang: “Unashamed Love” by Ten Sheckle Shirt.  We sang and asked God to give us a childlike faith, so we could lift up honest praise and unashamed love to tell God how worthy he is of it.

The John led us in a prayer of healing and hope, as people placed their hands on those band aids they had put on earlier.  We closed with “Marvelous Light” and celebrated knowing that “sin has lost it’s power, death has lost it’s sting, from the grave He’s risen, VICTORIOUSLY!” 

Here is our current prayer request list. (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – things are going better than expected.

:: Pray for Christa and her sons

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Toni R, Amanda B and Randall F are all looking for new jobs – pray God will open up the right opportunities.:: Pray for Sam Dills (and his family) as he fights cancer.

:: Pray for John P’s grandmother – she’s going through a rough period right now.

:: Pray for Jennifer K’s cousin’s family – she passed away suddenly, leaving two small children behind.

8.9.09 :: RETRO (Spoken) August 12, 2009

Last night of this series!  We had two folks share their retro stuff – one older one younger – great pictures (including some Glamor Shots and a 1950’s hair do).  We opened with a couple songs: Song of Hope (Robbie Seay Band) and I Will Lift My Eyes (Bebo Norman).  Our theological idea to unpack that night was the idea that God has and is Spoken. 

He has revealed himself to us – we can get to know him through the Word.  The Bible is our primary source of revelation through the Spirit, but we believe there is more to it than that.  The UM church believes God also speaks through our Reason – our common sense and the ability to utilize the brain God created.  He speaks through our Tradition – the church and what it has discerned through the years.  He speaks through our Experiences – some things we know because we have felt it with our heart and soul.  God has spoken, is speaking and he longs for us to hear.

As a quick review of the Bible we watched this youtube video – Bible in a Minute

We brought in a special guest speaker.  Phil Schroeder.  He’s one of my favorite people to listen to – has phenomenal insights and I always walk away knowing and understanding more.  He now works as the Associate Director of Connectional Ministries in the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church.  Which translates that he’s a big wig who didn’t mind swinging up to Ringgold for the night.  Phil helped us understand each of the four ideas mentioned above.  We thought through different denominations focusing more on different pieces, and recognized how fortunate it is to be a part of a church that hold all four as sacred and valuable. 

Phil reminded and challenged us to spend more time reading the Bible. 
As a group we memorized a beautiful verse:
John 8:31-32 (Jerusalem Bible) 
‘If you make My word your home 
you will indeed be My disciples, 
and you will learn the truth 
and the truth will make you free.’”

Most of us just visit God’s Word, but we’re called to abide in it – to spend time there – to call it home and be intimately familiar with it.  If we can do that, then God is Spoken and we will be filled with the truth and freedom that is a free gift to every child who seeks it. 

We sang a couple more songs before closing: Came to My Rescue (Hillsong United) and Yesterday, Today and Forever (Vicki Beeching).  It was a great night at The Water’s Edge. 

And as a bonus as people were about to leave we watched another great video from youtube:  Baby Got Book

Here is our current prayer request list. (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – things are going better than expected.

:: Pray for Christa and her sons

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Toni R, Amanda B and Randall F are all looking for new jobs – pray God will open up the right opportunities.

:: Pray for Sam Dills (and his family) as he fights cancer.

:: Pray for John P’s grandmother – she’s going through a rough period right now.

:: Pray for Jennifer K’s cousin’s family – she passed away suddenly, leaving two small children behind.

8.2.09 :: RETRO (Open) August 3, 2009

Our theological topic for the night: God is OPEN

The UMC slogan is: “Open hearts. Open Minds. Open doors.”  We value diversity. We want our people to think, and have opinions.  There are some standards we must lay down as foundational, but once those are covered, there is freedom to think and let think.  Wesley used to say: “if you’re heart is like my heart, then take your hand in my hand, and let us work together for Christ and his kingdom.”  We can stand together even though we have differences.  That is the strength of the UM Church.  God’s love is OPEN and our Faith should be, too.

So when everyone walked into the room, they found the chairs along the edges of the space and the floor wide open in the middle.  After some announcements (and Randall Franks sharing his “retro” stuff – which was AWESOME!) we moved right into some activity.  I asked everyone to stand in the middle and then gave them two choices.  One side of the room would be summer, the other side, winter – they had to pick a side.  Next, one side was vanilla, one chocolate, etc.  We were exploring our differences.  We moved to weightier matters: cats or dogs?  Sprinkled or dunked in baptism?  Creation vs. Evolution?  The air got thicker and people began moving more slowly.  We talked about that fact.  And that even though we have these differing opinions, and the church is ok with it, it can be a touchy situation.  What if I had put up pro-life or pro-choice?  What about homosexuality?  What about all those subjects that divide people?  Can we be ok with “think and let think”? because our church is. 

We then moved from what divides to what connects.  I had everyone get a partner that they didn’t know well.  Their task was to find a commonality they shared that was NOT physical (not that we both wear glasses or have brown hair).  It had to be something more unique than that - and I had them find some spiritual truth, some theology that they both believed was very important.  After some time sharing with their partners, some volunteered to share their commonalities with the group.  Even with a stranger, there is much between us that connects when we take time to get to know each other. 

John then got up and shared with us some about why our church has chosen this “open” path.  He talked about our Articles of Religion (which we gave copies of) being the foundation on which we stand.  These are the things we don’t question.  If you do, then maybe this isn’t the church for you – that’s how you would know.  And he talked about the Social Principles (which we also gave a copy of) being things the UM church has taken a stand on, has a formal opinion about, but which are up for debate.  He talked about why this openness is so important and how it sets us apart in many ways.  He challenged us to consider if it was true – do we have open hearts, open minds and open doors?  Who should be in worship with us that’s not?  How have we closed doors that were meant to be open?  Where have our minds been closed to new ideas or our hearts been too small for what God wanted to do? 

He segued into communion – a beautiful image of God’s open invitation.  We had people come forward in those pairs from the commonality exercise and serve each other, as the band played: “Communion” by Third Day, “I Will Rise” by Chris Tomlin and “Desire” by Phil Wickham. 

It was a good night.  

Here is our current prayer request list. (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – her grandfather fell and broke HIS hip the day her grandmother was supposed to come home from rehab on her hip replacement surgery.  He has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult.  He continues to surprise them and is recovering well

:: Pray for Christa and her sons

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Toni, Randall and Amanda are all looking for new jobs – pray God will open up the right opportunity.

:: Pray for Jennifer K’s cousin’s family – the cousin died suddenly leaving two small children.

7.26.09 :: RETRO (Love) July 27, 2009

Last night’s big theological concept – God is LOVE. 

That’s what we believe.  And that love is always on the move.  At it’s core, our religion is designed to be a mission of love.  We are charged as God’s church to always be reaching out with open hearts especially to God’s children who aren’t in the church already – who haven’t found their place in this family.  Our founding father’s would have said, the question isn’t “Am I saved?” but “For what ultimate purpose am I saved?”  Wesley believed that much of our purpose was and is loving outreach to a broken world.

So to get at what loved shared looks like, I used a borrowed metaphor.  First we sang a couple songs.  Bronco(the youth band) led us in worship this night.  Then we passed out the FruitLoops…

Everyone got a little cup of them – you know the yummy cereal?  I asked everyone to describe their fruitloops.  They shouted out words like: sugary, crunchy, fruity.  Then I asked them to think about what real fruit tastes like.  They shouted out things like: juicy, naturally sweet, refreshing.  Then we talked about those differences.  We decided the Fruitloops were a sad impression, if that, of real fruit.  They were only fruit(y) at best.

Real fruit is the real deal.  It is good and it nourishes and is rewarding.  BUT – no matter how good a piece of fruit is – until it feeds someone it hasn’t fulfilled it’s purpose.  If it just sits on my kitchen counter or in my fridge and rots – how is that good for anyone?  Fruit must nourish and strengthen – that’s what it was made for.

Am I talking about real fruit?  Of course not - Galations 5:22-23 says: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The fruit produced by someone planted in Christ is:
a life of love,
an attitude of joy,
the presence of peace,
a felt patience,
a kind heart,
a shared goodness,
a true faithfulness,
a gentle spirit,
and practiced self-control.

Did I just describe you?  I know that when I read that list – I’m challenged by it.  I have a lot of gardening to do!  This list should describe my life, but I’m not quite there.  Just like real fruit, these “fruits” are designed to be shared – to nourish – to be given away for sustenance.

BUT unfortunately, a lot of the time we instead hoard the “fruit” we produce right here within the church walls – instead of giving them to a starving, malnourished world – bringing sweetness and succulence to an all-too-often dry and bitter existence.

These “fruits”  should be the 1st thing people think of when they hear the word “Christian” — unfortunately that’s not always the case, is it?  Even when we do get the fruit to grow, too often we don’t share it well with others = instead we get “fruit loops.”

When we only feed ourselves it is like that crunchy, dry piece of cereal.  We are left with a hint of fruit – but none of the sustenance.  We might get temporary energy – but not long term sustenance.  When we don’t reach out and feed that hungry world – it’s just dry and sugary, fake and chemical.  Not like the fruit that God intended – organic, natural, good for you and delicious.

So as we get back to the basics of our faith, it’s important that we recognize that a huge part of what it means to be a believer is to love our neighbor – to share our fruit with them – to be about the missional love of Christ.

When I stand alone as a Christian, I can sing a pretty good song – it will speak of God’s love.  But it is only the beginning.  When I can stand with my neighbor (and the world is my neighborhood) then we together can sing a song that is God himself incarnate.

We watched the following video:

What a beautiful image of the love we’re talking about.
When we reach out in love we can unite God’s children all over the world.  We can stand by each other and unite in the song that is our God’s grace and salvation.  We can join in with the gifts God has given us, each adding a layer of beauty to a picture as diverse as God himself. 

Following a short discussion of this video, John spoke to us some of John Wesley’s take on our church’s mission of love.  He spoke about how Wesley believed “the world is our parrish” and that we have a responsibility to reach out as far as our arms are able.  He shared Acts 13:47 – For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ”I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”

So grow that fruit!
And live out that love (past the walls of your church) so that we don’t get stuck with Fruitloops.
May we join in the great song that is flowing in and through creation to reach ALL God’s children.

Here is our current prayer request list. (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – her grandfather fell and broke HIS hip the day her grandmother was supposed to come home from rehab on her hip replacement surgery.  He has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult.  He continues to surpise them and is recovering well

:: Pray for Christa and her sons

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Toni, Randall, Amanda & Darcy are all looking for new jobs – pray God will open up the right opportunity.

7.19.09 :: RETRO (Assurance) July 20, 2009

Third week: Assurance
Even though so much of God is clouded in mystery – we can still KNOW some things.  We can know with our heart even if our mind is not quite there.  From his gut John Wesley eventually got to the place where he KNEW that he was God’s child.  He felt his heart “strangely warmed” after years of fighting to earn that love, and he finally came to a place where he could accept it as a gift. 

Romans 8:14-16 says it so well:
those people who are led by God’s Spirit are his children. God’s Spirit doesn’t make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him our Father.  God’s Spirit makes us sure that we are his children. 

We, too, can be sure.  We can know some things about God.  And this is one of those things.

So we opened the night with another “retro” presentation – thanks Toni!!  Her pictures were awesome – and she brought in a collection of old 45’s that was very impressive!  We had an “unplugged” version of the band leading worship.  We started with “Made to Worship” by Tomlin and then “Your Love is Deep” by Jamie Smith. 

John, our Pastor, talked a little about Wesley’s struggle with assurance and how it changed his life once he came to an understanding of it.  And then we challenged those present to think about what they “know” of God.  We had tables out for the night – and on the tables pens and a spread sheet.  In the spreadsheet there were three collumns. 

The first column was for “things they KNOW about God”
The 2nd column was for “how that knowledge makes them feel”
The 3rd column was for “what they think God is saying through it”

Filling in this chart was an awesome exercise.  An example might read this way:
1- I know I am a child of God; 2 – I feel peace and belonging; 3 - I am precious to God and he cares about me.

While we listened to some sweet “retro” music, people worked silently, searching their hearts about what they believe.  When they were mostly done, I asked for volunteers to share what they wrote.  Quite a few had some beautiful and profound things to share about what they find assurance in.  A single mom spoke about being able to let go of fear and bitterness in her life because she knows that God is a Father to her son.  A man who was only a few months ago homeless thanked God that he has given him all he has – and that it is abundant.  A college student spoke of knowing God has a plan for him, and that even though he is scared and impatient, he can trust in that plan.

I shared on the back of that sheet some of my own ramblings about what I believe.  After a very cool conversation with someone on what we can “know” I wrote the following as a journal entry:  

I believe in the fullness of summer; the romance of fall; the quiet of winter; and the newness of spring.
I believe in the healing of rain; the joy in laughter; the mystery of faith.
I believe there is a creator in my creation; a purpose for my living; a wonder worth embracing; a calling to follow.
I believe in hugging, smiling, grieving & listening.
I believe that peace comes with patience; that miracles are all around us; that everyone is beautiful; and that everyone longs to know so.

I believe in quiet moments – God is there.
I believe in large groups – God is there.
I believe in honest exposure – God is there.
I believe no matter what – God is there.

I believe that as good as it gets here and now, we are seeing but a dim reflection of our true home.
I believe that’s why we always long for more.
I believe because my bones seem to agree; because there is peace in it; because I am an optimist; because it adds up; because in belief I am made more complete, more beautiful, more real.

Without belief I am full of anxiety; scared of messing up; unsure of myself; depressed and desensitized; hopeless and hungry; tired and torn.
With belief I am more than myself; I am a tool in the hands of a master craftsman; I am a part of a larger story, and that story is magnificent.

So my voice rises higher…
I believe because You are truth – the truth is that You set me free.
In freedom I find hope and purpose. That is the song of the redeemed.

I believe because You are love – the only love that conquered death.
In death I find a resurrection that is the hope of every breath.

I believe because You are light – the brilliant light of brand new days.
Days of promise, full of mystery and even then my soul will say…

I believe because.
I believe in spite of.
I believe within me there is reason to believe – You are.

I challenge you to do the same:  sit down and spend some time figuring out what it is that you believe.  What you KNOW.  What you stand on.  It will be beautiful – and God will speak.

We closed with a couple more songs: “Amazing love (You are my King)” – full of what we can know in our salvation!  And “Who Am I” by Casting Crowns.   It was a cool night.

Here is our current prayer request list. (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – her grandfather fell and broke HIS hip the day her grandmother was supposed to come home from rehab on her hip replacement surgery.  He has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult.  He continues to surpise them and is recovering well

:: Pray for Christa and her sons

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Toni Ruppert is looking for a new job – pray God will open up the right opportunity.

7.12.09 :: RETRO (Salvation) July 13, 2009

2nd night of this series.  Salvation.

We first had someone share their “retro” – Thanks to Sam! – some awesome pictures of his huge fro and he even brought in his Atari!  Good stuff!

Easy song picking – we went all Hillsong United!  We did “Salvation is Here” & “Mighty to Save” and ”Lead Me to the Cross”.  And then the Nooma started (a short film by Rob Bell.)  We used “Trees” to tie into the topic for the night.  Following the Nooma, I said this about Salvation…

For those who choose God, there is a moment “between the trees” (Nooma reference) when we accept Jesus’ sacrifice and are “saved” – and we need saving!  The consequence of our sin is death (separation from God both now and forever).  There’s no getting around the death.

Unless…you accept the death Jesus gave on the cross – that’s the offer.  He died so that we can live.  He took on our sin, so that we can take on his righteousness.  And it worked out for him much differently that it would have worked out for us on our own – he’s God, so not only could he die for all of us, he was also able to beat death at it’s own game and rise on that 3rd day!  Creating the opportunity for us to be resurrected as well!

Ephesians 2:4-10
God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

So when we say “yes, thank you. I’d like to have that gift of life”  the result is we are connected to God, both now AND forever.

Fredrick Buechner says this about Salvation: “You do not love God and live for him so you can go to heaven. Whichever side of the grave you’re talking about, to love God and live for him IS heaven. It is a gift, not an achievement.”

So Salvation begins at a given point BY OUR FAITH in Christ alone; there’s nothing we could do to earn it – but that doesn’t mean we’re done, either!  The process continues - “the gift,” as Buechner put it, is only beginning when we say yes. We talked about that some last week – this is the Sanctifying Grace Richard described.

It is the process by which we “move on toward perfection” (John Wesley’s way of expressing this continual choice to do good work, to become more like Christ.) 

What we do with our lives “between the trees” has everything to do with Heaven.  You already know this. We say it all the time. “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thine name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on EARTH as it is in HEAVEN.”

Being a Christian – being “saved” – isn’t just about us going “up there”
It’s about us bringing “up there” “down here” – isn’t that what Jesus did?!

That scripture comes ringing back into my ears…
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, SO WE CAN DO good things

There is such tension in the Christian life between faith and works.  They are completely different, and yet completely intertwined.  You can only be saved by faith.  BUT a saved life always bears fruit through good works.  When these two things are running well together – heaven is brought down to earth.  And we’re not wasting the time God has given us here, waiting for some finale.  When we stay only with one or the other – we’re missing it.

Then we got into groups of 3 or so and discussed the following questions:
- In your own words: define salvation
- Describe what you felt when you “got saved” – if you haven’t made that choice yet, what feelings hold you back?
- why is there tension between faith and works?
- what “good works” do you think God has planned for you? OR How could you bring some heaven to earth NOW?

Then John, our pastor, got up and talked some about Wesley’s take on salvation.  He talked more about the role our choice plays in our salvation, and that we can choose to deny God’s love as much as we can accept it.  That United Methodist theology doesn’t track with “once saved always saved” because of our focus on the relationship as an exercise in free will.  The Good News of course, is that no matter how stubborn we are, or how often we might choose lesser lovers over our great God, his grace is always waiting to restore and renew.  All we have to do is turn back around and say, “Yes, Lord”

So we closed with that song and thanked God for the gift of salvation!

Here is our current prayer request list. (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary – passed away last week.  She’s home!  Pray that the family can work through their grief in this time of loss.

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – her grandfather fell and broke HIS hip the day her grandmother was supposed to come home from rehab on her hip replacement surgery.  He has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult.  He already had his surgery on Sunday and is doing ok so far. 

:: Pray for Christa and her sons

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Toni Ruppert is looking for a new job (while working a paper route!) pray God will open up the right opportunity and that she and Zach will pull through this tough time.

7.5.09 :: RETRO (grace) July 6, 2009

Started a new series last night:

 

 

 

 
We think it’s good to slow down on occasion and look back at the basics to get a handle on our here and now.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the drama of today that we can loose sight of those things our faith is built upon – so in this series, we’ll stop, rewind and remember. 

Our “religion” has claimed some phenomenal ideas as foundational truth – we call that THEOLOGY (the study of the nature of God and of religious truth).  John Wesley, in particular, had some awesome and inspired ideas that are why I think the United Methodist Church is so cool.  So, it’s talking about these ideas and unpacking them that create for each of us a spiritual life that is much deeper than religion. 

This first night we spent on GRACE - the only real place to start when we’re talking about our connection with God.  We believe that our relationship with God is more than a moment in time, but a journey through a lifetime.  And his grace travels with us at every stage.  So we did some journeying with our congregation. 

We opened the night with a couple songs (“Happy Day” by Tim Hughes and “Desire” by Phil Wickham).  In an attempt to set the retro mood, I shared my retro experience – including some horrible hair pictures and documentation of my love affair with MacGyver!!  Just to give you a taste, this is one of my prize possessions – an autographed head shot, “To Tina…just for you…LOVE, Ricky Anderson”   

There are three kinds of grace and so we had three points to our journey.  At each point they heard from a different speaker who shared their understanding of the kind of grace they spoke of and their experience of it in their own life.   Each group spent about 10 minutes with each person. 

So those three graces are:
1) Prevenient Grace (the grace that comes before) – you could call this preparing grace.  This is when the Spirit is preparing us for a relationship with God.  It’s all the times God is working that we don’t see till we look back through that 20/20 hindsight that makes everything so clear.  

2) Justifying Grace (the grace that saves us) – this is our Salvation experience.  It is the Spirit accepting us as broken as we are, and allowing Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross to make us new, and therefor justified.  For some this is a moment in time of saying “yes” to God, for others this Salvation happens in process and is harder to pinpoint. 

3) Sanctifying Grace (is the grace that changes us) – this is what happens after our “yes” to God – if courtship is the preparing grace, and your wedding day is the justification, then the years of growing together in a marriage relationship is the Sanctification.  It is the Spirit sustaining us on all the ups and downs of our journey with God.

We read Romans 5:1-11 which speaks to all three graces…

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.  <<That’s grace!>>

There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!  <<That’s Sanctifying grace>>

Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.  <<That’s Prevenient grace>>

Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!  <<That’s Justifying grace>>

When this learning journey was over, we went into communion – one of our “Means of Grace” – or a way in which we can experience God’s grace physically and spiritually.  During communion we sang ”I Will Rise” by Chris Tomlin and then wrapped up the night with “Oh Praise Him” by David Crowder. 

My prayer for all of us as we journey with God is much like the one I shared as we opened the night…

God – thank you so much for our tradition and history.  Thank you for speaking to your people through the years, for creating a system of beliefs that will guide us down the road with you.  May we take this time to think about what we believe – to really get down to it – so that we can stand firmly on it.  A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”  So open our minds, God and let’s talk.  We love you – AMEN

Here is our current prayer request list.  (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Praise - Connie & Jerry Noland had a great missions experience with the Choctaw Reservation

 :: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary – is not doing well.  Pray for her and her family as they wrestle with grief and illness.

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – the grandmother’s hip replacement surgery went well, but the grandfather has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult.

:: Pray for Christa and her sons

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Toni Ruppert is looking for a new job (while working a paper route!) pray God will open up the right opportunity and that she and Zach will pull through this tough time.

:: Praise – Jen’s test results all came back clean – she’s good!

6.28.09 – Nicaragua Sunday July 6, 2009

Well, I didn’t make it to this part of my To Do List last week.  And because we spent the night hearing from our Nicaraguan Mission Team, I didn’t have much to  type about.  They did a great job presenting.  The work we’re doing there in partnership with our Nica sisters and brothers is so very cool!  We work with 2 organizations:

El Ayudante – we use these guys for our food and lodging and logistics/ministry help (translators, etc.)  They do a GREAT job!!  And their site is great – go check it out!

Alcance- our newest partner is a non-profit from here in the states.  They started out of Norcross UMC in Atlanta.  They hooked us up with our Sister Church.  We’re in the process now of the first stages of a worship building for them.  We just delivered 170 water filters (thanks to the Advent Conspiracy) that will make a world of difference.  And we’re praying for their congregation of 35 or so families by name.  They gave us a roster with each member in each family listed.  So we’ve divided those names up and asked people to put their family names up somewhere (I put stickies on the back) that would daily remind them of our blessings and their needs (on their fridge, by a light switch, over the bathroom sink, etc.)   

I’m working now on uploading a slideshow of some pictures from this last trip.
Thanks to the team for being such servants and for helping our church understand how big a church we’re a part of!

06.21.09 :: River of Life Sunday / Parent Technology Seminar June 22, 2009

Well this was an exciting and crazy week at Ringgold UMC.  We hosted our 4th Annual River of Life (missions event for high school students).  We had 5 churches participate with 63 students and adults. There were about 145 different adults and college students from our church serving in some way, and lots of folks who brought in ladders, coolers and food donations! All these people’s efforts enabled God to work on 18 different work sites (including 3 roofs this year!) for people in our area who couldn’t afford to have the work done.  We put down 75 squares of roofing, 40 gallons of paint, 80 linear feet of wheel chair ramp and hauled off 8 tons of debris!  All that was done in 100 degree weather, and that was just the work side of the event.  We also fed and housed the participants at the church, and had AWESOME worship and small groups each night.  Kids lives were changed through the experience and our community felt the love of Christ in a very tangible way.  I was the Event Coordinator and Eric was the Construction Coordinator.  We had LOTS of help of course, but we’re exhausted!!  Thanks to all the people that made the hole thing possible.

So last night at The Water’s Edge, we had our speaker from ROL stick around to share some information for parents.  His name is Andre Dantzler and besides being a great speaker and technology expert, he does a couple other cool things you might want to check out, like KingdomBook and ProjectGod.  He brought with him Julie Baumgardner from First Things First and they spoke to us about to us all about the kinds of technology young people are involved in.  They gave tips for understanding and better utilizing these technologies, along with things to look out for and ways to better communicate about and through them.  The parents I spoke with were really glad they came.  Kevin Alton (RUMC Youth Minister) will be showing a video of this presentation to other youth parents some time soon!)  Many thanks to Andre and Julie for the ministry they so joyfully create and willingly share!

Here is our current prayer request list.

(Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

::  Pray for Connie & Jerry Noland = Starting Saturday they are at the Choctaw Reservation to do some mission work there with other folks from the south.

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary – is home, but not feeling good. She’s battling much more than cancer with all the effects of her treatments on her body. Pray for healing and hope.

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – the grandmother’s hip replacement surgery went well, but the grandfather has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult.

:: Pray for Christa and her sons – current issues: the living situation still precarious; her car died. 

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Toni Ruppert is looking for a new job (while working a paper route!) pray God will open up the right opportunity and that she and Zach will pull through this tough time.

:: Pray for Jen – she’s awaiting some test results

6.14.9 :: Missionary Focus – Mike O’Quin June 17, 2009

This month we’re focussing on different mission areas.  We had a quest speaker last night who is a full time missionary with his family in Indonesia – Mike O’Quin.  We opened with a couple songs: “Song of Hope” Robbie Seay Band and “Desire” Phil Wickham.  Mike shared his story of God using him to give long term help to the people of Indonesia – they’ve been there for 10 years! 

They have tons of ministry happening there:  english c;lubs, worship services on a college campus, and the biggest thing is they’ve started a business there which enables people to learn skills that will allow them to rise up out of poverty in a permenant way.  I’ll have a link up soon to more info if you’d like to amazed at how awesome God is!  And he and his family are very interested in hosting people there in Indonesia – if you’d like to go on a mission trip!

Mike’s challenge for us was to consider what God might be bubbling up inside us – regardless of our experience or training – we’re all called to a mission field.  What might yours be?  We broke into small groups a couple times to discuss this idea and the reality of what fear and doubt can do to fight against God’s stirring in our hearts. 

We closed with “You Are the Light” by Steve Fee.  Said a prayer (big group laying on hands) over Jerry & Connie leaving for a mission trip soon, and then sent everyone home.  It was a good night!

Here are our other prayer requests this week: (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Nica team home safe!  Pray for River of Life.  Pray for Connie & Jerry Noland = heading for the Choctaw Reservation to do some mission work there with other folks from the south.

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary – is home, but not feeling good. She’s battling much more than cancer with all the effects of her treatments on her body. Pray for healing and hope.

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – the grandmother’s hip replacement surgery went well, but the grandfather has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult.

:: Pray for Christa and her sons – current issues: the living situation still precarious; she needs a vacuum cleaner to help with the asthma issues; brakes on the car need to be replaced; starts new job today!!

:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.

:: Toni Ruppert is looking for a new job (while working a paper route!) pray God will open up the right opportunity and that she and Zach will pull through this tough time.