June 11, 2014

Today is the one day this week predicted to be rain-free. With it raining every day, the vegetation is happy. Audrey and I will hit the packing hard, from dawn to setting sun. The party the staff threw for us yesterday was really good, and their gift to me was an outfit that left me looking like a hipster from top to bottom. They insisted that I model it, and from the Tom’s shoes to the Warby Parker glasses (on loan for photo only!) I am ready to expand the way I dress for work.

II Sam 6

David gathered 30,000 men to go with him to Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God. As I read this account this morning, a story with which I am fairly familiar, I am struck by the way God is described: “which is called by the Name, the very name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim.”  In this modern era, the Name is not as respected nor adored is God has been, and will be at the end of time. I need to honor the Name in every way through my life.

Lord, guide me today as I turn to packing up our earthly belongings in this house in Springfield as we prepare to move to Cape Girardeau. Thank you for the Wesley staff and their love expressed through the lunch and going away gift. This is the day which You have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

June 9, 2014

I was up at 4:00 am, read Psalm 100 and Proverbs 9. Rode the Kawasaki to the grocery for coffee, milk and tooth paste, grabbing a box of ice cream cones just for fun. On the way home crossed the James River toward Nixa just to extend the ride. Now at home in the family room to write and read. 

Yesterday I started the morning at Wesley at 7:30 meeting with the hospitality team, and then attended the teaching session of Annual Conference as Adam Hamilton taught about preaching and worship. I met Audrey for brunch at 10, we attended Wesley Downtown for Kerner’s last Sunday. We split a sandwich and then enjoyed Adam’s teaching session from 2 -3:30. We stood in line to buy his recent book Making Sense of the Bible and to have him sign it. While in line we had several nice conversations. He inscribed our book “Blessings, I am grateful for you!” Upon arriving home, we packed until 9:15. All in all, a very good day.

This morning I will head to the final session of Annual conference, with the bishop explaining the appointment process, then the final business session, then the moving. Ron Watts is staying until the end of Conference, just to receive me at the La Croix table.

I am Your servant, most Holy Lord. Use me today as You see fit, I surrender my life, vocation, relationships, hobbies, hopes and dreams to the benefit of Your kingdom. 

Goodbye Wesley faith community from Bruce and Audrey

It is with hearts filled with gratitude that we say good-bye to the people of Wesley United Methodist Church. During the worship services this past Sunday, and at the reception in the Moore Gathering Area we experienced hundreds of heart-felt expressions from members and friends with whom we have shared joys and sorrows, highs and lows, mission trips and musicals. Mel Prouty and Margaret Lindsey blessed us with prayer, public commendations and a generous check from the church.  Rochelle Collette and the worship arts teams presented Audrey with jewelry and both of us with a clock made in 1905 similar to the clock in the Pastor’s Office at Wesley. (Glen Sanders has restored both the clock given to the church for the pastor’s study, and the one given to us this weekend.) We also received many kind and moving written messages of love in your cards and in the memory book at the reception.

Having said our public farewells, we now turn to the details of handing off the leadership of Wesley to the Rev. Scott Bailey-Kirk, and the packing up of our earthly belongings as we move to Cape Girardeau. Between now and June 26 I will be the lead pastor of Wesley as the needs for daily ministry and service continue. The staff will continue to perform their excellent service in leading the ministries of this church. On Sunday, June 8, The Rev. Mark Struckhoff will be preaching in the sanctuary and the youth will be leading the worship service in the gym at 10:40, as they return from their choir mission trip. On June 15 the Rev. Dwight Chapman will preach at all 4 worship services on the south (Republic Rd.) campus. On June 22 the Rev Mi Hyeon Lee will preach at all 4 services.

At the Wesley Downtown St. Paul Campus the Rev. Ron McIntire preached his final sermon this past weekend and will begin his retirement (again!) having previously retired as a public school superintendent. The Rev. Matt Kerner graduated from Asbury Theological Seminary over Memorial Day weekend, and will conclude his ministry with Wesley as he preaches both the 9:30 and 11:30 worship services downtown on June 8. Beginning June 15 there will be a single worship service at the Wesley Downtown St. Paul campus at 10:30 and held in a large Sunday School room as renovations proceed with the sanctuary.

Audrey and I give thanks to God for the seven years we have been privileged to sojourn among this community. May our Lord richly bless each one who became part of our lives during this season.

May 17 - its been a while since I have blogged!

This will be a long blog. It has been since mid-April that I have posted a blog. These have been interesting and eventful weeks. I was a final candidate to become the next president of Saint Paul School of Theology, making a 2 1/2 day visit to the campus for interviews etc. I learned on Good Friday that I had been released as a candidate. During this candidacy, my friend Ron Watts in Cape Girardeau had been discussing with me the possibility of joining him on the staff of La Croix UMC as executive pastor if I was not selected for Saint Paul. In the last couple of weeks he and I have finalized this position and the bishop has made the appointment official. It was announced to the Wesley congregation two weeks ago. Audrey and I have a contract signed to purchase a house in Cape, and we are beginning to say our good byes. This has been quite the whirlwind, and God has been guiding each step of the way.

This morning I awoke around 3, stayed in bed til 3:40, went to my study, found on my shelf a book I had misplaced, loaned to me by Hiram Hill entitled A Glimpse of Glory by Rick East. I stood paging through the first four chapters, spellbound for half an hour. With fresh coffee I am now in my comfortable chair for morning devotions. The gas fire is burning, the birds are calling to one another, and my world has regained a sense of normalcy.

It was rocked yesterday at 2:15 pm when I returned home and could not find my cell phone. I had used it to call the Radon guy in Cape from the parking lot of Sams Club. Upon arriving home, Audrey was being helped by Pam, who was vacuuming the drapes in our bedroom. I cancelled my 3:15 tennis appointment with Elinton so I could address the lost phone.  I quickly retraced my steps to Sams, starting in the parking lot, then checking with customer service to no avail. I returned home and tried to figure out what app I had downloaded to find a lost droid. I could not remember or figure it out. I called Kerner. I went to the Verizon store, was assisted by the store manager who suggested I get on my computer and access “Plan B”. He also gave me a Sim card for my backup Droid Bionic phone (purchased used in fall of 2013, when Droid Razr was not taking a charge.) I could not get Plan B to work, it telling me it did not support the Droid Razr. So using My Verizon I switched my phone service to the Bionic, essentially losing any possibility of reaching the Razr remotely. I got on my bank’s website and changed my password to my accounts, since a person could have figured it out from my phone. I was glad to have my cell number back in service, checked my 6 voicemails and texts. I experienced a real disorientation from losing this phone. The sense of loss of photos, texts, and contacts, along with the vulnerability of a stranger accessing all my data was almost overwhelming.

Audrey and I attended the KOC graduation and were honored by the directors and a gift of a photo of the school with a huge thank you spelled out with colored noodles. From there we went to dinner at Red Lobster using a $25 gift card Audrey had found from years ago. Our server Sam did an excellent job, and we really enjoyed our meal and dining experience. Returning home shortly before 9 pm, we began to get ready for bed, feeding the cats, checking messages, etc.

Just before going to bed, I reached my hand down into the bottom of the large section of my 10 year-old backpack that I use for a briefcase, carrying my laptop and vital accessories to a from the office. In the bottom of that backpack I found my phone. I never put it there, don’t remember doing so in the Sams parking lot, and was mystified that I had located it. Overwhelming gratitude filled my heart as I carried it to the bedroom and turned it on along with the Droid Bionic that is now the working phone. It was as though a sense of completeness and well-being snapped into place in my emotions. From 2:15 til 9:15 I went through the hours of loss, desperate search, rearranging of schedule, being out of touch with communications, frustrated with lack of tracking app, and the agonizing decision to terminate phone service to the missing phone.

During those hours I was conscious of the impact upon my being of this lost phone. The disorientation, the sense of loss and hopeless combined with search initiative wrapped up with regret for not remembering the app to find it and the carelessness in losing it. I was aware that others experience much more significant and profound losses – the death of loved ones, the betrayal of a spouse, the horrible decisions of children and grandchildren. During those seven hours of loss I was aware that what I was feeling and thinking would be instructive as I come alongside others when they are in the midst of loss and disorientation.

Thank You Lord for walking with me through the hours of yesterday afternoon and evening. Use my experience as a tool to assist others and to grow in my manner and experience of ordering my life. Increase my compassion and availability for others, from those closest to me to those whom I have yet to meet. Speak to me from your Word this Saturday morning.

I Sam 10-12

Samuel anoints Saul, gives him specific instructions and tells him of the details he will encounter. Saul becomes a changed man, encounters the prophets, joins them, and returns to his father. Samuel calls all Israel together, announces that they have sinned by rejecting God. He promises that if they serve God with all their hearts, they and their king will be blessed. If not, God will fight against them.

Today I will serve God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. I will study, write my sermon, correspond, pack, exercise, fully giving away myself on this day, and living it for eternity. Thank you Lord for an early start, for writing and reflecting, for the experiences of yesterday, and the opportunities of today. I am yours. Use me this day. 

Palm Sunday

I awoke at 5:15, without the benefit of the alarm. Audrey and I returned home at 11:00 last night from attending the funeral of our friend Linda Hurst Locke near Memphis, TN. Linda was Audrey's last roomate before we married, and a servant of Christ who worked on the staff of several United Methodist Churches in Tennessee. Her funeral was a celebration of her life, and the gathering of her family and friends in our grief. My body is now still weary, but I got a good night’s sleep and am ready for this Palm Sunday. Rochelle will lead the musical, Micki Pulleyking will preach at 9:30 and 10:40. 

Scripture – Matthew 23:29-39

Jesus laments over Jerusalem, noting that the prophets are killed in that city. The current religious leaders build memorials to them and say they would not have killed them. God says to them “behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city.”

Last night I read the daily reading from Bonhoeffer’s compendium and having just attended Linda Hurst Locke’s funeral, it was fittingly on death. He described the two deaths – one outer – from the bullet (or the gallows, or the knife or the blood clot, bacteria or who-knows-what.) The other death is the inner – dying to self every day, giving one’s life away, “losing one’s life that it may be found.”) Linda’s life was such an example, Bonhoeffer’s life was, and I desire for my life everyday to be such an example of the inner death of surrender, pouring it into the lives of others.

The prophets gave their lives away, saying hard and accurate words about God’s will and the people’s actions. There will always be a tension between what people want to hear, and how they will respond when God’s servants are obedient.

Guide me today, most holy Lord as your obedient servant, giving my life away on this day in April. 

Day 31 – Forty Days in the Word

Mission Blitz today!!!  I look forward to being present at both sites in both communities.   This is our seventh year to dedicate a Saturday in April for the Wesley UMC congregation to be out in ministry in the Springfield community. The sun is bright, though it is chilly. Six months of preparation have been focused upon today's efforts, and the follow-up which will ensue.       

Day 31 – Forty Days in the Word.

Philippians 2, especially verse 13

“For it is God who works in Bruce Baxter to will and to act according to his good pleasure.” To rewrite this verse, inserting my name as per the devotional plan for this week prescribed by Rick Warren is powerful. It is God who works in me. It is God working in me that adjusts my will – Psalmist – Lord give me the desires of my heart – ie cause my heart to desire what You desire. It is God working in my that directs my actions – “that I may do, what Thou wouldst do.” My actions today as I visit the two mission blitz sites and interact with all the people involved will be the result of God working in me.

As I consider my possible role in seminary leadership, it would be God working in me to will and act according to His good pleasure in the operations, outreach, design, implementation and funding of the work of educating and training pastors. This gives me great confidence. I am not alone. What I will and do is not self-generated. My life is hidden in Christ, filled with the Spirit of Christ and directed to the purposes of Christ. As I preach and prepare messages, it is God at work in me to speak the word of reconciliation, of love, of life with hope, joy and peace.

Thank you Lord for this scripture from the pen of Paul and from his heart. My prayer this morning is that You would more fully and powerfully be at work in Bruce Baxter to will, desire, and plan to act according to all that pleases You and extends Your kingdom on earth, even as it is in heaven. 

Day 26 – Forty Days in the Word

On this Monday morning my body is recovering from the exertion of leading the faith community called Wesley United Methodist Church through its Sunday ministries. Audrey and I will be traveling for the next couple of days and I am preparing for that trip. It is good for me at this early hour to simply open the 40 Days in the Word Workbook, turn to day 26 and begin to study the scriptures.

James 3:13

NASB – “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.”

Bruce’s paraphrase – If any of you has wisdom and deep understanding let it be shown in your actions – deeds of good behavior performed with gentle wisdom.

Application – wisdom is borne out in actions – a wise person is identified by what is done, not just what is thought. Of course Jesus observed that evil deeds come from sin that is in the heart, and what is done springs from what is thought.

Guide me today, most holy Lord as I move forward with developing relationships with the gentleness of wisdom.