November 11, 2012

Today is Veterans Day, and I have asked the Rev. Jim Massey to preach. We will have lunch in room 32 and then church conference in the gym with the Rev. Dr. Bart Hildreth, our district superintendent leading. Yesterday our youth spent the day near Branson on an Alpha retreat, focusing on the Holy Spirit. We also had a “mini mission blitz” yesterday, with 120+ Wesley folks participating in a huge effort to pack food for the needy in a community-wide effort downtown.

Psalm 127 (theme for this week in Job-Shawchuck “Claim Your Inheritance”)

“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.” (Verse 1) This brief Psalm reminds me that the work we are about is God’s work and will be to the end of time. As a pastor I must never slip into thinking that shepherding a flock and extending the kingdom of God is anything but a partnership with our creator in His work and purpose in the world.

The Foundry, a new United Methodist Church will have its first regular Sunday Morning worship service today. Richard Fine is the pastor and they have rented an elementary school in the area. They are hoping to reach the Battlefield-Republic area of southwest metropolitan Springfield. Today is the anniversary of John Wesley preaching his first sermon in front of the foundry, a building he eventually purchased and used as a center for the Methodist movement in England in the 1700s.

David Petraeus resigned on Friday as the director of the CIA. It came to light on Wednesday that he had been having an affair with his biographer. What a huge loss. He seemed to be the right man for the job, with his great record commanding the military effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. I can only imagine how this moral failure is impacting him and his family today.

Guide me today, most Holy Lord as I labor in building your kingdom through the work of pastoring Wesley UMC here in Springfield. May the work be guided by your spirit, empowered by your love, and established according to your will. I am your servant, use me today.