May 22, 2013

Wesley, at the age of 49, is pregnant! We are about to birth a new worship community! In our third year of intentional college-age ministry, we will be launching a late Sunday morning worship service in the downtown area near the college campuses. Our goal is to provide a Wesley worship experience that is geographically and culturally within reach of the largest population of young adults in Springfield.

Pastor Matt Kerner will take the lead in organizing and leading this 5^th worship service of Wesley United Methodist Church. The exact time and place for this gathering is still being determined, but it will be launched on August 18 as college students approach their new fall semester. A launch team is being assembled, and all who are interested in supporting this new worship service, regardless of age, and invited to contact Matt (417-350-9806). 

The mission of Wesley United Methodist Church is to develop more fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ who worship, care and serve. We are investing our resources in establishing this second campus of worship to expand our reach physically to the college community concentrated in the Springfield downtown area. It is also a joy to reconnect with our Wesley college-aged students who have been away at school and are home for the summer. I look forward to hearing your stories of faith development in the places where you have been attending school. 

May 17, 2013

This coming Sunday is Pentecost. I invite you to wear red to the Sunday worship services, representing the flames of fire that fell from heaven upon the gathered believers, seven weeks after the resurrection of Jesus. This past Sunday I spoke about reflecting the glory of God - the manifestation and revelation of His love in the radiance of His power and splendor. Truly it is God’s Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity through whom His love and power are demonstrated to the world today.

There are seasons when the body of Christ disregards the power of the Holy Spirit. In every generation there are those who experience God’s power, and become His beacons. John Wesley said that if you “Catch on fire others will love to come watch you burn.” Father Dennis Bennett experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in 1960 and a generation was shaped by the Charismatic Movement. His spiritual autobiography, Nine O’clock in the Morning is a great devotional read.

As a church we are well positioned to be used by God in ever widening circles. As a people who have been saved by grace and empowered by His Spirit, let us place ourselves before His throne daily to receive His direction and His instructions.

Leviticus 27

The final chapter! Even as it was tedious to read through this book in my morning devotions, it was a good exercise and I benefitted in a renewed sense of God’s instructions to His people who would form a new country and begin an era. Living in this generation I devote each day, every activity, all my possessions to His Lordship. My work as pastor has similarities with the priesthood and also with the leaders who assisted Moses. The church has a sanctuary similar to the tabernacle, and God’s presence is with His people.

Falling Upward pp 73-81 Rohr refers to Einstein and his search for a “unifying field” and Rohr describes the Roman Catholic Church as his unifying field. Each night I am reading the biography of Einstein that Bethany gave me for Christmas. I have been considering his search for a unifying field, and am amazed that I read a reference to it in my devotions!

Guide me Holy Lord as I live this finite day to your unlimited glory. May the investment of my energy and initiative be wholly according to your will and purposes. Guard me in every way from selfishness and any false sense of importance. 

May 14, 2013

What a beautiful day! Yesterday (my day off) was also a gem. On my motorcycle I mounted the Givi touring case, met with Adam about the saxophone, made three great landings on runway 14, chatted with Russell,  visited the dentist who performed my root canal, mowed the back yard, barbecued pork steaks, watched some of last Saturday’s NASCAR, and read some of Einstein’s biography.  All in all, Audrey and I had a very good Monday.

During the night I developed a curiosity about Matthew Henry. I had a desire to read about him on Wikipedia, and I do not know why this suddenly occurred to me. I will look him up. What I know is that he was a pastor in England in the 1600s who wrote a great commentary in devotional style covering most of scripture.  I was given a one volume edition of his commentary by my friend Greg when I graduated from college. I am curious about his church and his family.

Leviticus 24, and Matthew Henry’s commentary –light for the tabernacle, and 12 loaves of bread per week.

In my 1960 version of Matthew Henry’s Commentary in One Volume I read about his life and times in the forward. He died at 52 (1714) of apoplexy, which was a term used which could have been a stroke, a heart attack, an aneurism, etc. He pastored at Chester from 1687 – 1712 (a town in England near northeast Wales) and then was called to Hackney, near London which he accepted so that he would have greater access to libraries for his Biblical commentary. Through Wikipedia I discovered his writings beyond his commentary, including many sermons, plus a biography of his father, Philip Henry which seems interesting. This was good exercise to read about Matthew Henry.

Guide me today most holy Lord as I tend to the light and the bread of your presence in the generation to which you have sent me. 

May 9, 2013

I have awoken naturally at 5:00 am and feel rested. Disappointed that Brenda was voted off Survivor last night after she won reward, gave it to her four friends and trusted Dawn in the immunity challenge. It is a dog-eat-dog competition where clearly the best people do not win. However, it is fascinating to watch the decisions unfold.

I have about 8 new books to be reading. Yesterday I got the 2012 Annual Conference journal in the mail, the day before I received 3 books on the Holy Spirit from Ethel Snooks, including two by Dennis Bennett, and there are 4 books I am reading for the Bishops Week gathering. Falling Forward by Richard Rohr is a great read about “spirituality for the two halves of life.”

Leviticus 20 – “You must be holy, for I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own.” (Verse 26)  This chapter spells out the consequences for violating the laws God has given to his people, which distinguish them from their surrounding neighbors. It is in this chapter, verse 9 that it says “anyone who dishonors father or mother must be put to death. Such a person is guilty of a capital offense.” This is so very severe. God spells out the death penalty for sexual sins, and excommunication for other sins. “I will also turn against those who commit spiritual prostitution by putting their trust in mediums or in those who consult the spirits of the dead.”

I see the wisdom of God in keeping His chosen people from the detestable practices of their neighbors. I also am thankful that I live in this era, in which grace and mercy are dispensed more readily than judgment. Grace cannot be truly experienced without law and judgment, and I grasp the authority and will of God requiring obedience and surrender.

Today is the 5^th anniversary of the death of my father. He died on Mother’s day in 2008, which was also their 55^th anniversary. 60 years ago today my parents were married in Los Angeles. I am thankful for my parents, and honor their memory and their lives, thankful for the care and sacrifices they made in raising me and establishing me on the path of this earthly journey.

Dennis Bennett wrote Nine O’clock in the Morning as his spiritual autobiography. This is my favorite form of literature, and I look forward to reading this book over the next few days. I am also reading a biography about the great physicist Albert Einstein which stretches me to think about concepts and a lifestyle different from my usual thought pattern.

Guide me today, most holy Lord as I serve You, living a set apart life, filled with Your Holy Spirit and giving myself to others as you modeled during Your brief earthly journey.

May 4, 2013

How do you know if you are trusting in the Lord with all your heart?

If you are not trusting in the Lord with all your heart, then what are you trusting in? How is that working for you?

Tomorrow my message comes from Proverbs 3:5-10, written by the wisest man in history. He tells the reader to trust in the Lord with all the heart. He proceeds to caution the reader not to be wise in your own eyes, but to fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. When a person does this it will be healing to your flesh and refreshment for your body.  Getting down to the application of this trust, Solomon tells us to “honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce.”

Last year when my blackberry patch was in its third season, it began to produce beautiful fruit. When I was able to go out and pick a bowl full of luscious berries, my heart overflowed with appreciation. I was thankful that Rochelle had given me four plants from her garden. I was thankful for this spot in my yard where I had built a raised bed. But mostly I was thankful to God, who caused the blackberry to grow and to ripen and to become delicious fruit.

Honoring God with our substance and with the first fruits of all our increase is a tangible way to indicate to God and to ourselves that we trust God. He does not need what we have. We need to offer it in ways that indicate He is the object of our faith, and our source of hope. Bringing the first of the first fruits to God’s house is the way we obey His word, and demonstrate the reality of our trust in Him.

If your faith is faltering, begin to take the first 10% of your paycheck, or your retirement check, or whatever the source of your income and place it in the offering at church. Jesus launched the church through his disciples as the visible expression of his body on earth. Bringing our substance (financial resources) to the body of Christ marks us as one of His disciples. In a mysterious way, he uses us to build his kingdom and prepare for his soon return as King of kings.

I trust the Lord with all my heart, and today, you can too. Remember, He gave his son as payment for our sins, what more could He do? O how I love Him.