Wednesday’s Thoughts
Easter has happened, we have heard the story again, and sung the songs. But has the joy of the resurrection penetrated our very beings? Do we look at life any differently? Looking at the various areas of our lives, do we find joy overflowing?
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Our church: Are we thankful for the leadership and the people, and all that we do? Do we offer our part, and if we do, do we do it out of joy or resentful obligation?
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The people in our lives:
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Our parents: Do we love, honor and obey them? If they need care, do we do it out of love and joy and gratitude, or out of obligation?
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Our spouses: Do we truly cherish the one whom we have chosen to walk this life journey beside? Or has life caused us to see them as another obligation, or even a burden? Has the joy gone out of the relationship?
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Our children: Parenting can be overwhelming at times, keeping us from appreciating the beauty of the child before us. When our children are grown, sometimes we are more critical of them than appreciative of who they are. Do we see our children as gifts from God?
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Others: Do we see the people in our lives as gifts, given by God, or are we judgmental and unforgiving of the people that they are?
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Our self: Do we truly see our self as a child of God, fully human and fully alive?
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Life itself: How do we look at life in general, with its ups and downs? Are we joyous with each new day, or do we drag ourselves through the days and months?
Once again, I would appreciate your thoughts. Carolquinn@fcfumc.net
This is the first real day of my two week vacation and I’ve had some time to think about a number of things. Carol’s questions are great questions for me. I think about the church; its past; its future, and I think about all the work that went into Easter and Holy Week, and Lent.
We can all be very proud of our church I think. We can be proud of the hard work being done by so many people to make the church the kind of church we want it to be. In looking back over the past several weeks there are so many people who deserve our gratitude.
1. The adult choir singing all three services on Easter and having done such a great job with the cantate.
2. The Fish group being at the church for the sunrise service and leading us in one of the best sunrise services I’ve been part of.
3. Rae Batch organizing all the ushers for Holy Week and Easter Sunday and all the ushers who stepped forward to help.
4. Colleen McRoberts and her leadership with all the music for all the services.
5. Karen Stoody, our organist, who has to be one of the best organists in the state.
6. David Dalke and Ray Miller and Carol Quinn who are so eager to pitch in and help whenever they are asked and often will anticipate what needs to be done and will do it before they are asked.
7. Joel Kershaw who works so well with the youth and who did such a great job on the Good Friday service.
8. Judy Warren and Lynne Ellison who got all the bulletins together and all the letters sent out and Henry Renya and the custodial staff who took things down and put things up. Lewis McGinnis and the sound and light people whose work on Sunday mornings and in the special services allowed us to hear and see the words so we could sing them.
9. Warren McConnell and Jim Cowell who are working to start a United Methodist Church in Wellington.
10. Bev Helprin who does such a great job with the church school program for children and Laura Lechtenburg who has such a good staff and who had built the best preschool in the city. Gail Farnham and the Moms Day Out program. Nancy Gorges who has made our Nursery a safe place for children.
11. The search committee who is working to try to find us a Director of Music who can pick up where Colleen left off and move us forward.
12. Lisa Polland who is there every Sunday preparing the church as a hospitable environment and who works to welcome visitors and help them feel comfortable enough to join the church.
13. Karen Waldren who keeps track of our finances and reminds us not to overspend but tells us to be sure to spend what we need to spend to help people for that is the job of the church.
14. Rob Bean who has built an incredible webcite that attracks so many people.
I could go on and on with this and it would not stop for a long, long time. This has to be one of the strongest churches in the United Methodist Church. I think Carol has given us a great question about what we do and why we do it.
I am grateful for the church and for its past and excited for its future. I am resting now and getting ready to come back eager to work with the wonderful staff and the wonderful congregation. It will be exciting to see where we can take the church in the days and months to come.
Charles