First United Methodist Church - Fort Collins, CO

One of the biggest fears I hear from people is the fear of death. There comes a time in our lives when we realize our mortality; we realize we are going to die. What happens to us when we die? Do we just go away into the vapor of nothingness? Is there life after death? Is there heaven? hell? Will there be loved ones waiting for us after we die?

What did Jesus say about death?

Several things are evident to me regarding this subject:

1. People who come face to face with death, after they have gone through the experience have a different view of things. Their outlook changes. They are more at peace with themselves and with others. They are less afraid of the unknown.

2. The basic message of the Christian faith concerning death suggests that death is not something we ever need to fear. God is present to us as we live and as we die and as we experience what happens to us after we die. Facing death without being afraid is a matter of trust and sometimes it takes a lifetime to be able to accomplish that.

3. Jesus never said much about life after death, but on the night before his death on the cross he called his friends together for a banquet. Before the cross there was a reunion where he conveyed his presence with them in the breaking of the bread and the taking of the wine. He spoke of brokenness and he spoke of the new covenant with God. That provided comfort to the emerging church as they faced the difficult days of persecution from the Romans and rejection from the Jewish tradition. For Jesus life after death was about reunion with loved ones and with God.

Personally, I don’t think much about death or what happens after we die. It seems an unpleasant thing to dwell on and I’d rather give my time and energy to life and living.

But it is an important question. What do you think about death? Do you fear it? How have you resolved it if you have? Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have your thought available for others to see click on the ‘comments’ box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

“Take Your Fear and Face It”

In thinking about the fears that we have some are obvious and some are subtle and understated. I know people who are afraid of death. They worry about what lies beyond this life. They are concerned about the pain of death and how to surivive it.

I know people who are afraid of failure. They constantly worry about how they measure up in a world that is competitive and driven by merit and rewards for success.

It was interesting to learn about Mother Teresa this week.  She had this sense that her faith wasn’t strong enough. She was riddled with doubt and wondered if there was God. She was concerned that there was no God and that her faith was not adequate. It reminds me of the words that were decoded of John Wesley, the founder of our denomination. He wrote his brother Charles in code toward the end of his life telling him about how he thought he had wasted his life and that his ministry had been a sham.

What is interesting about these two giants of Christianity is the fear that lay behind their behavior. Mother Teresa and John Wesley both kept their fears a secret and did not anticipate anyone would ever learn that they were filled with self-doubt. They were worried that they would be “found out” that their lives had been a fraud.

One of the fears I hope to help us face is the fear of being found out. What we need to understand as we face that fear is that we need not fear it. We are not required to live a lie; we need not worry that we are not good enough. We are what we are, and that is sufficient.

The way to face the fear of being found out is to come to terms with who we are and to live into that our whole life.

Do you ever worry about being found out?

Do you know anyone who worries about that?

I’d appreciate your thoughts on this. Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the ‘comments’ box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

“Take Your Fear And Face It”

I get to preach the next four Sundays and I’m doing a series on how we can learn to live life well.

“Take Your Fear and Face It”  September 2nd

“Take Your Life and Live It”     September 9th

“Take Your Faith and Show It” September 16th

“Take Your Mind and Use It”     September 23rd

What do we have to fear? What are our greatest fears in life? I know it is different for everyone, but what are the fears we face? Let me name a few:

Intimacy

Death

Failure

Pain

Suffering

Snakes

The night

Violence

Success

Broken relationships

Not being liked

Not being loved

losing

Winning

The list is a long one. In the 6th verse of the 13 Chapter of Hebrews we are told, “God has said, ‘I will not fail you or desert you’, and so I can say with confidence: With the Lord to help me, I fear nothing: what can any human being do to me?”

In the sermon I will try to develop some approaches to life that enable us to take our fear and face it. If you have ideas on how to do this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your ideas with others click on the ‘comments’ box below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

So, as I think about how temporary our time is here on earth, I also know it is important for us to make the most of it. We certainly do “miss the mark” in many ways, and wish we could do some things over again, and do them right.

That is where Jesus comes in. He said, and I paraphrase, “today is the day…the Kingdom is at hand…it’s here…don’t mess it up”……, but,

“if you do, you can be redeemed….repent and give life another shot”…repentance and redemption is like having another chance. That ought to be worth something grand in the scheme of relating to one another and to God.

See you Sunday.

David

Write me at daviddalke@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the “comments” box below

AUGUST 26: Sermon title will be “Once Upon A Time, There Was….”

Scriptures: Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

Mark 1:14-15

Emphasis: We will sing at the beginning of the sermon “This Is The

Day”, a verse out of the Psalms. It also becomes the basis

for the message. I want to stress how we do not honor or

respect the present moment. We get wrapped up in our

yesterdays and fantasies for our tomorrows, and often take

the HERE and NOW for granted, or just plain miss it!

The scriptures remind us to “be very present” with ourselves

and others. As the Hebrew prophet who wrote Ecclesiastes

says, “no one knows when his/her time will come”. We do not

need a lot of left overs or “wish I would of’s”. It is

time to take care of business, which means getting our

priorities straight.

I look forward to seeing you Sunday.

David

write me at daviddalke@fcfumc.net

If you are willing to allow others to see your response click on the “comments” box below.

“The Art of Being Disagreeable”

When we have thought about our life together as a congregation there have been high points and low points. Sometimes our passion for or against our cause have made us act out in ways that are distructive. We lose it. I lose it. Everybody loses it from time to time.

We have been working on a statement that reflects the best we would hold up as our manner of interacting. A task force was formed initiated by the church staff and the Sraff Parish Relations Committee. They submitted to the Administrative Council the statement to be read at all of our meetings and discussed in terms of our ability to live up to it or our failure to do so.

This is the statement:

“We, as a Christ centered community, inspired by: Open Hearts; Open Minds; Open Doors, pledge to ensure a safe and respectful environment that transcends differences in our ministry with one another.”

In the sermon this Sunday I am going to look at the ways people are disagreeable and how we can respond to them. I will consider three types of disagreeable people.

1. There are people who are constantly disagreeable

2. There are people who are quietly disagreeable

3. There are people who are creatively disagreeable

The conclusion to this sermon is a surprise. I will suggest an unusual way in which we can deal with disagreeable people.

Do you have some thoughts on this?

Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net

If you are willing to have other people read your responses click on the ‘comments’ box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

“The Art of Being Disagreeable”

There are people in our lives who are difficult. Sometimes it’s because of what they say and sometimes it’s due to the way they say it. Sometimes it’s the result of what they do and sometimes it’s the motive by which they do it.

It could be someone at work, someone at school, some relative, or close loved one who is disagreeable. It could be someone in the church. Churches are prime places for disagreeable people. Scott Peck wrote a book several years ago entitled People of the Lie. His premise is that the church is one of those places that attracts people who like to use people in destructive ways. Peck calls these people evil. He claims there is nothing to do with these people but to run them out of the church. I couldn’t disagree more. I think that’s a shallow way to look at it. In the churches I’ve been appointed to there are always people who have created conflict. There are people who sometimes go over the edge in what they say or do. The first church I had as a pastor there was a man we called, “Crazy Harold”. At meetings he would, from time to time, flip out. He would lose it. He would yell and scream at people and stomp out of the room and slam the door. I always wondered how Howard was at home. Was he as strange at home as he was at the church? What motivated him to do the things he did?

In looking back at his behavior I have come to the conclusion that he meant well, but he just didn’t understand what a church was about.

At First Church we have developed a Covenant of Respect. We, on the staff have been talking about it and the Administrative Council has approved it as an operating principle. I have put the Covenant statement in the church bulletin and will include it in the next “Build a Sermon”. Basically, it suggests that we will honor our diversity and we will treat each other with respect. It defines our covenant as in conformity with “Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors”.

How do you deal with disagreeable people? What have you found to be helpful? I’d like some wisdom from the congregation on this. Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your response click on the ‘comments’ box below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

“The Widow’s Conspiracy”

The sermon for Sunday, August 19th will deal with the story of the “Widow’s Mite”. This is one of my favorite stories in the bible. It reminds us of the importance of even the smallest thing. The woman who gave the least actually gave the most because she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had.

It seems so important for us to think of what we are able to do when we are apt to concentrate on what we are not able to do. We become paralysed by our perceived inabilities to the point we forget to try to do what we can.

The gift of a bag full of pennies sent by a little child awakened a community to the need for a hospital and the hospital at Temple University was built. How many people voting might have changed history? Both of the recent presidential elections were decided by a very narrow margin. Most adventures are determined by the courage it takes to stay in the battle just a little longer. Most of the important things have been done in the world have been accomplished by people who were having a bad day, and by people who almost gave up.

What can be done if we determine the little bit that we do can change things in a big way?

We will hear the story of the “Widow’s Mite” once more. It is one of the most important stories in the Bible. I think it had to be one of Jesus’ favorite stories because his message continued to focus on the capabilities of every person, and the potential of the spirit of those whose will was God’s will (whose will was to do good).

When we give our offering to the church why do we do it?

Is it out of guilt?

Is it in response to something in which we believe?

It it because we feel we must or ought?

Ayn Rand was convinced that altruism is basically selfish. It was her conviction that every act was an effort to bring credit, attention, or glory upon the giver. I don’t think Ayn Rand is correct about that. It think there are selfless acts.

What do you think?

Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. I’d love to hear from you. If you are willing to have other people see your response click on the ‘comments’ box below.

I look forward to reading your comments.

Charles Schuster

HebrewsHebrews  11 begins by stating what faith is. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Christians have long taken this to mean that faith assures us that God will work things out,  or that we don’t need to worry about what is ahead of us  because God is in control. Other Christians have taken this to mean that we don’t need to question what we can’t see or understand if we have faith. 

I disagree.

The rest of the reading for this Sunday tells us of the faith of Abraham and how he trusted in God to see him through some challenging times.  True, Abraham was a man of great faith, but that is not because he walked blindly through life. Abraham questioned God, as did most of the prophets, and I believe Abraham questioned the path he was on. 

In other words, if Abraham had Mapquest, he would have searched for his route to the promised land. He would have looked through the directions to see if the route made sense.  Faith is the sense that God walks with us in the mapping out of our lives. We use reason and experience to help us know when the route suggested is not the one we should take.

What are your experiences with questioning the journey?  What are your experiences with questioning the route that is offered to you?  How does faith play a part in your questions and your life’s journey?

I would love to hear from you.  Please email me at pameverhart@fcfumc.net or post here if you are comfortable with others seeing your responses.

Pam Everhart

Pastor

First UMC

1005 Stover Street

Fort Collins, CO 80524

970.482.2436