Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Wednesday’s thoughts

Each of the Gospel accounts present something unique and the Gospel of Luke is known as the Food Preparation Gospel. Luke seems to have been the one Gospel to focus on food and ritual food. The Last Supper according to Luke could have included fish. If Luke’s Gospel would have been the one most watched by the early church there would have been attention given to the Risen Christ appearing to the disciples and serving fish to them and they noticed who he was in the serving of the bread.

In Luke’s Gospel we find a man going down to pick up water and carrying the water back to his upper room. The disciples were told to find a man carrying water and to ask him to use his upper room. Had there not been a person carrying water to do the laundry, there would not have been the Last Supper in the Upper Room.

It seems that much of our life is spent on things that seem unimportant, like laundry, and little of our life is spent on things of monumental consequences, like Communion.

In the sermon I am interested in having us look at the way the common and ordinary figures into the pattern of our holiness.

Can we find a way to make a sacrament in the soap-suds?

What are the holiest, unimportant things we do?

I’d like to hear from you.  Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net

I look forward to hearing about your feelings concerning laundry, leaf-raking, dish washing, and letter writing.

Charles Schuster

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Sunday, October 28, 2007

Monday’s thoughts

“After The Ecstasy, the Laundry”

Yes, that is an odd title for a sermon, but it was a book before it was a sermon. It is a book written by Jack Kornfield.

Kornfield writes, “The true task of spiritual life is not found in faraway places or unusual states of consciousness: It is here in the present. It asks of us a welcoming spirit to greet all that life presents to us with a wise, respectful, and kindly heart. We bow to both beauty and suffering, to our entanglements and confusion, to our fears and to the injustices of the world. Honoring the truth in this way is the path to freedom. To bow to what is rather than to some ideal is not necessarily easy, but however difficult, it is one of the most useful and honorable practices.”

November 4th, Sunday, is commitment Sunday. It is that day in the church year that will determine the future of the church for the coming year. It is an anxious day, and an important day. Either we have a church program in which we believe or we have a congregation that is only vaguely aware. Either we have established our church as moving in the right direction, or we have determined that we will not move forward and might even begin to move back.

The day is all about dreams and hopes. It’s about funding a Wesley Foundation campus ministry, and expanding our program for children and youth with a ministry to 5th and 6th graders. It’s about giving our music program a boost with financial support to do wonderful things. But it is also about building repair and roof damage. It’s about parking lot cracks and electric bills. It’s about dressing up the church but also about doing the laundry.

Next Sunday we will have an opportunity to support our favorite, exciting programs, and we will have the privilege of providing the foundational support to see that it can happen.

The sermon will strive to have us pay our respect to whatever it takes to make this church what God needs it to be.

It is my honor to call us to the ecstasy of our ministry and to make sure we do the laundry.

Why do we support the church? I would like to hear from you about that. If you have a chance write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Wednesday’s thoughs

“From the Agony to the Ecstasy”

Reverend Miller is preaching on Sunday, October 28th. Ray is going to speak to us about the alternating contrast between the things in life that bring us pain, and how those same things bring us extreme joy. He will speak of such events as child birth. He will contrast the pain of having a child with the joy that comes when the child is born and the pain is all but forgotten.

Ray has told me some things about his sermon but much of it will be a surprise. I know that there is a surprise coming in the middle of the sermon.

These stewardship sermons are aimed at helping us prepare for November 4th which is our “Commitment Sunday”. Ray will help us think about our church and our involvement in it. He will help us look at the struggles we have in the Christian Churches today, and he will have us consider the ways in which our struggles have a certain nobility. The pain of committee work, the debates about what we can do and the disappointment at what we are unable to accomplish, and the interaction with people as we learn to work together for the greater good is the nature of the church. But there have been accomplishments. There have been moments of ecstasy. We have almost completely funded the Columbarium project, we have a worshipping congregation in Wellington, we have sent a work team to Guatamala, and our adult, youth, and children’s program is the best.

We have thought “out of the box” and have moved beyond the conventional to the creative.

I am writing this “build a sermon” for Ray. I want you to know how much we owe to this retired clergyman. He has done a great deal for us to get us to look “out of the box” and to try some things we wouldn’t have tried.

Charles Schuster

If you would like to email Ray with ideas write him at raym@lpbroadband.net

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Thursday, October 18, 2007

Friday’s Thoughts

Being bored with life can be agony. Being bored happens to the best of us, even those of us who seem to have it all. Sometimes people at the top of their game can lose focus and give up on life. There are legitimate issues surrounding clinical depression that can lead to these feelings, but I am speaking more to those ordinary ho-hum times of our lives when we just get into a ‘rut.’

What do you do to snap out of it when you feel like you are just going through the motions?
What role does your faith play in this? Does being involved in the church sometimes get you out of the rut you are in? Do you sometimes get INTO a rut BECAUSE of the church?

Often, giving of your time, talents, etc. to some noble cause can make you feel better about life. Sometimes though, you can get overloaded with volunteering.

What are your thoughts on boredom, agony, losing interest in life, and the ways in which giving can bring you out of the doldrums?

I would love to hear from you.  Click on the comments box if you want others to be able to see your thoughts. Or email me at pameverhart@fcfumc.net if you prefer.

See you Sunday.
Peace,

Pam

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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Wednesday’s Thoughts

The characters in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18: 1-8 are the unjust judge and the persistent widow.  The unjust judge is described as having no respect for people or for God. I suggest that maybe he had reached a wall in his life, he is bored with his circumstances, things just don’t seem dynamic, and so he makes life agonizing for others by delivering unjust sentences or ignoring people all together.  Everyone is miserable with him. 

But, the persistent widow in the parable doesn’t give in.  The scripture says she ‘kept coming to him’ seeking justice, seeking her day in court, seeking to be heard. She would not give up on her right to be heard.

Sometimes things keep coming at us. They keep persisting.  It can be everyday tasks that don’t go away. But it might be the things that God is calling us to do that keep coming our way. And perhaps like the unjust judge we ignore them, or try to . . .

What ‘nags’ at you as a gift or calling that you don’t want to give? What keeps you from giving it? What keeps you from ‘hearing someone out’ who might be able to help you live a life of fullness and joy?

I’d love to hear from you.  If you would like to post a comment that others can read, click the link below. Or, you can email me at pameverhart@fcfumc.net

Peace,
Pam

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Monday, October 15, 2007

Monday’s Thoughts

We are beginning a three sermon series on stewardship. Pam Everhart (that’s me) will preach Oct. 21. Ray Miller, Oct 28 and Charles Schuster, Nov. 4.  Our themes are, in this order, “From the Boredom to the Agony” “From the Agony to the Ecstasy” and “From the Ecstasy to the Laundry.”  Hmm. Where do we start?


How about here, with two lectionary texts for this week.  Jeremiah 31: 33-34 and Luke 18: 1-8.

This Luke passage gets my attention.  This is the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow.  She wants him to give her justice; she wants him to hear her out, let her speak, and rule (so everyone can hear it) in her favor.  Perhaps the unjust judge in this passage represents those of us who are bored with our routine, maybe even bored to the point of agony.  Perhaps this is where the unjust judge is in his life. He is bored with his job, his life, everything. The scripture says he has no respect for anything, even God. He has no fear of God.  He has turned into a ‘robotic’ self, void of any humanness that makes life rich and full.

Are you bored?  With your routine? With school? With church? With life?  Does this make you feel ‘robotic’ or does it create a sense of despair and agony within you?  What would it take to move you out of your rut, your boredom?

Jeremiah says God has written a covenant on our hearts, sealed the deal to always be with us, no matter what. Do you feel God with you in the midst of boredom? Or, is God what you feel you are missing?

I would love to hear your comments.  Email me at pameverhart@fcfumc.net (click in the blank space beside of this if my name does not appear) or click the box(or blank space) below if you don’t mind your comments being posted.

Peace,
Pam
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Friday, October 12, 2007

Friday’s thoughts

It is important how we would through the issue of striving, moving on to thriving, and coming to a stage of arriving in life.

If we don’t have a time in our lives when we might learn to strive we are apt to lapse into an attitude the gives in and gives up. There must be some sense of striving in our lives.

If we live through our lives and never get to a stage of thriving we are apt to become so competitive and grasping our values become distorted and we are unhappy. Thriving means we are happy with what we have become and with what we have and our cup overflows. In the thriving stage we cannot help but reach out to others. We become generous and helpful and a positive influence in every aspect of our lives.

If we have an opportunity we can come to a stage in our lives when we are arriving. Not everyone evolves into this stage. I know about it because I have observed it. There are people who are so comfortable with their lives and so appreciative of what they have received that they are not afraid of death. They see death as a part of life; a fulfillment. They are not morbid about the future; they are filled with hope. They are not worried about what will happen next; they are expectant.

Striving, thriving, arriving: which stage are you in?
Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net  (if the address doesn’t appear just click on the spot to the left of this). If you are willing to have others read your response click on the ‘comments’ box below.

Charles

Posted by Charles at 14:12:18 | Permalink | No Comments »

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Wednesday’s thoughs

Sunday, October 14th is “Children’s Sabbath”. In reflecting on the nature of success and failure and thinking about what we want our children to understand I have come up with three things I want our children and adults to understand about life and how to live.

There is a time in life for striving. It’s the time when we learn how to compete. It’s a time when we discover the spirit within us; the spunk within us. We test our limits. We push ourselves forward with confidence.

There is a time in life for thriving. The striving is over, and we have discovered our soul. We come to a time when we are at home with ourselves and are at peace with the person we have become.

There is a time in life for arriving. The striving and thriving lead to a stage in life when we ar comfortable with our limits. We have been inspired by the spirit in us, and we have found peace with the soul that is the essence of ourselves, and we arrive at the sense of the eternal that is at the foundation of life itself.

Personally, I understand the first two stages better than I understand the last stage. I think the sense of arriving is something that may take the remainder of our lives to accomplish. Getting in touch with the eternal is a life-long effort.

I would like our children to understand this. I would like to understand it better myself.

What do you think? Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net (Note sometimes the email address doesn’t come through. If you click on the space you will capture my email address). If you are willing to have others read your responses click on the ‘comments’ box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles

Posted by Charles at 17:18:02 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Monday’s thoughts

“When Success Fails Us”

The Christian Church today struggles with the meaning of success. Joel Osteen is a preacher in Houston, Texas. He preaches a message week after week telling people God wants people to be successful. Other preachers are critical of Reverend Osteen. He has built his congregation to become one of the largest churches in the country. He has become what he preaches. He is successful. He if very successful.

Does the Gospel have room in it for success? Are we called by God to be successful? If not, are we consigned to fail? Does the Gospel redefine success and failure?

The sermon this week will take a look at “The fear of failure” and the “fear of success”. The purpose of the sermon will seek to find some answer to the question of our goal as Christians.

I could use some help on this one because I think the solution is not clear. There is something repulsive in the idea that God wants us to find material success and yet does God want us to fail?

I think the direction I will take is to search out people we might consider successful and explore the reason why we think that of them. I will be thinking about Biblical characters as well.

Who do you know who is successful in a way you think appropriate? Write me at my email address which is 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

Posted by Charles at 14:07:17 | Permalink | No Comments »

Friday, October 5, 2007

Friday’s thoughts

Sometimes we have come to think of religion as only private, and not public, but it is both. Sometimes we have come to think that there is something lost when private worship goes public. There is some truth to that.

1. Public worship reduces God to a corporate image where as we might have a more refined or a more carefully defined understanding.

2. Public worship holds the danger that politics can have more influence than it should. The pressures and power in a church can make for artificial decisions or arbitrary decisions that have a limited interest in the whole as decisions are made by the few.

3. Public worship can become rigid and habitual. When religion is reduced to a creed it can lose its meaning and purpose.

What is the value of public worship?

1. There is more to God than any one of us can ever know. While we can find God on our own in the quiet of our private spiritual life, we will have only a part of it. Public worship opens us to the fact that there is more to faith than we can see by ourselves.

2. Private worship can become ingrown and inept. When all we do is feed our own needs we can allow religion to blind us to the needs in the world that public awareness will bring to our attention.

3. Public/corporate worship produces a crowd and crowds can be intimidating, but large numbers of faithful and faithfilled people have the potential to make significant changes in the world.

Sunday, Christians all over the world are celebrating the Lord’s Supper. We will gather at the table to be reminded, corporately, who we are. Communion is the one event in the church that blends the corporate and the private.

What does Religion mean to you? Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to allow others to read your response click on the ‘comments’ box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Posted by Charles at 17:13:43 | Permalink | No Comments »