Vol 2 No 5 - Light-Up Night

Thank you all for making the Fourth Sunday of Advent & Christmas Eve such memorable worship services! Even with the foul weather we had Sunday morning, our spirits were high as we came to worship on the Sunday of Love, and it was a joy to see all of you. Christmas Eve, with the radiance of the light emanating from your faces (as well as your candles), was a time that I am still inspired by just remembering the occasion.

The challenge for us in the weeks after Christmas Eve is to not let the light be put out or dimmed in our lives. As we go through this week of transition from the holidays to a new calendar year, let us remember to constantly be allowing Christ's light to shine through us in all that we say, do, think, and are.


See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 2 No 4 - Christmas Eve Opportunity

One of the most explicit expectations that Christ has for those of us who follow him is to spread the Gospel. Unfortunately, we were given this task to do in a world that is hostile to the light of Christ penetrating the darkness of a world apart from God. However, there are a few times in life that a majority of people are receptive to being invited to worship. December 24 is one of those days. We are going to be celebrating two distinct Christian holy days this Sunday - the Forth Sunday of Advent at our 8:30AM & 11:00AM services, and Christmas Eve at 6:00PM & 11:00 PM. I am especially excited about the 11:00PM Christmas Eve service, as Rev. Erin Oliver will join me in officiating this service.

As you go into this weekend, getting all the last-minute things together, be sure to take advantage of the opportunity to bring your friends and family (especially those who would otherwise be resistant) to come hear again the Good News of Christ.


See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 2 No 3 - What a Fellowship!

One of the most overlooked things about Scripture in today's culture is that the Good Book was not written to each of us as individuals, but to the people of God as a community. We also overlook that Christ's life was lived not for each of us, but for all the world. It is very easy to fall into the trap of "It's all about Jesus and me" and the most important thing in life is my personal relationship with Christ. Yes, it is true that no one gets to the Father except through the Son. However, as a part of taking on the Christian life, we must be cognizant of the fact that we are not lone rangers. The Christian life cannot be lived as it is intended apart from the community of saints. One of the main tasks that I see the church needing to take more seriously is the idea of being in community with one another. This weekend, we have several opportunities to be in community with one another, and I hope you will take advantage of all of these.

The first is this Saturday, when Erin and I will be hosting our annual Open House at the Parsonage from 4:00-8:00PM. We look forward to this every year - the opportunity to welcome you into our home and to visit with people from all the churches we serve. This is truly a community event for us, as the Pharr Chapel, Franklin, and Jeanerette people are all invited. We understand there are so many holiday parties to be at, and so many things pushing for your time, and with that in mind want to remind you again this is a come-and-go event - we will be happy to see you for five minutes or fifty. (In addition, y'all come get the spread - I don't need all those sweets left over).

Secondly, we will be having what is usually (and will be again next year) Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner after 11:00 worship this Sunday. We will be providing roast - bring the rest! This is a great time of fellowship and fun for us to be as one over the table.

In addition, we will be delivering food baskets for the elderly and those in need on Sunday afternoon. There are few times we are presented as a church to become community as when engaged in the work of the Lord. I know you will want to be a part of this special time together.

12 days until Christmas. How exciting!


See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 2 No 2 - The Resistable Force

July 18-31, 2007.

It is kinda funny, isn't it, that the man who has for the past few weeks been preaching and writing about the need to not hurry the arrival of Christmas, to be intentional about soaking up the richness of the season of Advent, to throw dates over six months away into this week's message. However, I firmly believe the two are related.

I have been given the honor of leading our conference's Volunteers in Mission Summer 2007 trip to Cambodia. Many of you will remember meeting my friend Esther who was with us in early October. Through the people of the United Methodist Church, many great things are being done in this country that, only a couple of decades ago, was thought to have no future. We will be working with our missionaries on the ground there in several light construction projects and in holding a Vacation Bible School in one of the local ministry settings. My hope and prayer is that you will prayerfully consider going. There are several of you who I have already visited with about this mission, and I firmly believe that God is calling the people of Pharr Chapel to be involved in this ministry. The main concerns people express to me are about vacation time, family matters, and cost. Let me be the first to tell you that, believe it or not, if you are called to go on this trip, God will provide a solution to all your concerns. Please let me know if you are even remotely interested so that we can start planning now.

What's this have to do with Advent? Well, the first time I went to Cambodia, I was full of some of the same concerns as you all. However, God took all those away. Look more closely at the story of Mary and Joseph. They, too, had concerns about this call that God had put on their lives. They chose to put their trust in the Lord, even though it did not necessarily make sense to them at the time.

What is it that God is calling you to that you keep resisting for one reason or another? When are you going to stop resisting and allow God's will to be done within you?


See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 2 No 1 - Sloth-itis

As you may remember from earlier e-mails, the reading group that I host on Tuesdays has spent this fall studying 'Sinning Like a Christian: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins' by Bishop Will Willimon. The chapter that we read for our meeting yesterday dealt with the sin of SLOTH. Like so many people, I had no reason to think that I was being slothful, since my calendar is far too full as it is, and sloth is the opposite of being busy, right?

What a way to start the new year. Through this chapter, I soon began to realize that sloth permeates the lives of those of us who are way over-programmed far more than we realize. Bishop Willimon's point was that the sloth that is a deadly sin in our lives is the slothful attitude we take towards our relationship with God. How many times do we rationalize not spending more time with God and nurturing our relationship with the Almighty because of all the other things in our lives?

Going into this next year, let us resolve, individually and as a church, to be more intentional about making our priorities in the right order. Let us resolve to not let the things of every day life that we consider far more important than they really are to dictate the terms and conditions of our relationship with the Author and Perfector of our Faith.

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 21 - The Bridge to Christmas

Preparing the 'last' of anything for a given period of time is always an opportunity for reflection. As I write to you this last column of the year (for Sunday is the end of the Christian year), I find myself looking back over the last year, and see two distinct choices staring me in the face. One one hand, there is the typical tendency to do a 'year-in-review' sort of thing, look back on the past and live through all that has transpired since we last celebrated Christ the King Sunday. As a student of history, I love to do this kind of thing, for I firmly believe that when we fail to look at and learn from the past, we are the loser. Highs and lows have been a part of the past year, and any of us could easily allow ourselves to want to stay in those moments.

On the other hand, the end of any year is also the opportunity to anticipate what is coming in the next year. It is my firm belief that the saints of the church laid out for us a Christian year that puts us in this perspective. We start out anticipating the future. We start out in a time of preparation, marking the time until we experience the ultimate new event, the Savior's birth. We spend time intentionally observing Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, and as we do, we see an Advent wreath coming more and more to light. From absolutely no light to a wreath of light on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. How wonderful it is to anticipate a life of light - light from Christ. That's what we get to do - anticipate a life of light, not darkness. Our sole task as the new year begins is to prepare ourselves for this newborn's arrival.

You will be getting soon (if you have not already gotten it) our church's Advent calendar. I urge you to take part in these preparation activities. From the Hanging of the Green through Christmas Eve night worship, we will be preparing in many different ways for the arrival of our King. In their own ways, each of the events that are planned bring to us a sense of hope and anticipation. In their own ways, they give us (the body of Christ) a means of preparation for this wonderful celebration of God breaking through into humanity as one of us.

May we not be in so much of a hurry to get to Christmas that we miss Advent.


See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 20 - The Advent of a True Message

One of the ways that I can tell the seasons of the year is by the different 'forwards' that appear in my box (usually from 4 or 5 people within a 24-hour span) that go around every year. Christmas is coming, I know, because I am starting to see the usual stuff denouncing the ACLU, Target, Wal-Mart, and others who have either now or in years past tried to make sure that it is the 'holiday' season being celebrated - and these well-intentioned forwards urge all who get them to take action or otherwise the world will come to an end if Target doesn't let the Salvation Army do the Red Kettle campaign, the ACLU gets the Christmas tree off the courthouse steps, and retailers encourage their employees to wish people a happy holiday rather than Merry Christmas. While I do think that Christians are too often discouraged from sharing their Merry Christmas greetings and symbols in society today, I also think the church often allows itself to drift away from what Christmas is all about.

Huh? What do you mean, preacher? After all, we are the ones defending Christmas.

Think about all the things you come to expect from the church this time of year. Specific decorations in and around the church facility. Certain songs sung during the month. Annual events that 'we always do'. Personally, I love the traditions of the church at Advent. However, I want to encourage you to make sure that your first and foremost focus during Advent (which is NOT the same as the Christmas season) is anticipating celebrating again the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's not a far stretch to think that we are very capable of becoming so captive to 'what we always do' that we allow it to diminish the fact that what is most important is WHO is being anticipated, not WHAT is being done (or not done).

Let us prove to the world that we are not going to allow anything, be it a retailer, newspaper, the ACLU, or the church traditions that we hold so dear, keep us away from THE MAIN THING.


See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 19 - To Do or To Be?

I'm writing to you today in anticipation of fasting from my everyday life for five or six days. Five or six days away from the computer, the office, the church, the church facilities, the satellite TV, and the high-speed Internet connection. Five or six days apart from all of the things that make life "normal" (whatever that is). Not to say that I don't need this time of fasting from the trappings of my everyday life - but I am a little anxious. After all, right or wrong, doesn't what we do define who we are?

Upon further reflection, that's a pretty sick statement - one that is an indictment of where we allow ourselves to be far too often. Of course, what happens when you are at some social event and meet someone for the first time? Not too far along in the dialog, inevitably the 'What is is that you do?' questions comes rolling along. Then you spend time either mentally or verbally comparing your various occupations.

However, don't we do the same thing when it comes to churches? What is it that that comes to the front (after 'How big is your church?') when talking with another about your church? Ah yes - what all is 'going on' over there. The whole 'church envy' discussion comes into being. It's companion on a personal level is, 'So what is God doing in your life?' or 'What is God saying to you these days?' Usually when any of the above questions is asked I'm sorely tempted to respond with "Do you REALLY want to know?"

I find it far more penetrating (and humbling) to ask myself (and the church) not action questions about God but state-of-being questions about God. Stuff like, "So who is God in your life?" or "Where is God in your soul?" or "How does St. Egoistus the Self-Important Church see God?" These are questions about who God is, not what God is doing. The question we face is not what are we doing, but who are we being?

Last week, I quoted Eugene Peterson's 'Eat This Book' in the "Another Voice" section of the MWM. I'm continuing along in the book and was hit square in the face with this observation:

...[I]t was to make us followers of Jesus that this text was given to us in the first place, and if either the larger story or the detailed sentences are ever used for anything else, however admirable or enticing, why bother?

I'm going to challenge you while I am on my fast to allow for God to reveal the Divine presence in you through ways you've never seen before - not by DOING, rather by BEING. Being one who is focused not on what you are doing for God (although that is mightily important) but in who God is within you.


See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 18 - A Fresh Coat of Paint

Most all of you know by now that the downstairs area of the educational building is in the process of receiving its first new coat of paint in, to be generous, a few years. As this paint job has gone on, and the old colors are replaced by the new, and the wallpaper has been taken down, many of you have commented to me about how nice it is to see a fresh coat of paint on things. Many of these same people have told me that they never really noticed how badly it was needed until they saw it being done. I've been thinking a great deal about this as I watch our painter, Cleveland, go about doing his work each day. Right now, he is right outside my office, diligently and painstakingly going over each square inch of the hallway, making sure the roller and the brush doesn't miss anything.

As I watch Cleveland do his work, and I see people's reactions to the paint job, I am reminded that far too often we miss the idea that little things make a huge difference in our lives. For me, watching this place get a new coat of paint has been refreshing - for it helps me to see that things can change and it's going to be OK. Watching this new coat of paint go on, I have noticed that it has affected my attitude. I don't know if it's the paint fumes, the solid colors that are going up, or what exactly has struck me - but I know that I feel a little more excited about things. And this is a simple paint job It's not a remodel or demolition or anything like that - just a simple coat of paint that has such an effect.

The question I am faced with is what is it in my life, in my soul that needs a fresh coat of paint? What is it in your life, in your soul, that needs renewing by something simple like a coat of paint? Why is it that we look for big, dramatic things to change us, rather than allowing for the reality that it is usually the things that we perceive as being small or insignificant that wind up having the most profound effect on us?

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 17 - Consecration Recap

Praise be to God for a glorious day in worship the past Sunday. It was a pure joy to see the Pharr Chapel family worship as one and to experience the excitement of being able to fellowship afterwards over lunch. Along with most all of you, I found Rev. deGraffenried's message to be inspiring and challenging - and one that hit home in many places in my life (and the life of the church) as well.

Let me also give praise to God for the work that the Holy Spirit has done so far in our Consecration Sunday celebration. As of this morning, we have seen a 22% increase in the number of pledge cards and a 59% increase in the dollar amount pledged for 2007. It is a tribute to your faith and your belief that God has great things in store for Pharr Chapel, and I am grateful to be with you as we continue down this journey together.

We are soon going to be entering the time where our country celebrates Thanksgiving and the church celebrates a new year with Advent. May you be in prayer now for your hearts and minds to be continually shaped and formed by the Holy Spirit working within you.

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 16 - Hey! That's MY Pew

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this upcoming Sunday. We are going to have a great day in worship and fellowship as we come together for one service @ 10:00AM. As of right now, we have 129 reservations for our Celebration Luncheon - how exciting to know that there will be a full house!

One thing that keeps running through my mind in preparation for this Sunday, however, is what happens when you walk in and someone from the other service is sitting in your seat? How are you going to react to it? This will be an interesting phenomenon to experience for us all. Let us be in an attitude of praise as we spend time catching up with one another and being a part of the same service. As I mentioned during worship last week, I am firmly convinced that God's got great things in store for Pharr Chapel - our best days are ahead of us - and this Sunday will be a milestone as we go along this journey of seeing what God's potential is for us.

Please join me in prayer for this weekend - I am just bursting at the seams ready to get there.

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 15 - The Blank Slate

The blank slate. Sometimes the most intimidating sight we see. To be confronted with a canvas, or paper, or any open space, and charged with the task of putting something there is at the same time a thrilling proposition and a potentially paralyzing disaster waiting to happen.

This morning, as I sat down to write this column, I realized that, unlike most weeks, there wasn't a message deep within me that I could not wait to share with you. Often, the seeds for the following week's column hit me late in the previous week and I spend Monday and Tuesday fleshing it out for Wednesday morning. However, today I was confronted with the blank screen, knowing that there was something for me to share with you even though I did not see it yet. So, I just started to type, eager to see what came out of my fingertips as they danced across the keyboard. Toward the end of the second sentence, it hit me.

We are hit with blank slates in our lives more often than we ever will realize. Each moment of our lives is an encounter with the opportunity to make something out of nothing. We, and we alone, dictate how we respond to any given situation. We, and we alone, determine how the actions of others will affect us. We, and we alone, are responsible for how much we allow God to shape our responses to life. The question we face is: Are we going to allow God to guide our hands and our hearts as we fill the blank slates of life, or are we going to allow others to paint our blank slates for us?

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 14 - Voting for Perspective

This past Saturday was yet another election day in the state of Louisiana. As I try to do whenever the polls are open, I went down and had my vote counted for the various offices on my precinct's ballot. I did this after reading the paper and seeing who was running for what, what their stated (for we truly don't know a politician's position until we see their voting record) positions are on the various issues, looking at various online forums to see who was endorsing who and why, and did my dead-level best to vote for those people and propositions that I thought was best.

As a pastor, I always get nervous during election time. I see people spending more time paying attention to the politics of the day than anything else. I hear people repeating what they've heard after a day of watching cable news and listening to talk radio. People get visibly and violently angry with one another discussing the issues. Families divide over what position to take on an issue. It's gotten to where I don't watch the 'discussion' shows where people are supposedly going to talk rationally about these issues. As you see who have been booked you can basically script the discussion based on the topic (some of them are so over-programmed by the time you see them twice you can give their spiel word-for-word the third time). All that gets accomplished is people getting mad with one another, and getting more self-satisfaction that their viewpoint is right (when far too often, NO one is right). In other words, divisiveness.

The reason I get nervous is that far too often we in the church get way more passionate about our political views (no matter what they are) and rely more on the freedoms of our constitution than the freedom of life fully devoted to Christ. This is never clearer to me than during election time.

One of the more popular quotes in politics is: "What did they know and when did they know it?" The King of Kings knew you were going to be free from sin and death at the cross - when did you (if you have) know this?

If you truly want to make a difference this election season, be more intentional about exercising the only absolute freedom you have - freedom in Christ Jesus - and let the world make fools of themselves by worrying about these other things. Go vote, as it is our responsibility to do so, but keep it in perspective.

After all, why pray "thy Kingdom come" if we don't mean it?

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 13 - Sanctuary

Between meetings yesterday evening (around 4:45 or so), I went into the sanctuary to think, vision, and pray. As a part of this, I opened all the shutters that I could reach and turned off all the incandescent lights. I find few things as inspiring as a house of God illuminated solely by the light of the sun. As I sat in the back of the sanctuary just taking in the scene, my mind started to process what it is that is so special about a holy worship space like this one. What is it that acts as a magnet to bring back the faithful each week? What is it that makes some people avoid a sanctuary or a church structure altogether?

I believe that it is due to the environment that we find ourselves in at a given time when we are told or are expecting to worship God. Many wonderful and powerful things have happened throughout the centuries in houses of God throughout the world. People have been healed, delivered from demonic power, individual and family reconciliation has occured, warring factions have come together as one under God - not to mention the miraculous encouter with the sacraments that is such a part of the fabric of worship. On the flip side, we have also seen sanctuaries used to divide people in un-Godly and un-Holy ways, such as dividing men and women, dividing people based on race, sending children out during the worship service, to continue battles involving family and church politics, to manipulation of the flock by some who had been selected to lead God's people. Sanctuaries are symbols, and like so many other symbols in our lives, mean different things to different people based on past experiences.

So where am I going with this? I encourage you this week as you come to worship Sunday morning to take a moment and pray for all whose lives have been touched by life in the church. Pray a prayer of thanksgiving that God has so graciously provided so many places in the global community for the Divine will to be done and recognized, including ours. Pray also a prayer of confession and reconciliation for those tragic events and misunderstandings that have occurred in houses of God, including ours. Pray that whenever the people of God gather as one, nothing more and nothing less than God's will shall be done. Pray that the new are welcomed with opening and loving arms, not just a quick handshake and 'how ya doin' (if anything at all). Pray that those who, for whatever reason, feel estranged and unwelcome, will once again be at peace in the house of God. Pray that all of us may be instruments of God's peace, recognizing what is truly important, and not allow ourselves to be distracted by that which is truly unimportant.

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 12 - The LP Faith

One thing that amazes me about the Holy Spirit is how we are shown truths about God through the most unlikely of sources. I had one of these occurrences Monday night as I watched Elton John being interviewed by Jay Leno. During the course of their repartee, Leno asked Elton John about the current trend of downloading individual songs off the internet. Elton John talked about how he preferred to go buy an artists' CD so that he can listen to it from beginning to end and the whole story of what the artist was trying to say throughout the entire body of work.

This struck a chord with me for several reasons. One, I'm one of those who goes and downloads songs individually based upon my tastes and preferences. Two, he gave me something to think about next time I buy music. Three, to put his comment into Christian circles, he's dead on with respect to the faith.

What do I mean by that? How often do we just look at a portion of scripture to prove a point rather the the whole narrative of Scripture to see what it is that God is trying to say to us? How often do we look for a particular aspect of worship without looking at the whole - that is, we get hung up on how a certain part of it is done or what is done in what order, rather than hearing what it is God is trying to say to us throughout the whole service?

Finally, why did I say that this came from an unlikely source? Because I was watching Leno for relaxation and entertainment, not at all looking for a divine revelation in the midst of trivial late-night talk show interviews. Through this I was reminded once again that God is constantly revealing the Divine to us, and we must be ready for it wherever and whenever it happens.

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 11 - Back to the Basics

In yesterday's (Tuesday's) edition of the Wall Street Journal, I was struck by a headline on page one - New Report Urges Return to the Basics in Teaching Math. Seems that after 17 years, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics have figured out that their 1989 recommendations on teaching kids 'open-ended' problem-solving is not as good as the old ways of drilling kids on muliplication and division. Reading the article, you get the idea that they are urging a return to having kids learn basics before they go on to more complex problem-solving. First I laughed. Then I was struck with another thought - could we in the Body of Christ learn something from what our math teachers have discovered?

During the next few weeks, you will be given several opportunities to return to the basics in the life of the church. In the way of missions, we have a chance to be involved in the benefit pancake breakfast/garage sale for the Bandemer family on September 23. If you haven't already, take a look on the second floor of our educational building and see just how much work our ladies have put into this sale. Please be sure to donate good, useable items for the ladies to sell as well as your time to help on that Saturday.

Also, my Sunday School class will be looking at the basics of the Methodist tradition starting on September 24. Not a history course, these sessions will help us examine what we believe and why we believe as we do. Whether you are new to the Methodist tradition or were born into a Methodist preacher's family, you are encouraged to join us!

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 10 - Non-Sunday Ministry

I want to thank the youth of our church for providing me with a great weekend parking cars at our facilities. It was a sheer joy to spend time with our youth and adult volunteers. What I enjoyed most was not the heat, or the standing for 4-6 hours at a time, or dealing with ornery and/or drunk patrons (although each of these, in their own way, was good) - no, what I enjoyed most was the fellowship with those working the parking lots. Far too often, we allow ourselves minimal interaction on Sunday mornings and then don't see each other much during the week. Precisely for this reason we must sieze opportunities like this fundraiser, the garage sale coming up, and other events in the life of the church to truly develop into the family of the church. When was the last time you were involved in something involving the church other than Sunday morning worship?

From all accounts, the Shrimp & Petroleum Festival Parking Lot Fundraiser was a rousing success, and we were able to share in this success by raising over $3400 for the youth program, providing for many of their needs for the year. If you were unable to attend the festival and support their fundraiser, I encourage you to financially support the youth group to futher God's work among the next generation. Just mark "Youth" on your check or envelope and drop it into the plate on Sunday.

Finally, please continue to be in prayer for the Committee on Lay Leadership. We are meeting again this Sunday and are in search of God's wisdom for the leadership of the church. I am fully confident that God has placed within the church all the resources we need to do the Kingdom's work for this time in our lives. May your prayer be for the committee's wisdom and for willing people to serve when called upon.

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 9 - Functional, But Not Polished

"Functional, but not polished." That's how I described www.pharrchapelumc.org to someone the other day. It's functional, in that basic information about the church is on the site - basic information about where we are, how to get here, a bit on our history, a calendar of events, a pastors' welcome, information about our youth program, etc. However, the site is not as complete as I want it to be - I am continuing to work to add photos to the site, information about our missions and UMW programs, as well as more complete information about our Sunday School & youth programs. I also want to add to it our current newsletter, this week's bulletin (in PDF format), online prayer ministry, and other things as they come along. Being a perfectionist, as well as someone who has a deep interest in website ministry and development, I would have much preferred to wait until it was 'perfect' before launching it. However, I realize that I can't always get what I want, and that, sometimes, going with what you have is more important than going with nothing at all.

Continuing along these lines, I believe there is something very theological in my comment about our website. After all, in many ways, that reflects how I feel about my spiritual growth. "Functional, but not polished." There are always going to be aspects of my life that I want to improve upon. There are always going to be parts of of my faith that need work. There are always going to be things that I say and do that I regret. However, I know that God is continually working within me - and in that I rejoice. Through baptism, I know that God has placed the divine hand of grace on me, and claimed me as a child of God. What I choose to do with that, however, is on me. Today, my friends, I choose to accept that I am "Functional, but not polished" and pray that I will be wise enough to step aside, so that, to quote Paul, "It is not I who live, but it is Christ who lives within me", and that whatever polish there is on my life, the shine comes from God's work, not mine. Grace abounds!!!

I'm sure as you look over our new site, there will be things you want to comment on, and things you think we need to add. Please feel free to shoot me an e-mail with any suggestions, questions, or comments you may have. Remember that this site will continue to be developed over the next few weeks, and more pages (and photos) will be added. Be sure to check back often.

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 8 - Issues Minor & Major

Twice in the past week we have experienced brief power outages here in the Lakeside subdivision. Neither outage lasted more than an hour and a half, however, both were rather disruptive. I was reminded once again just how depended I am on having a consistent source of electricity, and wonder if this is necessarily a good thing. Add to this the frustration of having to find flashlights, etc. in the dark, not to mention the rising temperatures in the house, and I was slightly uncomfortable, to say the least (especially when I slammed into a piece of furniture and wound up with a nice bruise in my thigh.

Thing is, as Erin and I sat there in the second outage, I reflected upon the fact that what I was dealing with during these outages, while frustrating in some areas, was an inconvenience, not a problem. There are plenty of things that can be quantified as a problem in my life - however, neither one of us were on life-supporting equipment requiring electricity, so this qualifies as nothing more than an inconvenience.

My question for you today is: How many things that you consider to be major issues or problems in life are really just minor inconveniences that are blown out of proportion due to our lifestyles? I'm working on my list!

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 7 - Noise-Cancelling Faith

Ever notice how much noise we are surrounded with every day? For many, from the time the radio (or other music source) comes on with the alarm clock, to the television while getting ready, the radio during the drive to work/school, the elevator music that seems to permeate so many offices, the music on the way home from work/school, the television on until we go to bed - it seems like we can go days without spending much time in silence. Even in worship, there is a tendency, especially in modern worship movements, to always have 'something' going on, be it background music in prayers, gathering music, etc.

During the 11:00 service this month, I have chosen to not have music playing during the return of God's tithes and our offerings, just to see what God might do during that time if we engaged in this portion of worship with silence. Truthfully, I was nervous as whenever the new pastor does something different, it is GUARANTEED to cause at least a little consternation in certain quarters. However, I have felt extreme peace during this time, as I am reminded that sometimes we need to allow ourselves the opportunity to dwell in the presence of God without external stimulation (audible, visual, physical, etc.). God is reminding me that far too often, we allow so many things to be a part of our lives that it is easy to push out the one who gave us life to begin with.

I want to challenge you to examine how you are making time to dwell in the presence of God. Do you allow yourself time to be still, and know that God is God? Or are you caught on that never-ending treadmill of life, where it is accepted practice to make excuses (not reasons, but excuses) for not allowing yourself quiet time with the Almighty? Do we as a church ever put ourselves in a position to listen to God, or do we just bore ahead with whatever is the latest and greatest (or, on the other hand, the tried-and-true, don't change a thing) method for doing church and all the activities of the church?

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 6 - Various Items

Vacation Bible School was fabulous! We had the honor and priviliege of sharing the Gospel with almost 100 children over the 6 nights we were here - I can't tell you how wonderful it was to see the next generation learning about God's love. I want to say a special word of thanks to Dana Blanco and her crew of volunteers. These ladies spent countless hours getting this facility ready and it showed in so many ways, big and small. I can promise you that there is a place for you to serve as a volunteer for next year's VBS - start praying now for this vital mission (notice I did not say program or ministry) that God blesses us with each and every year.

On another matter, many of you are aware that there was a kitten left by one of the parents on Thursday night. This cute, adorable, 6-7 week old lady needs a home. Erin and I are very committed to the ministry of caring for all of God's creatures, including those kittens and puppies that people just set aside or ignore without giving it a second thought. However, Erin and I are hoping to serve simply as a foster home for this kitten while one of our well-meaning church members (or friends) responds to God's call to take care of this poor, lonely kitty who just wants a home in which to love and be loved. ARE YOU THAT SOMEONE???? Yes, I know it's easy to dismiss it as just another of many kittens in the world, and so forth and so on... However, I urge you to pray about God opening a spot in your life for a creature that God brought to this place just as surely as he brought you. Refer to Genesis 1:24-30 for more on this discussion.

Finally, I want to thank those of you who were a part of my Sunday School class on Sunday as we start a study on Unselfish Prayer. We are meeting in the chapel across from the secretary's office. I design my classes to where anyone can drop in to the discussion in any given week and not feel left out if you didn't attend last week - so come join us as we continue studying the life of prayer. If you want a more in-depth discussion, see the article on Christian Believer below. I am ordering the books today, but will have extra. Please let me know if you plan to attend - nursery is available if needed (though let me know ASAP on that).

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 5 - VBS Commentary

This has been one of the most extraordinary weeks in my pastoral career. Vacation Bible School is always for me the highlight of the church year because there is nothing that we do that is more important than spreading the Good News to the next generation. Dana and her crew have done such an outstanding job - WOW. Last night, we had 91 children in the building, and I know that we will have more as the week goes on! My heart just sings with joy as I feel the sanctuary rockin' and rollin' with kids praising Jesus. My prayer is that each of you could experience this!

Even last night, when due to the power outage at the church (two transformers blew right outside the Everett St. entrance) we had to end VBS early, everything went fine. The kids got almost all of their lessons in, and didn't seem too much worse for the wear. I want to personally thank all our volunteers for their efforts in calling parents, dealing with kids, and going with the flow as we kept the disturbance to a minimum. God provided once again - but who is surprised at that? {For those of you curious, MC had the power back on by 8:45 - great work by those guys!}

Our FIESTA finale for VBS will be Friday night @ 6:00 - I know you will want to come see what God has been doing through the lives of these children and volunteers this week.

Sunday, we will be distributing our Christmas in July collections - meet at the church at 5:00 PM to be a part of this great ministry.

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 4 - Control Issues

It is a cooler, rainy morning as I attempt to compose this week's e-mail to you and as I look out the window I am reminded just how much things beyond our control seem to affect our lives. For instance, this past Sunday was a hard one for me, for when there is bad weather on a Sunday morning (for reasons I still cannot fathom), attendance is down, offerings are down, but most importantly, people's spirits seem to be down. Greeting many of you on Sunday morning, and looking at my own self, I couldn't help but notice that it seemed to be very hard to get up and get motivated for Sunday School and worship. However, as always, God was present when the people of God gathered together in the name of Christ - and we were blessed by the Holy time we had together as one.

However, this got me to thinking - if something beyond our control, such as the weather, can have such an impact on our lives and our worship (including whether or not to even attend), then what other things are we allowing to impact our lives and our worship, indeed our relationship, with God? Do we fully grasp the idea that there are so many things that can, so innocently and unassumingly, affect our physical and spiritual well-being?

OR

Should the question instead be: "Do we realize just how many things beyond our control WE ALLOW to affect our relationship with God?" After all, so many people I've talked to have mentioned our desperate need of rain. Then, when we see rain come to our community, so many people use it as an excuse to not get out and worship the very God who provides for all our needs, including rain. The weather is but one example of this phenomenon - as you look into your soul I am sure you can easily find other examples along this line. (For example - politicians, gas-station attendants, cashiers at stores, bad drivers, tele-marketers, talk-radio & TV...)

As we move into this upcoming academic year, I want to encourage you to use TODAY as a day of new beginnings. A day where you individually, and we as the collective Body of Christ, stop allowing those things beyond our control to have influnce on our relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 3 - Beyond Us

I spent the most amazing evening with our youth this past Sunday as we watched together the movie I AM SAM, starring Sean Penn. The evening was amazing not because of the movie, although I enjoyed it immensely. I was amazed not because of the pizza that we shared together, although our time hanging out while eating was a pleasure. Although our discussion following the movie was excellent, that too was not what stands out in my mind.

No, what stand out for me was seeing a room full of youth from this area gathering on a Sunday evening to fellowship with one another and to not only have church members and children of church members there but also to see that our youth had taken the initiative to invite others in to be a part of the group. This is the essence of the Gospel - bringing others to be a part of the body of Christ.

What an inspiration for us as a church - if our youth can be so intentional about inviting their friends to something such as a movie and pizza on Sunday night (and who doesn't love a good movie and good pizza with friends), imagine what we have to offer to our friends and neighbors on Sunday mornings! A holy and divine time, given to us by God, for the sole purpose of being with the Almighty. A time where we come as one, casting aside all the world is throwing at us to keep us away from God. A time where we are one in prayer, in love, in song, in reading and hearing the Word, and in responding to that Word.

I'm so excited about what God is doing and will be doing at Pharr Chapel - let's celebrate this and encourage all in our lives to become a part of God's presence in this holy community. The youth are leading the way - let's follow their inspirational example!


See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 2 - Beyond Sunday Morning

I was so excited this morning (Tuesday) when I got back from doing some communion visitation and saw that my Christian Believer study materials had arrived. As I took a brief look at the reading materials and study guide I knew that God is going to use this study to change lives of people in Pharr Chapel. I have already gotten feedback from some of you who want to be a part of the class, along with requests for more information. During the next five editions of this newsletter, I will be sharing with you more about Christian Believer and giving you an opportunity to sign up.

One of the most often-asked questions I get is: Will this be a daytime or evening study? The answer right now is: Let me know you
are interested and what time on Thursdays works for you. My hope and prayer is to have enough sign up so that I can offer both a daytime and evening section of the class. Let me know ASAP so that I can make the proper plans.

Why do I believe so strongly in these groups? If we just allow our spiritual development to be attending worship on Sunday mornings and occassional prayer during the week, we are missing out on the collective wisdom of the body of Christ to help us hear what God is having to say. It is through Sunday School and study/prayer groups that we truly get to experience the body of Christ at work. It's through Sunday School that our children and youth develop spritual formation behavior that will impact them the rest of their lives. As I've told several people, I don't remember what the preacher was preaching on when I was 5 years old, but I do remember many of the lessons that I learned in Sunday School.

May we all be so blessed as to take advantage of these opportunites God has given us to know Him more.


See you Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 1 No 1 - True Independence

What a great holiday the 4th of July is in our country! A time where families and communities come together to celebrate our nation's independence from George III and the the British crown. Erin and I thoroughly enjoyed the festivities in downtown Morgan City last night - even though the fireworks were canceled. My hope is that you will never forget that one of the many reasons that we have this great country is people were in search of religious freedom. May you celebrate that freedom every day as you worship God through prayer and devotion, attending services and Sunday School each week, and be involved in the ongoing life of the church. May we all remember to celebrate not only our political freedoms, but also our freedom from sin and death that comes from Christ our Lord.


See you Sunday!
Lamar

Welcome to the Mid-Week Message!

Welcome to the inaugural Mid-Week Message, a ministry of Pharr Chapel United Methodist Church. In this weekly e-mail, the hope is that you will be encouraged, informed, and inspired through a message from the pastor, news about the upcoming events of the church (including a preview of worship for the upcoming week), and a review of things that have recently happened in the life of the church. In addition, information about Sunday School classes and weekly Bible studies will be included on a regular basis. Some of what you read will be covered in a previous or upcoming newsletter; most of it (hopefully) will be things that you might not hear of in other places or other ways. As with anything new, this e-mail is probably going to evolve as time goes on and I hope you will send me your thoughts and suggestions on what you would like to see in this thing. My desire is that you look forward to receiving this each Wednesday and that I 'hear about it' if you don't get it by 3:00 on Wednesday afternoons. You are encouraged to forward this on to others in the church who may not yet be on the distribution list, and to encourage them to sign up for it by sending me an e-mail (pastor@pharrchapelumc.org).


Grace and Peace,
Lamar