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