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