Vol 3 No 38 - Stronger than a Hurricane

Earlier this week, I was working with a local graphics design firm to make some temporary signage for our building since brother Gustav destroyed the sign out front.  Reflecting upon this process since I placed an order with them yesterday, and anticipating a discussion with our trustees at some point in the future about our next fixed sign, I have been thinking about what is the proper sign to let people know we are the church.  While, yes, it is important for us to have a sign out front with our name, worship time, etc., in our front yard, I wonder if that sometimes is all that we rely on to let people know we are the church.

In this time of cleanup and recovery in the Louisiana-Texas Gulf Coast area, there are several ways in which we can provide immediate help to those in need.  The first is TOMORROW MORNING (Thursday, September 18) as we meet outside my office at 7:45 AM for our bi-weekly UMCOR mission.  As you can imagine, things are hopping right now at our Sager-Brown relief depot, and they can use all the help we can provide.  I just spoke with their executive director, and she tells me that there are plenty of health kits and flood buckets that need to be put together.  Also, tomorrow, they will be preparing shipments to the Republic of Georgia and to our friends in Texas, as well as the needs in our area.  PLEASE make every effort to meet us tomorrow morning for this important relief mission.  We will have the option of coming home around lunch, or staying for the day if you can.  Let me know if you need more details.

Additionally, I am sad to say that several of our churches in the Acadiana and Lake Charles districts have suffered major damage and will be needing assistance to get back on their feet.  To that end, I will be discussing with our church council and our finance committee next week ways in which we can assist financially these our brothers and sisters in the connection.  In addition to the assistance that I hope and pray the leadership of our church has the vision and faith to provide, if you are interested in making a personal contribution to these efforts, please let me know.

Finally, as the initial assessments and cleanup are wrapped up in the coming days and weeks, I have been assured by our conference staff and leaders that we will be made aware of how we can be involved in hands-on work in the affected areas.  As this information comes along, I will be sure to pass it on to you.

While we may face the task of replacing our congregation's signage out front, and face some temporary signage as soon as it comes from the printer, I think it is obvious to see from these ministry opportunities above that, through the faith shown through our actions, the true sign of being the body of Christ cannot ever be destroyed or blown away by a hurricane, for the sign of the church is found in the people and their lifestyles.

See You Sunday!

Lamar

P.S.  One of our sister churches in Berwick, Mason United Methodist Church, has sustained some damage to their steeple and are in need of a lift so they can get up there to do repair work.  If you know of someone who would be willing to donate the use of a lift for this purpose, please let me know ASAP.  

Vol 3 No 37 - Cleaning Up

Something I have noticed since Hurricane Gustav visited us last week is just how much a distraction from the routine can throw everything off-balance not only in our personal lives, but in the lives of our friends, families, places of employment, and our community at large.  I have been fascinated to see how quickly the people of this area went about cleaning up their debris, helping one another with basic needs, and doing their best to get back to normal as soon as possible.

The thing is, do things truly ever return to the way they were?  As part of visiting with a number of you, and others around town, I heard again stories of Andrew, Betsy, and other hurricanes that have visited our area.  And, inevitably, along with the stories of previous hurricanes are stories of how something changed during or in the aftermath of a particular storm, and although it eventually became part of the new routine, it was a lasting change.

Change is hard.  Change is not something we do very well.  Change is something we resist with everything we have on many occasions.  However, the reality is that after much initial grumbling and unease in transition, we adapt, adjust, and move on with life in new ways (more often than we think, to be honest).  The great thing about the Christian faith, being a disciple of Christ and a member of the community of faith, is that while there is no more violent or radical change that we will face than the change from a life focused on self to a life focused on Christ and his will, there is nothing that will seem more normal when we get through the initial adjustment period and have allowed God to clean up the resulting debris from the transformation of our lives.

Just something to think about as we continue to clean up and move forward.  My prayer is that for each of us, we realize that the most massive cleanup effort is not done by the work of humanity, but by the grace of God, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

See You Sunday!

Lamar

Vol 3 No 36 - Post-Gustav Update

Well, friends, I know that it has been a long week for so many of us.  I hope and pray that as you and yours return to our area and go about cleaning up the debris from our recent visitor that you are doing well.  A little tired, a little worn, but grateful that even in the midst of our messes that it wasn't worse.

The main point of today's message is to let you know that we are resuming our normal Sunday activities this week - Sunday School @ 9:00 and Morning Worship @ 10:00.  This Sunday we will be celebrating the sacrament of holy communion, and I can think of no better way for us to come back together again in worship than to gather around the table of the one who brought us together originally.

For those of you who may not be aware, the church facilities weathered the storm just fine.  A few little pieces of siding were displaced, as was our church sign, and the huge oak tree in the back lot is no longer with us, but other than that, nothing major to write home about.  Speaking of home, my home, your parsonage, fared very well during the storm - losing only the aluminum covering over the patio and a bush out front.  Erin and I want to thank you all again for providing us such a nice place to live.

Finally, I want to thank all of you that were diligent in keep in touch during the evacuation - cell phone calls, text messages, and e-mails did a lot to pass the time.  It also helped to disseminate the news from back home and to keep people in touch.  Once again, this proved that the body of Christ does not need a facility to truly be the community of faith.

See You Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 3 No 35 - Saving the World

What a joy it was to be with you all this past Sunday for Cokesbury and Covered-Dish Sunday.  The singing and worship was truly inspirational, and the time of fellowship and communion over the meal afterwards left me truly filled, both physically and spiritually.

Coming off the heels of this great Sunday is another extraordinary ministry opportunity in the life of our congregation, the festivities surrounding our Shrimp & Petroleum Festival parking lot fundraiser.  From Friday night thru Sunday, the youth and other volunteers within the congregation will be working to raise support for our youth ministries, and I cannot wait to see you out there as we help the next generation, fellowship with each other, and be a Christian witness to those partaking of the festival activities.  Don't forget that parking passes ($15 for Friday, $25 for Saturday, $25 for Sunday) are available by contacting the church office or our youth director, Angie, at champine@bellsouth.net.

It's not too often that a church will get the opportunity to live out the Christian faith among so many people gathered in one place at one time.  I want to encourage you, as you are able, to not only participate in the church's activities this weekend, but also to take time to take in the festival activities.  Just by acting in a responsible, Christian manner as you enjoy these things provides a powerful testimony to so many who need to come across more examples of Christian living.

Finally, don't forget that, due to parking and traffic logistics, our Sunday morning worship FOR THIS SUNDAY ONLY will be at 9:00AM.  Sunday school will not be meeting this week.

See You Sunday!

Lamar

Vol 3 No 34 - Community "Life"

A Sunday of by-request singing out of the old Cokesbury books, with a covered-dish luncheon to follow.  A weekend of welcoming residents and visitors alike to our town's annual festival while also interacting with and assisting our youth as they seek to do the will of God.  A mission to some of the poorest areas in our country.  Pictoral directory photos sessions.  Bi-weekly trips to UMCOR to assist those who provide hands-on disaster relief around the world.  Weekly communion services.  Sunday school for all ages.  Our music ministry gathering each week to improve themselves as they seek to lead us in worship.  A prayer gathering each Wednesday morning to lift up by name the needs of which we are aware.

I don't know about you, but to me the upcoming weeks in the life of our congregation are shaping up to be some very great opportunities to help us continue to grow as a community of faith in our quest to live out the life to which God has called us.  Each of these opportunities for fellowship, worship, and mission cut to the core of who we say we are as the body of Christ.  Futher, it is we we seize the opportunity to participate in these things that we get to see even more of God's grace and mercy.  There is nothing that the forces of evil hate more than the body of Christ strengthening itself by engaging in the life of the church.  There is nothing that the forces of evil enjoy more than the people of the body of Christ being distracted from the community of faith, for when we do not gather together, we are not reveling in and drawing strength from the Spirit that binds us to one another.

Looking over the list above, I can tell you that while it may not be possible to participate in all of them, I can tell you that if/when you can/do take part in these activities, it is a joy like none other - for there is nothing that is more joyful than being an active part of the salvific work of Christ in the world today.

See You Sunday!

Lamar

Vol 3 No 33 - Re-Discovery

How many times in life do we have that wonderful experience of rediscovering a long-lost friend or a long-lost treasured item that we had let slip from our mind?  Preparing for my Sunday School class I have experienced these emotions walking through the pages of Hebrews.  A lesser-known of the New Testament writings, Hebrews is filled with many timeless truths that, upon further consideration, have a deep impact on our walk with Christ.  Until I read and studied this material in-depth, about the only thing I could specifically recall from Hebrews was one of my favorite verses in all of scripture, "Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen." (11:1)

I wonder how often we allow our lives to be lessened by our failure to interact with more of the Scriptures on a regular basis.  I ask myself, and ask you now, how much of the Good News do we miss out upon because we either don't read scripture on a regular basis OR read only those parts that we enjoy and/or with which we are familiar?

There are so many things in life that once were so special to us and now we could barely, if at all, recall them right now - why is it that we so easily allow them to just drift away as we move through life?  Getting re-acquainted with the once-familiar is such a joyful experience; my hope and prayer for each of you this day is that you will take the initiative to become re-acquainted once again (or, in some cases, for the first time) with the joy of some of the lesser-known of the Scriptures.

See You Sunday!
Lamar

Vol 3 No 32 - Back to Basics

For a number of children in our community, tomorrow and Friday mark the first day of school, and it causes me to think back to the anticipation and terror that greeted a new academic year.  Catching up with people I hadn't seen all summer was great; meeting new people who had moved into town was ok; getting back into routine was, well, getting back into routine.

One thing that I will always keep in mind when I remember the start of a new year is the experience of walking into a new teacher's classroom.  Of course, I walked into the room with preconceived notions and prejudices about the teacher in question based on the word on the street (it wasn't until seventh grade that I realized that teachers passed word among themselves about incoming students and that our reputations preceded us as well).  Dealing with a new teacher, however, became a moot point after about a week most years because by then the familiarity of the expectations that the teacher had for us were established.

It's with this in mind that I am looking forward to our next three weeks in worship, for I will be preaching a series of sermons based off of John Wesley's expectations for those who joined the Methodist societies that he and his brother Charles were establishing within theChurch of England.  Wesley's three simple rules were:

    1) Do No Harm
    2) Do Good
    3) Tend to Your Relationship with God (paraphrase)

As our children and our society start getting back into the routine of a new academic year, I hope and pray that you will join us for this series of worship, being reminded once again of the expectations that are placed upon those of us who choose to follow Christ.

See You Sunday!
Lamar