A Lifetime of Changing Seasons; Every Week Matters

   There is a season for everything, says Solomon in the first verses of Ecclesiastes. He says in Ecclesiastes 3:1, There’s a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens. 

First Day 2017

   This past week has marked the passage from the end of summer vacation for many families in our area and the start of school for students and teachers. Our prayers continue for all of the teachers and staff who daily give their hearts and minds to helping shape young people by God's grace. It is a holy calling.

First Day 2009

   This is also the season of first-day of school photos. Need proof? Simply open up any social media page and you will find them shared by the thousands. With Julie always already out the door to serve as a teacher herself, I have had the privilege of snapping these photos of our boys for a decade now. I love it. Traditions that allow you to mark the passage of time are particularly special. My boys suggested that this year should be the last of the first-day photos, but I am simply going to ask nicely again, next year.
   While Solomon's book of Ecclesiastes is mostly a downer, realizing his wasteful pursuit of pleasure over and above everything pure and good, he certainly gets it right with this passage about changing seasons. Julie and I keep these photos every year to remember when our boys were little, but we also mourn a little that these days are passing so quickly.
    Our church is committed to helping families make good use of every week to grow kids in wisdom and courage. Every new day marks the passage of time in front of our eyes. I am thankful you are on the journey with us. Grace and peace, Scott

Christmas and Easter

But when the fulfillment of the time came, God sent his Son, born through a woman, and born under the Law. 

- Galatians 4:4

   The early church did not believe that the circumstances of Jesus' entrance into the world were by chance, or some random event. Paul captures this perfectly when he writes that God was operating in the fullness of time.
   I think one of the greatest contributions that the church has offered to the world - right alongside covered-dish suppers, Easter egg hunts, and the perfection of a baby dressed in white being baptized as God and all the congregation looks on - are the seasons of Advent and Lent. They each offer a period of time in which to prepare for the great thing to come. Advent reminds us that we are in need of a savior: the child born at Christmas. Lent reminds us of our mortality, our sin, our utter helplessness: right up to the point that Jesus conquers all of this out of his amazing grace and unconditional love.
   I love Christmas and Easter people, because we worship a Christmas and Easter God. We worship a God whose timing is always perfect - even when we are not. We worship a God whose plans are always magnificent - even we fail to follow through with them all. We worship a God whose forgiveness is unmatched - and for that I am most grateful.
   The morning that we have waited, prayed for, and read toward is arriving. May Easter come with our hearts filled with the hope that Jesus provides. Grace and peace, Scott

Never trifle away time

   Karen has a clock mounted in her office at the church that plays a song every hour, on the hour. Of course, the sounds it makes are a wonderful reminder of the gift of music. And, despite every one of us who works in the office having to get use to the hourly arrival of music playing down the hall, the regular chiming each hour is also a gift, if we will allow it. 
   I was especially slow one day this week in moving from one thing to the next. By the end of the day my brain had turned over enough times to finally stumble upon the cause: I had not slept enough for the previous three nights. Before this alarms you, let me say that this was by choice and not out of worry or illness or anything external. One night I stayed up watching television, another found me working on my laptop at the kitchen table, and another evening just got away from me. Whatever the reasons, I averaged an hour and a half less sleep than I need, and the effects were catching up with me. I was taking too long to complete one item or meeting or task before moving on to the next.
   Is remaining in a conversation a long time such a terrible thing? Is lingering over an email to get it just right a crime? No, not necessarily. Unless we are supposed to be on to something else. Consider this: John Wesley instituted questions to be asked by every Methodist Bishop when they stand in front of persons coming to be ordained Ministers. There are 19 of them that remain a part of the Service of Ordination and this is the final question,

Will you observe the following directions? a) Be diligent. Never be unemployed. Never be triflingly employed. Never trifle away time; neither spend any more time at any one place than is strictly necessary. b) Be punctual. Do everything exactly at the time.- Book of Discipline, 2012, ¶336

 Time is a gift. I spent too long doing some things that I needed to move on from. While I was punctual to the start of every appointment, save one, I was not punctual in ending many of the tasks of my day. I think about how Mark was so fond of describing the timing of Jesus' movements with the word immediately. Could it be that this was Mark's way of saying that Jesus was intentional in being present in the moment and then moving on to the next right thing at the right time? I think so.
   May the chiming of the hour never find us delaying in one task, when the next right thing is calling. Grace and peace, Scott