Judging By Your Appearance

   We remember the good ol' days when children moved about in a community under the watchful eye of adults everywhere who knew exactly whose they were. Our parents warned us that our actions would be reported back to us because people knew us. Those were good days, but by and large, those days are gone.  Towns have become cities, and some folks can go about their business all day without running into someone they know. Our lives are much less connected than they used to be. We are even surprised now when we come across someone we know, or who knows us.

   Standing in line at the office supply store recently, I was greeted by some surprising words. I can hear your best guesses right now: Would you like to add an extended warranty to this pocket protector? or Did you know we're offering a two for one special on slide rules today? Wrong.  The woman checking me out said, "Are you a pastor?  You look like a pastor."

   I have heard these words before, and on occasion, under very similar circumstances. Yet for however often I hear them, I always seem to walk away with unanswered questions in my mind.

• Donning no clerical collar or embroidered shirt, what about my appearance makes me look like a pastor? Surely it is not the attractive hairline, for both Charles Stanley and Billy Graham looked very much the part with their full heads of hair.
• If I was correctly identified with some office that is generally considered one of good morals and ethics on a day I'm acting on good behavior, then what is my behavior like in all of the other moments when people take me to be something else?

   I'm less interested in how she correctly knew my vocation than the larger principle for all of us: How will the world recognize us? Do all Christians walk through life this easily recognizable? Should we?
   Parks Cousins is quoted as saying, "How things look on the outside of us depends on how things are on the inside of us." I think he speaks the truth.  If we are seen on the outside for what we are carrying around on the inside, then what are people seeing when they observe us? My thoughts return to song written a few decades back that proclaims that they'll know we are Christians by our love.
   Instead of longing to return to a time when we were all known around the neighborhood by appearances given us by our parents, let us pray to reach a day when we in the church are know for our greatest possession: the love and hope we have in Jesus Christ. They will know we are Christians by our love. Grace and Peace.

50 is a Good Number

   Vacation Bible School is bigger. Vacation Bible School is about singing, dancing, running, jumping, praying, learning, doing, undoing, making, talking, learning, listening, and lots of fun. 

   It is noteworthy, living in a world stricken with financial fears and concerns, that nary a nickel will come into the church coffers in the next decade from any of the children who attended this week's Vacation Bible School. Jesus speaks in Matthew 25 about the 'least of these' around us: those whose outward appearance regularly causes us to look past them or ignore them altogether. In many ways, children most perfectly describe the concept of the least of these. They take up more time, money, and energy than they give back in the short-run.  So, why would the 50 folks listed below give up the better part of a week to be present and active at VBS? 

   Vacation Bible School is bigger than any short-term payoff. VBS is about winning in our long-term mission: to make disciples of Jesus Christ of all ages to help transform the world for God's Kingdom. Help me this coming week by saying a word of thanks to these volunteers who helped accomplish our mission in a big way at VBS.

Alyssa Morris
Amanda Morris
Andrea Carbaugh
Barbie Morris
Ben Hale
Blake Waters
Brittany Farmer
Buddy Dunn
Carolyn Gambill
Cheryl Jandreau
Debra Ledbetter
Diane Champagne
Diane Morris
Dot Merritt
Elizabeth Ledbetter
Frances Phillips
Fraser Woolridge
Gary Ledbetter
Harold Morris
Hayden Minix
Hayden Newman
Helen Howard
Helen Pharris
Jackie Jenrette
Janie Nellums
Jean Morris
Jeanne Guilbeault
Josh Simmons
Julie Hagan
Kyle Jackson
Leslie Morris
Lyn Pharris
Margaret Gosden
Maria Hale
Martha Conklin
Matthew Ledbetter
Melonie Phillips
Natalie Morris
Nicole Farrar
Payton Mobayyeni
Reese Phillips
Regina Bridges
Robert Conner
Sara Renner
Scott Hagan
Skylar Smith
Susan Dunn
Suzy Revell
Vicky Griffin
Walter Champagne

Annual Conference 101

John Wesley, founder of Methodism

   In the very beginning of Methodist history (the 1700's) there were no local Methodist churches, only Methodist preachers who traveled from place to place preaching to crowds a message of Repentance and Good News. Methodist preachers would then organize small groups for the new believers to stay connected and learn both to study the Bible and make offerings to support  ministry. Eventually local churches were started, and within a couple of decades Methodism came across the ocean and spread like wildfire across the American colonies. Back then, Methodist preachers met annually at a conference with leaders, like John Wesley in England and Francis Asbury in the colonies, to give reports of their ministry, to be held accountable, and to be inspired. 

   The first annual conference in America was held in 1784. Ever since then, regional groups of Methodists have gathered every year for Annual Conference. The South Georgia Annual Conference met this Sunday through Thursday at the UGA Conference Center in Tifton, Georgia. Laypeople and clergy from every charge are represented. Epworth and the Columbus District were represented by Jeanne Guilbeault, Lillian Wooldridge, Becky Britton and myself.

   Most actions taken by the 'body' will be expected and the unexpected ones will be talked about for a few days and then be forgotten. Some of the reports will bring applause, some tears, and a very few will bring debate. We will also be voting for delegates to represent us in 2012 at General Conference and Jurisdictional Conference. But the best stuff of conference is not in the legislative action or the balloting; the best stuff comes elsewhere. We will begin each day with a Bible Study, and pause for worship a couple of times a day. Monday night a new class of preachers, some young and some not, step forward to be ordained as Elders into the traveling ministry of the United Methodist Church. And in between every session and around every meal that the over 1500 persons in attendance enjoy, there will be exchanged fellowship, encouragement, and more than enough grace to send us all back to another year of great ministry together.

   Conferencing is one of the cornerstones of how we Methodists practice our beliefs. We remember Jesus' promise to be present with us when we gather (Matthew 18:20). Grace and Peace to you.

A Good Rain...

"Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants." Deuteronomy 32:1-2

   Any number of my neighbors drove by in cars, rode by on bikes, or passed by on foot that evening I was out in the front yard. I waved to everyone I made eye contact with but probably missed some. I was otherwise occupied. I was pulling weeds from the lawn. I was doing it right: pulling them up by their roots. There I was, stooped over the lawn plucking weeds from the grass. I was using a tool, basically a long metal spike with a curved handled, but my efforts were not made easier and effective because of any man-made device. There was something more going on. You could say it was just below the surface.

   It had rained earlier that day, and the ground was still soaked from the downpour. It was the kind of rain that soaks in, and stays around. It was the kind of rain our yards needed, but more importantly for the task I was undertaking, it was the kind of rain that loosened the earth and allowed me to easily pluck weeds with roots and all. It was a good rain.

   Is this a translatable principle for our own lives?  If a good rain has the power to loosened the soil in order for weeds to be easily pulled, are there events or circumstances in our lives that can also loosen our souls for the good?  Don't we know that over time our inner-being has a tendency to harden? We get jaded to surprises, we get dulled to grace, and even resent those moments when God is working to change us for the better.  I wonder if there is an equivalent good rain for our souls that can help us go about the spade-work needed to root out the evil that finds corners in which to hide.  I am thinking about jealousy, animosity, gossip, arrogance, lust, laziness.  What items would you add to the list?  What weeds have taken root in your life that need to be addressed?  I know I have mine own, and have been working in the past three months to address some of them.  I've even enlisted the help of others in the work.

   The high temperatures and stifling humidity outside will keep most of us from the hard work of pulling weeds in the coming months in our yards, but what is stopping us from working on our hearts? May God send a good rain, a conversation with a friends, a passage from Scripture, or a moment in your day, that makes the hard work of living an abundant life a little easier.  Grace and Peace to you.