Power Near and Far

   Our toilet started running about a week ago. Not all the time, of course, but every few minutes the sound of flowing water would indicate that more water was needed to keep the float at the right level in the tank. This is not the way it is supposed to work. It wastes water and keeps people up at night. People like me!

   While I know a couple of things about toilets, everything I knew to try did not apply. The flapper was not warped due to age and there was no water leaking onto the floor. I was stumped.

   I saw Billy Bullock, one of Epworth’s newer members (he and Alison joined in December), in a meeting about serving at Rose Hill this week and asked him. Billy is one of those guys who can fix lots of things. Lots. He told me two things to consider - check the flapper again and maybe reduce the water flow at the wall because the pressure could be too high. Then, about an hour later, he called me because he thought of one more thing to try. You guessed it, that third thing worked. If you’re wondering, he had me pop the plastic cap off of the float stem, with the water turned off at the wall, and then turn it back on slowly to knock any sediment out of the supply line that might have kept it from filling all the way every time. Honestly, I have no idea how it worked, but it did! Billy has that kind of power.

   People like Billy impress me. And, Epworth has lots of people like Billy. People who are good at stuff. People who have expertise and gifts and who are willing to share them. Epworth is filled with people who serve and give generously. This phrase is the last line of our Missional Measures, Epworth G.L.O.W.S., that define what Epworth people look like when our ministries have been successful. We believe that God intends for all of us to shine the light of Jesus.

   Along with having a quiet commode, I also love the fact that Billy’s power was exerted from afar. Sometimes we can have great influence from a distance. The Gentile Centurion that approaches Jesus in Luke 7, knows that Jesus can heal from a distance and Jesus marvels at his faith. Our prayers and our gifts are two obvious examples. Then, there are times that God’s power through us is best offered up close. We have to draw near to make a difference.The youth people are doing that this week, having driven twelve hours to Washington D. C. It is also what happens every week in our church when adults offer the power of God’s love and care to our children. 

   We are called to draw close to serve and bring about God’s Kingdom. Our Vision for Epworth in the next eighteen months is to help every person become actively engaged every month in ministries that are transforming the community. Imagine seeing God’s power at work near and far when that happens! 

   Grace and Peace, Scott

God is Good

   I shouted this down the halls of the church earlier today when a call came from someone with news that I had prayed would happen for them. I repeated it in the parking lot earlier today when two people walked up at the very moment another was walking out and they were able to meet and introduce themselves. I had literally thought about how I could get them to meet just minutes before and there they stood together. God is good. How else can we explain the small, serendipitous moments when everything lines up and good happens? I believe God is good even in the midst of the bad stuff, but it sure is nice when good things are happening. I think Romans 8:28 affirms this when Paul says, “That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” (The Message translation)

   We could have ended Tuesday night’s Church-wide meeting with shouts, “God is good!” For indeed, months of preparation, countless prayers, generations of generosity, and the Spirit of God were all moving in and around the two reports that were offered.

   First, the Building Committee presented a report of what has been done. The hallways and entrance areas have been updated and refinished. It is amazing the difference that wider, smooth walls and higher new ceilings make, isn’t it? The rear parking lot was paved this week and that project will be complete in a week or two, after the last touches of landscaping are finished. These little things mean a lot to our members and visitors who attend Epworth every week. Then, the Building Committee presented two projects for the immediate future. Both were adopted with a unanimous vote by the large crowd that was gathered. The first project, set to begin next week, will renovate the Children’s Ministry wing. The second project will involve updating the ceilings, lights, walls, and floors of the Fellowship Hall. Then, later, a new external, adjoining storage room will be added.  This will provide some desperately needed space for the good stuff we use often, but have no place to keep.

   Second, the Vision Team presented the work of their six months together. Eleven members worked to capture our mission, our values, our definitions of success, and our vision for the next 18 months. We will talk more about this at length, but for now, I leave you with the new Missional Mandate that gets to the very heart of how God is using and wants to keep using Epworth for God’s Kingdom. It says this:

Epworth connects and equips

all kinds of people

to seek, serve, and share Christ.

It is simple, yet important. It is a statement about what happens inside our church and what our people do outside our church. It is something we do now and something we will strive to live into even more. What a way to start our fifth year together - God is good!

   Grace and Peace, Scott

John 10 - "I am the Good Shepherd"

"Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." 

Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 

- The Gospel According to John 10:1-10

   Who do I follow? What voice do I recognize? What distinctive sound can elicit my obedience?
   In Jesus' time, this was a powerful illustration. Everyone knew that sheep were raised from their very first days to respond to the unique call and command of the master that guarded and provided for them.
   Alas, those days are long gone and the details of this illustration  - sheep, pastures, gates, gatekeepers and shepherds - are possibly lost in a world consumed with electronic mail, gasoline-powered motorcars, portable electronic devices, and moving pictures (or email, cars, iPhones and movies for those below my age). Yet, those initial questions remain with me. Who do I follow? To whom do I respond?
   It strikes me that the forces from within dictate a lot of this. What drives me? How do I define my life? What does success look like? Where do I turn for affirmation? The Henri Nouwen piece that Sister Chris shared with me over two years ago is so helpful. Nouwen begins by asking, “Who is this person that lives this little life?” Then, after listing the two most common subconscious answers - I am what I have or I am what others say about me - he says:

What I want you to hear is....Jesus’ whole message is saying you are not what you have, nor what people say about you even when that’s important and even though it makes you suffer and even though it makes you happy, that is not who you are. I come, Jesus says, to reveal to you who you truly are. And who are you? You are a child of God. You are the one who I call my child. (Now, child doesn’t mean little child, child means son or daughter.) You are my son, you are my daughter.

- Henri Nouwen, in a lecture entitled, "Who are We?: Exploring our Christian Identity"

   Do I follow someone or something that is fleeting and cares nothing about my life? Or, do I recognize the sound of the voice of the one who calls me child and loves me like family. Because I am. You and I are children of the Great Shepherd. Grace and Peace, Scott

Savannah

   The earliest followers of God, YHWH as the ancient Israelites knew him, obeyed God as sovereign. Laws mattered to them, and the highest law was that there was only one true God. They were different than other peoples and tribes who believed in many Gods depending on the place, need, or season. Yet, God's people continued to be very aware of and concerned with location. In addition to the commands of God, they believed that some places were more important than others. This plays out in that powerful conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well in John 4. She believed in God, came to believe Jesus was a prophet, but wanted to know if God could still be worshipped in her home country once the Messiah came. This was important to her.

   Of course, Jesus responded that true believers worship not in place but in Spirit and Truth. I believe that. We can experience God everywhere, and should be ready for divine appearances and moments to happen anywhere. Yet, there is something powerful about some places, isn't there?

   I was reminded how true that is for me this week at Annual Conference in Savannah. I have vivid memories of milestones happening there from middle school, through high school, and then into adulthood. It was in the Johnny Mercer Theater that I first helped out at Annual Conference in the summer I would start seminary. On that same stage in June 2006 I knelt down to be ordained by Bishop Watson and have the stole, a symbol of ordained ministry in the church, placed on my shoulders by my grandfather, Carlton. My thoughts returned to that night a few times this week with joy. God is sovereign everywhere, but there is something special about that place for me. 

   I witnessed a similarly special moment from the second row on Monday night, as our own Ben Godsen was ordained an Elder in the UMC in the very same spot. With Katie by his side, and family and friends in the congregation, he took on the mantle of serving and leading God's people. I snapped a photo of it as it happened. Savannah takes on even deeper meaning, as Ben and Katie and Olivia Kate will move there next week, as he takes his first appointment after being an associate in Macon. 

   God's power extends beyond this valley or that mountain. Our God created the heavens and the earth. There is no other. For all of the special places that carry meaning in my life and yours, there is great comfort in knowing that the same God is present there and anywhere our journeys take us.

   Grace and Peace, Scott