Epworth connects and equips all kinds of people to seek, serve, and share Christ

   Our mission statement, developed by the group of eleven on the Vision Team earlier this year, captures God's unique call on our church in the present. In many ways, our Mission also picks up the history of so much of what Epworth has been about since it was founded in 1960. It also, in a beautiful way, speaks to the legacy of the Hamp Stevens Memorial UMC congregation that was formed over a century ago, whose members now call Epworth home after our merger in 2006.
   I am already getting excited about some great moments, that will help to connect and equip us, coming up in our near future.

   At Homecoming, on Sunday, September 21, we will welcome back a beloved preacher from our recent past, the Rev. Dr. Rick Mitchell. Rick and his family moved to begin serving Epworth in June of 2004. Over his years of service, both he and Deb have served great churches in South Georgia. Currently he pastors the Eastman UMC church and Deb is pastor at Shelton Chapel and Dodges Chapel UMC's. Rick embodies our belief that Epworth GLOWS, for he is a person of character who gives God first place. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Homecoming is more than just the preaching. We will also celebrate our past and lean forward into our future through the help of music, great old photographs, and finally a covered dish meal that is simply the best there is anywhere.
   A week later, on Sunday, September 28, we will welcome the Murkisons to worship with us. Ellen and David, along with their sons Ben and Brian, have lived through the nightmare of a traumatic crash that led them through what Psalm 23 calls the valley of the shadow of death. Yet, their story includes faith and compassion, hope and healing, and ultimately a glimpse into the mystery and power of prayer. Ellen has written a book about the chapter of their lives that began with a car accident in December 2011. It is titled, Prayers from Fiji. I have loved getting started with it, and cannot wait to read the rest. While you won't have to have read the book to appreciate their story, many of us will want to get a copy to be encouraged by God's work. Our church website features links from the homepage to easy ways you can get paperback copies or even the Kindle version.
   The rest of the fall will also bring exciting and important moments. In mid-October, we will start the last of our four major renovation projects for 2014, with the Fellowship Hall Project. Thanks to the leadership of our Building Committee, the guidance of Glenn Griffin, and the work of Andy Rolling and ROCON construction, the interior of our church already looks vastly different than it did just eight months ago. On Sunday, October 26, we will have the official Open House for our Children's Ministry Area following the renovation work that is happening right now. On that day, we will also celebrate Consecration Sunday, and commit to keep growing and extending the ways god is working not just through our finances, but also our faith in Him.
   It is great to call Epworth home. It is great to have a clear sense of mission and calling. May we celebrate what God is doing in our lives. Grace and Peace, Scott

Ferguson

   The year is 1965. A white police officer arrests a young African-American man, driving drunk at the time, and his mother, violent and mad at her son for driving drunk. The events that would follow in Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, left 34 dead, 1,032 people injured, and 600 buildings damaged or destroyed. When you go back and read the account from those who were first on the scene, the riots themselves had little to do with the initial incident.
   Here we are, nearly forty years later. On Saturday, August 9, 2014, an unarmed 18-year-old African-American male, Michael Brown, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Since then there have been conflicts, protects, speeches, investigations, autopsies, and news coverage. The nation has been drawn into this affairs of this little community.
   Let's talk about Ferguson, then talk about one of central problems of our world and our lives. Here is how I summarize it, painting the story quickly and with the broadest of strokes:
A - A crime is committed in a convenience store when Brown steals cigars and pushes the owner around. Soon after, Brown is dead. All of the evidence is not in yet to determine if his death is also a crime, or within the bounds of the law. Either way, it is a tragedy.
B - The community mourns the death of their child. Too many children die from tragedies. It is sad. The community is partly reacting to their own beliefs that this local police department acts outside the bounds of ethics and the law, and that race is a part of this pattern. They take to the streets.
C - Criminals, interlopers, and looters from outside of this St. Louis suburb descend. They arrive to create havoc. They succeed. They are soon followed by cameramen, news anchors, community organizers, and television personalities.
   I recall a little quip from our childhood that said, "This is an A - B conversation, and you can C your way out." For me, the tragedy and drama associated with the crime and subsequent protests and criminal activity resemble this silly children's line. Too often, a third party inserts themselves into something for purposes that are not positive. Of course, I know you've probably never looted or thrown flaming bottles at police officers. Have you ever gossipped? Have you ever gotten involved just to stir things up? Have you ever taken sides out of spite, or anger, or meanness?
   My mom was in Watts that summer of 1965. She was there as a college student serving within a group of young adult Methodists as US missionaries. She roomed with an African-American woman of the same age, and remembers experiencing for the first time racism through this new friend she made. They were there as outsiders, but their purpose was for good. Can the same be said of our purposes for getting involved?
   God's heart breaks for the family of Michael Brown. Ours should, too. They should also break for every child that dies at the hands of any gun for any reason. And for every police officer put into such a terrible position. And for our nation, as it still wrestles with it's own terrible past about what it means to be white and black. But, before we rush into the next A - B conversation or situation, let's ask, "What is our purpose for being there?"
   The Apostle Paul says in Romans 12, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all."
   May Grace and real peace be with us all, Scott

Content Suitable for Children and Adults

Like you, I was shocked to learn this week of the passing of Robin Williams at his home in California. As with every loss, our prayers go out to the family left behind. Specifically, we pray that they would know the peace of God, would experience God's presence that comforts, and would soon find a growing sense of celebration in the life he lived to take the place of hurt and loss they are feeling now.

Many of us have been watching Robin Williams for decades. I grew up watching Mork and Mindy, where he got his start on screen and played the role of an alien come to Earth. He was wacky, startling, brilliant, quick, and could stop the audience in a moment with his talent. That was just the beginning. How many of us include scenes from his movies as some of the most moving, poignant, and excellent that Hollywood has ever produced? For me, Dead Poets Society, Good Morning Vietnam, and Good Will Hunting are classics. And that list does not even mention Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, or Awakenings. 

Of course, not every one of these is suitable for children. Like his standup routines, some of the language is crude and some of the content is too edgy. But, when he was at his best, Robin Williams was so authentic and sharp that the lessons and emotions that pour forth from his characters translate across ages, across time, and across society. A life that is lived with transparency and humor crosses all boundaries. It draws us in. Like truth, such life is to be cherished when we encounter it. 

I had a similar epiphany this week in worship after I sat down following the sermon. Margaret and Kathryn, both in the choir and both volunteers as Sunday School teachers in our Children's Ministry, leaned over to tell me that they used the same scripture verses - Romans 13 and 2 Peter 1 - for their lesson on respect, an hour earlier. For a moment, we marveled together at the serendipity of such an occurrence. I was reminded that the truths of God's Word are suitable and needed by children and adults. We all need to be reading and studying the Bible. We all need to encounter lessons that remind us of the best possible life - living in response to the goodness and grace of God in our world. Jesus came that we might see that way of living in the flesh. 

May we all pursue such a life and celebrate those around us who are living it in our midst. Grace and peace be with you, Scott

Correct Me Please, I am Still Learning

   Are we still learning? Are we open to guidance? To direction?
   John Wesley, the founder of Methodism in the 1700s, once wrote about this very subject. He knew that some, from time to time, disagreed with him. To this he said, "I trust, wherever I have been mistaken, that my mind is still open to conviction. I sincerely desire to be better informed. I say to God and man, "What I do know, would you please teach me!""
   This is amazing humility. For many people today, not knowing is seen as failure. We are hyper-competitive (coming from the former college basketball coach) and are driven by fears at home and work that if others think we don't know something, they will have some power over us. But, there is a better way. In his preface to a collection of his writings, known as his Standard Sermons, Wesley described what happened whenever he read a scripture and was unclear of its meaning. After following a process of prayer and continued scriptural reflection, he would turn to others for their opinions: “If any doubt still remains, I consult those who are experienced in the things of God . . . and what I thus learn, that I teach.” Again, take note that Wesley, a national bestselling author and probably the most followed preacher in England for five decades or more, is willing for others to correct him in scriptural interpretation, a field in which he had excelled all his life.
   For Wesley, the Methodist movement was to be a movement of revitalization. It was to revitalize not only the Church of England that he served as a local parish priest, but also the hearts of men and women in the pews and outside on the streets. For Wesley, grace was at the core of what he believed about God. He taught that it can be 'received' like water flowing down through channels like prayer, reading the Bible, attending worship, taking communion, and serving others. Wesley believed this grace was best seen in the life of Jesus the Christ. This grace was reshaping everything. The Methodist historian, Albert Outler, stated, "The heart of Wesley's gospel was always its lively sense of God's grace at work at every level of creation and history in persons and communities."
   Imagine how our lives would be different if we could live into the truths about God, the purpose of the church, and grace in our lives that Wesley had. Imagine if each of us committed to lives that did not stop learning. Wesley was actively preaching and studying and learning until his last days. Can the same be said of us? I pray that it can.
   Grace and Peace, Scott