I'm Having Trouble Praying

Read and pray daily.

It is for your life;

There is no other way:

Else you will be a trifler

All your days.

                                    - Rev. John Wesley

   I don't know many people who would argue with Wesley on his opening admonition. We are supposed to read and pray, daily. Such habits shape our life for the good. It is his use of the word 'trifler' that has me pondering my own situation.
   I have been struggling to maintain a regular prayer life. I do pray every day, mind you, but am not sitting regularly in one place and engaging all of myself in the task. My prayers lately have come in between the other stuff. Lately, the other stuff has piled up above eye-level, or so it seems.
   I have been working on some important things. I very rarely attend a meeting that is not worthwhile. I never make a visit to a home or hospital without sensing the presence of God. The sermons for the past two months have spanned the scriptures and (most weeks) offered the Word of God in forms that are relevant to where people are in their own lives. The construction work throughout the church looks great. The furnishings in the Children's Wing have created a place for children to learn and grow in the very best stuff of life. How could anyone call this trifling work?
   Yet, I know Wesley is right. All of my efforts are empty offerings compared to the gift of my heart to the One who made me. God does not delight in a completed To-Do list. God delights in my desire to hear and know Him. Steve Harper writes in A Pocket Guide to Prayer, "God gives each of us the same amount of time. The difference comes in how we understand and make use of the gift. Time must be organized and managed, but it also must be consecrated.... Sacred time provides the space for the work of the heart and the actions of the hands."
   I am praying that my prayers happen with more intention. I am praying that I don't trifle away my days and weeks and more with tasks that are accomplished without first sitting to listen for God's leading in all of it. I pray that I would know God loves me for me and not for what I produce.
   And, I pray all of this for you, too. Grace and Peace, Scott

Trash and Treasure

   I was ushered into a paradise hidden within the bounds of Columbus this week. I was on the hunt for something specific and a man, who only offered Billy as his name, opened the lock that secured the gate, behind which acres of potential waited for discovery. I was about as far south on 10th Avenue as you can travel and had inquired about some used metal roofing from EJ Knight's scrap yard. That is when he pointed me across the street to go scavenging. It was like a scene from a Hollywood - the kind where the innocent guy stumbles upon a body or becomes one. It was awesome back there.
   I spent thirty minutes, alone, perusing the items that other people had offered up as being no use to them. I had a revelation standing there in middle of all of it: every bit of this was the part of a project, or a plan, or even a dream. Every item was intended for use somewhere else but had now landed in small piles that are spread across this fenced-off yard.
   Some of it can still be captured as treasure. Most of it would accurately be described as trash. Either way, none of it was originally intended to end up there.

---

   I don't think the church is really anything like the lot on the corner of 10th Avenue and 5th Street. But, I started to think about the church as I was there. Specifically, I was thinking about how grand Epworth is, both the place and the people. I was reflecting on what we will do this weekend on Consecration Sunday. Each commitment card becomes our individual response to the work of God in our lives. The very act of submitting one, in some ways, is an indication of our faith in God that we will have enough leftover to provide for our needs and the needs of the others who count on us. But, God is also at work. God takes our offerings and redeems them. God takes our individual amounts, some small and some large, and brings them together to do a greater work. The ministry of Epworth is advanced by the faith of her people and the work of God.
    I struggled this week to capture the past year of ministry in the letters that went out this week. From buildings, to baptisms, we've had an amazing year. We have provided pastoral care, nursing home visits, discipleship opportunities, and countless other ministries in the church. We have renovated the hallways, doubled our available parking spaces, built a Children’s Wing that is state of the art, and are in the midst of making the Fellowship Hall first class. We have served people in Columbus and other continents. All of this happens because people give.
   I want to be used, as long as I can, for my created purpose: to be loved by God and to reflect that love to others. Epworth is filled with people are living and giving for that purpose, as well.
   Grace and peace, Scott

The Ebola Crisis: Stop, Check Your Pulse, Think

   The Ebola crisis is now front-page news every day. As of this week, 4,995 cases and 2,729 deaths have been confirmed through laboratory testing, though the World Health Organization believes that this substantially understates the magnitude of the outbreak. One expert believes that there could be as many as 10,000 new Ebola cases per week by December 2014. How are we to respond? 

   First, let’s get clear on the facts. Ebola is not the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. (I am not kidding, people I know have repeated that to me.) However, it is serious and deadly. This outbreak started last December in Guinea, but Ebola was first identified in 1979. Symptoms start with a fever, sore throat, muscle pain and headaches. Typically, vomiting, diarrhea and rash follow, along with decreased function of the liver and kidneys. Some patients begin to hemorrhage, also, and death is occurring around 50% of the time. No specific treatment for the disease is yet available (information from wikipedia.org). All of this is stark, considering we know that Ebola has spread to two people in the past week in the US. The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admitted on Tuesday that they failed to do all they should have done to prevent Ebola from spreading in Texas. Agency Director Tom Frieden says, “Ebola is unfamiliar. It’s scary, and getting it right is really, really important because the stakes are so high,” adding that he wishes the CDC had done more from the beginning to train the hospital staff (from the Associated Press).

   Second, let’s stop doing harm. I have been praying for the people affected by Ebola, patients, families and healthcare workers, since June. We all need to pray more and panic less. It should go without saying that gossip and spreading half-truths in this crisis is the opposite of helpful. 

   I came across a post from a friend of mine that captured my hopes so beautifully. Leah Leslie was a Sunday School teacher, the mother of youth, and my co-teacher in Confirmation classes in Fayetteville. She is also a nurse. She wrote this earlier this week:

So in 1979, I had been a nurse for 1 year and heard about a terrible virus that killed homosexual men. Soon, we found that the facts were not correct and fear among healthcare providers was rampant. Nurses refused to take care of patients, and some died alone in their rooms... we had little information so we became hysterical and acted without compassion and reason. It’s easy to be brave about HIV now- we know more. But now almost 35 years later we are again walking in fear. It’s a different virus, but I recognize the same fear. Is fear unreasonable, no, but let’s use it in a different way. Let’s learn from the past, Let’s not act hysterically, Let’s not behave without compassion, Let’s remember to ask questions regarding exposure and travel histories, Let’s isolate appropriately, Let’s use appropriate Personal Protective Equipment, Let’s put on and take off PPE with meticulous attention to detail. Let’s communicate appropriately, Remember, it is the job of the media to excite and sensationalize. Let’s make sure our sources are evidence based. We will be less stressed and our patients will be better cared for. Let’s be an instrument of peace and comfort- not of chaos and fear. Remember the first rule of any emergency is: Stop, check your pulse and then Think.

   Leah’s words of calm, written to any who would hear, apply beyond the world of those who practice medicine. We, who practice faith, should stop, check our pulse, and think in order that we are spreading love and not fear. Grace and Peace, Scott

Our Little Corner

   I was blessed to stand in a crowd of family, friends and enlisted soldiers and commissioned officers a week ago to see Kris Farrar pinned with the two bars signifying his promotion to the rank of Captain in the United States Army. It was great to see Nicole and their two boys standing proudly with Kris for the brief, but meaningful, ceremony.
   Two of Kris' supervising officers spoke of his excellence in leadership. They gave specific instances of how his work has served the mission of the infantry training unit that Kris helps to run and how all of their work there serves the larger mission of the entire Department of Defense. I love the way our military is able to connect specific actions and the people who carry them out with the greater mission that each has signed up for. In the middle of the ceremony, the commanding officer offered a few words of inspiration to every soldier who was present. He said,

We are each responsible for our little corner of the Army. - Lieutenant Colonel Jim Pangelinan

He went on to say that every one of them oversees their part of what is happening to advance the mission and every one has the ability to expand what they are doing for the good of the cause.
   My mind raced. As the son of a retired military officer, my father was in the Coast Guard Reserve for thirty years, I knew this to be true. I also delight in the close friendships I have with current officers in the Air Force, Army and Navy. His statement resonated with what I know of each of their work and service, but I could not help but think that the truth he had so eloquently captured with a few words was applicable far beyond military service.
   We are each responsible for our little corner of God's Kingdom. God has chosen to order the world in such a way that we are called to be partners in God's work.
   Paul, an early Christian leader who helped start churches and wrote about the mission of the people of God, described the Church's responsibility as "the ministry of reconciliation" because "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Corinthians:5:18-19). God's ultimate purpose is to reconcile - bring back and make right - all people to Himself. The Church plays an important role in achieving this mission. We are called to live (by deed and word) in such a way that we point to the very heart of God's love for the world - which is Jesus Christ crucified that we might have life.
   The mission of Epworth is to connect and equip all kinds of people to seek, serve and share Christ. How am I helping achieve this mission? How am I doing with my little corner of the Kingdom?
   Grace and Peace, Scott

The Same and Different

Everett

   A week ago, I held Everett Bates Carpenter in my arms about 20 hours after he was born. He came into the world weighing over 10 pounds. He is the second son of Bryan and Sydney, regular visitors to our church while Bryan is training at Fort Benning. Sydney is also my wife's second cousin!

Kirk and Henry

   This Monday, I was so thrilled to hold Henry Carlton Hagan about 3 hours after he was born. He is the second child born to my brother, Kirk, and sister-in-law, Robin. Henry was born in Dublin, the closest hospital to Wrightsville, where my brother serves as the United Methodist pastor. Little Henry weighed a little over 6 pounds when he was born.
   I was amazed, standing there holding my nephew, at how little he is. Not just because he was just born, but because I had held another, heavier, newborn the previous week. We all come into the world in our own, unique form. We are different.

   We are the same. That was Ellen Murkison's opening message to our congregation on Sunday as she set out to capture the work and grace of God through the retelling of their family's amazing story of life over death. When Ellen said, "We are regular people," I could sense every person lean in. [You can still purchase copies of her book, Prayers from Fiji, on Amazon.com.] Her message resonated with what we believe about Epworth. I continue to be amazed at how God has been preparing our next steps as a church through the work of our Vision Team earlier this year. Who knew then that our first core value, seen here, would be lived out in that very moment?

Epworth’s Missional Motives - Why We Do What We Do

• We are real people.

• We welcome all God's children. 

• We love what we do.

• We seek Jesus in all we do.

• We serve to make the world better.

We all want to connect with people who are real. On Tuesday of this week, Glenn Griffin stopped me out front to say a word of appreciation for Ellen's message. He said, "We all need to be reminded of good stories and God's work." Amen to that.

   We come into the world in different shapes, sizes, and colors. Soon enough, though, all of our stories come together to share many things in common: heartache, loss, triumph, betrayal, trauma, joy, delight, and connection. Epworth is filled with people who are different and the same. The greatest story of all, though, is the love of God for all of us. We are loved and saved back from the brink of destruction by the most powerful force in the universe: God's love.
   Beautiful, saved, loved people - that is what we are becoming. Grace and Peace to you, Scott