BREAKING NEWS: John Travolta's Vintage Mercedes Stolen

   It seems John Travolta's vintage Mercedes sports car has been stolen. It happened in Santa Monica, California. Travolta parked the car on a residential street Sunday afternoon and stopped in at a nearby Jaguar dealership for about 10 minutes. When he returned, he found an empty parking spot and no sign of the car, a 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280-SL. You can read about it here in the AJC. There, you can also read about the efforts to have Troy Davis' execution stopped, a shooting at a preschool, deals on travel packages to Canada, a 3-year-old who fired a shotgun inside a automobile, a review of the first night of Dancing with the Stars, the latest on Charlie Sheen and Ashton Kutcher, and plenty of talk about the Atlanta Braves' recent woes. 

   It is staggering to think about the limitless stream of events and stories happening right now... How does any one newspaper decide what to cover and what to leave off? I think editors have a difficult job. This struggle extends out to a wide-range of media: newspapers, television, radio, and even internet sites. In one way, their task is reactionary: they print the news as it happens. In another way, they have some discretion as to what to send reporters out to cover. They have to think about sales, so winnowing down the list of topics must include some thought about public interest and preference; Columbus' residents are not interested in local politics of Saskatchewan. 

   In a real sense, we all have the same challenge, though. Each of us makes decisions daily on what gets our attention. What will we listen to on the television in the morning, in the car as we drive, or at night when we sit down to unwind? What stories do we read in the paper or online? I am no different; I get my print news by browsing the headlines that come across my twitter feed, where I follow news agencies around the country and world. I tune into one specific station on the radio, too. I am making conscious choices about what I tune into, with my ears or eyes. 

   From a very young age, we have learned that gaining and keeping attention is power; think about a young child calling their parent's name over and over and over again. It has been true across the ages. We grant power in our lives to those people and things to which we give our attention. Jesus said using our eyes can lead to destruction, and went so far as to suggest serious steps to prevent it from happening in Matthew 5. The Hebrew prophets proclaimed that we must give attention to the commands of God (see Jeremiah 7) and pointed to heartache and suffering when we failed.
   So....pay attention! Avoid gossip. Listen to people who speak the truth. Avoid conversations  on trivial matters. Tune into news that matters. Read good books and lengthy articles that expand your mind. Do all of these things that you might use the gift of your time and your mind for the glory of God, and not for the glory of something so much less.

Back to the Future

I have some questions about that first Sunday morning, 51 years ago. 

What was the first song that the congregation sang?

What was the sermon about on that first Sunday together?

Did the preacher stand behind a podium or just out in front of the people?

How much money was placed in the offering plate? 

Actually, what did they use for offering plates?

How many children and teenagers were present?

How many first-time visitors returned the next week?

How long before the first person was baptized?

What were the people most excited about?

Could they have ever dreamed what they started on that day would end up here?

   Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd captured our imaginations in the 1985 movie, Back to the Future. Fox's character goes back and nearly alters the future, forever. In this Homecoming week, my reason for going back with these questions is more educational and much less gripping than that Hollywood classic. Wouldn't you love to travel back in time and see what the people were doing and learn about what they were thinking? What unique personalities, spiritual forces, and acts of God's grace must have all come together for a band of forty-nine people to gather in a home on Rosemont one Sunday, and then three years later gather for worship in their own building with  five times number on roll? It did not stop there; Epworth saw 75 people join by Profession of Faith in the five years that their second pastor, Rev. Don Kea, served. It is amazing to think about it.

   This much I do know. It took hard work. It took lots of forgiveness. It require leadership, on both sides of the pulpit - whenever it was they finally got around to having one of those. It took vision. Vision for ministry is the aspect I have dwelt upon for the better part of seven months now. I think I'm on my eighth book specifically on the topic of shaping and casting vision, but more importantly have had twice that many conversations with folks within the church about what it might look like. Churches do not get started without vision. Churches do not continue and thrive without it, either.

   On this Homecoming weekend, 51 years after Epworth was first started in this very neighborhood, I am reminded of Paul's prayers to the first churches. Like Paul, my prayers are saturated with thanksgiving. I am thankful for those who came before us and for those who are with us now. My highest prayer is that the One True God who was worshiped on that first Sunday might be present and glorified on this and every Sunday we gather.

   Grace and Peace, Scott

I Was In My Office

   I was in my office, upstairs in the old home where the Fayetteville First United Methodist Church offices were located, when Gail called up from the front desk over the intercom. She asked me if heard about what happened in New York a few minutes ago, and told me to come downstairs. A television had been set up in the sitting area up front and the images it showed were unbelievable.

   I remember watching for a few minutes, and then going back upstairs to my office. This is terrible to admit, but I remember thinking that I needed to get back to work on that Tuesday morning because I had a lot to do. It was the first week back at school for me at seminary and that, combined with my full-time position as minister with students at this busy church, meant I spent most days trying to keep up. So, I climbed the stairs and sat down to try to get something done. Within a few moments, I was back downstairs watching and soon was home with Julie and Sam, who was about 10 weeks old at the time.

   None of us will never forget that fateful Tuesday morning when images came through television screens of the unimaginable. Planes, buildings, terror, and soon the awareness that thousands of lives were lost and the conflicts that had long raged overseas had breached our shores. September 11, 2001 was a day that changed things. Like a declaration signed, a cannon shot, a bomb dropped, a speech given, or a giant step taken, it was a moment that we will remember.

   It was a day of loss that, over time, led to days of hope for many people. Others are still found living between loss and hope. Where are you on that spectrum? Where am I? Can we turn our remembering of the past into energy and passion for our future? That is a question for more than just this coming Sunday. I offer this prayer from some of the resources United Methodists will be using this weekend:

A Prayer for the Anniversary of 9/11
O God, our hope and refuge, in our distress we come quickly to you. Shock and horror of that tragic day have subsided, replaced now with an emptiness, a longing for an innocence lost.We come remembering those who lost their lives in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.We are mindful of the sacrifice of public servants who demonstrated the greatest love of all by laying down their lives for friends. We commit their souls to your eternal care and celebrate their gifts to a fallen humanity.We come remembering and we come in hope, not in ourselves, but in you.As foundations we once thought secure have been shaken, we are reminded of the illusion of security.In commemorating this tragedy, we give you thanks for your presence in our time of need and we seek to worship you in Spirit and in truth, our guide and our guardian. Amen.

(www.gbod.org/worship, written by the Rev. Jeremy Pridgeon)

Take a Day Off

   This can be misunderstood, especially coming from the church or the pastor. But it means what it says...take a day off. Stop working.
   The Law says you must rest. Well, not exactly. But Labor Day was made an official national holiday by an Act of the United States Congress in 1894. The holiday originated from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man" in 1882. It is still celebrated as a day of rest for most people.  It use to be a boundary for fashion, but my wife, who regularly instructs me on the subject, says those days are gone. It also marks the symbolic end of summer for many, though on this last point we here in Columbus take issue for a couple of reasons: school started back four weeks earlier and the hottest days of the year seem to have no end in sight. Many of us will celebrate with picnics, barbecues, afternoon naps, playing in the water or heading out of town one last time. 
   Regardless of how you choose to spend your day, this Monday is a national holiday for a variety of great reasons beyond the law. I am reminded that our Congressional leaders were not the first to publicly declare that take time off to rest was important. God did the same thing a few years before that.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. - Exodus 20

God believed taking a day off was so important, he made it a commandment for his people. Right alongside murder, idolatry of false gods, stealing, and adultery is the sin of working too much. I think it is because those who work all the time begin to believe that the world might stop if they did. Or maybe it is because God knows best how we are made and taking time to rest and remember our Maker is a matter of life and death? Either way, it is something we all need to do. 
   Take a day off from work, and use it reconnect with joy, hope, and your value apart from your work. This is the stuff of God. This is what we are about. Grace and Peace, Scott

Arab Spring

   What started with one man's protest over his vegetable cart being unlawfully seized in the small Mediterranean nation of Tunisia, almost identical in size and population to Georgia, has blossomed into a movement of young and old alike, who are pushing for some of the largest human rights reforms the world has ever seen. First in Tunisia, then later in Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, to name a few, a wave of public demonstrations and protests call for everything from granting basic human rights to total regime change (here is an interactive timeline). The protests have in common the use of social media, such as Facebook,Twitter, and YouTube, to organize, communicate, and raise awareness in the face of state attempts at repression and internet censorship. Many of us are watching this week as rebels in Egypt have pressed in on Muammar Gaddafi's position and power in Libya in an effort to deport or detain him for trial.

   We speak often of the seismic changes that are happening around us, particularly in regard to technology and telecommunications, and how they are impacting our culture and our homes. Yet, these recent global cultural shifts are historic compared to those in the US that typically garner media attention (another Hollywood couple is breaking up, another political figure said something today they will flip-flop on tomorrow, or another super-fast mobile device that will change everything is being released). Here we are seeing, possibly, the largest worldwide effort by occupied citizens to overthrow governments and dictators, ever. Change is in the air and the name for this change hearkens to the warming of the earth when winter gives way to spring.

   What does all of this mean for us? How will it impact our nation and our freedoms? How will it affect our resources and the resources we need to maintain our lives (we think immediately of energy)? How will these shifts change our national expenditures abroad, and what impact will that have on our deficit and, subsequently, our ability to create jobs in the short and long terms? What does this mean for our souls? What does it mean to see oppressed peoples find their voice and, in some cases, find new freedoms that had previously been denied them? How do such significant events abroad shape what we follow and call significant here? 
   John Donne gave us a glimpse of the truth when he wrote, "No man is an island entire of itself."  We believe the same about humanity and say even more in regard to our belief about God. God is One, as our Savior and our Scriptures repeatedly assert, and our growing relationship with God draws us into deeper connections with one another. Let us pray that all people, everywhere, be granted freedom to work, to worship, to live, and to grow into the grace-filled, abundant living God has created all of us to receive.
   Grace and Peace to you.

Painting Is Easy...Prepping Walls Is Not

   "We like painting." Harold Morris and I came to this agreement last Sunday as we were preparing to turn an old office into something new. Painting offers nearly-instant gratification in a world where most things take much longer. Painting is also very cheap - this day we were using a free gallon of extra paint that the church has kept from a previous project - and so the return on investment is high.

   Painting a room is more of a short-story than a novel when compared to building a wall, repairing a foundation, or replacing a roof. But even short stories take some time to develop. 

   We knew we'd be done in no time once we got started painting, and we were right. I offered to climb the ladder and cut in the ceilings so that he could roll the walls quickly. We applied the paint thick the first time and, afterwards, touched up a few places that needed it. All in all, painting those walls was easy...but prepping a room to paint is not. 
   Preparing a room, or a window, or a surface to paint takes time. Most of our time was not spent with a brush or roller in our hands. Most of the time was spent preparing to paint. If you do it right, you never get started painting quickly. First, we found ladders, fans, brushes, buckets and gathered the supplies we would need. We removed wall covers for switches and plugs and then patched up some holes that marked where photos and frames once hung. Scraping the window, which had suffered decades of rust from encroaching moisture, took an afternoon. I was reminded again - painting is easy, but prepping takes time.

"Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people's way."

   This poetry of Isaiah 57 is constantly with me as I think through these truths. God's desires for us do not become reality without time spent preparing our hearts for his grace. There are obstacles and blemishes and damages that require our attention before the final stages of transformation can take place: otherwise the change is only on the surface and time will soon expose our shortcuts. The writer of Hebrews says we should lay aside every sin that clings to us so we can finish the project laid out for us. In the church we call that project redemption. 

   Well, the short story of our afternoon project has not come to an end yet. Even as I write, Buddy Dunn is down the hall applying a second coat of paint to that window. Equally, I know, that  the work God is putting into me and to you will continue on for a lifetime. 
   Grace and Peace to you.

Good News...but from where?

   I joyfully opened the boxes that arrived the previous day. Along with new microphones, new cables, and even new amplifiers, our shipment included a new mixing board. It was a Yamaha MG206 with ten more channels than the previous one we were using. 

Yamaha MG206 Mixer

   As the name implies, a mixing board allows the inputs to be mixed into one unified sound before being outputted to the speakers. A channel on a sound board is the name for the place where an audio signal comes in before being tweaked and modified and then sent out with any/all of the other signals to produce the sound everyone in the audience hears. Live music, like the inspiring kind delivered every week in worship, can be understood as blending a variety of inputs to create a beautiful output.
   Which makes me think...
   There are good things happening in the world. I promise. I know it. You know it. But you wouldn't know it from the coverage given to these acts of goodness and grace by those in the news. Most of the news seems bad, most of the time. These are the inputs that many of us hear most of the time. And, it is not only the news outlets that are pushing such negativity our way. We have friends who dwell on the negative. Our own thinking can veer that way, too often. Some weeks it seems all we hear is negative.
   If mixing live music beautifully depends on the beauty of the inputs that come in, can the same be said of our own lives, and our own minds? I think so. When every message we hear, or read, or consumer, is one of bad news or one that causes angst, creating a beautiful sound is all that more difficult. Over time, it might become impossible. Jesus taught that there would be tragedy and trouble in our lives (Matthew 24) but he went on to encourage his disciples to gather in order that Good News might be proclaimed.
   Let me be clear - we must intentionally place ourselves to receive the inputs of Good News that God is so diligently sending our way. This can happen in countless ways, but the church believes it happens best, over time, in a small group setting. Put another way, you need to be in Sunday School or a small group that weekly delivers Good News into your life. 
   Grace and Peace, Scott

If You Build It...

 We want good things spoken about us. We want people to say kind things. We want them to say significant things.
  Beyond words, we want people to think good things about us, and feel a certain way about us. We want our parents to be proud of us. We want our children to be proud of us. We want people to think highly of who we are and believe in that for which we stand. We want to live wit excellence.
  We want people to remember us. We want to leave a legacy. To believe that our time here, or there, or wherever, was spent well and that it made a difference. We want others to be able to sustain our dreams beyond our lives on earth.
  Beyond the here and the present, we want these words, thought, feelings and memories to survive us. But how? How do we shape a life that causes that? What can we do to shape the life of our dreams - the life that others notice for the good?
   We believe that history has shown repeatedly certain core elements that every life shares in common. What are they? How can we find them? How can we see them already present in our own lives? Is it too late for me? Did I miss my opportunity to live the life of my dreams? (What would it be like to meet Kevin Costner?)
   With a nod to Field of Dreams, the 1989 film that starred Kevin Costner, the teachings in worship in August will delve into the concepts of calling, faith, forgiveness, and vision. They are found throughout the movie, throughout the Scriptures, and even throughout our own lives.
   Join us in worship for truths that our lives are yearning to hear, and on Friday, August 12 to screen a movie that was an instant classic.
   Grace and Peace, Scott