Never trifle away time

   Karen has a clock mounted in her office at the church that plays a song every hour, on the hour. Of course, the sounds it makes are a wonderful reminder of the gift of music. And, despite every one of us who works in the office having to get use to the hourly arrival of music playing down the hall, the regular chiming each hour is also a gift, if we will allow it. 
   I was especially slow one day this week in moving from one thing to the next. By the end of the day my brain had turned over enough times to finally stumble upon the cause: I had not slept enough for the previous three nights. Before this alarms you, let me say that this was by choice and not out of worry or illness or anything external. One night I stayed up watching television, another found me working on my laptop at the kitchen table, and another evening just got away from me. Whatever the reasons, I averaged an hour and a half less sleep than I need, and the effects were catching up with me. I was taking too long to complete one item or meeting or task before moving on to the next.
   Is remaining in a conversation a long time such a terrible thing? Is lingering over an email to get it just right a crime? No, not necessarily. Unless we are supposed to be on to something else. Consider this: John Wesley instituted questions to be asked by every Methodist Bishop when they stand in front of persons coming to be ordained Ministers. There are 19 of them that remain a part of the Service of Ordination and this is the final question,

Will you observe the following directions? a) Be diligent. Never be unemployed. Never be triflingly employed. Never trifle away time; neither spend any more time at any one place than is strictly necessary. b) Be punctual. Do everything exactly at the time.- Book of Discipline, 2012, ¶336

 Time is a gift. I spent too long doing some things that I needed to move on from. While I was punctual to the start of every appointment, save one, I was not punctual in ending many of the tasks of my day. I think about how Mark was so fond of describing the timing of Jesus' movements with the word immediately. Could it be that this was Mark's way of saying that Jesus was intentional in being present in the moment and then moving on to the next right thing at the right time? I think so.
   May the chiming of the hour never find us delaying in one task, when the next right thing is calling. Grace and peace, Scott

It's Time To Deal With Our Anxiety

I share this from a devotional book written by JD Walt. This is a portion of  Day 18 from Not Yet Christmas: It's Time for Advent, copyright 2014 by Seedbed Publishing.

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Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad! Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. Don't be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. 

- Philippians 4:4-7

   On a sheet of paper make two columns. Label the left column, "Things that are bringing me Joy." Label the right column, "Things that are bringing me Anxiety." Take a few minutes to reflect and list out everything you can think of in those two columns. You have likely not done this in a while. You may have never done it at all. It is so important to get these out of the shadows of our lives and into the light. Start with the left column and literally read them aloud.
   Now, one at a time, say, "Father, I thank you for ________________, and I rejoice in you. Again, I take joy in you." Rejoicing in the Lord and in his blessings has a way of magnifying our blessings and joy. Now read the column on the right aloud one at a time as a prayer to God. "Father, I give you ________________, and I ask you to ________________."
   In the wake of this work, note the gentleness with which the Spirit is calming your being. We are empty of anxiety and full of joy. This is the life God intends for us to live all the time.

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    I loved this word two weeks ago during the season of Advent. I love it in the week that a New Year starts. Join me in spending some time making a list and then letting some things go, like anxiety and worry. Grace and peace, Scott

Entering the Unknown Territory Ahead

   There were not any cameras present on the day I retired from a career in sports. After graduating from college, I took my first job as a men's basketball assistant coach at Coastal Georgia Community College in Brunswick. A year later, I was reunited with one of my former coaches from Georgia Tech and coached a year at Clayton State in South Atlanta. That was it: two seasons of coaching. But, I loved every day of it; preparing for games while watching films and scouting in person, traveling and recruiting talented high schoolers, offering them a chance to keep playing and earn a degree, and the thrill of tip-off in a crowded gymnasium. I made friends that I still have in the seven years I was a student manager and then later a coach. In the end, God was calling me to a new thing and I enrolled in seminary to be a United Methodist pastor.
   Coach Cremins was a significant influence on me in those years and even since. He was mentor and friend, and example of an active faith in God and deep loyalty to his friends and family. I got a note in the mail from Coach the week before he retired from the College of Charleston, where he spent the final seven years of his thirty-two year coaching career. I know firsthand how much influence a coach can have in the lives of the young women and men they lead, and in the communities that follow them and cheer them on.

   Of course, I am remembering those days as news breaks this week that one of our own is stepping aside for something new. Coach Bryan Way was able to come home thirty-two years ago, when he started out as teacher (first driver's education then science) and assistant football coach at Warner Robins. His days playing and coaching the Demons have made his family, his church, and people around the state very proud. In the short time I've been in Bonaire, the Coach Way I know is humble, smart, passionate, and kind.
   Imagine all of the decisions on the field a coach makes in a single game, or in a season, or especially in a career like Coach Way's. Really, every play presents risks. "Do we go for it, or play it safe?" In one interview yesterday with the local paper, Coach Way suggested he did not know what was next. I admire a person to admit as much. Then I come across this line in my morning devotion,

"Hope prevents us from clinging to what we have and frees us to move away from the safe place and enter unknown and fearful territory." - Henri Nouwen

   That is a word for all of us, isn't it? Every day we are asked to let go of the safe places we would cling to, and enter unknown territories ahead. This is the stuff of faith, of maturing, and of life. May we have such faith to let go and move forward. And may we celebrate those around us who have been examples of such faith for so long. Thanks Coach Way.
   Grace and peace, Scott

Water, Bleach, Prayer, Clean Hearts

   I have to admit, I am enamored with the transformation of the exterior of our historic 1891 Chapel building. I have literally stopped my car in the street twice now to admire it and snap photos while driving past the church for some other reason. The Trustees, thanks to a reference from Larry Collier, turned to Tony Hinnant, former WRHS principal and now contractor, to perform the work of resurfacing the siding, making improvements to some electrical connections, and repairing structures frames around doorways. The work is almost completed and I could not be more impressed. From the outside it looks new, while the inside keeps the charm and history that we all love.
   It is the work that the crew has done on all three of our steeples that probably gets my attention most, though. To be honest, our steeples had starting look somewhat shabby. It was not a matter of structural concern; they were covered in mildew and grime. However, that is now a thing of the past. It is amazing what a blend of tap-water and bleach can do for an exterior, isn't it?
   How does grime get onto a steeple? It happens naturally and over time, of course. Once it starts, you have to be intentional about removing it.
   Isn't this true for us? Sin clings naturally and over time. Psalm 51 says,

Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and celebration again; let the bones you crushed rejoice once more. Hide your face from my sins; wipe away all my guilty deeds! Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me! 

Although we receive a cleansed and changed heart when we accept Christ, in a sense we need a heart change every morning. Each morning we should get down on our knees and say, “Lord, help me to be the person you want me to be today. Wash away the grime and take away the desires that shouldn’t be there, and help me be single-minded in my focus and my pursuit of you.” As we do this, God comes and cleanses us from the inside out, purifying our hearts.

   What does it matter? Who does it affect? Sin and the weight that clings to us not only pulls us down, it also affects our witness. We are called to be salt and light - not sin and grime! 

   Grace and peace, Scott

New Year, New Opportunity to Pray

   With the change of the calendar into 2016, United Methodists from around the world begin more earnestly preparing for one of the key components of our denominations' connectional structure: General Conference. At least a dozen of you are asking, "What is that?"

   The United Methodist Church’s top legislative body will meet at the Oregon Convention Center, the largest convention center in the Pacific Northwest, on May 10-20, 2016. General Conference is the top policy-making body of The United Methodist Church which meets once every four years. The conference can revise church law, as well as adopt resolutions on current moral, social, public policy and economic issues. It also approves plans and budgets for church-wide programs. As you can imagine, topics including sexuality, who can be ordained, and/or what place does the Bible have in the life of the church, are all on the table when we gather every four years (and all the days in between). We need to pray now...
   Funny you should mention that. General Conference begins 131 days after the New Year. By coincidence, there are 131 annual (regional) conferences in The United Methodist Church. The UMC wants to use each of these days to bath General Conference in prayer. The Council of Bishops has invited each of the annual conferences to host a 24-hour prayer effort. The South Georgia Conference's 24-hour prayer vigil is set for Friday, January 22.
   Eight-hundred sixty-four (864) delegates, half of them being clergy and half of them laity from local churches around the world, have been elected to serve. In Tifton this past June, four clergy delegates from South Georgia were elected: Rev. Don Adams, Dr. Buddy Cooper , Rev. Jay Hanson, and Dr. Bob Moon. Rev. Jim Cowart and Rev. Denise Walton were also selected to serve as alternates, and will be attending. I was humbled to be one of the other clergy elected as an alternate. In addition to the May meeting in Portland, these same clergy and South Georgia's laity delegates will attend a the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference in July to select the Bishops serving in the fifteen annual conferences around us. (I am prayerfully considering attending some of the General Conference in Portland, as well.)
   We all know it is never to early to begin praying. May we start this year praying for the Spirit of the Living God to lead our church in Bonaire and around the world! Grace and Peace, Scott

Silence at Christmas

"Christmas! Never was there such a word! Poets have dreamed, writers have composed, artists have had their raptures, but none has been comparable to the thoughts that the word Christmas inspires. Christmas makes heaven and earth so akin. Jesus! O marvelous Babe, O Babe Divine!"

- Father Judge, 1928

The Holy Night, by Carlo Maratta (1625-1713)

   O how true! Songs have been written - great ones at that - and stories have been told that attempt to capture the glory of that night. Yet, no single song, prayer, story, event, or ritual fully lays hold of all that happened in that moment in history. Christmas. Think about it; people continue to write new songs and we continue to listen. We never grow tired of hearing about the story, possibly because there is always more to the story than words or art or actions can grasp.
   Then I come across this sliver of scripture assigned in my devotion this morning:

"Silence is praise to you, Zion-dwelling God, And also obedience. You hear the prayer in it all. We all arrive at your doorstep sooner or later..."

- Psalm 65:1-2, The Message

It is difficult to admit and even more difficult to do; sometimes we run out of words. Trust me, I know the irony of a preacher, paid to speak, uttering these very lines. It is true, though. Christmas, in the end, is beyond our ability to describe. God loved us so much, he came down here. God's plans to save us are so incredible and important, he sent his only son. 

   Silence. May our silence in the coming days be acceptable to you, O God, as our worship of your majesty and your love. 

   Grace and Peace, Scott 

Nine Days in Bonaire

   What we do says a lot about who we are, right? I was walking across the street to go to work one morning, still basking in the glow of a great event at the church the day before, when I realized how many of those we are experiencing these days. Let's take stock of what we are in the midst of:

Mission Marketplace – saw hundreds of people from around the community visit our building, greeted by our people, and leave with untold treasures and gifts to give. And, we raised over $3000 towards missions in the process!

Ladies Night - brought together over ___ men and women for a great meal and the joy of singing along to tunes of the season and years gone by. Thanks to great work by our Men, it was just simple fun. 

December Food Pantry and Clothing Closet - on Friday will provide warm clothes and nourishing food to our neighbors in need of something to help makes ends meet. It includes prayer, hard work, and lots of grace. It is scriptural, it is an act of generosity, and it is beautiful. 

Belize Mission Trip Meeting - we're committed to growing a relationship with a village in Central America in order to care for the bodies and souls of our neighbors there. Interested people start making plans this Sunday at 2 PM.

The Christmas Cantata - offers the eager anticipation of Christmas through the songs of Russell Mauldin's Bethlehem Morning. Members from both the 8:30 AM and 11:00 AM choirs and a host of other volunteers will make it happen, then everyone is invited to stay for refreshments, afterwards, hosted by our Methodist Men.

All of this is happening in the short span of nine days at Bonaire Church. Add to this list worship with traditional and modern songs, children learning and singing and playing, young people growing in their faith, and adults all over the campus in Sunday School, as well. Nor does this list include the countless prayers being offered in homes, at work, in hospital rooms, and all places in between by our people for each other and the world.
   What does this say about our church, the body of Christ living in our community? We sing. We give. We go. We pray. We serve and we are served. God is calling you to be a part; where will you plug in?
   Grace and peace, Scott

The Season of (Waiting, Preparing, Anticipating) Advent

   The Four Sundays of Advent make up the first season of the Christian year. Advent derives from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming.” In other words, this is the season that proclaims the comings of Christ.
   The church uses these four weeks as a time to prepare for Christmas.  I believe firmly in this idea - we need to get ready for what God has in store for us on Christmas.  Not another present under the tree, not the car in the driveway with the oversized bow on top as the television commercials would have us believe - but the coming of a Savior to win us away from slavery to sin and death and back to the freedom to live.  We are preparing to celebrate once again, the birth of One who comes continually in Word and Spirit to us.
   But Advent is not only about Jesus’ birth in that manger, as if we should keep our eyes fixed on the rearview mirror of history.   It is in God’s plan that Jesus comes again, a second time.  Advent is equally about the time in history when Jesus did come and about the time in the future when He will come, again.  We celebrate the two comings of Christ.
   Each year Advent calls the community of faith to prepare for these comings.  So worship is a little different for these weeks - because we are different.  While the world busies itself with preparations for presents or parties, the church pushes past some of that to see beyond. We want to gaze into the truth God has for us.
   We begin worship these weeks by lighting candles and reading scripture.  Candles remind us that Jesus comes as light of the world - and that we too often find ourselves walking in shadows and darkness.  I believe the church is obligated to proclaim, “We need a Savior.”  Let us enter into the season of Advent expectantly preparing for His arrival.
   Grace and Peace, Scott