Rachel wept. Her beloved son had been sold into slavery but she thought he was dead and would die, herself, before he resurfaced. A mother grieving for her child. The Matthew passage quotes the Jeremiah passage which states:
“Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’”
The image is one we carry with us, particularly this close to the remembrance of 9/11. How many mothers and fathers lost their children in that tragedy? Time and again, century after century, parents grieve the often senseless loss of their children, calling to God for a miracle, for an answer, for some kind of respite from the pain. Many are beyond consolation, like Rachel, because the pain is too much.
Fast forward to 2009 and we are faced with the unnecessary and often senseless loss of children across the globe due to hunger and hunger-related illnesses. Every day, almost 16,000 (9.7 million in 2006) children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds. Most of these deaths are attributed, not to outright starvation, but to diseases that move in on vulnerable children whose bodies have been weakened by hunger. The spreading HIV/AIDS epidemic has quickly become a major obstacle in the fight against hunger and poverty in developing countries. Food production has plummeted in those affected countries because those who are dying are young adults who would typically harvest crops. And those they leave behind are the most vulnerable: children and the elderly. By 2010 18 million children will be newly orphaned in southern Africa.
Statistics from Bread for the World.
But we don’t have to travel to the sub-Saharan Africa to find sick and hungry children. An article in Saturday’s Oregonian reported that food stamp use jumped 31% in the past year and officials expect the numbers to increase even more. 40% of those using food stamps in Oregon are under 18 years of age. The Oregon Food Bank gave out 897,000 emergency food boxes in the past year, citing pay cuts, shorter work hours, furlough days and layoffs as the reason for the big increase.
Last month’s food stamp and welfare numbers show Washington County as one of the areas of greatest need here in Oregon. In Washington County more than 39,400 people received food stamps last month. And according to the Oregonian article “depending upon the location, a family might still wait weeks before they learn whether they qualify for benefits.”
Children are vulnerable for many reasons, none of them news to us. Hunger is just one reason. Others include: Low-paying jobs. No jobs. Lack of affordable, available health care. Lack of capital for the microbusinesses generally operated by women in developing countries. Lack of birth control and information about how to use it correctly . Teen pregnancies. Sexual exploitation. Homelessness. Incarceration. Lack of adequate or meaningful education. Methamphetamine use. HIV/AIDS.
Sunday is the first Sunday of our emphasis on the Children’s Sabbath, which will culminate in the Harvest Festival the last Sunday in October. During the next several weeks we will be learning about the status of children here in Oregon. The Children’s Sabbath forum class as well as pieces of our worship services and other printed material will help us all learn about the risks to children. We will also learn about some steps we can take to help, both individually and corporately. It is essential, I believe, that we pray, educate and advocate in order tomake much-needed change.
“The understanding that we are called and that we are sent is at the foundation of our faith. The scriptures are full of stories of persons who responded to a call and were sent on mission for God. Jesus spent his ministry calling persons and sending them on God's mission. “
“Putting our faith into action is at the very heart of our Christian calling. The New Testament instructs those who would be followers of Jesus to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless, heal the sick, care for the widows, and nurture the children.”
“In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., "Everyone can be great because everyone can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't even have to make your subject and your verb agree... You only need a heart full of grace...a soul generated by love."’
So, I leave you this week with some disturbing information, a call to action challenge and a prayer that I lifted from our district newsletter. Next week I’ll write more on this subject from a little different perspective. I hope you’ll “stay tuned.”
Dear God, we are so glad that you love us! We know that Jesus loves us, and that he loves all children and wants them to be safe and healthy and cared for. Help us to find ways to help children get what they need. Amen.
Christine
Making America Stronger is a fascinating video (created before the recent economic downturn) that commemorates the 30th anniversary of the of the reforms achieved by the Food Stamp Act of 1977 by telling the story of how food stamps dramatically reduced the extent of severe hunger in our country, how they continue to help Americans in need, and how this essential program can achieve still more. Great footage of a food backpack program much like what we are supporting at Lincoln Street School. (Warning: graphic images of malnourished children.)
For youth, and all of us!
Voices of Youth: The big picture: Child Survival Today
The State of the World’s Children 2008 in 20 questions (and answers
Oregon Helps is a simple way to find out if you might be eligible for several programs that serve families and children.
Sesame Street “Happy & Healthy on Sesame Street” (4 segments). For young children – flu prevention. Cute & informative.
All about the flu for everyone. The government’s flu information site.
In the richest nation on earth, 9 million children are without health coverage and more than 13 million live in poverty.
“Children's Sabbaths movement that aims to unite religious congregations of all faiths across the nation in shared concern for children and a common commitment to improving their lives and working for justice on their behalf.
With millions of children living in poverty, lacking basic health coverage and being funneled into a pipeline to prison, we know that children in our nation desperately need change, and they need us to create change today. We must step forward now to strengthen families, call for health care for all children, and create paths of promise for every young person. Creating change for children today brings hope and a better tomorrow for all of us.
Children’s Sabbaths is an intergenerational event drawing on the leadership and involvement of all ages, because its message is that each of us, no matter our age, has a role to play in nurturing and protecting children and working for justice.
What can you do?
Pray. Set aside time each day and simply pray for the children across the globe who lack basic necessities, who are abused, who are sexually exploited and who live in war-torn areas that are unsafe and frightening to them. Light a candle each day as you pray – a reminder that our children are the light of our world and all too often that light is extinguished before they can live their full share of years. Pray a meditative prayer over and over – “Lord, help us be a safe harbor for these children.”
Christine Webb (Family Ministries Coordinator)
My mom was great on giving advice. Of course, with six daughters, it probably came pretty naturally! I’m sure I’ve walked successfully in her “advice-giving” shoes (this might not be a positive attribute!), even when I’m pretty sure my children weren’t in their best “advice-taking” modes. Some stuck, some didn’t and now, as young adults, they are often the givers and I am the receiver. The student, I am reminded, becomes the teacher.
The book of Proverbs has a uniquely Old Testament advice-giving model to it. It is a very different kind of book, part of the “Wisdom” literature. It contains advice, sayings, poetry – a little bit of everything related to living life, but it has a fairly central message: Follow God and make the right choices and you’ll live a good life, but if bad things happen to you, it’s because you made a bad or wrong choice. It’s not an uncommon sentiment to hear even today. But, there’s an out, because there is the acknowledgement that bad things do, indeed, happen to good, righteous people.
Don’t we all do that? Look for some reason, something we did, that caused ill fortune to rain down on us? And likewise, when things go well and we have life by the tail, believe somewhere down deep inside, that it’s because God favors us? We know better but somehow we just keep looking for answers, for blame. Once more I’m reminded of the lyrics from a favored musical, “The Sound of Music.” Maria, having fallen in love, can hardly believe something this wonderful has happened and she sings:
“Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good”
She must have done something good in order to be receiving this wonderful gift of love. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way, but it is what those who wrote the Proverbs believed and these passages reveal that belief, with even a prediction of death if someone does the wrong thing. And not just any death but death at the hand of God!
The Lectionary this week has three passages with separate aphorisms (short pieces of advice) contained in each. They provide surprisingly good advice we can apply to our family life.
The first pairing of verses could be admonitions to those with wealth. Verse 1 reminds us that our reputation or “name” is more important than wealth. Verse 2 refutes the notion that some people, the rich, are especially blessed by God. No, it says, the Lord made us all and that is our common bond. On a recent outing a parent of a young tween shared that it has become trendy with many of our youth to be good bargain shoppers. To that, I can only say “halleluiah!” Wouldn’t it be great if expensive clothes and gadgets was no longer a reflection of our children’s worth in their social world?
Verse 8 warns against sowing injustice. That, it claims, will reap calamity. A good word, calamity, to describe the results of much of the injustice in the world. The term “hotbed of unrest” is a result of injustice and it can be applied to families as readily as to cultures or countries. We all want our families to be safe places filled with love and support but they can sometimes become places of injustice and of anger. Verse 8 concludes with the statement that “the rod of anger will fail.” Uncontrolled anger is not productive and can be really destructive in families.
I remember a time when my daughter Alaina was a baby. She was six months old, her sister Lauren was 18 months old and Adam was not quite 8 years old. I was overwhelmed. Jeff was working long hours and traveling a lot. I was often alone with no family nearby for help or support. One incident, when I lost my patience and my temper, is seared in my memory. A kind stranger intervened and helped and I could see where my actions were headed. I got help and life improved a lot. And like the Proverb, as soon as I dealt with my anger the results of the anger on the children went away. Because I was calmer the children were less stressed. The cycle was broken.
Verse 9 reminds us that those who “share their bread with the poor” and who are generous are blessed. Verses 22 and 23 counsel us to not rob the poor just because they are poor or to “crush the afflicted at the gate.” These speak more to the cruelty of misplaced power than to theft and the writer warns that God will “despoil the life” of those who perpetrate such crimes: justice, Old Testament style.
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Pastor Gwen is going to preach on a variety of passages that pertain to wisdom. You might turn to the book of Proverbs and read through them with your children, spouse or friend. Pick some to read at random. What makes sense for your life today? What is totally impossible? Look for advice on family life – this book contains quite a bit.
Read through Proverbs and count the number of passages that contrast what a wise person does to what a foolish person does.
The history of the book of Proverbs is pretty fascinating and highlights how our understanding of sections of the Bible evolves s as scholarship reveals more of their probable history. Here are a site that relate the book’s history.
Define wisdom. What being wise means to you. How it fits into the hierarchy of attributes you prize. How does one become wise? Proverbs says that wisdom begins in “the fear of the Lord.” What do you think that means? (Hint: replace the word “fear” with “reverence”).
Here are a few interesting sites to check out:
Calming the Family Storm: Anger Management for Moms, Dads, and All the Kids (Paperback) by Gary D. McKay.
Teaching Kids to Care: Nurturing Character and Compassion (Paperback) by Bettie B. Youngs and others.
Lectionary: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Traditions!
Did you know that there are more than 700 rules contained in the Bible? 700! They govern just about everything. Some are really important, on the “follow exactly as printed” list. Some, not so much. For instance, Jesus’ Great Commandment would be right up there as would the Ten Commandments. Stoning people to death for any of the many infractions that stoning is approved in the Bible is not going on the “to do” list. The question is what to follow and what to chalk up to “another place, another time.” (See my note at the end about a book I’m reading on this subject).
I have to confess that describing and defining the Bible to children is a challenge for me. At various times I tell them various things. It’s a book filled with stories about how God has acted in people’s lives. Some of it is the ancient story of the Jewish people. Some of it is the story of Jesus’ life. It has good rules to live life by. It does have some strange elements that don’t fit very well in our present lives and we sometimes struggle to find the underlying message. Translating those messages into something that is child-friendly can be a challenge!
This week’s lectionary reading gets right to the heart of that challenge. Are the rules more important than what is in our hearts? And how can we be sure the rules or traditions don’t obscure the more important message?
Jesus is with the Pharisees and they notice that his disciples have eaten food before they washed their hands. There were all kinds of rules about how food is to be washed and about the washing of hands. According to the Pharisees the disciples are not living “according to the tradition of the elders” but are eating “with defiled hands." Jesus chastises them, accusing them by quoting Isaiah (29:13), of “teaching human precepts as doctrines,” of abandoning God’s commandment and replacing it with human tradition. Defilement, he tells them, doesn’t come from something outside, from something you eat, or do, but from inside, in the heart.
I can’t help but be reminded of the “Tradition” song in “Fiddler on the Roof:”
Tevye, the father, who in the beginning states: “Without our traditions our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on a roof, ”learns that what is in the heart can be more important than adhering blindly to traditions that may no longer make sense. But he only goes so far. He knows that it is these traditions that hold the Jewish people together, that bind them into a community, especially one under attack as his was. He notes that it is the traditions that help them “keep their balance.” There are traditions for everything: food, clothing, work, sleep. Because of the traditions, he tells the audience, each knows who he is and what God expects him to do. He doesn’t know where the traditions came from but he knows they are important!
We had very few traditions in my home growing up, and Jeff had few that were important to him, so when we moved west and began our family, we decided to start our own family traditions. We eat particular foods on certain holidays (scones and lemon curd for Christmas morning) and have a particular way we do certain things as well (a scavenger hunt to find hidden Easter baskets). For our children, these are traditions. They may only be one generation old but they help define us and give us a common set of expectations and activities that bind us together.
So, too, did many of the rules the Pharisees tried to enforce bind the Jewish people together into a distinct community. Their legalism had a genuine purpose, but Jesus is telling them that it is not the adherence to these rules that is going to set them apart as God’s people. What will mark them is what they do because of what is inside them – their love and generosity and sense of justice. Love God. Love their neighbors. Rules are OK, just don’t let them get in the way of what is really important!
So the message for this week, for our families, is pretty simple. Love each other. Reach out to love your neighbors and try to be there for each other. If you have rules, make sure they make sense and that they don’t become idols themselves, followed blindly just because they once made sense to somebody. Celebrate family traditions but do a reality check every once in awhile to make sure they, also, are still “making sense.”
Movies with themes of “clean/unclean” and/or “in/out”
“Fiddler on the Roof”
“Chocolat” (PG13)
This is one of my all-time favorite movies. The link is to a page that explains some of the themes in this movie, why they are so representative of these passages and what to watch for.
“Pleasantville” (PG13)
Click here for a list of movies that address the “clean/unclean” theme in some way:
“The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”
Site with versions of the Ten Commandments appropriate for younger and older children:
The Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs
Online article at Religon Online
Susan Jensen loaned me this book. I’m only partway through it at this point but the entire focus of the book speaks to this week’s readings. The subtitle is “One man’s humble quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible.” The author, A.J. Jacobs, is a writer and, as he describes himself, Jewish but “agnostic before I even knew what the word meant.” He decided to follow all the rules in the Bible for an entire year. The Old Testament and then the New Testament. After reading the Bible cover to cover he discovers there are more than 700 rules. They will cover every aspect of his life, from eating to bathing to talking to touching. Some are illegal. Others are impossible. He decides, after considerable study and with lots of advice, to try to follow the original intent of the law and follow that, literally. If the rule is figurative in nature he won’t obey it literally. Great read so far!
A.J. Jacobs talks about “living Biblically” for a year – funny and interesting!
Ephesians 5:6-20
Sermon: “Rules for New Life: Be Careful Out There”
Paul continues his litany on how those who are Christians should live: Don’t associate with disobedient people. Live not in the darkness, but in the light. The days are evil and everything that is dark is exposed in the light, so don’t even mention what those people who live in the darkness do. Hold up things that look like shams to see if, exposed in Christ’s light, they are worthy or frauds. Be wise and try to understand what pleases the Lord. Make the most o f every chance you have. Be filled with the Spirit, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, and give thanks for everything in Christ’s name.
What was important to Paul all those centuries ago sounds a lot like what, as Christians, we strive for today: Wisdom and understanding. Discernment. Wholeness. Effective living. Raising our voices to the Lord but also letting the Lord into our hearts where we sing and give thanks. Paying close attention, and choosing, intentionally, to lead a good and Spirit-filled life.
I've been thinking a lot this week about joy. Not just being happy, but that Spirit-filling-me-up kind of deep down sense of satisfaction and anticipation, that “making music in your heart” kind of joy that children are so incredibly capable of. It can be elusive but I think that we can recapture some of that by being more intentional, by learning to be a little more discerning. I'm going to work on that in the next few months and see if it makes a difference.
I've been thinking, too, about Jesus' life. We read a lot about his work and about how really busy he was, but sometimes I wonder - do you think Jesus was happy? Do you imagine him as a joyous, Spirit-filled person? Can you think of him guffawing, or giggling, or snorting with uncontained laughter? I don’t think we are often offered that particular vision of Christ, and that’s too bad. Christ was a man, and one we are often asked to emulate. Don’t you think that he was, at least sometimes, filled to the brim with love and laughter? I sure hope so.
Maybe my preoccupation is a residual from our Summer JAM music when we sang:
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart
Where?
Down in my heart!
Where?
Down in my heart!
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart
Down in my heart to stay
I learned a new addition to that song this summer:
And I'm so happy
So very happy
I've got the love of Jesus in my heart
Down in my heart
And I'm so happy
So very happy
I've got the love of Jesus in my heart.
The words keep running through my head: I’ve got the joy down in my heart. And I’m so happy; I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart. Could it be that, at this moment in time, that’s enough? Just that: Joy and love for Jesus in my heart? It sounds pretty simple and more than a little simplistic but at its core it’s all about moving intentionally from the darkness to the light and about choosing to lead a Spirit-filled life. From that heart-love springs wisdom, understanding and discernment. And from all of that comes, we hope, an abiding need to go out into the world to make meaningful change, or as our Methodist mantra challenges, to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!
Here’s my challenge as we prepare to come together in worship this week: Concentrate on recognizing those things that create joy and bring lightness into your life, even very simple things. Take the time to thank God for them, to make heart-music as a thanksgiving, sharing that joy in your family and with others. Help the children in your life do the same thing by noticing and sharing out loud with them. Then come to church and share a joy with at least one other person.
Fr. Patrick Brennan, who is the pastor at Holy Family parish in Inverness, Illinois, a prolific author and a noted psychotherapist, as well as somewhat of a “rabble-rouser,” was a guest on a program titled “30 Good Minutes” in 2000. The title of his talk was “Spiritual Intelligence” and, based on this week’s scripture, he identified seven “pillars” of wisdom or “Spiritual Intelligence.” His sermon is written out, and is also available as an audio presentation, at http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/brennan_4417.htm. I hope you will take the time to read, or listen to, his message.
Watch the movie “Groundhog Day” for a funny, and painful, look at a person who, living the same day over and over, becomes a better person in spite of himself.
Rated PG
Parental information at http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/parentalguide
Fill a Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for the Young Child
Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids
by Carol Mccloud
Raising Charitable Children
by Carol Weisman
Building a Joyful Life With Your Child Who Has Special Needs
by Nancy J. Whiteman
They Come Back Singing: Finding God With the Refugees
by Gary Smith
Thanks to everyone who e-mailed me with dates for acolyting. We still need more signups so check the acolyte board at church for available dates.
Mark your calendars for Rally Day! It’s September 13 at 9AM. There will be lots of great food and information about all the programs and activities planned for 2009/10 – classes, book studies, outreach programs, social gatherings, etc. Be sure to come – and bring a friend!
HUMY: next activity is our trip to the State Fair on Monday, August 31. Be at the church at 10 AM. Please RSVP if your child or family plans to go. We will be taking the church bus and need to know how many will be going. Families are invited to come with their youth.
See you in church!
Christine
Rev. Amy Jo Jones will be preaching this Sunday
Sermon title: “How to handle rejection”We learned last week about how Jesus was rejected in his hometown and how he then left to go to other places to preach. He “called the twelve” and sent them out, two by two, to preach, to gather the people of God. He laid down very specific rules about how they were to present themselves and what they were to do. In The Message Bible the apostles are told this: 8-9"Don't think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment. No special appeals for funds. Keep it simple. 10"And no luxury inns. Get a modest place and be content there until you leave.”
Jesus also gave them special authority to heal the sick and to cast out demons. In The Message we get a sense of what they actually did: “12-13Then they were on the road. They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.”
The writers of WEEKLY SEEDS write: “Jesus knows that the journey and the work will be hard, but he sends his "agents" out with very little besides the good news and each other, and a stick, perhaps for safety, perhaps for support.” http://i.ucc.org/StretchYourMind/OpeningtheBible/WeeklySeeds/tabid/81/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/208/Sent-with-Power.aspx. In other words, they were to travel light and stick to the program!
Jesus turned his back on Nazareth and gave his disciples permission to do the same thing if they encountered a lack of hospitality. He said that if they were not welcomed they should “11… quietly withdraw. Don't make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way."(The Message). The words used in the NRSV translation are “shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” That “shaking off of dust” refers to the Jewish religious leaders’ custom of shaking the dust off their feet after they had to travel through a Gentile town. They didn’t want even that small contamination to be carried with them. Jesus was pretty clearly telling the disciples to give it their best shot, to be good guests, but if there was no fertile ground to plant the seeds of faith to not waste their time but to move on. They weren’t to carry the “reminder” of any town’s rejection with them but to acknowledge it and then leave it behind.
I’ve been reading a wonderful book titled “Living in God’s Time” by Margaret McMillan Persky. The subtitle is “A Parent’s Guide to Nurturing Children Throughout the Christian Year.” There are so many lovely little pearls of wisdom in this book – even just the inviting tone of the author’s writing. Reassuring. Thoughtful. Supportive. She makes an interesting distinction between “intentional” and “unintentional” faith shaping. Intentional faith shaping, Persky writes, “occurs when we make conscious decisions to act, believing that these decisions will form others and us in the image of God.” Actions like choosing to attend church or having our children attend youth group or confirmation class are intentionally faith shaping, as are decisions about how we spend our money, or discipline our children. Unintentional faith shaping occurs when “our children watch us relating to others, resolving conflict and managing money. It occurs when we do not make conscious decisions about shaping, or even take time to evaluate how actions and events shape others around us or ourselves.” Her book encourages parents to enter more into the intentional realm with a goal of giving direction “to your desire to see your child shaped into a young person and adult aware of living in God’s presence.” She also encourages the use of Bible stories as a means of discussing the important aspects of our lives, to use them as a springboard for telling our own stories and our family stories, always “intentionally” looking for God in our lives.
The apostles went out into the world to intentionally shape the faith of those they encountered. We go out into the world in very much the same way, but I think we carry with us a lot more “baggage.” Sometimes we take on too much and get bogged down in a million details. Sometimes we end up in toxic situations and don’t “shake off the dust” because we feel compelled to continue doing something even though it isn’t bearing any fruit. And sometimes we just lose our way because, let’s face it, life is complicated and living doesn’t exactly come with a set of specific instructions. But there is much in this story that can guide us. We can take to heart Jesus’ instructions to “travel light” by winnowing out the things that aren’t really working in our lives and fully embracing the things that are. We can “shake off the dust” of past events, encounters or relationships that continue to haunt us with regret or guilt or other types of pain. Alexander Graham Bell once said “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Intentionally closing that door and moving on can open our lives and hearts to new possibilities. Finally, we can be part of a faith community that gives us support and encouragement, much like the disciples provided each other, remembering that Jesus intentionally sent them out in pairs. And we can do all this intentionally, in the presence of our children, providing for them a model for doing the same thing in their lives -- a little “intentional faith shaping!”
A book-list for ministry with young children: http://blogs.gbod.org/younger_children/younger-children-book-list/
A short article on faith development in children: http://www.gbod.org/ministries/children/articles.asp?item_id=12357
An article on comparing The Chronicles of Narnia with Biblical concepts: http://www.gbod.org/ministries/children/articles.asp?item_id=15297
Remember to sign up for our newly formatted VBS: “Summer J.A.M.” You can do it online or send an e-mail to Laura at Laura@hillsboroumc.org. We’ll be learning more of the “Stories of Jesus” through drama, activities and singing. Designed for the whole family! July 21-23 in the evenings. Dinner is provided.
We have a couple of needs for Summer J.A.M.:
1. Someone to lead some group games each evening.
2. A couple of canopies for outdoor stations.
3. Set-up and clean-up crews.
4. A guitarist for about a half hour each night.
5. A childcare provider for infants for all 3 nights.
Parents of youth be sure to get in touch with Linda Clarkson about the B1 Hunger program. It will be happening concurrently with Summer J.A.M. and it is going to be truly transformative for our youth. lcclarkson@aol.com
The Acolyte sign-up sheet is in the Fireside Room. Please have your children who are acolytes sign up.
Hope you’re all having a fun summer!
Christine
Mark 6: 1-6
"He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” 5And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6And he was amazed at their unbelief."
This passage highlights the very “human” characteristics of Jesus. He goes home and is treated like anybody else. Not the Messiah. Not the Prophet. Just the son of Mary and brother of his siblings. They hold him in so little regard because they assume they know him and know all about him. Consequently, because of their lack of faith, he “could do no deed of power.” In this moment he is very like us – so human. Their disbelief was a huge stumbling block for Jesus. And Jesus’ humanity was a huge stumbling block for them. So not a lot got communicated that day.
The people were astounded and Jesus was amazed – and not in a particularly good way because they left offended and Jesus left disappointed. He was, they believed, “just” a carpenter, a hometown boy, and they just couldn’t get past that. Jesus, the text says, “could do no deed of power there.” Well, except curing a few sick people (not exactly small potatoes in my opinion).
Big question number 1: Is faith required in order for miracles to happen? In other words, does lack of faith, or even lack of an open-ness to belief, hinder Jesus’ ability to work through us to make things happen?
Big question number 2: How often do our own pre-conceived notions about something or someone keep us from hearing clearly what they have to communicate or clearly perceiving the gifts they have to offer?
I don’t have a lot of answers except to be open to God’s daily messages, and not just those that seem to have the blinking neon sign “God speaking!” highlighting them. And not just the spoken or whispered voice but actions as well. Frederick Buechner (author of Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner and a whole slew of other books) writes: “The meaning of an incarnate word is the meaning that it has for the one it is spoken to, the meaning that becomes clear and effective in our lives only when we ferret it our for ourselves.” God’s words are unique for each of us.
Do our children open themselves to those words more easily because they have less life baggage through which it filters? I believe they do. They don’t rely so much on the written word. They have to actively deal, on a really regular basis, with other children who say pretty much whatever they are thinking or feeling – some of which is painful or anger-provoking to the recipients. They are open to joy in a way that we seem to lose as we age. Their filters are less mature and less comprehensive. In other words, they can be passionately and uniquely open to the Holy Spirit. And they just might share some of that with us if we ask. This story of Jesus’ rejection is a good one to share with them to start a conversation about prejudice and making assumptions. Also, for older children, about Jesus’ humanity and the doing of miracles. And the message for our youngest? God loves them and they are each made uniquely by God as a very special person, as is every other person.
We can help children continue to be open to God’s message as they mature by helping them to mature with as little prejudice as possible. The people of Nazareth missed out on Jesus’ unique message because they just couldn’t get past who they perceived him to be. They limited his impact on their lives and made him feel bad in the process.
Language is so incredibly important to children and the language we use with them will impact them all their lives. If we are positive and inclusive and passionate with our communications they will absorb that and it will provide a framework, be a part of how they live their lives and how they see the world. Spend a day or two being intentional about how you are using language to describe or discuss events of the day – how your word choices and the nuances of your conversation influence how the children in your life perceive their own lives and the lives of those around them.
And let’s not forget the impact of TV and video games. They can have a marked impact on children, particularly video games where participants repeatedly act out violent activities. Here’s an article from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation you should read if there are young people in your life who are spending hours each day “plugged in.” http://www.pamf.org/preteen/parents/videogames.html
Barbara Schultz always asks me “How goes it with your soul?” Not how am I doing or how am I feeling or even how things are going - just “How goes it with your soul?” You can do a soul check-in with yourselves and your kids. Help them to learn how to take a few minutes to really think about how their soul “is” at that particular point in time, to learn how to gauge their “soul health.”
Several of us are representing the church and giving out water on Saturday during the parade. We’ll be sitting in front of the Pharmacy. Stop by and say hello!
We have an ongoing need for acolytes. You can e-mail me or sign up on the board in the Fireside Room.
We’re excited to have Sarah Richard teaching our Morning J.A.M. class on Sunday. She’s fun and interesting and I’m sure the class will be great!
Don’t forget to sign up for “Summer J.A.M.: Tell me the stories of Jesus” (VBS). You can e-mail me or the office or sign up in the Fellowship Hall. It’s July 21-23 at 5:30 in the evening. All ages are welcome but children must be accompanied by an adult. Bring a friend or neighbor. We had a planning meeting last night and it going to be fabulous!!!
The B1 Hunger awareness event for youth will take place beginning the first night of Summer J.A.M. (VBS). For 6th grade (in the fall) and up. Again, another really meaningful and exciting event for our kids. You can sign up through the office.
Connie Tripp and I are going to be Family Friends with the Creation Vacation camp program Sunday through Tuesday at Camp Magruder. We are so excited and will have much to report when we get back.
HUMY (youth group): Help make dinner for Family Bridge on Sunday at 5PM then stay for dinner. You’ll be cooking with Jeff and Penny, two wonderful and fun people!
See you soon!
Christine
Pastor Gwen's Sermon will be “Choose Courage”
Read from The Message:
Mark 4: 26-28 “Then Jesus said, "God's kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain. When the grain is fully formed, he reaps—harvest time!”
Read from The Message:
2 Corinthians 4: 16 - 5:10 ”So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.”
1-5For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less.
6-8That's why we live with such good cheer. You won't see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don't get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.
9-10But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that's what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we'll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what's coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.
I love the contemporary language of “The Message” Bible. In this case it really helps dramatize Paul’s message of hope and courage and Mark’s message of faith.Think of all the seeds Paul planted in his time of ministry and how here we are today, a couple of centuries later, reading words that continue to reassure and inform us. Regardless of the difficulties we face we can face them knowing that someday we will have “spacious living conditions” in God’s kingdom. We are called to “cheerfully please God.”
We are the “fully formed grain" that grew from the seeds of the early church. And a couple of centuries from now, what will be the harvest of our seed-casting? We won’t ever know, but Mark tells us that we should go ahead and do the work of planting our fields and God will do the rest. But we don’t have to do all the work and we don’t have to have assurances of the results. It’s a partnership with God and we just have to have faith!
So, we are called to do our best to serve and please God, diligently spreading our seeds of belief as we go, and then depend on God to nurture and bring to maturity our crop and to make a space for us in the kingdom of heaven. Sounds pretty good to me. Maybe not always easy but do-able. And, from my perspective, most of those seeds need to be cast in the hearts and minds of our children. Such fertile fields!
At the heart of our Family Ministries program is faith formation. Our commitment is to help your family create a home filled with faith, to support the parents and grandparents, and other family members as they strive to transmit their faith to the children in their lives.
Take the responsibility for faith formation seriously. It can easily take a back burner to sports and school and a myriad of other activities. Too busy to pray? Too busy to come to church? Too busy to share your faith with your children? If that is the case you might want to re-think your priorities. You only get one shot at this with your kids and they will emulate your priorities and your commitments. Really think about what you want them to learn and believe and then make it happen!
As they mature, help them grow into their faith. Encourage their questions and help them to find answers. Be beside them on their faith journey. Share stories about your own journey. Reassure them that questioning is a normal part of growth.
Pray with and for them every day. I have a wonderful new book titled “Praying in color” that I am going to share with the children. It is about praying while you “doodle.” Great tool for all those wiggly pray-ers. There is even an adult version!
Make certain they have a Bible that is appropriate for their ages and read it to and with them.
Keep it simple and “practice what you preach.”
Work at growing your own faith. Few things are as compelling for children as watching their parents and learning from their example.
Bring your children (grandchildren, niece or nephew, neighbor child) to church. Surrounded by other children and adults who are all seeking a closer connection to Jesus can have a powerfully reaffirming impact on children, even if they don’t fully understand (do any of us really?) what is happening.
And if there's any way the church can help with your efforts at home please let us know. We have all kinds of resources and I am always thrilled to be asked to help in some way!
Acolytes needed for this Sunday. Remember they will be honored on June 28th so put that date on your calendar!
Put our VBS: Summer J.A.M. on your calendar. It’s July 21-23 in the evening. Sign up through the church office or online at the church’s website: http://www.hillsboroumc.org/ We still need a lot of volunteers. E-mail me (Christine@hillsboroumc.org) or sign up on the sheets in the Fellowship Hall.
Christine
Trinity Sunday
Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm 29
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17
“To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; to seek Him, the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest human achievement." ~St. Augustine
I work with children a lot, so breaking difficult concepts into smaller, more easily digested “chunks” of information is something I think I’m pretty good at. But I’ll admit that the most difficult concept for me, as a Christian and as an educator, is that of the Triune God. We’ve spent a lot of time this past year learning about the Trinitarian aspects of God, especially that of the Holy Spirit. We’ve seen and created great pieces of art, written poetry, read and even acted out scripture. The kids seem to get it. They accept it on faith. They don’t over-think too much and they don’t try to pick apart the pieces. They just “get it.” It’s a faith thing that they’re really good at! As adults perhaps we should emulate the kids a little more and try to just accept and appreciate.
Jan Richardson, a talented writer and artist, in her eloquent and inspiring blog “The Painted Prayerbook,” encourages us, in her article “Trinity Sunday: A spiral-shaped God,” to consider the Celtic triple-spiral as an image to represent the triune nature of God. “It evokes the God who both exists in a dynamic wholeness within itself yet also reaches out (or is it in?) to embrace us,” she writes. She also writes that we should consider, instead of trying to “understand” the trinity, just taking the time to praise and adore God! If you love imagery and art of a spiritual nature, you will definitely want to read her piece.
How do we adore God? It’s kind of an old-fashioned word - “adore.” It means to love intensely, but I’m kind of caught up with some of the synonyms for adore: to be crazy about, to be mad for, to be nuts about, to be smitten with, to cherish, to delight in, to treasure, to venerate and to revere. It would be interesting to talk to and to ask children what they think the word adore means. You could remind them of the Christmas carol lyrics “Oh, come let us adore him.” Adoring is pretty emotional. You don’t adore one that you just know about. You adore the One you know, the One who knows you! Replacing adore with any of the synonyms can make us consider and reconsider what we’re actually singing about. Imagine singing “Oh come, let us delight in him,” or “Oh come let us be nuts about him.”
Here are some activities you can try
Write a poem!
We wrote a Swahili Tendi poem in Family Sunday school last week, about Pentecost. You might try to write one about adoring the many aspects of God. The rules are that there are 4 lines. Each line has 8 syllables. The last words of each of the first 3 lines rhyme with each other. The last line doesn’t rhyme but if there is more than one stanza the last words of the last lines rhyme, stanza to stanza. Here is the poem we wrote in class:
There were two tongues of bright red flame
on the apostles’ heads they came
those fiery flames caused them no pain
and gained three thousand believers!
Read a song. This is a collection of hymns by John Wesley, organized by topic, copyright 1889, titled “A COLLECTION OF HYMNS, FOR THE USE OF THE PEOPLE CALLED METHODISTS.” Listen to a song “Let us adore” by the group Hillsong (contemporary Christian music)on YouTube: “I adore” by the same group And, of course the scene from Sister Act 2 where high school students sing and dance to“Joyful, Joyful”.
Pray a Psalm: "I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips" (34:1); "I sing praise to you; you, 0 God, are my fortress, my loving God" (59:17); "Praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord; praise him, you servants of the Lord" (135:1).
Read about a chapel where parishioners have spent more than 472,000 hours in perpetual adoration of God.
St. Judes.
Learn about an art piece, The Holy Trinity, by Andrei Rublev. (Ca.1410-20),which is considered the “most perfect of Russian icons.” This page also has a lengthy and interesting history of theological understanding of the concept of the trinity.
This week in The J.A.M. (Our new name for family-style Sunday school)
Help to create a Scripture Sequence illustration for the Narthex as we learn about the history of how we “got” the Bible. We have a new theme (Scripture) and new music this week! Everyone is welcome. 8:45 for Sunday Snack, 8:55 for the morning blessing and 9AM for The J.A.M.
We currently have no acolytes signed up for the entire summer. Please check your calendar to see when your children are available. You can sign up on the board or just e-mail Christine.
June 28 will be “Recognition Sunday” where all graduates, and our acolytes from this past year, will be recognized in worship.
The Summer J.A.M. is the name of our re-conditioned, intergenerational Vacation Bible School. We will be meeting three evenings this summer: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, July 21, 22, and 23. Please save the dates on your calendar. Our theme is “Tell me the stories of Jesus.” We’ll start at 5:30PM with dinner together, have lots of music, drama and activities, then end with a campfire each night. There is no charge but we encourage preregistration by calling or e-mailing the church office. Children are required to have adults attending with them.
See you Sunday!
Christine