http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/ Andy's Blog: A Personal Word en hsmith@trinity-umc.org Copyright 2008 2008-05-14T15:26:01-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/may_14/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news_andys_blog/may_14/#When:14:26:01Z At the beginning of Mitch Albom’s novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Albom says “All endings are beginnings, there are endless chapters in our book.” This is a time of year for endings and beginnings. Students will graduate from high school and college – closing one chapter and beginning a new chapter of life. For parents, a chapter of their lives with their children has also ended and a new one begins. It is a bittersweet time filled with both excitement and fear, gratitude and regret, anticipation and longing.  Life is filled with endings and beginnings. Something must end, for something new to begin. Albom talks about three stages in these transitions: First, there is a time of ending when things are closing down, or finishing a cycle. Endings can bring a sense of accomplishment and gratitude.  But they can also bring a sense of loss that must be grieved. Second, there is fallow time, when nothing seems to be happening. This can be frightening and confusing, when we know something has ended but we are unsure of what is beginning. In the Exodus story, the Jewish people escaped from slavery – only to enter a time of wandering in the wilderness.  Thirdly there is a time of new beginning, as we feel our way into an unknown future.  Rachael Carson has written that, “Beginnings are apt to be shadowy.” Because they are new, we can’t always anticipate the shape of this beginning.  Some thoughts on how we handle endings and beginnings: • Life is a journey not a destination. It’s one of those sayings that has almost become trite, but it is true. We never truly arrive. Each stage of life has its own potentials and challenges, it’s own richness. Enjoy the ride. Stay alive to the possibilities. Expect change.  • Be patient with yourself in the fallow times. There will be times when we feel a little lost and confused. We don’t have to have everything nailed down - done and for all. So relax! All beginnings are somewhat strange; but we must have patience, and little by little, we shall find things, which at first were obscure, becoming clearer, wrote Vincent De Paul.  • Grieve your losses. Celebrate your accomplishments. And then let go and move on. Don’t get stuck in what has been. Christian faith is future oriented. The “glory days” are not behind us but ahead of us. Do something, get started even if the first steps are tentative and unsure.  You have to begin somewhere. • Stay connected to people, to God. Life is not a journey we have to or should make alone. It is a journey best made with companions. Seek guidance, advice, and support.  • Trust that all of life is in God’s care and keeping.  Jesus said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.” We may sometimes feel lost, but we are never lost to God. The God of Jesus specializes in turning endings into beginnings.  All beginnings are somewhat strange; but we must have patience, and little by little, we shall find things, which at first were obscure, becoming clearer. ~ Vincent De Paul Glory days are not behind. Life is more a journey than a destination. Stay alive to it. 2008-05-14T14:26:01-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/may_7_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news_andys_blog/may_7_2008/#When:20:00:01Z The late Erma Bombeck was one of my favorite columnists. She was a very funny lady, a gifted writer and a devoted Christian. She had lots to say about being a mother. Some of my favorites: • Spend at least one Mother’s Day with your respective mothers before you decide on marriage. If a man gives his mother a gift certificate for a flu shot, dump him. • My kids always perceived the bathroom as a place where you wait it out until all the groceries are unloaded from the car. • Making coffee has become the great compromise of the decade. It’s the only thing “real” men do that doesn’t seem to threaten their masculinity. To women, it’s on the same domestic entry level as putting the spring back into the toilet-tissue holder or taking a chicken out of the freezer to thaw. • Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After twenty-two years of child-rearing, they are unemployed. • Marriage has no guarantees. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a car battery. • Mother’s words of wisdom: “Answer me! Don’t talk with food in your mouth!” • Most children’s first words are “Mama” or “Daddy.” Mine were, “Do I have to use my own money?” • Mothers have to remember what food each child likes or dislikes, which one is allergic to penicillin and hamster fur, who gets carsick and who isn’t kidding when he stands outside the bathroom door and tells you what’s going to happen if he doesn’t get in right away. It’s tough. If they all have the same hair color they tend to run together. • When your mother asks, “Do you want a piece of advice?” it’s a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway. Being a mother takes a good sense of humor, along with patience, wisdom, compassion, perseverance, raw energy – and most of all love. Don’t forget to call, see, hug or write your Mom on Mother’s Day! 2008-05-07T20:00:01-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/april_30_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news_andys_blog/april_30_2008/#When:13:35:00Z Thinking about children and faith again, a recent study conducted by sociologist John Bartkowski, at Mississippi State University found that kids whose parents are actively involved in their faith are better adjusted and better behaved than others. Parents and teachers of more than 16,000 kids, most of them first-graders, were asked to rate how much self-control they believed the kids had, how often they exhibited poor or unhappy behavior and how well they respected and worked with their peers. The researchers compared these scores to how frequently the children’s parents said they attended worship services and talked about religion with their child. The kids whose parents regularly attended religious services – especially when both parents did so frequently – and talked with their kids about religion were rated by both parents and teachers as having better self-control, social skills and approaches to learning than kids with non-religious parents. Why so good? Bartkowski thinks religion can be good for kids for three reasons: First, religious networks provide social support to parents and this can improve their parenting skills. Children who are brought into such networks and hear parental messages reinforced by other adults may also “take more to heart the messages that they get in the home,” Bartkowski said. Secondly, the types of values and norms that circulate in religious congregations tend to be self-sacrificing and supportive of family. Bartkowski reported that these “could be very, very important in shaping how parents relate to their kids, and then how children develop in response.” Finally, religious organizations imbue parenting with sacred meaning and significance, he said. At Trinity, rarely a Sunday goes by that we don’t baptize a child. There is something very special about this for me. In this act of God’s promise to love this child always, the parents promise to share God’s love with their child, and the entire congregation’s promise to share in that responsibility, all come together. That’s a whole lot of promises coming together. And apparently when we all keep those promises, it works!  Children are enabled to fulfill the promise of their own lives. Faithful parents, raise faithful kids. 2008-04-30T13:35:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/april_23/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news_andys_blog/april_23/#When:17:07:00Z Children! That seemed to be our theme on Sunday. Our Children’s Choirs sang in worship and presented a wonderful concert on Sunday evening. We baptized two babies at the early service. At the 11 AM service, we had Baby Recognition for children born in 2007 with forty families present, babies in tow. One of the great privileges and responsibilities we have as a church is to nurture the children God has entrusted. Whenever a child in baptized at Trinity, the parents make a promise to nurture their child in the faith so that they may be guided to accept God’s grace for themselves. Then we, as an entire congregation, make a promise to surround this child with steadfast love that they may be “established in the faith, and confirmed and strengthened in the way that leads to life eternal.” These are sacred promises. Promises which all of us should take to heart. Every child is a gift of God to be treasured and nurtured. It takes a church to raise a child. Given all the pressures of our society and all the things that our children will be exposed to – it behooves us to be the kind of place where they are grounded in the grace of God.  We are fortunate at Trinity to have an outstanding children’s ministry. Our staff and lay people do a great job. But what we do can only support what is done at home.  Study after study has shown us that the most powerful predictor of a person’s growing to maturity in faith is the faith of his/her parents. In this, as in so many other ways, children follow our example.  Deuteronomy 6 contains the shema, the daily prayer to be said by God’s people: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. It takes a family and a church to raise a child in faith. 2008-04-23T17:07:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/april_16_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news_andys_blog/april_16_2008/#When:13:59:00Z We Methodist have sometimes been accused of being “do-gooders.” If by that people mean we believe that faithfulness to the way Jesus calls us to be actively engaged in doing good in the world – then we are guilty as charged. Whether it was feeding the hungry, healing the sick, offering hope to the hopeless, or challenging oppressive power – Jesus went about doing good.  Ours is not a privitistic faith of just “God and me.” John Wesley insisted there was no Christianity except “social Christianity.” “Whenever religion can be concealed it is not Christianity,” he wrote. It is not surprising then that, of the three “general rules” he laid down for the early Methodist societies, the second was simply to do good. As a result, we have been busy people. In our history in this nation, Methodists have founded more colleges and universities than any other denomination, and today has more church-related colleges than any other protestant group. We have helped to pioneer work with children as seen in the more than 74 institutions in our nation that provide services to youth and children. In our own state, we have been the largest provider of residential care for children for many years. Beginning in the last century, the church rolled up its sleeves to offer care to the sick, particularly among the poor. This grew into more than 60 Methodist-related hospitals across the country. Methodist people have built more Habitat houses than any other group. We sponsor more scouting groups.  We have one of the largest networks of retirement homes in our state. We provide residential care for mentally challenged adults, and camps for exceptional children. And the list goes on….. Doing good is part of the Method to Methodism. 2008-04-16T13:59:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/april_9_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news_andys_blog/april_9_2008/#When:14:28:00Z Every now and then someone will ask me, “Why are we called Methodists?” It’s a good question. Methodist is a rather odd name for a denomination. Say “Church of Christ” – there’s a name that’s self-explanatory. The Presbyterians get their name from their form of church government based upon the New Testament word “presbyter.” Lutherans have Martin Luther to thank for their name. Even those “non-denominational community” churches sound a bit more user friendly than “Methodist.” So what is it with this name? Well, actually it began as a term of derision. When John Wesley (our Martin Luther) was a professor/student at Oxford University in England, he started a Bible study/prayer group which he called the “Holy Club.” This group met frequently for study, prayer, and acts of service. They did strange things like receive communion weekly, visit the city prison, give a portion of their meager funds for widows and children and held each other accountable for their Christian walk. Other students began to make fun of them, calling them “Bible moths” and “Methodists” because they were so methodical in their faith. The name Methodist stuck and became the brand name for a Christian movement which now encompasses more than 50 million people around the world. Wesley’s intention from the beginning was practical – how do we live as Christians?  Methodism did not begin in a theological disagreement, but in an attempt to bring the Gospel to bear on life. Our DNA has been a vital link between Christian doctrine and Christian living – talking the talk AND walking the walk.  To help in walking the walk, Wesley developed “rules for Christian living.” He knew that we needed help to live a good and holy life in a world such as ours. His intent was to foster those Christian practices that would lead to faithfulness and to the way of Jesus. Some of the specific injunctions sound quaint to us today, but they are all summed up under three basic rules: 1) Do no harm 2) Do good 3) Stay in love with God. For Methodist Christians, these three “rules” offer a basic pattern for the Christian life that is as valid now as it was in Wesley’s day.  Join us over the next three weeks for a Sermon Series entitled “The Method.” 2008-04-09T14:28:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/march_26_2007/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news_andys_blog/march_26_2007/#When:06:31:00Z James Dean, our Jack Russell Terrier, doesn’t know he is suppose to follow me when I walk him. I watch other dog owners with their dogs walking obediently by their side and think, that’s the way it is suppose to be. But not my dog. In fact, he doesn’t know I am the one walking him. He thinks it’s the other way around. He pulls me along, looking back at me every now and then as if to say, “Hurry up. Why are you so slow? I’ve got places to go!” It is interesting that in Matthew’s account of the resurrection, the only words the risen Christ speaks to the women at the tomb, are “Do not be afraid, go and tell my brother to go to Galilee, there they will see me.” In other words, “Tell them to quit feeling sorry for themselves and get a move on. We’ve got work to do.” Jesus doesn’t hang around in the cemetery. He is alive in the world, on the move.  He takes the lead as he always does, pulling us along – yanking us back to life.  The cross didn’t tame him, or deter him. I love the old hymn, “he walks with me and he talks with me and tells me I am his own,” but I am not sure this hymn is biblical. In the Bible, Jesus is mostly walking out front, taking the lead, calling us to follow him.  He walks us, we don’t walk him. 2008-03-26T06:31:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/march_19_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news_andys_blog/march_19_2008/#When:06:36:00Z When our daughter Meredith was four years old, we signed her up for Powder Puff Little League Ball. She wanted to play because her brother played ball. And I suspect, she liked the idea of getting a uniform!  The day she got her uniform she paraded around the house, very proud of herself.  She called her grandmother and said, “Come and see me.” During her bedtime prayers she adlibbed, “Bless Meredith and help her win her game.” The next morning when she woke up, she was bright eyed, excited and filled with anticipation. “It,s already tomorrow, and I get to play my game.” I can’t really think of a better summation of the Easter message than that. Because Jesus who died our death, was raised by the power of God, it means that it is already tomorrow.  The past of sin, brokenness, defeat, denial and death are over. God has made possible a new future for all of creation.  Now we get to play the game. We get to live as though the future was already here.  WE get to proclaim that though the wrong seems often to strong, God is the ruler yet.  WE get to live the truth that nothing in life or death can defeat God’s love for us and for God’s creation. It’s already tomorrow… 2008-03-19T06:36:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/march_12_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news_andys_blog/march_12_2008/#When:06:00:01Z When I was a child, one of the TV shows I never missed was the Lone Ranger. The basic plot was the same every week. The Lone Ranger would come riding into a town where something bad was happening and straighten it out. And then, he would ride off into the sunset, and someone standing there watching would say, “Who was that masked man?” That is the question that Jesus’ followers asked of him. During his lifetime, even his closest friends did not get it, did not get him. They were always misunderstanding, saying and doing stupid things – like trying to keep children away from him or prevent him from going to Jerusalem. It was only later, after everything was said and done, after cross and resurrection, that they began to understand who he was. We have been looking at Jesus during Lent. We began with the obvious; he was a man, a teacher, a healer, and a friend. But the closer we get to the final acts, the closer we get to Jerusalem and the cross. We see that he was something more, and other words, tiles and images come into play. One of those words is “Savior.” This week, we will follow Jesus from his Palm Sunday triumph to the humiliation of Good Friday – and to talk about it, we must use the word “Savior.” 2008-03-12T06:00:01-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/march_5_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news_andys_blog/march_5_2008/#When:19:03:00Z George Buttrick, former chaplain at Harvard, recalls that students would sometimes come into his office, plop down on a chair and declare, “I don’t believe in God.” Buttrick would give this disarming reply, “Sit down and tell me what kind of God you don’t believe in. I probably don’t believe in that God either.” Then Buttrick would talk about Jesus, the corrective to all our assumptions about God.  During Lent, we have been taking a fresh look at Jesus. We have considered Jesus as a human being and explored his roles as teacher, healer and friend. He is all of these, but according to the scriptures and the testimony of the church, Jesus is also the Son of God. This is where we leave some people behind. Most would grant that Jesus was a great teacher. Some would allow that he was a healer of some sorts. And surely, he seemed to care about people. But the notion that Jesus is the Son of God is a leap they are not prepared to make. In the words of the song sung by Mary Magdalene, in the rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, “He’s a man, he’s just a man….” And that’s how we should leave it. The problem is that the gospels do not leave it there. They are all in agreement with the words of the centurion who stood at the foot of the cross and declared, “Truly this man was God’s son.” In fact, it is doubtful that the gospels would have been written at all if the writers had thought that Jesus was just another good man struck down before his time. It would take the church four centuries to define the nature of Jesus’ divinity, but from the beginning there was no doubt that somehow in this man Jesus, God was present in a unique way.  Jesus does indeed correct all our assumptions about God.  We Christians cannot use the name God without using the name Jesus in the same breath.  2008-03-05T19:03:00-06:00