Friday, October 26, 2012

Word on the Street

This past weekend I attended three very different worship experiences. Most weekends I attend four unique worship services at Grace Avenue but this was different in that I did not lead at any of the services I attended. I came away renewed by each experience.

The first worship service was Saturday evening in Ennis, TX. It was the wedding of our Co-Youth Minister Christopher Vaughan and his beautiful bride Caitlin. Often we forget that a marriage ceremony, in the Christian context, is first of all a service of worship. Christopher and Caitlin did not forget. Instead they chose to honor God and begin their life together with prayer and praise. Dr. Jim Moore did a beautiful job of leading the service and the most touching part for me came when we all walked to the front of the sanctuary and were served Holy Communion by the bride and groom.

Sunday morning at 9:09 am (that is the starting time, not the time I arrived just in case you were wondering) I attended a new worship experience at St. Andrew UMC called The Well. It too was prayer and praise but with an ultra contemporary style. Those who led the worship were all in their 20's and their passion for their faith in Jesus was extremely evident. Although different from what I am accustomed to, I felt very much welcomed and in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Rev. Arthur Jones preached a terrific sermon called "Storage Wars: the battle for our hearts" in which he spoke about the passage from Matthew 6:21 which says "where your treasure is there will your heart be also." Yes friends, even the ultra contemporary talk about stewardship and the proper uses of God's resources including money in church. I was blessed by the whole experience.

By 11:00 am I was back home; at Grace Avenue. Here I was blessed to be involved in the baptism of an eight month old child. Then I was able to sit where you sit, sing where you sing and pray where you pray. It was an amazing experience. Joe Stobaugh's sermon from Job about the presence and wisdom of God brought it all together for me.

It reminded me that every week, actually every day, God is worshipped in a variety of styles, languages and places. We would do well to remember that the Lord's Prayer does not begin with the words: "My Father" but rather, "Our Father". I thank God that we can express our love for God in so many ways.
 
Where and how will you be expressing your love for God this week?

Friday, October 19, 2012

Word on the Street


Do you ever find yourself wishing you could trade places with someone else? It is easy sometimes to look out on the lives of others and declare: "Well sure I could do what they do if I had what they have." With such beliefs, envy and jealously soon creep into our lives. We become bitter and believe that the inequity of life is some kind of cosmic cruelty toward us.


At other times we count our blessings on the troubles of others. We say; "Life is not all I want it to be but at least I'm not having the problems of some others I know." With this approach we often become fatalistic. We wonder when will it be our turn to experience misery and suffering.
 
The bottom line is that we cannot live someone else's life. This is why Jesus taught us not to judge others (Matthew 7: 1-5) and to "Seek first the Kingdom of God." (Matthew 6:33). We must be faithful to the course that God has charted for us.
 
When Albert Einstein was making the rounds of the speaker's circuit, he usually found himself eagerly longing to get back to his laboratory work. One night, while driving to yet another dinner, Einstein mentioned to his chauffeur (a man who somewhat resembled Einstein in looks and manner) that he was tired of speechmaking.

"I have an idea, boss," his chauffeur said. "I've heard you give this speech so many times, I'll bet I could give it for you."

Einstein laughed loudly and said, "Why not? Let's do it!"

When they arrived at the dinner, Einstein donned the chauffeur's cap and jacket and sat in the back of the room. The chauffeur gave a beautiful rendition of Einstein's speech and even answered a few questions expertly.

Then a supremely pompous professor asked an extremely esoteric question about antimatter formation, digressing here and there to let everyone in the audience know that he was nobody's fool.

Without missing a beat, the chauffeur fixed the professor with a steely stare and said, "Sir, the answer to that question is so simple that I will let my chauffeur, who is sitting in the back, answer it for me."

Who's life are you trying to live this week?

Friday, October 12, 2012

Word on the Street

For the past several weeks we have been very excited to see the progress on the outside of the new building. It is beautiful outside and we are thrilled with the way it looks when people drive by or onto the property. You may, however, be wondering about how things are progressing on the inside. This weekend at church you will have an opportunity to see firsthand the great progress that is being made on the inside of the new building.
The building committee of Grace Avenue United Methodist Church will be hosting tours of the inside of the new building this weekend. Tours will be Saturday night before and after the 5:30pm service and Sunday morning continuously from 8:15am-12:30pm. The tours will be guided by members of the building committee. Please check in for your tour in the learning center lobby. Each tour should last around 15-20 minutes.

While on your tour, you will have opportunities to see the various rooms in the new building, ask questions about the new building and continue to see opportunities of furnishings that the new building will need. If you have not yet made your from the heart commitment, brochures and commitment forms will be available. Please be reminded that on many of our furnishings, we have several weeks of lead time for ordering those items, therefore, the sooner we can get commitments for our furnishings, the sooner they can be ordered.

I want to thank the building committee for their hard work on this great project and for volunteering to lead these tours. What you see on the outside is just a glimpse of how great everything is and how wonderful it is on the inside. Join us for guided tours of the new building this weekend!