On "The Cure of Souls"

I had a really challenging talk recently with a group of United Methodist ministers about one of the ancient pieces of job description for pastors. The phrase that we kicked around was “the cure of souls.” It has been a part of the pastoral task virtually from the beginning. It really takes in just about all of the work of the pastor. 

 Now, the way a lot of churches set up the work of its clergy in modern times, the pastor has responsibility for administration and public relations and a host of other areas. But these jobs fall outside of the classic daily work of the priestly figure. 

 The cure of souls has under its umbrella preaching, teaching, directing worship and administering the sacraments. A present-day addition might be counseling. All in all, the category encompasses all that a pastor might do for the shepherding of a pastoral flock. 

 The conversation that fostered these thoughts began with an objection that “cure of souls” is an impossibly awesome task. “Cure” was taken to mean “remedy” or “to make (absolutely) whole.” The other side of the debate holds that the term means “to minister,” or “to oversee spiritually.” 

 A further observation was that “cure” here, rather than being a medical term, could be an agricultural or culinary term. When we speak of preparing something like a ham, we understand that we can sugar-cure it, or smoke-cure it, or salt-cure the ham. “Cure” in this instance carries with it the meaning of “prepare” or “preserve.” To prepare or preserve souls, while an awesome task in itself, may describe the work of a pastor as much as any other simple term. 

 The original meaning of “cure of souls” was for the shepherding of individuals or for particular congregations. In some circles, the Roman Catholic Church among others, cure of souls reached out beyond the congregational walls and extended over a district or parish. 

 Later church understanding replaced “cure” with “care.” I don’t have any real problem with that. But I sort of gravitate toward the old wineskins, and if that means that I have to do a little more interpretation, so be it. 

Thanks to those who sparked a truly stimulating discussion. 

 I am still cogitating over all this a bit.

What's on your wall?

Offer Them Christ
by Kenneth Wyatt

The walls in pastors’ studies tend to have a certain sameness about them.  There is a wall or two of bookshelves (these may house books, or may simply be a resting place for religious knickknacks that the individual has accumulated over the years), there may be a family portrait or two, there are other reminders of the life of ministry such as plaques given in appreciation.  There is what one friend of mine calls the “works righteousness” wall where you find diplomas, ordination parchments and other ministerial credentialing documents.  There is also usually one item that has a great personal meaning to the clergyperson.

 This is mine.  It is Kenneth Wyatt’s vision of John Wesley dispatching Thomas Coke to America to oversee the Methodist churches there.  The title comes from Wesley’s words of departure to Coke: “Offer them Christ.”  I label this as the item of great personal meaning for me not because of a particular fondness for Wesley (although I do possess that) or Coke.  Nor is it a because of any romanticized notion or identification with the concept of commissioning.  This picture pulls me back to the basics of ministry: Offer them Christ.

 There are other very important aspects of the work of a United Methodist minister.  I am coming up on the start of my 47th year of doing this work.  I have undertaken the tasks of preaching, teaching, administration, pastoral care and a dozen other tasks that we associate with being a person of The Cloth.  I am the first to admit that the busy-ness of the job can distract or even bog down even the most conscientious of persons.  So, this portrait draws me back to the basics of my call: Offer them Christ.  The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church states that “The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”  (¶ 120)

 The painting is a reminder to me that if I am not carrying out the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19 that all the rest is just noise.

August 22 is a significant date for Pickwick Church

On August 22, Pickwick Church will mark its 29th anniversary of worshiping in its current sanctuary. As I look forward to that day, I ponder a couple of truths within the sphere of our faith. The first is that time is important. 29 years is a significant number for this celebration. No one meaningfully refers to this sanctuary as “new” anymore. Even though the church worshiped in its former location for many years, that building is gone, and the current location is a community landmark. A child born at the time of our occupation of this building would be coming to the end of its third decade of life. It would have passed its public schooling and has had enough time to finish graduate education. That person could easily be married and have children of his/her own by now. A lifetime is a long time.

The observance of time is important in our church life
But, even removed from our specifics, we know that time is important in the church. We do not divide our liturgical year into twelve months. Rather, our time is measured by seasons: Advent, Christmas, The Season after Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and the Season after Pentecost. These seasons are uneven in their duration. Advent lasts but four weeks. The Season after Pentecost has the possibility of stretching out over twenty-seven weeks.

In terms of our administration, our congregation functions over the course of a Conference year. Our Southeast Jurisdiction and the General United Methodist Church carries on its business in a quadrennial (four-year) cycle. That means – among other things – that budgets and officeholders and even programming at these various levels follows these time markers as well.

Time is a significant in scripture. When the Book of Genesis tells the story of Creation, it reports that the whole process took six days, and that God then rested on the seventh day. This became the model of one of the basic units of our marking the passage of time – the week. We set aside every seventh day – the Sabbath – for rest and recuperation from a week’s work. The Jewish calendar has a regular cycle of feasts and fasts. The Jews highlight significant events in their history of dealing with God by observing these commemorations.

Certain numbers that mark the passage of time have particular meanings in scripture. Seven recalls the movement of Creation. The number forty emerges in many places in the Bible. The rains of Noah’s flood fell over the course of forty days and forty nights. Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the Law from God over a stretch of forty days. God caused the disobedient children of Israel to wander in the wilderness for forty years. Moses and Elijah each undertook fasts of forty days. The reigns of both David and Solomon were forty years in duration. Jonah prophesied to Nineveh that God would destroy the city forty days after the pronouncement of his prophesy. Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness took place over the course of forty days. Jesus was in the tomb forty hours. The number forty can mean exactly or precisely in scripture. But the bible also uses forty as a description of “a long time,” or “an appropriate time.” All of this is to say that time is not inconsequential. It is important. How can we discount Psalm 90:10, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years…” (KJV)

So, it is no insignificant thing that this historical church has endured on this spot three decades. It is still a vital presence in our community and a faithful witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I anticipate that it will continue to be these things for the foreseeable future.

Place is s significant part of much of our church history
I said that there were two important ideas that I connect with this anniversary. If the first is time, the second is place. Specific locales carry great weight in our lives. We speak of “hometown” and “home church” and “our school.” A lot of people have a great sentimental attachment to the location where they grew up, “the old home place.” People can frequently point to a specific spot as the place where they had their first date, first kiss, or first fancy party. Even when the buildings no longer stand, people recollect the church where they received baptism, where they joined the church, where they were married, and where significant funerals were conducted.

People can have fierce loyalties to their town, state, region, or country. The soil upon which noteworthy battles were fought receive particular reverence. Those of us who live in the shadow of the monuments at Shiloh understand that quite well.

“Place” is an important concept in the Bible as well. God placed the first people in a magnificent garden and then expelled them from Eden, never to return. When the waters of the Flood receded, the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat, and people seek to re-discover that lost location to this day. God came to Abram and told him to go to Canaan, and that one day his descendants would occupy that land and be “as numerous as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore…” You remember that when Moses approached the burning bush, God said in part, “the ground upon which you stand is holy ground.” The Book of Psalms describes Mount Zion as “God’s holy hill.” Jerusalem and the Temples of Solomon and Herod hold status as being sacred places. There are many spots in Canaan today that mark significant acts of Jesus or meaningful events in his life and ministry. All of these spots remind us of God’s acts of mercy, and they help us meditate on the grace God extends to us. Now, truth be known, we can think on these things anywhere. But human beings somehow find a connection between a piece of geography and important historical occurrences. A sense of place gives a feeling of connection with what has gone before, and what promises to lie ahead.

So, we’ll mark twenty-nine years at Pickwick Church.

And it is only the beginning.
________________________

On Sunday, August 22, the Gospel Reading for the day will be John 6:51-58.

A Bible reading with some size

In a previous post, I observed that we are currently involved in the Revised Common Lectionary’s (RCL) Cycle B.  This year’s Gospel lessons come primarily from the Book of Mark.  But, in the month of August, the RCL directs us instead to the Gospel of John.  Again as I pointed out earlier, the Fourth Evangelist has no yearly cycle of his own.  Instead, the Lectionary scatters selections from John throughout the three-year rotation.  When it does so the RCL tends to employ the John readings over several consecutive Sundays.  The Lectionary avoids having isolated readings from John appear from time-to-time.  Instead, these larger blocks of material give the church an opportunity to consider a larger sweep of ideas over several weeks’ time.

 The format of the RCL is to give the church suggestions for manageable selections of scripture for consideration in Sunday worship.  While there are exceptions, the Gospel lessons don’t usually run more than about twenty verses per week.  When we consider the Fourth Gospel, we find that it resists this carving up into segments.  Chapter six moves around the Sea of Galilee geographically.  But, as a narrative, it is one long piece that requires our consideration. 

The entirety of the chapter is seventy-one verses in length.  That alone makes it prohibitive as a single reading.  (Besides everything else, “Let us stand for the reading of the Gospel,” would be met with more than a little grumbling over a lesson of this magnitude.)  Chapter six is not one long miracle story or parable.  It begins with the feeding of the five thousand and the narrative of Jesus walking on water.  Following these stories there are a series of questions to which Jesus offers replies.  These responses provide a kind of commentary on the opening action.  These reflections take up the remainder of the chapter.

The basics of bread
As we move from week to week, we find an ongoing theme throughout the chapter. That is the appearance of bread. Jesus multiplies the fish and bread in order to feed five thousand men, in addition to any family members they may have brought along. Jesus spends no little time talking about the importance of physical nourishment. We need “our daily bread.”

Bread as the Word of God
But Jesus’ observations do not end there. He goes on to make a transition in referencing bread not only as a staple of our diet, but he also refers to bread that nourishes beyond the meal table. He speaks of “the bread of life” as being the teaching of God. God’s instruction preserves our spirits in the same way that table bread preserves our bodies. Jesus is a master of taking well-recognized objects and using them to teach truths about the Kingdom of God. At various places in John’s Gospel. Jesus talks of birth, water, bread, vines, sheep, shepherds, and gates to help you and me comprehend something of the nature of God’s Kingdom. So, when Jesus moves his conversation from the bread that we make with our own hands to the bread that comes down from heaven he challenges us to use our understanding of the former to incorporate the truths of the latter into our spirituality.

Bread as the Body of Christ
That would be a good lesson in and of itself. John could have shut the teaching down there and we would have an enormous truth to ponder.  But Jesus does not leave things there.  He re-interprets “bread” yet again.  This time he gives it a Eucharistic understanding.  “Eucharistic” or “Eucharist” refers to Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, or whatever title you may use to describe the Sacrament of the Table.  There is no account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in John’s Upper Room story.  Jesus washes the disciples’ feet.  He identifies Judas as his betrayer – if only obliquely.  He predicts Peter’s three-fold denial.  He offers a long farewell discourse before praying his high priestly prayer.  But words about bread and wine and “Do this in remembrance of me” are nowhere to be found. 

 That’s because Jesus has already done it.  He has done it in chapter six.  While much of the Jewish community has made its way to Jerusalem to observe the Passover, in this chapter Jesus is in Galilee, and there he offers his own meal to the people.  Look at the language: Jesus took the food, blessed the food, gave the food.  This is Communion language.  Even if it does not appear in the context of the Upper Room, the language is the same: 

“In the night in which he was betrayed

Jesus took bread,

and when he had given thanks,

he broke it,

gave it to his disciples,

and said ‘Take, eat. 

This is my body which is given for you. 

Do this in remembrance of me.’

Likewise, after supper

he took the cup,

 and when he had given thanks

he gave it to his disciples,

saying, ‘this is my blood of the New Covenant,

poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. 

Do this as often as you drink it

in remembrance of me.’ ”

 

The last portion of chapter six interprets bread, which Jesus has already cast in terms of physical nourishment and the Word of God, as the Eucharistic body of Jesus. 

 This all happens pretty fast.  True, the chapter is over seventy verses in length.  But looking at where the discussion of bread started and then contemplating where it ended, that is a lot of ground covered pretty quickly. 

 Jesus’ teaching does not receive universal acceptance.  In fact, talk of eating Jesus’ body prompts a large number of people to withdraw from Jesus.  Jesus is OK with that.  He has drawn a bold line in the sand and understands that just everybody is not ready to cross over to his side.

 Even though we take five weeks to move from the feeding of the multitude to the desertion of the crowds there is plenty to digest on the way (no pun intended…).  I fear that often our consideration of the Bible takes the form of single verses or even fragments of scripture.  While there are certain nuggets of truth that are worthy of our study, it is more often the case that we require a knowledge of what has gone before and what comes after – the context – before we can achieve any real comprehension of scriptural teaching.  John six is a text with some size.  It has length and breadth.  It has layers of meaning.  Even in a month we will not discover all the layers of meaning that this chapter holds.  But we can give it our all.  The word of God deserves nothing less.

“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over” – Yogi Berra

In the time of 2020 and early 2021, the world in general and our neck of the woods in particular went through an extraordinarily trying stretch. It was the time of The Pandemic, the coming of Covid-19, or as many simply term it, Covid. I myself frequently refer to those days as “The Time When the Sky Fell.” We went through a season of an absence of in-person worship, when we substituted Virtual Worship for our gatherings. There were no Fellowship Dinners, no before-church coffee, and no real-live committee meetings – did we ever think we would yearn for the opportunity to assemble for a Finance Committee or Church Council meeting?

Then, as we eased back into “In-Person Worship,” we wore masks, had pews in the sanctuary roped off, participated in abbreviated services, washed our hands a lot, and observed other safety protocols. We made do because this was the only way we could come together. The masks weren’t comfortable. We didn’t always get to sit in our customary pew. But we were back together.

Then, around the end of June, after some fifteen months of these precautions, we were able to lift the most stringent of rules and we began to resume church activities as they once stood.

I would LOVE to tell you that this is all a history lesson, and that we have put all this in our rear-view mirror. I would love to say that to you. But I can’t.

Here’s the story: the newer, more virulent, more resistant “Delta Variant” is now the predominant strain of the virus in the United States, accounting for 83% of the cases in this country as of this writing. And, AND, there is a new mutation called the Lambda Variant. Early studies suggest that it is more transmissible than the original strain of the coronavirus.

Where the rubber hits the road locally is that the most recent statistics show that Hardin County has a 19.5% positivity rate for those tested for the virus. At the height of the pandemic closings officials considered anything above 5% to be quite risky. In the last 14 days, our county has averaged 14 new cases per day (as opposed to half that one week ago). In the face of this, only 34% of our fellow Hardin County residents have had at least one dose of the vaccine. I have been fully vaccinated since the shot became available and I encourage you to talk to your doctor about the vaccine.

All of this is to say that we haven’t heard the last of Covid-19. And, we have not come to the point of dismissing the necessity of precautions in our worshiping community. Shared air supply and close proximity to infected or exposed persons can increase our personal risks because of the airborne transmissibility of this virus.

Plainly speaking, the numbers are going the wrong way. Our leadership will be keeping a finger on the pulse of all this and will make plans appropriately. I hope that you will continue to be careful. I also encourage you to support the decisions of our officers as they make every effort to keep our church families safe.

The peace of the Lord be with you.

We are in a not-so-Ordinary Time

These mid-summer days are often the source of confusion in the church. I am talking about the way the church designates this time in the Christian Year.

 
The significance of time in the church
The world has a calendar that begins on January first, and that it divides into twelve months. The church reckons time in a different way. Its year begins with Advent which can fall as early as November 27 and as late as December 3. This season begins four Sundays before Christmas day and runs through December 24. The calendar progresses with the Season After Epiphany, Lent and Easter. These things are fairly cut-and-dried, though there are a couple of wrinkles that we will examine on another date.

Where did the confusion come from?
On the day after Pentecost (May 23) we entered a time that has gone by several names in recent history. The United Methodist Church (along with a few other Christian groups) made the decision in 1937 to divide its observance of the time between Pentecost and Advent into two seasons. The days from Pentecost through the end of August comprised the Season of Pentecost. The liturgical color was red, reminding us of the tongues of fire that appeared over those early Christians who were gathered together when the Holy Spirit descended on them. The church then designated the time from September 1 through the end of the season as the season of Kingdomtide. The color for the paraments, clergy stoles and other appointments was green – a color reminding the church of the eternal life promised by the gospel. This practice continued until 1992. At that time, the United Methodist Church was the only denomination still clinging to observing Kingdomtide.,

In that year, The United Methodist Church released its new United Methodist Book of Worship. In that book the church adopted the title of The Season After Pentecost for these days. For a while there was a parenthetical (United Methodist Kingdomtide) addition to some documents, but that cumbersome title soon fell by the wayside. It was a painful reminder that only our denomination clung to a label that set it apart from the rest of Christianity, rather than affirming our oneness as the Body of Christ.

So, what is “Ordinary Time?”
The church also refers to this latter portion of the year as Ordinary Time. Some people mistakenly interpret this to mean “common” or “unremarkable.” They argue that the first part of the liturgical calendar contains Advent, Christmas, Epiphany Day, the Baptism of the Lord, the Transfiguration, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. From that last even until the last Sunday of the year (Christ the King), we observe few festive days.

But that is not the meaning of Ordinary Time. The description refers rather to the way in which we reckon time in this season. It is a way of signifying that we designate these Sundays not with cardinal numbers (one, two, three…) but with ordinals (first, second third…). The coming Sunday, for instance is the Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost. The remaining days of the week are counted from the Sunday with which the week begins.

These assigned numbers are not absolutely constant. That is, the Sunday on or nearest August 8 is not the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost each year. The key to that puzzle comes much earlier in the year. While Christmas is always December 25 and Epiphany is always January 6, the next great observance comes with a less consistent date. The way the church counts the remainder of the year depends on the date of Easter. This gets a little involved, to be sure. Easter is related to the calendaring of the Jewish Passover. The Jewish religious year follows a lunar calendar rather than a solar one. So, Easter will occur on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. That means that Easter comes between March 22 and April 25. So, Pentecost (fifty days later) may fall from May 10 to June 13. So, the first Sunday After Pentecost can occur any time from May 17 to June 20. Subsequent Sundays receive their ordinal according to when that first Sunday appears on the calendar.

The designated color for the season is green, again referring to new life, abundant life eternal life as the New Testament describes it. The days in the season devote much attention to the teachings of Jesus, just as the first half of the year emphasizes many of the events in the life of Christ. It is a time of digging deeper into the significance of our commitment and discipleship.

So, while our present Time is Ordinary, there is nothing commonplace about it.

Do you follow the lectionary?

These days. one of the questions that comes along when there is a pastoral change is, “Do you follow the lectionary?” The curiosity behind this comes from several concerns. Worship planners and musicians are curious because they want to do planning and embracing of lectionary texts makes it possible to look well ahead in designing the worship experience for a congregation. Sunday School teachers and other small group leaders want to know if they will be able to tie in their lesson or programming material to those things that the church addresses in Sunday worship. Sometimes office people want to know about lectionary usage because they are looking for graphics and other material that they can use in bulletins, newsletters, and church publicity pieces. If a pastor commits to using the lectionary, people with a variety of tasks can look well ahead in gathering resources for their particular concerns.

What is a lectionary?
When the church speaks of “the lectionary,” it is generally referring to The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). That is the resource that comes to mind, and it is the default meaning when we employ the simple term “lectionary.) But, since so many of our church endeavors refer to the lectionary in one way or another, let’s try to come to a little clarity.

A “lection” (pronounced /ˈlekSHən/) is a scripture reading chosen or assigned for a particular day. So, a lectionary is a table or listing of designated readings from the Bible for a specified period of time. The lectionary usually includes readings for an entire year, but compilers may create certain lists for a particular season such as Advent or Lent. The use of lectionaries is as old as the church itself. In fact, Judaism (as well as other faiths) have used lectionaries for their worship or devotional readings prior to the emergence of Christianity.

A Christian lectionary typically offers a reading from the Old Testament, a Psalm for the day, a reading from the Epistles and a gospel reading for each Sunday of the year. In addition, the lectionary may include lessons for observations that fall on days other than Sunday. Most lectionaries have readings for Ash Wednesday, the days of Holy Week and Ascension Day, for instance. There are denominations in which their own lectionary readings are requirements, while in others – such as the United Methodist Church – the use of these readings is voluntary.

In 1944 The Methodist Church issued The Book of Worship (The Methodist Publishing House, 1944) which included a on-year "Calendar and Lectionary for the Christian Year."  This listed two lessons for each Sunday and special day.  The first came from either the Old Testament or the Epistles, with the second reading being from the gospels.  The 1965 Methodist Book of Worship for Church and Home (Nashville: the Methodist Publishing House, 1965) included a one-year lectionary that contained Old Testament and Gospel readings for each Sunday and special day of the year.

In 1969, in accordance with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church published the document named Ordo Lectionum Missae, a three-year lectionary. This greatly influenced the release in 1974 of a document entitled “A Common Lectionary” by the ecumenical group the Consultation on Church Union. In 1993 the Consultation on Common texts formally issued a new version of the Common Lectionary. Prior to the official distribution of that publication The United Methodist Church included its own adaptation of the RCL in its new Book of Worship (Nashville: the United Methodist publishing House, 1992). The United Methodist version omits readings from The Apocrypha that some denominational include in their sequences. The United Methodist version also modified some texts for the sake of continuity or clarity.

How is a lectionary structured?
The RCL is set up in a three-year cycle of readings. It designates the individual years in the rotation as Years A, B, and C. The years begin in Advent. We are currently in Year B, so the readings for most of 2021 began their progression in Advent of 2020. Year C gets underway on November 28 of 2021 and moves through most of 2022. The next Years B start in Advent of 2024, 2027 and 2030.

For each Sunday and “special day” there is an Old Testament Reading, a Psalter Reading, an Epistle Reading, and a Gospel Reading. In Year A the Old Testament Readings come primarily from the primordial stories concerning the Creation and moving through the Abraham and Isaac readings. The RCL offer a reading from the Psalms as a comment on the first lesson. The Epistle readings run semi-continuously through a portion of the New Testament, but the books that it considers are not sequential. That is to say that a series of readings from Romans will not be followed by selections from First Corinthians. The Gospel readings for Year A come mostly from the Book of Matthew. The Old Testament lessons from Year B concentrate on the David and Solomon narratives. The Gospel for Year B is Mark. In Year C the Old Testament moves through the Elijah/Elisha record, and the Gospel for that year is Luke. The lectionary makes use of the Gospel of John in all three years of the cycle, particularly in the Christmas Season and in Lent.

Even over a three-year period, the RCL omits significant portions of the Bible. To include all of scripture would necessitate either significantly longer lections for each day, or the lectionary would have to run considerably longer than three years. That is why The United Methodist Church designates the readings as “suggested” rather than “mandatory.”

Why use a lectionary?
The advantages to using the RCL are several. First, it offers preachers and worship planners a tool for doing long-range planning, perhaps even over the course of the entire three years. The lectionary provides a methodical way of moving through the Bible instead of a random selection of readings for a given Sunday. The RCL provides a way for multiple planners and leaders to interact while considering the same material. Preachers, liturgists, musicians, and those who work with visuals can be about their work without constant meetings and repetitive communication.

The use of the RCL also compels preachers and others to deal with material that they might not ordinarily consider. I know that I have observed to some people that, left to my own devices and desires, I might well preach 45 Sundays of the year on the Sermon on the Mount. The complex parables or hard sayings of Jesus would be easy to overlook without the encouragement of something like the Revised Common Lectionary.

There is also a spiritual strength in knowing that sister congregations are considering the same texts on Sunday morning as we ourselves study. Then when we meet members of other lectionary-employing churches later in the week, the conversation might well turn to last Sunday’s worship, and our friends might say something like, “You know, we read the exact same thing in our congregation, and here’s what our preacher said…” The RCL allows Sunday School teachers and other group leaders to look ahead, knowing that their lessons can be connected to what will go on in the sanctuary on a given day.

So, those are some of the reasons why I embrace “the lectionary.” Let me be quick to say that it is not a perfect tool, and I diverge from time to time (though I try to let our music people know about those instances in advance). The lectionary is a marvelous tool. But I would day that it is always a servant of our worship, never our master. There are times in the life of a church or community when events and lectionary readings just don’t intersect. Part of the pastoral task is to determine when the use of the lectionary is appropriate and when overriding concerns dictate an alternative.

I would be happy to talk about these things if I have left any stone unturned.

 Peace.

_______________

Our scripture reading for Sunday, August 15 is John 6:35, 41-51.

This Sunday is Homecoming at Pisgah Church

 

August 8 is Homecoming for the Pisgah congregation. The day includes worship at 9:30 a.m., Gospel singing by Unity 4 at 10:30 and a fellowship meal at (about) noon. This is an important day in our congregation for a number of reasons. Among them is the tradition of welcoming former members and other folks who have some connection with our church. We know that the Pisgah Church family is an important part of the life of many people throughout the region. People who have loved ones buried in our church cemetery also feel a deep connection with the congregation.

Homecoming is a time of celebration
The festive nature of such a day is also meaningful to many of us. At times the burden of the kinds of things we see on the news, the struggle that a lot of people have in their own lives, health concerns, economic conditions and a variety of other stress-inducing factors can cause us to lose focus on the larger picture of our lives. When we come together with a beloved church family and do so at a place that has offered nurture and comfort in our lives, when we hear the gospel message proclaimed in word and music, when we share a grand meal together, it is an uplifting day. Our spirits are the better for having joined in such a day.

Homecoming embraces our history
August 8 is also an important day because we are able to resume this great tradition after having been denied the opportunity last year. In 2020 we viewed the cancellation of the day’s event as a health-related necessity. There was not a lot of choice. But, in the moment, the regret at calling off Homecoming didn’t really set in. As time has gone along, and as we have made a couple of false starts at resuming our full program, we have felt a deepening sorrow at this lost opportunity to celebrate our connection and common heritage as people who treasure the minis try of Pisgah Church. So, this Homecoming Sunday is not merely a “catch-up” day, but it is an affirmation of the importance of our Homecoming tradition and all that it represents.

“Homecoming” is not merely a title
Besides the celebratory aspect of the day there is also a deeper, almost primal facet to our observance. “Homecoming.” “Home-coming.” In holiday seasons, we frequently hear the question, “Are you going home for Christmas?” or “Are the children coming home for Thanksgiving?” Most of us have a vision of some place that comes to mind when we hear the word “home.” As this is true of the house of our youth that is also accurate when we speak of our “home church.” For a lot of people that phrase conjures up memories of the church where we were baptized, where we came to know Christ, where we first joined the church. “Home church” may mean the place where one was married, where children were baptized and reared. It may invoke recollections of the funeral service of one or more loved ones. Whatever the personal connotation, “home church” is an emotion-inducing phrase for a great many of us. So, when we come to this Homecoming Sunday, we do so with a lot of personal emotion.

Homecoming speaks to the vitality of a local church
So, we are all looking forward to this great day. The events that make up the whole are tremendously exciting, and I believe that all who come together will enjoy it immensely. But I also want to observe that there are two parts to that phrase “home church.” Up to this point I have spent all of my energy exploring the concept of “home.” But it is vital that we remember that the most important component of that thought is “church.” In speaking about those things that make our home church memorable, every item on that roster is something that takes place within the context of worship. To gather together in the adoration and praise of Almighty God is our first order of business. The thing that gives “home” its power within the observance of Homecoming is that it speaks of our “home CHURCH.”

So, I look forward to sharing a time with all of you who will be coming “home.”

Why a new blog?

We live in an information overload

Communication is one of our prime interests. It may even be a need. Drawings on cave walls, the first grunts in rudimentary language, carvings in stone, writing on papyrus, the development of the printing press, the rise of newspapers & magazines, and finally computers and the internet – all these are attempts by people to communicate better and more effectively.

 If the world strives to get its ideas to more and more people, how much more important is it for the church – the bearers of The Good News – to spread its message.  This blog is one endeavor in getting the message of the church to as many people as possible.

 John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Movement, was deeply involved in a publishing ministry.  He found very quickly that the publishing of books, tracts, sermons (his own and others), prayers and inspirational material was an effective way of transmitting the Christian message to people from all walks of life. (Wesley used the proceeds from these publications to support his ministries among the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, the ill and the imprisoned.)

 I have no doubt that if people like the Apostle Paul had access to the internet, they would have had websites, blogs and accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube and whatever other outlets might be available.  In a quest to “be all things to all people” (1 Corinthians 9:22), I have no doubt that the early evangelists would have sought out all possible avenues of communication for the sake of the gospel.

 Today information bombards us.  Whether we seek it or not, the news of happenings in the far quarters of the earth reaches us as it happens.  We have become amazingly sophisticated in getting material from one place to another.

These are the blog’s purposes
So, this blog has two purposes.  The first is to provide our community of faith with information that is important in our little corner of the world.  Pickwick United Methodist Church and Pisgah United Methodist Church serve the community of Hardin County, Tennessee in the Pickwick Dam area.  The blog will contain information that will enhance our work in this neighborhood.  Church programming and religious events are an important part of our ministry.  This vehicle will help keep our church members and our community residents apprised of the goings-on in our congregations.

 Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, this blog will comment on -- and offer some interpretation about – the tasks that our churches undertake.  As we are inundated with information, it is necessary that we do some sifting, some prioritizing and some clarifying of all that comes our way.

What I will do is offer my take on the things that I see going on around us.  I hope that these observations will prompt you to ponder these things for yourself.  You may want to examine the issues more deeply.  You might even want to talk about them with me.  I would look forward to that.

In terms of scheduling, I won’t be posting every day.  But I will be adding to this blog regularly.  Right now, I interpret that to mean a couple of times a week.  I hope that this beginning of an exchange of ideas is a blessing to you.  I already anticipate that it will be for me.

The peace of the Lord be with you.

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In the absence of a parish newsletter, each week in my Sunday post I will include the scripture lesson that we will consider during worship for the next Sunday.

The reading for Pickwick's worship services is John 6:24-35.  The text for Pisgah's homecoming day is 2 Samuel 23:13-17.