Listening to "Breakfast" by the Newsboys. I think this may be one of the best lines in contemporary Christian music:
Breakfast clubbers, drop the hankies
Though to some our friend was odd
That day he bought those pine pajamas
His check was good with God
Monday is Labor Day and Linda is taking tomorrow off so that she can have a four day weekend.
A couple of weeks ago, after prompting from the youth group, John and I joined the world of facebook. For those of you who don’t know, facebook is an online, networking program that allows you to create your own profile with a picture and information about yourself. A good thing about facebook is that you only give the information you want and the only people who can see your profile are the ones you have approved as friends. Once you do that, you can connect with your friends online and stay in touch with them on a regular basis.
Throughout my life, I have heard about the days when people used to go to town on Saturday night. In my understanding, it was a time when everyone from the country came into town for the evening to do their weekly shopping. It was a time to relax from the long week of work and spend time in community with one another.
When I was growing up, we had our own hangouts, like going roller skating every Friday night in 6th grade; going to ballgames, dragging Main or watching movies in high school; and hanging out with friends at campus ministry in college as an alternative to the drinking scene.
What I have found on facebook, is a hangout, a place to build community in our technological world in which people may move on a regular basis and may move far from friends. In addition to getting connected to our youth, in the two weeks I have been on facebook, I have found many of my United Methodist clergy colleagues located throughout Kansas, and in other states, and have felt more connected to them than ever. I have chatted online with two of my cousins, one in New York City and the other in Milwaukee, WI. The conversations were not long, but it was a way to quickly check in with someone I hadn’t talked to in awhile.
But I think the thing I like best about facebook is something called the status update. This is simply a short line that you can update as often as you want that simply asks, “What are you doing right now?” The update that you enter can then be seen by all your friends. Sometimes the status update is very simple, like, “Jennifer Collins is eating lunch.” But other times, it can be full of all kinds of emotions—excitement, boredom, worry, sorrow, joy, concern, or just plain silliness. It enables friends to share in the stuff of everyday life, at any time of the day, from where ever they are.
Community can be found in many different ways in many different places with many different people. When we joined Facebook, one of our younger colleagues said, “Welcome to Gen Y fellowship.” Facebook truly is a place of fellowship and is a gift that a younger generation has given to us. Fellowship and community may not always look the same, but God is at work bringing people together in new and exciting ways.
“No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost the argument.”This is an ever important point. We don't convert people by arguing with them, we convert people by showing them the love of Christ. This quote is used in the movie Lord Save us from your Followers. The United Methodist Portal has an article. The movie's website is here.–Philip Yancey
I spent most of the day helping out with technology issues in the Parsons District office. I proud to report that I am now the sole member, and I presume chair, of the Parsons District Technology Committee.
After replacing the splitter, the screens in the chapel worked very well yesterday. We seem to have finally located and fixed the problem. The brief time when the screens went off was the result of my accidentally unplugging the cable from the computer.
A long while back I reported that I had seen the following on an outdoor church sign:
"Give to God what is right, not what is left."So often we give to God what is left and not what is right of our time, talents, and money. We so often forget that God has a claim not just to a 1/10th, but to the first 1/10th, not just to the first 1/10th, but to 100%. And the truly odd thing is, that the more we give to God, the more we seem to have left, the more time we make for God, the more time we have to be our true selves.
The youth just finished a "Party at the Parsonage" with homemade pizza, cookies, and lots of Wii. I played Guitar Hero for the first time, but not well. A good time was had by all.
Note to Brian Walker: You left your gallon of cheese dip.
We'll have some work teams coming to Montgomery County to do flood recovery work soon. The Outreach Committee decided that we would offer lodging in our homes (much like we did for the McPherson College Choir's visit. Let me know if you're interested.
I completed troubleshooting on the screens in the chapel on Monday of this week and the problem seems to have been the splitter (where the one cable from the computer becomes five cables for the five different screens). It has been replaced with a different (and more expensive) brand and model and seems to be working just fine now. I tested it for two hours this morning without a hitch.
The Outreach Committee approved the donation of twelve more lice kits to Coffeyville schools.
Via Sojourners:
"Social sin is the crystallization ... of individuals’ sins into permanent structures that keeps sin in being and makes its force to be felt by the majority of people."–Oscar Romero, Salvadoran archbishop, martyred in 1980.
Our 2008 Church Conference will be held December 4, 2008. PPRC will meet at 6:00 pm with the Church Conference itself at 6:45 pm.
If you've been watching the war in Georgia (the country) and wish to make a contribution to relief through UMCOR: You can make a check out to Coffeyville First United Methodist Church with "Georgia Emergency, UMCOR Advance #250305" in the memo line. Online donations can be made at http://secure.gbgm-umc.org/
Via Sojourners:
It is useless to dream of reforming the socioeconomic structure...as long as there is not a correspondingly deep change in our inner selves.–Dom Helder Camara, Brazilian Catholic archbishop
We have learned that Coffeyville Schools need lice kits for students whose families are unable to afford the cost (about $17) themselves. These are the first twelve. The Outreach Committee will be deciding whether or not to do twelve more at their next meeting.
The church owns four copies of Who Stole My Church? by Gordon MacDonald and all of them are currently checked out. If you'd like to put your name on the list, call the church office or email Linda at linda@coffeyvillefirstumc.org.
I just remembered the announcement that I couldn't remember earlier. We're looking for someone willing to host "Coffee Time" next Sunday morning.
I want to publicly say thanks to Ken Winston for making arrangements and doing the weekly leg work necessary to bring members from Asbury Assisted Living and Windsor Place to the 10:50 service on Sundays. Thanks also to Dick Foster for his help getting them into the building and sanctuary. This is a great ministry and makes a big impact in the lives of these individuals.
First UMC is a great location for watching the rodeo parade. If you have trouble with the heat I would very much recommend coming down and watching from our air-conditioned lobby next year (I wish I had thought to say something about this last Sunday). Above: Dr. Miller and Nancy Wright represent the CRMC Foundation.
Our next work day for the flood damaged basement in the north end of town has been set for August 23, 2008 from 8 am to 11 am. Contact Dave Larimore or Pastor John Collins if you are interested.
Well ... for better or worse, I'm on Facebook. If you're reading this on my Facebook page, I should probably explain that it was posted to my blog at www.revcollins.com and then automatically imported.
This coming Sunday, I'll be preaching on Matthew 15.21-28, which is the passage where Jesus compares a Canaanite woman and her daughter to dogs. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I do plan to preach on it.
Speaking of breakfast, we're off to Eggberts in Independence for the monthly clergy gathering. I plan to be back in the office late this morning.
"Having had breakfast in the White House and been arrested for protesting its policies, I've learned the former is more dangerous to the prophetic vocation.The article is a good one, I would recommend it. He makes clear the imperative of Christians to be prophetic no matter who is in office.–Jim Wallis, referencing experiences during the Clinton Administration in The Conscience of the State, 2001, www.sojo.net.
Our Next VeggieTales Movie Event will be held Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 4:00 pm. We’ll be watching Tomato Sawyer & Huckleberry Larry’s Big River Rescue: A Lesson in Helping Others. As usual we’ll have movie style popcorn and juice boxes for refreshments. We’ll have coloring sheets and lots of games to play, including a new one, Blongo Ball. This is a free event and everyone is invited.
Via Sojourners:
"We can't let little countries screw around with big companies like this—companies that have made big investments around the world."
–a Chevron lobbyist, who asked not to be identified, speaking about a lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of Indigenous Ecuadorian peasants over the dumping of billions of gallons of toxic oil wastes into their region's rivers and streams. Chevron is pressuring the Bush administration to eliminate special trade preferences for Ecuador if its government doesn't quash the case. (Source: Newsweek)
I don't really have much to add, I think the Old Testament prophets said it all. For example:
Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees,
who write oppressive statutes,
to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be your spoil,
and that you may make the orphans your prey!
What will you do on the day of punishment,
in the calamity that will come from far away?–Isaiah 10.1-3a (NRSV)
Received from Montgomery County Habitat for Humanity:
The Montgomery County chapter of Habitat for Humanity will sponsor their annual co-ed softball tournament in late September. Churches will receive more information by mail in the near future. Jim Catlett may be contacted for information at 330-0098.
HFH held board elections at their June meeting. Current board members are Marcee Binder, Joe Miller, Kathy Webber, Jonathan Thompson, Walter Nelson, Chuck McFate, Ken White, Stasy Taylor, Jim Catlett, Delia Northup, Aleen Swart, and Bob Sprague.
Recently, members of the board held a property work day at the site donated to HFH by the Rench family at 10th and Buckeye in Coffeyville. Work is also beginning on the home in Cherryvale where a partner family has been selected.
Those who wish to make donations to the work of HFH are encouraged to make your gifts to the local Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County so that our local chapter will receive a larger portion of your gift that is also shared with Habitat for Humanity International. Your gifts are tax deductible. Contact any of the above board members for more information.
The family of Dewey and Betty Gearhart cordially invite all church members to a celebration of three very important events. The Gearharts celebrated their 65th Wedding Anniversary in April, Betty turned 85 in June and Dewey will be 90 on October 10.
The Gearharts’ children and grandchildren will honor them with a party on October 4, 2008.
The celebration will be held in the Fellowship Hall of the First United Methodist Church on October 4, 2008 from 1:00 to 4:00. Lunch will be served. Call Lois Gladstone at 913-451-2880 or e-mail her at LAGladstone@yahoo.com. if you plan to attend.
From the Kansas East Conference:
Charity Navigator, America's premier charity evaluator and the nation's largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities, has awarded UMCOR a coveted four-star rating for sound fiscal management. The four-star “exceptional” designation is Charity Navigator’s highest rating awarded to select not-for-profit organizations that exceed industry standards and outperform most charities in its cause.
“This prestigious honor recognizes our transparency and sound financial accountability and promotes the trust our donors have in the work we do,” said the Rev. Sam Dixon, UMCOR’s chief executive. “Now future donors will have greater confidence when they choose to give through UMCOR.”
This commendation says that UMCOR outperforms the majority of nonprofits in America with respect to fiscal responsibility. Charity Navigator works to guide intelligent giving and helps supporters make informed giving decisions by providing data about more than 5,000 charities and evaluating the financial health of each.
See Charity Navigator’s detailed rating of UMCOR at www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=10278.
Via Sojourners:"Prayer is not a pious instrument by which we move God to baptize our enterprises; it is entering the strength of him who moves history and binds the powers that be."
–Melba Maggay, Filipina Theologian
A Parsons District Leadership Training events will be held Sunday, August 17, 2008 from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm. There will be workshops for Lay Leadership (Nominations) Committees, PPR Committees, and workshops on memorial gifts and stewardship theology. Registrations are due August 12, 2008 and can be picked up in the church office.
The place up in Independence where we take the materials we collect for recycling has new guidelines, and thus, we have new guidelines. You can find them on the recycling page at www.coffeyvillefirstumc.org.
Choir practice will resume September 3, 2008 not, as previously announced, August 27.
We'll be having a Taizé worship service tomorrow at 7:15 pm. Childcare will be provided by Brian Walker. The service takes it's name from the Christian Community in Taizé, France. Their website is: www.taize.fr.
Hospitality Training is in room 102 at 7:15 pm tonight and should last until about 8:15 pm. There are no prerequisites for this training and there is no need to preregister. Just bring yourself.
I'm in the office this morning. As usual I biked into work. I then carried my bike up the stairs and secured it in the office. The result is that you can't tell by driving by whether I'm here or not. In this manner, I'm often here even when there is no outward sign of my presence. That said, I'm also out of the office a lot. If you want to talk to me just call Linda and she can let you know if I'm in.
The MOMS Group meets tonight at 6:15 pm. Childcare will be provided by Brian Walker.
From the Bishop's Blog:
"Mary Lou and I have just returned from the 2008 South Central Jurisdictional Conference where the Conference voted to assign us back to Kansas for the 2008-2012 quadrennium. We are very pleased to be serving the Kansas Area for four more years!"
An Outreach (formerly Missions) Committee Meeting has been scheduled for August, Wednesday 20, 2008 from 5:15 to 6:15. A new mission project for children and youth is on the agenda.
CORRECTION: August 12th is not the correct date, the correct date is August 5, 2008. The time remains the same.
The hospitality training that I spoke of in last Sunday's sermon has been scheduled for Tuesday, August 12, 2008 from 7:15 to 8:15 pm.
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