We touched on a sensitive issue this past Sunday. One that has touched many lives, and has hit both our communities in the distant and not so distant past. Our topic was the unfortunate reality of suicide and the United Methodist Church's stance on it.
I began with two passages from scripture that helped to inform our discussion. The first passage epitomizes how the Bible tends to deal with suicide and it was the account of Judas' suicide after betraying Jesus. In scripture the list of suicides is short, and every time the person who commits suicide is in no way judged or punished for having committed suicide. The second passage I lifted up came from Romans 8:38-39 and illustrated that nothing could separate us from the love of God in Christ.
I then turned to the United Methodist Book of Discipline and read the passage from it that discussed the issue of suicide (paragraph 161 N if you want to look it up). I pointed out that the passage emphasized the tragedy of the loss, but affirmed that we still are called not only to love those who attempt suicide, but also to love the families, friends, and loved ones of those who succeed in committing suicide. At this point I began to speak of the stigma that surrounds suicide and the reality that in our society when something makes us uncomfortable we just don't talk about it. I then stated that that is the last thing we want to be doing. As a community of faith we exist in part to support one another, and to help others to benefit from our collective wisdom. If we do not talk about, teach about, share about what we know about things like suicide then we will all be doomed to be ingnorant and missinformed about the subject.
To illustrate this point, I went through several commonly held beliefs about suicide, namely women commit suicide at a higher rate, teens are at highest risk of suicide, suicide rates are highest in the winter when the weather is bad, when a person is in the depths of depression they are at the highest risk of committing suicide, etc. All of these commonly held beliefs are wrong! Men commit suicide more than women (although women attempt suicide more than men), 65 and above is the highest group at risk of suicide (almost twice as much as teens), springtime has the highest suicide rate, it is when the person is "getting better" that they are more likely to commit suicide. Such examples and many many more lead us to collectively perpetuate ignorance and wrong beliefs about such topics, and yet we shy away from talking about them publicly. Many have since told me they've never heard a sermon about the topic of suicide. Hopefully our discussion on the topic Sunday will not be the last one held within our churches.
Finally I asked how many had been taught, or even believed that a person who commits suicide will go to hell. The results were split, but most had at least heard of the belief. I first pointed to scriptures non-judgmental stance on the issue. I reasoned that a person could not get the belief that suicide would send you to hell from the Bible. It's just not there. Then I gave the historical reason for why this teaching came to be. It began in the 5th century with Augustine, who in an attempt to curb the number of voluntary martyrs (people who volunteered themselves to be killed for their faith) declared that suicide would cause a person to go to hell, and therefore going to those persecuting Christians knowing that would put your life at risk would cause a person to go to hell. Finally I pointed to the passage in Romans and asserted that nothing, not even death at our own hands, can separate us from the love of God.
I would like to conclude with sharing that it is perfectly normal for most if not all people to have casual thoughts about suicide. If you find yourself thinking more seriously about suicide, please go to someone and talk with them. If you can't find anyone who you think has the time to talk, I do, and I'm always free to talk with anyone (you need not be a church member), feel free to call me, e-mail me, or show up at my door (although I'd prefer if you show up that it be a decent hour) ;).
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
August 17th Sermon Capsule - UM Polity & Practice
Oxford spent this past Sunday at Lake Ludlow planning for the future and the role that the Methodists in Oxford hope to fill in that future. McDonough still had worship and therefore a sermon, so if you missed worship at McDonough or if you missed the planning at Lake Ludlow, this is your opportunity to briefly be caught up on the sermon you missed.
We talked about the way the United Methodist Church is governed and also it's policy on closing churches. First I mentioned that just like our Country which has various levels of government (national, state, county, town, village, etc.) so the United Methodist Church has several levels as well (global, jurisdictional, conference, district, local church). So in the United Methodist Church the highest level is global, represented by General Conference, which occurs every four years (we use the word quadrennium). The next highest level, is Jurisdictional, and in our case represents the northeastern portion of the United States, and unsuprisingly is called the Northeast Jurisdiction. The next level is the conference level, and in our case we are the Wyoming conference (Wyoming because of the Wyoming river valley, which runs through our conference and at one time was an important geographical reference). Next we have the District level, and we are the Oneonta District. Finally there is the local church level, and for us that looks like the Oxford UMC and the McDonough UMC.
All of this was just to give everyone some sense of how the United Methodist Church was set up and to hopefully show people that no one person has all the authority/power in the church. The United Methodist Church is a church of the people and it's most important decisions are made at Conferences (General, Jusidictional, Annual, and Church/Charge). If you have further questions about the above information, I would love to better explain it to you, but quite frankly for most people, just like U.S. government, it can be rather tedious.
From here we went to the Book of Discipline (the written guidelines, rules, and laws for the United Methodist Church). I read from paragraphs 201 and 202 which define the local church and give the function of the local church respectively. I pointed out that primary in the definition of the local church is "the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers, and the redemption of the world." Or more simply, holding worship services, teaching members, and offering (both in word and deed) the good news of the gospel to those we encounter. Notice no mention of a necessary number of persons, or a specific minimum budget that must be maintained. The paragraph on the function of the church followed a similar line of thought.
I also pointed to passages of scripture that described churches as meeting in homes (ie small) and pointing out that only two or three must gather in order for the presence of the Lord to be in that place.
All of this was in response to a question about the ability of the United Methodist Church to close small local churches. My answer, given the information above, was that "yes" there is provision for the United Methodist Church to close local churches (not only small, but also large ones) if those churches are no longer functioning as churches (as defined by paragraphs 201 & 202 in the Book of Discipline). Having said this, as long as a congregation/church continues to function appropriately, by holding worship, edifying believers/members and offering the gospel (in word and deed) to the surrounding community, there would be no reason for the larger church to close them.
Rest easy brothers and sisters. The congregations of Oxford and McDonough are doing proud their longstanding traditions of living out their faith in Christ before their neighbors and both congregations are following positive paths that will lead them to greater and more faithful manifestations of being the people of God, each and every day!
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
We talked about the way the United Methodist Church is governed and also it's policy on closing churches. First I mentioned that just like our Country which has various levels of government (national, state, county, town, village, etc.) so the United Methodist Church has several levels as well (global, jurisdictional, conference, district, local church). So in the United Methodist Church the highest level is global, represented by General Conference, which occurs every four years (we use the word quadrennium). The next highest level, is Jurisdictional, and in our case represents the northeastern portion of the United States, and unsuprisingly is called the Northeast Jurisdiction. The next level is the conference level, and in our case we are the Wyoming conference (Wyoming because of the Wyoming river valley, which runs through our conference and at one time was an important geographical reference). Next we have the District level, and we are the Oneonta District. Finally there is the local church level, and for us that looks like the Oxford UMC and the McDonough UMC.
All of this was just to give everyone some sense of how the United Methodist Church was set up and to hopefully show people that no one person has all the authority/power in the church. The United Methodist Church is a church of the people and it's most important decisions are made at Conferences (General, Jusidictional, Annual, and Church/Charge). If you have further questions about the above information, I would love to better explain it to you, but quite frankly for most people, just like U.S. government, it can be rather tedious.
From here we went to the Book of Discipline (the written guidelines, rules, and laws for the United Methodist Church). I read from paragraphs 201 and 202 which define the local church and give the function of the local church respectively. I pointed out that primary in the definition of the local church is "the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers, and the redemption of the world." Or more simply, holding worship services, teaching members, and offering (both in word and deed) the good news of the gospel to those we encounter. Notice no mention of a necessary number of persons, or a specific minimum budget that must be maintained. The paragraph on the function of the church followed a similar line of thought.
I also pointed to passages of scripture that described churches as meeting in homes (ie small) and pointing out that only two or three must gather in order for the presence of the Lord to be in that place.
All of this was in response to a question about the ability of the United Methodist Church to close small local churches. My answer, given the information above, was that "yes" there is provision for the United Methodist Church to close local churches (not only small, but also large ones) if those churches are no longer functioning as churches (as defined by paragraphs 201 & 202 in the Book of Discipline). Having said this, as long as a congregation/church continues to function appropriately, by holding worship, edifying believers/members and offering the gospel (in word and deed) to the surrounding community, there would be no reason for the larger church to close them.
Rest easy brothers and sisters. The congregations of Oxford and McDonough are doing proud their longstanding traditions of living out their faith in Christ before their neighbors and both congregations are following positive paths that will lead them to greater and more faithful manifestations of being the people of God, each and every day!
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
August 10th Sermon Capsule - Evolution vs. Creation
This week, we continued our summer theme of tackling tough and controversial issues/questions posed by the good folks of the Oxford and McDonough United Methodist Churches. We tackled the debate surrounding Evolution vs. Creation.
I began by asking everyone to identify their own personal views on this issue, by asking them to stand on one side of the sanctuary or the other depending on whether they leaned more toward Evolution or more toward Creation. I also allowed people to stand in the middle if they were unwilling to share their views, or if they sincerely felt they held a middle of the road opinion. In both congregations the majority favored Creation, with roughly the same number of people standing in the middle and leaning more toward Evolution.
I then asked the two groups where they got their respective views from. The Creation side, largely pointed to the Bible and more specifically the first chapter or two of Genesis. For the Evolution side, their opinions where largely formed and informed by science and physical evidence.
At this point I suggested that the Bible is not a science book, a math book, or a history book. To help illustrate this assertion I used the example of Galileo Galilei, the 16th-17th century astronomer who spent the final years of his life under house arrest. Galileo suggested that the solar system is heliocentric (with the sun at the center), as opposed to the popular belief of his time that the solar system was geocentric (earth at the center). For this belief, which turned out to be correct, Galileo was declared a heretic and kept under house arrest by order of the Inquisition. The Church pointed to biblical passages that suggested (at least if read literally) that the earth is unmovable, and that the sun revolves around the earth. Unfortunately for Galileo the Church took passages from scripture out of context and used them to describe things that the passages themselves were not intending to comment on.
With this example I pointed out that the Bible is less concerned with giving an explanation that literally explains how things happen, and more concerned with getting a point across. That point, I suggested is the faith story of God's chosen people and God's interaction with those people.
With this in mind I turned to the first chapter of the Gospel of John, where the author echoes the Creation account from Genesis, but instead of focussing on how it happened, he points to why Creation occured. It was at this point that I suggested that the entire Creation vs. Evolution debate is asking the wrong question. Such debate and study asks "how" (How did we get here? How were we made?) when we really should be asking "why" or "what" (Why are we here? What are we here to do?). I also asserted that often times this discussion/debate only degrades into personal attacks, attempts to portray the other side in a polarizing and negative way, and essentially grown-up name calling.
I briefly attempted to answer the "why" and "what" questions by suggesting that we are here because we have a Creator who loves us and wants us to know we are loved, and that we are then supposed to share that love with others who have yet to discover it. Our purpose in life is to know God and tell others what we know. That's it!
I concluded by affirming people who hold both stances, as well as those who stand in the middle, emphasizing that to spend any more time on the issue would be to waste time that could be better spent fulfilling our purpose in this world, as God's chosen people.
I hope your week is going well and that you're able to take some time to come to better know your loving Creator.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
I began by asking everyone to identify their own personal views on this issue, by asking them to stand on one side of the sanctuary or the other depending on whether they leaned more toward Evolution or more toward Creation. I also allowed people to stand in the middle if they were unwilling to share their views, or if they sincerely felt they held a middle of the road opinion. In both congregations the majority favored Creation, with roughly the same number of people standing in the middle and leaning more toward Evolution.
I then asked the two groups where they got their respective views from. The Creation side, largely pointed to the Bible and more specifically the first chapter or two of Genesis. For the Evolution side, their opinions where largely formed and informed by science and physical evidence.
At this point I suggested that the Bible is not a science book, a math book, or a history book. To help illustrate this assertion I used the example of Galileo Galilei, the 16th-17th century astronomer who spent the final years of his life under house arrest. Galileo suggested that the solar system is heliocentric (with the sun at the center), as opposed to the popular belief of his time that the solar system was geocentric (earth at the center). For this belief, which turned out to be correct, Galileo was declared a heretic and kept under house arrest by order of the Inquisition. The Church pointed to biblical passages that suggested (at least if read literally) that the earth is unmovable, and that the sun revolves around the earth. Unfortunately for Galileo the Church took passages from scripture out of context and used them to describe things that the passages themselves were not intending to comment on.
With this example I pointed out that the Bible is less concerned with giving an explanation that literally explains how things happen, and more concerned with getting a point across. That point, I suggested is the faith story of God's chosen people and God's interaction with those people.
With this in mind I turned to the first chapter of the Gospel of John, where the author echoes the Creation account from Genesis, but instead of focussing on how it happened, he points to why Creation occured. It was at this point that I suggested that the entire Creation vs. Evolution debate is asking the wrong question. Such debate and study asks "how" (How did we get here? How were we made?) when we really should be asking "why" or "what" (Why are we here? What are we here to do?). I also asserted that often times this discussion/debate only degrades into personal attacks, attempts to portray the other side in a polarizing and negative way, and essentially grown-up name calling.
I briefly attempted to answer the "why" and "what" questions by suggesting that we are here because we have a Creator who loves us and wants us to know we are loved, and that we are then supposed to share that love with others who have yet to discover it. Our purpose in life is to know God and tell others what we know. That's it!
I concluded by affirming people who hold both stances, as well as those who stand in the middle, emphasizing that to spend any more time on the issue would be to waste time that could be better spent fulfilling our purpose in this world, as God's chosen people.
I hope your week is going well and that you're able to take some time to come to better know your loving Creator.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
August 3rd Sermon Capsule - Does God Change?
This week we discussed whether or not God changes, and the implications that has for the Church and individual Christians.
I began with two seemingly contradictory passages that talked about God changing. One, from Hosea 11:1-9 points to God's mind changing and showing mercy/grace toward the people of Israel. The other, from Numbers 23:19 has God's mind not changing because God is God and therefore doesn't do that kind of thing. I further pointed out passages in Genesis and Exodus that both report God's mind changing, or at the very least God's plans being modified. I pointed out that often we take for granted that God does not change, because God is perfect, and to change would be to become less than perfect. I also hoped to illustrate that this line of thinking is not entirely in line with who scripture presents God to be. To wrap up the question of God changing I suggested that God may or may not change (we could debate it endlessly) but what is certain is that as humans we change and misinterpret/missunderstand all of the time.
This brought me to talking about the changes that have occured in the Church over the past 2,000 years. We in no way covered these changes comprehensively, but I essentially took the stance that the changes that have occurred were in no way fundamental to Christianity, but were rather minor details. I asserted that if a church or several churches were to change fundamentally, this would cause a break from Christianity and thus we would not have a problem.
I suggested that this was not really the concern being voiced in the question that inspired this week's message, but rather that the question was concerned with how individual Christian's can know if changes in the Church are fundamental or merely minor. Here we turned to 2 Peter 2:1-3. This passage is dealing with the issue of false teachers and those who lead well-meaning Christians astray. I asked how we could avoid this problem, and then answered by knowing God. I then suggested that the best way to do this is by knowing The Bible, the writings given us for the express purpose of coming to know God and God's will more fully. I lamented that unfortunately it has been my experience that in any given church (especially the United Methodist Church) 70-95 percent of the people have little to no knowledge of the Bible and therefore could be lead to believe nearly anything about God and God's will.
I concluded by emphasizing that it is up to each individual to come to know God and to read and study his or her Bible. If you merely take another person's word for who God is and what God wants, then what you'll be coming to know is who that person thinks God is and what that person thinks God wants. Basically I want the people of Oxford & McDonough United Methodist Churches (really all Christians) to take their faith seriously. To actually make it their own. Invest time in your relationship with God. Read the Bible and learn for yourself who God is and what God wants from you.
I began with two seemingly contradictory passages that talked about God changing. One, from Hosea 11:1-9 points to God's mind changing and showing mercy/grace toward the people of Israel. The other, from Numbers 23:19 has God's mind not changing because God is God and therefore doesn't do that kind of thing. I further pointed out passages in Genesis and Exodus that both report God's mind changing, or at the very least God's plans being modified. I pointed out that often we take for granted that God does not change, because God is perfect, and to change would be to become less than perfect. I also hoped to illustrate that this line of thinking is not entirely in line with who scripture presents God to be. To wrap up the question of God changing I suggested that God may or may not change (we could debate it endlessly) but what is certain is that as humans we change and misinterpret/missunderstand all of the time.
This brought me to talking about the changes that have occured in the Church over the past 2,000 years. We in no way covered these changes comprehensively, but I essentially took the stance that the changes that have occurred were in no way fundamental to Christianity, but were rather minor details. I asserted that if a church or several churches were to change fundamentally, this would cause a break from Christianity and thus we would not have a problem.
I suggested that this was not really the concern being voiced in the question that inspired this week's message, but rather that the question was concerned with how individual Christian's can know if changes in the Church are fundamental or merely minor. Here we turned to 2 Peter 2:1-3. This passage is dealing with the issue of false teachers and those who lead well-meaning Christians astray. I asked how we could avoid this problem, and then answered by knowing God. I then suggested that the best way to do this is by knowing The Bible, the writings given us for the express purpose of coming to know God and God's will more fully. I lamented that unfortunately it has been my experience that in any given church (especially the United Methodist Church) 70-95 percent of the people have little to no knowledge of the Bible and therefore could be lead to believe nearly anything about God and God's will.
I concluded by emphasizing that it is up to each individual to come to know God and to read and study his or her Bible. If you merely take another person's word for who God is and what God wants, then what you'll be coming to know is who that person thinks God is and what that person thinks God wants. Basically I want the people of Oxford & McDonough United Methodist Churches (really all Christians) to take their faith seriously. To actually make it their own. Invest time in your relationship with God. Read the Bible and learn for yourself who God is and what God wants from you.
Playing Catch-Up
Unless you've been away or hiding in your home the past few weeks you realize that our Churches and surrounding communities have been quite busy. Just in case you need to be caught up, or in case you'd like to briefly re-live the past few weeks, here we go:
Several people in the Oxford congregation organized, baked, and ran a pie sale to occur the same day as Oxford's Bicentennial Celebration. The sale was a huge success, the Bicentennial was even better. The celebration included a parade (with half the population of Oxford in it), various festivities, and an incredible fireworks display.
That was all Saturday, July 26th. On Sunday, July 27th our two congregations gathered together for a Homecoming Service that included an incredible slideshow of pictures covering roughly the past 100-125 years. I'll give you the link to our winkflash page that has pictures from the service and the BBQ afterward. The service included former pastors Ken Barnes and Bob Allen, as well as Oneonta District Superintendent Jan Marsi. We also had performances from our adult choir and two different children's choirs (one the little ones, one the older ones). Hopefully we can count on some repeat performance from the children's and youth choirs.
Finally the Oxford congregation had their annual Brook's Barbeque Chicken sale. Many helped make it possible, and we sold over 350 chicken halves that day! Hopefully those who were there had a good time, and hopefully not too many people were frightened by the giant chicken!
Several people in the Oxford congregation organized, baked, and ran a pie sale to occur the same day as Oxford's Bicentennial Celebration. The sale was a huge success, the Bicentennial was even better. The celebration included a parade (with half the population of Oxford in it), various festivities, and an incredible fireworks display.That was all Saturday, July 26th. On Sunday, July 27th our two congregations gathered together for a Homecoming Service that included an incredible slideshow of pictures covering roughly the past 100-125 years. I'll give you the link to our winkflash page that has pictures from the service and the BBQ afterward. The service included former pastors Ken Barnes and Bob Allen, as well as Oneonta District Superintendent Jan Marsi. We also had performances from our adult choir and two different children's choirs (one the little ones, one the older ones). Hopefully we can count on some repeat performance from the children's and youth choirs.
Finally the Oxford congregation had their annual Brook's Barbeque Chicken sale. Many helped make it possible, and we sold over 350 chicken halves that day! Hopefully those who were there had a good time, and hopefully not too many people were frightened by the giant chicken!
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