When asked the greatest of the commandments, Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And a second commandment is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
In fulfillment of these two commandments, one way of thinking about worship involves the use of a bicycle wheel. When we come to worship, we are located on the rim of the wheel, and God is at the hub. As worship progresses we move along a spoke so that we’re drawn closer and closer to God. But as we move closer to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we also move closer and closer to others, who are on their spokes moving toward the hub.
This is a great understanding of what is to take place in worship, for too often people who love Jesus don’t seem to have much use for others of his followers. 1 John 2: 9-11 deals with what happen when congregational members say they love God but don’t love one another. “Whoever says, ‘I am in the light,’ (of Jesus) while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light (of Jesus), and in such a person, there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness. -DJ
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Pastor's Column July 10, 2011
The session of Grace recently met with the session of FPC Festus and agreed to enter into a process will possibly lead to FPC being assimilated into Grace. “Assimilated” is the presbytery’s terminology. It works like this.
1) An assimilation committee will soon begin the work of formulating an Assimilation Plan. There are three members on this committee from each session – Carolyn Pruneau, Bill Sternberg, and Bob Aucutt from ours; Ann Brooks, Matt Bungenstock, and Mark Bungenstock from First. The presbytery will also provide four members for this committee.
2) This committee will work out a variety of concerns, including the future of FPC’s building. At this point, both sessions want to keep it open as a community center, under the control of Grace’s session, a continuation of FPC’s historic ministry to the community.
3) During the next several weeks or months there will be opportunities for get-togethers with FPC so we might get to know one another. Presently FPC lists 30 members.
4) After the committee comes up with the Assimilation Plan, it will be presented to both congregations for a vote yea or nay.
5) If both votes are positive, then FPC ceases to exist. Pastor Bill Charlton will retire at that point, and their bank accounts will be transferred to Grace. FPC’s members have the choice of becoming members of Grace or not.
First Presbyterian Festus was our mother church when Grace became a congregation many years ago. It is fitting that we assimilate at this point in time. -DJ
1) An assimilation committee will soon begin the work of formulating an Assimilation Plan. There are three members on this committee from each session – Carolyn Pruneau, Bill Sternberg, and Bob Aucutt from ours; Ann Brooks, Matt Bungenstock, and Mark Bungenstock from First. The presbytery will also provide four members for this committee.
2) This committee will work out a variety of concerns, including the future of FPC’s building. At this point, both sessions want to keep it open as a community center, under the control of Grace’s session, a continuation of FPC’s historic ministry to the community.
3) During the next several weeks or months there will be opportunities for get-togethers with FPC so we might get to know one another. Presently FPC lists 30 members.
4) After the committee comes up with the Assimilation Plan, it will be presented to both congregations for a vote yea or nay.
5) If both votes are positive, then FPC ceases to exist. Pastor Bill Charlton will retire at that point, and their bank accounts will be transferred to Grace. FPC’s members have the choice of becoming members of Grace or not.
First Presbyterian Festus was our mother church when Grace became a congregation many years ago. It is fitting that we assimilate at this point in time. -DJ
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Pastor's Colum July 3, 2011
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” James 3: 9-11 (NIV)
We might think that words constituting a curse would be obvious, but we can also curse a person, in effect, by not having our facts straight.
An example. My novel, Summer of Champions, is set against the background of a real-life event, namely, an All-star team from my hometown winning the 10th Little League World Series in Williamsport. After the book came out, a sportswriter sought my help in gathering information for a New Mexico Magazine article he was writing about this team on the 50th anniversary of their successful season. I met him in my hometown and introduced him to a few of the guys who had been on the team.
Among the questions asked by the sportswriter was how many team members
were deceased. Years earlier, at their 25th reunion, it had been established that three had died. One, David Sherrod, had died of wounds received in Vietnam. The sportswriter mentioned in his article that three of the team members were deceased and gave their names.
Eighteen months after the magazine article was published, the following appeared in the Mailbag section of New Mexico Magazine: “My name is David H. Sherrod, third baseman for that team, and I am indeed not dead, killed in Vietnam, or any other form of possible demise.”
It is a mystery how every other player on the team could think for more than a quarter of a century that David had been killed. The sportswriter and I certainly felt bad about contributing to this curse, but we were glad that David is a forgiving person. “I hold no feelings of wrongdoing toward…the author of the article. I just wanted to set the record straight.”
Our facts need to be straight. Otherwise, our words may constitute a curse by going along with no more than rumors or stereotypes, both of which can deny persons the good God intends for them. -DJ
We might think that words constituting a curse would be obvious, but we can also curse a person, in effect, by not having our facts straight.
An example. My novel, Summer of Champions, is set against the background of a real-life event, namely, an All-star team from my hometown winning the 10th Little League World Series in Williamsport. After the book came out, a sportswriter sought my help in gathering information for a New Mexico Magazine article he was writing about this team on the 50th anniversary of their successful season. I met him in my hometown and introduced him to a few of the guys who had been on the team.
Among the questions asked by the sportswriter was how many team members
were deceased. Years earlier, at their 25th reunion, it had been established that three had died. One, David Sherrod, had died of wounds received in Vietnam. The sportswriter mentioned in his article that three of the team members were deceased and gave their names.
Eighteen months after the magazine article was published, the following appeared in the Mailbag section of New Mexico Magazine: “My name is David H. Sherrod, third baseman for that team, and I am indeed not dead, killed in Vietnam, or any other form of possible demise.”
It is a mystery how every other player on the team could think for more than a quarter of a century that David had been killed. The sportswriter and I certainly felt bad about contributing to this curse, but we were glad that David is a forgiving person. “I hold no feelings of wrongdoing toward…the author of the article. I just wanted to set the record straight.”
Our facts need to be straight. Otherwise, our words may constitute a curse by going along with no more than rumors or stereotypes, both of which can deny persons the good God intends for them. -DJ
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