Thoughts from a United Methodist Clergy Couple in Southeast Kansas
From the monthly archives:
Via Sojourners:
As one country does not bear all things, that there may be a commerce, so neither has God opened, nor will open, all to one, that there may be a traffic in knowledge between the servants of God, for the planting both of love and humility.
— George Herbert, English priest and poet (1593-1633)
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The first Consecration Sunday meeting will be held this Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 6:30 pm. The announcement on the screen this morning was correct, The Announcement Insert was incorrect.
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New signs on repainted poles in the city lot to the immediate south of the church.
The youth spent their time together today refurbishing (by painting the poles and replacing the signs) all the signage in the library parking lot, and two handicapped parking signs on the east side of the church. Jenny and I want to thank the youth (and Elizabeth) for pitching in and Dave Larimore for providing much needed tools and expertise.
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After only three weeks leave spent recovering from knee surgery, Linda Beever will try coming back to the office Monday. (part-time). Let’s all try take it easy on her.
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I wrote the following for the pastor’s column in The Coffeyville Journal:
The Bible is an unusually complicated book. You may be hard pressed to find a Christian who will admit to it, but the fact remains, the Bible is a complex, peculiar, and at times bewildering book that can be difficult to interpret. (The Bible itself is surprisingly upfront about this, see 2 Peter 3.15-16). The Bible was originally written in three languages: ancient Hebrew, Aramaic (a shirt-tail cousin of ancient Hebrew), and Greek. As Marilyn McEntyre recently reminded readers of Sojourners magazine, “Hebrew is one of the most ambiguous languages on earth. And Greek draws distinctions that do not survive translation.” Taken as a whole the Bible was written down over a span of more than one thousand years. Parts of it existed as oral tradition long before they appeared in written form and even the most recently recorded parts of it are more than 1800 years old. The Bible contains parables, poems, aphorisms, prophecy, laments, correspondence, social commentary, allegories, creation accounts, narratives, theological commentary on historical events and visions in a list that does not stop there.
It is a book filled with apparent inconsistencies and contradictions. Matthew and Luke quote Jesus as saying “Whoever is not with me is against me” (Matthew 12.30, Luke 11.23, NRSV), but Mark has Jesus tell his disciples, “Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9.40, NRSV). The best explanation that I can come up with is to admit that the texts are in “tension.”
Among Christians there is even disagreement over what belongs in the Bible. The canon that my denomination, The United Methodist Church, and others recognize as sacred is lacking works that are accepted as holy by many of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
None of this is to say that the Bible is not the inspired word of God, nor is any of this to deny the power of the Holy Spirit to work through the Bible. Neither do I mean to imply that the Bible should be left unread on the shelf, the nightstand, or the pew. It is rather to warn against approaching the Bible with the assumption that we already know what it says and means. We need to approach it with some understanding of its original cultural contexts, an awareness of the diversity of its witness, and caution about the limits of our ability to apprehend even the revealed will of God. We need to approach it from within the support and framework of interpretation offered by a community of believers grounded in the best traditions of the Christian faith; in short, we need to approach it with the help of a church. Finally, we need to approach it aware of our utter dependence upon the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Reading the Bible is hard, challenging work, but as with so much in life, that difficult work is amply rewarded.
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Even with all the help from volunteers, the church office hours continue to be chaotic in Linda Beever’s absence. We’re normally open about 10 am to make sure the mail can be delivered, and volunteers are here from 1 to 4 pm on most afternoons, but you’re best bet remains to call before making the trip.
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An open and transparent church, I believe, needs a news service that not only tells the church’s positive stories, but is able to report news that might make us uncomfortable at times.
— The Rev. Larry Hollon,
top executive of United Methodist Communications
The Full article is at http://churchcultureandmedia.blogspot.com/2009/09/church-must-report-its-own-news-good.html
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The Youth Group will be meeting this Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 5:00 pm. The plan is to work on putting up new signs in the parking lot of the city library and cleaning the lot up in general. If it rains, hails, sleets, or snows, we’ll continue our study of the Lord’s Prayer.
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Sermons for September 13 and September 20, 2009 are now online. They’re available at: http://blog.coffeyvillefirstumc.org/podcasts.
You can also subscribe to our podcast through iTunes.
(iTunes is available as a free download.)
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The Board of Trustees and the Finance Committee will be meeting with Steve Childs of the Kansas Area United Methodist Foundation tomorrow, Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 5:15 pm in room 102 to discuss the church’s investments.
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