A 1st Corinthian Christmas

I CORINTHIANS 13~
CHRISTMAS STYLE

If I decorate my house perfectly with lovely plaid bows,
strands of twinkling lights, and shiny glass balls, but do
not show love to my family – I’m just another decorator.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol at the nursing home, and give
all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my
family – it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted
snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the
Choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the
point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn’t envy another home that has coordinated
Christmas china and table lines.

Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way.

Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return,
but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, and endures all things.

Love never fails. Video games will break; pearl necklaces will
be lost; golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love
will endure.

Something to think about...shared with love from the newsletter from FUMC Sulphur Springs.

Grace and joy,
Julie

Charge Conference Love Letter

When I walked through the magic doors back in May 2008, it was love at first sight. I loved West End United Methodist Church, and love her even more today.

I love the grandeur of the architecture—the solid foundations and walls, the beauty of the cobalt blue stained glass windows and the way the light playfully shines through with the diverse colors reflected on the stone walls. Add to that the way the organ makes the sanctuary an instrument unto its own, plus the choirs and quality of worship—well, it is a breathtaking reflection of our transcendent God, who fills up spaces with sacredness.

I love the value West End places on spiritual education. The congregation had great foresight and intention by building its education wing with utmost priority, choosing to work on the sanctuary secondarily, at great personal sacrifice in the midst of economically dark days.

I love the value of mission, and the vast resources we invest in people, through our gifts of time and money to organizations, the dental clinic, Bethlehem Center, Habitat builds, Room in the Inn, our work with the prison and its families. The list is as long as our heart. Where there’s a need, we will step up to the plate.

And I love the grace that radiates from our congregation through her core values, particularly that God’s love is unconditional, and that all does indeed mean ALL here at West End.

So here’s the rub. I loved West End with such a passion that I excluded all else from my life. I believed that was a grand and noble thing to do. When I arrived from Texas, I threw my all into this position. Every waking moment was spent thinking about Christian Formation at West End. When I wasn’t in the church building, I was at home on the computer working. Looking back, I think West End was glad for all my care and nurturing, because they were tired, having come off of some rocky, emotionally draining times when I arrived, and were more than happy to let me do the work. That’s not the healthiest of balances, however. I was too busy to see the bigger picture—making sure the Solid Rock Café was lively with lots of program offerings for Wednesday nights, shoring up a waivering Disciple Bible Study ministry, collecting resources and figuring out ways to strengthen the adult Sunday School classes. I’m proud of those accomplishments, because the hard work has

1) Re-established a strong Disciple ministry, where students are not only learning about the Bible, but teachers are pushing them to apply the information in transformative ways. Today, I’m extremely proud of the classes we have—the epitome of the power of safe places for vulnerabilities to be shared and where true growth in discipleship can happen.

2) Developed a way for Sunday morning class leaders to share resources and class offerings with each other through a weekly e-Notes correspondence, that includes curriculum ideas, teacher helps, missional opportunities, inspirations, and a weekly prayer.

3) Developed an Adult Resource Center on the third floor filled with study books, video series and other materials from which to draw.

4) Started two new Sunday morning classes, saved at least two more from imminent death, and with the growing young adult classes, we are seeing close to 239 adults in a class on a given Sunday morning compared to the 160 number back in 2008—which is a hefty increase of what I think is close to 50% per cent in four year’s time.

5) This past year we held a women’s prayer retreat, and at least two lives were changed in a dramatic way during that weekend, one being called into ministry.

6) We also had a short, but powerful and touching Blessing of the Animals service in October, which brought out many tears and lots of doggy kisses!

7) And last but certainly not least, seeds were planted for a ministry that will also transform lives in powerful ways, that being the development of the pilot program for Covenant Discipleship groups. 35 people studied under the tutelage of Dr. David Lowes Watson, and it looks like come December 5^th, with the continued help of our intern Jonathan Carle and our new affiliate, Steve Manskar (who heads the ministry at the Board of Discipleship!), we will have three solid covenant groups, all of whom will dedicate their lives to acts of compassion, justice, mercy and worship. I can’t begin to tell you what the fruit of that kind of depth of Christian living will bear out, but it is most exciting.

I share all of this good news to let you know how very blessed I have been to do ministry here at West End. If I had it to do over again, I would have shared the hard work—it has taken its toll on me, and that came as a great surprise when I found myself fairly exhausted, which was not healthy for me or for the church in the long run. That’s been a hard lesson learned.

Wise persons say if you love something enough, you will love it enough to let it go. When Michael and the chair of the Staff Parish Relations Committee came to me in early August to let me know that my salary was needed to help restructure the staff for the stronger, you can imagine my grief. One doesn’t love something so passionately to give it up easily, but I have come to realize that if I love West End enough, and if I trust God will take care of us both, then of course I can let her go. You see, in my passion for West End, I had forgotten that as a pastor, I am just a midwife, not the mother of the baby—and West End is not my baby. There are necessary endings, and this is one. As Thomas Merton once said, now, since all things have their season, there is a time to be unborn.

I am not sure where God will send me at the moment—or the United Methodist Church, for that matter. But I trust God, and I know you will too, as you are a faithful congregation. I will always love you and give thanks for you.

Let’s bow our heads:

Today we give thanks for it all,
Though we do not understand much of what we see,
We surrender anyway....
We trust in the Goodness of Life,
We open to the One that breathes us,

To the One who has given us one more day
To feel so alive and free.

Grace and joy,

Julie

Ministry Vows

I confess.  I am a recovering perfectionist. 

You know what the definition of a perfectionist is? 

A perfectionist is a person who takes great pains, and gives them to others.

I laugh at that line a lot when I point out the perfectionistic streaks in others.  When I realized my blindness in my own giving of perfectionistic pains to others, it wasn't so amusing as embarrassing.  If I have inflicted the pains of high and unreasonable expectations toward you, I deeply apologize, and ask your forgiveness.

I am learning to embrace my mistakes as growing steps.  But some mistakes, I firmly believe, are gifts, simple and pure.

A man I much admire, Bo Thomas, recently confessed a mistake in calling our Membership Vow emphasis here at West End UMC our “ministry” vow emphasis.  He apologized profusely at our Ministry Table meeting in November, for his haste in repeatedly making that “mistake.”  I like to think it is a gift, rather than a mistaken misnomer.

Membership vows are indeed what we profess when we join the church.  But membership, as American Express proclaims, comes with privileges.  Membership implies we’ve made the cut, we officially belong in the circle, not outsiders any more.  It’s similar to entitlement—our rights and privileges attained when we give the correct answers.

Perhaps it’s simply a matter of semantics, but I much prefer Bo’s “mistaken misnomer.”  What would it mean if we stood before the Body of Christ and professed our Ministry Vows? 

I vow to give my life to the ministry of prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness.

Can you hear a difference?  Membership typically refers to me, and what I can get—Ministry is an outward act, asking what can I do for others.

I’m so glad we’re taking this year to study and reflect on our Membership Vows.  My prayer is that we hear Ministry Vows, and act accordingly.  It seems to me that those of us with ears to hear might just get up and do.  And celebrate the varied and abundant ministries amongst our membership!

Grace and joy,

Julie