As the Associate Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, I write a weekly article for the newsletter article. I invite both members of the church and other visitors to my blog to share their thoughts!

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I’ve noticed that a few farmers in the area have already started to burn their fields.  I always love watching it…  I love the smell and the meteorologist in me likes watching how the smoke rises.  Now I should remind you that I am a true “city boy” and know hardly anything about farming, so forgive me if I speak beyond my knowledge here.  But, while driving by a burning field the other day it struck me that it was a good metaphor for sin and grace.

Think of it this way: if you were to remove from our lives that which is good and right and true, we’d still be left with a little “stubble” at the bottom: our sin.  Our sin, put softly, is that part of us which is unusable, not worth anything.  For most of us it’s not the focal point or the biggest portion, but for all of us sin is present.

Every now and then we take stock of ourselves and identify the sin for what it is.  In those times, if we’re faithful, what we need is a sort of “controlled burn” to singe that sin out of our lives.  It’s painful giving up things like pride or greed sometimes, isn’t it?

But here’s the amazing part– the sin doesn’t just burn off into nothingness.  Instead, the cleansing fire transforms it into rich nutrients that can be tilled back in to make us a better, more fertile person.  That’s God’s grace at its finest!

It’s not a perfect metaphor, and I don’t know if it can be taken much further.  But perhaps it will give you food for thought next time you see smoke in the distant Kansas sky.  As always, I welcome comments on my blog at http://ministrygeek.net.

As the Associate Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, I write a weekly article for the newsletter article. I invite both members of the church and other visitors to my blog to share their thoughts!

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I had the privilege of studying the Hebrew language during my last year at seminary, which is the language in which the Old Testament is written.  It is not an easy task to learn a language whose roots are so different than one’s own, but the reward is that an incredible new richness of understanding is opened.  For the Hebrew people, their faith was intimately tied to their language in a way that is foreign to us today.

Last Sunday Pat preached in part on Matthew 22:37, where Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, calling it the greatest commandment: “…love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”  I couldn’t help but steal a moment during the morning to look it up in Hebrew, and what I found adds even more depth.

“Heart” to the Hebrews is only a little different than our modern understanding.  They didn’t think of the “heart” as the center of emotion as we do, but rather the center of a person in a larger sense.  Image a cross between our modern idea of “heart” and our modern idea of “gut,” as in a gut feeling.  Soul has a much different connotation than what we often think.  We tend to have this idea of a soul as being separate from our physical bodies– no such thought to the ancient Hebrews.  Many have argued that a better translation would be “with all your being.”

But the one that caught my attention was “might.”  I can’t think of a better single word to translate the Hebrew, but the shades of meaning are significant.  One of the translation dictionaries describes the Hebrew word as “muchness, force, abundance.”  It does mean “might” as in “force,” but what depth of meaning comes from loving God with our “muchness,” with our “abundance!”

What does this mean for you?  For our church?  For our people?  I’ll leave that for you do decide.  I say only “Love the LORD your God with your very core, with your very being, and with all your ‘muchness.’”  Because remember: that’s how God loves you.

As always, I welcome comments on my blog at http://ministrygeek.net.

As the Associate Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, I write a weekly article for the newsletter article. I invite both members of the church and other visitors to my blog to share their thoughts!

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I thought I would give you update on my hair.  You may remember that about a year ago I decided to grow it out for the Locks of Love charity, or perhaps for another charity like it (I have a while to make up my mind!)  The donated hair goes to make wigs for children who have lost their hair due to disease– can you even imagine the dignity, the hope, and the simple sense of “normalcy” such a gift gives?  It seems a simple way to give a gift more precious than I can imagine.

To donate, the hair needs to be in a pony tail, ten inches long.  Right now I have about 3, but the hair from the front isn’t quite long enough to reach the pony tail yet (so I can’t pull it back day-to-day just yet).  It will probably be at least a year before I can donate, but it will be valuable when I do…  The retail cost of such a hairpiece is $3,500 to $6,000!

Many of you will laugh at this (I know I am), but I made a fascinating discovery about a week ago.  Until recently, I had been using a comb– a trusted comb I had used for ages.  One day my wife saw me laboriously combing through the tangles, and asks me why I don’t use a brush.  I stared at her dumbfounded.  After she showed me the right type of brush for my hair, it was amazing!  I couldn’t even feel the tangles any more– the brush just goes right through, and the hair looks better, too!

Naturally, it made me think about faith.  When we pray, read the Bible, etc., there are times when the way we’ve always don’t work any more.  Sometimes life has gotten too long and tangled, and we’re in need of a new spiritual practice, or a new way of going about life.  Maybe it’s silence, maybe it’s a service like Evensong, maybe it’s focusing on a different part of the Bible than we usually do, maybe it’s finding a new way to be generous.

Any workman or cook or craftsperson of any type can tell you that much depends on using the right tool for the job.  Why should our faith be any different?

I welcome your thoughts at http://ministrygeek.net.

As the Associate Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, I write a weekly article for the newsletter article. I invite both members of the church and other visitors to my blog to share their thoughts!

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Are there any Christians in your life you disagree with?  In my experience, Christians who think differently from one another have a tendency either to avoid one another or to try to “convert” one another.

But doesn’t Christ call us to love one another?

The United Methodist Church is a truly interesting group of people.  There are conservative evangelicals and far-left liberals who all call themselves “United Methodists.”  (Did you know that George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton are both United Methodists?)  We don’t always get along like we should, but at the end of the day we all love God and claim the amazing act of Christ’s death and resurrection for our faith.

I think we all find ourselves around a Christian we disagree with from time to time– maybe a family member or a coworker or other friend.  What do you do in a case like that?  Do you avoid the topic of religion?  Do you assume a superior attitude?  Or do you simply love them?

This topic is nothing new…  Christians have thought differently from one another since the beginning of religion itself.  But that doesn’t change God’s love– I don’t believe God cares nearly as much about the details of our belief as he does about how much we love God and neighbor.

This Sunday I am going to preach my own version of one of John Wesley’s (our denomination’s founder) most famous sermons on this very topic.  If you’d like to check out Wesley’s version ahead of time, you’ll find a web link on my blog, http://ministrygeek.net.  Your thoughts and questions are always welcome.

Here is the link to Wesley’s “Catholic Spirit” (remeber that he’s using the word “catholic” to mean “universal,” not to refer to the Roman Catholic Church.)

As the Associate Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, I write a weekly article for the newsletter article. I invite both members of the church and other visitors to my blog to share their thoughts!

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Pat has talked about the upcoming international gathering of United Methodists known as General Conference.  It happens only every four years, and it is where we as a denomination set our course, determine our priorities, and take care of our business.  Of the eight delegates from the western two thirds of Kansas, two are from our church, Pat Ault-Duell and Kim Moore.  By the time you read this, they will be in Forth Worth, TX engaged in this important work.

Many people have attended United Methodists churches for some time, yet have never heard the term we use to describe how our churches and people relate to one another: connectionalism.  We don’t see ourselves as individual churches minding our own business.  Instead, we strive to have a rich connection between every church and among all our denominational organizations.  The result is that many diverse resources and viewpoints are brought together and we all end up being closer to God for it.

I think this is a wonderful concept, and a good example for how we should live our lives.  For the next two Sundays while Kim and Pat are away doing this work on the national level, we are going to explore what it means for our “everyday lives” here.

I also plan to bring up any major issues from General Conference and talk about anything that makes the national news—it’s part of who we are as a church, and it’s important to be informed.  If you want to stay updated through the week, visit http://umc.org.  As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on my blog, http://ministrygeek.net.

As the Associate Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, I write a weekly article for the newsletter article. I invite both members of the church and other visitors to my blog to share their thoughts!

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A short while before Easter, my wife got the call from our District Superintendent, Rick Saylor, saying he had found a church for her to serve in the Hutchinson District. Since we are both graduating from Seminary this Spring, we knew she would be moving, but now we know where: she will be the pastor of Stafford United Methodist Church, about 40 miles to our west. I will of course be continuing here at Trinity, but changing to full time status once I graduate (I can’t wait!)

The life of a United Methodist pastor is a bit nomadic—we expect to move every several years, but are always aware that we COULD be moved even when we don’t expect it. It can be a bit of a nail biter for “clergy couples” especially, for fear that the two churches might be far apart.

I love Trinity, and will be glad to have more energy to devote to it. Stafford seems like a wonderful community, and Amy and the church fit each other well. We will be living in the parsonage in Stafford and I will drive into Hutch daily—I was wondering what I would do with myself once my weekly commutes to Kansas City were over!
Officially it’s the Bishop and District Superintendents who make the decisions about appointments, but there is no doubt in my mind that God is ultimately behind which pastor ends up where!

I welcome your comments on http://ministrygeek.net.

As the Associate Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, I write a weekly article for the newsletter article. I invite both members of the church and other visitors to my blog to share their thoughts!

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Happy Easter– again! This is about the time we start to “move on” in our minds, allowing Easter to become only a day to us. The truth is that Easter is not a day—it’s a lifestyle. As Christians we are called to be God’s “Easter people,” bringing God’s kingdom into the world and living our lives empowered God’s amazing love. How can we sit still and watch suffering, for instance, when we know God has already overcome it? It moves us to do something about it! How can we stand around while we see people whose lives are so very disconnected from God? Easter empowers us to do something about it!

There is a hymn which says it very well. Here are a few lines from it, find #304 in our hymnal if you’d like to read the entire thing (the words are by William M. James in 1979).

Easter people, raise your voices,
sounds of heaven in earth should ring…

Fear of death can no more stop us
from our pressing here below.
For our Lord empowered us
to triumph over every foe…

Every day to us Easter,
with its resurrection song…
Alleluia! Alleluia!
See the power of heavenly throngs.

I welcome your comments on http://ministrygeek.net.