Just Do It!

It's late and I don't want to miss my blog spot again.  (Sorry about the 19th!!)  So let's go back to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a & 13.

A brief review of Love (vs 4-8):  Love is patient, kind, rejoices with the truth, always protects, trusts, hopes, & perserveres.  Love does not boast, is not rude, self-seeking, easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil & never fails.  And vs 13:  "And now these three remain:  faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love."

My NIV Study Bible footnote says, "Love will be the governing principle that controls all that God and his redeemed people are and do." 

Well, we are his redeemed people so let's "Just Do It!"

Peace & Love,
Linda

Heart Transformation

 I have been in continual conflict over how to feel about all that is going on within Asbury's walls. After meeting Yvette several months ago, I had been confident she is the person for Asbury. Then the whole service changes "stirred the pot", so to speak, and fear set in. I heard the grumblings that began.

 I will admit I was not too fond of either service choices presented to us, so I chose not to vote last week. And all week I've been afraid of the verdict that would be presented to us, knowing some church members would be leaving and that some have already chosen to leave prior to this announcement. People who have become family to us.

 Then, my whole heart, mind and soul changed this morning. When Yvette started to pray for each of the confirmands, individually. I was blown away. I always felt the Holy Spirit emulate from her, but when you realize she had never really met any of the young people or spent any time with them, and to hear her pray for them in such an accurate and personal way, was nothing short of AMAZING! I know several of the youth in this group of kids and she was right on with each of them and Morgan confirmed she was accurate with them all.

 I couldn't begin to express how I felt after the prayer she laid on Morgan and how perfect it was for all of us. I feel very blessed to have had that prayer said out-loud for my daughter.

 (We ran into Mikayla after church and she asked if Pastor Paul had written the prayers for Yvette for each of them since they were so accurate and couldn't believe it when I told her "no, I don't believe he did.")

 And then to see and feel the negativity after Trish read the announcement at the second service, I wanted to scream, "Don't you people get it?!? It's not about us!"

 Yvette will bring the Holy Spirit with her in everything she does for and with Asbury. It's not about where we sit, or which room we're in, or what songs we sing. It's about being the hands and feet of Jesus. It's not about whose service style "won". Because if we make it about those things, we totally loose sight of what and why Jesus sacrificed for us. Yet no one wants to sacrifice anything for the betterment of Asbury. Really?

 Please Asbury, let's open our eyes and hearts to what God has brought to us.! Let's be the congregation we pledged to be to those young people who made a promise to God today.

 GOD DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES

 Roseann Brown <><

Broken to Pieces

Our small group, Grace Seekers, has decided to study 1Corinthians so I started reading through thinking I'd use 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 for today's blog.  I like to read this section substituting my name for "love" and "it."  It's pretty convicting.  So I offer that up to you to try today.

But as I was reading from Dave's Men's Devotional Bible I came across an entry by Michael Card:

"Everyone who comes to know Jesus stumbles because of him.  He fails to meet our wrong expectations.  He calls us to do impossible things or to become something we think we could never become.  This is his way of teaching us how much we need him.  He breaks us to pieces so that he can put us back together in his image."

Sort of hits home, doesn't it?  As Church Council meets tonight may the Holy Spirit permeate the room.  And may we (Asbury Church) be broken to pieces so that he can put us back together in his image!!

Jesus, Thank you for loving us so much.  Help us to love you more and to share your love with each other and those beyond our walls.  Amen.

Linda

Matthias 
May 12 is one of the days designated each year as a Festival Day of St. Matthias. While as United Methodist’s we do not pay tribute to such days, and I’m not certain Hallmark has caught wind of this either, the timing was too perfect to not enlighten or remind the few of you who read this blog about the story of how Matthias was selected.  
 
Matthias was the back-up guy … the second string …the understudy apostle. He was added to the Twelve after Jesus' resurrection, as a replacement for the dead Judas Iscariot. He had traveled among the followers of Jesus throughout the Lord's ministry. But what is amazing to me is how he was picked. According to the story, which you can read in Acts 1, the eleven left behind apostles picked out two qualified candidates, Joseph, called Barsabbas, aka Justus and the single-named Matthias. Since they knew nothing of Robert’s rules or United Methodist polity, and since they wanted God to make the decision, they sidled up to the table  ... and, wait for it ... they rolled the dice. Matthias won.
 
I wonder if God actually changed the fabric of the universe and the laws of gravity, reaching in for a split second to control the role of the dice. Or maybe, if both candidates were equally qualified (and probably equally flawed) God just simply let it happen according to chance. The parallel is amazing to me. The apostles were so sure of the influence and power of the Holy Spirit that they were willing to bring about two choices on a major decision—and then leave it all to the roll of the dice. It seems that we have a bit less trust in the Spirit and quite a bit more need for control over the decision-making process—I admit that I do. But I also trust that if God can work through first century dice, then he can also work through us and whatever crazy process we find ourselves in to move Asbury forward for his purposes.

--Leigh

Remember when....

I have been spending a lot of time in conversation around our worship changes in the last two weeks. God has provided amazing opportunities for many conversations and new levels of understanding. But I have to admit that I got to a place this week where I thought to myself..... we must be CRAZY! How, why did we ever come up with options A & B..... we are insane, this obviously is NOT what is going to make people "happy". And then in the midst of a meeting this week it came to me. Almost one year to Sunday's date many in our church family came together to celebrate the beginning of Asbury's 230th year of ministry. We hosted Bishop Middleton, and for that Sunday, we were one church. We celebrated how God has provided in the past and the new opportunities He is calling us to in the future. We had bells, praise instruments, singers, and it was Worship. There were over 300 of us gathered in the sanctuary to give all the glory and honor to God through our various giftings and musical abilities. 

For weeks after this service our phones rang, emails were sent and conversations had around why we don't do this more often. Many leaders in the church came forward asking, pleading almost begging to have our services changed right then. "We've proven we can do this, and do it well," they said. Why can't we all be together in worship? And so I sit here reflecting on those conversations.  Wondering.... how did we get here? God, where are you leading? And, whatever comes out of the next week, will we all want something different next year?

I am struggling. In many ways I can relate that experience and these last weeks to numerous biblical accounts.  I think of Moses and the Israelites. They wanted to leave Egypt and be free from Pharoh right? Until they faced uncertainty that is..... and then in Exodus 14:10-11, "As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.  They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?"

Unfortunately one of the accounts that just will not leave my mind is Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday and people shouting "Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest". Only to find several days later the same people shouting "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Maybe that's too far reaching, I don't know.

But I do know that I am a fickle, sinful human. When I get so entrenched in what I want I become worthless to God and worthless to ministry. I have no idea what our worship schedule should look like. I know how many changes would effect children and youth programing and it makes me worry that if we try to please everyone, we may not please anyone or far worse, we may not have anyone left to please.

I don't write any of this to try to convince you to "vote" a certain way. But please, spend some time thinking about the last year, where we've been as a church and where God is calling us to go in the future. PLEASE, spend time on your knees before God, if He does not want option A or B for His church, that He would show us how to do the wonderful things we currently do in different set up. I will be praying for us... and I will come to worship on Sunday with a surrendered heart. Will you join me?

Aimee

A letter from Paul

I've stayed amazingly committed1 to the New Testament Challenge, except for one problem; I often find myself jumping through the books as though I'm channel surfing ... with no idea what I'm really looking for and never staying put long enough to dig into the plot, just deciding if the main characters are people I feel like spending a little time with or not right now. With 27 books to bounce around in, and waiting for something to grab my attention, I’ve noticed that during the past few weeks I keep ending up in Paul's letters to the early church. Paul is not someone I am usually drawn to—I'll admit it; I don't particularly like him. His stance on women alone is enough to raise my hackles and cause me to be guarded. But he lives so BIG and he writes with such passion to the early Christians: to warn, encourage, and guide.  

Not inspired by any particular verse or passage, and yet charge with blogging my thoughts, all I can think is wouldn't it be great if Paul would write us a letter?! He could show us the pitfalls before us; admonish us for spending so much time focusing on that which isn't really important and our tendency to make mountains out of molehills; remind us that we need each other to stay strong and endure the challenges that lie ahead. Wouldn't it be cool if he mentioned me personally in his letter?! I could stop wondering what I'm supposed to do next or if I am reading God's will for my life correctly and just start living each day assured that I am exactly where I am meant to be and my purpose is to contribute something meaningful each and every day! 

Of course, Paul's letters were indeed written to us, it matters not if he mentions us by name. He is still here to offer his guidance, to nudge, confront, and inspire us. Even though I have a feeling Paul wouldn’t be someone I’d like spending lots of time with if he were here among us today, I think he falls in that category of people God would want me to accept, as he is, for what he brings. Who in my church family is God asking me to do the same with? In what unsuspecting person does God have something he wants me to see?

1committed is a relative term indicating only the personal standards of this author.

 

A weekend I will remember for a long time.

To be honest, I didn't really commit to reading any scripture this weekend... well... because I just had a marathon of a weekend.

But I'm about to argue that it is okay.

I had a weekend of blessing.  It started out with our Confirmation class Lock-In.  Myself and two other adult leaders stayed at the church overnight with 10, sugar-happy, hormonally charged teenagers... it's a beautiful thing. 

They love to be together.  They love to learn and grow together.  They learn in confirmation to accept one another and acknowledge what the body of Christ is called to look like.  They yearn to see what their calling is to be in this world and through the Church.

I found myself affirming them through my knowledge of scripture I already knew and learning more and more about what those scriptures mean through my experience leading the confirmation lock-in. 

"...If we are a hand, we cannot say to the foot, 'I don't need you'..." 1 Corinthians 12

At what point to we lose this unique understanding of who we are in Christ?  I feel like it gets clouded in our personal wants and needs, as well as our distrust/disinterest in the true body of Christ.  Or even of ourselves.  I saw a lot of youth not losing sight of this.

I was challenged by scripture I already knew at the lock-in.

Then, after the lock-in on Saturday, I traveled to Philadelphia to participate in my first 10-mile run called the Broad Street Run.

Click here to see a video of the madness of the Broad Street Run yourself!

This is the largest (not to be confused with the longest as my sister thought) 10-mile race in America.  Over 40,000 people participated in the run.  It was very entertaining and intimidating all in one.  I have been training hard for a couple months to build up endurance to participate in this race.  And I was running for a couple ministries who focus on loving prostitutes and victims of sex-trafficking.  These are issues, in my mind that demand our attention and compassion as Christians... I can't say I have always done so... but I put it in the front of my mind as my motivation to fight through 10 miles and to personally push myself because those people were worth it. 

It was a rush.  I was nervous about being able to finish strong because I got sick 2 weeks before.  I hadn't run very much in the last two weeks... but what should have been no surprise to me... I finished strong and in a faster time than I expected.  A couple thoughts...

Encouragement is not a waste of time... in fact, it is our calling to encourage our brothers and sisters.  People everywhere were encouraging their friends, family and... strangers!!  Churches were singing on their front stoop for runners, people had signs, were giving high-fives shouting, "We're so proud of you! You're doing great!  You got this!  Keep going."  I recalled scripture in Ephesians, "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." and Hebrews and Thessalonians "Encourage one another...build up the body of Christ". 

Both my sister and I reflected on our need to hold back tears at points because of the overwhelming strength that came from... encouragement.  I kept asking myself the question, "Isn't this what the body of Christ looks like?"  It really left me wondering what would happen to the world if we stood on the sidelines for each other as we ran our races of life... which also brought me to a place of remembering some word from Paul in scripture as a charge to "run the race marked out for us...".

All in all, this blog is getting long.  But in all seriousness, I was challenged by the Word of God a lot this weekend... and why?  Because I knew it and I have been challenged by it before... but my life experiences this weekend were enhanced and shaped me deeper because of the Word.

I could say a lot more.  I would have shared this with you yesterday but I was running around like a crazy person, literally.  But I would challenge you to never limit what planting the Word in your heart will do. And I would also challenge you to push/challenge yourself to do something you never thought you would ever be able to do.  It will reveal things to you about yourself, Christ and so much more that you wouldn't be able to see if you were comfortable in life.

Do it.

Pam

What if…

     In the ninth chapter of Acts, we read the familiar account of Paul of Tarsus and his conversion to Christ on the road to Damascus.  Temporarily blinded, Paul is healed and baptized immediately upon recovering his sight.  He goes on to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ effectively and boldly, and faces down multiple attempts by Jewish leaders to silence him.  In the midst of all this real-life drama, Paul is spirited away.  But Luke tells us “the Church had peace throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria, and grew in strength and numbers.  The believers (listen to this)…learned how to walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit”…

    

   What IF the Asbury community could learn how to walk in fear of the Lord” (awesome reverence/real humility) and in the comfort (faith-led/blessed assurance) of the Holy Spirit?  Would we even be worried about the time frame or particular style of our worship services?

     

    I confess I was somewhat discouraged at our most recent listening session.  There I asked, “what would we (Asbury) be willing to do to the Main Sanctuary to make it an effective setting for all forms and styles of worship?”  And the answer came back fast and furious….  “nothing!”…that doesn’t sound like walking in fear of the Lord or in the comfort of the Holy Spirit”…it sounds like self-centered elitism…

“Hosanna, Hosanna…Come have Your way among us…We welcome you here Lord Jesus”…..

JBH

Ephesians 4

Today, May 3rd is the National Day of Prayer and I as I went home last night and spent some time processing everything from the day and evening meetings I was constantly drawn back to this passage in Ephesians. It's my prayer for us as we journey through the coming days and weeks.  - Aimee

Unity in the Body

"Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future." (Ephesians 4:1-4 NLT)

Mark 9:14-21

I am reading in Mark 9 14-21 today and I am seeing some relevant points for our current discussions on the time and style of service.  This whole discussion for me is so much bigger than what time I am worshipping and weather it is a pipe organ or a bass guitar accompanying me as I praise the amazing God I serve.  In this scripture, Jesus warns us that we need to “Be careful.” “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”  This comes after a discussion with Pharisees about a need for a sign from heaven.  I feel like Jesus was saying “seriously folks, you are going to ask for a sign.  I just had two separate occasions where I fed 5000 and 4000 people with a few loaves of bread.  I have healed countless people simply because they showed the faith in me to do so.  Now you are asking me for a sign.  What do you people want from me?”

I feel like Jesus is saying to me this morning, don’t listen to the people who are out there doubting weather a church that has been so steeped in tradition with the beautiful building can ever really break free of the old “church” stereotypes and fall on their faces and worship God with all that we have and serve every single person who walks through our door.  Serve them regardless of what they look like, talk like, dress like, smell like or act like.  If they have the best suit or the dirtiest coat…Love them.  If they have flawless skin and perfectly manicured nails or matted hair and sweat pants…Love them…not just tolerate them…Love them. 

Our church family is fractured and this is the time when we need to set our comfort aside, humble ourselves and let God provide.  Jesus is saying you can experience me where ever you are.  I will feed you…I will provide your daily bread today and every day if you just serve me and don’t let the yeast of the world and your own internal yeast contaminate you.  Praise to God is Praise to God it does not matter what it is accompanied by.  Worship and reverence are what He wants for us and that looks different to all people.  But if we humble ourselves to Him and only Him and realize that we are not going to be comfortable doing it, OH the places we will GO! 

Have faith that your God is big enough to meet you where ever you are as long as you are seeking him and not something that you feel comfortable with.  Jesus did not come to make you feel comfortable.  He came to show you how to make disciples and he told you to do it. (Matthew 28:19-20)  Are we really doing that if we are doing the same old thing and seeking OUR comfort?  How many people have you invited to church today?  How many people have you forgiven just like God forgives you today?  How much grace have you heaped upon the people you came in contact with today? 

“Why are you talking about having no bread?  Do you still not see or understand?  Are you hearts hardened?  Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?  And don’t you remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?  And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?  …..Do you still not understand?"


Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need.

Betsy Coldiron