Sunday Preview

Sunday Preview
Sunday, December 31^th 2006 (First Sunday of Christmas)
Wesleyan Covenant Service

I have never been one for New Year’s Resolutions. I have never been very good at choosing things to resolve and I have never been very good at sticking with them. I am much better at New Year’s Rededication. I like to take time at the beginning of the year to think about what is important in my life and rededicate myself to that.

I believe what needs to be most important in my life is God. If God is at the center, all those resolutions that I don’t make have a way of taking care of themselves. Through the year, it is pretty easy for God to slip from that top spot, so I think it is important, at the threshold of a new year, to rededicate myself to God.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement shared this belief and developed a service for this purpose called The Covenant Renewal Service. It has been traditionally held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

I hope you will join me at any of our three services this Sunday, 8:30, 9:45 or 11:00 to worship, give thanks, and rededicate yourself to God on the eve of 2007.

peace,

will

What Should a Billionaire Give – and What Should You?

I just read an amazing article from the Sunday New York Times Magazine by Peter Singer a professor of bioethics at Princeton. Singer combines some of my favorite subjects, philosophy, economics and the need to end extreme poverty in the world.

What Should a Billionaire Give – and What Should You?
By PETER SINGER
Published: December 17, 2006
A philosopher’s case for donating more than you’re comfortable with.

Here is an exerpt:

Few people have set a personal example that would allow them to tell Gates that he has not given enough, but one who could is Zell Kravinsky. A few years ago, when he was in his mid-40s, Kravinsky gave almost all of his $45 million real estate fortune to health-related charities, retaining only his modest family home in Jenkintown, near Philadelphia, and enough to meet his family’s ordinary expenses. After learning that thousands of people with failing kidneys die each year while waiting for a transplant, he contacted a Philadelphia hospital and donated one of his kidneys to a complete stranger.

The article is pretty long, but worth the read.

peace,

will

Sunday Morning

I am wondering as I prepare worship for the fourth Sunday of Advent, Christmas Eve morning, if I can expect many worshippers to join me. Christmas Eve is one of the biggest services of the year and John and I thought for a long time about what to do with the morning services. Some churches have cancelled or combined services but we opted not to. Here was our reasoning: First, we believe that the season of Advent is a really important time. We really need this time of preparation for Christmas to mean all that it can mean. We didn't want to skip the last Sunday of Advent. Second, a more practical reason, it is hard to get the word out when you change services. Say that our church decided to have one morning service at 10:00. Say that we spent weeks telling everyone in the congregation about it to make sure they would come at the right time. Then say someone we have never seen before wakes up on Christmas Eve morning and decides to go to church. Say she has been by the church before and thought about it and jotted down the service times. Perhaps she looked in the yellow pages. Maybe she even cut out our ad a few weeks ago from the newspaper when she was thinking about going to church. Say she decides to come to our 8:30 service and we were not there. We would like to think that she would go home and come back at 10, but realistically and statistically, she wouldn't. I would rather be here. Just in case she comes.

peace,

will

The Longest Night

We will be hosting a special service this Thursday night at 6:30 called "The Longest Night." The service is especially for people who may have trouble celebrating at Christmas. There are a lots of things that happen in our lives that make things especially hard at Christmas when everyone else seems to have so much to celebrate. Bring someone along and join us as we try to experience Christmas in a different way, looking for the word of hope in Christmas, even when hope seems far away.

peace,

will

Blog Slacking

Apologies to my regular readers. Two funerals and a one day trip to Austin have gotten me off my blogging track. I am now prepping myself for the week before Christmas. Christmas in the life of the church was a little odd last year with Christmas falling on a Sunday. It is even stranger this year with Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday. That means we will have three services Sunday morning and four services Sunday evening, which will make for sort of a long day. I believe it is totally worth the work though. We all know there is something about Christmas that inspires people who have been away for a while or who have never been to church to come and see what all the fuss is about. We want to make sure we have plenty of room.

Peace to you in this last week of Advent!

will

Live from my office... it's Monday night!

Monday night is not a time I usually spend in my office. It is either meetings or at home. But this is a busy week. In an unusual turn of events I am presiding over two funerals this week. Funerals take a lot out of me. They are hard, but not for the reason many people expect. I have learned to deal with the sadness of being around people suffering loss. I won't say that goes away but, as a pastor, you need to find some way to deal with it in a healthy manner.

What gets me is the pressure and the pressure comes directly from me. I believe that funerals and memorial services are part of an incredibly important process. It is not just the service itself. There is so much possibility of healing and reconciliation that takes place all around those moments that follow the death of a loved one. I get the honor of being a part of that and I take it about as seriously as I can without being either self-centered or completely burned out.

When it comes to the service itself, I ponder every word, every piece of scripture, every song. I never get it perfect, but I try to do my best. Those who have left us and those who are left behind deserve nothing less.

peace,

will

Sunday Preview

Sunday, December 10^th 2006 (Second Sunday of Advent)

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-16

Even for someone like me from Western New York, it is starting to feel a bit like Christmas. The cool weather and my neighbor'’s Christmas lights (mine aren'’t up yet) are helping me to get ready for one of the most joyous celebrations of the year.

The four Sundays of Advent are the church's way of preparing for the arrival of GodÂ’s most precious gift, Jesus Christ. This week, the choir is going to help us prepare by offering us the gift of music as they present, Night of Wonder, A Cantata for Advent or Christmas. At all three services, they will present this offering of choruses and readings that will trace the journey from the Advent prophecy to the annunciation of Mary and from the birth of Jesus to the heavenly host proclaiming, "“Glory to God in the highest!"” I hope you will consider inviting your friends and family to experience the wonder of Christmas celebrated in music!

peace,


will

The rough times...

There are times in life when things are just too much to bear. There are others when things are so good that we make up things to be aggravated about. As I was sitting at my desk working on a sermon series for January, I became aggravated when I realized that I left the house today without my iPod headphones and the Pop-Tart I had intended to snack on this afternoon. When something like that is the largest aggravation of the day, life is pretty good. Though I am still missing that Pop-Tart.

peace,

will

It's cold, leave me alone.

The little cold snap has left Bodhi a little lazy and a little stubborn. In case you can't tell from this picture, Bodhi is not allowed on the furniture. Although, we just got that chair a few weeks ago when one of our neighbors moved, so no one has told him specifically to stay off that chair.

peace,

will

You Don't See This Much Here

Notice the bottom two numbers on this picture of the clock in my office. On the left, just above the date is the inside temperature, a cool 69 degrees. On the right, just above the day is the outside temperature, a cooler 45 degrees. It is pretty rare here in lovely, tropical Corpus Christi that the number on the right falls lower than the climate controlled number on the left.

Welcome Winter! Enjoy your brief stay in the Coastal Bend.

peace,

will

What would you suggest...

It is that time of the year when pastors answer lots of questions and fill out lots of forms for the church the district and the conference. Here is one of the questions on one of those forms:

What resources would you suggest to colleagues to help restore emotional or spiritual health?

My answer:

Take a Sabbath, every week. Be lazy, take a nap or go fishing and forget to take bait.
And get a dog, not a little dog, but a real dog, like a lab or a pit bull or something.
And watch House, Tuesday nights at 8 on Fox and GreyÂ’s Anatomy, Thursdays at 8 on ABC.
And when you hear a cool song on one of the above shows, download it from iTunes and put it
on your iPod.
And call someone younger than you and ask them what iTunes and iPod mean.
And read books, fiction and non-fiction. Read a lot of them. There are a lot of books out there.
They print new ones faster than I can read the old ones.
And do something that scares the ______ out of you. Mountain climbing, sky diving, or foster-
parenting all count.
And convince at least one person that they are worth being loved by the creator of the universe
And experience something every year that makes your jaw drop and tears come to your eyes. It can be good or bad. Many of the things above will facilitate this.

peace,

will

Not what I thought it would be...

I just finished George Barna's Revolution (Carol Stream Illinois: Tyndale House Publishing, 2005). It didn't take long at 144 pages. It really wasn't what I was expecting. George Barna and the Barna Group he created are renowned for their research within and outside the realm of religion. In this book, the author makes the point that his research is showing a radical shift in Christianity to something that is happening more and more outside the walls (physical and otherwise) of the institutional church. I believe that his theory may be correct, however, what Barna does not share is the research that backs it up. He also does quite a bit of theologizing of his own. Perhaps some of it based on research, but there is no way of knowing.

There is a lot of good in this book, I think Barna can help the local church see how it can be part of the changing landscape of Christianity and can help people who feel out of place in the local church see that they are not alone. However, the helpfulness of the book can be a little hard to get at as it is somewhat buried in the author's still emerging conservative faith. There are times when I couldn't tell if his personal understanding of spirituality was pushing us forward to something new, or simply pulling us back to the way it used to be (in other words, toward another type of fundamentalism.)

So, you can read it for yourself and see what you think. Or you can wait for the review of the book I am reading now, Christianity for the Rest of Us, by Diana Butler Bass, which seems to be a little more on target.

peace and happy reading,

will

Life Underwater

Alisha, my sister, my brother law, my niece, Joshua and I went to the aquarium on the day after Thanksgiving. The Aquarium is truly one of Corpus Christi's treasures. They also have one of the best playgrounds on the planet, complete with that cool rubbery surface covering the ground which provides for very little crying even when little boys fall down.

peace,

will

This Week's Sermon - Text and Audio

Sermon 33 is posted in text an audio form:

Sermon 33 - What Kind of King - Text Version
Sermon 33 - What Kind of King - Audio Version

Your thoughts and questions are always welcomed!

peace,

will

Live from my office... It's Saturday Night!

I don't often find myself working late on Saturday to finish a sermon for Sunday, but here I am. It is not that I got a late start or that Thanksgiving put me off schedule. I wrote a sermon early in the week and was just planning on polishing it Wednesday evening before my sister and he family got here Thursday morning. When I read it Wednesday it was fine except... I didn't really believe it. Occasionally, in my effort to read scripture and deliver a message, something goes awry and I end up with a finished product that just isn't right. I think people can tell when the pastor doesn't really believe what they are saying. For me it is more than that. I can't bear to stand up there and proclaim something that I don't believe. So, if you are in church tomorrow morning or if you read or listen to the sermons online, you get a whole new sermon tomorrow. This one I believe.

peace,

will

Some "not so light" reading

I just finished Kevin Phillips latest, American Theocracy, The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money. This goes on my list of the top five books of the year. However, I am not going to recommend it for all readers. Most people just don’t care enough about economics, politics, and theology to tackle four hundred pages of fairly dense, although well written, text.

Phillips book is critical of the Republican Party and the conservative Christian coalition which will displease some who follow that party or group. However, he is deeply historical, tracing patterns that have led to the downfall of other superpowers, and very insightful toward economic data as it paints of picture of the state our nation.

If the book does nothing else, it does an amazing job of showing the complexities and interrelations of economics, politics and religion. What we believe, what we empower our leaders to do and what we participate in simply by our unknowing has serious consequences on every single citizen of our country and every person attached to our world economy.

If you are into this sort of stuff, it is actually a fun read.

peace,

will

For I was suffering from low food security and you gave me food?

Check out this editorial from this morning's New York Times:

Brother, Can You Spare a Word?

It seems that the annual government hunger report (which showed a small amount of good news this year) has dropped the word hunger in favor of "suffering from low food security." I guess it is a lot easier to sleep at night with a lot of people suffering from low food security than with a lot of hungry people.

peace,

will

Rob Bell Revisited

I wrote a review a couple of weeks ago about the book Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. In case you missed it, just click on the title in the last sentence and you can read it. I bring it up again because I visited the website of Rob's Church, Mars Hill. (www.mhbcmi.org) First of all, what a great website! Second of all, all of Rob's sermon are available for download. I downloaded one at random last week and put it on my iPod. Rob is a great preacher. He is not a great preacher of the variety that is incredibly exuberant, or entertaining, or funny. He just really knows his stuff and can translate it in such a way that anyone can understand.

Rob follows the trend of many modern preachers, a trend that seems to buck conventional wisdom, he preaches very long. The sermon I listened to last week clocked in at just over an hour. (And some people complain when pastor John surpasses the 20 minute mark.) Preaching long certainly doesn't seem to be hurting his church, Mars Hill is one of the fasted growing churches in American history.

I know a few people who like to listen to other sermons besides the ones on Sunday morning, which is great. However, there is a lot of bad theology out there. So, might I suggest downloading one of Rob Bell's sermons to your computer or iPod. Be prepared to be engaged and learn a lot.

You can go directly to the audio sermons page:

http://www.mhbcmi.org/listen/index.php

I started with the September 10th sermon, "Jesus Wants to Save Christians." The title is deceiving, it is a great sermon.

peace,

will

Newsletter Column

I know a lot of folks who read the blog don't read (or don't get) the Grace newsletter. So, here is my column from this week:

I haven’t had a chance yet to formally thank everyone for the abundant outpouring of love and support upon the arrival of our foster son Joshua. Alisha and I have truly been moved by the love shown through diapers, toys, gift cards, and offers for babysitting.

I cannot begin to tell you what a joy it has been to open our home and share our love with one of God’s beloved children. It is my prayer that the love we share will give him a chance at a truly full and abundant life.

It is also my prayer that Joshua’s presence among us may inspire someone else to hear God’s call to foster parenting. I realize that such a ministry is a big step and one not to be entered into lightly. I also realize that there are some people who are truly equipped and called to such a ministry and that there are many children who need them.

On Thursday, December 7^th, at 7 p.m. in room 143, I will host Robyn Detert of the Corpus Christi Outreach office of Methodist Children’s Home along with Rhonda Dyer from the San Antonio office for an informational meeting about Methodist Children’s Home’s foster care program. This meeting will, of course, in no way obligate you. So, even if you are just a little curious about the program, please come. If you have any friends or family members who have thought about foster care, please bring them along. The meeting is open to anyone who wants to learn more about what MCH is doing to place children in need in loving homes.

If you have any questions about the meeting, about foster parenting, or about Methodist Children’s Home, please feel free to contact me directly at pastorwillrice@gmail.com.

peace,

will

Live from San Antonio... This Week's Sermon!

The audio version will have to wait until I am back in Corpus Christi, but here is the link to the text version of this week's sermon. If you were at the 11:00 worship service this week, it may seem a little different since we didn't have communion this week at that service.

Sermon #32 - What Do You Want?

peace,

will

A little delay

For those of you who like to read or listen to the sermon online, it will be a little late this week, unless I get an unexpected rush of motivation in the next couple of hours. I am off in the morning for a conference on new church development in San Antonio. That is piggy backing on my regularly two days of Covenant Connection which will be in San Antonio as well this month. (Saving me the rest of the drive to Kerrville.

I may be able to get the text version posted from up there, but the audio version requires me being in the home studio.

May you have a blessed week.

peace,

will

Another picture in search of a caption

I guess it needs to be put in context. I was at our annual Blessing of the Animals.

The only thing that comes to mind is:

"Heal!"

peace,

will

Sunday Preview - You Get it First Because You Read the Weblog!

Sunday Preview

November 12, 2006

Scripture: Mark 10:46-52

Sermon Title: “What do you want?”

What would you do if God stood right before you and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” Could you answer that question? Or would you stammer about waiting for God to pass by?

This Sunday we will be reading the story of blind Bartimaeus. I hope that in it, we can hear God reaching out to us, and we can begin to allow God to truly be at work in our lives.

Don’t forget, text and audio versions of my sermons are available at gracesermons.blogspot.com. Printed copies of sermons can be found in the glass way at the church.

peace,

will

Velvet Elvis

I just finished reading Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis, Repainting the Christian Faith. My friend Bryan recommended this book a while back and it took me a while to get to it. I wish I had read it sooner. Bryan did not steer me wrong.

I want to talk about this book by recommending it to two groups of people:

Group 1 - You should read this book if you are looking for meaning in your life but are not quite sure that Christianity holds the meaning that you are looking for. That might mean that you are not involved in a church or you are involved in one but aren't really sure if it is connecting you to reality you seek.

Group 2 - You should read this book if Christianity does hold meaning for you but you wonder why others, especially young people don't share your view. If you are the parent of a teen or young adult and can't figure out why they won't connect with what the church is doing or if you can't understand why your young friends want nothing to do with the church, read what Rob Bell has to say.

Rob Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, one of the fastest growing churches in American history. Mars Hill is a little different than a lot of fast growing churches. Many of the super-mega churches push a very black and white, fundamentalist theology. In Bells book, he paints a picture of a much more progressive, very grace-filled theology. His theology and spirituality makes room for questions, makes room for differences of opinion and makes plenty of room for the unconditional love of God that we call Grace.

Rob is also an excellent writer. This book is very accessible and actually a lot of fun to read. Check it out.

peace,

will

The glamorous Life of a Pastor

I know the life a pastor seems pretty ho-hum, but some days are just sheer excitement. Here are some of the things I did today:

• Took our dog Violet to the vet to see why she is wetting her bed. (At least she is not wetting my bed.) Got some pills that may stop her from wetting her bed.
• Washed Violet and her bed.
• Went with Alisha and Joshua to vote. Joshua couldn't vote, but he did make a lot of noise in the polling place which may have affected someone else's vote. (Raising the question: are people who are casting their vote while a child is crying more likely to vote democrat, republican or independent.
• Worked on Sunday's bulletin and tonight's Disciple class while eating a frozen dinner. (It wasn't frozen as I was eating it.)
• Spent a really long time in a staff meeting.
• Made four phone calls.
• Sent some emails.
• Checked my weblog only to find I hadn't posted in a while, so created a post based on the events of my day.

It may all sound a little ordinary, but Tuesday nights are very cool. I lead Disciple Bible Study on Tuesday evenings and it is really one of the best parts of my job. I am looking forward to that.

Here is hoping that today and everyday, you get to see the glorious presence of God, even in the ordinary stuff of your day.

peace,

will

A Random Selection from the Bookshelf

Half-Price Books is a dangerous place for me. While I am there, I find lots of books that I didn't even know I needed. This was one of them.

I was intrigued years ago when I heard people talk about the strange interview questions companies like Microsoft used. I once heard that someone was asked, "How many square feet of astro turf are there in the United States?" I don't know if anyone actually knows the answer to that questions, but that wasn't the point. The point was, how would you figure it out? Who uses astro turf? Mainly sports teams. It is rather expensive so it would probably be mostly in arenas of big professional or college teams right? How many of those are there? How many of those use astro turf over real grass? How many dome stadiums are there? How many square feet are on each field? These are the sort of questions that help you start to make an estimate and the sort of thinking that interviewers are checking you out on.

The basis of William Poundstone's How Would You Move Mount Fuji, Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle is those sort of interview puzzles, where they came from and what purpose they serve. The more fun part is that he gives a ton of examples and the solutions. I am told that Microsoft has moved away from the puzzle based interview. (Perhaps largely due to people preparing for it with books like this.) Still, this book is fun, especially if you like really challenging puzzles, some with definite answers, some without. Here are some of them:

How would you weigh a jet plane without scales?
Why do mirrors reverse right and left instead of upside down?
How many piano tuners are there in the world?
How many times a day do a clock's hands overlap?

I like this one:

You have eight billiard balls. One of them is "defective," meaning it weighs more than the others. How do you tell, using a balance, which ball is defective in two weighings?

I do realize that finding these sorts of things fun, puts me in a certain category of geek. However, I have lots of company.

peace,

will

Josh's first Halloween

The pumpkin was supposed to be for the candy, but it made a great hat.

Church Transformation

It is not too late to take advantage of the Church Transformation Training Workshop with Don Nations. I think it would be really great for as many people as possible from Grace to hear Don speak about how we can reach more people with the Gospel.

Don is going to be in Three Rivers tomorrow with great seminars in the morning, afternoon and evening. Even if you can only go to one it will be worth it. Here are some of the topics:

9:30-10:15 Introduction to Church Transformation For all interested lay persons.

10:45-12:00 Understanding Yourself and Others thru the DISC, an instrument that will help you identify your natural style of leadership and how you motivate others. For all interested lay persons.

1:00-2:30 Effective Ways to Reach your Community Especially for Welcoming, Church Growth, Outreach, Evangelism teams, but open to anyone.

OR

Designing Great Worship - Especially for Worship Teams, Pastors, Praise Band leaders, but open to anyone.

2:45-4:15 The What and Why of Evangelism - Especially for local church Welcoming, Church Growth, Outreach, Evangelism, anyone interested in seeing their church reach out to people.

6:30-8:00 Hospitality Workshop - Especially designed for Welcoming Teams and anyone interested in reaching the un-churched; it has been scheduled in the evening to optimize attendance by laity.

Let me know if you are interested in going and need more info. You can call the office or send me an email.

What a treat

Sunday mornings start pretty early for me. There is a lot of work that goes into the last minute details of putting worship together. On a good day an early start means I have a few minutes to reflect and pray before worship starts. On a not-so-good day, I have just enough time to fix the last minute glitches that have popped up since Saturday night.

What was a treat this morning was the change brought about by the end of daylight savings time. I actually got to drive in with a little sunshine. That's nice.

peace,

will

Retreating... for a day

I am off today for one day and night retreat in Port Aransas. The retreat is called, "A Day at the Sea, Listening for God's Word for our Lives." I don't do this sort of thing enough. I really think that getting away to something like this is necessary every so often in order to maintain one's spiritual health. Life is so stressful and hectic. Our spiritual health can help us keep it together and keep our lives focused on God through all the stress. However, we need to occasionally step away from the stress and clutter in order to recharge our spiritual batteries.

A spiritual retreat can take many forms. I am a contemplative type, so I am often recharged by getting away alone somewhere to read scripture and pray and rest. However, even I occasionally need an more organized event where I am surrounded by other people doing the same thing. It helps keep me accountable to actually use the time to reconnect with God.

peace,

will

Won't You Tell Me How to Get Back to Sesame Street?

I keep finding new unexpected perks to being a parent. My latest discovery is that on the rare days I get to stay home with the boy, I get to watch Sesame street! Thanks to technology I can TiVo it everyday and the we can watch it whenever he is in the mood.

I still love Cookie Monster!

peace,

will

More Reading, Less Sleeping

So I am posting in the middle of the night because I decided to finish the last few chapters of John Grogan's Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog.

John Grogan, who most of the time in a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer is an excellent author and has done an amazing job of capture the essence of the complex relationship humans have with dogs. If you are not a dog person, this book has some funny moments and even some emotional and thoughtful passages. However, if you are a dog person, I mean a dyed in the wool, have considered your dog in the purchase of a mattress or a car, have rethought vacation plans to for the sake of your dog, have photos of your dog on the desk and the dresser, buy your dog a new toy at Christmas and maybe on her birthday sort of dog person, this book will make your heart laugh and cry. It is laugh out loud funny and heartwrenchingly thoughtful.

I want to thank Kathy for lending me this one. I was reluctant to buy the book because I thought it might break my heart, which of course it did. People who know me well know that I am fairly stoic. The only things that have much of a chance of bringing me to tears have to do with dogs.

peace,

will

Reading Updating and Explaining

It is my practice to keep a list of books I am reading over on the right side of the weblog. (Scroll down a bit if you can't see it or up a bit of you are reading an old post.) It is my practice to add a book when I start, take it off when I finish and the write a review. As usual I have fallen behind and I realized that the books on the "What Will is Reading Now" list have been finished and back on the shelf for a while. So I have replaced them with what I am reading now and am working on reviews for the other ones. I will post them when I am done. (Unless I get sidetracked again. That tends to happen.)

peace,

will

Where's Will? Doh! (Sorry for mixing pop-culture metaphors)

I am off to Port Aransas tomorrow to speak to the the Corpus Christi District Professional meeting about creating discipleship systems.

This is similar to the training we did at the Grace leadership retreat earlier this year and I am looking forward to presenting the material to a group of pastors. (Pastors are the toughest audience though.)

peace,

will

A Little Help

A couple of people are having trouble listening to the audio sermons online, so I am asking for a little help. If you have a chance, go here:

gracesermons.blogspot.com

click on the little play button for sermon 31 (or scroll down and pick any sermon) and let me know if it works. If you feel so inclined to do so, please e-mail me (pastorwillrice@gmail.com) and let me know what your results were. It would also really help if you could tell me what browser you use (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) if you know the version, that would be even better. It would also help to know how you connect to the internet. (i.e. dialup, cablemodem, dsl, office network, etc.) Thanks for your help!

peace,

will

A couple of sermons

I finally got around to posting my sermon that I preached at 8:30 on World Communion Sunday. There is no audio for that one. I have also just posted the text and audio for this Sunday's sermon.

Sermon #30 - World Communion Sunday - "One Body"
Sermon #31 - "Deep Casting, Abundant Sowing"
Sermon #31 - Audio

peace,

will

Here is what the weather is like where I am from

My home of Western New York is digging out from a record-breaking October snowstorm.

You can read about it here:

Western N.Y. Digs Out After Record Snow

My father says it was made especially bad by the fact that the leaves are still on the trees. The wet snow stuck to the leaves and brought limbs downs knocking down the power lines.

It all makes the mosquitoes seem not so annoying.

peace,

will

Sunday Preview

Sunday, October 15th 2006
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Sermon Title: "Deep Casting, Abundant Sowing"

What does my experience fishing in South Padre Island have to do with the Gospel's call on our lives? Come and see this Sunday as we talk about fishing, sowing, and ministry.

Fall is certainly here, with a little hint of cooler weather and lots of activities at Grace. If you haven't been around in a while, come and see the beautiful pumpkins in the pumpkin patch and learn about all the exciting things taking place at Grace!

See you Sunday!

peace,

will

Is it the end of handwriting?

I saw this interesting piece in the morning's Washington Post:

The Handwriting Is on the Wall

It raises the interesting issue of the demise of teaching penmanship is schools due to technology and what effect that might have on society. I had penmanship instruction in school, I learned cursive, but I realized a few years back that I have forgotten how to write in cursive. Perhaps I should switch to a handwritten blog to get my skills back.

peace,

will

A Picture in Search of a Caption

Since he was riding on my back, I don't know what was going on with Joshua at this moment, but the picture is just too funny.

peace,

will

Vacation Recalled

Alisha is sorting through the vacations photos. This is sunset from the deck of the place we stayed.

peace,

will

I'm back

In case you were waiting... I am back from vacation, back in my office, ready to get back to work. As usually, another week with too much to do and too little time to do it. But, of course, there are always a few moments to post, even if there isn't much of value to say.

peace,

will

More Vacation Reading

My good friend Jen Austin has her first book out and vacation finally gave me the time to give it the attention it deserved. I read it before it came out, but read it in bits and chunks and missed the flow. Jen has asked me to write some things for the promo material for the book. I thought I would use the blog as a place to try out some of my thoughts.

If you are interested in the book, you can purchase it here:

Jen Austin - Coming Out Christian - Finding Wholeness in Faith and Sexuality

Here is the rough draft of my review:

As a pastor, I spend a lot of time trying to help people to read the Bible. I try to get them to understand that the Bible is a story of the history of God'’s people and their struggle to be God'’s people. If we read it that way instead of as a list of legalistic and contradictory codes of conduct we start to truly see who God is and who we are.

I believe that the Bible is perfect the way it is, but I don'’t think that we are done telling stories. In order to continue to grow we must continue our struggle to be God'’s people. In order to do that, we need to share our stories, our stories of our own struggle to be faithful to God and to each other.

I try to be patient with the intolerance of others, but I try to help people understand our need to hear each other's stories. Before one can even begin to understand how someone else lives in relationship to God, one must hear their story. One can not proclaim someone as sinful or Godless or anything else unless they truly know them.

JenÂ’s story of her struggle to understand herself and her creator shows us what can happen when we truly put our faith and trust in God and the struggles that can occur when anyone, gay or straight turns their back and fails to accept the unconditional love that God offers us all.

Jen truly helps us to see the broader understanding of sin as she leads us through her struggle from seeing her homosexuality as a sin to seeing her failure to accept God'’s unconditional love as the sin. In not accepting God'’s acceptance, Jen had separated herself from God much more than any violation of some misconstrued law from Leviticus could. It was only by starting to realize that God had made her and loves her as she is that she was able to fully embrace God'’s love.

When you read this book, sexuality gains such a deeper definition. It is far more than our impulses toward the opposite or same sex, it is something that exists at the depth of our soul, something given to us as a gift from God. Jen seems to understand this and treats her sexuality accordingly with a much better sense of the presence of God than most heterosexuals Christians I know.

We should consider it a great gift the Jen has felt obliged to share her story with us. In it, we can find ourselves, God, and love that surpasses the rules and boundaries that humanity has placed on it.

A little time off... a little reading

I feel like the "What Will is Reading Now" section on my weblog has remained static quite a while. For me, I actually find it helpful to have those books sitting there for everybody to see. It hold me accountable to always be reading and it removes the temptation to just put a book back on the shelf (unless it is really bad, in which case I will put it back on the shelf and then write about how bad it was.)

Last night, I finally finished Marilynne Robinson's Gilead. Gilead won the Pulitzer prize, which I totally understood when I finished it but not always when I started reading it. The book is written from the perspective of a elderly pastor writing to his young son before his death. The pastor was remarried to a much younger woman late in life and regrets that he will not watch his son grow up, so he leaves him with these words.

As I was reading the book, I thought it was really slow, but then I realized that it was sort of my fault. I was trying to read the book in little snippets, mostly before bed. The book has no chapters, although it is broken into some short sections, but I guess I really like chapters for pre-bed reading.

Once I got away and was able to read in larger chunks, I realized what a fantastic book it is. It contains a very deep theology and an clear glimpse into the life and mind of a rural pastor. In this fictional account of a father's last words to his son we get an amazing look at some pretty heavy theological concepts like sin, grace and forgiveness.


Off I go. More reading to do.

peace,

will

Greetings From South Padre Island

Alisha, Joshua, Bodhi, Violet and I send our greetings from South Padre Island. In this pictures Alisha is behind me taking the picture and Bodhi is in the surf somewhere. See y'all soon.

peace,

will

Making Up Stuff to Worry About

I get a lot of emails and I actually try to read them all. I am still amazed at the number of forwarded emails I get warning me about things that are just not true. There are so many things in this world to worry about (apparently even spinach) that is amazes me that people find pleasure in making more things up and then spreading them around the internet. In a way, these warning are a form of computer virus in that they are designed to be spread eating up bandwidth and, in effect, slowing down the world wide web.

Here is one of the latest making its way around the web:

Southern California law enforcement professionals assigned to detect new threats to personal security issues, recently discovered what type of information is embedded in the credit card type hotel room keys used through-out the industry.

Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from the Double Tree chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft Presentation was found to contain the following the information:

• Customers (your) name
• Customers partial home address
• Hotel room number
• Check in date and check out date
• Customers (your) credit card number and expiration date!

---

This would be a very important warning, except that it just isn't true! Check out this article about the issue on snopes.com:

Claim: Hotel room keycards are routinely encoded with personal information which can be easily harvested by thieves. - snopes.com

Just doing my part to help you worry less.

peace,

will

One More Sermon, Then a Nap

I am on vacation next week and things are a little different here at Grace this morning. The choir from Oak Hill UMC in Austin, where I last served is singing this morning in worship. The will present Robert Ray's Gospel Mass during 9:45 and 11:00 worship. It is going to be fantastic.

As to not ask them to perform three times in a row, I will be preaching at 8:30. Today is World Communion Sunday, so I will be preaching about our oneness in Christ across the globe. Since most of you won't get to hear this sermon, I will try to post the audio version on the weblog before I leave for vacation. If not, it will be there when I get back.

peace,

will

Blogger's Block - A Trip through Randomville

I certainly don't have writers block, because I have written quite a bit in the last couple weeks, but the blog has not seen much of the fruits. Here are some things that are going on in Will's world:

• I just turned 35. I don't feel any different.
• Boston Legal is back on. I can't count on an hour of intelligent TV every week.
• Alisha and I are going on vacation. Soon and very soon.
• My family bought me an iPod for my birthday. One of my friends from college got the same gift for his 35th birthday. It must be the thing. I really love it because I am very lazy about music. I have A LOT of cds, many from my radio dj days, but they just sit in a cabinet. Now they are slowly being loaded into my iPod so I can listen to them again. I spent 11 years on the radio, I don't need to listen to it anymore.
• I am trying to figure out what to do about our cars. Yes we have a child, but we are dog family. The dogs go with us places. The dogs go on vacation. You can't get two adults, one baby, and Labrador retriever and one slightly hyper cattle dog in a Honda Accord. (Unless I lie in the trunk - which isn't very comfortable - or really legal)
  
• In case you were wondering, as far as I can tell, Randomville is not really a place unless you count web addresses as places.

peace,

will

An update on Val

I just receive a link the electronic version of an article that will be in the forthcoming Witness (the newspaper produced by the Southwest Texas Conference) about our very own US2 Missionary Val Borhauer

Corpus Christi UM Continues Life of Mission Service

peace,

will

Lord, I was born a traveling man

I am not traveling far this week, but I will have a change of scenery on Sunday. I agreed a while back to be a guest preacher for worship at Sinton UMC this Sunday. The nice part about being an associate is that I can actually be away on Sunday every so often and see how the rest of the planet works. It is fun to just go to another church and worship, but it can also be a lot of fun to preach at someone else's church once in a while.

There is something radically different between preaching to one's own congregation and preaching to someone else's. When I stand up at Grace, I look at and see people that I really know. I see people I have studies with and prayed with. I see people I have gotten to know through a time of grief or great joy. I see people I have struggled with over important decisions in the life of the church. I see their faces as I preach and I see their faces as I prepare. As I am writing each sermon I see faces and think, "how will _______ hear these words after what she has just been through?" "How will these words of Jesus sound to ___________ who has just come back to church?" There is a whole new level of depth to preaching when the faces and voices of the congregation become part of how a read and relate to scripture.

So, on Sunday, I will be preaching blind, which will be interesting in its own way. It does take some pressure off.

peace,

will

Sermon - Listen and Read

This Sunday's sermon is now posted:

Sermon #29 - Passion and Compassion - Text
Sermon #29 - Passion and Compassion - Audio

peace,

will

And.... go!

I am getting started on an active week that will take me to Kerrville and back and then back to San Antonio. After taking the summer off, my covenant connection group starts meeting again this week. Later in the week, we will be in San Antonio for a hearing about Joshua.

It is weeks like this that my laptop and cell phone are especially valuable. They will enable me to get my sermon and the bulletin done for Sunday.

This morning, before I leave for Kerrville, John and I will be meeting with Rev. Don Nations who is in Corpus Christi to get the district started on the Congregational Transformation Process. This is an attempt to jump-start our dying churches and revitalize the churches that are simply in maintaining mode. I am looking forward to sharing his energy and ideas.


Have a great week. I will send some cool Kerrville air your way.

peace,

will

Take Me Out to the Ballgame... and give me box seats

Like most kids, Joshua's first baseball game was in the luxury box about 15 feet from Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan. Thanks to some wonderful hospitality, (Thanks Tom and Nora!) Joshua got to spend the evening in comfort and style. And thanks to lots of loving arms who wanted to hold him, Alisha I got to watch a lot of the game. (Thanks Lisa and Nora and Jim and Kathy and Mike and everybody else who took a turn.)

Big thanks to the Corpus Christi Hooks for giving us a win too! 6-3 against the Midland Rockhounds. Excellent!

peace,

will

By request... more randomness

Here are some things that are going on in my life, in no particular order.

1. It seems that there is a giant water leak under the house we live in. Here in Texas, water pipes are often built right into the slab that the house is built on. This is really cool except when they break. Fortunately we have a really great plumber who is going to fix it without actually tearing the house down, or even kicking us out. I first noticed the leak because as I walked out of the bedroom into the hall, the floor was hot. Not being a structural engineer, I had no idea what that meant, but I had to figure the floor is not supposed to be hot. Indeed, there was hot water leaking in the floor.

2. Our foster child, Joshua is very cool. He is at a wonderful age where he learns something spectacular every day.

3. Joshua, Alisha and I are going to a Corpus Christi Hooks game tonight. (That's baseball for you out of towners.) Fortunately, for our first game with a little one, we will be in the Whataburger box. So, go get a whatachicken or something to say thanks.

4. We have a new back yard. The church trustees came by a couple weeks back and put a bunch of new dirt back there and Ed, one of our members has been making flower beds and a new terrace. He brought sod this week and it is starting to look lovely.

5. Today is not horribly hot here and I am thankful for that.

6. The new season of House started last night. I am totally hooked on that show and I am really thankful for my DVR so I can actually watch it.


That's enough randomness for now.

peace,

will

When there is no news to cover, why not cover the news?

With wars and rumors of wars, pandemics, genocides and poverty of staggering proportions around the world, it is good to know the journalists are on top of the truly important news: other journalists. It seems that Katie Couric's debut on the CBS Evening News is more than just news, its breaking news, reported on before the show was even over:

Couric Makes `CBS Evening News' Debut

I hope this doesn't take any time away from coverage of the Ramsey case.

peace,

will

Getting Excited

Tonight is the first night of this year's class of Disciple Bible Study. I have to tell you, this class is one of the best parts of my job. Something absolutely amazing happens when people meet together to study the Bible. I always enjoy Bible study, but it is especially powerful with such a diverse group many of whom have never really studied the Bible. The transformation that takes place in just a few months is mind boggling.

I also love what I learn each time. Disciple is such a well designed program that even after going through it five times and despite the fact I have a masters degree from seminary, I still learn new ways of understanding scripture each time through. Some of that comes through the curriculum itself, but most of it comes through the power of reading scripture in a group.

Off I go to sharpen pencils and stuff!

peace,

will

I'm Official

The following either proves that I am now a reputable, official blogger, or that a long Labor Day weekend has given me too much free time:




















peace,

will

You've Got Mail... But No Job

As a pastor at a large church, I think a lot about communications. I am often considering which communication is best done face to face, and what can be done on the phone, through a printed letter, through a hand-written card, through a mass e-mail, through a personal e-mail, etc. Doing what is best is a complicated matter that is sometimes influenced by time constraints and the person I am communicating with. Sometimes it is hard to catch up with people face to face. For me, the phone sometimes feels more impersonal than a letter. Some people think e-mail is terribly impersonal but others think it is the next best thing to talking in person.

However, sometimes the boundaries seem more clear. Check out this article:

You've got mail, about your layoff - Houston Chronicle

At least it is not as bad as breaking up with someone via text message.

peace,

will

Take a Deep Breath... Fall is Here

I have often claimed that fall is the busiest time of year at the church. However, I have made a similar claim about just about every other time of the year. Life in a large, active congregation is always busy. Different times of year just bring different kinds of busy.

Fall means new beginnings for classes and programs including confirmation and Disciple. It also means our annual Charge Conference. It also seems to be the time when people become most interested in creating new ministries or reviving existing programs. I am always excited by that and looking for ways to help people achieve their dreams. (With God's help)

For me my attention is divided between the church and my family. I know it gets even more complicated for folks with demanding jobs and kids who have school and football and band and livestock show, etc. Add to that, church events, PTA, and perhaps just a little time for recreation. When we get too busy, the first thing that gets pushed out is the thing we need most. No matter how busy we are, we need to find some amount of time to be in God's presence. Otherwise we will get busier and busier and busier until we can't sense God's presence in our lives at all. That doesn't mean God isn't there, it just means we have piled up so much "stuff" around us that we can't tell.

It only takes a few minutes to clear away the clutter and invite God to order the chaos of our lives.

I hope you can find some time!

peace,

will

This Week's Sermon - Text and Audio

This Sunday's sermon has been posted in both text and audio form and can be found here.

Sermon #28 - "Fever Pitch"
Sermon #28 - "Fever Pitch" - Audio

Thoughts and comments are always welcome.

peace,

will

Now I need to repeat elementary school science

If I forgot to list Pluto as a planet on my test in fifth grade, can I go back and challenge my grade?

BREAKING NEWS: Pluto Demoted, No Longer a Planet

They have been talking about this for some time, but now it is official. If you have a Pluto mailing address, please make the appropriate changes immediately.

peace,

will

Val has been posting

In case you are following the adventures of Val, a member of our church who has gone to California as a US-2 Missionary, she has posted a few new entries on her weblog. Check it out:

Val's Weblog

peace,

will

Taking Things a Bit Literally

When we read the Bible too literally, making the entire thing one long directive from God, this sort of thing happens:

CNN.COM - Sunday School Teacher Dumped for Being Female

peace,

will

Life with Joshua Part I

I have written very little on the weblog about life with a baby in the house. I will start by sharing the column that will appear in this week's church newsletter:

I thought it sort of poetic that on the day after Pastor John had returned to Austin to finalize plans for his first daughter’s wedding that some people from Methodist Children’s Home arrived at our home to deliver to Alisha and me an 11 month old baby boy. Joshua arrived Friday, August 11^th, entering our lives at a whopping 25 pounds.

Joshua is a foster child placed through Methodist Children’s Home’s new outreach office here in Corpus Christi. MCH normally takes foster children voluntarily from parents who can’t currently cope with the demands of parenting or whose circumstances make being a good parent impossible. The goal of MCH is to return children to a loving and secure environment with their birth parents whenever possible. This may not be possible with Joshua and he may remain with us.

I am sure you will hear me reflect on how life has changed for Alisha and I since Joshua joined us. However, I want to take this opportunity to talk about how important foster parenting is. Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel:

“Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

I hear a lot of talk lately about the value of a life. Many of my Christian brothers and sisters are quite passionate about abortion and stem-cell research, and those are important topics to discuss, but very little attention is paid to the children among us who have very little hope of having a full and abundant life. There are more children than you can imagine who live in situations of abuse or neglect and children who have no one at all to love them. There are children who begin their fragile lives addicted to drugs and alcohol. Some can recover with a lot of love and attention and some spend their entire lives suffering from something that happened to them before they were even born.

I have mentioned in a sermon that often with problems this large we are overwhelmed and do nothing. The words of Jesus I mentioned before are just a little different in Matthew’s Gospel where he says:

Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

Not all the children, just one. When and where just one child is safe and warm, when and where just one child is told, “I love you and I am going to take care of you,” then and there we are welcoming God.

Alisha and I are responding to God by opening our hearts and home to share God’s unconditional love with Joshua. We thank you for all the love and support you have already poured out upon us that we may feel loved as we are loving him.

peace,

will

This Week's Sermon - Text and Audio

Sunday's sermon has been posted in both audio and text forms:

Sermon #27 - Obey Your Thirst
Sermon #27 - Obey Your Thirst (Audio)

peace,

will

Some thoughts on welcoming

Luke 9:46-48

46 An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. ⁴⁷But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, ⁴⁸and said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.’

You may think that since I have little baby at my house that in reflecting on this scripture, I would be writing about babies, but I am not. This is a scripture that is very relevant to our task as Christians and I shared it as such the other night at our Welcoming Team meeting.

I think that we are limiting this scripture a bit when we take “child” too literally. Replace the word children with “someone new to the faith” Let read that again.

46 An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. ⁴⁷But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took “someone new to the faith” and put them by his side, ⁴⁸and said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this person new to the faith in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.’

I don’t think a church has to work all that hard to be welcoming to other church people. I mean church people kind of know what is going on. They know we worship in the sanctuary, they know what a fellowship hall is; they know that the bulletin is the thing we use to guide us through the service; they know what a narthex is. If they are really spiritual grown ups they should be excited if they have trouble finding a place to park, if the church is crowded or they stumble over all the little kids running around. If there are mature spiritually, they shouldn’t care one tiny bit if the parking lot is cracked or the ceiling leaks or the bathroom smells funny.

Honestly, I don’t have a lot of patience for lifelong Christians who visit and have complaints about practical things. If they are lifelong Christians, they should, by now get that it isn’t about their comfort. If a lifelong Christian comes to worship here, and I call them later in the day to see how it went and they say, “I didn’t feel very welcome; the person next to me didn’t even speak to me.” I want to say, didn’t occur to you that perhaps that was there first time in any church, why didn’t you welcome them?

But what about someone new to the faith, someone who is truly seeking to fill that God shaped hole in their hearts, what if they come here? They may not know words like narthex and fellowship hall, they may not understand all those “churchy” words we use. What’s more, they may have spent their whole life living solely by the standards of the world. Think about this for a moment, do you judge your church differently than you would a nice restaurant? Say someone took you out for a nice dinner and while you were there, you were checking the place out to see if it would be a good place to invite your spouse for an anniversary or a new acquaintance you really wanted to impress.

What would you look at?

You would look at the appearance, the service, every little detail. Before you even got inside you would take note of the building and the parking lot. If you were ignored when you walked in, you would notice, if you had to wait an hour for your table, you would take note. If there was a stain on a table cloth, spots on the silverware you would see that. If the waiter seemed confused or dropped your plate, points would be deducted.

But we wouldn’t judge our church that way, because as Christians, we know that this stuff is not important. Right?

‘Whoever welcomes this person new to the faith in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.’

Think about it, those new to the faith have no other way to judge our church except by the standards of the world. Remember the effort we would put in checking out a restaurant? They are thinking about trusting their life in our hands. They are thinking in one way or another about surrendering their life to God, they don’t know what that looks like yet and they are using whatever criteria they can think of to see if we are a safe place to do that.

In the church we do a lot that it “good enough for church.” We do that because we are trying to be good stewards of the church’s money and we do it because we realize that the gospel calls us to something more than appearances. But, I think that there is a theological problem with that in that we should really give our best to God. More importantly though, there is an evangelistic problem with that.

‘Whoever welcomes this person new to the faith in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.’

We need to look critically at every single thing we do. Are we doing "good enough for church" work? Or, are we doing good enough that someone may trust us with being part of the most important decision of their life?

Something to think about.

This Week's Sermon

This week's sermon is posted and ready to be read:

Sermon #26 - Read the Instructions

The audio version is not up yet. I will try to post it tomorrow. The studio I use to record the sermons is at the house and there is now a little extra activity at the house!

peace,

will

New Addition, This One is Not a Pet

I have been a bit off my blogging game, but for good reason. After fostering and adopting dogs, turtles and even a one-eyed cat, we stepped up this week and began caring for our first foster child. I have been busy with the transition and thinking about how I would handle all this on the weblog. Sometimes technology is pretty far ahead of our ability to best use it. I like the use the weblog as a way for people to get a little inside glimpse at the life of a pastor (be it their own pastor or not.) I also use it to talk about God and theology in ways I don't have time for on Sunday morning. More often than not, that includes personal stuff.

My wife Alisha ends up living a little bit in a fishbowl too, but I try to give her some privacy. So, I was thinking about how to deal with this new little person living in my house. I am going to play it by ear. For now, the weblog won't have pictures or even his name. If you are a member of the church or know me in other ways, you will get plenty of that. Otherwise, you get to learn about this new addition to our household the way scientists study things they can't see, by observing their effect on things around them. It would be hard to not notice that my life is being radically altered by the little boy living in my home. It is quite difficult to operate the same as usual in the midst of poopie diapers, endless snuggles and paddycake.


peace,

will

Sunday Preview - You Get it First Because You Read the Weblog!

It feels like a while since I have preached. I am back up this weekend and here is what is going on:

Sunday Preview
Sunday, August 13^th (10^th Sunday after Pentecost)
Scripture: Matthew 7:24-28
Sermon Title: “Read the Instructions”

Have you read the Bible much lately? Most of us answer that with something like, “Not as much as I would like.” We are going to talk about that in worship and think about how we can see scripture as the foundation of our faith.

This Sunday is Rally Sunday, the day our children and youth move to their new classes for the new Sunday school year. It is a great day for us, as adults, to think about how we are growing in our faith.

I hope to see you in worship!

peace,

will

They seem to be getting along

It has been a few months since we got Violet (the one on the right) and she seems to have settled right in. Bodhi, who spent nearly 10 years as an only dog has settled into resigned annoyance, but he is willing to share the bathroom rug.

peace,

will

More Light Reading

I am always trying to balance out my reading by reading one fiction and one non-fiction book most of the time. Last time I was in Austin, I picked up a few books at the really great Goodwill store Alisha and I used to live near. You can usually find recent titles for $2.50 and our latest visit was no exception. (I also found a popcorn popper that I have transformed into a new coffee roaster, but that is for another entry).

I picked up Ken Follet's latest, Whiteout. If you read the blog much, you know that I am somewhat finicky about what I read, even fiction. (See my entry on Michael Crichton's Prey.) Follet's latest was pretty good though. It was a quick, fun, adventure thriller, more like watching a movie than reading a book. It had a bit too much romance for my tastes, but that might just be me.

The weblog is always a great place for you to post what you are reading. I like to know what people are into. Plus, my stack of books to read is getting a little low and I need to know what to get next.

peace,

will

Making Safe Sanctuaries

Thank you to everyone who came out last night for our first session of training and reflection on Safe Sanctuaries. Safe Sanctuaries is a program developed by Joy Thornburg Melton in her books Safe Sanctuaries, Reducing the Risk of Child Abuse in the Church and Safe Sanctuaries for Youth, Reducing the Risk of Abuse in Youth Ministries.

I cannot stress enough the importance of this program. This isn't just another state of church mandated program to cover ourselves from lawsuits. This is a comprehensive undertaking, an effort to do everything we can to protect the children and youth of our church for abuse and neglect.

As the body of Christ, we are called to be responsible for the most vulnerable members of the body. That means not just having good intentions, but being intentional about doing every thing we can to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the children who seek and expect sanctuary in our presence.

The training last night and this Sunday is only mandatory for people involved with children and/or youth at the church. However, everyone is welcome. Whether you attend the training or not, I hope everyone will embrace these programs and policies and see them as part of the ministry of the church.

peace,

will

Such a nice name for a tropical storm

It is that time of year. Time to keep an eye out over the water. Tropical Storm Chris is churning around in the Atlantic. We don't think much about the technology that allows us to track these storms. I realize that it is not always accurate, but think about the days before hurricane hunter aircraft, radar and computer modeling. Your only real warning of a killer storm was when the surf started really kicking up. If you knew it was coming, the barometer might give you a clue as to whether it might head right for you or veer off. The only way to know how big the storm was was to look at the damage after it was over.

There is always a point, however, when technology goes from lifesaving to just plain silly. It won't be long now before we get to watch cable news anchor people trying to keep their hair looking good while standing in 60 mile an hour winds letting us know exactly how bad the storm is.

peace,

will

Betraying My Reading List - Reading About Disciple

In case you haven't noticed it, there is a panel on the right side of my weblog that lists the books that I am currently reading. Occasionally I ignore it and pick up another book. As we are coming upon that time of year to register for Disciple Bible Study, I picked up a book that has been on my shelf for a while, Nancy Kruh's The Disciple Story, The Transforming Power of Scripture, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003)

Kruh tells the story of the origins of Disciple and then goes on to tell a number of stories of personal and church transformation brought about by the study. I actually know some of the students she spoke about, but what was amazing was how similar the stories were to the many stories of transformation I have witnessed in classes I have been involved in.

This book says what I am always saying, Disciple is was more than just a great Bible study, it actually changes lives.

Feel free to ask me about Disciple and don't forget to sign up. If you don't have a form, just send me an email.

Disciple Redux or Remedial Disciple

I have yet to say this or write it anywhere publicly but I am considering filling a couple of slots in my Disciple I class this year with people who have taken the course already. I don't mean to make this available just as a refresher. I have talked to a number of people who, for a number of reasons, don't really feel like they had a positive Disciple experience. I find that when people don't really have a quality experience with Disciple I they sometimes don't get as much out of the rest of the offerings or just never bother to sign up for them.

So, if you have taken Disciple I already, and really feel like you should take another shot, send me a note or email, and I will try to make a spot for you in this year's class.

peace,

will

Valerie's Weblog

As you may have heard or read in the newsletter, one of our member's Valerie Borhauer has just been commissioned as a US-2 Missionary of the United Methodist Church. Good news for us, she has a weblog and we can follow her adventures. You can find it here:

http://valerieborhauerus2-2006.blogspot.com/

peace,

will

Wonderful Book - Unfortunate Subtitle

I just finished the latest book from Rabbi Michael Lerner, The Left Hand of God, Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right (New York: HarperCollins, 2006)

The thing that I like least about this book is the title. There are some that might be intrigued by such a title, but there are also some who will never pick up this book simply because of the title. This seems to ago against the open-minded political sensitivity and warning against liberal elitism that Rabbi Lerner expresses in the book.

Wherever you find yourself on the political spectrum there is a well spring of deep insight in this book that will get you thinking theologically and politically. The title may mislead you. Lerner has some harsh insight for everyone. He speaks of a deep spiritual yearning within the American people and how the political right has exploited it and how the political left has ignored it.

The book does a wonderful job of looking historically at where the political and religious right and left have come from. This sort of writing can help people better understand each other so that they may engage in meaningful dialogue instead of partisan bickering.

Lerner calls for an embrace of the left hand of a God. This is not a political hand, but a hand that is rooted in compassion, love, generosity of spirit, kindness, peace, social justice, environmental sanity, and nonviolence.

The Rabbi has a vision and a plan as well. He wants to make the world a better, safer, more loving place and has some ideas of how to make it happen. He may sound a little idealistic, but then so did Jesus.

If you read the book, I would love to talk to you about it, whether you love it or hate it.

peace,

will

Peace Vigil

WHAT: Peace Vigil, Stop the violence in Lebanon Israel and Gaza

WHEN: Thursday, July 27, 2006, 7:30 PM

WHERE: 900 North Shoreline on the sidewalk by the statueof Jesus, Buford and Shoreline

BRING: Flashlights, water, signs urging peace (some signs will be provided

Email me for more info.

peace,

will

Where's My Camera? Wait, Where's My Paddle?!?

I didn't take this picture, it is stock footage. I was busy paddling. Alisha and I took a nice, leisurely evening paddle on the Nueces River last evening. We put in at Hazel Bazemore Park and paddled up to the salt water break at Labonte Park. On our way back, we were paddling along, enjoying the evening as the sun set when all of a sudden things got interesting. Suddenly, the water on the right side of the kayak was all frothy. Then the boat started lifting up out of the water. I looked down to see the back of a friendly south texas alligator. It was hard to tell how big it was since it was underwater, and surrounded by splashing water, not to mention the fact that it scared the _____ out of me. It was over in an instant and we went back to paddling. All the splashing soaked us both to the skin.

As scary as big teethy alligators can be, seeing one is actually a rare blessed moment. Despite what scary movies make you think creatures in the wild know better than to hang around with humans. The chances of actually having that close of an encounter with a gator is probably somewhat like getting struck by lightening. They do have more problems with them in Florida because humans have made the mistake of feeding them so they have lost their fear.

Have a blessed week and keep you feet out of the water.

peace,

will

The Power of Technology

In my short time in ministry, I have always believed in trying to use technology to help spread the gospel message. Here are a couple of ways I have seen that at work this week:

First, a man in Indonesia found the weblog and noticed that I was posting audio sermons. He emailed me to ask me a technical question about how I was posting the audio. He wanted to find a way to distribute audio via weblog for his ministry there.

Second, a woman found my page on myspace and sent me an email asking about the church. I don't know if she will ever come, but at least I got to make an invitation that I probably wouldn't have made otherwise.

Be sure and tell people about the weblog. You never know what other connections might be made.

peace,

will

Praying and Reading

I began teaching Prayer 101 this week so I decided to do a little reading about prayer. Roberta Bondi’s To Pray and to Love, Conversations of Prayer with the Early Church has been on my shelf for a while. I started reading it in seminary and only got through a couple of chapters. That happens a lot in seminary. Any book that is not required reading has a pretty good chance of being shelved in favor of something that from a current class.

Bondi’s work is very interesting in its appeal. Some people I know find it very light and uplifting, some find it a little hard to get through. I don’t know why that is, but I am somewhere in between. I love what she has to say, but sometimes I get a little bogged down in it.

In To Pray and to Love does a wonderful job of placing the early writings on prayer from Christian monastics in a more contemporary context. Bondi helped me see how similar my modern struggle with prayer is to the struggles that the earliest Christians had. As in all her work, she also reminds us of the depth and far-reaching nature of life of prayer. She says it in rich, deep ways, but also says it simply with the words, “prayer is a shared life with God.”[1] If that was all this book offered, a reminder that prayer is more than simply something we do, but rather a way that we live, than the book would be worth reading.

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[1] Roberta Bondi, To Pray and to Love, Conversations of Prayer with the Early Church, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991) 27