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

This Week's Sermon - Text and Audio

I have worked most of the bugs out of the audio version of the sermon. The sermon from Sunday is now posted in a text version and in an audio version. For the audio version, you now have three ways of listening. You can listen using the little built in player. You can download the MP3 file or you can subscribe to the podcast. If you are technically inclined, feel free to email me and let me know how it is all working.

Sermon #25 - When Rejection is a Good Thing
Sermon #25 - Audio Version
Subscribe to the Podcast(note this link may look like gibberish to you if you are not into podcasting)

All this technology is a bit of an experiment. I am hoping that it will help some people stay connected when they can't be in church. I am also hoping that it may help some people get a chance to "check out" Grace. Sometimes people are searching but not quite ready to come through the doors. I hope this may be a way for them to see what we are about. I also hope that it may be a way to extend our reach and bring the message to people who are geographically far away. If you listen to or read the sermons, I would love to hear your comments about how they are helpful to you.

peace,

will

Just for Fun

Every one in a while, I read a book just for fun. I found Michael Crichton's Prey on a sale rack and picked it up. Crichton is always good for a fun adventure. What always drives me batty about his writing though is the odd little factual problems in the books. Sometimes it is like the editor just isn't paying attention. They are never a big deal, but telling a story is about suspending disbelief and when you have an unnecessary inconstancy, it pulls me out of the story. If the author needs to bend truth to make the story work, fine, but when the facts get fuzzy for no good reason it bothers me.

I was going to give an example, but frankly it would take me a while to set it up. If you have Prey, check out the sequence involving the dirt bike on page 228 (hardcover edition). Have you ever seen a motorized dirt-bike in the back of a Land Cruiser? This isn't a mini-bike, he uses it haul people through the desert later on.

Anyway, despite that a fun read.

peace,

will

my space at Myspace

I am always trying to find new ways to communicate both with members of the congregation and with anyone who might be interested in the world changing message of grace. So, I now have my own space on Myspace.

If you are a Myspace person, check me out at:

http://www.myspace.com/pastorwillrice

And add me as a friend. I don't have many yet.

peace,

will

Ask and Ye Shall Receive - Podcasting

Someone requested a podcast of my sermons and I love making people happy. If you don't know what a podcast is, don't worry, they will soon take over the world. There is a link to subscribe on the sermons website:

Pastor Will's Sermons

Just scroll down and you will see the XML link on the left sidebar. I just tried it out in iTunes and it seems to work well. Let me know if you have any problems. I will move the link to a more obvious place once I am sure it is all working well.

peace,

will

Methodist Children's Home

I want to thank Astria Smith from the Methodist Children's Home in Waco, along with Jessica, one of the residents who shared so a powerful witness in worship today!

If you want to learn about Methodist Children's Home, you can check out their website.

Methodist Children's Home, Waco, Texas


peace,

will

Audio Sermon

I have finally worked out most of the kinks and posted the first audio sermon. I get a lot better sound quality recording it at home rather than relying on a cassette tape recorded during worship. That still leaves some questions about how to post Pastor John's sermons.

The link will take you to my sermon page. You can listen to the sermon using the little embedded player or you can download it using the MP3File link. Let me know if you run into any technical glitches.

Sermon #24 - Audio Version

I also now have the capability of setting up a podcast of the sermons. Let me know if that would be helpful. (If you don't know what a podcast is, don't worry.)

peace,

will

Prayer 101

When we join the church, we promise to support it with our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service. We tend to talk quite a bit about presence, gifts and service. However, the church doesnÂ’t do enough to help people to develop a deep and meaningful prayer life.

Join me for a two week class that covers some of the obstacles to prayer, takes a biblical look at prayer and offers practical models and methods to help you begin or deepen your conversation with God.

The classes will be held Tuesday, July 18th and 25th from 6:30-9p.m. Everything is free. Please register by Monday, July 17th. We can provide childcare if you register in advance. You can register by email: pastorwillrice@gmail.com. Let me know in the e-mail if you will need childcare.

peace,

will

New Feature

In my endless quest to make this blog more interesting for you the reader, I have added a new feature. If you scroll down a bit and keep your eye on the right column, you will see "What Will is Reading Now." I regularly post about books I have recently read, but sometimes there is large gap between those posts, especially when I am reading more than one, or two or three books at once.

Hopefully the audio sermons will start appearing later this week.

peace,

will

Happy Holiday

I hope you are enjoying your celebration of our nation's independence. I have been putting the time off to constructive use, cleaning up and fixing up things around the house, running errands, etc.

I also took some time to get things set up so that I can finally start posting audio versions of the Sunday sermons again. I think I am going to go back and post my last sermon just to try the process out and then start posting them each week that I preach. It may take a little longer to start getting John's posted, but I will see what I can do.

Happy 4th!

peace,

will

On the Road Again

It still surprises me how much I drive now that I live in Texas. My colleague John got married today in San Antonio. (Not our Pastor John, he already got married some years back.) Alisha and I got up this morning, drove to San Antonio, went to the wedding, got something to eat and drove back.

I don't mind so much, but that stretch from the outside of San Antonio to the outside of Corpus makes me sleepy.

For those readers who live in Corpus, I hope you are enjoying the rain. My grass certainly is.

peace,

will