The Right Thing?

The Lewis Center for Church Leadership, a great resource for church leaders, encourages people to not be so concerned with having the right answers as much as asking the right questions (this comes as a relief to those of us who are not the "sharpest tools in the shed"). Often, we begin worship at Light of the Canyon with a question, or series of questions. Last week, the scripture text was Mark 2:23-3:6. We opened worship with the following questions. How do we know what is the right thing to do? How do we know what God desires? Is the right thing that which is legal? Or is it something more? Jesus cared very deeply about his followers doing the right thing. Only sometimes, the right thing did not seem like it to others? How do we know what is the right thing to do?

Vacation Bible Camp is Coming

Start your summer vacation off right with a wonderful experience of Vacation Bible Camp. It begins on Monday, June 22 and continues through Friday June 26 from 9:00 a.m. to noon. The theme this year is “Fruits of the Spirit,” and activities will include singing, games, arts and crafts and a whole lot more. Follow this link for an application. If you have any questions, please e-mail Children and Family Ministries Coordinator Minnie August. Come and experience the “fruits of the spirit.”

Voting Matters

I voted this morning. And if the pundits are to be believed, I am one of only 25% of all eligible voters that will go to the polls today to cast a ballot in this special election. When I walked into the polling place this morning at about 9:00 a.m., I was the only voter in there. I am happy to report that there were 5 or 6 voters by the time I left. But, it felt a little creepy. It forced me to ask myself the question. Why do I vote? Maybe everyone else has already figured out that it doesn't really matter and I am simply to naive to recognize that fact. Then I thought, no way; there can't be that many people in California that are smarting than me...can there? Well, my intelligence (or lack thereof) relative to the population notwithstanding, I want to tell you why voting is important, and not just for the political process. Voting is important because...

1. Whether we like it, or not, it is our responsibility. And it is not a terribly difficult one to carry out. But, when you measure the sacrifices that were made in obtaining the freedoms that we enjoy (it is painfully ironic, by the way, that this low turnout election is just a week before Memorial Day when we actually do recognize those aforementioned sacrifices), taking a little time to familiarize ourselves with the issues and to cast a ballot doesn't really seem like much.

2. Voting, regardless of how you vote, is an act of hope. Even if the outcome is a foregone conclusion, taking the time to cast one's ballot is a declaration that hope remains in the human heart. And, in that sense, voting is a spiritual discipline, a "means of grace" to use the Methodist term. Voting is important, not just because it is our responsibility, and not just because it can have an impact in the world, but it is also important because it helps us to be people of hope. And hope is never a bad thing.

So, vote. It is good for your soul.

Stand By Me

Today, in worship, we continued our sermon series "Breaking the Chains: Learning to Live in Healthy Relationships." Today, we talked about my least favorite subject, when the church hurts. In a perfect world, the church would only be a source of healing and redemption in the world. But, ours is not a perfect world, and sometimes the church hurts. Jesus warned against the leaven - the yeast - of the Pharisees and Sadducees. I take that to mean the tendency in religious people to be self-righteous and judgmental. The service was wonderful today. The music from the praise band was outstanding. At the end of the sermon, I played a video that someone turned me onto. It is the song "Stand By Me" sung and played by people from all around the world. To me, it is a wonderful image of what the church can be. Enjoy. http://tinyurl. com/clxyfd

Rethinking Church

The United Methodist Church, like most mainline denominations, has been involved in a lot of soul-searching in the last few decades as we have faced declining numbers of people participating in our churches and as we done ministry in a culture that is increasingly hostile to organized religion (my use of the term "organized" refers here to the organizational aspect of the UMC, and not necessarily to its stream-lined or ministry driven structure). This month's edition of Interpreter Magazine features articles on the subject "rethinking church." It is encouraging to see people in "the corporate office" involved in this project. However, people have been rethinking church for a while now, often times with a great deal of success. I invite you to check out the articles on Interpeters and follow some of the links. Explore. Discover. Tell me what you think.