Let’s say a guy named Fred is attracted to a woman named Martha. He asks her out to a movie; she accepts; they have a pretty good time. A few nights later he asks her out to dinner, and again they enjoy themselves. They continue to see each other regularly, and after a while neither one of them is seeing anybody else.
And then, one evening when they’re driving home, a thought occurs to Martha, and, without really thinking, she says it aloud: “Do you realize that, as of tonight, we’ve been seeing each other for exactly six months?”
And then, there is silence in the car.
To Martha, it seems like a very loud silence. She thinks to herself: I wonder if it bothers him that I said that. Maybe he’s been feeling confined by our relationship; maybe he thinks I’m trying to push him into some kind of obligation that he doesn’t want, or isn’t sure of.
And Fred is thinking: Gosh. Six months.
And Martha is thinking: But, hey, I’m not so sure I want this kind of relationship either. Sometimes I wish I had a little more space, so I’d have time to think about whether I really want us to keep going the way we are, moving steadily towards, I mean, where are we going? Are we just going to keep seeing each other at this level of intimacy? Are we heading toward marriage? Toward children? Toward a lifetime together? Am I ready for that level of commitment? Do I really even know this person?
And Fred is thinking: …so that means it was…let’s see…February when we started going out, which was right after I had the car at the dealer’s, which means…lemme check the odometer…Whoa! I am way overdue for an oil change here.
And Martha is thinking: He’s upset. I can see it on his face. Maybe I’m reading this completely wrong. Maybe he wants more from our relationship, more intimacy, more commitment; maybe he has sensed – even before I sensed it – that I was feeling some reservations. Yes, I bet that’s it. That’s why he’s so reluctant to say anything about his own feelings. He’s afraid of being rejected.
And Fred is thinking: And I’m gonna have them look at the transmission again. I don’t care what those morons say, it’s still not shifting right. And they better not try to blame it on the cold weather this
time. What cold weather? It’s 87 degrees out, and this thing is shifting like a garbage truck, and I paid those incompetent thieves $600.
And Martha is thinking: He’s angry. And I don’t blame him. I’d be angry, too. I feel so guilty, putting him through this, but I can’t help the way I feel. I’m just not sure.
And Fred is thinking: They’ll probably say it’s only a 90-day warranty…scumballs.
And Martha is thinking: Maybe I’m just too idealistic, waiting for a knight to come riding up on his white horse, when I’m sitting right next to a perfectly good person, a person I enjoy being with, a person I truly do care about, a person who seems to truly care about me. A person who is in pain because of my self-centered, schoolgirl romantic fantasy.
And Fred is thinking: Warranty? They want a warranty? I’ll give them a warranty. I’ll take their warranty and stick it right up their…
“Fred,” Martha says aloud.
“What?” says Fred, startled.
“Please don’t torture yourself like this,” she says, her eyes beginning to brim with tears. “Maybe I should never have…oh dear, I feel so…”(She breaks down, sobbing.)
Find the 5 differences!
“What?” says Fred.
Cont'd @barefootpreachr.org
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
2011 Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Lobby Day
It’s time to register for the 2011 Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Lobby Day at the Georgia Capitol with Street GRACE, A Future Not A Past, and Wellspring Living on February 1 from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Get ready to make a real difference in the lives of exploited children in our state. Thank your legislator with written notes, make your voice heard, and join together in an awareness-raising show of support for children victimized by CSEC. Registration is free and easy; simply go to streetgrace.org. 
Simple Enough?
Candler School of Theology cordially invites you to attend two lectures about living a life of simplicity. The lectures are free but tickets are required.
Explore the relationship between spiritual and financial well-being by attending “Simple Enough?,” a lecture series sponsored by Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and featuring renowned United Methodist Church pastors and authors The Rev. Adam Hamilton and The Rev. Dr. Paul Escamilla.
Both speakers will address how to live a life of “less” despite being immersed in a culture that entices us with “more.” The lectures take place on February 1 and March 29.
February 1: Adam Hamilton speaks at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church at 7 p.m. Reverend Hamilton is the founding pastor of the 17,000-member United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, and the author of nine books. He will discuss his book Enough: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity a popular resource for adult religious education in hundreds of UMC churches. Get Tickets.
Paul Escamilla lectures March 29, 7 p.m., Cannon Chapel. He is pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, and author of Longing for Enough in a Culture of More (Abingdon Press, 2007), a collection of 25 brief meditations that are used for private and group study. Organized in five topics: The Good Book, The Good Life, the Good Work, The Good Society, and The Good Earth, the essays make the “life of enough” seem a natural next step in the lives of Christians. The book will be the focus of Escamilla’s lecture. Get Tickets.
For more information, go to candler.emory.edu.
Explore the relationship between spiritual and financial well-being by attending “Simple Enough?,” a lecture series sponsored by Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and featuring renowned United Methodist Church pastors and authors The Rev. Adam Hamilton and The Rev. Dr. Paul Escamilla.
Both speakers will address how to live a life of “less” despite being immersed in a culture that entices us with “more.” The lectures take place on February 1 and March 29.
February 1: Adam Hamilton speaks at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church at 7 p.m. Reverend Hamilton is the founding pastor of the 17,000-member United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, and the author of nine books. He will discuss his book Enough: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity a popular resource for adult religious education in hundreds of UMC churches. Get Tickets.
Paul Escamilla lectures March 29, 7 p.m., Cannon Chapel. He is pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, and author of Longing for Enough in a Culture of More (Abingdon Press, 2007), a collection of 25 brief meditations that are used for private and group study. Organized in five topics: The Good Book, The Good Life, the Good Work, The Good Society, and The Good Earth, the essays make the “life of enough” seem a natural next step in the lives of Christians. The book will be the focus of Escamilla’s lecture. Get Tickets.
For more information, go to candler.emory.edu.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
My Thoughts Turn to YOU Today
I have spent some time today thinking and surfing the web. During that time, I came across the article below. Please take a moment to read it. Then spend a few minutes thinking about it and what message you can take away from it.
The message for me goes something like this: There is a place for each of us to worship God but how often are we doing that? I mean, do we really step outside of our busy, man-made lives and quietly be still and look for God? Sure, it is possible to see him in the faces of children on a crowded playground or in the voice of an older adult sharing stories from their past, or in a thousand other ways. But … it seems to me that people feel closer – I feel closer – to God when the surroundings are made as a sacred place.
Worship should be sacred and it should be meaningful and it should be set aside for the One. And I think that there are many ways to do worship. I also think it is extremely important to make a place for our souls to rest, find comfort, be renewed, and maybe feel the touch of Our Creator in the very depths.
For me that can be found in the ancient texts of the Bible and in the places where the saints before gathered to restore their souls and offer comfort to each other. Many others find their place in those quiet pews. Many others connect with their faith, their family history, their special remembrances in those places also. Many others are introduced to faith in community in those places. Many others meet God in those places each and every week.
That is what church should do. That is what church could do if we would simply be the church.
The message for me goes something like this: There is a place for each of us to worship God but how often are we doing that? I mean, do we really step outside of our busy, man-made lives and quietly be still and look for God? Sure, it is possible to see him in the faces of children on a crowded playground or in the voice of an older adult sharing stories from their past, or in a thousand other ways. But … it seems to me that people feel closer – I feel closer – to God when the surroundings are made as a sacred place.
Worship should be sacred and it should be meaningful and it should be set aside for the One. And I think that there are many ways to do worship. I also think it is extremely important to make a place for our souls to rest, find comfort, be renewed, and maybe feel the touch of Our Creator in the very depths.
For me that can be found in the ancient texts of the Bible and in the places where the saints before gathered to restore their souls and offer comfort to each other. Many others find their place in those quiet pews. Many others connect with their faith, their family history, their special remembrances in those places also. Many others are introduced to faith in community in those places. Many others meet God in those places each and every week.
That is what church should do. That is what church could do if we would simply be the church.
Wholly Bible: A View from the Pew
Malls and Amazement
By RAY WADDLE
Sitting in church the other day, I thought about the mall.
No, I was not fantasizing about Pottery Barn and Sbarro. I was thinking about all the big new churches now that aim to look and feel like the mall, and how glad I am that my little church does not.
My church is the old-fashioned kind – stone arches, long pews, wooden altar rails and tall stained glass panels that tell the stories of Jesus.
In the sweepstakes of religious competition, little neighborhood congregations like mine (with their cramped parking lots) struggle against the dazzling new normal – the large churches that forsake steeples and hymnals and dress codes and stained glass and silence. According to surveys, fewer and fewer young people and families now attend churches that were built before World War II.
I have visited some of the new churches. They are serious about ministry. They are reaching people in new ways.
But something ... (continued at: http://barefootpreachr.org/2011/01/11/my-thoughts-turn-to-you-today/)
Monday, January 17, 2011
Simple living not necessarily simple
A UMNS Report
By Barbara Dunlap-Berg* 1:00 P.M. EST Nov. 19, 2010
John Wesley espoused three simple rules: Do no harm, do good and stay in love with God.
Though these rules sound — and are — incredibly simple, actually practicing them is anything but easy.
“I have a hunger for us to return to some of the original values and lifestyles of the early church and the early Methodist movement,” the Rev. Ryan Wieland, 28, said. He serves Ridley Park United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania.
He cited Acts 2:45 (The Message). “They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.”
Recently, United Methodist Communications asked 4,000 United Methodists how they felt about simple living, using the definition: “a lifestyle characterized by consuming only that which is required to sustain life.”
More than 500 people, both laity and clergy, answered the survey.
Living simply “is necessary for the survival of the planet and humankind, physically and spiritually,” the Rev. Nick Keeney, 31, wrote. He serves Dorranceton United Methodist Church in Kingston, Pa.
Another respondent said mission experiences prove eye opening. “I meet in my mission work persons to whom our surplus represents unimagined riches. Such an imbalance bothers me.”
The Rev. Douglas Dean, 64, of Faith United Methodist Church, Oregon, Ohio, agreed. “The ‘simple lifestyle’ is a part of the equation for a ‘balanced life,’” he said.
Different things to different people
For some, living simply offers an opportunity to strengthen one’s spirituality. Others choose this lifestyle to improve their health and alleviate stress, to have more “quality time” with loved ones, to reduce their personal ecological footprint or to save money. Socio-political goals such as conservation, social justice, ethnic diversity and sustainable development motivate some people.
However, talking and actually putting words into practice are two different things.
“In theory, I believe that living simply is what my faith requires, but in fact I don’t make it a priority,” a respondent admitted.
Another commented, “I try to reduce my usage of natural resources and to be more self-sufficient. But I use much more than is really needed to sustain life.”
Several noted that the U.S. infrastructure largely depends on locked-in resource-usage patterns.
“Alternatives to electricity, water, natural-gas usage and garbage recycling are seldom available in ways that have a measurable overall impact,” the Rev. Pat Dunbar, 52, said. She serves Dawsonville (Ga.) United Methodist Church.
“While I may be interested in a simple lifestyle,” she continued, “it is a fight against the very business and government forces we put in place.”
Continued at the following link: http://barefootpreachr.org/2011/01/10/simple-living-not-necessarily-simple-umc-org/
By Barbara Dunlap-Berg* 1:00 P.M. EST Nov. 19, 2010
John Wesley espoused three simple rules: Do no harm, do good and stay in love with God.
Though these rules sound — and are — incredibly simple, actually practicing them is anything but easy.
“I have a hunger for us to return to some of the original values and lifestyles of the early church and the early Methodist movement,” the Rev. Ryan Wieland, 28, said. He serves Ridley Park United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania.
He cited Acts 2:45 (The Message). “They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.”
Recently, United Methodist Communications asked 4,000 United Methodists how they felt about simple living, using the definition: “a lifestyle characterized by consuming only that which is required to sustain life.”
More than 500 people, both laity and clergy, answered the survey.
Living simply “is necessary for the survival of the planet and humankind, physically and spiritually,” the Rev. Nick Keeney, 31, wrote. He serves Dorranceton United Methodist Church in Kingston, Pa.
Another respondent said mission experiences prove eye opening. “I meet in my mission work persons to whom our surplus represents unimagined riches. Such an imbalance bothers me.”
The Rev. Douglas Dean, 64, of Faith United Methodist Church, Oregon, Ohio, agreed. “The ‘simple lifestyle’ is a part of the equation for a ‘balanced life,’” he said.
Different things to different people
For some, living simply offers an opportunity to strengthen one’s spirituality. Others choose this lifestyle to improve their health and alleviate stress, to have more “quality time” with loved ones, to reduce their personal ecological footprint or to save money. Socio-political goals such as conservation, social justice, ethnic diversity and sustainable development motivate some people.
However, talking and actually putting words into practice are two different things.
“In theory, I believe that living simply is what my faith requires, but in fact I don’t make it a priority,” a respondent admitted.
Another commented, “I try to reduce my usage of natural resources and to be more self-sufficient. But I use much more than is really needed to sustain life.”
Several noted that the U.S. infrastructure largely depends on locked-in resource-usage patterns.
“Alternatives to electricity, water, natural-gas usage and garbage recycling are seldom available in ways that have a measurable overall impact,” the Rev. Pat Dunbar, 52, said. She serves Dawsonville (Ga.) United Methodist Church.
“While I may be interested in a simple lifestyle,” she continued, “it is a fight against the very business and government forces we put in place.”
Continued at the following link: http://barefootpreachr.org/2011/01/10/simple-living-not-necessarily-simple-umc-org/
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Pay it Forward 2011
Pay it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment. They must in turn post this and send something they made to the first 5 people who comment on their status. The rules are that it must be handmade by you (anything) and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.
This message has been shared among several of my friends on facebook, but I wanted to share it with you – my friends here on my blog. So, here goes. Just remember – you must make an appropriate comment on my BLOG in order to be a part of this project.
Oh – btw – I won’t hold you to the rest of the request – the part that says “They must in turn post this and send something they made to the first 5 people who comment on their status.” That is your choice – I’m just going to take a leap of faith and pay it forward!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Flat Jesus
Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world … that’s the idea behind the Flat Jesus project.
The project was started several years ago at the church I served to help members of the congregation connect with the children who were attending the church. This was a congregation that wanted to welcome new people into their community, wanted to make a space for children, but were only able to connect with the way things had always been done. The facility had not been updated in many years, maybe 20?, and the furnishings had fallen into disrepair. But … the congregation wanted to make a difference in the lives of the children that were attending, and those who would come in the future.
So, a plan was born. The walls were given a fresh coat of paint. Murals were painted on the walls also. Cabinets were given a good cleaning and safety measures were taken. Old pieces of furniture that were broken or no longer safe were removed. New toys, games, crafts and age-appropriate activities were brought in, and the children were made to feel welcome. In 8 months the children’s ministry grew 260%!
This project was the next phase, if you will. It is geared to teach the children tolerance and acceptance of children from all walks of life and all cultural backgrounds. By involving the older adults in the project it is hoped that they will also accept people of all walks of life, all cultural backgrounds and all ages. It is sometimes difficult to welcome a crying baby in the sanctuary when you find it hard to hear. Or to make room for a family that doesn’t fit your model of what a family looks like. I am proud to have been a part of that small church with the big hearts. They showed me what it means when I remember the words …
Thank you church for teaching me how much Jesus really loves even me!
*For more information, or to participate in the Flat Jesus project, please go to: http://barefootpreachr.org/flat-jesus-project/
The project was started several years ago at the church I served to help members of the congregation connect with the children who were attending the church. This was a congregation that wanted to welcome new people into their community, wanted to make a space for children, but were only able to connect with the way things had always been done. The facility had not been updated in many years, maybe 20?, and the furnishings had fallen into disrepair. But … the congregation wanted to make a difference in the lives of the children that were attending, and those who would come in the future.
So, a plan was born. The walls were given a fresh coat of paint. Murals were painted on the walls also. Cabinets were given a good cleaning and safety measures were taken. Old pieces of furniture that were broken or no longer safe were removed. New toys, games, crafts and age-appropriate activities were brought in, and the children were made to feel welcome. In 8 months the children’s ministry grew 260%!
This project was the next phase, if you will. It is geared to teach the children tolerance and acceptance of children from all walks of life and all cultural backgrounds. By involving the older adults in the project it is hoped that they will also accept people of all walks of life, all cultural backgrounds and all ages. It is sometimes difficult to welcome a crying baby in the sanctuary when you find it hard to hear. Or to make room for a family that doesn’t fit your model of what a family looks like. I am proud to have been a part of that small church with the big hearts. They showed me what it means when I remember the words …
Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong,
They are weak but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
Thank you church for teaching me how much Jesus really loves even me!
*For more information, or to participate in the Flat Jesus project, please go to: http://barefootpreachr.org/flat-jesus-project/
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