An Irrepressible Woman Preacher

Gertrude Pettibon’s favorite hymn was “The Church’s One Foundation Is Jesus Christ Her Lord.” This she lived by and this she preached.

In 1933 Kansas farmers, once supplying the world with wheat, were, because of drought, dust storms and the Great Depression, unable to feed their own people. The United Brethren Church in Republic, Kansas, was on the verge of closing. The pastor had quit to work on the Public Works Administration, a government relief program. The official board refused to accept a woman preacher.

Gertrude McNeill Pettibon, certain of her calling to the ministry, refused to accept the board’s decision and moved with her children into a back room of the church. Her first Sunday she preached and announced a full week’s schedule to a cold and almost empty church. The days and weeks that followed she chugged her ’28 Chevrolet over dusty country roads, more often than not, driving on prayer and the fumes from an empty gas tank.

She stopped at every house inviting folks to church, and the bone-weary farmers came. Soon the board saw something special in this woman’s zeal for God and love for people, and moved her into the parsonage.

Gertrude Pettibon pastored the Republic church ten years, 1933 to 1943, and was ordained in 1936. These were years of great financial problems. Pastor and laity sacrificed together to pay conference quotas, and the pastor’s small salary was supplemented by whatever produce was available.

Four young men of the congregation answered the call to Christian ministry and went on to be ordained.

The church became a stronghold of the community, and remains so today. Most of the town’s six hundred people are gone, businesses have moved, the school is closed and its roof has fallen in. But the UB church (now United Methodist), stands like a beacon on a corner near the center of town. Its brown brick exterior is in good repair, its doors open, its sanctuary warm and welcoming, while a young woman preacher affirms, “The Church’s One Foundation Is Jesus Christ Her Lord.”

In 1943 Gertrude married Clarence Millen, her lay delegate to annual conference and long-time friend, and preached at the Methodist Church in Byron, Nebraska. Eventually they moved to the Otterbein Home at Lebanon, Ohio, as house-parents to teenage boys. Leukemia cut her life short at age fifty. But today her life still shines through many whom she brought to Christ.

(adapted from the Telescope-Messenger, United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Winter, 1998) Found on GBGM-UMC.

Preach It Oyster Man!

“The early Methodist meetings were often led by lay preachers with very limited education. On one occasion, such a preacher took as his text Luke 19:21, “Lord, I feared thee, because thou art an austere man.” Not knowing the word “austere,” he thought that the text spoke of “an oyster man.” He spoke about the work of those who retrieve oysters from the sea-bed. The diver plunges

down from the surface, cut off from his natural environment, into bone-chilling water. He gropes in the dark, cutting his hands on the sharp edges of the shells. Now he has the oyster, and kicks back up to the surface, up to the warmth and light and air, clutching in his torn and bleeding hands the object of his search. So Christ descended from the glory of heaven into the squalor of earth, into sinful human society, in order to retrieve humans and bring them back up with Him to the glory of heaven, His torn and bleeding hands a sign of the value He has placed on the object of His quest. Twelve men were converted that evening. Afterwards, someone complained to Wesley about the inappropriateness of allowing preachers who were too ignorant to know the meaning of the texts they were preaching on. Wesley, simply said, “Never mind, the Lord got a dozen oysters tonight.”

(From Albert C. Outler, John Wesley’s Sermons: An Introduction, p 79)

Fletcher and the Three Hebrews

JOHN WILLIAM FLETCHER, native of Nyon, Switzerland (1729), and graduate of the University of Geneva, was prevented by an accident from becoming a soldier of the Portuguese Army in Brazil.

As he was about to start, a serving-maid spilled a kettle of boiling water on him, incapacitating him for some time. Later, under Methodist influence, he entered into a Christian experience and became one of Wesley’s preachers. Still later he was appointed vicar of the Church of England at Madeley, a notoriously wicked community.

On Sunday mornings he went about at five o clock, ringing a bell to rouse people in time for service. His church soon was crowded, to the disgust of a group of evildoers who determined to stop him. They arranged a “bull-baiting” near his preaching place and planned to pull him off his horse when he arrived. But, called to a child’s funeral, he was providentially a little late for the service; and, while the conspirators were in a drinking booth, the bull broke loose, charged the tent and scattered them so effectually that he preached in peace.

A butcher forbade his wife attending Fletcher’s church threatening to cut her throat if she went. When she started to go, he exclaimed, “Are you going to Fletcher s church?” “I am,” she replied. “Then, I shall not cut your throat as I intended, he declared, “`but I will heat the oven and throw you into it, when you come home!” Fletcher preached that morning on the first Scripture lesson of the day-the three Hebrews, saved in the flames of Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace. The message so heartened the distracted woman that, on returning, she courageously faced her husband and conquered his evil spirit until he was convicted of sin.

This article was taken from the book entitled “One Hundred and One Methodist Stories” by Carl F. Price and published by the Methodist Book Concern.

Justice Events - Updates

The Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition/Atlanta is hosting its quarterly Pot Luck & Forum, Monday, February 7, at Atlanta Friends Meeting House. The Potluck begins at 6:30 p.m. Please bring a dish to share! Discussion at 7:30 with Q & A. A panel of well-informed speakers who know the issues: State Senator Nan Orrock, House Minority Leader, Rep. Stacey Abrams, Linda Lowe, consumer health care advocate, Adelina Nicholls, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights. R.s.v.p. to Kevin Moran, Organizer at GPJC-SC@yahoogroups.com. Atlanta Friends Meeting House is located at 701 West Howard Avenue, Decatur.

American Friends Service Committee Fourth Annual King Peace Program with music reading and more. Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. will be the keynote speaker addressing “MLK Jr., and the Friends,” Tuesday, February 8, 6-9 p.m., The King Center/Freedom Hall, 449 Auburn Avenue, NE, Atlanta 30312. For directions and parking info see [Directions] For additional information 404-819-7863 or alovelace@afsc.org. This event is presented in partnership with The King Center, Amnesty International USA- Southern Region, Metro Atlanta DSA Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament, Open Door Community, Atlanta Friends Meeting, Atlanta Grandmothers For Peace, Atlanta International Action Center, Nuclear Watch South, WonderRoot, Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition/Atlanta, Human Rights Atlanta, Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, and the Friends School of Atlanta.

Dr. Joseph E. Lowery returns to the pulpit of Cascade United Methodist Church on Sunday, February 13. The former Cascade Senior Pastor (1986 -1992) and Civil Rights legend will deliver the sermon for the 11 a.m. worship service. Reverend Lowery will also introduce his first book, Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land. (This book is available as a free Kindle ebook) For more information please visit www.cascadeumc.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.

What’ you thinking’bout?

ReTHINK CHURCH!

I found this video and just had to share it with you! Really would love to hear what you think about the message and what message you think is being communicated.

The three-and-a-half-minute music video features a rap music soundtrack under more than 150 fast-changing images of The United Methodist Church in mission around the world.

For the Rev. Ben Hanne, now an associate pastor at Calvary United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kan., “Rethink Church” and “the video, in particular, demonstrated the energy to turn our vision outwards, to see our brother and sister in people we wouldn’t ordinarily put in that category.”

Later this month, he will move to a rural two-point charge where the churches have faced numerous challenges in recent years. “The churches want to live,” he says, “but to live in a place like Arkansas City requires them to reach out to the community, not just be in church.”

While the music of the video did not particularly appeal to Dixie Brewster of Milton, Kan., she “liked it for the fact that the kids seemed enthusiastic about what they were doing
and showed the mission of the church.”

While “Rethink Rock” appeals to most youth and young adults, the Rethink Church staff wanted to offer older adults, who are the majority of annual conference members, a different way of looking at things. Loud applause was the answer when, after the video was shown, Kansas Area Bishop Scott Jones asked conference members if they were willing to listen to music that appeals to younger people.

Read the full article at: http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=5765535&ct=8426591

80-yr old Church leader murdered in sanctuary

Few places were as meaningful to Lillian Wilson as Central United Methodist Church just outside Wynne.

She was baptized and married there. She started teaching Sunday school recently to help out while the church’s longtime teacher recovered from a stroke.

And on Sunday morning, June 6, the 80-year-old retired nurse was in the church to finish assembling disaster relief buckets and health kits for collection at the denomination’s Arkansas Annual (regional) Conference meeting, which started Sunday night.

It was her last act of servanthood. She was found beaten to death in the church sanctuary that afternoon.

Investigators with the sheriff’s office in Cross County, Ark., were still searching June 8 for two suspects in Wilson’s death. Her pastor, the Rev. Dixon Platt, said authorities believe the murder weapon was the cross the church kept on its communion table.

Platt went to check on Wilson when she didn’t show up for worship Sunday at nearby Ellis Chapel United Methodist Church. The congregation of about 20 alternates worship each Sunday between Ellis Chapel and Central Church.

The pastor discovered Wilson’s body about 12:30 p.m. Sunday beneath an overturned pew. Her purse and car were missing.

Wilson died doing what she loved to do, Platt said, and that was serving God.

Oh please don’t tell me he said that! So many folks are going to be upset that this woman died, (btw – she didn’t simply die – she was MURDERED!) and the fact that she died in this way in this place is going to complicate grief for the people within the church she attended, people in our churches, and the people who don’t attend church. It is a delicate and difficult time for this church, but maybe some of us can learn from Ms. Wilson’s death as well as her life.

As pastor’s we tend to want to take the high road and say things like, “She is at rest now” or “She “died doing what she loved to do”". Those comments are not enough for our congregants who are asking the bigger question, “WHY?” I think we need to say things like, we don’t know why people do horrible things to each other, I don’t know why someone did this to Ms. Wilson, I don’t know why – I don’t have the answers. Too often pastors think they must lead people into healing or beyond this tragedy or even past this experience. To each of us, pastors and everyday folks that think the same way, I ask – WHY? Why are we in a hurry to brush aside the tragedy and want to look at only the comfortable aspects of life?

My thinking jumps to the next question, how does a response such as the one stated by Rev. Platt witness to the greater community the love of God for all people in the community? From my slightly slanted perspective I see a closed door attitude, a piousness, an attitude to the unchurched that says, “Well, AT LEAST she lived a life worthy so she will be … (fill in the blank – honored, redeemed, given vengeance … whatever the other feels is needed in their life and hoped for in their death). Possibly a better statement would be, we join the community in grieving her death and the violent manner in which she died and we are available to talk or listen to anyone who has questions. Maybe, possibly.

But I like what Bishop Crutchfield said:

Arkansas Area Bishop Charles Crutchfield asked those gathered for annual conference on June 7 to pray for Wilson and the many in her community who loved her.

“This is a tragic moment for a wonderful woman devoted to the life of the church and building God’s kingdom, a woman who had been the heart and soul of her church,” Crutchfield said in an interview.

“At moments like this, we ask ‘Why? Why?’ And there is no real answer to that question,” he said. “But I do know the question we need to ask is who do we trust in a moment of tragedy, in a moment so inexplicable. I think our answer would be her answer: Trust the Lord through high points and low points, through good times and through the valley of the shadow of death. In the wake of this tragic death, that’s who we all have to trust.” (Italics added)

That’s all we’ve got to offer anyone in a moment of grief, a season of grief. If we believe in God through the good times, if we trust God in the good times, if we have faith in God in the good times, then the way to find ourselves able to survive and live though the tough times is to continue to trust him in those times also.

Keep the faith my friends.

Who I am in Christ

Some time ago I read an article giving credit to Garrison Keillor of Lake Wobegon fame for insights on what it means to be Methodist. Many of his observations are true for our church and many of his observations are true for our own personality's!

Here are a few for your enjoyment:
*Methodists believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to
pray out loud.

*Methodists like to sing, except when confronted with a new hymn or a
hymn with more than four stanzas.

*Methodists believe their pastors will visit them in the hospital, even
if they don't notify them that they are there.

*Methodists usually follow the official liturgy and will feel it is
their way of suffering for their sins.

*Methodists believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially
during their stewardship visitation programs or when passing the plate.

There are several more and I found myself laughing out loud when I first read them. I also found myself wondering how others see me in light of my claim that I am a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ.

*Do others see me embarrassed or ashamed to speak to my friend, to Jesus?

*Do they see me as closed-minded to a new way of exploring God's grace in the world?

*Do people look at me and see someone so absorbed in her own life experiences that I can not see another's pain or suffering?

*Is my service to God an witness of joy in resurrection or is it a chore that must be completed for a reward?

*Finally, can I see the miracles that surround me and am I willing to be the miracle someone else may need?

These are questions we can each ask ourselves without worrying whether we are Methodist or Baptist, Pentecostal or Presbyterian, or another denomination. These are questions to ask of ourselves as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ. Above all else, I pray that others may see Jesus when they look at me and that they may recognize the love that pours from His hands.

"‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." - John 15:12-13

Living in eternity

I was able to get out today and see some sweet, dear, friends of mine. We celebrated what God is doing in our Chrysalis community and prayed for discernment of the future of our community. More importantly, we worshiped together. Our time in preparation was too short and we are dealing with an assortment of emotions for what we have lost. Yet, I saw so much joy and love in that room where we were gathered that I can't help but think I am richer for the experience.

That brings me to the rest of my day. After visiting a local hobby store and finding more than I needed, I headed on home to keep myself company. After eating lunch and cuddling a couple of lonely kitties, I began checking my email. Although it is almost mid-summer plans are in full swing for a local charity that helps children with back-to-school items. One of my emails was from a volunteer requesting help with clothing for the children. What struck me about this email was the reminder that with the present economy situation there will more children to help than in the past, and less resources available. We have seen people in the church community seeking help with limited incomes. Several families are dealing with high medical bills or job loss. Others have significant credit card debt. Many people live on limited incomes from retirement sources that have taken a hard hit in the stock market. We are all in some form of "financial crisis". Now I wonder, how are we as people of faith called to respond to the needs of our community? to the elderly and children? to the strangers and the hungry?

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." - Matthew 6:21

Let me go back to my sweet sisters that I met with this morning. The example these women shared with me is the path we could all follow in understanding the call to respond to those in need. You see, today we met to say good-bye for now to each other. These women spent the past two months (some much longer!) preparing to serve God on a special retreat. They met on a regular basis for hours at a time, they prayed for each other and for God's will to be done, they laughed together, sang together, worshiped together, cried together, ate together, supported and loved each other. Each member gave generously from her heart out of her love for Christ. And today it all ended. Our plans and preparations were interrupted by God's perfect will and his perfect plan. And isn't that the way things are supposed to be?

If we are a part of the body of Christ, then is the present economy of the world what we should be focused on? Where we can look for all of our needs to be met is at the cross of Christ. I read this quote recently (from I don't know who!)"Your money follows your heart. Yet you can bring your heart—and thereby your life—closer to God by reallocating your treasure from earthly possessions to eternal blessings. Giving shifts your focus from internal to external ... to eternal."

In 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote, "For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."" (8:12-15) This scripture speaks to me and tells me, it is time to clean out a closet and pass along those possessions I do not have need for. It's also time for me to forego that cup of coffee and pick up a couple of cans of soup for the local food pantry. And it is certainly time for me to thank God for his blessings and provision of all of my needs.

On Being a Wii

For the past few years I have been hinting to my hubby that I would like to have a Wii game system. I've rationalized this desire with arguments like, "I could get in shape with it, they have a great fitness program!" Another one I tried was, "We could go dancing, bowling, or have a date night right here at home!Think about all the money you could save!" I've also played the "pity me" angle, "I don't ask for much and after all it is my birthday (Christmas, anniversary, etc.)" So far, none of these arguments have been successful and I still don't have my own Wii game system. My arguments for this new toy may have come to a halt after a message was shared today during the memorial service at UMC Annual Conference.

What I heard was, "I am not a "me" I am a "we". I am made up of a part of everyone who has touched my life or whose life I have touched." As I reflected on that statement, my mind could not help but think of all of the people who have touched my life and influenced me to be the person I am becoming. In the same way, my mind wandered to the scores of people who I have come into contact with and been privileged to leave my fingerprint on their lives. The next thought that jumped into my mind as I listened to the names being read of the clergy and laity that had served the Methodist Church so faithfully was, "Have I lived my life following Jesus' example?" Is there any way we can measure that example?

John Wesley is oft times quoted as saying, "Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can." As an example of accountability in the Methodist Church, maybe this is one way we can use to measure ourselves and the way we have touched another person's life. I for one intend to think how a word, a smile, a touch, can leave a fingerprint on someone's life. Maybe then I will become more aware of the fingerprints that are being left on my life and the loving example's God is sharing with me each day as I continue to become more of who "We" are called to be, instead of trying to be more "me".

"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us." - Romans 12:4-6a