With joy and with sorrow - I'm moving.

This morning was one of the toughest mornings of my life. Sure, Sundays can seem like "any other Sunday" when there isn't a baptism or Confirmation or Holiday, but when I've grown fond for folks at my Pierce & Osmond churches, there are those "bitter sweat" moments that can leave me totally exhausted.
I was offered the opportunity to move to a new parish - the Oberlin & Prairie Chapel UMCs in northwest Kansas - and even though ever church, big or small, has unique gifts and talents, the best way to describe my new setting will be in the response I gave when one gentleman asked "So, you're jumping ship?"
I replied "No, just being moved to a larger vessel."

Below is the letter that I read to the folks at Pierce and Osmond this morning.
Please keep the people of those churches, as well as Oberlin & Prairie Chapel, in your thoughts and prayers as we all enter into a "Working Transition". Also please think of the Appointive Cabinet of the Great Plains Conference as they continue their work of discernment for the future of Pierce & Osmond and other churches.

To my Church Family:

For the past almost three years together, we have seen excellent times in our parish. Yes, we have lost saints to the home that Christ has made in heaven, but we have received new family members. There have been baptisms, as well as professions of faith, and couples have been married here. 

This is the life of the Church and we must keep on moving towards doing God’s work.                                                                                          

I have seen progress, as well as opportunities for spiritual growing and maturity. We need to continually grow in our faith, and be Christ-like in all we say and do, through the discipline of our lives for others. This is our call and duty as followers of Jesus Christ.

United Methodist pastors follow an itinerant system, which helps put pastors and churches together to best utilize the gifts and graces of each to the best of their abilities for the kingdom of God. And so today I am announcing to you that I will be the new pastor of the Oberlin and Prairie Chapel United Methodist Churches in northwest Kansas, as of July 1, 2014.

My love for your churches is something that I will carry with me forever. May each one of you continue to grow in your spiritual journey as Christians, and as United Methodists, by the reading  and studying the Holy Scriptures, keeping to our many years of rich heritage and tradition, and following  the Book of Discipline and continuing the heritage of the United Methodist Church. I pray that you will continue to experience God, and let yourself experience the power of the Holy Spirit, by working, shaping, and changing you to be Christ-like in all you do. 

Keep moving toward progress so that others may come and find a place of worship, to find a home church family, and to “make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world,” which is the mission of the church. 

 

Prayer is God’s most powerful tool and gift of love to offer for one another, and so…

·        Pray for the cabinet as they continue a work of discernment for this church.

·        Pray each other.

·        Pray for your churches and all the churches.

·        Pray for my family during this transition.

Until I leave you next month, we will continue on the same path of doing God’s work and moving forward. There is much to be done, and doing God’s work never ceases.

May God’s peace be with each and every one of you now and forever. Amen.

 

Read to the Osmond & Pierce UMCs on May 18, 2014

Thanks to Rev. Max Clayton and Rev Mark Chambers for the opportunity to glean from their instruction to write this letter.

Meeting God in a grove

 

I'm an anxious person.
Or more like "bouncing off the walls" anxious.

I have had panic attacks, anxiety shots, and worrisome moments for years. Thinking back, I recall moments in high school of feeling "odd" and yet, I couldn't figure it out. As a teenager feeling, I also couldn't tell people. The first question that was asked of me was "what are you on?" Being someone who can honestly say that I never tried any drugs or underage drinking, I became defensive at any hint of wrongdoing (yet now as a volunteer Fire/Rescue person, I ask the same question of my patients).
When I would have panic attacks as a teen, I don't recall any reason to be panicked. Life was ok, my grades weren't suffering, I got along with most of my teachers, I enjoyed volunteering my time on a Police & Fire Explorer Post, I had a great girlfriend, and my life was aiming towards the US Air Force.
But I still had a "panic rush".

Nowadays, things like "anxiety attacks" may be more acceptable in society. It's something that healthcare professionals can identify and treat. It's something that isn't so bad when the panicked has to say "give me a moment" or "I need to step back".
Unless you're in the public eye.

Just over a year ago, I had the honor of introducing a comedian in front of about 150 people - and I knew a lot of these people. My Bishop and his wife, my colleagues, folks from my churches and other churches around the region.
But I've stood in front of more people than that, even with the Press in the mix, to officiate funerals. One funeral was even noted worldwide because of the events surrounding the passing of person. Yet I was able to function through the Service, and even gave a few short interviews afterwards.
But as I stood in front of those people that weren't going to judge me or critique me (they were there to see the comedian), I panicked. And I panicked so hard that hands shook, almost violently.

I recently started looking into meditation techniques - something like Yoga or Yogi or Yogurt or whatever it's called. And it's not an easy search. There are so many different ideas, opinions, thoughts, and suggestions given by more "professionals" or "experts" than I care to count.
This also raises my anxiety. What is best?  Who is best? And so on.

But my greatest treatment is in a word from Scripture... In the letter to the Philippians it says "Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life." (4:6-7 Msg)

Pray.
Prayer.
Letting God know.

Yeah, "too simple", right?
But prayer is that simple. It's talking to God. It's having a chat with the gracious One. It's have a moment with the Almighty.

Years ago I lived near an orange grove that had a large boulder on one end of it. I would go out to that grove, sit upon the boulder, look out across the horizon over the trees and mountains, and talk to God. Just me and "the big guy". One on One.
Sometimes I had so much to say 'thank you' for, and other times God got quite the earful of my whining, moaning, and groaning about whatever popped in my head. And no matter what, I was free to say what I needed to say, about to say what I wanted to say, and every time walk away with a sense of peace.

Life sometimes seems more hectic now than it did 15-20 years ago. Maybe because of my "job" now, or because I'm nearing 50, or because I don't have my boulder in the grove. But I always know that I have a Rock that I can go to - God.

And so I live on.