St. Marks United Methodist Church

From now until Pentecost on May 23rd, St. Mark’s UMC will be engaged in a Sermon Series entitled Acting OUT. Easter calls us to live differently.  We can’t experience The Resurrection and then just go home.  No, like the apostles, the early followers of Christ, we too must go Act OUT our faith.  Throughout this series we will chronicle the Acts of the Apostles.  We will learn how they shared their faith and draw inspiration and courage from them to tell our own story of faith.  But before we can share our story with others, before we can point others to faith, we need to first get our own story straight!  Start by answering the following questions…

1. Who first shared with you about Christ?

2. How did you come to have faith in Jesus Christ?

3. What difference does your relationship with Jesus Make in your life?

As you work to answer these questions begin to think about who you might share your story with in the days ahead.  Ask God to help you see opportunities all around you.  Then like Peter and John in Acts 5 , have the courage and conviction to bear witness to your faith.  Remember your story has value.  It is inherently good because it contains the Good News of how Christ has encountered and transformed your life.  So go and ACT OUT in a big way for God!  That’s your Ben-e-diction and that’s an order! 

This past Sunday night, St. Mark’s hosted the second annual Staff versus Youth Basketball Game.  The proceeds from the game are used to help fund the youth group’s annual Appalachia Service Project mission work.  For those who may have forgotten like I tried to, the youth won last year’s game in convincing fashion.  So this year’s game provided a chance at redemption for the staff. 

Eric Hagman, our Director of Youth Minitries, organized and attempted to ‘coach’ the staff team.  He scheduled two practices and a film session.  While that may sound like a lot, in reality it was little more than a chance for most of the staff to touch a basketball for the first time since last year and the only film that was shown was a recap of some really bad line dancing we did for the introductory videos that were shown right before the game started Sunday night. 

During practice last Tuesday, Eric passed out our ‘jerseys’.  Okay so ‘jersey’ may be a little bit of an overstatement.  In actuality the so called ‘jersey’ was little more than a green crew t-shirt with navy sleeves.  The ‘jerseys’ had no numbers and no names on the back.  I did however happen to notice as I went to pull on my so called ‘jersey’ that the tag in the back of the shirt read FADED GLORY.  How appropriate for a bunch of middle to slightly older aged, desk-jockey, out-of-shape, has-been church staff members!  Faded Glory is not only a great brand name for shirts from Wal-Mart… it is also perfectly describes the staff team. 

Even a casual observer of warm-ups the night of the game would have been able to tell you that the youth were going to crush the staff.  The youth were bigger, taller, faster, and actually making shots.  One youth even dunked a few times.  Not intimidating at all…

The game started and the youth quickly raced ahead.  But thanks to a spot on the floor – behind half court – that was labeled 10 pts. and Eric’s sharp shooting, the staff stayed in the game.  At the half the youth were ahead but not so much that a comeback by the staff seemed impossible or improbable!  Yea, right!  Seriously!  The second half was full of runs and at one point the game did look out of reach.  The youth were something like 24 plus points ahead.  But Eric hit 2 key 10 pointers and with 2 minutes left we were down by only 4 points.  I quickly called a time out and we huddled up.  Once play resumed we quickly cut the youth lead to 2 pts.  On a subsequent drive down the court I got fouled and went to the line.

The score was 90 to 88.  Seven seconds remained on the game clock.  The ball was in my hands.  It is the moment every kid who ever picks up a ball in his driveway dreams about.  I dribbled twice, caught the ball, eyed the net, and then released the ball…swoosh…nothing but net.  A second time I dribbled twice, caught the ball, eyed the net and then released the ball…only this time the ball rimmed out.  A youth grabbed the rebound, threw the ball down court to a teammate who proceed to score on a layup as the buzzer sounded.  Another year…another loss for the staff.  So far we are 0-2. 

I told the seniors on the youth team after that game that I missed the second foul shot intentionally.  I told them it was my “gift to the seniors”.  The truth is I wanted to win so bad.  I hate losing.  I didn’t try to miss that shot.  I wanted it to fall.  I wanted to be the hero.  I wanted the glory.  But alas it wasn’t meant to be!  As the ball rimmed out so did my chance at glory…it faded away right there before my very eyes.  So I guess the label in the back of the ‘jersey’ was prophetic in a sense…Sunday night my basket ball skills were little more than Faded Glory. 

My years as a youth are long gone (the aches and pains I felt the next day are testimony to that reality).  My dreams of playing in the NBA have faded. But my love of Christ is stronger than ever.  He truly deserves the glory and praise not me.  What a joy just to get to play and what a joy to know that the proceeds will go the help fix homes in the mountains of Appalachia in the name of Christ.  For that cause I’ll suit up and play anytime anywhere…Glory be to God!  Amen.

Wow!  What a response!  Some 80 plus people packed into Anderson Hall last Wednesday night to help figure out how St. Mark’s might respond to those in our community being impacted by our current economic reality.  Our worshipful work agenda invited us to a time of individual reflection and then into small groups.  In the small group setting each individual was invited to share what he or she thought God was calling St. Mark’s to pursue.  Then each small group was instructed to identify the one or two ideas that emerged that generated the most energy and enthusiasm.  Near the close of our time together all 80 plus of us reconvened in Anderson Hall and attentively listened as each group shared. 

As we went around the room and heard from each group some common themes began to emerge.  First it was clear that further research needed to be done concerning the precise needs of folks in our community.  It was also pointed out that one of the greatest gifts we could offer would be to construct a consice, clear directory of resources already available in our community. 

Second there was a lot of energy around the idea of creating a “fund the need” protocol.  The idea is that when someone comes to the church or contacts the church regarding a need or needs the information would be carefully recorded.  The need or needs would then be passed on to a discernment team.  This team would work to help match the need or needs with available resources.  One wonderful option would be to communicate the need to a listserv of generous folks in the congregation who self-identified as people who wanted to help.  People receiving word of the need could then reply and offer to cover a certain portion.  For example if someone came in with a $120 utility bill the need could be posted and folks on the “fund the need” list could then reply with their offer of $10 or $25 dollars until it added up to $120. 

Third there was a clear desire to help feed folk.  The idea of pre-packaged food baskets, a food pantry, and monthly and or weekly meals bubbled up.  For sure there are many more details to be worked out on this front but the sentiment was to be sure folks in need did not leave the church empty handed. 

Fourth, thanks to the inspiration of one among us who actually has been out of work for over a year, ideas about job skills, support groups, resume help, interview skills training, and more emerged.  Folks present Wednesday night were eager to help on this front and many began reeling off their various areas of expertise and or skills training that they could offer. 

Finally, we had lots of discussion about how to share our desire to help with the community.  We will want to carefully and in very intentional ways let the Midtown community know what God is calling us to offer.  We don’t want to over promise and under deliver but at the same time I certainly don’t want to underestimate what the faithful of St. Mark’s can… through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit… make happen. 

In the days ahead, I will be meeting with folks who have been identified as co-cordinators of each major initiative.  These co-cordinators in turn will be assembling teams to help carry out the work.  They will draw up the “yellow” data sheet folks filled out at the meeting last Wednesday night.  So stay tuned.  Listen for your name to be called.  Continue to be in prayer.  As Pastor Lib stated this morning, “We cannot build a tent and stay on the mountain…no we must carry the light of Christ…the glory of Christ… into a dark world.” 

Again, I stand in awe of how the faithful of St. Mark’s is answering the call.  God is clearly moving among us.  I am both excited and terrified…but based on the disciples’ response to much of Jesus’ ministry…I think these feeling are normal…

Let’s continue the conversation.  Do you have other ideas or tweaks to what is offered here?  What is God saying to your heart?  What above mentioned area sounds like the best place for you to offer assistance?  Let me hear from you…

P.S. If you have ideas about how we can best assess the needs of our community and or where to go to get information about what other resources/ministries/services are already available please reply to this blog post.  Thanks!

In a resource I occasionally draw upon for preaching inspiration – Pulpit Resource, I recently came across part of an article from The Wall Street Journal entitled “So it’s come to this? Religion is good for your health?  Body and Spirit: Why Attending Religious Services May Benefit Health,” by Kevin Helliker. 

The article reads, “A growing body of scientific evidence shows that Americans who attend religious services at least once a week enjoy better-than-average health and lower rates of illness, including depression.  Perhaps most important, the studies show that weekly attendance confers a significant reduction in mortality risk over a given period of time. 

These studies have received almost no attention, in part because there is skepticism among many medical scientists about the validity of the studies.  But [a new] panel’s examination of studies showing the effect of church attendance on health reached an altogether different conclusion.  The panel reported that the studies showed a 25% lower mortality rate for those who attend religious services at least weekly.  Religious services at churches, temples, and mosques boost various features that can be beneficial to health – meditation, a social network, a set of values that discourage smoking, infidelity, and other unhealthy behaviors.  Many of hte studies have found that the health benefits of weekly attendance accrue more heavily to women than to men, perhaps because women make great use of religious social networks.

When  compared with non-weekly attendance, “weekly attendance was associated with a statistically significant improvement in quitting smoking, becoming often physically active, becoming not depressed, increasing the number of individual personal relationships and getting married,” said one of the examined articles, which was published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine in 2001.  That study gathered health and mortality data over a period of 30 years on 2676 Californians, 26% of whom attended religious services weekly.  “Being religiously involved can confer certain health benefits, and I don’t think there’s any divine intervention involved,” says Robert A. Hummer, a non-church going University of Texas sociology professor whose studies have shown a health benefit for regular religious-service attendance.” 

Fascinating is it not?  What do you think?  Do you think the studies are right?  Is there a correlation between improved health and regular weekly attendance?  Maybe so…maybe not.  Of course we know seeking improved health is not the primary reason for going to worship.  We worship because God commands/invites us to and because truthfully it is what we were created to do.  However how great if it turns out to be true that attendance in worship WEEKLY does improve our health!  Let’s test the theory.  Commit to weekly attendance.  See you there!