Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. – Matthew 5:12

November 3rd is the Sunday in which we celebrate All Saints Day (November 1st) in worship. We remember and spiritually commune with the Church Triumphant, those “dear departed” of our faith community.

Our own Delann Dunbar has creatively written a message as delivered by our children and youth. In their presentation we will learn about the history of All Saints Day while hearing about grandparents and then being amused by a youthful clown skit about….the Saints!

Surrounding this message in Word and Visuals, we will be led by our choir in singing from the old Cokesbury hymnal which predates our United Methodist Hymnal by many decades. String music will remind us of that coming Unclouded Day. And Holy Communion will instill within us the hope of sitting at the Heavenly Banquet Table on the “other side.”

The Gospel text for our worship is a call to be “blessed” and what the blessed saints (you and I and the dear departed) both do and also receive.

Come to worship on All Saints Sunday!

Pastor Barry

Joel 2:23-32, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 and Luke 18:9-14

Well, if the weather forecast holds up, October 31 will be a rainy day. You might expect the Halloween costumes on all the Trick-or-Treaters to be more visible as the fun activities move indoors! Zombies? Dracula? Disney characters? Video game characters?

Regardless, it is THE one day of the year that costumes of all kinds of characters overwhelm shirts, jeans, skirts for the evening. And many congregations will join in on the fun in some way. Trunk or Treat out of the cars in church parking lots or host a “Fall Festival” themed party with less emphasis on the “scary!” Most churches accept the popular culture moment of Halloween but hesitate to engage some of the ideas that lie behind Halloween’s origins.

This Sunday’s texts will help us think a bit about that fine line between popular culture e.g. movies, TV, social media, entertainment and the like. We will hear about and see imaginatively the prophet Joel, the Tax Collector, the Pharisee, St Paul, and images of both doom and salvation. Our cast of Halloween characters in costume probably won’t look much like Bible characters, but we will see how some of the same Biblical themes of Evil, Fear, Death, Salvation are “played out” in scary characters in festive and light hearted ways e.g. Trick or Treat.

Dressing up as a prophet, Pharisee, Tax Collector, or St Paul for Halloween just doesn’t seem to work for most! Is it because the matters are too serious to be set into a fun, lighthearted occasion? If so, can the fun costumes and characters of the Fall season still give us “hints” about things of the Spirit?! Let’s see how that plays out as we hear the Word this Sunday in the season of Halloween!

Blessings even in this “scary” time!

Pastor Barry

Jeremiah 31:27-34, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 and Luke 18:1-8

When did you come to believe? Remember? Or have there been many times when you said, “I believe Lord (but) help Me in my unbelief!”

Our Timothy passage speaks of the influence from childhood of Timothy’s mother and grandmother. He was taught the Holy Scriptures (the OT in this context) early on. How about you? Who was there for you while growing up in the Faith?

With trust in God as your basic attitude have there been times when you found that you had to be persistent in prayer to get through or beyond the unknown stretches when the going got rough?! Jesus tells his disciples a parable about a persistent widow appealing to a bad judge to get justice on a matter. Jesus says to his disciples: “will you be that persistent in faith until the dramatic End of Time?!”

Can we imagine ourselves 10-20 years out? Through thick and thin, holding on with trust and prayer to those points down the line?! This is the question Jesus proposes and is confident (cf – 2 Timothy) that we will be faithful. And being faithful is something that is not ours alone to do; we have mothers and grandmothers, Dads and Granddads, friends and neighbors who help us be “persistent!”

All this is meant to be encouraging for the “long haul” until the “Son of Man comes” – Luke 18:8.

Some days we throw up our hands in frustration over a thousand afflictions. Just keep in mind the One toward whom you throw up your hands! God is far, far more caring than the Unjust Judge who reluctantly grants the persistent widow her request.

Keep the faith everybody!

Pastor Barry

Psalm 111 and Luke 17:5-19

Rev. John Collett returns for an “encore presentation” while your pastor observes the day at Locks Memorial’s Homecoming. John has generously booked in the two Sundays in a row. He may become a “regular!”

Our United Methodist way of doing church may have several drawbacks, but the availability of committed and trained preachers and the continuity of worship has been a plus. We ARE a connected people serving a Lord who is all about “increasing our faith.” A healthy working relationship between clergy and laity was one of John Wesley’s goals of leadership and few denominations have done as well as the United Methodist Church in mutual leadership by clergy and laity.

Needless to say, there will always be room for improvement, repentance, and reform! The church does not rest only on the past! Ever onward by renewed faith is our guiding theme.

Join John this Sunday at Kedron, pray for your sisters and brothers at Locks and look for your pastor to reappear October 20th…..”God willing!”

Prayers and blessings~~~†

Pastor Barry

Rev. John Collett brings our message this World Communion Sunday and will preside at the Lord’s Table. Many of you know John from his service as an Elder in The Conference where he has been a pastor, DS, Assistant to the Bishop, and now at Martin College. John and my wife LeNoir served together at Donelson Heights UMC way too many years ago!

He brings a message which will “focus on World Communion Sunday with a take on the Table of Jesus as the Table to which all in the community are invited and that the church ‘longs for’ those who are missing from the Table. It will be a kind of ‘evangelism of the Table” theme.”

Pray for the gathering this Sunday and pray for the one who leads in Word and Table.

Blessings, prayers, and hopes~~~+

Pastor Barry

Amos 6:1-7, I Timothy 6:6-19 and Luke 16:19-31

It’s possible…..anyone could fall into hard times and be left with just food and clothing. No one wants to imagine it though. We often read of starvation, poverty, unemployment, homelessness, but few reading this have been there. Yet, life is full of “what ifs….” What if I had been born in a very poor country ? What if I fall ill and can’t work? What if I give until it hurts?

In Jesus and Paul’s time with calls to “seek ye first the Kingdom of God,” and the shift from identifying only as a Jew or only as a Gentile to being a follower of Christ, the real risk of falling into one of the above desperate conditions e.g. poverty, unemployment, was ever present. It made for an exciting life but with potential hardships.

This Sunday will be a call to empathize with those like poor Lazarus at the gate. And a call to beware of the “lure of riches” or rather “the love of money” which are considered to be threats to a life of faith, and, not to put too fine a point upon it, the root of all evil. Strong language indeed!

Yet, the joy of what Christ has done for us is the motivation here! The demanding language is always in the context of God’s grace bestowed upon, unmerited favor. What will we do when grace “sinks in?!” Awareness of grace is the starting point! What follows should be amazing too!

Blessings in your walk with Christ!

Pastor Barry