We’re in the process of clearing our, packing and finding the stuff we haven’t been able to find in years. You know how that goes: “Hey there’s that thingy I’ve been looking for. I wonder what it goes to? Think I’ll keep it because I know it’s important.”

Then you throw it in a box so that when you open it you say, “Wonder what the heck that thing is? Better keep it. It might be important.” Then you forget where you put your thingy ands when you find out what it was for you just go out and buy another thingy.

The theological point (if there is one) is this: We all keep things we no longer need and lug them around forever. I am not talking about the keys for locks you no longer can find or the 2009 October issue of the T.V. Guide. I ‘m talking about guilt from past sins, anger from past injustices, scars from relationships gone wrong. You get the idea. We carry those things far too long and wonder what the anger used to belong to. In other words, it becomes a thingy.

Our faith calls for us to get rid of the junk every once in a while and start over. Oh, to be sure you will collect new hurts and scars. However, in a couple of years you can get rid of them all over again. Tell you what, pretend you are moving. Now find those thingys that you need to get rid of. Instead of packing them up, get a large mental trash bag and get rid of them. You will travel lighter and make room for the more important thingys you do need to keep like love, laughter, joy and forgiveness.

Hey…wait a minute, there’s that thing I’ve looking for.  Better put it where I won’t forget where I put it. You never know…

Peace and grace. Reed

Tommy Lasorda the longtime manager of the L.A. Dodgers once pointed out that if a batter bats 300, that means he makes an out 70% of the time. If a manager wins 65% of his games in a season you will win 105 games. In both cases, you will be considered a great success and get a raise. He said what a great sport when you can be a failure between 35 and 70% of the time and get a raise!

What if we applied that to the church? What if we expected the pastor to only preach good sermons 30% of the time? What if our programs were successful only 65% of the time? What kind of a church would we be? We expect more from our preachers and our churches and their ministries. We expect the preacher to hit a ‘HOME RUN” all the time and our programs to always be a success.When we don’t hit higher averages than that, we feel there is a failure somewhere. If the preacher doesn’t preach great almost all the time, he isn’t all that good and we need a better one. If a few programs don’t work right away, we cut them and eventually we stop trying.

I asked what would happen if the preacher only preached good sermons 30% of the time and the church’s ministries only succeed 65% of the time what would happen? My suspicion is that if we applied the 30% and 65% guidelines the church would be a great success.

Why? Because eventually we will remember the great sermons and look forward to next week and the chance of another great sermon. Eventually the programs that succeed will add to the number of people that are served b the church. You see, in baseball, the numbers begin to add up and the victories begin to lead to world championships.

So with that, “Put me in coach I’m ready to play…center field.” (John Fogerty)

Peace and grace. Reed

In music one can often find lyrics that speak volumes. This is especially true when they are written by real wordsmiths. There is a song performed by Bob Segar called Against The Wind. One line in the song is “Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.” It speaks to a time in life when one is innocent and not as wise to all that comes with living life.

Jesus even spoke to it. In Matthew 18 He reminds us, “Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus is reminding us that children laugh, play, and trust in God without reservation. As he says these words, He does so with a tinge of sadness about our lost trust in God and the cross what awaits Him just down the road.

Don’t you wish we could have that same innocence. We have learned about rejection, disappointment, anger…death. Despite our experiences, it seems we are just going against the wind.

Now I am not trying to just write and give us all a collective downer and a sense of the blues. Just the opposite. I want us to have a trusting, awe filled, joyous relationship with God through Jesus Christ. While we can’t go back to the days when we didn’t know now what we didn’t know then, we can recall the days when we first experienced our faith for the first time, the days when we laughed when we first heard about Jonah and the whale. the times when we were just filled with wonder at God’s creation.

You see we should embrace what we do know now but be childlike in our faith that we had back then. If we do, then we aren’t struggling against the wind but traveling with the wind at our backs.

Peace and grace. Reed

There are lessons that we all wish we had learned earlier in life. For instance, I shared with someone Sunday that my Dad wanted me to be like him. He couldn’t understand why I didn’t like getting grease under my fingernails like he did. He would always take my out to work on the cars when I would rather do something else., O.K. I’ll be truthful, ANYTHING ELSE!!

One day he had to go and get a tool he forgot and left the car running while he went to get it. Since we were checking the timing, one sparkplug was  loose and I wondered what would happen if I pulled it out all the way. With my knees in firm contact with the metal bumper of the car for good measure I received a shock that left parts of me smoldering and my hair fizzed out. Dad asked what happened and I told him. He started laughing out loud and told me he had done the same thing at my age.

And so it goes.

So here are three lessons I learned about life that day. Think about the lessons you learned yourself.

1. The best lessons are those that you learn for yourself. You seldom forget them.

2. Never stopped learning. You will never know all you need to know. There is always so much more.

3. It’s O.K. to make mistakes. Most of them can be fixed some with a simple “I’m sorry” but unless you are willing to fail, you have already done so.

Think about your mistakes and what did you gain from it.

Peace and Grace. Reed

P.S. Don’t ever, and I mean ever, pull loose a spark plug wire while the engine is still running!!

In 1994, twenty-one year old Heather Witherspoon if Alabama won the Miss America Contest. The amazing thing was she did not hear her name announced. She is for all practical purposes deaf since she was eighteen months old. She was the first winner with a major disability.

On her way to victory she wan two preliminary competitions: The swimsuit competition and the talent competition. Her competition was to perform a 2 1/2 minute ballet to “Via Dolorosa.” Although she can’t hear the music, she can tell the differences in pitch and counts off the time until the next shift.

No one who knew here was all that surprised at her determination. After all it took her 6 years to learn how pronounce her own name.

The lessons for us: First, have the drive and determination to do whatever God sets before you. You may have to over come obstacles but you can. Second, listen to the music of your life. Count off the beats because the will actually be the heartbeats of your life. Finally, remember the music she used, “Via Dolorosa”, at her core was her faith in Christ.

Peace and Grace. Reed

Let’s ask a simple question. If you were given the chance to start a church, what would it look like? Now think it through.

There are a lot of choices. Would you have a church that is denominational or not? Would you have a church that is a high church (meaning a lot of rituals) or a low church (meaning little emphasis on rituals) ? Would you want internet connections and embrace modern technology or avoid it as much as you can? Would you have a church that an emphases on missions or one that merely encourages others to do missions?

Get the idea? There are a lot of things that can go into a church. I have only presented a part of the ice burg. The truth it that churches not matter how large or how small, no matter hoe old or how new, no matter a city centered, suburban or one in the country has to decide what kind of church they are or what they want to become. Once you make one decision it leads to other.

Here is the funny thing: WE ALL HAVE AN IDEA AS TO WHAT KIND OF CHURCH WE WANT AND THERE ARE THOSE IN OUR MIDST THWO THINK DIFFERENTLY. There are those who attend church with us who also have their ideas as to what the church should be. I once had two guys in one church where one believed in a God who was greatly involved in our daily lives and the other believed God basically set the whole universe off and has taken a pretty much hands off approach ever since. They belonged to the same class in Sunday School and were even friends outside of the church.

The both had their opinions but loved and respected the other.

The best church is one that listens to others, respects others and is willing to try out what another may think or believe.

So now back to the simple question: If you given the chance to start a church, what would it look like?

Peace and Grace. Reed

“How did you come to believe?”

“Curious question. I was curious at first and a disbeliever later. As I got older I still asked questions and wondered. I knew the arguments. I didn’t believe and didn’t want to. I even went to church finally because for business reasons I needed to belong. Still, I didn’t believe. Even got elected to lead the church.”

“You mean you were an officer of the church and an atheist? Didn’t they know?”

”No, and why should I tell them. Then the end came. Went to a party and noticed that there were three groups. The first were drinking and doing other things that we sometime do at parties. Their livers were a mess, divorces, etc. The second group was mine. Married and in church. Having fun yet in control and different. The third group was was stretched out between them trying to make up their minds. Then it struck me: it was the world. The bad, the good and those trying to make up their minds.”

“Later after dropping off the sitter, all that I had seen and all that I struggled with, all the questions, all the arguments, all the anger, all the hurt melted away. I guess I didn’t find God so much as God found me. After laughing, crying and babbling and doing it all at once for hours, I knew that it was all real. God, Jesus, forgiveness, grace, faith, the resurrection, the cross, all true.”

”I believed.”

“Easter is real.”

Peace and Grace.  Reed

As many of you heard in church and for those of you not able to be here Sunday, it was announced that Cathy and I will be moving to Clifton to pastor the church there. Jane Woodward who is the executive pastor at First United Methodist Church in Temple will be coming here in June after annual conference. For some it came a a great surprise but due to the delicate matter involving several churches and pastors we were not able to share before now. As a result, I and the Staff Parish Relations Committee were under strict orders to maintain confidentiality. Everything was not settled until about 5::30 Saturday evening.

Now, let me share a bit about the process, etc. We Methodists have always maintained that the clergy will go and serve where needed. We are a covenant clergy who understands this to our core. I am often asked how long will I serve a church? Some even like to ask will I be here or there until I retire, etc. The answer I always give is that I serve at the discretion of the Bishop and I am appointed only from June to June.

At the core of our process is that does the local church need to fulfill their ministry in their ministry field. The Bishop and the Cabinet have the complex task of pairing up the gifts and graces of the clergy and the needs of the local church as best they can. Always, and I want to stress always, the needs of the local church are always placed first. We are servants to the needs of the local church.

With that in mind, the needs here and the needs at Clifton were weighed and the pairings were made to benefit both churches as well as the Temple congregation and the church where the pastor in Clifton will be going.

The benefit of our system is that at no point will a local church ever go without a pastor and never does a clergy go without a field of ministry. It is our greatest strength as a denomination. For instance, if a church’s pastor needs to take a medical leave for come reason, a pastor is sent immediately. Sometimes they grab even a retired clergy until a permanent pastor is secured.

So we will be sharing with you more about your new pastor as we go forward. What we need to begin to do for now is to pray for the churches and the ministers involved. We need to pray for the China Spring, Clifton, and Temple the Methodist churches.  We need to pray for Jane, James and myself as well as our families. Join me in doing so.

Peace and Grace. Reed

Sometimes I hear people say, “I don’t need to go to church to worship God. I can do that just as well fishing on a beautiful lake.” Let’s think about that for just a bit. According to that logic, you don’t need to go to the lake to fish. Let’s apply that idea shall we?

This Saturday, go and get a fishing pole, put a juicy worm on it. Put on your floppy fisherman’s hat that has some reverence to adult beverages, put on your nasty tennis shoes, and some really mismatched shorts and tee shirt. Now, get a squirt gun so you can get the feeling of spray in your face, turn on the ceiling fan, turn off the air conditioner, and get the brightest lamp in you house to get the out door experience and sit on the arm of your couch.  Now cast your worm out and sit there for the rest of the day.

Now, tell me how many fish did you catch?

Are you really fishing?

You see, you can’t be a fisherman until you go out and fish. You can’t worship God without being in the presence of God in His sanctuary and in His church. Worship it coming into the presence of the Lord and in the company of other believers. It cannot be accomplished any other way.

Oh, and by the way, this applies to any other activity you can name. Just apply it to your favorite excuse the outcome is the same.

Peace and grace. Reed

Goat for Rent?

With all the rain lately, I can’t out in the yard and mow. As a result, I think I need to get a goat and let him loose. It may be the only way I will ever get caught up.

The National Weather Service advised lost November that the drought was going to continue through this year. Since then we have had record amounts of rain, the rivers are flowing and the stock tanks are filled. SO much for those guys knowing what is going to happen. Then they advise that El Nina, the system that causes drought in Texas, is gone and El Nino, the system that gives us rain, has returned. That should mean we should get plenty of rain for the next several months.

Lets face it, we really don’t know what the weather is going to do. Only God really knows. You see, we really aren’t in control of those kinds of things. He devised a system that has gone on for millions of years and it will continue until He decides to do something differently.

In our lives we are able to decide many things but not all things. The big stuff is left up to God. Truth be told, we only see a part of the picture and it is better to let God make the really big decisions. In the movie “Bruce Almighty” God decides to take a vacation and turns it over to a guy named Bruce. It has disastrous results.

I believe that it really is better to let God make the most decisions and we will do our best to make the ones He lets us do. So far theat arrangement seems to have worked out pretty well. Besides, that goat I am looking for might just give off some pretty good milk.

Peace and Grace. Reed