Wendy Chrostek

Snapped this during the last class of Methodism 101. Something about a lady on the platform, er, in the Chancel...

::grin::

None But Jesus

This is a slow, meditative song. It is a song of reassurance and affirmation. Just what I needed tonight.

(Extra bonus: You get some Dutch...)

None But Jesus lyrics
Songwriters: Fraser, Brooke;

In the quiet, in the stillness
I know that You are God
In the secret of Your presence
I know there I am restored

When You call I won't refuse
Each new day again I'll choose

There is no one else for me
None but Jesus
Crucified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise

In the chaos, in confusion
I know You're sovereign still

In the moment of my weakness
You give me grace to do Your will

So when You call I won't delay
This my song through all my days

There is no one else for me
None but Jesus
Crucified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise

All my delight is in You, Lord
All of my hope, all of my strength
All my delight is in You, Lord, forevermore

Tender Mercies

The movie Tender Mercies popped up last week during step study.

There's a scene--it's relatively late in the movie. Robert Duval's character, Mac Sledge is poking at the nasty soil with a hoe. He begins to riff on life. As another blogger, Captain Critic put it so well.

This leads to perhaps the most important scene in the movie, with Mac tending a small garden he has planted across the street from the motel. Beresford shoots naturalistically, almost documentary style, in long shot with a long take with no cuts or close-ups. You can't even see Duvall's face underneath his wide-brimmed hat in the slanting sun. But the pain and power of the scene just spill out over that spare Texas landscape. "I don't trust happiness; never have, never will," Mac confesses.

Despite its negative tone, I love this scene. Life is not always happy frou-frou. It's learning to deal with the ups and downs too. In fact, if your faith doesn't help you with this, then it's not very useful now, is it. I referred to this scene when answering one of the questions at step study.

Time to watch this movie again. Perhaps I'll be back later with the exact dialog and a screen shot or two.

One Word--Go!

kyped from internet--from 2009's GA in Florida.

If you ever get a chance to go to a confab in your denomination that is bigger than your immediate local area, GO! I had the opportunity to go to the General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene in 1993, and it just blew me away. Just the sight of all those people who believe as you do all in one place is enough of a blow away, but when you realize they are coming from the four corners of the world, and our amazing God has reached them there, and loved them and saved them, well, it's almost overwhelming.

I looked and looked on the internets for the "perfect" General Assembly picture. I don't think there is one. I have over 100 pictures from 1993. I cannot even imagine how many I would have if the digital option was available back then!

Is This Even Possible?

This is the daughter of the pastor of the church I got saved in, and her husband and their kids. I found this by accident while looking for images of Nazarene General Assembly. He is a pastor of a Nazarene church and has a blog http://kevinhardy.typepad.com/. Looking at this picture, I am totally, "NO WAY!" but I know this to be very possible, as she was just in high school when I started to the church. (I think that's right--if not, just very first college years...)

I remember when Kevin preached his first sermon--he's very fair, and his ears and the nape of his neck turned bright red. He would be embarrassed at that memory maybe! He is very bright and you could tell he would make a good pastor. No one was surprised that he felt God calling him to ministry. He and his family did come out here to KC for about a month or two back about '93 or '94, before moving back east, feeling that this was not where they were to be.

The internet is just full of surprises!!!!

It's a Privilege, Not an Obligation!

Today was the last class in "Methodism 101" and our concentration was on matters of church polity. Now, I will tell you that The Church of the Nazarene, of whom I am still a member, stole liberally from the Methodist polity. Nazarene polity is simpler and more representative in general, with at least one less layer of government. Another difference is in the matter of choosing pastors. But I am not here to talk about that. I am here to talk about one of the similarities.

The United Methodist Church gives "apportionments" to its churches--amounts of money that local church is responsible to give to the general church (I suppose the correct Methodist term would be General Conference) for missions, education, relief, etc.

[Naz Note: A "budget" by any other name is still a "budget"!]

Here's the thing: Rev. Wendy Chrostek reminded everyone that the local church is not some solo operation on the corner. That the local church, like COR or any other UM church is part of the entire world, and as such, has the opportunity to reach out to the wider world through the apportionments. She put it in such good words that my note taking failed me, because I was so blessed. If we can get people to catch this vision--this idea that money you give in Grandview, Missouri or Wolcott, Vermont, or Leawood, Kansas can bless people on the other side of the world--then meeting these giving goals would be much easier. I always liked what we had started doing in Grandview in the latter years of Pastor Severson's time: we set aside 10% of monies received to use to fulfill the budget obligations. I was glad to take this step of faith--and it was faith when you know the electric bill is due!

In the end, it is a privilege to be a part of paying these apportionments or budgets. It's a way of being part of reaching around the country and around the world. Churches (and boards and pastors) often look at them as an obligation to be filled. Better to look at them as an opportunity to take advantage of--an opportunity to educate young people, bring food to the hungry, and the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have not yet heard or those who need teaching, loving and discipling in other parts of our country and the world.

Remembrance (Communion Song)

I saw it coming, as we were to the last of the three rules. 1. Do no harm 2. Do good. 3. Stay in love with God. The strongest act of worship in the Christian faith is Holy Communion. No matter your theology of communion, no matter your denominational affiliation, Holy Communion is something that all Christian believers have in common. The Communion Table stretches back 2000 years, to the night before His betrayal when Jesus took the Bread and the Cup in His hands and told the disciples, "Take and eat; this is my body." Communion is something that Christians can do over and over, as celebration, as worship, as a time for self examination, as a place to gain strength in the faith, as an act of remembering what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross.
The synoptic gospel writers all recorded that very first Communion service:

Matthew 26:

26While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." 27Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."

Mark 14:

22While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body." 23Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. 25"I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."

Luke 22:

19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." 20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 21But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. 22The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him."

In his gospel, John adds a few more layers of meaning. From John 6:

53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."

Paul, in his letter to the church at Corinth, had to review what the ritual of the Bread and the Cup meant. The Corinthians were struggling with many issues surrounding their worship, not the least of which was the way the congregation was "eating the last supper." You can find Paul's thoughts in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11. In chapter 11, Paul walks the church again through the history of the love feast of bread and wine:

23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.

Finally, a word from Webster's.

Main Entry: com·mu·nion

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Latin communion-, communio mutual participation, from communis. [The same roots give us words like community and communication.]

1 : an act or instance of sharing.

2 a capitalized : a Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed as memorials of Christ's death or as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and communicant or as the body and blood of Christ b : the act of receiving Communion c capitalized : the part of a Communion service in which the sacrament is received
3 : intimate fellowship or rapport
4 : a body of Christians having a common faith and discipline.

Well, that turned into quite the little study, all in order to get to this wonderful song of worship written by Matt Redman. This is Matt Maher's version: