The apology I render helps the people I speak with treat me well, even though for the last few minutes, I have not been paying attention well to anything, especially them.  Their grace is consistent, however iDistracted by everything.  Someone wisely has said, “Multi-tasking is defined as not doing anything well.”  Well, the same can be said when iDistracted.  I have become iAvailable to almost everyone and everything, even spam, without being available to the one standing in front of me.  When their words and voice begin to sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher, I know I have to apologize and ask them to start over.  ”I am sorry, iDistracted.”  Even though their grace is consistent, I have not really been diligent and mature in my response to being iDistracted.  It seems that I must change something, otherwise, I will begin to presume upon the grace so readily extended.  I wonder too, if the grace comes because we share the iDistracted with one another.  They understand.

That in turn this week has made me think a great deal about God. You know, the One who neither slumbers nor sleeps.  Of all the beings in the universe, you would think God would be able to share the iDistracted phenomenon.  However, we rely upon the promise that his attention doesn’t leave us (He counts the hairs on our heads, not a sparrow falls without His knowledge).  Where would we go, to whom would we plead, if it were not so?  If we couldn’t count on God to listen and even respond to us, to whom would we go?  God is indeed the most iAvailable person we could ever know.  And, God will not consider our voices and our words to Him to resemble Charlie Brown’s teacher.  He loves us too greatly to not be there for us.

Sometimes I wonder if iDistracted is there because we want the artificial, ambient intimacy created by all the electronic whiz-bang.  We want to be wanted, needed or consulted, so we want to be available at all times to everyone and everything.  God understands the need, and has even courted us to allow Him to fill some of that emptiness that gets filled by artificial and ambient intimacy.  God has offered to fill me completely, not that I won’t need people, but that I won’t seek that other experience to help me feel complete in ways only God is able.

For me, that is what worship is partly about.  It is about a concentrated time in which I can set aside all the iDistractions of life and allow my experience of Him complete me.  If I have found myself iDistracted from God, I can also repent (read apologize) and seek to do better. “Sorry Lord, iDistracted.”  I learn so well in worship that God is here for me, that I must take God with me for the rest of the week.  If I allow myself the iDistracted life, I really won’t and my repentance means nothing.  Setting aside small blocks of time each day and larger blocks weekly is really what Sabbath keeping is all about.  It is keeping our lives free of iDistracted so we can be focused on obeying what God knows is good for us. Being mature means I wrap my behavior around the truth God has revealed to me.

I remember Jesus’ entreatment to his disciples after a period of intense ministry.  ”Come away with me, we need some time to be alone.”  Jesus meant, we need a Sabbath together, otherwise you cannot be who you need to be with and for me.  Life can be intense, especially if I live in an iDistracted life.  Time alone with Him and time together with His disciples is what Sabbath is meant to be.

See you soon in the place where His eyes are on us all.
Pastor Mark

It also meant something I didn’t quite grasp at the time.  Some years the fall meant that my kin folks were buying new boots, new clothes, new hats, new trucks, building new homes or additions to current ones, adding new equipment, leasing more property for the coming year and etc.  Some years, the fall meant none of that, and that old boots were resoled, jeans were re-sewn and nothing new came to the farm.

I once asked one of my beloved uncles, Eston Barbee, about it and he said, “Some years, the Lord sends abundance and sometimes several years in a row.  Other years, the Lord seems to send lean-ness, just as Psalm 106.  In abundant years, we have the crop in at the right time, get the rain at the right times, seem to avoid hail or drought, and fertilizer works its miracles.  Others, nothing seems to happen well and we have little to live on for the coming year except what we grow and put away.  All in all, it seems that the Lord balances things out and someway or another, there is always enough. “Now, you city folks are far removed from the rigors of the country life.  You get used to paychecks every Friday, raises every year and comfort all around.  Here, life cycles between difficult and impossible, good and bad, abundance and lean.  It creates a whole new system of dependence upon God that you all think you won’t ever have to live with.  I think it makes you weak and sometimes you folks want to quit way too early.”

Well, the last thing I ever wanted Uncle Eston to believe about me was that I would ever quit early, no matter how hot the sun got on top of his old Farmall.  As the remainder of my teen years began to be consumed by other pursuits in summer including jobs, however, my conversation with him was one that was transformative for me; he taught me so much about life and partly for the sake of his memory, I’ve rarely quit on anything, regardless of difficulty presented.  At the same time, I rarely find myself not thinking about quitting from time to time. Taking the path of laxity and comfort seems more preferable at times than the struggle, even in my prayer life.  I sometimes feel less like “one who wrestles with God” (Israel) and more like one who quits after the first five minutes.  However, I have also learned what God is doing in me as I persevere is so much more important than the answer I await.  How about you?  When the answer isn’t forthcoming, what is your posture with God?  Do you persevere, or go your own way?

See you soon, in the cool confines of the one whose faithfulness to us will not let us go.
Pastor Mark

“…for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.  Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.”

I wonder sometimes how many of us fail to make the good and big choices in life not because we are sure of death, but we like life the way it is so much we cannot imagine ourselves making a decision that would change us.  How would we answer Jobs’ question way down deep on the inside?  Would we really want life to be the way it is, doing what we are doing everyday, or would we trade our luxury and comfort for a little risk, a little growth, a little bit more ambiguity and adventure?

I know of no other place as safe as the church to make my life part of that kind of adventure.  It is in the confines of a community of Christians that I first began to explore what it would mean and how well I would do if I launched out into the adventure of growing in faith and the spiritual life.  I found the adventure and the challenge I was seeking working with youth and Sunday school as a volunteer; not ever easy but always quite rewarding.  I also found the supportive challenge of changing me along the way as God began to point out ways that I could mature in my life with Christ.

I hope this new series about maturity in the Christian life will not only prompt our hearing God’s voice about our lives and the changes we could make to live like we are naked before God, I pray that it will make us take risks as we put away childish thoughts and attitudes so that we can take the risk of serving at Western Hills in good and big decisive ways.

See you soon, in the coolness of a sanctuary where we can listen for his voice, remember the awful week of 9/11 and the persons lost in that tragedy, and pray for our growth in Christ.
Pastor Mark

On behalf of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church I greet you in the name of Jesus the Christ in whom “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven….” (Colossians 1:19-20, NRSV)

On this, the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the tragedy of September 11, 2001, I call United Methodists and all people of faith to a renewed commitment to ministry of reconciliation, and to being witnesses of God’s love and grace for and in the whole world. As people of faith we approach this anniversary with the gifts of both memory and hope.

None of us who watched in shock and horror as the events unfolded on that fateful day in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC will ever forget the images. We remember the innocent lives that were lost on that day. We remember the first responders who put their lives on the line to provide assistance in the midst of the devastation. We remember the ways in which the world reached out to embrace us in our pain and grief. And we remember the generous outpouring of more than $20 million through the United Methodist Committee on Relief and our “Love in the Midst of Tragedy” special offerings.

Even as we recall all of these events of a decade ago, we are also a people whose faith and hope in Christ Jesus turns our hearts and lives toward the future. We proclaim the Resurrection message that the future belongs to God’s reconciled new creation, and we live toward that time when the dividing walls of hostility will come down and God will wipe away every tear, and death will be no more. In a world of violence and revenge, of suspicion and fear, of mistrust and hatred, we dare to proclaim an alternative vision known throughout Scriptures as God’s Shalom. We believe that God works for good in all things, and that the goodness and mercy of God can overcome even the most tragic events and experiences in this world.

In the days and weeks ahead, communities will be marking this anniversary in a variety of ways, and we urge our churches to lead in planning for and providing services of worship and prayer. Let us build bridges of trust and reconciliation through these services by inviting and encouraging people of all faiths to come together for prayer. Let us work for personal and social holiness by practicing John Wesley’s General Rules for the people called Methodist, especially to do no harm and to do good. Let us seek to restore a sense of hope for the future by praying for and working for the healing of broken relationships. Let us remember that day of pain, suffering, and grief; but let us also seek to bind up the wounds and renew our efforts to work for peace with justice.

Above all else let us live as faithful followers of the Prince of Peace and, in the words of the author of the Letter to the Colossians: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other….” (Colossians 3:12-13, NRSV) May our memory and our hope unite to move all of us toward peace and inspire us to live with compassion, confidence and courage.

Larry M. Goodpaster, President

The Council of Bishops

The United Methodist Church