Midweek Moment

This week I received the following email.

Dear Druid Hills United Methodist Church,

Thanks to a new feature on our RethinkChurch.org, your church has come up as a top search result while potential visitors to your church were on RethinkChurch.org. This software is based on the geographic location of where the visitor is browsing, so it pulls up the churches and activities located closest to them.

Rethink Church will continue offering this notification moving forward, so we hope that you will continue updating your church profiles, information about your community and ways one might be involved in the life of your church.

The RethinkChurch.org Team
United Methodist Communications

How wonderful is that?!? Druid Hills has come up as a top search result! People are looking for a place to go. People are searching for the channel in which they can reach God and feel the power of the Holy Spirit. And those people are right here; in our neighborhoods and in our communities. This means they may be coming to visit or already have visited. This means we are being given the incredible responsibility to be God’s Ambassadors when they arrive. We will have an opportunity to show them the love, kindness, grace, and hospitality that we as United Methodists base our faith upon. This is awesome!

All of this took my thinking back to our worship service last week as we talked about the rule of Do No Harm, speaking unity in this life rather than using our language, and even our silence, to drain life from others. When people come to visit our family, we are being inspected. They are looking to find a group of friendly, welcoming faces. They are looking for a group of people that will accept them with no judgment or ridicule. They want to find a group of people that are part of a family where peace and hospitality are the main building blocks of their corporate foundation. We can be that place. In so many ways we are that place!

I just want to encourage all of us, to continue down this path. To continue to bring unity to this community. To continue in the daily practice of asking God to help us guard our language. It was once written, “Practicing our faith in the world requires our deepest resolve, our greatest faith, our unwavering trust, and a very, very large measure of God’s grace.”

May that grace of God wash over you today. May that grace that is so freely given to you, be so abundant in your life that your cup runs over and that grace is shared with all those around you.

Have a great week and I will see you Sunday,

Three Simple Rules: Do No HarmGalatians 5:13-15 and Matthew 22:36-40

Bible Challenge 01/27 - 02/02

Greetings All!

This week we progress through the remainder of the book of Acts and move almost entirely through the book of Romans. The last segment of the book of Acts in chapters 13-28 detail the spread of the Gospel past the known areas of Jesus and the disciples out to the uttermost parts of the earth as Paul travels all around the Roman world preaching to the Gentiles. This covers about 14 years from his first missionary journey through his release from the Romans.

With regard to Romans, most scholars believe that this book was written in Corinth at the end of Paul's second missionary journey there, somewhere around 55-56AD. The book of Romans is Paul's greatest theological legacy to the church. The longest by far of his letters, it's intent is to explain that salvation is offered through the Gospel (or good news) of Jesus Christ. Since Paul has not been to Rome at this point, he outlines the good news of Jesus thoroughly so that Paul's teaching will not be confused with other false teachers.

The Main sections of Paul’s argument are as follows:

• God’s wrath revealed against the unrighteous (1:18-3:20)

• God credits righteousness to all (3:21-5:21)

• The gift of God’s righteousness results in righteous living (6:1-8:39)

• God's righteousness in the case of Israel (9:1-11:36)

• God's righteousness reflected in the righteous lives of believers (12:1-15:13)

• God's righteousness shared by Paul as minister to Gentiles (15:14-33)

Here is the schedule:

27, Sunday: Acts 16-19

28, Monday: Acts 20-23

29, Tuesday: Acts 24-27

30, Wednesday: Acts 28 - Romans 3

31, Thursday: Romans 4-7

02/01, Friday: Romans 8-11

2, Saturday: Romans 12-15

May God add his richest blessings to the reading, the hearing and most importantly the living out of His Holy Word. Amen.

Friday Fives

1. Preaching Series - As followers of the The Way, of Jesus Christ, we seek to live a life directed by the will of God, the example of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. However, at times we fall short. We allow emotions, hurtful words, and/or a lack of grace to take us to a place we do not want to go, to a place where we do not wish to dwell. But there is a way out. Based upon Scripture, and fleshed out in the life, works, and teaching of John Wesley we are presented with Three Simple Rules; Do No Harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love with God.

Join us over the next three weeks as we seek to better understand each of these rules, apply them to our lives, and allow the power of God to transform us through its wisdom. These are rules simple in word but complex in application. I pray you will make plans to worship with us, and invite a friend, as we seek to change this world through the way we interact within it.






2. Interfaith Ministry - Each year we partner with Interfaith Ministries to provide a meal for the residents of their living facility. We get the chance to break bread with these people and share a wonderful time together. With that in mind, we need volunteers. The 2013 sign-up sheet is posted on the Connection Station. We are scheduled to provide the evening meal the second Friday of each month. It is a great idea to consider asking a friend or two to help you provide the meal. We need volunteers for April through December. If you have any questions, please contact Libby Orbison. This is a wonderful opportunity to be the heart, hands, and feet of Jesus Christ to another. I pray you will have the chance to be involved with this ministry this year.





3. Bread Ministry - We here at Druid Hills have a wonderful welcome ministry. From the bags prepared and given out by Bob Greene, to the way each of you extend the hand of hospitality to all who enter, corporately we have this gift. Marianne Bingham has offered us an idea to enhance this gift of ours, bread. We are beginning a bread ministry, where each Sunday one volunteer will sign up to bake several small loaves of bread for us to give to any that visit our church. I would ask that you each consider signing up for a few weeks. There is a sign up sheet at the Connection Station and there are recipes we can provide you that are quick and easy. This is such an easy thing that will go such a long way. I hope you each will give God the opportunity to use you in this way to bless another.





4. Ash Wednesday - As many of you know, Easter comes early this year, March 31st to be exact. That means our season of Lent will begin earlier as well. In order to help us enter into this season representing the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan, you will have two opportunities to gather for a time of prayer and worship. On Ash Wednesday, February 13th, from 12 PM – 1 PM, the Sanctuary will be open for you to come and observe a quiet time and space. You can come and sit in a pew or kneel at the altar rail. You can read Scripture, pray, or meditate. It will be your time to do that which helps you draw closer to God. I will be there to pray with you, if you desire, as well as to place ashes on your forehead when you are ready to leave. I hope you will make plans to take advantage of this opportunity. We will also have a service that evening at 6 P.M. in the Sanctuary. During this service, we will read Scripture and I will deliver a message entitled, “Who’s the Good Guy?”Invite a friend and I hope to see you all there.





5. Easter Tableau - It’s time to start thinking about the Easter Tableau, which will be on Thursday, March 28 and Friday, March 29. There will be sign-up sheets on the Connection Station beginning about the middle of February. Your help will be needed in the scenes and also making refreshments to help defray the kitchen costs. Each scene needs to have a coordinator, so if you would like to volunteer to be a coordinator for one of the scenes, please let us know. If you would like to assist in any of the various areas; such as scene set-up, costumes, make-up, sound, lighting, etc., please let us know. Please be in prayer for a successful 2013 Easter Tableau. If you have any questions, please contact Eunice Reid. Thank You!


See you Sunday!

Midweek Moment

Words are powerful. They can build up and they can tear down. I felt the power of words that can tear down as a seventh grader. From the first day of school, to the last, I was verbally and physically bullied. This young boy tripped me, knocked my books out of my hand, threw things at me, and made me feel very insecure about myself. I talked to the guidance counselor, the principle, my teachers, and my parents. In fact, in one session with my guidance counselor, she called this boy and asked him why he was doing all these things to me. She asked him what I had done to him to cause this type of treatment from him. His response, “nothing”.

This bullying was difficult to endure and made for a miserable seventh grade year. I know I am not the only person to ever have to endure this type of treatment from another. Many people have had to face the scorn of another, and most times it is undeserved  In this month’s edition of the Interpreter, a United Methodist Magazine, there was a tremendous article entitled, Bullying Happens in Church. Don’t Ignore It!” The author, Rev. Erik Alsgaard writes, “Bullying is fast becoming a national epidemic in the United States – and churches are not immune as settings where attacks occur…Adult bullying does exist.”

I bring this up because this article really made an impact on me. After I read it, I began to think about all of the times that my words could have been, and probably were, viewed as bullying. How many times have any of us, said words that were unkind and undeserved  or engaged in body language where the only intent was to hurt? How many times have we done that in a church setting to another believer, a fellow disciple? How many times have we had to endure those words and actions being directed toward us by another believer, a fellow disciple?

I want to encourage all of us to follow the advice given in the book of James, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” (James 1:19-20, NIV). The next time you are feeling angry, powerless, or confused, please remember this passage. Let us be slow to speak, first saying what we find good in another. Let us be slow to anger, understanding that we do not know all aspects of any given situation. Let us remember that we are called to be different, that we are called to live a life based on love and grace. Let the grace of God that has been shown to us, be the model that we use when we encounter others. Let us be quick to listen and reluctant to judge. Let this church, this congregation, always be a place of reconciliation, not bullying. So that the unfiltered power, grace, mercy, and love of God is experienced each and every time you set foot on this sacred ground. Let us love others, always and everywhere, the way Jesus first loved us.

Have a great week and I will see you Sunday,

Have You Been Commissioned?Isaiah 49:1-6 and Matthew 28:18-20

Bible Challenge 01/20 - 01/26

Greetings All!

This week we progress through the remainder of the Gospel of John and move into the book of Acts, a historical account of the early church after Jesus' ascension. 

Acts or Acts of the Apostles, is the second of Luke's major writings, showing how the disciples spread the good news of the Gospel after Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension back to heaven. The key verse for this book is Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." This verse sets the tone for all of the action in the book. The first major segment is chapters 1-7 where the action centers around the Jews in Jerusalem and Peter is the main figure. The timeline here is about 2 years from Pentecost through the stoning of Stephen. The second major segment is chapters 8-12 and shows the spread of the Gospel out from Jerusalem into the regions of Judea and Samaria. Here the central figure is Philip and his main audience the Samaritans. The timeline here is 13 years from Stephen's stoning to Paul's missionary journeys.

Here is the schedule:

20, Sunday: John 9-12

21, Monday: John 13-16

22, Tuesday: John 17-20

23, Wednesday: Luke 17-20

24, Thursday: John 21 - Acts 3

25, Friday: Acts 4-7

26, Saturday: Acts 8-11

May God add his richest blessings to the reading, the hearing and most importantly the living out of His Holy Word. Amen.