http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/ Andy's Blog: A Personal Word en hsmith@trinity-umc.org Copyright 2008 2008-06-24T15:21:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/june_24_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/june_24_2008/#When:14:21:00Z St. Paul was what we would call a bi-vocational pastor. He saw himself as a preacher, a teacher, an evangelist – proclaiming the gospel and starting new churches. But in order to do all this, he had another paying job. He was a tentmaker by trade. He does not talk much about his job. For him, making a living wasn’t the same as making a life. His vocation, his calling, was to preach. His work supported his vocation. If we are lucky, our jobs and vocations mesh. We get paid to do what we love to do – what we feel called to do. But this isn’t the case for everyone. Lots of people find themselves unfulfilled by their jobs. Many folks are bi-vocational. They work to make a living but do other things to make a life. Alan Webber says that all of us need to feed the “three hungers” of life. First, we need to connect with the creative spirit of life. This doesn’t mean we all need to be artists or musicians. What he is talking about is connecting with the creative energies in the world. Being a part of shaping something new, bringing something into being, or taking part in God’s creation. Second, we all hunger to know and express our gifts and our talents. Most of us feel that we are gifted in some way, even if we don’t fully know what that gift is or how to use it. But we know there is something within us that we can contribute. Third, we hunger to know that our lives matter. We all want to make our mark in life or leave behind something of value. We would like to think that the world is a better place for us having passed this way. Fulfillment in life, Webber contends, comes from feeding these three hungers. Sometimes that can happen in our workplace, but other times we must seek other outlets and opportunities to fully express who we are. I suspect, like Paul, most folks need to be bi-vocational to fully live the life God has given them. One of the things we are working on at Trinity is helping people discover their strengths, their gifts and natural inclination, and explore ways these can be put to use.  2008-06-24T14:21:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/june_17_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/june_17_2008/#When:13:50:00Z For many Methodist Pastors in North Alabama, this is “moving week.” While there are no pastoral moves at Trinity this year, this week always stirs up memories of other times and other moves. Trinity is our sixth appointment. Six times our family has picked up and moved to a new place. Every move has been a mixture of excitement and anxiety, and each has taught us something about hospitality.  In the Old Testament lesson from last Sunday, there is the story of Abraham welcoming three strangers to his tent. He provides water for them to wash their feet from the journey and bread for their hunger. Little did Abraham know that these strangers were messengers from God, and what a message they brought. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, would bear him a son in his old age. It was a message he would have missed had Abraham not welcomed them.  When we have moved, we have had an advantage. People in those new churches knew we were coming. We were not really strangers. We were met with smiles, graciousness and food. Those simple acts quieted our fears and made us feel like we had found a new home.  One of the root words for hospitality means to “equalize/compensate.” Hospitality recognizes that there is an inequality between hosts and guests. To be hospitable is to compensate for this gap; to make strangers not feel so strange. At the heart of the ministry of Jesus was the practice of hospitality. He welcomed tax collectors and sinners. Diane Butler Bass reminds us that “hospitality holds special significance: Christians welcome strangers as we ourselves have been welcomed into God through the love of Jesus Christ. Through hospitality, Christians imitate God’s welcome. Therefore, hospitality is not a program, not a single hour of ministry in the life of a congregation. It stands at the heart of a Christian way of life...” Each week at Trinity, we have dozens of visitors who find their way into our church. It takes courage to walk into a new place as a stranger. They have taken the first step – just showing up. The next move is ours. How will we receive them? Will we bridge that gap and make them feel like this is a place where they can be at home? Will our hospitality reflect the welcome of Christ? Be alert on Sundays for our guests. Take a moment to speak, to see if they need help, and to extend the hospitality of Christ. 2008-06-17T13:50:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/june_17_20081/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/june_17_20081/#When:13:50:00Z For many Methodist Pastors in North Alabama, this is “moving week.” While there are no pastoral moves at Trinity this year, this week always stirs up memories of other times and other moves. Trinity is our sixth appointment. Six times our family has picked up and moved to a new place. Every move has been a mixture of excitement and anxiety, and each has taught us something about hospitality.  In the Old Testament lesson from last Sunday, there is the story of Abraham welcoming three strangers to his tent. He provides water for them to wash their feet from the journey and bread for their hunger. Little did Abraham know that these strangers were messengers from God, and what a message they brought. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, would bear him a son in his old age. It was a message he would have missed had Abraham not welcomed them.  When we have moved, we have had an advantage. People in those new churches knew we were coming. We were not really strangers. We were met with smiles, graciousness and food. Those simple acts quieted our fears and made us feel like we had found a new home.  One of the root words for hospitality means to “equalize/compensate.” Hospitality recognizes that there is an inequality between hosts and guests. To be hospitable is to compensate for this gap; to make strangers not feel so strange. At the heart of the ministry of Jesus was the practice of hospitality. He welcomed tax collectors and sinners. Diane Butler Bass reminds us that “hospitality holds special significance: Christians welcome strangers as we ourselves have been welcomed into God through the love of Jesus Christ. Through hospitality, Christians imitate God’s welcome. Therefore, hospitality is not a program, not a single hour of ministry in the life of a congregation. It stands at the heart of a Christian way of life...” Each week at Trinity, we have dozens of visitors who find their way into our church. It takes courage to walk into a new place as a stranger. They have taken the first step – just showing up. The next move is ours. How will we receive them? Will we bridge that gap and make them feel like this is a place where they can be at home? Will our hospitality reflect the welcome of Christ? Be alert on Sundays for our guests. Take a moment to speak, to see if they need help, and to extend the hospitality of Christ. 2008-06-17T13:50:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/june_11_208/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/june_11_208/#When:19:33:01Z We used to talk about a “summer slump” when it comes to church. You know people are out of town, busy doing other things – they don’t have time for church. As a result, some churches cancel Sunday School during the summer, reduce worship services, and tread water until fall rolls around. And for some churches, that is wise. Attendance does plummet. But Trinity is not one of those churches. Our average worship attendance for the summer months is only down about 10% over the remainder of the year. But overall, if anything, there is a kind of summer surge here at Trinity.  • Our Youth Choir has just returned from a successful California tour. • Student ministry will be sending mission teams to SOS in Memphis and South Alabama and they will celebrate the annual Youth Week, as well as carry on the normal Sunday activities. • Children’s ministry will go into high gear with art camps, music camps, basketball camps, day camp, Vacation Bible School and Sumatanga Sleepover. • Our mission group will send a team to Bolivia and continue with in-town service through the Birmingham Hospitality network and Firehouse Shelter. • New small groups for adults are meeting in the summer. Take your vacation – but know we are here every Sunday worshiping, growing, and serving. We will keep an eye out for you. Also, summer is the time when people move. Keep an eye out for new folks in your neighborhood, meet them and invite them to a great church. 2008-06-11T19:33:01-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/june_4_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/june_4_2008/#When:07:14:01Z $4 a gallon for gasoline! What is the world coming to? Of course, ask people from other parts of the world, and you will find that they have been paying this much and more for years. As a result, other countries have developed more fuel efficient transportation and effective systems of public transportation. America has the highest per capita energy usage in the world. If there is an upside to the present rise in energy costs, it may be that it presents us with the opportunity, even the demand, that we develop more sustainable lifestyles. This is not just an economic/political matter, it is deeply theological. How we use the world’s resources is a question of stewardship. Our United Methodist social principles state: All creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals, energy resources, plants, animal life and space are to be valued and conserved because they are God’s creation and not solely because they are useful to human beings. God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should meet these stewardship duties through acts of care and respect.  In relation to energy, the statement goes on to support energy policies that protect the future of God’s creation.  We urge wholehearted support of the conservation of energy and responsible development of renewable energy sources, that the goodness of the earth may be affirmed. If we are faithful to the biblical understanding of the stewardship of creation, we must: • Recognize that creation is God’s – “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” It is not simply ours to do with whatever we please.  • Second, as stewards, we are to look after the earth, not as we please, but as God wants it looked after. • Third, we have a responsibility to the rest of creation as ones who stand in the place of God. Our stewardship of earth is to be carried out with a dependence upon and partnership with God.  • Fourth, we are accountable to God for the use/misuse of that which he has entrusted to our care. May the time come when we will hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.” I remember back in another time of energy crisis, President Carter asked that we turn down our thermostats. He was ridiculed for the suggestion. Maybe we are finally to the point that we recognize the stewardship of God’s creation is not a laughing matter. 2008-06-04T07:14:01-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/may_28/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/may_28/#When:14:16:00Z We are all aware of the rising costs of gasoline, food, and other items. It’s the law of supply and demand. When supply goes down and demands remain the same or go up, the costs go up. And the rise in costs is passed on to the consumer. If we want it, we pay more, or we do without.  The church is a bit different. God’s grace doesn’t operate on the same principle of supply and demand. His grace is free and never in short supply. As recipients of that grace, we live lives of gratitude as ‘stewards of the mysteries’ of God. We don’t have to pay God back for His grace. All God asks is that we pass that grace on. We are fortunate at Trinity to have so many great ministries for every age and stage.  Our church reaches out to the world in a remarkable way, and this costs money.  Everything from utility bills to nursery works to Sunday school supplies, the music that blesses us in worship, the mission teams we send out, the children for whom we provide special care, the students we nurture in faith – all of these require resources.  We have no way to pass on costs of ministry. If we want to do these things, we pay for them, or we do without. Coming into 2008, we actually received fewer commitments than we had in 2007. As a result, to be wise stewards, our budget was reduced. Staff members did not receive raises, and other items were reduced. A third of the way through the year, we reviewed our giving and discovered that we still were facing a shortfall. Again, to be wise stewards, the Finance Committee recommended and the Board concurred that we reduce our program ministry budget by 25%.  I think it is within us to restore these reductions. If those who have made commitments for this year and are able would join me in increasing your giving by $100 (about two tanks of gas!), it would make up the difference. If you did not complete a commitment for this year, I invite you to call the Finance Office and join in sharing all the great things God does through our church. As members of the One Body of Christ, we all share the gifts and responsibilities of the Body.  We are so blessed at Trinity. Share the blessing! 2008-05-28T14:16:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/may_14/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/may_14/#When:14:26:01Z At the beginning of Mitch Albom’s novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Albom says “All endings are beginnings, there are endless chapters in our book.” This is a time of year for endings and beginnings. Students will graduate from high school and college – closing one chapter and beginning a new chapter of life. For parents, a chapter of their lives with their children has also ended and a new one begins. It is a bittersweet time filled with both excitement and fear, gratitude and regret, anticipation and longing.  Life is filled with endings and beginnings. Something must end, for something new to begin. Albom talks about three stages in these transitions: First, there is a time of ending when things are closing down, or finishing a cycle. Endings can bring a sense of accomplishment and gratitude.  But they can also bring a sense of loss that must be grieved. Second, there is fallow time, when nothing seems to be happening. This can be frightening and confusing, when we know something has ended but we are unsure of what is beginning. In the Exodus story, the Jewish people escaped from slavery – only to enter a time of wandering in the wilderness.  Thirdly there is a time of new beginning, as we feel our way into an unknown future.  Rachael Carson has written that, “Beginnings are apt to be shadowy.” Because they are new, we can’t always anticipate the shape of this beginning.  Some thoughts on how we handle endings and beginnings: • Life is a journey not a destination. It’s one of those sayings that has almost become trite, but it is true. We never truly arrive. Each stage of life has its own potentials and challenges, it’s own richness. Enjoy the ride. Stay alive to the possibilities. Expect change.  • Be patient with yourself in the fallow times. There will be times when we feel a little lost and confused. We don’t have to have everything nailed down - done and for all. So relax! All beginnings are somewhat strange; but we must have patience, and little by little, we shall find things, which at first were obscure, becoming clearer, wrote Vincent De Paul.  • Grieve your losses. Celebrate your accomplishments. And then let go and move on. Don’t get stuck in what has been. Christian faith is future oriented. The “glory days” are not behind us but ahead of us. Do something, get started even if the first steps are tentative and unsure.  You have to begin somewhere. • Stay connected to people, to God. Life is not a journey we have to or should make alone. It is a journey best made with companions. Seek guidance, advice, and support.  • Trust that all of life is in God’s care and keeping.  Jesus said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.” We may sometimes feel lost, but we are never lost to God. The God of Jesus specializes in turning endings into beginnings.  All beginnings are somewhat strange; but we must have patience, and little by little, we shall find things, which at first were obscure, becoming clearer. ~ Vincent De Paul Glory days are not behind. Life is more a journey than a destination. Stay alive to it. 2008-05-14T14:26:01-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/may_7_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/may_7_2008/#When:20:00:01Z The late Erma Bombeck was one of my favorite columnists. She was a very funny lady, a gifted writer and a devoted Christian. She had lots to say about being a mother. Some of my favorites: • Spend at least one Mother’s Day with your respective mothers before you decide on marriage. If a man gives his mother a gift certificate for a flu shot, dump him. • My kids always perceived the bathroom as a place where you wait it out until all the groceries are unloaded from the car. • Making coffee has become the great compromise of the decade. It’s the only thing “real” men do that doesn’t seem to threaten their masculinity. To women, it’s on the same domestic entry level as putting the spring back into the toilet-tissue holder or taking a chicken out of the freezer to thaw. • Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After twenty-two years of child-rearing, they are unemployed. • Marriage has no guarantees. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a car battery. • Mother’s words of wisdom: “Answer me! Don’t talk with food in your mouth!” • Most children’s first words are “Mama” or “Daddy.” Mine were, “Do I have to use my own money?” • Mothers have to remember what food each child likes or dislikes, which one is allergic to penicillin and hamster fur, who gets carsick and who isn’t kidding when he stands outside the bathroom door and tells you what’s going to happen if he doesn’t get in right away. It’s tough. If they all have the same hair color they tend to run together. • When your mother asks, “Do you want a piece of advice?” it’s a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway. Being a mother takes a good sense of humor, along with patience, wisdom, compassion, perseverance, raw energy – and most of all love. Don’t forget to call, see, hug or write your Mom on Mother’s Day! 2008-05-07T20:00:01-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/april_30_2008/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/april_30_2008/#When:13:35:00Z Thinking about children and faith again, a recent study conducted by sociologist John Bartkowski, at Mississippi State University found that kids whose parents are actively involved in their faith are better adjusted and better behaved than others. Parents and teachers of more than 16,000 kids, most of them first-graders, were asked to rate how much self-control they believed the kids had, how often they exhibited poor or unhappy behavior and how well they respected and worked with their peers. The researchers compared these scores to how frequently the children’s parents said they attended worship services and talked about religion with their child. The kids whose parents regularly attended religious services – especially when both parents did so frequently – and talked with their kids about religion were rated by both parents and teachers as having better self-control, social skills and approaches to learning than kids with non-religious parents. Why so good? Bartkowski thinks religion can be good for kids for three reasons: First, religious networks provide social support to parents and this can improve their parenting skills. Children who are brought into such networks and hear parental messages reinforced by other adults may also “take more to heart the messages that they get in the home,” Bartkowski said. Secondly, the types of values and norms that circulate in religious congregations tend to be self-sacrificing and supportive of family. Bartkowski reported that these “could be very, very important in shaping how parents relate to their kids, and then how children develop in response.” Finally, religious organizations imbue parenting with sacred meaning and significance, he said. At Trinity, rarely a Sunday goes by that we don’t baptize a child. There is something very special about this for me. In this act of God’s promise to love this child always, the parents promise to share God’s love with their child, and the entire congregation’s promise to share in that responsibility, all come together. That’s a whole lot of promises coming together. And apparently when we all keep those promises, it works!  Children are enabled to fulfill the promise of their own lives. Faithful parents, raise faithful kids. 2008-04-30T13:35:00-06:00 http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/april_23/ http://www.trinitybirmingham.com/news/andys_blog/april_23/#When:17:07:00Z Children! That seemed to be our theme on Sunday. Our Children’s Choirs sang in worship and presented a wonderful concert on Sunday evening. We baptized two babies at the early service. At the 11 AM service, we had Baby Recognition for children born in 2007 with forty families present, babies in tow. One of the great privileges and responsibilities we have as a church is to nurture the children God has entrusted. Whenever a child in baptized at Trinity, the parents make a promise to nurture their child in the faith so that they may be guided to accept God’s grace for themselves. Then we, as an entire congregation, make a promise to surround this child with steadfast love that they may be “established in the faith, and confirmed and strengthened in the way that leads to life eternal.” These are sacred promises. Promises which all of us should take to heart. Every child is a gift of God to be treasured and nurtured. It takes a church to raise a child. Given all the pressures of our society and all the things that our children will be exposed to – it behooves us to be the kind of place where they are grounded in the grace of God.  We are fortunate at Trinity to have an outstanding children’s ministry. Our staff and lay people do a great job. But what we do can only support what is done at home.  Study after study has shown us that the most powerful predictor of a person’s growing to maturity in faith is the faith of his/her parents. In this, as in so many other ways, children follow our example.  Deuteronomy 6 contains the shema, the daily prayer to be said by God’s people: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. It takes a family and a church to raise a child in faith. 2008-04-23T17:07:00-06:00