June 2020
St. Luke United Methodist Church
Message from the Pastor
“Worship God and keep God’s commandments, because this is what everyone must do.” - Ecclesiastes 12:13
Soon we will begin gathering back inside to worship. We will maintain our live-streamed service, and we’ll also keep using our FM transmitter to give people the option to sit in their cars (or houses nearby!) to listen to the service on the radio, on 89.1. With these three options—indoors, online, and on the radio—we are trying to reach as many people as possible.
Thank you to everyone who came to our Drive-In Worship services in the parking lot! They were lots of fun, and it was great to see you in person. I believe it was extra special for those who aren’t able to watch the service via Facebook Live. I hope that those members who can’t watch online (and are also hesitant to come indoors) will consider coming to the church on Sundays to enjoy the service from the safety of their cars. I also thank those of you who are carpooling and chauffeuring those who do not drive.
Inside, I’ve already decorated the pews with party streamers, so that we will sit spaced apart, in every other pew. We will also require that everyone wear a mask inside. We ask that you bring your own masks, if you have them, but we’ll also supply extras at the door. I’ll be singing quietly to myself, not loudly, or I’ll listen to Tricia lead the hymns. All of this is done to minimize the risk, but we can’t eliminate risk entirely.
“Worship God and keep God’s commandments.” The end of the book of Ecclesiastes is blunt. During the pandemic, our lives have been disrupted and so we are wondering what to do. Our ancient religions have given us the most basic disciplines for maintaining spiritual purity amidst temptations and turbulence. We are tempted to fall into depression, worry, or anger. We are tempted to fall into addictions—and I see more people addicted to television and social media than to drugs or alcohol. All of it has harmful elements. The devils detract us from our basic duties: Worshipping God and keeping God’s commandments.
In theory, during a global shutdown, we should have more time for worship, prayer, meditation, scripture reading, and personal conversations over the phone. Have you taken time for these vital disciplines? I feel convicted when I have spent more time reading the news than reading for spiritual growth. God deserves better from me. My spirit deserves better from me. By studying scripture and wisdom teachers, I am affected for the better. Scripture can impact our lives more than the news can (and scripture will tell us how to respond to the news as a Christian should). And yet, we often get addicted to the news, not dependent upon God, and so we get lost. Beware!
I have recently made St. John Climacus my companion in spiritual reading. He was a monk in the early 600s, eventually becoming the abbot (leader) of a monastery on Mt. Sinai, and he wrote a book called “The Ladder of Divine Ascent,” which describes the soul’s journey to God. It is one of the most widely read books in Eastern Orthodox Christian monasticism, and I have loved it. Enjoy a few quotes particularly related to pride and humility:
“A proud monk argues bitterly with others… The proud man wants to be in charge of things. He would feel lost otherwise… To reject criticism is to show pride, while to accept it is to show oneself free of this fetter. Pride and nothing else caused an angel to fall from heaven… The proud man is a pomegranate, gone bad within, radiant outside. A proud monk needs no demon. He has turned into one, an enemy to himself.”
“Let us refrain from passing judgement or condemnation on our neighbor.”
“The person with humility for their bride will be gentle, kind, inclined to compunction, sympathetic, calm in every situation, radiant, easy to get along with, inoffensive, alert and active. In a word, free from passion.”
“Humility is the only virtue no devil can imitate. If pride made demons out of angels, there is no doubt that humility can make angels out of demons.”
Indeed, these are words of great wisdom in a culture that constantly tempts us to proudly judge and condemn others. In doing so, we become demons, the opposite of Christian disciples. When we focus instead on our own sins and the unearned gifts we’ve received from God (including the most important gifts of earthly life and eternal life), then we foster humility in ourselves. Then we become a true blessing to others. Humility leads us toward worshiping God, instead of worshiping ourselves, and following God’s commandments, instead of our own faulty directions.
The monks and nuns know how to live with physical distance, with withdrawal from the busy, frantic world. They are spiritually grounded enough to handle turbulence and temptation. (Indeed, they live in the “real world,” while we often live in a strange perversion of God’s ideal.) May you find yourself a wise reading companion like John Climacus during this time of physical distance, during this time of monastic living, so that your spirit will grow more humble and holy.
Peace,
Pastor Brad
Lectionary Readings for June
Sermon Series: Sinners and Saints in Christian History
Sunday, June 7 — Trinity Sunday
Matthew 28:16-20Sunday, June 14 — Second Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 9:35 - 10:23Sunday, June 21 — Third Sunday after Pentecost — Father’s Day
Matthew 10: 24-39Sunday, June 28 — Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 10:40-42
The Mission of St. Luke UMC is to be a Place to Belong, Believe, & Become Disciples of Christ
OPPORTUNITIES TO BELONG
Just when we’ve become accustomed to gathering in front of the computer or the tv to “watch church” on Sunday mornings, Pastor Brad proves he has other tricks up his sleeve. Last Sunday, May 24, St. Luke held drive-in church for the first time. The pastor and musicians were shaded by the crepe myrtles and the congregation—about a dozen cars this first time—lined up in the west parking lot. Everyone tuned their car radios to FM 89.1 and heard Brad preach and Jamie and Tricia sing while watching them in person. (No report yet on whether there was lusty singing from the cars, as Tricia had requested.)
No report, either, on who brought their mugs of coffee for the service, but at one point Jackie and Gerald Findley jumped out of their vehicle and made the rounds, offering donuts to all the worshippers. What a sweet gesture!
Many thanks to Tricia and Brent for lending their audio expertise to this venture. The sound quality was the best yet! This was the first but probably won’t be the last drive-in service for us, so please consider helping us pack the parking lot. What a great witness to our church neighborhood!
And if you are more comfortable staying at home, we’re still live-streaming the service—whether indoors or out—-on the church Facebook page.
OPPORTUNITIES TO BELIEVE
It is fun to see, when you access the church Facebook page to watch the Sunday service, how many other people are watching and commenting. St. Luke members at home and away, former members, people who have never been members, people who probably have never even been to Cleveland—lots of folks enjoying the opportunity to “believe” together. It doesn’t matter where we are. Pastor Brad recently delivered a mini-sermon from the branches of a magnolia tree, and another while swinging with Edith. It doesn’t matter where he is, either. How blessed we are to be able to share in the mystery of our faith, even while separated.
St. Luke reading groups don’t meet during the summer, but we missed our April and May meetings, too. Members are staying in touch and sharing good books they have discovered, so we should have a lot to talk about when we are finally able to meet again. This reader has been reading a mix of fiction—thrillers, science fiction, mysteries, historical fiction—but it’s the book I’m reading now that I want to recommend to you. Or at least tell you about.
It’s A Journal of the Plague Year, by Daniel Defoe. Yes, the author of Robinson Crusoe, for which he is perhaps better known. His Journal is an account of the bubonic plague, commonly known as The Black Death, which struck London in 1665. Defoe was only five years old in 1665, so his story depends on official decrees and other matters of public record, lists of statistics, stories told by survivors, and, probably, a journal kept by his uncle. Because fiction was a relatively new art form at that time, many of Defoe’s early readers were outraged that the book was written as if he, himself, experienced the plague year. Nowadays we understand literary license and are not so unsettled at the notion of historical fiction.
But that’s just a bit of literary information. What I have found most interesting about the book is the many similarities between that year in London and our present experience with another “plague,” if you want to call it that. The uncertainty about where the sickness came from and how it was spread, the helplessness associated with there being no cure, the attempts to keep people shut up in their houses—and the many who escaped to surrounding villages, taking the plague with them. History seems to be repeating itself, and I have to wonder whether we have learned much in the interim.
It’s a dismal, disheartening story—or it would be if not for the natural optimism and faith of the main character, who we may assume speaks for Defoe. For every account of suffering and degradation, there is a recognition that things could be worse, things will get better eventually. He tells many stories of people helping their neighbors and even complete strangers, of doctors and nurses who selflessly cared for the sick, of priests and pastors who kept the church doors open and ministered to their flocks. He speaks again and again of his conviction that God was in charge and had not abandoned those who believed in Him, and that God would make all things right. To be focused on such a dark period in world history, this is a strangely uplifting book and one which I have enjoyed reading.
OPPORTUNITIES TO BECOME DISCIPLES
United Methodist Women’s Spring No-Bake Sale was a huge success. We have $1,405 for the mission projects that we support. THANKS to the wonderful supportive community that is St. Luke. Previous newsletters highlighted the UMW Frances Perry Scholarship, Rust College in Holly Springs and Mississippi Children’s Homes. The focus for June is the Mississippi Choctaw United Methodist Mission.
The Choctaw Mission is located near Philadelphia, MS. The Choctaw Mission helps meet the needs of the members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The purpose of the Mission is to be a place for prophetic leadership, spiritual enrichment, educational and cultural preservation. Since 1827 the mission of the Mississippi United Methodist Choctaw Mission has been to provide a caring ministry devoted to serving Christ and improving the conditions of life for all persons, especially the “least among us.”
Children make up more than half of the over 9,600 people in the Mississippi Choctaw communities. Alcoholism, domestic violence, addictions, a 50% high school dropout rate and teen pregnancy are constant threats to the everyday life of many Choctaw families. For almost two hundred years, the people called Methodist have been in ministry with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
This ongoing denominational presence is seen in the witness of the Pushmataha Family Life Center and three small Choctaw congregations: Great Spirit (in the Bogue Chitto community), Green Hill (in the Pearl River community), and John Memorial (in the Red Water community). Our focus is on families with special emphasis on children and youth.
The Choctaw Mission operates a Clothes Closet and a Food Pantry. There is a Saturday Morning Fellowship and meeting of the Children and Youth Club on Wednesday evenings. Community activities include Season and Holiday Festivities, Young Adult Healthy Living Skills, Elderly Emphasis, Wellness Program, and Vacation Bible School. Google Mississippi Choctaw United Methodist Mission for more information on the many ways to support the Mission.
UMW Grace Circle and Lunch Bunch will not meet until further notice.