Hey kids!!  It’s that time!  What time is it?  It’s Vacation Bible School Time!!

Where? First United Methodist Church of Archer City

When? July 12th-16th   6p.m. – 8.p.m. with a special celebration on Sunday July 18th!

What? Through daily missions, your kids will see space like never before, gain a new perspective on our planet Earth, and learn easy “green” earth tips they can practice at home. This cosmic combination of faith and fun will have your cadets developing a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

How does outer space tie in with the Bible teachings at Galactic Blast VBS 2010?

Session One - The Creation Story
Space Object: Earth
Biblical Connection: Children are reminded of all God has created – both seen and unseen.
Praise Phrase: Our God is wonderful!  Praise God!

Session Two - God is with Elijah at Mt. Horeb
Space Object: the moon
Biblical Connection: Children are reminded that God is always with them just like the moon is always next to the earth, even when it can’t be seen.
Praise Phrase: Our God is incredible!  Praise God!

Session Three - Jesus knows the woman at the well
Space Object: the stars
Biblical Connection: Children are reminded when they look into a star-filled sky that God has created and knows each star just as God has created and cares for each one of them.
Praise Phrase: Our God is amazing!  Praise God!

Session Four - Jesus heals a blind beggar
Space Object: a comet
Biblical Connection: Children are reminded that a comet is nothing more than a dirty snowball in outer space until it comes close to the sun and transforms into a brilliant glow in the sky just as their lives are transformed as they grow into a deeper relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Praise Phrase: Our God is magnificent! Praise God!

Session Five - Jesus appears on the road to Emmaus
Space Object: a supernova
Biblical Connection: Children learn that a super nova is an exploding star giving birth to new stars just as Jesus’ life and resurrection gives new birth to all who believe in him.
Praise Phrase: Our God is awesome! Praise God!

Vacation Bible School 2010 – Galactic Blast Theme Song Music Video from CokesburyVBS on Vimeo.

Call the church office to sign up!  940-574-4983

I awake this morning, once again, to snow falling from the sky.  It has been an unusual wet, cold winter for us, or maybe not.  Maybe it has been more of a normal season and the previous dryer, warmer ones were the seasons in conflict.  Regardless, I know the world I live in is a confliction to the One who suffered and died for it.

At the Ash Wednesday service I made a promise to God to step out of my comfort zone.  In doing so I hope to defeat some of my fears and in the process to find gifts I have yet to discover.  I believe God makes opportunities for us to use those gifts He has given, but for abundant reasons we take a pass.  My promise was made Wednesday, on Thursday I got my first opportunity.  The church was in need of someone to do the children’s time Sunday morning.  I didn’t give myself time to think about it, I merely reacted with a yes expecting the dread to come after I was already committed.  But this time, the dread never came, as would be the customary.  I felt a calming peace, a joy of having this opportunity.  I knew God had responded to me with a blessing that was much greater than my fear.

Henri Nouwen once described Lent as the season during which winter and spring struggle with each other for dominance.  In my experience, spring eventually wins the struggle and the beauty created by it is magnificent! The new cycle of life begins once again bringing a feeling of warmth and hope comes alive!

I believe this ‘stepping out of my comfort zone’ will defeat much in me that has kept me from becoming the sanctified child my Lord expects.

Lord thank you for opportunities that bring me ever closer to you.

Tracie

Lent Readings and Musings 1st Friday
Some people say “I don’t believe in God.” Ok, it’s not an original thought any more than the belief in God. Nor is it a particularly brave statement of belief when made in our post modern times. It is often more of a platitude without any substance other than I have no faith. It reminds me of some of the Christian sound bites I hear that ring hollow because they should be used as part of a deeper explanation of faith and not a standalone proclamation.
Too many Christians know too little about what they believe, and should spend more time in prayer, thought, and study than in talking about what they cannot defend before others or even themselves. If American Christianity is shrinking then it is collapsing upon itself due to a weak foundation and crumbling pillars of thoughtful understanding. We must pray before we think, think before we act, and act before we speak. Let us always pray before we study the word of the God we proclaim that we can hear the revelation ringing in our spirit and not just read words and shape them to our own desires. Then we are ready to speak in love for that is the language of the Lord.
In the end the question about God or the divine story is not even about us. So I ask those who state with pride they don’t believe in any God; shouldn’t they ask if God believes in them? It is a simple question with a simple answer but at least it requires a moment’s thought some self reflection which may point to where the death of god first occurred for them. I often wonder what occurrence or desire has blocked the divine life from their mind. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Aristotle So quit defending your disbelief and consider the new life you could gain if your wrong.
What if God did not believe in me? I look around the world and shudder.
Pastor Rick Davis

A curious thought by Robert Frost:  “But God’s own descent-Into flesh was meant-As a demonstration-That the supreme merit-Lay in risking spirit-In substantiation……..We may take the view -That its derring-do-Thought of in the large-Is one mighty charge -On our human part-Of the soul’s ethereal -Into the material.” (Excerpt from In the Clearing)
Is Frost right? Is mortal existence a risk for the soul that the spirit takes; even that of the Holy Spirit of God? Maybe Frost missed the point. It is this very risk to soul (the complete being) to have the spirit (that which communions with God) endanger itself in a volatile and often painful existence in the flesh. In this we have a shared experience with the Creator through Jesus Christ. It is the pain, suffering, and the overall joy of mortality that allows us to relate to the Divine Being even in a way that the angles cannot partake or understand. Thus, the claim that humans were put even above angels rings true in our communed experience. There is of course the danger that the human soul will take the low road in its mortal quest and find itself lost and separated forever from the loving source of Life. In this Christ has paved the Way home in the teachings of Jesus and the sacrificial gift of the atonement.
Pastor Rick

Robert Frost: A Cabin in the Clearing
“…Smoke They ‘ve been here long enough
To push the woods back from around the house
And part them in the middle with a path.

Mist And still I doubt if they know where they are
And I begin to fear they never will.
All they maintain the path for is the comfort
Of visiting with the equally bewildered.
Nearer in plight their neighbors are than distance.”

Salvation and modern humanity play a fruitless game of cat and mouse. A question comes to mind. Do we even know that we are a lost people wandering the desert of abundance and immediate gratification? Pleasure seeking and ourselves have become our idols, our gods. “The modern world teaches us to narrate our lives without reference to God. It’s all our decision, our actions, and our desires. So the first thing we must say is that salvation is primarily about God… A favorite means to coping with the absence of a savior is to deny we need saving.”P6 Who Will Be Saved by William H. Willimon

If salvation is primarily about God, If salvation comes only from God, then God must be the gravitational pull, our sun, the center of life from which we revolve. This is in complete opposition to what our self-absorbed society teaches us. As we consume all we can we are truly consuming each other and ourselves.

Pastor Rick

A Cause For Pause…

Salvation, like life it is a journey. It is fast and it is slow, with often our greatest gains during our deepest sorrows as we wait for God who so often seems slow to respond. Yet it is in this seemingly quite period that God’s grace is often already at work in our lives. In the darkness we are drawn toward the light of Christ and grow stronger in our faith as we maintain our hope in God. “Those who wait for the lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Unfortunately, so many Christians take only half of the journey, then quit. This seems to wrap up most of humanities view of living with God. We live with little thought of a renewed relationship with our Creator. We are willing to take the refreshing drink of life from the Lord so long as it doesn’t interfere with our living arrangements, so long as it does not cost too much. No job, no corporation, would take such a half hearted effort as the one most Christians give our Lord. It would be like showing up only on pay day for a week’s wage, time after time.

Salvation is a long and beautiful journey with pain and joy interwoven to make our own distinct pattern; a quilt of our life with God and Creation. To think we should only give the Creator one moment of life as we confess with our mouth our devotion to the Lord misses most of the grace of God that has been offered. Can we imagine the life God has in store for us? Only if our eyes are open and the desire of our heart is in tune with the Holy Spirit of God. We must read, we must pray, we must journey to grow and prosper in the greatest of all relationships. How unfortunate to live a life with God on our lips but not on our heart. How unfortunate to stumble through the shadows of existence avoiding the light of Christ because we fear we may lose control or be changed. The writer Henry James once wrote “It’s time to start living the life you’ve imagined.” It is time to start living the greater and deeper life God has offered.

God Bless You

Pastor Rick

Vacation Bible School is June 15th-19th!

Vacation Bible School 2009 takes your children to an extreme adventure camp where they Experience and Discover God Everywhere!  camp E.D.G.E. VBS is not your typical stroll through the woods.  It’s an action-packed, adrenaline-filled expedition that teaches kids their strength and might come from God. Through rockin’ contemporary music, larger-than-life recreation games, mind-boggling science activities, extreme sports videos, and cool, challenging crafts, you’ll show your kids how to live on the E.D.G.E. in their faith.

VBS is for ages K-6th grade, 09-10 school year.  Registration is Monday the 15th at 5:30p.  VBS will be each evening from Monday through Friday from 6p-8p.  Each child will receive a t-shirt.

For more Camp E.D.G.E. information please call the church at 940-574-4265.  To listen to samples of the rockin’ new music, view videos, and get cool free downloads, visit the Camp E.D.G.E. VBS 2009 website.

“A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature, but may also be life stance related. However, manifestos relating to religious belief are rather referred to as credo.”  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   Has God left us a Creed to follow or directions on how to live a way of life that will bring peace and prosperity to ourselves and the world we come in contact with?  Of course we are given multiple gifts of wisdom from God through prophets, revelations and most importantly Jesus the Christ.  Much of what was important to Christ, thus God, can be found in the 15th chapter of John.

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If people were like earthworms, then maybe they could grasp some of the greatness of Christ.

They take the garbage and manure of life, the discarded waste of humanity and turn it into some of the richest, healthiest dirt designed by God.  That enriched soil then gives nutrients to the plants of creation which within the food chain gives life to all land mammals.

People on the other hand….Create garbage, and waste, then try and bury it somewhere so they don’t have to see it or deal with the trash they produce and then wonder why life smells so bad.   In short we are better at destroying life than we are at enriching the world and those around us.

The worm knows its place in the world, in the universe, more importantly in life, and performs its’ Divine assignment, reaching its’ potential; how many people do?

In times of difficulty there seems to be great volume of wisdom to which we can turn.  In the 1960’s Paul McCartney of the Beatles wrote that in times of trouble we should “Let it Be.”  It made a great song and letting some things be is certainly wise.  As they say “let sleeping dogs lie.”  But most of life has to be dealt with even if it is unpleasant.  So in times of trouble I prefer the wisdom of three men who have faced and suffered greater trials than I ever hope to endure.  The first is the 20th century Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the second is St. Paul the apostle and first century Christian martyr, and the third is no less than our Lord Jesus the Christ.

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