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July 9, 2010
Volume 157, Number 10
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Summer camps teach students servanthood
 High school students attending My Mission Extreme listen to a sermon while ministering to the homeless at Travis Park in downtown San Antonio.
By Rachel L. Toalson
Managing Editor
“But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness and love.”
-Acts 20:24 (NLT)
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
-Jim Elliott, missionary
They gave five days out of their summer vacation—days they could have spent sleeping in or lounging around the house…or even just enjoying the fact that they have a comfortable bed in an air-conditioned house.
They gained a new set of eyes—eyes that saw depravity all around them, that watched tears become the thanks they’d never forget. Eyes that found hope in the faith of the forgotten.
In just five days, hundreds of United Methodist students experienced God’s spirit through the weak and the poor, the least of their communities, an opportunity provided by My Mission Extreme (conducted in San Antonio), My Mission Impact (conducted in Austin) and Sea City Work Camp (conducted in Corpus Christi).
“Campers return due to their experience with the Holy Spirit,” said Kathy Rios, youth minister at Grace UMC, Corpus Christi, and director of one of two Sea City Work Camps. “Campers take away a new sense of servanthood and what it feels like to help people who cannot give back anything. They are following the example of Jesus.”
“My Mission ends up being an experience in which their lives are forever changed, simply by engaging in relationships with other people,” said Becky Jackson, conference youth events coordinator. “Too often, we see the homeless as unloveable, yet these are the people that Christ calls us to love. Students at My Mission often report that they never look at people on the street after camp the same way they did before their experience.
 Students listen to the stories of the homeless during My Mission Impact.
Sea City and My Mission, run in June every year, look different but share the same mission—to teach students the joy of serving those Jesus called us to serve.
For the first time, My Mission spanned two weeks because leaders wanted the senior high students’ experience to be “more extreme” and the middle school students’ to be a little more introductory, said the Rev. Rusty Freeman, director of conference youth ministries.
Both camps were equally powerful, he added, with almost 200 students attending them collectively. It was a weekend in which “we learned that the greatest gift is love, that God is on the streets and that the Lord cares deeply for all of his people,” Freeman said.
During the camp, middle school students were exposed to the homeless but saw poverty on a more introductory level, Jackson said. They spent three hours of the weekend being “homeless” during a street experience, where they met homeless people and shared testimonials and learned about shelters and food available for the needy.
Hosted by University UMC, Austin, students were also challenged to cut down half their possessions and “live on less” during the camp, Jackson added.
Robin Kaspar, one of the directors for the conference youth, said students served at soup kitchens and helped out at food banks during My Mission Impact. They also prayer walked on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin and the “drag,” put on backyard Bible clubs for children living in Housing Authority apartment complexes and handed out food, water and hygiene packs to the homeless attending Church Under the Bridge. Sea City Work Camp students worship together after spending their day repairing homes for the needy in Corpus Christi.
High school students at My mission, hosted by Travis Park UMC, San Antonio, saw homelessness and poverty and experienced it through an eight-hour homeless street experience—which included going on the streets with their small groups, talking to the homeless and finding their own food, shelter and water.
They, too, were asked to reduce their possessions by half at the beginning of the weekend and took turns sleeping in a “safe, outdoor space, next to the church,” Freeman said.
“Much of what the senior high students do is meant not only to bless those on the street but encourage compassion and embrace transformation for the sake of the gospel of Christ,” Freeman said.
About 200 high school students are involved in her week of Sea City every year, Rios said—and it takes about that many adult volunteers to help run it.
Sea City is a housing rehabilitation service project sponsored by the Corpus Christi District, she said. During the week, students help with repairs on houses in low-income neighborhoods of Corpus Christi.
By day, the students, in teams of 10-13, work on selected home sites, putting on roofs, painting and doing yard work for the homeowners. By night, they enjoy fellowship, food and worship.
Serving their communities like students do through My Mission or Sea City, help them return home and have the confidence to share the “gospel with anyone they come in contact with,” Jackson said.
“It shows them the simplest ways of sharing Christ through simple acts of handing out water or sharing a sandwich with someone,” she said. “It develops an empathy for others, who, too often, our students were not aware of, and it helps them grow closer in their most important relationship—the one they have with Christ.
“It also helps our students realize that they can move out of their comfort zones and stretch into the disciples that Christ calls them to be and even teaches them that they are so much stronger than they think.”
Freeman said he hopes students’ hearts will continue to be “filled with compassion for the ‘blessed.’”
“The ‘blessed’ have more to offer than we could ever hope for or imagine,” he said. “They need clothing, shelter and their basic needs met—but they also need to know there is a God who loves them. I want our students to be conduits of that love.”
Jackson believes students will bring their experiences back to the church as a whole.
“Often, our young people lead the way for our adults—showing them that anything is possible through their faith and relationship with Christ,” she said. “Hopefully our older generations will want to match the energy and love that these students have been spreading through San Antonio and Austin.
“Too often, churches are seen as not doing enough for the homeless and impoverished, but because of these students, the church, as a whole, is being seen as more caring and empowering by those who are sometimes forgotten.”
“My Mission happens because God is good,” Freeman said. “He brings wonderful leaders, resource teams and students to come together in the unity and centrality of the Gospel of Christ to minister to the needs of the broken. It’s a terrific joy to engage the hurting with hope that Jesus loves them and has a beautiful plan for their lives.”
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Conference lay leader leads discussion on General Conference items
 Lay and clergy delegates discuss General Conference action items June 2 during the annual conference session in Corpus Christi.
Managing Editor
Jay Brim, conference lay leader, offered an action committee forum June 2 for lay and clergy delegates to the annual conference session in Corpus Christi, detailing some issues that would be discussed at General Conference in 2012.
Purposed as a discussion meeting, Brim began the gathering by saying that the Council of Bishops has been “extremely concerned about the state of the church,” causing members to examine different policies and standards already in place.
The council, Brim said, set up a committee to look at the issues before the church and make suggestions to the 2012 General Conference. The committee is comprised of bishops and general secretaries for agencies within the general church. It was sent to the Connectional Table, of which Brim is one of the members.
The Connectional Table, Brim said, is the entity that “brings together as many different representatives of different entities within the church” for discussion about the church issues. Sixty people serve on the Connectional Table, he said—28 of them elected from various districts and the rest full-time church people from various places in the church.
Brim said the Connectional Table came up with seven questions members intend to discuss in the time leading up to General Conference. He opened for discussion the top three questions:
Do we need guaranteed appointments? (How should we deal with those pastors who are ineffective?)
What should the authority of the episcopacy be in The United Methodist Church? (Should there be more authority placed in our bishops, and, if so, what? The Table has discussed having one bishop elected the head of the Council of Bishops who will represent the entire denomination—an ecumenical leader)
What do we need to do to reorganize the general agency structure? (Is there a better way to organize it? Do we need to consolidate some of the general agencies, which each have their own board?)
Guaranteed appointments
Brim said the issue of guaranteed appointments has been raised as a problem standing in the way of removing ineffective pastors from rotation among failing churches.
Issues of ineffectiveness don’t belong just to a pastor, said the Rev. John Feagins, director of campus ministries for San Antonio.
“We have a ministry that’s so well trained that we ought to be able to take on the issue of effectiveness,” he said. “We’ve found we have patterns of decline in worship attendance and professions of faith, in growth and worship all across the conference. We also have patterns of growth. About half are growing, and most of that is in our smaller churches. That means about half the pastors would have to be brought in and ‘have that talk’ because there are effectiveness issues going on.
“Our effectiveness concerns are systemic, and they belong to the whole church.”
Feagins said there are practical ways to deal with ineffectiveness. In his campus ministry, he has a visitation team that comes in every three or four years to observe him in action. His books are audited, his ministry space is audited and quality controls are put in place, he said.
“We need to take the supervisory role and accountability role more seriously before we consider dismissing pastors,” Feagins said.
A lay leader from Coker UMC, San Antonio, spoke in favor of taking away guaranteed appointments.
“We ought to look at this very seriously and maybe do away with them,” he said. “But we should do it carefully and in a way where we can salvage the best. We should do it as a favor to help someone move on somewhere else.”
The Rev. Ken Dahlberg, pastor of First UMC, Bandera, said the operation of local churches in terms of growing or not growing is “a very complex process.”
“To say that a pastor is ineffective because a church is not growing is not recognizing that,” he said. “The problem is the district superintendents or Episcopal leaders aren’t getting out to see the churches. That’s a personnel problem.
“Guaranteed appointments protect women and minorities and others who might not come into the process otherwise. Our conference is superb. We do things right in this conference.”
He added that if churches aren’t growing because pastors just aren’t doing work, that’s another issue. But he warned against blaming a declining church solely on the pastor.
Episcopal authority
Brim said what led to the Episcopal authority issue is that the General Conference’s primary goal in 2008 was to act on every petition it received in the 10 days during which delegates meet. That year, 1,500 petitions were filed, and the General Conference passed half of them in “some form or fashion.”
“That’s a wonderful, democratic thing,” Brim said. “But it means nothing to the church in terms of setting direction. If the General Conference is the great leader of The United Methodist Church, where is it demonstrating its leadership?”
A lay leader from Fredericksburg UMC said that with 13 different agencies of the general church, all are going “helter skelter.” He said the church needs “one captain of the ship.” If a bunch of different organizations are trying to make the ship go from port to port, there is a problem.
Paul Abels of Industry UMC, reminded everyone that even though democracy has its drawbacks, it’s better than the alternative.
“I want to remind everyone here that democracy is a very ugly process,” he said. “Please remember that, and as you centralize the authority, you lose some of that blessed, ugly democracy. But if you think democracy is ugly, remember how ugly total authoritarianism can be. Let’s charge slowly and carefully and not so willingly.”
Jim Calloway, a retired minister, said he probably has “less trust in authority” than anyone else who was in the room.
“But the one weakness I’ve seen in this church is there’s no Methodist hero, no Methodist leader, nobody to say ‘let’s go this way’ or ‘here’s the way,’” he said. “How are we ever to decide on where we’re going to go? No one speaks for The United Methodist Church, so everybody speaks.
“I don’t want bishops to have more authority. I don’t think they even know what they’re doing now. But we do need someone.”
Brim said the idea is that the person would be whoever is elected president of the Council of Bishops because if “we elect somebody at General Conference who’s not a bishop, that person has just been given carte blanch to do whatever they wanted.”
Downsizing agencies
Brim said because of duplication, the Connection Table has been looking at the possibility of downsizing or combining certain ones.
Byrd Bonner said there is a “lot of attraction” to the idea of downsizing but warned it should be done carefully and thoughtfully.
“There’s a lot about what’s happening in the church membership, about apportionment giving, about how much more expensive it is to run that makes the idea of downsizing or cutting out duplication very attractive,” Bonner said. “It’s attractive to everybody, including the people who serve on and work for the general agencies.
“What’s not being talked about yet is that in downsizing, in reducing the size and the membership of committees we have to make sure we don’t reduce and minimize the voice of the lay and clergy members who are the ones making the decisions for those agencies. If we’re not careful and go through a very good process of minimizing and cutting out duplication, we could also minimize and cut out some of the voice of the lay and clergy members in those decisions.”
He said the questions that should be asked include: Would this cut out dollars of the General Conference budget? Would it value the voice of the lay and clergy members in the local churches and annual conferences in the “profound decisions that are being made in those halls?”
“We’ve got to be very vigilant and very careful as those kinds of decisions are being considered about how we go about restructuring these agencies,” Bonner said.
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Church as institution or movement: do we have a choice?
My wife and I bought our present home seven years ago from a young man who had purchased it just a few years earlier from the family of the couple who had originally built it in 1981. It’s a nice place with enough room for everyone to come home for the holidays and for grandchildren and their families to spend the night with Grandmother and Granddaddy (“Ninji” and “Bapa” in the Brim family). However, like any 30-year-old home, it has demanded time and expenditures to keep it habitable and hospitable. There has been something every year since we moved in, beginning with a complete remodeling of the kitchen to bring it into the 21st century, as well as a number of updates to please my interior-designer wife. Despite all that, I have found myself falling way behind in keeping it in tip-top shape (spending most of my free time doing lay leader stuff is only part of that problem). It’s clear that to keep the house a real asset for our family to have and use after we no longer are in it is a real challenge.
This past week, the extended Cabinet of the San Antonio Area was in Fayetteville, Ark., at Mt. Sequoyah Conference Center, for the South Central Jurisdiction’s Bishops’ Week. In one way or another, we spent that whole week talking about how to keep The United Methodist Church in tip-top shape for generations to come. Our generation got it 40 years ago from previous generations in very good shape, but needing some alterations. Now, we sense the need to do much more to keep this wonderful extension of the Church Universal on track to serve the needs of the Kingdom far into the future.
We listened to the Rev. Gil Rendle, the guru of change for this generation, unpack the challenges for us. The thought he first offered touched on the significant differences between “institutions” and “movements,” beginning with a tendency for institutions to focus on traditional matters, while movements are ideological in their bent. Much has been made of Methodism being a “movement” back when critics laughingly called John Wesley’s people that name in the 1730s. Mr. Wesley wanted to re-inject passion into worship and faith within the Anglican Church, and he evangelized unceasingly to that end. Tellingly, since the 1960s, we have become a church of maintainers, holding in trust what we have received without risking big change to keep pace with the changes in the world around us.
That’s not because some haven’t tried to lead us into change; Gil ticked off a number of artfully-named programs that have been tried to help stem the decline in our membership, including the Church Growth Movement, Congregational Transformation, and Leadership Development. However, we often are working harder at what we have proven doesn’t work! Gil recommends that we take a new path, on which we will learn new things and take new risks. One way to understand that challenge is to use Deming’s “Systems Approach” to interpret our input, throughput and output as an organization. As Gil showed us, in the past we have sought an “output” as a church of more members, satisfied clergy and satisfied congregations. However, the new United Methodist paradigm is an output of changed people who in turn change the world—in a word, disciples.
We just began to scratch the surface of this line of thinking, but it has already led to concrete planning to improve our “nimbleness” as a denomination. The Conference Lay Leaders of the South Central Jurisdiction have joined in a task group with members of the jurisdiction’s Episcopacy Committee and the jurisdiction’s College of Bishops to come up with a plan to allow annual conferences to reorganize more efficiently around this new paradigm. We intend to write legislation that will strip out much of the regulation that has accumulated over the years through inept General Conference law-making, essentially “de-regulating” the task of conference leaders who want to serve local church needs more efficiently through slimmed-down conference structures. Kim Cape, executive director of leadership development, and I are serving on the task group and hope to have news for you soon about the direction it is going. In the meantime, think about our future and what your hopes for Methodism are. Mr. Wesley is counting on us still!
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The ABCs of My Mission Impact, My Mission Extreme
Here’s a brief summary of My Mission, the Southwest Texas Conference urban mission trip to San Antonio and Austin. It happens every summer, includes junior and senior high students and places them in the inner city, among the homeless, and engages them in a life of ministry far different than their own.
- Absolutely spectacular students.
- Bent on serving Christ and their new friends on the street.
- Capturing the essence of mercy and justice by offering authentic sacrifice of their time.
- Determined to do without in order to understand what homelessness and life on the street is all about.
- Embracing poverty.
- Fewer meals.
- Going without extra clothes, comfortable beds, and daily showers.
- Homeless encounters.
- Interesting stories about those who have seen the darker side of life and now have found the Light.
- Jesus is everywhere.
- Kindling partnerships with local United Methodist Churches like Travis Park UMC, San Antonio, and University UMC, Austin.
- Loving everyone without question.
- Meeting God through people on the bus, drug addicts on the street, and a drunk at McDonalds.
- Nothing is kept secret.
- Operating as if those we encountered were indeed Jesus.
- Poverty sucks.
- Quietly praying for the redemption of all of human kind.
- Restless nights on the roof of Travis Park.
- Seeing hope in the eyes of agencies like Haven For Hope, Salvation Army and Corazon Ministries.
- Truly being humbled by those on the street who know God much better than I.
- Understanding how fleeting life can be.
- Visiting with the lost, the lonely, the left-out.
- Worshipping God every night in a downtown church basement and sensing the shockwaves from worship washing through the community.
- Xtreme hospitality to all of God’s children.
- Young people you would be so proud of becoming…
- …Zealous for more of Jesus Christ and his hope for the world.
This is what I learned about the homeless. It’s not what we have to offer as much as it is about what we have to receive. Friends, they need you and we need them. A bottle of water, a sack lunch, a meaningful prayer or a lengthy conversation in which you simply listen to a life filled with grace. I challenge you to do just this. Take some time this summer to pack an ice chest full of water, a basket full of food, a heart full of good intentions and go down town to the parks, the side walks, the street corners and become the Christ you so deeply admire.
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Gospel of John study offered Aug. 17-19
In John 10:10, Jesus declares: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
What could he mean? What does an abundant life look like? How might one find it or be found by it? The Gospel of John provides ample clues. So come (re)discover the richness of this Gospel with uniqueness and layers of mystery that continue to grip its readers during a Gospel of John study Aug. 17-19 at Mount Wesley Conference Center in Kerrville.
The course is titled “Living Abundantly: The Gospel of John” and will be led by Jaime Clark-Soles, associate professor of New Testament at Perkins School of Theology.
Clark-Soles has taught at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, since 2001. She received her B.A. from Stetson University, where she studied Philosophy and Russian Studies. She earned her M.Div. from Yale Divinity School and her Ph.D. in New Testament from Yale University.
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Tim Brown named 10th president of Methodist Children’s Home
 Tim Brown
The announcement was made by Clayton Oliphint, chairperson of the Board of Directors.
Brown has held various leadership roles during 26 years of service at MCH, most recently as vice president for community services. He was named interim president at MCH April 1 following the retirement of Bobby Gilliam, who served seven years as president. Brown becomes the 10th president in the Home’s 120-year history.
“The Board is confident that Tim Brown has the experience, knowledge and vision to lead Methodist Children’s Home into the future,” Oliphint said. “He is a person of deep faith and has great compassion for at-risk kids. He has a proven ability to unite people for a common purpose.”
Brown leads an agency that serves 1,400 children and youth through residential group care, foster care and a variety of family and community services. In addition to residential programs in Waco, the Boys Ranch and Waxahachie, MCH provides services through 13 outreach offices in Texas and New Mexico.
“I am humbled by the confidence of the Board of Directors and look forward to the challenges and opportunities that will come through this new role,” Brown said. “Our mission is to offer hope to children and families through our nurturing, Christian community. I am enthusiastic about the potential we have to help meet the needs of hurting children and families who find themselves in difficult situations.”
Brown will draw from his vast knowledge and expertise in child care to lead MCH. In addition to serving in various roles in direct child care and administration at MCH throughout his career, Brown served as president and chief executive officer of Lee and Beulah Moor Children’s Home in El Paso from 1991-2000. He then returned home to Central Texas to serve as vice president of child care at MCH.
Brown has been a strong advocate of services to children in Waco and throughout the state. He has served on the Baylor University Social Work Advisory Board, the McLennan Community College Curriculum Advisory Boards for Child Care and Mental Health, and the Texas Association of Licensed Children’s Services, among others. He has been a member of the Child Fatality Review Teams of El Paso County and McLennan County the past 15 years.
A resident of Crawford, Brown earned degrees from Baylor University and Tarleton State University. He and his wife, Susan
, have three children – Remi, Matt and K.C.
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San Antonio District news
Changes to charge conferences to come in 2010
The congregations of the San Antonio District will convene the annual Charge Conferences in a different manner for 2010. Sixty District congregations will network Charge Conferences in groups of 5-7 congregations. Though initially assigned, these networks are not rigid and each congregation is free to join an alternative network for convenience of date or affinity of mission. The only thing “rigid” is the Disciplinary requirement that all congregations meet annually for a Charge Conference.
In each network a pastor will be designated as the coordinator. In conversation with the Lay Leaders/pastors of each congregation, the coordinator will arrange a mutually agreed sight and facilitate the planning of a schedule for each Charge Conference to be held at one location at the same general time. The Charge Conferences for each network are currently scheduled on Sundays. If the network prefers another day of the week, that can be arranged. Elders appointed to, or affiliated with, the Charge Conferences in each network (assisted by additional Elders if needed) will convene the various Charge Conferences.
Networking our Charge Conferences places an appropriate emphasis on the unique connectional nature of United Methodism. Too often we see “the connection” as the franchising agency that exacts funds or the personnel department that deploys employees. There is much more to connect us as United Methodists and I believe that will become evident in each of these moments of networking. We will celebrate mutual ministries and we will honor each other’s faithful work in the Kingdom we share. We will process the administrative details required by the Discipline and we will feed our souls on the blessings bestowed as we serve the One Lord.
An imagined schedule might look like this: one hour of Charge Conferencing as congregations gather in separate spaces; 20 minutes of fellowship and varying bits of food and beverage; 30 minutes of shared joy; and 20 minutes of inspiration. How each of these venues manifests is the business of the leaders from each congregation in the network.
One of the side benefits of networking is the provision of more available time for the District Superintendent to visit congregations (or local ministry teams) on specific strategic topics (for instance, with SPRC regarding pastoral Sabbaticals or staff compensations; meeting with Stewardship Teams regarding stewardship; or meeting with Church Councils regarding Apportionments; etc.) As I can and am able, I desire to be a strategic assistant to the indigenous ministries of each congregation.
There is an old adage that the “liturgical” season for District Superintendents consists of only two “seasons”: the “Appointment Season” that runs from January to May, culminating in the “High Celebration of Appointment Confirmation at Annual Conference”; and the “Charge Conference Season” that runs from September through December, culminating with the “High Celebration of Pay Out Day” in January. These two seasons are separated by a varying amount of “Ordinary Time” in the month of July. I am convinced that networking our Charge Conferences will add joy, enthusiasm and spiritual refreshment to the 2010 Charge Conference Season. I anticipate an extensive blessing of creativity and celebration. In the meantime, I may be the only District Superintendent in the entire United Methodist Connection that is looking forward to the Season of Charge Conferences!
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Welcome to all new district pastors
We celebrate the pastors and their families entering new ministries within the San Antonio District:
- Robert Lee Clark; Corredor de la Esperanza; Pastor in Charge
- Margaret Decker; Trinity UMC; Pastor in Charge
- Stephen Echols; Stockdale: Christ UMC; Pastor in Charge
- Raquel Feagins; Jefferson UMC; Pastor in Charge
- Janet Fluth ; Oak Meadow UMC; Pastor in Charge
- Bethany Graham; Bulverde UMC; Associate
- Janna Hawes; Somerset UMC; Pastor in Charge
- Phillip Hefner; Northwest Hills UMC; Associate
- Melissa Jenson; New Braunfels: 1st UMC; Associate
- John Lee; Browning UMC; Pastor in Charge
- Linda Marceau; Alamo Heights UMC; Deacon
- Amy McClung; Canyon Lake UMC; Associate
- James McClain; Laurel Heights UMC; Pastor in Charge
- Melanie Miner; Helotes Hills UMC; Pastor in Charge
- Michael Mumme; Floresville UMC; Pastor in Charge
- K. P. Polk; Gruene UMC; Associate
- Larry Scharmann; Pleasanton: 1st UMC; Pastor in Charge
- Tamara Strehli; Windcrest UMC; Associate
- Randall Warren; Resurrection UMC; Pastor in Charge
- Cyndi Weidner; LaVernia UMC; Associate
- Richard Young; Universal City UMC; Pastor in Charge
Welcome picnic a ‘great success’
Taking an opportunity to play together and welcome those moving into new appointments within the San Antonio District, pastors and their families gathered for a cookout and picnic on June 19th. Under the shade of one-hundred-plus year old oak trees, good food, great conversation and joyful laughter highlighted a day of fun and relaxation. With eleven parsonage families moving into the San Antonio District and another eleven moving within the District, about 25% of appointments are seeing new faces this summer. What better way to get to know each other and celebrate new leadership than with the United Methodist traditions of food, prayer, food, play, food, conversation, and…you guessed it! - More food. And what would a United Methodist gathering be without the Wesley Grace, sung in four-part harmony? A good time was had by all. Who knows? Instead of the first ever welcome picnic – perhaps it was the “First Annual Welcome Picnic!”
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Victoria District news
Are you hungry? Do you thirst?
The following article is written by Lori Koonce, Victoria District Editor
per request of the Rev. Terrence Hayes. Lori is a member of
First United Methodist Church in Victoria and serves as a Certified
Lay Minister and Stephen Minister.
Then come to the Table. Come and eat with me. There are so many empty places at the Lord’s Table today. What keeps my brothers and sisters from taking part in the feast when it is so readily available? Jesus has commanded it.
You and I have a need. We need Jesus. If we don’t have Him, we need Him, and if we do have Him, we need Him even more. It is like breathing. If we don’t breath we die. We simply must have air to survive. Why? Because that’s the way God made us. And if we don’t receive Jesus we will die. Why do we have to have Jesus in order to live? Because that’s what Jesus commanded.
“Do this in remembrance of me.” He says. (Luke 22:19) And John Wesley has instructed us: “It is no wonder that men who have no fear of God should never think of doing this. But it is strange that it should be neglected by any that do fear God, and desire to save their souls; And yet nothing is more common. One reason why many neglect it is, they are so much afraid of “eating and drinking unworthily,” that they never think how much greater the danger is when they do not eat or drink it at all. ( John Wesley’s sermon 101)
Churches argue about the mystery of the Eucharist and that will go on for all eternity. However, just as one who has a gnawing pain of hunger in his belly for bread or one who has a need for a pillow on which to rest her head, or the ones who feel isolated, cast out or rejected, that brother or sister is welcomed into the community of the Gospel when offered the Eucharist. To break the Bread with our brother is to offer hope in the Presence of Jesus..
I wonder if we as a church body appreciate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as we should, even though we’ve come a distance from the Pietistic idea that we shouldn’t receive the Sacrament more than four times a year. Some Methodist Churches offer Communion every Sunday, others twice or once a month. Some church members say that frequent Communion is too “Catholic”. I say to them “So what?” So what if every church of every denomination in this world went to the Table every Sunday to receive the Body broken for us and the Cup of Salvation poured out for us? Would it not be a glorious act of Worship? Would it not be a perfect prayer? And then there are those who say “if we have Communion every day it won’t be special.” Well, Communion IS special….no matter how often or how infrequent we receive it…..Jesus told us so.
What do you think were Luther’s views of Holy Communion?
According to The Theology of Martin Luther by Paul Althaus Luther “thinks of the Lord’s Supper as the proper sacrament of the church as community. It stands in the center of its life and it expresses and guarantees the “law of Christ” and his love from which the church does and ought to live.” I am one who considers a table a holy place. I love to eat. Sharing a table calls me into radical intimacy with my fellow man. In the hours before His passion, Jesus leaves the table where He blessed the cup and bread, reminding us that this is His Body and His Blood, and then, He wraps a towel around himself, gets on his knees and washes feet. How intimate can one get? Surely He calls us to radical intimacy. I hear Him saying, “Come! Eat”.
I am reminded as I ponder the Walk to Emmaus how Cleopas and companion gather with Jesus at the table, this ultimate place of hospitality; how Jesus again takes bread, blesses it and breaks it, opening the eyes of His companions to the Presence, to the living Christ. This meal at Emmaus reveals the resurrected presence of Jesus. Just as Jesus loved to sit down with all kinds of folk before His crucifixion, He still does. You see, Jesus was and is the Perfect Host. So, come to the Table!
The Table is a place of comfort …a place of recognition. Communion means “sharing”. At this table of sharing, when we acknowledge, in the presence of the Body of Christ that we are hungry, hungry not only in body but in soul, we engage in a mystery. The mystery begins with the breaking of the bread, and moves to the recognition of Jesus Christ in those with whom we eat. The mystery of the Eucharist becomes complete only when we leave the sanctuary to feed another. We call the celebration of the Lord’s Supper “communion” because we believe in that moment of eating and drinking we are communing, that we are in partnership, sharing deeply both with one another and with God. The bread we eat comes from the same loaf, and the drink from the same cup. We take the same food that everybody else takes and we take it from the same source to accentuate that we are all children of the same God and are nourished by that same Holy Spirit.
So, come to the Table. Come and eat with me.
First UMC, Victoria celebrates 170 years of mission, ministry
 Bishop Dorff and Rev. Jarrell Sharp with confirmands: Morgan Barker, Brice Driver, Sarah Eastham, Bruce Eaves, Garrett Harrison, Rachel Heyde, Megan O'Sullivan, Ana Samples, Colin Soderholtz, and Tera Stines.
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