Christmas Letter 2017
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
(Luke 1:37)
In his Advent devotional, Why This Jubliee? James Howell remarks, “God comes to people who aren’t seeking God at that moment.” This holds true for Mary living in Nazareth two-thousand years ago. Mary’s story has played in the lives of women and men since the dawn of creation of two people “pledged to be married” (Luke 1:26). So far, there is nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, we have a handful of upcoming weddings already on the church calendar for the coming year.
This marks Howell’s words as notable, “God comes to people who aren’t seeking God at that moment.” As a society we spend little time “seeking God” during the Advent season. Much of our time is trying to find that “holiday spirit” through movies, music, and Christmas parties. Dragging out the years of accumulated decorations we beautify our homes and our church. We do our part of driving around town admiring the Christmas lights, baking and eating sweets, or trying to decide which gift to buy for a difficult relative. The moments pile up like a snow drift; Christmas comes and goes, and the next thing we know we are dragging, as are our neighbors, the tree to the curb.
It is refreshing to know that “God comes to people who aren’t seeking God at the moment.” This is what happens to Mary who is doing the typical things to prepare for a first Century Jewish wedding in Galilee. God comes to Mary through the angel Gabriel, she is “greatly troubled” by the angel’s announcement:
Don’t be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end (Luke 1:30-33).
Mary questions, “How will this be” (1:34)? After all, she never submitted a multipage resume of her spiritual accomplishments or a curriculum vitae (C.V.). Mary doesn’t exactly apply for the job the angel handed to her. It’s the question that we all must ask. How is it that we bear not just a child but this child? God chooses the unlikely, a virgin to give birth to Jesus. God chooses unlikely people today “who aren’t seeking God at the moment.” The angel answers Mary’s deep question with a profound response,
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God…For nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:35;37).
This Advent and Christmas seasons, it is my prayer that you encounter the God who throughout history has made the impossible possible: uttering the world into existence, granting a child to an elderly and barren couple, parting the Red Sea, calming stormy seas, healing the sick, and raising Jesus from the dead nearly two-thousand years ago on that first Easter, to filling the church with the gift of the Holy Spirit. In your disbelief or shock may you respond in obedient faith as Mary who made herself available to the God who makes the impossible possible, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38).
Blessings,
Nicholas Perry, Pastor
Advent Schedule
December 10 – 2nd Sunday of Advent
7pm – Bible Study
5:30 pm – Evening Family Worship
December 17 – 3rd Sunday of Advent
Children will sing during 10:45 Service
5:30 pm – Evening Family Worship
7pm – Bible Study
December 24 – 4th Sunday of Advent – Cantata
Combined 10 am service (No Sunday School)
December 24 – 7pm Candle light Service
NO – 5:30 pm – Evening Family Worship
Christmas Week
Office closed December 25
Open 9 -3 on Dec 26
Open 9 – noon on December 27, 28, 29
December 31 – combined 10 am Fireside Service (No Sunday School)
NO – 5:30 pm – Evening Family Worship
Office closed January 1, 2018
Thanksgiving
“Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?’” (Luke 17:17)
It must be time for Thanksgiving. All indications suggest that it is: shoppers congregate in the supermarket loading up their carts with turkeys, dinner rolls, and vegetables. Both the school and work weeks have been shortened. Most of the leaves have blown off the trees except for a few holdouts. Nevertheless, I can always tell that it is Thanksgiving because the assigned Gospel reading is Luke 17:11-19. It is a simple story about ten lepers healed by Jesus.
The ten lepers played by the rules, “they stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us’” (Luke 17:12-13). Jesus commended them to “Go, show yourselves to the priests’” (Luke 17:14,) and obediently they went. The plot thickens when the gospel writer’s states:
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him— and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other Nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God expect this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:15-19).
Typically, I assume that only one of the lepers was thankful for the healing Jesus had given. The flipside is that I usually condemn the other nine labeling them “ungrateful” for the healing that came from Jesus. However, this year I am rethinking my traditional approach to this familiar story.
In his book, They Way of the Wolf Martin Bell imaginatively and beautifully wonders “What about the others?” The Scripture its self is silent, however Bell provides nine plausible reasons for the no-show of the nine lepers:
- One of them was frightened—that’s all. He didn’t understand what had happened, and it frightened him. So he looked for some place to hide. Jesus scared him.
- A second was offended because he had not been required to do something difficult before he could be healed. It was too easy…And so Jesus offended him.
- The third had realized too late that he had not really wanted to be cleansed. That he did not know what to do or how to live or even who he was without his leprosy…Jesus had taken away his identity.
- The fourth leper did not return because in his delirium of joy, he forgot. That’s all. He was so happy that he forgot.
- The fifth leper was unable to say thank you to anymore to anybody. There is something that happens to a man who must beg and who is shunned by his fellows…He just doesn’t say thank you anymore to anybody—not even to Jesus.
- The sixth leper was a woman—a mother who had been separated from her family for eleven years because of her leprosy. She did not return to give thanks because she was hurrying home…She had been freed by Jesus.
- The seventh just didn’t believe that Jesus had anything to do with the cleansing. He knew that healing had taken place, but why and how were the questions… He didn’t return to give thanks because Jesus had had nothing to do with the healing event.
- The eight leper did not return precisely because he did believe that Jesus had healed him—that the Kingdom of God was here and the Messiah had arrived… And so he ran to publish the news.
- The ninth leper why didn’t he return? I don’t know the answer… All I know is that he showed himself to the priest and immediately was cleansed. He then stood still for a moment and smiled. It is impossible to say precisely why he did not return to give thanks.
As, I pondered each of these possible responses of the nine lepers, I found myself slipping in and out of each of the characters thinking, “That sounds like something I think or do.” All of these years, I have been impressed by and admired the one leper who returned to thank Jesus; failing to see that in reality I’m more aligned with the nine who didn’t return. In Jesus’s question to the returnee he asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine” (Luke 17:17)? Now, I am able to say with a grateful heart, “Lord, I’m over here!”
This Thanksgiving, whether you have fallen at Jesus’ feet in praise and wonderment or express your gratefulness to Jesus’ gift of life and healing in ways that might at first glance seem less obvious; know that the Jesus who asks, “Where are the other nine” (Luke 17:17) does in fact know where were they are. In fact, Bell says, “He knew all along.” My prayer is this Thanksgiving your life will be touched by the grace of Christ and your heart full of gratitude.
Blessings,
Pastor Nick
Heritage Sunday – November 5
Greetings,
Last year, I had the distinct blessing of participating in this congregation’s tradition of Heritage Sunday. It was a moving and meaningful service. I can still remember walking into our beautiful sanctuary last November seeing the names and the photographs of those whose memory we hold near to our hearts.
Charles Wesley once wrote, “Glory to God, and praise and love be ever, ever given, by saints below and saints above, the church in earth and heaven.” M
y sermon on Heritage Sunday will be focusing on John’s vision in Revelation 7:9-17. This beautiful and meaningful service will conclude with the sacrament of Holy Communion. Immediately following the 10am service will be a covered dish lunch (desserts & beverages provided) in the Fellowship Hall. I would love your presence. In the meantime, as always the First United Methodist Church will continue to life you in our thoughts and prayers.
Blessings,
Pastor
Getting ready for Fall – All about Paul
“Study it, study it—for everything is in it! Examine it diligently until you are worn out with old age by it, and do not be distracted from it; you could have no better measure than it.”
William P. Brown observes that the verb translated as “study” literally means “turn,” as if to say that the Bible is a finely crafted jewel that, when carefully turned, sparkles with the light of incomparable wisdom. Brown suggests that in the practice of Bible study, “turning” not only involves a Bible passage; it also involves the interpreter. Whenever we are trying to make sense of the Bible we are also “turning things over in our minds,” from assumptions to new perspectives, from fresh questions to surprising conclusions.
Adult Sunday class beginning on September 10th @ 9:30am in Gibbs Parlor. I am suspecting that as we examine a small portion of one of Paul’s letters each week with the Holy Spirit’s guidance we will be rotating and “turning” into deeper and more committed disciples of Jesus Christ.
Called to Follow Christ- Paul’s Background, Conversion, and Early Ministry
Called to Go- Paul’s First Missionary Journey
Called to Suffer- Paul’s Second Missionary Journey (1)
Called to Love- Paul’s Second Missionary Journey (2)
Called to Give–Paul’s Third Missionary Journey
Called to be Faithful– Paul’s Death and Legacy
Everyone is welcome to Sunday school and/or Bible Study. Prayerfully consider joining others and me as we embark together on this journey with the Apostle Paul. We have secured a handful of Hamilton’s book in the church office that you may borrow for the duration of the study or you may purchase the book on your own. I hope to see you soon turning and being turned by the Word of God.
In Christ,
Easter Letter 2017
We are entering into my favorite week of the year—Holy Week. I invite you to join me as we usher in Holy Week waving our palm branches and rolling out a makeshift red carpet of clothing for Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Most of the ink in the gospel is used to tell of Jesus’ final week of life— the cleansing of the Temple, a handful of parables about readiness, tears shed over Jerusalem, a meal shared among friends, Judas’ betrayal, Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, his arrest and trial, Peter’s denial and the painstaking events that surround his death on the cross and burial in a borrowed tomb. While the drama picks up in during Holy Week, it also provides us with moments to slow down and deepen our own relationship with God and with one another.
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
At 7pm on Holy Thursday, we will be joined by the Hurlbut Memorial Community United Methodist Church as we share in a service of Foot Washing and Holy Communion and hear the inspired preaching of the Rev. Carmen Perry. On Good Friday, let us join together at noon at Moore Park with other members of our community for our annual Cross Walk. Please take a moment to sign up with LeAnn in the church office as we continue the beautiful tradition of keeping Easter Vigil.
Every year in anticipation of Christ’s resurrection, I spend some time between Good Friday and Easter morning reading one or more of the gospel accounts of Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. I have found that doing so, allows me to proclaim with a renewed sense of wonder “Christ is risen” and it deepens the hope and promise of new life offered to us in Christ.
Easter Blessings,
Pastor
Holy Week Services- 2017
“Egg”cellent Easter Celebration – April 8th
10:00 – 12: 30 event for children
Palm / Passion Sunday – April 9th
8:30 Service & 10:45 Service – Cantata
Holy Thursday – March April 13th – 7:00 PM –
Combined service with Hurlbut @ FUMC
Good Friday – April 14th – Noon
Way of the Cross – Moore Park
Easter Eve Watch
Sat., April 15th – 6 PM to Sun., April 16th – 6AM
We are asking you to set aside 1 hour, either in the church sanctuary or in your home, to take time to pray.
There will be a sign up sheet outside the office so we can “cover” the entire 12 hours with prayer. There will also be packets available for prayer/scripture reflections that you can use.
For those that would like to pray at the church and need a key, please contact the office.
Easter Sunday – April 16th
8:30 & 10:45 (both services in the Sanctuary) – Communion
*Remember to bring flowers to put on the cross
What Should I Give Up for Lent?
What Should I Give Up for Lent?
“For whoever wants to save [their] life will lose it, but whoever loses [their] life for me will find it.” – (Matthew 16:25)
dropped her children off at her sister’s house, asking God, “What should I give up for Lent?”What if you turned Kimberly’s question into your own? What areas of your life would you cut out or cut back on? Would you go out less often to restaurants? Would you give up chocolate or another sweet? Do you cut out needless hours of mindless television? Do you go to bed earlier? What would you give up for Lent?
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Christmas 2016
When I was growing up, the Christmas tree was never completely finished until we ran it through my mom’s squint test. All you had to do is squint your eyes so that the colored Christmas lights came out of focus just enough to form a halo around the bulb. My mom’s squint test would make it easy to see where there were too many light bunched up or where lights needed to be moved closer together. The tree was never fully complete until the Christmas lights were evenly placed throughout the entire tree.
When you watch a Christmas move or sitcom you will see it. When you send or receive Christmas cards you will encounter it. Maybe on Christmas Eve with the glow of a lit candle in hour hand while softly singing “Son of God, love’s pure light; radiant beams from thy holy face…” you will experience it. Cameras magically come out of focus. Artists soften and blur
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Pastor Report 2016
Report of the Pastor
CHARGE CONFERENCE
WRITTEN BY REV. NICHOLAS PERRY
01 NOVEMBER 2016
“When he had finished speaking, [Jesus] said to Simon,
‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’”
(Luke 5:4)
The late William Sloane Coffin once shared,
There was a story told in Lincoln’s time of a man asking the pilot of a Mississippi riverboat how long he had been plying his trade.
“Twenty-six years,” the pilot replied.
“Then,” he said to the man, “you know where all the rocks are, all the shoals, and sandbars?”
“No,” said the pilot. “I just know where they ain’t.”
Several years ago, I was white water rafting with the youth in one congregation that I served. We tried as best we could to navigate the waters of Letchworth State Park, but sometimes we would get caught upon rocks where the water was shallow [due to a lack of rain]. Although the experience was fun and I would certainly do it again, I didn’t like being stuck in my rubber raft on a pile of rocks as others passed by.
It is amazing to me how the theme of water flows from the Old into the New Testament perhaps encouraging us to explore its depths. In fact, during Holy Baptism we recall numerous accounts of water in the Scripture:
Old Testament New Testament
Creation Jesus’ birth
During the flood Jesus’ baptism
Parting of the Red Sea Jesus’ death and resurrection
Passing through the Jordan Holy Spirit’s baptism on believers
We live in shallow times. We continue to find ourselves and/or others stuck on the rocks unable to move. The good news is that we have a Savior who knows not only where the rocks, shoals, and sandbars are but far more importantly Christ knows where the deep water is (and how to get us there). We also come from a faith tradition that has provided tools for going deeper and exploring the great depths and vastness of God’s grace.
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Weird Animals: Where Jesus’ Love Is One-of-a-Kind. I have had plenty of opportunities to attend various meetings from Taking Off Pounds Sensibly
- Bible Studies such as Adam Hamilton’s The Way Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus and our forthcoming Advent Study Under Wraps by Jessica LaGrone.
- Small Groups United Methodist Women I, United Methodist Woman II, Voices of Westfield, Sunday School classes.
- Cornerstone District Events such as Road Trip and/or Catch the Spirit.
- Building Connections with the Apple Seed Pre-school, the Westfield Community Kitchen, and the Westfield Food Pantry.
- Stewardship to be 100% sustainable (without dipping into our investments) to promote a holistic understanding of giving through sermons, articles, and testimonials.
We can point out where the rocks, shoals, and sandbars are. We know that tune well. However, we must also hear the clear invitation from Christ to “’Put out into deeper water, and let down the nets for a catch’” (Luke 5:4). We, I believe, as a church, are poised to allow the Holy Spirit’s breath to fill our sails and to lead us out into deeper waters.
Personally, I am excited to see that our Sunday School program is teeming with new life. Just this morning, I had a conversation with someone with plans that are already underway for a Junior Church to operate during the Second service. I suspect that other plans will begin to emerge as we push off from the shoreline and learn together some of the timeless teachings of John Wesley, our Methodist heritage, and their impact and usefulness for modern-day disciples who desire to go deeper.
Blessings,
Pastor
Hagah over scripture
“As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey…” Isaiah 31:4
During my time in school I was jealous of those students who could speed read. They were able to read multiple books and comprehend what they read in the time it took me to get through part of a book. Dismayed I researched techniques to speed up my reading pace only to find out years later that the Christian faith encourages us to read Scripture imaginatively, thoughtfully, prayerfully and slowly.
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