I know, the subject sounds as dry as dust, but being a United Methodist is anything but that! We started a class last Sunday at 11:00am that I hope will interest you. Faith may be simple, but beliefs are not an easy matter. United Methodists share many foundation stones with other Christians, but we also have some uniqueness. I want to discover both sides of this coin with a group of people over several weeks beginning this summer and who knows what after that? Last week we listed topics that members of the class would like to address, and that's where we're beginning.
The class is in the sanctuary so we can take advantage of the internet and large screen to explore online at times. (I was challenged last Sunday, but will have that fixed this week). We'll also have handouts for those who want to take information home.
Last Sunday we discussed "What we know" and "What we want to know" and I've attached the notes taken (thanks to Lisa Gallagher and June Harrington) so you can see the whole landscape of ideas that emerged. We decided to begin with "Core UM beliefs" and branch out from there. I'm sure we will visit both sides of the center line on this page (sometimes what we think we know isn't really what we know, and sometimes we know more than we know we know)!
Also - for those who may want to know - I am looking for two teachers for young children during this hour as well - not a nursery but a real Sunday School class for children in the first three years of life. There is an old proverb that says "when the student is ready, the teacher appears." After watching Simon Kramer last Sunday during our class, I am convinced at least one student is ready! I have curriculum ready to go, and as soon as God calls teachers and they answer, we'll offer the class, which I would like to title "I.T.T." (infants, toddlers, and two's - or "itsy-bitsies, teethers and talkers"). Until we have teachers they will be invited to play in the sanctuary, hopefully with all of us taking a turn with caring for them. Simon already knows this church is for him, and I want every child to know what he knows.
Those with children in this range will also want to know that we have freed up some memorial funds to purchase a portable air conditioner for the nursery so children and the adults who care for them can be as comfortable as the rest of us. It's only right. This has been a long time coming and although it will only be a portable unit, we expect that it will do wonders on hot sticky days ahead.
Back to adults -- Our spiritual health is as crucial as our emotional and physical health. And we deserve more than dusty old faith that someone else told us about. We need to forge our own way in the wilderness that contemporary life is most of the time these days. United Methodism, I am proud to say, can be a guidepost. I make no apology. I take issue with the common wisdom that says "it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe...or...we all have the same God." Not really; you and I know people who worship gods that in the end don't do much for us. I think it matters a great deal what we believe. In fact, our lives and the lives of our children depend on it.
That's it for now. If you will give this a try - once or all summer long - you will find there are others on the journey with you, and instead of dust you may find a cool refreshing stream to help you along the way. It may be just an oasis for a while or it may be the place where your faith rests from now on. You can decide.
One more thing. Some of you have been looking for a church home. Wyoming Park isn't everything to everybody, but we offer the best we have - a relationship with a God who is visible in others, encourages and loves children as an extended family, and provides a place for everyone to find his or her gifts that God needs. You wouldn't have the gifts if that wasn't so.
Come, just stop in or settle inside the park. We're all going somewhere.
Grace and peace,
Bill J.
P.S. Been to our web page recently?
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