Let There Be Light

GDS Success!

2010-09-27T07:57:00.001-07:00

Our first "Great Day of Service" was a wonderful experience! Many thanks to all who participated in some form or fashion. We'll certainly be talking about when we might do this again, and have taken good notes on lessons learned along the way.

As the stories roll in, I am convinced that a grand time was had by all. To God be the glory, great things He has done!

In case you missed it, here is the article from the Pensacola News Journal.

http:/http://www.pnj.com/article/20100927/NEWS01/9270313/Perdido-church-members-clean-up-area/

If you have stories to tell, feel free to share them here on the blog...just hit reply!

God bless you all!

Perspectives on the Events in Gainesville

2010-09-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

No, this is not about the Gators' shaky start to the 2010 football season.

As I continue to pray for the events swirling around the deplorable proposal of Dr. Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center, I wanted to share a few words of wisdom from commentators whom I regularly admire. The first comes from Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourner's Magazine and author of the well-known God's Politics.

http://http://blog.sojo.net/2010/09/08/quran-burning-is-a-sacrilegious-slap-in-the-face-of-christ/

The second comes from Dr. Dan Johnson, Senior Pastor of Trinity UMC in Gainesville. Many of you will remember that Dan came to be with us in worship and consultation earlier this year. Trinity UMC is located in close proximity to the Dove World Outreach Center. I am proud of Dan and the good people of Trinity UMC, and believe that there is much to learn from their gracious response.

http://http://www.trinitygnv.org//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=604&Itemid=246

Please continue to pray for the situation, which includes praying for Dr. Terry Jones. I personally have great disdain for his views and proposed actions (translation: I believe he is a dangerous idiot), but I am convinced that Jesus loves him. Therefore, I shall incline my heart to do the same.

News Coverage

2010-08-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

An interesting article by CNN reporter Jamie Gumbrecht...you'll see some familiar faces and names!

http://http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/08/04/perdido.florida.tourism/index.html?iref=allsearch

This may be where we've been, but I am far more excited about where we're going!

Visioning Process

2010-07-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

On July 13 an open meeting was held in the sanctuary to prayerfully consider what we hope to be God's vision for the people of PBUMC and our surrounding community. Several new ideas were discussed, and their was a great spirit of "thy will be done" in the room.

One thing we all agreed on was the need for an intentional model for making disciples. The mission of the United Methodist Church at large is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformaton of the world, but rarely do our local congregations have a clear plan of how this is to be done in relation to their local context.

Here at Perdido Bay, we've talked about "Sharing the Love of Jesus" in general terms for quite some time now, but now we recognize the need to specify how we plan to share the love of Jesus, and perhaps more importantly, how we can encourage and teach others to do the same. It is a process that must be easily replicated for the sake of the future Kingdom!

Thus, to help move us forward, I have proposed the following stages based upon our prexisting language of Connecting, Strengthening, and Serving (did you ever notice this peculiar phrase on the front of every worship bulletin? Ever wondered what is was for? Well, so have I!). At this point, specific details about the different strategies and needs of the vision are believed to be best reviewed in group conversation, but for now, I'd like to invite you to start thinking in terms of these three 'phases' if you will.

1) Meeting phase…Do we love them?

Connecting: Focus on welcome, hospitality, engagement, outreach, and assimilation.

“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2).

“Practice hospitality ungrudgingly to one another” (1 Peter 4:9).

2) Message Phase…Why do we love them?

Strengthening: Focus on teaching, training, equipping, discerning, and other modes of spiritual formation.

“Make me to know thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths” (Psalm 25:4)

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom…”
(Colossians 3:17)

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

3) Mission Phase…How will they know that we love them?

Serving: Focus on sending, going, doing, leading, stretching, extending, and other expressions of Christian vocation.

“…whoever would be great among you must be your servant…even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-27).

“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all…” (Galatians 6:10).

There were many exciting ideas that were discussed around the room at last night's meeting, and I plan to bring the conversation to our next Council meeting which is scheduled for Sunday, August 1, at 12:30 in the Community Center. Furthermore, I'd be glad to cast the vision to any small group--Sunday school class, foyers, supper club, Bible study, etc. that would like more information before the Council meeting. I'm ready to share, so just let me know here on the blog or call the office to set up a time. Rest assured that things will be coming into focus more and more in the weeks ahead, so feel free to keep the comments and questions rolling here on the blog.

These are exciting days...for as promised, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people...your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions" (Joel 2:28).

And that goes for the women, too!

Please be in prayer for theses 'holy conversations.' Lead us, dear Lord!

Yours,

Darren

"Hey Preacher, what's that funny word?"

2010-06-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

After preaching from the Psalms for the last three weeks, a few folks have come forward with a question that I have not even attempted to answer during the sermons. The question goes something like this: Preacher, I'm enjoying this 'Summer with the Psalms' deal, but what in the world does "selah" mean, and why does it keep showing up over and over?

Well, here's a definition from the Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, which explains why I've never come up with a very good answer to this question!

selah-- a word of uncertain derivation and unknown origin and meaning found in certain psalms in the OT (e.g. Pss. 3,4, 52, 88, 143). It appears additionally in Hab. 3:3, 9, 13, verses that are a part of a psalm preserved in that prophetic book. There has been much speculation about its meaning--a musical notation, a pause in singing for narration, instructions on dynamics to the choir or to instrumental accompaniment--but there is no agreement among scholars about its function or significance. Absent new evidence, any attempt to define it must remain speculative.

So let's speculate. As for me, whenever I'm reading the psalms and encounter a "selah," I try to take it as a cue to slow down for a sigh, or even to catch my breath. I've also noticed that a 'selah' usually comes right after I've read something that deserves a second look. For instance, take Psalm 32, for instance: I said "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah...You (O God) are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah...

I suppose all of us could use a few more "selahs" through the course of our day. How many times have I tried to speed through my devotional reading so I can check that box and move on to other things? I need a selah! How many times have I glanced over the truth of what God has to say to me? I need a selah! Or how many times was I too arrogant to realize that there is a particular Word that I need to hear? I need a selah!

(*Sigh*)

Slow us down, Lord! Get our attention! Whatever it is that we need, Selah!

A Fitting Prayer

2010-05-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered the following prayer from a resource which is newly compiled by the General Board of Church and Society of the UMC. More can be found at http://www.umc-gbcs.org/site/c.frLJK2PKLqF/b.6054719/k.178C/Gulf_Coast_Resources_for_Prayer_and_Action.htm

God, we come to you today with heavy and humbled hearts. We ask that your healing, comforting and strengthening presence be with all those affected by this unfolding tragedy:

For workers injured, missing and presumed dead from the explosion on the rig and for their families and friends,
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers

For people working tirelessly to contain the spill and protect fragile ecosystems and communities from its toxic impacts,
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers

For individuals and communities whose livelihoods depend upon the Gulf of Mexico,
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers

For your good Creation — from the smallest of sea creatures to the birds of the air — and all your magnificent handiwork at risk of exposure from our human errors,
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers

For wisdom to understand our dependence on You and strength that we might walk humbly in the path of justice and right-relationships with all Your Creation,
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers

Shine On, O God

2010-05-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us...

I recently read a wonderful essay by Miroslav Volf who describes the 'shinning' of God's face upon us as an expression of God's delight toward us. He compares it to the big hug he gets from his toddler son every day after work, who is delighted to see him and unable to contain his excitement. The difference, of course is that the little boy doesn't see all of the shortcomings of his daddy, like how he chewed out a coworker at the office or the response he gave to the guy who cut him off in traffic on the way home. The little boy only sees the good.

How is it then, asks Volf, that an all-seeing God can know the truth about us and still cause his face to shine upon us? Shouldn't there be some conditions here, or does God actually dial down the brightness (like I do on the TV) depending on our performance for the day? Or better yet, do we really believe that God takes delight in us at all? Volf puts it this way:

"Why is it that we think that God should delight in us when we act contrary to God, the source of all goodness, truth and beauty? Is not longing for God's shining face just an echo of the infantile desire to be affirmed no matter what--a desire so pervasive in our culture that we cannot imagine how anyone could disapprove of something we do and still love us? Should we not rather live content with God's frowning face, knowing well that God's condemnation of sin is a form God's love must take if the sinner is to be redeemed? Should we not grow up, face the truth about ourselves, learn to live with God's disapproval, and find comfort in God's love out of which this disapproval is born? God's shining face would then be a promise for the world to come, where God would have nothing to disapprove of and we would rest in God's eternal delight."

But that can only be partly right, he says. The prayer for the Lord to bless us and keep us, and to make his face to shine upon us is intended for the here and now. Amazingly, it speaks of a God who can make God's face to shine on people in the midst of the darkness of their sin. What does the forgiving God do with our sins? Here is what the Scripture says: God covers them, God disperses them like mist, God puts them behind his back, God hides them, God forgets them.

As Kierkegaard wrote in his Works of Love , "The one who loves forgives in this way: he forgives, he forgets, he blots our the sin, in love he turns toward the one he forgives; but when he turns toward him, he of course cannot see what is lying behind his back." There are many more philosophical and theological questions to be asked here, and with few easy answers, but I do enjoy Volf's conclusion on the matter: If you have a notion of God that precludes the shinning of God's face on a sinner, you should give up that notion and bask in God's shining face (Volf, Agtainst the Tide, p. 5).

I have found this reflection to be especially helpful in light of the recent passing of my friend and college roomate, Dr. Jason Evangelista. Circumstances around his tragic death led some to question his obedience to God in recent days, but I for one choose to give thanks and praise to the God who still takes delight in his prodigal sons and daughters, and who is, in spite of our sin, willing and able to make his face to shine upon us all.

Let the peoples praise you, O God!

The British are Coming (sort of)

2010-05-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

In a few moments, members of our local community will be coming to the CC (PB Community Center) to meet with various representatives from BP for the sake of a public question and answer forum. I am grateful for the chance to participate in the discussion, but am also keenly aware that it is unlikely that all of the 'answers' will be satisfactory to the majority of the crowd. As long as the spill continues, heartache and frustration are sure to escalate.

On Monday, I was in Navarre meeting with Bishop Paul Leeland and other clergy along the coast to consider the magnitude of this circumstance and the church's response. Our hearts are focused on the people of our communities, and that includes those who are coming from external agencies (like BP) to help provide relief and direction. How might we serve these servants? As I listened to several officials from Santa Rosa County, I could not help but hear the stress and strain in their voices, and was reminded that whose who are attempting to field all of our anxious questions are going to need our prayers as well.

So as I wait for a visit from those whom most of us hold responsible for this mess, I wonder: what does it look like to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly in this situation? Is it possible that eventually the phrase "BP Employee" could become synonymous with "Samaritan" or even "the least of these"?

What then?

Welcome, My Friend!

2010-05-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

I am excited to get this blog going for several reasons. First of all, as pastor of Perdido Bay United Methodist Church, I receive a lot of really good questions about life and faith from various areas of our community. Rarely do I have all the answers to these questions, but I am convinced that if one person is willing to raise a concern, then there are plenty of others who are wondering about the same issues. Thus, it is the possible interaction of this format which initially appeals to me.

It's been a while since I've done any blogging, and I must admit that my previous experience centered around a bunch of preachers who were commtted to talking about nothing else but SEC football--to each other. That was a nice distraction, for sure, but was of no use to anyone but ourselves. Years later, however, I now suspect that you and I have more important things to talk about in our area, and I would be glad to help frame those discussions within a Biblical context (that is not to say, however, that I am no longer interested to know how my Gators will do in the post-Tebow era).

Secondly, I hope to use this blog as a forum for assessing the needs of our community, whether they be physical, emotional, spiritual or otherwise. Regardless of whether or not you have ever set foot on the campus of Perdido Bay UMC, my aspiration here is to create a 'space for grace' as I like to say, and to offer a resource for honest reflection and encouragement. Truth be told, I also want to know what you're going through, to see what can be done about it, and to remind you that you are never alone. There are plenty of agencies that will be focused on our beaches, but my primary interest is in the hearts of our people. Thus, I'll be asking my own questions along the way, offering my own perspective, and inviting you to join in the discussion.

Thirdly, and most importantly, I believe that now is a time for our community along Perdido Key to rally together in a spirit of unity and hope. As the Bible urges us, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called--that you might inherit a blessing. (1 Peter 3:8-9)

So, with this 'calling' in mind...

anyone out there need a blessing? Let's get together.