Monday's thoughts

"Things I Want to Remember"

The sermon for Sunday the 25th of May will try to help us get in touch with the things in our lives that are so important we never want to forget them. Memorial weekend is a time to think about the brave men and women who have paid the price for our freedom. We never want to forget them.

Memorial Day is a time to recall those people who have given us so much in the richness and wisdom from their lives that we know we are what we are because they were, to us, what they were. We never want to forget them.

There needs to be a time in the year when we think about the people who have tested our patience; who have challenged our assumptions. They may not have seemed to be friends. They may have, actually, been our foes, but their opposition gave us strength and helped us find a deeper truth as we countered their presuppositions.

Memorial weekend has become an important time in the church. We reflect upon the people in the church who have made the church what it has become and we are grateful to them.

In life there is nothing wasted. Everything has its purpose and it utility. The past is the past but it is not gone forever.

What are the important aspects of your life you want to remember? Who are the important people who have helped form your character?

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to allow others to read your thoughts click the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

Friday's thoughts

"When Life is a Fire Drill"

There are three things I would like to say this Sunday in the worship service and in the sermon:
1. Life is a fire drill; to live is to be in crisis. There is no aspect of life; no stage in life that doesn't have its own trauma. When we wake up in the morning there is a crisis and we are called upon to face it and deal with it.
2. We have been given authority to deal with the crisis points of our lives. There is nothing we will face that we cannot handle.
3. We are never alone as we face the hard times; there are others who have gone before us whose memory inspires us; there are friends who will stay with us and give us support; and there is God who is most evident to us when things are difficult. We remember the words quoted in the Gospel of Matthew as Jesus sent them out. He said, " Be assured, I am with you, even to the end of time."

What crisis are you facing and how have you come to face it?
What sense of authority do you have that allows you to know you can face it?
How is it you realize you are not alone?

If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net

If you are willing to allow others to see your responses click on the box below. I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

Wednesday's thoughts

"When Life Is A Fire Drill"

The two Biblical texts from which the sermons is drawn are Psalms 8 and Matthew 28:16-20. Both of these texts deal with the authority we have been given from God to work and to live and the New Testament text reminds us of Jesus' promise to be with us as we work to "make disciples".

As I have thought about the crisis situations of life I have come to realize to live is to be in crisis. We need not concern ourselves about the inevitable crisis as it comes because every new day we face is potentially a crisis and every stage of life has its own crisis within it.

Life is a fire drill and the question is not "how will we face it?" the question, rather, is "what will we learn from it?"

This is to acknowledge that there are moments in our lives that seem more dramatically powerful than others and that require a more decisive response. Those moments are the ones we prepare for every day. They are not to be avoided or feared. We were made for those moments. They call from us our best and they bring to us our greatest gift.

The fire drill aspect of life includes the following:
1. A reduction of our ability through accident, illness, or age.
2. A failure of security in which we come to realize our vulnerability.
3. A breakdown of our resources that results from an inability to anticipate the unexpected.
4. The destruction of something of value to us and we have come to lose something we had counted on or taken for granted.

Sunday we are going to have a fire drill. In the 9:15 service after the sermon someone will pull the alarm and we will have to evacuate the church building. We will have to vacate the sanctuary, our classes will have to go outside, and our children and youth will be asked to go. We will meet in the south parking lot until the whole building is accounted for and then we can return.

How do we face the fire dills that are not simulation or practice? How do we engage the challenges and how do we respond?

If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. if you are willing to have others read your response click on the box below. I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts

Sermon for Sunday May 18th.

"When Life is a Fire Drill"

At 9:15 after the sermon we are going to, actually, have a fire drill. There is a group of staff and church members who have been working up a disaster response plan. In light of some of the terrible things that have happened in all aspects of society and especially in churches we decided it is important to prepare ourselves in case something happens in our church that requires an evacuation on Sunday morning.

After the sermon at 9:15 the alarm will go off and we will be asked to move to the south parking lot.

It makes me think about how life is now with bombings and school and church shootings; with fires and mass panic; with all kinds of strange things going on. What do we do with all this? How do we live in a world in which the unexpected can happen anytime or anywhere?

How do we prepare for the unexpected? How do we handle the tragic events that have come to some and could come to us?

I have seen pickets in the churches I have served. I have had people get up in the middle of a sermon and dispute a part of the sermon. One church I served had to be evacuated on Easter Sunday because some youngster pulled the alarm. The fire trucks came and we had to clear out of the church. The members of the church thought I set that up but I didn't.

We live in a world that is dangerous. As Christians it is important how we learn to deal with it.

Do you have thoughts on this? Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net or click on the bottom of the page so others can read your thoughts.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

Friday's thoughts

Ruben Job, in his book Three Simple Rules develops the idea of "doing no harm, doing good, and staying in love with God" with the following observations:

"The rules are simple, but the way is not easy. Only those with great courage will attempt it, and only those with great faith will be able to walk this exciting and demanding way. There are many other options for us to choose, but they are all lesser options and lead to lesser results that range from poor to disastrous. The question from Jesus for each of us, 'My daughter, my son, do you love me?' and of course there is only one answer that we want to give, 'Yes Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you.' The next question then becomes, are we ready to choose the costly way that involves these three simple rules as our way of living? I believe many are ready to make that high and holy choice today, and I shall always pray that I and all who read these pages will make that choice new every morning."

There comes a time in every life when we have to figure what it means to get it together. There comes a time when we have to know we are on a path that is the right path and that we have chosen to be on that path. It isn't the one our parents put us on and it isn't the one we chose when we didn't know what else to do. It is driven by intentionality and purpose. It is driven by the knowledge of the fact that there is a limit to our years and we need to make the most of them.

We want to do no harm and if we are doing harm we want to stop doing it. We want to do good and we want the good we do to be the best we can do. We want to be able to love with God as we struggle to determine who and what God is.

Ruben Job is right to suggest that this is both simple and difficult. How do we get it together and what does it mean to strive in the manner John Wesley suggests?

If you have thoughts on this subject please write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net.
Also, click on the box below to allow others to read your comments.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles

Wednesday's thoughts

How do we get it together?

Following up with the Mother's Day/Pentecost theme I am thinking of the factors that help us get it together and I begin with family, then I move to church, and finally I reach into the sense of the holy.

One of the guidelines that came to the delegates of General Conference was instruction from John Wesley.
He said, "Do no harm"
He said, "Do good."
And he said, "Stay in love with God".

I thought most of us were instructed to do no harm from our mothers. I thought the church was one of the places we are continually reminded to do good. The final sense of getting it together comes when we move in our lives to pattern of living that is in love with creation and the creator. It's an approach to life that allows us to trust the future. It's an means of addressing the days of our lives with the expectation and hope for something better to come and something new to experience.

We get it together when we strive to do no harm, to do good, and to stay in love with God.

At least this is how I'm seeing it on this Wednesday afternoon.

It's good to be back home.

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles

Monday's thoughts

"How Did We Get It Together?"

One of the most important days in the life of the church is Pentecost. It is called the birthday of the church, and Luke presents it as if it were the coming together of the disciples after Jesus' death on the cross. The disciples were prepared to go about their separate ways. There seemed to be nothing else to do. Jesus had been crucified and there seemed to be no reason to continue. Luke (Acts 2) tells a compelling story of a Jewish celebration 50 days after Passover (Pentecost) when the disciples came together and the Holy Spirit fell upon them and the were so moved by the event that their lives were changed. They began to think of the Risen Christ as the church and they went out to establish churches all over the world. We believe they paid a dear price for their witness. They were martyred for their courageous stand and for their efforts to build the church.

There is another reason to celebrate Sunday, May 11th. This is Mother's Day this year. Pentecost and Mother's Day don't often come on the same Sunday but they do this year.

I am going to try to blend the two celebrations and to deal with what it means to get it together. Mother's Day and Pentecost both represent forces and factors that help get it together.

If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you would like to share your thoughts with others you may click on the box below.

It's good to be back home from General Conference and it was great being back at church this Sunday morning (when this report was written).

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster