There is something about faith that takes us into the depth of life's experience and transforms us. What seems to be bad becomes tolerable. What seems tolerable can become good. What appears good can become formative and great.
It happens at every stage of life. It happens in your childhood years when we are struggling to know what we can and cannot do. It happens in our adolescent days when we battle issue of authority and identity. It happens in our adult days when we are trying to make a difference in life by using what talent and gifts we have and apply them to the world's needs. It happens in our elder hood when we are looking at end of life times.
Can we live our lives full of days?
We can do that at any stage of life and we must.
Faith requires that we come as far as we can see and then we look further. I means we read the bad news in the papers and we hear the bad news as shared and we keep listening.
There is more for us; more to do and more to see and more to experience and we live our lives full of days.
The sermon will focus on Job who lived his life until the end and was full of days. That is the greatest affirmation we can make and that is a life well lived.
If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net.
If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wednesday's thoughts
How do we end our lives "full of days"? What does it take to live a life that isn't sheltered but is full of great experiences and wonderful possibilities?
One place to begin is with attitude. If we develop an positive attitude about the things that happen to us we will be able face what happens to us; whatever it is.
What if we looked at life as a teaching platform? What if we considered the things that happen to us as a test of our faith, of our resiliency, of our courage, or of our stamina? Is there not something in the worst of things that could bring out the best in us?
What if we looked at our lives as a privilege and every burden was a challenge and every problem could be seen as an opportunity to do something with what we have been given?
Job and others who have become visible to us by the difficulties they have had to face and the way they have overcome those difficulties remind us that when Christian people read the newspaper and the bad news that is contained, there is a difference with us. We read the bad news but we do not stop reading because we know something good can come of it; something better will result because of it.
Some how in the difficult moments of life we have to know there is something to be learned and there is something that will provide joy and laughter. We laugh or we cry. We laugh until we cry and we cry until we see through the tears to something that lifts our spirits.
How do we turn things around? How do we act on life instead of waiting for life to act upon us?
We strive to live to an old age and we strive to live our lives full of days. There are many ways to do it. How do you think it best? Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
One place to begin is with attitude. If we develop an positive attitude about the things that happen to us we will be able face what happens to us; whatever it is.
What if we looked at life as a teaching platform? What if we considered the things that happen to us as a test of our faith, of our resiliency, of our courage, or of our stamina? Is there not something in the worst of things that could bring out the best in us?
What if we looked at our lives as a privilege and every burden was a challenge and every problem could be seen as an opportunity to do something with what we have been given?
Job and others who have become visible to us by the difficulties they have had to face and the way they have overcome those difficulties remind us that when Christian people read the newspaper and the bad news that is contained, there is a difference with us. We read the bad news but we do not stop reading because we know something good can come of it; something better will result because of it.
Some how in the difficult moments of life we have to know there is something to be learned and there is something that will provide joy and laughter. We laugh or we cry. We laugh until we cry and we cry until we see through the tears to something that lifts our spirits.
How do we turn things around? How do we act on life instead of waiting for life to act upon us?
We strive to live to an old age and we strive to live our lives full of days. There are many ways to do it. How do you think it best? Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Monday's thoughts
Remembering Forward
Krista Tippett has this idea that the past ought to be remembered but it ought to be remembered in a particular way; it needs to be remembered forward. It needs to lead us into the future and not force us to keep looking back.
At the end of the story of Job in the bible there is an interesting statement. Job, who did nothing wrong was afflicted with bad luck. It was Job that inspired Harold Kushner to write his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Nothing good happened to job. His children died and his business failed. He lost everything and it got to the point that family members were giving up on him. His friends were convinced he had done something wrong because of the bad things that had happened. His best option was to confess his sin. He was so low that he was cursing God and wanting to die. Anyone who thinks of Job as patient hasn't read the whole book. He wasn't patient. He was like any of us. He had become desperate and discouraged.
His fortunes turned. If people wait long enough all bad fortune will turn. Job was a man with a hard life and he lived a long time. At the end of his life we are told, "Job lived for another one hundred forty years--long enough to see his great-grandchildren have children of their own--and when he died he was very old." The translation I like best is the RSV and it says, "And Job died, an old man, and full of days."
How do we live full of days?
How do we remember forward our lives so that when the end of life comes we have lived and loved and have made the most of our time on earth?
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcufmc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles
Krista Tippett has this idea that the past ought to be remembered but it ought to be remembered in a particular way; it needs to be remembered forward. It needs to lead us into the future and not force us to keep looking back.
At the end of the story of Job in the bible there is an interesting statement. Job, who did nothing wrong was afflicted with bad luck. It was Job that inspired Harold Kushner to write his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Nothing good happened to job. His children died and his business failed. He lost everything and it got to the point that family members were giving up on him. His friends were convinced he had done something wrong because of the bad things that had happened. His best option was to confess his sin. He was so low that he was cursing God and wanting to die. Anyone who thinks of Job as patient hasn't read the whole book. He wasn't patient. He was like any of us. He had become desperate and discouraged.
His fortunes turned. If people wait long enough all bad fortune will turn. Job was a man with a hard life and he lived a long time. At the end of his life we are told, "Job lived for another one hundred forty years--long enough to see his great-grandchildren have children of their own--and when he died he was very old." The translation I like best is the RSV and it says, "And Job died, an old man, and full of days."
How do we live full of days?
How do we remember forward our lives so that when the end of life comes we have lived and loved and have made the most of our time on earth?
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcufmc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles
Monday, October 12, 2009
Monday's thoughts
"This Sunday I am looking forward to sharing some thoughts with you about two questions....maybe the greatest ever....or maybe somewhere near the top. I'm going to keep the questions a secret, but they will be based on the following scriptures:
Leviticus 26:12, which is a blessing, and
Matthew 6:25-33, which is a self-examination.
Hopefully you will be able to sit back, take a deep breath, and receive the gifts of the morning from the Handbells, Richard's vocals, Karen's sounds of the organ and the words of liturgy.
What do you think the greatest questions are? Certainly we live in a world of curiosity. We do not have life all figured out. Someone said the only sure things are our births and our deaths. It's that stuff in between that causes us to wonder and can challenge our faith.....or, create more faithfulness inside ourselves.
Enough for now. Hope to see you this Sunday.
David Dalke"
Leviticus 26:12, which is a blessing, and
Matthew 6:25-33, which is a self-examination.
Hopefully you will be able to sit back, take a deep breath, and receive the gifts of the morning from the Handbells, Richard's vocals, Karen's sounds of the organ and the words of liturgy.
What do you think the greatest questions are? Certainly we live in a world of curiosity. We do not have life all figured out. Someone said the only sure things are our births and our deaths. It's that stuff in between that causes us to wonder and can challenge our faith.....or, create more faithfulness inside ourselves.
Enough for now. Hope to see you this Sunday.
David Dalke"
Friday, October 9, 2009
Friday's Thoughts
Our Dreams Become Us
If we dream of providing a world that is better for young people and if we work to build structures so that young people can know that they are the future. If we try to make it easy for young people to step up to the world they will inherit and to give them the confidence that they can do what needs to be done and that we believe in them then something important happens to us.
If we dream of the power of learning so that our lives become vessels for increasing knowing in the world and we do what we can to encourage people to learn on every level. We encourage children to ask questions. We encourage young adults to challenge their long established beliefs, and we encourage all people to make their lives an argument to the world on what they have come to believe.
We we redefine wealth so that we realize the difference between qualities and quantities and that requires us to look at the things that provide a depth of wealth that transcends material wealth something important happens to us.
What we dream we become. What we strive to do with our lives in the world informs us and evolves us into new people as we work to create a new world.
Our dreams become us. We change as we dream.
What are your dreams and what are they helping you become?
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you would like to share your thoughts click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
If we dream of providing a world that is better for young people and if we work to build structures so that young people can know that they are the future. If we try to make it easy for young people to step up to the world they will inherit and to give them the confidence that they can do what needs to be done and that we believe in them then something important happens to us.
If we dream of the power of learning so that our lives become vessels for increasing knowing in the world and we do what we can to encourage people to learn on every level. We encourage children to ask questions. We encourage young adults to challenge their long established beliefs, and we encourage all people to make their lives an argument to the world on what they have come to believe.
We we redefine wealth so that we realize the difference between qualities and quantities and that requires us to look at the things that provide a depth of wealth that transcends material wealth something important happens to us.
What we dream we become. What we strive to do with our lives in the world informs us and evolves us into new people as we work to create a new world.
Our dreams become us. We change as we dream.
What are your dreams and what are they helping you become?
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you would like to share your thoughts click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wednesday's thoughts
Our Dreams Become Us
We establish our dreams. We put them out and talk about them. We line up a process by which the dreams can be accomplished and we work to see to it that they are accomplished.
Our church looks to its future. It thinks about where it is and where it needs to be. It makes decisions about its future and it makes plans to do what can be done so that the dreams come true.
Dreams are established so that we can work toward them. In a way we objectify our dreams. They are something we strive toward. They are out there in the future somewhere, somehow.
There is another aspect of our dreams; it is the effect the dream has on us. It is the way in which we are changed by the dreams we dare to have. The dream will change as we become involved with it and as our life experience dictates that we modify it. New occasions teach new duties.
The part of our dreaming that needs to be noted is the way in which we change because of the dreams we dare to have. We become our dream as we dream it. Our dream becomes us. Our striving take us into new areas of thinking and living and being.
As we look forward to the way things can be and as we think about becoming part of a future that is very much unlike the past. We dare to dream and we know that something in our state of being will change as well.
What are your dreams?
How will your dreams change you?
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read and respond to your ideas click on the box below. I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
We establish our dreams. We put them out and talk about them. We line up a process by which the dreams can be accomplished and we work to see to it that they are accomplished.
Our church looks to its future. It thinks about where it is and where it needs to be. It makes decisions about its future and it makes plans to do what can be done so that the dreams come true.
Dreams are established so that we can work toward them. In a way we objectify our dreams. They are something we strive toward. They are out there in the future somewhere, somehow.
There is another aspect of our dreams; it is the effect the dream has on us. It is the way in which we are changed by the dreams we dare to have. The dream will change as we become involved with it and as our life experience dictates that we modify it. New occasions teach new duties.
The part of our dreaming that needs to be noted is the way in which we change because of the dreams we dare to have. We become our dream as we dream it. Our dream becomes us. Our striving take us into new areas of thinking and living and being.
As we look forward to the way things can be and as we think about becoming part of a future that is very much unlike the past. We dare to dream and we know that something in our state of being will change as well.
What are your dreams?
How will your dreams change you?
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read and respond to your ideas click on the box below. I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Monday's thoughts
"Your Dreams Become You"
Commitment Sunday is one of the most interesting days in the year for the church. It is a renewal of membership and a reactivation of our passion for the church. It is a standing together and facing the year as a community. It is a time to see the power of the church in a collective sense.
But most of all it is very personal. What we are able to do for the church as we dream through our church says something about who we are. It says we are able to look beyond ourselves and join together with others to conquer some of the most important problems of our society, our nation, and our world.
Our dreams do become us.
What we dream and how we attempt to empower those dreams define who we are and who we are going to be.
Commitment to support the church is very personal. Only the people who need to know to keep the records straight are aware how much we give and how much we pledge to the church. The full time clergy have no idea who gives or how much they give. Ray Miller and Don Richardson are the only people in the church who know the pledge amount and they never share that information. They track our giving and our pledging and help us determine the final budget. That is based on what they predict as trends and potential totals.
Our dreams become us; they say something about us. They speak to us and define us as human beings. Each of us have a claim to the church and its ministry because the church is established to enhance the ministry of each person. It is about all of us together but it is about each of us individually.
Our dreams become us in that they define who we are and not by the amount we give. They define our ability to invest in the future through the church. Each pledge is relative. My large or small pledge can never be compared to someone else. My pledge, your pledge is only related to who we are and what we are capable of giving.
I look forward to next Sunday. There is no room for guilt in our giving. We must give because we want to and because we have a need to invest in the future and in the church. The amount is up to each of us but the power of our church will be revealed in a total that will empower us to do some great things next year and to fulfill our dreams.
Do you have some thoughts about Commitment Sunday? about pledging and the amount? About how this ought to be handled. Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
Commitment Sunday is one of the most interesting days in the year for the church. It is a renewal of membership and a reactivation of our passion for the church. It is a standing together and facing the year as a community. It is a time to see the power of the church in a collective sense.
But most of all it is very personal. What we are able to do for the church as we dream through our church says something about who we are. It says we are able to look beyond ourselves and join together with others to conquer some of the most important problems of our society, our nation, and our world.
Our dreams do become us.
What we dream and how we attempt to empower those dreams define who we are and who we are going to be.
Commitment to support the church is very personal. Only the people who need to know to keep the records straight are aware how much we give and how much we pledge to the church. The full time clergy have no idea who gives or how much they give. Ray Miller and Don Richardson are the only people in the church who know the pledge amount and they never share that information. They track our giving and our pledging and help us determine the final budget. That is based on what they predict as trends and potential totals.
Our dreams become us; they say something about us. They speak to us and define us as human beings. Each of us have a claim to the church and its ministry because the church is established to enhance the ministry of each person. It is about all of us together but it is about each of us individually.
Our dreams become us in that they define who we are and not by the amount we give. They define our ability to invest in the future through the church. Each pledge is relative. My large or small pledge can never be compared to someone else. My pledge, your pledge is only related to who we are and what we are capable of giving.
I look forward to next Sunday. There is no room for guilt in our giving. We must give because we want to and because we have a need to invest in the future and in the church. The amount is up to each of us but the power of our church will be revealed in a total that will empower us to do some great things next year and to fulfill our dreams.
Do you have some thoughts about Commitment Sunday? about pledging and the amount? About how this ought to be handled. Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
Friday, October 2, 2009
Friday's Thoughts
"When It's Time To Table Our Dreams"
The Christian faith has its own struggle with the nature of humanity. Are we sinners who have no hope; except through faith? Are we saints who are in the image of God; who can attain great things? Are we both? Are we neither? What is right with us and what is wrong?
We really can't think about fulfilling our dreams until we have some idea who we are and what we are capable of accomplishing. Our greatness and the way we often overcome our incompetence is when we realize the strength we have collectively. Facing our problems sometimes is best accomplished by living out a life that includes the assistance of other people.
Therefore, we are best as Christian people when we realize we don't have to do it all alone and when we know there are others who can help us. Where we find the strength to accomplish that is at the table. We bring our dreams to the table.
We take the bread and the cup and realize that we are the body of Christ and, not only those of us in our church, in our denomination, in our nation, but all over the world. Sunday is "World Communion Sunday". We table our dreams. We bring our dreams to the table and, at the table, we discover our strength and we begin to see our dreams in a wider and larger perspective.
Alan Jones wrote, "When we begin working on our own souls, we discover that we are not self-made. Our identity depends on Another. We cannot make ourselves...but fortunately a wild card has been announced..."
And these words from Henry David Thoreau: "I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his or her dreams, and endeavors to live the life which has been imagined, we will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
We table our dreams. We don't give up on them. We don't postpone them in any way. We come to the table and realize how much we can accomplish together.
Are we saints or sinners? What are we capable of doing collectively that we are not able to do privately?
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Meet you at the table.
Charles Schuster
The Christian faith has its own struggle with the nature of humanity. Are we sinners who have no hope; except through faith? Are we saints who are in the image of God; who can attain great things? Are we both? Are we neither? What is right with us and what is wrong?
We really can't think about fulfilling our dreams until we have some idea who we are and what we are capable of accomplishing. Our greatness and the way we often overcome our incompetence is when we realize the strength we have collectively. Facing our problems sometimes is best accomplished by living out a life that includes the assistance of other people.
Therefore, we are best as Christian people when we realize we don't have to do it all alone and when we know there are others who can help us. Where we find the strength to accomplish that is at the table. We bring our dreams to the table.
We take the bread and the cup and realize that we are the body of Christ and, not only those of us in our church, in our denomination, in our nation, but all over the world. Sunday is "World Communion Sunday". We table our dreams. We bring our dreams to the table and, at the table, we discover our strength and we begin to see our dreams in a wider and larger perspective.
Alan Jones wrote, "When we begin working on our own souls, we discover that we are not self-made. Our identity depends on Another. We cannot make ourselves...but fortunately a wild card has been announced..."
And these words from Henry David Thoreau: "I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his or her dreams, and endeavors to live the life which has been imagined, we will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
We table our dreams. We don't give up on them. We don't postpone them in any way. We come to the table and realize how much we can accomplish together.
Are we saints or sinners? What are we capable of doing collectively that we are not able to do privately?
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Meet you at the table.
Charles Schuster
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