Monday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

This week's sermon title is: "From Planet Krypton to The Fort". The message will be based on two Scriptures:
Isaiah 48:9-11 and Matthew 6:31-34.

I want to address how heroes are around us all the time, and we just might be that hero to another person. We need one another, especially in our times of change, and we do have much change going on around us. Some folks handle change as opportunity; others worry, are anxious, fear adversity and suffering. Heroes pick us up in these days of change.

You might think of those times in your own lives, or in the life of a church fellowship, where changes have encountered you. Some of them were predictable, other changes rather abrupt. How did you handle each situation? Where were the heroes around you that helped you to adjust? Where was God?

I look forward to seeing you this coming Sunday. We will sing, pray, hear Scriptures and commune together. Yes, we will kneel side by side, heroes one to another.

Your friend,

David

Friday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

Where is God?

It's a good question and one that is frequently asked? Where is God? How do we experience God?

Each of us will experience God in different ways. Let me suggest three ways in which we experience God.

First of all we experience God through the voice of conscience. When we do things that we know to be wrong and God speaks to some of us through our guilt. In that way we strive to be better than we were and do better things than we've done.


Secondly, for some God is more absent than present but we experience God in the subtle signs we see in our lives. It can be a rainbow in the sky at just the right time. It can be an article we have read that answers a question posed by a decision we have to make.

Finally, for some God is in the presence of God's people who appear to us at just the right time. They are the moral examples of what it means to live a moral life; a life of selflessness and love. In their example is God. For Christians that comes in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

One way or another we are apt to experience the presence of God. Which is the most likely for you? If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to allow the readers of this blog read your thoughts click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster

Wednesday's reflection on Sunday's sermon

There are some important aspects of our faith that Lent causes us to consider. This is a time to think about Jesus' last days and the role of the establishment and the disciples in that tragic event. It cause us to think about who we think God is and how we think God interacts with the world.

Sometimes we think of God as an angry God and we approach God with fear. Sometimes it does seem there is reason for God's anger at us and at what we do or fail to do.

Other times we think of God as basically indifferent to the problems we have. God does not punish us but God has given us a sign that God will not harm us. Noah saw it in the rainbow. The idea that the people of Israel came to realize that God would never again send a flood on the people or the land. It didn't mean there would never be a natural disaster. It implied that God would never be the cause of it.

Finally, one of the most important aspects of the Christian faith is the idea that God, not only refrains from punishing us, but is lined up to do what can be done to help us find meaning in life. Traditionally, Christians have held that God sent Jesus to save us from our sin. More important than the idea that Jesus was one, sent by God to save us, is the idea that God is on our side working for our good will.

We move from thinking of God as angry, to thinking of God as indifferent, to thinking of God as compassionate and invested in us.

The season of Lent is our time to see how God cares for us and a time for us to reflect upon the way in which we respond to the hard times in our lives.

Do you believe in the the angry God, or the indifferent God?

If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of this blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster

"After the Disaster"

On Monday morning it's never clear to me what a sermon is going to be on Sunday at worship but this Sunday I want to begin our reflection in the season of Lent by bringing together two parts of the Judeo-Christian faith.

I want to being with the disaster that became known as "The Flood" and Noah and the ark and the waters that destroyed the earth and the thought that God was behind it. Often there is the assumption with the things that happen that there is some kind of ultimate power that created it and there was some purpose for it. Somehow it's more comforting to think of God as a destroyer than to think of life as random and God who does not cause bad things to happen but will not prevent bad things from happening. It's a matter of comfort to think that things are under control even if the things that happen have a negative effect on us.

That's what people thoughts about the flood and when the waters subsided there was a rainbow that became a sign that never again would God bring catastrophic events down on the human race.

Compare that to what we have come to believe about Jesus as a human being, sent by God to save us. The faith of the classical Christian was even more dramatic if we accept the fact that God sent Jesus to die for us and if we believe, as traditional Christians believe, that Jesus was God's only son and his death on the cross was God's ultimate sacrifice by the giving of his son. This idea is called the "Atonement Theory of Salvation". For many Christians it is central to their theology.

The sermon I will be writing this week will attempt to contrast and compare the idea that there has evolved in our thinking a movement from God causing bad things to happen, to the need for a sign that God does not cause bad things to happen, to the idea that God is a presence in the world that seeks to help us when bad things happen but sending us one who took the worst of life and emerged from pain and suffering to meaning and mystery; from death and the end of life to resurrection and the rebirth of life.

We seem to have moved from the idea that God is the cause of bad things happening because God is intent on punishing us for our sin to the idea that God is in the midst of bad things when they happen because God is intent of helping us.

Do you think Jesus died for our sins?
Do you think God could cause a flood, an earthquake, a hurricane in order to teach us a lesson?

Do you seen any connection or evolution between Noah and the flood and Jesus and the cross?

If so write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster

Friday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

What do we do with the fact that not everybody likes us? Some of the reason they don't like us is legitimate. We do make mistakes and sometimes we hurt other people and sometimes we do it intentionally.

Most of the people who don't like us, however, are people who don't really know us. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" was a question posed about Jesus. The assumption that he was nothing special because he came out of a small insignificant town.

I have come to three conclusions about this and these will be the points of the sermon.

1. What other people think about us is none of our business.Most people who don't like us don't know us well enough not to like us. If they knew us better they might think less of us but the basis upon which their dislike flowers is limited information.

2. What we think about ourselves is completely our business. So much harm is done because of low self esteem.

3. What we do with the people who don't like us and with what we think of ourselves determines if we will make things better or become bitter. It's our choice.

Do you have people who don't like you? I do. What do you do about that? I try to be as authentically myself as I can possibly be and not worry about what other people think.

What about you?

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

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

Wednesday's reflection on Sunday's sermon

Okay, here's the problem.

On Sunday I posted the sermon topic as a sermon on the Prodigal Son. I had worked out what I would do with the younger son who strayed and the older brother who stayed and was going to suggest that, in one way or another, we represent either of those prototypes. Great idea.

Then Reverend Eakle preached his sermon in which he covered some of the same area with the same text. He did a great job with it and I have had to regroup and reconsider what I will do with the sermon.

These sermons, since I announced my retirement, have been directed to some phase of what a transition means to us since we are in a transition.

The sermon Sunday will feature the text in John's gospel where Nathaniel says, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

The sermon will deal with bias and prejudice. What do we do when we are the object of the presupposition?

In a real sense the person who comes in as Senior Pastor will be judged and juried immediately. We will learn who he or she is and will visit the church they are serving's blog or web page. We will read their sermons and their newsletter articles and we will have formed impressions about who they are.

The new pastor will, just as much, have formed presuppositions about our church. Are we conservative or liberal? Are we progressive or traditional? Are we open minded our confirmed in our belief? Do we read the bible literally or do we ignore it altogether?

The sermon will address the issue of presuppositions and bias; how we face it when we are prejudged and how we avoid prejudging other people.

Have you ever experienced prejudice against you that was unfair? What did you do about it?

Have you ever been biased against someone only to discover that you were wrong? How did you discover your mistake and how did you repair the situation created by your prejudgment?

If you have thoughts about this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of this blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

"The High School Reunion"

I'm going to do something with this sermon I have never done here. I want the sermon to come in the form of a parable and the parable will be an adaptation of Jesus' "Parable of the Prodigal Son".

The methodology to get into the parable will be Garrison Keillor who had a way of telling a story that could bring into the story the human element plus a degree of depth of meaning. I hope to be able to use his suggestion, "My home town where all the men are strong, where all the women are good looking, and all the children are above average."

What might have happened to the younger son and the older brother in their later life? What might the younger son have learned as he came back home having realized he had wasted his life chasing after things that were superficial? What might have happened to the older brother who stayed home and enjoyed the benefit of his parent's hospitality but who never ventured out on his own?

The text is found in Luke 15:11-32

Do you see yourself as the younger child who went away and came back or the older child who never left? What are the consequences of being one of those? I think we are one or the other.

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of this blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

PS
Theologians believe the whole purpose of this parable is Jesus' way of telling us about the nature of God. God is like a forgiving father who looks forward to the return of his wayward child. I think, for our purposes today, it has a greater meaning about who we are as children and how that influences the person we become.

Monday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

Currently, we have been a little depleated in the number of clergy we have on our staff. Nine years ago there were four full-time clergy on the staff. Rob White, Joyce Curtis, Don Bird, and Jim Cowell. A year ago we had three full-time clergy (myself, Rebecca McFee, and Megan Ryan) and two part-time clergy (David Dalke and Ray Miller).

This past year with Megan leaving in July we added a Youth Minister and have had two part-time clergy and two full time clergy. When Ray left this past month to go to Guatemala we added Lonnie Eakle to the staff to work in pastoral care and help with some of the other areas we aren't able to cover.

This coming Sunday Lonnie will be our preacher. He is a competent colleage who has brought much to our staff in a short period of time. He has served some of the largest churches in the Rocky Mountain Conference and has been a District Superintendent. Until his retirement we was Senior Pastor of Greeley First United Methodist Church.

We are pleased to welcome Lonnie to our pulpit and look forward to his wit and wisdom.

In a very short time he has proven to be insightful and helpful to the ministry at First Church. I know you will enjoy hearing him preach this Sunday.


If you have observations about the church in general or any particular program please email me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of this blog click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

Friday's thoughts on Sunday's sermon

In Deborah Tannen's book, You Just Don't Understand, we find this explanation concerning the difference between men and women:

"Much of what has been written about women's and men's claims that males are competitive and prone to conflict whereas females are cooperative and given to affiliation. But being in conflict also means being involved with each other. Although it is true that many women are more comfortable using language to express rapport whereas many men are more comfortable using it for self-display, the situation is really more complicated than that, because self-display, when part of a mutual struggle, is a kind of bonding. And conflict may be valued as a way of creating involvement with others.

To most women, conflict is a threat to connection, to be avoided at all costs. Disputes are preferably settled without direct confrontation. But to many men, conflict is the necessary means by which status is negotiated, so it is to be accepted and may even be sought, embraced, and enjoyed."

In the sermon Sunday I will explore the "satisfaction of a man". Men have a long view of things and like to imagine a legacy being left. We love to write books and put our names on the books we write. We name buildings after ourselves so that we can achieve a degree of immortality. Women become immortal through the birth of children.

The satisfaction of Abraham was the idea that his people would carry his name and would populate the earth. Many men like to think of themselves as mentors for those who follow us.

Women have children to carry for them an immortality beyond their lives. Men mentor young people who will carry the knowledge they have gained and that enables men, somewhat, to defeat finitude.

How do these ideas strike you? Are they true? False?

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of this blog click on the 'comments' box below.


I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster

Wednesday's reflection on Sunday's sermon

One of the most difficult things about men is our silence. Men tend to be more stoic and sullen at times. Of course, this doesn't apply to every man but to the idea of "men in general".

What makes us so quiet? Why is it we most often think what we believe before we say what we believe instead of saying what we want to say and then determining what we think by listening to our words?

In every man there is a degree of uncertainty. We live in a world that has changed and many of us haven't caught up to the change. We were told how we should respond to women but find our response being taken as condescending and paternalistic. We thought we understood what it meant to be successful but then have discovered that success is not measured by the power of our force but by the subtlety of our interaction. Especially, this is true for Caucasian men. We are lost in a world of rising expectations with people of other races being given honors and awards we have expected to come to us.

We are confused about gender roles in a world where women often take on the pose of men and act in a manner that is unexpected and aggressive/assertive.

When it comes to spiritually is become very confusing to us. We are like Abraham who had the idea that sacrificing his first born son Isaac was the right things to do and he was prepared to do it.

Male spirituality begins with the importance of silence. We are not speaking because we don't have that much to say. We are looking deeply into our souls trying to figure out who we are and what our role is in a world that has changed and the change is beyond our capacity of know what to do.

Do the women who read this blog understand this about the men in their lives? Do the men who read this blog grasp the truth in these observations?

To understand male spirituality we have to begin with an understanding of the silence of a man and the reasons for it.

What do you think?

Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Charles Schuster