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Wednesday's thoughts

2009-11-11T13:28:00.002-07:00

"Working for the Laud"
My grandmother used to say, "Self praise is half scandal" and I think that's true. If we need to blow our own horn to trumpet our own accomplishments then no one will hear us. All they will hear is our need for self-congratulations.

But what do we do about the need for recognition? How do we work around that very basic and human need?
One suggestion is to have an agent. We could find someone who would stand in front of us and other people and be assigned to tell people what we have done. What we may need is a campaign manager; an agent; a press secretary; an advocate.

Sometimes this person is a parent or a spouse or a friend or a family member. We need agents and advocates and we have them.

There are people who are doing that for us and it's important to note that and to appreciate what they do for us or what they have done for us in the past.

Who are your advocates?
Who are the people who can be counted on to be our agents to speak out for us when something needs to be said?

Sunday, in worship we are going to take some time to think about our agents. Sometimes the things they tell us about ourselves are things we would rather not hear. Sometimes they are the ones who lift our spirits when we are down and out. Sometimes they are the ones who speak up for us and we don't even know they are doing it.
In John's Gospel just before Jesus' death on the cross he said to his friend that he would provide an advocate for them. We find these words, "I will not leave you desolate" and "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom God will send in my name will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."

If we are working for the laud we are remembering we don't need to congratulate ourselves. There are people doing that for us and we can let go of the need to do it.

Who is your agent? Your advocate?
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with others click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts

2009-11-08T06:08:00.002-07:00

"Working for the Laud"
We are thinking about thanking just now in the church. We are taking the time to thank each group that is involved in the ministry here. Our Commitment Sunday concluded early this year and that left a number of Sundays for us to do something we had not done before; to take the time to thank people who rarely are recipients of gratitude. The fact is there are so many of our members who are working in the background doing what they do without recognition. We wanted to take some time to thank them. This will continue until November 22nd, the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day.

The sermon Sunday will look at an aspect of thankfulness. What do we do and how do we handle not being appreciated for the things we do? Does that stifle our enthusiasm for the task? How can it not?

What does it mean to work for the praise; to work for the laud? Is there a better way to engage ourselves in the important work that needs to be done than expecting to be appreciated, noticed, or thanked?

I think there is a better way. In fact, if we are working for the laud we will be disappointed. Many times we will be overlooked. People are busy with their own efforts. People don't always see what is being done and we find ourselves being bypassed and overlooked.

What is the best motivation to fulfill the important tasks? Is it in the accomplishment with the understanding of a job well done? Is it some sense divine recognition and accomplishment; our labor is not in unnoticed if it is an expression of our faith? Is there a difference between working for the Lord and working for the laud?
What do you think? What motivates you to do the good that you do? If you have some thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to allow others to read your ideas click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Friday's Thoughts

2009-11-06T09:20:00.002-07:00

It has been difficult this Veteran's Day Weekend when we think of the murders that have happened at Fort Hood. What would drive someone to think killing is an act of God? How could a man of faith, an army officer, and a health care professional do what he did? What can we learn from this?

We take some consolation from the fact that it is Children's Sabbath this Sunday and we will have our children in church.

What children remind us of and why Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and forbid them not, for to such belongs the Kingdom of God."

With children they are honest.
With children there is goodness.

Children lead us from honest to goodness to God.

In a related issue Krista Tippett believes we learn to be good by being attracted by beauty. She wrote it this way in her book, Speaking of Faith, "As much as I have protested that virtue alive in the world is not about lovely platitudes, beauty is one of its defining attributes. A passion for beauty has always been at the core of human religious experience. Art, architecture, literature, and music owe everything to religion. The examples begin pouring out if you ponder this for just a second, lush and wild: not just the music of Bach, but the mandalas of Tibetan Buddhism, the calligraphy of the Qur'an and on and on and on."

Do we learn to be good through our passion for beauty?

What do you think? Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles

Wednesday's thoughts

2009-11-04T11:05:00.002-07:00

"Exposing Virtue; Why are We Good?"

Every year about this time we have, what we call, Children's Sabbath. It is the one time in the year when the focus is on children. We call off Sunday School classes and we build the service around children.

This will be the last Children's Sabbath we will have at First Church. From now on children will be in the Sanctuary and classes will be called off the first Sunday of every month. Why are we doing this?

We have realized something recently. We see it so clearly. If we continue to have our children in the worship service only once a year and if we continue to have them in worship only up until the time of the children's sermon and then we send them out of the Sanctuary they will never know what it means to worship.

We have determined we have been making an important mistake with our children and we are trying to make it right.
First Sunday of every month our children will be in the worship service. They will have a chance to experience worship and can participate in communion with their parents. We will do what we can to make sure the services are meaningful for the children but will not sacrifice what is meaningful for the adults.

Why are we good? We are good because we surround ourselves with those things that remind us to be and do good things.

What do you think about having the children in our worship services once a month? Is this a good idea?

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 box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts

2009-11-01T08:26:00.002-07:00

"Why Are We Good?"

This is the sermon theme for Sunday November 8th. We are following one of the chapters in Krista Tippett's book trying to determine what makes us do what we should when we are fully capable of doing what we could.

There are times in our lives when we are tempted to act in a way that is to our advantage. We can realize material gain, or added power and prestige. We can come to see great advancement if we act in self interest. Most of the time we can get away with it because we may be the only one who will ever know.

There is something within us that calls us to a higher purpose; that encourages us to a greater good. Why are we good? Why do we act in a way that is to our detriment but to the greater good?

Is it conscience?
Is it upbringing?

Is it God?

I am looking for stories for when we have acted against our self-interest. I am trying to explore the reason why.

If you have thoughts please email me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Friday's Thoughts

2009-10-23T11:06:00.002-06:00

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

Wednesday's thoughts

2009-10-21T22:33:00.002-06:00

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

Monday's thoughts

2009-10-18T08:13:00.002-06:00

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

Monday's thoughts

2009-10-12T18:06:00.001-06:00

"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"

Friday's Thoughts

2009-10-09T18:28:00.002-06:00

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

Wednesday's thoughts

2009-10-07T22:45:00.002-06:00

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

Monday's thoughts

2009-10-04T06:59:00.002-06:00

"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

2009-10-04T06:58:00.000-06:00

Friday's Thoughts

2009-10-02T09:45:00.002-06:00

"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

Wednesday's thoughts

2009-09-30T14:52:00.002-06:00

There is an interesting interchange in Luke's Gospel. Something that would be easy to overlook. Once you see it you can't fail to notice the consequences of what it says to us.

Sunday, October 4th, is World Communion Sunday.

Chapter 22: 19-23

Jesus took some bread in his hands and gave thanks for it. He broke the bread and handed it to his apostles. Then he said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this as a way of remembering me."
After the meal he took another cup of wine in his hands. Then he said, "This is my blood. It is poured out for you, and with it God makes a new agreement. The one who will betray me is here at the table with me!" (In another text the disciples begin saying to him, "Is it I".)

Then the apostles started auguring about who would ever do such a thing.
The apostles got into an argument about which one of them was the greatest."

In those few verses we see Jesus' disciples/apostles doing two things; they are pondering which of them would betray him and they were debating with each other which of them was the most favored.

When we come to the table this Sunday we will come with guilt because we know we have failed to live our faith. But we will, also, come with grandiosity because we have the impression that we have fulfilled his will and way.

We, like the disciples will ask:
"Is it I? Have I betrayed him?"
"Is it I? Am I the most favored?"

We bring both grandiosity and guilt to the table this Sunday. We table our dreams.

Which is most important? Guilt or the sense of grandiosity?

What do you think?
Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net.

If you are willing to share your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts

2009-09-27T06:52:00.002-06:00

"When It's Time To Table Your Dreams"
On Sunday, October 4th we will join other Christians all over the world in celebrating "World Communion Sunday". We will meet at the table and we will recall the final meal Jesus had with his friends before his death on the cross.

At that meal there was the announcement that one of them would betray him. There was a general awareness that the dream was dead; that there were changes coming that hadn't been anticipated. At that meal the disciples pondered there future. Some of them argued with Jesus about what he saw coming. Some of them had advice for him about what he ought to do.

Basically, the dream was dead. The hope had ended at the table and they knew it. At a time when they celebrated their historical moment when they felt God had sent the angel of death to "pass over" their people. At a time when Jesus and his friends remembered the "Passover" and they thought about what was going to happen to them there was an understanding that there would be no "passover" for them.

Sometimes we have to table our dreams. Sometimes we come to realize that we some of what we hoped to accomplish we will never accomplish and we have to back away.

What dreams do you have that need to be tabled; or re figured? Have you ever had to reconsider in light of new circumstances and, in doing so, come to see even better dreams emerging?

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 box below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Friday's Thoughts

2009-09-25T09:13:00.002-06:00

This sermon will address the dreams we have personally, but it also has us consider our dreams as a church. Our personal dreams and our corporate, congregational dreams converge. I think that one feeds into the other. We are stronger people because we are united with each other in faith. When we are having trouble fulfilling our personal hopes we find additional incentive to reconnect with those hopes as we work together to accomplish our church's vision.

The New Testament text is 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. Paul in writing to the church is attempting to remind them of something higher. He is trying to open their eyes to see and to open their perspectives to do more than they thought. I think these verse are some of the most important in the Bible.
Paul wrote:

"No wonder we do not lose heart! Though our outward humanity is in decay, yet day by day we are inwardly renewed. Our troubles are slight and short-lived; and their outcome an eternal glory which outweighs them far. Meanwhile our eyes are fixed, not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen: for what is seen passes away; what is unseen is eternal."

This is what it takes to accomplish our dreams:

We conquer our internal inhibitions so our dreams become possible.
We confront the external prohibitions so our dreams become probable.
We connect to our ultimate expectations so our dreams become inevitable.

We look within, we look without, and we look beyond and our dreams come true.

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 box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Wednesday's thoughts

2009-09-23T10:04:00.002-06:00

What makes our dreams seem pathetic and not prophetic? What holds us back from becoming what God needs us to become or from being able to fulfill in our lives what we are able to fulfill.

There are three steps I suggest that we take.

1. First of all address what is internal. Most of what keeps us from achieving our dreams or establishing dreams that are not worthy of our spirit and wisdom lies within us. We will want to look internally at what seems impossible.

2. Secondly, there are always external forces we have to face. Some of the external forces are decisive. Most of them can be overcome if we are able to conquer what lies within us. All at once we look at what seems improbable. If it is merely improbable that means there is a possibility if we can gather the wisdom and strength to overcome it.

3. Finally, when he join our effort with a purpose that is divine what once seemed impossible and then seemed improbable, will become inevitable. Not only can we do it but now we know it will be done. No longer is is a pathetic dream we can never reach but it becomes an inevitable dream that is possible and reachable and prophetically necessary.

What are your dreams? How far along are you in accomplishing them? Are they impossible, improbable, and are they moving toward becoming inevitable?

What do you think? Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thought click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts

2009-09-20T06:56:00.002-06:00

The next several sermons will focus on our dreams. As a church we have been asking for people to share their dreams and hopes for the church's future. Several of them are unusual. One, for example, it is suggested we put Dr. Pepper in all the water fountains.

When we take the time to dream we are given permission to imagine the impossible. We are given an invitation to look at what could be even if it is impractical.

The first theme for the three Sunday sermons is "Pipe dreams". I want us to think about what could be and what might, to some, seem impossible.

The Christian faith is filled with that kind of thinking. It began with Easter and continued through the thinking that the church had of the second coming of Christ. The early church had "pipe dreams" and those dreams influenced how they live and what they did.

What are the "pipe dreams" we might have for our church?
1. a family life center
2. development of another United Methodist Church in Fort Collins
3. a latch key program for children after school
4. a coffee house atmosphere and we hire a full time chef to keep food available when people come to the church to visit, to take classes, to read, and to get to know each other
5. a book store for people to purchase at a reduced rate the best of literature to have for future reference

What are the "pipe dreams" we might have for our lives?
1. to make a difference in the world by what we do and say
2. to influence a young person in a way that will change their lives
3. to write a book that will be read by many people who will have learned from our wisdom
4. to leave a legacy that others will want to follow and develop so that what we start with our lives will be so important that others will want to continue it and perfect it
5. to understand the Christian faith to the point that we live it

What are your "pipe dreams"?
I'd like to hear from you. Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thought click on the box below.

I look forward to your emails.

Charles Schuster

Friday's Thoughts

2009-09-18T09:30:00.002-06:00

After the disaster what do we do? looking at the history of Israel is instructive but we've got to consider our own situation and approach the question spiritually and with common sense.

Here are the three approaches to a disaster (a disaster includes the obvious nature interruptions such as tornado, flood, and forest fire. It also includes such personal catastrophic events such as the onset of cancer or heart attack or diabetes. It could include business failure or bankruptcy or automobile accident. It would include terrorist acts and random events that I hadn't thought about).

This is what I think we can do and this is what the sermon will try to put across:
a. After the disaster find a pastor. Find a person who is willing to be with you in the depths of your crisis.
b. After the disaster move faster to the future. Never quit moving forward not matter how hard it is. There comes a time when it is important to take a step toward the future rather than concentrating on the past.
c. After the disaster don't give up laughter. There is humor to be found in every life event. What makes us cry can be turned around so that we learn to laugh.

Those are the points to the sermon and I will try to develop them. What do you think? Do you have suggestions? Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have the community read your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Wednesday's thoughts

2009-09-16T11:05:00.002-06:00

There has to be a way our faith can help us deal with the unexpected and the disastrous. If all we speak of is the good times or the minor inconvenient moments in life and we do not address the really difficult occasions when our world is falling apart, it is hardly functional. Faith has to be present to us when the times are tough. It must say something to us when things are not working out like we had hoped and when we are feeling uprooted and broken. It must address the roughest of times and it must speak a word that gets through to us.

There have been tornadoes and forest fires and recently an apartment unit caught on fire and people had to be relocated. There have been personal tragedies in our lives when things were falling apart and we weren't sure how to hold it together or if we would ever get it together again.

The people of Israel came back from the exile and returned to their land. The trauma of the exile was compounded by the impact of the return.

What do we do after the disaster? How do we put our lives back together?

This is the issue I raise this Sunday.
If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the congregation click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts

2009-09-13T07:30:00.002-06:00

Third Isaiah is thought to be that part of Isaiah that begins with chapter 56 and runs to the end of the Isaiah passages (Chapter 66). This author wrote after the exile had ended and the people had returned to the land. They came back timid and unclear of their role or responsibility. They came back wondering about their future.

This is something that is easy to understand. When your life has been uprooted how do you get yourself back together? When everything that you had is lost how do you get back to find who you are?

Anyone who had been in a disastrous situation understands this. People who were in the 9-11 bombings and survived could tell us much about how to overcome when you have been overwhelmed. The apartment fire here in Fort Collins has put some people out of their home environment. They will struggle with how to pick up the pieces of their lives and move one. Some who have had major surgery will understand what it means to get back on the road to recovery.

Has it happened to you and if so what suggestions to you have? Have you ever had to pick up your life and start over? I'd love to hear from you. 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.

Charles Schuster

Friday's Thoughts

2009-09-11T15:37:00.002-06:00

What brings us down? What makes us less than we can be or should become? Is there original sin? Is it a biblical idea without foundation or does it have merit?

I'm not sure it is something within us because we are human but I have thought there are ways we fail to live up to the potential that is in us. I have thought two of the ways we do that are so opposite that they seem opposed. I'm guessing they are more related than we realize.

The most prevalent problem is the result of the fact that we think so little of ourselves that we cannot imagine grasping the bigger potential we possess. We constantly let people put us down and when they are not putting us down we put ourselves down. We fail to act when we should and we run ourselves into the point that we cannot rise above it. We become listless losers who have not cause; no concern; and no passion for life. We suffer from sloth or laziness. We settle for less and accept little of what's coming to us. There becomes no hope for us and no future for us.

The more obvious problem we have is that we come to conclude too much about ourselves and we think we have all the answers to all the questions even before the questions are asked. We imagine we can do it all and all we do is what we are able to do. We run around trying to figure everything out assuming we are the only ones doing the figuring. We see little beyond ourselves and glory in our independence and in our single-mindedness.

Biblical writers call that sin. Thinking too small leads to the sin of sloth and thinking too highly of ourselves leads to the sin of pride. Either way we are settling for less. There is more to us than we often give ourselves credit and there is more that we can do if we tap into the power that is beyond us.

Second Isaiah warned his people that the end of the Exile was coming and they needed to begin to act like they believed it.

They seemed to enjoy their bad luck and they seemed to have trouble accepting the idea that the news was better and might be good.

Do you believe there is something wrong with us and that it comes from the idea that we think too little of ourselves or we think too much?

How do you deal with the idea of original sin?

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

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Wednesday's thoughts

2009-09-09T11:33:00.002-06:00

"Helpless are the Hopeless"

This sermon will try to explore a basic human flaw. It's something all have if we would admit to it. We all know what it is to want to live in the darkness rather than embracing the light. Jesus, in John's Gospel, said, "Here lies the test: the light has come into the world, but men and women preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil." (John 3:18)

I'm not sure the reason for our preference for the darkness rather than the light is due to the fact that we are evil. It's more complicated than that. We run from the light and we prefer the darkness because the darkness is more comfortable and we like being in it because we are used to it. The light is new to us. The darkness is where we have been.

Any change, however good, is less appealing, than any constant, however difficult. We are better to accept what is comfortable than to drift into accepting something new.

I think we prefer the dark because we know it. We live in it and it has become our home.
The people of Israel had problems leaving Egypt in the Exodus because they thought slavery in Egypt was better than freedom in the desert. They thought it was better to be safe and protected even if they had surrendered their freedom.

I want to have us consider what changes we need to make. It will be Rally day and we will want to find a way to rally the church and to rally each other. We will want to find a way to move forward and stop staying put.

What makes us love the dark? Why do we have a difficult time with change? What do you think? If you have ideas about this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts

2009-09-06T07:03:00.002-06:00

In the New Interpreter’s Dictionary scholar Richard Clifford writes about Isaiah 40-55 which is a section of Isaiah called “Second Isaiah”.
“One reason why Second Isaiah can be called the legitimate successor of Isaiah of Jerusalem is that he held the same view of the judgment process and regarded his commission as continuing the commission of First Isaiah. In Second Isaiah’s view, divine judgment was an ongoing process continuing into his own day. Like his prophetic predecessor, he felt called to monitor the progress of judgment and invite the people to play their part in its current phase. For Second Isaiah, a new stage had been reached: The earlier phase of punishment and destruction was over, and a new phase was about the begin; restoration. Second Isaiah received the commission to preach consolation in the same divine assembly where First Isaiah had heard the commission to announce devastation.”
I have approach this three set sermon series on the Prophet Isaiah with the understanding that there were three basic writers included in the prophet’s work.
1st Isaiah (before the exile) Chapters 1-39
2nd Isaiah (during the exile) Chapters 40-55
3rd Isaiah (after the exile) Chapters 56-66
The prophet has three different tasks and it approaches three different era’s of Israel’s cultural and political life.

Second Isaiah has the same kind of assignment we have today. It is our job sometimes to convey to people that the worst is over and it's time to celebrate the best that can be. In the worst of times we can be ones who call people back to the best. Jurgen Moltmann developed an entire theology called "the theology of hope". It is his position that how we think about something is what makes it happen. If we think the worst it will be bad. If we think the best then things will happen for the best.

What do you think about this idea? How relevant is it and how necessary is it today?
If you have thoughts about this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to allow the congregation to read your thoughts and respond to them click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster