It was early on Monday, January 5, 2004.  I’d just spent the first night in our house in Wichita Falls – without any heat or hot water. In running a pressure test before turning on the gas, the gas company had discovered there was a leak on our side and wouldn’t turn on the gas.  I was cold and realized that I wasn’t even sure what time the office hours at FUMC Wichita Falls were!  

I showed up at 8:30am and waited thirty minutes until the Administrative Assistant, Deanna McCray showed up and informed me that I needed to get a newsletter page completed before the noon staff meeting.  I’d never even used MS Publisher before. I was a bit overwhelmed.

On that first newsletter page I wrote the following:

Over this past 8 years, I have been blessed by ministry with you as well as what you have taught me as we’ve walked along the journey of faith together.  We have challenged each other in ways that I believe have helped each of us to grow in our faith, growing more fully into the full stature of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

As you may already know, my wife, Sandra, has accepted a position as Director of Advertising Sales with Sojourners (www.sojo.net) in Washington, DC, and she starts on March 5.  Thus, we will be moving soon.  Our last Sunday with you will be February 26, and I will be preaching that day.  That is also the day of our 4th Annual Chili – Stew – Dessert Cook-off supporting our church-wide missions initiatives.  I hope that you can be there for both worship and this fun event.

With or without me, the tasks of Christian Education and Missions need to go on, so I ask that you support these areas in any ways that you can.  Likewise, please, support our Staff Parish Relations Committee as they begin the search for who will follow.  If you have questions or concerns about that process, I hope you’ll take the initiative to be in conversation with them, sharing your hopes and dreams for these ministries that are near and dear to my heart and hopefully yours as well.

Although many miles will separate us, I’m grateful that we will continue together in ministry as we are all still sharing the same Gospel of Jesus Christ and working together to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  Keep up the good work!

As we go forward into the new year of 2012, I have already learned something new that I wish to share with you.

We all probably know that when lion trainers/tamers go into a cage with one or more lions, that the trainer carries a whip, a pistol, and a stool. I have always wondered why they carried a stool into the cage, and I just learned why.

The trainer holds the stool by the back and thrusts the legs toward the face of the lion. The lion tries to focus on all four legs at the same time. In trying to focus on all four legs, a kind of “paralysis” overwhelms the lion. The lion becomes tame, weak, and disabled, because its attention is too fragmented.

I believe that we humans can experience the same thing. We may want to accomplish many worthy goals in 2012, for ourselves, our family, and / or our business. But if we focus on too many goals at once, we will not be able to focus on any goal.

Let us make sure that we focus on only those things that we can handle at once. It may be 3 things, two things, or only one. But staying focused as we go forward will enable us to accomplish many things.

As always, I look forward to seeing you, especially in worship.

Paul Goodrich

O God, Christmas is right around the corner,
and we are full of expectations.
What will happen in worship?
Will my prayer get answered?
What will happen at such-and-such party?
What will we get so-and-so for Christmas?
What will WE get for Christmas?
Will the answer to these questions meet our expectations?

O Lord, in centuries past,
people were expecting a messiah,
and there were expectations
about what that messiah would be like.
Is it interesting that Jesus did not fit these expectations?

God, as our story in Luke goes,
he was born to parents who were peasants.
He was born in a stable and laid in a manger.
There must have been the smells
of hay, animal dander, and even manure there.
Was that a place fit for a king?
The lowest of low – shepherds – were his first visitors.

He didn’t come starting a revolution,
but brought good news to the poor.
He proclaimed release of captives and
recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free.
He preached the year of your favor, O God, to the least of these.
He did not amass a great army
but gathered together a rag-tag group of twelve
and some women to support them.
He didn’t come catering to the rich and famous
but to the poor, disenfranchised, and sick
all the while calling on the rich and famous to take care of them, too.
And yet, many of us call this one
who did not meet expectations, “Messiah.”

As we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ at Christmas, O Lord,
help us to consider what this might mean for our expectations.
Let us not forget that in the story of creation,
You didn’t say everything was perfect, only, “Very good.”

Amen.

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The above prayer is a response to the great discussion we had at the 2nd Session of the 2011 Advent Study,
Christmas is Not Your Birthday,
inspired by the book of the same name.

This prayer was prayed at First United Methodist Church in Wichita Falls on Sunday, December 11, 2011.

One of the greatest Christmas gifts that we can give to God and to others is a gift from our heart. It does not have to be anything pretty, big, or expensive.  It only needs to be something that we feel deep in our hearts that we want to give / do.

Corrie Ten Boom told a story that makes this very point. It is a story about an old monk who sang a Christmas song every Christmas Eve for all the monks in the monastery and for the visitors who would come from the village for the special services.

The monk’s voice was not very pretty. In fact, it was ugly. But the monk loved the Lord, and he sang from his heart.

One year the director of the cloister said, “I’m sorry Brother John, we will not need you to sing this Christmas Eve. We have a new monk who has a beautiful voice.”

That Christmas Eve night, the new monk sang beautifully, and everyone was happy. But later that night, an angel came to the superior and said, “Why didn’t you have a Christmas Eve song?” The superior was very surprised. “We had a beautiful song that was inspirational. Didn’t you hear it?”

The angel shook his head sadly. “It may have been inspiring to you, but we did not hear it in heaven. The old monk with the raspy voice has Christ in his heart and he sings from his heart. The young monk was singing for his own benefit.”

As we consider what special gift to give to God and to others this Christmas, let us make sure that it is a gift from our hearts.

I look forward to seeing you, especially in our worship services on December 18,  Christmas Eve at 6:00pm, and on Christmas Day at 10:30am.

Maggie and I wish you a very merry and blessed Christmas.

Paul Goodrich

On December 11, 2011, Rev. Paul Goodrich will preach a sermon entitled “Finding the Faith of Christmas” based on the following text. Contemplate it’s meaning for you and our church over the coming days in preparation for worship.

Luke 2:8-20:

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”

16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Write below about insights you’ve gleaned from this passage. . .

Have you ever thought about the purpose of worship?  What about when we worship – the day or time of year?

Jesus was Jewish, so it is important to think about our Jewish heritage here.  In Judaism, the Sabbath is observed starting at dusk on Friday to dusk on Saturday – the last day of the week.  Think about the first story of Creation in Genesis 1.  God is said to have labored six days and rested on the Sabbath – the seventh day.  Part of the purpose of worshiping on the last day of the week is to look at the week that has just passed and to give thanks to God for the blessings received that week.  This is an important aspect of worship that we often overlook with our more future-oriented outlook both within Christianity and as a culture.

Within Christendom, worship is most typically held (obviously not always the case) on Sunday, not Saturday.  Why?  It is a weekly reminder of Easter SUNDAY.  Rightly understood, the Sabbath has not been moved to Sunday; rather, Sunday is a day to worship and be reminded of the gift of Easter.  On top of that, though, because worship is held on the first day of the week in this scenario, it is a preparation for living out the life of faith in the week to come.  It is an opportunity to become re-focused on the goal of the Christian life.

I think it may be partially because the New Year follows Christmas, that we tend to focus in December (the time of Advent and Christmas) on what has gone on in the previous year.  It’s the last month of the year; it’s a time of ending.

The problem is that we are basing this off of the Gregorian calendar not the Christian liturgical calendar.  In this calendar, the New Year begins four Sundays prior to Christmas Day – the first Sunday of Advent.  It is a time of remembering the birth of Christ, but it is also a preparation for the coming of Christ again.

Often, this second coming is envisioned as vision of rapture – Jesus coming down out of the sky.  Let’s consider this another way, though, using these passages of Scripture:

• For where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there among them. – Matthew 18:20
• ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer the Son of Man, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” – Matthew 25:37-40
• Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. – 1 Corinthians 12:27

When we really listen to these passages, we see that Jesus returns all the time – when we gather together, when we serve those in need.  Advent, then, is the time that we should be preparing ourselves (and allowing God to prepare us) to bring forth Christ into the world through our fellowship and service to others.  As a parallel to Mary’s story, Advent is the time of our pregnancy where our calling from God grows in conviction in preparation for being birthed into action after Christmas.

It is important to remember and cherish our past blessings, so it is fitting that Thanksgiving falls the Thursday before the first Sunday of Advent.  Let us change direction and focus, though, during this season of Advent, looking for how we will bring Christ into the world.

• How might God be calling you to bring Christ into the world in the coming year through your Christian fellowship and service to those in need?
• Knowing that you are but one member of the body of Christ, who might you invite to share in those actions?

Rev. Troy Sims

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The above devotional is a response to the great discussion we had at the 1st Session of the 2011 Advent Study, Christmas is Not Your Birthday, inspired by the book of the same name.