Obadiah

Obadiah is our study for August 19. It is very short. Give it a read and leave me any comments that you come up with.

AMOS

This Sunday in worship, we consider the prophet Amos. Hold on! It is an intense prophecy!
The worship bulletin is here.

Katrina Relief by the Church

Check out this article in USA Today about different Christian groups that worked for Katrina relief. The United Methodist Church did pretty good.

The faithful lend a helping hand

Although officials say it's difficult to know the exact number of people who have volunteered in the Hurricane Katrina recovery, they estimate that more than 655,000 have served in Louisiana and Mississippi since the storm. Many faith-based groups have helped residents return to their homes.

Religious charities	Total volunteers	Homes improved*
Adventist Community Services	2,200	150
American Baptist Men	600	12
Baptist Builders	374	10
Brethren Disaster Ministries	1,608	352
Catholic Charities USA	15,481	2,550
Christian Disaster Response	238	35
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee	2,972	255
Church of Scientology	1,000	N/A **
Convoy of Hope (Christian)	16,962	2,828
Episcopal Relief & Development	18,303	2,471
Friends Disaster Service	1,550	96
Habitat for Humanity (Christian)	71,412	2,896
Islamic Relief	122	22
International Aid (Christian)	1,250	N/A **
Lutheran Disaster Response	26,585	8,242
Medical Teams International (Christian)	437	428
Mennonite Disaster Service (includes Amish volunteers)	9,000	750
Nazarene Disaster Response	15,000	200
Nechama (Jewish)	600	200
Operation Blessing	7,598	1,348
Presbyterian Church U.S.A.	29,345	3,380
Salvation Army	15,232	N/A **
Samaritan's Purse	12,026	5,000
Society of St. Vincent de Paul	4,000	N/A
Southern Baptist Convention	175,378	5,136
Tzu Chi Foundation (Buddhist)	1,319	N/A **
United Church of Christ National Disaster Ministries	4,985	792
United Methodist Committee on Relief	56,656	15,643
Volunteers of America	14,000	430
Totals	506,233	53,226

Source: USA TODAY research

* Improvement may include gutting, repairing or rebuilding. ** These groups have provided services other than rebuilding houses, such as providing food, water, clothes and other needs.

Vacation is ALMOST Here!

Tomorrow begins a SHORT vacation (back home Saturday). We are going to the Pointe South Mountain Resort in Phoenix for a few days of relaxation.

Next Sunday

We will look at the book of Amos. Seriously, take a look at it and pass along any comments you have.

This Sunday

You can find the book of Joel here. The worship bulletin is here. The key concept in the book of Joel is the Day of the Lord. Check out some introductory info on the book of Joel.

double feature results

I really liked both the Harry Potter movie and The Simpsons Movie. I don't know what else to say about it. The Simpsons had me laughing out loud several times. The movie does target Christianity and church (in a small way), but some of the criticism is valid and must be addressed, and if your faith can't stand up to sarcastic comments from yellow cartoon characters, you've got a bigger problem than the Simpsons. Besides, the best person in the movie is probably Ned Flanders, who is the main Christian character.

In the Harry Potter movie, Delores Umbridge was the most entertaining character to me. She was a villain, but an interesting one.

New Bike!!

I picked up my new bike yesterday! This will open a whole new world of bicycle commuting to me. Now, Mindy, Tyler, and I all have bikes we'll be riding around. Save the earth, save money, get exercise. We still have our 95 Nissan pickup, but we want to get to where we are driving it as little as possible. Suntran and bikes will be the main transportation. My bike is an Electra "Townie", in metallic blue. I started riding it last night, but am working up to commuting endurance.

We Sold Our Car!

We struck a deal to sell our Toyota Echo today! As a family, we are downsizing to one vehicle (our Nissan truck) and are planning to drive it as little as possible, too. It's about having a smaller impact on the environment, saving money, being more safe, getting more exercise, and being less dependent on cars. Mindy already rides her bike to work most days (and other places, too) and I'll be getting a bike soon.

Double Feature

I have planned a double feature tomorrow! At 2:40 at Park Mall, Bethany and Tyler and I (Mindy's working) will see the latest Harry Potter. Then at 5:45, Mindy will join us for...are you ready...THE SIMPSONS MOVIE!!!! Tyler and I are big Simpsons fans. Of course, we will be getting (excuse me, already got--I fandangoed the tickets today) the bargain/matinee price for both movies. That's pretty much the only way I'll go to a movie unless it's at the cheap theater.

BTW, Bethany has already finished the latest Harry Potter book (probably TWICE by now), and I'll start it as soon as I finish the one I'm reading now.

August 5 The Prophet Joel

On August 5 we will consider the prophet JOEL. Take some time to look it over and let me know if you have any thoughts. How does the book of Joel inform or impact our lives as followers of Christ? What significance does it have for my life or my faith? Leave a comment with your ideas. You might find your comments part of next week's study! The title of the study is "The Pouring Out of God's Spirit". Joel is quoted by Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.14-21.

Sunday July 29

This Sunday, we begin a study on the MINOR prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures (otherwise known as the Old Testament). The minor prophets (Hosea through Malachi) are differentiated from the major prophets mostly by their length. The minor prophets tend to be shorter. That's good for you, huh? Hosea, our book for this Sunday, is 14 chapters long, though. We won't read or discuss all 14 chapters...just the first 13! Not really. We'll take a long view of the story of the book. I called this segment "God's Senseless Love". Take a look at Hosea and try to figure out what I mean. You can check it out in your Bible, or online here. We will also consider Psalm 139 and http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=52493425. The worship bulletin is here.

Sunday July 22

Our theme for this Sunday is "Rhythm: Living in Tune with God". We will watch and discuss Rob Bell's "Rhythm" video from the Nooma series.
Bell's contention is that God's presence in this world is like a song that is playing all around us, and the issue is whether or not you are living in tune with the song. We will journal around some questions, discuss, look at Scriptures, and pray. Here is the worship bulletin for Sunday.

Sunday July 8

This Sunday, our theme is "Remember Your Baptism". This is the second of two messages about the sacraments of our church. Two articles I would recommend are By Water and the Spirit and "Baptism and Remembrance of Baptism in the United Methodist Church" . This Sunday's worship bulletin is here.

Mike Yaconelli

Credit Marko also for this clip of Mike Yaconelli highlights. Mike is my youth ministry hero. He was killed a couple of years ago in a traffic accident.

Women in Art

My wife told me about this video the same day I saw a link to it on Marko's blog. Check it out.

Sunday, July 1

We will begin a study for the next two weeks on the sacraments. July 1 will be "Experiencing Communion" in which we will examine the Biblical roots of our modern day practice, and we will center the whole service around the experience of the eucharist. Scriptures will be Mark 14.22-25, Matthew 26.26-29, Luke 22.17-20, Acts 2.42, 46-47, and 1 Corinthians 10.15-17, and 11.17-26. Sacrament refers to a means of grace. Some denominations do not use the word, holding that grace is only bestowed by God, and there is nothing we can do to invoke it. Others want to be sure to communicate that both communion and baptism are purely symbolic acts with no inherent power or meaning in themselves. United Methodists believe that God does act in communion and in baptism. Grace is indeed imparted to those who participate in the sacraments. This is not magic. This is not human manipulation of the divine. This is God responding to his people when they honor God by observing the sacraments. You can read "This Holy Mystery" which is the result of a United Methodist study on communion, published in 2004. On July 8, we will consider "Remember Your Baptism". There is a United Methodist study on baptism also, "By Water and the Spirit".

Sunday June 24

This Sunday, we will again be considering the Lectionary Scriptures. The Gospel reading is Luke 8.26-39, which is the story of the demon-possessed man Jesus encounters in the land of the Gerasenes. This story is also told in Mark 5.1-20. This is a story of change, of radical life transformation. As we have said before, God is a God of change. This story describes the kind of change that can come into a life that encounters Jesus. The other Lectionary Scriptures for this Sunday are 1 Kings 19.1-15, Psalm 42, and Galatians 3.23-29.
The worship bulletin for June 24 is here.

Worship for June 17, Father's Day

Next Sunday we will consider two Scriptures: Romans 8.14-17, and Galatians 4.4-7. Both of these Scriptures talk about the Spirit moving us to cry out to God "Abba, Father!" "Abba" is an intimate term for father, like "Daddy". Wesley spoke much about conversion and assurance of faith by differentiating between the faith of a servant and the faith of a child. What does this mean? How does this work? Do YOU have the faith of a child of God? Read the Scriptures and think about them and let me know what you think. Leave a comment.

Worship for This Sunday, June 10

Our theme for Sunday is "Raising the Dead". This is based on the lectionary Scripture readings for this week. Read about the Revised Common Lectionary here. The Scriptures for this week are 1 Kings 17.8-24, Psalm 146, Galatians 1.11-24, and Luke 7.11-17. Click on each Scripture to read it. You can view this week's worship bulletin here. And further information on the "diamond prayer" is here. My point is this: "Raising the Dead" speaks of change--radical change from one state to another--and this is what God wants to do in us and in this world. How can we get involved?