This is the internet blog for Jim Droste, pastor of the Oakfield & Tabor United Methodist Churches. I will be updating this blog daily hoping to cover: events, ideas, sermon introductions and other issues pertinent to the two churches and the greater Methodist community.
Members of Tabor and Oakfield United Methodist Church,
At this Sunday's worship service, we will be looking at the question, "Where is your brother?" This is a question that God asks of Cain after he kills his brother Abel in jealousy. This question that God asks of Cain, God asks of all people. He simply asks it of us in a different reason. Jesus said that the greatest commandments were that we love God and that we love one another. God doesn't ask, "Where is you brother?" because he thinks we murdered someone! He asks because throughout the Bible, God demonstrates the importance of looking out for each other.
The question is not "Who is your brother?". That's simple. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. We seek to help those who do not know Christ so that they may be our brother or sister. The question is about where they are in our life. When we know where they are, we can act as Christ calls us to act. Come prepared to think about this question. :)
The bible readings for this Sunday are:
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35
At Tabor Church we will be celebrating the final Sunday of the Heifer Project for the Tabor Sunday School. We will find out how much money they have raised over the last few months and decide how they wish to use the money to help those less fortunate.
I look forward to seeing you at our worship service. Look for your brothers and sisters!
Some of the more meaningful worship experiences that I have had are services in which I am an active participant. While I believe that you are active in any service, I am talking specifically about members of the congregation speaking or being involved in worship. I know that as someone who has sat in the pew, worship can be boring. While you are "participating", you are mostly being talked at, and you don't feel connected.
Our Wednesday Lenten services have a discussion component involved in them. During what would be the sermon portion of the service, we have a bible study with a discussion. We tried it for the first time last night. We had a brief discussion with a few folks participating. I am hopeful that as we continue to do this style of service throughout Lent, folks will feel more comfortable sharing.
This is something new...fighting our habit of sitting and being talked to. Hopefully, people appreciate the change. Active worship is exciting worship!
As I look out the window, the weather does not appear to be cooperating, but I am still planning on having our first Wednesday evening Lenten service. I encourage members and friends of both Tabor and Oakfield to attend. We will be meeting at 7:00 PM at Tabor United Methodist Church.
This evening we will be concentrating on Matthew 19:16-26:
16Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
17Jesus said, "Why do you question me about what's good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you."
18-19The man asked, "What in particular?"
Jesus said, "Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself."
20The young man said, "I've done all that. What's left?"
21"If you want to give it all you've got," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me."
22That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crest-fallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn't bear to let go.
23-24As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God's kingdom? Let me tell you, it's easier to gallop a camel through a needle's eye than for the rich to enter God's kingdom."
25The disciples were staggered. "Then who has any chance at all?"
26Jesus looked hard at them and said, "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it."
The questions we will be reflecting on is: How rich is too rich?
What is Jesus asking of this gentleman?
What is he asking of us?
How might we change our lives as a result of reading this?
We will take an offering to benefit Haiti and the Eden/Oakfield Pastor's fund to help members of both communities. We will also have a service of Communion.
My father gave me a copy of Daily Devotions Inspired by 90 Minutes in Heaven for Christmas. There are 90 devotions total, so I read two each week, one to start my work week, and one to end it. I have found these reflections and devotions to be very meaningful. Today's devotion addressed something that I, and I think others, have thought about: Are there animals in heaven?
Piper writes, "People are confused because some say there are no animals in heaven because they don't have souls. Others say there are animals in heaven because they are mentioned in the Bible." Fair enough. I've heard arguments each way. He says that we can't say one way or other definitively that animals will or will not be in heaven.
I appreciate his perspective. From his own experience, and from what we know about heaven form the Bible, heaven is a place of perfection. If heaven for you would include pets or animals that were close to you, they will be with you in heaven. If you were in heaven and you missed your pets, then heaven wouldn't be perfect for you. You'd be missing your pets in heaven.
He writes, "We also know that God is the perfect host. Jesus Christ will be there. God will lavishly provide for every need we have. Nothing will be missing. After all, if anything is missing, it won't be heaven, will it?"
This Sunday we will gather together in worship at both churches for the First Sunday of Lent. The sermon on Sunday will focus on the first of four questions. The four questions that will be examined throughout Lent are four questions that are central to the Bible. This week's question is a question that God asks of humans. It is Genesis 3:9, "But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, 'Where are you?'"
I think of who will be reading this E-mail. There are folks who are in high school. There are folks in colleges and universities. There are young families, there are those who are retired, and everyone in between. We are all in different parts of our lives, and we all have a part to play in God's kingdom. God wants to know where we are and how we are doing in our faith life...he wants to have a strong relationship with each us. The scripture lessons for this Sunday are:
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
We will look together at this question that God asks in relationship to this week's readings.
At both churches, we will also be taking an offering for Golden Cross Sunday. Your donations will go toward support of health and welfare ministries throughout Wisconsin including Evergreen Retirement community in Oshkosh, Bellin Memorial Hospital in Green Bay and UM Children's Services in Milwaukee. This Sunday will also be a Methodist Moment Sunday, in which we will take a brief look at what makes the United Methodist Church unique.
Since November of 2009, I have been serving on the Fond du Lac Salvation Army Board of Advisors. I was looking for ways to become part of the community and see how I could help out. This was a good way to start:
I have had the opportunity to get to know the staff of the Salvation Army and have gotten to know the community services that they provide.
It has opened opportunities for ways that we can help out the Salvation Army in their projects.
I have met some people on the Advisory Board that work in various areas of the community.
We meet once a month as a committee to vote on new ventures and new opportunities for the Salvation Army. Having only been to a few of the meetings, I have kept relatively quiet. I am trying to take it all in and learn how things work.
After five meetings, I finally felt like I had the opportunity to speak. We were in the middle of a discussion when I questioned the intent of a proposed course of action. I suppose you could say I proposed a solution that might not work to our advantage, but would be the most fair. I knew not everyone agreed, and that was understandable. One person commented, "This is why we have a pastor on the committee."
As I reflect on this, I had two thoughts:
Does it need to take a pastor to think of the option that takes "the high road" or may work about better for all involved? Perhaps. But, shouldn't we all be thinking in ways that benefit everyone?
A pastor should act like a pastor at all times, in and out of the office, in and out of the church, everywhere in the community. A pastor's ministry is everywhere. It may be focused on his or her congregation, but ministry is to all people.
As Methodists, we are all called to ministry....to everyone. This was an interesting situation where a ministry moment came about and I answered God's call. Others thought about the situation in a different light. God will provide these opportunities, hopefully I will be willing to set up in ministry!
At 7:00 PM, I will be presiding over an Ash Wednesday service. Despite having helped out at previous services, this will be the first one is which I play the primary role. This is exciting, but I think of it as a subdued excitement, given that the feeling of this service is one of repentance and self-denial.
My message tonight is one of figuring out how to prepare over the 40 days of Lent so that we have a clear vision of the importance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That may involve giving something up for Lent. It may mean adding something new. It may require some life changes. It's easy to ask this of others, but it is something that I am also taking to heart myself.
As a spiritual leader, I know I can improve in my relationship with God. During this Lenten period, there is something that I will be giving up for Lent. I am hoping that by giving up this habit for 40 days, it may be gone forever. I also hope to strengthen the spiritual disciples that I already engage in, making them more meaningful in building a relationship with God.
Wow...have I heard some horror stories when it comes to pastor's and their taxes:
"File one thing wrong and you'll always get audited."
"Make sure you put 20% of everything you make away."
"Make sure you put 33% of everything you make away."
"You pay all of your social security...get ready!"
"Get a tax preparer...it's money well spent."
I will appreciate 2010. I think our tax situation will finally begin to settle down. We won't have five W2s like we did in 2009. We'll have how marriage affects our taxes figured out. Most importantly, I will have a pastor's salary for a full year and can more easily figure how much to send throughout the year for taxes.
I was scared for my meeting with the tax preparer yesterday. I wasn't sure if I had all the right forms. I wasn't sure what to expect to owe the government. Would it be a lot? Would we be able to afford it? How was this session going to cost? With our tax preparer being in Madison, it gave me some time to think and to relax.
The meeting itself was relatively painless. I am thankful we paid to have our taxes prepared for us. We filed in about 50 minutes. I had all of the proper forms available and she explained each step in the process. Interestingly, this is the first year that I still owe taxes to the government. The joy of being a pastor is that you pay your entire Social Security for the year. That's a pretty big amount, something that I never had to do. So, we owe the US and Wisconsin government some money, but not as much as I thought.
Our preparer helped us estimate the taxes that we will need to pay for 2010. Now that I will be paid as a pastor over the entire 2010 year, it will be easy for us to pay the four estimated payments throughout the year. We hopefully won't have as much to pay at the end of the year.
Needless to say, not having taxes withheld from your check does make you need to be fiscally responsible. You need to make sure that you are putting that money away so you don't get socked when those payments come up.
So far, taxes seemed scary, but weren't too bad. Let's hope that keeps up! :)
I sent an E-mail out to many members of the Oakfield & Tabor churches letting them know that this Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday. It marks the last Sunday before we begin the season of Lent. As Ash Wednesday nears and we begin the Lenten season, I wanted to let you all know and about two different series that we will have going on in church.
Sunday Sermon Series I was reading Michael Morning's article in his February newsletter for Covenant United Methodist Church in Fond du Lac. He has some reflections regarding Lent and one of the thing he wrote about was an individual who said the Bible really broke down to four key questions. There were two questions that God asks of people and two questions that people ask of God:
Questions That God Asks of Humans:
Where are you? (Genesis 3:9)
Where is your brother? (Genesis 4:9)
Questions That Humans Ask of God:
From where will my hope come? (Psalms 121:1)
Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do what is Just? (Genesis 18:25)
It has already been interesting for me to think about all the stories and lessons from the perspective of these four questions. Each week we will focus on one question, and we will take one Sunday to review all four questions. Then we celebrate Palm Sunday and begin our Holy Week building up to Easter!
Wednesday Services Starting on the 24th of February, we will have Wednesday evening worship services. They will be very informal services that focus on bible study. Each week we will be looking at a different Gospel lesson and reflecting on it during our worship time. I hope you are able to make these services. Please see the information below:
Wednesday, February 24 at 7:00 PM – Lenten Service at Tabor United Methodist Church. Persons with last names beginning with A-G are asked to provide refreshments. Mary Gantner is the leader.
·Scripture Lesson: Matthew 19:16-26
·Question: How rich is too rich?
Wednesday, March 3 at 7:00 PM – Lenten Service at Oakfield United Methodist Church. Persons with last names beginning with K-O are asked to provide refreshments.
·Scripture Lesson: Luke 24:13-35
·Question: How do we truly appreciate what Jesus’ resurrection means?
Wednesday, March 10 at 7:00 PM – Lenten Service at Tabor United Methodist Church. Persons with last names beginning with H-M are asked to provide refreshments. Jan Soyk is the leader.
·Scripture Lesson: John 2:13-22
·Question: Is Jesus justifying anger?
Wednesday, March 17 at 7:00 PM – Lenten Service atOakfield United Methodist Church. Persons with last names beginning with P-Z are asked to provide refreshments.
·Scripture Lesson: Mark 12:13-17
·Question: What do we owe God?
Wednesday, March 24 at 7:00 PM – Lenten Service at Tabor United Methodist Church. Persons with last names beginning with N-Z are asked to provide refreshments. Linda Hodorff is the leader.
·Scripture Lesson: Luke 22:39-46
Question: Is Jesus trying to get out of his own death?
While checking the news yesterday, I found a link with new pictures on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. I realize that it has been awhile since this event, but looking at these pictures brings back a lot of memories from that day.
I was in my first year of graduate school at Western Illinois University. I didn't have the TV or radio on that morning, and I met my two friends who lived in the same building and we made our way to class. On the way, they asked if I had heard about what was going on in New York. I didn't know...I was concerned.
It wasn't until I got to class and sat down that our professor informed us of what was going on. It was the only time I walked out of a class. I said, "I need to see what's going on." And I walked out. Classes were canceled for the day and I sat by myself, and with friends, and watched each detail as it was made available. I talked to family and friends trying to make sense of what happened.
For a long time, there was a huge increase in feelings of patriotism and community in this country. As the years went on, those feelings have retreated back to their usual levels. Seeing these imagines reminds me of the pain of that day. It reminds me of the families that lost someone that day. It reminds me of the scars that we all have of this day. It changed who we are...I would not want us to forget this moment in our lives. It was a painful moment in our history, but one we recovered from.
I was not a devoted Christian on September 11, 2001, but I tried to make sense of what happened. Even as a pastor, I struggle to make sense of why something like this had to happen. It's something that all Christians wrestle with. I encourage you not to shy away from those thoughts and feelings. Just remember that we have a God who loves us, even at times when we hurt the most.
My dad forwarded this link to me in an E-mail. It shows the monthly breakdown of the unemployment rate over the last 2.5 years. When it gets closer today it is truly startling.
This is not meant to make a political statement at all. I have heard members of my congregation talk about being laid off, and they are tough stories to hear.
My heart goes out to those who are unemployed. People are not likely to publicly say they are unemployed, yet they are part of our congregation and our community. They still feel a call to give to the church, but are also struggling to provide for themselves and their families.
I ask that today (and always) we pray for those who are unemployed.
When Christa and I went to bed last night, we were curious to see what was going to happen with the weather. They were predicting a big snow storm...we knew the snow was coming. It was just a matter of when the big chunk of it would arrive. It would appear that the worst of this storm actually hasn't arrived yet. My school districts that apply to my churches (Oakfield and Campbellsport) have both closed, but Christa still had to go to work. I canceled any trips I was making today as I did not want to drive in what I know will be worsening road conditions.
I have been held up in my house, working at the kitchen table. I made one run over to the church to grab the materials I knew I would need throughout the day. I can honestly say I have had the most productive three hours of work than I have had in awhile. There was a surreal moment this morning, as I was putting together my materials to outline my sermon for Sunday. I was reading an interpretation on Luke's account of the Transfiguration, while sipping on a delicious raspberry black tea, looking out onto the gorgeous snow-covered landscape of Oakfield. I felt a call to change.
Wesley speak's of his heart being "strangely warmed" when we attended a Moravian gathering at Aldersgate. My experience was nothing even close to that. But, I did hear God calling me to change. I'm sure we all have parts of our life we would like to change, but reading about the significance of the Transfiguration, helped me to re-realize the significance of Christ in my life. Sound weird?
It's not that Christ isn't a part of my life. But, it can be easy to take it for granted in the complex life that we live. You get so caught up in living life, that you forget who you are living your life for. This morning I realized that I need to take time to slow down and realize the importance of Jesus in my life....in all facets of my life...at all times in my life. Slowing down. That can be difficult these days. There's so much to do and so much to get done. But, it will all work out. Take the time that's needed, and love God the whole way.
I read this article yesterday and found the headline to be a little misleading. It seemed to imply that somehow Google was going to work help supply information to the NSA. It's not hard to make that jump when you read articles about how Google tries to continuously increase the access it has to information about us.
The article is really about Google would like the NSA's help to ward off cyberattacks on their information.
It still causes me to think about all of the information that we have out in cyberspace and who has access to it. I wonder where you draw the line between personal information and what the public should know. *sigh* I continue to struggle with the idea that as we create more and more things to make our life "easier" and "simpler", it seems to only get more complex and confusing.
This second semester Christa has a much better idea of how things run in her long term substitute position at Fond du Lac High School. This also means she does not have to spend as many evenings getting things ready for the next day. We have had more time to spend together, and to reestablish our hobby of watching movies on Netflix! :)
Along with getting movies in the mail, we also have the ability to stream movies and TV shows. We have a lot of movies to watch, but we have started looking at watching some television series that we have missed over the years. We have the first few seasons of Lost. There are a lot of people obsessed with this show, especially the beginning of the last season. We will eventually get around to starting this show...see what all the fuss is about. We also have Heroes ready to go.
There is a show that we started watching before each of these...and I am glad we did: Robin Hood. We have the first three seasons queued up and ready to watch. We have watched five episodes so far, and I have to say that I really enjoy this show.
What I really appreciate about the show is that it is not focused on what many shows these days are focused on: sex, language and violence. There is virtually no swearing, no blood, and very little sexual innuendo. Yet, it is still entertaining. I will admit it is somewhat corny at times, and the theme song is about as lame as you can get, but it's fun.
In a time where networks are competing to see how they can get away with in a show, it is nice to turn to our friends on the other side of the pond to find a show that is family friendly.
I encourage you to check it out. If you have Netflix, put it on your queue.
Last week, I posted that we had a website for the Oakfield and Tabor churches. I posted that with the assumption that what I had uploaded for the website would be ready by the time I posted that particular entry.
It became obvious to me how little I knew about web design when I got a call from the GoDaddy folks. There were a few things that I did wrong, and once we got those corrected over the next few days, it finally works. Corrections to the website are now almost instant.
On Sunday, January 31 from Noon to 2:00 PM, Oakfield United Methodist Church hosted its Soup Sunday. Along with the Pork Chop Supper and Chicken and Biscuit Dinner, this is one of three major meals that Oakfield hosts each year. Proceeds from the event go to local ministries of the church along with the Pastor's Discretionary Fund to help those in the Oakfield and Eden communities.
From what I was told, the event went very well. In comparison to other years, we were much more front-loaded with people than in the past. As I was ending our worship service at 11:40AM, there was already a large gathering of people waiting for us to open. It got to the point that about 20 minutes into the event, we had to take a waiting list until our first round of folks finished with their lunch. This is a good thing, unless you are a host. Then it's a little stressful.
As folks left, I heard a lot of good comments about the quality of the soup. I would agree. I had a bowl of the medium chili and the chicken dumpling soup. Both were phenomenal. What was equally phenomenal was all the help that members of the congregation put into the event. It was great to see so many folks stay after for an extra hour or so to make sure the Fellowship Hall and kitchen were put back in order.
I was happy to see that we were visited by folks from the Action Advertiser. I am expecting a picture in the paper in the next few days. What a great event! Thank you to all who came and to all who helped out.
