Preview of Sunday, September 26

"For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows." - 1 Timothy 6:10

The popular saying goes, "Money is the root of all evil." If you took at the opening verse to this E-mail, Paul doesn't tell Timothy that money is the root of all evil. Love of money is a source of evil. To be rich is not sinful. But to love and hoard your wealth, to allow money to become the focus of your life...then you have strayed away from the faith. Paul ends his letter to Timothy by talking about how to lead a good life, a life filled with good works.

Jesus shares a parable in our Gospel lesson for Sunday. It is a similar call to decide what you will do with the riches and wealth that you are given. Listen to a message helping to explain the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. What can we do to not overlook the people in need around us?

The Scripture lessons for this Sunday are:

• Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
• Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
• Luke 16:19-31
• 1 Timothy 6:6-19

Sunday Evening Worship

We will be having an evening worship service at 7:00PM at Oakfield UMC. If your work schedule, or you sleep schedule, make it difficult to come to our morning worship services, I hope you might be able to join us for our evening service. We celebrate Communion at every service and we swing more contemporary music. We will also take some time to examine the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus.

Pork Chop Supper - This Saturday!

I wanted to extend an invitation to everyone who might be nearby and would enjoy a wonderful meal cooked by the members of Oakfield United Methodist Church. Please join us for the:

Pork Chop Supper

September 25, 2010

4:00-8:00PM

Oakfield UMC - 220 South Main St.

The menu includes: pork chops, parsley/butter potatoes, green beans with bacon, homemade applesauce, pineapple cabbage salad, dinner rolls, homemade tortes, and coffee & milk.

Tickets are $9.00 for adults and $5.00 for children. They can be purchased on site. Carry outs are available. We will be selling candy bars and will all be having a silent auction in the narthex to support our Summer 2011 mission trip.

I hope you can make it!

The Joys of Technology

Christa tells me over and over how much she doesn't like technology. My usual response is that she just better get used to it because we are getting more and more reliant on technology, whether she likes or not.

We do not have an iPad, an iPod Touch, DVR, BluRay and many of the other cutting edge technologies in our home. We are content with an HDTV and a DVD player. We seem to be getting by just fine.

A few months ago, after much thought, I upgraded my phone and got a "smartphone." This of course meant a "data plan" which means that I need to spend extra money for the phone and the plan.

So far, I have enjoyed having the phone and the plan. I have discovered lots of applications through my phone that have helped me to be more organized in work and life. I especially found a task list program that works really great!

Two issues within the last two weeks:

• While getting ready on a Sunday morning, my phone slipped out of my hands an landed screen down on the floor. The glass now looks more like a spiderweb...but the phone still works. Not wanting to drop the money for a new phone and too cheap to by the insurance, I used some packing tape and the phone still functions.
• When upgrading from a free to a paid version of my To Do list application, I did not know that my doing the upgrade, all of the tasks that I had thus far would be deleted. I tried to remember the 68 tasks that I had in there before. I got up to 59...so we'll see what I foget to get done in the next few weeks.

Oh the joys of technology!

The Lottery

I was taking Weaver for a walk this afternoon, and I stopped by the local service station to pick up a snack for the afternoon. A young woman in front of me was purchasing a variety of Wisconsin lottery tickets. She wasn't necessarily spending a lot of money, but it caused me to wonder. I have no idea what her financial situation is. I don't know for sure how purchasing these tickets cuts into her budget.

As I have mentioned on my blog before, the United Methodist Church takes a strong stance on gambling. As clergy, I am not supposed to participate in any form of gambling. I wouldn't anyway. But, for other folks, I worry about the allure of the lottery. Sure, there is a chance of winning something, but is it worth the cost of paying for games and tickets until you win?

I was looking at the Wisconsin Lottery's website, and it provides a breakdown of where the money goes that people pay for lottery games. Thirty one percent goes to property tax relief, and the rest goes to prizes and operational costs. I do appreciate that there is some benefit for our lottery system. I only wish we could help people to find better things to do with their money then risking it for the hope of winning in some game of chance...

Worship Services for September 19, 2010

Tabor & Oakfield Church Community Members,

I would like to share what is in store for our worship service schedule this Sunday:

Tabor UMC at 8:45AM

This Sunday we celebrate United Methodist Women (UMW) Sunday. Our worship service will be led by several members of the UMW chapter at the Tabor church. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the talents our chapter of UMW. They have a heart-felt and musical service planned for us so that we can worship and praise God! The entire order of worship was put together by Irene Schrubbe.

Oakfield UMC at 10:45AM

"No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." - Luke 16:13

This Sunday's service will address finances and stewardship. Usually an uncomfortable conversation in most churches, Jesus presents a strange message in our Gospel reading from Luke 16:1-13 as it pertains to the role of money in our life. I hope you can make it to our worship service as we give thanks to God and learn about the connections of financial stewardship and evangelism.

Tabor UMC at 7:00PM

We will have our first evening worship service at Tabor UMC. I want to make clear that although the evening worship service is at Tabor, members and friends of either church community are welcome to join us in worship. Join us as we worship God through joyful singing, community prayer, scripture study and Communion!

Office Overhaul

Over the last few weeks, I have finally set aside

some time each day to get working on organizing all of the paper for the Oakfield church. I found paperwork in Oakfield, Tabor and the parsonage and put it all together. I had to use some table space in the Fellowship Hall and in the parsonage basement, but I finally did some major recycling and organizing. The files are organized in a way that works for me.

I was able to borrow some furniture from the parsonage office and from the newly reorganized Sunday school rooms to fill out the office. I now have a nice space to meet with someone one on one, and I have

a desk that is now pretty much empty. It provides a wonderful meeting space and a wonderful workspace. If I can just keep up with the mail I get each day, the desk should stay that way! :-)

Of course, now that all of the Tabor paperwork is over at Tabor, that office has become something of a mess. That will be my next project. I am looking forward to having two offices that are organized and set up for work!

Vote!

Please make sure to go out and vote today! Usually when we talk about primary elections, there really isn't all that much enthusiasm. All the focus in generally on the general election in November. Most news outlets assume that today's primary election will definitely have a larger turnout.

Even in the sleepy town of Oakfield, I was voter #52 at 9:30AM. I just heard on the radio they are thinking 1.2 million Wisconsin voters may show up. There are big primary votes for Senator and Governor. It should be an exciting day!

I know some pastors have no issue with espousing their political views. I tend to keep them to myself. I certainly don't want to use any power or influence that I might have in someone's life to persuade them to vote the way that I do. I will certainly engage in political discussion and I enjoy political discussion, but I do my best to keep my views to myself.

So, now matter how you plan on voting: Democrat, Republican, Green Party, Tea Party, Libertarian...just get out there and vote!