Greedy

“The time in life when your children trust you without hesitation, when they are willing to ask you anything, share with you anything, is the time of life most laden with the good stuff. It's the time you have to make the most of, to be most greedy for.”

As I read these words, written by author and magazine editor Stephen Perrine, I was struck by his language and the overwhelming truth of his words.

Be “greedy for” the “good stuff,” he said. Greedy, in this case, for that time in our children’s lives when they are still young and innocent – when they lean fully into the parental relationship, trusting and dependent upon our care.

Can a Christian be greedy….for anything?

His words struck home with me because they speak so directly to the moment of parenting space my life occupies right now. Those inevitable days have not yet come when my children will look at me with expressions that fail to hide their true feelings about my hopeless lack of cool.

Right now -- today – they still greet me at the door with excitement and shouts of “Daddy’s Home!” and I have to admit, those moments are part of what “the good stuff” is made of.

Can a Christian be greedy…absolutely.

I am greedy for all of the ways that I can lay a deep foundation of relationship with my boys while the concrete is still wet. I am greedy for the trust that can be banked with high interest in these tender years because one day the “market” might surely crash.

I’m pretty sure that they’re not going to skip from age 12 to 25 -- the age when most of us regain some sense of sanity – and ironically, when our parents’ IQ’s go back up dramatically in our own estimations.

But I’m not willing to give up hope on that time of life, either. In all honesty, I’m greedy for what is to come, and greedy for all the blessings of this life that God has given me already.

Faith compels me to believe that no matter what changes I may face in my life, there is one eternal truth that will not change: God is greedy for us.

Even though our faith does not stay new and supple forever, God is greedy for every second of relationship that we will give him. Even though we will become cynical, spiritual adolescents at times in our lives, rolling our collective eyes at God, he still longs for all of his children.

No matter how much “cool” I think God lacks, God still waits for me. When I think I have all the answers myself, God still works to help me find the answers I really need.

And so, I think that I’m unabashedly greedy. I’m greedy for my kids, my wife, my friends, my church, and sometimes, hopefully more and more, I remember to be greedy for God.

Greedy means priority. If greedy means ordering our lives in such a way that those things that we say matter most actually receive the lion’s share of our energy and attention, then greedy is a good thing.

So many things in this world want our attention. The truth is that there’s only so much attention to go around.

What are you greedy for?

Psalm 103 tells us:

¹¹For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him;
¹²as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us.
¹³As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
¹⁴For he knows how we were made;
he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵As for mortals, their days are like grass;
they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.

God’s goodness knows no ends. Neither does his greed for us, his children. May we be greedy for the good stuff. The trust we bank today – with our children…and Our Father, might just last a lifetime.

Stephen Perrine’s article concludes, “I hope that she [his daughter, now 14] takes the gambles that she needs to, in the smartest, safest ways. And I hope that she, along with her boisterous little sister, will remember that, no matter what choices she makes, there's at least one man she can always count on.”

May we have the right priorities, the right sense of God’s direction and presence in our lives, and may we always count on the Father whose love never fails. Be greedy…in a good way.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

LIFE AT SOTH:

New Members! Welcome to two new families that joined our church this past Sunday: Tony, Monica, Cameron and Devon Ellis-Witt and David and Diane Vaughn. We are so blessed to count these and all the families who have joined so far this month among our number.

Ready? Turn it Over. The “Turn it Over” campaign will soon hit our community as we direct mail 5,000 of our closest friends and neighbors, inviting them to “Turn Over a New Leaf” at Shepherd of the Hills in 2006. Look for the mail piece coming soon, as well as new roadside banners about our worship services. Now is a great time to invite your friends to come out and experience this new worship series at SOTH, beginning this Sunday. We’ll look at all the ways that God invites us to start fresh in Christ over each of the next 7 Sundays. Our series will culminate with a special celebration on March 5.

Thursday Night Book Study: In conjunction with our new start theme, we’ll study the book Seismic Shifts for 6 Thursday nights, beginning February 2^nd. 7:00 pm each Thursday night, in the worship space. Books are available through the church office (order forms will be on your table this Sunday) for $10 each.

Tonight --- Don’t forget that our fellowship meal happens tonight, 6:30 with a short presentation to follow about Holly and Adam’s “Wesley History” trip to England. We’ll see you there!

Fuzzy

It’s fascinating to watch all the ways that different family traditions can meld together in a marriage.

Are you a Christmas morning or a Christmas Eve kind of family when it comes to opening the presents? Is it positively fundamental to your functioning that everybody sits down at one time for the family meal every night, or did you grow up in a house where things were a little more casual? We call these OYO meals at our house (On Your Own). What sports teams will you root for? There are the religious questions, like, “could a Braves fan possibly marry a Mets fan?”

Then, there are things like fuzzy dice.

Fuzzy dice made their first known appearance in my in-laws’ family when my then 16-year-old future wife got her first car. They awaited her patiently, gently swaying in the breeze, their happy fuzziness bringing life to her very first rear-view mirror. Seeing the comedy, but also mortified at the prospect of social ostracism that the teen world might offer to any fuzzy dice-bearer, she took them down -- but they wouldn’t go away that easily.

They’ve since made the rounds. When least expected, the fuzzy dice have surprised the driving experiences of her brother, father, mother, and now -- your truly.

Understand, there are rules on the fuzzy dice. First, the dice must always simply appear in the family member‘s vehicle, as if delivered by magical fuzzy-dice elves. No one should ever be caught red and fuzzy dice-handed, for such would show a true lack of dice-delivery skill.

Secondly, and perhaps even more importantly, there must be ever-increasing levels of fuzzy dice “tacky quotient.” The first dice were plain white, standard issue. Since then, there have been many variations on the concept, including a set of light-up dice that plug into the cigarette lighter (our contribution, and we’re very proud) and the latest tiger-striped, color-coordinated dice that appeared in both our vehicles this past Thanksgiving.

Holly’s dad is the current vehicle dice champ, having infiltrated our garage while the whole family visited over Turkey Day. Whilst we all slumbered in a turkey, dressing and football stupor, he was hard at work. Our gold sedan received a lovely set of dice --- black, with white dots, and gold tiger stripes. They were at once dashing and gallant, adding a sporty flair and jungle edge to our otherwise average family car.

Meanwhile, our good ol’ red Cherokee received an upgrade as well --- dice that matched its mate‘s, only the stripes on these were red instead of gold. Rule 3: never, ever let the colors on your fuzzy dice clash with your ride’s paint job. That’s just wrong.

But this year I have added a fourth rule that may change the face of fuzzy dicing in our family forever. Nobody’s ever taken this step. I’ve kept them up.

That’s right, every day your preacher drives a jeep with red, tiger-striped fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view. I know you must be proud.

I had actually taken them down for a while (I mean, that’s just what you’re supposed to do), but then when giving the jeep a post-Christmas clean up, I found them in the backseat floorboard and just found myself compelled to restore their dignity.

Here’s why: they make me happy. I read an article about happiness this week that said “research tells us” that a person’s happiness is directly related to the number and depth of significant relationships that they have in their lives.

Those dice remind me of the importance of family, the incredible importance of silliness, and that there are people out there who’ve known me for a long time, who love me, and who understand me as the guy whose name didn’t always start with “Rev.”
They remind me not to take myself too seriously, which is something that happens all too easily. In some odd, quirky, yes -- tacky way, they give me just a little bit of perspective. Perspective is priceless.

It might make more sense for a Christian to have a cross hanging from the rear-view, or maybe to build one of those flower, rosary and Mary statue mini-shrines that you sometimes see on the dashboards of cars. I’m always envious of the artistic talent of the driver, though I must admit that it seems the way something that big obscures your line of sight might actually offer more danger than protection.

I like the dice. They sort of remind me of all I don’t know -- when the dice are rolled, nobody knows how they’ll land. They remind me to take chances, follow God’s lead and know that he runs the show. They’re a little reminder of the things that don’t change no matter how random life might sometimes seem. Relationships -- family -- God -- all the good stuff.

And they’re fabulously, beautifully, ridiculous. Now that’s what I call a family tradition.

Grace & Peace,
Adam

LIFE AT SOTH:

Welcome to new members Kevin, Denise, Madeline and Sam Wall! They moved to Douglasville in the last several months and have decided to make SOTH their new church home. We are honored to count them among our number. Sunday was truly another great day in worship!

Worship this Week: Our worship this Sunday, at both 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. will honor the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His ministry is a testimony to the work that God can do when Christians feel a real depth of calling and are willing to act, no matter what the cost.

Worship Next Week: Next week, January 22, will begin our discipleship series for the new year, “Turn It Over.” We will play on the visual theme of a green leaf, vibrant and growing --- as we’re all encouraged to turn over a new leaf of faith in 2006. Look for a direct mailer to the community and for new roadside banners announcing the good news of a fresh start to all who pass by.

Wednesday Nights: Next Wednesday night, January 18th, we’ll have our community meal together, beginning at 6:30, followed by a presentation of the John Wesley sites that Adam and Holly traveled to on their trip to England with the North Georgia Conference. Yep, it’s a good ol’ fashioned travel slideshow, so everybody come on out and be a part.

Beginning on Wednesday night, February 1, we’ll begin a new book study that follows our “turn it over” theme for the new year. The book, Seismic Shifts, will be available for order beginning this Sunday. It’s all about the seemingly little, but very significant changes that we can make in our lives that draw us much deeper into our walk with God.

New Ministry Forming: SOTH is exploring how we might begin an after-school childcare program for families with middle-school children in our community. We’ll have an informational session for those who might want to get involved --- next Tuesday night, January 17th -- 7:00 PM at “The Ranch” conference room.

Our Prayers for Baby Noor: Thanks be to God for the first hurdle of surgery that Baby Noor has cleared. All reports are that the surgery was very successful and that she faired well. May our thoughts and prayers continue to support this wonderful little girl and her family. For more information on all the ways that we will continue to be in mission and outreach, go to www.lifeover.org

Doves

As he was preparing the disciples for their first short-term “ministry immersion experience,” Jesus gave them this piece of advice: "Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove. Don't be naive. Some people will impugn your motives, others will smear your reputation--just because you believe in me.” (Matthew 10:16-17 from The Message)

Truly, the work he was assigning them was dangerous, in a real and physical sense. The message of God’s kingdom that he called these twelve to carry was new and different. Quite honestly, to a world that had never heard anything exactly like it before, it seemed positively subversive and dangerous. “The kingdom has come. The sick will be healed, the poor will have worth, no one should be considered untouchable.”

Folks who are crazy enough to believe that kind of message --- and then inspired to see it become a reality in the world just might have the potential to bring about some powerful change.

There is one undeniable truth about change that human beings have been able to count on throughout the millennia: somebody won’t like it. Somebody won’t like it one bit.

And so, Jesus told his disciples (in my paraphrase), “think about what you’re doing and why you do it. Sneak up on somebody and do good for them, snake-like in your movement. Maybe they won’t even know you’ve come and gone, but they will know God’s love and see the message lived. Be innocent of motive, and just live out the kingdom.”

Christ’s message was solid advice to his disciples back then, and it’s solid for us today. Jesus seems fully aware that such radical faith in action will be difficult or impossible for some in the world to understand. In some of the deepest and perhaps ugliest parts of our souls, we human beings really doubt the idea that someone might do something of value and worth for their neighbor with no motive or agenda other than love --- and that neighbor’s own personal good.

For those disciples engaged in ministry today (at least in our part of the world), that “misunderstanding” doesn’t often carry the risk of physical violence or death that it did for the earliest Christians. But risk will always be an inseparable part of what it means to follow in the footsteps of Christ. There is risk when “the kingdom” runs up against the cynicism, hurt and impulse for self-protection that we all carry.

We should expect to meet such resistance, and even see it as a pretty good sign that we’re involved in some of God’s extraordinary work when we meet it in the world. I tried to remember that when I found myself crowded into the throng waiting to see Baby Noor upon her arrival at Hartsfield-Jackson airport this past Saturday. “Wow,” a stranger said, striking up conversation, “you look at all this hype and attention and you just can’t help wondering about it.” “How do you mean?” I asked. “Well, you know, this is just exactly the type of story that’s needed right now to rally support for the war and it’s really beneficial for some people. I just don’t know how we can even know for sure that there really is a sick baby, at all. Maybe this is just a hoax to manipulate the media.”

I was, as our English cousins like to say, “gobsmacked.” I was so astounded at the implication of this person’s words, that I really just didn’t know what to say. And so, I just really didn‘t say much of anything. But now, with a few days’ time for reflection, I have found that an interesting shift in my thinking has taken place.

I am no longer astounded at this person’s audacity, deep cynicism and obvious inability to believe in the simple reality of something very good. I am instead much more convicted by how much that person and I (by all reports a religious leader who claims to give others advice and direction on their faith and relationship to God) have in common.

You see, if I wasn’t on the “inside” of this ministry experience, I might have my doubts, too. If I didn’t know that Lt. Morgan is a real person with a real heart for Christ and that Debbie Stone and so many others in our church are dedicated Christian servants, I might wonder about the reality of Baby Nora, too.

It’s possible that if this miracle had happened in another church, in another place, with other people, I might believe that it was on TV only because the “powers that be” decided that it was good for their own personal gain. I might be tempted to doubt that real good can really happen and that it can connect, through media, with so many other people in the world whose own hearts are turned toward good, and toward God, as well.

I might even justify my thinking as Christian by quoting from Matthew 10. “Be as wise as serpents,” Jesus told us, after all. I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, you know. I weep to think that I might have wrapped my cynicism up around me like a blanket and felt that I was being faithful to the call of Christ.

Being in ministry isn’t easy, and sometimes it might even be painful. We can be cynical with a sense of false safety, or wide-open and vulnerable.

Many people have asked many of us what we’ve learned from the miracle of Baby Nora’s arrival and treatment in the U.S. I can only tell you what I’ve learned: God really does drive this ship, and our job is simply to climb on board and ride it for all it’s worth. We’ll be wise, and we won’t go hanging overboard just to see what might happen. But we’ll also be innocent --- pure of motive, seeking only the message, the call and the kingdom. May God give us the strength to celebrate the wonders that we’ve seen (even when they don‘t get coverage on major media outlets), and to follow wherever we may be led.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

P.S. A special thanks to all those in the media who have covered this story with fairness and openness. Your thorough approach and dedication to the goodness at work in this story has been wonderful to see.

Special thanks to Mark Bixler of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for his great writing and careful listening to the story of those who have experienced God at work at Shepherd of the Hills. He conveyed our deep sense of how God’s work will continue into the future and how we’ve all been transformed by this experience.

LIFE AT SOTH:
Thanks to everybody for a great day of worship this past Sunday ---- there could not have been a more powerful way to start the New Year, and we think we’ve decided to hire somebody to walk around with a fake camera every Sunday.

Our United Methodist Women will meet in our worship space this Monday, January 9th at 7pm. All women of the church are invited to come out and be a part.

United Methodist Men will meet next Tuesday for dinner, January 10 at Alpine Steakhouse , 7:30 pm for a “dutch treat” meal and fellowship. We’ll be having conversation around our vision for the group and ministry goals for the year ahead. All men in our church and community are invited to be a part of this great time together.

Our next Wednesday night community meal will be on January 18th, and you’ll be able to make your reservations at worship this Sunday. We’ll resume our regular Bible/book study and fellowship on Wednesday nights beginning February 1st.

Upcoming Worship Notes: This Sunday we’ll unveil the new logo for our church, and talk about its meaning as a symbol of Christ in our community. You’ll also have an opportunity to order the newest SOTH T-shirts. Our worship on 1/15 will honor the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and focus on God’s commitment to equality and justice for all people. Beginning Sunday, January 22nd we’ll begin a multi-week worship focus called “Turn It Over,” all about turning over a new leaf of faith in 2006.

“Life Over Ministries” Update: Baby Nora has suddenly raised the profile of a new ministry that was forming when Jeff Morgan asked SOTH to help. “Lifeover Ministries” is the vision of several SOTH members who have felt to establish a broad-based, non-profit community outreach agency affiliated with SOTH. Lifeover is a place where Christians who feel called to service can find ways to channel that calling and serve those in need. Hurricane Relief efforts, foster family support, ministry to families with special needs children and ongoing efforts to relieve suffering for children in Iraq are all currently underway. We are actively seeking partners in this work and much is needed. If you’d like more information, or have specific gifts or resources that you can offer, please go to www.lifeover.org or e-mail info@lifeover.org

At this time, Lifeover seeks the following supplies for shipment to Iraq:
Pre-natal vitamins, Multi-Vitamins for Children, Baby Formula, Pens, Pencils
Sunglasses, Watches, Soccer balls

If you have connections to acquiring any of these items at low-cost and in mass quantity, please let us know. Also, you’ll find a donation receptacle at SOTH and we will get receptacles and posters to anyone who’d like to set them up at their churches, etc. A U.S. soldier in Iraq told us that when soldiers are able to deliver these kinds of items to Iraqis in need that, “we make a human connection, and maybe my children won’t be here in 10 years fighting the same war.” Amen. Please help however you can.

Also, although we have raised approximately $20,000 for Baby Noor, we have not really raised any startup money for Lifeover’s efforts, and this ministry is new and unfounded in our 2006 budget. Any donations will do a lot of good and are greatly appreciated. Send checks to SOTH office, or donate via the lifeover website.

Baby Nora

You may have heard of the wonderful ministry that is taking place through the efforts of SOTH members Jeff Morgan, Debbie Stone, Kelly Smith and many, many others.

Jeff is currently in Iraq and during a mission into one of the villages, he met a very special girl who needs our help. If you haven't heard the story, follow the link to our church website, www.sothumc.net, and follow the link from the front page --- you'll see the picture of "Baby Nora" there.

You'll also find a link to an incredible front page spread on this story in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution. If you haven't gotten the paper, check it out through the link and you'll get all the details. This story is also being picked up by CNN (look for a possible story next week) and other media outlets.

At present, we're being flooded with calls and that's exactly what we want. For now, you can help primarily by making a contribution through pay pal on the church site, or by giving at our Christmas Eve worship services, where 100% of the proceeds will go to support our efforts for Baby Nora.

Thanks for taking the time to learn about what's happening. There will be an informational meeting at SOTH on Tuesday night, December 27th at 7pm. A representative of Childspring International will be on hand with us to talk about the application process for any families interested in hosting Baby Nora and family in their home.

Thanks in advance for all the wonderful things that you do for Christ through the mininstries of SOTH UMC.

Don't Forget our special Christmas Schedule:

Saturday Night, December 24 - Christmas Eve at Shepherd of the Hills
5:30 and 7:00 pm with communion and candlelight at both services. Childcare provided for all children age 4 and under.

Christmas Morning, Sunday, December 25th - Community Brunch and Kids' Time
Come out at 10a.m. Christmas morning for a special time of worship and fellowship. We'll provide brunch, followed by a time of caroling and a special message geared toward our children with a reading of the book, The Three Trees.

New Year's Day: Sunday, January 1, 2006
One service only -- 10a.m. We'll gather together for a great start to the New Year and service in the tradition of the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer.

Simeon

Luke 2:21, 25-30(a)

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation… (NRSV)

Eight days after Jesus’ birth, Old Simeon’s dreams come true. Luke calls him “devout,” and one was has been “looking forward” for many, many years. We assume that Simeon is of an advanced age because of what’s implied in verse 26, “he would not see death before he had seen…” And then, once his faith is fulfilled in sight, Simeon seems resolved that the time of a more eternal calling has come. Master…servant…peace…word…eyes…salvation.

When Simeon is spoken of in church, it’s usually shortly after Christmas, not right before it. I suppose that certainly makes sense. Although his story, like Anna’s (keep going in Luke 2), is very powerful and compelling, I’ll admit that his story seems like a bit of a strange choice for our consideration just four days before Christmas.

I mean, Simeon is not to be found in my plastic, life-size, light-up, outdoor nativity scene. What about the Shepherds and Kings (or Magi, or Wise Men...whatever works for you) and Angels? What about Joseph and Mary and stables and cows and mangers and, “asleep on the hay?”

Christmas would not be Christmas without any of those figures. But Simeon represents something powerful and very necessary for the human heart. Simeon is hope and faith with staying power. His is not a chance encounter with the Messiah, it is a culmination and completion of a life-long faith.

Simeon gives us an incredible gift: the chance to glimpse what full-blown faith might look like if the sometimes-buried spark of belief that lies within our own hearts were to be nurtured and tended for a lifetime. Simeon shows us God’s marvelous and mysterious penchant for making himself known through the most unlikely of vessels, like tiny babies or little old men.

I met Simeon for myself in the summer of 2001. With the ink not quite dry on my just-acquired seminary degree and the shine from my brand new Emory alumni ring gleaming in the sun, I arrived on the pastoral staff at Wesley UMC as green as a fresh-cut pine.

If I am at all more seasoned today, Mr. Fred Jensen should receive credit, and he will forever have my gratitude. I’m sure that we met for the first time on a Tuesday morning, just after our Men’s Group breakfast, and it didn’t take long to know that he was a truly fascinating character and a man of deep and abiding faith.

Mr. Fred proved that big things really do come in small packages. Always the wonderful combination of dapper (quite the natty dresser) and chipper (even at 7 a.m.) the only things sharper than Mr. Fred’s shirt and bow-tie combinations were his amazing wit and voracious appetite for knowledge.

What I did not know at first was to what extent Mr. Fred planned to take me under his theological and spiritual wing. That was a very good place for a young, green preacher to be. Nearly every Tuesday morning for four years, Mr. Fred would bring me bundles of magazines and copies of articles extracted articles from his own library. Admittedly, I didn’t always see an obvious connection between some of the wide-ranging topics he wanted me to explore and my life and work as a pastor. Eventually, though, I came to understand. Mr. Fred was fascinated with everything in this amazing world that God had made and he wanted me to see the value in that kind of amazement. He knew a wonderful secret: if you want to see God, then you need to learn how to open your eyes and look…everywhere.

“You know, you’ve got to build your file,” he would always tell me, concerned that I would ever be at a loss for just the right sermon illustration on some future Sunday morning. He never failed to tell me, “if you read something good, remember that I want you to make a copy and hand it on to somebody else.” No knowledge should be lost, for it was all far too precious. Slowly, over time, he taught me that a pastor’s job, in large part, is to gather up all those God-pieces that float through the world around us and help put together the puzzle so that everybody can see the big picture. He knew and respected the mighty nature of that task. Because of Mr. Fred's witness, I do too.

We would spend time in conversation about the topic of the day, and before he left I would always receive the assurance that I was in his prayers. I know that I always was. I will always remember the warmth and earnest nature of his handshakes and hugs, and the gleam and fire of life that always shone in his eyes. That gleam remained unchanged throughout the many years of his life, even as his body aged and ultimately failed him.

Mr. Fred answered his eternal calling this week, and I sure do wish that I could talk theology with him over coffee this morning. Now that the answers to all of the questions have been found, I have to believe that Mr. Fred’s words might simply echo those of Simeon if he could give some final advice to this slightly-older preacher. Master… servant …peace … word… eyes… salvation. But I think there would be one more word, too. Look.

He leaves a wonderful wife of 55 years, an amazing family, and many, many friends. He will be dearly missed, but he would want us to look forward. That is what we will do. He would want us to look for “Emmanuel, God With Us” this Christmas, and that is what we will do, too. Incarnation happens in the most unlikely of places. 2000+ years ago it happened in a manger, in a stable, with Mary and Joseph and Shepherds and Angels, but for many years before that, God’s presence had been known through the witness of an old man who doggedly looked --- forward.

God really is with us. We only have to learn to look. May the peace of Christ be with you this season and into a wonderful 2006.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

BLOG NOTES: I want to invite everyone to use the “comments” section this week to post any words that you might have about those who have been “Simeon” or “Anna” to you in your own life. Use this space as a chance to honor those who have helped shape your faith and helped make God’s presence real and known in your own life. Thanks in advance for what you will share.

Also, note that there won’t be a blog entry next week. I’ll be traveling next Wednesday to see family and also the SOTH office will be closed, as is the tradition here during the week after Christmas. Look for a new, weekly entries to begin again on the first Wednesday in January. Thanks so much to all of you who take the time to read my ramblings, and for the ways that you have passed this site on to friends and family.

CHRISTMAS LIFE AT SOTH:

“Blue Christmas” worship, tonight at 7pm. Sometimes we can feel a sense of loss more than ever during times of holiday celebration. This meditative service will offer the hope of Christmas for all who are feeling the need for some extra encouragement this year. All are invited, and a time of fellowship and food will follow.

Christmas Eve Worship: 5:30 and 7:00 p.m. this Saturday night, December 24th. Communion and childcare for kids 4 and under at both services.

Community Christmas Brunch: Sunday morning, December 25th, 10 a.m. only. We’ll come together for a good meal and great fellowship, followed by Christmas carols, lighting the advent wreath and a Christmas message. Have a great family time together at home and then come on in to celebrate what the day is all about. Some have asked and -- yes, kids can wear their pj’s and bring a toy. Adults can only wear their pj’s if they’re the “Pink Nightmare” bunny ear ones that Ralphie had to wear in A Christmas Story. See you at Church!

Irony

Well, as much as I'd like to write a sweet and sentimental Christmas piece this week, that is simply not to be. This Christmas season has seen such great intensification of a certain cultural phenomenon that I find myself unable to refrain from comment. Apparently, the "happy holidays" people are a threat. A real threat. Boo!

First, let me say that the seeming absence of any collective sense of irony in our culture gives me great cause for worry and concern.

Are you all riled (or should I say O'Reilly-ed) up this year because those liberal media-types have continued in their plot to take the "Christ" out of "Christmas?" Like any good Christian, are you boycotting evil retailers who dare to say, "Happy Holidays," instead of "Merry Christmas?"

Have we lost our collective sense of irony? (By the way, the above paragraph really doesn't represent an example of irony nearly so much as sarcasm).

Fox News Channel pundit and self-proclaimed savior of Christmas, Bill O'Reilly, says that his viewers' boycots of Sears, Target and other "Happy Holidays" stores (they don't say "Merry Christmas" to shoppers) have been important and successful because, "this is about respect."

In literature, "irony" occurs when a character says or does one thing but intends the opposite. It is a deliberate gap between the language used and that which is being discussed.

For instance, "this is about respect," might really mean, "everyone must do it my way or they are terrible people who obviously don't respect me and all those who agree with me." Or something like that. See? ...Irony.

It's ironic that the people who get most angry whenever minorities or women find any offense should get so hot under the collar about a simple seasonal greeting. Which reminds me, "it's all about respect" can also mean, "I can get mad anytime I want to but you can't."

It's also ironic to claim that your call to action has restored the "Christ" in Christmas when what it's really done (as have all those who've supported it) is to reinforce the cultural tie between the celebration of Jesus' birth and excessive consumption and materialism.

It's ironic that much of Bill O'Reilly's success, and that of his "Say-Merry-Christmas-or Else" movement has been rightly or wrongly attributed to Christians. Non-believers must think we Christians look pretty foolish lining up behind an angry tv personality who rants for ratings. In the meantime, they're left to their own conclusions as to who Jesus might be and why he might matter.

How can I possibly care whether the cashier at Target tells me "Merry Christmas," or "Happy Holidays" when I should be so much more concerned about whether that person has Jesus in his or her heart? Would it be ok for me to acknowledge that not everyone in the world is a follower of Christ and that a forced act of cultural obedience is not the same as faith?

What if Christians were less easily moved to boycott and more easily moved to serve? What if we lived in this world in such a way that the culture really was transformed? What if greed could be turned into generosity and sin gave way to redemption?

I know, I know, what if it rained gumdrops and little fairy princesses flew out of my nose? It's so much easier to be cynical than faithful, to be righteously indignant than soft-hearted and humble. Believe me, I know.

My fear is that we've lost our sense of irony, and that now we're particularly vulnerable to the lure of hollow "victories" that make the culture look a little more Christian while keeping Jesus' disciples cooped up in false safe-houses of our make-believe power.

Here's what I know about Christmas: The all-powerful God loved us so much that he was born among us, becoming dependent upon his frightened, impoverished parents. He was laid in a manger, surrounded by a barnyard scene and must have been viewed as insignificant by almost all who passed by. That baby grew up, and the Creator-of-it-all spent long days working at a humble carpenter's bench. His love was never made more real than when he hung upon a criminal's cross, broken and bleeding. My sins, yours, and the world's, have been redeemed.

That's the message we carry. That's God's kind of irony. That's not for sale this Christmas, but it's the greatest gift that there will ever be. Now that's something to get riled up about.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

CHRISTMAS LIFE AT SOTH:

December 18, 2005
Regular Sunday schedule, with services at 8:30 and 10:00 a.m.

December 21, 2005
"The Longest Night," a Service of Christmas Hope
Our upcoming service of hope for all who mourn or struggle during the holidays was covered in today's Douglas Neighbor. Psalms, readings, a short sermon and special music will impart a message of hope in "God With Us." All are welcome to worship, and to a time of fellowship following.

December 24, 2005
Christmas Eve worship with communion at both services, 5:30 and 7:00 pm.

December 25, 2005
Sunday morning worship at 10:00 a.m. only, although it will be a special "community brunch" service with lots of food and fellowship, along with music and a short devotional. Everyone is invited, and please bring visiting friends and family.

Merry Christmas from Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church!

The "Radcliffe Camera," a stunning landmark at Oxford. John Wesley would have studied here when the building was new, and it is still in use today. Also, an amazingly beautiful and highly English scene...boys playing rugby on a green field at Oxford.

Outside the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church in Epworth, just before gathering for tea, biscuits and fellowship.

The "Old Rectory" in Epworth. This is the restored rectory that Samuel Wesley had built at a cost to the parish of $800,000 in today's money. The people of Epworth had burned the first house out from under the Wesleys because of Samuel's extreme unpopularity. John Wesley almost died as a child in the fire.

Adam holds the chalice from which John and Charles Wesley first received communion after confirmation in their home church of St. Andrew's, Epworth.

Home

Well, to say the very least, it is good to be home. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts, prayers and support while we traveled.

It is “Blog Day,” Wednesday, and I thought I’d take the opportunity this week to finish what we started from England. My intention was to update frequently during our trip, but long hours of travel combined with difficulty connecting from our hotels made that plan difficult. No problem, I’m sure we’ll show you all the pictures until you’re very tired of seeing them, and we’ve got the chance to catch up a little now.

Truly, the things that we saw on the trip were wonderful, as were the English people. We saw so many of the important places for the Wesleys, and I feel like my understanding of them and of the early days of Methodism has increased tenfold.

Our trip to Epworth was very powerful. We worshipped at Wesley Memorial, a British Methodist church built in Wesley’s hometown after his death. This is close to “ground zero” for Methodist worship, and we took communion around a table from which John and Charles Wesley had served many times. The table was somehow inherited from St. Andrew’s Anglican parish, the home church where John, Charles and the other Wesleys grew up.

We were treated to a visit at St. Andrews, and there Holly and I were able to see the church where John and Charles would have been formed in their faith. Their father Samuel was the rector (pastor) there for nearly 40 years. Seven years after Samuel’s death, John returned to Epworth to preach at St. Andrews and was refused because he was considered too radical. John preached from his father’s tomb in the church yard. This was considered family property under law and he could not be arrested.

A high point for me was the continuation of my “English Baptismal Font Tour,” when I got to stand where Samuel stood when John, Charles and his other children were baptized 300 years ago.

From there we traveled to Oxford on Monday of this week, and it was an incredible experience. We heard a lecture from Peter Forsaith, chair of Wesley Studies at Christ Church, the most prestigious of the Oxford schools. Peter then gave us a guided tour of the town and its campuses that included a trip through Lincoln College where John Wesley taught in the several years after his graduation from Christ Church and before his first mission trip to Georgia. We were able to sit in the Lincoln College chapel (a place almost no one now gets to enter, apart from students on special occasions). This chapel was very special to John Wesley, and he prayed here often. Other than a few electric lights it is untouched from the time of his presence there, and was a very special highlight of our trip. We also saw the “Wesley Room” at Lincoln college, the very room where early meetings of the “Holy Club” of Charles and John would have met in its earliest days.

Finally, we also saw the Oxford Cathedral at Christ Church where John and Charles were ordained as ministers in the Church of England. I stood at the high altar in the very place their ordination took place.

Truly, the trip was incredible and I can’t wait to put together a little more formal presentation for all who want to know more about our English heritage and connection to the Wesleys. That knowledge can help us understand so much more about our roots, and about where we should take Methodism in this new century. As John Wesley said, “The best of all is, God is with us.” Surely this is true. Holly and I are so grateful that we know God’s presence through your faithful witness. Thanks to you all for your support of us in our travels and to Max Vincent and Keith Windmiller for their pastoral support and help. We are classically “jet-lagged” having woken up this morning at 2:30 a.m. feeling for all the world like it was time to eat breakfast and get going. We’ll catch up soon and be as good as new. I plan to be in and out of the office tomorrow but will be taking the rest of today to straighten out on sleep and spend some much-needed time with our boys.

Grace, Peace, and see you all this Sunday ---

Adam

PS – Don’t forget that our 10:00 worship this Sunday morning will be our children’s musical “The Christmas Animals.” They’ve worked really hard and it will be a great blessing.

"Father, Forgive"

(ORIGINALLY WRITTEN 12/3; POSTED FROM U.S. 12/7/05)

Good morning SOTH family! As I write from our hotel this Saturday morning at 6:00 AM, most of you have just settled down for a good night’s sleep.

The last two days here have been outstanding, with a trip on Thursday to Manchester, for a lecture at the Nazarene Theological College, a seminary connected to the huge University of Manchester.

We learned much about Charles Wesley that we did not know before, including much about his skills as a preacher. Nazarene has a tremendous collection of original materials from John and Charles Wesley. When our group sang together the Charles Wesley hymn “And Can It Be,” I realized immediately its connection to the worship chorus “Amazing Love” that we sing at SOTH. The chorus is nearly word-for-word from Charles Wesley.

From there, we visited the ancient city of Chester, where there has been a continuous settlement for over 2,000 years. There the only “rows” of England exist – “double-decker” sorts of pedestrian shopping built alongside the streets.

Yesterday we toured around Birmingham and saw the tiny cottage where Francis Asbury grew up. He lived there with his family in about 500 square feet of space until he was 26 years old. At that time he left for America, and told his mom he’d be back by the time he was 30. When the revolutionary war broke out, he sided with the Americans and never returned home, spending the next 30 years preaching in the USA. Bishop Davis said that he believes much of the incredible strength of Methodism in Georgia today can be attributed to Francis Asbury.

Yesterday afternoon we saw Coventry Cathedral, and for me, this has been a true highlight of the trip. Coventry’s church was built over 1000 years ago and elevated to Cathedral in the 18^th century. The priceless holy place was fire-bombed by the Germans in November of 1940. Over 600 people died that night in Coventry and all but the stone floor and walls of the cathedral were destroyed.

The Cathedral is now a testimony to the power of forgiveness and the power of God at work among his people. The morning after the bombing, two beams from the massive roof had fallen in the shape of a cross. A local wired them together and propped them in the place where the high altar had stood. That cross was preserved and remained in place until it was lost to vandals in the 1970’s. Today a replica remains, with the inscription behind it, “Father, Forgive.” The ruins of the ancient cathedral are now joined to a space that is the greatest example of modern church architecture that we have in the world today.

The rebuilt cathedral mixes ancient symbols with modern art and technology in powerful ways. Built in the 1960’s, the modern cathedral is a place that immediately inspires a sense of awe and God’s presence. I met a wonderful lady there was has volunteered at the cathedral throughout her life. She is now in her middle 70’s, and she took Holly and me aside and gave us the “real” tour. It was an amazing thing to talk to her about the cathedral, about the people who lived in Coventry in the 1940’s, and what it was like for her to experience the bombing first-hand.

Today we are off to Bath, a very ancient city where John Wesley was nearly attacked by a mob during his ministry. The socialite crowd there didn’t really appreciate many of his methods, to say the least. Then, we will be in Bristol where we will see the “New Room,” a space employed by early Methodists for worship and their work of evangelism in England.

Tomorrow we will worship at the Wesley Memorial Church in Epworth, the Wesley’s hometown. We will stand at the grave of Samuel, John’s father. Even though Samuel had been the parish priest in Epworth for decades, after his death John was not allowed to preach there. The parish church yard was also declared off limits, and defiantly, John walked to his father’s tomb, climbed on top of it and preached to the crowds. The grave was considered family property and no one could stop him. I can only imagine that seeing that place will be very powerful.

Have a wonderful day in worship tomorrow and know that we miss you all. Keep us in your prayers! We fly back to Atlanta on Tuesday next week and I hope to post one more installment to the blog before our trip is over.

Peace –

Adam

Gloucester

Gloucester Cathedral and the baptismal font where George Whitefield was christened, St. Mary's de Crypt.

Bunhill Cemetery

Adam and Holly at Bunhill Cemetery, final resting place to Susanna Wesley

John Wesley's Grave

The gravesite of John Wesley at City Road Chapel, London. Note the modern architecture and busy city that surrounds his final resting place.

The Powerhouse of Methodism

The last two days have been wonderful during our time here in England. Yesterday we toured London, spending most of our time at the “City Road” Chapel, also known as Wesley Church on City Road. Built in the late 1700’s, when John Wesley was entering the last 15 years of his life, it was the first building ever constructed solely for the purpose of ongoing Methodist worship.

Even more interesting than this, however, was the fact that an adjoining house property was converted for use by John Wesley himself as a personal home. It was here that he spent the last 15 years of his life, although he still spent every summer traveling and preaching until his death at age 88.

At every stop I have been amazed at the way that the British give the public unbelievable access to their history. Whereas in America everything is roped off and encased in plastic, virtually every treasure or historical artifact can be walked up to and touched here. This was the case in Westminster Abbey where visitors can touch the tombs of ancient royalty. At John Wesley’s house, we stood in his personal bedroom, the room in which he died. Even more amazing was the “powerhouse of Methodism” as it came to be called.

The “powerhouse” is a small nook of a room (I’m starting to sound British) just off his bedroom. It was here that John Wesley would rise at 4 a.m. and spend hours in prayer every single morning, without fail. We stood around his kneeling bench together and were led in a prayer by Jamie Jenkins of the North Georgia Conference (formerly pastor at Bright Star UMC in Douglasville). The moment was one that I will not soon forget.

We also saw the Aldersgate and “Little Britain” locations, both important in the conversion experiences of the Wesleys. Both of these have changed dramatically in the 250 years that have intervened, and in the photos, you can see that John’s grave itself (located behind City Road Chapel) is now surrounded by modern architecture and a busy street. London is densely populated, to say the least. There just isn’t room for an appropriate buffer between John Wesley’s resting place and the developing, modern world. Somehow, I think that’s just how he would have wanted it.

We also saw the Bunhill Cemetery in London, home to the tombs of authors such as Daniel Defoe and William Blake. It is also the resting place of Susanna Wesley, mother to Charles and John.

Today we toured the cities of Worcester and Gloucester. Worcester is famous for porcelain and its incredible cathedral. Worcester Cathedral is a place of incredible, soaring architecture, and as I stood with Holly and some colleagues, we knew that words would never be adequate to describe the scene that we were taking in. There were a few quiet moments, and I was able to say a short prayer at the high altar at Worcester, in the very spot that Christians have drawn together for worship since approximately 680 A.D.

Also, King John (yes, the one from Robin Hood) was entombed about 20 feet directly behind me at the time of that prayer. Amazing, and slightly creepy.

From there we spent time at the equally amazing Gloucester Cathedral and at St. Mary’s de Crypt, the home church of Methodist pioneer George Whitefield. Whitefield was an amazing preacher, and we learned much in a lecture about his life and times. At the conclusion we toured the church, which was originally built in about 700 A.D. and rebuilt in about 1480. The baptismal font in this church is from about 1700 and is the place that Whitefield was baptized as a baby. Their current pulpit, in use today, is the one from which he preached his first sermon in 1736.

Tomorrow we are off to Chester. I don’t know exactly what’s there yet, but we will be spending time in one of the first Nazarene seminaries and hearing more about Methodism’s connection to our brothers and sisters from that tradition. Much more lies ahead.

We have learned that December in England is really cold. Also, we have learned that one of the fastest ways to charm any English person, of any age, is to tell them you’re from Atlanta and then lay on a deep southern drawl. They fundamentally love it and dote on us like we’re cute little children, which is fine with us.

Thanks to all of you for your love, support and prayers. We’ll be in touch and we’ll talk to you soon.

Cheers (they really do say this all the time),

Adam and Holly

Shepherd of the Hillsbillies Go to England!

Well, the ol' Tennesseeans turned Georgians have landed in London!

Holly and I had a wonderful day today, even though we were absolutely exhausted from flying all night long. We landed about 3 am Douglasville time, which was 8 a.m. London time. From there, we worked through Gatwick airport and made our way to London (about 2 hours on a bus).

We arrived at the Methodist Central Building located directly across from Westminster Abbey. Holly and I and a few others split our time between the two, so we managed to see the graves of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and many other historical figures. Truly, the magnitude of the history of the place was incredible. From one vantage point across the street from Westminster, you can see the Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben, which stands towering over the House of Commons (I think I'm getting this right, some of you may have to correct me later).

But, the best part of the day was seeing St. Paul's Cathedral in the afternoon. What an amazing place. This one has connection for us because we can remember Diana and Charles being married there, and then her funeral there in our own lifetimes. I don't think I've ever been in a single place that felt more holy. The art, architecture and presence of the place defy description. And, a picture could tell you a thousand words, but they don't allow photography inside there, or at Westminster Abbey.

Tomorrow we spend the day around London, taking in various sights important for John Wesley. We will stand at the spot of his Aldersgate "heart warming" experience. Then, on to Birmingham, which will become our home base for the next several days.

Thanks to you all for your wonderful support of us in this trip. To Max Vincent for covering this Sunday --- I only wish that I could hear him preach --- and to all of you who wrote last week. You are great writers and people of deep faith.

Keep your eyes peeled on the SOTHblog, more coming soon!

Peace and Cheerie-O,
Adam

Thankful

Well, about 350 years ago the Pilgrims and Indians got together and had a big ol' celebration.

So, tomorrow, to commemorate that great event, I plan to eat turkey and wonderful, smushy side-dishes, nap, watch football and spend time with my family. Hey, it works for me.

But, our annual celebration of Thanksgiving really does give us the opportunity to take a moment and think.

Now, it may seem like "taking a moment" and "thinking" might be the last things that you've got time for in the midst of Thanksgiving preparations. If you're hosting a gathering this year, then you're no doubt spending this day cleaning house, cooking, re-cleaning the kitchen several more times and possibly even braving the crowd at Kroger. May God be with you.

So, take a moment --- right now. After all, you're already surfing the internet, probably putting off something else that you should really be doing. A couple more minutes isn't going to hurt.

Below, you'll see a button that allows you to leave comment. I hope you'll use that button. This week, I want us to use the "blog" to the fullest, creating a kind of virutal wall of thanks that can be shared by everybody who surfs this way.

I'll get the ball rolling:

I am so thankful to be the pastor of Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church. It's amazing to me to think that my life has unfolded in such a way that I get to work full-time at something I love so much and am so passionate about. I am honored to have become part of something that was already so good, so mission-oriented and so full of life. I believe that God will use your gifts and mine and do greater things here than we have ever dreamed.

I am thankful for those of you who have opened your hearts to me, but even more so for the way that you have received my family. It's one thing to move myself across the state to a place where we don't know anybody, but it's something else altogether to ask that of my wife and sons. We are all blooming and prospering in your care, and for that I am so thankful.

I am thankful for the relationships that surround me. Most particularly, I am thankful for my family. Holly, Will and Sam are true miracles that I get to experience every day, and they are the best signs I've ever known of how real and deep God's love is.

I am thankful for my parents and grandparents. For all of my family on both sides -- they surround me and support me even when I've let the phone lines grow too cold and the distance too great. I am thankful for them and for all the family and friends I've known and loved in the days before there was a "Rev." attached to my name.

Most of all, I am thankful that God never leaves us, never gives up on us, and always, always loves us. I am thankful for the ways that he shows us that love every day.

Take a moment and tell the world (well, ok, actually just the few folks who read this post each week) what you're thankful for. I'd tell you to keep it short, but that would be among the most hypocritical things said so far this century. So, knock yourself out and have a blast.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody...
Adam

Life at SOTH:
Don't forget our Hanging of the Greens service this Sunday. ONE SERVICE ONLY, 10 AM. I can promise that you've never been to a service like this one --- fully interactive, dramatic and lots of fun. It'll be worth getting home by Sunday morning for.

Holly and Adam leave for England after the service this Sunday. Look for frequent SOTHBLOG posts from the other side of the pond. Thanks to Max Vincent, who will preach on 12/4 at both services, and to Keith Windmiller of New Covenant UMC for helping out with any emergency pastoral care needs that may arise.

Dressing

Let's talk dressing.

No, I'm not talking about how you make clothing choices. Definitely, I don't mean the stuff you put on salad.

It's almost Thanksgiving and that means football, turkey and D-R-E-S-S-I-N-G.

We're talking cornbread. Cornbread dressing.

I was born in Jackson, Tennessee, and would lay my country credentials down against almost anybody. I can tell you that the best southern tradition of them all, bar none, is to be found in a pan of good ol' cornbread dressing. Made with love, of course. And just the right hint of sage.

If you're not a native of the south, I'm sure that wherever you're from has some fine traditions and particular culinary delights of its own. But for me, nothing tastes like "home" and "comfort" and "family" like a crispy-around-the-edges but smushy-in-the-middle pile of dressing.

I guess that's because my love of dressing was developed at my grandmama's table. There, dressing would make an appearance from time-to-time throughout the year, but we could count on its presence at every Holiday gathering.

Grandmama's dressing that I grew up with didn't have any shortcuts. It still doesn't. This is not Stovetop "Stuffing" (whatever that is) that we're talking about here. My finely tuned tastebuds can detect the slightest hint of any less than authentic ingredients.

Good, southern, cornbread dressing is many things all at once, and it doesn't get that way easily. Substantial (too many plates full will leave you not wanting to eat dressing or anything else for a long while) yet light and delicate, it is a masterpiece of balance, equal in boldness and restraint.

OK, I'll admit this is starting to sound a bit like a snooty wine review, but what can I say? I'm an enthusiast. Laverne Spitzer's (grandmama's) cornbread dressing is what the angels eat in heaven. That's all there is to it.

Her dressing is a labor-intensive investment. It requires the baking of biscuits, itself an artform that cannot be reduced to a simple recipe. Those biscuits, crumbled and combined with her world-reknowned cornbread, glued together with eggs and broth, seasoned with the mysterious essence of a grandmother's love and then baked to a golden goodness results in the finished product. Perfection.

I'm not the only one who loves the stuff. Tonight we gather for SOTH's annual Thanksgiving meal and over 150 of you have signed up. Who knows how many we'll have when all is said and done? I know that Tim Potate's dressing may give Laverne's a run for its money (no pressure, Tim), but I wonder if that's the only reason everyone seems so excited about the meal that is to come.

You see, as wonderful as it is, I think there's another reason I love my grandmother's dressing so much. It makes me think of her. I can hear the music of her voice as she calls out a greeting to each new child, or grandchild, or great-grandchild who walks through the door to spend time with "Pop" and her. I can see her hands at work in the kitchen, or the garden or at the sewing machine. It's amazing how the smell of sage or a little bit of cornmeal and flour can turn me into a child again and remind me of what it means to be loved without reservation.

That's why everybody's coming to dinner. Not to remember their grandmothers (I really need to give mine a call), but to remember that they're part of something so much bigger than themselves. God wants every one of us to find relationships of depth and substance and faith. He calls us to be a family, and to gather together and break bread. Tonight, the turkey and dressing will flow --- and so will the grace and love. My family, like yours, is far from flawless. The same is true of our church. And that's a good thing, for our flaws remind us of the amazing work that God does.

He takes the plain little bits of flour and meal we have to offer and builds them into something incredible. Every time I've witnessed the gathering of my parents and sister, my aunts and uncles and cousins (and 2nd cousins and 3rd cousins), we have circled around a table set full to overflowing by my grandparents' love for us all. In the middle, the "big ol'" pan of dressing is always waiting. No matter what my cousins might think, I know she makes it just for me.

Tonight, it's southern communion at Shepherd of the Hills: Sweet tea and cornbread dressing.

Grace and Peace,
Adam


LIFE AT SOTH:

Well, in case you still didn't know it, don't forget that dinner is tonight at the church, 6:30 pm, and everybody's welcome. $4 per person with a $20 max per family.

No Dressing, but Lots of Fish and Chips: Holly and I are preparing to travel to England with a group of UM clergy from the North Georgia Conference. Bishop Davis will lead a group of newly ordained clergy to many historic sites from the life of John Wesley, founder of the United Methodist movement. We'll leave after church on Sunday afternoon, November 27th and return on December 6th. Look for daily updates on the SOTHBLOG during the trip!

Hanging of the Greens Service: Next Sunday, November 27th will be our special service of Advent preparation called "Hanging of the Greens." Thanks to Deena Canup and or Worship Team for their preparation and creativity for what will be a special time together. One service only that Sunday.

Lucas at "Rancho El Paraiso," near San Esteban, Olancho Province, Honduras 

Lucas

<sup>Matthew 19: 28-30 (The Message)

28</sup>Jesus replied, "Yes, you have followed me. In the re-creation of the world, when the Son of Man will rule gloriously, you who have followed me will also rule, starting with the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields--whatever-because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life. ³⁰This is the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first."

This morning I've been suffering from a serious case of "blogger's block."

As Napoleon would say (Dynamite, that is, not the little French general), there's like a "finity" of things to write about, but none of them seem quite right.

Rioting in France...Election Day...Intelligent Design controvery....all too political.

Beautiful Fall weather and the amazing leaves all around us...too sappy (sorry about the pun).

A weekend hike with my family complete with pics of my boys...too "daddy."

Nothing. But it's Wednesday, so "nothing" won't do.

Then, I opened my e-mail. There I found a message in a bottle, one that somehow made the long trip from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to wash ashore on my digital beach. It was the first time I'd heard from Lucas (he hasn't heard from me, either) in a long, long time.

I first met Lucas in the summer of 2002. When I saw him, he was pressed into the doorway that separates the cramped Honduran customs room from the adjacent baggage claim area. "Wesley Group!" he yelled, smiling, looking, searching for the nervous and slightly bewildered American missionary team that was to become his charge. Even though it was my first time out of the U.S., my first time to lead a mission trip, my first time to experience any place that felt so immediately foreign to my world, I instinctively knew that things would be alright with Lucas.

Lucas has served as the guide for Wesley's mission teams (the church that I served at that time), every year since. In 2003, he got to spend Christmas with Wesley in Evans, GA. He got to return with his wife for Christmas last year, and this morning he wrote me to tell me that his entire family will be back in Georgia in only a few weeks, and we're working to figure out a time that we can see each other again.

My friendship with Lucas comes back to me in flashes of cross-cultural brilliance. The first time I tried to speak my incredibly bad Spanish to a little girl in a Honduran village, Lucas was there to help. When I asked about her "madre" and "padre," she seemed confused. "No, no," Lucas said, "mami y papi." When I used his words, she smiled and took me to meet them.

As we walked down the dirt road between San Esteban and I-have-no-idea-where-we-are, I noticed all the little kids that were following us. Their numbers grew with every little house we passed. "Lucas," I said, "what can I say to these kids that they would never expect from a gringo --- something that will really make them laugh?" Lucas told me to say, "hola, chicquines" (no other Spanish speaker I've asked has ever understood exactly what this might mean -- it's close to 'hello, little-itty-bitty children'). When I surprised them with my phrase, their faces lit up, they looked at each other with shocked delight, giggled and giggled and then kept following us for sure. I don't know that I've ever seen Lucas in a Honduran village without a group of laughing children all around him.

I stood with Lucas in the middle of a jungle, under the roof of the most dilapidated home that I have ever seen. We spoke to the single mother who lived there as her two little boys ran around her feet. Her husband had been killed and now she was in danger of losing even this little shack -- all that she could give her children. Like me, he saw her tears when we told her that Wesley would pay for the house and do whatever we could for her family.

I remember the time that we got to visit Lucas' mama's house, and how we got to hear her sing to us as a way of welcome and a display of hospitality. I'll always remember how she slipped Lucas some aluminum foil full of home cooking as we left. She kissed his cheek like only a mother can. Mamas are mamas -- wherever you are.

I have eaten with Lucas, and learned what a great breakfast black beans, fried plantains, eggs, corn tortillas and Honduran coffee can be. I have eaten with him in my own home and learned to share his sense of astonishment at what it means to be an American. After reading some Thomas the Tank Engine to my then 3-year-old son he said, "Your son has more books than the entire elementary school in San Esteban." San Esteban is not a tiny town. He didn't have any intention of making me feel guilty, he was simply speaking from his natural reaction to the discovery of an incredible and overwhelming fact. The fact overwhelmed me, too.

I remember a "birthday cake for America," complete with candles, that Lucas somehow arranged and presented to our group when we were once in his country on the Fourth of July. I remember standing with him on our last day in Corral Viejo when the villagers there sang the Honduran national anthem, and then our group struggled through "The Star-Spangled Banner." Before we got off the truck that morning he told us, "don't yell, 'Play Ball!' when it's finished. These songs are very important here." A good lesson learned.

He taught me that a Honduran will never open a gift in the presence of the giver. Instead, they wait for a private moment to appreciate what they have received. Again, it's a tradition I've come to love. I remember how Lucas always makes the slightest change to the English phrase "spending time." Lucas says, "sharing time." It's so good that we could "share time" together. That's a much better thing to say.

I tell you about all of these experiences simply because, to at least some degree, they have helped shape who I am and how I've come to think about faith and ministry. I tell you about them because they are experiences that have stretched me and made me think in ways that I didn't and couldn't before. I tell you about them because my relationship with "Lucas my brother" and the people of Olancho, Honduras, has become a sign and token for me of the way that God in Christ calls us to connection with each other. These experiences have been a real means of grace in my life.

Being in a foreign place made me dependent on Lucas and on the agency that sponsored our trips. That vulnerability helped our team learn to be open to all the ways that we do really need help, and enabled us to realize how much we need to lean on God as well. Sometimes our day-to-day experience can fool us into thinking that we really can, and do, take care of ourselves. There's not much that could be further from the truth. That's what "the Great Reversal," or "the flip" teaches us.

When we truly extend ourselves, beyond our own capacity to maintain balance, we learn what it means to absolutely need help from others. It's often when we really push ourselves to give that we find the surprise lesson. We learn what it means to receive. We learn what it means to depend on, and receive from God.

I remember a wonderful doctor from Augusta who was returning to full-time mission service in Africa. He told me that, "...here I don't see God so easily because it's easier to see my house, and my car, and my practice. I see the grocery store and the highways and my church building. But in Africa, I get up and pray, 'God, I depend on you for my life today.' And I see him everywhere."

There are definitely settings that make it easier to see our interdependence, but you don't have to go to Honduras or Africa to learn how to find them. God really is in Douglasville, too. We might just have to work harder here at not fooling ourselves.

You can connect wherever you are, today. SOTH just returned a mission team from Mississippi. Their stories are of transformation --- not for those they went to help, but for themselves. They experienced God as they reached out. Somewhere along the way, the roles reversed. The divine flip --- flipped.

Try something: find a way to extend yourself beyond the comfortable today. Find a way to get in touch with your dependence on God. Reach out to someone else, and find out how the roles can reverse. You will be changed by the effort. God will flip the "servant" so that he or she becomes the "receiver." That's the way of grace...the way of Christ.

Philippians 2:5-11 (The Message)

⁵Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. ⁶He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. ⁷Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! ⁸Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death--and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.

⁹Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, ¹⁰so that all created beings in heaven and on earth--even those long ago dead and buried--will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, ¹¹and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

LIFE AT SOTH

Welcome back to our mission team that went to Pascagoula, MS. We're proud of you and already looking forward to the next trip this Spring.

Tonight, part 3 of our look at United Methodism and SOTH. 6:30, in the Sanctuary for a look at local church organization, a short history of SOTH and how new churches are planted in the UM Church, and a glimpse of the future for our congregation.

Big Weekend at SOTH!! Lots of stuff is happening this weekend at SOTH. We'll be hosting a bazaar and fall festival all day long on Saturday, followed by our Men's Group BBQ and our youth group's annual Musicfest and Bonfire. We'll have lots of great food, live music and an awesome gathering for fellowship starting around sunset on Saturday evening.

This Sunday will be YOUTH SUNDAY! Look forward to 100% leadership from our youth in this Sunday's worship services. Come out and show "The Flock" how much you love and support them and be blessed by their energy and faith.

Next Wednesday, November 16th, we'll have our annual Thanksgiving Feast. Come out for a great time of food and fellowship: turkey, dressing (Tim Potate specialty) and all the fixings for $4 per person or a $20 max price per family. Already, nearly 100 folks have signed up to be there and we're just getting started good. Look for the sign-up slip in Sunday's bulletin.

COMMUNITY NEED AND A CHANCE TO RESPOND:

We have been praying for Cooper Bell and his family the last few weeks at SOTH. Cooper is a kindergatener at Chapel Hills Elementary and has developed a rare form of juvenile brain cancer. So many people know and care for the Bell's, and we want to make sure that you're informed about all the ways that you can help.

You can visit Cooper's website at caring bridge. Follow the "visit" link on the home page and then add "cooperbell" in the space provided. This is a great place to stay up to date on any developments, and his family is very appreciative of all who visit it. Jonl and Armin Steinke from SOTH are helping organize a golf tournament to help defray the massive costs associated with treatment. Here are the details:

Date: November 30th, 2005

Place: Mirror Lake Golf Course

Registration: 10:30 a.m. with Tee Time at Noon

Cost:
$100 per golfer or $400 per team
$500 to sponsor a hole or tee box
$300 to sponsor beverage cart
Sponsors at other levels welcome and will be acknolwedged

A silent auction will be held, and items for auction are welcome.

If you have questions, would like a registration form, or can help in any way, please contact Jonl Steinke at jbfriend@bellsouth.net

If you would like to donate toward helping with Cooper's medical costs, checks can be made payable to: Cooper Bell Medical Fund and mailed c/o Jonl Steinke at 3996 Oak Hill Drive, Douglasville, GA 30135

Ralphie

Black Friday is just around the corner. No, not "Good Friday," the Christian remembrance of Christ's death upon the cross: Black Friday. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Americans rush into retail outlets large and small (mostly really large) in search of amazingly cheap deals on merchandise that will satisfy their Christmas present purchasing obligations. After running in the "red" all year, this is the day when many stores hit paydirt, moving into the "black" of profit.

I awoke this morning to the news that Wal-Mart has been hoodwinked. Someone leaked information of their electronics that will go on sale that fine late-autumn morning. I know that Wal-Mart must be devastated by the hours of free advertising this "leak" is now generating on CNN, Fox, MSNBC and the major networks.

All this pre-pre-Holiday turmoil has moved me to think of my family's Christmas festivities awfully early this year. When I was a kid growing up, our family's season was not complete until we all sat together through the yearly screening of A Christmas Story. You know little Ralphie, right? A Christmas Story is one of those movies, like Christmas Vacation, that you think only your family knows about. Then, as the years go by, you learn that, in fact, every family in America seems to know all the funniest lines by heart. Sometimes I think those two movies are the most most unifying Christmas traditions that we all share in our country today.

Little Ralphie is the ultimate icon of Christmas hope. With all his heart, this 8-year-old boy struggles to hold fast to his faith in Santa that says Christmas dreams will always come true if you'll only believe. Believe...and then hedge your bet by scheming, conniving, and generally conspiring in every way possible to make sure things come out the way he wants them. With relentless determination, Ralphie works throughout the movie to plant hints, implement schemes, manipulate parents, and even personally convince the Big Man in Red to make his Christmas wishes become reality.

If the movie is part of your tradition, you'll never forget the scene where Ralphie finally gets the chance to sit on Santa's lap and make his case face-to-face. He freezes. "Little boy," Santa says, "would you like a football?" "Yeah, football..." a frozen Ralphie replies. "OK, Get him outta here" Santa says to his demented elf who loads little Ralphie on a slide to the bottom of Santa's department store castle. Just as defeat seems inevitable, Ralphie springs back to his senses, catches himself on the slide, looks up to Santa and with his most adorable smile says, "No, I want an official Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time!"

Santa's reaction is classic. Just like Ralphie's parents, and teacher, he says, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid." With a boot to the forehead, and a "Merry Christmas, Ho, Ho, Ho," Ralphie is pushed down the slide to land squarely upon his freshly crushed hope.

In the end, even if you haven't seen the movie, you know how it's going to come out. Ralphie gets his gun, even when it looks like he surely won't. Could it possibly end any other way?

Not if you're a person of hope.

Ponder something the Bible says:

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1 NRSV)

Faith = Assurance of the "hoped for."

Faith = Conviction of the "not seen."

Stay with me for just a second.

The spiritual equation noted above is one of the Bible's fundamental definitions of faith. "Faith" is the assurance and conviction of "hope," particularly, hope in that which isn't seen. What other kind of hope can there really be? Unless the thing you desire is in some doubt or question, that desire doesn't really qualify as "hope."

I hope that water will flow when I turn on the faucet at my kitchen sink, but I can feel confident that the assumption that it will happen is a pretty reasonable one (we did pay the bill, right?). I don't think that's really "hope" so much as it's just a reasonable expectation based on facts.

But what about, "I hope my kids will become healthy and happy adult people of deep faith." What about, "I hope my cancer can be cured" or, "I hope this decision is in keeping with God's will?" Those take a little more grit, don't they? Hebrews pushes us to hope --- a hope that means "assurance" of those "unseen" things.

OK, you ask a legitimate question at this point: "What does any of this have to do with Red Ryder BB guns?"

Again, stay with me. If we've seen how God defines faith, I thought it might be interesting to see how we humans do it. Merriam-Webster says that faith is, "firm belief in something for which there is no proof." "Proof" is defined as, "the cogency of evidence that compels acceptance by the mind of a truth or fact."

Belief, even in the lack of compelling evidence. That's faith as the world describes it, and actually it sounds a whole lot like the Bible's definition, too.

You see, I love A Christmas Story, and especially little Ralphie, because he's such an image for me of the real-world situations in which we all find ourselves. We want to believe, even where we haven't seen, and even when age and experience starts to make us wonder whether we're just being foolish in the first place.

But by now, of course, I've seen the movie a hundred times. This December, as I watch Ralphie's story unfold one more time, I will be supremely confident that his hopes will be fulfilled by the time the final credits roll. I've seen it, and I know how it ends.

And maybe that's it.

Maybe what Hebrews is trying to tell us is that Christians are people of deep conviction in things unseen because on some level we have seen the end already. The good news of the Gospel is that God has chosen to be with us. The Christmas story of Christ's incarnation is the beginning of the end for all that is broken in ourselves and in our world. We are people who know, with full confidence (on our best days), that our deepest hopes will be fulfilled, even if we can't prove it.

We hope for peace, and healing and wholeness. We hope for reconciliation and love and equality. We hope for holiness and righteousness and justice. We hope for an end to pain and suffering. No matter how hard the world tries to push us down the slide of doubt, we catch ourselves --- no, God catches us.

We are the people who say, "these things will be." And very surely, wherever people make the great leap of faith and act out that confidence in the actions of their lives, these things are, even now.

In these weeks before the celebration of Christ's birth, may there be a little "Ralphie" in us all.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

LIFE AT SOTH

Welcome to our newest members, Kimberly, Scott and Danica Samples. Little Danica was baptized at our 8:30 service this past Sunday and Kimberly and Scott transferred their church membership to Shepherd of the Hills. We are so excited that they've made their commitment to be a part of the SOTH family and to serve Christ in this place.

Today our mission team departs for Pascagoula, MS, to aid in Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efforts. May our prayers be with them all and may God guide their steps. We look forward to hearing their stories this Sunday.

Part Two of our study on United Methodism, "An English Dude, A Horse, and A Mission" happens tonight in the sanctuary, 6:30 pm. Tonight we'll look at the development of the Methodist denomination and our history and organization here in the U.S.

The Pumpkin sale was incredible! Special thanks to youth director Cindi Bartlett for an incredible work of coordination and many hours given. She was supported by a team of incredibly dedicated volunteers and a great team that unloaded the trailer (twice!). Reports are that gross sales were over $10,000!