Archive for September, 2009
Laity Blog: Bringing God’s Peace Into Our Lives
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
For the last week I have been at home, doing my regular things and enjoying the peace in my soul of just being at home. For those of you who have prayed for Mary Beth, my mom, Tom and me, thank you! Mary Beth is well and having a wonderful semester at school. She has caught up on the work she missed while she was sick and is not suffering any lasting consequences from her bout with the flu.
Mom is home, driving and living on her own again. She seems to be doing really well at the moment. She, too, is grateful to be back home, living her life as she chooses. Of course we continue to be concerned for her and what the future holds, but for now, all seems to be well.
The prayer from Romans quoted above is one of my favorite verses from the entire bible. As my life unfolded from the end of August through much of September, I found myself thinking about this verse many times. Even as I dealt with the difficulties of illness, I knew that if I would let God’s hope invade my life, I would be strengthened and able better to deal with the hard situations I was facing. However, knowing that and doing that proved to be two very different things! Some days I felt my anxiety ruling my mind and heart.
Now, with a little time and distance between me and those struggles, it is a lot easier to breathe deeply and enjoy God’s peace. Yesterday I had lunch with a dear friend who said that with one recurring concern in her life, she continually turns it over to God, but then finds herself taking it back, time and time again! I do that, too! Maybe that is just another failing caused by being human.
Looking at Paul’s letters to the early churches, I think that must have been an issue for them, too. Over and over again, there are admonitions from Paul to let the peace of Christ rule. To the church in Colosse he said, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Colossians 3:15
To the church in Thessalonica Paul said, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16
Reading these words, I can feel a sense of calm settle around me. A pervasive sense of wellbeing infuses me. So, why can’t I hold on to that? Why must I let that go? Of course I have no answer to these questions. If you do, I would love to hear them! My hope is that as I grow in my relationship with Christ, as I walk this path with all of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I will learn better how to retain God’s peace. And, I will know better how to share it with others.
In the coming week, I pray that you will feel God’s peace envelop you and those whom you love!
Showers of blessings,
Leah Taylor
Laity Blog: Respect is Built on Knowing Others
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
My devotional yesterday morning led me to the book of Esther – specifically to the part of the story where Esther exposes Haman’s plot to kill all the Jews in the land. The king, Esther’s husband, is so enraged by Haman’s perfidy that he orders him hung on the gallows which Haman had built to hang the Jews.
When I opened the newspaper yesterday, on the front of the City & State section, there was a picture of a Rabbi and a college student blowing the shofar in celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah is the first of two High Holy Days. The second, Yom Kippur, follows ten days later. Also known as the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur is a day when our Jewish friends fast and gather in their synagogues to ask for God’s forgiveness for any sins committed in the previous year.
As I turned the page, there was a picture of our Muslim neighbors celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The Houston
Chronicle said, “Ramadan ended Sunday with the festival of Eid-al-Fitr, the ‘Festival of Breaking the Fast.’ It’s a time for gathering with family and friends, wearing fine clothes and – of course – enjoying good food.”
Sitting at my kitchen table reading these articles caused me to stop and think about religious celebrations and how we have so many things in common. Both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur begin with a gathering for friends and family for a meal before time spent in prayer. Ramadan ends with good food, good friends and time spent together. At my house both Christmas and Easter are celebrated with worship and time spent with friends and family and good food.
The overlapping of the Jewish and Muslim holidays may be relatively unique – I don’t remember this happening in the past. But it may be that I am just more observant these days. Whether or not it has happened in the past, this year it made me stop and think about what I believe – as a United Methodist Christian. So, for what it is worth to you (or not), here it is.
I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I believe in living my faith although some days I’m more successful at that than others. My hope and prayer is that by putting my faith into action each day, I can show people around me, whether they know me or not, that I am a Christian.
But I also believe in honoring others religious beliefs. Although I am firmly convinced that for me Christianity is the right path to follow, I believe that people whose beliefs are different than mine are no less God’s children than I am. Because of this, I think it is important for me to understand some of what others believe. In doing that, I have had the opportunity to meet and know people of other faiths. And my life has been enriched by knowing and loving people who believe different things than I do.
As a youngster growing up in Texas during the last part of the Civil Rights movement, I remember hearing a lot about segregation. The discussion of bussing children to schools outside of their neighborhoods was alive and well in my community.
When I went away to college, just through happenstance, my roommate was Hispanic. She was from the Valley and brought with her a completely different culture than my own. Our two suitemates, with whom we shared a bathroom, were both black. They were from Dallas and were friends from high school. We called ourselves the “Rainbow Coalition.” And here is what I learned from them when we were all just freshmen in college. They were just like me! We were all away from home for an extended period of time for the first time. We were scared about classes. We were excited about football games and making new friends. We were worried about our grades. We all enjoyed some of our classes and really didn’t like some of them. We missed our families and we were homesick. We were all excited about new boyfriends and being able to drink at parties (the drinking age then was 18!).
I think back on my years in college with great fondness. Never have I been so carefree with so few responsibilities. My mind was being opened and challenged daily, in and out of class. I was becoming more aware of the rest of the world and with the politics on campus and in the rest of our country. I was meeting new people, some who were like me and others who were not.
Now, as an adult with a daughter who is a college student, I wonder if I am as open to the world around me as I was back then. Reading the newspaper and studying the bible is a great reminder to me that tolerance builds bridges, love builds relationships, and understanding and respect can change the world. I hope that I can do my part!
Showers of blessings!
Leah Taylor
Laity Blog: New Church Starts & Transformation
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Do you remember several years ago at Annual Conference when Bishop Huie, in her Episcopal Address, challenged us to start ten new churches a year for the next ten years? It was a lofty goal which was met with great enthusiasm. We’ve worked hard as a Conference to reach that goal. We haven’t been completely successful but we have learned many new things that will help us get there in the future.
One of the most important things we have learned is that the best, most successful new church starts are those “birthed” by a mother church. In the mother/daughter relationship, the mothering church may provide money, members, staff and other key resources – including focused prayers for the new church.
Some churches have become reluctant mothers, worrying that their finances, membership and resources might be strained while they support the establishment of a new faith community. In fact, we have learned that just the opposite is true. When a church mother’s a new congregation, it becomes stronger. Research shows that when a new church is started in a neighborhood, all of the existing churches in the area grow.
Another important learning has been that not all new church starts will be successful. Benchmarks are developed and agreed to for each new church start. When those benchmarks are not met, the new church start may be closed. Benchmarks for new church starts are not set by the Conference alone. They are established and agreed to by the new church start pastor, the Center for Congregational Excellence and, when available, key laity in the new church.
New church starts are not only new buildings in neighborhoods where there haven’t been United Methodist churches in the past. Many different types of new faith communities have been and are being considered “new churches.” Hispanic, Vietnamese or Korean communities are worshipping in churches that in the past were largely white and African-American congregations. Other churches have started new, completely different worship services which are attracting new groups of worshippers. Some churches have established second campuses. So you can see that New Church starts can have lots of different looks.
For the past three years we have also been concentrating on Church Transformation. Many churches have been participating in the program since it began. And, just like in New Church Starts, we have learned a lot from the program as it was originally designed. Perhaps the most important learning for us, the laity of the UMC, is that the churches in our Conference which have been the most successful are those where the laity were the most receptive and involved. From my perspective that result was totally predictable. After all, we are the church!
One of the other things learned is that because not every church is the same, the same approach to transformation will not work everywhere. Instead, the churches participating in transformation will be looking at ways to customize the program to fit their particular needs. And different districts will also be handling transformation in some different ways. But make no mistake, transformation has brought about positive change in the Conference and it will continue to be an area of focus.
Part of the continuation of transformation will involve more lay people. Teams of laity and clergy will be trained to work with churches just starting down the road to transformation. If you have been involved in transformation in your home church and think you might like to be part of one of these teams, let me know. I’ll find out how to get you in touch with the right folks. Just email me at tayleah@comcast.net.
Right now if you have transformation success stories from your church, I would love to hear and share them. We can always learn something from what our brothers and sisters have experienced.
Showers of blessings,
Leah Taylor
Laity Blog - Connecting as Children of God
Monday, September 7th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Football season has begun! At my house we watch professional football but we are really college football fans. I am a rabid Longhorn, having graduated from The University of Texas in both undergraduate and Law School. Tom is a TCU alum and is a confirmed Horned Frog. Now that Mary Beth is a TCU student, we have season tickets so we’ll attend most, if not all, of the home games. So Tom is a very happy Horned Frog, indeed.
Many of our friends are Aggies or Sooners or Tigers from LSU and we have some friendly rivalries. Saturday night after the first day of college football, there was a lot of chatter on Facebook with many people celebrating the success of their favorite teams.
When I was in Cote d’Ivoire last November, several teams came back to dinner in the evenings with stories of teaching the village children to say “Gig ‘em” or “Hook ‘em Horns!” There was even a picture floating around Facebook recently of a group of children, grinning from ear to ear, holding up their thumbs.
Isn’t it interesting that even now, years after graduating from college, many of us continue to identify with our schools? For some people, their affiliation with college may be the last time they were part of an identifiable group. In the past we knew people who got a job with a company right out of school and spent their entire career there. That doesn’t happen very often today.
It seems like we all need ways to define ourselves and to find connections with others. When we introduce ourselves to people we are meeting for the first time we look for a context in which to place them. We’ll talk about work, friends we have in common, or times we might have traveled to their home towns. I wish I could remember which pastor suggested this in a sermon (I can’t), but the idea was that the next time you introduce yourself, shake hands and say, “Hi, I am a Child of God!” Of course you would immediately have something in common with your new acquaintance.
Okay, you probably won’t do that, but when you identify yourself as a United Methodist, you might be surprised at the connections you forge. Tom and I have slowly been meeting our new neighbors. A few weeks ago we were out walking the dogs and met a couple we had not seen before. We quickly learned that they are also Methodist and before we left, they had invited us to take part in one of the small groups in which they participate.
Last week in the hospital with my mom, an administrator saw the Cross and Flame on my card and we began talking church. He isn’t a United Methodist, but he recognized the logo. He talked about how, as a boy in his small town in the Panhandle, his Boy Scout troop met at the United Methodist Church. His grandmother, a born and raised Baptist, was happy he was spending time in a church but was very concerned that the Methodists would “steal him away.” Now he attends a Bible church.
At another point last week, Mom and I were sitting in a waiting room. Somehow I found myself in conversation with a woman talking about Cote d’Ivoire, mosquito nets and malaria. She was fascinated and asked how I had gotten involved in the effort. When I told her about the work of the church, she became very thoughtful.
I’m pretty sure there is a lesson here for us – at least for me. It is hard for me to talk about Jesus Christ and the difference accepting him as my Lord and Savior has made in my life. But I don’t have any trouble talking about the things I do.
Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” As I talk to people about my involvement in the church, I pray that they will see the effect of Christ in my life. And as I mature in my faith, I pray for the words to talk about that difference in a welcoming way so that my faith becomes an invitation to others – others who don’t yet define themselves as Children of God!
Showers of Blessings,
Leah Taylor