June 4, 2008
Dear St. Paul’s Family,
Every family has a smart-alecky relative, and mine is my cousin Ferdie. A recent convert to United Methodism, he is a new member at the church I served in Tampa and is a part of a team working on a new discipleship project. Ferdie found out about our current “What is a United Methodist?” sermon series and sent me the following e-mail:
“You forgot a sermon title: ‘One Who Meets in Committees’”
Joking aside, he’s not too far from the truth. Among the many hallmarks of the Methodist movement is the intentional way that the church is organized and ordered for fully effective ministry. Perhaps as a response to the backlash in the early days of this country against anything that remotely resembled a king or monarch, early American Methodists stressed the sharing of ministry and the decentralization of power in its polity. It remains an important attribute of the denomination to this day.
A VOICE FROM THE PAST
As we prepare for our 150th Anniversary later this summer, the History Committee has been doing an excellent job organizing numerous archival materials. Recently they uncovered and shared with me a wonderful item from 1979: a carefully preserved and beautifully framed sermon originally preached by the Rev. Bob D. Davis, who pastored this church from 1977 to 1986. He is also one of the ministers who will be joining us this summer to preach on July 27, as part of our sesquicentennial festivities.
The sermon is titled, “14 Reasons Why I Am a United Methodist,” and was preached on April 29, 1979. What has caught my attention lately is the final reason, #14:
“14. The United Methodist Church is organized. Someone has said, “The United Methodist Church is organized to beat the devil.” Literally, this is true. Proper planning pays its rewards, poor planning its rewards. The United Methodist Church is organized to do the job. It is not meetings alone that make the difference but rather people meeting and planning together. Far better to be in a Church organized “to beat the devil” than to be in a Church disorganized which the devil defeats. History has taught The United Methodist Church there is no substitute for wise planning which involves laity and clergy. And when people do their part, and do their best, they need not worry that the Gift of the Holy Spirit will be there to nurture and bless them.”
Rev. Davis’ statement echoes the words of Wesley himself, who underscored the critical importance of order and discipline in the church in order to accomplish its mission. He said this most forcefully in a sermon preached in 1746:
What is the end of all ecclesiastical order? Is it not to bring souls from the power of Satan to God, and to build them up in his fear and love? Order, then is so far valuable as it answers these ends; and if it answers them not, it is nothing worth.
THE CONNECTION AT WORK
Join us this Sunday for worship as we continue our sermon series called “What is a Methodist?” with a celebration of what it means to be part of an ordered, global, connectional system. The sermon is titled “One Who Connects with Others” and is based on Jethro’s advise to Moses in Exodus 18.
You will also want to keep the Iowa Annual Conference in your prayers as it gathers this week in Ames for several days of gathering, praying, organizing, and planning for the Annual Conference. I and your two lay delegates, Mary Jo Carnine and Marilyn Brubaker, will be joining several hundred Methodists around the state for this important time. Please pray for the Bishop, the Cabinet, the Conference leadership, and all the delegates as we gather for “holy conferencing.”
“ A MONTH OF LIVING WESLEYAN”
We had a tremendous response to last Sunday’s invitation to begin a thirty-day journey of living the Methodist way. All of the guidebooks were picked up last Sunday, so we have made more available here in the church office. The book offers daily scripture readings and excerpts from several of Wesley’s most noted sermons, including:
The Almost Christian
On Charity
Working Out Our Own Salvation
The Marks of the New Birth
The Duty of Constant Communion
There are also instructions for the mid-week communion service here at the church and the call to serve the community in some way during this month.
And as I shared with you last Sunday, the most important feature of this month-long exercise is that you do it with other people, in the true spirit of the Wesley class meetings. Since the devotions don’t start until Monday, you are to spend this week finding others who will take the journey with you. I am very pleased that many of you have already organized yourselves into small groups and committed to doing this together. You will find this to be an enriching, powerful experience.
This is a wonderful time to celebrate being United Methodist, and a great time to be the church. See you Sunday!
Grace and Peace,
Magrey
The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
http://www.cherokeespumc.org
Exodus 18:13-27
13 The next day Moses sat as judge for the people, while the people stood around him from morning until evening.
14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, ‘What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?’
15 Moses said to his father-in-law, ‘Because the people come to me to inquire of God.
16 When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make known to them the statutes and instructions of God.’
17 Moses” father-in-law said to him, ‘What you are doing is not good.
18 You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.
19 Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God;
20 teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do.
21 You should also look for able men among all the people, men who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain; set such men over them as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
22 Let them sit as judges for the people at all times; let them bring every important case to you, but decide every minor case themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
23 If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their home in peace.’
24 So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
25 Moses chose able men from all Israel and appointed them as heads over the people, as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.
26 And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Moses, but any minor case they decided themselves.
27 Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went off to his own country.
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