“What’s past is prologue.” I’m not usually one to quote much Shakespeare, but this phrase from Act II of The Tempest has been getting a lot of attention lately. Carved on the National Archives Building in Washington D.C., this statement has been uttered by a number of political candidates during this election year. It is a call to remember the past, but not to be anchored by it. It prompts us to honor those who have gone before us by moving forward into a future they helped carve but could not claim. It is a humbling reminder that we live in a momentary link between yesterday and tomorrow.
This Sunday, we honor our past with the observance of All Saints Sunday, as we read the names of those in our church who have died in the past year. With the lighting of a candle and the ringing of a bell, we remember their ongoing influence upon us, encouraging us to live out our days with courage and faith.
For just as we mourn the realities of death, we can claim the promise of life and the mystery of life beyond death. Our faith in the power of the resurrection enables us truly to believe that what’s past is indeed prologue. The arrival of death is merely a doorway to new life and new possibilities for us who remain. It is a reality reflected in the words of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, our text for this Sunday:
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted… a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”
SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE My friend Dwight Grosvenor, pastor of Hope Parish (Pocahontas, Havelock & Plover), attends our weekly clergy lectionary group and writes beautiful “nestings.” He e-mails them daily to friends and colleagues, and this one caught my attention as particularly appropriate for the week:
Seeds for the future.
Seeds for the future are formed as the flowers mature.
Seeds for the future are formed. As the flowers mature the blooms turn into seeds.
Seeds for the future are formed. As the flowers mature the blooms turn into seeds, while the plants are dying. What’s past is prologue. As we honor our past, we are given new energy and clarity for the future. And that’s why I invite you stick around for a while after the service this Sunday.
THE 20/20 VISION PLAN After church, I invite you to come down to the Fellowship Hall and hear the presentation by the 20/20 Vision Team, as it outlines its comprehensive proposal for the long-term strategies and goals of the church. Come hear the new mission, vision, and values statement that will serve as the backbone of our life together. Hear the proposals for strengthening our ministries of worship, discipleship, fellowship, and service. And listen to the plans for the next phase of campus renovation. All of these proposals come directly from what the team heard from you and members of the Cherokee community, and you will have a chance to ask questions and offer your comments as we put the proposal in its final form.
This is all to prepare us for our Charge Conference on Monday, November 10, at 7:00pm, which I encourage you to attend. Together we will formally adopt this plan and claim the future that God has set before us.
Indeed, what’s past is prologue – a foretaste of God’s vision for the next chapter of our life together.
What a great time to be the church!
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 Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
UMW BAZAAR NEXT TUESDAY The theme for this year’s bazaar is “American Dreams,” sponsored by the UMW. Let’s all join together in making it another success; if you would like to help, here are some things you could do:
Do you like to bake? Consider baking some of your favorites for the morning coffee or bake sale.
Are you crafty? Call Phyllis Parrott (225-5265) or Shelly Lenz (225-5505) if you need craft items picked up or if you need any additional information.
Make a salad for the salad bar. Contact Amy Stief (225-3614) and she will get you the recipe and container in which to bring it.
Would you rather make a pie? Many are needed for our dessert table. Again, call Amy at 225-3614.
If you are not able to help in any of the above areas perhaps you can bring your friends to the Bazaar for morning coffee (8:00 to 10:30) or invite them to our noon luncheon (11:00 to 1:00). While you are there be sure to shop our bake sale and craft tables. All of your donations, your help, and your attendance will be greatly appreciated.
A GREATER GIFT As part of the UMW Bazaar, the Missions Committee will be offering Christmas decorations and creches from A Greater Gift, a program provided by SERRV International. Come purchase these fairly-traded, hand-made crafts that will create opportunities for artists in 36 countries around the world.
DISTRICT-WIDE YOUTH LOCK-IN We will once again be hosting a lock-in for all district United Methodist youth from Friday to Saturday, October 31-Nov.1, from 9pm to approximately 10am. The lock-in is in conjunction with the Ingathering and will conclude with the loading of kits onto the trucks at Western Iowa Tech. All youth grades 7-12 are invited to participate and need only bring a snack or 2-liter bottle of soda. Pizza and breakfast will be provided. We are in need of adults to supervise the kids in order for our youth to participate. If you are interested, please contact Karla Wilkie by tomorrow night.
“Do not look forward to the mishaps of this life with anxiety, but await them with perfect confidence so that when they do occur, God, to whom you belong, will deliver you from them. He has kept you up to the present; remain securely in the hand of his providence, and he will help you in all situations.” In a time of great economic uncertainty and global instability, we would do well to remember these words from St. Francis de Sales, the seventeenth century bishop of the diocese of Geneva. His life and example are a call to steadfast faith amidst troubling times.
He was born in France in 1567, and after studying both law and theology in Paris, he dedicated his life to the priesthood, a decision that surprised his parents. The pastorate was not initially a natural fit for him. Although fully committed to serving the church, he had to get over the fact that doing so would mean he would have to cut his long, golden, curly hair. One historian characterized his preaching as “when he preached, the listeners thought he was making fun of them.” And people began to complain to the bishop that de Sales was too conceited and controlling.
But over time, and with practice, de Sales matured into the ministry.
He developed a passion for evangelism, and saw a vast mission field available to the church in Geneva, Switzerland, a bastion for Calvinist Protestantism. He organized a missionary envoy to go and convert them, and in the end, his team consisted of two – him and his cousin.
Talk about a tough day in the office. Throughout his efforts to build the kingdom, he had doors slam in his face and rocks thrown at him. In the bitter winters, his feet froze so badly they bled as he tramped through the snow. He slept in haylofts if he could, and once had to sleep in a tree to avoid wolves. He tied himself to a branch to keep from falling out and was so frozen the next morning he had to be cut down. After three years of evangelizing, his cousin had left him alone and he had not made one convert.
But de Sales did not quit. Because he could not get a face-to-face audience with people, he wrote his sermons down, reproduced them, and slid them underneath people’s doors. To this day, he is known as the patron saint of journalism because of his printed efforts. Slowly, his efforts warmed the hearts of the people of Geneva, and it is said that he returned to France having converted 40,000 of them to Catholicism.
Over time, his spiritual journey brought him to Christian mysticism, and he developed a passion for spiritual direction. People, clergy and lay alike, began to come to him to learn how to practice the devout life, and to hear the voice of God. He is credited during this time period as opening the way of spiritual practice, holiness, and devotion to common lay people. When it was thought that spiritual piety was reserved only for the professionally religious, de Sales offered all people the way to practice this kind of holy life.
In fact, his hallmark book, Introduction to a Devout Life, originally a collection of letters he wrote to people seeking his direction, became widespread in its popularity all throughout Europe in 1608. His writings included this pamphlet, “Wise and Loving Counsel,” in which he called those who wishing to live a devout life to “belong totally to God.”
Do not look forward to the mishaps of this life with anxiety, but await them with perfect confidence so that when they do occur, God, to whom you belong, will deliver you from them. He has kept you up to the present; remain securely in the hand of his providence, and he will help you in all situations. When you cannot walk, he will carry you. Do not think about what will happen tomorrow, for the same eternal Father who takes care of you today will look out for you tomorrow and always. Either he will keep you from evil or he will give you invincible courage to endure it. Remain in peace; rid your imagination of whatever troubles you. Belong totally to God. Think of him and he will think of you. He has drawn you to himself so that you may be his; he will take care of you. Do not be afraid, for if little chicks feel perfectly safe when they are under their mother's wings, how secure should the children of God feel under his paternal protection! So be at peace, since you are one of these children; and let your weary, listless heart rest against the sacred, loving breast of this Savior who, by his providence is a father to his children, and by his gentle, tender love is a mother to them. First thing in the morning, prepare your heart to be at peace; then take great care throughout the day to call it back to that peace frequently, and, as it were, to again take your heart in your hand. If you happen to do something that you regret, be neither astonished nor upset, but having acknowledged your failing, humble yourself quietly before God and try to regain your gentle composure. Say to yourself: "There, we have made a mistake, but let's go on now and be more careful." Every time you fall, do the same.
STAY IN LOVE WITH GOD The writings of St. Francis de Sales would later become a significant influence on a young Anglican priest named John Wesley, whose sermons would often echo a familiarity with de Sales. From his sermon “On Love,” Wesley writes:
The love which our Lord requires in all his followers, is the love of God and man; -- of God, for his own, and of man, for God's sake. Now, what is it to love God, but to delight in him, to rejoice in his will, to desire continually to please him, to seek and find our happiness in him, and to thirst day and night for a fuller enjoyment of him? As to the measure of this love, our Lord hath clearly told us, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." Not that we are to love or delight in none but him: For he hath commanded us, not only to love our neighbour, that is, all men, as ourselves; -- to desire and pursue their happiness as sincerely and steadily as our own, -- but also to love many of his creatures in the strictest sense; to delight in them, to enjoy them: Only in such a manner and measure as we know and feel, not to indispose but to prepare us for the enjoyment of Him. Thus, then, we are called to love God with all our heart. This Sunday, I invite you to come hear our District Superintendent, Bernie Colorado, offer a sermon based on Great Commandment of Jesus in Matthew 22:34-36. He will guide you through the classic Wesleyan formula for the devote life, summarized recently by Bishop Reuben Job as “The Three Simple Rules:”
1. Do no harm. 2. Do good. 3. Stay in love with God.
Come discover how obedience to these principles will free you to live in the fullness of God’s grace and peace, amidst a world of fear anxiety.
In God’s Love,
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
Matthew 22:34-46 34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 37 He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." 41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42 "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." 43 He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 44 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet"'? 45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" 46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
DISTRICT CELEBRATION OCT. 23 Plan on joining us for a celebration of ministry in our sanctuary led by our District Superintendent Bernie Colorado and Field Outreach Minister Sarah Stevens. The event includes the congregations of Aurelia and Sutherland-Larrabee, and begins at 7:00pm.
CONGREGATION-WIDE GATHERING NOV. 2 Following the service on November 2nd, you are invited to the Fellowship Hall for a chance to hear details about the 20/20 Vision Plan, the long-term strategic plan of the church that will be considered for adoption at our charge conference on November 10.
In the immortal words of Linus Van Pelt in the classic It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: “There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.”
I’m pretty sure the gospels are ominously silent on the topic of the Great Pumpkin (sorry, Linus!). But I believe it has much to say about the first two. In a country grounded by the separation of church and state, we are tempted to compartmentalize our religious convictions from our political ones. Many think there should be no overlap between the church life we live on Sundays, and the civic life we live the rest of the week. But a careful reading of the gospels can lead to only one conclusion.
Religion and politics should mix.
Notice the claim is not that religion and political power mix. In fact, just the opposite is true. The church and political power have always been disastrous bedmates. The Crusades, the Inquisition, the support of slavery, and the subjugation of women are just a few of the examples of how a fusion between the church and political power only wind up corrupting both and enhancing neither.
Nor is the claim that religion and partisan politics mix. Nowhere do we get the sense that Jesus would have been a Democrat or a Republican. The point of the gospels is not to bow allegiance toward one political party over the other. In fact, to squeeze a political endorsement out of Jesus would be a gross profaning of the Scriptures. In the words of a popular bumper sticker advanced by the Christian group Sojourners, “God is not a Republican or a Democrat.”
We would do well to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln. When asked whether God was on the Union side, he replied:
“I am not at all concerned about that, for I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.” So why do religion and politics mix?
Because they did for Jesus. He lived a life immersed in the complicated political structures of his day. He was surrounded by the dichotomy of haves and have-nots. He ministered to people who were marginalized by society. Jesus’ every word and every action was performed in a grand political matrix of Roman and Jewish relations.
This is a direct counter to those who believe that Jesus came only to speak in ethereal, spiritual terms, only to minister to the souls of people and little else. Those with this belief would render Jesus mute when it comes to oppressive political systems or economic injustice. They would rather see him merely as a pastor than a prophet as well, who only comforted the afflicted rather than afflicted the comfortable.
But consider our text for this Sunday’s sermon. If Jesus was disinterested in speaking politically, then how does one explain this exchange in Matthew 22:15,17? Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “…Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ Richard Horsley, in his excellent book Jesus and Empire, asks, “But if Jesus’ questioners and listeners all assumed such a separation of Caesar and God into utterly separate spheres, then how could the question have possibly been part of a strategy to entrap Jesus?”
This Sunday, we will explore how a thoughtful, mainline, centerfield Christian can be actively engaged in the world of politics. We will do so without advocating for one political party over the other, and without seeking a kind of political influence that has produced a dangerous mix throughout the history of the church.
Instead, we will learn to look at our world through the eyes of Jesus, who was neither interested in political power nor apathetic to the real needs of real people. In a time when presidential campaigns and political rhetoric occupy our attention at nearly every turn, let’s negotiate a vital balance between faith and politics, as Christians and citizens. Let’s learn to be the church, in the context of the state.
(And we can leave the Great Pumpkin to someone else.)
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
Matthew 22:15-21
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ 21 They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
YOUTH WACKY NIGHT It’s what it sounds like! A time of wild, wacky fun for all youth grades 7 – 12. Join us at 5:00 for a snack supper, a time of great fun, and an inspiring lesson ending at 7pm. You won’t believe the stunts you’ll be doing!
MMMM…..APPLE PIES….. We are now taking orders for delicious, homemade apple pies and crisps made just for you! Place your order at the church ($6.00 for crisps, $7.00 for pies) and plan on picking them up shortly after they are made. Pies will be made on Thursday 10/16, Monday 10/20, and Thursday 10/23. For more information, contact Phyllis Parrott or Jean Anderson.
DISTRICT CELEBRATION OCT. 23 Plan on joining us for a celebration of ministry in our sanctuary led by our District Superintendent Bernie Colorado and Field Outreach Minister Sarah Stevens. The event includes the congregations of Aurelia and Sutherland-Larrabee, and begins at 7:00pm.
It’s an illness that affects about one in four Americans every year, nearly 58 million people. It is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada. The World Health Organization estimates that it poses a greater economic and social burden on global market economies than any other disease.
Chances are, someone you know and care for is affected by some form of mental illness. It shows no preference for any one demographic or life stage, and casts a long shadow in the homes, schools, and workplaces throughout our communities.
And if you’re looking for biblical precedent, many scholars point to 1 Samuel 18:10 as the best example of a biblical character who may have had depression: “The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house.” In 1990, Congress assigned the first week in October as an annual observance of issues related to mental illness. As such, this week, October 5-11, is designated as National Mental Illness Awareness Week.
I invite you to take a moment to pray for those affected by some form of mental illness. Work to overcome your own prejudice against people who are suffering, and help stem society’s stigma. And take a moment to reach out in love and concern to loved ones you know who deal with this on a daily basis. Offer them a note of understanding, a compassionate ear, or simply a kind word.
And if you are one of the millions dealing with mental illness, know that you need not take this journey alone. Seek out the trusted counsel of a friend or professional, and feel the presence of God’s peace in your life.
Together, let’s do the work of the church, and be a beacon of light for those who walk along dark paths.
Grace and Peace,
Magrey WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY Join us this Sunday as we hear the famous story of the Israelites and the golden calf. The sermon is based on Exodus 32:1-14 and is titled, “Golden Cows Make Gourmet Idols.” Come experience how your own idols are getting in the way of God’s work in and through you.
BENEFIT FOR LINZI GUM Many of you are aware that our secretary, Linzi Gum, is recovering from a back injury. You are invited to attend a benefit concert at Jake’s Bar in Aurelia this Saturday, from 9am to 1pm, provided by her father and the band Once Bitten.
TAKE A TRIP ON THE GOOD SHIP “S.S. ADOPTION” Share you talents with the children of St. Paul’s and adopt a Sunday School classroom for a session. Ideas include: sharing a story, leading the group in a song, demonstrating or creating a craft, or making a snack. A sign-up poster is located in the back of the sanctuary - choose a grade level and contact the appropriate Sunday School teacher to make the arrangements. This is a great opportunity to build connections between our kids and the congregation! Call Jill Chalstrom with questions/suggestions 225-0119.
