Five Stick Friday

Well, me being me, I’ve managed to write these “season” narratives out of order, and still have some scattered, smothered, and covered organization in my approach. But hey…it is what it is.

If you’re new to my rambling though about my season(s) of time with DFUMC…here’s the catchup…

Season 1 – 1979-1981 “The Beginning”
Season 2 – 1990-1994 “The Return” – still under construction
Season 3 – 2010-2013 “The Service”

Today’s post was to be entitled “Season 4 – The Battle”. But after prayerful consideration, it just seems backwards looking and vengeful at this point, so it ain’t gonna happen. Suffice it to say that I’m glad United Methodism is alive and well at DFUMC and happy to see an engaged Pastor ready to lead a new age in the Church’s storied 175-year history.

I’m just back from worship this morning at Dalton First United Methodist this morning for Mother’s Day. What a wonderful service and another home-run message by Pastor Steven Usry… because he’s spot on relevant that:

The Family is Shelter from Storms.
The Family is to be a Learning Center For Life.
The Family is a Place to Play.
The Family is a Launchpad for Ministry.

All taught contextually this morning from the pulpit in his upbeat and communicative way. And I had packed it away mentally and was delighted to have done so when he threw the final fastball.

The Church is supposed to be all those things as well.

The Church is Shelter from Storms.
The Church is to be a Learning Center for Life
The Church SHOULD be a Place to Play.
The Church is a Launchpad for Ministry.

That last one is so important to me. “Church” should be an around the clock thing in the way you live your life, that, WHEN ASKED, and WITH HUMILITY, we can be prepared to give our hope in Jesus Christ.

Because in my opinion, in the vein of the cliche, “They don”t care what you know until they know that you care…” , it’s all about living an existence that begs the question. “How DO you manage the storms”. And being prepared to answer… Before ever returning to First United Methodist to visit, I had this on my heart and blogged here about it. That entry is right here… “AS You Go…”

It felt very special to have Laurie with me today. We haven’t worshipped in the pews together in a long, long time. Primarily because when I’ve been in a church’s walls over the last 25 years, I’m normally running a worship team. So it felt nice to share a hymn book with my bride on Mother’s Day with zero programming or performance responsibility.

And that same emotional flood came over me today as last week, but this time I was more prepared. Last week, I found myself remembering. A lot.

I’d look at the front of the sanctuary and remember the first time I saw F.AI.T.H. sing in 1979 and know immediately I wanted to be a part of it. I’d look at the balcony, and remember singing from up there with David Donathan’s choirs at one point to create a cool effect. I looked at the Pulpit where Kenny Ott expertly characterized my Mother during her memorial service. I crept down the “secret back stairs” to the restroom from the front of the church and remembered this was the way the Madrigal singers could magically appear in Famber Hall after being in the Sanctuary. I remembered all the rehearsals for Madrigal with hot lasagna and crisp white wine. I remembered learning and memorizing songs in Latin, and truly wanting to perfect them because I was in really talented musical company. I remembered conversations with Charles Ruehl and Mike Moffitt all over that building….Conversations that shaped my life.

I could do this for another hour or two, but I doubt anyone would make it through it and I’m sure anyone reading gets the point. This place was my HOME. These people were my FAMILY.

This is why I reacted so very viscerally when I heard of what I considered an inside take-over of a church I loved deeply and fiercely. But that is water under the bridge…a river if you will ( ha ha) that has decided to flow in a different direction. I truly and from the bottom of my heart wish them the best in their ministry. Jesus needs us all.

But I will give my unsolicited advice to those of us remaining at DFUMC.

We need liberals. We need conservatives. We need skeptics. We need unbridled dreamers. We need vision casters. We need followers to make a vision happen. We need it all.

A bird that has only a right wing or left wing…flies around in circles.

In short, we need everyone that wants to love one another as Jesus loved us.

And with that…a new season begins. Laurie and I are praying over our next steps. On one hand, being involved in the the everyday of a church is almost impossible from 70 miles away. And on the other, we loved the environment there this morning, Pastor Steven’s energy, the wonderful music from the choir…and getting to just be there together after my many years of being a “hired gun” on Sunday mornings.

So…we’ll see where this goes. Peace and blessings to all.