Guard Your Heart
My child, pay attention to what I say.
Listen carefully to my words.
Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
for they bring life to those who find them,
and healing to their whole body.
Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
Avoid all perverse talk;
stay away from corrupt speech.
Look straight ahead,
and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
Mark out a straight path for your feet;
stay on the safe path.
Don’t get sidetracked;
keep your feet from following evil.
Proverb 4:20-27, NLT
I'm going to make a confession, don't tell anyone. I can be a bit...emotional at times. There, I've said it. And the truth is, I'm not ashamed of feeling. I'm not ashamed of feeling joy, or sadness; anger or love. God created all of these emotions. But, have you ever noticed how much the world wants us to lock up our emotions and just walk around like we don't feel? They want us to be robots who aren't affected by anything. Everyone wants us to be tough and wear armor that is unpenetrable.
So, I'm going to make another confession. I like to watch Once Upon a Time. The first season was the best, but they've hooked me. What I've noticed about the show is the over arching theme of "the heart". All of the character, the heroes and the villains, are trying to either save or protect their hearts. There are even characters who can enchant hearts and use them to control another person.
I feel like this them is much like our world today. Emma Swan, the show's savior, learns in an episode that she needs to find a way to have armor to protect herself from the world, from being hurt emotionally. She uses her red leather jacket as that armor. It seems so silly that a piece of clothing could protect her emotionally.
The proverb above says that we should allow God to protect us and guard our hearts. We don't prevent ourselves from feeling or loving, we just give it all to him and he will keep us safe. I hope you'll join me in worship on Sunday as we talk about how we can take this idea further and finish our series "Never Again."
In Christ,
Faith
Click Here to download this week's Faith Notes.
Faith Parry serves as our Associate Pastor, and has been at the church since 2015. When she's not preaching and teaching, she enjoys documentaries and TV. Read more about Faith here.
Explain These Bad Grades
by Ned Martin's Amused
Most of the comics that are shared on social media are good just for wasting time or just for a quick laugh. But every once in a while there’s one that sticks with you. I have no idea when I first saw at the above comic of a side by side comparisons from 1969 and today.
On the 1969 side, there is a student looking down in shame while his parents and his teacher are on the other side of the desk telling the kid “Explain these bad grades.”
On the today side, the parents are on the kid’s side of the desk and are angrily asking the teacher to “Explain these bad grades” while the kid is wearing a pretty confident smile.) While I never had to explain bad grades, I still know that if I did have any, I would be doing the explaining to my parents, not my teacher. I can’t verify how accurate this comic is to the 1969 side, but the today side is fairly accurate for most parents.
While this is a great insight into the educational system, it also gives us a lot of insight into the church discipleship system as well. Often people will hold the pastor or church staff responsible for their spiritual problems, or to be more true to the comic and my ministry focus, the spiritual problems of their children. “My kid is struggling with x, so you should do more lessons on x so that they know how to deal with x.” And while the “x” is meant to be a stand-in for any number of issues, it also applies to the drug x which isn’t too far off from a real conversation I've had with a parent before.
Grades and Church
While that particular example might sound absurd, maybe this example will sound more realistic to you. “My kid doesn’t like coming to church, can you do something so that they want to come?” I’ve heard everything from giving away iPods, bringing in more kids their age, buying giant inflatables, to bringing in a Super Bowl MVP (seriously) to make a particular student want to come to church.
I don’t know how many variations of this I’ve heard, but every time I’m conflicted. On the one hand here is a parent who cares about their kid coming to church who has come to me asking for help (which is part of what I’m supposed to be doing). But here’s the other hand… They are trying to outsource their responsibility to someone else. They are setting the precedent that you only go to church to get an iPod, or because your friends are going, or because of whatever else that isn’t Jesus.
We all have the same goal in mind, we want students to have an authentic relationship with Jesus. The difference is the responsibility is actually with the student, not with a church staff or even ultimately with the parents. Just like in school, each person has their own responsibilities. The teacher/church staff person is there to give the students the tools they need to learn and to apply knowledge to their life. Parents are responsible for making sure their student shows up, making sure they are dedicating enough time to learn what they need, and helping the students where they have questions.
The students are the ones ultimately responsible for what they learn. They have to put the time in to learn what they need. The quadratic formula doesn’t just appear in your head because your math book sits on your night stand anymore than atonement theories pop in your head because you have a Bible on your shelf. In the end it’s a collaborative effort where the best results occur when all parts work together, but parents will have the biggest impact on their kids spiritual lives.
-Nathan
Nathan Persell serves as our Youth Director. When he's not leading devotions and playing basketball with teenagers, he enjoys disc golf and bike riding. Learn more about Nathan here.
Change Someone
We have all been in situations where we wish someone would be different or make better choices:
- An irresponsible person who does not do what should be done
- An employee who is not performing up to standards
- A person who is not investing in a relationship
- An adult child you wish would grow up and make better choices
- A coworker who is not matching your effort
We want people to change and wish we could change them. So, we try. At first, it’s subtle, an encouraging word here, a mild criticism there. When that doesn’t seem to do the job, we step up our tactics with nagging, manipulation or passive aggressive schemes. And guess what? Nothing changes.
We Try to Change Them
We see what needs to happen. We know it would be in their best interest. So, we try to change them, motivate them to do things the way we think they should be. There is only one problem; they have a will of their own. We get frustrated because we can’t control them.
It’s impossible to get someone to change who does not what the change for themselves. We may be able to manipulate someone into some temporary behavior modification, but for change to take place, the other person must want the change.
God endowed us with free will, the ability to choose for ourselves. God made us that way so we could freely love and serve God. The downside of that wonderful gift is that we can also use it to turn away from God – and we do so often. That gift of free will is not only exercised in our relationship with God but every relationship. That is why it is impossible to change another person.
As much as we want another person to change, as much as that change would be good for them and us, we cannot make it happen. We must respect their, God-given ability to choose for themselves.
Acceptance
Once we have accepted that part of their make-up we can help them decide for themselves. We can influence, but not control. We can influence them through incentives, exposing them to opportunities, and setting consequences in place. John Maxwell once famously said, “People change when they hurt enough that they have to, learn enough that they want to, or receive enough that they are able to.”
We cannot make an employee or co-worker do their jobs with greater effort or passion. But, we can outline our expectations and put consequences in place that will clearly show that they have or have not met those expectations. Then allow them to choose their path.
That is what Jesus did in the Scripture cited above. Jesus told the man what would be required for him to inherit eternal life and left the decision to him. Jesus looked at him, loved him and placed the matter in his hands.
When we love someone enough the give them a choice and the consequences of that choice, we respect them and honor their God-given free will. And, by the way, save ourselves a lot of grief.
Blessings,
Alan
Click Here to download this week's Faith Notes.
Alan Cassady serves as Senior Pastor at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2011. When he's not preaching and teaching, he enjoys sci-fi movies and FSU Football. Read more about Alan here.
Big Game Parties
Reaching Out in our Communities
The "Big Game" is known for consuming the lives of football fans and even reducing church attendance. Even the commercials have become something to look forward to, with America voting on which was their favorite, taking the advertising ranks to a new level. One blog has even made a game out of the commercials. Every cooking blog known to man starts posting the perfect spread for snacks from healthy to everything filled with bacon.
But, there's more to the big game than football, food, and games. It's an opportunity to spend time with people. Specifically, it's an opportunity for us, as the Church, to reach out to those around us in our community and neighborhoods that we may not know very well.
Why Use the Big Game as an Outreach?
You might have noticed, but we've been focused a lot recently on getting out into our community and connecting with others. Boo at the Zoo and Take it to the Streets are two examples of how we have been shifting our mindset to step out of our comfort zone and connect with people around us in our neighborhoods and community.
Our goal as a church is to reach those in our community who don't know Christ. That starts with us building relationships with people and loving them for who they are and not trying to change them.
I can't think of a better way to create relationships with people then over football and food. So, as you're thinking about how you're going to spend the "Big Game" this year, I encourage you to pray about inviting people from your neighborhood who you don't know well or your work. Just get to know them.
Remember, "Be the Church" in everything you do. That means, represent Christ and be yourself at the same time. You may be the only person they've spent time with that lives a Christian life.
I'm Praying for you!
Faith
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Faith Parry serves as our Associate Pastor, and has been at the church since 2015. When she's not preaching and teaching, she enjoys documentaries and TV. Read more about Faith here.
Redo
Mulligans and redemption
In golf, we have the concept of a mulligan. A mulligan allows a player to replay a stroke, even though this is against the formal rules of golf. In some tournaments, you can even buy mulligans ahead of time. The concept is the same in some other games and sports.
Wouldn’t it be great if we got mulligans in life! If we made a wrong decision, we could call a mulligan and take another shot. But it doesn’t work like that. Often the bad decisions we make in life have consequences that cannot be undone by simply making a different decision later. When we make those bad decisions and learn from them, we call that experience. We suffer the consequences, learn and move on. Even though we make a better decision the second time around, the situation is different because of the prior decision.
In biblical terms, we don’t get mulligans; what we do get is redemption and opportunities for renewal and recommitment. That is what we will experience this coming Sunday.
This Sunday
This Sunday we will participate in two special acts of worship: A Reaffirmation of Baptism and Covenant Renewal. When we reaffirm our baptismal vows, we go back to the beginning of our journey as followers of Christ and remember and reaffirm the commitments we made or that were made on our behalf. We once again renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness in this world and renew our pledge of allegiance to Jesus above all other commitments.
In Covenant Renewal, we go back to a Puritan tradition that began in 1663. John Wesley adopted the practice and celebrated its many benefits. The Discipleship Ministries of the United Methodist Church says the following about the service:
“Wesley found the service rich and meaningful, as expressed in his Journal: “Many mourned before God, and many were comforted” (April 1756); “It was, as usual, a time of remarkable blessing” (October 1765). “It was an occasion for a variety of spiritual experiences ... I do not know that ever we had a greater blessing. Afterwards many desired to return thanks, either for a sense of pardon, for full salvation, or for a fresh manifestation of His graces, healing all their backslidings” (January 1, 1775). In London, these services were usually held on New Year’s Day. Around the country the Covenant Service was conducted whenever John Wesley visited the Methodist Societies.
After the time of Wesley several versions of the Covenant Service were developed, gradually giving Wesley’s material less place in the total service. [Our current] service follows our Basic Pattern of Worship, enables the congregation to participate more fully, and updates language. Most significant, the liturgy beginning with the Invitation is taken directly from Wesley’s service of 1780.”
The service will be a little more formal than people may be familiar with, but such is the nature of covenants. As we go through the service, pay attention to the commitments made, these form the basisof a true Christian profession of faith and promise of allegiance to God and the Lord Jesus Christ; anything less is not a genuine commitment to Christ at all.
At the beginning of 2017, it is fitting that we remind ourselves of what God requires of our responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ. Long ago I learned a definition of a covenant from Disciple Bible Study; “a covenant is choosing to be bound in a time of strength so that in a time of weakness I cannot be unbound.”
So, this Sunday, let us come and deliberately choose to be bound to Christ at the beginning of this year.
Blessings!
-Alan
Alan Cassady serves as Senior Pastor at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2011. When he's not preaching and teaching, he enjoys sci-fi movies and FSU Football. Read more about Alan here.