The Better Part

My kids have reached the age of awareness of dessert size.  If you know, you know.  This means there is almost always a discussion or argument on the size of each child’s dessert and who had “the better half.”  Sometimes, Abby and I will have to take a second look and trim one person’s dessert to be fair and equal.  Ah, kids…

I remember being so concerned about how much my sister got and if it was fair or not.  I think everyone goes through that phase as kids.  I was thinking about this reality the other day, preparing for the sermon this week, and wondered—why don’t we do that as adults?  Not with dessert, but with life?  Adults often do try to get the bigger slice of the pie in the workplace or social world, but what if our idea of “the better half” wasn’t really better?  What if there was more meaning and more important things out there that we miss?

Our sermon this week tells the story of a young woman who chose “the better half” or, in Jesus’ words, “the better part.”  What’s interesting is she chose something that most people her age and gender would never have chosen: listening to Jesus over performing her culturally expected duty in service in the kitchen.  Jesus tells us that she chose “the better part.”

Have you looked at your life and taken stock of what “the better part” is in your life?  Are you pursuing it?  It’s easy to get sidetracked.  Jesus continually reminds us that He is “the better part” and not to get distracted by all of the other cares and concerns of life.

Scott McFarland

V.B.S. Wrap Up

Thank you for all of the generous donations during V.B.S. this year. As a result of your generosity, there were 196 cans of non-perishable canned goods donated to the St. Paul’s United Church of Christ food pantry. These items will be distributed to help families in need in our community.

There was also $415.20 raised to help support Beatrice Chelangat and her children through Orphans Lifeline International.

"One Another"

Last week, we started a mini-series called, “The Loneliness Pandemic” where we looked at the increased isolation and loneliness present in society and the way this is affecting people.  We looked at the Bible’s repeated promise from God that “He will never leave you or forsake you” as the answer a desperately lonely world needs.

This week, we’ll continue and end the mini-series looking at the Church, God’s physical answer for our loneliness.  It is the church that provides community and relationship to make it through the difficulty of life.  Someday I might do something more than just a bulletin article on it, but there are 59 “one another” passages in the New Testament—specific commands given to the church of things we should be doing for each other: love one another (John 13:34), be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10), live in harmony with one another (Rom. 12:16), teach one another (Col. 3:16), comfort one another (I Thess. 4:18), be kind and compassionate to one another (Eph. 4:32), stir up one another to love and good works (Heb. 10:24), etc.  There’s a lot of them!

Sometimes we don’t realize the great responsibility we have as brothers and sisters to take care of each other.  It can be easy to forget, with the business of life and all that goes on, and we just pop in and out of worship and Bible study without spending time to check in on each other and “one another” each other.  So, I’ll challenge you as we look at the church today—how are you “one another-ing”?  Are you taking care of your brother and sisters well?  It’s part of God’s design—"one another” well!

~~Scott McFarland

VBS 2023…That’s a Wrap!

As I write this, it’s only Tuesday and VBS hasn’t even reached the midway point.  But, when you read this, it will be Sunday and VBS 2023 will be in the books, another year over.  As I write, we’ve seen 95-97 children the first two nights.  That’s nearly one hundred kids coming to our building to hear about Jesus.  We had 40 adults in our class last night.  That’s almost 140 people coming together to learn about God and grow closer to Him.  That’s pretty incredible for a weeknight when they could be at home watching TV or on social media.

First, if you’ve played any part in this year’s VBS, THANK YOU!  Your contribution to the kingdom will be rewarded.  I believe there are special rewards in heaven for VBS helpers! (okay, not really, but there should be).  You have helped further the gospel in the lives of the people of Monroe County.

Second, if you sat this year out—why?  Maybe you had something else going on this week—I get that.  Life is busy.  But, if you sat at home each night and watched Jeopardy or binge watched your favorite series on Netflix, why??  Don’t miss out on what God is doing each summer here with VBS.  Each year, I grow more proud of our congregation and the effort that goes into VBS.  I’m proud of the effort put in by all ages to help pull it off—I’ve watched our teens helping get rooms ready.  I’m proud of how the teachers decorate, how much thought is put into the food and snacks, and how excited our kids get because they see all of the effort in the week leading up.  Don’t miss it!  God wants to use you!  We’ve been talking about spiritual gifts the last few weeks together for a reason.  It’s not because I need to find a sermon topic and fill some time.  It’s because we need everyone’s help in things like VBS.  It takes a church.

Find your ministry here—if it’s not VBS, make it something else.  Get plugged in.  Don’t be a pew potato—God wants to use you!

Scott McFarland

V.B.S. Wrap Up

Aloha all you servants of God,

Thank you all so much for another amazing V.B.S. God has blessed this congregation with such talented and giving people. I so want name all of you, but just know this worn out brain would forget someone. So thank you- teachers(from diapers to adults); decorators (from flowers to classrooms); registration (and so many volunteers); technology and designers (from Jeopardy to checks); teens (from Mark to money to dancing-they were amazing); stage crew (from Maui- Master of ceremonies); chefs (so many hours here); games (from limbo to water balloons-what fun!) and most of all to all that attended – what a blessing to see all the smiles and laughter and hear – 2 Tim. 1:7

Controlling Our Emotions

Our VBS program "Lava Lava Luau:  Controlling Our Emotions" gets underway today.  In recent years, the subject of emotions-recognizing them and controlling them-has gotten more discussion.  In 2015, Disney released the movie "Inside Out", designed to help kids identify and understand their emotions through following the story of a girl named Riley and her family's relocation due to her father's job.  In the adult world, the COVID pandemic highlighted the growing concerns of isolation and depression in American society, and since then much has been said about de-stigmatizing mental health.

In the Christian world, we tend to live with an "emotions are bad" assumption.  We don't like the way emotions make use feel-out of control-so we usually ignore or suppress them.  We apologize when we cry in front of others, we walk away when we are mad, or we hide the fact we are disgusted about something.  What if we viewed emotions as God-given and, when handled well, used for good things?

This week, that's exactly what the kids will be talking about, and so will the adults!  Join us in the auditorium Sun-Wed nights from 6-8pm as we go through a video-based class from Chip Ingram called, "Overcoming Emotions that Destroy."  Chip is a Christian author and minister who will help us understand what the Bible has to say about emotions-particularly anger-and what we should do with them.  Join us and invite a friend!

Artificial Intelligence and the Christian

Last week on Sunday night we had a class and discussion on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how to approach this new technology as a Christian.  Just since then, I’ve seen two additional articles from Christian sources discussing the same subject.  Clearly, AI is a big concern for everyone, particularly Christians.  I wanted to repeat one of the talking points in our class from last week because I think it is valuable to remember.

For those unfamiliar, AI is “a machine’s ability to perform the cognitive functions we associate with human minds, such as perceiving, reasoning, learning, interacting with an environment, problem solving, and even exercising creativity.”[1]  Most of us have utilized AI.  If you’ve ever said, “Hey, Siri” or “Hey, Google” or “Hey, Alexa” on your phone or Amazon device, you’ve used AI.  As intelligent as AI is and becomes—and there are some very real fears it will eventually outpace human intelligence/ability—it can never be greater than the human being.  When God created the world, He waited until the very end to complete His best masterpiece—man.  Gen. 1:26-27 says that God created man in His image, male and female (also very important—two distinct genders!).  From the beginning, humankind was fundamentally different than the rest of creation, because we bear the image of the Creator himself.

No matter how great AI and robots become—how humanlike, intelligent, responsive, etc.—they can never possess the image of God.  They will never be God’s ambassadors on the earth.  God never died to save robots or AI.  God loved us so much that He died for us, because we bear His image.  Never forget your worth.  You are an image-bearer of the King of the Universe and Creator of the World.

 Scott McFarland

Listen & Shut Up

I’ve had a sticky note in my Bible for years—16 years to be exact.  It’s written in Romanian and says, “Asculta si upcineste—Bogdan.”  It was given to me on a mission trip in the summer of 2007 by a Romanian friend, Bogdan.  I kept it because Bogdan signed his name to it, not because I knew what the phrase meant.  All these years, I never knew what the note actually said, so this week I looked it up.  The Romanian phrase means “listen and shut up.”  I laughed out loud when I typed it into Google translate.  I have no idea what was going on when Bogdan wrote that, but he had a way of saying things at important moments that made you think.  So, I began to reflect on my own life and how I have often needed someone to say, “listen and shut up.”

James says in James 1:19, “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”  How often have you been in a conversation and realized part of the way through you were more interested in what you were going to say next than you were listening to what the other person was saying?  Many people believe they are good listeners, but when it comes down to it most of us only retain about half of what other people say in a conversation, according to research.  We are easily distracted by our own thoughts, what someone across the room is doing or saying, what we want to say next, etc.  Yet, Scripture calls us to listen better than we speak.

This week, I challenge you to “listen and shut up”—concentrate more on what other people are saying than what you want to say next, what the weather is going to be like tomorrow, who’s playing this weekend, etc.  Be interested in people.  One of the reasons I think God is so adamant about us being good listeners is that it mirrors God’s listening to us.  Scripture says God listens to the cries of his people (Psalm 40:1)—let’s listen to the conversations of others.

                                                        Scott McFarland

Mother's Day Crossword

JOY Bus Inspection Update

The JOY buses passed the bus inspection on Wednesday.