BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

I just read the most delightful story featuring an United Methodist Church's BACK TO SCHOOL ministry in Pace , Florida that reaches out to children who would not normally go to school their first day with a new pair of shoes, a fresh haircut or styling, or new school supplies. The church opens its fellowship hall and transforms the space into a BACK TO SCHOOL paradise for children to be able to put their best foot forward on the first day of a new school day. Tutors are available to provide pointers regarding good study habits. Every child gets to pick his or her new backpack with fresh supplies. And most important of all the children are prayed with and reminded of the important link between our churches and our schools.  I pray the we at Mann can establish a ministering relationship with the schools within our neighborhood. I remember as a child  walking from Swainsboro Primary to attend Good Friday services on the lawn of First United Methodist. While things have changed in the culture, we as the church MUST find creative ways to reconnect with the schools in our towns and cities. I am very privileged to substitute teach on occasion at The Episcopal Day School here in Augusta. It keeps me youthful in my perspective and increases my desire for learning and enrichment in my own life. I will always be a lifetime learner. But come to think about WE ALL SHOULD BE. You see the best translation for the word DISCIPLE is LEARNER. Everyday I want to be a better LEARNER. As we anticipate the new school year, lets rededicate ourselves to LEARNING more!

CHILDREN OF VIOLENCE

The recent verdict regarding George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin is so indicative of a society where violence reigns supreme . Both parties in this tragedy reacted as we are now schooling individuals to ... React instead of respond   And when in doubt maim or kill. ! The games we play , real and pretend  , the ways we relate and communicate, and our very demeanors are marred with the violence we not only relish but celebrate! Violence begats violence ... We now hope and anticipate! Our children are as the great Nobel prize winning novelist Doris Lessing  deemed CHILDREN OF VIOLENCE . In our world everyday is a parents worst nightmare ... Littleton or around the corner and up the street in our own neighborhoods ! As the body of Christ we must stand against ALL forms of violence and follow in the way of Christians throughout the centuries who refused to allow violence to shape their behaviors. We need to model conflict resolution in our mission and ministry and    Teach our children the Beatitudes and the great commandment.  We know the better way and its time we lived it ! We will continue to mourn for our children as long as we allow violence to shape the ways we live with one another .

WELCOME SCOUTS!!!

     As a pastor who grew up in Boy Scouting and who has first hand benefitted from Scouting all of my life since my own boyhood, I am saddened and appalled when I read of local churches that are closing their doors to Boy and Cub Scouts. This kind of message is why churches are declining across our country and when the churches says NO to any child they are ignoring Jesus welcoming all children with his words. "Suffer the children to come unto me ...for of such is the Kingdom of God."  I have witnessed firsthand how Scouting has saved the lives of boys, body and soul. To disenfranchise them and reject them is a travesty and tragic! I grew up at Camp Linwood Hayne right here in the CSRA and I treasure the years I have been associated with scouting. 
     WE MUST spread the word that Scouts and their families are welcome at Mann Memorial! Our church host the monthly meeting of The Georgia Carolina Boy Scout Council and The United Methodist Men have a longstanding relationship and partnership with BSA.
     As "the friendly Church on the Corner" let us open our hearts, minds, and doors to all and remember that THIS IS A DAY OF NEW BEGINNINGS....GOD IS DOING ALL THINGS NEW!!!

HAPPY INTERDEPENDENCE

 HAPPY INTERDEPENDENCE!!!

    We're coming up on the Fourth of July and I never think of the fourth without remembering a wonderful trip I made with my family in 1976, the year of The Bicentennial: we travelled and saw as much of history related to our country as we could that summer and our stops included Williamsburg, Jamestown, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, Plymouth, and Martha's Vineyard. I was a junior in college at UGA but I was as wide-eyed and captivated as a child. The whole country was abuzz with the historic celebration even though  the country was still reeling from Vietnam, Watergate , and President Nixon's resignation. This country's amazing resiliency was so apparent and the nation was united in a way I suppose that it was not again until post 9/11. In the midst of all the furor over freedoms being under fire, I believe it is essential for us to remember that often we have ignored that with great freedom comes great responsibility: to whom much is given, much is required.
   

The late 1950's was the time of The Cold War which had followed two World Wars and was characterized by the fear of a possible war that would end all wars: nuclear war as threatened by the Soviet Union under Krushchev. That is the era of William Watkins Reid's hymn, O GOD OF EVERY NATION. Reid a United Methodist clergyman wanted to address not our country's independence but the essential interdependence required if all nations are to live in peace and harmony:
                                    O God of every nation,
                                     of every race and land,
                                    Redeem your whole creation
                                    with your almighty hand;
                                    Where hate and fear divide us,
                                    And bitter threats are hurled,
                                    In love and mercy guide us,
                                    and heal our strife-torn world.
   Perhaps we are much more eager to brandish our independence than to acknowledge that we do need
one another. Freedom should not engender in us self sufficiency and self-centeredness. How interesting that our freedoms would in fact make us more vulnerable to our fear that someone is always trying to threaten us and take our freedoms  away.  It is from such pride and fear that Reid pleads every nation be delivered . His vision in the fourth stanza is of a SHALOM (WHOLENESS), "when war shall cease, when hatred and division give way to love and peace, till dawns the morning glorious when truth and justice reign, and Christ shall rule victorious o'er all the world's domain!"
    As we celebrate Independence Day this week let's us praise God for the peace Christ is bringing among the nations and that in HIM we are interdependent!