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First United Methodist Church |
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Open Hearts * Open Minds * Open Doors |
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First UMC
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Notes From Pastor Marilee........................................ While it is -2° outside today
as I write this article, I am most looking forward to the month of February
because it is the shortest month in our calendar.
That means two less days of cold temperatures. I really was quite fine with
the brown grass and the 50° temperatures of early January. Even though I knew
that the day would come when winter would descend, I loved living in denial. One of the major holidays in
February is Valentines Day. My wish for those of you who are engaged,
married, or in a committed relationship is that you will take time to
celebrate that special relationship in ways that bring you back to those early
days when you fell into love. You know, those days when you were on the phone to
each other constantly, you tried to please the other person all the time, those
days when you were best friends. But not everybody has someone
and so I want to talk about the importance of families. Some of our families
were nurturing and some were not. Some are still places of warmth, caring, and
empowerment. Others are battle grounds. So I was especially excited to
come across a Bible study involving Jesus on the cross. He looks at his mother
and the disciple that he loved nearby and said, “Woman, here is your son,”
and “here is your mother.” Jesus
seems to be saying that blood lines and genealogy are not
the only way to be family Could
it be that Jesus envisions the church to be a place where nurturing, teaching,
rebuking, confession, grace,
forgiveness, and empowerment are to be practiced with one
another? If this would be true, then we
can begin to let go of the failures of families where things haven’t worked
out well and start looking for the people in our faith
journeys who fill these roles for us. Some of the traditional language of
the church was to call one another “Brothers and Sisters.” It got kind of
trite and we hardly hear it anymore. People don’t have to have
well-functioning families. People don’t have to be married. People don’t
have to be perfect parents. We just have to learn how to love like God, accept
others as important in our lives, and care
for one another. We are family for
one another and especially those who find themselves disconnected from lovers
this Valentine’s Day. So I invite all of you to come
to the VIM Valentine Day Dinner. It’s
where our family gathers and we celebrate the relationships that we have with
one another as well as encourage those who will be going to Haiti next year. God’s love never divides but
always includes. Pastor Marilee |
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