word from wayne

She came down the steep driveway steering the push-button drive Dodge Station Wagon. Her “Sleigh” was loaded to the roof-line, filled with toys and every baked good imaginable. Squeals of glee burst forth as my brother Thomas and I ran up the driveway to greet Mammy. My grandmother was no ordinary woman. She was divorced in the 1940’s when women were often ostracized for this social stigma. She had made a life and career for herself selling World Book Encyclopedia. She advanced quickly to Regional Manager, owned a home on the river across from Ft. Sumter in Charleston, SC., and was replete with stories and tales that one might find on the pages of the three sets of World Book volumes that called our bookshelves home. [We always benefited from the prior years’ display edition!]

Christmas was a time filled with expectation and excitement. From the Suwannee River limestone fireplace where we hung our stockings, to the live pine tree that filled the corner of the Great Room with scent and sight! The season of Christmas brought joy and laughter and music into every nook and cranny of our home.

My father and older brother would spend days in the woods hunting with the beagles, and my younger brother and I would spend hours under the tree shaking and inspecting every package. One day the cat found her way under the tree with us, decided to climb it’s branches, and to everyone’s horror, the tree and it’s antique glass ornaments came crashing down! It’s amazing how such a seemingly disastrous event was somehow reinterpreted into a family gathering to clean-up and put things back in order!

That evening we didn’t focus on the broken ornaments, some of which I’m sure were priceless, but we gathered around the old grand piano and sang! I sat in Mammy’s Lap, placing my hands on top of hers as her fingers glided across the Ivory Keys. We didn’t sing songs of sorrow and woe over the felled Christmas tree and broken ornaments, we sang songs of Hope and Promise…

There’s a Song in the Air, There’s a Star in the Sky, There’s a mother’s deep prayer, and a baby’s low cry…
And the star rains it’s fire while the beautiful sing, for the manger of Bethlehem, cradles a King!

So on a starry night in rural north Florida, in the midst of broken ornaments and a banished cat from the house, we sang… We sang and remembered the Joy of a tiny babe born in Bethlehem whose star lit up the sky and pointed to a new way, a new path, and a new King!

Joy to the World, The Lord is Come! Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing!

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given;
And the government shall be upon His shoulders.
And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!

May you have a Blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with Peace…

I Love Being Your Pastor,

Dear Trinity Family,

Two of my favorite thanksgiving songs are “Bless This House” and “Give Thanks!” As I participated in the dedication of the recently “remodeled” home for Mariah Blake, the faithful matriarch and mainstay of our Allen Outreach Neighborhood Ministry, I experienced a wonderful synergy and coming together of a diverse ministry team reaching out to their community.

Here is the note I received today thanking me for the volunteers in our church who remodeled her home and have invested in the Griffin Heights neighborhood. In addition, Bob and Marilyn Dean were very supportive of this effort. I wanted to share Ms. Blake’s words with you…

Alan Bowers closed our ceremony with a beautiful rendition of “Bless This House” and the neighborhood joined together in “Giving Thanks” for the spirit of love and cooperation that brought members from Trinity UMC and Allen Chapel AME together in a common effort of serving our neighbors with love and care.

As we approach this season of Thanksgiving and our Stewardship Emphasis begins to wrap up, I wanted to give thanks for each member of this Congregation. Thank you for your faithfulness to Christ and His Church. Thank you for your call to mission and outreach in our local community and beyond, and thank you for the amazing stewardship response to our finances that enable all our wonderful ministries to take place.

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son

And now let the weak say, “I am strong”
Let the poor say, “I am rich…
Because of what the Lord has done for us”
Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son

As of Thursday, November 17, our First Love stewardship emphasis has reached 78% of its goal with 271 Pledges totaling $1,113,155.
Thank you for helping us “Give Thanks” with grateful hearts as we celebrate together what the Lord has done for us!

I Love Being Your Pastor,

“What Makes a Great Church?” is the title of our Sermon Series. It is based on Paul’s letter to the Philippian Church. Among all of Paul’s letters, the book of Philippians best illustrates John Wesley’s often repeated characterization of the Christian Life as both Happy and Holy! Paul urges the church to become recipients of God’s GRACE, and live as a community of faith “in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel.”

I can remember as a young pastor, I had a church member who was upset with me because I did not “brow beat him enough” from the pulpit. He often said to me, “I need you to let me have it preacher! Give me some good old hellfire and damnation in your sermons!”

I didn’t quite know how to respond. My entire life I had learned from the scriptures and the teachings of Jesus that the unconditional love of God is what transforms lives. Jesus’ love and acceptance for the woman at the well, whose life had been a tragedy of bad choices when it came to relationships, is what brought her to faith in God. Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan became a teaching tool for the disciples and for Christians today. Jesus taught us that one of the most important aspects of our faith is that we live it out in serving and loving others who might be different than us!

I later discovered that my friend, who was angry with me, was really struggling with trying to overcome an addiction. What really helped him in the end was a brother in Christ who walked alongside of him as a sponsor in a recovery program. What really helped him in the end was not being “fussed at” every Sunday, but being loved and mentored by someone who had walked in his shoes and understood his foibles.

John Wesley wrote, “It is not possible in the nature of things that a [person] should be happy who is not holy (Works, Sermon 45: The New Birth).” Such holiness, Paul teaches, is the furthest thing from a pious moralism that withdraws from engagement with the world. Rather, holiness means sharing the “mind” that was in Christ—that is, living out the pattern of Christ’s self-giving love in trusting obedience to God (Phil. 2:5-11) – by serving each other and participating together in the work of the gospel. (Wesley Study Bible, CEB)

Let me encourage you to begin reading through the Book of Philippians in preparation for this new series. You won’t want to miss it!

Sermon Series: What Makes A Great Church?

Sunday, August 21 – “Partnering in Grace and Love” – Philippians 1:1-11
Sunday, August 28 – “Moving Forward” – Philippians 1:12-25
Sunday, September 4 – “Walking with God” – Philippians 2:1-11
Sunday, September 11 – “Reaching Up” – Philippians 3:1-16
Sunday, September 18 – “Reaching Out” – Philippians 4:1-8
Sunday, September 25 – “Living Generously” – Philippians 4:10-20

I will look for you in worship this Sunday as we learn together what is takes to be a Great Church!

I Love Being Your Pastor,

 

THE PLUM ORCHARD

The afternoon began like any other. Friends playing with sticks walking down the sandy road that followed the lakeshore. Chasing butterflies, picking blackberries along the fence line, and spinning memes that no one believed were true. And then we passed the whitewashed house that looked its age and then some. On the side of the house was the plum orchard. Trees laden with plump red fruit, ripened by the Florida sunshine and swollen from the afternoon rains on a lazy summer afternoon.

We knew the fruit was off limits, our parents had told us as much. The widow who lived there was reportedly mean and screamed at little children. Everyone talked about her behind her back. Children were afraid of her, but the plums were sweet, and ripe, and juicy. The orchard was so enticing! And so we entered in…. Like a stealth bomber, we snuck in under the radar and filled our shirts to overflowing.

Then it happened, the screen door flew open, and out she came screaming and swinging her broom over her head. She looked like the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz! We froze in our tracks and then scattered like the guilty lake urchins that we were. Plums flew in the air, and then the widow’s screams turned to tears and sobs.

We ran away breathless until we collapsed in my yard behind the safety of our fence. Finally catching our breath we vowed never to speak of what had just happened. It would be our well kept secret, sworn to silence like the blood brothers and sisters we hoped to be from our Native American neighbors in rural north Florida.

Several days passed and a timid knock came at the back porch door. As I peered around my mother’s apron, I saw the wicked witch. But this time, she didn’t seem so scary. She seemed sad, weary from the walk and dusty from the dirt road that ran in front of our house and mimicked the shore of the lake. With a sigh she said, Mrs. Wiatt, “They’ve been stealing my plums again…I don’t know what to do. I count on selling my plum jam to make ends meet when the cupboard is bare.”

Guilty was the look on my face. My quivering lip gave me away and the look of disappointment from my mother could not be translated into words that could be spoken at Cherry Lake United Methodist Church!

When my father came home, I was allowed to pick my own switch and receive the punishment that I knew I deserved.

What is it about a guilty conscience that calls us to the woodshed? Why do we do the things we do? The Apostle Paul wrote with great confidence and truth,

“So I find that, as a rule, when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me.
I gladly agree with the Law on the inside,
but I see a different law at work in my body. It wages a war against the law of my mind and takes me prisoner with the law of sin that is in my body.
I’m a miserable human being. Who will deliver me from this dead corpse?
Thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then I’m a slave to God’s Law in my mind, but I’m a slave to sin’s law in my body.”
-Romans 7:21-25 (Common English Bible)

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy!

I Love Being Your Pastor,

WATER SKIING WITH MOCCASINS

As a child growing up on Cherry Lake in rural north Florida, many of my memories are centered around water. A cool lake in the middle of summer became a gathering place for family and friends. Weekends, and especially Sunday afternoons, became a time for “dinner on the grounds” including platters of fried chicken, potato salad, sliced garden tomatoes, and of course, watermelon cooled in the shade and sandy bottom of shallow lake waters.

I can remember one such afternoon, looking up from the floating watermelon patch and seeing a water moccasin swimming by, head raised out of the water, and claiming his territory as the onlookers cried out in unison…”SNAKE!” Oblivious to all the reaction, the moccasin swam on by into the tall grass, unaware of his devastating impact on small children and worried adults.

That image has never left me.

When I decided I was ready to learn to water ski at the age of 5, my father tied the ski rope to the bench seat in his Jon Boat, cranked up the small 6 HP Johnson outboard fishing motor on the back, and I put on my red “trick skis”. The skis were a special gift from Polly Lassiter (Cook), who lived with us that summer as a Methodist Missionary (U2), committing 2 years of her life to work with children and youth in rural settings throughout North Florida. She was loving and kind, and I remember her excitement when I finally glided across the water for the first time.

I don’t remember much about pulling up out of the water, but I do remember being afraid of falling in the grassy weeds. Images of that water moccasin sliding into the weeds were magnified with stories from the older teens about skiers who had fallen into the weeds and were never seen again!

Of course, that was an old “Cherry Lake Story”, but the image was enough to strike terror in the legs and ankles of a five year old boy. So much so, that once I got up on those little red skis, I made a promise to myself that I would do my best to never fall into the weeds again! And even though we had a practice of water skiing into and through weed-lined water paths, I can only remember falling once, and of course, being terrified that the water moccasins were after me!

But then I heard the voice of my Dad, calling out from the boat…You’re fine…Don’t be scared! Swim out of the weeds and into the open water, the snakes are more afraid of you than you are of them!

On countless occasions, I have coached young water skiers and swimmers with the same encouragement. The gators or snakes or catfish are more afraid of you than you are of them!

Fear is a reality in our lives. Sometimes we run from it, sometimes we acknowledge it, and when we are at our best, we conquer it. My life scripture has helped guide my path, both in life and on water skis–

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

I Love Being Your Pastor,