john wesley – Carnes Family Web

Contemporary Worship this week at Normal First United Methodist Church

Here is my message from this past weekend at Normal First United Methodist Church. If you live in the Bloomington-Normal area or are ever passing through on a Sunday morning, I hope you will join us for worship. I generally preach and lead worship at the Contemporary 11:10 am worship service in the fellowship hall, but we have 3 worship services on Saturday evening and Sunday morning to meet your needs!

Scripture
Psalm 130

Sunday’s Message
Not exactly as preached, but you get the idea, at least…

This psalm has turned out to be timeless. It has appealed to people throughout time: Calvin called it a Pauline Psalm because, he said, it contained the truth of the gospels. John Wesley heard this psalm sung earlier in the day and it prepared him for an evening on Aldersgate street when his heart would be strangely warmed.

I think this psalm is timeless because everyone can relate to these words. Despair is a universal experience, isn’t it?

After my mother was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma -an ear tumor- and had brain surgery to remove it about a year ago: I immediately realized that I had similar symptoms. So, last July, I went to my doctor. That was a long wait in the waiting room. They called in an audiologist, then an Ear Nose Throat Surgeon…intense and long waiting.

They wanted only to ‘rule out’ an acoustic neuroma. So we thought we were coming to some resolution when we scheduled with BroMenn for an MRI. It turned out that I didn’t have one of those…but they found a totally unrelated brain tumor in my cerebellum

It was four o’clock on a friday and I found out there was a mass in my brain. That weekend our imaginations went wild. My wife and I fell into the depths of waiting and waiting can cause despair. That weekend was the longest wait of our lives.

I waited until January for a plan of action and to schedule surgery. I waited until February for my surgery. After my surgery I thought I had made it through…but a spinal fluid leak brought me back to St. Louis for another operation in April. It turned out that recovery is just another kind of waiting!

It wasn’t just a brain tumor that left me waiting during this past year. Because my church knew they could no longer afford two pastors, I’ve known I was leaving Pontiac since last fall. If there has been a theme for my year, it is waiting and despair.

Even once it was announced that I would be coming to First United Methodist Church, I found myself excited, but still on medical leave and still waiting.

Like so many people who have come before me, I identify with the Psalmist. A psalmist who was in the depths and waiting… and waiting… and waiting, “more than the night watch waits for morning.”

The psalmist reminds us of the importance of faith that a new day will come. The psalmist reminds us that no matter how far we are lost into the depths; no matter how alone we feel, no matter how much has been placed upon us… no matter what has set us back… hope is the greatest ally we have. That is to say: leaning on God, and having faith that a new morning will come is the greatest comfort we can experience.

I imagine each person here has a time when they were in the depths and waiting. This church has been waiting and in transition these past few months and, I imagine, there is anxiety as you wait for a new pastor.

I have faith that my appointment at Normal First United Methodist Church is the new morning I have been waiting for during this long hard period ‘in the depths.’ I have faith that the people of First Church, the community of Bloomington-Normal and the campus community will bring light into my world and strengthen my faith!

And I hope, that after months of transition and months of waiting for a new associate, that I will brighten up your world, support you in your faith, and join in your disciple-making work here in this community.

To Ponder: Full Pentecost Scripture

When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak. (Acts 2:1-4)

When the day of pentecost came, the believers were emboldened with the Holy Spirit. They were able to be understood by the people around them, even if they spoke other languages. The religious people of this past century have begun to struggle in being heard and understood by a new generation and their new and “troubling” ways of communicating. I believe that the Holy Spirit is coming upon believers who are open to it and alighting us with new language and new ways of being heard!

Pastors and lay people alike who feel the Spirit upon them and who God has given the language of social media must be a new church, just like the earliest believers at Pentecost.

This is our chance. This is a new day and there will be a new church whether we like it or not. It will look different and it will not be confined by the traditional walls that we have come to associate with ‘church.’ Will the mainline (or I prefer to say: old-line) churches (United Methodist, United Church of Christ, Lutheran, Presbyterians, etc) be a part of this new church?

If we can let go of the structure and fear that is holding us back, we will. And the price is too high to not be a part of this new church. We have theological gifts to share with a new generation.

Unfortunately… and I can only speak for the United Methodist Church, but our UM Communications and, in Illinois, our Conference Communication team make the church look old-fashioned (that’s honest, mostly, I suppose) and they move too slowly and carefully. Worse, they focus on communications rather than relationships! Our denominations are stymied and they make us look terrible (recently at our annual charge conference we were shown a video of our bishop that made him look like a used car salesman, oh- and the district office couldn’t provide my church a digital copy when asked!!!). But at the local church level and in our own communities we can now accomplish bigger things than they are even capable of with social media. Our reach can be effective in our local communities (even the most rural) and they can grow our local, walled churches… yet our reach can also,now, go well beyond our local communities and walled churches. When we effectively use the internet, social media, and blogging we can share faith, touch lives, and experience community in places that we never before dreamed possible.

If you are listening for the Holy Spirit in this new generation and want to speak out and connect with new people, I have some suggestions:

Make sure you have Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts and (and this is the really important part) grow your presence:

Work hard to cultivate a following by:

posting often
posting quality and relational materials
try not to use insider language
continually adding friends / followers

Look at other accounts / pages / walls / feeds and share interesting items
Don’t be afraid to share personal things about yourself (within safety and reason). Use these avenues as a way to foster relationships!

Get a blog account!!!

There are several sites that can help you, I especially recommend: Blogger (by Google, just use your Google user/pass) or WordPress.
Get your blog and social media accounts connected to your webpage. It makes your page more dynamic and personal.
Share your blog by social media. It turns 140 characters into a full and on-going narrative.
I can’t emphasize this enough: don’t be afraid to share your own personal stories, yet connect them to your faith.
Keep it short. Think in terms of a 1/2 to full page of paper at most when you write your blog! (This blog post is pushing the limit)

Keep your eyes peeled for new ways to connect online. If lots of people are using 4square or LinkedIn, etc…then go where the people are.

Paul used tent making to build relationships, John Wesley went out to the masses in England preaching in fields and cemeteries…I don’t know what it will look like entirely yet, but we have to find new venues and ways to build relationships and share our faith story! Now, in 2012, we must be a Pentecost people! We must feel the Holy Spirit as it enlivens us to share our faith and we must speak the languages that God is giving us the gift to speak. It is our time and our new and exciting world. Let’s share our faith as disciples of Christ!!!

Title image found at: http://peacesojourner.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html