What is “Lent”???

“What is Lent?” Let’s face it—as Christians who observe this season of preparation prior to the Easter festivities, we get that question a lot. We get it from our Christian friends who don’t observe it, and we get it from our nonChristian friends who may not have ever heard of the season. So… even though Lent will not officially begin until Ash Wednesday (which falls on February 22nd this year), we should begin refreshing our memories so that we are ready to answer that very honest, and very important question.

The word Lent actually comes from the word “spring.” (Spring, in German is “lenz”; in Dutch, “lente”; and in Anglo Saxon, “lencten”). It is the time of year when the days begin to get noticeably longer, and the earth begins to awaken from a long winter’s slumber. Gardeners and farmers begin to prepare their fields. Flower lovers begin to prepare their seeds and bulbs. And, as if on queue, Christians begin to prepare their souls.

Traditionally, this was the season when new converts to the faith would begin to prepare for their baptism. Baptism, however, is not a journey that a new believer can take alone. It is a journey that we all take together. So, alongside new believers, seasoned believers refresh their commitment to God and renew themselves as disciples.

We begin this journey in ashes. It may not be the most desirable place to begin a journey, but before we take another step we must confront our own mortality. We cannot save ourselves from it. It is a fact of life: We will die.

I know that sounds harsh—and if you feel a surge of panic, I would have to say that’s probably pretty normal. We don’t like to think about that reality. And we certainly don’t like to dwell on it… but we have to face it. It is only in the starkest realization of our mortality that we can actually let go of our claim to our own lives and our own way of doing things and fully repent of our sins, our acts of selfishness, godlessness, and greed.

As we repent we also more fully recommit ourselves to the disciplines our faith. We fast so that we can focus our attention not on instant gratification, but on our reliance on God. We study scripture to find God revealed to us. We pray and we listen so that we might once again hear God speak to us. We worship together to reconnect to each other and to God. We focus our energies not on self-indulgence, but on doing God’s justice in the world. And, through these things, we learn once more how to live in Christ our Lord.

And still yet, Lent will end with a tomb.

It seems that after forty days of sacrifice, self-denial, and penance that we should be able to leap and shout and celebrate, right?

Well, we will get to that soon. But that’s the Easter season, and we are still focusing on the season of Lent… and Lent ends on Holy Saturday with Jesus still laying in a tomb.

We must join Jesus there—In that dark, cold, damp place we’d rather avoid. We must be willing to die to ourselves and to the world so that we can live in Christ. The reason is quite simple and plain: Until we die to ourselves and the world, we cannot be resurrected!

We will get to Easter, but the only way to get there is to go through the tomb, first.

Lent is a somber time for Christians—but it doesn’t mean it is a miserable, sad time. There will still be victories along the way. Alongside Jesus, we will renounce the world and join him in the wilderness… and Satan will go toe to toe with us. But we will be pleased to find that God has already provided all we will need to defeat the devil’s influence in our lives. We will be walking steadily toward the cross, but we will see the evidence of miracles all along the road. We will be healed. We will witness the healing of others. And we will be walking with Jesus.

Pastor Amanda’s Russian Adventure!

Hey folks!  I’ve been reflecting on my Russian mission trip on my personal blog, Appalachian Preacher.  Feel free to check it out!  Also, I have uploaded pictures from Tomsk and Moscow on my Facebook page.  You don’t have to be a member of Facebook to check them out.  Just follow these links:

Pictures of Tomsk, Siberia

Pictures of Moscow, Russia

 

Vacation Bible School!!!

Our annual Vacation Bible School is starting this week!  Invite everyone you know!

Monday-Wednesday, 10:00 am – Noon.  All age groups welcome.  Lunch will be served.

Ascension Day

Thursday, June 2nd is Ascension Day.  So, what exactly is Ascension Day?  If that is the question you are asking right about now, rest assured that you are not the first, and will not be the last to ask.

It is important to remember that we are still in the season of Easter–a time of joy and celebration as we enjoy the presence of our Lord and Savior.  We are to spend this season remembering that Jesus defeated sin and death and with his Resurrection, we have been brought into life eternal.

But, if we remember Jesus’ words on Easter Sunday, we will recall that Jesus cannot remain with us.  He would not allow Mary to hold on to him because he had “not yet ascended to the father” (John 20:17).  Jesus reminded his disciples that they could not go with him, yet–but that in his absence he would send an advocate to help them.  That advocate is still with us today, and on Pentecost Sunday, we will celebrate it.  But for now, we must prepare ourselves for the next difficult step in our faith journey:  Christ’s return to God.

That is why, ten days before the start of Pentecost, the Christian calendar recognizes “Ascension Day.”  This is the day when Christ’s personal ministry on earth will be completed and he will pass the torch on to his followers as he returns to God.  It is a difficult step for us to take because life would be so much easier if we could just turn to Jesus and ask him what he thinks of all our most difficult decisions and actions.  But, we will not have that… we will now have something as powerful and as much a part of God as Jesus is, but  a little more ethereal and a little less obvious:  The Holy Spirit.

Ascension Day allows us to spiritually, emotionally, and mentally prepare ourselves for the coming of the Spirit.

In reading the Ascension Day scriptures (click here for the texts), I can’t help but be reminded of one of my favorite childhood (and adulthood) stories by my hero, Dr. Seuss.  The book is The Lorax, a story about a furry creature who fights to save his beloved Truffula trees from the greedy Once-ler.  At the end of the book, the last tree falls and the Lorax appears to have lost his home forever.  So, he lifts himself up by his own britches and floats away through a hole in the smog.  The Lorax, however, did not abandon the Once-ler altogether.  He left behind a small ring of stones with the word “unless” written upon them.  The young boy who is hearing the story of the Lorax from a remorseful and repentant Once-ler wants to know what “an unless is.”  In what I consider to be a classic example of fine literary writing, the Lorax proclaims that, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing’s going to get better… it’s not.”  With that, the Once-ler bestows his last Truffula tree seed on the young boy who promptly plants it in the center of the ring of stones so that a new, better, and changed world can begin to grow.

I’m convinced Dr. Seuss was relying on his old Sunday School lessons when he penned that story.  The world had its greatest defender in Jesus Christ.   Jesus knew that someone had to put himself on the line to save us all, and he did just that.  He went to the cross with our names written upon his heart.  The disciples probably thought that Jesus’ Resurrection was just the beginning–that the three-year earthly ministry had just been a warm up– and in many ways it was.  But Jesus’ plans for his disciples and the world would mean he’d have to be lifted away, but he left in our hands the hope of “an unless” and the Holy Spirit brings us the seed we can each plant in the hopes of growing the Kingdom of God.

We are moving through the Christian year.  We are rapidly progressing toward Pentecost Sunday (June 12).  But we can’t just stumble along blindly.  It is up to each of us to understand who we are, to whom we belong, and where we as a people are going.  Ascension Day is just one day on our journey, but it is an important one.  We will watch Jesus be lifted away, and we will be tempted to stand around gazing at the sky, waiting for his return.  But hear the voice of the angels calling to us to get our heads out of the clouds and focused back on doing the work Jesus put before us.

Blessings and Peace,

Pastor Amanda

Happy Heritage Day!

Greetings fellow Methodists!

I just wanted to drop a quick reminder that today, May 24th, is Heritage Day.  It is a day for us to remember our roots as United Methodists and to connect with our Wesleyan brothers and sisters all around the world.  Christianity has rooted itself in our lives in very diverse ways, but the one thing that always connects us across cultural and denominational lines, is our shared belief in Jesus Christ as sole Lord and Savior of us all.  Those of us who have adopted the Methodist label are no better (and no worse) than any of our other brothers and sisters… but we also have a distinct tradition that has helped us all on our faith journey.

Let John Wesley’s journal entry from May 24, 1738 be a source of inspiration and meditation for us all today:

In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Want to know more about John Wesley’s “Aldersgate Experience” and how it influences us still today?  Click here.

Pastor’s Corner: Thoughts on the May 21st Rapture

The talk of the town this week (regardless of what town you are in) has certainly been affected by Harold Camping’s proclamation that today, May 21^st, 2011 is rapture day.  Some people have taken his calculations very seriously—so seriously, in fact, that they have depleted savings accounts and quit their jobs so that they could “spread the message” in the final days.  Some have largely ignored the debacle, choosing to focus on more realistic things.  And some have had a great deal of fun at Harold Camping’s (and his followers’) expense.

I have to admit that I tend to fall into the latter category.  I’ve had a few laughs and cracked more than a few jokes about Camping’s desperate attempt to set a date that I’m pretty certain humans were never meant to know.

But now that the day is winding down and proving to be no more eventful than any other Saturday, I’m left with a few thoughts about the subject that are weighing heavily on my mind.

1) All my joking, it turns out, is tasteless

Regardless of what I believe to be true, I pride myself on being open and accepting of alternative perspectives.  And yet, I have been pretty ruthless in my ridicule of those who believed Camping’s teachings.  But tomorrow, what becomes of the retired man who depleted his life savings to support a cause in which he completely believed?  What then?  Will it still be funny?  In the end, he tried to do what he believed was right.  He tried to spread a message that he believed would save others.  And he was willing to put his money where his mouth his.  Why is that funny?

2) Some things are just supposed to be a mystery

Camping is not alone in trying to predict the end of the world.  It has been done many times before.  To this day, the ancient Nostradamus’ end-of-time predictions are huge sellers in bookstores.  The Apostle Paul addressed similar divisions in the early church in many of his epistles.  Walk through a Christian bookstore and you’ll find shelf after self loaded with books about the signs of the times and trying to understand and predict the end.  What made Camping stand out from the crowd was his rubber stamped expiration date.  That was the subtle difference between him and countless others, and that is what we latched on to.  But I can’t help but think that some things are better left a mystery.  Sometimes, we have to keep on believing even when we can’t see with our own eyes the outcome—that’s what faith boils down to.  Some things are a mystery and will always be a mystery.  Maybe we should spend more time living in the footsteps of Christ and a little less time obsessing about when time runs out.

3) What do we believe?

As a United Methodist, a part of my doctrine is accepting and believing that Christ will come again.  This belief is uttered in the Apostle’s Creed that we recite together.  It is espoused in the liturgy we join in around the Lord’s Table when we celebrate the Eucharist (Holy Communion).  I always say it with conviction.  Jesus will come again.  How are we, as a church, going to go out into the world tomorrow and deal with the jokes and laughter being made about a belief we hold dear?  How will we address it?  How will we explain to others why Camping’s teaching was so far off when we, ourselves, believe in the Second Coming?  We can’t just dismiss it.  We may not like the negative attention drawn to our faith lately, so our reaction may be to distance ourselves from Camping; but we must be willing to wrestle with the questions.

4) Where’s the funeral?

It seems as though there was a lot of fear mongering going on with the spreading of the message that the Rapture was about to occur.  Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but my belief in the return of Christ has never centered on fear—but look at so many of the messages out there (and not just Camping’s):  Fear is a major part of it.  I don’t believe in Christ because I am afraid of death or hell or the end.  I believe in Christ because even without the Rapture, he is my source of life.  Here and now, I live because he lives.  If we believe what Christ has taught us, what he has promised us, shouldn’t we be looking to heaven with ecstatic expectation and joy that the hope we have clung to so dearly for so long is finally being fulfilled?  Why the tears?  Why the fear?  Shouldn’t we be dancing in the streets, laughing, and anxiously proclaiming with joy, “Jesus is coming”?  Think of the children waving their palm branches and singing Hosanna on Palm Sunday.  Isn’t that the type of welcome we should give Jesus rather than inviting him to a place where everyone is cowering and cringing?

5) How do we offer the Grace of Christ to the world now?

Harold Camping has held the country’s (maybe even to some extent, the world’s) attention for a few days, now.  Soon, his failed attempt to put a “use by” date on the world will fade into distant memory—but we will still be here.  Set aside all the end-times talk Camping has engaged in recently and hear some of this other messages.  One in particular should be a clear and loud call to action from us:  The church is irrelevant.  Camping seems to think that people are wasting their time in churches.  But I think public, communal worship still holds a valuable place in our lives.  We still need to come together in sacred spaces and worship, out loud, the God of Grace who gives us life.  I don’t think there is anything irrelevant about the church… but the real test will be tomorrow.  How will we offer grace to those who believed so deeply that this would be the day they would be taken to Christ’s side?  How will we dry their tears and offer them assurance that Christ is indeed with them?  How will we offer the gospel to the countless thousands who have been repulsed by this public fiasco and now doubt?  How will we, the Church universal, be relevant tomorrow?

3rd Annual Hymn Sing

A message from Pastor Vance Leach:

Hello Everyone,

Please pass this information along to everyone you know….. Many Blessings…..

Third Annual Hymn Sing sponsored by: Southern Coalfields P.E.A.C.E. Council and Coalwood United Methodist Church

The Hymn Sing will be held on May 22nd starting at 4:00 P.M. at the Coalwood U.M.C. All Churches are invited to attend and participate as well as all local gospel singers, soloist, groups and Choirs. Anyone wanting to participate please call
Vance Leach @ 304-887-3918 or send an e-mail to FRANKLEACH@frontiernet.net Please come out and support the Hymn Sing. Refreshments will be served.

Thank You,

Pastor Frankie Vance Leach

Pastor’s Corner: Thoughts on the Death of Osama bin Laden

Greetings brothers and sisters and peace to each of you in the name of our Risen Savior, Jesus Christ.

I’m sure many of you were much like me this past Sunday evening–sleepy and ready for bed but glued to the news being broadcast that after nearly a decade of searching, and two decades of constant terror, Osama bin Laden had been killed by an American military action.  Those of you who had gone to bed before the news broke certainly awoke to it the next morning.

It was the end of an era and our reactions were strong and complex.  For me, I had never known a world in which Osama bin Laden was not a prominent figure.  I was not quite two and a half years old when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and bin Laden became a tenuous ally to America in our Cold War.

I was in junior high school when the Cold War came to an end and bin Laden had no hesitation expressing very publicly his hatred of America’s involvement in the Middle East and especially the Gulf War.  I was in high school the first time the World Trade Center was bombed.  I sat in journalism class and watched on the television as footage of shaken men and women, their faces covered in soot from the garage car bomb, emerged from those massive buildings.

And I will never forget where I was on September 11, 2001 at the precise moment the first plane struck.  I’ll never forget the sickening feeling deep in my gut as it became clear that this was no freak accident, but a concentrated attack against America.  I will forever remember the heartsick drive home from Charleston which had become a virtual ghost town as businesses closed and people retreated home to be with loved ones.

I will never forget the day the planes stopped flying.

So, it is no wonder that my initial response to hearing of Osama bin Laden’s death was relief.  After a lifetime of hearing about the harsh treatment this man forced on his own people, allowing women and children to starve to enforce his strict moral code, and the countless lives lost in the terror attacks and wars that erupted around this one man’s fanaticism had lead me to a yearning to see justice done.  How could I not be relieved?  The world I had known my whole life was changed with one breaking news announcement.

But as I watched the celebrations that erupted following the President’s speech I have to admit that the relief began to fade and sorrow filled my heart.  Sure, I am still pleased that justice has been served.  I am relieved that this man’s reign of terror was stopped once and for all.  But to see the young men and women in the street, dancing and laughing and celebrating a killing was hard to swallow.

Aren’t we better than that? I asked myself.

Monday morning I discovered I was not alone.  Many of my Christian brothers and sisters were expressing a similar concern.  Jim Wallis, a prominent Christian scholar, writer and activist, whom I have long admired, released a statement that attempted  to strike a balance between the justified relief of justice being carried out and the proper Christian reaction to a killing.  (Click here for the essay)  Also, many other Christian organizations from around the globe were releasing statements–but as I read the words of others, I had to ask myself how I really and truly felt about this issue and what I believe.

I suppose the opening statements of the Gospel of John best express my thoughts:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.  What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.                         (John 1:1-5, NRSV)

“All things came into being through him, and without him NOT ONE thing came into being.”  This includes Osama bin Laden.  No matter what path bin Laden chose to follow in his life, no matter how violent and destructive he had become, he was still a creation of God.  Likewise, I can’t help but feel that God mourns the loss of even this one.  Especially this one.

In Matthew 18:12 Jesus tells us, “If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?” (NIV)

If God is a God of life as the Gospel of John tells us, then would God not try to seek out the one who had pursued the path of death and violence?  And if that sheep could not be brought back to God’s fold, would God not mourn?

But on the flip side John also tells us that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

The darkness brought on by the terror attacks have had lingering effects:  America is in the midst of its longest war ever;  We have men and women in American uniforms fighting on three different fronts throughout the Middle East;  On the home front, we have been at each other’s throats for years about what is the proper path for our nation to take.

Darkness has certainly tried to steal away the Light, but somehow Light just keeps shining through.

We’ve seen it with the so-called “Arab Spring” in which Arab and Muslim youths and young adults have decided to reject the strict, rigid radicalism endorsed by leaders like bin Laden and demand freedom–demand a new path to walk.  And we saw it Sunday night when a mass-murder, a killer, a terrorist, was brought down by the same sword he lived by.

So, after much prayer and thought I’ve come to the conclusion that the quote that took Facebook by storm on Monday is the best one-sentence expression of my feelings: “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.”

I mourn the loss of those who died on 9/11.   I mourn those who have died in this ten-year old war–those who wore the uniforms of allies and those who wore the uniforms of enemies as well as those who wore no uniform at all.  I mourn the broken homes and the emptiness in countless lives around the globe left by violence… but I cannot celebrate.  I will never celebrate a killing.

Instead, I will live into Romans 12:18, and hope you will, too:

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Blessings and Peace to you all,

Your Sister in Christ,

Pastor Amanda

Lenten Readings For The Week of April 17th

Monday–Amos 7

Tuesday–Amos 8

Wednesday–Amos 9

Thursday–Amos 10

Friday–Isaiah 66

Saturday–Isaiah 49:1-7

Sunday–Easter Sunday!!!!!!!!!!

Lent Day 34: Reflection (Amos 6)

This chapter, in so many ways, feels like it has been written for us (in this day and time).  complacency and self-indulgence are the concerns of the prophet in this chapter of his writings.  It seems that the people are content with singing meaningless songs for their entertainment, drinking wine and living for themselves.  They don’t worry at all about the problems in the world around them and are content to just keep on going on in that direction.

Aren’t we much the same way in our world today?  One of the people who attends Sunday evening Bible Study has on several occasions expressed her concern that churches are sitting so empty while so much devastation is going on in the world around us.  ”Why aren’t they here, praying and trying to get right with God?”  she asked.

That is a very good question.  Why aren’t more people looking at the problems in the world and feeling their hearts break.  We have men and women serving on two war fronts… a war that has lasted longer than any military action in American history with no clear sign of an end.  And now, we are sending more men and women to a third battlefront in Libya.  People are starving on every inhabitable continent in the world.  earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes and floods are claiming lives everywhere.

And are we just content to toss back a cold beer, watch the game, and sing our idle songs?

It is a question of faith that we must grapple with in these remaining days of lent.  So much has already occurred in these first 34 days that should be testing us as a faithful people… let us use the remaining days to bring ourselves back into line with God.

Prayer:  God, as I prepare to enter into the last week of Lent, let my heart, my mind, and my soul awaken to your glory.  Let me look upon the world, upon the suffering, the violence, and the troubles and see the need for your justice and righteousness.  Let me not be content with my own easy life, but let me be made uncomfortable by the injustice in the world.  Amen.