Go and Tell

When I was in Florida, on my cross country excursion this summer, I had the opportunity to stop at a church near Fort Walton Beach and interview a young woman named April Fisher.  For an hour, I sat and listened to her story.  It was nothing short of miraculous.

This weekend in worship, I am looking forward to sharing that story with you.  My prayer is that you will walk away from it the same way I did this last August.  I was excited, inspired, and reminded that our God is alive, and he really does heal and restore broken lives.  When April told her story, my faith came alive.

A God like that is a God that you want to share with someone else.

Most of us don’t have a story as intense as April’s but the same God is at work with us.  So often, we forget how much it helps others when we speak of how God has moved in our lives.  Come join us this weekend in worship, on this last worship service of 2012.  We will spend some time speaking of why it is so important that we “Go Tell it On the Mountain.” See you there!

In Christ,

Pastor Pete

Let’s Give it Away!

            Yesterday, our Children’s Director, Beth Christian and I had the chance to visit our WUMC Preschool and lead chapel for the little ones.  It is one of the highlights of working at Woodlake Church.  There is nothing like being around fifty children to lift your spirits (of course we get to leave when we are done….)

          Beth asked all the children what they wanted for Christmas, and there was a resounding response.  Nearly every child could name a specific present they were hoping for.  Then, Beth asked them what their parents wanted for Christmas.  As expected, there was not quite as much energy.  The notable exception was a four year old boy who excitedly exclaimed “My mom wants pots!”  All the female teachers laughed and rolled their eyes in the back of the room, while I was silently thinking that it is just proof that men are born with this…

          All of this was of course a lesson for our children about the challenge and importance of “Giving Christmas Away”.  As adults, we perhaps do a bit better but we can always use a reminder that Christmas is not about us. 

          And of course, this is why we are all so excited about what we will be doing tomorrow and Sunday.  Over six hundred of you will be moving out into the community to do mission, giving of ourselves and our time.  While our weekly worship must always lie at the center of what we do, I cannot help but imagine that our Lord is excited about the uniqueness of this weekend.  There will be smiles on many faces, hope in many hearts, and a spark of new life in places that haven’t seen it because of your willingness to give this Christmas away.

          Thank you in advance for your work!  Paul, Erin, and I look forward to seeing you briefly back in the sanctuary after you finish your service.  Until then, please join me in praying that the Spirit will multiply our efforts to create joy this weekend in the hearts that have struggled to find it. 

In Christ,

Pastor Pete

This weekend in worship we are going to be speaking of hope; what it is, what it isn't, and why it is so important to us within the Christian faith.

In all the research and reading this week, I was reminded of my experiences years ago when I was in flight training for the Navy.  When I finished the first segment of the training, the Navy sent our entire class out into the desert of California.  There, we were to "survive" for several days.  Actually, because none of us were even close to being a "Bear Grylls", it really was more of an exercise in starvation.  At the end, they put us in a staged POW camp, to teach us what it was like to be hungry and exposed to such a ruthless environment.  It was an experience I have never forgotten.

I learned many things during those days of "captivity", but one of the things that remains with me is the importance of hope.  People can make it through just about anything when there is something to hope for.  That is also why the people who run those prison camps do everything in their power to take that hope away.  They know, as countless people through the centuries, that if you can remove hope from someone, their spirit and fight soon wither away.
This is why hope is so central to the Christian faith.  Corrie Ten Boom used to say, "There is no pit so deep that he is not deeper still."  By that she meant that there is no situation in life that is hopeless, and the believer in Christ has the vision to see that hope and hold on to it specifically.  This weekend, come join us in worship as we speak more specifically to this gift of God we call hope.  We simply cannot live without it.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Pastor Pete