July 27, 2008

So here's the scene: you are at the shopping mall, walking from one store to another. In the breezeway are more “mall rats” than you knew were in this time-zone. As the first group approaches, you hear language that would embarrass a sailor. As you go past them to another group you encounter more language that would have made your mother wash your mouth out with soap. You frown and hurry toward your destination.

On your way you encounter teenagers and young adults, at least you assume they are by their appearance. You can't tell by their language because it is no more refined than their younger counterparts. Again, you frown and hurry toward your destination.

Next it's a middle aged person at the customer service desk. Apparently they are trying to look sound younger. They drop a few “F-bombs” and generally foul the auditory air as you pass. It's no wonder the younger population's vocabulary averages 4 letters per word. That is what they have been taught. You even detect a stench from the language of a few of our senior citizens before you run screaming to the sanctuary of your automobile with your purchases.

Several cities and businesses have instituted no-smoking policies. What about no-cursing policies? I would like the air that I hear to be as clean as the air that I breathe. It's not okay. Now I'm not promoting a return to scarlet letters and Puritan dress codes. I just want a little bit of freedom. I would like to have the freedom not to hear language that I find crude and vulgar.

Great Brad, how are we going to do that? If I knew that I would have written a book and my tithe would more than cover our electricity bill for the year. I know that acting like “the Church Lady” on Saturday Night Live (a “holier than thou” character) does nothing but harm the credibility of Christians. Reporting offensive behavior to security or business management or the occasional confrontation (e.g. “Can we clean up the language a bit?”) may be in order. My dad used to say, “Your right to swing your fist stops at my nose.” Does your right to curse stop at my eardrums?

God bless,

Pastor Brad

July 20, 2008

You are probably aware that Amanda, the offspring and I spent the week at Disney World. I have this habit of talking with just about everyone that I encounter (e.g. wait staff, custodians, ticket takers, photographers, etc.). I hear a lot of stories from some fascinating people. While waiting in line at Disney World (I know you are all surprised that we actually had to wait in line occasionally ☺), I struck up a conversation with a photographer.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that later, we hit upon the fact that being a Disney photographer was not his first job after retiring. His first job was as a cameraman for a local TV station. His assessment of that station was that only bad news was newsworthy. He felt that he spent his entire day looking for and recording the bad things in our world for a film at 11:00.

He decided a change was in order and took the photographer position at Disney taking pictures of mainly children and Disney characters. He shared with me that there is a special place in his heart for all the “Make A Wish” children that he sees with terminal illnesses. He recalled one special little girl. He said that he took over 60 pictures of her, mainly with Ariel the Little Mermaid. He said that normally, photographers only take about 6 pictures of any given child. So he expected a reprimand from his manager—it never came. Two weeks later the little girl died. Those pictures that he took were the last taken of her.

If you are curious about what I mean by an “extra crispy life” in today's message, this retired photographer at Disney World who wanted more out of life than just looking for bad things summed it up much better than I ever could. .

God bless,

Pastor Brad

July 6, 2008

As I progress through the ordination process, I study a lot of things that truthfully I would just rather sweep under the carpet. This past week one of the discussion topics with my mentor Rev. Debra Crumpton was, “Discerning Your Fruit through Successes and Failures” (see Galatians 5:22-23). The successes we all like to discuss, the failures, maybe not so much. However unless we have achieved perfection, failure is as much a part of life as eating and drinking.

Some of the things that we discussed included:

1. What is the definition of success?

2. What is the definition of failure?

3. How do I react to successes? To failures?

4. What do the successes and failures tell me about the fruits of the Spirit in my life?

None of us like to fail; we all like to win. None of us like to lose; we all like to win. None of us like to strike out; we all like to hit the home run. We all think of Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson as a winner, but did you know that he is also the all-time strikeout king, having struck out 2,597 times in his career? The question isn't if you will strike out. It is how will you allow God to work in you and others through your failure? What will you learn through your failures?

If you are sitting on the bench, you are not going to strike out. You're also never going to get a hit. God calls us to get in the game. He knows what our strengths and weaknesses are (he gave them to us). So if he calls you from the bullpen in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs and the tying run on first, do your best and leave the rest up to God (he's pretty good at managing the game).

God bless,

Pastor Brad

June 29, 2008

I cannot imagine a better welcome than Amanda, Katie and I received this past week at Bruceville-Eddy. Not only was everyone friendly and appeared genuinely happy to meet us, many persons checked on us throughout the week. Amanda and I both thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

As we move forward in our journey here at Bruceville-Eddy, I would like to meet with as many of you as possible to understand your hopes and dreams for our church. How can our church best reach out to our community? Where is there a need that is crying out for us to meet? How can we better meet the needs (physical and spiritual) of our members? What can we do to enhance our worship, our study, our prayer time, ... so that we are closer to God tomorrow than we were today? These just a sample of the many areas that I would like us to explore. Last week in the message, I quoted Lewis Carroll who said, “If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.” I have yet to meet anyone at Bruceville-Eddy who would be satisfied with just “any road”. Send me an email. Give me a call. Let's do coffee or lunch.

An additional part of our journey will be finding the center of God's will for each of us and collectively as a church. God has uniquely gifted each of us with abilities commonly known as “spiritual gifts”. In the weeks to come, we will examine these and in the process learn how to say, “No” when needed so we can say, “Yes” to those areas where God has equipped us.

Finally as we celebrate Independence Day later this week, let's remember the sacrifice of those who gave us (and are giving us) our freedom. Thank a veteran. Say a prayer for those currently serving in the armed services, especially those in harms way. Thank God for allowing us to live in a country where we can live and worship as we choose and give Him all the glory.

God bless,

Pastor Brad

June 22, 2008

You may or may not have noticed that I wasn't here last week. You also may or may not have noticed that Nicholas and Victoria aren't here today. Months ago before I ever dreamed of not being reappointed to Rogers First United Methodist Church, Amanda and I signed on as cooks on a Central Texas Conference Youth in Mission (CTCYM) mission trip to Springfield, MO. Last week as Dennis was bringing the message here, I was somewhere between Ardmore, OK, and Springfield, MO, driving a 15 passenger van towing a 16 ft cargo trailer loaded with tools and luggage.

During the week Amanda and I cooked for youth and adults from three Central Texas United Methodist Churches who repaired roofs, fixed bathrooms, cleared overgrown yards, repaired and painted walls, built wheelchair ramps and built steps to an inaccessible back door. They also showed many people, including themselves, a glimpse of what it means to live their faith.

I would like to thank each of you here at Bruceville-Eddy for allowing me to participate in this wonderful experience. If you have a few minutes sometime, ask us about it. It spoke volumes to me that when I mentioned the conflict with my first Sunday with you, the Staff Parish Relations Committee instantly said, "Go be with the youth. Honor your commitment." Again I thank you.

Now my commitment shifts to Bruceville-Eddy United Methodist Church. Amanda and I are very excited to be a part of this church. It will take us some time to get to know each of you, so please be patient with us. I will be sharing some insights into the ways that I see God working in our church, our community and in my life in the time to come. Please pray for our church and me and my family as we all make this wonderful transition.

God bless,

Pastor Brad