New Year's Thoughts

As a United Methodist pastor, I mark years at the halfway point.  Calendar years may run January to December, but appointment years run July to June. Our family marks the years by where we’ve lived; when that changes, it’s always the end of June and the start of July. 

So I remember that it was almost 6 years ago that the moving van pulled up at the Wesley Pond parsonage and we began our sojourn in Burke.  It’s a good time, as I begin Year Seven as your pastor, to say again what a joy and a privilege it’s been to serve here. You are a loving, faithful, open, generous, and welcoming church.  The years have gone quickly, and we still have so much more good to accomplish, and so many more blessings to experience.

This month for me also marks the completion of 35 years of full-time active ministry.  I began my first appointment out of Yale Divinity School at Fairlington UMC in Alexandria in the hot summer of 1978. In between Alexandria and Burke we have lived in Herndon, Richmond, Ashland and Arlington – each community full of loyal Christians and good friends. Those years have also gone quickly, and I’m blessed to have had a very fulfilling ministry in each place.

Our Annual Conference begins tomorrow in Hampton. I’m one of our clergy delegates, along with Judy and Morgan; lay delegates are Randy Allen, Nancy Flythe and Jim Hudson; Todd Ringenbach is a District delegate; and Marti Ringenbach will attend to be licensed as a Local Pastor. Morgan will begin his fourth year as our Associate, and Marti her first (at Springfield UMC). And we’ll celebrate our deepening relationship with the Methodists of Cambodia. 

Many of you got to meet our four Cambodian guests this past Monday evening.  Ann Stingle, Judy Fender and I had the privilege of housing and coordinating them in their visit to the D.C. area. Thank you for your attendance at our dinner and program last Monday evening.  We learned so much about the potential to rebuild a nation as well as a church, and you generously contributed $1500 to help make that happen.

Immediately following Conference Bev and I will fly to Ireland for about 10 days. Friends who live there have invited us for so long to come and visit, and we’d always declined.  But in one of those “We’re not getting any younger” epiphanies, we decided we needed to stop saying “Someday.”

(I remember the poster that said, “There is only Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  There is no Someday.”  I learned  that to accomplish anything at all, it has to be planned for one of those seven specific days.  That’s all we’ll ever have.)

So I’ll look forward to seeing you in early July. July will bring us a visit from the Voices of Youth on July 13 and our first-in-a-long-time Church Picnic the following day, July 14.  Much to look forward to!

Oh – and plan to stop by the Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt store in the Giant / BB&T shopping center on Burke Centre Parkway tonight (June 20).  We’ll be sponsoring an Open Mic evening from 7 – 9 pm. Should be great fun.

Taking Sides

I’ve long remembered the story of the elderly woman who was frail, hard of hearing, and nearly deaf.  Despite these obstacles, every Sunday morning she rose early, dressed and did her hair and makeup, and then called a taxi.  The taxi took her to church. After the service she took the taxi home.  This was her regular Sunday routine.

While at church one morning, her pastor said to her, “I know what an effort this is for you.  You know you don’t have to be here each week.  You can listen over the computer, or I can have someone bring you a copy of the service. You don’t have to go to all this trouble. So why do you do this week after week?”

"Because," she replied, “I want people to know which side I’m on.”

It’s easy for people of all ages to find reasons to stay inside, or stay away altogether.  This may be even truer for young people who have an array of digital amusements that older folks could never navigate. There is also less expectation among young people that they will take a stand for the Lord. That’s one reason why Confirmation Sunday is always moving for me.

When we’re so often told that Christianity is always just one generation away from extinction, I’m heartened by young people who step forward to say, “I’m on Jesus’s side.” I’m encouraged by these teenagers who want to be a part of God’s great work in the world, teenagers who cast their lot with the disciples and denominational church and say, “Count me in.” Every year on Confirmation Sunday, a fresh group of adolescents comes forth to make a public profession of faith, to kneel before God, to receive the prayers and the laying on of hands, and to rise into a new life of Christian discipleship.

This Sunday is Confirmation Sunday.  It’s an appropriate Sunday for Marti Ringenbach, our Director of Youth Ministries, to preach the sermon.  She has worked faithfully and diligently in the Confirmation program and is beloved by so many of our youth.  Marti has also responded to the calling of the Holy Spirit in her life -- she's preparing to become the Associate Pastor at Springfield UMC as of July 1. 

So this weekend is a time for celebration and wonder at how the Holy Spirit persists in calling people to take sides and choose the Lord. “Let no one despise your youth,” Paul wrote to young Timothy, “but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

Come to encourage them, to celebrate them, and to show them they’re not alone – that you stand with them on the side of Jesus Christ.  

 

            Pastor Larry