Andy's Blog: A Personal Word
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July 20, 2010
Jul. 20, 2010It’s Monday morning and the church is filled with children – hundreds of noisy children at Vacation Bible School. I like the sound of a noisy church. When it gets too quiet around here, then we are in trouble!
As I watched the 3 year olds - 8 year olds file into the church, my mind flashed back to Sunday morning when we commissioned 50 plus youth for a week long mission with SOS in Memphis. These youth are living out the les- sons they learned in Bible School: to be a disciple of Jesus. They are giving a week of their summer to work on home repairs with folks who otherwise would do without. Not long ago, they were singing, “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” at VBS. Now they are serving as the hands of Christ to the world.
At Trinity we believe that to be a follower of Christ is a matter of head, heart and hands. It is important to connect all the dots...to know about Jesus, to experience and love him as Savior and to serve him as Lord. Hopefully, as a church, we are doing those things that help our children and youth connect the dots...to know and serve Christ.
But we can’t do that alone. The line between those dots goes right through the homes. When our children are baptized as infants, we promise to nur- ture our children in the church, “that by our teaching and example they may be guided to accept God’s grace for themselves, to profess their faith openly and to lead a Christian life.” That’s a big promise to make! But it is a life giving promise – meeting the spiritual needs of our children is as important as meeting their physical and emotional needs. It is so rewarding to see the results of our efforts when our children grow into mature, strong, faithful youth and adults. It takes both the church and the home to make that happen.
Thanks to the over one hundred VBS volunteers, the adults who are working with our youth, and to the parents. It takes all of us to connect the dots.
July 13, 2010
Jul. 13, 2010It’s the kind of thing you wouldn’t notice unless you knew to look for it. Like a
flower pushing its way up through a crack in a sidewalk, or an empty cicada skin
clinging to a tree; we see subtle evidence of the Kingdom of God growing and pushing
into our world.
One of the privileges of serving on staff at Trinity is that I get to see these signs of the
Kingdom. Many people who show up Sunday morning may not even be aware that
they’re happening; but Trinity members are involved in ministries beyond the church
walls every week. Some sew for Baby Love; others tutor kids in after-school programs;
some teach adults how to read; and others serve meals to the homeless.
Last week several Sunday school classes and individuals helped prepare lunch for the
kids at Urban Ministry’s summer camp. Urban Ministry is a United Methodist mission
organization that serves West End in Birmingham. You can learn about some of what
they do at their website, http://www.urban-ministry.com. I took a lunch prepared by Trinity
staff. I met the kids as they swarmed in from the sweltering heat. They had been playing
at the park and had worked up an appetite.
“Mr. Dave, sit over here. Mr. Dave, when you get your plate, I’ve got your seat right
here.” Demarcus gestured to a place between himself and Martavius. I sat down
between them and tried to share my attention equally between the five kids vying for
my attention. “Mr. Dave, do you like sports? Are you watching the World Cup? Mr.
Dave, do you have kids?” One curly-headed boy beamed at me. “I’m on my sixth
plate of celery,” he announced. Fresh produce can be hard to find in poor neighborhoods.
I’d never thought of celery as a treat.
We finished the meal, and I began mentally listing the tasks I’d need to do when I got
back to the office. Demarcus interrupted. “Mr. Dave, can I read to you?” How could I
say no? He fetched his book from a desk, and read ten pages from a story about life
on a ranch. I signed off that he had met his reading goal for the afternoon.
It’s the kind of thing you wouldn’t notice unless you knew how to look for it. But bidden
or unbidden, the Kingdom of God comes, growing like a mustard weed, pushing
up through cracks in the sidewalk. Those who delight in what God is doing scrape
their knees on the concrete, look through a magnifying glass at the unfolding leaves,
and wave at passers by, shouting, “Come and see! Come and see!”
Dave Barnhart
July 6, 2010
Jul. 6, 2010Any job worth doing is worth doing well. It’s an often repeated phrase, or at least it used to be. Pride in workmanship and in a job well done feeds our spirits. We are naturally drawn to or admire people for whom the bottom line is not just how much, but how well.
The seventeenth-century violin maker Antonio Stradivari made instruments of such quality that they are still prized and in use today. Every violinist dreams of playing/owning a Stradivarius violin. Stradivari describes his quest for excellence in this way: “When any master holds ‘twixt chin and hand a violin of mine, he will be glad that Stradivari lived, made violins and made them of the best...If my hand slacked I would rob God...since he is the fullest good. (But) he could not make Antonio Stradivari’s violins without Antonio.”
Stradivari understood that the gifts he was given were unique, but that they were God given. Using those gifts called for excellence and to do his best. His pride of workmanship was not just about him, but about living his life to the glory of God.
I like the phrase, to the glory of God. You see it inscribed on cornerstones of church buildings: “This building erected to the Glory of God.” What if we thought of that phrase in connection with our own work or life? Do we use our gifts in such a way that we would be happy to have “to the Glory of God” inscribed across our efforts?
Part of what we ascribe to and attempt as a church is to do things with excellence so that we honor God with our best.
June 29, 2010
Jun. 29, 2010Writer and teacher, Rabbi Harold Kushner, tells about a class on Jewish history that he was teaching to teenagers in his congregation. One day the class was studying the Holocaust, the destruction of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis in World War II. As the class read example after example of butchery and cruelty, Kushner would see the horror rising in his students, and felt their outrage approach the boiling point. That was when he asked them, “Why was Hitler wrong?”
The students were confused by the question. “What do you mean, why was Hitler wrong?” one student asked. “Do you mean he might have been right, that the Jews were an inferior race and should be murdered?” Another cried, “Why was he wrong? You can’t just take people and kill them because you don’t like them.”
Kushner observed. “Remember, the Nazis were careful to pass laws sanctioning everything that they did. It was all within the law. Was it still wrong?”
“Of course it was,” the first student replied. “Just because you pass laws permitting the gassing of children doesn’t mean it’s right.”
Kushner pressed further, “But why? Are you trying to tell me that some things are wrong, even if the majority of people think they are right? Are you telling me that there is such a thing as good and evil, some standards of morality that exist no matter how we feel about them, or whether or not we agree with them? Where do you get such an idea?”
Of course, Kushner knew where his students got that idea. They got it from their Biblical heritage, and especially from the prophets like Amos. For the prophets to say that there was a God was in itself a moral and political statement. The prophet, Amos, thundered against the religious and political authorities of his day, because of their failure to do deal justly. God’s authority trumps all earthly authority.
The writers of the Declaration of Independence stood in line with this prophetic belief in the ultimate authority of God over all systems. They gave as their rationale for separation from England, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed – that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government.
There are those old adages that one should not talk about religion or that religion and politics don’t mix. If we believe in the God of the prophets, this is impossible. To say the name of this God is to make a political statement – it is to assert a claim over all of life.
So on this Fourth of July Sunday, we are going to share the family story of Amos, who talked about religion and politics in the same breath.
June 15, 2010
Jun. 15, 2010Well, it’s another one of those things people tell you that turned out to be true after all! Your children grow up in a hurry. It seems like yesterday when we were rocking them to sleep, teaching them to ride a bike, going to little league games. Now they are, well almost, grown and gone. Of course, once a parent always a parent. The job never ends, though the roles shift. Yet, that period of our most profound and lasting influence is short-lived. If research is to be believed, the first three years are the most critical. By 12 or 13, the die has been cast! The window of opportunity is small. With an average life expectancy of 78, we have about 17% of our years to do the most important thing we will probably ever do – be a good mother or father.
Dads, this Father’s Day, take a moment to check the clock! Your kids will grow up fast. You will never have these days again. Grandmother and Educator Esther Jantzen lists the five most powerful things kids need to hear from their father:
1. “I’m proud…you’re my son or daughter.” You can say this out of the blue; it does not need to be connected to any achievement, although it could be. They’ll also get this message when you say, “I notice…how your drawings are changing…how you seem happier…or how you’re doing better at school.”
2. “That’s okay…how can you learn from that?” Use this when there’s been a mistake or problem. It teaches kids it’s normal, necessary, and perhaps even healthy to make mistakes. We all do. The important thing about a mistake is what you can learn from it. If you can learn from it, the guilt and hurt often go away.
3. “I’m sorry…for ____.” Fill in the blank. Maybe it would be… for yelling at you the other night… for missing your ball game… for not keeping my promise. When adults apologize, kids learn how to clean things up between people, and that’s something they need to know. And, of course, the best apology is changed behavior.
4. “Tell me more…” or “Yes, and what else?” These words let a kid know you’re listening, you’re interested and you’ll give them your attention and time. These words encourage them to develop and express ideas. Believe it or not, they can help kids gain skills that are useful in school. And, of course, be sure you listen when they talk.
5. “I love you forever.” Even if you’re mad as heck or live far apart from your kids, they need to know you’re behind them and you love them for no reason except that you’re connected as father and child forever. Your love is their birthright.
Happy Father’s Day.
June 1, 2010
Jun. 1, 2010As United Methodist Christians, we are a part of a connectional church. We do not see ourselves as isolated units. Each local congregation is connected to other congregations. Our understanding of church follows Paul’s view of the church as a “body.”
For just as the body is one and has many members – all of the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.
We belong to each other. Together, we are able to be and do more than we can apart.
This organic/relational/bodily/connection finds its practical expression in our organization into “Conferences.” Each local church is a part of a “Conference.” In our case, we are a part of the North Alabama Conference, made up of 150,500 individuals in 759 congregations, both large and small. Together, we join in ministries such as Camp Sumatanga, the United Methodist Children’s Homes, United Methodist Homes for the Aging - including Fairhaven, Residential Alternative Home for special needs adults, and Birmingham- Southern College and Huntington College. By joining hands, our circle of ministry is
larger than it could ever be if we all trued to do it alone.
Each year the churches of the Conference meet together in what is know as our Annual Conference session. Our session of the Annual Conference will be held this week, June 3-5. All clergy are members of this body, along with lay delegates from each local church. Trinity’s lay delegates include: Kim Yarboro-chair, Carrie Carter, Lucy Lee, Allen McCain, Kirk Mills, and Tom Carter-alternate.
At our sessions, we will hear reports of our connectional work; we will worship; we will learn; and we will celebrate our life together. In our system, pastors are “sent” or assigned by the Bishop annually. As a part of the session, appointments of pastors to local churches will be fixed for the coming year. In the old days, this was kept secret until the last day of Annual Conference when appointments were read aloud and churches/pastors learned who went where. This made for lots of anxiety and high drama! Today, appointments are largely made and announced in the months preceding the conference, and the actual moving follows after the conference session.
At Trinity, Dave Barnhart, Suzanne Pruitt, and myself will all be returning for another year. Tim Tatum, our Associate Pastor of Evangelism and Young Adults, will be assigned to Valley United Methodist Church in Huntsville. We will soon be receiving a new person in Tim’s position. Drew Holland, who is graduating from Duke Divinity School, will be assigned to Trinity. Tim will be moving out in mid-June, and Drew will be moving in. We will have the opportunity to express our gratitude to Tim at a farewell reception on Sunday, June 6 from 3:00 - 4:30 PM in the Large Parlor.
May 25, 2010
May. 25, 2010Zambia…
Back in October, Trinity had an exciting opportunity to help get a new ministry and a new United Methodist Conference started in Zambia, a country in the middle of southern Africa. We helped purchase 11 acres of land which will be used both by SIFAT (Servants in Faith and Technology) and the United Methodist Church. Two weeks ago, I traveled to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, to see the facility being built there.
I was impressed with the dedication and enthusiasm of the local churches. Members would walk hours from their homes to the work site to lay concrete blocks for the wall around the property. After a tiring day of work, when we gave them a lift in the back of a 4-wheel drive pickup truck, they sang joyfully all the way back to their neighborhood. Two members stayed at the work site, sleeping in a tent to make sure the construction materials weren’t stolen.
It’s amazing that these tiny United Methodist churches, who have so few resources, are poised to have such a tremendous impact on their community, their country, and their continent simply by their willingness to work and be used by God. As we worshiped on Sunday in a Spartan classroom, clapping and singing, I was humbled. I wondered to myself, “Our church has far more resources and many more people – could we have the same kind of impact on our community?”
We can and we do! Our greatest strength in transforming the world is when we get on board with what God is already doing – with Church of the Reconciler, or Urban Ministry, or BHN or any number of ministries already going on in Birmingham. In this case Trinity is also helping to transform Africa, by partnering with the Methodist churches in Zambia in helping their own communities.
Look around and ask yourself, “Where is God moving in the world? In Homewood? In my life, my job, my school? How can I join God in God’s mission?” The invitation is always there. You can come with me to Zambia, or you can come with any number of Trinity servants into the mission field in your own back yard.
-- Dave Barnhart
May 18, 2010
May. 18, 2010In an interview on the occasion of turning 60, a famous actress had this to say:
“As an actress I know how important third acts are. Third acts make sense of the first and second acts. You can have first and second acts that are interesting, but you don’t know what they mean. Then a good third act pulls it all together. And so I thought, for that to happen, I have to know what the first and second acts were about, and I have to know where I want to end up.”
The retirement years are eagerly anticipated by most people. After a lifetime of work, structure and marching to the orders of others – retirement promises leisure and freedom. But for some, the passage into retirement is the most difficult. Leisure turns to boredom. Lack of structure becomes lethargic. No more work means no purpose. There is nothing to get you out of bed in the morning.
And yet for some, this third act of retirement truly represents the Golden Years of fulfillment. The Bible is full of stories about people whose third act was the main act. Moses was middle-aged when he was set on fire by a burning bush. Abraham was an old man when he left his home for the land that God would show him. The passage into retirement doesn’t have to mean retiring from life!
The challenge of this passage into retirement is to finish strong. Third acts of plays begin tying the action together and revealing the meanings. Every coach tells his players that games are won and lost in the fourth quarter.
As we continue the May Sermon series on Passages, this week’s topic will be “Finish Strong.” Join us on Sunday.
May 11, 2010
May. 11, 2010May means moving on! Graduation and commencement mark an ending and a beginning! They are both happy and sad filled with the joy of accomplishment and the anxiety of “what next?” It’s one of those times in life when people want to give you lots of advice. Here are a few gems:
• Your families are extremely proud of you. You can’t imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing. This would be a most opportune time to ask for money. ~Gary Bolding
• All that stands between the graduate and the top of the ladder is the ladder. ~Author Unknown
• You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world. ~Tom Brokaw
• Your schooling may be over, but remember that your education still continues. ~Author Unknown
• Don’t live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. ~Wendy Wasserstein
• Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
• Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value. ~Albert Einstein
• There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. ~Beverly Sills
• What we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. ~Eleanor Powell
• The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson
And from the Bible:
• I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Psalm 32:8
• The child (Jesus) grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. Luke 2:39
This Sunday we will honor our graduating Seniors as we look at this passage in life.
April 27, 2010
Apr. 27, 2010PASSAGES
Life isn’t static. We grow up, we grow older. We move, we change jobs. We get married, we have children. Change is an inevitable part of our lives. Some of this change happens because we choose it. Other changes are the result of circumstances that we don’t choose. But each and every change requires a time of transition – a passage between what was and what will be.
The Bible is filled with stories of these life passages. Abraham was already an old man when God called him to leave behind all that he knew to venture into a new place of promise. The Israelites passed through the wilderness on their journey to freedom. The prodigal son finds home after losing himself. Paul, the persecutor, becomes Paul, the proclaimer. In each case, God was at work in these passages bringing forth new promise.
Each passage is different, yet similar. Passages can be filled with excitement, but they can also be filled with fear. In the Biblical accounts, God is at work in these times pointing us to the opportunity to find healing, to go deeper, to discover renewed strength and emerge with new purpose.
During the month of May, my sermon series will look at some of life’s critical Passages.