Sweat Work of Love

Building a new playground at church takes work, and lots of people. Its called Sweat Work of Love, especially on days like today when it is so hot you can fry eggs on the sidewalk.


It all began when I first moved here. A member of the church was sitting with the kids at church while Bob and I went to something, can't remember what. The kids had gone out to play on the then Swing set. Apparently one of the kids got hurt on it. As the church member investigated, it was loose parts on the slide. We tried to fix it and couldn't. The church member suggested it might need to be torn down. I was a bit hesitant being the new Pastor at the church. So I told her she needed to follow the Methodist way of going to the trustees who would then discuss it and then bring it before the Admin. Council. Way somehow or another the head trustee gave the person permission to tear it down without getting Admin Council approval. The next thing I know the husband and grandson were tearing it down. He told me it was full of dry rot, and holes from wood bees. I got him to save the accessories because they were okay. That would be one less thing we would have to pay for when we rebuilt it. Now you need to know this set got lots of wear and tear. We have a community basketball league and a school league that plays in our gymn, CLC center. And the kids get out there and play and play. We have this little courtyard area that it is set in, and there is a little memory garden in it too. This same couple said they would pay for a new playground if it was moved out of the courtyard over to the side of the church where there is this big open area.


Believe it or not it took us until this summer to get the new playground going, and it has evolved. We moved over the older metal swing set, put up a fence. Then someone donated another metal swing set. But the plans were to replace the wooden swing set. So we began looking and pricing. Those things are expensive these days! But hubby found one at Sam's he thought was a good one at a decent price. And guess what we got enough money to buy it to start building it. So now we are in the process of building the swing set. My hubby has taken it upon himself as a project. He bought it, got a trailer to haul it back on from our neighbor. But he forgot to get people there to meet him to unload it. (He thinks he can do it alone, that was what he had to do growing up.) But there were five boxes, three of which were over 200 pounds, one over 150 and one at 35. I helped with the 35 and the 150. I told him that he needed to start calling to get a man there to help him. After calling a bunch of the men he was able to get one man there to help him. IN the meantime, I had the idea of taking the boards out of the heavy ones until they were light enough to pull them off the trailer. Which I might say worked.


Well, now everyday, Bob and some of the men are over there working on the boards. Its a lot of work. A lot of Sweat work of love. Now people when they drive by see the new playground, instead of not being able to see it. My hope they can see that we love children and we care about children. And that they see these men at work for the Lord.


Here's what the new swing set will look like when it is done. I'll get pictures of the whole playground and post them.

points in my world.

• Well, it is Memorial day today. And yet I will be spending most of my day at the Ball park for a double header of my son's Baseball team. Lathering up the sun screen, and Bob is putting up the canopy. But yesterday, Bob and I put together a picture board for Memorial day and invited others to do the same. I'll see if I can get them together to show you later. It was very moving.

• It was Pentecost Sunday yesterday, and the person bringing the announcements told them I would explain Pentecost to them. I used the children's sermon to tell them about Pentecost and the Holy Spirit, and explain how the Holy Spirit helps us to become Christ Like which tied into my sermon. I wasn't preaching Pentecost lectionary passages. We are doing a series on the Purpose Driven Life to go along with the Book Study. We are at the third purpose of "Becoming Christ Like". I have to tell you after attending the Festival of Homiletics, listening to the "Rock Stars" of the Preaching World, I really felt humbled about my preaching. And I got the idea from what the Bishop said in his lecture on the last day about preaching, that he didn't care for the Purpose Driven Life or the style of preaching that Rick Warren preached. I really felt anxious. But the Bishop said something that I do agree with, that when the Holy Spirit shows up it is awesome, disconcerting, powerful, well we don't have the words to describe it, at least I don't. But I think God is there in the church and its us who don't always show up, or we may come to church physically but not in the whole. Our minds and hearts are often elsewhere, including myself sometimes. My prayer was that I showed up and that we showed up to receive the word we needed to hear.

• Yesterday, we said goodbye to our Youth Director. It was sad. We gave her a gift card and a gift. She tried hard to work with our youth. She tried different means of working with them. But in the end it did not work. But we wanted to thank her for her time with us and our youth and ministering to them. So we said goodbye and thank you. We prayed over her and for her future. She is getting married, and finishing her graduate degree. Anybody in our area looking for a youth director? I can recommend one. We have a different youth group. We have some members of our church who are youth. Then we have youth whose parents don't go to church. We also have the young men from a local children's home. Good boys at heart, but boys with lots of needs, lots of pain, and no parents around. It makes for a hard youth group. So, Abi is working with the youth along with another man, Bob and some other people who said they would help until we decide what direction we are going in.

• Last night we came home from Sunday night church to see our beautiful male cat, Prince Aiden on the side of the road. Yes, we lost another cat. He was breathing but not really responding. Bob took him to the emergency clinic and they put him to sleep. Bob brought his body home so we can bury him and have a little burial service for him today. The girls were just in tears as was I. He slept on Kate's bed, and was one of the most loving male kitties I have ever had. The Vet told Bob that our street was known as "death road" for pets. We have a fenced in yard, but that doesn't keep the cats in, except for big cat. We have a pet door for the dogs to go in and out. I guess we may have to think about getting rid of the pet door, and just let the dogs in and out. I don't know.

• But the truth is, a pet's death is not a human death. It is not the same. It is grievous, but not the same. And it is not the same as the sacrificial deaths of our military. So today we take time to remember our military and those who died in war. I have a great Uncle who died in WWI. Bob has an Uncle who died at war also. Probably there are others, I don't know. I think Grand dad told us his brother died in the Spanish American War. Here is a link to a Memorial Day prayer that I like. Did you know that there are this many US deaths in Iraq:
• U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3441
• Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 14
• Total 3455 from IC website.
• This doesn't include contractors, journalists, other nation's military(here are British Numbers), nor does it include the Iraqis' deaths.
• And let's not forget we got another war going on, that has heated up again, Operation Enduring Freedom.
• Here is a list of American War Casualties for all wars.
• I think it is important to put a face to the number, go to the Washington post for that.
• Whether you agree or disagree with the present administration and it's policies, take time to remember those who have died for your right to agree or disagree.

• And last point in my world. yesterday the local paper talked about the KKK coming to Tuscumbia on Saturday(You can't read the article anymore if you don't have an account, but you can see the pictures.). I didn't know about it, nor did I go, I was at the ball park all day and had a spend the night friend over for the girls. (That's another story.) They were there to talk about illegal immigration and their usual topics. What was neat was that there were protests about them being there. They say there were a lot of young faces in the crowd of protesters. The protesters were nonviolent and held up signs that said "Love thy Neighbor", and "God's Love is Colorblind". They had to cancel the cross burning due to the Fire alert we are under. In the end they had to leave due to the crowd who were gathered singing a few verses of "Jesus Loves the Little Children". Can you imagine it was the singing of that sweet little children's hymn that forced them to leave. In light of what the Festival of Homiletics theme was on, "Preaching for Transformation", a sermon was preached yesterday. Don't be fooled by their talk about illegal immigration, they still spew hatred, and racism. Instead pray for them, protest them with nonviolent protests, love them as the Bible tells us too, and sometimes sing that sweet Song; "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, including the KKK...."

Nothing But Nets

What am I talking about? Well if you noticed, I put a little banner over on the sidebar, that if you click on, it will take you to the website, "Nothing but Nets." I could say, I'm not talking Basket ball, but that wouldn't be true, basket ball is very involved, especially the NBA. It is one of our malaria initiatives of the United Methodist Church in concert with the NBA Foundation, the United Nations Foundation, Gates Foundation, Sports Illustrated, VH-1, and American Idol. Now can you imagine all those working together to do something to help the world be a better place? Its hard to imagine but they are. And guess what this thing is catching on like wildfire from children to adults, groups, churches, and individuals.

I issued a challenge to the church for the month of May to raise funds to buy enough nets to equal the number of members on roll. You see, our conference special offering this year goes to "Nothing but Nets". Last night in the United Methodist Women's meeting, we talked about the challenge. One of the women said, if I can save a life, by doing something so simple as buying a net, I am going to do it. She said it was one of those No Brainer things. These women are caring women, involved in many ways in the church, volunteering their time, talents and money. And I can see these women raising the money for "Nothing but Nets."

The next group I am talking to is the Bible Study tonight. And then the Youth, the Men's group, and then Sunday School. But I see the same response wherever I go.

Did you know… Every 30 seconds, a child dies in sub-Saharan Africa because of malaria. 9 out of 10 deaths caused by malaria occur in Africa. You can do something about it!

Nothing But Nets is a global grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a leading killer of children in Africa. Malaria claims more than a million lives every year, mostly children. The good news is that malaria can be prevented by sleeping under an insecticide-treated bed net. Bed nets are an important tool in fighting malaria because they create a barrier against mosquitoes at night, when most transmission occurs. Just one bed net can keep an entire family safe from malaria transmission for up to four years!



A $10 donation goes directly toward the purchase, distribution, and education about the proper use of an insecticide-treated bed net. That doesn’t sound like much, right? And what’s more, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match each donation, net for net. Most people in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1 a day and cannot afford a life-saving bed net.

the UN Foundation has been working with the UN to fight malaria for years, it was a column that Rick Reilly wrote about malaria in Sports Illustrated, challenging each of his readers to donate at least $10 for the purchase of an anti-malaria bed nets -- and the incredible response from thousands of Americans across the country -- that led to the creation the Nothing But Nets campaign.

The reaction to Reilly's 815 words made clear that thousands of people were ready to help the million children dying unnecessarily each year of malaria. Within a few short months, Nothing But Nets raised over 1 million dollars. And so Nothing But Nets was born.

The Youth have their own Cool website for this called TheBuzzKill.net. You can even get a teeshirt to get the message across, and the money goes to the cause.



Hey, I am all about Nothing but Nets. How about you?

You can donate right now here
or you can donate here

Blogging Against Disablism Day, May 1st, 2007

Disablism n. discriminatory, oppressive or abusive behaviour arising
from the belief that disabled people are inferior to others.
(although you won’t find a definition in a dictionary)



Yes, its May Day. It is also blog against Disablism day. How many of our churches have made the necessary changes in their church to not be practicing Disablism? Our church has done a great job on making the changes to be access friendly. Many of the churches I have served have done so. The United Methodist Church itself, and the North Alabama Conference has made a concerted effort to address the matter.

Yet, I must ask myself have I practiced Disablism? Do I think that persons with disabilities are inferior to me? These are good questions to ask ourselves, and our churches. Disablism goes beyond being access friendly. It gets to the heart of the matter, of our attitudes, what we think in our inward being, and our actual practices. Jesus told the crowds one time, 'Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts.'' Jesus was most gracious, welcoming, and open to those with disabilities. Sometimes I think we the Church ( the big church) have gotten far away from Jesus' practices, because we want to look so good, to have things perfect, and that is not how Jesus lived his life or treated people.

I am not disabled. I have children with speech disabilities, you can't always tell what they are trying to say. But it is nothing like some of the other disabilities that are so noticeable.

Lord, help me be honest with you and myself and ask forgiveness for the times I have practiced disablism toward your children. Help me as a leader to follow you in how you treated others and to lead others to do so also. Make me more Christlike in my thoughts, feelings, my inward being and in my practices. Make us all who claim to be your followers more Christlike. There are certainly enough isms in the world. Let me one of the ones who you are eradicating your isms from, especially disablism.

Go to the Diary of a Goldfish to join the blogging against disblism and to read more from those who did blog.

Hat tip to Mother Laura for making me aware of this day.

What I did Easter Sunday

• Got up at 5am, made coffee, fed the animals, got breakfast for the kids, got kids and myself ready for church, went over sermon, children's sermon and Pastoral Prayer. Also sent out Easter thought for the day email.
• Got to church early to make sure things were setup, clean, put my sermon on the pulpit, get a bulletin and hymnal, find a bible to read from, put the items for the children's sermon in place, (a Easter Basket with eggs), and to greet people.
• Helped rearrange the Easter Lilys away from the altar area so the song leader who is highly allergic to them wouldn't get sick during the service. Vacummed up spilled dirt from dropped plants. Yep, we did drop two of them.
• Went over to the meet and greet to meet and greet, have a cup of coffee, and maybe have a little bite of food.
• Talked to the youth leader and the youth for awhile.
• Went back inside sanctuary for last minute check, met some people who were visiting.
• Went over to choir room to practice the songs and pray with choir.
• Started worship, Preached, sang in the choir; went back and forth between choir loft, pulpit, the place where I do the children's sermon, my regular seat and the floor of the sanctuary to do prayers. Whew.
• Shook hands with lots of people, some new, some coming back, some of our homebound, and some extended family members.
• Went home had lunch with the kids, and then crashed.
• Nursed a headache all day.
• colored easter eggs with the kids, with dye that didn't work. (Darn, that's what I get for buying the cheap pack.) Cleaned finger nail polish off the girl's bedroom floor. (Kara spilled it and then tried to hide it by smearing it in.) Took a walk with the kids and dogs in the woods.
• Had supper, that sweet hubby cooked, watched a little tv and crashed again.

So what did you do on your Easter Sunday

The offensive that was not offensive

Hey, I promised I would write more about LaDonna Whitmer, and the conference. So here goes.
LaDonna rocks and was not offensive to me, but she was to some others. What an amazing woman she is. Here she comes from San Fran, California to speak to Pastors in Alabama. She was honest, real, and personal. She did take us to task for our lack of genuiness, authenticity, acceptance. She started by showing us a cinepoem called Sunday Misfit. I was truly touched and cried. She then talked about her experience in the church, which has been quite painful from age 4 on up. She has tried church in her adult life, but even that became painful. If you recall Willow Creek had a service reaching out to the post moderns, called Axis. She was going to that service, but even Willow Creek had trouble accepting and loving the post moderns. The Axis that is now is not the one she went to. (here is one article on the demise of Axis. Here is one at Jesus creed and this is Dan Kimball's take on it.)She has not attended church in 6 years. She had not stopped believing in God, but did not go to church. She and her husband has found a church called Revolution led by Jay Baker. If you get the Sundance Channel you can watch him in a show called One Punk Under God.Yep the son of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker. She also showed us vidoes of friends she had taped that didn't go to church either, and what they had to say about church. Lots of pain there of how they had been treated. I hope she saves those videos, they were powerful. She then took questions and answers from us about what she had said. Things went okay until one of our Pastors wanted to take her on about some things she said, and kept pushing her. She actually handled it better than I would have. I would have reacted, but she didn't. I talked to her briefly before the presentation about her website and blog. And then I spoke to her husband afterward.

All I can say is God forgive me for any way I have played in not being accepting, loving, showing the gospel to your children. God forgive us who say we are believers, followers, disciples for our judgementalism and abuse of those who don't seem to fit our idea of who belongs to the kingdom of God. God help me as your Pastor lead this church that I now Pastor to lead them to be accepting and loving and showing your gospel to those who they have not before. Thank you for LaDonna and her friends who willing shared with us their pain, their needs, and their selves with us. May we have the courage they had to do likewise.

Culture can be offensive to our ears

I haven't finished my posting about the Prayer Summit, I will I promise.

But since yesterday morning I have been in a workshop at our District center led by Paul Borden.
And Bishop Willimon was here this afternoon to discuss and take questions. I'll post some more about that.

This afternoon, they are bringing a woman to speak to us who apparently is offensive to us, but an expert on emergent culture. Her name is LaDonna Witmer. Funny thing is I didn't find her offensive, I just found her alive, truthful, and real. I appreciate that. But if I need to be offended, then bring it on. Funny thing is we forgot that Jesus was offensive to the leaders of his day, the "elders", and the religious thinkers. Have we removed ourselves that far away today?

One of our ministers found her somehow or another and started writing her, and she started responding. She speaking at their church this weekend also. Wish I could be there. But it will be worth it all to hear today. I'll let you know more later and how offended I am.

She writes about her coming down here to Alabama in She Says.

She apparently was at the a Willow Creek conference and you can see a preview of the clip here:
I think I am buying the dvd if they have it here at our workshop.