Just 4 Days Until Christmas

    So what is it like at your house in the days right before Christmas? The Christmas frenzy is officially here. Life in the church is really busy at Christmas:  programs, plays, music, dinners are part of the usual Christmas routine. The weather has brought lots of challenges with the cold temperatures. Last Monday 5 below in Boone.  Wednesday morning a water pipe burst under the pavement in the parking lot. The gas company came to help because we thought the leak was where they had previously worked. No such luck, and while they were digging to help us find the leak, the gas company broke the gas line that feeds the church and the parsonage. So for awhile, we were without water and heat. The good news, our trustees were able to make the repair in time for church on Sunday. So I am learning, keep extra water on hand all the time, and keep candles and plan B not too far out of reach because the weather can bring unexpected challenges. Living here sometimes is like camping inside a house.  Life in Boone NC 101, the school is in session. I am learning my way and the church folks have been great to help.
    Last week, our church helps with a mission for needy children called Santa's Toy Box. A mission project that serves the needy children of our community and has been going for about 25 years in our community. I have heard it mentioned lots of times since I arrived in July, but on Friday I got to go participate in the giving.  A real treat to have a hands on project to help the less fortunate here at Christmas.  A huge warehouse here in Boone was our site to hand out the presents. Due to the weather, all the families we were helping had to be called because the roads were too bad and two other times for pick up had to be rescheduled. So thanks to the volunteers who made a ton of phone calls to the families we were helping. Santa's Toy Box helped with Christmas for 900 children. What a great mission!! I found this mission is a huge community effort with folks from all over the community that support the mission with financial gifts and with their labor, and others with gifts of toys. What a delight it was to help the parents come in to pick out gifts. I invited lots of people to church at Deerfield UMC. As I worked I noticed about 8 other folks from Deerfield who were also helping folks do their shopping. Some work year round to collect funds, assemble toys, and work out in the warehouse where there is no heat to get the toys organized. These are the real troopers who work behind the scenes all year. Thanks to all the helpers from Santa's Toy Box, to remind us that giving, sacrificing, and serving are all at the heart of what makes Christmas great. Praise be to God for the opportunity to serve and really feel like as a church we joined with others to make a difference in the lives of children in our community. What a true Christmas blessing! May the peace of celebrating the birth of Christ fill your heart and your home with joy and love this Christmas. Join us on December 23 at 6:30pm for Candlelight communion and special music, the reading of the Christmas story, here at Deerfield UMC. We would love to see you here for Christmas.

Snow hasn't shut down Deerfield UMC

     The last two Sundays, we have been open for worship, even in the snow. Today, driving in Boone has been a huge challenge. We are on the front side of a blizzard. At least from what I could see from my front window. I didn't try to get on the road yet. There is a drift in the front yard of the parsonage about 4 feet deep with snow already, and they are calling for more snow for 3 more days. What has amazed me in the new culture here in Boone is that life does not stop when it snows! People still come to church! I am so proud of them for that.  They say people get here to get to the ski slopes and to the malls, so we ought to be able to get to church. I have to agree with them. We have had our Christmas contata the first Sunday in December and then yesterday we had the children's christmas program during our regular worship service. Lots of people at both of these services and lots of snow and cold weather. So, it was a true blessing to be able to celebrate Christmas with our church family rather than having to postpone and reschedule these events.
    You never know where God is going to break into worship and really surprise you with a sneak attack of the Holy Spirit. During the children's play during worship, we had a real baby to play the part of baby Jesus. We also had a real little girl to play Mary. What made the scene so beautiful was watching Mary, who is in the first grade, play with baby Jesus by hiding her eyes and uncovering them quickly. Time and time again she did this to keep the baby from crying. The church was filled with laughter. It was so beautiful. God broke in! That is our prayer from Deerfield UMC to you as you prepare your heart and your home for Christmas, that God will break in and give you a holy surprise as you make room to celebrate the birth of his Son, our Savior Jesus Christ our Lord.
P. S. If I were to write a letter to Santa this year, it would go something like this:
Dear Santa, please bring a John Deere for Christmas. Evelyn

We have truly gotten a Christmas miracle early!

     Thanks be to God for the gifts that come our way! Deerfield UMC asked the church the Sunday before Thanksgiving to help meet our budget shortfall of $34,000 and to give their pledge or gift before November 30, when our finance committee is to meet again. So the response back from the congregation is our reason to offer the huge praise. Not only did we meet the challenge, at the end of the day one week after we asked the church to raise the funds, we had raised $37, 880.00! That's right, more than we asked for.  We asked our members to give their regular gifts and to give to the challenge before our church above and beyond their regular giving, and the response to that request has given us evidence of the hand of God working in our midst. To come from a shortfall of $34,000 to now being able to pay out our apportionments in full and to meet all of our ministry needs is a great reward.
     Saturday evening at about 3:45pm, a challenge came in from a member of the church that if we could raise $5000 in pledges or gifts to come in before the end of December, that the member would match our gifts with another $5000. We accepted the challenge. I sent out an email to the church members to let them know of the challenge, and that I had a dinner that I had to go to in about 15 minutes and I was going to be gone for the rest of the evening, and then leading in worship the next morning. If we were going to meet the challenge, it was going to be up to them to get on the phone and call people and for them to give and make the most of the offer. So I prayed that God would move on the hearts of the people, I honored the commitment to our members that night and went on to the dinner. I trusted and I prayed. I shared the challenge with them, and they also joined me in prayer. Some how God worked a fabulous work in the hearts of his people. The phone lines were hot here in Boone Saturday night, and by Sunday morning, the phone was ringing early here at the parsonage to put in a pledge in time to meet the challenge. Yes, a lot of people have played a part in this great story. People have sacrificed what they were going to give each other for Christmas to donate to the church. Our lead donor had to have a nudge from the Lord to make the first move, and we give the Lord praise for that nudge and for the obedience to lead our church in financial commitment. We praise the Lord for so many families accepting the responsibility to do what they could. For some that was a large gift and for some that was a small gift. What is important is that we have each given above and beyond our regular gift to meet the present need, and God blessed the gift and mulitiplied it. Yes, you have to have great leadership to do this, and we can give the Lord the credit for the leadership of the Holy Spirit. For without the Holy Spirit, pulling us together in one accord, we would still be scratching our heads wondering how would we pay what we owe before the end of the year. God has moved on the people here in Boone, and if you could see me now, I am doing grown up cartwheels in my heart. It has been an exciting challenge and a great reason to give the Lord our constant praise. Let all that we do, all day long, be our worship. God brought us a Christmas miracle early, and we pray the same for you and your church. It is a thrill to see the hand of God.

Possum in the tree?

    When was the last time something really funny happened to you in worship? Well yesterday in worship we all got a really good laugh. The choir was singing their anthem, and the tune was not familiar, but it was really nice. I listened and enjoyed the tune. As I heard the choir sing about the beauty of the possum in the tree, I couldn't believe my ears. So, I thought, I have never heard this song before, I need to see if they are going to come back to that line again. They didn't repeat the same line, but they had me hanging on every word. So when the anthem was done, and it was time to step into the pulpit to preach, I turned and asked the choir if they said anything about a possum in the tree, and they shouted back, "Blossom! Blossom in the tree!" You can just imagine the congregation. Laughter rocked the house! You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl.
    The soft tone was helpful to lead into a tough message. The message yesterday was from Haggai Chapter One. Haggai challenged the people to put their priority on the work of rebuilding the temple first in their lives. He challenged them to give sacrificially to make the work happen, and to get on with it. He delivered a word from the Lord to remind the people to take courage because God was with them. In the life of our church, these words are also right on time for us. We have huge challenges before us. But we have to remember, God will give us courage and God himself will be with us. God stirred the hearts of the people in Haggai and they got to work on the temple and finished it in 4 years. It is my prayer that God will stir the hearts of his people, and the work will be done that is set before us. Deerfield UMC, God is with us and will make the way. Remember, God is with us. Happy Thanksgiving!

Welcome to New Member

     We welcome our first new member since I came here in July to Deerfield UMC. He was 61 years old and joined by baptism and profession of faith. What a beautiful day! On this same day the message was on the resurrection and what happens to us when we die for those who place their trust in Christ to be their Lord and Savior. After this passage was selected, we had two folks in our church family die. One funeral was on that same Sunday afternoon, and the other funeral was yesterday. If there was ever a time to be thinking about the resurrection as a church family, this has been a really good time to remember that we are a people of hope, because we place our hope in Jesus Christ and even with the sting of the grief of death, we know it is not the end. In Christ we live eternally in the presence of the living God.
    So for the coming Sunday, we are looking forward to taking in another new member, and having our fall bazaar this coming Saturday. Our thanksgiving meal will be this Sunday after church and I know that will be great.
    I challenge our church to spend some time with the time left before Sunday morning reading from Haggai Chapter one. Our theme this week is on taking care of God's business first and how the scriptures help us get our priorities straight.
    We have several folks in the hospital and life is pretty normal for the church. We are holding on to our faith, and praying for God's healing power to be with those who are sick, and for his grace and consolation to be with those who mourn. We praise the Lord that God is able to celebrate with us when we have reason to celebrate, and to comfort us and put people around us to help us and strengthen us, when we are weak or suffering. God's work is amazing, and this day we give him the praise for health and strength to serve him yet another week. Peace to you.