Shepherds, Why This Jubilee? Why Your Joyous Strains Prolong?

Riley is a fourth-grader who was cast as a “Shepherd” for Sunday’s Christmas program in church. He also had a solo. He had been practicing “Angels We Have Heard On High,” and he needed someone to accompany him on guitar, so I offered to play. On a chilly afternoon earlier this week, Riley sang for me while I played the chords of the familiar carol. His clear boy-soprano tones filled the rehearsal space, but he was struggling with the words to the second verse. Suddenly, it dawned on me to teach what my drama coach had taught me back in seminary: to read the words with exaggerated meaning and to sustain them from the muscles in the gut rather than the throat. Besides, I thought, if Riley really understood the words, he would remember them and sing them with more feeling. So I shouted to Riley, “Repeat after me! Shepherds, why this jubilee?” He said back, “Shepherds…why…this jubilee?” It became like a game. “Why your joyous strains prolong?” We asked each question of the carol back and forth, as if the shepherds were across the room dancing a jig and jumping for joy: “Say what gladsome tidings be…” We were almost shouting now. “…which inspire your heavenly song?”

The shepherds were dancing and shouting that the Messiah – the child God was going to send to reign over all the world – was about to be born! And there we were: if Riley sang clear enough, and I played well enough, we imagined ourselves joining the jubilant shepherd band as they literally skipped and spun, danced and dashed, toward a birthplace still unseen.

Riley sang it through one more time. Every word was clear and his notes were sharp and true. I smiled knowing this "shepherd boy" had experienced the story for himself. On this Third Sunday in Advent, Sunday, December 11, our worship service will begin at 10:30 as usual, but soon “the usual" will end and “The Christmas Story,” will be told by our children and youth, in word and song! Be there, and watch as the story comes alive for us. You may just return to your life “glorifying and praising God for all you have heard and seen!” (Luke 2:19)

I look forward to lighting candles and singing carols and sharing the world’s greatest story with you in church and in the places where we share ministry together!

"Pastor Paul"

Precious Moments

“When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” – John 6:15

I “noticed” this verse while leading the Bible Study last Tuesday with some residents of Sunnyview Nursing Home. We were reading the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. There are two great stories that begin that chapter. John’s version of the Feeding of the Five Thousand (verses 1-14) and John’s account of Jesus Walking On the Water (verse 16-21.) But there was this verse in-between! “When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king,he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”

Jesus realized that they were going to make him king so he withdrew? Jesus had been sent by God to liberate the people, to heal, to teach and to guide them. But to be made king by this crowd? It would only distract him from his purpose, so he withdrew. And we can only imagine what he did there on the mountain, in those few precious moments by himself. When we look at other “in-between” verses in the Gospels, we discover that Jesus often went away by himself to pray (Matthew 14:23.) In between the miracles, in between the encounters of the ministry, in between the moments of doing, Jesus spent time by himself in prayer.

This is one of the great but often unnoticed truths of the Gospels: Jesus himself prayed, talking to God as His Father, and apparently gathering insight, strength, direction and purpose from those precious moments. In the midst of our busy ministries as Disciples, we need to notice the “in-between” moments, “sandwiched in” as it were, between the errands and the meetings, the schoolwork, the housework or the homework, between the harvesting and the bookkeeping, between the driving and the visiting. We need to take the precious “in-between” moments for prayer. You can do this when you find yourself in-between things. You may want to join with others who find 9 AM on Wednesday mornings to be a time between the day’s tasks when praying together in the Parlor (our “chapel” setting) seems the most important and best thing we can do.

Prayer Times will begin again on Wednesday, November 9 at 9 AM and at 5 PM at First Christian Church in Trenton, Missouri. If you can't be there, pray with us where you are. Come when you can, leave when you must, but come aside with us to pray, in the in-between times. You may discover that they are the most important times of all!

I look forward to greeting you in the places where we pray and minister together,

Pastor Paul

A Time to Remember, Honor, Pray and Support

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid. —John 14:27

As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear God.  As a mother comforts her child so I will comfort you, says the Lord. --Psalm 103:13; Isaiah. 66:13

First Christian Church of Trenton is a community that remembers, honors, prays and supports.

The second Sunday of September is Patriot Day, and the Tenth Anniversary of September 11, 2001. That was the day the world stopped and then collectively grieved and resolved “never to forget.” As a church community and as an active, serving part of our city, state and nation, we are a people who have resolved to remember the fallen, honor the heroes of 9-11 and those who continue to serve as our first responders today. We, as a congregation, are also committed to praying for all those who serve us, and to support them in tangible ways that show we care.

On Sunday morning, September 11, First Christian will hold a "First Responders Breakfast and September 11 Tribute." A crew of men of our congregation will serve breakfast at 8 AM for police, members of the county sheriff’s department, the state highway patrol, firefighters & all first responders and their families. Invitations were delivered to all the various departments, but members and friends of First Christian are urged to make the invitation personal by inviting a first responder who is a friend or neighbor. All members and friends of First Christian Church are invited, and indeed, are needed to be certain that every guest is welcomed and thanked for their service to our community.

Then, the “Early Worship” will be a prayer service of remembrance and rededication at 8:45 with all our breakfast guests invited to attend. As a part of that service, ten candles will be lit, recalling the ten years since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Members of the congregation are invited to volunteer to be candlelighters or readers. The litany of remembrance and rededication will be repeated during the 10:30 worship service as well.

Together, we will make this a day to remember – never to forget.

I look forward to greeting you in places where we share ministry together,

Paul

The Bird Is The Word

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … All things came into being through (the Word), and without (the Word) not one thing came into being. — John 1:1,3

Church camp was minutes away from ending. The co-counselor of our “family group” of twelve “Chi Rho” campers, all young teens, and I had just formed a circle and linked arms for the final prayer of our time together. Some campers prayed, some remained silent and simply squeezed the hand of the person next to them. Then we came to one camper, Winston, from this congregation, who offered his prayer and then added, for humorous effect, “The bird is the word.” As Winston had intended, we laughed and smiled. We adults probably smiled as we remembered the odd rock-and-roll lyric from 1963 by the Trashmen, a ditty called “Surfin’ Bird.” The younger ones among us had probably heard it sung on an episode of “Family Guy,” a popular animated cartoon show on TV. And then we finished our prayer.

The hand squeezes came back to me, and suddenly I felt new words come into my head, as if from God: “Yes, the bird IS the Word, and the trees are the Word, and the grass is the Word and the air is the Word.” (“Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!” is how the last Psalm, number 150, wraps it up.)

At First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Trenton, we have many opportunities to proclaim that God’s Word is, indeed, everywhere and is always with us. Our “Blessing of the Backpacks” (on August 14) will remind children and adults alike that The Word goes with us when we go back to school. Our Global Mission Partner, Elana Huegel, may tell us (on August 24) how the Chilean people with whom she is privileged to serve found The Word was with them after the tsunami of 2010 that stuck the Chilean coast. “Together Project” volunteers (the week of August 13-21) will discover that The Word is in the hammer and the saw and the electric drill of the Habitat blitz build. Summer travelers find The Word is still with them as they travel and when they arrive.

Indeed, the psalmist was right: You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? — Psalm 139:3,4,7

I look forward to our greeting the Word together in the places where we share ministry!

Paul

Teach Us How to Pray

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought,but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. – Romans 8.26

He (Jesus) was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.” – Luke 11:1-2

Jesus was missing. Again. When the disciples noticed this, they set about to locate him. They knew what he was doing: he’d gone off the beaten path to find a quiet place to pray. You’d think that Jesus, of all people, being that He came from God and was God, wouldn’t be concerned about praying. He’d have a direct line if anybody did! But we know that Jesus took prayer seriously, even passionately. He prayed so hard in the Garden of Gethsemane that sweat like drops of blood flowed from his pores. (Luke 22:44)

So this time, when the disciples found Jesus, they were struck by the peace that flowed from him and touched them. It stirred them to desire to pray as he did. So one dared to ask Jesus, “Teach us to pray…” What Jesus said next was one of the most revolutionary words He ever spoke, “When you pray, say: Father…” Jesus invited His disciples to approach the Almighty and Eternal God of the Universe with the boundless and open love of a child for her “Daddy.” The God of Mystery and Majesty was also the God of Relationship who knew and understood each disciple’s basic needs even before the prayer began.

We are invited to pray as Jesus did. Every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, and begin with “Our Father,” we are invited into this intimate relationship with our Maker and our Savior. And the Apostle Paul tells us, that if that’s all we know how to say, the Spirit will intercede for us, “with sighs too deep for words.” Imagine! We only have to begin the prayer and God the Holy Spirit will finish it for us!

I invite anyone visiting in Trenton to come to a time of prayer any Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. in the Parlor across from the sanctuary. And I look forward to meeting you — and praying with you — in the many places where we share ministry together.

Grace and Peace! Paul

Easter: A Season of Transformation!

“Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he (Jesus!) had said these things to her.” —John 20:18

Easter is not a holiday with candy and eggs, or a dinner table set with baked ham and candied yams. Easter is a moment of transformation in the human heart, when one’s mind and attitude are changed. Mary went to the tomb, weeping, expecting to anoint a dead body. Instead she met Jesus, alive in the form of one resurrected to eternal life with the Father, and her weeping turned into joy. And although it would not have been “her place” in those days and at that time for a woman to bring the men the good news about Jesus, it was exactly the right place and the right time for Mary to spill over with the good news that she had seen the Lord, and that everything he had told the Disciples would be coming true, beginning with the amazing fact that he had risen just as he had predicted.

On Easter morning, I introduced a song to the “sunrise” congregation called, “Ev’ry Morning Is Easter Morning,” written by Richard Avery and Donald Marsh, two church musicians from New Jersey. With powerful phrases of affirmation like, “I am one of the Easter people: my new life has begun,” the writers invite us to a new way of living.

I invite you to let Easter happen in your life. Make Easter “a season of the heart’ rather than a day to put on our “Sunday best” and dine on ham and sweet rolls. Consider that Jesus Christ is alive forevermore, and then ask yourself, how does that change everything? How am I different because Jesus is alive? How is the world different because God lives forever and love never dies and we are all invited to come through the gates of eternal life, beginning here and now? How are you different because you have received that invitation?

Only you can answer that question for your life! I can tell you that the answer I give for my life is making all the difference. And I pray that the same will be true for you. I look forward to meeting you at the church door, or wherever we share ministry together.

Grace and Peace! "Pastor Paul"

We Have Been Given a New Commandment: Love One Another

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

—John 13:34

Our church word for the holy Thursday evening of Holy Week, "Maundy," comes from the Latin, "Maundatum," which means "mandate" or "commandment." There is a verse from John 13:34 that reads "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." Jesus showed His love for us by being willing to take that love all the way to the cross.

This service tonight begins our observance of the church’s most special holy nights and days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter. These days remind us every year that God’s love is so profound and great that God made a sacrifice for us. Such love! There’s no other love in all the universe like God’s love for God’s creation and God’s people!

To observe these days, I invite you to sacrifice, to pray and to worship and praise.

The sacrifice may be a meal you skip and donate the proceeds to the local food pantry or another cause that helps the hungry. Or it may be an act of service to someone you know who is in need. The prayer may be to spend a half-hour at church from noon on Good Friday to noon on Holy Saturday, or to find another time and place to thank God for all your blessings and ask God to bless those less fortunate than we are. The worship and praise will be tonight, Thursday, at 7 PM and Easter at either 7 or 10 AM.

Pause to remember why this is one of the holiest and most profound and beautiful nights of the entire year.

I’ll see you in church or in other places where we do ministry together!

Paul

REFLECTIONS ON INSTALLATION SUNDAY: God Is Our Champion, We Are God’s Leaders

^“But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin;
but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand,…”

—1 Samuel 17:45,46a

God was active in our lives on Sunday afternoon, April 3, here at First Christian in Trenton.

Danny Stewart, Mid-America Regional Minister, preached his sermon, based upon 1 Samuel 17:1-52 – a unique perspective and a fresh look at a familiar story: the tale of young David defeating the Philistine giant, Goliath. He titled his message, “Who Is the Champion?” He took us from a traditional understanding that God's chosen king-in-waiting, David, was the "hero" to a different viewpoint: that David was a leader but not the hero. "God called forth a leader to show them that their champion is already present with them and has never left them alone," Stewart proclaimed. "Their champion is God."

Referring to me, the man on the "hot seat" that Sunday afternoon waiting to be installed, he went on: "We are here to celebrate that God has appointed a leader to face his own particular Goliath in our midst and to show the community of faith that who you are and what you have inside you is more than enough..." to face the challenges of our present age of transition, uncertainty and danger.

Having so many "witnesses" to this event, including ministers from Trenton and Bethany, Plattsburgh and Carrollton, and also our honored guests, the Mayor of Trenton, Cathie Smith, the CEO of Wright Memorial Hospital, Karen Cole and the new President of the Chamber of Commerce, Debbie Carman, caused me to see myself as others appear to see me, as a leader who is called to draw people into partnerships, building unity through new alliances among different aspects of the community. Too often, churches are pushed to the side as lacking relevance to the work of renewal and transition that is taking place in a community. On that Sunday, the vision God showed us is of a united community of business, civic and spiritual leaders developing a common vision and plans for the good of all. The congregation of First Christian Church has much to offer to that conversation, in years of experience and in the quality of their faithfulness.

I look forward to continuing this conversation with you at the church or in other places where we share ministry together!

Paul

Hoping to Share in the Glory of God

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we^* have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access^* to this grace in which we stand; and we^* boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³And not only that, but we^* also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. — Romans 5:1-5

The Service of Installation and Reaffirmation of Our Covenantal Partnership will take place on Sunday, April 3 at 3 PM in the sanctuary. This is an opportunity for everyone who is a part of the First Christian Church family to consider their relationship to God, to this congregation and to the ministries we are called to share: worship and praise, care and prayer, service, outreach and witness. To bring joy and inspiration to our time together, Glory Road Gospel Quartet, from Council Bluffs, Iowa will be presenting a concert of gospel and southern gospel music at 2:00 PM and, following a brief intermission, with share in the service of installation and reaffirmation. In addition to the afternoon concert and service, Glory Road will also be providing special music for the 10:30 AM morning worship service. The group was formed in1998 when the original members discovered they had a common interest in the southern gospel style of music and a desire to develop a music ministry to spread the message of God’s love, power and grace through song. I consider them to be personal friends and partners in the Gospel.

The Rev. Danny Stewart, Regional Minister for the Mid-America Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will preach that afternoon and members of the Trenton community, Trenton Area churches and the churches of the Northwest Area will take part. The 2:00 P.M. concert is open to the public without charge, although a free-will offering will be received. Folks may come for either or both of the concert and service.

I invite you to save the time to be a witness for the great things God is doing, as God’s love is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. If you are unable to be present, please lift up a prayer that afternoon.

I’ll be watching for you at the church door or wherever God’s ministry leads us!

How Can We Give Thanks Enough?

“…Brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith. For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?”
—1 Thessalonians 3:7-9

In a bookstore last week, inspired by Martin Copenhaver's devotional on the ucc.org web site, I was looking over a new book by John Kralik, entitled 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life. The premise is simple enough: during a discouraging period in his life John decided he would spend an entire year writing and sending at least one thank-you note a day. At first he wrote to family members and close friends, but later on in the year (somewhere past Day 100) he had to expand his list to folks he had met casually. So one day he wrote a thank you note to the barista who served him a coffee at Starbucks: a young man who had particularly kind and enthusiastic at a time of day when most people would rather still be in bed. The barista almost didn’t read the note: he expected it to be a letter of complaint. But he was delighted to receive the note and the writing of it made a difference in at least two lives, and perhaps in many more.

Simple acts of kindness can often do so much good for our attitude, our relationships, the practice of our faith and the reorientation of our lives from quiet desperation to, as Martin Luther King, Jr. suggested, “the daybreak of joy.” I have decided to practice this discipline during 2011.

I would be interested to know what actions you have chosen for a personal discipline or a new faithful practice that is aiding you in staying focused on your life goals and keeping the faith. Please send your ideas by postal mail to me at P O Box 301, Trenton, MO 64683. Email may go to PaulSFraser@hotmail.com. Facebook users can find me at: www.facebook.com/PaulSFraser. At any time, you may call my Trenton direct phone line: 660-654-2736.

Or, you can find me on Sunday mornings at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Trenton, Missouri, where I look forward to greeting you at the church door or in other places where we share ministry together!

Grace and Peace! Paul