“So let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through him, which is the fruit from our lips that confess his name.” Hebrews 13:15 (CEB) It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Florida in 2004. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature was in the low 80s with unusually low humidity. The worship service that had just concluded was beautiful as well. The people of God had come together to sing God’s praises, pray for each other and the community, hear God’s word proclaimed, and be challenged to go and live it out in Christ’s name. The people of God were talking to each other as they left and the atmosphere was very upbeat and exciting. It was in the midst of this wonderful morning that a few careless words cut through the air. For the moment, the morning was changed and my excitement for the morning was dowsed. Have you ever had this type of experience? An experience when things were going well and then in an instance some careless words, some biting criticism, some mean-spirited comment changed your outlook if only for a short time. I remember that Sunday morning and the words that were said. Twelve years have passed, but I still remember them. This is human nature. We remember negative words and encounters clearly. I wish it were different. My hope is that we can help make this different. We can be people of praise. The author of Hebrews challenges his readers to do just that. He challenges them to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise” with our lives. Our words should be words of praise, our actions should be praise, and our thoughts should be praise. The author says that our praise through Christ “is the fruit from our lips that confess his name.” When we praise Jesus we confess his name. We let people know who is the Lord of our life. When praise is our continual offering we help people remember differently. We change their experience. So what if we were people of continual praise? Would problems cease to exist? Would pain go away? Would negativity be cured? Of course not! What would take place is that we would be living a more obedient life in Christ. We would be praising God continually through our Lord Jesus Christ. We would praise God in the celebrations of life, in the problems, the pain, and the trials of life. We also would be bringing light into a darkened world by confessing Christ’s name through the fruit of our lips, our praise. The world around us would be a more Christ-like experience for those with whom we come in contact. There is a praise chorus that has been meaningful to me over the past 25 years or so. I sing this praise chorus often to remind myself of the call to praise. More often than not I sing this chorus in my head. I would like to leave you with the words of this praise chorus to ponder. I hope it helps you to continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through Jesus Christ our Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord. And we offer up to you, the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And we offer up to you, the sacrifices of joy. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. I can’t wait to see you in church!

"For God had something better in mind for us..." Hebrews 11:40a Have you ever been upgraded to first class on a flight? I have only had this happen to me once. First class was better! There are times in life when we are set to experience one thing and another, something better, thing happens. An upgrade to first class, a free appetizer, or a complimentary beverage. It's always fun to experience the something better. This is what I love about he eleventh chapter of Hebrews. The author helps us understand there is something better. The chapter is filled with the heroes of the Old Testament who by faith accomplished great things. The author says that even though they had great faith and accomplished much they never received the fullness of God's promise. They would, but not yet. The author of Hebrews tells us that these heroes of the faith did not receive it all because "God had something better in mind for us." The something better is Jesus and the New Covenant. The something better is the cross and the promise that was after the pain. The resurrection that followed the crucifixion. The New Covenant is the something better. Jesus is the something better. As followers of Jesus Christ we live everyday in the reality of something better. Jesus' life, ministry, death, and resurrection bring us something better. When the problems of life are getting you down turn to something better. In the eyes of the old song, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace." I can't wait to share more about this with you Sunday. See you in church.

"How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!” Hebrews 9:14 (NLT) To be purified means to be free from guilt or moral or ceremonial blemish. In Scripture the words pure, clean, Holy, and sanctified are used to convey this same meaning. It seems like a lofty and unattainable goal or standard. The one thing to remember when thinking of being pure, clean, Holy or sanctified is that it is unattainable on our own. The true downfall of anyone seeking after God is self-reliance. Especially in the western world where we have taken individualism very seriously. The reality is there are some things we cannot do on our own. I am sure you can think of a time when you tried to accomplish something on your own, but couldn't. When it comes to our faith, we cannot purify ourselves. This is the Good News of the Gospel! We don't have to. God has given us a great High Priest in the order of Melchizadek. This great High Priest, Jesus Christ, gave his life as the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. When we accept this gift by grace through faith in Jesus Christ we are purified. We are clean, Holy, and sanctified. This is the greatest news ever. Jesus did for us what we could not do. If you have been struggling trying to be perfect, to follow God perfectly, you cannot. God asks us to surrender not struggle. Place your whole trust in the work that Christ has already done for you. Rest peacefully in the assurance that you are purified by Christ. Then follow Him in faith. Christ has already made you pure. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. I can’t wait to see you in church!

"This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls." Hebrews 6:19 Our family has spent this last week in New York City on vacation. We have seen sights I have only seen on TV or in magazines to this point in my life. It has been pretty amazing to see these things for the first time. One of my greatest concerns about coming to New York City was safety. I am happy to say we have been completely safe the whole time. I also have been reminded of a couple of things too. I have been reminded that God is my anchor. It doesn't matter what city you are in. It doesn't matter what circumstances you find yourself in. It doesn't matter because when you know Christ you have a constant. Christ is the anchor of your soul. This means no matter where the wind blows you can hold fast to this anchor. I have been reminded that this anchor is strong as well. This anchor, Jesus Christ, is stronger than anything we will face. It is stronger than our fears, our failures, our doubts, our guilt, our shame, or our unbelief. Christ is the strong and trustworthy anchor for our soul. There is nothing that can move this anchor, nothing. No matter what you are facing today or tomorrow hold fast to this strong and trustworthy anchor for your soul. There is nothing better in life in which to hold fast. Christ promises to be with us always. Paul promises nothing can separate us from Christ's love. So let's live as people of the promise. Let's hold fast to the anchor of our soul. I can't wait to share more about this with you on Sunday. See you in church.

This Sunday we continue to look at the book of Hebrews and we look and see that the God of the Old Testament is the same God as the God of the New Testament. This same God made the “old way” or the old covenant and then made a better way through the new and living covenant – Jesus. God, our Father, knows the better way. How much like a father is that?! I don’t know what it is to be a father – I only get to watch from the outside. But I do know, like any parent, we tend to know what is better for our children because of experience and wisdom that they have not yet gained. It’s why dads and parents are somewhere even this moment telling their child not to do whatever dangerous activity they are partaking in. In our house that’s often in a strong encouragement to not kill their brother or to not try and scale some piece of furniture just to jump off. As we grow our parents encourage us in other ways to find the better way – to try harder in school, to make wise choices, to love, to be the good in a world shaken too often by evil. Some of us may have a hard time accepting that. We think that we are already on course. That we already have the best way. That we have it all figured out. Perhaps you do. If so, you’ll know because you’ll feel the rest of God. The rest of us well, we’ll know too. We’ll know because we won’t be living into the peace and rest of God. We’ll be restless. We’ll be anxious. We’ll be worry-filled and wonder-less. We need to be willing to let go of our pride to accept God’s better way for us. We need our world changed, a paradigm shift, a change in mindset to set us free. I’m a middle child. Some of you may have already guessed that. As the one in the middle I know what it is to be bossed around not only by parents but also by an older brother who “knows best.” I also, as the one in the middle, know what it is to have to help my younger brother. Really we’re all in the middle in one way or another. We have some areas where we need to be encouraged to follow the better way. We need an older sibling to hold our hand and show us the way. We need to look to Jesus so to show us how. Simultaneously, there are some things that we already have obtained. There are things we know because of experience, because we’ve followed Jesus and obtained what he had for us. We need to be willing to be the older sibling and show others, encouraging them on their way. The true thing to remember is that in this family of God that we are all a part of, we are all siblings. No one is an only child. No one is the true parent. We are to align ourselves with Jesus – the author and perfecter of our faith, and then we can stay on course to get what our good, good Father has in store for us.

“Since he himself has gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:18 (NLT) There’s an old Bugs Bunny cartoon where bugs interacts with a construction worker. In the process of the interaction the worker gets hit over the head with a container. The worker then proclaims, “I’m feelin’ mighty low.” Things in life can make us feel this way sometimes. Our feelings can range from minor disappointments all the way to severe depression. It is a tough world we live in with very real suffering, pain, and temptations. It is very easy to feel overwhelmed, like we face the suffering and temptation alone. The author of Hebrews reminds us that there is hope. There is hope that we are not alone in our suffering and temptation. We are not alone in our feelings of despair and disappointment. We are not alone as we go through the daily ups and downs of life. The author of Hebrews reminds us that we have Jesus Christ, the pioneer of our salvation, who was made perfect through sufferings. It is by the example of Jesus that we know what it looks like to cling to God even in the midst of suffering. We have the perfect example of what it means to go through temptation and suffering and overcome them through the power of God. There are many guarantees in Scripture. One of these guarantees is this, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” [John 16:33 NIV] It is a given that we will have trouble, suffering, and temptation in this world we live in. It is also a given that Jesus lived here on this same earth, lived in the same flesh and blood body, and faced the same suffering and temptation. The awesome thing for us to remember and hold fast to is that Jesus overcame it all. Jesus overcame death. Jesus overcame suffering, temptation, and even death to give us hope that we can overcome through Him. This is the great hope we have in Jesus Christ. Give Jesus your suffering, he is able! Give Jesus your temptations, he is able! Give Jesus your broken relationships, he is able! Give Jesus your health, he is able! Give Jesus your finances, he is able! Give Jesus your bitterness and anger, he is able! Give everything to Jesus who is able to help us when we are being tempted. Jesus knows what it means to suffer and be tempted. Give everything to Jesus, he is able to help. As Jude, the half-brother of Jesus writes, “Now to the one who is able keep you from falling, and make you stand without blemish in the presence of God’s glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever.” [Jude 24-25 NIV] I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. I can’t wait to see you in church!

Have you had to hold onto something in order to survive? The image that comes to mind is an action movie wherein the hero is dangling from a helicopter or some other contraption and they have to either hold on until safety or pull themselves up. I haven’t done that – you probably guessed that. I have had to hold onto something for dear life though. My mom and I had taken the boys to the beach. I had each boy in his own float and we were out in about four and a half feet of water. Suddenly someone closer to the shore yelled, “Hey lady! There’s something large in the water swimming toward you!” I’m not the sort to want to wait and find out what it was, so I grabbed both boys and I don’t know that I had ever held them so tight before then or since then. I also don’t think I’d swam that fast ever before, well as best as one can swim while trying to hold two infants. Turns out I wasn’t fast enough. While I clutched both boys and tried to swim quickly I looked down and saw the large creature coming toward me. It was a manatee. In an instant I went from thinking we were about to be shark bait to laughing way too hard when I realized it was only a manatee. Thank God there’s no such thing as a killer manatee! This week we begin a new sermon series. We will be studying the book of Hebrews together in more of an expository-style way (verse by verse). If you haven’t read Hebrews before I strongly encourage you to follow along with the reading plan that we will have available each week. The series is titled “Hold Fast.” As you read and as we study together you will hear God using the author of Hebrews to remind us to hold fast to what is essential. Hold fast to the message of Christ. In a world that will pull us in every direction except the one we need to go, it is important to know what the essential message is and to cling to it with all we have. What we know as “Hebrews” is actually a sermon or exhortation that was written for the early church and so we’re preaching a sermon series on a sermon. Why Hebrews? Hebrews has such an important message that doesn’t just speak to the time it was written but to us now. Hebrews helps us understand who God is and what God is doing. Is the God of the Old Testament the same God as the Father of Jesus? What does it mean for Jesus to be Priest and Savior? What do we do with all of the stuff from the Old Testament? AND most importantly – who is Jesus and what does the life of Jesus have to do with our own lives? So as we embark on this journey I pray that you will be equipped to hold on, for dear life, to the essentials of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

“The person who doesn’t love a brother or sister who can be seen can’t love God, who can’t be seen.” 1 John 4:20 (NLT) We find ourselves in another election year and the rhetoric is heating up. One of the things that has been a part of the political arena since I have been voting is partisanship. In my experience partisanship can be good, especially when it means having strongly held convictions about something. However, partisanship has become more about tearing down the person who may believe differently and less about the belief itself. Those who disagree with us are idiots, not intelligent, or just plain wrong. We have lost the art of disagreeing with someone’s belief without disliking them completely. I know I have friends who I disagree with on issues and beliefs. We can have open and honest discussions, and even debate, about our strongly held beliefs. I also know that I still love my friends dearly. You may be surprised to know, or maybe not, that not all United Methodist pastors have the same political beliefs. So it is increasingly more important to cultivate the art of discussion within the context of a loving relationship. We are commanded by Jesus to love our neighbor, to love others. We need to be cultivating our ability to obey this command. Obeying this command is both a matter of the heart and head. Our motivations and intentions are important when considering loving others. Most people love others because of what the other person has to offer them. Disciples of Jesus love others because God loves others. This is a matter of the heart. If we love God, the first and greatest command, then we will have a heart for others. If we love ourselves we will have a heart for our own needs. Our actions follow our beliefs. This is a matter of the head. If we say we believe that we should love others, we need to make the decision to love them. Truly loving others happens when our heart and our head are radically united. We are all keenly aware that loving others is far easier when we like the other we are called to love. This is precisely why John writes that disciples who do not love other disciples can’t love God. We serve a God of selfless reconciliation. God loves us while we were yet sinners, that proves God’s love for us. We are commanded to love our neighbors. The ones we like and the ones we don’t like. The ones who believe like us and the ones who do not. The ones who treat us well and the ones who treat us horribly. We are called to love others. The one who does not love others cannot love God. In 1 John 4:19 John writes, “We love each other because he loved us first.” God loves us and demonstrated that love to us through his only Son, Jesus Christ. This is the love that we are to demonstrate to all others in our life. A selfless, sacrificial love for others. This is the 5th mark of a Methodist. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. Keep loving others. Can’t wait to see you in church!

“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people.” 1 Timothy 2:1 (NLT) All People! The Apostle Paul urges Timothy to pray for all people. What a telling remark by the Apostle chosen to bring the Gospel message to the Gentile world (translation: the rest of the world). Paul is essentially telling his protege, “Don’t leave anyone out.” All are worthy of God’s grace, love, and mercy. Theologically speaking, Paul is making a statement of God’s pervasive grace for all humanity. There is no one worthy of God’s grace, not one, and there is no one excluded from God’s grace, not one. The global United Methodist Church sent representatives (delegates) to meet in Portland, Oregon from May 10 through May 20. There was a lot of contention and disagreement in the proceedings. The United Methodist Church around the world is not completely of one mind on all issues. It is at times confusing and at times unsettling. However, there was at least one thing that I witnessed through the General Conference proceedings with which I was impressed and which brought hope. There was a true spirit of prayer that pervaded the conference at different times throughout. Methodists are people who pray constantly. This is a clarion call by the Apostle Paul and, more importantly, by Jesus. We are called to pray for all people constantly. People we agree with and people we disagree with. People who are similar to us and people who are different. People who are a part of our church and people who are apart from our church. People who have a voice of their own and people who have no voice of their own. People who know Jesus and people who do not know Jesus at all. Methodists are people who pray constantly for all people. In The Book of Discipline it is written, “… (we) acknowledge that all persons are of sacred worth.” We are to pray constantly for all people. A Methodist prays constantly for all people everywhere. We are a praying people and there is power in our prayers. I urge you to pray for all people. As I write this, I urge you to pray for my friend and colleague Pastor Bridget, her husband Kevin, her mother-in-law Jeanne, and her sister-in-law Krista as they grieve the loss of Kevin’s dad, Greg. It is in times like this that the constant prayers of our Methodist brothers and sisters in Christ support us. May God’s grace, strength, peace, and comfort surround the entire Thornton family. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. Keep praying constantly. Can’t wait to see you in church!

“Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church-- about three thousand in all.” Acts 2:41 (NLT) When I was a kid in elementary school I loved magicians. I remember going to an event for kids at my dad’s store and seeing a live magician for the first time. I was absolutely amazed. I couldn’t imagine how he was doing all of the things that he was doing. How did he make something disappear and then reappear? How could he turn one thing into another? It was fascinating to watch. That Christmas my parents surprised me and gave me a magic set. It was full of magic tricks that I could learn to do myself. At first, I was excited to learn to be a magician. However, something happened. As I began to learn the tricks in my magic set, it became all too clear to me that the magician was just learning tricks. He hadn’t truly done anything magical at all. He just learned some tricks. That was the end of my magic career. I didn’t want to learn magic tricks, I wanted to be a part of some amazing. This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. In Acts chapter 2 there is a story of something truly amazing that took place in human, and church, history. It wasn’t a magic trick, it wasn’t something learned, or even something practiced. God broke into human history in the power and person of the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the Church. The Holy Spirit fell upon all the believers gathered there. The Holy Spirit even was given to those who heard Peter’s first ever sermon and believed (about 3,000). What an amazing day that was! This is a part of why I love being a part of the Church. The same God of Pentecost is the God of this Pentecost Sunday. God is still sending the Holy Spirit into the heart of those who believe in Jesus Christ. God is still giving the power necessary to see hearts and lives transformed through the sharing of the Gospel message. God is still using the Church to bring hope to a hurting world. God is still offering peace and reconciliation to those who live in a chaotic and broken world. There is something amazing about the way God moves, but there is nothing magical. I have learned through my study of Scripture, the traditions of the church, the counsel of those who have journeyed with me, and my personal experience of faith that God is that amazing something that I longed to be a part of as a young kid. Magic had given me the illusion of something amazing. God has proven to BE amazing. This Sunday we will talk about how a Methodist gives thanks. What a fitting day, Pentecost Sunday, to reflect on what it means to give thanks for all God has done. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. Take a moment today to give thanks for all God has done in and through you because the Holy Spirit is in you. Can’t wait to see you in church!

Many people memorize Philipians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Easy to understand – rejoice! But it can be difficult to practice. This week we look at the second of the five marks of a Methodist – A Methodist Rejoices in God. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking this week about how often we rejoice. To rejoice means, “to feel or show that you are very happy about something.” (Miriam Webster) When was the last time you were very happy and showed it? When people examine your life do they see someone who is very happy and shows it? To be honest – if this is the mark of being a Methodist, I, a Methodist Pastor, do not always show this mark. There are MANY times my first reaction is not to rejoice. My default mode is not happy. When I get a flat tire, I don’t shout, “Oh happy day!” When someone I know faces loss, I don’t immediately rejoice. When someone I love is sick, I am afraid. But the reality is: these are first reactions. We must choose whether or not we remain in those initial reactions and emotions. We all have bad days. We all have things that happen that will not immediately elicit within us joy – BUT as a Methodist we know that’s not the end of the story. Nowhere is this more evident for me than in a Celebration of Life service. Nearly every time I meet with a family they apologize for not knowing how to plan a service, but they also nearly always want it to be a true celebration of the life that was lived before us. Of course there’s no need to apologize in that circumstance. We want to celebrate in those moments because we know that we do not mourn as those without hope. We face difficult circumstances but in the midst of those circumstances we are reminded that there is HOPE and THAT causes us to rejoice – to celebrate. I have been to or participated in many, many celebrations of life and you would not think that that would be a place where there would be laughter, but always, amid the tears there are stories that provoke from us laughter and rejoicing in the time we had to spend with the one we loved and who God is in the situation. We can choose to rejoice even in the most difficult of circumstances because “overwhelming victory is ours through Christ.” (Romans 8:37) If we return to this – to the HOPE we have in Christ, we really can find cause to feel and show happiness. A Methodist rejoices in God – it’s a choice based not on our circumstances but on who God is and what God has done for us. We have the strength to rejoice in God because the joy of the Lord (the joy we find in the Lord and what He has done for us) is our strength.

"Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’" Matthew 22:37 It seems like there are a lot of things in life these days that are optional. Driving through my neighborhood each day it seems like the 30mph speed limit is mostly optional. Recently I was at a movie where one of the movie goers decided talking on your self phone during a movie was optional. It seems that more and more things in life are becoming optional. I love the words of Jesus. In what is known as The Great Commandment, Jesus does not give options. If you want to follow God, you must love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. There's no other option. There's no fallback position upon which to rely. You either love God with everything you have or you don't. This Sunday we will start a new message series entitled 5 Marks. It is inspired by a little book titled "The Five Marks of a Methodist" by Dr. Steve Harper. The first of these marks is that a Methodist loves God. It's not optional for us. God is the Creator of everything seen and unseen. God is the One to whom we owe our very existence. In a world where God is relegated to a distant place in most people's lives, we Methodists love God. I hope you will join us this Sunday as we begin the discussion. May we better understand and more faithfully follow the command of Jesus, "you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind." See you in church.