A Little Goes a Long Way

The last few weeks have taught me a lot. The bone I broke will heal easily, and with no cast I might add! The affected foot turned out to be my left foot so I can still drive.  My church family has been wonderfully supportive.  Short of me whining and my foot hurting the first week, I think I am most fortunate.  I have also learned some important lessons.

Immediately, I had to make an adjustment in my routine.  There was no way I could carry my purse.  For us females, our purse is an extension of our body.  Men laugh at us for carrying it, but they often need some of its mysterious contents.  Mine was clearly hampering my ability to get where I needed to go, so I made the difficult decision to leave my purse behind.  I could only take what a pocket or two could carry.  Essential was my driver’s license, a credit card, and a little cash.  Amazingly, I got by just fine and really did not miss my purse all that much.  We will see what happens when my foot is healed enough to carry a purse again!

The lesson I have learned from this is I do not really need all I think I need.  I can get by with very little. Maybe that applies to life as well.  I stress over what I think I have to have, but stuff can be such a burden.  Learning to simplify can be such a great gift.

After all, nowhere in the New Testament did it say Jesus carried luggage everywhere he went!

While we may need less things than we think we do, what we should not leave behind are the faith and confidence that God is with us.  Hopefully, you and I will be sure to take along the courage, hope and kindness this faith puts in our hearts.  One thing I have learned, no matter how bumpy the road (or stairs!) in the end it will all be good!

Pastor Pam

 

Changing Plans

When I was a seminary student, I had one of my first clinical placements at DeKalb General Hospital in the emergency room on Saturday mornings.  I was called a “patient representative”, but I functioned like a chaplain, assisting staff and patients and their families in communicating what was going on with the admitted patients to the emergency room.  I saw everything, and as a sheltered 24 year-old, I was overwhelmed.  After leaving the ER one particularly horrendous day filled with tragedy after tragedy, I stopped at the grocery store on my way back to my apartment. I had seen situations that day where life seemed to be going great, but in a moment altered people’s lives completely.  I watched a mother and child come out of the grocery store and go to their car, following their normal routine, and thought about how quickly even their lives might change.  I realized that we are not really in control of life, and it helped me to focus on the only anchor I had in an ever-changing world:  God’s love and the strength of support we receive from the people in our lives, and in particular, the community of faith.

That day in the ER, I stayed with a wife whose husband had burned over half of his body with flash back from a gasoline fire.  She had driven him over 30 miles with him screaming in pain to the hospital.  I watched out for her during the agonizing hours as she waited by herself to hear of her husband’s fate.  She was very appreciative of my support, but the moment her pastor walked through the glass doors of the emergency room, I could see from that lady‘s face that the minister represented a lot more than just a familiar face.  Suddenly she was not alone.  Her church family was with her.  All of those prayers were with her.  That was the moment I knew with a certainly that there was no more important calling than representing that community in ministry.

Over the last few weeks, life has definitely not gone as I had planned.  If you had asked me at Christmas what I expected to be doing in January, it was not spending three days at Piedmont Hospital. But the community of love has gotten me through it all. I am so grateful to you all for your prayers, patience, support and care.  I will slowly be returning to work, but I still am under the surgeon’s care for another two weeks.  I am beginning to do office work and will come into the office a little this week. I am so grateful for your patience. You have stepped in and seen that members were supported during crisis in their lives. No matter what twist life throws at us, I am so grateful God is there every step of the way and I have such a loving church family, good friends and sister, a thoughtful district superintendent and pastor friends as well as a great secretary.

I will be back in the pulpit Sunday.  See you in church!

Pastor Pam

 

Most of us dread change. But life will inevitably challenge us to accept that things will change. For 15-plus years, this church has been blessed with the grace, talent and leadership of Gary Wilson. I cannot tell you what a breath of fresh air he has been to work with and how much I trust and respect his judgment and abilities as the Chancel Choir director at Aldersgate.

After much prayer and thought, Gary has decided it is time for him to finally retire as choir director. His last Sunday will be Jan. 29.  We are all heartsick to think how we can go on with the same quality of music he has offered to our church or the graciousness with which he has worked with the many ministers and choir members and congregation over the years. But we say goodbye with all our appreciation and love for his faithful service.

I ran across a poem that speaks to the gifts of song and Gary’s wonderful gift to this church throughout the years. It reminds us that God is in control of the music, and that we need to trust that God will bless Gary and lead us as a church to just the right person for Aldersgate — someone with the same depth and faith that Gary has offered our church.

GOD’S HUM

By George L. Bell

As God sought a new gift

God hummed

And the vibration felt good

And God Hummed

A Second tone

To join the first

Then another

Until God made them

Into the sound of harmony

And it was good.

Then God gave the gift

To the messengers of heaven

To carry to souls

Of those who moved upon earth

And they hummed God’s hum

Each taking a special note

And moving one by one

To another

So that the melody was formed

That moved with a message

For which no words were needed.

Then God nudged the sounds

Into patterns

To add the colors of rhythms

Which would echo

The vibrations

Felt the pulse of all creation

And God felt good

As all the universe hummed

With the music of God’s soul.

Step by step

The heavenly music maker

Moved

Tapping earthly creatures

With mystic communion

Of emerging songs

And God caused notes

To be put in writing

So many could hear

What a single person

Has heard.

And God caused music makers to be created

So sound could be made

With the touch of fingers

And the breath

Of earthly air

And soon the simple hum

Became a vast complex

Of finely integrated sounds

So God’s music

Could be heard.

And God kept on moving

As self appointed

Evangelist

To sow in the souls of all

A mystic network of those

 In love with a hum

And with harmony

And rhythms and beats

And to this day

God’s earth rejoices

At God’s gift of music.

 

For over 15 years Gary has helped us hear God’s hum and melody.  We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for his faithful service and wish him all of God’s blessings for his future.

PPRC has already begun the process of discerning who God wants to be music director at Aldersgate.  Please pray with us that God will lead someone with the gifts and graces of Gary to this church.

Pastor Pam

 

 

 

 

2011 Children’s Christmas Cantata

You can view the videos of the Children’s Christmas Cantata:  http://youtu.be/salNkmULFsU

2011 Christmas Cantata

In case you missed the Cantata, use this link to watch it: http://wp.me/P1Mz9M-1n.

Special thanks go out to Gary, Betty, The Chancel Choir, and all the members of the Orchestra.  Great Job by all.

What Makes a Christmas?

In lieu of an article this week, Pastor Pam wanted to share the following poem by Jesse Williams.

What makes a Christmas?  Is it place or time,

A Christmas card, a holly wreath, a rhyme?

Is it a gift tied up with ribbons gay,

Does it mean Christmas when you “Merry Christmas” say?

The bells may softly chime “O Holy Night!”

The Christmas tree may glow with candle light,

The table may be spread with festive cheer

And yet no Christmas spirit hover near.

No, Christmas is from all these things apart,

It needs but a warm and open heart;

And sorrow, pain, and fear are swept away

When Christmas comes into the heart to stay:

For Christmas is but faith, and trust, and love,

A lifting of the eyes to Him above—

The Christ who came to earth to set men free,

God’s gift of love supreme to you and me.

And as the angel choir their anthems sing,

The story of God’s love to man they bring,

The promise of abiding peace impart—

‘Tis Christmas when Christ dwells within the heart.

 

 

The Simpler Way: Peace

The holiday season offers an overwhelming array of busyness to capture our time and attention.  We need to choose to let peace enter our lives.  To do that we have to make choices;  to give up some busyness for things that feed the soul, to chose simpler over glitzy.

Sue and I were given the gift of peace through an opportunity that arose right after Thanksgiving.  Nina and Maclane, Sue’s daughter in law and grandson, were in Sumter visiting Nina’s family.  Josh, Sue’s son, was at home because he had to work.  We asked if Maclane could spend the day and night with us while Nina and her mom shopped.  We usually join the mass of shoppers ourselves trolling the stores, fighting for parking places, weary and exhausted at day’s end.

Instead of shopping I got to spend a precious, rare 24 hours with my amazing and sweet grand nephew who is four.  We pitched a tent in the back yard, built a bonfire, made walking sticks, made s’mores (which Maclane declared way too messy) and roasted marshmallows.

The next morning we baked and decorated cookies—getting as much on ourselves as we did on the cookies.  It was a very uncomplicated 24 hours filled with laughter and simple joys.

I wonder if the visit to Elizabeth brought the same peace to Mary’s life.  In what must have been a busy Advent for Mary, she found time to be supported and loved by this kind older relative who obviously received Mary with love.  No matter how much we have to do this season, we need to find those times to capture the simpler things and quieter moments, to feel God’s presence draw near and embrace us in the comforting peace of those God-filled moments of love.

Pastor Pam