See You at Church
I do enjoy social media. I like that it gives me the choice to read what is out there or to scroll past it if I so desire. Recently, on facebook, I came across a post from a fellow parishioner and it made me smile. Here is what he had to say:
“You will want to make plans now to attend the Sunday services of the Hampton United Methodist Church. For the first time in 54 years, they are rolling me out to be the reader of not ONE, but TWO Bible verses in church.
About six months ago our trustees committee was in the sanctuary listening to the new sound system when someone said, “Hey Pat, read something and we’ll see how it sounds in the back and in the balcony.” SO, there had been a funeral there earlier in the day and so I read the back of their program which was the person’s obituary. Word seemed to spread fast and I was told I needed to be a reader in church. I said, “OK.” A month ago someone said, “Pat, have you ever been the reader in church?” I said, “No, I was never asked.” — So this Sunday is my debut.
You never know what you will get if you don’t ask.
I’m sure there will be full house for this monumental event…. and listenership on KLMJ will increase as well. 
There are a couple of things happening in this post that are marks of a Christian intentionally practicing his faith.
First, he said yes. Whenever the church asks something of you, do you say ‘Yes’, or is your mind racing in one hundred different directions thinking about how to say ‘No.’?
Our society has changed so much over the years, especially here in the United States. There was a time when the the church was the central location for all activities in a community. A time when the entire day of Sunday was spent at church with the church family. Today, people have to check their calendars to see if they can make Sunday worship. They might have scheduled something else. I appreciate my family, they know if it Sunday morning, they will find me at the church. If they want to have a dinner on Sunday and want me there, it needs to be scheduled late enough for me to get there.
Second, he invited people. He didn’t just invite, he shared his story on why he was extending the invitation. He let people know what was going on with him, why he was reaching out and projected an outcome, an expectation that people would turn out and either meet him at church or listen to the radio broadcast. I personally did not make it to the church that Sunday, due to the weather, but I did listen on the radio. Pat Palmer, you did a great job, I have heard many compliments regarding your part in the service and thank you.
The mission of the Hampton United Methodist Church (HUMC) is ‘to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ.’ This cannot be done without extending oneself to the work of the church or to the people around us. Here, at HUMC we are growing in our faith, we are living out our call to go and make disciples, we are family, brothers and sisters in Christ.
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I wish to extend the invitation Pat put out there on his facebook page and invite you. Not only to worship on Sunday mornings (or Saturday evenings) but also to Bible Study on Sunday evenings and Tuesday afternoons.
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I invite you to join the groups who like to sew, knit and crochet on Monday evenings or Tuesday afternoons.
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I invite you to be part of the youth organization with Children 1st on Wednesday afternoons or Wednesday evenings.
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Those who have the gift of music and enjoy singing our choir meets most Wednesday evenings and shares their gift on Sunday mornings.
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There is also a group that meets on Thursday mornings called BeFrienders, this group reaches out the the community through cards and pray for those with health issues and provides communion to the assisted living facilities in the community.
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Monthly a men’s group meets for breakfast, sharing in fellowship and devotion.
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The United Methodist Women meet monthly throughout the year, during the winter months they deviate from their meeting duties and offer fellowship during their meeting time for anyone who drops by.
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Thursday evenings HUMC provides the site for the Community Meals. Organizations from the community work collaboratively with the church to provide nutritious meals and fellowship for whoever stops in.
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I know I am forgetting things, but off the top of my head I would say this is a great beginning for sharing what the life of HUMC is like.
I look forward to seeing you at church…
From the beginning several people have had trouble with the pronunciation of the word. Is this a pasty or a pastie, there is a big difference between the two, so for the sake of the church and the history of this pastry, let me share this information from the WWW with you. We all know that if you can find it on the computer, it must be the truth, right?
So, what is a pasty or pastie? The Miner’s Delight
Few meals have roots as deep as the Cornish pasty, a hand-held meat-and-vegetable pie developed as a lunch for workers in the ancient English tin mining region of Cornwall. With its characteristic semicircular shape and an insulating crust that does double-duty as a handle, the humble pasty—which, perhaps unfortunately, rhymes with “nasty” rather than “tasty”—today receives special designation, along with Champagne and Parma ham, as a protected regional food by the European Union. In Michigan, where 19th-century Cornish immigrants brought the pasty into the iron mines of the Upper Peninsula, the pasty has been celebrated with local festivals and statewide proclamations. The Cornish pasty descends from a broader family of medieval English meat pies. The earliest literary reference to pasties is likely from Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” Legal records from 13th-century Norwich describe pastry-makers accused of reheating three-day-old pasties for sale as fresh. In London, a 1350 regulation barred cooks—on pain of imprisonment—from charging more than a penny for putting a rabbit in a pasty. These pasties (and the alleged venison pasty 1660s London diarist Samuel Pepys suspected was actually beef) were little more than cuts of meat wrapped in pastry dough. By then the Cornish pasty—made from chipped beef, potatoes, swedes (rutabagas) and onions—had already taken its place in Cornwall’s regional cuisine. The Cornish pasty was a food for families, fishermen and farmers, but it shone in the closed-in darkness of Cornwall’s mines. Tin had been gathered in Cornwall—first from rivers and then from ever-deeper pits and shafts—since prehistoric times. In ancient Europe, Cornish tin was likely traded via intermediaries with the Phoenicians, who controlled the Mediterranean trade of the metal. Mining continued throughout the Roman and medieval eras and into the early modern period. For Cornish men and boys heading underground, the pasty amounted to a highly efficient food: self-contained, self-insulated and packed with calories. The thick semicircular edge of the crust could be monogrammed with carved-dough initials or toothpick codes to make sure each man and boy took the right pasty as he headed to the mines. The ropelike crust had an additional virtue: miners’ hands were often covered with arsenic-laden dust, so the crust could function as a disposable handle. In their seminal study of the Cornish pasty in Northern Michigan, folklorists William and Yvonne Lockwood describe how the pasty was adopted by Finnish and Italian miners, who looked to their Cornish supervisors for cues on how to behave in American culture. By the mid-20th century, the pasty was so firmly entrenched among all the Upper Peninsula’s ethnic groups that it was common to find locals who assumed that the pasty was of Finnish or even Italian origin. Each culture had their own take on the traditional recipe, with the Finns often controversially substituting carrots for the traditional rutabaga. Other locals emphasized the pasty’s true origins, referring to the dish as the “Cousin Jack mouth organ”—that is, a Cornishman’s harmonica. After the 1957 Mackinac Bridge opened the Upper Peninsula for tourism from southern Michigan, the pasty shifted from being a food mainly cooked at home by U.P. locals (known as “Yoopers”) to one sold at restaurants to visitors from southern Michigan and beyond (playfully derided as “Fudgies” for their preferred dessert). In a moment of Yooper-Fudgie unity, Gov. George Romney declared May 24, 1968 to be the first statewide Michigan Pasty Day.As a fund raiser for the church the Leadership Committee has blessed the efforts of the men’s group for getting the project off the ground. Now, as the church takes ownership of the project, volunteers are needed to assist with preparation and sales. Monday, June 25th will be preparation of the the pastie for sale at Tuesdays on the Town the following evening. Just drop in at the church, on Monday night, you will find the crew working in the kitchen from 5:00 – 8:00 pm. On Tuesday evening a crew will be set up in the Band Shell Park to sell from 5:00 – 8:00 pm. Come join the Hampton United Methodist Church in the park during Tuesdays on the Town. Bossie Cow and others will be there as well.
Barricade the road that goes Nowhere; grace me with Your clear revelation. I choose the true road to Somewhere; I post Your road signs at every curve and corner. I grasp and cling to whatever You tell me…I’ll run the course You lay out for me if You’ll just show me how.
(Psalms 119:129-32 MSG)
I began a new book study yesterday and came across this passage in the first chapter. I have plenty on my plate today; Tuesdays on the Town prep, Praise and Pork Chop prep, Annual Conference prep, however, these verses will not let me rest until I share them!
We are on a journey, together with Christ. Right? What wonderful directions he gives when there is no road map to be found. Let us not loose sight of the prize, striving for perfection, living the everlasting life with Christ. I am so blessed to be on this journey with so many of you. At times like this I can feel the joy that God has in store for each and everyone of us. There are times when we do not understand, and we don’t have to, because God know the plans he has for us and that reassurance is all we need.
I get excited on nights like last night. There were so many people here in the church working on different ministries, my heart is warmed beyond all hope. FLOCK was here knitting and crocheting away, prep for Tuesday’s on the Town promotion of the pasty sale by the church and a group painting items to be use during Tuesday’s on the Town, the Franklin County Fair Parade and Vacation Bible School. It is all about relationship…building relationships with Christ as well as one another on the journey to the heart of God. Can I hear an Amen?
A year or maybe two years ago we prayed this prayer during worship here at Hampton United Methodist Church. A prayer right here, in our hymnals. I thought wouldn’t it be cool if we stopped everyday at 4:29 PM and prayed?
I had what I thought was a ridiculous idea at the time regarding a way we could all pray together, everyday, no matter where we are. So along with the many ridiculous ideas I often have I filed it away in the back of my mind somewhere in the ‘5 1/2 inches between my ears.’
Today, driving here (and I do enjoy my drives to Hampton, it is a great time for me and God to have conversation. I don’t need a phone, so I can do this safely while I drive.) I asked God to give me some thought or idea to share with my family here and can you believe it? I remembered this prayer and the number I needed to find it. Most of the time I can’t remember what I was doing 2 minutes ago, let alone a year or more. As soon as I hit the office, I opened up the hymnal to 429 and there it was!
Well, if you are still reading, here is my challenge to you, as well as myself:
Take out your cellphone, open it up to your clock, set the time for 4:29 PM, set an alarm at the softest, quietest sound you will be able to hear, set the repeat feature for everyday and save. Now each day at 4:29 PM you will be reminded to stop and say a prayer. Now let me say this again:
TAKE OUT YOUR CELLPHONE, OPEN IT UP TO YOUR CLOCK, SET THE TIME FOR 4:29 PM, SET AN ALARM AT THE SOFTEST, QUIETEST SOUND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO HEAR, SET THE REPEAT FEATURE FOR EVERYDAY AND SAVE.
I often end up having a conversation with God, like today. I am so blessed that he reminded me of what must not have been such a ridiculous idea after all. From today forward we, yes, we, you and me and however else accepts the challenge, we will lift up what is on our hearts and minds at 4:29 PM. How powerful is that?