Verona United Methodist Church

November 11, 2018 When We All Get To Heaven

Election Day, November 6th

I just came into the church office after voting. Now, siting at my desk, I'm reflecting on why it was so important that I took the time to vote. Here's why....

 In our nation voting is a privilege and a civic responsibility. It is the occasionally inspiring, sometimes disappointing, frequently frustrating act of fallen human beings placing their trust in a government led by their fellow fallen human beings while trusting in God's providential grace.

When I vote I am not saying I believe in the infallibility of the candidates and their parties. I am not saying that one party has all the answers or that any one party's platform can create heaven on earth. If I believed that, I would be practicing idolatry.

 I vote because God has called us to be caretakers of this world we have inherited - and caretakers of each other. I vote because God in his providence has placed me in a nation where voting can bring about change, even if it is frequently slow and cumbersome and imperfect. I vote because I believe that many of the founding principles of this nation are in tune with those of God's Word, even though our history demonstrates that we often fall woefully short of upholding those principles [slavery, segregation, materialism above charity and justice, pleasure above morality, to name but a few.]

 I vote hoping I will not forget that there is but one Savior and one way to true life and peace. When I vote, I pray that God will somehow use that vote to bring into this world a little less chaos and a lot more kindness. I pray for all the candidates who ran but lost and for all those elected, that they will serve with wisdom and fairness. And I pray that through our votes we will live into the vision of a nation where there is liberty and justice for all.

 Especially at this juncture in our nation's history, I pray for all those in our world whose lives will be altered - for better or for worse - by our votes, including the "tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the homeless and tempest tossed (Emma Lazarus)." There are almost 70 million refugees worldwide, half of whom are children. One out of every eight persons in our world are undernourished, most of them non-adults. And twelve percent of the world's population live within 50 miles of a war zone, many of them innocent children and the elderly. Can we truly be great as a nation if we vote without considering the impact on the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable among us, from the unborn to the elderly and all in between?

 Finally, as I vote, I pray that God will bless America not for our personal comfort and security, but so that we can be a blessing to all nations. I voted today and I pray that you voted, too - prayerfully and with the assurance that God's "truth is marching on!"

Grace and peace, Pastor Bob

Revelation 21:1-11;22-27

October 14, 2018 I Love My Church – Here’s Why!

There was a point in my life where I had given up on church. Brought up as a twice-on-Sunday, once-on-Wednesday church goer, I finally had had enough somewhere in my early 30's.

After moving into a new community, my wife and I were having a hard time finding a church where we felt truly welcome. I had been a Bible major for a while in college and was a life-long student of the Bible so I set a high bar for a church's doctrines and beliefs. I came to a point where I truly despaired of ever finding a church home again.

So I avoided church on Sundays for a year or so. We were living on a farm and there were lots of chores to catch up on every weekend. I even adopted the excuse used by many good men that "I can be just as close to God out in nature as I can in a church sanctuary."

Obviously (since I'm a pastor now), at some point I did join a church. Amazingly, it was a small, rural United Methodist congregation, part of a denomination that I had always assumed wasn't for me. After all, the Methodists in my hometown used to host dances for their youth - obviously they were not taking God's Word seriously!

So why did I join that particular church? What was the difference between that small United Methodist church with about 30 members and every other church in town, most with beautiful sanctuaries and programs galore? It was because we belonged there. We just knew this was where God had led us.

Yes, the church we chose (or God chose for us) had a preacher in his 70's, a dying Sunday School program, painfully uncomfortable pews used as tables for amputations during the Civil War, and a bathroom that could only be accessed by walking outside and into another small building.There was even an organist who left her bench precisely at noon each Sunday lest she miss her tee time at the golf course. (I'm serious, she would get up and leave before the final hymn if the preacher was too long-winded).

Still, this is where God had led us. Despite its many shortcomings, this church was filled with divine love. And it was in that small church that I fell in love with God and his church again. It was there that God called me to become a Pastor. It was there that God reminded me that we weren't meant to follow Jesus alone.

We all need a place to belong so that we can become the person God wants us to be. A place of love and grace where the Good News of Jesus is preached and the Scriptures heard and obeyed by the grace of God. I believe Verona UMC is such a place. That's why I love my church!

Grace and peace, Pastor Bob

Psalm 84:1-4

May 13, 2018 “The Holy Spirit….Get Up!”

Our message on Sunday morning will come from Acts 3, the story of Peter and John and a man unable to walk since birth. I'll share from the Bible the purpose of signs and miracles and why they still hold a purpose in today's church if we are to "get up!" and spread the good news of Jesus.

                  Grace and peace,

                  Pastor Bob Weeks

Acts 3:1-10

April 1, 2018 Easter Sunday - Jesus is Alive

There's tremendous irony in the coming of Easter on April Fools Day.

      Here's why: After Jesus' death, his followers scattered and shrank away into the dark shadows of Jerusalem. Only a few women had the courage to approach his tomb, not to see if he had risen but to anoint his body. In everyone's eyes, Rome, as always, had triumphed and the religious authorities had rid themselves of one more false messiah.

      Jesus was dead. Period. That was the universal perception of what had happened. So much so that when the women ran to tell Peter and the disciples that Jesus was alive, the disciples thought they were hysterical; spreading an idle tale. They rebuked the women using the Greek word for nonsense. You might say their response was "This is an April Fools joke, right?"

      Despite six predictions in the Gospel of Luke that Jesus would rise from the dead, it seems that not a single disciple - including the women who were initially shocked and disbelieving at the sight of the empty tomb - believed that Jesus would actually rise from the grave. It was the greatest April Fool's prank of all time and it fooled everyone. No one thought it could be true. Yet it was. Eventually the Apostle Paul reports that there were 500 witnesses to the resurrected Christ and the foolishness of the cross and resurrection became the centerpiece of his preaching.

      Happy April Fool's Day and Happy Easter! May we all believe in the foolishness of the world's wisdom, and in the wisdom of Christ's foolishness.

                                                       In Christ's Grace and Peace,

                                                                               Pastor Bob

I Cor. 15:1-11; 1:18-25