Signature Service In-person Made Easy

Signature service in person

[Music] hmm my [Music] [Applause] now [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Laughter] [Music] good morning church i am pastor in head chair of glenview united methodist church on behalf of the congregation i welcome all of you no matter where you are you are here with us to worship our god and to lift up our prayers and our praise to god now let us spread let us share god's peace peace be with you and look at your family members your loved ones and shake your hands or hug your family members and make sure say i love you and god be with you today we have a special guest preacher we have a new interim bishop bishop hopkins and he will share his message with the church of northern illinois conference and now let us open our worship with the opening prayer darkness descended over the land the people lived in fear then something so unexpected happened something that filled the people with surprise established brightly in the heavens a star beyond imagining fears are vanished failures are forgiven god has heard our christ and has given us hope come let us celebrate god's light given to us for peace let us praise the god of hope the god of all nations amen for the healing of the nations lord we pray with one accord for a just an equal sharing of the things that earth [Music] [Music] lead us forward into freedom from despair your world release that redeem from war and hatred all may come and go in peace show us how through care and goodness we will die and hope in grace [Music] is [Music] [Music] you create your have written your great name on [Music] humankind [Music] forever [Music] destiny may find [Music] [Music] good morning everyone so i was wondering if you guys knew what these were and i bet some of you do and i bet that sun's coming right in there in my eyes i'm gonna scoot this way just a little bit and i bet some of you have even used these before and if you haven't these are fishing poles these are my kids first fishing poles so they're pretty basic fishing poles spiderman and barbie i think they were and my dad taught my kids how to fish and he taught me how to fish and when i was young i would go fishing with him a lot and what i learned is that there were depending on where you went and the time of day you went and the kind of bait you used that would depend on what kind of fish you were trying to catch and so sometimes we would go fishing on a river or on a lake a big lake or a small lake sometimes from a boat sometimes from the shore and the other thing that we always did is we had kind of bait with us well because you know if you just have a hook in the water not a lot of fish are going to come up and just take the hook they want something that's going to attract them so maybe there might be something really colorful or maybe with it might be shiny or with feathers or maybe it might be something that they would like to eat like a worm right or there's some people that are really good at making their own lures like they would use thread and feathers and make something that looked like a fly or an insect that the fish would really like to eat so now we know where to go and when to go and you have your bait now you have to learn how to cast right because if you don't cast anything you're never going to catch anything so on this fishing pole if i press this button here it drops the line the line goes out and then i can reel my fish in when i caught it okay um and when i was first learning i had a hard time getting all that down at the same time so if i press the button and didn't throw it the right way maybe my bait would fall right in front of me one time i went too far over my head and it got stuck in a tree behind me that wasn't good but eventually what i learned to do is i had a practice so i had to go out in my backyard and i had a pole similar to this with a little fish that was weighted so that i could make sure that i learned how to cast well after i got that down the next step was to actually tell if there were fish on the line see i got robbed a lot what that means is that i would cast my um line into the water and i would pull it back in and the bait would be gone the worm would be gone and there's no fish there so i used what was called a bobber and my bobber was red and white and it would be attached to the to the bait so when a fish bit on it the bobber would go down and then i could reel it in and hopefully catch the fish and my dad didn't need bobbers he was really good at fishing so he could tell by the way the line moved or by the way the pole bent that he was actually getting a fish and not stuck in the weeds like i did a lot so a lot of people i know that go fishing on a regular basis they really love to do it they love to go fishing they get to be out in nature sometimes they get to go fishing with friends it's very peaceful and sometimes it's rewarding if you get to catch the fish and today in sunday school you learned about some fishermen peter andrew james and john while one day when andrew and peter were fishing jesus came along and he said drop everything come with me follow me and be my disciples and they did and then they went a little further along and they found they came across james and john and jesus said james and john come and follow me follow me be my disciples. and they did and so and those days they didn't use polls like this they had big nets and they would put the big nuts in the water and then they would try to gather all the fish up and pull it in so that they could feed their families that was their job so andrew and peter and james and john left their families and their jobs to follow jesus so what would make them do that did jesus have like something all shiny and colorful and lots of feathers to attract them did they he go i'll give you your favorite food all the time no he didn't of course not he didn't do that but you know what jesus was really good at jesus was good at sharing god's awesomeness and he was good at teaching the disciples how to receive god's light and love and healing and peace and once the disciples received that they were able to share it with others so i have a question for you do you think jesus's disciples just stayed by their boats fixing their nets waiting for fish to come along waiting for people to come along to share god's love they just sat there patiently waiting no of course not they went out to all sorts of areas and all sorts of people to spread god's love so what do you think if you were fishing today or say you're playing basketball or doing something you love to do or maybe your parents in their job and jesus came along and said drop everything come with me would you do it that's a really tough question isn't it that's pretty challenging and maybe maybe god wants us to do that but in today's day maybe he's asking us to do something a little different maybe he's asking us to leave those things behind that aren't really helpful in sharing god's love so what are those things well maybe they're doing the dishes when your parents ask you to do them without without talking back or without stomping your feet not wanting to do it and then maybe doing it cheerfully and asking what else can i do to help you mom and dad maybe it's just not saying ugly things about other people or speaking ugly in an ugly way to other people maybe it's helping somebody out who needs your help maybe when you're feeling really really super busy maybe it's about taking a minute just exhaling and taking a minute to talk to god because sometimes when you slow down and you take those minutes to pray and talk to god you can better share god's awesomeness let us pray dear god help us to be eager followers of jesus help us to spread your light your love your peace and your healing in jesus name we pray amen today's scripture reading is from book of romans chapter 8 verses 18 through 30. i consider that the sufferings of this present time and not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us for the creation waits with the ego loonging for the revealing of the children of god for the creation was subjected to fertility not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of god we know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now and not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly while we wait for the for adoption the redemption of our bodies for in hope we were saved now hope that is sin is not hope for who hopes for what is seen but if we hope for what we do not see we wait for it with patience likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we are but that very spirit entices with size too deep for words and god who searches the heart knows what is mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of god we know that all things work together for good for those who love god who are called according to his purpose for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the first born within a large family and those whom he had he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified the word of god for the people of god thanks be thanks be to god greetings in the name of our lord and savior jesus christ i am honored to be serving as your bishop this year and i am thankful so thankful to share a message with you today following christmas we enter the christian season of epiphany which takes us to lent holy week and easter if the message of christmas is god is with us the message of epiphany is god is with everyone else sharing how we see god recognizing jesus or talking about spiritual matters is not always easy one sunday morning after church a little preschool girl was busy coloring a picture at the kitchen table her mother could not figure out what she was doing and asked what are you coloring dear and the little girl said i am coloring a picture of god her mom responded but honey no one has ever seen god before the little girl did not stop coloring or even look up but said well they will when i'm finished well i'm not sure if that's what that little girl was coloring was a picture of jesus but i think that's what god had in mind the gospels of matthew mark and luke all start with someone recognizing jesus in luke the shepherds are the first of course they had some angels to help them but it is significant that these dirty poor shepherds who raised lambs for sacrifices in the temple who could not even enter the temple themselves because they were considered unclean they were the first to recognize that god was with him in jesus in matthew we only have seven verses about the birth of jesus and most of the focus is on the epiphany the manifestation of jesus to the whole world we're magi where the wise men astrologers kings certainly gentiles came from the east bypass the ruthless king herod and followed a star to find and recognize jesus they kneeled to worship him and to give him gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh the magi who were from outside the jewish community probably some of the smartest and the richest people on the planet are the first ones to recognize jesus and mark of course there's no story of christmas mark begins with john the baptist a prophet preacher who told everyone to turn their lives around confess their sins and be baptized john the baptist recognized jesus as the one coming who would baptize them with the holy spirit and when john baptizes jesus of nazareth in the jordan river the veil separating heaven and earth separating god and us is split open so that god can reach out and touch us and the spirit like a dove comes down on jesus and a voice from heaven says you are my son the beloved with you i am well pleased dr harold beck the esteemed professor at boston university school of theology used to say you know that's not a bad recommendation if you can recognize the signature if unclean shepherds foreign astrologers and an eccentric baptizer can recognize jesus how about you can you recognize jesus in your life and in the life of others throughout my ministry part of my spiritual discipline as a campus minister a hospital chaplain a pastor and even as a bishop is to ask people about their spiritual journey in fact this mouse sounds a little strange but if i could have a cup of coffee after church with you today i would probably ask how did you get to church or this church now i'm not really interested in how you got to this church but how god has been active or not in your life you see when i hear another person's spiritual journey i find myself filled with wonder and joy at what god can do in their life and i'm humbled and couraged at the same time i feel like i'm on holy ground just listening to somebody witness about what god has done it's as if i need to know god is active in your life to help me recognize god in my own life i think john wesley put methodists in small recovery groups to hold them together before god have you ever experienced god when you were dirty and poor like the shepherds have you ever discovered god as a smart and wealthy outsider like one of the magi have you ever been lonely in a wilderness looking for someone to change your life like john the baptist since i'm new here in northern illinois i hope you do not mind if i share some personal experiences with you i lived in five homes and four states before i entered the seventh grade i was born in montgomery alabama about two weeks and nine months after my father returned from world war ii he was a mechanic in an eighth grade with an eighth grade education who learned diesel engines in the army and my mother was a homemaker who had to take summer classes in order to graduate from high school my 10th birthday was december 1 1955. it's a famous day in world history that was the day that rosa parks refused to give up her seat on a bus and the bus boycott started and ignited the civil rights movement well on that day my father was the superintendent of maintenance at that bus company you might say i sat with rosa sat and we're fifteen-year-old claudette colvin and eighteen-year-old mary louise smith sat before her i experienced segregated restrooms drinking fountains restaurants movie theaters and more i guess i knew something was not right in this world before i was 10 years old six months later my father took a job with another bus company and we moved to houston texas to start the fifth grade had my first girlfriend in fifth grade the only problem is she didn't know she was my girlfriend and that's the way it works back then but life was good and then the sixth grade started and on december the 13th 12 days before christmas my father lost his job and my childhood came to an end we had what seemed like a normal christmas because my mother said she had paid for the gifts in a layaway program but there was no money for rent or food or anything else so right after christmas my brother and i were given a choice of relatives to go live with away from the family he went to montgomery i went to atlanta and my two-year-old sister traveled with my mom and dad to find a job that epis epiphany season was the hardest time in my life i was lonely away from family an outsider in a new school no friends and remember phone calls were expensive and letters were slow i hoped and prayed my family would be back together by easter or at least i would see my family with a visit but i remember when package of easter presents arrived and my aunt was so excited but i cried myself to sleep that night because i knew i would not be seeing my family if they had been mailing gifts to me the good news was that my aunt and uncle and two cousins attended the first methodist church of decatur every sunday morning and every sunday evening if you ate at their house you went to church with them on sunday i can't tell you the exact date but on one of those sunday evenings on the lenten services my sixth grade year i was sitting in a pew about two-thirds back on the right my heart was broken and my spirit was weary what happened next is hard to explain spiritual experiences are usually inexplicable i cannot remember the sermon or the hymn that was playing but i do remember that organ and i did not see or hear anything but as i listen to that organ it felt like jesus walked down the aisle split into the pew and sat beside me and put his arm around me and said john you're going to be all right you're going to be all right and i immediately relaxed i experienced a piece of calm in assurance that put my heart and my mind at rest what was most amazing is that nothing had really changed in my life i was still lonely i was away from family i wasn't sure the future but i knew i was going to be all right you see in the south there's a concept of trouble oh man that family's got trouble oh man she really has trouble well if you can fix it yourself you don't have trouble and i was in the sixth grade and i had trouble until i recognized jesus and i knew i was going to be all right my father finally found a job at a bus company in fort wayne indiana where i began the seventh grade i joined a boy scout troop that met in the methodist church and to my surprise all the the boys in the troupe they went to the youth group the myf and then all the people in the nyf they went to sunday school and that sunday school class became the confirmation class and i was baptized and confirmed in the faith when i was 13 praise be to god that is how i first recognized jesus and i have been in an accountable relationship with him almost every day since i say almost because when i'm in trouble i still turn to him because i was at peace in my heart i didn't need to judge myself or other people as much and i could see in other people that they were loved by god as much as god loved me so it wasn't just about me it was about other people as well well there's much more to share but i think that's enough for today as your interim bishop i want you to know that i want to hear your experiences of god and what you're doing for jesus for if dirty shepherds smart astrologers and eccentric preachers can recognize jesus and go tell others you can too oh one more thing if you're willing to share your story i'll buy the coffee now it is time for us to pray together and our we open our hearts and our minds to god and we pray together i will ask you that we pray for the leaders of our nation and the harmony and new beginning of our nation and we light the candle last tuesday for 400 000 people who died of coronavirus disease and we can remember them in our prayers and now let us pray together a god of mercy and healing we come together as your children and we remember ourselves our loved ones and our people of our community and our country and the whole world in our prayers oh god we pray for peace in the world and harmony in our nation we just elected and welcomed the new leaders of our nation and we support them with our prayers so many taskers they face and oh god as they promised we pray that we progress making harmony and remembering people who are suffering by this corona virus disease when our government push to give vaccine we pray that we make good progress and we overcome this disease as soon as possible and we keep praying for doctors and nurses and all health care workers and also we remember teachers especially in chicago school district teachers and administrators and old students not only for education but also for their safety and one mind in love and we remember school districts of our own community and our own children and young people and college students just started new semester new quora please be with them keep them safe and our prayers remember them and support to them oh god and also we pray for the poor the weak and the looney in our community especially at this moment we remember the senior citizens of our community and our families oh god please be with them let them know even in this isolation and difficult time we pray for each other and your spirit be with them o god and god we also pray for the old churches in the world especially new leaders of our denomination and we keep having difficult time to come together and we pray to you o god no matter what we make decisions for the future of our church we pray that we all we always worship you practicing love and also welcoming people to our church and to our hearts and now oh god in silence we pray for people who are suffering struggling with cancer waiting for surgery and recovering from surgeries in confidence that our god in jesus christ make impossible possible and hear our prayers and be with us every moment in our lives and give us healing we join in the prayer that jesus taught all of us saying our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth it is as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us but give us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespasses against us and lead us not in temptation but delivers from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen and now we give our offerings please go to our website and give online or you can mail your offerings to church office or drop your offerings and today we have a special guest for the mission the minute of missions for three months january february and march your special gift we call it queens and singles but as actually we welcome all your big gifts too and these special gifts go to wesley child care center and the director the executive director uh for their scholarship program craig solomon is here with us and he will speak us about the scholarship program thank you for the opportunity to be here my name is craig solomon i'm the executive director of wesley child care we are very grateful to be part of the extended family of the glenview united methodist church and have been for decades we're appreciative to your church and the parishioners for all their generosity and their continued generosity over time we just finished a an ongoing friends of wesley campaign and your parishioners have been so generous to us so thank you once again a little bit about wesley wesley child care is a non-profit our main offices in our preschool are situated on the east wing of the glenview united methodist church in addition to our preschool we have a school age programs that are inside many of the community schools and during covid time through a wonderful collaboration some of our school age programming is being done in collaboration with the glenview park district so we're thankful to the community for that part of today's offering and and words are how meaningful the contributions are to our scholarship assistance program this program was set up decades ago with the sole purpose of helping families who need assistance in paying the cost of child care tuition annually during non-coveted times westley provides nearly a hundred thousand dollars in scholarships annually to over 60 families with the end of covit in sight we're anticipating that need to grow and are so looking forward to be able to provide that needed assistance in the future so thank you to this community and the glenview united methodist church community for everything that you have done and continue to do for our organization [Music] let there be peace on earth be peace on earth the peace that was meant to be with god [Music] let us walk with each other in perfect harmony let there be peace with me let this be the moment [Music] [Music] to take each moment and live each moment in peace on earth amen amen let me share with you just a couple of announcements today 11 o'clock we have a coffee hour on june please join together and we say to each other good morning and how are you doing and that's our fellowship time and then i want to emphasize it again that that wesley child care that's one of our ministry partnership that please be generous not just coins and singles big checks we welcome also that helps our partnership ministry with wesley child care and preschool a.a and scouts and we have many partnership ministries and i really thank you and appreciate that we have this ministries for the community thank you and thank you and we do ministries for our own churches 9 30 in the morning sunday school and then today again sunday for 30 youth ministry gummy they baked tons of doggy biscuits to send out and then bible study group collects items to give to mary lou's place in evanston and bible study is wednesday evening and thursday afternoon support group meeting and also i encourage you to call each other and say i love you how are you doing your umw group members or choir members or your friends just keep calling and checking on each other and we make sure we survive this time together in patience and in love and now go in peace knowing that the grace of god the creator and the love of jesus create jesus christ our redeemer and the communion of the holy spirit be with you [Music] amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] um [Music] you