Friday, April 22, 2016
Dear Church of the Resurrection,
I am looking forward to this weekend in worship! I’m preaching on a familiar story to many of you – the “sinful woman” who barges into the rabbi’s home as he is hosting a dinner party for Jesus. She weeps at Jesus’ feet and anoints them with oil. The rabbi is aghast and embarrassed. Jesus meanwhile shows compassion and mercy. The story is a powerful one focused on second chances.This weekend’s sermon will touch on several pertinent issues including human trafficking, sex and religion, and God’s mercy. This is the third in our series of sermons on Second Chances.
Have you seen our 4 to 6 minute video messages, COR Conversations, that we’re producing each week? Each Sunday between the 9 and 10:45 am services I head back to our small recording studio behind the choir loft and record a 4 to 6 minute video message, a distillation of the sermon, that we post online for you to share with your friends and neighbors. Our thinking about these videos is that they are short enough that people who may not go to church would watch them. My hope is that they are inspirational and encouraging. I’d love for you to click on the link in the next paragraph and take a look at a couple of them.
One way you can help get the word out about these is to post them on social media to share with your friends. This week’s dealt with Mental Illness, and the previous two were on Divorce Proofing your Marriage and Jesus and Divorce.Here’s the link to the page where you can see all of the COR Conversations.Click on one that you would like to share on social media. When it brings up the video, copy the address of that web page and share it.
Last weekend 217 adults and children joined the church at our Leawood and Downtown campuses, 194 at Leawood and 23 at Resurrection Downtown. Of the 217, 163 were adults and 54 were children. Their names are found at the bottom of this e-note. We’re honored and grateful to be their church family. Some were joining by transfer from other churches, but most were professing their faith in Christ or reconnecting with Christ after a hiatus. I love speaking to our new members and hearing their stories – this is a great group of new members – welcome! By the way, if you joined last Sunday be sure to be in worship a few minutes before we begin this weekend – we welcome all of our new members during the greeting time.
Have you thought about going to Africa on a mission trip? We have two serve trips coming up to Malawi. Resurrection is the largest single mission partner in the small African nation of Malawi. We have built wells, schools, clinics, farms and churches there. I’ve been twice and it is a remarkable experience, one you would never forget. The teams typically have ten people on them. We have a team leaving this October and another in January. To find out more click here.
Are you over 50 and looking to grow in your faith and make new friends? Our Crossroads ministry is for adults in the second half of life. They are kicking off a new study on Tuesday nights beginning May 3 as a part of Grow Night called Introduction to Half Time. Crossroads is also hosting a Kentucky Derby Party on May 7 at Bill and Mary Reed’s home and stables. The Reed’s have bred champion horses and you’ll have a chance to enjoy the 142nd Run for the Roses while seeing some beautiful horses up close! For more information click here.
Beginning May 10 the General Conference of the United Methodist Church will be meeting in Portland, Oregon. Eight hundred delegates from around the world will gather for 10 days to consider hundreds of legislative proposals, to hear reports from our missions around the world and to approve plans and budgets for the next four years (the General Conference meets once every four years). Pastor Cheryl Bell and I are delegates along with 20 others from Kansas and Nebraska. The issue that will receive the most attention this year will be the question of same-gender marriage. Our denomination is a big tent – we have conservatives and liberals, though a vast majority of our members would identify as centrists or moderates. Over the last three months I’ve been receiving dozens of letters from Christians on both sides of the issue, asking that I either vote to change the current policies of the denomination or asking that I vote to retain them.
The underlying issue for Christians as we consider the question of same-gender relationships is how we look at and interpret the Bible. We all agree that there are things in the Bible that we no longer believe express God’s will for us. Paul tells us that women should pray with their heads covered. He writes that women should remain silent in the church and that they not be permitted to teach men. Paul says that women should not braid their hair. The Bible includes these things, but today we recognize that these may reflect the historical circumstances in which Paul wrote more than they represent the will of God for us today. This is how the apostles looked at certain texts in the Old Testament, believe that they were for Israel but not for the church (circumcision, dietary laws and many others).
In the chapter, “God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It” in my new book, Half Truths, I use the example of churches in the late 1800’s who were having debates about whether it was permissible to install indoor toilets in church buildings because the Bible gave instructions to the Israelites to go to the bathroom outside the camp. Deuteronomy 23:12-14 instructs the Israelites to go outside the camp to go to the bathroom so that God would “not see anything indecent among you.” The rationale in the text wasn’t health, but that it was considered unholy to go to the bathroom near the Tabernacle of the Lord. Ultimately, churches decided that the principle in Deuteronomy 23 did not apply today and that God would not be offended by having indoor toilets in the church. The example may seem silly but it points to the fact that we all interpret scripture. A more serious issue where Christians have fought long and hard about scripture is related to slavery and what to make of the Bible’s allowance and regulation of slavery.
My point in mentioning all of this is to say that we all interpret scripture with the help of good scholarship, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and with the help of other believers. We study and seek to hear God’s timeless word and will, within the context of the words of scripture. Conservatives read the six scriptures that touch on some form of same gender relationships as expressing God’s timeless will for same-gender relationships. Progressives on this issue believe they may address specific practices in the time of Paul and Moses but do not reflect God’s concern for his gay and lesbian children seeking to be married today.
I’d love to invite you to begin praying for the United Methodist Church and its General Conference, that God’s Spirit will guide us to know and do his will, and that we will find a way forward on this issue that, I hope, allows for differences of interpretation of the scriptures within our churches.
I’m looking forward to seeing you in worship this weekend as we continue in our series of sermons on Second Chances!
Adam
Welcome New Members!
LEAWOOD
- Steve and Amy Aberdeen, Nolan
- Brian and Julie Bowers
- Soheyla Brandt
- Fred and Pat Brown
- Bryan and Kaci Brutto, Rori and Carly
- Kathy Burnett
- Rick Buie
- Cranston and Cheri Cederlind
- John Clarkson
- Denise Cochran, Michael and T.J.
- David and Jeanine Conrady, Paul, Kevin, Grant and Daniel
- Ruth Cordell
- Stewart Curtright
- Sharon Dodd
- Barry and Annette Dyer
- Drew and Hannah Eames
- Travis and Diane Forbes
- Doug and Rozanne Gaston
- Anne Gerhart
- Mike and Betsy Gourneau, Elizabeth
- Mike Grochowsky
- Stephanie Guin, Jude and Harper
- Sheryl Gulley
- Brent Haag
- Bob and Estelle Hanna
- Jillian Hays
- Kristin Heaton
- Mary Henshaw
- Mark and Nancy Hildreath, Zach, A.J. and Liz
- John and Angela Kille, Elena, Arcelia and Leif
- Larry and Nancy Kilpatrick
- Terry and Carol Kirchhoff
- Tina Kirwan
- Kat Kjar, Ellie and Tayah
- Roy Konkey
- Jim and Chrissy Kupferschmidt
- Lana Larkin
- Mary Beth and Rachel Leistad
- Erin Lennemann
- Lynn and Laurene Lowe
- Sam and Terry Mahoney
- David and Debbie Martin
- Nancy Mathis
- Sean and Tracie Mayers, Ethan and Julia
- Randy and Cam McCracken
- Gary and Diana McClain, Amy and Nathan
- Jack McNett
- Linda McVey
- Liz Mikel
- Tony Miles and Megan Osborn, Kaden Kornis
- Bob and Leslie Moreland
- Dick Morgan
- Scott Morris, Hadley
- Mark Morrison
- Rob and Audrey Morrison
- Martha Moss
- Phil Murray
- Tim and Alison O’Donnell, Olivia and Mila
- Caitlin O’Malley
- Rich O’Neal
- Tony and Caroline Pardo
- Cedric and Vicky Pearson, Elijah, Amari and Noelle
- Larry and Gerry Perry
- Jason and Tori Petite, Peyton, Palmer and Presley
- Brent and Caitlin Pitts
- Tim Reed
- Rob and Sheryl Reynolds
- Fred and Burr Wheeler, Hailey and Haiden Rice
- Michele Ritchey
- Chad Roberts
- Michael Rolf, Sr.
- William Ross
- Hank and Diane Roth
- Chip and Amber Rose Rucker, Jay Falscroft
- Jim Ryan
- Steve and Linda Samuelson
- Jim and Anne Schultz
- Kristy Scott, Lauren
- Evan Selba
- Bob and Joan Sheverbush
- Mandy Shoemaker
- Scott Shorten
- Brandon and Kim Simmons
- Kathryn Sloan, Taylor and Parker
- Misty Spradling
- Tricia Sturd, Ryan
- J and Susan Swarts
- Debra Taubin, Nikki and Cory
- Kinsey Teeple
- Nate Teeple, Nate
- Marcia Todd
- Evan and Stephanie Turner
- Jen Tymeson, Gage and Taylor
- Nancy Veskerna
- Anissa Walz
- Bernadine Watson
- Gordon and Bea Way, Isabella and Thomas
- Emil and Beth Wepprich
- Barb Whiteaker
- Deanna Wiley
- Di Wuthnow
- Christi Jo Brunner, Otto
- Seth and Audrey Campbell, Harry and Teddy
- Darin Challacombe
- Nick D'Errio
- Benjamin Evans
- Jacob Haase
- Chloe Helling
- Mike and Jill Hundley, Henry and Ben
- Quinton Hunter
- Brad and Megan Keating, Addison
- Andy Newman
- Chris Shelar
- Ashley Vaughn
- Erica Weiglhofer
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
913.897.0120
www.cor.org
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