"This Week in Worship: The Only Thing" with Senior Pastor, Reverend Brent Ross of Normal Heights United Methodist Church of San Diego, California, United States

 "This Week in Worship: The Only Thing" with Senior Pastor, Reverend Brent Ross of Normal Heights United Methodist Church of San Diego, California, United States


In retrospect, it wasn’t the best vacation.
Last summer the family and I were ready for some time together. It had been a wildly busy year for all of us, and due to our busy schedules we had lived like roommates or co-workers rather than a family. Piano lessons, meetings, conferences… it wasn’t just that we were busy, but that when we were together even then we still seemed like we were all doing our own thing. So, our hope was then that our vacation time in Chicago would enable us to not only relax, but more importantly, reconnect.
So in preparation for the week in Chicago, I worked hard to get us a week chock-full of fun events together. Tickets to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, days at the museums, riding public transportation together as an “event” (ok… clearly I was reaching on that one) and all manner of food experiences. Each and every day we scheduled plenty of events and experiences that would give us quality time together.
Unfortunately though, it didn’t really happen that way...
Click here to continue to Brent's Blog"Cubs Games, Museums and Missed Opportunities" by Reverend Brent Ross
In retrospect, it wasn’t the best vacation.
Last summer the family and I were ready for some time together. It had been a wildly busy year for all of us, and due to our busy schedules we had lived like roommates or co-workers rather than a family. Piano lessons, meetings, conferences…it wasn’t just that we were busy, but that when we were together even then we still seemed like we were all doing our own thing. So, our hope was then that our vacation time in Chicago would enable us to not only relax, but more importantly, reconnect.
So in preparation for the week in Chicago, I worked hard to get us a week chock-full of fun events together. Tickets to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, days at the museums, riding public transportation together as an “event” (ok…clearly I was reaching on that one) and all manner of food experiences. Each and every day we scheduled plenty of events and experiences that would give us quality time together.
Unfortunately though, it didn’t really happen that way. The majority of our time together I was admittedly distracted and a bit distant. It felt to me like I was constantly in what I call “business mode” for the whole week, and that in my desire to make time for us as a family, I had instead just over-scheduled our life again. And so at the conclusion of our vacation, I vented to Heather about why the vacation had not felt relaxing and what had been wrong with it all. “There was just too much going on,” I reasoned, “and in the future we need to make sure we don’t do anything active on vacation…you know, so we can really see each other.”
And at the time, this made sense. My reasoning was quite clear in my mind…I had not been able to really relax and be present with them because of our schedule. There was just too much happening, and too many things to do. If we just had nothing planned or scheduled well then I could have really been more available to them. Etc…
But you know what?
I was wrong. I was about as wrong as I could be. I realized this week that I was wrong about not only why I had been distracted on vacation, but also about why a vacation was needed in the first place.
See, the mistake I made both on vacation and in my ordinary day-to-day life was that quality time with family is something that needs to be scheduled like everything else. That quality of relationships and paying attention to those that you value and love is a thing that requires a particular place and time, and so if that didn’t happen in Chicago well, it’s just because we didn’t have a special time set aside for it!
But that simply is not true.
I realized this week that if quality of time with my family requires special scheduling then I’m doing life wrong.
Because quality time with people in your life should never be just one thing out of many to be scheduled and added in, but it should be how you do everything. It’s not a particular event to be put in place, but it is the way that all of our lives should happen, right? The real question is not “How do I set aside quality time for people?“, but instead “How do I make all my time with people quality time?” It’s not about vacation or everyday life, but it’s about how to do that all the time…in each and every moment.
Showing love to people isn’t one thing out of many, but instead it’s how we should do everything.
I had this realization this week after reading our Scripture passage for Sunday, because of a point that the Apostle Paul makes in his letter to the church in Corinth. “If I give away all my possessions, but don’t have love” he writes to them “…I gain nothing.” Paul’s meaning in this is that even if you have everything but still don’t have love, then you still have nothing. Love, then, is not just one way to follow Christ, and it is certainly not one option for the church in how to live and be in the world. Instead, it is how we should do everything. Nothing should be done without love. It is not a special event to be scheduled among many, but it is how every thing should happen.
I think this is right, and it’s as true for us today as it was for those in Corinth two thousand years ago. What would our lives look like if we loved in every action? Wouldn’t the ordinary and everyday become just saturated with the sacred? Wouldn’t even a vacation be not necessary for us to live how we want, but instead be just a new way of doing what we do every single day? Think how life would be different if we too understood Paul’s words when he wrote that “love never ends.”
We’ll see you on Sunday as we continue celebrating and learning to live into love.
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Scripture Lesson: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1 I may speak in the tongues of men, even angels;

but if I lack love, I have become merely

blaring brass or a cymbal clanging.

2 I may have the gift of prophecy,

I may fathom all mysteries, know all things,

have all faith — enough to move mountains;

but if I lack love, I am nothing.

3 I may give away everything that I own,

I may even hand over my body to be burned;

but if I lack love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful,

5 not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered,

and it keeps no record of wrongs.

6 Love does not gloat over other people’s sins

but takes its delight in the truth.

7 Love always bears up, always trusts,

always hopes, always endures.

8 Love never ends; but prophecies will pass,

tongues will cease, knowledge will pass.

9 For our knowledge is partial, and our prophecy partial;

10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child,

thought like a child, argued like a child;

now that I have become a man,

I have finished with childish ways.

12 For now we see obscurely in a mirror,

but then it will be face to face.

Now I know partly; then I will know fully,

just as God has fully known me.

13 But for now, three things last —

trust, hope, love;

and the greatest of these is love.

John Wesley's Notes-Commentary for 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Verse 2

[2] And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

And though I have the gift of prophecy — Of foretelling future events.

And understand all the mysteries — Both of God's word and providence.

And all knowledge — Of things divine and human, that ever any mortal attained to. And though I have the highest degree of miracle working faith, and have not this love, I am nothing.

Verse 3

[3] And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

And though I — Deliberately, piece by piece. Give all my goods to feed the poor, yea, though I deliver up my body to be burned - Rather than I would renounce my religion.

And have not the love — Hereafter described.

It profiteth me nothing — Without this, whatever I speak, whatever I have, whatever I know, whatever I do, whatever I suffer, is nothing.

Verse 4

[4] Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

The love of God, and of our neighbour for God's sake, is patient toward, all men. It, suffers all the weakness, ignorance, errors, and infirmities of the children of God; all the malice and wickedness of the children of the world: and all this, not only for a time, but to the end. And in every step toward overcoming evil with good, it is kind, soft, mild, benign. It inspires the sufferer at once with the most amiable sweetness, and the most fervent and tender affection.

Love acteth not rashly — Does not hastily condemn any one; never passes a severe sentence on a slight or sudden view of things. Nor does it ever act or behave in a violent, headstrong, or precipitate manner.

Is not puffed up — Yea, humbles the soul to the dust.

Verse 5

[5] Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

It doth not behave indecently — Is not rude, or willingly offensive, to any. It renders to all their due - Suitable to time, person, and all other circumstances.

Seeketh not her own — Ease, pleasure, honour, or temporal advantage. Nay, sometimes the lover of mankind seeketh not, in some sense, even his own spiritual advantage; does not think of himself, so long as a zeal for the glory of God and the souls of men swallows him up. But, though he is all on fire for these ends, yet he is not provoked to sharpness or unkindness toward any one. Outward provocations indeed will frequently occur; but he triumphs over all. Love thinketh no evil - Indeed it cannot but see and hear evil things, and know that they are so; but it does not willingly think evil of any; neither infer evil where it does not appear. It tears up, root and branch, all imagining of what we have not proof. It casts out all jealousies, all evil surmises, all readiness to believe evil.

Verse 6

[6] Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity — Yea, weeps at either the sin or folly of even an enemy; takes no pleasure in hearing or in repeating it, but desires it may be forgotten for ever.

But rejoiceth in the truth — Bringing forth its proper fruit, holiness of heart and life. Good in general is its glory and joy, wherever diffused in all the world.

Verse 7

[7] Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Love covereth all things - Whatever evil the lover of mankind sees, hears, or knows of any one, he mentions it to none; it never goes out of his lips, unless where absolute duty constrains to speak.

Believeth all things — Puts the most favourable construction on everything, and is ever ready to believe whatever may tend to the advantage of any one character. And when it can no longer believe well, it hopes whatever may excuse or extenuate the fault which cannot be denied. Where it cannot even excuse, it hopes God will at length give repentance unto life.

Meantime it endureth all things — Whatever the injustice, the malice, the cruelty of men can inflict. He can not only do, but likewise suffer, all things, through Christ who strengtheneth him.

Verse 8

[8] Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Love never faileth — It accompanies to, and adorns us in, eternity; it prepares us for, and constitutes, heaven.

But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail — When all things are fulfilled, and God is all in all.

Whether there be tongues, they shall cease — One language shall prevail among all the inhabitants of heaven, and the low and imperfect languages of earth be forgotten. The knowledge likewise which we now so eagerly pursue, shall then vanish away - As starlight is lost in that of the midday sun, so our present knowledge in the light of eternity.

Verse 9

[9] For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part — The wisest of men have here but short, narrow, imperfect conceptions, even of the things round about them, and much more of the deep things of God. And even the prophecies which men deliver from God are far from taking in the whole of future events, or of that wisdom and knowledge of God which is treasured up in the scripture revelation.

Verse 10

[10] But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

But when that which is perfect is come — At death and in the last day.

That which is in part shall vanish away — Both that poor, low, imperfect, glimmering light, which is all the knowledge we now can attain to; and these slow and unsatisfactory methods of attaining, as well as of imparting it to others.

Verse 11

[11] When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

In our present state we are mere infants in point of knowledge, compared to what we shall be hereafter.

I put away childish things — Of my own accord, willingly, without trouble.

Verse 12

[12] For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Now we see — Even the things that surround us. But by means of a glass - Or mirror, which reflects only their imperfect forms, in a dim, faint, obscure manner; so that our thoughts about them are puzzling and intricate, and everything is a kind of riddle to us.

But then — We shall see, not a faint reflection, but the objects themselves.

Face to face — Distinctly.

Now I know in part — Even when God himself reveals things to me, great part of them is still kept under the veil.

But then I shall know even as also I am known — In a clear, full, comprehensive manner; in some measure like God, who penetrates the centre of every object, and sees at one glance through my soul and all things.

Verse 13

[13] And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Faith, hope, love — Are the sum of perfection on earth; love alone is the sum of perfection in heaven.

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We are particularly excited about these next two weeks of worship as we will be welcoming a visiting artist-in-residence for those two weeks, a wonderful musician named Heatherlyn and her husband Jason. I had the opportunity to meet Heatherlyn last summer at a conference and I was so struck by her honest music and images of faith. And for the next two weeks, she will be with us in worship sharing some of her music… don’t miss it! If you’d like to hear some of her music you can find it here: heatherlynmusic.com. Also watch for more info for her upcoming concert at our church on February 5th![Pastor Brent]

TONYA DOUCE JOINS THE CHURCH STAFF!
We are really excited to announce that Rev. Tonya Douce, an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and regular part of our church, will be joining the staff here at NHUMC! Tonya will be joining us in the role of “Community Connector” which means that she will be helping us to increase and deepen our relationships/connections with each other as a growing church. Tonya has years of experience in ministry and we are so fortunate to have her bring her wisdom, energy and education into this more formal role. Beginning immediately, she will be helping us think through how we are connecting as a church, and exploring what our shared community life will look like as we continue to grow. We are so grateful to have Tonya, her husband Nathan Solomon, and their kids Elijah and Maggie here and we are energized by this new ministry!






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Normal Heights United Methodist Church
4650 Mansfield Street

San Diego, California 92116, United States
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