Church guide

Getting Right with God What do you do when life threatens to overwhelm you? Sometimes, you assert yourself and take charge. At other times, you give up and just let it happen. But something’s missing from both of these approaches - you’re forgetting that God loves you so much God wants to be involved in every single part of your life. So when life’s at its toughest, let God’s love fill your soul, God’s strength become your strength and God’s vision guide you. It’s amazing how much better everything works when you start by getting right with God.

From Bishop Mueller Be a Do-Somethinger! There’s something absolutely essential that God wants you to know about you. God created you to be a do-somethinger! When you see someone experiencing a great deal of pain - do something. When you read about the overwhelming challenges a teenager faces while living in a crime-ridden neighborhood - do something. When you know that millions of children go to bed hungry each night - do something. Of course, you do something because it’s the right thing to do. But you also discover that there’s incredible joy in being part of God’s work in the world.

From Bishop Mueller God’s Word for You Today You may have a hard time believing that God’s going to speak to you today. But it’s going to happen. It could be through prayer – if you take the time to listen. It might be as you talk with someone - and their words become God’s words. It may be a still small voice that prods you – until you finally figure out it’s God. Or it could be through Scripture – as the Word of God becomes the Word of God for you. So listen carefully, and hear God’s word for you today.

From Bishop Gary Mueller The Art of Demonizing The art of demonizing others is now so normal in our world that you can do it without giving it a second thought. That’s bad news for the person you demonize. It’s even worse news for you. So the next time you start pivoting from disagreeing with someone to turning that person into a monster, look at that person and say, “Jesus died for that person.” Then keep saying it over and over until you actually believe it. Two miracles will occur. You’ll change your opinion about that person. And you’ll change, too.

From Bishop Gary Mueller What God Wants You to Hear Today You’re literally inundated with information every moment you’re awake. No wonder it’s so easy to miss what God most wants you to hear today. How God loves you passionately. Loves you before you know it. Loves you just the way you are. Loves you when you mess up. Loves you when you don’t return God’s love. And loves you eternally. But what a difference it will make when you really hear it – whether for the first time or for the ten-thousandth time. Because you’ll see everything in a brand new way.

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Joel 2:13 In our tradition of the Christian faith, United Methodist and some other denominations, we set out on a 40 day journey of rending our hearts to God. It is a time that we try to walk carefully, we try to think deeply. It is a time that we allow our hearts to be broken open. It is a time that we have to be willing to lay bare all that is hidden, buried and repressed. We are always pilgrims in this land, always looking to the Lord for guidance in the unfamiliar terrain we call life. It is the journey that all of us as Christians must take. It is during this time of year that we begin to prepare our gardens for the coming of spring and summer and the growth that comes during those seasons. Think of it in a garden analogy, we start in the ashes of life and end up in a garden that it teeming with new life and impossible possibility. As a spiritual practice, the season of Lent is a time of tending our spiritual gardens, a turning, an overturning, a re-turning. Though I have been mocked for placing ashes on my congregants head and also having someone place them on my own they are a reminder to me. The ashes I wear are a reminder to me that death is only the beginning and not the end. Especially poignant as I write this I have lost a person that I have come to know as a fellow pastor in ministry. I have also last month lost a friend of our family and a dear member of our local congregation. I know however that this existence is not the end for any of us, but the beginning. As a spiritual practice, observing Lent helps remind me that I need to die to all the worldly things that entomb us human beings. We all know them, things like pride, avarice, self-doubt, fear, isolation, cynicism and all of the barriers that prevent us from living a wholehearted existence with God. The words from the Prophet Joel speak as true now as they were millennia ago. “Yet even now, the Lord says, return to me with all your heart…rend your hearts and not your clothing.” TO me and hopefully you these words tell me I need to rend my heart, to break open my heart. Too many times in life we build walls around our heart that keeps us comfortable and many times shuts God out. The walls actually blocks out everything that makes us delightfully and uniquely human! God’s word reminds us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made! These words are an invitation, “Turn around; come closer, come home”, says the Lord! I envision that God is on a rocking chair on the porch of heaven just waiting for us to come home. “Come home. Come home. You who are weary come home; …. Calling O sinner, come home!” (Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling, UM Hymnal, pg. 348)

Due to ice and mixed precipitation we will not have church services today. Please stay safe! See you on Wednesday for our Ash Wednesday service at 7 pm

From Bishop Mueller A Sunday Prayer 3/3/19 Dear Lord, We pray for Your children who are hurting. We pray for Your children who feel pushed out. we pray for Your children who are experiencing broken relationships. And we pray for your children who experience hopelessness. Lord in Your mercy, hear our prayers. We pray this in the name of Jesus who comforts the hurting, welcomes the outcast, heals fractured relationships and offers life-changing hope. Amen.

From Bishop Mueller See What God Can Do Through You God is at work transforming the world through ordinary people. These people come from all walks of life, often experience a great deal of pain, sometimes struggle just to get through the day and are far from perfect. How can this be? It’s really very simple. God calls, they respond and God does remarkable things through them. But this doesn’t just happen to others. God also wants to do amazing things through you. So hear God’s call, say ‘Yes!’ and get ready to see what God can do through you.

Incredibly sound advice for today from the writer of one of the all-time great hymns, Amazing Grace. ‬From an @DustinBenge tweet: “John Newton's advice in dealing with others in controversy: 1. Pray for your opponent 2. Deal gently with your opponent 3. Instruct your opponent with meekness 4. Be watchful of your tone and words 5. Be watchful of self-righteousness 6. Be watchful of your character”

From Bishop Gary Mueller Seeing Whom do you see when your spouse walks up, you stare at a newborn or you look in the eyes of a dying family member? You see a child of God. But is that still true as you watch a racist spew hatred, stare at a passed-out addict or look at that bully who’s shamed your teenager’s? It actually is. Not because they deserve it, but because God calls them beloved. This amazing grace has major implications for you. God wants you to start seeing every single person in a new way - through God’s eyes.

Celebration of Life Memorial Service for Patricia “Pat” Ellis is Saturday, February 2, 2019 at 12 noon. Visitation will follow service. Please continue to keep her family in your prayers.

From Bishop Gary Mueller Pain Can Become a Means of Grace You’ll do almost anything to avoid pain. Yet pain often is a sign runners are ready to break through to the next level of endurance, plays an essential role in medical diagnoses, and serves as an incubator for deep and needed emotional growth. While it’s wrong to believe God causes pain, it’s right to understand God uses pain to share unconditional love, enable you to grow and bring healing. May you discover how how the excruciatingly difficult pain you may be experiencing right now actually can become a mysterious means of grace.

From Bishop Gary Mueller!! Back Talk You use lots of energy when you are hurt trying to fix it. But the unfortunate thing is how much unneeded time, energy and heart you expend because you believe fixing it’s all up to you. But it’s not. In fact, it never is. That’s because God’s got your back - unconditionally, every single moment and regardless of what is going on. This reality frees you to deal with the whatever’s going on and then move past it to invest your life in far more important things - loving God, loving others and making a difference in someone’s life.

So far roads in Clinton are clear on most roads. Some puddles are icing over , will check how things are in the morning. Stay safe and warm!

From Bishop Gary Mueller What You See is What You Get The old saying “What you see is what you get” is true. If you see yourself as a victim, you’ll probably experience being one most of the time. If see yourself worse off than everyone else, that will be your reality. If you see God not loving you, you’ll never feel loved regardless of what God does. So what do you do? See something new - grace, joy and hope. They may only be small slivers. But they’re there. And seeing them will change what you experience every single time.

From Bishop Gary Mueller Do God’s Thing Your Way You are one-of-a kind uniquely created by God. This means you can do something for God no one else can do. Take this responsibility seriously by figuring out what God wants you to do, trusting God enough to help you do it even when you’re scared and, then, doing God’s thing your way. Pray with that person who is hurting. Speak out against an injustice. Sit with someone who is grieving. Share food with a stranger who is hungry. Or tell someone you’ve known for a long time just how much God loves her(him).

Bishop Gary Mueller Praying Can Be Risky “I’ll pray for you.” You’ve uttered these words more times than you can count. But saying them carries a heavy responsibility because you’re now linked to that person, have a responsibility to them and are putting yourself in a position for God to go to work in ways that will do unexpected things in your life. So go ahead and tell that person who’s hurting, “I’ll pray for you.” It’s what Jesus-followers do. But beware. Praying can be risky because God uses it to take you to a brand new place.

Clinton Schools Mass Choir signing at their Italian Feast in our Fellowship Hall.(grades 6-12)