I stumbled across this website looking for something else: Eartheasy
I really like it - it's subtitle is "ideas for sustainable living." With subsections of 'live', 'play', 'grow', 'eat', 'wear', and 'give', the ideas suggested here for sustainable living are sometimes so easy, it's hard to use excuses to get out of doing what we know we should for God's creation. In fact, many of the ideas, while doing lots for the environment, also are money-savers for home-owners and utilities-payers, so it really is a win-win situation. Check it out!
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Monday, May 24, 2004
Annual Conference
Just returned from North Central New York's Annual Conference. Have a few thoughtful words from our bishop and our guest speakers that I thought I'd share here. Our focus this year was stewardship, an important issue indeed!
On May 21st, Rev. Ronald Wenzinger was our guest preacher. He said "stewardship is about how much of what God has given us we dare to keep for ourselves." What a great way of putting things into perspective.
He also reminded us of the goodness of all creation. "God made it, and it was good," and asked us, "what are you doing with your gift?"
Bishop Fisher gave her episcopal address that night, rousing as always. She said, "Church work is not singing in the choir, working at the spaghetti dinner, maintaining the church building. Church work is making disciples! We are not open to be a country club. We are not open to be a rotary. We are open to be the church of Jesus Christ."
At the ordination service, yesterday, Rev. Sofiya Fosua, who works for the General Board of Discipleship gave the message. She was amazing! I didn't have anything with which to take notes during her sermon, but she focused on two passages: Elijah handing authority to Elisha, and Jesus reading from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue. She talked about how, ultimately, our understanding that we are called has to come from ourselves, regardles of who else or what else undergirds our call. We know that God has called us. We have to claim our own calls.
On May 21st, Rev. Ronald Wenzinger was our guest preacher. He said "stewardship is about how much of what God has given us we dare to keep for ourselves." What a great way of putting things into perspective.
He also reminded us of the goodness of all creation. "God made it, and it was good," and asked us, "what are you doing with your gift?"
Bishop Fisher gave her episcopal address that night, rousing as always. She said, "Church work is not singing in the choir, working at the spaghetti dinner, maintaining the church building. Church work is making disciples! We are not open to be a country club. We are not open to be a rotary. We are open to be the church of Jesus Christ."
At the ordination service, yesterday, Rev. Sofiya Fosua, who works for the General Board of Discipleship gave the message. She was amazing! I didn't have anything with which to take notes during her sermon, but she focused on two passages: Elijah handing authority to Elisha, and Jesus reading from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue. She talked about how, ultimately, our understanding that we are called has to come from ourselves, regardles of who else or what else undergirds our call. We know that God has called us. We have to claim our own calls.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Where've I been?
I've been out of touch for a bit, which drives me crazy. I hate letting things get behind. But I spent one of my two weeks of vacation at the United Methodist Church's General Conference 2004. I had the fun of snagging some media credentials and working for our conference newspaper, Connections. Copied here are my reflections from General Conference from our North Central New York Annual Conference Homepage:
First person: My thoughts on General Conference 2004 by Beth Quick
Four years ago, I served as a lay delegate to General Conference 2000 in Cleveland, Ohio, and the experience was life-changing for me. I was just about to graduate from Ohio Wesleyan University with my pre-theology degree. I had been accepted to Drew Theological School, where I would begin my Master of Divinity degree. I was closing one chapter in my life, and preparing to begin a whole new part of my path as I was seeking to respond to God’s call in my life.
In the midst of all this came General Conference. I was so excited and honored to be elected – I love the United Methodist Church, and even love our crazy structure and way of making decisions. To be right in the thick of it – I couldn’t wait. I signed up to serve on the Faith and Order Legislative Committee, the committee that would first handle most of the petitions dealing with the issue of homosexuality – I didn’t want to miss anything.
When I first arrived at the Conference in Cleveland, I was floored by the sheer magnitude of everything, by the holiness of the opening worship, by the amazing diversity of our global church. Eventually, I became discouraged – by the behind-the-scenes politicking, by the division that sometimes outweighed diversity, by the tension that made it hard to even sleep at night. But when my two weeks was drawing to a close, it felt hard to believe there was actually a world outside General Conference, as I had been living, breathing, and sleeping it all for what seemed like years. And despite the pain I carried from some decisions made there, I still felt that I loved my church and was committed to the kind of conferencing our gathering was all about.
Today, in 2004, my role at General Conference is much different. I knew after my experience at Cleveland that I wouldn’t be able to stay away, even though my status as a probationary elder made me ineligible for election this quadrennium. Sharon Fulmer was gracious enough to let me help her in the work of covering the conference for NCNY, allowing me to get a little closer to the action.
Being an observer is so different from being a delegate, with positives and negatives. I have enjoyed the freedom of sleeping in late when I need to (!), of leaving before 10 p.m. I have enjoyed being able to spend some quality time with friends from seminary, or college, or the General Board of Church and Society on which I serve. But I miss being with my NCNY colleagues and struggling through these days and decisions with them. I miss being there to be excited when legislation passes that moves our church into ministry, or agonizing with them when decisions cause pain. I want to hear their reflections, hear their concerns. Worshipping from in the bleachers, as opposed to down with the delegates, seems a strange phenomenon, as if peeking in through the windows of a home. I find it harder to keep track of what’s going on, even from my ‘over-the-shoulder’ view in the visitor bleachers. I wonder, if I can’t catch what’s going on as an observer, how do we communicate what is going on here to the people in our local churches?
Despite the drawbacks, I still wouldn’t trade being here, in whatever capacity I can make myself useful. Seeing the church at work in this way, with all its faults and all its strengths, makes me more committed than ever to the work to which Christ calls us. The church has always been a faulty vehicle, but always also been a vehicle of ministry, mission, and the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ. As long as that much is true, I’m proud to witness the United Methodist Church at work.
First person: My thoughts on General Conference 2004 by Beth Quick
Four years ago, I served as a lay delegate to General Conference 2000 in Cleveland, Ohio, and the experience was life-changing for me. I was just about to graduate from Ohio Wesleyan University with my pre-theology degree. I had been accepted to Drew Theological School, where I would begin my Master of Divinity degree. I was closing one chapter in my life, and preparing to begin a whole new part of my path as I was seeking to respond to God’s call in my life.
In the midst of all this came General Conference. I was so excited and honored to be elected – I love the United Methodist Church, and even love our crazy structure and way of making decisions. To be right in the thick of it – I couldn’t wait. I signed up to serve on the Faith and Order Legislative Committee, the committee that would first handle most of the petitions dealing with the issue of homosexuality – I didn’t want to miss anything.
When I first arrived at the Conference in Cleveland, I was floored by the sheer magnitude of everything, by the holiness of the opening worship, by the amazing diversity of our global church. Eventually, I became discouraged – by the behind-the-scenes politicking, by the division that sometimes outweighed diversity, by the tension that made it hard to even sleep at night. But when my two weeks was drawing to a close, it felt hard to believe there was actually a world outside General Conference, as I had been living, breathing, and sleeping it all for what seemed like years. And despite the pain I carried from some decisions made there, I still felt that I loved my church and was committed to the kind of conferencing our gathering was all about.
Today, in 2004, my role at General Conference is much different. I knew after my experience at Cleveland that I wouldn’t be able to stay away, even though my status as a probationary elder made me ineligible for election this quadrennium. Sharon Fulmer was gracious enough to let me help her in the work of covering the conference for NCNY, allowing me to get a little closer to the action.
Being an observer is so different from being a delegate, with positives and negatives. I have enjoyed the freedom of sleeping in late when I need to (!), of leaving before 10 p.m. I have enjoyed being able to spend some quality time with friends from seminary, or college, or the General Board of Church and Society on which I serve. But I miss being with my NCNY colleagues and struggling through these days and decisions with them. I miss being there to be excited when legislation passes that moves our church into ministry, or agonizing with them when decisions cause pain. I want to hear their reflections, hear their concerns. Worshipping from in the bleachers, as opposed to down with the delegates, seems a strange phenomenon, as if peeking in through the windows of a home. I find it harder to keep track of what’s going on, even from my ‘over-the-shoulder’ view in the visitor bleachers. I wonder, if I can’t catch what’s going on as an observer, how do we communicate what is going on here to the people in our local churches?
Despite the drawbacks, I still wouldn’t trade being here, in whatever capacity I can make myself useful. Seeing the church at work in this way, with all its faults and all its strengths, makes me more committed than ever to the work to which Christ calls us. The church has always been a faulty vehicle, but always also been a vehicle of ministry, mission, and the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ. As long as that much is true, I’m proud to witness the United Methodist Church at work.
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Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, "Finish It," 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 (Proper 8B, Ordinary 13B)
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