Author: BiltmoreUMC

Reflecting Home

Gerrit Dawson wrote an article a number of years ago about  hearts seeking their home in God. He compared that longing to the separation family members feel when a loved one is away on a long business trip, a military tour of duty, or away at college.  That longing of a heart for home is the example Dawson used to compare God’s longing for us, and our heart’s longing for God.  Gerrit shared several components of preparing one’s heart for God.

Gathering Glory

Just as Paul likened our interrelationships in the family of God to interconnected parts of a single body, Gerrit also emphasized the overwhelming joy of gathering again after being too long apart.  In his article, Gerrit mentioned his son who was doing too good of a job of being independent and self-sufficient in college for the family’s liking, as the son never came home across his first year and  never called (unless he needed money).

However, Gerrit describes a rather mundane afternoon on the eve of the Easter holiday in which he pulled into his driveway and found himself confused by a strange car in his driveway. After a half a minute, he realized the vaguely familiar car belonged to his son!  Startled and excited, he ran in to find his had come home for the week of Easter break—with a friend (without having called ahead).  He described his reaction:

  “So he wasn’t gone forever, after all! Unsolicited, undemanded, he came back. We spread out a feast! Nothing was too fine! Our son had come home. Suddenly, every sneaker was picked off the living room floor, every schedule rearranged to accommodate his needs. In a million mundane ways we… write the welcoming love of Christ inside each member [of the church].”

 Filling Station

Second, Dawson described his own feeling of coming back home after a week long meeting environment of wrangling and divided opinions (which sounded like annual conference for clergy and laity!) his need was simply to come in the door to rediscover his “stillpoint” in this one place in the world he called “home.”  Entering to sit in familiar furniture, allowing the dog to run in circles before finally settling to rest at his feet, and watching the familiar delight of sunlight dancing through the branches in the usual view out the back windows, Gerrit mused a question of what the outside world might ask by observing his coming home ritual: “Is this wasting time?”

In a demonstrative response he wrote, “No! The goodness of home was seeping back into my body and soul.  I was [back] in the place I could be refilled… The fountain of God… welled up through home and me anew.”

Finally, Gerrit realized, he had slowed down enough to allow his own spirit to catch up with his heart and to find home in God.

~Sonny

 

When our family was serving as foreign missionaries in Zimbabwe for the UMC in the early 1990’s, one of our primary tasks was to help get the beginnings of the campus ready for the School of Theology to open at the new Africa University. One of the theologians who came to teach as the seminary opened was Paul Wesley Chilcotte (with his family).  Having a middle name like Wesley undoubtedly contributed to Paul eventually becoming a Wesleyan scholar who has taught and written on many aspects of John Wesley’s perspectives of grace across his life…

In Paul’s book, A Life-Shaping Prayer, he writes about the delicious and savory aspect of God’s grace:

“The poet theologian George Herbert’s collection of poems entitled The Temple reveals his own personal quest for faith in and intimacy with God.  In a poem built around the image of banquet, Herbert invites Christ to live and dwell in his heart and welcomes the delicious, sacred cheer that surpasses all other earthly joys. Using images common to the mystical tradition, he reflects upon the way in which God’s sweetness surprises and deluges the soul… God’s word are ‘sweeter than honey to my mouth.’ What a phenomenal description of God and God’s actions!

Recent studies demonstrate that most people conceive God as adversarial, critical, and distant.  In terms of taste, it would probably be right to describe their ‘taste’ of God as bitter, sour, and acrid.  But those who have come to know God in Jesus Christ have a very different conception. God’s Word is sweet. God’s law, God’s commandments, God’s words not only seem sweet but create sweetness. They sweeten everything they touch.  In this unique way of thinking about our relationship with God. God delights in providing a banquet of sweet things for us. God invites all who are hungry and thirsty—all who seek mercy and salvation—to come, to drink, and to eat. God offers us the most nourishing food imaginable and shares the sweetness of Christ’s mercy with us all.”

While Paul observes that some people “conceive of God as adversarial, critical, and distant,” it is interesting that many in society describe Christians the same way. That is, Christians as being “against” a long list of things instead of being “for,” and in service to, a world of people whom God treasures and wants us to help reach.

It seems we can never get, nor share, enough of God’s grace.  – Sonny –

Stewardship Moment  – Dan Stubbs

 

Renovations are happening on the bathrooms adjoining the Sanctuary!  Follow this link to our facebook page the construction process across the next two weeks!

https://www.facebook.com/BiltmoreUMC/photos_stream

 

ALL of us!!! Below you will see the list of songs submitted by the congregation near and far as favorites for singing in church. Please keep adding to the list via comments below or emails, calls, smoke signal, carrier pigeon…however. Just let me know and I will do my best to use your suggestions as I plan OUR worship each Sunday.

 

A big THANK YOU to MaryKent for her diligent help in compiling the list below (imagine trying to read and interpret all of the handwritten notes 🙂 .

 

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Alleluia

All Creatures of our God and King

All Things Bright And Beautiful

Amazing Grace

And God will Raise You Up on Eagle’s Wings

As a Fire is Meant for Burning

—

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Be Thou My Vision

Because He Lives

Blessed Assurance

Blest Be the Tie that Binds

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

—

Christ the Lord Has Risen Today

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come Thou of Many Blessings

—

Dear Jesus, in Whose Life I See

—

For All the Saints

—

Gift of Love

Glorious Things of Thee are Broken

Great is Thy Faithfulness

God is So Good

God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale

God of Grace & God of Glory

Guide Me

—

Hallelujah Chorus

Hallelujah! What a Savior

Have Thine Own Way

He Lives

He Leadeth Me

Heralds of Christ

Here I am, Lord

How Firm a Foundation

How Great Thou Art

Hymn of Promise

—

I Am Your Mother

I Come With Joy

I Love to Tell the Story

I Will Praise You- Oh My Soul

If God was One of Us

If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee

I’ll Fly Away

I’m Satisfied

In Remembrance of Me

In the Garden

It is Well with My Soul

—

Jesu Tawa Pano

Jesus, Name Above All Names

Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

—

Let My People Go

Let There Be Peace On Earth

Lord, I Want To Be A Christian

Lord, I Lift Your Name on High

Love Song

Lord of the Dance

—

Make Me a Channel of Your Peace

May the Circle be Unbroken

Morning Has Broken

—

Nearer, My God, to Thee

—

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

Open My Eyes, that I May See

—

Pass It On

Precious Love

Precious Lord, Take My Hand

—

Rock of Ages

—

Send the Light

Shine, Jesus, Shine

Siyahamba

Softly & Tenderly

Something Beautiful, Something Good

Spirit of God

Spirit of the Living God

Spirit Song

Surely The Lord is in This Place

Surely the Presence of the Lord

Sweet Hour of Prayer

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

—

Take Time to be Holy

They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love

Tino Tenda, Jesu

The Gift of Love

The Lily of the Valley

The Summons

The Old Rugged Cross

The Unclouded Day

This is My Father’s World

Trust and Obey

—

Victory In Jesus

—

We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

Were You There

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

When in Our Music God is Glorified

When the Saints Go Marching In

Wonderful Words of Life

 

 

I spent the better part of yesterday at a training the Blue Ridge District had through their Equipping Network. Part of my ridiculously long job title includes the word “equipping,” but it seems that many do not understand what that means and what my job really is. So I thought I would try to clear it up – in as few words as possible!

The idea of equipping comes from Ephesians 4:11-13, “11 He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. 12 His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ 13 until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ.” (Common English Bible)

Equipping is the primary purpose of church leaders. We, as leaders, both staff and laity, are called to help the members of the body find and understand their spiritual gifts and calling.  The work of the church does not fall solely to the pastor and staff of the church, but is shared by the congregation as a whole through the use of their gifts, talents, experiences and time. My role here at BUMC is to help each member find their place to serve not only within the church itself but outside the church walls. That is equipping. As we grow in our discipleship and relationship to God we feel the calling to serve become greater and greater.

Are you growing? How are you being called to serve our church and our community? We ALL have a part.

We are excited about developing new teams within the church to meet the needs of the church and community. One of the first teams we are creating and building is the Welcoming Team. You may already be part of the Welcoming Team if you are an usher or greeter. On August 18th, we will have a brief and fun lunch and training for the ushers and greeters. We will be expanding this Team to include a Welcome Center host as well. Do you enjoy meeting new people? Do you have a hug and a smile to share? The commitment is one Sunday morning a month, a quarter  – you can decide! But we need smiling faces who would enjoy greeting ALL people who enter into our doors on Sunday mornings!

I hope to hear from you about joining the Welcome Team or any other ministry or service you feel called to be part of. It takes all of us.

God Bless ~ Merit

 

The way we worship God here at Biltmore UMC is an ongoing conversation – and always will be. Being the “new guy”, I don’t know what music you already know as a congregation. I am not aware of your likes and dislikes. I have yet to discern what our future together will be. What I DO know is that Worship is best when it involves as many people as possible. I am convinced that God is pleased with authentic worship that is honest and heartfelt. I will dedicate most of my energies to research, craft, and plan each and every worship experience here at Biltmore. I hope that you will not only pray for me as I do the work of the church but also be sure to share with me what works and especially what doesn’t work for you personally.

One concrete way in which you can be a part of the dialogue is to comment below. The more specific the better…but any comment is better than none. 🙂 And like the words of the hymn Holy God, We Praise Thy Name state, “And from morn to set of sun, through the church the song goes on!” Be a part of the church’s ongoing song below….

For the ones who don’t know my name is Andy.

I was born into a Christian family. We went to church every Sunday no matter what! I accepted Jesus into my heart and had him take permanent residency in my life when I was 13. I knew at a very young age that I needed Jesus like I needed oxygen; I couldn’t survive without him.

In high school I was given the opportunity to preach a few Sundays in Church. I had classmates and teammates come to listen to my sermons. Taking the time to study the Bible brought me closer to Jesus and I felt wonderful being able to share the love I have for him and he has for me with everyone. After that first sermon I got many questions about what Jesus says in certian situations and I would pull out my Bible and find the answer.

During my senior year my faith was challenged when my favorite teacher how was like a second mother to me was walking with her sister and collapsed. The nerve between her brain and her heart failed and she was instantly brain dead. I went to see her twice a day until she died a year and a half later. When I would visit her eyes followed me where ever I went.  The day before they took out her feeding tube I said my goodbyes knowing I wouldn’t see her anymore in her physical body. That broke my heart, but I knew Jesus would take care of her.