Greetings to all,

The great news is that Max is feeling better and will be back with us this Sunday! I am thankful for Eric McKinney and for his message on Sunday. I enjoyed my time at Good Shepherd. They are a loving and affirming congregation, active in their community and with each other. We should invite them to a picnic sometime at St. Matthew.

I am preaching this Sunday and from the way things are going in North Carolina, I will have good news to share from the UMC General Conference. Through the grace of God, this United Methodist Church is moving past meddling in the private lives of its members and clergy. The same grace will get this church back into a place of relevance in the world, sharing the unconditional love of God, and being the hands and feet of the embodied Christ. Thankfully, we will be able to finally do as we have been instructed by Christ, Love the Lord with all our hearts, minds and bodies. And, love our neighbors AND ourselves.” Love to all! I hope to see you Sunday.

Our story begins with a conflict between two groups in the early church. The issue involves the case of some widows not receiving enough food during the daily distribution of food.

The twelve call a meeting of all the disciples. They realize they need to focus on prayer and proclaiming God’s word rather than serving food, so they ask the community to select seven disciples from among them to serve.

They specify that the “new disciples” must be wise and filled with the Holy Spirit. This proposal pleases the whole community. The community selects seven people and presents them to the twelve, who pray for them and lay hands on them. God’s word continues to spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increases.

Children may wonder why the disciples needed more help or why they couldn’t do it on their own. We might have this problem too. Sometimes children say “Don’t help me, I can do it myself!” But sometimes we need the help. It is okay to ask for help and work together to spread God’s love.

This shows that the disciples were paying attention; they wanted to provide more help for the community and then moved forward to organize that work.

We are all called to find ways to unite and act in love for one another, each sharing our gifts and talents to benefit the larger goals of the faith. We use our talents at church for the benefit of everyone.