Preparing for Easter Master.  Its a term we rarely use in this hemisphere or at least in this country.  The reference we see in scripture comes from a must older time when slavery was still a regular idea or practice. Almost gone from our ears is the idea of a master and slave/servant kind of relationship. England let go of their slave trade as early as 1807. Sixty some years after we here in the newly formed States were fighting over whether to keep slaves or let them go free.  The word nowadays takes on different connotations. To be a "master" is less about what we own and more about what we can do. Some people take their video games very seriously. Its an achievement, a mastery, to conquer a level or a big boss in order to move on and win. There are a groups of guys who meet at a delicious little place called Shannon's Pit Stop every day down in the Thornville area. These tough nosed, gritty, hard working men have learned that life is not easy and you have give ...

 Preparing for Easter What is a servant?  Is it the person bringing your food to you at a restaurant? Is it that aide in the nursing home you are visiting? Join with me today as we take the Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? journey to our answers. To start off, lets take a look at the scriptures to gather the proper inspiration.  For many years now, I have referenced the 2nd chapter of Max Lucado's book Just Like Jesus borrowing from his inspiration as he covers the topic "Loving the People You're Stuck With". In approaching John chapter 13, we see Jesus taking on the role of the lowest of the low. A servant who washes the feet of the guests gathered around the table. Lucado does much here to bring us down to the level of that lowest servant. Being a servant means taking on those mundane, everyday chores and issues that maybe we would like to avoid. Max would approach the most common of American occurrences - the purchase of a new pet. Maybe you've been there....

 Preparing for Easter Welcome to our first sermon as I enter the pulpit at Pleasant View Methodist Church .  It is a joy to be in fellowship with you all as we seek to serve the Lord in our Global Methodist tradition. For many of us it has been a long road to get where we are. The One focus for us has been our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. We saw some flaws in the old system that we thought needed corrected or changed in order to keep ourselves on the straight & narrow. This process of making changes, reforming our belief system, taking another branch in the tree, it really is nothing new. The process seems to have started in the early centuries when councils met to discuss and struggle with what statements and creeds were right for us to hang on to or discard. While Jesus was God's only and perfect son, we human beings are not perfect. We seem to waver and change and lose our perspective at times. We lose our focus on who Jesus is and why he came. Sometimes it behooves ...