Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord;
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior whom we serve and worship together. As we conclude the Easter Season I pray that the celebration of our Lord's Resurrection continues to be a blessing to you.
This month we as a church have chosen to focus on the stewardship of all that God has given us. As United Methodists we recognize this with our vows to support the church by our “Prayers, Presence, Gifts, Services, and Witness.” Over the past weeks our worship has focused on these areas as a part of our devotion to God. This past Sunday we specifically talked about the giving of our finances and the goal to make Tithing a priority. It is my belief that God will bless those who bless him. It is also my belief that our financial giving to God is not an investment plan where we can expect some financial gain as with the stock market. Most often the blessings received have more to do with our continued growth as a follower of Christ and less to to with money.
Does the church need your continued financial support to function properly? Of course it does. The churches that are built, the maintenance of this church, the children that are fed, the mission trips that are promoted, the children and youth ministries, the food pantry, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, Aldersgate Enrichment Center, the Wesleyan Homes, the Methodist Children's Home, the United Christian Fellowship and Wesley Centers on Colleges and Universities, ... are all supported by you. We can not reach out to and support all these great ministries without you. In Money Matters, Financial Freedom for All God's Churches, Rev. Michael Slaughter of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church says that many of the churched people “measure their lives and values in terms of possessions, positions, and prestige” yet true “life is found in our ability to make a lasting contribution to the redemptive work of God in the world. The only thing that lives beyond us is what we do for others in Jesus' name.”But there is more to it than that.
Remembering that Malachi 3:10 tells us to “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse...”; understanding that we are instructed in Acts 2:43-45 to pool all our resources for the benefit of the Kingdom of God; and recognizing that Matthew 6:21 reminds us that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” I invite you to a new level of giving to our Lord through your support of the church.
As a part of your continued devotion to God and the recognition of your call to “make a lasting contribution to the redemptive work of God in the world” I invite you to take this opportunity to review where your giving is with God and begin to make tithing a goal. Enclosed is a card that can help you do that. On one side is a Percentage Giving Matrix to help you calculate what percentage of income you are currently giving and how much a tithe (10%) of it is. If you find you are already giving a tithe I am proud of you and pray that you will continue to follow God's direction in your financial stewardship. If however you find that you are lacking in this area of discipleship I encourage you to move up a step or two toward the full tithe. On the other side is a section for you to complete and return to the church on the first Sunday in June. As you see there is no name on the card but I want you to know that I will be praying for you as I pray over these cards monthly. My hope is that over the next few years we will all continue to grow in following God's direction with our finances and see the mighty things that God can do with this church when God's people follow God with all their heart, mind, and soul.
May God Continue to bless you as you are a blessing to others.
Peace and Grace,
J
Rev. Jay Fraze

Stewardship Begins

This month we will be discussing our commitment to, not only the church, but to God. As United Methodists we vow to support our church, and therefore God, through our "prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness." That is what we will be covering through the sermons this month as well as in other ways.
A major part of this discussion will be our own personal financial situations as well as what it means to tithe, i.e. to give a tenth of all you have to the Lord. I have heard some say well, I give more time so that counts for money. I have used this same line of reasoning as well, BUT... if we are true to our conviction that all we have and all we are truly belongs to God, then would it not make sense to give at least a tenth of all we have back to God? At tenth of our time, a tenth of our energy, a tenth of our resources, a tenth of our finances...?
This month I hope we can challenge each other to look beyond our conventional wisdom and see how it is that God is calling us to be His people.
Peace and Grace,
J

Preparing for Palm Sunday

Ahhhh, the season of Easter. Some like Christmas (it's not called “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” for nothing) but I'm a bit more fond of Easter. I know Santa's fun and all the gifts at Christmas are nice, but it seems that the Birth of our Lord has lost it's meaning among all the commercialization and hype. I sure hope the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord doesn't suffer the same fate.
It is life in the Post-Easter era that makes us who we are. Did you know some early Christians knew nothing of the birth of Jesus, only the life and death? (read the gospel of Mark - there is no mention of the birth (or resurrection for that matter). Yet these early Christians truly followed the teaching and suffered with others for their faith in the one we call Lord.
Let us not forget to whom we belong and why. I'll see you later this week for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, not to mention Sunday for Easter! Peace and Grace, J

March 29, 2009
It was such a joy to be able to take a week with the family. Thank you for being such a generous congregation in working with me on my vacation schedule. Gerald Ray helped me out so much. Not only did he preach for me on Sunday, he also showed me how to throw a casting net and where to find fish on Lake Fairfield. The kids loved catching the Crappie and Blue-gill.
To know that Sunday is taken care of is such a great thing as well. A lot of work goes into preparing a sermon and it is difficult to “be with” the family if one has to be working on a sermon the entire time. Thank you Gerald Ray for being there for me and for your church.
Peace and Grace, J

Information on Ash Wednesday and Lent

Information Regarding the Observance of Lent
Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday
and ends on Holy Saturday. Lent comes form the Anglo-Saxon work lecten, which means
“spring.” The season is a preparation for celebrating Easter. Historically, Lent began a
period of fasting and preparation for baptism by converts and then became a time for
penance by all Christians.
The First Sunday describes Jesus' temptation by Satan, and the Sixth Sunday
(Passion/Palm Sunday),Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem and his subsequent
passion and death. Because Sundays are always little Easters, the penitential spirit of
Lent should be tempered with joyful expectation of the Resurrection.

Information Regarding the Service of Worship for Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday emphasizes a dual encounter: we confront out own mortality and confess
our sins before God within the community of faith. The form and content of the service
focus on the dual themes of sin and death in the light of God's redeeming love in Jesus
Christ.
Depending upon circumstances, this service may be held early in the morning, before the
work and school day begin; an noontime, perhaps observing fast with the deletion of the
regular noon meal; or early in the evening perhaps following a shared sacrificial meal
of bread and water.
The visual environment should be solemn and stark. Purple is the most traditional color
throughout Lent; but on Ash Wednesday gray, with its suggestion of ashes, is especially
appropriate. Dark earth colors or any somber hues are also appropriate. Rough, coarse
textures such as burlap – sackcloth and ashes – suggest the character of the day and
season.
The use of ashes as a sign of mortality and repentance has a long history in Jewish and
Christian worship, the Imposition of Ashes can be a powerful nonverbal and experiential
way of participating in the call to repentance and reconciliation. This practice is the
historic focus of Ash Wednesday observance and gave the day its name. It is traditional
to save the palm branches from the previous Passion/Palm Sunday service and burn
them ahead of time to produce the ashes for the service.

Taken from The United Methodist Book of Worship, Fourteenth Printing, 2003, Nashville, The UnitedMethodist Publishing House. Pgs 320-321.