Making All Things New

Last week we talked about what it meant to invite people to come home after being in exile and this week we will be talking about what it means to make all things new.  As you read through Ezra and Nehemiah you may have noticed that there is a lot to be made new: from the broken down walls to the broken relationship between God and God’s people.  And neither Ezra nor Nehemiah are too shy to tell the people all about it.  In fact they are calling for renewal or “making new” that partners both a spiritual and physical renewal of God’s people.  There are walls to rebuild, there is a Temple to resurrect, but there also is a covenant (promised relationship) to reestablish.  And although we might want to quickly declare the walls, the physical renewal and the covenant, the spiritual renewal: I’m not too sure we can make such a quick distinction.  When both Ezra and Nehemiah looked throughout the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah they saw brokenness and I believe the walls were pointing to a greater spiritual reality that not only included the mess of individual lives, but also major issues of injustice.  The people have been oppressed, the poor have been mistreated, and suddenly it is time for God’s people do something about it.  So as we are finishing Ezra and Nehemiah I can’t help but hear the voice of God saying, “Where do you see brokenness?”  A brokenness that is both personal (mess of our individual lives) but also a brokenness that is systemic (social issues in our community, city, nation and world).  Our God is a God of renewal, holistic renewal that incorporates the physical and the spiritual, the social and the emotional, the communal and the individual.  Maybe I am so stuck on renewal because a team of pastors and lay leaders from Shiloh traveled this week to Annual Conference.  Over 3000 United Methodist from The West Ohio Conference gathered to be reminded that we are participating in God’s work to make all things new.  And as we looked around the room we saw examples of the Holy Spirit moving through regular folks to bring a spirit of renewal to churches throughout Ohio and the world.  There are relationships to be repaired, there are walls to be built, there is a worship of God to be reignited and we at Shiloh get to be a part of God’s kingdom work right-here right now.  When I think about the power of God to renew communities I think about Price Hill and Delhi - even though each is unique- brokenness abounds.  We see it in people’s faces, we see it in our streets, it may be called different things, but the reality is God is calling forth a renewal-a making of all things new- and God is asking us to be a part of it all!  So I wonder what do you see?  What brokenness can you name?  And how will you be a part of God’s healing power to make all things new?  I am convinced more than ever that our world is hungry, we are hungry for a spiritual and social awakening like our nation has never seen-so how can we be a part of the kingdom movement that God is birthing in our midst?

Blessings, 

Pastor Rachel 

Coming Home

Throughout the next several weeks many of us will find ourselves coming home.  Coming home from college, coming home to visit,  and even some will find ourselves coming home to church because we’ve been gone for a little while.  If you have been engaging in this week’s Bible reading (2 Chronicles 35-Nehemiah 6), you realize much of what the Bible is talking about is just that: coming home.

For nearly 40 years the southern kingdom of Judah has been in exile.  After the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in 587 BC, many of the people (except for the poor) were taken to the capital city of Babylon and forced to serve the kings of Babylon.  While in Babylon, God’s people face the threat of losing their identity through cultural assimilation.  But as the Babylonian empire weakens, the Israelites have a chance to return to Jerusalem.  Nearly 40 years have passed when they arrive in Jerusalem.  The walls have been destroyed, the temple is in ruins, and basically the whole place needs a restart.  This isn’t exactly what you want to see when you return home.  And then there are all of the fears: fears of invading nations, fears of war, and fears of returning to exile.  It’s in this atmosphere of instability and chaos that we enter the stories of Ezra and Nehemiah.  Now some fun facts about Ezra and Nehemiah, originally they were one book.  In fact, for years of Christian history they were considered Ezra 1 and 2 it wasn’t until the Protestant Reformation that they began to be divided into separate books, Ezra and Nehemiah.  Although the books were written at different times in history, their content focuses on the restoration the city of Jerusalem.  

The themes of Ezra and Nehemiah include rebuilding the temple, rejecting marriages to foreign women, reestablishing regular practices of worship, rebuilding the walls of the city of Jerusalem, and reclaiming the Torah (first five books of the Bible) as central to faith and the worship of God. There are a lot of fears to overcome, and rebuilding doesn’t come without opposition, but with faith, God’s people are able to restore the Temple and the entire city of Jerusalem.  Even though these two books are very small, they have a large impact on the identity of God’s people and how they relate back to God. The religious practices laid out in Ezra and Nehemiah and emphasis of Temple/ Torah become the foundation for Jewish worship for the next several hundred years.     

Ezra and Nehemiah are books of hope, reminding us that it is never too late to return home.  It is never too late to return to God.  This week I want to challenge you to think of a time in your life when you were exiled (from family, from faith, from God, from church).  Sometimes exile happens because of our choices, other times it happens because of the decisions of others, but what was that time in your life like?  How did you return home?  Are you still trying to return?  You can make your way back home.  God is ready; are you? 

Blessings, 

Pastor Rachel 

Celebrating 10 Years of Prayer Ministry

It’s amazing what has happened throughout the world over the last ten years: our world has seen tsunamis, hurricanes, super storms, wars, genocide, and a ever turning economy.  We’ve been witness to positive changes in the AIDS epidemic, miracle developments in drugs to treat cancers, the rise of the technology, and continued fight against world-wide poverty.  As we think about our individual lives, a lot of changes have happened for us as well: careers, relationships, children, family, celebrations and even deaths.  A lot can happen in a decade!  But this decade has been marked by more than just the ups and downs of life, it has been marked with prayer.  

For the last ten years, Shiloh United Methodist Church’s Prayer Team has been lifting up the prayers of not only our church family but many throughout our community, city, nation, and world.  Countless hours have been spent interceding at the throne of God on behalf of those looking for answers to their many prayers.  Each time a person asks for prayer whether they write it on the blue cards at church, email the church office, tell it to a member of the prayer ministry, or otherwise get it to us, that petition is prayed for every single day by one of the 50 members on the prayer team.  So this weekend, June 1st and 2nd we are going to celebrate the power of prayer in worship!  A decade of prayers lifted and prayers answered (although we don’t always like the answer) by our good and faithful God! 

Church there is power in prayer and this weekend we are going to celebrate it! 

Blessings, 

Pastor Rachel 

God, What Can I Do?

Before I opened a newspaper, prior to turning on the news, my Facebook was bombarded with messages of prayer and support for the people of Oklahoma.   On Monday afternoon an EF4 tornado ripped through parts of Oklahoma leaving a path of destruction 17 miles long and 2 miles wide.  Already 24 people are confirmed dead and 9 of those are children, hundreds of others have been injured, houses have been destroyed, businesses totally demolished and even a hospital is beyond repair.  And even though we have instant access to knowing that people are in need, it still begs the question, "What can I do?"  In light of such massive destruction and devastation, "What can we do?"  Even though the immediate moments after a natural disaster are critical ones, it is important for us to know as the church, to know as the body of Christ, what we can do.  Let me give you some simple solutions:

1. PRAY-always, everywhere lifting those up affected by the devastation
2. GIVE-UMCOR-United Methodist Committee on Relief
3. SERVICE-there are always opportunities to work with our church or other churches to serve those devastated by natural disasters.  And in the following months we will keep you posted on service opportunities.

This weekend we will be taking a special offering for UMCOR, The United Methodist Committee on Relief.  UMCOR is a world-wide relief organization of our United Methodist Church that responds immediately to crisis, including this crisis in Oklahoma.  Every dollar that you give to UMCOR goes straight to the relief organization on the ground.  Look for special envelopes in your bulletins (checks made out to UMCOR) or visit UMCOR's website to give: www.umcor.org/UMCOR/Resources/News-Stories/2013/May/0521-After-Moore-Tornado and click on donate.


We are the church, the body of Christ, and we can help.

Blessings,
Pastor Rachel

WeShare

We are claiming this community and the city of Cincinnati for Jesus Christ!  In order to partner with God to accomplish God’s vision, we need to invest in that vision through our service, our passion, and our resources.  I am amazed by the faithful commitment of this church to the vision that God has set before us.  Frankly, you all are my heroes!  As we celebrate Pentecost this week, we are reminded that the church is not a building, the church is the people!  We are the church!  As we continue to invest our service, passion, and resources, I want to tell you of a new way we can invest our resources into Shiloh United Methodist Church.  Our Finance Committee, along with our Financial Secretaries and Accountant, has given us a new opportunity to give to Shiloh.  This new opportunity is called WeShare.  WeShare is an online giving system that is safe and allows you to give to Shiloh as you feel lead by God.  There are a couple of ways that you can give through WeShare.  The first is online: just go to www.shilohumc.com and click on the graphic WeShare.   You will be instructed on how to give to We Share.  For those who do not have internet access, you also can contact Allan Evans at 513-941-6694 for more information about electronic giving.  

We recognize not everyone wants to invest in Shiloh this way, so if this is not something you are interested in, don’t worry.   This is not the only way to give to Shiloh.  Being a generous disciple of Jesus Christ is about your service, your passion, and your resources.  So thank you for your continued investment in God’s movement right here on the westside of Cincinnati.  

Blessings, 

Pastor Rachel   

A Letter to My Mom

This weekend we will celebrate Mother’s Day, a day first celebrated in 1908.  It is a day we remember mothers, biological, adoptive, and even spiritual mothers, women who have helped us become who we are today.  Truly it’s a day we we celebrate the most precious women in our lives.  And so I wanted to share with you just how precious and how celebrated my mother is in my life.

Dear Mom, 

Your influence on my life has had a deeper impact than perhaps any other person on the face of the planet.  Your faith, your hard work, your loyalty to family has been an example to me and to my children for generations to come.  Mom I can remember being a little girl, no more than 4 or 5 years old sitting on your lap as you read to me stories from the Bible.  You would talk with me about faith.  Your faith and how you gave your life to Jesus Christ at age of 17.  You wondered out loud if you were called into ministry, perhaps even the mission field, but recognized how life choices made that all but impossible.  And I understood just how powerfully Jesus Christ had claimed your life, because when you talked about Jesus you would always cry.  Not sad tears of guilt or oppression, but joy-filled tears of eternal anticipation.  Your faith was simple, you had never read depths of 20th century theologians, but you listened to the words of modern day preachers like Billy Graham.  You made us go to church even when we didn’t want to go, even when we didn’t want to participate, and even when we questioned if we had faith at all. 

We never had tough theological debates, but I can remember pulling out the hymn book as we were washing and drying dishes talking about heaven and who would be there when we get there.  You didn’t give me sugar coated answers when I asked, “will grandpa Paul be in heaven we we die?”  And you allowed me to cry real tears of pain when I longed to see the people I loved. 

Mom I’m not saying you were perfect, because Lord knows we human beings never are.  We argued, we fought, I ran away at least three times in high school.  But even in the middle of all of that chaos, my strong will, your determination, you never stopped trying to reach out to me, to find me, and to help me find my way.  You know for a long time I didn’t think I was anything like you. You were the quiet one, the meek one, the one who struggle to speak in front of a group.  How could your daughter be anything like you, but as I raise my children, as I read to them and talk to them about my faith, I realize I’m just doing what you taught me to do, what you did with Julie, Jason, and I.  

There is no manual to motherhood, no instructional guidebook to tell me how to get it right.  But there aren’t perfect parents either.  And so as I reflect on this Mother’s Day I realize that your example and your prayers sustain me and help me to be the mother, the wife, the pastor I am called to be.  As I anticipate the birth of another child, another one of your grandchildren I am great full for your faith, as well as the faith of your mother (grandma Marie) who taught you about Jesus and led you to go to church.  My prayer is that my faith-filled legacy leads my children, grandchildren, and the generations after them to be radical disciples of Jesus Christ.  

Mom I love you, 

Rachel 

Education Matters

In his sermon On the Education of Children, the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, had this to say, “If possible, teach them [children] the love of justice, and that in the least things as well as the greatest.”  Deep within the DNA of Shiloh United Methodist Church is an understanding that God has called us to educate, empower, and equip our children to be disciples of Jesus Christ who love justice, mercy and walk humbly with their God.  Not only do we have a number of educators within our pews, but we also have a real sense that education is part of the discipleship process, both Christian education and Academic education.  We believe it is part of our responsibility to ensure that each child in our church and communities has access to and opportunity for a good academic education.    This emphasis on education is a part of our Wesleyan DNA.   John Wesley and the many Methodist leaders after him founded schools, colleges, and other training institutions as a sign of God’s love and justice in the world.  
But our investment in children and youth is not limited to our Wesleyan heritage.  It’s ignited by the promises that we make at Baptism.  Each time a child is baptized, we promise to partner with the child’s parents to help their children became a disciple of Jesus Christ.  We not only make this promise to the child and the parent, but we also make this promise to God.  So what does our commitment to education look like at Shiloh?  Well, in Delhi we partner with the Delhi Middle School for our SURGE after hours program.  There are over on average 130 kids who come to a safe place to hang out, to eat pizza, to pray, and to be a part of a healthy environment.  Every year we pass out hundreds (2012 we passed out 780) of backpacks filled with school supplies at our Shiloh Festival in August (2013-August 3rd).  Then before school starts, we have a blessing of the backpacks where all of our kids bring their packs to worship be blessed for the school year.  This year it will be the weekend of September 7-8.  And finally, for our giving tree at Christmas we partner with C.O. Harrison Elementary School to provide Christmas gifts for families in our community.  These are just some of the ways we are partnering with our children and our schools.  In Price Hill, partnering with local educational institutions will be part of the norm! From dreams of GED classes to a Day Care, we are looking for ways to really invest in the education of children, teens and adults in the East Price Hill community.  Already we are partnered with BLOC ministries and have an after school program where over 15 kids come to be invested in.   
Education matters to God and it matters to us.  So this week we have an opportunity to prayerfully consider another opportunity for us to invest in education.  On Tuesday, May 7, those who live within the Oak Hills School system will be voting on a school levy.  Although not everyone who attends Delhi or Price Hill campus‘ live within the Oak Hill’s School District, I want us to encourage one another to pray.  Pray for the School Board and Leaders and pray for the voters.  These levies come up from time to time and whether we are in the Oak Hills District, Cincinnati Public, Three Rivers, other public School Districts or have children attending private schools, we need to lift each other up in prayer.  Education Matters.  So pray for our schools this week.  

Prayerfully, 

Pastor Rachel