Some people don’t mind getting in a car and just driving, with no actual destination in mind, no arrival target time to hit. Where they are going is not nearly as important as what happened along the way. They want to know “What are we doing now?” Others like to have a plan. They don’t start moving until they know where they are headed. The journey is the process that gets them to the ultimate destination. They want to know “Where are we going?”

Many of us probably fall in between those two extremes. I admit. I am a “Where are we going?” kind of girl and I want to know “How are we going to get there?” Once I know where we are headed I can break down all the steps needed to actually get there. It’s how I’m wired.

I believe in the life of the church, it’s important to err on the side of “Where are we going? There are too many precious resources the organization is asked to take care of and too many people searching for something for the church not to be clear on what it’s supposed to be doing and how it’s going to do it. In other words, we need to have a clear sense of mission and vision.

Boone UMC, I’m exited to say, we have both of those. This past Saturday, around 70leaders from across the church came together to talk about the next year in the life of the church. We were reminded by the Vision team that our mission the church has been striving to accomplish for a couple of years isloving our community and inviting all to discover life in Christ. But then the Vision team shared the vision statement that they have been working on all last year. After pressing pause to navigate a change in Senior Pastors, it’s time to roll out the vision for the whole church to begin to learn and be guided by. A vision paints a picture of a preferred future. The vision for Boone UMC is thatall will be deeply transformeddisciples living for the transformation of hearts, the Church, our community and the world.This is what we are striving to do over the next 5 years or so. To become a community where everyone recognizes the transformation within themselves that following Jesus has brought about. That sounds super exiting to me!

So if we know where we are going than how are we going to get there? That’s what the other part of Saturday was about. Our approach is a very bottom up and organic process. Instead of a handful of leaders telling everyone in the church this is what we are going to do, we have instead cast the vision and pointed the way and then we asked each of our ministry teams to identify what is their piece of the Vision pie. What is their puzzle piece that they can contribute. Each of our ministry committees and teams spent some time identifying 1-3 goals that they can do to help our church align to our vision. It was so exciting to hear the ideas from groups like our Worship and Mission Team as well as our Trustees and Nominations and everyone else that was present. We had 14 different groups represented! Our Administrative Council will keep tabs with our church leaders and we’ll see how they are progressing with their goals. Then 10 months from now we will take time to celebrate the new things that have happened. And along the way we will help each other get unstuck if a stumbling block has hampered progress. But together we will begin to align our resources, focus our energy, and begin to make decisions that move our congregation towards becoming transformed disciples living for the transformation of hearts, the Church, our community and the world, by loving our community and inviting all to discover life in Christ!

One exciting thing that began on Saturday was the introduction of VOMO, a volunteer sign up app that our church is now using. We also introduced this to our whole congregation on Sunday morning. We are excited to have a new way in which our church folks can sign up for service opportunities so that we don’t have to depend on pulpit and bulletin announcements to share these opportunities with you. But let me address a concern that we have heard. VOMO’s policy (which we have in writing) is thatthey do not share data with outside companies, there are no ads on their platform, and they have no third-party vendors who have access to any user data. Your email address is safe with them. We would never share your information without that promise.

So we hope that you will respond to the email invitation our congregation received on Sunday morning so that you can sign up and see at your fingertips the various ways you can share your own time and talents. It’s pretty easy to do. You can either download the free app by responding to the link on the email in your inbox (might have to check the spam folder), download the VOMO app on your smart phone or you can go to VOMO.org on your computer. Click on “Join Your Organization” and enter the code BOONEUMC (all caps, no spaces.). Please join our congregation in using this app so we can make it easy to point folks towards the many ways our church loves its community and nurtures transformed disciples who are serving others faithfully.

This is going to be an exciting year in the life of our church. Our leadership left here energized about the future. We believe that our whole congregation will begin to feel that energy and excitement as we all begin to see where it is we are going and how we are going to get there. Even those of you who aren’t looking for a destination point. To be part of a church that has clear direction and purpose is the chance to see the Holy Spirit at work. And the Holy Spirit is doing some amazing things through the body of Boone UMC.

Let’s be God’s vessel this year and be part of the transformation. I promise, this journey will be quite a ride!

Grace and Peace,

Lory Beth

I’ve decided to try to use my blog in 2019 as a way of sharing signs of hope and good news so every other blog or so will be about lifting up examples I find of people doing a good thing. Today I want to start with an interesting story I heard about the Dave Matthew’s Band. I have loved this group for over 20 years but didn’t know Dave’s story. His parents are South African and his father was a professor at UVA. He died when Dave was young so his mother decided to move back to South Africa for support where he grew up during the last breaths of Apartheid. When he was called up to serve in the South African military, he decided he did not want to support the racist government, so he returned to Charlottesville, VA instead. He then went on to make it in the music industry but not after playing in dives all across Charlottesville.

So when the white supremacists targeted Charlottesville in 2017 a friend called Dave, who was in South Africa at the time, and told him what he had witnessed. He said he had seen the riots and witnessed the death of Heather Heyer. It broke Dave’s heart. He and his band decided to respond by offering a concert for Charlottesville where he was able to bring together some amazing artists to bring healing to the community.

Stop focusing on the negative all around us. Focus on the positive. To focus on the examples of doing good in the midst of our brokenness. To be bearers of light and hope in the hopes that it will inspire all of us to look for our own opportunities to make a positive impact and flip the tables of something hurtful, harmful or destructive into something hopeful, life giving and Kingdom worthy.

Butthat wasn’t enough. He felt called to do more. Even though he no longer lived in Charlottesville he spent some time there and his band figured out that they could impact that community best by helping improve low-income housing. So they held two special concerts at the end of their concert tour in 2018 and have dedicated part of those proceeds plus more money they are donating as well as their management company (also originated in Charlottesville) in order to earmark $5 Million to re-imagine public housing in Charlottesville. They are going to renovate all 376 housing units. Every single one of them. Plus they are going to build some new units. This funding is just the beginning of this project but how amazing it is to me that this famous person did so much more than host a benefit concert. He actually took the time to look around and offer to do something tangible and specific. To get involved. And to share some of his valuable resources. (By the way that band has given away more than $40 Million!) You can read more about this here:Dave Matthews Band.

I am struck by the observations Dave Matthews shared when he came back to America after living under a blatantly racist order of life in South Africa. Much to his disappointment he said every where he looked he was faced with racism but the difference was here, it went unnamed and by too many, unrecognized. That was over 20 years ago. So when this opportunity to do something about it came along, he did.

I am also struck by their generosity. It is not lost on me that while they have given away over $40 Million, they are still popular musicians, on tour, able to continue to generate resources. God is still blessing them while they choose to share generously with others. Blessings upon blessings. And that is a sign of God’s economy which it looks like that band has figured out and is living into. For that I am grateful.

I know most of us do not have access to $5 Million we can use to help right an injustice, or better resource a good cause, or start something new to meet an unmet need. But that doesn’t mean we are off the hook to do nothing. If nothing else, we can tell this story and share good news about the good things people are doing in our world. We can keep telling the stories until we figure it out and have one of our own to tell. Or maybe you do have a story of good news to tell. Share it with me so I can share it with others!

In the mean time, will you join me in being bearers of Good News this year? Stop focusing on the negative all around us. Focus on the positive. To focus on the examples of doing good in the midst of our brokenness. To be bearers of light and hope in the hopes that it will inspire all of us to look for our own opportunities to make a positive impact and flip the tables of something hurtful, harmful or destructive into something hopeful, life giving and Kingdom worthy.

Grace and Peace,

Lory Beth

I discovered some new Christmas songs this year that I downloaded and added to my Christmas play list. One of them was a version of Auld Lang Syne by The Tenors. It forced me to listen to the lyrics in ways I confess I just hadn’t before. Part of it is I didn’t really know what the title phrase that is repeated what feels like hundreds of times throughout the song even means. It’s a Scottish song that poet Robert Burns captured some of the language from the oral tradition of some old timers and then added his own words in 1788. The song title translates as “long, long ago” or “old times”. Hence why it has traditionally been sung at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve.

The song basically starts out asking should we forget about old times? And then the chorus answers its own question by saying no, we should toast and remember days gone by. However what struck me this time was how it said we should do that. It wasn’t just clank your glasses and say cheers and then bottoms up. It invites us to “take a cup of kindness”. I listened to The Tenors sing that to me all Christmas season and it imprinted on me.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

As I reflected back on this year which is my usual practice in my journal on New Year’s Eve, there were some memorable moments but if I’m being quite honest and including our political landscape, there has been much to turn one’s back on in 2018 and hope for much better in the coming year. This has not been our brightest shining moment on the world platform. It has also not been the brightest shining moment personally for me and Greg.

While we said goodbye to one long time furry baby in our family this year, a few months later we welcomed a great new kitty cat to our family. We also went through the very difficult act of picking up one’s life and moving. While we love our new church and community we have entered, it is still hard to leave friends and home and carve a new niche in a new community. Maybe I was feeling that as Christmas approached and I pulled out Christmas decorations that in the condo I knew exactly where to put it but in the new parsonage, I had to find new places and configurations for my Christmas trinkets. The same is true for me and Greg finding our place in the community. Throw in a few health concerns and some job and financial stress it’s no wonder we are looking forward hopefully to 2019 and not fondly backward to 2018.

I think for all of the above reasons, the line “take a cup of kindness” struck me. When I look around, I think we could all use a cup of kindness. Believe me, I am completely cognizant that the things I reflect on pale in comparison to what some people are facing. And in a time in our country where our default feels like it fallsto self-interest, or division and creating enemies to battle against, or ignoring decorum in order to upset the status quo no matter the costs I think a cup of kindness is in tall order.

So I figure if I am longing to receive a cup of kindness than it should be my goal to do my very best to offer a cup of kindness to anyone in my sphere of influence. I would argue that Jesus’ version of this line is:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. – Luke 6:31NIV

A simple plea as we start the new year. While we shouldn’t forget old times, they are
what shapes us and forms us into who we are, we don’t have to dwell on them. Own them. Acknowledge them. Relish those that make you smile. Move on from those that don’t. Take a cup of kindness, especially as balm for those tender places, and look ahead to what is in store for you yet to be experienced.

God’s Blessings and Abundant Kindnesses in 2019,

Lory Beth

We are in that season where it feels like more hours of darkness in the day than we have of light. Throw in a little cloudy weather and we really feel the darkness all around us literally and figuratively. And yet, this is a season that fights that darkness with Christmas lights strung around our houses, trees on the inside and the out, even on some of our sweaters and necklaces! We are longing for light in this season of darkness and some of us will look anywhere to find it. One of the themes of Advent is Jesus is the light breaking into our surrounding darkness. We read it in the Old Testament prophesies and Psalms implying what Jesus’ birth will bring:

Restore us, God!
Make your face shine so that we can be saved!

– Psalm 80:3 CEB

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
On those living in a pitch-dark land, light has dawned.

-Isiah 9:2 CEB

The sun will no longer be your light by day,
nor will the moon shine for illumination by night.
TheLordwill be your everlasting light;
your God will be your glory.

-Isiaah 60:19 CEB

We read it in the birth narratives found in the Gospels:

Zechariah says: “Because of our God’s deep compassion,
the dawn from heaven will break upon us,to give light to those who are sitting in darknessand in the shadow of death”

-Luke 1:78-79 CEB

Simeon says: “You prepared this salvation in the presence of all peoples.
It’s a light for revelation to the Gentilesand a glory for your people Israel.”

-Luke 2:31-32- CEB

The Wise Men: “…the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the child was.When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. They entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother. Falling to their knees, they honored him.“
-Matthew 2:9-11 CEB

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

– John 1:5 NRSV

We sing about it in our Advent and Christmas songs:

O little town of Bethlehem,

How still we see the lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by;

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee to-night.

(Angels from the Realm of Glory)

Shepherds in the field abiding,

Watching o’er your flocks by night,

God with man is now residing;

Yonder shines the infant Light:

And of course:

Silent night, holy night,

Son of God, love’s pure light

Radiant beams from thy holy face,

With the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

The question is, how do we not only enjoy the light Jesus brings into our own lives but how can we help reflect some of that bright Jesus light towards others? Our Lord knows our world needs a little reflection.

I hope those beyond the Boone UMC community can find a way to be light for someone or some group around you. I am pleased to offer an opportunity for all of those who will be worshipping at Boone UMC for Christmas Eve or this Sunday. Most of us still remember the crazy amount of rain that Hurricane Florence brought to our North Carolina Coast. But most of us have moved on, especially up here in the mountains. Our Christmas Eve offering is going to be given to Swansboro United Methodist Church in the NC coastal town of Swansboro.

Let me share with you how we connected and what their need is. While I was serving Sharon UMC in Charlotte (now SouthPark Church!) there was a chaplain there who came and worshipped at our church. She ended up moving to the coast a few years ago. My phone rang this past October and she asked if we could help in any way. Swansboro UMC had been doing the typical Methodist response by serving that devastated community after Hurricane Florence had done its sigfnicant damage. They provided emergency supplies, food and water to those in need as well as worked to cut trees down and provide tarps on damaged roofs. What rooms they had that were undamaged in their church they opened up to the community to use. The damage done to this small town of 3200 is going to require a long season of recovery.

In November I received a letter from the their pastor, Rev. Scott Dodson. He shared with me that while they have continued to respond to the needs of their community, their own church received difficult news when their own damage was assessed. They had considerable flood damage and they have $448,000 worth of damage that insurance will not cover. $448,000!!!

Considering most of their members experienced their own damage to personal property and many folks have been displaced either temporarily or permanently, the challenge of recovery is amplified.

And this is our opportunity to be light. When Pastor Scott and Chaplain Tammy asked for help I realized our Christmas Eve offering was a great opportunity that while we are celebrating the joy and generosity of this season in our own lives and those we love that we could also simultaneously remember a community struggling against the darkness of recovery from historic damage from Hurricane Florence. A sister church who continues to fulfill the mission to love God and love neighbor even when they need a little love themselves. Could we send a message of prayer and love from across the state? By the way, our youth group has already stepped by raising funds at their Christmas party last week to donate!

I hope you will plan to give generously to this need. As you consider all that you have spent on Christmas as a family this year, can offering aid to Swansboro UMC be a way to counter balance our at times excessive Christmas spending? Could this be a tangible way to be light shining in Jesus’ name into a little bit of the darkness that pushes in?

May all of us find ways to be light this Christmas season shining brightly just as Jesus has done for us. May we remember that our generosity can be the gift that changes a life or brings hope when hope has been trampled on. May we never get so self focused that we fail to lend a hand to a brother or sister in need. May you think about the Swansboro community and the members of the church and want to help out as if they were our own neighbor. Can you imagine if it was our church how it would feel to have an unknown sister church from afar respond with generous gifts? That sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it?

Advent Blessings,

Lory Beth

I know we are all finding a minute or two this week to do a gratitude check. But today I am feeling overwhelmingly grateful. Today Greg and I celebrate our 20th Wedding Anniversary! It feels like yesterday when we got married at First UMC Asheboro that beautiful November day. I think that time does go quickly when you are with someone who so complements your life and makes you laugh and goes the extra mile (literally, in his car, every single work day!) to love and support you. So today, that is what I’m feeling the most grateful for, my amazing husband Greg.

But this year, I have many things to name. I won’t go through them. Because they mean so much to me does not mean they mean anything to you. But I hope you will recite your own list. What I will say is that as I reflect on my life right now, I am in such a different place than in years past. The best way I know to sum it up is that when I teach Spiritual Gifts and you are operating out of the way God has gifted you than I use the metaphor of the “sweet spot” of a tennis racket. When you hit the ball in the sweet spot it feels just perfect, the ball goes right where you aim it to go and there is no jolt or vibration felt in your hand. That sweet spot is small so one has to hit it just right.

If I were actually playing tennis I would be unbelievably frustrated since that is one of the sports I struggle playing. Because I am much better at finding the “dead spot” of the racket when hitting the tennis ball. You know that place. Where the racket jars your wrist all the way up to your shoulder and the ball bounces off the top of the racket in the wrong place. Which of course, sends it over the fence so you have to go chase it. (Racquetball anyone? Much less frustrating for me!) That dead spot where the ball doesn’t spring off the racket with power and force, but ricochets carelessly losing momentum by the second.

But right now in life, it feels like I’m finding the sweet spot of my racket. Finally. And I am thankful. Unbelievably thankful. Now, that doesn’t mean everything is perfect. That would be heaven or utopia and not every day life. But in this season in my life, I am feeling profound gratitude for each day. For a life in ministry that gives meaning and that allows me to use the gifts God gave me to in turn help other people use the gifts God gave them. Ahh, sweet spot. To see the Holy Spirit move in people’s lives so they are transformed, new, forgiven or compassionate disciples. Ahh, sweet spot. To see a church embrace Jesus’ call to love all people, especially those on the fringes and to love them in an empowering and “we all have our stuff” kind of way, not a “I am better than you and will show you how to do it” kind of way. Ahh, sweet spot. To look out the back window of the parsonage and see the mountains sprawl before me reminding me this is one of the most beautiful places in North Carolina. Ahh, sweet spot. To feel the love from my husband, two sweet kitties, and my dear family that has stood by me and the good and bad of my life’s adventures. Ahh, sweet spot. For unbeleivable friends who have been traveling the excrutiatnily difuclt path of mininstry and life together for 10+ years now and without whom I’m not sure I’d even be able to hold a racket let alone hit the ball. Ahh, sweet spot.

So yes, this Thanksgiving, I will name very deliberately the many sweet spots in my life. The things that are of great blessing, no longer jarring my body or spirit but instead for this season of life are operating smoothly. I will not take them for granted for I know that the sweet spots can be replaced with the “dead spots” of the racket in a heartbeat. And life is a rhythm that naturally swings with ups and downs. So as the world around me rocks and rolls as it has been doing of late in perplexing and disturbing rhythms, I am so thankful I can bring the focus to that which immediately surrounds me and find a bit more stability and predictability and quite frankly, see Jesus more clearly. Ahh, anotehr sweet spot. Thank you to those around my little orbit who reflect the love and life of Jesus. This world needs it so badly right now so shine on!

It’s Thanksgiving. What are your “sweet spots”? Do they know? Name them. Acknowledge them. Give thanks for them. Relish them. And most importantly, keep swinging.

Grace and Peace,

Lory Beth