(For the hymn, "An Offering for Haiti,' please scroll down to the January 17, 2010 entry)
GOD REMEMBERS
September 26, 2010
I love two-fer sales, especially when they include my favorite items at Walgreens; and last Wednesday I felt like I hit the jackpot!Ten items that are usually $9.99 were only $5 each.Woohoo! I felt so good about the purchase that I tossed a gift card for a flu shot into the pile as well. Might as well share the bonus with my daughter.
The rest of my day was full of ministry, and I arrived home near dark and quite tired. I left my bag of goodies on the counter and headed for the recliner to rest my feet awhile.As the family gathered for the evening, my purchase was forgotten.
Thursday morning I awakened and hit the ground running. First, though, I needed to put up all those little sale items from the day before. Or so I thought. Among the regular priced items, none of the sale merchandise were in the bag. “Oh no!” I thought, “I can’t afford $50 down the drain!” So I called the store, working to remain calm and not make any accusations. Thankfully , I had the time-stamped receipt. The manager said, “Give me a few minutes and I’ll call you right back.”
“Mrs. Hinson,” she said in her return call, “you might want to check in your purse. The video shows the clerk rolling all those tiny items up in a small bag for you to put in your handbag where they wouldn’t get lost!” (Hey—good lipstick isn’t cheap!) And sure enough, there they were, down in the bottom of my purse in a nice neatly rolled bag. I felt awful—and thankful.Despite my good intentions, I’d make a pretty big mistake, and, thankfully, what really happened at the check-out was recorded so the one in charge could make right decisions about such things—and bring the truth to light.
I am comforted by remembering that whenever I am misunderstood, doubted, or falsely accused, there is One who always knows all the circumstances and the feelings of my heart. As Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:12, “. . .for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
--May God bless you in the week to come!
CROSSWAYS OF THE CROSS?
September 5, 2010
There’s an unfortunate misunderstanding among Christians about that admonition from Jesus that we all must “carry our cross daily.” Too often ‘the cross’ is used as a category of understanding for any kind of trouble or difficulty a person may be experiencing.
For example: there’s a co-worker who generates division in your office environment and “you must carry your cross daily”; or a health problem causes chronic discomfort and you must “carry your cross daily”; or a family member says things that hurt and you must “carry your cross daily.” While these examples do illustrate forms of irritation and discomfort, they are not what Jesus had in mind.
The cross—our cross—is a symbol of the intersection of our deepest passion for God and our sharing of God’s love for people. Our cross is our ministry in the world in the name of Jesus Christ. It is loving others—and ourselves—in Jesus’ name.
Sometimes our crosses are light and feel more like a warm embrace from God. At other times they are hard and heavy and we fear stumbling under their weight.
We may even die under their weight—but not forever!
If it is the cross of Jesus we are carrying, we shall always rise from it into newer and stronger life.
If not, we may sink into complaining, bitterness, or despair.
“For the sake of the joy that was before him,
Jesus endured the cross!”
Crosses carried in faith always lead to joy because God is faithful!
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
A BLUE SCREAM?
August 22, 2010
This past week was simply a zoo. A person came to repair my laptop—an indispensable tool in my ministry for communication and writing. The fellow admitted that he wasn’t a Dell tech, but on loan from IBM. Oh.. and he’d forgotten his phone – oh, and he’d forgotten his toolbag – oh, and he’d forgotten his password to call in to Dell to make the report, too. After two hours at my laptop, and three times taking it apart and putting it back together, he said, “Lady, the parts Dell sent are no good.” So he put the bad parts back in, and kept new ones Dell sent. While he was on the phone trying to report his findings, I turned on the computer and lo and behold, it worked just fine! “What did you do?” he asked with disbelief. “Nothing,” I said. “All I did was turn it on.”
“But what will you do with the second new part you just ordered thinking this one was broken?” I asked. “Just lie,” he said, “and keep it.”
The new part came a day or so later along with a new technician. This one bragged about how good he was as he sat down to work. “What’s wrong?” he asked. And I told him—in great detail. “But are you having a blue screen?” he asked. A blue screen? Do you mean A BLUE SCREAM? The computer was on and working fine. He hadn’t heard a word I said.
"Please, just leave, right now,” I asked. He looked at me incredulously and walked off with the SECOND new part that probably worked well, too.
Sometimes I’m amazed, simply amazed, at the how we don’t hear each other, don’t take time to process the surroundings and needs in which we find ourselves. Jesus never made that mistake. He always met people exactly where they were, and restored them to life. He never lies and he never makes mistakes. I know I can trust him when I invite him in.
SOMEONE'S LISTENING!
August 15, 2010
Husband Jerry is working on a project that I can barely pronounce, much less understand. He is coordinating "post-implementation change testing." It not only sounds foreboding, but also requires him to be in contact with folks around the world in similar situations with the company for whom he works.
Typically in this project, Jerry is on a microphone with a headset (think old Dictaphone equipment), and is communicating with people online visually via a computer screen, and vocally through a headset.
Yesterday afternoon, I was watching Jerry work as I stood by the front door waiting for the Federal Express man to leave his truck and bring a throw rug I'd ordered to the front door. Sugar the Shih Tzu was waiting attentively too, except that a sudden itch caused her to begin gnawing at a particular spot on her derriere. "Stop, that Sugar!" I exclaimed. "Stop chewing on your derriere!" Jerry looked up from his computer with a dropped jaw and sheer amazement in his eyes. My words had gone 'round the world – or at least to several foreign offices. "Do you know what you've just done? he said in disbelief – "I'm online!"
Oh, dear! Replaying my words in my mind, I can only imagine how they sounded to all my husband's invisible colleagues.
The author of the Book of Hebrews says that we believers are continually surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. What we say and believe and do is heard and seen and known. These witnesses are those who love us as members of the Body of Christ. They cheer for us and encourage us and lead us in the way. And they don't criticize, but overlook all our mistakes. They are friends and guides helping us to navigate in faith through the circumstances off our lives. Even, and perhaps especially, when distracting or difficult circumstances arise.
A TEMPLE OF NEEDS
July 31, 2010
At one minute before 8 a.m., the line to get in the St. Paul Annual Garage Sale stretched across the front porch and down the sidewalk toward the sanctuary. At fifteen minutes after 8 a.m., the line of folks with arms full of ‘finds,’ waiting to check out of the sale stretched from the kitchen area almost to the far end of the fellowship hall.
There’s a reason for that. Conroe knows that St. Paul isn’t out to wring every last penny from those who come by. In short, coming to a St. Paul garage sale is FUN. Almost everyone is surprised. Many offered us more than we were asking for items. But then, there were those visitors whose stories affirmed the legitimacy of our prayers these past few weeks—that this would be a ministry for those in need and a time of sharing our bounty with others.
A man with a crippled arm had a tear in his eye when the price of a blanket was cut in half for him. A woman with terminal cancer found something she had wanted for years—and we helped make that possible. A little boy whose parents had nothing cradled a ball and said “tanky” after one of our members gave it to him for free. A lonely lady stood and talked with members at the check out for almost 30 minutes—sharing all sorts of personal memories. A man who lost his wife less than a month ago took a few minutes to play on an instrument and spent time with several St. Paul folks. Sugar the Shih Tzu had wags for everyone and greeted all the children—and most of the adults—who also wanted to buy her! A family came at closing time and filled a huge garbage bag with clothing to send to family and friends in El Salvador. When people were allowed to fill those garbage bags for $5, we expected a sort of feeding frenzy to happen, but it did not. People still checked sizes, weighed needs and filled those bags carefully.
God was with us at this sale. It was a win-win for those who came, those who served, and those in the Conference who will receive our earnings. All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and who are called according to his purposes. The past two days showed forth the reality of those words. Thanks to all who donated, sorted, priced, and served. Your efforts have made a difference in more ways than you will ever know.
SHUNNING
July 19, 2010
I once knew a middle-aged man who believed he had been hurt by a member of his family, more than he had hurt other members. The scales of personal suffering, he believed, were overflowing in his direction. He just couldn’t see that he wasn’t alone--that families are systems and there was more than enough hurt being experienced by everyone to go around. Despite pleas and calls and notes, this man decided to take the advice of a preacher who, although lacking any formal psychological or pastoral counseling credentials, took it upon herself to advise the man: “Just ‘shun’ the family member who hurt you, and pretty soon that person will come back to you and make amends.” She set him up to be judge and jury in a family torn by hurts that had been suppressed for years.
That pastor’s advice alone betrays the level of her theological functioning, not to mention self-serving interest, as she played into the emotions of her parishioner: “Keep him happy, and the money will keep coming in!”
Hear this: a recommendation of shunning generally amounts to pastoral and theological malpractice. “Oh,” some Christians would say, “the Bible tells us to do it,” and they quote such verses as Matthew 18:15-17.
What those “Christians” are missing, of course, is their own self-righteousness and refusal to be in meaningful conversation with others, holding the love of Christ at center. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But no one, this man believed, was as hurt as him. No one had suffered like he had. No one deserved grace except him. Only he had no sin—and by george, he’d hold out with his shunning until hell froze over. And the preacher encouraged him. She successfully sealed him to her own sick theology and away from any future hope of reconciliation with his family. False prophet? A wolf in sheep’s clothing?
We need to be careful when taking psychological actions against others without psychological counsel. Jesus taught forgiveness even from the cross. There is always more than one side in family feuds, and anyone who refuses to come to a communal table in search of reconciliation is steeped in so much self-righteousness that Jesus was moved to say in a similar situation: "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you (Matthew 21:31).
Not even God shuns.
For more information on the destructive effects of shunning see:
Much of this past week I was in Houston, participating in doctoral seminars. Driving into Houston from Conroe, even at 6:30 in the morning, is a mess. Actually arriving calls for celebration; so I would stop at the Starbucks for coffee and a breakfast protein snack pack.
One morning, there was an old man, ragged, dirty, unshaven, and unkempt sitting at a small table near the cash register. He was gazing at the tabletop with a blank stare, oblivious to the customers coming and going around him. No one spoke; the man seemed like he was living dead--silent and motionless.
A wave of compassion caused me to ask the barrister: “Has that man had any breakfast?”
“Not today, he answered.” So I bought a ten dollar gift card and put it on the table in front of the man. As I waited for my coffee, he picked it up and turned it around in his hand, as if it were extraterrestrial in origin.
With my coffee made to order, and snack pack in my hand, I sat down across the room to review about 50 pages in a textbook before class. Forty-five minutes passed. The man was still holding the gift card, staring at it, completely motionless. People passed around him as if he were invisible--a stone (or stumbling block) in their way.
It was time for class. I got up to leave, glancing hopefully at the old man as I passed. Was I self-righteously longing for some acknowledgment to ease the ache in my soul?
I wonder if there are people who are so used to being at the butt end of society, who have been struggling for so long, so deadened to hope and love and compassion and community, that they can no longer recognize gifts. Or perhaps gifts aren’t what they need. Perhaps a kind word and a touch--simple acknowledgment that they are co-journeying human beings would feed their souls more than a Starbucks gift card made of plastic.
I think Jesus said something like that: “Man does not live by bread alone. . .”
If I see the man again. I’ll speak, and listen, and learn, and then buy breakfast--
not drop an anonymous “donation” on his table.
Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
CHRIST OR PILATE?
July 4, 2010
Occasionally, American Independence Day falls on a Sunday.
What is the church to do?
I read this week that when Jesus made his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, it was a very special day for a little-known reason. Jesus, and the parade of his followers, entered through a gate on one side of the city.
On the opposite side of the city,at exactly the same time,
Pontius Pilate was entering the city as the person of honor in his own parade.
There were two parades coming into Jerusalem from totally opposite directions.
As we’ve learned before, geography carries more than topographical information
in the Bible. Geography has meaning.
In this case, Jesus was entering directly opposite Pilate. His purpose was opposite Pilate’s. His methods were opposite Pilate’s, and his vision was opposite Pilate’s.
In other words, he was calling the people to make a choice
as to whom would be the supreme ruler in their lives:
Will you follow Jesus Christ, or will you follow the Pilate?
Whose parade will you attend?
Today, we call ourselves a “Christian nation,” and it is true that Christian principles and rhetoric were included in all of our founding documents. But truthfully, we still struggle between Christ and Economics, Christ and Comfort; Christ and Culture.
The parades of Christ and Pilate are still vying for our hearts.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
BRAIN SKEETERS?
June 13, 2010
The ‘skeeters were driving me crazy! I couldn’t even walk to the street to get the newspaper without my legs being covered in bites by the time I got back to the front door. But where were they coming from?
I searched around the house for standing water; in the flowerpots, around the rocks, along the driveway—even the birdbath. No standing water or larvae anywhere. “We live out in the woods and we don’t even have mosquitoes like this,” my son remarked.
And then the rain came. I walked around with an umbrella checking the gutters. They were overflowing at the corners! So Jerry climbed up on a ladder to inspect them, and sure enough, they were clogged in places with all the oak tassels that fell earlier this spring. Those little pesty mosquitoes were living like the Ritz right above our eyes, well out of sight, but affecting every moment of our time outdoors.
That’s when it occurred to me that our bad habits and mistaken thinking are a lot like mosquitoes. They originate right above our eyes, tucked safely away in the gray matter of our brains. They buzz around inside our heads manifesting themselves in everything we say and do. Flushing out those ‘brain skeeters’ can be difficult!
As Jerry ran the hose in the gutters rinsing out the offenders, I had to smile and think about the Holy Spirit working in our lives, bringing to our awareness those thoughts and habits that harm us and that are offensive to God. Theologically, we call their removal “sanctification,” but I think “brain skeeter flushing” says it in a way we understand!
Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
McCHURCH?
June 6, 2010
I believe in “signs and wonders.” Twenty-six times in the Bible they are mentioned as confirmation of the activity of God in the lives of persons or nations. They are convincing proof to observers that God is doing a new thing--that something according to the will of God is happening. Signs and wonders may be overlooked as mere natural events that arise as uncanny coincidences. It takes the indwelling Holy Spirit to see the hand of God. Some people, recognizing signs and wonders receive them fearfully, but to others, signs and wonders are glorious affirmations of God’s activity and care.
Elizabeth and I visited a counselor at Sam Houston State this past week. Before the meeting was over, he was preaching to us – he was a pastor “on the side,” and affirmed Elizabeth’s heart-felt calling to the prestigious Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I cried with joy. Next, we went to the bank to begin a savings account to pay for the additional 60+ hours the degree will cost.
Do you know what the banker’s name who helped us was?
Mr. McChurch!
I laughed. “You don’t happen to be a pastor, too?” I asked.
“No,” he replied – but I used to be. Now I help people this way.”
We left the bank convinced that God was opening a door
for Elizabeth. It will be tough, financially, but if God is for her, who can be against her? I am very grateful!
Please keep Elizabeth in your prayers.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
May 30 - Pastor Hinson on Vacation
GOD TEXTING
May 23, 2010
There was a time when persons who thought they knew it all tried to silence the crowds who were praising Jesus. You remember what the Lord said in reply:
“If you silence these, then the rocks will cry out!”
God will not be put in a box or on a leash.
God will do whatever is necessary for the truth to be heard. Talking donkeys, rocks that cry out, burning bushes—God who authored this created order can utilize any part of it to display the truth or to communicate with his people.
Just a week or so ago, a member of this church so longed for a word from God—a sign or a comforting presence to give him direction.
A young member of his family hearing that heartfelt need expressed during a visit
to Dallas, began praying for her grandfather.
What a touching event that must have been.
In the long car ride back home to Conroe, the familiar sound of a text message coming in alerted the man’s daughter, who was driving. The man has his own cell, but told me, “I wouldn’t know anything about that text messaging stuff!”
But God surely does!
On the screen of his daughter’s phone was the comforting verse,
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Immediately they called back to Dallas to see if someone there had sent the message. No one had. Not even that granddaughter.
It came out of the blue.
Right.
We know where it came from!
Prayers were answered. That man’s heart was galvanized by the experience.
Knowing one is known by God is more than manna from heaven.
It is an umbilical cord to life;
it is a gift of the Spirit.
Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
GOD WATCHING
May 16, 2010
The bronze Impala was jumping the curb on the feeder, crossing lanes, and I feared its driver was drunk and would enter the southbound I-45 freeway.
Instead, as I pulled closer, I saw an elderly woman driving, peering over the steering wheel. She didn’t enter the freeway, but turned in to the the WalMart at HW 242.
Two parking places next to Willie’s were open and she could not manage to park her car using both of the two spaces.
I tried to flag a security guard, and while attempting to convince him of her plight, I lost her from view, so I sped off searching for her. In a few minutes, another woman drove up beside me and said, “Are you the one who was looking for that woman who was driving funny? I know where she is!” She drove me to the woman, who had parked at a nearby restaurant and was still in her car.
I pulled in front of the Impala, blocking it. The lady waved at me to move, but I wouldn’t. Instead, I called the sherriff and asked the person who answered to stay on the phone while I tried to talk to her.
God bless us all!
Her husband was out of town on a business trip, she had a medication problem, and had tried to drive in all the way from Tomball.
The sherrif sent an ambulance and an officer was soon on the way to give her the assistance she needed.
Thank God for that lady who was watching me trying to watch her.
But most of all, thank God, who was watching all of us,
and who directs our paths
if we will listen.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
MOTHER'S DAY
May 9, 2010
You taught me how to love you by
The way that you loved me;
And by your unseen sustenance,
To see what you could see.
You gave to me through who you were
The gift of what I am.
Your pride in me is now my pride;
Your faith, my caravan.
Your life does not conclude with death,
Nor will it end with mine,
For all the lives I touch, you touch,
And so on through all time.
--Nicholas Gordon
WALLS OF REALITY
May 2, 2010
The Central Building at Lakeview Methodist Conference Center has a huge windowed wall looking from the hill down over the lake.
I’d estimate that wall to be 20’ high and probably 80’ wide. The view is beautiful.
The Charis group (spiritual director trainees) met there this past Thursday-Saturday.
At every break for reflection, I’d go sit near the window wall and look out at the racing clouds and the wind dancing on the water. During one rest, I kept hearing a buzzing noise, then a thump—a buzzing noise, then thump!
I surveyed the windows trying to find the source.
The largest bee I’d ever seen was outside trying to get in. I guess the creature couldn’t perceive the glass, only the area inside where it wanted to go. I wondered—could bees could get headaches? This one would need a double dose of Excedrin before long!
Reality has limits.
Like that bee, we sometimes see things we want that are beyond our grasp.
We can beat ourselves silly physically, emotionally, psychologically,
and spiritually as we bounce off the walls of reality.
We can drive ourselves into debt, fail to establish priorities, and believe ourselves immune to moral codes.
God has established the boundaries of holiness and the reality in which relationships between God and humans are possible.
We can bang our heads against that wall, trying to have things ‘our way,” but the result will not be peace and assurance, it will be anxiety, defensiveness, and at last defeat.
Freedom and peace come through life in Christ, led by the Spirit!
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
USUAL MINISTERS
April 25, 2010
“I was out working in the yard,” the senior lady told me, “and a voice came to me as clear as a bell. I kept on working but it kept coming and wouldn’t go away. It said I needed to give the seed money to start a class for autistic people at church.”
A young woman had come to worship one Sunday whose mannerisms were a bit “different.” A few folks whispered and stared and it had upset the senior lady. “Please don’t do that!” she had warned the others. “I’m sure that this young woman is just autistic; that’s the way they are – they just do what is in their minds
and they can’t help it.”
As the senior lady shared with me what happened, I couldn’t help but beam with joy, even as a tear came to my eyes. When my son was born with autism, people believed, at first, he would “grow out of it.” Only gradually did they realize the permanence of his condition. At that time, churches didn’t welcome people with disabilities. It was hard, and heartbreaking. Some witnessed our pain—like this senior lady.
And they did not forget.
Years later, in a large church over a thousand miles away, a new class designed especially for people with autism is being funded because a little boy—now a man who rubs his head entirely too much—made a difference simply by living and loving Jesus; and because a lady who remembered still loves him.
Most ministers are not clergy.
They are followers of Jesus who hear his voice and obey.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
GRACE
April 18, 2010
Last Thursday my daughter had a wreck in her car. She’s twenty-five, and it’s the first accident she’s been in while driving. She was terrified!
When I arrived home, there was a police officer parked by the driveway. With an ominous feeling, I parked my car and headed for the back door. That’s when I saw Elizabeth’s wrecked vehicle, and so I turned and walked over to talk to the officer. “She seems to be a real nice girl,” the officer said, “and I know she must have been trying to get around that big garbage can and forgot to look the other way.” Then he gave me some pointers on the best way to help my daughter handle the situation. Since her record was clear, she would be able to take defensive driving.
But that doesn’t pay for the damage to her car.
“Mom,” she cried, “I was just hired on full time and now I will have to pay for all this.”
“Let’s reframe that,” I said, “God has provided a way for you to do the right thing!
And I hope you will recognize that. It will take several months,
but you can do it—and feel good about it, too.”
It’s called grace. God did provide for a way for Elizabeth to have what she would need to do the right thing.
Grace – the officer was brimming over with it when he led us through the process and complimented Elizabeth on being a nice person.
Grace – Auto Pro pointed her to a body shop that would be honest and fair.
Grace – the people whose car Elizabeth hit told her, “Don’t worry, these things happen. It will work out.”
Grace -- by definition it is “unmerited favor” – a blessing undeserved.
Grace – the nature of God’s everlasting love for us; a promise from God that we can count on forever.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
BLUEBIRD LESSON
April 11, 2010
The bluebirds began nesting in earnest this week. Momma spends most of her time in the birdhouse and Pappa goes and comes bringing food. This means that eggs have been laid and within a few weeks I’ll see baby bluebirds.
It’s curious. Last year, I could whistle a special whistle and the bluebirds would fly to a nearby tree, anxious for their mealworms which I placed in a little tray on the birdhouse pole. This year, when I realized the eggs had been laid, I quickly drove to Wild Birds Unlimited and bought some mealworms so Pappa wouldn’t have to work so hard. I filled the tray and whistled again and again. But no bird came. I remember my own father telling me that bluebirds will return to the same box year after year.
I wondered. Was it the same birds from last year in the box, now?
Or was it their offspring?
It will take a while for these birds to learn to come when there is food in the tray.
I couldn’t help but think of the church. Knowing “where” to go for a safe place to raise one’s young is not the same as recognizing the voice of the One whom we pray will feed their hearts and souls. Knowledge of locations, recognition of church buildings is not the same as being fed as a Christian.
Locations can be passed on to the next generation by maps and memories;
but recognizing the voice of the Lord must be discovered anew by each generation.
We can point the way,
but we cannot open ears and hearts.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
EASTER ALL AROUND
April 4, 2010
For the past few weeks I’ve spent some time every day walking around the yard, holding and observing the glorious changes in the budding branches of azaleas, dogwood, elm, birch, maple and oaks. I’ve watched the bluebirds return, the hummingbirds arrive, the butterflies begin their search for flowers, and the red wasps seeking places to build their nests. The coming of new life, the bursting of the binding of winter is so much routine for humans, however, that many people take it for granted. The Apostle Paul knew that the nature of God is reflected in all parts of the Creation. He wrote in the Book of Romans: “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even God’s eternal power. . .”
All that surrounds us in the natural world is for us a “Children’s Sermon” of sorts. God uses all things God created to show us the reality of eternal life. New life doesn’t just happen “out there” in nature – it happens in our hearts and beyond our dying seasons of winter, as well. Thanks be to Jesus Christ who gave his life willingly so that we could know in human form God’s greater plan for us. The face of nature is only a reflection of this miraculous love. God’s Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a invitation for us to receive life that does not and cannot die – if we will open our eyes and believe.
--Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
EASTER WITHOUT JESUS?
March 28, 2010
“Farm Town” is a ‘sim-type’ game one can play online through Facebook. I admit it; I’m a farmer! I grow pineapple, raise sheep, cows, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and geese. Oh – and lots of fruit-bearing trees. One of the enjoyable parts of Farm Town is being able to send gifts to other farmer friends – especially during holidays. So far, I’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas, and soon, Easter, on my “farm.” My store house is as full as the church garage with decorations
of all kinds.
But last night, when I went to the Farm Town store to select some Easter gifts for my friends, I was disappointed.
No Easter lilys, no flowered crosses – in fact, there were no Christian Easter gifts at all. And I realized that it had been the same for Valentine’s, Christmas, and St. Patrick’s Day, too.
Flying reindeer, elves, leprechauns, cupids – all kinds of secular and magical creatures could be given as gifts to friends to celebrate the “Holy-Days” – but no mention of St. Patrick’s sacrificial mission to the Irish, or St. Valentine’s selfless gifts to the poor, or the birth of Christ (oh, wait, there was one nativity at Christmas), or the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus at Easter. Tastefully, Jesus, whose suffering would not make for good entertainment, has been carefully removed.
Jesus was also eliminated after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
What kind of weakling Messiah was he?
So they all yelled, “Crucify him!” Many still do.
He's not even good enough for Facebook's Farm Town.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
BROKEN AND OFFERED
March 21, 2010
Many of you know the story of my daughter’s near-drowning back in 1989. Without understanding why, I felt drawn to leave home and rush to the Bellaire gymnasium where Elizabeth was participating in a well-reputed summer day camp. It took about 20 minutes for me to get ready
and then to drive there. Upon arrival, I found she was not in the gym,
but with a group that had gone on to the pool early because it was such
a lovely day.
When I walked over to the pool, and asked the teacher if I could check on Elizabeth, she said, “Sure,” and directed me to the pool’s edge.
But Elizabeth, age 4, wasn’t sitting on the edge of the pool
with the other children.
She was in the pool, far from the edge, in water over her head.
When I jumped in and pulled her out, Elizabeth’s lips were blue and she wasn’t breathing. I threw her across my knees, pounded on her back
and water came pouring out.
She, coughed violently, and then turned her head up to me and said, “I knew you’d come when I called you.”
But it was God who called me to leave home that day,
even before I recognized the sound of God’s voice.
How does one express gratitude for the gift of life?
For me, it meant cracking open my own heart and
pouring out all that I had. It meant giving the rest of my life
to the one who had called me to my daughter’s side.
And maybe, if I listen and obey, to the side of others.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
HEAVEN
March 14, 2010
I recall as a teenager having a crush on a fellow who was quite a bit older than me. He had returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam and was ready to get married and settle down.
One day, we went on a walk in the country. It was a gorgeous day, The grassy fields beside the road were filled with tall green grass and blooming wildflowers.
Finding a spot to picnic was easy. As we sat on the large quilt, the tall grass surrounded us and all that was visible was the sky with fluffy white clouds. I can’t even remember the boy’s name now, but I think it was “Danny.” After he ate, he laid back on the quilt looking up at the sky. “This is heaven,” he said.
“So you believe in heaven?” I asked, still unsure as a junior in high school about the reality of paradise. “If you could have heaven be any way that you wanted it to be, what would it be like?” I asked him. Danny replied, “For me, heaven would be just like this—right now; and eternity would be being able to live all over again. I can’t imagine life without the blue sky and white clouds and all the beauty of nature and the people I love.”
And then he cried.
“You can’t imagine how ugly it was in Vietnam,” he said.
“I’m so glad to be home.”
That event happened 42 years ago. The older I get, and by God’s grace, more mature in faith, the more I realize how true were Danny’s words.
Heaven can best be anticipated after a tour of duty in hell.
OF VINES AND BRANCHES
March 7, 2010
Almost all the huge vines are gone from the Lamesa house.
In summer of ’08 we cut them off at the ground so they would die. In ’09 we were able to pull some down from the trees because they’d dried and become brittle; others are being pulled down this spring. All the tendrils and runners wrapped around the tree limbs make vine removal difficult.
Yesterday afternoon a strange insight came to me about vines. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” But who calls all those tendrils and vine runners “branches?” We just call them part of the vine. What the vine wraps around are the branches—tree branches, shrub branches, all kinds of branches. The vine goes up the tree, wraps around and around the branches, hangs over the crown of the tree and eventually, when the tree dies the vine is still there. I called the forest service. They told me the vines don’t kill the trees, the trees die of old age, but the vines just keep on growing. And that gave a whole new meaning to Jesus’ words.
If Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches, then we are the way his presence grows in the world. He spreads around the world “on us.” He will try to grow on every branch, always reaching for another. When we, the branches, age and die, the vine continues, on to the next generation, on to new branches and trees.
The only way to kill the vine is to cut it off from the earth.
That happened once, didn’t it?
But the vine came back.
As I look out through the trees we’ve cleaned of vines, the sky is visible, but most of the birds are gone from the thickets,
and the fruit won’t hang sweet this year.
I wonder if we did the right thing...
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
AND ONLY GOD CAN MAKE A TREE. . .
February 28, 2010
This past week I was invited into the home of a precious 91 year old gentleman who had been caring for his terminally ill wife for many months. It was only our fourth visit, but he was so likeable that I felt like I’d known him for years. Last Saturday, he called saying his wife was not doing well and probably would not be with us much longer. I asked if I could bring Holy Communion. The gentleman agreed. After church, Jerry and I drove to the home and found a number of friends he had invited also gathered to participate in the Sacrament with the gentleman. His wife could no longer drink from a straw, so I was offered a medicine dropper to help her receive from the cup of the Lord. To everyone’s great surprise, she eagerly received one medicine dropper, and then two! It seemed a miracle when she actually spoke: “Thank you,” she said, in a strained, gravely voice hungry for air. I was told those were her last words. The next morning she never awakened. What a lesson! How many of us will leave this world with thanks to God as our last words?
After the sacrament, one of the friends present told me she had put to music the poem, “Only God Can Make a Tree.” She asked if she could sing it to her dying friend. And she did, holding her own portable oxygen tank as she sang.
Slowly the woman in the bed raised an arm. Her emaciated body was curled under the covers and for just an instant I thought, she surely did look like the strong roots of a tree planted by God with her arms reaching to heaven.
But it wasn’t just an image, at all. It was true.
After communion, her husband clapped,
and it was gloriously appropriate.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
WORD CHECK!
February 21, 2010
The church’s liturgical year is a blessing to me. Every week, I go into the scripture, pray for insight, move toward a message, and then select hymns that support the direction of worship for the upcoming Sunday. The pattern is as normal as breathing, and because I am committed to being a lectionary preacher, there is no way to avoid hard texts—I must allow them to work on me, first, as I prepare the message.
I’m glad, though, that there isn’t a “lectionary” of hymns I am required to follow each week! For example, what song could be more appropriate for Lent than “Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley?” I typed the hymn name into the bulletin, as ususal, and then paused to review the lyrics. Hmmm. “...you have to walk it by yourself...”—not sure I agree with that. Certainly Jesus walked it by himself, and was deserted at the cross by his disciples; however, as we walk the difficult and sometimes painful road of sanctification, growing in likeness to our Lord, one thing is certain: we never, ever “. . .walk it by ourselves.” The very heart of our faith is that we are never alone, but are loved and strengthened every step of the journey by the real presence of the Holy Spirit and the promises of God.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding that song. Maybe it means that we carry our own crosses daily. However, even then—no—especially then, we are not alone. So, if I could rewrite the lyrics, they’d read:
Jesus walked this lonesome valley.
He had to walk it by himself.
O, nobody else could walk it for him.
He had to walk it by himself.
Thank God we walk through life as Christians!
We never need walk by ourselves.
Christ gave his life, God sent his Spirit,
We walk with him, and we are blessed.
(But since I can’t change the lyrics, I used the delete key on the bulletin, instead)
Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
LOOKING FOR LOVE
February 14, 2010
Around the turn of the century, a horticulturist in Ft. Worth noticed a sapling in his nursery that displayed bright red leaves in the fall, unlike the yellow leaves on the rest of his stock. He watched that tree for a few more years and realized it was a new variety of Shantung (shan-TOON) maple. So he began grafting cuttings onto hardy maple root stock. Soon people from all over the country were driving to Ft. Worth to buy a “Fire Dragon Maple” that has bright red leaves in fall and thrives even in our hot Texas climate.
The bug bit me, too. Looking at photos at Metromaples.com, I fell in love with those trees, rented a truck last Tuesday and drove with Jerry all the way to Ft. Worth and back in one day, just to get a couple Fire Dragons of our own.
People will travel a long way for something they love.
For a year I commuted from Houston, to Conroe, to Dallas, to Conroe, and back to Houston every single week to be able to finish seminary so I could preach the Gospel.
Paul made missionary journeys all around the Mediterranean and even to Spain sharing the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Right now, the United Methodist Church is on the ground in Haiti sharing the love of God in Christ with people in desperate conditions.
We have members in this church that drive in all the way from New Waverly and Spring to worship at St. Paul.
A pastor once told me, “People drive past a lot of restaurants before stopping at the one where they want to eat.”
People will travel a long way for something they love.
On this St. Valentine’s Day, I would like to thank you for being the people of St. Paul. You are the reason others are here.
You are the reason they love St. Paul.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
"Doors" of the Word
February 7, 2010
I’d been putting it off for months and months. Just thinking about having twenty doors to sand, prime, sand, paint with oil, and then paint with a second coat of oil was trying to my soul. There are no shortcuts, and I’m too chintzy to go buy a sprayer, so brushing on a total of 120 coats (20 doors X 2 sides X 3 coats per side) was my only alternative.
I made a plan. I would sand four doors, tack them to remove the dust, set them up on sawhorses, and paint all one side, then do the other side. I’d start with an old brush to do the first round of primer, then use a new Purdy brush for the oil, then use the same Purdy for the next four doors’ priming, and use a second Purdy for their oil, and so on. The plan worked, but it is slow going. Neighbors stop by in the evenings to see how I’m progressing. Sometimes I feel like Job, receiving all their good advice.
There are no shortcuts. Preparation is everything. If you skip a step, you might as well re-sand and start over. If you try to work too fast, you’ll make mistakes. Keep your brush moving in the same direction. Plan on spills—they will happen. Plan on splinters, they will happen, too. After the first few hours, I found a good rhythm. The country radio station helped a lot.
At some point I began to think about Jesus being a carpenter. All that sanding, the suffering of splinters, the joy of seeing a good job take shape, the patience required. If God used something ordinary like carpentry to prepare Jesus for his work in the world, how can any of us feel our work is insignificant?
Who knows what God is preparing us for?
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
Words That Last
January 31, 2010
When I was in high school, I loved my advanced science classes. Chemistry II, Biology II, Physics II – they were all wonderful, especially the labs. I looked up to my teachers as wizards of wisdom, and wanted to have for myself all the mysteries they seemed to possess. I made straight A’s and planned to be a science teacher myself some day.
And then, the only male teacher under whom I was studying pulled me aside in my senior year and asked me, “Why are you working so hard? It doesn’t matter – you’re only a girl, a factory, you know.”
Believe it or not, I didn’t even understand what he meant until I got home and thought about it. I was crushed. He put a doubt in my heart that nagged me for many years.
That teacher never knew the impact of his words on my life. I never confronted him. I never told my family or friends. But something inside me was changed.
Thank God the opposite situation is true, as well. Good teachers spend time and prayer in preparation for receiving their students and guiding their hearts and minds. They measure their words and realize that though their students may not be able to express their thoughts or feelings at the time, deep inside transformations are begun that will last a lifetime.
Thank God for good teachers.
Thank God for teachers in the Church.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
Haiti and the Heretic
January 24, 2010
During the recent hard freeze, Jerry and I cared for the “pipes” at the church, at the parsonage, and at the Lamesa house. It was a learning experience for me: purchasing faucet covers (they didn’t fit), wrapping some of the pipes with that pre-sticky insulation; and draining the systems.
After the freeze, I turned the water on at the street, refilled the lines, got rid of the “air knocks,” and cleaned all the aerators. AHHH! Now I could do the laundry again! But after two hours in the new dryer, 4 sweat suits were still cold and wet; so, I checked the lines again, and found I’d turned the gas valve off by mistake. There wasn’t anything warming the dryer!
Ezra told the people of God, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Not your practice, or effort or intellect, or talent, or determination—though those are important complements to the main ingredient. The JOY of the Lord is your strength.
Pat Robertson made me sick—sick—last week with his heretical attribution of the suffering in Haiti to our God. Even worse, there are poor misguided souls who have believed him.
Do you know what keeps rescue workers going in Haiti? It is seeing a living human uncovered from beneath the rubble, or being bathed in gratitude by a suffering person whose wounds have been tended, or knowing the Lord is pleased as his mercy flows through their willing hearts and hands. The JOY of the Lord is their strength.
How dare a wealthy, Anglo, self-proclaimed TV prophet announce to the world that the wounded, broken souls of Haiti are being punished! I pray they never hear what has been said!
Pat Robertson is wrong.
God and Jesus aren’t at odds.
God didn’t condemn Haiti so Jesus could rescue it!
Jesus is there on the ground with the people in Haiti, and he brings with him his Father’s heart, the joy of the Lord living in us,
Pat Robertson reminds me of my dryer running without gas.
Even worse--I don't believe he is even connected!
An Offering for Haiti
by Cynthia T. Hinson
to be sung January 17, 2010 at St. Paul UMC in Conroe
(to the tune of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God")
Permission is freely given for use of this text in all ways that glorify God and that support efforts
to relieve human pain and suffering.
When human suffering startles the earth, we dare not claim our God the cause,
For God who loves us shares our pain and wills to comfort us in our loss.
Yet struggling to believe
That God does with us grieve
We call out in our prayers,
And plead that others share
Such needs beyond imagined cost.
The Spirit crosses all doctrinal bounds, uniting minds and hearts and hands.
As Body one the faithful move to meet the call as best we can.
Not only words of prayer,
But goods and wealth we share
To help to ease the pain,
To live in our Lord’s reign,
With passion we in unity stand.
As Christ has come and comes again we dare not turn and walk away.
He calls and leads us toward the hope so many hold in heart today
We know the needs are great
We know the time is late
Each day the need grows more
God knows no foreign shore
Their tears are God's; our hearts the way.
Baptism of Jesus - Covenant Renewal Sunday
January 10, 2009
For the past ten days so I was taking Cold-eeze for a rhinovirus and a Z-pack for bronchitis. No trips to restaurants or grocery stores for me! Instead, I cooked for the family out of the pantry, fridge, and freezer. Some creativity was definitely needed as certain items began to run slim. I never realized that mashed potatoes could be so tasty using evaporated milk instead of whole milk; or that it was perfectly ok to use three different kinds of noodles in homemade chicken noodle soup. The experimentation with flavors and ingredients was actually fun! And I don’t think my family suffered a bit from the hearty meals. How freeing it was not to have to follow recipes! That afternoon, as the cubed chicken was simmering in olive oil, garlic, and onion, a thought came to me: “I’ve never enjoyed cooking this much! This is like...like...living under grace instead of under the law. No need to worry about breaking the. . .um. . .recipes!
As we grow in Christ, we are freed to live creatively, to mix the flavors of daily living and offer up new combinations to hungry hearts. As Paul said, the Law is a schoolteacher; but life under grace in Christ is freedom!
I made so much of that chicken soup that it lasted three days. Jerry said it was the best I’d ever made. I told him it was a newrecipe!
When I was in high school—or perhaps it was junior high—a friend invited me to attend a church retreat with her youth group at the nearby Baptist Church. I really liked the pastor there, Rev. Milford, because he allowed me to use one of the church classrooms to offer guitar classes to neighborhood children. Looking back, it’s amazing to me that he gave a key to the church to a young teenaged girl!
Those were the days of Simon and Garfunkle’s “Sounds of Silence” and Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” I wanted so much to believe in God, and was looking everywhere I knew to look. It’s just that all my “book learning” got in the way of my heart. World-covering floods, arks, talking donkeys, moving stars...it just didn’t make sense to me. But I still looked—and loved the stories.
Then that retreat came along. We stayed at Montreat in the NC mountains and sat with the pastor in the evenings listening to music.
Wouldn’t you know he played my favorite, “Sounds of Silence?”
“What do you think that silence is?” he asked me. “Emptiness,” I replied, not really understanding how true that was.
Later, I walked outside and looked over the cliff beside our large cabin. There was nothing to see, no matter how hard I stared. A cloud had moved in obscuring everything. So I just sat for a long time, crying out in my heart, “God, if you are real, don’t be silent.
I want to know you are real. I want to SEE you.
And then, the cloud blew away. I could see all the way across the valley to the beautiful mountain on the other side.
And God whispered in my heart. “Cindy, the mountain is always there, but things get in the way of your perceiving it. When the wind comes, it will clear all those things away, if you will let it.”
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
Christmas 1 - December 27, 2009
When I was a child, one of my least favorite things to hear from my parents were the words, “You’ll understand when you grow older.”
And it wasn’t only from my parents, it was from all kinds of grown-ups, like the preacher of the nearby church to where I walked with a friend to sit with her during her “Confirmation” classes. I shall never forget asking him during the special time for questions, “Can you tell me how God created the world in seven days?”
Truly, he rolled his eyes at me and sure enough, out came the dreaded words: “You’ll understand when you are older.”
I’m not convinced that age, alone, has very much to do with understanding. Jesus amazed the elders of the church when he was 12. God told Samuel not to be concerned that he was only a boy. Mary, the mother of the Lord, was a young teenager. These relative “youngsters” were called to carry out arduous tasks for God.
And they did—with heartfelt understanding.
However, there is a sense in which we cannot understand—or know—the reality of God until we have a certain quality of life experience. In obedience, we live faithfully according to the teachings of Jesus, and then, looking back, “the light comes on” and we can see—we can understand—the reality of the one who loved us so much that we are given the Son of God. As our lives come together in unity with the will of God, we grow in wholeness and we understand.
Jesus is the gift of this season. In him, the Bible says,
“the Word was made flesh.” As we follow the word of God, as doers and not only as hearers, Christ becomes flesh in us, too;
only then can we see, and understand. It is a beautiful mystery!
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
Advent 4 - December 20, 2009
As Elizabeth and I were doing some Christmas shopping, a glass cross with a red hanging ribbon on a display table caught my eye. I usually don’t buy crosses for myself, but this one spoke so clearly to me. A cardinal, a bluebird, a chickadee, and a goldfinch were perched on holly twigs on the four arms of the stained glass cross, brilliant in their colors. In the center was a verse from the Bible: “Sing a new song to the Lord.” A new song. . . a new song from a new heart?
Gratitude welled up inside me in an epiphany of hope. Newness is the very hope of advent and of our faith. “Thank you, God, for letting me see that cross,” I thought, and then hurried on.
Elizabeth and I finished shopping and waited in line to check out. When it was our turn, I realized how much I wanted that little cross and begged the cashier for patience while I ran back to get it. At home I prayed to put words to my feelings. All people carry pain and scars from the past. All have unspoken burdens and dreams.
In love and mercy, God speaks to our hearts in this holy season:
“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” “See, I am making all things new. . .to the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life” “The former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare!” “You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.”
At home, I pulled out my concordance, amazed at all the promises of newness. David wrote: “He set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth.” Ezekiel wrote, “I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit in them.”
And more: new tongues, new garments, new wine, new names, new covenant, new teaching, new life, new creation, new humanity, new self, new birth, new heavens, new earth! We enter Christmas with a song so new we have yet to hear all the words. Our spirits sail on the Spirit of God as we remember Jesus’ words, “He is God not of the dead, but of the living." When the crowd heard Jesus, they were astounded at his teaching. Leaving the past behind, so am I.
God dwells in lives made new!
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
Advent 3 - December 13, 2009
The other evening I was cooking dinner in the parsonage kitchen when I heard a familiar voice in the adjoining greatroom. Sailing round the divider, I was disappointed to find not a familiar face,
but a talking pothole—on a television commercial—asking:
“Aw...did I do that?”
Too much! It was a North Carolina pothole! I recognized the accent! Laughing, I returned to the kitchen feasting on memories of home. One doesn’t forget the sound of voices—or the bumps of potholes!
In chapter 3 of Luke, John the Baptizer proclaims:
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
John’s proclamation called his listeners to fill the potholes, scrape off the high centers, and “straighten up” the roads into their hearts, so the Lord could enter in. John was able to speak these words to us because he recognized the voice from whom they came. John was a prophet of God, speaking forth God’s Word in human words.
Maybe, if we set aside some time and listen earnestly, we can hear God’s Word, too. We can recognize its sound in the words of John, in the words of friends, and family—even when it comes to us from quite strange places and persons. If we do listen and “straighten up,” John promises that we shall see the salvation of God.
So be awake and listen! And don’t be surprised, even if the
Voice of God comes from unexpected sources!
* In 2007 more people went shopping on Black Friday than voted in the Presidential election: over 135 million.
* In 2008, 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour, a Long Island Walmart employee, was trampled to death when frenzied shoppers smashed through the store's front doors. A pregnant woman and police officers were also trampled and injured.
* In 2008, two men shot each other to death in a Palm Desert, California Toys "R" Us while arguing over a toy!
* In 1939, President Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving a week earlier so merchants could have a longer Christmas shopping season.
* The term “Black Friday” referring to the day after Thanksgiving, originated in an urban police department in the 1960’s when massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks occurred as downtown stores were mobbed from opening to closing. --information from Wikipedia
Perhaps these facts shed light on why someone would ring the parsonage doorbell incessantly at 3 a.m. on “Black Friday.” What a wake up call! I had considered going to some of the local 4 a.m. sales, but after that incident, I could only imagine what it would be like at the stores, and crawled back in bed to get some more rest.
In Lk 21:25-36, Jesus offers the world a wake-up call of his own—a call that was fearsome to some but that helped those who loved him to resist the world’s clamor and build their lives on eternal truth and love.
“When these things begin to take place stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Not many people listened; most continued the clamor,
some heard, and were thankful.
– Love in the Lord, Pastor Hinson
St. Paul United Methodist Church
New year, new growth. . .new life!
1100 West Semands Conroe, TX 77301 Mail to: P.O. Box 506 Conroe, TX 77305 936-756-5442
Methodist Church
