Back to School

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

It’s become a yearly tradition on social media: The “first day of school” pictures. I’m sure you saw it on Monday as well. You opened up your computer and saw various pictures of kids on their “first day” of the new year.

Some won’t start for a few weeks yet, but this was the week I saw the obligatory “first day” pics in my feed. However, none of us —parents, students, teachers— have ever experienced a first day like this one. The pics told the story of the difference...

Some kids with backpacks, standing up for that obligatory first-day picture (either smiling broadly, or grudgingly...). Other first-day pics are at a bedroom desk, or kitchen table, as kids prepare for virtual learning.

Covid has made these past few weeks of school-decisions like none other. Gone are the carefree days of just wondering which backpack to buy, or what pencils to choose. Now, the decisions feel much more real and life-changing.

So, I pray for parents, teachers, and kids. I pray for the parents who fear they’ve made the “wrong” choice. Parents fear this every day, but again, it has an extra layer of worry mixed in this Fall.

To our parents: I know you worry about your choices. However, given how much I have seen people wrestling with the choices, or how I have heard first-hand from you church parents about your choices, my strong hunch is that (as with all parenting) you made the right choice for your kid, no matter how it may feel.

To our kids: However you feel about restarting school, I invite you imagine how this will feel years from now. We will get through this terrible time, and years from now, you and all your friends will have an incredible story to tell of “the COVID year.”

The older you get, the more the memory of whatever frustration you feel today will fade. Most of the stories old people tell each other go like this “Remember when....that crazy thing happened?!”

This year will be like that for you, for the rest of your life. 

And you are going to be OK.

To the teachers: God bless you for your commitment to kids. We’ve made you into front-line workers in this crisis, please continue to help us understand how we can advocate for your safety.

For those of us at Kessler, we’re in prayer for the Kessler School as they start back this week. They’ve implemented stringent protocols that will hopefully keep everyone safe.

Of course, this has also changed what we’re doing around the church, as we celebrate “Back To School.”

We couldn’t have a “Blessing of the Backpacks” this year, but we did hand deliver backpack tags to kids last week.

We couldn’t invite kids to help lead worship in the sanctuary, but we did have several kids that helped out with worship last Sunday, via Zoom.

“Back To School” has become one more marker in what I recently heard called “our new abnormal.” We will ALL get through this, and talk about it like folks talk about having climbed a mountain or run a marathon. And nothing has changed about God’s daily presences with us, throughout.

God bless you all — parents, students, teachers— as we journey one more step through this truly confusing and challenging year.

Planting Seeds

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

Any time the suggested Gospel reading repeats, we should pay attention. As I noted in our Sunday livestream, we’ve now had three weeks of readings from the *same* chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. These readings have all been about growth and new life, and during the sermons we’ve been noting the following themes:

Week one brought us “The Parable of the Sower” reminding us that “God is the one always sowing seeds.”

Week two saw  “The Parable of the Wheat and Weeds” reminding us that, in this life, we are called to “Grow Together,” and trust that even though pain, suffering and evil are always around, God still guides us.

And finally, last Sunday, “The Parable of the Mustard Seed,” which reminds us that “Good Things Come From Small Seeds.”

In the midst of this pandemic time —as we continue our time of social distancing— it can be hard to make plans for the future. (Both in your family and in our Church). To be totally honest with you, I had initially expected that we would all be back together in worship by now. Maybe you did too.

Had our “numbers” continued to decline, as they were in early May, my strong hunch is that we might have already resumed live worship. But a series of a foolish choices —“early opening” by our state leaders, and too many of us citizens ignoring the need to wear masks and keep social distance— has led us to where we are today.

It is what it is.

So, I keep coming back to the frustration of the “limbo” we appear to be in right now. The science tells us that keeping distance and wearing masks is still the choice for now, and our Bishop, yet again, wisely extended our closing for yet another month (Through Labor Day, to be evaluated in late August…)

And yet, in the midst of this frustrating time, we have these parables about growth and new life. I think we should listen to this message from God. And therefore we will soon mail you a tangible reminder of this Gospel message. 

Within a week or so, we plan to send each of our members a small packet of wildflower seeds. They are “Blanketflower” seeds, to be specific. These are a very popular native Texas wild flower, and the seeds come from a reputable grower in Fredericksburg. I’ve planted these very seeds in our wildflower garden in our backyard.

We encourage you to consider holding the seeds, and planting them later this year. In our area, a Fall planting helps them “over-winter” before blooming next Spring. Maybe you have a small section of your garden that could use some sunset-colored beauty.

Frankly, although we’ve been planning this for a few weeks now, we have all heard the troubling story of anonymous seeds coming to Americans from China. (If you haven’t heard that story, just Google it…)

That bizarre headline caused us to pause about this idea, but we decided to go ahead anyway and simply note the strange coincidence of these events. (Our mailing to you will be clearly marked as coming from Kessler Park UMC…)

But, the metaphors from our Gospel lessons —that God is always growing new life from seeds we can’t yet see— that’s just too rich to ignore right now.

We’re only sending each person a few small seeds, and that’s on purpose as well. That’s a part of the metaphor the mustard seed…that tiny, small seeds can grow new life. And we know that if you choose to be a part of this little “object lesson” that it will literally take months for you to see the results. That’s also on purpose. That’s a part of the point.

Our wildflower garden has taught us so much this past year. While we’ve been sheltered here at home, we find comfort in its lessons, which are *just like* these parables from Jesus. We sowed these small seeds almost a year ago now. Over the winter, we thought they might be dead. In early Spring, we worried that only weeds were growing…or that weeds would choke out the flowers.

But, from mid-Spring through the moment of this writing, we have been blessed with the beauty of the Blanketflowers, and how they regenerate and continue to share the beauty of God’s good earth.

It’s been an exercise in learning patience and hope. It’s been a reminder that good things come to those who wait. It’s been a lesson in how so much of New Life and growth has nothing to do with our actions, and that we are only a small part of how God is constantly regenerating the world and offering us new hope.

These are important lessons during this time of pandemic, friends. While the pandemic has frozen much of our “regular” ministry and caused us to slow down many of the plans for change and growth we had for 2020, it has not, and cannot, stop the Spirit of God.

Trust that God is —even now— sowing small seeds of new ministries and new life that will grow to fruition in God’s time. Use the planting and nurturing of these seeds as a kind of spiritual discipline —an “object lesson” from God— and a way to practice both your patience and trust.

Meditate on how God’s HOPE grows from small seeds.

Even now, God is sowing the seeds of New Life, new ministry, new HOPE…in your life, in your family’s life, and among all of our people at Kessler Park UMC.

Grace and Peace,

Eric Folkerth

Where? When? Who? Why? What?

by Rev. Kay Ash

Look at all the empty boxes in the picture; where are all the children? No matter how you might guess, please know that children’s ministries in the North Texas Conference are alive and well! Somehow, by the grace of God, lots of children from churches all over our Conference have gotten together this week for a Bridgeport virtual camp experience!

As you may remember, several months ago the difficult decision was made by our beloved Bridgeport Camp and Conference Center to cancel all in-person camping for the summer of 2020. As you might imagine, this was no small decision; each summer Bridgeport Camp serves approximately 1,200 campers, facilitates leadership opportunities to high school and college students, and provides breath-taking views for large group gatherings who drive in from far and wide. However, when I began reading news reports of other campsites that briefly opened, then closed again due to the virus, I knew that the right decision had been made. Folks got busy and re-tooled everything for a virtual environment.

Last month, we had a great children’s camp where we explored ‘where, when, who, why and what’ questions about God through the Hebrew scriptures. Somehow, this week we have twice as many campers than the first week (wow!) and we are exploring the same questions through the lens of New Testament stories. For example, on Monday we discussed the speech Paul made in Athens where Paul says “In God we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28a). On Tuesday we discussed Matthew 25 where Jesus tells the bags of gold parable: the hungry are fed and the thirsty are given water. On Wednesday we wrestled with the ‘Laborers in the Vineyard’ parable (Matthew 20:1-16) and tried to understand that God loves everybody with the same extravagant love. This led us into Thursday where we learned of God’s love from 1 John because “God is love” (4:8). And finally, on Friday we looked at multiple scriptures throughout the New Testament that describe God as creative, caring, seeing, pursuing, listening, transforming and ultimately, loving.

I am not confident that I have the right words to describe to you how camp is going but I will try.  The children are so excited, and our conversations are sometimes so deep.  The youth and adult counsellors share stories about how the children surprise them with moments of divinely inspired conversation.  My wonderful co-director, Karen Ewing (Custer Road UMC) and I are so grateful for the leadership of Joseph Bradley at the North Texas Conference Office and for all the adults, youth and children that come together each morning.  How is it possible that even on a flat computer screen the magic that is Bridgeport Camp is still present when we cannot even get all the boxes of children on one screen?  Maybe this will help explain how camp is going:  remember the picture at the top of this article, the picture with lots of empty zoom boxes?  The reason that almost all of the boxes are empty is because the kids at that moment were running around their houses on a scavenger hunt.  We found dogs, cats, right shoes, pictures of our families, single squares of toilet paper (clean), fruit, something green and so much more!  Try to imagine just a few minutes after this picture was taken when all the boxes are filled with children who want to share a story – that’s how camp is going!

In the wonderful sermons that Pastor Eric has gifted us over the last few weeks we have looked at Matthew 13 and the three parables in a row that focus on seeds and planting.  Those verses have never made more sense to me than they do this week.  Surely, many of you who have taught a classroom of children might relate to planting seeds.  We know that when we teach children it may be many, many years before we see the fruit of that planting.  What we cannot forget, however, is that planting seeds of faith with children really matters.  Tidbits of what our campers take away from this week will stay with them, and maybe, just maybe, when we will get to be together in person next year the kids will share stories that begin:  “Remember when we did Bridgeport Camp on line last year and remember when we did that scavenger hunt?”

Please know that children’s ministries in the North Texas Conference are alive and well.  And just so you can join in the fun, here are the questions we are exploring this week.  I wonder how you would answer.

1. Where is God?

2. When has God shown up?

3. Who is God?

4. Why does God love us?

5. What is God to you?