Blessed

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

Our culture does a very poor job of helping us to understand what it means to be “Blessed.”

On the phone we hear the greeting “Have a Blessed Day.”

After a championship we hear athletes suggest they have been especially “Blessed” by God.

Even some preachers and their followers get sucked into the confusing and contradictory messages of a “Prosperity Gospel,” suggesting that God “blesses” some humans with abundant financial resources beyond their wildest imaginings.

I tend to think that the concept of being blessed is, at one and the same time, both more complicated and simpler than many of these cultural messages. I’m very sure that God does not bless some people with copious financial riches while at the same time “cursing” others in some conscious way. I very much believe our own actions sometimes help us feel more blessed, and our own decisions sometimes lead us into hard times. But other times bad things just happen, and they eventually happen to all of us.

One thing I am very confident about: Jesus’ famous sermon —titled “The Beatitudes”— is not intended to be a “humble brag” for those who think they are better than others.

In fact, it’s intended to be a comfort for those who feel excluded, marginalized, and hopeless.

Jesus means to open up the concept of “blessing” and to enlarge it to include those whose eyes are downcast, whose spirits are troubled, and who have been told their whole lives that they are not “worthy.” (Whatever it means to *be* worthy, of course…)

We’ll be unpacking The Beatitudes in a new way in worship this Sunday.

As a preview, simply know this…

However your life feels right now —whether you are triumphant, defeated, or somewhere in between— God’s blessing is already all around you and inside of you. God’s hopeful message of inclusion and grace means that God wants good things for you. They may not ever be the specific things *we* hope for at the specific times we hope for them, but God blesses us just the same.

Join us as we look at blessing this Sunday.

Listening to Our Neighbors

by Rev Eric Folkerth

All week I’ve been thinking about Sarah. Sarah is not her real name, I’m changing it here to protect her identity.

Sarah is one of the houseless neighbors that Andrew McGregor and I helped off the streets, on Sunday afternoon, and into the shelter at Oak Lawn UMC this week. When we first met her, she almost leapt inside the van, so eager was she to go with us. She was extremely talkative, and the very first thing she told us was,

“I’ve just been praying that someone would come along and help us.”

What moved me about this, of course, is that we’d just finish our own worship service, we WE prayed for HER…and for all of our houseless neighbors in Oak Cliff. It suddenly felt like a beautiful confluence of answered prayers.

But Sarah’s greatest, and most humbling gift, was what she then did for Andrew and I over the course of the next few hours. While the Dallas Cowboys were being drubbed by Green Bay, Sarah guided us all over Oak Cliff, showing us perhaps six or seven NEW “encampments” of homeless folks we were unaware of.

This was a humbling moment, of course. After for years of doing the work, we had begun to think we knew everywhere to look. Turns out, we had just scratched the surface.

Everywhere we went, Sarah encouraged her many friends to come with us, so that they could find shelter and a warm bed. Many of them took her up on it. Some did not. (I later rechecked some who turned us down, only to find they had sought other shelter, or found a hotel for the night….)

She talked in rapid-fire about prayer, God, homelessness, her family, and probably told us more information about her friends than she should have. (We hold these confidences as sacred…)

But what strikes me most now is: It was very important to listen to her. To put aside our own preconceptions that we knew what we were doing, and instead let her teach us.

This is the heart of servant ministry.

I want to thank all those who helps in so many ways this week. Our twelve volunteers who served the meal Monday night at OLUMC. They all had beautiful servant hearts, and we were able to re-connected with the folks we’d literally brought in from the streets on Sunday.

Oscar Brown witnessed an incredible event…where a houseless person was able to connect with his Mother, and agreed to “come home;” a literal retelling of the “Prodigal Son” story.

Then, late in the week, several of our members have been washing up blankets and sheets, performing yet another servant ministry for our houseless neighbors.

Thanks be to God for all our volunteers, for our friends at OLUMC, and all the partners in this ministry.

This Sunday’s Gospel is about Jesus’ call of his disciples. It’s interesting to note how the Gospel accounts have Jesus LISTENING to his Disciples…understanding their lives as fisherfolk and tax collectors.

It is when he listens to them, that they respond.

And so, we’ll continue to listen to all those in our mission field…our members and visitors, our neighbors, our Wednesday Night Live parents and children, our own new infant parents….

And….even our houseless neighbors.

Sometimes, we see that even they have a calling that we need to help fulfill…as we are in ministry with, not to, our friends in North Oak Cliff.

See you Sunday.

Re-Remember Our Baptism

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

Like you, we are all watching the weather for the weekend. We’re aware that Sunday may well be our most challenging weather day. So everybody please stay safe.

That said, let me remind you that this Sunday is “Baptism of the Lord Sunday.”

We will be remembering Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, remembering our own baptisms, and also recognizing both our Church Leadership Board and our new youth pastor.

So….a lot of plans for Sunday. Let’s pray for the best, weather-wise.

Let me say a bit about baptism and how all this stuff fits together this week…

The most common and important “authorizing” event for Christians is “Baptism.” Baptism is actually considered more important than “Ordination” or “Consecration.” Through baptism ALL Christians get their authority to act in the name of Jesus.

In the United Methodist Church, people who are baptized promise to “resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.”

This reminds us that our baptisms are not simply a “personal” event, but they have a societal dimension in terms of who we are called to be and how our ministry affects the world.

And so, on Sunday we will “Remember our Baptisms.” Even though many of us do not remember them.

As with many of you, I was baptized as an infant. I’ve seen the pictures and I have the certificate. But I have no conscious memory of it.

But this is precisely why we use the ironic term “remember” our baptisms. We re-remember the fact that, as Martin Luther once said, “I am baptized too.”

We remember how we are all loved and accepted by God and called to service in Jesus’ name. Although we have different forms of ministry, God welcomes and accepts all our gifts and grace, no matter who we are or what those gifts are.

We’ll have a short litany to recognize our new KPUMC Leadership Board, and also a blessing prayer for Jon Campoverde.

So, weather permitting, please be sure and be with us for this big Sunday.

Speaking of our calling as Christians, the harsh weather means we are activating our work with our sister church, Oak Lawn UMC, and the “Dallas Responds” program.

We are hearing rumors that the City of Dallas may well open Fair Park as a shelter as they did two winters ago. Several of you have now been through the training to work with OLUMC in this program.

We urge you to go to THIS LINK and sign up.

Additionally, Oscar Brown has volunteered to collect coats and blankets. Since school will be closed over the weekend, please drop coats and blankets inside the parking lot doors at KPUMC.

And please do pray for all of those who will suffer greatly on our streets this weekend. We’re grateful to play a small part in making a difference.

See you Sunday.