Matthew's Message - February 15, 2024

“What’s up?” It is a question that we ask our friends when we want to know what they have been doing. A different question is “What are you up to these days?” It could be something unknown like orchestrating a surprise. Sometimes what we are up to in the world can have effects on our own wellbeing. When we are up to too much it can begin to have an effect in a negative way. 

A trend in healthcare is for doctors to run “micro-practices” in an attempt to reduce their overhead and staff in order to be able to spend more time with each patient.  I wonder what it would be like to “micro practice” our own lives. What would you prune to spend more quality and quantity of time with the most important people in your life?

A micro-practice could also be a baby-step or an incremental step in a direction that you have needed to go for a while. Perhaps letting go of negative self-images. Perhaps moving some dreams from the back burner of your life to the front. 

Tex Sample, a Methodist pastor and author, discovered that churches with thriving justice ministries often reach their goals through micro-practices rather than wholesale changes. Rather than launching new programs these churches focused on doable actions that bubbled up from the congregation. 

I hope that these forty days of Lent will give you some time to prune from your own life. Engage in meaningful actions rather than trying to do everything. Find a way to get up to something good.

Peace,

Matthew   

Deaconess Corner - February 8, 2024

The Sweet Taste of Communion

As I watched folks line up to take Communion on Sunday, I got to thinking about three other times in my life where the experience of Communion really stands out to me.

The first is my memory of my mother’s prayerful posture when she returned to her pew after taking the bread and wine in the small Catholic church I grew up in.  I’m pretty sure this goes back to some of my earliest memories in church.  She would return to the pew, kneel, and cover her face with her hands as she prayed. 

That memory became even more precious to me when I joined the United Methodist church my husband grew up in. After some hesitation on my part and some helpful conversation with the pastor I was able to settle into the reality that the Methodist table is God’s table, open to everyone, including this divorced, “lapsed” Catholic who was living with the man she would eventually marry. That church had a communion rail and the first time I knelt and received communion, I realized that my hands must have recalled on their own that early memory of my mother’s posture, as they seemingly instinctively covered my face as I gave thanks for the gift of resurrection.

Not long after we joined First UMC, Elgin, TX, the Wednesday evening service, which had been fairly quiet and contemplative livened up quite a bit. The after-school program had really taken off and most of the participants stayed for supper and a worship service. The kids really looked forward to Communion, practically rushing to the communion rail to take in the sweet bread (King’s Hawaiian, to be exact) and the juice. Week after week, my Wednesday evening respite was made all the better for their eagerness to get to the communion rail.

Of all the Sundays I’ve been to Berry church since my cane and I met up with you in Winnemac Park, this was probably the largest number of folks receiving communion ahead of, beside, and behind me. So, thanks, Berry and Big Shoulders friends, for being “in Communion” with me in this place I call home.

Matthew's Message - February 8, 2024

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” — Mark 8: 31-38

We have been up to a lot of things lately. We continue to worship as the Albany Park Ministry Center rehabilitation continues. Our merger process with the Big Shoulders Church has been filled with grace and prayer. This Saturday Pastor Ha will be installed as the new Pastor of First Vietnamese United Methodist Church who we are sharing the ministry center with. There is so much that we have ben up to.

Lent is often known as a time of giving something up in order to make room in our lives for spiritual pursuits. Rather than just “giving up” in Lent, this year we are focusing on how we are asked to consider all that Jesus is “up to” and all that he asks us to be up to in his name. Instead of bemoaning what we can’t do, or used to do, in a culture where “measuring up” to external standards seems impossible, this Lent we will celebrate the small things that we can do right now to respond to God's call in our place, for our time.

On Wednesday morning we will be distributing ashes on the Albany Park El platform. I hope that you will think about joining us. On Wednesday evening we will begin our Lenten prayer group that will center around the work of merger that God has called us to. 

Our Lenten series this year is “what r u up 2?” I pray that you will take advantage of the opportunities that are offered to connect to our world, and to renew our own faith community. 

Peace,

Matthew

Matthew's Message for February 1, 2024

I am so excited about the many things that are happening in the life of our church. From the work to renovate the building that we call home into a place that I can imagine bustling with ministry opportunities in the future to the planning around a merger with Big Shoulders Church. I want to give a big thank you to all of you and especially the leadership of our church. 

This week in worship we will be looking at the way that Jesus’ life changes after the start of his ministry. Especially in the Gospel of Mark we hear that he kept moving from one thing to another. Then Jesus does something that we see him do regularly. He slips out. In the dark of the early morning, he finds a place to pray.

In the midst of all that we have going on in our lives, in the midst of all that we have going on in our church, I hope that you are able to make space to spend time with God. On Ash Wednesday we will begin our merger prayer group. Please think about joining us.

Peace,

Matthew

Matthew's Message for January 25, 2024

Boundaries are interesting things. They often are used to create spaces of safety, but they can also be used to create walls. There are walls throughout our society that work to preserve poverty and create a class of suffering people and a class of privileged people. Boundaries have been created that show who is in and who is out. These boundaries can often end up imprisoning us as they become toxic.

The word toxic that I find in the materials that I am using to craft our series, “Bread, Bath, and Beyond” reminds me of the discussion that I have been having with the detainees at Cook County Jail. Over the last few months, I have been witnessing a group doing a deep dive into the way that toxic shame can create a false self. They claim that while guilt is the feeling we have done something wrong, and shame is how we feel because of what we have done, toxic shame is different. Toxic shame says “I am wrong.” It functions unconsciously and poisons every feeling we have about ourselves. Yikes!

This week in worship we will be looking beyond the boundaries. We will especially be looking at the boundaries that our society has created around who is in and who is out. Boundaries that allow us to look beyond those in need in our midst. Boundaries that can foster toxic shame. I hope you can join us.

Peace,

Matthew

Matthew's Message for January 18, 2024

There are days that I feel like I have had enough change. Enough of changes that come in a post-Christian culture. Changes to our world since COVID. Even changes in our local churches as we step outside of one building and into another. Can’t things just slow down a little? 

I think that we all know that the answer is not that simplistic. Change is inevitable. Especially as our world continues shifting. I wonder how we can build a church that is more adaptable to the changes that are beyond the horizon today.

This week we continue our series, “Bread, Bath and Beyond,” by examining God’s call to go beyond the horizon. In some ways the horizon calls to us to explore. In other ways the horizon offers us a place that we can never reach. Sounds a lot like moving onward to perfection if you ask me.

This week we also gather for a quarterly town hall. It is your chance to ask questions of our leadership and to hear updates on all that we are engaged in. There is a lot going on. I hope you can be there to be a part of the conversation.

Peace,

Matthew

Matthew's Message for January 11, 2024

As we prepare for our merger retreat on Saturday, I am struck by all that lies ahead of us. A building that will soon be complete. A neighborhood that is filled with people who may not know a faith without judgement. A new congregation that will work with fresh eyes to see what lies before us.

 In our series, Bread, Bath and Beyond, we will be leaning into the fact that God calls us to move beyond the visions that we had in the past. Just as Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” you may have doubts about our future. The only real response to those doubts is the answer Philip gives. “Come and see.”

 Each week during this series we will feature a poem written about going beyond the horizon. This week the poem is by Indigo Wisdom.

 What lies beyond the horizon
Over there where I can’t see
I am fearful to move towards it
Though I feel it beckoning me

The offer is of a whole new life
A world where I am reborn
An awareness of what I have missed
Do I want this, I am torn

For I know that once I go there
I will not wish to return
To this life that I am living
I have so much more to learn

A gentle but persuasive hand
Is urging me to go forth
And sample some of life’s wonders
I have never tried before

I would not consider going there
but for the total trust
That I have for the one who leads me
So grasp this chance I must …

 I pray that you will find a way to take a chance in the coming year. To move beyond the beliefs that you have held about what God is calling you to do. Come and see.

 Peace,

Matthew

Matthew's Message for January 4, 2024

Bread and water. Simple, everyday things that have so much meaning within the context of the church. Bread symbolizes the body of Christ. It sustains and strengthens us. Water symbolizes new life in Christ. Death to our sins and a rising with Christ. Jesus chose the plainest of things to connect us to him. The things that we would be in touch with every day. 

 This week we begin a new sermon series. Bread, Bath, and Beyond. In it we will spend time examining the symbols that we have been given. We will invite you to move beyond limitations, and find new beginnings to help to create a better world. I hope that you can join us.

 Peace,

Matthew 

Matthew's Message for December 28, 2023

I hope that you and your family had a safe and happy Christmas. At Berry we gathered together for a service of lessons and carols. We heard the story of Jesus’ birth, we lit candles and sang “Silent Night.” There were many faces that I saw for the first time. It was such a gift to me to be able to celebrate Christmas in a church building with our family of faith. Such a blessing to remember that God entered into the world as the Prince of Peace.

This Sunday we will gather for a Love Feast. Sometimes called an Agape Feast, this time will be marked with sharing about what God has done in our lives over the past year. It is a meal that connects to the many meals that Jesus shared with his disciples over his time of ministry. Please come; join us in celebrating this Christmas season together.

Peace,

Matthew

Matthew's Message for December 22, 2023

It is fitting that we gather on Christmas Eve to declare that Jesus is the light of the world. That the light shines into the darkness and that the darkness does not overcome it.

Over the last four weeks we have been centering our worship on the ways that we can reflect the sacred into the world around us. We do so recalling that even though Jesus is the light of the world, we are also told by Jesus, “You are the light of the world.” You are the light of the world when you make the statement through your words and actions that the God of refugees, exiles, and migrants still shines light in today’s darkness. You are the light of the world when you speak truth to power. You are the light of the world when you declare that God is still at work today.

I recently came across this poem from “Meister Eckhart’s Book of Secrets.” I think that it strikes upon the mystery of Christmas. A time when we remember that Jesus was born in a manger and is born anew in our hearts.

Christmas Poem

Why do we assume

that God became

human only once,

in the incarnation?

Not so.

God becomes human

here and now just

as he did then.

Why is this?

So that he might

give birth to you,

too, as his only

begotten son.

Join us on Christmas Eve at 4pm in the Albany Park Ministry Center for a candlelight service declaring that Christ is born again in our hearts.

Peace,

Matthew