Family Visitor, the Newsletter for the Old South Church is updated for September

The Family Visitor, the Newsletter for the Old South Church is updated for September and is on the church website. Just click here. Or you may copy this URL into your browser: http://oldsouthumc.org/clientimages/36470/familyvisitor-sept2009.pdf

Enjoy and please join us soon!

Pastor Steven Notis

Old South United Methodist Church

6 Salem Street, Reading MA 01867

Email: pastor@oldsouthumc.org

Church Website: oldsouthumc.org

My Blog: oldsouthumc.blogspot.com

Monday, August 31, 2009

Silence is the language of God;

It is also the language of the heart.

~ Dag Hammarskjöld

Our lives, our world, can easily crowd out the silence and quiet we need. So take some time today to simply be, to let the silence speak so that you might hear the language of your deepest self and the One who loves you.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

"Don't wait for a sign from God. Be one." 

~ seen in the Jesuit residence at Red Cloud Indian School

It was said that the Red Sea did not part until the first Israelites threw themselves into it. We are a part of God's presence on earth. We need to act, trust, and do. God will not do it without us and we cannot do it without God.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

"Are there ways for gauging one's spiritual strength?"

"Many."

"Give us one."

"Find out how often you become disturbed in the course of a single day." 

~ Anthony de Mello, SJ

The serenity we want comes from trusting in God. To trust, even when we are not sure, can help us to be less anxious, a gift to others. Our world needs less anxiety and more faith.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The enlightened person, said the Master, is one who sees that everything in the world is perfect exactly as it is.

"What about the gardener?" someone asked. "Is he perfect too?"

The monastery gardener was a hunchback.

"For what he is meant to be in life," said the Master, "the gardener is a perfect hunchback." 

~ Anthony de Mello, SJ

May you welcome the "perfect" in your life and be the "perfect" one you are.

Monday, August 24, 2009

I can change only myself,

but sometimes that is enough.

~ Ruth Humlecker

Attempts to change others are met with resistance. Most people just want to be accepted as they are. 

We know how hard it is to change something about ourselves we do not like, to lose weight, or change a destructive attitude. Trying to change others is impossible. We can only directly control ourselves. To attend to our own lives and generously share our lives with the world is enough. 

And it may even make us the sort of people who inspire others to more.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.

~ Paul Boose

We cannot change what has happened. We can only choose how to live today. To forgive is a gift we give to ourselves and others. It can take time and it happens at its own pace, but to allow it to happen unburdens us and helps us engage the future with hope.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Live with passion.

Live with purpose.

Live for others.

~ Jeffrey Immelt

This has been a difficult summer for me. My sister's sad and tragic passing has taken me aback. Yet my recent mission trip to Maine was the best possible medicine. To focus on others, who are struggling with so much, was just what I needed. 

Healing takes time and we need to care for ourselves, but to get out of ourselves and care for others brings needed perspective and a sense of renewed purpose.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

God gave us an imagination to compensate us for what we are not;

and a sense of humor to console us for what we are.

~ Francis Bacon

Taking our lives seriously but not too seriously is the idea. We can indeed imagine how we ought to be and that should spur us on. Yet often times things do not turn out as we imagine and so we need to laugh at our "best laid plans" and accept our limits with humor and humility. 

Monday, August 17, 2009

The poorest person is one whose only wealth is money.

After a great week on a mission work-team to Downeast Maine I am more aware that real wealth is about relationship. Eighteen people from the North Reading and Reading UM churches had a great week serving others and spending time together. 

Often financial wealth does the opposite. It insulates us from others. We think we can make it alone and we pretend not to need others.  And so we are  robbed of a deeper wealth that comes from mutually depending on others. 

So today, remember what real wealth is for you.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Yet another beautiful day in Downeast Maine!

Last night we handed out health kits at a migrant worker camp. They
are mostly Latino and they travel all over the country to harvest our
food. After the blueberries are picked they will harvest the apples.
We need their labor yet they live in tents all summer and are given
little for their work.

We are doing the 6 hour drive back today. But first we went to the
blueberry pancake breakfast at the Blueberry Festival. Yum!

It was a great mission trip of servning others, good company,
delicious food, and amazing natural surroundings.

Steve

Sent from Steve's iPhone
781 929-7882

Friday, August 14, 2009

Another beautiful day Downeast.
Today we are joining with another work team to rehab a home. Tonight
we are going back to migrant woker camp near Lubec. Supper will be at
the Maine Wild Blueberry Festival.

Tomorrow, Saturday, is a travel day back to Reading. It has been a
great trip with18 people from the churches in Reading and North
Reading. We will do it again next year so please join us.

Steve

Sent from Steve's iPhone
781 929-7882

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Greetings from Downeast! Another beautiful day. Our group from Reading
is doing great.
Last night some of the group went to a work camp for blueberry
pickers, mostly migrant workers living in tents for the summer, and
handed out new blankets.
Today there are a variety of projects. I will be repairing the skirt
of a trailer to keep it tight for a Maine winter.

Steve

Sent from Steve's iPhone
781 929-7882

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Beautiful day in East Machias. Pete Avtges and I are building a
handicap ramp this morning. His son James is our trusty helper.
Last night Susan Holloway got us going on making some music.
Handchimes are fun.
In the afternoon we went to Jonesport and worked up a materials list
for fixing the skirt on a tailer.

Steve

Sent from Steve's iPhone
781 929-7882

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

We are settled in at the Jacksonville campground. There are several
other work teams with us here. Had supper at Helen's, a landmark
eating place in Machias. Losbter prices are way low, several of us
enjoyed one.
Today we are working at the clothing ministry for migrant workers.
Most are Latino. They drive up to pick blueberries. One was telling us
how they nonstopped in a van from Texas.
We unloaded a 15 passenger van full of clothes that I drove up from
Reading. Lots of nice duds.

Steve

Sent from Steve's iPhone
781 929-7882

Monday, August 10, 2009

I am leaving for the summer mission trip to Down East Maine Missions in East Machias, Maine. Like I did with the Honduras Mission trip I will use this blog to send out daily updates. Today is a travel day, about a 6 your car ride from Reading, MA. I will be keeping you posted.

Pastor Steven Notis

Old South United Methodist Church

6 Salem Street, Reading MA 01867

Email: pastor@oldsouthumc.org

Church Website: oldsouthumc.org

My Blog: oldsouthumc.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 6, 2009

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

~ Romans 8:28

With trust in God, good times become good memories, bad times become good lessons. There's always something good that comes out of every life experience.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Religion points to that area of human experience where in one way or another man comes upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage.

~ Fredrick Buechner

And so we are called to journey, not so much a destinations for today as a path to walk. God gives us bread for this journey and companions to walk with us. In faith that is enough.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.

It sings because it has a song.

Faith is more of a song than an answer. To pretend to have the answers is often arrogant, and usually besides the point. But to offer the world a song, some beauty, some grace, some peace is entirely what God has given us to do.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Never work just for money or power.

They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night.

~ Marian Wright Edelman

Yesterday in Sunday services our gospel reading was the story of what happened after Jesus fed the 5,000. You might think is was a happy ending with a nice meal and everyone satisfied. But what happened next is that large crowds who were primarily looking for another free meal began following after Jesus everywhere he went. Jesus tells them, "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life." 

We also can easily forget that while food and money certainly have an important place in life, that they are not enough. They are not up to the task of saving our soul and giving our lives meaning.