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May 31 2017

Last Sunday we displayed a huge number of thank-you cards and notes from students at Mark Twain Elementary. They wanted to thank Access for helping them read an amazing number of books. In the 2014-2015 school year they read 4,000 books. How many do you guess they read this year?

Mark Twain's students read 22,250 books during the 2015-2016 school year!

We began tracking their progress in the 2014-2015 school year when Access provided financial support for a software program called Accelerated Reader. AR assesses students' reading ability and provides a suggested reading list. After reading a book a student takes a quiz and earns points based on his or her quiz results and the difficulty of the book. That year the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th graders read 4,000 books.

The next year Mark Twain added a prize store where students could redeem their points for everything from mechanical pencils to stuffed animals to soccer balls. Access members donated prizes for the store and volunteered on shopping days to help the students redeem their points. Reading quadrupled to 16,000 books.

This past year Mark Twain expanded the AR program to include 2^nd graders. At FUMCR support for Mark Twain grew beyond Access to involve the entire church and included volunteers that read during the week with students, financial support for the AR program, volunteers for the prize store, and donations of prizes. All of those efforts helped the students read 22,250 books.

Thank you from the students, staff, and teachers at Mark Twain, and thank you from me!

School concluded this week, so our next volunteer opportunities at Mark Twain and our other partner school, Greenwood Hills, will come in the fall; however, you can join the Children First mailing list today to keep up to date on our school partnerships and opportunities to help. Simply e-mail

I hope you'll join pastor Julie and me this week at Access. We'll have the thank-yous from Mark Twain out for you to see, and we'll present part 2 of our Head-Heart sermon series. Pastor Julie, our "feeler", will present the case for why she must have a cold, rational faith of the head. Then I, our "thinker", will respond live. If you missed part 1 where I made a case for faith of the heart and Julie responded, you can watch it here.

In Christ,
Rich

Access Pastor
First United Methodist Church Richardson

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May 25 2017

Each person has unique gifts, interests, and past experiences and a unique personality. When I get to know someone well enough I usually discover something fascinating within their uniqueness. Last week I discovered that a member of our Access congregation, Dirk G. Sutherland, writes devotionals, which are reflections and prayers on Biblical topics and scriptures. Dirk shared one with me related to our recent sermon series on conflict. I found it insightful and vulnerably honest and want to share it with you.

Life By The Spirit
Galatians 5:22-26

A Devotional

Written By Dirk G. Sutherland

Sometimes we argue, fight, and lose patience with those we love the most.  It was during one of those times that I turned to the Bible, hoping to find some patience and some of God’s wisdom. Through prayer and reflection God provided me with the wisdom and answers I was looking for.

I always appreciate the powerful impact of God’s word and how often I found the answers I was looking for, even though they were not always the answers I was searching for. Perhaps it is because God always answers the questions in my Heart, while maybe not so often the ones I voice aloud. For only God could know my heart so well as to answer the questions that I don’t know or wouldn’t ask myself.

God knows what I want to ask, and what I need to ask, the questions that trouble me the most, questions that I don’t know, never thought or dared to ever ask.

God speaks powerfully to us, both through his written word, and when we come before him in prayer. Often we don’t credit God for much of what we fail to realize is him at work in our lives. God waits for as long as it takes for us to accept him, says nothing as he works among us, in us, upon us, and for us, never never calling attention to himself. Talk about patience, how lucky are we all to experience love from a God so amazing!

Galatians 5:22-26

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and its desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking, and envying each other.

Prayer

God often we forget how single and narrow minded we can be, and we often don’t realize it until we get stuck, or confronted by your vast wisdom. God please help me to narrow my focus in life only where it is needed and to broaden my view and be more open minded in life where I am not.

God often we pray for patience when dealing with others, when we should be praying for them to have patience with us. Often are the times that we argue, and frequently those arguments are over the same points of contention. We become contentious with each other and argue only thinking to prevail over the other without ever giving thought to any real resolution. God it is with this in mind that we come before you, help us God, to have the wisdom to understand that the future holds many more conflicts, arguments, and disputes. Grant us God, the patience, love, and understanding to look for solutions to our problems, rather than arguing simply for the sake of winning or prevailing over another without resolving anything. That living by the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and patience, that it is gentle and kind and full of self-control.

Thank you God for your patience and love, your kindness, and the peace that you bring to our lives. Keep us sheltered in your hands as you continue to guide us and as we grow in Christ and live by the Spirit, in your Son’s Awesome name we pray……AMEN!

Thank you, Dirk, for putting your reflections and prayers in writing and for your willingness to share them with others.

Don't miss Access this Sunday! Julie and I kick off a two-week series of sermons called Head vs. Heart. This week I (the thinker) will make make a case for why I must have an irrational faith of the heart. And then Julie (the feeler) will share her reactions to my sermon. Next week we'll swap places and Julie will make a case for needing an intellectual faith of the head, and I'll respond. And as always Eric and the Access band will guide us into the presence of God through terrific music. It's going to be great!

In Christ,
Rich

Rich Rindfuss
Access Pastor
First United Methodist Church Richardson

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May 18 2017

I've noticed something around me that I find curious: some people noticeably filter cuss words out of their language. They usually say something like, "Well, I can't say that in front of a pastor." Others don't filter their language but then sheepishly say something like, "Oops. Sorry, pastor." Friends, let me ease your anxiety. Cussing might be helpful.

Back in January an international research team published a report in the journal, Social Psychological and Personality Science, and wrote, “We found a consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty; profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level and with higher integrity at the society level.” In our Access sermons over the past month we've looked at strategies for healthy conflict, and the Bible has continually emphasized the importance of honesty. We've also learned that naming, expressing, and taking responsibility for our emotions helps improve the outcome of confrontations. The researchers indicated that cussing helps with part of that too: “The spontaneous use of profanity is usually the unfiltered genuine expression of emotions.”

However, the researchers reported another finding: “Swearing has also been shown to hold a negative relationship with the personality traits of conscientiousness and agreeableness.” So, when people are being honest, they may swear, but people also swear when they’re just being mean. This past Sunday I referred to Colossians 3:14 that says, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love,” and I highlighted that the English word “love” is translating the Greek word “agape” which means self-sacrificial actions for another. That kind of love is the opposite of being mean to others. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention that one of the 10 Commandments is not to use God’s name “in vain,” and numerous other verses direct us not to curse others or use language that tears others down.

On the other hand – or back to the first hand, I guess – I'd also be remiss if I didn't share that Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8 (KJV), "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ", only he didn't say "dung" (at least not in the original Greek). Paul expressed with deep honesty and emotion just how valuable he considered his knowledge of Christ.

Here's what I'd like you to take away from all of this. If your language is mean or hurtful, whether profane or not, I hope you'll seek God's help and work to change it. As for your and my conversations, I'd love to interact with the raw, unfiltered, honest, genuinely emotive you. That's how God knows you and loves you, and it's how I'd like to know you and love you too.

I hope you'll join us for worship at Access this Sunday. FUMCR's senior pastor, Dr. Clayton Oliphint, will be preaching and sharing the scriptural basis behind our church's mission: With Open Hearts and Minds, we Welcome people for Christ, Grow people in Christ, and Serve people with Christ. I'll be preaching in the sanctuary services all morning and looking forward to being back with you the following week.

In Christ,
Rich

Access Pastor
First United Methodist Church Richardson