Posted by rrindfuss    0 Comment(s)    Add a Comment 
Dec 21 2017

Christmas is three days away. Take a deep breath. Breathe in the peace. Breathe out the stress. Repeat. The lead-up to Christmas is often a trying time. We struggle for the perfect family get-together, perfect decorations, perfect gifts, or, honestly, just to get through it without messing up anything too badly. I don't tend to stress much over decorations, but this year I've been struggling with getting the rubber duckie nativity outside my office just right. Sure, it may not be your struggle, but I believe where it's led me will give you some peace.

My struggle began a few weeks ago when we introduced our Reindeer and Donkeys sermon series at Access. In reading the scriptures I realized that the Bible never says Mary rode a donkey. That tradition goes back to a book written in the 3^rd century. Also, there were no wise men at the manger. The Bible says they came later.

With that knowledge in hand I set out to perfect my rubber duckie nativity. First, I went to a co-worker whose desk near mine – to the east of course - and asked permission to put my wise men ducks there, looking in the general direction of the Mary and Joseph duckies. We have great plans for the wise ducks to join up sometime in January. A few days later, though, another co-worker commented that the Mary duck already had a baby Jesus duck, and that seemed, well, premature. So now the Mary duck has a color-coordinated blue Post-It note hiding the baby Jesus duck until Christmas. Apart from everyone being rubber ducks, my nativity has reached historically accurate perfection. Maybe. There's bound to be some other detail I've missed that will make it fall short of perfection.

Two thousand years ago, the original nativity seemed to fall well short of perfection too. First there was the census that drove Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem in the final days of her pregnancy. Then there was the whole inn debacle. The wise men recognized a king had been born, but they showed up late. At least the shepherds showed up in the right place at the right time.

I realized, though, as I recalled the original Christmas story that none of those imperfections mattered. God embraced them and worked in the midst of them. The only detail that truly mattered was that the perfect God had come into the world, choosing to join us in the midst of imperfection. What God sought then and still seeks today is not perfection but relationship.

Christmas is three days away. Take a deep breath. Breathe in the awareness that Christmas is about God wanting to relate to you. Breathe out the stress of trying perfectly to prepare, because God chose and chooses to come to us in the midst of imperfection.

Merry Christmas!
Rich

P.S. – Bring family and friends and celebrate the birth of Christ with us on Christmas Eve! Access will worship at 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. You can find a full list of FUMCR Christmas Eve services at www.fumcr.com/advent#eve.

Posted by jklossner    0 Comment(s)    Add a Comment 
Dec 15 2017

Posted by jklossner    0 Comment(s)    Add a Comment 
Dec 8 2017

This year, I might have a slight preference for the Grinch over Santa. The idea of someone coming to my house and taking all the stuff that I didn’t need in the first place would save me a lot of trouble when I get to spring cleaning. I have been the thinking the past fews weeks of what it might look like to buy presents for my family and friends a little differently this year.

What it would like if I bought experiences rather than stuff? Or if I had them unwrap presents that would go to others in need? Would they revolt? Be confused or happy? Last year, my family gave a gift in my name to the Muscular Dystrophy Association where my cousin, Sarah, works. I was so overjoyed that funding would go to support the great work she was doing with these families. I felt as though my heart, like the Grinch's, grew in size that day. 

Now I’m all for great gifts. Even the Wise Men brought Jesus stuff, really good, pretty, shiny stuff. But I also really love the story of the shepherds, who were not fancy or well-groomed and were invited not to give gifts to Jesus, but to simply be present for the experience.

What might it look like this year for you to give gifts differently? An experience or a gift in honor of someone goes to support great work going on globally, locally, and nationally? 

This year our church is blessing five partners with our Advent Offering, with 3 being local and two international. See the list below of the ministries our Advent Offering will support. Will you please consider a gift?

The 2017 Advent & Christmas Eve Offering will support the following:        

    •    Kafodzidzi Primary and Middle School in Ghana serves several hundred children and is in desperate need of repairs to remain functional.  This is the home school of Sam Asmah, FUMCR member and employee.

    •    Project Transformation utilizes the talents of college students in partnership with United Methodist churches to offer daily activities to children in low income neighborhoods. 
 

    •    Network of Community Ministries is the emergency social service agency of Richardson assisting Richardson residents with rental and utility help, as well as providing food pantry and clothing closet items. 

    •     

    •    Skuinskloof Primary School in South Africa is a ministry of FUMCR. We continue to send work teams to Africa to build and improve facilities at this school.
 

    •    Go Camp is a North Texas Conference supported camp experience for children in urban and rural communities who may not have access to summer camps. FUMCR will host one of these camps in 2018.  It will be an opportunity for children in our community to have a camp experience that otherwise would not have such an opportunity.      

If you would like to give to the Advent Offering online, you may do so here.

This Sunday we are continuing our series, Reindeer and Donkeys, by talking about Santa and Saints.

See you Sunday!

-Julie