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A Word from the 18th Century: Mary Fletcher, one of those faithful early Methodists in 18th century England, wrote in a letter to a Methodist society in the neighborhood of Madeley: O that you would therefore do as Jacob did, be earnest with the Lord, that his love may fill your heart, as the Scripture expresses it, the love of God, shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost, given unto you. If you get your hearts full of the love of God, you will find that is the oil by which the lamp of faith we be ever kept burning . . . . Pray, my friends, pray much for this love; and remember that word, “He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

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A Reflection About Worship: I have a good friend who is an academic dean at a seminary in Baltimore. He worshipped this past Sunday in a small congregation in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He described the worship in an email. He wrote: The gospel was proclaimed clearly, the worship was solemn and joyful and hospitable and holy. There were about 50 folks, mostly older but two young African-American men in dreadlocks, an Asian-American couple with infant, .. If that's what a dying church looks like, it's a good death, and perhaps the kind where God is likely to work resurrection. Note the words he used. He spoke of the worship as “solemn and joyful and hospitable and holy.” In contrast, we have allowed ourselves to label worship as “contemporary” or “traditional,” as “formal” or “informal.” Such labels have gotten us nowhere. Let us ask ourselves if our worship can be at once solemn and joyful. Are we hospitable to one another and, especially, to visitors? Most important, can we say that our worship is holy—wholly devoted to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in honor of the very first of the ten commandments? Randy

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Prayer for the Day: Eternal Light, shine into our hearts, Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil, Eternal Power, be our support, Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance, Eternal Pity, have mercy upon us; that with all our heart and mind and soul and strength we may seek your face and be brought by your infinite mercy to your holy presence; through Jesus Christ our Lord. --Alcuin of York, 735-804

Our Summer Choir sings a beautiful communion anthem, "At the Table of the Lord" by Jay Althouse

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A Prayer as Your Day Comes to An End: I thank you, my God, for your care and protection this day, keeping me from physical harm and spiritual ignorance. I now place the work of the day into Your hands, trusting that You will redeem my mistakes, and transform my accomplishments into works of praise. And now I ask that You will work within me while I sleep, using the hours of my rest to create in me a new mind and heart and soul. May my mind, which during the day was directed to my work and activities, through the night be directed wholly to You. --Jacob Boehme (1575-1624)

Another brief reflection: Randy shared in Tuesday’s update a word about the Old Testament. He came across these words today by Allan Bevere. Bevere, a United Methodist, writes: It amazes me that too many Christians who are so adamantly opposed to the anti-intellectualism of Christian "science deniers" are all too often the very same people who say, "It doesn't matter what we Christians believe as long as we love everyone." I'm all for love, of course. It's impossible to read the Bible and not see the singular importance of love; but when we dismiss the significance of the great doctrines of our faith in favor of a particular and usually sentimentally shallow understanding of love, we take an anti-intellectual stance in reference to the faith delivered to the saints.

A Brief Reflection by Randy: Early in our marriage, Gayle and I lived in Scotland for a year. In that year, we met a very few people who could speak Scottish Gaelic. Some of our Scottish friends were worried that Gaelic could die as a language. Languages can live, and languages can die. A more obvious example is Latin. Latin was once a living language spoken across Europe. When the two brothers, John and Charles Wesley, were with one another, they would often converse with each other in Latin. Yet we all know that Latin has died as a language. I am reading a book entitled, “The Old Testament is Dying.” The author, a Nazarene named Brent Strawn, argues that the Old Testament is dying the way a language dies. Of all places, the Old Testament—its language, its stories —is dying in the church. A slow death is taking place, with causes more than we can name or number. In my mind, the biggest threat to the Old Testament is our prideful assumption that we have somehow moved past it. In simple words, we believe we are smarter than those people were. We’re more educated than they were. The children of Israel were rooted in the land and were mostly illiterate. Our lives are so much better than theirs. We may not say it aloud, but we doubt that books like Genesis can tell us anything that we don’t already know. Besides, if we have Jesus, why do we need the Psalms or Jeremiah or Moses? I am reminded of C.S. Lewis who spoke about “chronological snobbery,” that condition of the human heart where we look down our noses at people of the past who were not as “enlightened” as we believe ourselves to be. Question: Are we willing to submit to—to sit at the feet of—the Old Testament as sacred Scripture?

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Our Church Picnic & Potluck is this Sunday after 10 am worship. Dress casually and bring a dish. Hot dogs and hamburgers will be provided.

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Mark your calendar for Church Picnic!!!!

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2017 Memphis Annual Conference is Sunday-Tuesday, June 4-6, at Collierville UMC in Collierville, TN. The link for live streaming will be in Thursday FUMC News-June 1, Monday’s Constant Contact-June 4 & FUMC News-June 5 email. Bro. Randy will preach at Monday’s Opening Worship at 8:45 a.m. (Note the link will not be activated until June 4)