Trinity Church Grand Island

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—“      Romans 1:16

The quest for many churches today is what draws people to a community of faith.  Those of us who love the Church and serve God through it are particularly interested in this.  We want people to join us in the mission of the Church.  We often focus on program, fellowship, attractive buildings, and adjusting our message so as to be acceptable to trends in our culture.  All of these methods have been shown to be bankrupt.  In short, we have been “barking up the wrong tree.”  There is no power in marketing and pursuing a cozy relationship with our culture.  It doesn’t work.  In fact it destroys the Christian community and after the cleverness wears off, the church declines.

So where is the power button?  The apostle Paul pointed to it, and his life and ministry prove he was correct.  He knew where the power button was.  Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in his Letter to the Romans, chapter 1, verse 16.  Here it is:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes – “

How did he go from being a man who hated Christians and doing his best to kill their leadership to becoming one of the world’s foremost Christian leaders?  Through an intense personal encounter with the risen Jesus he was transformed into a power-filled evangelist.  He proclaimed the gospel boldly as he knew it had transformative power.  The result:  the Church grew and grew.

The Good News about Christ is powerful.  So this becomes "Priority One" in a church’s ministry if they are to fulfill the mission of making disciples for Jesus Christ.

At Trinity Church we are committed to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.  That’s where in our church there is and will be power. 

We are not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.  We are into Power-Sharing.  Come help us push the power button and be a part of  what follows.

In the United Methodist Church our theology is formed by the fact that ”Scripture is primary.”   John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, “believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason.”    What this practically means is that when we deal with matters of faith we begin with the Bible and from that shape our theology.  (p. 77 The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church – 2008)

During the time encompassed by my official ministry I have witnessed those who resist this basic norm of who we are as United Methodist Wesleyans.  Early on in my ministry one of my mentors insisted that we United Methodists were those within the Wesleyan tradition who were “culturally affirming.”  When pressed to say what that meant, he went on to say that we affirmed the progressive notion that humanity was slowly perfecting itself, so we “embraced” the overall direction of culture.

I believe that today one would generally be hard pressed to affirm the wisdom of that statement made some thirty years ago in that the direction of culture has not revealed that humanity is perfecting itself in the sense of getting better.

It is my contention that we would be far better off to be skeptical of the direction of culture as not being indicative of what God desires for us as his people.

So, back to the fact that officially we begin with Scripture.  What this means is we do not form our opinions about things and then back into Scripture to see if we can justify those opinions.  Rather we becomes students of the Bible, discover the comprehensive narrative within the Bible, and then develop a theology which is consistent with it.  This should be the core of a church’s education program.

This past fall a group of about twenty-five persons took a Bible survey course here at Trinity called “See Through the Scriptures.”   The goal of the course was to establish the Biblical narrative in the minds of the participants.  This winter I will be offering a course to illustrate how that Biblical narrative then informs the various parts of Scripture and results in the formation of our theology and our doctrine.

I invite you to join me in putting Scripture first, and seeing where it leads us as we use our Wesleyan perspective of believing “the living core of the Christian faith is revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason.”    

Larry Baird

Grand Island, NY

Read Psalm 104

“The birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees.”  (Psalm 104:12 NLT)

I grew up in a family that had an extraordinary interest in nature.   I was well into high school before I realized that we were not the norm.   My father’s uncle, William Smith of Lyndonville, was likely the catalyst for this.  He was active in the Audubon Society, and was also an expert in many other things such as mushrooms and fungi.  I remember many quick trips across town to his estate “Robin Hill” in Lyndonville to take in an unusual sighting or to view some project upon which he was working.   This interest merged with our other passion which was fly fishing.   This form of fishing entails the detailed study of insects and aquatic life. 

Love of nature and the environment never was for me separated from my growing appreciation for matters of faith.  The earth was God’s creation, and it too revealed something of the nature of God.  It spoke of orderliness, an incredible beauty, and an ever unfolding wonderment.

During this time before Thanksgiving, I invite you to open your eyes just a bit more widely to take in the incredible view that surrounds us.  Here on Grand Island we have a particularly rich environment for birding, and other nature watching.   If you do decide to open your eyes beyond the man-made structures in our lives, you will be better prepared for truly “giving thanks.”   You may even be inclined to join the Psalmist who wrote in the 104th:

May the glory of the LORD continue forever! The LORD takes pleasure in all he has made! The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains smoke at his touch. I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath! May all my thoughts be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

From Pastor Baird

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

The old Scottish prayer is a playful way to remind us of those things that trigger fear. In childhood it was sometimes our imaginations that would run wild; convincing us there was a monster under the bed, or one hiding behind the clothes in closet.  This lingers into adulthood as we are both drawn to and repelled by horror stories.  The truth is life is such that there are all too often real horror stories that become tragically imbedded in people’s personal histories.  The horrors plague them in such a way to bring great dysfunction in their lives and their relationships with others.  Horror stories are not the fun some would like to make them.

I am not much an advocate of Halloween, just as I am not a fan of horror movies.  As a pastor I have dealt with enough of people’s traumas to not want to invent caricatures of more.

So when it comes to Halloween I would rather point to the Christian celebration of All Saints (Sunday, October 30 for Trinity Church), in which we remember those persons who have been a true blessing to us, those who have passed down the faith and the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.   We celebrate those persons who have shown Christ’s love to us unconditionally and reminded us that “perfect love drives out fear.”  Perfect love is the love of Jesus Christ that wells up in people through God’s grace.  That is what we celebrate and hold up against ghoulies and ghosties, real and imaginary.  In the face of love the tortured ones flee, for there is no space left for them to roam about even in the darkest of nights.