Welcome Gifts

This was our first welcome gift at Shiloh UMC, a Communion chalice and plate. It was handmade by a local artisan.The card read:

"Hope you will enjoy this gift. I know you have been wanting one for a long time.

Love you and Joanne,

The redneck side of your family, Charlene, Codey and Cheyanne; Mary Beth, Greg, Zach, and Emily; Laurie, Lacy, Chelsea, and Katie."

We used the set the first Sunday in July to serve Communion.

Our next gift was this set of bookends, from the Birgbauers. Yes, that's Mickey and Minnie "Jim Shore" bookends for my church office. You can imagine the direction my office decor is heading.  

Shiloh UMC and the Power Outage

On the last Friday in June, we had a storm come through that knocked out power to 10's of thousands of people in Lynchburg and surrounding counties. Trees were snapped off and had fallen on power lines, homes and cars. The word was that power would not be completely restored to homes and businesses for over a week.  The problem of the loss of electricity and AC was compounded by the daytime temperatures reaching over the 100 degree point.

Shiloh UMC was one of the churches fortunate enough to keep its power and air conditioning. So the folks who made it to church on Sunday decided to get cold cuts, cheese, lettuce, tomato, bread and have sandwiches together in the fellowship hall after the morning service.

The lunch worked so well that we decided to come back for dinner. No one really wanted to sit out the afternoon and evening with the heat in the homes. So, Charlene Gallaher worked through the afternoon making several pans of lasagna, trays of garlic bread, and bowls of salad.

During the afternoon, people came in and out of the church to cool down. Some brought their dogs in to let them chill from the heat. Everyone was well behaved, people and pets.

We had quite a few people joining us for diner, even some non-members. It was a good place to come, relax, cool down, enjoy a meal that you couldn't prepare at home, and have a good time.

After dinner we went up into the sanctuary and watched a movie, Ratatouille. It was about 9:30 Sunday night before we finally left the church. The outside temperature had cooled down to the mid 80's.

Thoughout the coming week, people would continue to use the church as a resource and cooling station. Some slept at the church, some got ice from the ice machine for themselves and others, some cooled their pets, and a week later some still are.

Shiloh UMC Ministers at Parkview Mission

Again Shiloh UMC was minstering at Parkview Mission. Charlene Gallaher played piano, while Glen Garrison, Rev. Phil Showers, the pastor at Parkview Mission, Harry Spruce, and Fran Keeler led folks in a Gospel sing-a-long. 

The food is prepared and everyone is waiting in the kitchen to start serving after the devotions and prayer.

Fianally, time to start serving, the best part of the evening. I take my usual place serving deviled eggs. We had a very big croud for dinner. Dinner was served, seconds were provided, and take home boxes were supplied. There was not a morsel left.

This is ministry.

VAUMC Annual Conference 2012

Well, its June, must be time for the Virginia United methodist Annual Conference. It was in Roanoke, VA again this year. Joanne and I took our usual seats at the far end of the Civic Center. The biggest complaint this year was how cold the place was. It seemed like most of the heavy issues were dealt with at the General Conference that had been in Tampa a few months earlier, so we were spared having to listen a lot of the arguments one way or the other this year.

We always enjoy being at Annual Conference for the Licensing and Ordination service. Below is the Licensing of the Local Pastors.

We were joined by our friends George and Kathy Schaeffer. We try and get together during Conference, since it seems its one of the few times our schedules can work.

We had several firends being ordained this year. Above is Jacob Sahms and below is Craig Newman.

This year was shorter than most years and it ran on different days than normal. The year our Bishop Charlene Kammerer retired, this would be her last Annual Conference. We should find out sometime in July about our new Bishop.

Annual Conference can be a nuisance, at its worst tense and frustrating. But there are things that I wouldn't want to miss; Licensing and Ordination, Recogition of Retiring Pastors, the Memorial Service for Deceased Pators and Pastor's Spouses, and of course, seeing friends that you get to see all too infrequently. See you next year in Hampton VA.

Family Father's Day

 For lunch on Father's Day, Mom and Dad, Karen, Jeremiah and Kate with baby Jeremiah, Joanne and I went to Sundae Grill for lunch. They had a special that all fathers could eat for free. I have never seen any other restaraunt do that before. I had thought that, with free food, the line would be out the door, but we only had a 30 minute wait for seats. Even with that short of a wait, the owner kept apologizing for the delay. The food and service were great, but what really got me was how the owner told us how much he appreciated our coming to his restaraunt. He was blessing fathers and he appreciated us. Oh, we'll be back.

Another thing special about Sundae Grill, if you come to eat on a Sunday or Wednesday, and if you bring a copy of your church bulletin, they will send a check to your church equal to 10% of what you paid for your meal. Now think about that for a minute, a restaraunt is tithing what you paid back to your church. I love this place.

Jeremiah Luther Johnson, with his father Jeremiah Levi Johnson, with his father Charlie Johnson Jr., with his father Charlie Johnson Sr. A Very Happy Father Day, indeed.

Father's Day at Shiloh UMC 2012

Well, it was Father's Day at Shiloh UMC and we had gifts for select fathers. Joe Irvine won for being the oldest father at church, he's a very healthy 92 years old.

I swear I didn't plan it this way, but I ended up being the youngest grandfather. I've been a grandfather for almost 15 years. Think of all the prizes I've missed.

Jeremiah Johnson, our son, won for being the youngest father. I know I look younger, but I don't want to hurt his feelings.

As Joanne and I have become accustomed to do, we give gifts to all the men at church. We recognize them as "Men of Faith". We realize that whether you have natural children or not, at some point you have been a father figure or spiritual father to someone; providing guidance, mentoring, or simply keeping someone out of harms way.

Each gift was a pack of goldfish crackers with a note thanking them for being Fishers of Men.

During the service I used our new grandson, Jeremiah Luther Johnson, to demonstrate differences in how men and women carry babies.

It was a good day.

41st Anniversary Weekend in Williamsburg Virginia 2012

Our 41st anniversary was June the 11th, which was also a Monday. So we decided to wait until the weekend to celebrate. On Friday after Joanne got off work we left for Williamsbug VA. We had dinner reservations at the Kings Arms Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg.

Part of the entertaiment during dinner was a lady playing a celtic harp.

Joanne had "chicken breast pan-fried and served with apple-cornbread stuffing, scuppernong-raisin sauce, herb-mashed potatoes, and fresh vegetables".

I had "maple and whiskey-brined pork chop with grain-mustard glaze, herb-roasted mashed potatoes, and red cabbage braised with applewood bacon".

Joanne had a pecan pie included with her dinner, which she gave to me. She had decided that she wanted the "Thomas Jefferson's brandy spiked bread pudding with a warm vanilla bean sauce". Good food, good music, and better company.

Saturday morning we started our day with breakfast at the Old Chickahominy House restaraunt. It is our favorite place for breakfast in Williamsburg.

 After breakfast we went to the Williamsburg Pottery Factory. If they hadn't had the sign out front, I would never have recognized the place. They have totally redone the Pottery. New buildings, its clean, its air conditioned, and the variety of selections is great. One of the managers told us that they have over 15,000 food items in stock. It was like Salsa Heaven. The next time we go to Williamsburg for an extended stay, we're doing our grocery shopping there.

 We then made an obligatory stop at the Yankee Candle Outlet. Joanne said we were just going to look around, but I kept loosing her. This place is an aromatice den of temptation.

 Finally, we made it back over to Colonial Williamsburg. We didn't buy any tickets, so we just walked around, checking out the scenery and gardens.

 It was a beautiful day, with the temperatures in the low 80's and the humidity low. It was a perfect day to wander, hold hands, sip some cold apple cider, and just not be in a rush.

We headed home around 4:00 in the evening. We weren't there long, just long enough. It was nice simply to get away to ourselves.

New Appointment

I am currently serving as Interim Pastor at Shiloh UMC, through the end of June.

 http://mountairyjournal.blogspot.com/2012/05/first-sunday-at-shiloh-umc.html

The first of July is when all new appointments take place for United Methodist pastors. That will be when I start my new appointment as pastor for Shiloh UMC. It seems that once again, my time of service to Timberlake UMC is limited to one year. While we leave Timberlake UMC and Timberlake UMC East with a degree of sadnees, we move to our next new adventure with expectation of what is in store.

Memorial Day Sunday 2012 at Shiloh UMC

 On Memorial Day Sunday, the congregation of Shiloh UMC concluded their morning service by going into the cemetery to place American flags on the graves of the veterans buried there.

 We found 26 veterans buried in the Shiloh UMC cemetery. There are veterans spanning from the Civil War through the Korean War. We have confirmed two veterans that fought for the Confederacy.

 One member of Shiloh commented that he had attended church there for 60 years and this was the first time that they had recognized the veterans in this way.

 We don't have complete records; branch of service, rank, conflict, dates, etc; on all the veterans. There are probably other veterans that we haven't realized as of yet. But this was our start.

 Our plan is to do this every May for Memorial Day and again every November for Veterans Day. That way the flags will be replaced every 6 months. The old flags will taken to the local Veterans of Foreign Wars or American Legion for proper disposal.

 We concluded our morning service gathered in the shade of the big oak tree in the cemtery. We talked about the importance of what we had just done and how we need to teach this to future generations, so that they will remember.

I know that there are some that feel that we should not combine the spiritual and the secular. That the church is not the place to recognize National days like Memorial Day. For me, this is a Holy day and it is our intention to continue to remember those who stood in the gap made the sacrifice that we might gather and worship in freedom.