W E L C O M E,   Lakewood UMC Has Been Expecting You!
Recently we have been blessed at LUMC with a great many visitors to our services.  Our hope is to have these visitors find a home here at Lakewood.

How many visitors have you noticed?
How many visitors have you spoken to?

The bible tells us early on, in Exodus 23:9, how to treat strangers or outsiders, as they were called, “Do not beat an outsider down. You yourselves know how it feels to be outsiders.”   Remember the first time you visited a church?  Were you afraid to enter?  Were you worried whether anyone would speak to you, or even notice you? Were you looking for God’s love in a strange, new building?  Did you find it?

Do you think visitors to our church find God’s love here on Sunday mornings?

Lakewood prides itself on being a friendly and welcoming church; the pitfall for many churches is that we think we are a friendly church because we are friendly to each other. Remember, if our visitors and guests don’t think we are a friendly church, then we aren’t.

Creating a welcoming and hospitable climate begins at the curb and continues into the heart of the congregation. The ministry of welcoming is not just the responsibility of a few people or a committee. It is the responsibility of the entire church family.

Sometimes on Sunday mornings it is difficult to speak to people you don’t know, especially when there are so many people you do know. But we have to notice visitors, and  then approach them in Christian love and welcome them as we would anyone we invited to be our guest. Hospitality is biblically based. 3 John 1:5 says “Dear friend, when you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even when they are strangers, you make your faith visible.”  Is your faith visible on Sunday morning?

One of my favorite scriptures about hospitality is 1 Peter 4:9 - “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”  You may be lucky enough for hospitality to come naturally to you as you easily greet anyone – stranger or friend.  For others it is more difficult, so first and foremost, SMILE - you can smile at everyone whether you know them or not.  You can say, “Good morning, it’s so nice to have you here today.”

Our hospitality ministry is growing; we are trying to make it intentional, not just happenstance.   You are all making it happen.  Keep smiling!

Last week I attended the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference’s Annual Conference. Allow me to explain.  The United Methodist Church is connectional, meaning that individual churches are tied together in one system of ministry. Local churches are a part of Districts; Lakewood is a part of the Metropolitan District.  Districts are a part of Conferences; the Metro District (as it is called) is a part of the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference. Conferences are a part of Jurisdictions; the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference is a part of the Western Jurisdiction (I’ll draw you a map of all of this sometime if you want).  As it stands right now, the United Methodist Church in other parts of the world are called Central Conferences and when we all get together it is called the General Conference. Additionally, Jurisdictions may soon become parts of Regional Conferences, but that is for another entry.

Each of these bodies meet together either annually (hence the name Annual Conference) or (in the case of General Conference) every four years to do church business like set pastors retirement benefits, worship (for example there is a memorial service for those that have passed away), learn new things (this year we talked a great deal about reaching out to young people), and in my opinion, most importantly, celebrate the ways we are engaging and helping God’s people.

You might be asking yourself, “Why does all of this matter?”  That is a very good question and even though I have been a United Methodist my whole life until last year I might not have been able to give you a very good answer (you may still think I can’t give you a very good answer!).  Many of my fellow Iliff students belong to other denominations and some to other faiths.  Many of them are not connected to each other; none of them are connected in the ways I described above. Many of their systems have advantages over ours, but to me, districts and conferences matter because they mean that we are doing God’s work as a team.  Any one who has been a part of a team, whether a sports team or a planning team at work, knows that teams can be frustrating.  They can make it seem more difficult to get the work done; sometimes you just wish you could do it alone.  Those that have been on teams also know that with the help of others, by adding their gifts and talents to the project a team can accomplish more than any one ever thought was possible.

So the next time you hear Melanie or Gary Dyer say they are going to Annual Conferee, or you hear that we are hosting the District Superintendent you will know that they, and we, are playing our position on the team of the United Methodist Church.

When I tell people that one of my responsibilities is to visit the homebound sick and dying, they usually respond with “How depressing!”.

But in fact I have found that these visits are often the high point of my week. Two specific dear members of our church family come to mind.

I won’t use names, but when I call one precious friend to arrange a visit, she always says she’ll have our tea and cookies. Although she is homebound, she had a wide and varied career including being a pilot and a teacher. When I visit her, we talk about her favorite radio station, books, and her enjoyment of gardening and flowers. Our hour long visits just fly by. She looks forward to our visits, but I suspect not nearly as much as I do – I always leave refreshed.

Most people can’t imagine regularly visiting folks in hospice. Americans just don’t deal with death and the dying process very well. Yet, when I made a hospice visit a couple of years ago, I simply held our dear member’s hand, while family members shared highlights of her life. When we prayed together, we truly felt the comforting presence of God. As I left, my own faith was renewed.

My “job” at Lakewood UMC is to visit the homebound sick, hospitalized and dying. My “calling” is to bring the presence of God and the love of our church to those folk. I would love to invite you to share this ministry with me. How can you bring the love of God to members of our church family we don’t see every Sunday?

A friend of mine laughingly made the comment that he’ll go on a mission trip when it’s in Hawaii!  He’s a good person, a church leader, and a dedicated Christian, but he is loathe to endure the discomforts that most mission trips are known for - fast food, the hassles of traveling, sleeping on a cot in a church basement, infrequent showers, dirty and back-aching work.

And then, another friend is among the first to volunteer whenever her church plans a mission trip - it doesn’t matter what the accomodations are like, how hard or mundane the work is, or where in the world it may be.

Both are really good people, caring and compassionate.

There definitely is an attitude adjustment that’s needed when we decide to embark on “the Mission Road”.  Sacrifices will be made, comfortable routines will be disrupted, aches and pains will ensue, and it will cost some money.

We took a picture in Kentucky last year - all of us holding our swollen thumbs out, the thumbs we’d accidentally hit with a hammer while working on Ellen’s roof.  Add that photo to the picture we took in Texas a few weeks ago - the picture of the group powdered with drywall dust - and the cots, fast food, and backaches seem insignificant.  There’s something deep and meaningful that comes out of sore thumbs and dusty clothes…  You know what I mean?

Jim Marshall

For the first time since the Sanctuary renovation 13 years ago, in my memory anyway, we held an actual church service here at LUMC in a place other than the Sanctuary or Chapel. Under the guidance of Amy Strader, our Director of Children’s Ministries, and Julie Cicak, Minister of Congregational Care, we did our Ash Wednesday Service in Great Hall, using just candle light and a few strategic reading lights (plus the ambient light from the video projector!). Most of those there commented on how worshipful and meaningful it was – much to their surprise!

Many of us probably know the line from the hymn “We Are the Church” (#558 in our hymnal) that says “The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.” But how much of that do we really believe? If (God forbid) our Sanctuary and Chapel burned down and we would be forced to hold worship in Great Hall or a rented empty “big box store” on Sundays, after the initial rush of support, would our attendance decline (or would it maybe increase)? These are important questions to ask as we move forward in our relocation plans – how important is the form of the actual space where we worship to our life as a church?

I remember talking recently to the Sr. Pastor of a large congregation that had relocated. He commented that the process really showed them who had joined the church and who had joined the building. Where is your membership/fellowship at LUMC? Is it with the church or is it in the building? An important point to ponder these days, I think.