First Bethel United Methodist Church

Our time together began with a video that many in the United Methodist Church have been prayerfully considering since earlier this year. The video is produced by United Methodist Communications and it offers a powerful message to the church. In essence, the video, entitled “Realities” puts before the entire denomination a powerful call to action: The video proclaims “the way we do church is not sustainable…BUT, God’s work is still getting done. We may not have as many resources as we would like….but what we have is sufficient to fulfill God’s call….God is not finished with us yet! God is calling us… how will we answer?” How will we answer? (Note, please visit the First Bethel web site to view the video at www.firstbethelumc.org and clicking onto the link ) Much of Visioning Day focused on how we, as a church family, will answer… it was an exciting time of conversation and dreaming. But our reality is – not one of us can do it alone. Each one of us is called to do our part. During the summer months I shared with the staff a devotional I read by the Rev. Dr. James Moore which has as its title Know the Magic of Pulling Together. The story is about a man who is driving and accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. His car was stuck deep in the mud. So the man walked to a nearby farm to ask for help. The farmer took a look at the situation and said yes, old Warwick can get you out of that. The man looked at the old mule to which the farmer was pointing and knew there was no way this mule could be of help. But the farmer insisted and the man really had no other choices. “The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reins he shouted: ‘Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Warwick!’ The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule and asked ‘Why did you call out all of those names before you called Warwick?’ The farmer grinned and said, ‘Old Warwick is just about blind. As long as he believes he’s part of a team, he doesn’t mind pulling.’” (pg. 109) How will we answer the call? Perhaps by pulling together all that we have for the glory of God? Peace, Sandra