• About Doug

Ora Et Labora

Ora Et Labora

Monthly Archives: September 2018

God Unbound: Life in the Spirit

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by Douglas Forrester in worship

≈ Leave a comment

8580408850_6d45ee21e6Audio is here.

Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost – September 23, 2018
Galatians 5:1, 13-25

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

On Monday afternoon, I was in my office meeting with our United Methodist Richmond District lay leader when my assistant Cheryl Arrington opened my door and said, “I am so sorry to interrupt you, but there is a tornado in the area, and the staff is evacuating Reveille House and going to the basement of the sanctuary.” So, we went.
What I thought would take about twenty minutes took over two hours, two hours of waiting, checking the news, checking the weather, calling loved ones, receiving calls from schools, seeing how things looked out the windows, going back to the basement, waiting, waiting, waiting.
Reveille’s Finance Committee chairperson Ted Cox was there; he had chosen either the best or the worst time to stop by the church, and as we waited for the storm to end, Ted, Terri Edwards, our church’s director of administration, and I passed the time by telling stories of life on September 11, 2001 and the chaos of the days immediately thereafter. Ted, it turns out, was working in midtown Manhattan on that day. He told us of walking with the crowds to the shores of the Hudson River, of taking one of the commuter boats that volunteered their services that day to New Jersey. He told us of trying to get home on a day in which he had four dollars in his pocket and had forgotten his cell phone, as fighter jets circled overhead.
As we talked about the days that followed, he told us what surprised him over the course of the next several days: everyone, it seemed, had suddenly become so kind. New Yorkers, with their sharp elbows, people who ordinarily would have fought over the next available taxi cab were generously offering it to strangers: “No, really, you go ahead. I’ll take the next one.”
In the midst of such fear, anger, grief, hatred, and violence, people responded almost instinctually with kindness, a kindness that would, in the days to come manifest itself again and again, mercy upon mercy, in story after story.

Continue reading →

The Reveille Way Forward Toolkit

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by Douglas Forrester in information

≈ Leave a comment

Screen ShotSome months ago, we at Reveille assembled a team to talk about how to talk about the work of the Commission on a Way Forward and the future of our denomination at our church. One of the ideas that came out of our discussions was to create a toolkit to help inform and empower our congregation on this matter. As we created this resource, we did so with an eye to making something that might be useful to other congregations as well. You can find it at the bottom of this page. Feel free to use it as you wish. We hope this is a blessing to you as your congregation moves into God’s future.

A Letter to My First Appointment

18 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by Douglas Forrester in information

≈ Leave a comment

Screen ShotThis month, my first pastoral appointment Warwick Memorial United Methodist Church celebrates 150 years of mission and ministry. What follows is the letter I wrote to be included among their keepsakes for the day.

Continue reading →

Sermon Audio Updated

14 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by Douglas Forrester in worship

≈ Leave a comment

steeple.001Thanks to the wonderful Rachel Sanders, the Reveille Director of Communications, our sermon audio page is up-to-date. You can check it out here, or in the iTunes store. Of course, sermon manuscripts will always be available at this site.

God Unbound: You Are All One in Christ Jesus

12 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by Douglas Forrester in worship

≈ Leave a comment

8580408850_6d45ee21e6Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost — September 9, 2018 (Reveille Day)
Galatians 3:27-29

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

There was once a little girl, about four years old, who had been very quiet for some time, perhaps a bit too quiet, so her mother went to check on her, to see what she was doing. Her mother approached and found her lying on the floor, very intently drawing on a sheet of paper with her crayons. “What are you doing, honey?” her mother asked.
Without looking up, the little girl responded “Drawing.”
“Well, what are you drawing?”
“A picture of God.” said the girl.
Her mother chuckled, “But dear, no one knows what God looks like.”
While continuing to draw, again without looking up, the little girl said “They will when I’m done.”

Continue reading →

God Unbound: Human Approval or God’s Approval?

08 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by Douglas Forrester in worship

≈ Leave a comment

8580408850_6d45ee21e6God Unbound: Wisdom From Galatians for the Anxious Church
Week 1: Human Approval or God’s Approval
Douglas Forrester
Reveille United Methodist Church
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost – September 2, 2018
Galatians 1:1-12

Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the members of God’s family who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!
Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Who remembers Taboo? In 1989, the Hasbro company released a parlor game called Taboo. The way Taboo is played is that each player has a partner. You draw a card and attempt to get your partner to say the word on the card by giving a series of hints. The challenge is that there are five other words on the card that you are not allowed to say, words that happen to be the five best hints. Say one of them, and you lose a point, and your opponent sounds a buzzer. Remember this, because I am going to come back to it.
My wife Tracy is a third grade teacher in the Henrico County Public Schools, teaching at a school in Short Pump. A couple of years ago, they decided to have a career day where they would ask professionals in the community to come and talk to groups of students about their work. “You should offer to be a speaker,” she said.

“I am a pastor, Tracy. This is a public school. They will never invite me to come.”

Continue reading →

Recent Posts

  • Called
  • Shouting at the Sky
  • Why Your Pastor Can’t Come Back
  • Ten Thousand Spoons
  • On Being Still

Recent Comments

pleasanthillchristia… on Surprised by Joy: The Empty…
Phyllis L Prado on Shouting at the Sky
Mary Rae on Shouting at the Sky
Sandy Thompson on Shouting at the Sky
David on Why Your Pastor Can’t Co…

Archives

  • February 2022
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • March 2021
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016

Categories

  • from others
  • information
  • Newsletters
  • poetry
  • Uncategorized
  • worship

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 904 other subscribers

Social

  • View douglasforrester’s profile on Facebook
  • View @forresterdoug’s profile on Twitter
  • View 4ster’s profile on Instagram
  • View UCtRHNqBf36CXmjR0xDqHtDw’s profile on YouTube

Blogs I Follow

  • Jason Micheli

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Jason Micheli

Tamed Cynic

  • Follow Following
    • Ora Et Labora
    • Join 59 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Ora Et Labora
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...