June 2016 Sermons at Cheatham Memorial

May 18, 2016 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / Leave a comment

compass of faith

The Cheatham Memorial Family invites you to join us for worship at 10:00 am each Sunday. We have a variety of activities and service projects that you can check out at our WEBSITE!

Do you ever feel like you have lost direction? We will discuss ways to “Face the Fire by Faith”. What do I do with faith in a world that seems so random. Transformation is a mystery that begins and ends with faith. The fun stuff lies in the middle. Find your way with us as we seek Christ together.

June 5: The 3rd Sunday of Pentecost, Communion Sunday,

Text: 1 Kings 17:8-24 “Now What”

Transformation in the soul is built by our experiences in the day to day. We need companions for the journey and our eye on God. With each day’s ups and downs, let’s face it, faith can just be difficult. And yet we grow through these experiences.

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June 12: 4^th Sunday of Pentecost.

Text: Galatians 2:15-21,” Faith is Dead Right”

The way to faith is faith. God is faithful to plant the seeds of faith within us and water them with our experiences. Faith expressed leads us to faith experienced. “Paul speaks of what kind of sinner he is and asks, “what kind of sinner are you?”

June 19: 5^th Sunday of Pentecost, Father’s Day

Text Luke 8:26-39 “Hey, those are my pigs!”

A dad’s promise does not come from a perfect life but by following a perfect Jesus. Faith opens our eyes to our own brand of distress and randomness. Rather than excuse our lives as “Just the way it is”, a new way is given, by faith, to all who will fearlessly face the challenge.

June 26: 6^th Sunday of Pentecost

Text: 2 Kings 2:1-14 “Pass it on”

Faith is not a possession to hold but one to nurture and pass on. Our companions in life feed our faith but also depend on us to build them up too. Leadership is successful when we let god and watch another grow.

Check our out main website at cheathamumc.net

The April 2016 Sermon Schedule

March 21, 2016 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / Leave a comment

April brings the spring and a newness to our faith journeys. Easter has given us the faith of an empty tomb! These scriptures have been chosen to reflect the four gifts of the cross-the final point of our Lenten sermons. Forgiveness, Righteousness, Faith-Sight, and Ministry are given to us at the cross and lived in the resurrection in everyday life. These gifts are for the here and now as well as the hereafter. Come and join us in worship! For more details check us out at Cheathamumc.net

April 3: The second Sunday of the Easter Season “Every Eye” Revelation 1:4-8

The first gift of the cross is that of a Jesus focused sight. In Christ we simply see things differently. The tomb is empty and is the bedrock of the Christian’s faith. It is a place of victory and eternity rather than a place of death and finality. Seeing our everyday with the focus of Jesus makes for healthier and eternal living.

April 10: The third Sunday of the Easter Season “Right Away” Acts 9:1-20

The second gift of the cross is the forgiven life. With our ransom paid at the cross we live with the righteousness of Jesus as our guide and goal. By faith through Jesus’ gift to us we have this righteousness! It is a responsibility as well as a privilege! Living out of Jesus’ righteous freedom makes for healthier and eternal living.

April 17: The fourth Sunday of the Easter Season “Healing Right Away” Acts 9:36-43

Jesus is still in the healing business but not always in the way that we imagine it should be. The final gifts of the cross are being forgiven and made worthy for ministry. Peter had denied Jesus and squandered many opportunities for faith. Yet, this story show him to be used of God for a dramatic healing event. Being healed of our sin puts us in a position to minister in a way that makes for healthier and eternal living

April 24: The fifth Sunday of the Easter Season “Laity in Ministry Sunday”

Our lay leadership, with Judi Yarbrough bringing the message, will share our ministry from the last year in pictures, word and song. This will be an exciting service of praise for the shared ministry of Cheatham Memorial UMC!

See you Sundays at 10:00!

visit us at Cheathamumc.net

Monday School: 1-16-15 Our “Spiritual Underwear” Final Week

November 18, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / 1 Comment

The goal of this short study is two-fold: first to understand more of our BASIC Methodist beliefs, and second, how to better express our beliefs to others. We used the foundation of the Articles of Religion and the General Rules as a framework for our study. Just as Underwear is the foundation of our clothing, usually unseen, intimate, different preferences on different people and keeps the rest of our ensemble together, so are our theological doctrines .

You can read the one-page General Rules with us by clicking here.

You can read the 2- pages of the Articles of Religion with us by clicking here.

Let me begin with my thanks to our group. I rarely get to discuss theology at any depth and have never had as much fun as I have with YOU GUYS!

Methodists begin by teaching the method to growing into our theological understanding. we start with Scripture, use our God given brains to reason, reflect that with our Christian tradition and then translate into our living experience. Add to that the fact that we are wonderfully mad as Biological, Psychological, Social and Spiritual and we look for balance in all things as we discern and discuss the words about God that we use.

THE THEOLOGICAL BALANCING ACT

We discussed our assumptions, or better our deepest beliefs, and how they color our understanding of God. I shared mine, which are varied and admittedly overanalyzed. Things like my role as a pastor to a community and not a congregation, the Bible as a touchstone, connection to God and people, the sacraments as a source of amazing comfort , on an on. We encouraged to know our assumptions, non-negotiables and grow a willingness to be both “Critical and Constructive”. See page 78-89 of the Book of Discipline.

The articles give us a language of faith but it is up to us to make them personal. They are precisely written and intentionally placed in an order of importance. Everything flows from God, trinitarian in our understanding, but ONE GOD. We spent most of our time speaking of the sacraments.

The sacraments, specifically, Baptism and Holy Communion ( or the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist as you choose), are also a language of faith. They are a doing of the story of God as Creator, Jesus as prophet, priest, King and redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as the real worker in these powerful acts of faith. It is amazing how common touchable elements such as water, juice and bread can reach to the invisible part of ourselves and awaken our relationship with Christ.

We also discussed the five sacramental acts of worship that other Christians count as sacraments, namely-confirmation, penance, orders, matrimony, and extreme unction. They aren’t bad, just don’t carry the weight that the Baptism and Communion do.

Each of us had stories of a time where the sacraments helped us to make sense out of something or met a spiritual need. We had an “All Saint’s Sunday” a few weeks ago that was particularly powerful to me. Each of us had a different take of what name we use for God when we pray. Ultimately, the goal of any sacramental experience is to form our lives into a living Holy Communion.

The question was asked, “how do you do that”. This study must become more than words. The short answer is to “attend to the ordinances of the church”, whether that is worship, study, prayer or service, in such a way that God is made real to us personally. If God is that real to us personally then it will leak out into the lives of others.

I will not outline the 125 articles here but will point you to the link above and invite anyone of any denomination to look through them and discover your stance on the individual parts. Please don’t stop there though. Look at the whole of who God is and how overwhelming his love and grace is for you. Studying these different pieces is not meant to just tickle your ears but to open your heart to a deeper working and practical walk with Jesus!

All of this and we never discussed the organizational structure once. We will get to that on our next installment sometime after New Year’s

Next week we will take a November 23, 2015 off for the Thanksgiving holiday. Our new study will be announced soon. All are welcome to join in the study at any time on Mondays at 6:00. Everyone is welcome to add with a comment on the doctrinal statements below.

Click here to check out our main website!

Thank you Captain Underpants for adding a little humor to a serious subject.

Monday School: Our Theological Underwear as United Methodist; First of Two Weeks

November 3, 2015November 3, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / 1 Comment

Underwear is the foundation of our clothing. It is usually unseen, intimate, different preferences on different people and keeps the rest of our ensemble together. Our theological doctrines do the same thing. They hold us together and serve as the foundation of the ways that we speak of God. They are usually unseen, intimate and more assumed than taught. Now and then a disciple needs to get down to the basics. This week our group will put our core teachings right out in the open and studied them together. In our United Methodist context, these are found in the General Rules and the Articles of Religion. The goal is two-fold: first to understand more of our BASIC Methodist beliefs, and second, how to better express our beliefs to others

You can read the one-page General Rules with us by clicking here.

You can read the 2- pages of the Articles of Religion with us by clicking here.

Our small group meets for 90 minutes each Monday at 6:00 we began by discussing how we “do” theology. Methodists teach that there is a process to growing into our theological understanding. we start with Scripture, use our God given brains to reason, reflect that with our Christian tradition and then translate into our living experience.

We discussed at length the three General Rules to Do no harm, do good and attend to the spiritual practices that lead us to God. Many stories of how God had gotten our attention were shared from our diverse group. We discovered that while these rules are Methodist and Wesleyan they are basic to any Christian of any background because they come directly from the Gospel . Everything starts with grace.

I shared two things that boil my blood when people feel obligated to tell me what a Methodist is. The first is when they tell me that we don’t believe in the Bible and don’t actually have any doctrine. Second that we are about salvation by good works. Teaching, learning and witnessing to our theological heritage is the antidote to this whenever, “Two or more are gathered.”

The question was asked if these two statements were meant to replace Bible study. A great question but our answer was a definite NO! The doctrinal statements flow from scripture but cannot replace scriptures role in the life of piety. Searching the Scripture is central to the method of Methodism. We are seeking God’s perspective. One of our number shared that it was through prayer and Bible study that they were able to give a difficult thing up to God. This led to the discover that “God, turns out, could do much better with things than I could anyway.”

We read through the first 5 of the Articles and will probably finish next week. They are precisely written and intentionally placed in an order of importance. Everything flows from God, trinitarian in our understanding, but ONE GOD. Before we could subdivide the doctrines we must be in complete agreement of one God who is the source of forgiveness and gives us the living resurrection in Jesus Christ. We also discussed the sufficiency of Scripture and what that means to our salvation. While scripture does not directly speak to every single thing, it contains our sufficient road map to being and living as saved Christian disciples.

Wonderful things happen when we study our own doctrine and discover a solid place to find ourselves in Christ. Our discussion was definitely Weslayan and United Methodist in scope, however, these things are so basic and scripturally driven that they can be applied to most any thoughtful Christian.

Next week we continue with the articles of religion. You are welcome to join in or read along from where you are. We will read them one at a time and find the thread of Jesus’ grace and the Holy Spirit that ties them all together. All are welcome to join in the study at any time on Mondays at 6:00. Everyone is welcome to add with a comment on the doctrinal statements below.

Click here to check out our main website!

Thank you Captain Underpants for adding a little humor to a serious subject.

Sermon Brief: October 4, 2015 “Tell Them the I AM sent You”

October 7, 2015October 7, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / Leave a comment

Before health education and restrictions on the tobacco industry nearly everyone smoked . People who did not smoke often carried light to share for others as a courtesy. As a kid, I was fixated on the Zippo Lighter. They clicked, flicked and snapped into a flame that did not consume the fibers in the center of the little chrome grid. This was cool and weird at the same time, just like the “burning bush” that confronted Moses. God had a mission and a direction for Moses. He had a cool-weird Zippo lighter moment and had the presence of mind to listen and follow.

Our smoking habits have changed. Lighters are not as commonplace BUT Jesus is still the way, the truth and the life. He is the God of all creation and that does not change with the whims of culture. God is the source of direction for our lives. Even when we lose our way, God is still speaking to his people. The greater question is, are we listening?

Click here for our Sermon Text: Exodus 3:1-15

Here are some of the high points:

Moses has lost his way. Born into hiding, prayed into being a prince of the most powerful nation in history. He had everything all figured out until he killed a man.
He fled Egypt at about age 40, he could be 70- or 80 years old, trapped in the sheep business. His direction is to water and pasture for the sheep. The Big picture direction of his life was lost
God called through an angle in the guise of a fire. Like a zippo, the flame is alive with sound sight and the very voice of God but it is not consumed This is a holy moment on a holy patch of ground.
The message: GO to Egypt, bring the message of victory and release, deliver them. Your marching orders, your credentials and your provision is simply from “I AM. Tell them I AM sent you. This is a derivation of the Yahweh, the name of God. They would understand.
There is no question that this burning bush moment is God’s direction, authority, and provision. He may question his sanity or his faith but this is to far out there to be anything less than God. He shows more than a little doubt of self or his ability but the mission is all there.

Wouldn’t you and I have a less anxious life if we followed God’s clear direction with such surefootedness.

A young man that is now a certified lay minister and holding down a church asked me a question. We were have a parking lot conversation with another pastor who was accustomed to saying “God told me” this and that, whether choosing a song, sermon, or a car. He often spoke this way and I knew him as a man of God committed to the Gospel and prayer. The young lay pastor was quiet in this conversation as our neighbor was telling us what God had told him to do. After this pastor left, my friend quietly asked. “Brother Joe hears from God? How does he know its God and not someone else?” This is a great question .

Moses has some hints for listening for God’s voice in this story. I have never heard Charlton Heston’s voice booming a message out of the rafters or had writing magically appear on the wall but I hear God’s voice in my spirit. Many of my friends and colleagues have been re- assured of their life’s direction in many different ways. How do we hear? How do we know it isn’t a misleading voice?

Good questions! People are dying from a lack of direction. Suicide, depression, missed opportunities, lost wages to unproductivity burden us when we lose our direction and flounder in our faith. It can all be crushed by simply knowing and following God’s direction by faith. Before you get too excited though, God makes us work for it and we will battle with doubt most of the way!

We are seldom blessed with an angelic and fiery message. We live by faith and not sight. God’s message is subtle, silent and sure we have to listen for it. Consider these when you are discerning your life-direction.

Walking in faith and seeking God’s direction begins when we pay attention to God in your everyday life, create time and place for prayer, know your own story. The light of Christ is your, portable, powerful and shareable. Jesus isn’t I was or the I will be he is the ever present and eternal “I AM”. Jesus is your portable, powerful, eternal and living flame. Carry it well and share!

You have the authority, God has the direction for you! I AM knows you by name

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Thoughts from the Back Porch: A work in progress…

October 2, 2015October 2, 2015 / Rev. Alan Van Hooser / Leave a comment

The view from the porch

This is a book outline and a work in progress. The hope is to describe a way to grow closer to God and, as a result, have a less anxious and more fulfilling life through establishing a sacred space and time to train your body and mind to be aware of God’s presence. My example of this is my back porch.

Everyone needs a back porch. This is any place of solitude where you can shake photo_4 off the world’s garbage and think God sized thoughts. Mine is actually my back porch, complete with a desk and prayer benches. It is my “Friday office”. It is where I write and study on my off days. Yours might be anywhere but if you don’t have a sacred space of your own, I hope this blog can be your back porch and provide you a safe starting place to seek God. The ultimate goal of this exercise is to recognize God wherever we are.

Follow along and comment where you wish and see where this goes. Better yet, apply the principles and watch your awareness of God grow.

Read it and use it thoughtfully but remember, “Thou shalt not steal”.

THE THOUGHTFUL PASTOR

Rev. Alan Van Hooser

cheatham memorial umc