"Midweek and Time to Say Thanks and Goodbye" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 06/16/2021

 

Hello friends,

This is the last issue of the Midweek Devotion.  Thanks so much for listening for the last four years!

Sunday is the day we generally think about church and faith. That has faded a bit in our current culture where we will fill every day to the brim and Sunday Sabbath has been doubled booked with sports and shopping.  Even so, Sunday is still church day, even if that is more of a whisper than a shout. 

The Midweek Devotion generally came out on Wednesday, smack dap in the middle of the week.  Wednesday.  A work day.  Hump day.  Right in the middle of the hectic.  Sunday’s sanctuary prayers are long forgotten.  Wednesday, the day we set out our garbage in my neighborhood. Catch our breath and press on to Friday. 

The Midweek was my way of pausing and listening for what God might be saying in the middle of the week while I was wrapped up in practical work tasks.  It was a way of encountering God in my work, the morning after a committee meeting and the day before the bulletin was printed.   It was a way of opening my six-day-work-week life to my Sunday Sabbath God. 

In these last four years, God was always faithful.  There always seemed to be some message of grace waiting to be heard.  Patient God waiting while we do what seems so important.  Waiting while we complain that we are so busy and so tired. Offering calm and rest. If we just had the time. 

So thank you for joining with me and giving God a bit of our Wednesdays. I know that I can’t speak for God, I am oddly confident that God liked being in our thoughts right in the middle of the week.

God of the everyday. God looking over our shoulder when there are dishes in the sink. God watching while I scratch something off my to-do list. God present while we look for a child’s backpack on the way out the door to school. God in skipped meals. God standing nearby when our head hits the pillow.  Ever-present God in a too often too busy world.  

So on Wednesdays, we paused just for a few moments to breathe and notice.  God in it all.  Thank you for sharing in this.  

And thanks be to our every day, every moment, God. 

Blessings,

Pastor Cindy

Pastor Cindy Hickman

West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Avenue
West Des Moines Iowa 50265
515-279-0826

Like us on Facebook or visit us at wdmumc.org. 

We worship all week long—but we worship together on Sunday at 9 am in person and Livestream.  At 9:30 we worship in a special online service. 

Happenings at WDMUMC

Remembering Gary    The memorial service for Gary Norton will be held on Saturday, June 19th at 11 am here at West Des Moines United Methodist Church.  The visitation will be held Friday night from 5-7 pm at Resthaven Funeral Home.  The burial will take place on Saturday before the memorial service for immediate family members only.  A luncheon will be held here at the church following the memorial service.  Please surround Barb and her family with your prayers of comfort and peace. 

STATE FAIR!  August in Iowa means the Iowa State Fair and it is time to sign up to work at the wdmumc state fair food stand!  We will need more volunteers than we have at our church. It is also time for all of us to do some creative recruiting!   Who can you recruit? 

• Are you on Facebook?  Post the link on your Facebook page and encourage friends to sign up!
• Nonprofit groups who serve at the state fair stand can earn money for their mission!  What about that board you serve on?  Would they like to earn money, do a little teamwork AND earn money for their mission?  
•  Your daughter’s dance troop? The 4-H Club?  The soccer team? 
• Your cousins?  Your gal pals?  Your fishing buddies? 
• Those friends who love the fair and want to see it from another point of view. 

Everyone who serves gets free admission to the fair.  Four-hour or eight-hour shifts available. 

Here’s the link to fun at the fair!  https://wdmumc.org/group-pages/state-fair-stand/

Have fun!  

 

"Midweek and a Gift for You" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 06/08/2021

 

Friends,

Spring in Iowa is generous.  Green grass, flowers, and weeds rise from our good soil.  The trees outdo each other in producing leaves.  The sun gives us long days and twilight evenings for sitting on the deck.  Even the stars and the moon have been generous lately.  Have you noticed?  Soon sweet corn will generously fill with kernels and tomatoes will overflow with juice.  It’s all gift.

In this spirit of generosity, I would like you to give a gift to yourself today.  Take time. 

Scratch that.  We can’t "take" time.  And we can’t make time either.  We all have the same amount of time.  Today use some time just pausing.  Give yourself the gift of sitting peacefully.  How much time is available for you to do this?  30 minutes?  15 minutes?  5 minutes?  3 minutes?  (Good grief!  What are you doing to yourself?  If you only have 3 minutes, you are abusing time and yourself!)  However much time you can spare, use it.  And simply sit.  Treat yourself like a friend and invite you to sit and mind-chat.  Tell yourself about a time in your life when you felt at peace.  Your grandmother’s kitchen?  In the library at college?  Walking the dog?  Describe it all to your friend, you.  Let you enjoy it.  Be generous to you. 

If I could, I would remove all the anxiety in the world.  Anxiety is that mad mix of worry and fear that buzzes in our bones and keeps us regarding the world around us suspiciously as though it is all a threat and we have to be on guard.  Anxiety requires our constant attention. It is a terrible thief robbing us of joy and peace. If we only have three minutes to sit quietly in peace in a day, it’s probably because anxiety is stealing a lot of the other 1,437 minutes. 

I think if anxiety vanished if we didn’t spend so much of our souls dealing with it, we could spend our lives on the really good stuff.  We could spend more time reading to kids, listening to the stories of the elderly, baking pies (I really like pie, not the weird kinds like raisin cream or gooseberry.  The normal kind of pies, blueberry, and lemon meringue.) and making music. We could get to work cleaning up our poor dirty planet.  We could grow more tomatoes and sweet corn.  We could tackle the problems of the day, mental health, immigration, racism, poverty, and hunger, like friends working side by side, generous hearts, finding laughter, and joy in this good work.  

To get there, I think we have to start by doing what God does, and what all creation does: being generous with our souls.  Generosity breathed in and peace breathed out. 

So, maybe 3 minutes today.  And maybe 5 tomorrow?  We have a way to go, but the path to the goodness of God begins in our hearts.  Be generous.  Give yourself a little gift today.  It is spring in Iowa. Perhaps it can be spring in our lives too. 

Blessings,

Pastor Cindy

Pastor Cindy Hickman

West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Ave
West Des Moines, Iowa 50265
515-279-0826

Let’s worship together!  Sunday morning.  In-person at 9 am.  Livestreaming at 9 a.m.  Or a special online service at 9:30 a.m.  Worship in the way that works for you.

Coming up at WDMUMC

Retiring Our Bell Ministry.  Monday at 10:30 a.m. we will ring our bell one last time for the more than 6,070 people in Iowa who have died from covid.  Watch online or come and watch in person.  Thank our faithful bell ringers.  This has been a sad and powerful ministry that has kept us mindful of those who grieve and the cost of this pandemic.    

 

"Midweek and Two Questions and an Assignment" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 06/02/2021

 

Good morning friends!

Today I have two questions for you and an assignment.  All this leads up to worship on Sunday. 

The questions:

Question #1:  When has someone told you that they believed in you?  They may not have said it in those exact words, but when have you known by someone’s words or actions that they believed in you?  That they believed you had the personal character to do what needed to be done?  That you would do your best to do the right thing? 

Question #2:  How did it make you feel?  Did knowing that someone believed in you change your behavior, make you try a little harder, trust yourself a little more?

I think of times when I was a young teen and my parents would go out for the evening and leave me at home.  They believed in me.  I admit, if they stayed out late, there were times when I was a little scared, but they believed in me, so maybe I could believe in me.

In 2017 at my ordination, I knelt and Bishop Julius Trimble put his hand on my head and said “take thou authority” and lead the church.  It was his way of saying we believe in you.  It felt good.  It was also followed by a lot of responsibility.  There were many times when I was called to do more than I thought I was capable of.  But the Bishop believed in me, so maybe I could believe in me, dig deep and find a little more courage. 

Who has believed in you? 

And now the assignment.  Learning that someone believes in you is a powerful thing.  We can give the gift of belief to others.  So today, give some thought to the people you believe in and tell them.  Let them know what you see in them and why you believe in them. 

And then, join in worship on Sunday and we will talk more about who believes what and what a difference it makes. 

Every blessing to you on this beautiful day,

Pastor Cindy

Pastor Cindy Hickman

West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Avenue
West Des Moines Iowa 50265
515-279-0926

Like us on Facebook or visit us at wdmumc.org

AND join in worship in person or online.  Whatever is right for you! 

In-Person Worship at 9 a.m. this Sunday!  Note the new time.   This service is live-streamed!

And online at 9:25 a.m. 

Coming Up At WDMUMC

The Iowa State Fair!  The best state fair anywhere is back August 12-22 and our food stand will be back.  And we need volunteers.  Working at the food stand means making walking tacos and egg sandwiches and LOTS and LOTS of friends!  You can sign up to volunteer at wdmumc.org.  WHOOO!  HOOO!  How Iowa has fun! 

Wisdom Worship Service on June 27th.  We are inviting our 90+ members to share their wisdom with us.  If you are 90 or older and would like to be part of this, please reply to this mail.  We want to hear what your faith has meant to you!

Vespers is back!  This Sunday afternoon Bill and Helen Brantley are again hosting a vespers service at Edgewater and Pastor Cindy will preach.  So good to be with our friends at Edgewater. 

Welcome, Paige and Sara!  Paige and Sara Little will be baptized this Sunday.  They are the daughters of Lisa (Hickman) and Ryne Little and the granddaughters of Cindy and Dave Hickman.  Congratulations! 

A note from Pastor Cindy:  As I approach retirement, please no gifts.  You all have been a gift to me!