"Midweek and Our Grieving Hearts" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 08/22/2018

Good morning,

Micah 6:8b what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

That was our scripture on Sunday.  Such strong clear words.  Read on Sunday morning surrounded by song and prayer and friends, they settle our hearts.  Of course, we want to walk humbly with God.

Yesterday the body of Molly Tibbets was found.  She was a 20-year-old college student.  Few of us actually knew her.  We became acquainted with her in pictures.  We saw her big smile on posters and in our newsfeeds.  In some ways, Molly represented all our children and we become anxious for their safety.  On my way to work this morning I passed two women out for a morning run and I thought of Molly.

A 24-year-old man Cristhian Rivera has been charged with her murder.  He has worked on an Iowa farm for four years. He is in the United States without proper legal documentation. 

Mollie’s death and his citizenship status become political fuel.

Our hearts are broken.  In the long days since Molly’s disappearance, we had hoped for the best and feared the worst.  The worst has happened.

We feel grief and sadness and anger.  We are wounded and when we are wounded be have to be careful.  We can easily be manipulated.  Evil can creep in turning our grief and sadness and anger to bitterness and hatred.  God feels grief and sadness and anger.  Christ felt grief and sadness and anger.  But the God we love and the Christ we follow never succumbed to bitterness or hatred.  Bitterness and hatred are not part of the character of God.   

The words from Sunday come back:  what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

If these words are more than just a theory, we do what God asks.  We do justice and love kindness, knowing that justice and kindness must somehow work in tandem because they are both of God.

And we walk, humbly, with God.

Our sanctuary is open today.  There is sunlight streaming in the east windows, just as it always does at this time of day, as certain as God’s love.  You are invited to bring your grief and sadness and anger to the sanctuary.  There are prayers and prayer shawls.  There is water in the baptismal font.  You can remember your baptism and the baptism of all of God’s children.

Humbly before God, we grieve. 

Blessings, even in this hour, blessings,

Pastor Cindy

Pastor Cindy Hickman

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

We worship at 8:30 and 11 on Sunday mornings and you are invited.

This week at WDMUMC:

On Sunday we will continue our sermon series, Methodist r Us. A panel of individuals from our church will share their stories of what being Methodist means to them.  Come and join in the discussion.

Visioning Informational Meeting  Tonight at 6:30 Mike Powers will share the Visioning team’s proposal.  If you haven’t heard about the plans, come tonight!

We are still in need of teachers for Wednesday Night Live  Could that be you?  Email Morganne if you would like to get involved in an exciting ministry!

Charge Conference!  On Thursday, September 13 at 6:30, West Des Moines United Methodist Church will hold a charge conference for the purpose of voting on the divesting of the houses now owned by the church.  All are welcome to attend.  Church members will have voting rights.

And I will be out of the office next week--so no Midweek.  Take an hour next Wednesday and just slow down, take a walk or sit on the deck and listen to what God has to say to you.  Blessings.  Pastor Cindy

"Midweek and Where We Find Ourselves" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 08/16/2018

On Monday, Becky emailed me “if you ever want to see how chemo goes, I’m open to having some company. I’ll be at Stoddard cancer center from 10 til about 130 tomorrow if you happen to be around.”


So I went to see how chemo goes.


The treatment room is a large open room with 15-20 recliners lining the walls and partitions.  Each recliner has an IV pole nearby and flat screen tv within site.  There are also small rooms with beds off to one side of the main room.  Becky told me they were for patients who need to stay all day.  There is a nurse’s station overlooking the rooms and the recliners.  Busy nurses move in an out of the station, tending to patients.  Occasionally a beeper will go off, letting the nurses know that the chemo bag is empty and it is time to hang another one.


Women and men of all ages, reading magazines, watching the television, some sleeping.   All within sight of one another.  The room was surprisingly quiet, maybe it has become a routine.  There is a sense of reverence about the room.  The quiet felt holy.    
I was invited to see how chemo goes.  The people there didn’t come by invitation.  Everyone else in the room was there to receive chemo.  They came because this was where their journey had led them.


I think it is surprising where our journeys lead us, the places where we find ourselves.  A room full of people with a shared diagnosis.  Partners in a journey no one chooses. 
I think of other journeys, other places I have visited sometimes by invitation and sometimes because my journey has led me there.  I visited Mitchellville Prison and I looked around and wondered what led all these women to this place.  I sat in the parlor of a funeral home, not by invitation but because my journey led me there. I wondered about the other people who found themselves in that place, sat on that couch, felt what I felt.  I think of those who find themselves in a courtroom, something went terribly wrong, and they find themselves before a bench, someone in a robe trying to sort it out.


Of course, not all of our journeys lead to tragedy.  There are sunny beaches, the comfort of our homes, bright classrooms, and delivery rooms where newborns arrive and begin their journeys.  Healing places.  Sanctuary places.  Hope-filled places.  Taken-for-granted places.


But the chemo room was not on anyone’s list of “Fun Places To Spend Time.”  And yet there it was, a room dedicated to pumping hope and healing into ports.  Fiercely chasing down cancer, telling it to “SCAT!”  Chemistry fighting evil.


I open my bible and I read of Jesus standing in the courtyard of Pilate’s palace.  Roman guards surround him, spitting on him, mocking him, torturing him.  A horrifying stop on his journey.  And then the cross.  A destination no one would choose.


Was this all God’s way of saying God go would to the depths for us?  The God of Courtyard, the God of the Cross is also the God of the chemo treatment room, the God of the Mitchellville, the God of the funeral home, the God of the courtroom, the God of our journeys.   Declaring hope when all feels hopeless, absorbing our pain, present in the struggle, insisting on sharing our journey, witnessing to the worth of our souls, of us.
 
Healing.  Healing. Healing.


Where are you today?  God is there, too.
 
Every blessing,
Pastor Cindy
Pastor Cindy Hickman
West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Ave
West Des Moines, Iowa 50265
515-279-0826


We worship at 8:30 and 11 on Sundays and we would love to worship with you.


This week at WDMUMC:
On Sunday in worship, we will ask a big question:  what is God thinking?  If we want to walk with God, we need to have some idea where God is going.  You are invited to join the conversation.


State Fair!  Our church continues to serve up walking tacos at the state fair.  Thank you to all our volunteers!


Special Charge Conference Thursday, September 13 at 6:30 for the purpose of divesting of the houses.  All are invited to attend.  Members will vote on the proposal. 


Want to serve?  Sure! Here are some great opportunities!  
Dr. Jones from Hillside elementary needs a volunteer on Thursdays to do some pick and delivery for the school.  This requires a reliable person who can do some lifting and has a decent size car.


Janet H is also looking for volunteers to help with the Booster Pack program providing food for area children and families.


Sunday morning coffee servers are needed!


If any of these ministries interest you, just reply to this email and I will forward it to the coordinators. 


Road Construction Continues!  This Sunday the corner of 8th and Grand may be closed due to construction.  My best advice is to approach the church from the south on 8th Street.  If your health allows, you can park at Hillside.  If you need to be close to the building, you will be able to enter from the west entrance.



See you Sunday! 

"In Action at the State Fair" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 08/08/2018

Hello everyone! 
The church has mobilized!  We are now in ministry at the Iowa State Fair.  As you read this, the Wednesday crew is serving up breakfast sandwiches and walking tacos.  So, a prayer for the state fair,


Holy God,


You are the God of cattle and sheep, of gladiolas and pumpkins, of animals and people, the Lord of all.


For the next ten days, people will travel from far and near to the Iowa State Fair.


We will be there too, supporting our church and representing you to the people we meet and in all that we do. So Lord, we pray that you might,


Bless the 4-H students who bring their projects and hope for blue ribbons.  Bless all the ribbons, no matter what color.


Bless those who bring their sheep or hogs or cattle or rabbits.  Bless their hard work.


Bless the carnival workers who arrive from who knows where and at the end of the fair will drive off to who knows where.  (You know where Lord.)  In their nomad life, bless.


Bless the hawkers in the Varied Industry building.  Bless the sellers of hot tubs and apple strudel and hand-made furniture.


Bless the butter cow and the one who carved it and thousands to walk by to marvel.


Bless the campers who build a neighborhood just for the fair.


Bless those who will win the hog calling and the fiddle contest and chainsaw carving.


Bless the stages where the weary will sit and rest their feet and listen to music.


Bless the horse shows and the century farms.


Bless the antique engines and the Pork Producers and the Egg Council.


Bless the ones that will hold hands in the darkness of the Old Mill or on top of the sky ride. 
Bless the noise and the smells.


Aren’t we a funny bunch, Lord? Bless us all.


And bless the other side of the fair, the workers who come late at night to clean after all the fairgoers have gone.


Bless the people who will pick up the trash and clean the restrooms and stand at gates taking the tickets.


Bless the children who will cry because it is SO HOT and the revelers who will drink too much.


Bless those who might face loss or even abuse at the fair.  (We, people, can hurt each other.)


Bless those who can’t make it to the fair this year and those who miss them.


Bless, because that is who you are.


Bless because we are a people in need of your holy presence.


Bless because whether we are at the fair or the grocery store or in our homes, we belong to you.


Bless us in a way prods us to bless others.


As we hand over cups of coffee, slices of pie, and Stew’s Big Boy Breakfast, may we hand over grace.


Find us at the fair, Lord, and find us faithful.


In the name of Jesus, who loved to gather with others, in his name, Amen.
 
Amen!  See you at the fair!
Pastor Cindy
Pastor Cindy Hickman
West Des Moines United Methodist Church (now on location at the state fair)
720 Grand Avenue
West Des Moines Iowa 50265
515-279-0826


We worship at 8:30 and 11 and you are invited!


This week at WDMUMC

Help Needed with Booster Paks on Thursday! Drivers are needed to deliver Booster Paks to Hillside Elementary from Learning Resource Center on Thursday mornings. This ministry provides food for hungry people.  Contact Janet at 865-2670 if you can help!


Worship this Sunday!  One service at 9:30!  And a potluck to follow!  Bring a main dish or a side dish or a dessert! 

"For the Children" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 08/02/2018

Good morning!

We spent the month of July focusing on children with our KidTalk sermon series.  During this month we talked about what it means to be a child of God.  Dr. Graham Jones preached sharing his experience as the principal at Hillside and he told his own story.  Jesus said heaven is designed for children, so we spent a Sunday talking about heaven.  Our intern Rachel Hollingsworth described what it is like to be 21.  We recognized the gift of each generation.  Young people served as liturgists.  One young man played the prelude.  Vacation Bible school filled our halls with more than 50 children.  The MITSWITS Sunday school class served up ice cream outside on the lawn.  Our youth went off to Colorado on a mission trip.  Your baby pictures are hanging in the hallway.  The goal was to remember our identity as God’s children.  I‘d love to hear your feedback on what this series meant to you.  Feel free to email me with your thoughts.

Before we leave this series, I want to ask you to do one more thing.  I want you to be a champion for children.  How can you do that?

Honor the child you once were.  I don’t know what your childhood was like.  Every childhood has its joys and its struggles.  That experience formed you.  Whatever you experienced, at the core is you, the person God delightfully formed you to be.  Spend some time marveling at that. Honor that child. Let your heart play.  Receive God’s delight in you.

Encourage children, all children.  Children are these little sponges absorbing the world around them, always learning.  They are a bit like arrows—they will land where we point them.  Our job, as the big people in the world, is to point them in the direction of God’s goodness.  Listen to them and if you have forgotten how to listen, go see the Fred Rogers movie Won’t You Be My Neighbor and remember again how tender the hearts of children are.  Applaud and encourage when they are doing good things.   Pay special attention to teens, the ones we run into behind the counter at HyVee or at the ball park.  They too need encouragement.  Lots of people correct children.  Fewer people open themselves to look directly at children, listen, and encourage.  Be an encourager.

Advocate for children.  Every action we take—paying our taxes, our treatment of the environment, how we vote, impacts children.  As adults, we have a voice.  We have the power.  Children have neither.  Hunger, homelessness, violence, these are issues children face and they can do nothing about them.  These are issues created by adults who can do something.  Us.  Want to know more about what you can do?  Go to http://www.childrensdefense.org/  You will find lots of information and ideas there.

And pray, not simply with-eyes-closed, head-bowed, when-I-remember prayers. Pray with eyes wide open as to the needs of children.  Pray with a willingness to be personally changed. Make prayer for all children of God our passion.  God listens.

God bless the children. 

Pastor Cindy

Pastor Cindy Hickman

West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Avenue
West Des Moines, Iowa 50256
515-279-0826

We worship at 8:30 and 11 on Sunday and we would love to worship with you!

This week at WDMUMC:

The Visioning Team has completed their work!  Their proposal carries us deeper in our commitment as disciples.  It meets the needs of the church and it serves God’s people.  It is exciting and it was enthusiastically approved at a special church council meeting on Tuesday evening.  Before the plan can be enacted, it requires approval by the District Board on Location and Building and the approval of the membership of our church in a charge conference.  Now is the time to share what the visioning team has learned with our entire church family.  This Sunday you are invited to an informational meeting between services in the Wesley Center.  Many thanks to the visioning team for their good and faithful work!  We are setting off on an exciting path.

Sunday School and Wednesday Night Live Teachers needed!  Morganne, our director of Christian Ed is looking for teachers.  And she is making it easy for you by designing short-term assignments and easy to teach the curriculum.  Contact Morganne if you are willing to help.  She is great to work with!

Count Down to the State Fair!  We can almost hear the cattle barn from here!  The State Fair will be here before we know it!  Want an insider’s view of the fair?  Work our State Fair Stand!  There are still a few open slots.  And we are always looking for subs—people to fill in if someone is not able to make it.  Check out our website, wdmumc.org to sign up or call the church if you would like to sub.