"It's Midweek and Time to Pray" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 09/26/2018

Good morning!  Welcome to midweek.  I hope this morning finds you filled with hope.  Did you see the full moon last night?  The sun rose this morning, bright and beautiful in a clear blue sky.  Anything is possible.  
 
Just a prayer today. 


Dear God,
If this day is like yesterday, I know there will be moments of joy and laughter.  I think back on each time I shared in laughter yesterday.  Thank you for those moments.  I pray that today I am ready for joy, prepared for goodness, ready to encourage. 

If this day is like yesterday, I know I will encounter challenging moments and challenging people and challenging decisions.  I pray for a courageous heart that in those moments I can be grace-filled and steady.

If this day is like yesterday, I know there will be moments when you will need me to be a disciple, when the world around me will need to feel the presence of Christ and you have claimed me to be that presence.  I pray that I can be the hands, feet, eyes, and ears of Christ.  That I can move in rhythm with your will. 

I know too, that today may be nothing like yesterday, that change may come roaring in, new opportunities, new people, rock-the-world events, small-did-you-notice-this events.  A day that twists and turns in unexpected ways.  A disrupted day of unscheduled intrusions. I pray, that if today is that sort of day, I pray I don’t hold so tightly to my agenda that I miss it.  I pray I can simply trust in you, surrendering to the unexpected, feeling your presence (and even your laughter) in the serendipity.  Always certain that this too is of God. 

Today, God.  Today.  You in every moment.  You in every breath.

I am off to begin your day. 

Amen.

Every blessing to you, today.  
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 our website at wdmumc.org

We worship on Sundays at 8:30 in a traditional way and at 11 we worship in a casual way.  Either way, we would love to worship with you! 


This week at WDMUMC:
Tonight!  Midweek Refuel is serving up food for body, mind, and soul.  Supper is at 5:30 and baked ham and homemade mac and cheese are on the menu.  (Yumm).  Bible study, confirmation, youth group, choir, praise band, a Mental Health Study and lots of fellowship.  Come hungry!


Building a house!  People need affordable housing--so why not build one?  Saturday we are partnering with Habitat for Humanity and building a house (at least the walls of a house!) in our parking lot. Want to help?  Go to our website and sign up.  (Not a sign-up sort of person?  Just SHOW up!) 



And Sunday we begin a new sermon series, Earn. Save. Give.  Are you wise when it comes to money?  On Sunday we’ll talk about money and wisdom.  See you there!

"Midweek - Assignment" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 09/19/2018

Good morning!

At West Des Moines UMC we are in our third week of a sermon series called Juggling.  It’s all about how we balance (or don’t balance) our time and our energy and our resources.  Next Sunday we will focus on Sabbath and in preparation, I have an assignment for you:

Rest.
  
That’s the assignment.  Sometime between now and Sunday, rest.  Go to your favorite spot, maybe your deck, or a comfortable chair.  Shut down all the noise and distractions.  And simply rest.  Inhale.  Exhale.  Rest.

Rest from the tasks of the day.

Rest from worry.  (It’s ok.  The worry can go on without you for a while.)

Rest from thinking you are essential to the well being of everything and everyone.

Rest and trust that God is God and you are not.

Just rest.  10 minutes?  20 minutes?  All afternoon?  You decide.  The hum of life will call you back. 
But during that resting, listen to your heart and your breathing.  Listen for the presence of grace.

That’s it.  Just rest.  There is work to do, a kingdom to come, as we pray.  But before that can happen, we need to rest in God.
 
See you Sunday!

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

This morning as I was writing this, I learned of the murder of Celia Barquin Arozamena. , and Iowa State Student.  Our hearts break.  How do we address the violence in the world?  Our sanctuary is open for prayer. 

What’s Happening at WDMUMC:
Midweek Refuel!  (Formerly Wednesday Night Live) Come and re-fuel with bible study, supper, and just good fellowship.  Love music?  The praise band will be rehearsing.  The choir will be practicing.  Looking for programming for your children?  We’ve got that too.  Lots happening at Refuel!  See you there!

Habitat Build!  Sept 29 we will be putting a Habitat house together in our parking lot.  Want to help?  You can find out more at our website:  wdmumc.org. 

Hunger Weekend!  1 in 8 people in Iowa is food insecure, a formal term that simply means hungry.  October 13-14, we will be tackling hunger.  On Saturday we will package Meals from the Heartland and on Sunday, laces up your walking shoes and join in the Hunger Hike.  Check out our website for details! 

And thank you for being the church. 

"Midweek Resurrection" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 09/11/2018

Good morning friends!


Last night around 6 in the evening I was working here at the church.  (Thank you, church for my lovely office.  I feel very at home in this space.)  I could hear laughter from the hallway. 
Out the window, I saw people making their way across the parking lot.  Some were coming for AA.  Some were on their way to the Safety and Security meeting.  A covenant group was meeting on lawn chairs in front of the church.  The Missions Team was gathering and they would later welcome an international missionary.  The Des Moines Diversity Chorus sang together in the Fellowship room.  I met with a family to talk about a baptism.  Later a young couple came to talk about their wedding.


It was the laughter that touched my heart.  To gather together in a place that welcomes us and find joy in one another’s company.  There is such health in that.


All of this happened on the eve of the anniversary of 911.  Seventeen years ago we watched in horror as the lives of thousands of people came to an end.  Today thousands will remember and grieve.  We remember too and we pray for peace.


On Easter Sunday we talk about resurrection. The stone is rolled away from the tomb, the tomb is empty, and Jesus greets Mary in the garden.


We personalize that story and it is personal.  We look toward our own resurrection.  We trust in the resurrection of our loved ones.  But I think we make God too small if we confine resurrection to individuals. 


I believe resurrection is a public story too.  I believe God is always at work resurrecting us all, neighborhood, community, world.  And God is always equipping us to work together for the common good so that all of creation might experience resurrection.  This is always happening around us. So familiar, we are often blind to it.  So subtle and gentle, we barely notice.  So right, it gives us life.


So on this 911 anniversary, I look around for resurrection, for the rising up of grace among the people God loves so much. 

Last night I heard resurrection in the laughter in the halls of this place we call church. 
 
Thanks be to 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 our website wdmumc.org

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

This week at WDMUMC:
A big thank you to everyone who helped with the Block Party.  Todd S—you rock!  Thanks for being our DJ!  You Methodists know how to party!


Wednesday Night Live!  Supper, children’s programming, adult studies!  WNL has it all.  Want to play in the praise band?  Always wanted to sing with the choir?  Wednesday night is your opportunity for food, faith, fellowship, and fun.  Check out our website for details!


Charge Conference!  This Thursday at 6:30 our District Superintendent Heecheon Jeon will convene a charge conference for the purpose of voting on the future of the properties we own.  Everyone is invited to attend.


#Just Read Pastor Cindy wants to just read the bible and she is inviting you to join her.  #Just Read begins tonight!  4:30-5:30!  Join in.



Juggling!  Next Sunday our sermon series continues.  Jesus was coming to visit Mary and Martha.  There was so much to do in preparation for his visit!  How do we juggle our responsibilities and our faith in times of stress?  Read Luke 10:38-42 and we will talk about it on Sunday. 

"Midweek and I am Flying Away" Pastor Cindy's Blog 09/04/2018

Good morning!


I hope all is well with you.


I am sending the midweek early this week.  Later today I will fly off to Washington DC for a United Methodist Seminar, Scarcity in Abundance:  Hunger in the United States.


As I packed and prepared for the seminar, I have been thinking about my own experiences with hunger.  I don’t think I have personally experienced hunger, other than the “Mom, what’s for supper?” variety.  Mom always had an answer and my hunger was more impatience than lack of food.  I have never lived in a household where there was not enough food or any worry about where our next meal was coming from.  My mother prepared supper each night, good Iowa fare of meat, potatoes, and vegetables.  My family sat down and ate supper together.  There was always fruit in my house, oranges, grapes, apples.  And my mother was famous for her cookies.  The cookie jar was rarely empty.  Food and family structures and communities have changed.  I realize now how fortunate I was. 
My experience with hunger has come through the stories of others.


When Dave and I lived in the married student housing at the University of Iowa, a little girl, five or six years old, roamed the housing complex.  She would sometimes knock on doors and ask to look in refrigerators.   She never asked for food.  She just wanted to see what was in the fridge. One of our neighbors, a mother herself, had a chat with the little girl.  The little girl confessed that her fridge was empty and her mother had told her that she was not to ask the neighbors for food.  My quick-witted neighbor asked the little girl if she was telling the truth. The little girl said yes.  My neighbor announced that in their house when someone told the truth, they always celebrated.  And so they celebrated the little girl’s truth-telling, with a sandwich and a glass of milk and an apple.  I am not sure about the logic, but that eased her hunger for a day.


When I was teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, two of my students had come to the US as children with their mother fleeing the violence of Cambodia.  They slept during the day and ran through the jungle at night.  They were often hungry and when there was no food, their mother gave them dirt to eat.  She worried about what would happen to their stomachs if they were ever completely empty.  I wondered if I could ever feed my children dirt.


A Des Moines schoolteacher told me about a third-grade student who began sitting under his desk and crying during the day.  Finally, he shared that there was no food in his home.  He and his siblings were getting their meals at school.  His mother did not have any food and he was worried about her.  The school helped the family.


These stories are horrifying.   They also carry a sense of shame.  Is there shame in being hungry?  They are also all stories of children.  I think children are the most vulnerable when it comes to hunger.  Perhaps adults don’t talk about their hunger. 

I also wonder about nutrition.  Much of what we digest is not really food.   It doesn’t really offer nutrition, particularly nutrition for young growing bodies.


Here at WDMUMC, we are involved in a number of food ministries.  As far as I can tell no one planned this.  It seems to be the work of the Holy Spirit.  Our Little Food Pantry, the food we provide through our Wednesday Night Live program, Meals from the Heartland, and more provide emergency food for those in need.  We are learning more and more that one of the causes of hunger in our local community is the lack of affordable housing.  If a family’s income is absorbed in paying rent, there may not be enough money left over for food.  As we work with Habitat to provide affordable housing, we are also addressing hunger needs.


Methodist Churches all across the country are in the feeding business.  Methodists provide thousands of meals every week to those in need.  Is there a way to help people gain greater food security?  I hope to find that out this week.


Why do we care?  That’s simple.  Because Jesus did.


John Wesley said, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”  Let that be our goal.


I will be back on Sunday.  See you then!


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

This week at WDMUMC:
Wednesday Night Live Kickoff Bash! This Wednesday we are starting our programming year with a party!  Supper begins at 5:30 and lots of fun follows!  See you there!


Block Party!  Sunday night from 4-7 we are inviting the neighborhood to a block party!  Food and fun!


Charge Conference! Our District Superintendent Heecheon Jeon will be leading a charge conference on September 13 at 6:30.  At the charge conference, we will vote on whether to divest of the houses the church owns.  Everyone is invited to attend.  Members will vote on the decision.


And we begin a new sermon series, Juggling!  We are busy people.  How do we juggle all the demands we face?  In September in this three-week sermons series, we will talk about priorities and time and faithful living.  Read Romans 12 to prepare for Sunday!



Have a great week!