"Midweek and a Thanksgiving Prayer" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 11/21/2018

Hello friends,

Today I simply want to share my Thanksgiving prayer with you.

God of Goodness,

Thank you for my family,

My husband, my two daughters, the two good men who they have married, a granddaughter who just lost a front tooth and whose smile makes me smile.

Thank you for all who will gather at my house tomorrow,

My sister, who is such a gift and an inspiration to me, my brother in law who is good to have in the family, my niece just home from a mission trip to Kenya (I hope she brings pictures!), my nephew one semester away from college graduation, and three dogs.

Thank you for the loud messiness that will arrive with all of this.

                The talk.  The storytelling.  The card playing.  The football game.

Thank you for the food that will spread across every inch of the kitchen.

                The mash potatoes son in law #1 will make.  Fluff salad.  Essential green bean casserole.

Thank you for the moment of prayer, all of us standing in the kitchen, thanking you and remembering the family that is no longer with us.

Thank you for our history and for our future.

                Our parents and grandparents.  That college graduation.  A baby on the way.

Thank you for the way that gratitude grows as I pray.

Thank you for the way the act of thanking you reminds me that not everyone has all that I have.

                I pray for those who sit at an empty table, or an angry table, or a lonely table.

Thank you for the yawning of grace that happens, just in the act of saying “thank you.”

Good and Holy God, I hope Thanksgiving is a time of joy for you. I hope our celebration pleases you.

In the name of the one who shares his table with us all.

Amen

Blessings and Happy Thanksgiving to you all,
Pastor Cindy
Pastor Cindy Hickman
West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Ave
West Des Moines Iowa 50265
515-279-0826

Like us on Facebook or visit us at wdmumc.org

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

"Midweek and Two Oportunities" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 11/15/2018

Hello everyone,

Our sermon series this month is called Life, according to Jesus. And we have been following Jesus through the scripture, looking at how he lived.  Last Sunday life, according to Jesus, was about healing.  Each of us has a part in the healing of the world. Today I want to offer two opportunities to get involved in some healing work.  They might surprise you.

Dr. Jones from Hillside, our neighborhood elementary school, contacted me this week.  He is looking for a “book enthusiast” who could volunteer in the school library at Hillside shelving books.  The librarian teaches throughout the day, has little extra time, and shelving books is an on-going burden.  That may not sound like healing, but ask a tired teacher what he or she needs and the answer is generally “help!”  Volunteering in the library would be a great help, a kind of healing.  Getting to know the librarian and building a new relationship, that’s a kind of healing too. This just might be a mutual healing--both the librarian and the volunteer finding peace in this.  Contact me if you are the "book enthusiast" Dr. Jones is looking for!  (We require background checks for all persons who work with children.  We can easily do that here at the church.)

On Sunday afternoon at 4 pm, Music and More on Grand will present “WDM UMC’s Got Talent.”  Fifteen talented individuals and groups from our church and beyond will sing and play instruments and dance (Yes!  Methodists CAN dance!).  Music is a healing balm for our souls.  So come and let your soul be soothed!  Even better, bring two friends, maybe people who don’t get out a lot, or people who feel left out.  Let this fun afternoon heal them too. 

Throughout the week WDMUMC is in the business of healing, from the AA program to our extensive work in hunger, to the SHIPP program that “heals” Medicare worries.  Healing is a good gift from God that leads to joy and we each get to play a part.  Thanks be to God.
 

See you on Sunday.

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

"Midweek and Kindergarten Billy Goats" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 11/08/2018

Good morning,
We are in the middle of a sermon series called “Life, according to Jesus.” And this week, life, according to Jesus, is about healing.

Do you remember the first time you realized that your body had the power to heal?

When I was in kindergarten, I walked to school with the neighborhood kids.  I lived in a small town and the school was about five blocks away.  That winter the city tore up one of the streets.  I don’t know what they were working on, maybe a broken water main.  Whatever happened, for a few weeks there was a long pile of gravel that ran like a miniature mountain range along the sidewalk.  Why would any kid walk on the sidewalk, why you could climb on top of a four-foot high mountain range?  So each day on the way to school, we climbed up on our mountain range like the little Billy goats we were and “balanced” our way down the street on our way to school.

The weather turned cold.  The gravel iced up a bit, but still, our mountain range was too tempting and too much fun.  One day the thing our mothers warned us about happened. I fell, slid on the gravel and tore a pretty good gash in my knee.  I don’t remember any pain, but there was a two-inch cut and lots of blood.

In those days girls were required to wear dresses to school, so I was wearing a dress that day. And because it was cold, I was wearing tan colored tights.  The knee of my tights was ripped open too.
Blood was pouring out of the wound.  We were closer to school than home (besides our mothers had warned us about walking on the gravel) so on we went to school.

There was a little boy in kindergarten who had a crush on me.  I knew that because just days earlier when we all laid down on our rugs for nap time, (Do kindergartners still do this?  Really, we spent about 30 minutes just lying there.) this particular little boy asked me to marry him.  We were both five.  We hadn’t learned how to read yet and we were just learning our colors.  I think I turned him down, but I don’t remember for sure.

The day I cut my knee, when we arrived in our classroom, he was already there.  By that time, my knee was covered in blood, and my torn tights were soaked in blood too.  The teacher went into immediate first aid mode.  And the little boy took one look and began screaming.

He thought my torn bloody flapping tight was my flesh.  He thought the skin had been ripped off my leg.  He went ballistic.

I still don’t remember any pain.  I just remember his reaction.  I think the teacher had to take care of him before she took care of me.

I had a scar for a long time.  I checked this morning and it has faded away.  As for the little boy, I assume he healed too.

I think this the first time I learned that our bodies have this amazing resiliency.  A built-in ability to recover.  Does this have anything to do with God?

It has everything to do with God.

Blessings to you this day.  See you on Sunday.
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 at 8:30 and 11 on Sunday mornings and we would love to worship with you.

This week at WDMUMC:
The Youth are cooking up a Grand Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday to support their mission trip next summer.  They will be serving from 11-1.  You are invited!