Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Mt. Olivet!

 

The Children's Christmas Program

After a delicious breakfast in the social hall Sunday morning, the children and youth did a wonderful job presenting the Christmas story. Thanks to all who worked hard in preparing, and especially to the actors.

 

Christmas Caroling

Traveling a good portion of Augusta County, a group of Mt. Olivet carolers brought joy to the faces of elderly and shut-ins from Mt. Solon to Staunton to Bridgewater.

Joy to the world! The Lord has come. Let earth receive her King!

Pastor's PenPoint - "It's Better to Give ..." - December 2015

Around this time of year, we hear a phrase a lot. In fact I can remember the first time I heard it when I traveled to my aunt and uncle's house in Alexandria and was sure there were two presents under their tree for me. When I opened my gift and went looking for the second (that was never there by the way) - one of my parents uttered that famous phrase - "it is better to give than to receive." At that age I believed it was better to receive, but that was the lesson. What I had failed to give was gratitude in what I had received.

Likewise this season of Advent and Christmas, we have something to give. Something we should be eager in anticipation to give! There are 2 scriptures that point this out to us.

John 12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." Here Jesus speaks specifically about His crucifixion. It is He who draws to Himself all who are to be saved. When we present to Gospel of the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus for sins, Jesus draws the sinner to Himself. He does the work, not us.

As Christians, we are to witness with truth, honesty and integrity. As the Lord presents the opportunity, we should respond in a humble and gentle spirit. And in that, we point people to Jesus. It is He alone who saves.

If we know that God's word will accomplish what God desires and that the Gospel is powerful to save and that it is Jesus who draws all men to himself, then we should realize that the responsibility of salvation does not rest on us, but on God. We are the deliverers of good news. "How shall they believe in Him who they have not heard?" (Romans 10:14). We help them hear!

These three verses should help us to gain confidence. We witness - God saves. We plant the seeds - God waters. We give - others receive. It is His word that accomplishes salvation. It is His gospel that is powerful. It is His Son Jesus who draws. We witness in power when we witness to Jesus Christ through the Word of God.

As we receive the grace and peace of God, let us bless others with the best gift this season and point others to Jesus Christ!

~ Pastor Todd

Coming Up in December

Sunday Dec. 6 - Christmas Caroling. Meet at the church at 2:30pm.

Saturday Dec. 19 - The MMI and WMF will have a Christmas meal at Traditions Restaurant at 6:30pm.

Sunday Dec. 20, 9:30am - The children and youth will be sponsoring a breakfast in the fellowship hall. Afterwards they will  be presenting a Christmas program in the sanctuary.

Thursday Dec. 24, 6:30pm - Christmas Eve candlelight service.

Upcoming Events in November

Sunday, November 8: Commission and Board meetings after the morning worship. A light lunch will be provided.

Monday, November 9: WMF and MMI meetings at eh church at 7pm.

Saturday, November 14: Ladies Inspirational Fellowship Time (LIFT) at the Sangerville Ruritan Hall at 8am. Our MMI group will be serving the lunch for the event.

Sunday, November 15: Thankoffering Sunday - guest speaker will be Jerry Dove from the Gideons.

Tuesday, November 17: The WMF and MMI will be serving the Bridgewater Retirement Community Street Luncheon at the church at 12 noon.

Wednesday, November 18: The WMF and MMI will be serving a meal to the Sangerville Ruritans at 7pm.

Tuesday, November 24: Community Thanksgiving Service at Emmanuel COB at 7pm.

Pastor's Penpoint - "Thanksgiving for the Coming of Advent" - November 2015

And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him." May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 15:12-13)

I know, I know. The Christmas season still seems a long way away. Unless you've been to one of the stores that has had Christmas decorations out since Labor Day. But the Advent season will be upon us the last Sunday in November.

Seems fitting right after Thanksgiving, a time when we acknowledge all that we have been blessed with, that we right away turn our attention to the child that held within his birth the hope of humanity for all time.

Among Christians, Advent celebrates the coming of the Savior, a period of expectant waiting and preparation - both for the birth and earthly ministry of Christ and for His return.

Advent is traditionally celebrated the four Sundays before Christmas as a means of preparing our hearts for the miraculous birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Each Sunday is marked with the lighting of a candle that represents hope, peace, joy and love. The fifth candle represents the birth of the Christ - we will again light the fifth candle at our Christmas Eve Service.

The word Advent is derived from the Latin "adventus", which means "coming". It's telling and re-telling the story of why God came into this world and also pointing and looking forward to His coming again.

Before we get caught up in the holiday rush ... let's begin now to prepare ourselves for the offering of thanksgiving - and the reality of an approaching child.

Hoping your coming weeks are "calm and bright."

~Todd

Preparing for Winter

19 people from Mount O spent a cool morning this morning cutting and delivering firewood to widows and others in the community. We thank God for strength and safety and for all those who helped. 10 truckloads were delivered.

 

Pastor's Penpoint - "Church Mice" - October 2015

"Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." (Titus 1:21)

Fall (or Autumn) is my favorite season of the year. I enjoy wearing sweaters, seeing God's tapestry and mastery on display in the leaves that turn and soup weather.

For many, fall is a season that brings sadness as winter is right around the corner. I recently heard someone say fall reminds them that as humans we have fallen short of the glory of new life that we have been given - and is celebrated in the spring of the year.

While I confess I did not fully understand their thought, I empathized with them that as those who are redeemed, the enemy continues to whisper is our ear, saying we are not good enough and reminding us of our past. The fact is, being a Christian does not mean perfection. No one is perfect; we all have fallen at one point or another.

Our hope is, however, as Christians we believe that God extended His lovingkindness and forgiveness to us who are unworthy when His Son Jesus was nailed on the cross. God's love will continue to be available for us, though we can never deserve it. All we need to do is believe and accept that love.

Do we truly believe that God washes away all sin or only the sins that we believe are forgivable? This season, get out a bit and marvel at God's creating and artwork. Marvel as well at what the Master is creating in you. As you have probably heard it said before, "When the enemy tried to remind you of your past - remind the enemy of his future!"

Loving while waiting...
~ Pastor Todd

Pastor's Penpoint - "Oh Yes, Our God Laughs" - September 2015

"He who sits in the heavens laughs ..." Psalm 2:4

How can we his creatures think things are funny unless the whole idea of humor came from God in the first place? I've never heard a sermon about God's sense of humor. Nor have I read a theology book that lists God's laughter as one of his indisputable characteristics. But I think it is. And unless we see that side of God, I;m not sure we'll totally appreciate him.

After all, as Christ's church, we don't want to be called names like "The Frozen Chosen" or "The First Church of the Frigidaire."

Think about his creation. Surely he made creatures such as the otter, dolphin, and penguin, just because they delighted him so much. Or consider what we find in Scripture itself (keeping in mind that Scripture was inspired by God). Job 39:13-18 (a very serious book) describes the life of a stork in pretty funny terms. Verse 17 says, "For God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense." I hope I'm never described that way!

The prophet Jonah, who had a flair for the dramatic, makes us laugh in retrospect. After running from God, being rescued from drowning by spending three days in a a fish's belly, and then complaining that God rescued Nineveh from destruction, Jonah throws a tantrum about a vine dying because it made him so hot and uncomfortable to lose its shade. In Jonah 4"9 he complains about the vine saying, "I am angry enough to die." Doesn't it make you want to say, "Good grief, Jonah. Lighten up!" God must have had a sense of humor not only to put up with but use Jonah for his glory and purposes.

Proverbs is a funny book at times. If you read it aloud to a group, it's difficult not to laugh. Proverbs 11:22 says, "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion." Doesn't that give you a warm fuzzy feeling on the days you feel less attractive? You wonder if Solomon had just fought with one of his many wives when he said, "Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife" (21:9). However, my favorite proverb is 22:13. And there's the night owl's favorite verse, "If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse" (27:14). I had a co-worker once who quoted this to me, reminding me that not everyone wakes up cheery and ready to roll.

But I think Hebrews 11:12 is the funniest verse in the Bible: "Therefore there was born even of [Abraham], and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars in heaven ..." (emphasis mine).

Of course God's humor is never cruel the way humans twist it to be at times. In fact, God is entirely pure and untainted, and so is his humor. Such a God inspired  the author of Proverbs to write, "A happy heart makes the face cheerful" (15:13), or seen from the opposite point of view in verse 30, "A cheerful look brings joy to the heart."

So let us laugh a bit and enjoy our Lord. Proverbs 16:24 says, "Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Aren't you glad?

~ Pastor Todd

Mission Trip to Kentucky

 

A group of 23 from Mt. Olivet spent a week in Big Laurel, KY working through Laurel Mission to help a few of the elderly in the community. Several worked organizing the clothing store operated by the mission. Some painted a handicap ramp for an elderly lady while others worked on completing a new house for a widow. It was a great blessing for all who participated. Thanks to all who offered help through prayers and gifts of food, money and clothing. This was the 15th consecutive year a group has been able to go from Mt. Olivet to Laurel Mission.

One of Kentucky's 10,000+ elk

Pastor's Penpoint - "Be the Church" - August 2015

When most people hear the word "church" they probably think of a building. But biblically speaking, a church is much more than a building. In fact some would say the church is not a building at all, but is all about the people.

The early Christian church had no buildings, at least not in the sense of what we would consider church buildings today. First century Christians were often persecuted and, as a result, often met in secret usually in homes. As the influence of Christianity spread, eventually buildings dedicated to worship were established and became what we know today as churches. Fellowship, worship and ministry are all conducted by people, not buildings.

When speaking of the church, there is the visible and local church as opposed to the invisible and universal church referred to in the Apostle's Creed as the "holy catholic church." The visible and local church is the physical local churches that we see around us and around the world. The invisible and universal church, however, refers to all believers everywhere and is one church, united in Christ. Everyone in the universal church is a true believer, but such is not necessarily the case with visible and local churches.

The church is not a building, but a body of believers with a specific purpose. The purposes (or ministries) of the church are many, but key to any church are foundations in worship, discipleship (education) and evangelism.

•  Worship is God-centered, and Christ-centered. It is not about entertaining with flashy displays or presentations, but about expressing our love by worshiping our Creator.
• Discipleship is also a role of the church. It involved educated believers, but also nurturing, building or helping believers to mature in Christ.

• Evangelism is also a key role of the church. This means reaching out to a lost world with the Good News about Jesus. But beyond evangelism in the sense of reaching out with the gospel, the church must also express compassion and mercy plainly by helping others.

In following Christ's example to help others, the church, too, must seek to make a real difference in the world while not neglecting to share the message of Christ.

If a church fails to fulfill any of these key roles - worship, discipleship and evangelism - then the church is not functioning as God intends. Granted, there are times when churches face challenges and struggles to one degree of another, but a healthy church seeks to overcome such challenges in a way that honors God and His intentions for the church.

Friends, its time to stop GOING to church. We need to BE the church!

~ Pastor Todd

2015 U. S. National Conference

The 2015 National Conference of the UB Church met in Grand Rapids, Michigan July 14 through the 18. About 780 people attended from UB churches all over the United States, including 7 from Mt. Olivet.

Each night we enjoyed a worship service with music and a message from guest speaker Dr. Wayne Schmidt, VP for Wesleyan Seminary.

The business session of the conference lasted all day Thursday until 4:30 in the afternoon. It began with the processing of the resignation of Bishop Phil Whipple and the appointing of Interim Bishop Todd Fetters, who will serve the remaining 2 years until a bishop is elected in 2017. There were also 7 reports and 13 proposals to process and the election of 8 Executive Leadership Team members. Some highlights from the proposals: A paragraph was added to the Discipline to state the church's stand against cohabitation. Also under "Family Standards", after much discussion and an amendment, the following paragraph was added to state the denomination's position on same-sex marriage:  
 "Because God ordained marriage and defined it as the covenant relationship between a man, a woman, and himself, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ USA will only recognize marriages between a genetic, biological man and a genetic, biological woman. Further, the ministers classified with the authority to conduct weddings shall only participate in weddings and solemnize marriages between one genetic, biological man and one genetic, biological woman. Finally, the facilities and property of churches in covenant with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ USA shall only host weddings between one genetic, biological man and one genetic, biological woman."

On Friday morning, we were able to attend 2 workshops out of a choice of 18.
On the final morning, there was a special service that included message from new Interim Bishop Todd Fetters, communion and the ordination of 6 pastors.

The next U. S. National Conference will be held in July 2017 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United Brethren Church.

Global Ministries display tables along with other exhibitors

The conference business session

Worship led by the team from First UB in Holly Hill, Florida

Rev. Todd Fetters speaking at the final service

The ordination service

Below is an excerpt from the July 23, 2015 Connect Newsletter including Bishop Ramsey's prayer for newly appointed Bishop Todd Fetters and Rev. Fetters' subsequent comments:

 

Bishop Ramsey's Prayer

Paul Hirschy asked Bishop Emeritus Ron Ramsey to come to the podium and pray for Todd Fetters. As he stood at the podium, with Todd seated at the table behind him, Bishop Ramsey said, “If I’m going to pray for Todd, I’d like to have my hand on him.” There was laughter and applause throughout the room. Todd then came to the podium and stood beside Bishop Ramsey, who placed his right hand on Todd’s shoulder and prayed:

Eternal God and Father, we have come to a point in our national conference, in our denomination, that probably nobody has enjoyed. But we also thank you for your sovereignty in bringing to us the skills and capabilities to take care of the position, and to serve the church in a wonderful way. I thank you for Todd. I thank you for his life, I thank you for his witness, I thank you for his testimony, and most of all I thank you for the consistent way he has walked in the way of the Lord and the way of the Word. And I pray that as he assumes this new position, that those things will not change.

Help him, Lord, to face the discouraging things without destroying him. Help him to accept the victories and wins without getting a big head. But Lord, I just pray you would be with him and strengthen and empower him for this awesome responsibility. Thank you for the years I’ve known him; I’ve known him to be honest and true and faithful. I pray that your Spirit would be upon him to continue moving him and directing him in that kind of fashion. In the strong name of Jesus I pray, amen.

Bishop Ramsey then told the conference, “Let me just say one thing. I think the denomination, for the next two years, will be in very capable hands.”

---

Remarks from the New Bishop

At this point, Paul Hirschy turned the chairmanship back to Todd Fetters, who asked everyone to thank Bishop Hirschy for his leadership in the difficult executive session and afterwards. The delegates gave Bishop Hirschy a standing ovation. “Consider that happy birthday,” Fetters said. It was, indeed, Paul Hirschy’s birthday.

He then thanked Gary Dilley and the ELT for their hard work and “your helpful, honest, thoughtful presentation today.” More applause.

Todd Fetters then made the following remarks (with slight editing) to the conference.

I’m not an alliterator when I do messages. I’m just not big on it. It’s a lot of work to come up with points that all have the same letter. And yet, I’m going to do it right here, right now.

Let me just say, the events that you in executive session have heard and that we walked through—they are heart-breaking. I want to speak on behalf of the national office. It’s been a heart-rending, heart-challenging season for us. And yet, I think as you’ve looked at the national staff just in the last 24 hours, you’ve seen that they came to work, and they came to help, and they came to serve the church. I’m grateful for their ability to process challenging, difficult, heart-rending decisions and still come to do this, knowing that our calling is to Jesus Christ and to His Church, and to help all of us point in that direction of our Lord and Savior. So would you just thank our national office staff.

[Applause.]
We have had the opportunity to say it to Bishop Phil and to Sandy, that we love them and enjoyed working with them, and we have enjoyed working for our bishop. We will be continuing to pray for them, and we will continue to serve in the vein that he has led us to this point.
So the first H is heart-breaking.
Let me follow that up by saying I am humbled by this body’s confidence in me. I walk into the office every day and go down a long hallway on purpose. The hallway into the office from the back door is a whole long line of bishops’ pictures. Usually I’m troubled by the fact that most of them are cockeyed, and I sort of tilt them back into place. Whether that’s a message from the Lord or not, I don’t know.
But as a kid growing up in the United Brethren church, and not far from headquarters, those are the people I knew as bishop. Those have always been individuals that I was taught to respect, and whom I learned to respect. I’m humbled to follow in that line for these two years.
When I think in terms of our church, I think in terms of the modern era. One of the key parts of our modern era is when we went to one bishop, and that was Bishop Ray Seilhamer in 1993. He served us with a vision for two things—healthy churches, and church planting. A big part of that was endowing for church planting. So he got us in mind for healthy churches and planting churches. His illustration was a two-winged plane—which, by the way, is the only kind of plane I would want to fly.
And then following Bishop Seilhamer was Bishop Paul Hirschy, who has given us leadership in transition to who we are. Between 2001 and 2005, we processed whether or not we wanted to be United Brethren, and we cinched it down. We are United Brethren. That’s who we are going to be. That’s what we want to be. So we said in 2005, this is who we are.
At that national conference, we had a sea change in our structure, our organization. Ron Ramsey was handed the baton to make sense out of something we just sort of threw up in the air to some degree and said, “Make this work.” And we’ve been making this work.
The other thing that Bishop Ramsey brought to the table was a renewed commitment to the Great Commission as our commission. Growing healthy churches was a big part of where we were going. And so, again, when you make a big decision to say this is who we are and this is what we are going to be about as the United Brethren Church, we had the right leader at that moment to say, “Simplistically, it’s about the Gospel—about getting people to hear the Gospel and to yield their lives to him.”
And so in the succession in this modern era, we got to that point where we said, “We are United Brethren, and we are committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the Great Commission. That’s what we are called to do.”
Then the baton was handed off to Bishop Phil Whipple. For the last six years, in a volatile culture when it comes to Christianity, he helped us cinch down what we are all about in upholding that one name once more—that we are All for Christ. That’s what we are about. Unashamedly, All for Christ. I look forward to keeping that theme, and the themes that got us to that point, as we move forward.

So I’m heart-broken in the circumstances we are in. I’m humbled by your trust. And I’m hopeful that we will work together in collaboration for the great and glorious Gospel that is ours, given to us by Jesus Christ.

Thank you, folks. It’s been my privilege to serve with our staff and with our bishop and with you. I look forward to what the Lord wants to do in the United Brethren church during the next two years.

Pastor's Penpoint - "Don't Take The Bait" - July 2015

"Keep yourselves in the love of God ..." - Jude 1:21

The bible is a revelation of the fact that God is love. Many people misunderstand the attribute of God's nature which is love. "God is love" does not mean that everything is sweet, beautiful, and happy, and that God's love could not possibly allow punishment for sin.

Because God is righteous, for sin to be ignored would disqualify His righteousness. Would we ask God to deny His righteousness?

There are many voices on the wind. Certainly God's voice is there, through His Word and the Spirit calling each of us to repentance, challenging us to love unconditionally and to encouraging our evangelism to a world lost in sin.

There are, however, other voices. As mentioned in 1 Timothy 4:1: "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons."

These voices will cause man to turn from God and follow society in pursuit of not being offensive. Folks, we can stand firm in our belief - and still not offend. We can proclaim the loving grace of the Father and the lifesaving death and resurrection of Jesus  Christ to the nations ... and we can do it with love.

When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love. When we preach atonement (making amends), it is atonement planned by love, provided by love, given by love, finished by love, dedicated because of love. When we preach the resurrection of Christ, we are preaching the miracle of love. When we preach the return of Christ, we are preaching the fulfillment of love.

No matter what sin man has committed, or how terrible, dirty, or shameful it may be, God loves all His children, and prefers forgiveness and redemption over punishment and hate. The love of God is immeasurable, unmistakable, and unending!

So don't take the bait - and  be tempted to follow the crowd and react to the world. The voices of the world should be no surprise to Christians - it certainly is not a surprise to God. We are called to rise above the argument and share the light of Christ.

Keep yourselves in the love of God .... ~ Pastor Todd
 

Outdoor Worship at Natural Chimneys

Yesterday at Natural Chimneys Park was the second in a series of outdoor worship services this summer for the Mount Olivet congregation. The rain cleared away for a beautiful morning of worship right next to the towering rocks.

The remaining outdoor services this year are:

Sunday, July 26th and 10:30am on the church lawn followed by a freewill offering meal provided by the youth as a fundraiser

Sunday, August 30th at 5:00pm at Oakdale Park Shelter #3 with a covered dish meal

Sunday, October 4th at 10:30am at the Sangerville Ruritan Hall Shelter, followed by a covered dish meal and a hayride