FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK ... “Shelter from the Storm” Volume 11 Issue 3 So, my prediction is that March will March 2021 coma. Both the young woman and the come in like a lion! That’s the country lore mother were life-long Christians. They about March, isn’t it? showed up at church every time the doors were open; and, they were enculturated And, speaking of stormy weather with all the additional Christian bells and and all, an old Bob Dylan song just ran whistles. through my head, Shelter from the Storm: In other words, they lived the ‘Twas in another lifetime, one of Christian life, crossing every “T” and dot- toil and blood ting every “I.” They read their Bibles, When blackness was a virtue the prayed regularly; and, they utilized all the road was full of mud correct parlance such as I thank God for my I came in from the wilderness, a salvation; and, they kept the requisite cas- T creature void of form serole dish handy for anybody who was r Come in, she said hospitalized or had a death in their family. i I’ll give ya shelter from the storm But Houston, they had a huge prob- n lem. And, it is here that I will delve a wee i (Shelter from the Storm, Bob Dylan, bit more deeply. No one on earth needed t January 13, 1964.) shelter from the storm as badly as these y two women. If you will suffer me a wee bit of a The young daughter spent hours by U tangent here, that old Bob Dylan song came her mother’s bedside. She prayed into the n into my head because of an effort by the wee hours of the night and morning. She i Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band on February 5th of repeated over and over again how much t this year. Are you sitting down? This she loved the mother. e band, along with Roseanne Cash and Steve Then one morning, just before d Earle reprised the old Dylan song, The dawn the mother awakened from her coma. She suddenly opened her eyes and looked Times, They are A-Changin.’ It was a chari- ty effort and all proceeds are going to the clearly and intently at the daughter. M The words began to flow, “You e Feeding America project to help with hun- ger in this country! know,” she whispered, “all my life I t thought something was wrong with me. I h Old is the new…new! Who knew? You can Google this song up right now and have always felt that as hard as I tried, I o listen to it, if you want. just could not get things right!” d All of this confluence pointing to- The woman shook her head and i wards storms opened a memory in my head said, “What a waste.” s that was decades old! The scene opens and She then closed her eyes, went back t I am working on a research project for a into her coma and passed from this world a counseling and pastoral care ministry cur- few hours later. What a waste indeed. C riculum; and, I ran across a case study that And…there is Jesus. He said, h broke my heart wide open! In fact, I will “Come to me, all you who are weary and u go so far as to say it changed how I viewed burdened, and I will give you rest. aka r Christianity. ‘Come in,’ he says, ‘I’ll give ya shelter c As we peek behind the curtain, we from the storm (Matthew 11:28).’” h see a young woman who is sitting by the
MESSENGER .THE bedside of her dying mother who is in a There is a term tossed about called Christology. This means the study of who For Church information visit: Jesus was, is and will be. Visit us at— www.trinityumcofcharlotte.com ...continued inside Rev. Jimmy Howard—(Minister) - [email protected]
Ronna Privette—(Administrative Assistant) -
Shelly Black—(Preschool Director)[email protected]
PASTORS DESK continued ….
Done incorrectly, Christianity can miss “For God sent the Son into the world, the mark by a mile, leaving us feeling in a fog. not to condemn the world, but that the Christianity can make us feel oppressed, leav- world might be saved through him ing us burdened and overwhelmed with the (John 3:17 NIV).” sense of something is wrong with me. I am never good enough. I just can’t get things “Do not think that I have come to right. I just do not measure up. abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill This view of Christology is off target. It them (Matthew 5:17 NIV).” misses the mark badly. It’s not even Biblical! Christ came to be for each of us that shelter Finally, I just love the way that The from the storm. Message Bible spells this out, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on reli- For many of us, life hands us feelings of gion? Come to me. Get away with me deficiency at every turn. And, it does not take and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show much to make us feel this way…that we just you how to take a real rest. Walk with do not cut it. me and work with me—watch how I do Our culture is highly competitive. It it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. thrives by making others less. This is how I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting
culture becomes King of the Hill…by making on you. Keep company with me and others less. you’ll learn to live freely and lightly Criticism flows like rainwater. Argu- (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG).” ments arise easily nowadays. Our culture To say it bluntly, Come in, he ceaselessly tracks down somebody to blame said, I’ll give ya shelter from the storm. every time the wheels fall off. Let’s not waste even one more We can become distracted. We can second. A soul is a terrible thing to make mistakes at work. We can make a judg- waste in the first place. ment call that feels right at the time but turns out to be wrong-er with each passing minute. To do Christianity correctly, all we have to do is listen to his words, You can try to discuss something as be- keep company with me and you’ll learn nign as NASCAR on Social Media and get to live freely and lightly. This is a sav- your head taken off. Culture seems to be in- ior that we can get behind every single tentional in making us feel not okay. day. If we are trapped in this fog of life, we In His Love, are unable to perceive the truth of who we re- ally are. And, to be honest, I don’t know how Jimmy Christ could have been any clearer.
Page 2 Hello Everyone,
Since our mail out newsletter is only sent once per month, I just wanted to take one more opportunity to further express my deepest thanks for your generous and heartwarming Christmas love offering that was given to me in Have you January. I was deeply moved by your kindness Caught Someone in an act of kindness to- and thoughtfulness. To be honest, your gesture wards the church recently? If so please left me without words. Please accept my deep- let the office know, we sure like to high- light any and all and say a BIG thank est and most profound thanks. you!!!
Jimmy
The Trinity Church Family would like to express its pray- Just a reminder that ers and sympathy to Marcia Trinity’s 2021 Bar-B- Knight and Family on the passing of her mother Mrs. cue has been canceled. Nancy Jones. Mrs. Jones Our prayer is that we who passed away on Thurs- day, February 18th lived in can come back bigger Dunbar Twp, PA. Please continue to re- and better in 2022. member Marcia and Eric Knight in your
Mark your calendars for prayers during this difficult time. the first Thursday in March 2022!!!
The United Methodist Men are sponsoring a FISH FRY in
March. (they don’t usually get to do a
March Fish Fry due
to the BBQ, so there
is something posi- tive about every- thing) We hope that you will join us for a Drive Thru Only on Saturday, March 13th beginning at 3:00pm. The cost is $13.00 for a plate of catfish, shrimp, flounder with fries, homemade slaw, and hushpuppies. We look for- ward to seeing you in the drive thru on March 13th!!!
Page 3 THE MESSENGER Trinity United Methodist Church
6230 Beatties Ford Road Charlotte, NC 28216 Church—704-399-1684 9am—Rise-Up Worship Service 10am—Sunday School (online) 11am—Traditions Worship Service
answering Jesus’ call to: CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED Non-profit Organization “FEED MY SHEEP” U.S. Postage Paid
Charlotte, NC Permit No. 770
Worship Helpers and Prayer Request RETIREMENT HOME
RESIDENTS Contributions have been Old Knox-David Todd made to the Church Budg- North Lake House— Mary Moore Homebound—Kenneth Alexan- et in memory of Mrs. Car- der, Curtis Buchanan olyn McLemore by Circle
#3, Margie Todd, and John PRAYER LIST & Cathryn Moreau. Cleary Aberle, Kenneth Alexan- der, Donald Brown, Chet Kidd, Jamie Kidd, Mary Moore, Billy A gift was given to the Todd Young at Heart Senior Citizens Group of Trini- ty UMC in lov- ing memory of ***In case of an emergency you can reach Rev. Howard by calling 704- Carolyn 458-8187 , Ronna Privette @ 704- McLemore by 619-4647 Joe & Leslie
Brigman