Welcome to the Graefenburg UMC blog! Here you can find thoughts, study God's Word, and discuss the issues and challenges of life. This is our online resource for community building and discipleship. Welcome!

Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year!

I am sitting quietly waiting to ring in 2011.  As you can tell, Matthew and I are really party animals.  This past week has been full of reflection upon the past year, and a look of head in anticipation of what is to come in 2011.  This past year was a difficult one.  I experienced the loss of my grandmother and a decline in health of my grandfather.  I began a master's degree, which is proving to be a stretch on my (and Matthew's) sanity.  There have been good parts as well, such as our new journey here at Graefenburg.  We never know what to expect as we follow God's call.  I don't like making "New Year's Resoloutions" because I have found that those last about a week before I give up and resume life as I know it.  But alas, in 2011 I would like to be healthier (losing a million few pounds wouldn't hurt), I would like to be less stressed, and I would like to not wish time away.  The healthier thing will come, it just takes will power and self discipline, so ask me at the end of next year how that went.  :)  The less stressed thing might just take a miracle, full time job, grad school, home, church, friendsand family fill a girls schedule quite nicely and leave little wiggle room.  But all of those are great things and I am truly blessed that those are the things that stress me, instead of the issues that stress so many of those around us. 

I do find myself wishing away time.  I am always looking forward to the next big event, or time off from work to spend with my family, or simply the next time that I get to sleep in.  Sometimes I am so worried about getting to the next thing, that I forget to stop and enjoy today.   The "right nows" are just as important, if not more important that the "what's next" in life but yet, there are many times when I miss out on those moments.  This next year I want to slow down and enjoy today, everyday.  I don't just want to push forward into the next thing I want every moment to count. 

What do you hope for in the New Year? 

Do you make every moment count?

~Jennifer

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Questions to Ponder

Next Sunday will be the first Sunday of 2011. (Oh dear, where has the time gone?!?) In preparing for the New Year please take a few moments to answer the following questions:

What is your prayer for 2011?

Finish the following sentence: "I love Graefenburg UMC because..."

What is something in your own life that you would like to improve in 2011?

What is something about the church that you would like to see improve in 2011?

Please post your responses in the comment section below.  You can do this without posting your name.  :)

Thursday, December 23, 2010

"God With Us" - Peace at Christmas

First, I want to apologize for the delay in posting.  As many of you have experienced, Christmas is a very busy time of year, and our lives are no exception.  The past two weeks have not only been the normal kind of "Christmas busy" but we have also experienced both in our own families and in the families of many of you, that there has been a tremendous amount of loss and illness.  Indeed, Christmas is not always a time of joy and jubilation, for many of us who have experienced loss this year, Christmas can be a very difficult time of the year.  Seems like memories and traditions are at every turn.  This past Sunday was the fourth Sunday of Advent - Peace.  Peace is easy to accept when things are going well, it is when the road gets bumpy that peace becomes much harder to come by. 
     On Sunday the sermon picked up with Joseph's side of the story.  Joseph was engaged to sweet Mary and things were going along just fine.  Their marriage was upcoming and Joseph had a career as a carpenter.  Life was good.....or...so he thought.  One day Mary comes home to inform him that she was with child.  He knew that it couldn't be his and that meant, according to law, that Mary could be stoned to death.  I am sure that Joseph was very confused, angry and hurt.  He was left with an enormous decision to make.  Would he announce Mary's secret and let her deal with her punishment? Or, would he have mercy and divorce her quietly?  Either choice would be difficult and at this point he had no obligation to Mary. Even if he divorced her quietly there was no guarantee that her family would accept her back in her condition. Joseph chose to divorce her quietly, leaving her fate to God - but God intervened.  God told Joseph to stay with Mary, that God himself was in control of this situation and He would make the situation right.  Joseph now had a bigger choice...to trust God or to go along with his own plan.  Thank goodness Joseph chose to follow God. 
   God did not promise to make Joseph's life easier, He merely promised to be with Joseph.  Mary and Joseph's son was to be named "Emmanuel" meaning "God with us."  That was God's message to Joseph and all of the rest of us that God is with us, now and forever.  He walks beside us in whatever comes in life.
    Now, let's go a little deeper.  Why did God choose to send Jesus to earth, especially in that very strange way?  I mean, Jesus could have come with great grandeur to a wealthy family with tons of fanfare.  God's people were expecting a king.  God didn't need to send Jesus that way.  Jesus came to earth perfectly.  He came to humble people, among humble surroundings.  His life was built upon helping the poor and the sick.  He saw each person for who they were, He didn't scoff at them because of past choices and mistakes.  He met them where they were and lifted them from their situation.  He does that for us as well.  God loves you just the way you are but He refuses to leave you that way.  We were all living our own lives before we accepted Christ.  We got by, no big deal.  But God saw that there was so much more potential in our lives.   He could have just left us alone, let us fend for ourselves, but like any good parent, He wanted to give us more than we could give ourselves.  Thank goodness.  He takes those good things in our lives, job, marriage, children, and relationships and makes them richer, better, more than we could ever imagine. 
    God is with us.  God is here making our lives richer and more meaningful.  He is here to celebrate with us in the good times and grieve with us in the sad times.  Our lives are forever changed when God becomes a major player in our story.  Before God is with us we are in control or as I sweetly remind my husband "I'm the boss."   I don't know about you, but I LOVE being in control.  When Matthew and I got married there were some very interesting moments as I had to give up control over the little things, like, how the towels are folded, and how the closet (both his and my clothes) are organized, and <good grief> the shoes left in the floor.  Now that Matthew and I have been married for two and a half years, I have come to give up control of many things and just be grateful that he is folding the towels, that the clothes are IN the closet, and that we both have shoes with no holes.  Life has changed very much.  God changes our lives like that too.  Matthew said on Sunday "God comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable."  I struggled with this statement for a while, mostly because I wasn't exactly sure how to take it.  After some discussion and clarification, here is what I came away with.  God miraculously is able to calm us and comfort us when we are in times of need.  God gives us understanding and peace just when we need it most.  But, we don't hurt all of the time.  There are good times, great times even.  Times when things are going perfectly.  When those times come we humans tend to take back the reins of control and take life upon ourselves.  It is just when we get comfortable being in control again that God reminds us that He is in control and sometimes He turns our plans on their head to remind us that He is there and in control.  Please don't misunderstand this thought...none of this is necessarily based upon sin.  Joseph's life was not turned upside down because of sin that he had committed, but instead it was God showing that He was in control.  If Joseph just trusted Him that He would work all things out for good.  Imagine what would have happened if Joseph had not trusted God. Joseph was not punished because of a sin that He had committed.  He was simply being lead by God to something greater than he himself could have created.  God does that in our lives as well.  He takes our humble (or not so humble) plans and makes them into something greater - usually into something that we could never have imagined doing for ourselves. 
    God sent Jesus to earth to be with us, to make us into something greater, to take our plans and make them more wonderful than we could ever think.  That brings us peace.  Peace of knowing that God is in control, that He is thinking of us, and making us more like Jesus than we can make ourselves.  He didn't just leave us in our state of selfishness, He brought us out to transform us into something beautiful.  His our comforter, transformer, peace giver. Emmanuel.  God with us.


If you were wondering what PEACE may look like...here is a visual representation courtesy of Samson:






Have a very blessed and merry Christmas, and may peace be with you!

~Jennifer

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Snow, Ice, and.....breakfast. :)

Well, this week has been one crazy week as far as the weather goes!  Lots and lots of ice and snow.  The pictures below show pictures of the ice covered entrance to the church and Matthew shoveling away. Matthew, Mark, and John are at the church now trying to figure out how to de-ice the parking lot.  It is very slick!  

Just a reminder to everyone that tomorrow is our Christmas breakfast.  We will begin about 9:30 with food and festivities.  Bring all your friends and family!  If you have any questions please feel free to call Matthew, Carol, or myself.  We are so excited and look forward to seeing all of you!

                                      One very slick entrance!


                                             Working away!


                                              Pastor Matthew

                                                      Mark scraping the parking lot.
 
                                                                 Almost clear!

 
                                       All clear!  Great job guys!


See all of you safely on Sunday morning!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

"Mary, did you know?"

Thank you to all who came out to church this morning, despite the weather.  For all that could not attend, this morning was the third Sunday of Advent - Joy.  The focus of the message this morning was upon "Mary's Magnificat" as found in Luke 1:46b-55.  Before I get to the heart of the message...let's reflect a bit upon Mary herself.
    Mary was a "young" teenage girl at the time when her narrative picks up.  She is soon to be married to her arranged fiance, Joseph.  Many of us can recall our emotional status in the months preceding our wedding day - worried about every imaginable issue...what if I can't cook?   Mary had an even more difficult situation...she was going into an arranged marriage.  She didn't even get to choose whom she married, so not only was she worried about all of the normal concerns, but she was marrying a man she didn't even get to choose.  Good grief...that alone would probably have pushed me over the edge...nevermind the rest of the story.
    Well, about the rest of the story - let's pause a moment to think about what happens next.  An angel appeared and informed Mary that she was with child...God's child.  Wow.  'Cause anyone is going to believe that one!?  In today's society, it is still somewhat frowned upon for unmarried women (girls) to have a child, but in Mary's society, it was a death sentence.  To have a child outside of the marriage was completely unacceptable and intolerable.  Punishable by death.  What was she to do now?  Who would believe her story?  Would Joseph?  Did she?  I mean, would you?  Matthew and I have not yet been blessed with children, however, I am pretty sure if we did have children and someone told me that my child would be the President of the United States one day, I would laugh.  Seriously? Have you met us?  But not only that, to say that our child would be the Savior of the Universe?  No way.  Mary didn't even know that we needed a Savior of the Universe, she thought they just needed a king to restore God's people.  She had to tell this far reaching story to Joseph and most likely face death. What a brave girl!
    "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior," (v. 46 & 47) This quote comes from Mary's song (Magnificat) in Luke.  I am not sure that if I were Mary and I knew what was coming (death) that my first thought would be that my soul glorifies the Lord.  Mine would probably go more like "You got me into this, I sure hope you can get me out of it."  Mary seemed to understand her role and what was going to happen.  She was able to glorify God, even in her pain and fear.  Mary was living by the Kingdom's standards, not by those of the world. 
   This is the basis for this morning's sermon. Mary, in her young, precarious state was able to align herself to the standards of the Kingdom of God.  We as the church of today have to raise ourselves to the same standards.  What does it (or should it) look like for us to live our lives through the lens of Kingdom living?  How do our actions fit into God's plan and more than that...how do we see our choices, actions, and attitudes fitting into the Kingdom?  Do we align our choices everyday to the Kingdom or to the world?  The same goes for the Church...are we making choices to further the Kingdom of God, or are we instead allowing the world to dictate our choices and views?  We should strive to have the same joyful attitude that Mary had and in choosing to participate in kingdom living, instead of wallowing in the sorrow of the world.  I guess the real question we need to answer is "which Kingdom are we going to give our lives to"?  All we have to do is look at our attitudes and actions to find the true answer to the question...

~Jennifer

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Blank Page

We are now in the season of Advent which is a big deal in our household.  I have been doing much thinking this week about the message that Matthew delivered during the "Hanging of the Greens" service two weeks ago.  For those of you who were unable to attend that service let me recap.  In your Bible, tucked neatly between the Old and New Testament, you will find a simple, blank page.  I never really gave much thought to that page.  As a student, I look forward to blank pages and picture pages (which in Grad. school are FAR and FEW between) as they help the reading move along faster.  In this case, I think there is more written on that one blank page then I ever gave credit.  Chronologically, we leave off in the Old Testament with the end of the Southern Kingdom.  God's people are being carried off into exile in Babylon.  There was much despair and bitterness.  God's people wanted a warrior king to liberate them from their oppressors (the Babylonians and then the Romans).  They wanted another king just like David to rise up and save them.  The prophets had told God's people to expect a king to come, and God's people were waiting anxiously for that king to arrive.  They were looking for an earthly warrior king to restore their kingdom...they had no idea what they were asking for.  The blank page represents 400 years of expectancy, waiting, anger and despair.  All was quiet. Silent.  400 years.  We wait. 

In our culture...we wait for nothing. We get upset if it takes more than five minutes to get through the McDonald's drive through.  We get movies, email, and dinner instantly. We are a right here, right now society.  It is a rare occasion that we wait more than a day or two for anything.  

Have you ever had to wait on God?  

What does it mean to "wait on God"? 

~Jennifer

Introductions

Hello!  Welcome to the Graefenburg UMC blog!  We are so glad that you are here.  Within this blog you will find posts from Matthew and Jennifer that will offer biblical insights, thoughts, and ways to build our Christian community.  Please feel free to comment, offer your insights, and share this blog with your friends.  We hope that you enjoy the information and discussions you find here.

A little about us...

I am Jennifer Kimmons and I am married to Matthew, who is the Pastor at Graefenburg UMC.  We have been married for two and a half (very happy) years.  We do not have children (yet) but we have a very spoiled rotten dog named Samson.  Matthew is working towards his Masters of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary while I'm working on my Masters of Education - Reading and Writing endorsement from Bellarmine University and I'm currently teaching elementary general music at a local elementary school in Shelby County.  

Matthew and I

Samson (it was his birthday!)

Matthew grew up in central Virginia (although he says he isn't a Hokie or Cavaliers fan).  I am a local girl, growing up on a farm outside of Bagdad, KY.  We both made the fortunate decision to attend Morehead State University where, of course, we met.  We dated five years before we married in June of 2008.  And well, you know the rest.

We are very excited and passionate about Graefenburg UMC.  Now feel free to introduce yourself! 

~Jennifer