Reading the Signs
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so it is with everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
Changing wind, changing momentum—it is hard to see and hard to gauge, but you sense it when you feel it in the early stages. It’s more of an intuition than a hard demonstrable fact. Some signs of late:
New faces coming weekly to worship and online.
Our recently tightened in-house plus at-home worship numbers are at pre-pandemic levels, 500-550.
Finishing 2024 in the black financially when that looked impossible in November.
39 of 40 surveys for our capital campaign saying we are heading in the right direction with this spring’s capital campaign.
The same number saying we have the right staff and layperson leadership to go where we want to go.
Nearly every person interviewed for leadership on the campaign team has said, “Yes.”
18 people jumping into Disciple Bible study to learn a strong overview of the Bible—a record class number for that course.
A strong Feasibility Study Report that says we will raise between $1.7 million and $2.0 million over three years to accomplish our primary goals.
A record number of people involved in a variety of outreach work, including the Plano Overnight Warming Shelter this week.
16 very bright, eager, and already-involved students will be confirmed this Sunday at the 9:00 service—our largest class in several years.
Like the wind, you feel it but cannot yet know how long it will keep blowing or how strongly… but the signs are encouraging. Join us with the Holy Spirit this Sunday—in the Sanctuary or from wherever you are. I thank God for your being part of something bigger and better than any of us apart.
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
Our Church is a Sanctuary for All
This month, we will host another round of citizenship classes for immigrants seeking the same rights and privileges that we enjoy in this country. Some of those students, as well as some of our honored guests who worship with us on Sundays, may feel anxious about stepping through our doors due to the new administration giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests in houses of worship. The historic tension here is that “religious freedom” includes the church’s ability to minister to all people, including migrants who may be in the United States illegally. As the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, said recently, “We cannot worship freely if some of us are living in fear” (Dallas Morning News, 2/12/25).
This is a serious matter—one that will be taken up by our Church Council next month in order to formulate a response that is representative of FUMC Plano. In the meantime, I have directed our staff, our volunteers, and our Weekday Program staff not to allow any immigration agents into our building, nor to discuss any matters with them over the phone. The odds of this being necessary are small, but preparation, with a clear plan, is essential in the name of love. The church, at its best and from its beginning in the Roman Empire, has been a haven for the oppressed over the centuries: slaves, women, Jews, Black people, Hispanics, and LGBTQ+ individuals. The church has been a sanctuary—a place of unconditional love and safety—for all. FUMC Plano has this stance in its history.
When there was rumor and anxiety in the 1960s that some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s trained peace advocates might show up one Sunday for a sit-in during worship while we were at our 18th Street location, the ushers asked the respected Head Usher and churchman Alex Schell what they should do. Alex told them simply, “You know where I sit; have them come sit with me as our guests.” That was the end of the controversy—our church would be a sanctuary for all. We follow a God and a Christ who always emphasized particular care and regard for the immigrant, sojourner, and alien. “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21, NRSVUE). Christ simply called them “neighbors,” and we know how to welcome them. Thank you for that—in the name of Love
But I Don’t Know How to Pray!
Variations on this that I often hear include, “Please don’t ask me to pray,” “I’m not good at prayer,” and “I don’t like to pray in front of people." However, when I ask, “Do you like to talk?” “Do you like to listen to people?” or “Do you talk to people in front of others?” the answer is usually, “Well, yes.” Now, I have them thinking because these are the very elements of prayer—both with God and with others. We listen, we talk, and we talk in the presence of others. Prayer is simply doing this with the person who loves you most, wants to listen to you most, loves you unconditionally, and desires to have an ever-closer relationship with you. That person is God—God the Father, God the Son (Christ), or God the Holy Spirit. Take your pick, as any of them will do, since all three "persons" are the same God.
“But pastor, I don’t know how to pray well.” Good news: prayer is not graded! Better news: there are many ways to pray, each of which can be used depending on personality, disposition, season, or mood. I’ve mentioned several in my sermons during this series: contemplative prayer (which focuses on listening), breath prayer (which focuses on the rhythm and closeness of God), Lectio Divina (“divine reading,” which focuses on receiving a word from God), prayer journaling (which helps us articulate words that are hard to say), sung prayer (for the musically inclined), and more.
I’m delighted that my friend and layperson Jeff Bouis will be preaching this Sunday. You can’t help but like Jeff. An engineer and lifelong learner, Jeff is a keen student of prayer and a member of the Order of St. Luke—an organization with small groups that focus on prayer. He is a member of Grace Avenue UMC in Frisco and will be our guest this Sunday. He will also be in our Chapel during the Sunday School hour to talk more about prayer techniques.
So, if you’ve ever said, “But I don’t know how to pray,” you may find both Jeff’s preaching and teaching to be inspiring and helpful. I hope you will join us—God will be there!
Breathe peace; laugh often,
Matt
You Gave What??
Don was a member of a church that Cammy and I planted. He was nearly retired from his corporate career, and seemingly always around the church, available to help out. Don came to us out of the Quaker tradition where prayer and service to others was simply a part of life. Don ushered, was a teacher in his and Bobbie’s Sunday School class, helped with the annual Tent Garage Sale for Mission, and directed our twice-a-year blood drive. A quiet man with a gentle smile, Don alerted me he would be unable to attend a blood drive he had organized for church. The American Red Cross had invited him to attend a gala in Houston, for what he was unsure. All he knew was he and Bobbie were being flown down and put up at a 5-star hotel for the occasion.
When he returned, Don had his usual quiet and wry smile and a twinkle in his eye. He had something to share.
“Well,” I said, “what was the secret?”
Don said, “At their annual black-tie dinner event, the American Red Cross awarded me a large piece of crystal with my name on it for having passed the 50-gallon mark in blood donations.” I was slack-jawed. “You gave WHAT??”
I was furiously doing the math in my head. Fifty gallons over about a 50-year span of donating is a gallon a year. There are eight pints in a gallon. Don was donating eight units of blood every year. With a job, wife, kids, church, vacations, sickness, Don was donating eight units of blood every year for 50 years. And I was feeling pretty good about my twice a year church donation!
Turns out that only 3% of the American population gives blood. Don reminds me we can do better for those who have no options beyond our donations to sustain their lives. So we have a blood drive this Sunday with openings available around our time receiving the blood of Christ at the prayer rail. Thank you, Don for reminding us of the essential nature of both for our lives and those we serve.
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
One Spirit, One Voice, One Prayer
In 1937-38, the leaders of more than 100 churches from 120 countries voted to create the World Council of Churches (WCC). That body includes Presbyterian, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed, Orthodox, and United Methodist churches to name only a few. Together, the WCC has worked to forge common voice, prayer and work world-wide, united by our convictions around the triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and specifically the saving grace of God for all the world through the one Christ.
Like any large family, there are squabbles and disagreements but in the end we remain committed as family to this holy proposition: that in Christ, we are stronger together in our witness. Member WCC churches are called to:
the goal of visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship;
promote their common witness in work for mission and evangelism;
engage in Christian service by serving human need, breaking down barriers between people, seeking justice and peace, and upholding the integrity of creation;
foster renewal in unity, worship, mission, and service.
This is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. I am reminded of its importance in a world and a world faith that is so fractured and pained; our witness is diminished to a skeptical but hungry world. Therefore, in this month of prayer emphasis in our worship at FUMC Plano, I share with you the World Council of Churches (WCC) prayer for Day 6 of this designated week:
God of heaven and earth, your Son Jesus Christ has revealed you as our Father and promised us the gift of the Holy Spirit: grant to your Church to overcome the scandal of our divisions, so that we may bear witness to your life of communion, in the unity of our profession of faith and in the love of mutual service. Through Christ our Lord. AMEN
See YOU in prayer and worship this Sunday,
Matt Gaston, Lead Pastor
God Moves in Mysterious Ways!
We say this a lot, but the ways God has been moving at FUMC Plano really have been mysterious.
Sunday I reported that thanks to the generosity of many in the last two months of 2024, we had closed a $164,000 deficit gap to $13,000 by the end of the year – a huge victory for a $1.9 million budget that projected in February a $125,000 deficit. But then over last weekend, we received a letter postmarked Dec. 28, 2024, from a resident in Plano. It had arrived 15 days late. It was a check for $10,000. That one gift of grace enabled us to end with just over a $3,000 deficit against a $1.9 million dollar budget. This clears the way for our Finance, SPRC, and Church Council teams to forge a 2025 Budget without the burden of a carryover deficit.
To be sure, the headwinds remain before us and all churches: the costs of utilities, supplies, cleaning, staffing, repairs and insurance – even at same levels of use, do not go down. But what also is before us are new families and individuals who are coming for the first time and finding the comfort and love of God here – in you. God will provide.
I am not sure what had me more excited Monday – that surprise news from our Finance Manager, Lori Kimbrell, or the fact that during our First Impressions Gathering, 38 out of 39 persons returned a survey said that we are going in the right direction with our spring capital campaign and that they were excited to pay off our mortgage, fully fund our endowment to make it a revenue generator, and attend to capital upgrades needed in our 22-year-old church home. That is a remarkable level of alignment among diverse people in a church around any issue, especially one regarding money. Yet here we are – a two-week late check that nearly balances a $1.9 million dollar budget and near unanimity in a major initiative that will positively affect our church and its outreach to people for decades.
God is indeed mysterious; thanks be to God … and to you!
Character Counts
“What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Watching the snow fall this morning in a beautiful call for more hot chocolate, I am reminded of irony and truth.
We call it a "blanket of snow" when that blanket is anything but warm. In a similar way, we teach our children growing up that character counts but then act as though that is secondary to action to, "getting things done." Jesus and all of holy scripture is consistent in its witness that character and action cannot be separated and still be faithful. Yet there are millions of Christians who justify this double standard to attain an agenda, as though you can separate bad character from good and faithful action.
I am reminded of this truth because as the snow falls, I am also listening to the testimonies about President Jimmy Carter at his national funeral. Regardless of political opinion, most everyone agrees that President Carter was one of the most consistent in character and faithful action on behalf of others of any president we have had. A devout Christian and veteran, Carter taught Bible studies his whole life, was a faithful husband and father, empowered and elevated women and persons of color, strove to eradicate disease in developing world countries, brokered a peace agreement between Israel and the Arab world, and worked for bettering our environment before "climate change" was in our lexicon.
Years later, a group of pastors and I worked alongside President and Rosilyn Carter in building affordable Habitat for Humanity homes in south Dallas for persons who would otherwise not have access to home ownership and equity. Up close, President Carter's character and faithful action on behalf of others were aligned, consistent and on full display. There was no irony. In today's world, I am grateful for the witness of one who lived as our mothers and fathers and teachers taught us: character counts.
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
Prayer: it Begins with a Search
Misplace your keys. Looking for your cell phone. Where's your wallet?
In each of these cases, a search begins – sometimes a frantic one. Sometimes it takes losing something, even for just a brief period of time, to realize how vital that thing is to us, igniting urgency to find it again.
What is true for material things is also true for immaterial things like peace of mind and inner joy. Even with all of the fun and festivities of the holiday season, we can find ourselves running on empty by the time the new year arrives – just when we don't need it. That can be a physical, emotional, and/or spiritual depletion. So, on Sunday, we are beginning a two-month series on prayer. We have focused much on the outward workings of our spirituality the last several months; now we will focus on the interior workings of our spirituality.
This Epiphany Sunday, marking the arrival of the Magi at the manger, I will talk about their search to find something that is missing in their lives. At the same time, our Sunday School classes all have the opportunity to begin a thoughtful readings and discussions about prayer and its varied forms; included is the opportunity to experiment and "try on" new forms of prayer that we believe will be life-giving as we begin the new year. Consider it a new year's spiritual resolution to help ground us as a congregation for the rest of the year.
But it begins with a search – a search for something we know we need to live our lives well. We will do so together at the communion table, open to all, and then see what God has in mind for us in 2025. I think you and the people in our mission field will be blessed by our collective search. Happy New Year!
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community in 2025,
What Child, What Youth is This?
“Those Sixth Grade Boys,” now seniors in high school: Zach Hopson, Noah Ryu, Griffin Spears, Henry Pittman, and Erek Smith. Their performance in the Christmas Pops Concert can be seen here!
In a completely unscientific poll, I will say that last Sunday’s Christmas Pops concert was possibly the most moving and memorable we have had in some years, and that is saying a lot. Comments abound around the deep appreciation people have for what they felt in the witness of our choir and orchestra Sunday night. A dear unchurched friend said he shed tears as he was moved by the beauty of the evening’s music.
Among the comments heard admiring, “And what about those YOUTH?!”
“I was so proud of our college-age alumni jumping in with the Children’s Choir to sing.”
“So proud of ‘those 6th grade boys’ – now young men – singing like a barbershop quartet +1”
“So proud of our several students boldly singing their faith in solos and in duets.”
What youth is this, indeed?!
What made their witness felt so deeply was that their singing came from a place of deep faith in Christ. As Robin said about them all, “They are just good people.” They know who it is they are singing about; they know, “what child is this who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet.”
These are students who welcome all, encourage all, laugh with all, work with all, pray for all. They and their witness are the fruit of our raising them within the loving context of this church; of “teaching them the contents of the Old and New Testaments,” supporting them to “resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves” and always extending them grace and support – much of it financial. They have learned well and returned to us all Sunday night a small portion of our loving investment in them. They witnessed boldly from their hearts that, “This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing; haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.”
What child is This? What youth is this? Come this Sunday and on Christmas Eve and see and hear for yourself!
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
Homecoming
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up ... And went to the synagogue ...”
It is especially important for us all to get away as part of our regular self-care. It does not have to be far; it does not have to be expensive; it does not have to be for an extended period of time. But it works best to get away from our daily routine.
Time away affords us a change of perspective with fresh input and hopefully some rest. Time aways affords us the opportunity to see our lives and life patterns from a unique perspective. With that perspective, we are more empowered to see things differently and make better choices once we are back home. We are better equipped to reground ourselves in new patterns than we were before we left.
In Luke's gospel, Jesus gets away from Nazareth for a break – to find himself. He goes away and is baptized by his cousin John and then takes a trek through a wilderness area for a long time. There he assesses for himself what and who are most important to him. In Luke 4 he comes home – regrounded and clear-eyed about who he is and what he is about: "The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, and liberty to those oppressed." In getting away, Jesus comes home and finds his purpose in life.
Now, most vacations don't have that profound an outcome, but they do give us the opportunity to reset. Advent is a perfect time for that reflection within us. The new Christian year has begun (Dec. 1 officially this year), Christ is coming, and a Spirit-filled future is ahead of us.
What will coming home look like for you? What are you leaving behind from the past year? What are you planning to be and what are you planning to do in this new year? Where and who will you serve? What is the positive difference you want to make for the "kin-dom" of all people?
I know after our bucket-list Thanksgiving vacation, we will be staying close to home in 2025 – close to our house and close to our church family because we know these are the places from which we can make the biggest differences Christ wants us to make.
I look forward to seeing you in "the synagogue" to discover the same this season and in 2025.
Welcome home!