Hello Church!

I am amazed at what the church can do. Last week I mentioned in the E-spire that we were going to ask folks to bring groceries to church, because our food ministries will no longer get adequate Federal Food support, due to Hurricane Katrina. Well, I was amazed to see the huge number of bags of food sitting outside of McComas Hall Sunday after church. You gave before we even asked you to give. There was a huge pile of flood buckets, health and school kits in the corner of McComas Hall. Bel Air Church and many other UM churches in our district have supported this effort and, today, our District VIM folks emptied McComas and took them to our UMCOR Depot in PA, for processing to LA.

I had the privilege of getting a small glimpse of what the church is all about on Tuesday. It started with a young man who dropped by and he said, "I'm not a church goer, but I want to talk to a minister". Pray for him, because he needs it and I am thankful that he felt the church was a safe place to come in a time of need. Well, that was the theme of the day.

I had dinner with the latest Beginnings class and it was interesting to hear how folks came to BAUMC and the spiritual wanderings they had been on. Each one talked about the love and welcome they felt here. Later that night I went to visit with the "Rebuilding Singlehood" class where 25 folks squeezed into one of our SS rooms and I told them we are really glad that they are here. I told them the church wanted to love them in the midst of the pain, loss and anger of a broken marriage. It was awesome to look around the room and see eyes welling with tears, faces of hurt and hope and the privilege we have to be a place of grace and healing. I then went down the hall and stopped by our "Grief Share" class. Again, people fresh with pain and loss, and yet here they were in a place where they could be open and honest and loved by others who had been there. I

passed a room full of children watching a Veggie Tale video and playing with toys as some of our high school youth took care of them in the nursery. I passed by the AA meeting and I then found our latest Disciple Class. I encouraged them to learn and grow through this great experience. I finished by dropping into the Youth Center for our latest TNT. A youth, for whom I had written a letter of reference, excitedly told me he had been accepted at Eastern University. As I was leaving, the group was gathering for a Video presentation by the leaders.

Finally, I returned to the office, where the UMW mission team was meeting in the workroom, Tiny Tot Board was in my office and the Youth Director Search Team was getting ready for a phone interview. It was after 8 when I arrived at the meeting I needed to be in that night, the Global Mission Meeting, as they began to develop a vision for an exciting opportunity for our church. What a day!!

God is doing amazing things in your lives and you are doing amazing things because you choose to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. You have told me the themes of this latest series, "The Graceful Journey" are really hitting home for you. How many of us have gotten caught up in the performance trap?? This week, I want us all to Disgrace Shame. In the Bible, we find the story of a man who lived with shame. He was successful by the standards of his day, but it was his way of hiding from the pain. His name was Zacchaeus. I think we can learn a lot from him because Jesus helped Zacchaeus to break the mirror of his past, so he's no longer a prisoner of his shame. I hope you discover that when you come to God by faith in Jesus, God will do the same for you!

We have some great music this week and Sarah will be sharing about her mission trip to Zambia. She will close her moment with a video presentation that brings home, in a powerful way, the reality of AIDS, hunger and poverty in our world. Finally, there is much anticipation of Doug's recital on Sunday afternoon. He has been working hard all week getting ready. I know that it will be a great day to celebrate our faith with music! I know that you will add those in the path of Hurricane Rita to your prayers. Your continued financial support is needed. See you in church on Sunday!

Barry