From the Pastor

Notes from Pastor Brian

Looking at things differently.

My eyesight always seems to change. Maybe’s it’s the glasses… yet there are ophthalmologist visits that indicate that my eyesight has improved… and then the eyesight is worse at the next visit.

But the new glasses always help. It helps my “looking at things differently.”

Snow stinks now! Scraping the car windshield and windows this time of year is cold and inconvenient. Made even worse this winter with bitter windchills and feet of snow. I’m tempted to just drive, hoping the snow will blow off the car. But when I scrape and brush off the snow, my vision is so much better. It helps my “looking at things differently.”

Looking at things differently. In Start This, Stop That, Jim and Jennifer Cowart write about how to “Do the things that grow your church.” When reading this, our Church Council (the leadership group of Mercer UMC) laughed and dreamt about the phrase: “Instead of saying BUT, say SO” (page 18). Our BUTS are obstacles, and our SO’s are possible alternatives and solutions. It’s about looking at things differently.

BUT we have too many kids in the Children’s Church room. SO, let’s take that wall out to make the space twice as big.

“BUT we don’t have enough tablespace in the youth room.” SO, we ordered a few end tables and the youth put them together themselves.

BUT there’s such a huge food need in our community and the Mercer County Food Bank has moved on from using the MUMC parking lot. SO, let’s collect food items for the Sharing Shed at the Mercer Catholic Church (Immaculate Heart of Mary).

We have a lot of obstacles in life, just like our church. The BUTs in our life can overwhelm us. Instead of letting them stop you, look at the SO’s, the options for overcoming. It’s about looking at things differently.

Because of Jesus

Rev. Brian Keller, Pastor