New Covenant UMC Blog

My hometown of Burlington has been known throughout the region for many things through the years. In the early days of the 20^th century, Burlington was the place where Burlington Industries started. Before that, Burlington was called “Company Shops” because it was where the maintenance shops of the NC Railroad were located. In the later part of the 20^th century, Burlington was filled with many factory outlets. I imagine that there are some of you that have visited some of the outlets in Burlington.

Though some of you may have visited the outlets in Burlington, what you may not know is that my Mom owned and ran one of the first factory outlets in the Burlington area. Back in the 1960’s, she owned and operated “Shirl’s Factory Outlet” on the courthouse square in Burlington. Mom sold mostly ladies clothing that she purchased from a clothing factory in Siler City. The clothes were sold at a steep discount from retail prices for two reasons: Mom bought the clothes directly from the manufacturer and most of the clothes had a slight imperfection or irregularity in them.

Though I do not go to Burlington much anymore, I visit there regularly in my mind and heart. I was thinking the other day that in a way that the church is like my Mom’s old factory outlet store. How so, Pastor Randy, you ask? Every one  in the church is a person that has imperfections. The Bible and the church does not so much use the word imperfection, but sin. The apostle Paul puts it this way in Romans 3:22-24 where he writes: “²² This righteousness is given through faith in^[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” As my old friend Bob Page used to put it, “The Church is a hospital for sinners”.    Have  a joy-filled week.– Pastor Randy Wall

  I woke up this morning thinking about people going to church. Monday night, several of us from our church family gathered to talk about following up with those who visit worship at New Covenant Church. We are in the process of implementing a new plan to reach out to those who are first time guests at worship at New Covenant Church. I am eager and excited to see the ways that God will work through that new ministry.

We church folks talk a lot about going to church or coming to church. We gather at the church weekly for worship and gather regularly for practices of music groups, for study groups, and the like. We are concerned when people are absent at church particularly for several weeks in a row. While it is well and good to come to church, it occurs to me today that it is more important to be the church. The longer I am a Christian, the more I see that being a follower of Jesus means doing what Jesus did. It is not enough to ask “What Would Jesus Do?”. No, we need to go a step further and do what Jesus did.

Luke 4:16 tells us this about Jesus: “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.” Jesus went to church regularly, so to speak. However, the gospels are filled with more stories of Jesus going to be the church by showing God’s love in the world. While I hope to see you at New Covenant Church this Sunday or that you will attend the church of your choice, I hope even more that you and I can be the Church in the world where we live. Have a joy-filled week.- Pastor Randy Wall

I am thinking of the  shortness and brevity of life today.   It is appropriate if  for no other reason than because today is February 1.    All of you know that February is the shortest month of the year even when it has 29 days like it does this year.

I attended the funeral this morning of Rev. Otis Snow, a retired United Methodist pastor.  He was a good friend.    He stood beside me and prayed with me a few years ago as I laid on a hospital gurney and prepared for a heart catherization.  Last Friday, I  stood beside him and prayed with Otis and his  family as nurses removed life support from him at Forsyth Hospital in Winston Salem.    

Yesterday, Bill Boomer of our congregation died.    I had the priviledge the day before his death to pray with Bill and his family and share scripture with them.     We will gather on Friday night here at New Covenant Church to celebrate Bill’s life and mourn his death.  

As the shortest month of the year begins, I am reminded of these words from Psalm 90: 4-12 which say: 

⁴ A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
⁵ Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning:
⁶ In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it is dry and withered.

⁷ We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
⁸ You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
⁹ All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
¹⁰ Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
¹¹ If only we knew the power of your anger!
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
¹² Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom

February is only 29 days long.    Life on this earth for Otis Snow lasted till he was in his  70′s and for Bill Boomer till he was in his 80′s.    29 days, 70 years, or 80 years is only a short time, so “teach us to number our days….”     The month is short, and so is life so let us live it fully to the glory of God.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall 

At the request of some, I am sharing a poem in today’s blog that I shared a few days ago in a sermon.  I wrote this poem in 1971 while in college.  Though the poem is dated, I think its message is timeless.  Enjoy, and have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Tomorrow is in the past, its sorrow and mishaps,

I’ve closed and locked the door on past failures and heartaches,

And now I’ve left yesterday behind to seek another home

And furnish it with faith and laughter and not a bit of gloom.

No not a thought shall enter me that has a bit of hate

And every malice and prejudice shall never there in reside;

I’ve closed out yesterday and locked the door behind-

Tomorrow holds hope and life since I”ve found today. 

           This is a story about Bill.  Dollar Bill is what some folks call him..  Someone put Bill in the collection plate Sunday at New Covenant Church.   Bill was so torn and tattered that our money counters wondered if the bank would take him. 

            Every since I saw Bill, I have been wondering what is his story.   I wonder where Bill has been in his life?  Has Bill been to  bars and banks… to pay for meals and to pay for gas… to buy earthly pleasures and basic needs?  Where has Bill been? 

            And what is the story of his giver?  Is Bill torn and tattered because he went through the wash?    Was this the only Bill his giver had on Sunday?  How much did Bill mean to his giver that they gave him to the Lord?  In Mark 12, we hear the story of a widow who was bringing her gifts to the Lord one day.  Jesus says that the widow gave only two coins but that it was a great gift because she gave all she had. I wonder if that widow is an ancestor to the giver of Bill?

            Bill made the trip to the bank the other day.  I don’t know his where-abouts now, but this I know.  Every Sunday,  people named Bill, Brenda, and other names come to worship the Lord at New Covenant Church.  Life has left them torn and tattered just like Bill.   In faith and truth, they offer those  lives as an offering to God.  And God takes their lives and  through the wonder of His grace makes them new.  Thanks be to God.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

I am thinking today about worship. I write this on Sunday after  worship. Even though worship is over for today, my mind is still thinking about it. What is the hardest part of the worship service for you?

For some people, maybe the offering is the hardest part of worship because you don’t have much to give or because you are grappling with giving a tithe (or ten percent) to the Lord. I can understand the struggle. I can remember some times in my life especially when my children were young or in college when that was a struggle for me. I also know that there are some in our congregation who are without a job or on “short time “ right now.

It might be that the offering is not the hardest part of worship, but the sermon. In Acts 20, we hear about a fella named Eutychus. The story goes that Paul talked on and on, and Eytychus (who evidently was sitting in the window) fell asleep, fell out of the window, and they thought he was dead. Maybe you have a medical condition or take a medication that makes it hard to stay awake during the sermon. Maybe you have trouble staying awake during the sermon because you are a “night owl” and like to stay up late at night.

Maybe prayer at worship is a hard time for you. Maybe you find it easy to really concentrate during prayer time. Your mind wanders to what you are going to do later in the day or what you have to do next week. Maybe you find yourself thinking that you couldn’t pray in public that long or that well.

I think that the hardest part of worship for most people is not the offering, the sermon, or the prayers. I think that the number one hardest part of worship is AFTERWARDS. It is hard for us to put into practice after worship those words we pray that say “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. It is much easier to hear the word of God read and proclaimed than to live out the word of God and “go and do likewise”. I don’t know about you, but the rub of following Jesus is not found in a service of worship but serving our fellow human beings. As God is present with us as we worship, may God be with us as we go to serve. Have a joy-filled week.- Pastor Randy Wall

It was one of those e mails that had been sent a few times.  I could tell by the subject line noting it had been forwarded by at least three people before my friend e mailed it to me.  I am sure you know the kind of e mail I am talking about.  When I receive one of those e mails, I am always caught in the middle between wanting to honor my friend and wondering if I will waste my time reading it.

The e mails spoke about places where I have been.    I bet you have been some of those places.  I know I have.  Have you been in Cahoots?    That is a place you can’t go by yourself because you always have to go with someone.

Have you been in Sane?  You can’t get there via car, airplane, or train.  There have been some times as a parent I thought I went there because it seemed like my children were driving me insane.

Have you been in doubt?    I have been there some times in my life.  That is not a happy place to go, and I am grateful that I have not been there very often in my life. 

The e mail went on and on talking about other places they had been in such as in capable… in suspense… and inflexible.    There was one place they had been that they did not talk about that is important to me and it is found in this question:   Have you been in Christ?    The apostle Paul talks about being in that place when he writes in  II Corinthians 5:17: “ ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here! “    When I stay in cahoots with Christ and allow him to stay in cahoots with me, I know all sorts of goodness and blessings.    When I stay in Christ, I am not in sane but I am in peace.  When I am in Christ, surely I am not in doubt. 

Where have you been lately and where are you going in the next few days?  I don’t know about you, but I hope and pray I have been in Christ.  Have a joy-filled week.–  Pastor Randy Wall 

As I write this, the “Circle of Love” at New Covenant Church is busy fulfilling requests for  prayer quilts for folks.   They lovingly make them upon request, and on Sunday worship attendees pray over the quilts at our two worship services.    This past Sunday, the prayer quilts did not make it to the FLC for our 11 am service until the middle of the service.  (Thanks Donnie, Wayne, and Angie.)    There is one simple reason why the prayer quilts did not get to the 11 am service on time:  Floyd and Pat Brown were not here.     Floyd and Pat Brown of our congregation usually transfer the quilts for the 11 am service, but they were absent on Sunday because Floyd was ill. 

At first glance, it might seem that I am “majoring in minors” by sharing about the missing prayer quilts at last Sunday’s 11 am service.    However, I believe there is an important lesson   in that true story about the ministry of Christ’s Church.  That lesson is this:   every thing we do in the name of Christ is important and makes a difference.   It does not take great skill, talent, or education to make sure the prayer quilts are in place for the 11 am service.  However, people cannot pray over those quilts at worship if they are not there. 

There are so many people in the life of  Christ’s Church who serve in small ways out of their love for Christ and His Church that do things that go un-noticed until they are not done.  Here are a few examples:  the persons that put out the chairs for worship in the FLC on Sundays… the persons that receive the offering and count the offering on Sundays… the persons that provide the elements when we share the Lords Supper… the persons that maintain the church grounds and cemetery. 

The apostle Paul speaks about the importance of each person and each ministry in the life of the Church in I Corinthians 12 when he says:       ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.          Without the work and ministry of  folks, we not only don’t have prayer quilts.   We don’t have a prayer.  Have a joy-filled week.– Pastor Randy Wall