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Monthly Archives: October 2023

What is The UMC’s view of Halloween?

The word “Halloween” (or “Hallowe’en”) means “the evening of Hallows.”

“Hallows” is an older English way of saying “saints” — so, the Evening of Saints.

But why “the evening?” Many ancient cultures in the Mediterranean world and the Middle East, including Jewish cultures, understood the day as beginning with sunset rather than sunrise. This is why Genesis one says, “And it was evening, and it was morning, day one.” (Genesis 1:5). Because the day began with sunset, the first worship service of a given day would be the evening service.

Put it all together and Halloween refers to the first service of worship for All Saints Day. That day falls on November 1 in the Western Christianity. That’s why All Saints Eve (Halloween) is observed on the evening of Oct. 31.

So where or how did this observance get connected to jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, things that go bump in the night, and trick or treating? That connection comes from popular festivals already happening in many cultures worldwide to celebrate the midpoints between a solstice and an equinox, sometimes referred to as “cross-quarter days.” Some cultures understood these as transition times where the lines between realms may become the thinnest.

The Celtic festival of Samhain fell at the cross-quarter day between autumn and winter, between warmth and cold, between harvest and dormancy for the earth, and so, metaphorically, between life and death.

Christian missionaries and bishops, particularly in England and parts of Western Europe, had concerns that some of these practices and beliefs ran counter to the Christian understanding of the resurrection of the dead. The church, beginning in the eighth century, added prayers to Christian masses remembering the dead and anticipating their resurrection. These were some of the first prayers connected to celebrations later known as All Saints Day (November 1) and All Souls Day (November 2).

All Saints included prayers for those the church had specifically designated as saints because of their particularly holy lives pointing dramatically to Christ at work in them. All Souls included prayers for all within the church who had died within the past year.

United Methodists and most Protestants have no “official saints.” Thus, we usually combine All Saints and All Souls into a single observance. This celebration in the church accents our understanding of holiness in this life and our hope for resurrection in the age to come.

Cultural Halloween celebrations in the communities in which many of us live have continued to evolve alongside the church celebrations. Many local churches offer safe alternatives to traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating. Others focus more on giving than receiving. Collecting for UNICEF or giving Fair Trade chocolate are ideas for using the occasion to “treat” or give to others.

These activities need not be seen as either defining or limiting the Christian observance of All Saints. Our role in the church is to proclaim our own witness to what makes for holiness (becoming one of the “hallows”) in this life, and our hope for the resurrection of the dead and the fullness of life in the new creation in the age to come.

Adapted from https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-what-is-the-united-methodist-churchs-view-of-halloween

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Posted by MaryO on October 31, 2023 in Posts of Interest

Hymn History: How Great Thou Art

28 Oct

A favorite hymn is How Great Thou Art

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.” Psalm 145:3

“How Great Thou Art” was the opening hymn at Pender’s 9:00 am Traditional Service on October 1, 2023 It was sung by Pender’s Sanctuary choir, congregation and accompanied on piano by Heidi Jacobs.

“How Great Thou Art” is a Christian hymn based on a Swedish poem written by Carl Gustav Boberg (1859–1940) in Sweden in 1885. The melody is a Swedish folk song. Its popularity is due in large part to its wide use by gospel singers, notably George Beverly Shea of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team.

The original Swedish text was a poem entitled “O Store Gud.” written by a Swedish pastor, the Reverend Carl Boberg, in 1886. In addition to being one of the leading evangelical preachers of his day. Boberg was also the successful editor of the periodical Sanningsvittnet. His inspiration for this text is said to have come from a visit to a beautiful country estate on the southeast coast of Sweden. He was suddenly caught in a midday thunderstorm with awe-inspiring moments of flashing violence, followed by a clear brilliant sun. Soon afterwards he heard the calm, sweet songs of the birds in nearby trees. The experience prompted the pastor to fall to his knees in humble adoration of his mighty God, He penned his exaltation in a nine-stanza poem beginning with the Swedish words “O Store Gud, nar jag den varld beskader.”

Several years later Boberg was attending a meeting in the Province of Varmland and was surprised to hear the congregation sing his poem to the tune of an old Swedish melody. It is typically characteristic of many other hymn tunes, i.e., “Day by Day” with its lilting, warm, singable simplicity.

With his original English lyrics and his arrangement of the Swedish folk melody, Mr. Stuart K. Hine published what we know today as the hymn “How Great Thou Art.” Assignments of copyrights and publication rights to an American publishing firm in 1954 helped spread the popularity of this hymn. In April of 1974 the Christian Herald magazine, in a poll presented to its readers, named “How Great Thou Art” the No. 1 hymn in America.

How Great Thou Art

Verse 1:
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Chorus:
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Verse 2:
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Chorus

Verse 3:
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Chorus

Verse 4:
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: “My God, how great Thou art!”

Chorus

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Posted by MaryO on October 28, 2023 in Hymn History, hymns, Ministries, Music, Music Ministry, Pender UMC, Posts of Interest, Videos

Tags: Billy Graham, Carl Gustav Boberg, George Beverly Shea, Heidi Jacobs, history, How Great Thou Art, hymn, O Store Gud, Pender Congregation, pianist, Psalm 145:3, Sanctuary Choir, video

Parables ~ Chuck Knows Church

27 Oct

Parables. A parable is a succinct, didactic story which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. But what does that mean? And why did Jesus use parables? Chuckle along with Chuck as he talks about “Parables”

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Posted by MaryO on October 27, 2023 in Chuck Knows Church, Videos

Tags: Chuck Knows Church, parable, video

Pender Music: How Beautiful

26 Oct

“How Beautiful” by Twila Paris was the offertory at Pender’s 9:00 am Traditional Service on July 9, 2023. It was sung by Rachel Kotiah Matos, accompanied on piano by Heidi Jacobs.

Twila Paris sings about the beautiful way Jesus demonstrated love to others while he was in this world. His love was more than warm sentiments. It was an embodied love – a love that expressed God’s compassion through physical actions. His hands served people food. His feet traveled to their homes and villages. His eyes looked upon sinners with joy and acceptance. With his body Jesus demonstrated love to others.

Paris sings about His hands and feet that served and walked to the cross, His heart that forgives all sins, and how His sacrifice inspires her to live a life that is willing to pay the price for her faith. She also talks about how beautiful it is when people spread the good news of His love through their actions and how the church is like a radiant bride waiting for her groom. Overall, the song celebrates the beauty of Christ and His body, the church.

After describing the beauty of Christ’s physical body on earth, the song describes the beauty of Christ’s communal body on earth – his Church. When Christians “live just as he died” – when, like our Savior, we serve others around us through physical expressions of love – the Church is beautiful, too. As the song says, “How beautiful is the body of Christ.”

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Posted by MaryO on October 26, 2023 in Ministries, Music, Music Ministry, Pender UMC, Posts of Interest, Special Music, Videos

Tags: Centerville, Chantilly, community, Fairfax, faith, Heidi Jacobs, How Beautiful, hymns, Northern Virginia, NoVa, Pender UMC, pender united methodist church, piano, Rachel Kotiah Matos, singer, singing, Twila Paris, United Methodist, video, Virginia, Wesley, worship

Hymn History: Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus

23 Oct

“Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” was the closing hymn at Pender’s 9:00 am Traditional Service on September 17, 2023 It was sung by Pender’s Sanctuary choir, congregation and accompanied on piano by Heidi Jacobs.

“Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus”
George Duffield, Jr.
UM Hymnal, No. 514

Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
Ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high his royal banner,
It must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory
His army shall he lead,
Till every foe is vanquished,
And Christ is Lord indeed.

George Duffield, Jr. (1818-1888) wrote this hymn out of a tragic accident that resulted in the early death of one of the most stirring preachers in the northeastern United States during the mid-nineteeth-century. Dudley Tyng (1825-1858), an inspiring Episcopalian preacher, was one of several ministers participating in a great citywide revival that swept Philadelphia in 1858. His strong doctrinal preaching and his anti-slavery rhetoric were popular for some and angered others, resulting in his resignation from an Episcopal congregation that he pastored following the retirement of his father. In addition to serving the newly organized Church of the Covenant, his midday services at the YMCA attracted crowds as large as 5,000. On one occasion, March 30, 1858, 1000 men responded to the message by committing their lives to Christ.

During this sermon, Tyng is said to have declared, “I would rather that this right arm were amputated at the trunk than that I should come short of my duty to you in delivering God’s message.” Prophetically and tragically, within a few weeks while visiting the countryside, his arm was caught in the cogs of a corn thrasher and severely lacerated resulting in a great loss of blood and an infection that took his life a few days later. Either in his final sermon or on his deathbed, Tyng is to have said, “Let us stand up for Jesus.” Another account states that the dying Tyng told his father, a retired Episcopal minister, “Stand up for Jesus, father, and tell my brethren of the ministry to stand up for Jesus.”

Duffield, the son of a well-known Presbyterian minister, was educated at Yale University and Union Theological Seminary. He used his independent wealth, according to the Rev. Carlton Young, “to establish small congregations and to support evangelistic endeavors.” Duffield was inspired by the funeral service for Tyng to preach on Ephesians 6:14 in his sermon the following Sunday at Temple Presbyterian Church, the text of which reads, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.” (KJV) The hymn he wrote was sung at the conclusion of the sermon.

An omitted stanza five alludes to Tyng’s death in lines 5 and 6:
Stand up!—stand up for Jesus!
Each soldier to his post;
Close up the broken column,
And shout through all the host!
Make good the loss so heavy,
In those that still remain,
And prove to all around you
That death itself is gain!

Hymnologist Kenneth W. Osbeck noted that Duffield’s Sunday school superintendent was so impressed by the hymn that he shared it throughout the church’s Sunday school classes. From there, the editor of a Baptist periodical received a copy and promoted it his publication, giving it wider circulation and making it available for publication in hymnals to this day.

The inspiring story of this hymn and the countless singers who have responded to the call of Christ over the last 150 years notwithstanding, the rhetoric of the poem presents problems for Christians living in a religiously pluralistic context in the twenty-first century. Images of soldiers who “lift high [Christ’s] royal banner,” and fight “till every foe is vanquished” recall for many the militant campaigns of the Crusades in the eleventhth through thirteenth centuries. The British counterpart to this hymn is “Onward, Christian Soldiers” (No. 575), written just a few years later in 1864. Many will recall the controversy around the inclusion of this hymn in The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) before its publication. While Ephesians 6 would seem to provide an impetus for both of these hymns, the language employed is so vividly militant that they may be read by those beyond the Christian family as a call to a literal warfare.

Note, by contrast, the language of Charles Wesley’s 1749 exposition of Ephesians 6:13-18, “Soldiers of Christ, Arise” (No. 513), a hymn tied closely with the Scripture. At the conclusion of the third stanza, Wesley entreats us to “pray always, pray and never faint,/pray, without ceasing pray.” Wesley makes it clearer that we are engaged in spiritual warfare, and Christ provides us with spiritual weapons with which to wage our struggle.

While hymns like “Stand up, stand up for Jesus” may have inspired revival and mission efforts in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, our rhetoric today needs to match the gospel of compassion and love that we seek to share in the twenty-first century. Let us claim the call to the spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6 and balance this with the God who came in Christ to love a lost and suffering world.

Adapted from https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-stand-up-stand-up-for-jesus