THE FORECAST August 29, 2018 Our Staff Rev. Dr. Jay Hogewood Senior Pastor [email protected] Rev. Marissa Teauseau Associate Pastor [email protected] Allison Bunnell Director of Children’s Music Shaun Darnall Administrative Assistant Natalie Derham Children’s Ministries Nancy Hopkins Lay Servant Marcus St. Julien Organist Michelle Pyne Krueger Mission Development Michelle and Scott Krueger Youth Directors Ernest Lumpkins Business Manager Teresa Magee Rayne Early Childhood Program C. Leonard Raybon Director of Music Jane Stennett Senior Ministries Carol Thiele Secretary Marcus Thompson Building Maintenance Susie VanderKuy Secretary This is the title of a recent devotional thought by spiritual guide, Mark Nepo. Dump your pockets, advises Nepo. “When my pockets are empty, and I’ve dumped all I know, I often end up shrugging, admitting my ignorance of what to do. Then, the real work of love begins,” he says and the conviction is real; conviction like that of James in his ancient epistle, which is the message of doing love. Which is to say James more than any other writer in the Christian scriptures relentlessly pounds out faith-expressed-in-action. Since James is our focal point the next several weeks, I feel compelled to offer a few disclaimers and a confession too. First, the confession: God’s love for us offers wholeness and reckons our true hope for completion. And I am so often incomplete, fractured. How about you? Being whole in Christ’s love means we embrace a life where faith and action go together. I confess I too often fail in that. I mean I love saying I love the Lord and I love others – those whom I know and those I don’t. Alas, if you know me, I’m pretty sure you know I don’t always do that so well. And you? I’m certainly all for the sentimental; it’s just that sometimes expressions of love like saccharine are tasty but empty – when saying love substitutes for showing love; when such sweetness costs me little if anything. Saying “I love you in the name of Jesus” is one thing. Doing that love is another, is it not? Plus, part of the challenge is moving beyond charity into a more virtuous action plan: to show love means to share life – from charity to solidarity. Identifying and empathizing with those who are suffering demonstrates the depth of love, like the love Jesus demonstrates to you, to me, and to the world. Recently in a sermon, I mentioned how we, as a faith community, are particularly gifted to practice the healing arts. Healing the hurts around us entails day to day efforts of sharing love by sharing our gifts and graces. This happens through encouraging touch and a listening ear, through good nutrition and paying attention, through mental health advocacy and physical health support too. The thought of dumping our pockets to focus on healing our community lights me up, probably because we are called to these tasks, equipped to this work. In what way might God be tugging at your heart to do more than say love, but to share it, to act upon it? How is the Holy Spirit guiding us to practice the healing arts together? Let the healing begin, even as suffering shapes us all, Jay Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church 3900 Saint Charles Ave New Orleans LA 70115 // 504.899.3431 // www.raynenola.org "Dump Your Pockets”