10:50 a.m.
7-20-21 FUMC Updates … BEES, HONEY and the BODY OF CHRIST
I love our Saturday morning Farmer’s Market! We are so fortunate to have such amazing vendors with so many different fresh vegetables, homemade soaps, fresh-baked bread, homegrown beef, and yes … HONEY! Honey is on my mind because I read a great article about a group of United Methodist beekeepers who reported that their involvement with the pollinators has increased their sense of wonder and faith! One said: “I never feel more connected to the earth and to God than when I’m surrounded by a million venomous insects,” says Jay Williams, a member of Christ United Methodist Church in Franklin, Tennessee. “It’s like a tap on the shoulder that says, ‘Hey, there’s more than you think.'” And Tate Abbott, 18, who is studying wildlife biology in North Carolina, has wanted to be an apiarist (who knew there was a scientific name for a beekeeper?) since she was 7 years old. “Even the simplest things, like when bees go out to pollinate flowers … it’s little but that stuff matters,” Abbott says. From watching the bees, she concluded that “simple acts of faith” she does for God “may be little but … can make a huge difference.”
Here’s what I find so fascinating about bees … they have a commitment to the common good of their hive, just as we, as the body of Christ, should have a commitment to the church! A honeybee colony can contain from 20,000 to 80,000 honeybees and one queen and to keep the colony functioning well requires a high degree of organization, efficiency, and coordination.
-The queen bee mates with around a dozen male bees (drones), and she can produce up to 2,500 eggs a day, more than her body weight. She is the mother of every bee in the hive and determines the gender of each of her children. The only thing the male honeybees (drones) do is mate, after which they die.
-Female worker bees serve the swarm in distinct divisions: builders construct the honeycomb, guards provide security and protection from intruders, sanitation workers clean the nest to ward off disease, nurses feed the queen bee and larvae, A/C and heating specialists control the temperature, so the hive doesn’t get too hot in summer or too cold in winter, and gatherers collect nectar and make honey.
-Scout bees locate sources of nectar and potential new nesting sites, as needed, and return to the nest to communicate information to the rest of the colony through a waggle dance. Scouts vary the dance to indicate the direction, distance, and quality of the food source or nesting site.
Researchers have discovered that bees can use tools: They are able to learn to pull a string or move a ball across a goal line in “bee football” to get a food reward. But while honeybees are disciplined and dedicated workers, they spend two-thirds of their time doing nothing, resting to recharge their energy.
Beekeeping in the Middle East dates back at least 3,000 years, according to archaeologists. Honeybees pollinate most of our crops and trees, giving us the food, we eat and the air we breathe. In some cultures, the work of pollination that bees do has been called holy; they are considered by some to be sacred animals because of their self-sacrificial pattern of living for others that supports the ecosystem of the entire earth. Bees help create habitats for birds, insects, and mammals, fertilizing plants upon which animals and people rely for oxygen, food, and other resources necessary for survival.
Honey is referenced in the Bible over 60 times! (SEE BELOW)
Back to my recognition that bees all have a commitment to the common good of the hive and that, in fact, is why our Lord gave us unique gifts & talents designed to make disciples! Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. … All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 11-12
The passage above could have been written about a beehive! While honeybees lack the ability to speak, read or write, they can teach humans much about cooperation and teamwork. Each bee contributes a specific skill to the colony, synchronizing their efforts for the benefit of all! Worker bees, who only live about 30 days, collect nectar for the sake of the colony, not for themselves. It takes two months to produce honey out of the nectar, so the workers eat honey provided by other bees that have preceded them, and they never get to consume the fruit of their own labor, which they leave for others to eat!
Likewise, the health and well-being of the body of Christ depends on each person fulfilling their responsibility to the church as a whole. When we all exercise our individual gifts, serving in various ways through different activities for the common good, the entire body of Christ thrives! There are no lone-ranger Christians! Humans are interdependent, but sometimes we like to imagine that we can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. The truth is, we all need each other to survive and thrive.
On one last random note: Proverbs 16:24 says …”Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body”. Let’s allow our kind words to build others up and, at the same time, keep us in a positive mental state, which is so healthy for my body.”
OUR LAST PARENTS’ NIGHT OUT IS Friday, August 6th, 6-9 pm … if you haven’t yet been Ministry Safe trained and want to jump in and help, just let me know, but if you have … CLICK HERE and pick a spot to make a difference for our kids and their parents! Many “bees” make the event come together and we need you all! If you have already registered your children, no need to register again – just please let us know if you’ll be here. If you want to share details with your friends, our website had details: https://www.fumcwinnsboro.com/kids-youth/
MONDAY, August 2nd, 4-8 pm*** GREAT NEWS: you can now come to the ALL YOU CAN EAT Catfish Buffet from AJ’s Fish House and pay $20 at the door OR make reservations ahead of time (and be entered into a special raffle)! It’s going to be a very FUN night as Pastor Debbie & Carolyn Stewart will be crazy, wacky celebrity waiters at the WOOD COUNTY Foster Child fundraiser, Tips for Tots on August 2nd. *** While you can go and eat until 8 pm, Carolyn and I will only be there from 4-6 so I hope you can come early!
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: Honey
God described the promised land as “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8, 17).
God provided the Israelites manna in the wilderness, which tasted “like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31), “nursed” his people “with honey from the crags” (Deuteronomy 32:13) and satisfied them “with honey from the rock” (Psalm 81:16).
Honey was given as gifts (Genesis 43:11; 1 Kings 14:1-3), used to support the priests and the Levites (2 Chronicles 31:4-5), traded as a commodity (Ezekiel 27:17), included in provisions for troops (2 Samuel 17:27-29) and used as part of a ransom (Jeremiah 41:8).
Jonathan tasted a bit of honey from a honeycomb he found during a battle, and “his eyes brightened.” The honey strengthened him for the task at hand (1 Samuel 14:24-30). John the Baptist subsisted on locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6).
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7-3-21 FUMC Updates
Happy July 4th! I hope you’re enjoying this mid-summer reminder of how truly BLESSED we are to live in America! I am happy to be back from my 2-week vacation and I can tell you that with Covid vaccination rates increasing people ARE traveling again, hotel occupancies ARE increasing, and restaurants ARE getting busy again! What a difference a year makes!
I love the July 4th holiday because it reminds me of how proud I truly AM to be an American! I realize there is a small fraction of people who disagree, but oh how I wish they could understand that our country is great because GOD is our foundation … not a President, not a Supreme Court and not a Congress! Men and women are not perfect, so our country is not perfect, but our country was founded on Godly principles and so to me … July 4th IS a religious holiday!
I read a great story from TIME Magazine about John F. Kennedy that puts this into perspective …
“On July 4, 1946, Kennedy — then 29 years old, the Democratic nominee for a Massachusetts Congressional seat, and still a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve — was the featured speaker at the City of Boston’s Independence Day celebration. He spoke at Faneuil Hall, the red-brick building where long ago the colonists had gathered to protest taxes imposed by King George III and his Parliament.
Kennedy began by talking not about taxes, or about the British, or about the consent of the governed, but about religion. ‘The informing spirit of the American character has always been a deep religious sense. Throughout the years, down to the present, a devotion to fundamental religious principles has characterized American thought and action,’ he said.
For anyone wondering what this had to do with Independence Day, Kennedy made the connection explicit. ‘Our government was founded on the essential religious idea of integrity of the individual. It was this religious sense which inspired the authors of the Declaration of Independence: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.’”
Kennedy wasn’t the only politician who saw GOD in our foundational principles…
The Declaration of Independence issued from Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, included four separate references to God. In addition to the “endowed by their Creator” line mentioned by JFK in his July 4 speech, there is an opening acknowledgment to “the laws of nature’s God,” an appeal to “the Supreme Judge of the World,” and a closing expression of “firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.” George Washington, announcing the Declaration of Independence to the troops in a General Order dated July 9, wrote, “The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavor to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country….knowing that now the peace and safety of his Country depends (under God) solely on the success of our arms.”
I pray that the theology of our country’s founding will NOT be forgotten! Sure, the Declaration’s concept of God-given rights certainly is not without its flaws but without a belief in God that should be the foundation of a strong moral fiber, what do we have?
So, amid all the barbecues and fireworks this July 4, take just a moment and reflect on our Creator. As Kennedy realized, the American Revolution, which resulted in the free we live in today, started with God, and with the Founders’ belief in rights that are His gift to us!
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7th, 6 pm, FELLOWSHIP MEAL… I look forward to seeing you at our first Wednesday Fellowship meal in the Family Life Center … I’d love to meet your friends so bring a guest!
PARENTS’ NIGHT OUT, Friday, July 9 … thanks to all of you who are MINISTRY SAFE trained and ready to roll! The sign-ups for the next 2 events are ready now so just CLICK HERE and pick the spots you want! Parents: let us know your kids will be coming … if you came last month, there’s no need to register again, but if your kids are coming for the 1st time or you have friends that want to save time and register online, CLICK HERE. And yes, everyone can register at the door!
REMINDER NO CHILDREN’S CHURCH on JULY 11th … we will have communion on July 11th so as always, there will not be children’s church.
IMPROVEMENTS AT THE CHURCH: the Trustees are working on the sidewalk in front of the sanctuary to renovate two parking spaces to help people getting from their vehicle to the front doors. While there have been some weather delays, we’re looking forward to the improvements being complete.
Hope to see you Wednesday night!
Pastor Debbie
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