Sorry!

Well it has been a long time since I have posted, I admit that and own it.  I had really wanted to post afer Monday night football two weeks ago about how I was wacko for flacco but then we lost and I was sad. Then I thought I could do the same thing this past weekend but thus I was once again sad.  So here I am still sad and yet still hopeful that something will change, that we will fall in love all over again with our ravens and cheer then on to victory.  yeah I know I need to find something else to spend my time doing rather than thinking too much on this football.  However, tis the season to be a football fan.  With a blog name of "football and pharisees"  what do you expect????

More Photos from my Week at Pendle Hill

I Will Survive - Man, those preachers sure know how to have fun on a Saturday night don't they?

Kipp has lost that loving feeling! Karaoke - FPP Style !
God forgive me for embarrassing myself as well as my family!
This is our worship area altar. Every item on the altar table is from a member of our group. Kind of cool isn't it?

First Parrish Project 2 - Summer 2008

I just had a wonderful week with my "young" clergy group. We spent about a week at Pendle Hill Quaker Retreat center outside of Philly. Only 15 of our 19 members were able to make it this year and we really missed Herb, Wes, Todd and Joshua. Well, actually the other four guys really missed them since they had to deal with all of us clergywomen:) We spent much time reconnecting, playing, worshiping together, praying together, and learning about leadership during transitions in congregations. We discussed how to lead our communities during times of transitions (this is the CEU part). It always amazes me just how well we know each other and how we seem to rediscover ourselves when we are together. Truly the Holy Spirit is a part of our relationships and I know how blessed I am to be in a vocation that offers me such a gathering of spirits that feeds my soul and fills my hope-meter for the body of Christ.

We are blessed and may we be a blessing to those we are in ministry with in our congregations.

Be God's, Lisa

Now I am off to Maine for some R & R!

My 1st COMBINE DERBY!

Eddie Harrison's "Army Farmer" and his crew getting ready for the derby match!
I just liked this pink elephant, takes guts to enter a pink combine!
Eddie's brother Jeff's Tin Man combine - very entertaining bunch!
The match that Eddie Harrison won! He got 2nd overall out of 11 combines and got 1st place for design and style in the combine parade - congratulations to the Harrison family!!

Last Saturday night I cheered on Eddie Harrison and his combine in the 1st combine derby at the Carroll County Fair! Hoo-rah! It was actually a very exciting and entertaining evening. Officially the Howard County Fair begins tomorrow with the Miss Howard County Farm Queen contest and the parade.

This is what August is all about in my book. It is too hot for golf and doing much else outside. However, I see the Howard County Fair as being similar to a reunion, I go to check out the 4-H animals, check out the crafts and art in the exhibit buildings, but really I go to see folks and catch up on their lives.

Being pastor at Lisbon UMC has given me a new appreciation for this time of year and I treasure it. Hope to see you at the fair, and maybe next year Howard County will have a combine derby and Lisbon UMC will have an entry! That would be cool. - Lisa

The newest Bishop in the Northeast Jurisdiction !

OK, I did start on this post two weeks ago and am just getting back to it, sorry about that! I was very blessed to attend the consecration service of a clergywoman friend of mine. It was both sacred and fun at the same time. Bishop Peggy Johnson has done amazing work in our conference. She has brought to the forefront the needs of those who are usually forgotten and dismissed. It is refreshing to see her recognized for her gifts and talents for ministry and my prayers go out to her and her new conference. God be with her church during this time of transition as well as her husband Michael's church.

This is how you tell that you have taken on more, than you can actually handle!!

A few weeks ago, I attended a conference on emotional and spiritual care in a disaster. This video was shared with a discussion about taking on more than we can handle. I think it shows quite well and humorously what can happen when we weigh ourselves down with more and we end up with our feet dangling under us completely useless. It gives us something to think about don't you think? Don't be a Lone Ranger!! - Pastor Lisa

RELAY UPDATE

Wow, I guess I should work a little on my own faith, faith in my congregation and faith in the community. Honestly, I didn't think we would make it to the goal I had set of $4000.00 for this year. I thought about changing it but decided that would make me a wimp. Even if we did not make the goal, I needed to see the experience as a challenge and not about celebrating achieving a goal, rather about raising money to help find a cure. I personally have never battled cancer, hope I never have too, don't really have anyone in my family that has dealt with it but have had friends and church members that have inspired and motivated me. All this rambling is just say thanks to all of you that supported the "Jesus Freaks and Old Fools" team this year. Our team raised $5252.40 that was $1252.40 more than I had hoped. Thanks for refueling my faith once again. The Western Howard Relay raised over $91,000, not bad since this is only the second year of the event. I pray that this year, is the year, that advancements are made that help to find a cure for those dealing with this disease. Prayers for healing and strength and prayers for those that struggle with the loss of their loved ones. May you feel God's presence, Lisa

Gearing up for the Relay for Life

Later this month, team Lisbon UMC - "Jesus Freaks and Old Fools" will be gathering at the Glenwood Park for the Relay for Life event. Last year it was very cold but at least it did not rain, that would of been rough. I have a great team this year, I think 22 folks, I think this is a meaningful event for many folks. This past year we have loss members of our congregation as well as local community and this is one way to remember them. This event is also an opportunity to support those that have been blessed to win the battle and are still with us. I can't imagine anyone not desiring to see a cure for cancer as far as I am concerned it can not come soon enough. Saturday was our yard sale and everything on my table and a few other folks table is going towards the team goal of raising $4000.00. Unfortunately the weather was not very helpful and around 10:30 AM a thunderstorm hit closing the sale and everyone headed home. We still have a ways to go to met that goal, if you would like to donate or even join our team please go to the following link:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=9348&team_id=180152
You can be sure that it goes to a worthy cause!
May a cure be discovered! In prayer, Pastor Lisa

Ken and Ashley's Wedding

I had the wonderful opportunity to do a wedding this past weekend for a really fun couple. Kenny was active in the youth group at Bethany UMC when I was the associate pastor there and his lovely bride Ashley met him at Virginia Tech. It was a Hokey wedding to the max. Another thing that was cool for me was seeing a few other youth that are now living adult lives and doing quite well. Cheers to Sean, Lisa and Alex too. Thanks to Kenny and Ashley for including Craig and I in their special day.

Blessings, Pastor Lisa

Remembering Adam

I love using GOOGLE and search engines for reconnecting with old friends or those that I have lost touch with, it is a great tool. Sadly yesterday, I found out that a friend had died a few years ago from cancer. Adam was really Craig's friend, he lived down in the "pit" with Craig at Wesley and they both were totally full of themselves and could talk for hours. Adam was the son of Richard Lischer, a theologian and professor at Duke Seminary. Dr. Lischer's book, "Open Secrets" is one of my favorites and my church book club will be discussing it this summer. Adam lived at Wesley Seminary while attending the Washington School of Law and was working as an attorney in Durham, NC. Since Craig and I are heading down to NC next week I was thinking of setting up a get together with him and thought it would be a fun surprise for Craig. Since Craig is horrible at keeping in touch with his pals I started the leg work. Sadly that is when I found his obituary. Really knocked the wind out of my sail and Craig's too. So we keep Adam's family in our prayers and remember him fondly.
In thanksgiving for those that our paths cross if even for a short time and enrich our lives.
In Christ, Lisa

Betty Visits The Methodists

In honor of Annual Conference Beginning this week I present to you Betty Butterfield and her visit to a UM Church. Its good to not take youself too seriously. At least that is my story. Peace, Pastor Lisa

Dear Mr. Lucas - Thanks for the Memories!

May 25th of this year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of "The Empire Strikes Back." I remember it well, heck most of my life Luke, Leia, Han and friends have been fighting the Evil Empire. As kids we role-played Star Wars all the time, kind of a gen x cowboy and indians thing. I wonder today, if the basic theme of good verse evil and the desire to see good win over evil influenced me in my vocation? There is some good theological points in the world of Luke Skywalker. A few examples that come to mind is that the "force" is like the Holy Spirit and at the end of the movie, The Empire Strikes Back, during the celebration of the Rebellion's victory we see the spirit-like figures of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and the now redeemed Anakin Skywalker. Dark Vader might of been the devils pawn but in the end his spirit was redeemed.I have also included a gospel like song that focuses on remembering the wonderful little teddy bear-like creatures the Ewoks. Hope you enjoy it, the tune is rather catchy:) Lisa

Star Wars Ewok Gospel

We're Home!

Wow, what an amazing trip! We were blessed to have great flying weather on Saturday, our plane even arrived early at BWI. I will reflect a little more later on the wonderful worship service we had yesterday at church. I wanted to include a few more photos of things from our time at the Stadium. First, I have loaded up a photo of our wall painting - mostly a group effort lead by Stacy, Doris and Jane, (I may of made a few suggestions but they made it happen.) Thanks again, it is nice to know that we left our mark on the Salvation Army Stadium.

Every time Brad meets with a new group he can look over and see his own churches mark upon the wall. Second I have included a photo of the puzzle that George Carter referred to yesterday during his reflection. 1000 pieces and it was finally finished by the eleventh hour! A group project.

I talked to Brad Diver today and told him we were very proud of the work he is doing there and that we are looking forward to next year.

Blessings, Pastor Lisa

The Crew

Greetings loyal readers

Here are two photos of our crew in our special limited edition Lisbon UMC Mission Team T-Shirts. The picture outside has Chuck Leger in it and the one inside has Don Bell in it. That is the only difference. The t-shirts have a quote of John Wesley's on the back. "Do all the good you can to all the people you can in all the places you can. We rocked! It has been fun!

Pastor Lisa

RHETT BUTLER SIGHTING !

WOW - Even the natives here in New Orleans recognized Rhett in our midst!!

Stacy Diver's Special Habitat Home

Day 4 - Mission Complete - AMEN!

Today we completed our job sites. Stacy and Mary spent the day with Brad having some family time and doing inventory for him. Doris, Jane, Craig and I spent the day finishing up a shed at another job site from the rest of the crew. We worked with a lovely young woman in her early twenties named Liz that is an Americorp volunteer. She graduated from college over a year ago and worked for a year in Brooklyn NY as a social worker for a non-profit. The rest of our group continued working on the same house they worked on yesterday. They were delighted when the owners stopped by to see the progress and they got to talk to them. The owners are here in the picture with the majority of our group. They have been waiting almost three years for a new home after they lost theirs during hurricane katrina. They have two children 1 and 4 years old. I think this was the highlight of the day for that crew!

Please keep us in your prayers as we travel back to Maryland tomorrow afternoon!

This has been a wonderful experience for all of us and one that we will readily repeat!

God Bless, Pastor Lisa

Day 3 - these bones are a hurting!

Well today seemed a little long for us. We ended up going to two new job sites. The largest part of the crew worked on framing for a house that was backwards, don't ask me how that happen but it did and it was a long day in the sun taking apart a houses framed walls and doing them the exact oppposite. Some of us worked on building sheds that will withstand any storm possible. We are getting ready to go out to dinner tonight and then out to the beach. Lots of red, sunburned faces in the crew. We done well today. Later, Pastor Lisa

Day 2 - Working hard for da people!

Today the roofers continued and finished their roof, Stacy, being a true trooper joined Judy, Mary and I and did installation in another house. We actually finished a whole house from start to finished before we took a lunch break - what can I say, we rocked!! We have Kitchen duty tonight so I gotta go get ready for it. I have included a photo of Judy and I doing installation since I realized I had not had her picture yet on here. Need to include one of Chuck as well. Will do that later tonight. Oh we had fun last night playing catch phrase.

Cheers, Lisa

Day 1 - the mission has begun!!

Well, we got up early and I had a leaders meeting while the crew enjoyed breakfast - don't feel sorry for me, I still got to eat! Some of us install installation and others replaced a roof in the same neighborhood. We are tired now - great day nobody got hurt! we plan to check out the city tonight.
The pictures here are of the following:
The Diver Darlings with brother Brad
Pastor Lisa (me) and Mary in our NASA suits
and finally the roofing crew, notice George thinks he is popeye!
Will update tomorrow!
P.S. - Chuck got in fine!
Cheers, Pastor Lisa

What A Crew!

We visited Two Sisters restaurant and met Florence, she has worked at this lovely place for over 40 years and lost her house in the hurricane and still lives in a FEMA trailer, she was wonderful to us and thanked us for coming down to the area to help in the rebuilding.

Today we went to Cafe Du Monde for coffee and beignets at breakfast and walked a bit more around the city. Weather was perfect today! We checked out of our hotel at noon and headed to Gulfport, we stopped for lunch at the Cracker Barrel, one of Judy Duvalls favorite places and got a table for 12. We arrived at the habitat village and checked it. Buck beds in a trailer, in a stadium with our very own running track. Don't get any crazy ideas, but we did do a few loops around the track. We met this evening with the other groups here and had a chance to talk to Brad who will be our job site coordinator. He is Mary's son and Stacy's brother and a member of Lisbon UMC so this is extra special for us. Keep us in your prayers tomorrow as we start working on our job site.

In Christ, Pastor Lisa

We're Here!!

Greeting Loyal Readers :)
Well we had a wonderful flight. Judy our flight attendant kept us entertained, or maybe we entertained her. We ran around the city yesterday and some of us got caught in the rain and then we did a walking tour of the french quarter, that was awesome. Joe was a wonderful tour guide. The under 50 crowd stayed out till after 1 and experience Bourbon Street. We evangelized in a few local watering holes.
Today we are looking forward to a traditional New Orleans breakfast and heading to Gulfport around noon. This lovely picture is of some of us at Jackson Square in front of the oldest active Catholic Cathedral in America - St. Louis Cathedral.
Keep reading!
Wish you were here, Pastor Lisa

Count Down Mission Control !!!

Major Tom? No, just me, 4, 3, 2, 1, Earth below us drifting . . . Oh well, loved that old eighties little ditty. The count down has begun for our mission trip, we taxi out of BWI tomorrow morning at 8:15 AM and land in New Orleans after 10 AM there time. I ask for your prayers this week, for safe travels, for the opportunity to help our neighbors, I pray that we may be what the body of Christ can be at its best. I worked this week on a little packet of daily devotions for the group to do and I hope they find it helpful and meaningful to them.

I will keep you updated on our trip because I will be taking my laptop and camera. What this blog for info!

Blessings, Pastor Lisa

Passover 2008: Get Down with Moses

Having a sense of humor is a wonderful blessing. Thanks to Pastor Chuck Leger for sending this to me. REMEMBER: always carry a big old stick to keep the pharisees off your back so you can dance. Happy Passover to all!

RUN REV RUN!!

OK, NOT a big jerry springer fan am I.
In fact, I think I would rather watch the book review channel than the Jerry Springer show.
However, the other day as I was trying to keep myself on the treadmill for just a few more minutes I frantically flipped through the stations for something to take my mind off my huffing and puffing I came across something interesting. As I was channel surfing I came across the end of Jerry Springer and his advertisement for his website. He has a video game on his website entitled, "Run Rev Run" well of course this caught my attention and I had to check it out when I got back on my computer.

How many times is a Reverend the hero in a video game???

It seems silly enough as video games go, however, there does seem to be an eerie connection to real life in the pulpit.
The hero, the Rev, is late to get to the Jerry Springer show to do a wedding.
He must avoid clowns, tires and flaming barrels to get to his destination.

Surreal, when you consider the clowns in our church worlds, that are always jumping around in front of us, taking up all our attention and just plain "clowning around." Then you have those gosh darn rubber tires bouncing toward us trying to distract us that we must avoid constantly. Then add the barrels coming at us on the road of life with manholes just waiting to gobble you up if you don't see them. Crisis after crisis!

The only way to avoid certain death and still make it to your destination is to jump on the Bible and fly above and past them safely.

Is scripture the true way to salvation? Is it central to our faith? Is this a Wesleyan doctrinal statement with a Springer twist?

Please check out this http://www.jerryspringertv.com/games/run-rev-run and do your best to help the Rev make it to the chapel, I mean the Springer show on time! As you go pick up some loot for the offering plate or gift for the happy couple.

Thanks for reading! Have a peaceful day,
Your Running Rev Lisa

Go on and drink the kool-aid!

Well, it is a little after 10 PM on Saturday night, I need about another 300-600 words to make my sermon complete for tomorrow and I can't think of a thing more to say about this scripture without going in another direction with it.

But this little reflection is not about my sermon, it is about the Baltimore Orioles, I watched a little of the game this evening while I was on the treadmill. It looked a little scary that first inning but we held off those Yanks even though they were in scoring territory.

Anywho, I just turned it back on to see the last inning and we sweeped them!

I can't believe it, I know it is too early to get excited but maybe, just maybe this is the year of the Oriole! That would be awesome.

Oh also, watching the first and last innings of a game work well for me! It reminds me of Nascar, just want to see them start that first loop and see the checkered flag come down at the end.

OK, go O's and now that I got that off my chest, I'am going back to my sermon.

Cheers! Lisa

One Year Ago Today

Time does go on even when we can't imagine it can continue. I find it hard today not to be thinking about the students at Virginia Tech and how one persons sickness can effect so many others lives permanently. School should be a place that is safe for students to experience learning and fellowship, growing in understanding of their connections in this world. A college campus is like a small local community where you know everyone and eat together like a family and stay up late talking about life. Some of the most important experiences in life happen when we have the safety of our surroundings and safety of friendship. Does that make sense?

I pray that folks out there in our world, like the gunman in this tragic event find the help they need instead of acting out in this manner.

Sorry to be so deep this first reflection, just where my head and heart is today.

God's peace, Pastor Lisa