Oak Ridge Today

Annual Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service at UU Church on Sunday

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The Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church will host an annual Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service on Sunday.

“Clergy and congregations from four area churches will participate in the service to share the simple, yet universal message of ‘giving thanks’ and to lift up the call anew to care for each other and our neighbors,” a press release said.

It said each church has prepared a special musical offering for the service. Participating churches include Spurgeon Chapel AME Zion Church, Grace Covenant Church, Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, and First United Methodist Church.

Everyone who can should bring a non-perishable food item to give to area food banks.

A dessert social will be held after the service in the church Social Hall. The church is at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike, and the service starts at 6 p.m.

For more information, call the ORUUC office at (865) 483-6761.

Faith column: In the field—the chaplain’s ministry of presence

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Most traditional views see preaching coming from a pulpit, lessons taking place in a classroom, and worship with a group in a “holy place.”

However, some sermons take place at the side of the road, at a burning building, beside a cot, or in a room where someone has just learned of the death of a loved one.

Commonly referred to as chaplains, these men and women do not stand behind a pulpit, but go into the field amidst the pain and misery. Commonly referred to as a ministry of presence, these chaplains—who most commonly work with police, sheriff, fire, emergency medical services, or in a hospital—reach out and respond to all manner of emergencies.

Whether standing by a family watching their lives go up in smoke or delivering the news of the loss of a loved one, the chaplain is called to look beyond personal beliefs and offer spiritual comfort and solace to any and all persons without regard to race, creed, or ethnic background.

While sitting with a family in the waiting room at the emergency department, many questions arise. Why our child? Where is God in all of this? How could God let this happen?

When tragedy strikes, many people find their faith shaken, have doubts about God, and experience hopelessness and despair.

At this time, the chaplain has the greatest opportunity to bring comfort, not necessarily in magical words, but with words of reassurance or a mere quiet presence. Sometimes it is a prayer; at times it is a scripture, at other times calm, comforting words, and maybe even just a personal presence in silence. These are the sermons, the lessons, and the worship of a chaplain.

The chaplain cannot always have his or her roadside sermon prepared because they come at the most inopportune and unexpected times. Yet those words of scripture, comfort, and assurance proclaim God’s love to the hurting and distressed. The good news is not necessarily from the gospel, it is the news that someone cares enough to spend this lonely seemingly god-forsaken time with you. These are the sermons that the chaplain preaches.

Choirs, organs, pianos, and singing are not available while waiting for the news from the doctor. However, silent reflection or audible prayer while waiting brings about worship in the most down-to-earth manner. This is worship from the heart, worship that transcends lofty buildings or lowly chapels.

Not to be forgotten are those who minister physically to the needs of these victims. The chaplain must pay keen attention to the needs of the first responders and medical personnel who experience the sights, sounds, and smells of tragic scenes. They, too, need to experience the comfort of a quieting prayer, or an uplifting word. Here especially the chaplain has the opportunity to provide the lessons of the importance of loving care and helping one another.

In short, the absence of a building does not preclude the opportunity for the chaplain to minister to others.

Darrell L. Cook is an ordained elder of The United Methodist Church. A retired lieutenant colonel, he served 24.5 years in the United States Air Force, and he currently serves as chaplain to the Anderson County Emergency Medical Services and the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department. He attends First United Methodist Church Oak Ridge.

Guest minister to speak on Jewish inclusion in Unitarian Universalism

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Marti Keller

Marti Keller

During a Sunday sermon, an Atlanta minister will discuss the experiences of Unitarian Universalists who identify as Jewish and the “rich possibilities that they offer in terms of cultural and religious diversity,” a press release said.

The sermon by Rev. Marti Keller, titled “Outside the Cathedral Walls,” starts at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.

“This topic was the subject of my honors thesis for my master of divinity degree at Emory University, and an area of interest for me as a parish and community minister over the past almost 15 years, serving UU congregations and interfaith agencies in the South,” Keller said.

The press release said Keller is a minister on staff at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta, focusing on social justice, denominational work, small group ministry, and adult education. She is the former president of UUs for Jewish Awareness, is a member of the planning committee for the second national gathering of Jewish UUs and their allies scheduled for Winter 2014, and co-editor of the upcoming “Let Us be Counted: Jewish Voices in Unitarian Universalism”, a collection of essays and reflections to be published by Skinner House Press in 2014.

More information on Keller can be found online at www.revmartikeller.com.

For more information on Keller’s visit, call the ORUUC office at (865) 483- 6761. To learn more about the ORUUC visit online at www.oruuc.org.

ORUUC is located at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike (traffic light #11) in Oak Ridge.

The release said ORUUC is a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, a denomination that welcomes people of diverse spiritual understanding to gather in community to “stand on the side of love.” Among the ancestors of Unitarian Universalism are this nation’s Puritan founders, whose efforts to affirm freedom of religion included “The Cambridge Platform,” written in 1648, which laid out the democratic principles of congregational self-governance that ORUUC still follows today, in 2012.

Faith column: Vet battles addictions, turns to faith in jail

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Note from the authors: One of the important ministries of the faith community is to follow the words of the Bible and “visit those who are imprisoned.” Anderson County Sheriff’s Department chaplains Clyde Drummond and Jack Mansfield, who conduct a weekly Bible study in the local jail, have submitted the following testimony of one inmate who has turned his life toward faith. It has been edited for clarity.

I was raised a church kid, the oldest child of six children. We didn’t have a lot of material wealth, but my parents loved us and wanted to raise us right. I was the athletic type and sports seemed important, until one very important moment in my life. It was the moment I met the most beautiful woman I had ever seen—my future wife.

She and I dated off and on for seven years before we were finally married. I was 24 years old, and she was 22. I got a job at a local factory and we were faithful to church. We were ready for a child, and there she came. It seemed like we had the perfect life, but for some reason it wasn’t enough.

So I decided we would start our own business. I had done some roofing so it made the most sense to make my living that way. The business started really well, but there still was something not right.

Soon the bubble burst, and a lot of people went out of business including us. Eventually we ran out of money, and we wound up living with relatives. I decided to enlist in the U.S. Army. I called the local recruiter and told them I needed in the Army as soon as possible.

Two weeks later, I was in basic training. I was a good soldier, and I went into combat. Though I survived, I experienced about every human emotion possible during this time.

When I got back, I began to have problems. I began drinking myself to sleep every night. When that became too much for my family, I looked for something that might work better—I found pills. Pills allowed me to keep my addiction while ignoring reality around me. What I really needed was what I was running from the hardest—God!

Eventually, pills didn’t satisfy either. So I started shooting up. I was a junkie. The needle soon landed me in the hospital on my death bed. I had a bacterial staph infection in my blood stream, and it was attacking my heart.

After spending some time in the hospital and barely surviving, I made a profession of faith, or so I thought. What I really did was just realize that I had gone from bad to worse and that I needed to do better. I didn’t really surrender to God, still thinking I was going to be able to make it without God. It didn’t take but a couple of months and I was right back on the needle. In a desperate attempt to find a less noticeable drug, I went to meth.

Meth made me feel like superman. My wife and I by this time had another little girl, and our family was being destroyed by my addictions. We separated, and I went to live with my dope man.

Not long after that, he went to jail. His girlfriend invited me to stay with her. That was a horrible idea. It only took a couple of weeks before she taught me all I needed to know about cooking dope. I was making meth and loving it. We had also started a relationship.

This went on for six months and I did a good job of hiding from my wife what was really going on. She thought I was staying with a friend trying to get my life straightened out. She had absolutely no idea what was really going on.

One of my buddies came into the mix, pushing everything downhill even worse. He went on a bad trip and got arrested. I had a lot of confidence in this guy and thought he would never tell the truth, but he did.

The cops showed up. They really showed up too. There were cops everywhere. The whole road was full of cops. As soon as I saw them the first thought I had was that God had finally released His judgment on me.

Later, when I arrived at the jail, they walked me to my cell, and the first thing I noticed was an old worn-out piece of Bible staring straight at me. I was so afraid of what God had to say that I couldn’t even look at that Bible. I knew that God was finished with me. When they closed the door, my cell turned into what felt like a three-day long cage match with God.

On the third day, one of the detectives came and got me. I was relieved to get out of that cell away from that Bible. I was in utter torment over all I had done. The jail had even sent chaplains in to talk with me. Later, they told me I was as suicidal as anyone they had ever met. The only reason I decided not to end it was that I knew I deserved to pay for what I had done, and I didn’t want to get my guilty verdict from God.

Well, as the detective started questioning me, I stopped him and said: “Look, you’ve got me. I’m guilty.” I told him everything he needed to know. He was amazed at how easy it was. As soon as we were done, I asked to call my wife just to tell her what she would have to look forward to and to give her a chance to tell me off. He agreed.

I called and told her what the detective told me would happen to me. Then she asked me the hardest question that I’ve ever been asked in my life. She asked if I was in a relationship with the other woman. Without hesitation I said, “No.” Then I thought back to all the lies I’ve told this woman. I realized she deserved the truth at least once. So I took it back and said, “Yes, yes we were in a relationship.”

She was devastated. I held the phone as she cried asking why. I couldn’t even say I was sorry because I was so ashamed of myself.

Then there was silence on the phone. I waited for her to tell me never to contact her again or something even worse. Then she said something that I will never forget. She said: “You have hurt me worse than anyone ever has, and it will take a long time to ever trust you again. But I still love you.”

I was shocked. After all I had done to this woman, all the pain and hurt, she still loved me. “How can she?” I thought. I broke down right there.

We got off the phone, and they took me back to my cell. On the way back to my cell I thought to myself, “If she can still love me, maybe God can too. Maybe, just maybe, I’m not finished.”

When I got back in my cell, I all but dove on that Bible that I had hidden from. I held it and said: “OK, God. Is there still hope for me?” Then I opened the Bible and looked down at the page where I read these words: “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

I fell on my face right there and accepted Christ, realizing He still loved me just as my wife did. He didn’t want to condemn me; He wanted to save me! I couldn’t believe it. I was now suddenly the most loved person on earth, even after what I had done.

God is so very good! The same chaplains saw me about a week later, and I was so different that I had to tell them who I was. God had worked a miracle in my heart, and I’m eternally grateful. Now I have work to do, and that work is to tell others the good news of what Jesus Christ can do for them too. May God have His will and way in all our lives. Forgiveness is there. All we have to do is realize our need of it.

Three choirs, Ridge City Ramblers perform at Sunday music festival

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Ridge City Ramblers

The Ridge City Ramblers and three local church choirs will perform Sunday in the Reach Out Music Festival at Grace Lutheran Church in Oak Ridge.

A music festival on Sunday features three church choirs and local bluegrass and Americana group Ridge City Ramblers.

It’s the 7th annual Reach Out Music Festival, and it’s presented by Grace Lutheran Church in Oak Ridge.

The three church choirs scheduled to perform are Grace Lutheran, led by Paula Smith; First Presbyterian, under the direction of Anna Thomas; and Kern Memorial United Methodist, led by Kevin Miller.

The free festival starts at 3 p.m. Sunday at Grace Lutheran, which is located at 131 West Gettysburg Ave.

A press release said Ridge City Ramblers have been “picking together” since 2010.

Overflow parking for Sunday’s festival is available at Woodland Elementary School behind Grace Lutheran Church. Parking lot attendants will be on hand to give directions, the release said.

The church has invited parents to bring their families, including young children.

“A nursery and attendant is ready to assist if the small children need care,” the release said.

It said a freewill offering will be taken for those who wish to contribute to the sustainability of the festival, and “finger food and fellowship” will be available after the event.

For more information, call Grace Lutheran Church at (865) 483-3787.

Faith column: America has entered an era of forgetfulness

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When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me (Hos 13:6).

Even though God was referring to Israel when He spoke to Hosea, He may have used the exact same words to describe the current generation in America. Ancient Israel’s history was sprinkled liberally with special provisions of God for this people: the parting of the Red Sea, manna in the wilderness, water from the rock, the conquest of Canaan under Joshua, Gideon’s miraculous victory over the Midianites, to name just a few.

So it is with our American history. In their excellent book, “The Light and the Glory,” David Manuel and Peter Marshall chronicle many of the clear provisions of God in the establishment of our country, provisions that only the hardest of heart could deny being an intervention of God Himself.

For a number of years both of these nations—Israel and America—enjoyed the clear blessing of God. Neither was perfect in its worship and practices, but as a whole, the people (often responding to the national leadership) embraced the God of Israel as their Creator and Redeemer.

But there came a time when Israel forgot Him and His deliverances. As Hosea said, “They were satisfied,” and the satisfaction begat pride—they thought they deserved His blessings. When He began to remove a few of the blessings to make the people remember that they had no real claim to them—they were all gifts—the people got angry with Him (He was acting like any good parent would). So He sent His prophets to warn them. Some repented, but it just made others angrier.

After repeated warnings, He finally sent judgment—for Hosea’s Northern Kingdom of Israel, it was from the Assyrian Empire. About 150 years later, the Southern Kingdom of Judah ignored the warnings and was carried to Babylon.

We have entered that era of forgetfulness in America. Among others, God has sent us D.L. Moody (with his musical partner, Ira Sankey) and when they passed, Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver tried to stir this country to repentance. In recent years the baton has been passed to Billy Graham and Cliff Barrows, but with each succeeding generation, the number of people willing to listen to their calls for repentance decreases.

Israel’s history from inception to captivity lasted about 600-700 years, but we should expect God to be more patient with Israel. After all, He specifically called them His “chosen people.” The United States of America has never been called that (at least not by God).

How long do we have before judgment comes? That’s up to us. How long will we wait before we choose to repent? Some people think (to their shame), “Perhaps we won’t have to repent if the right person gets elected in the next election.” But our hope is not a political one; it wasn’t for Israel and it won’t be for us. How quickly we forget!

Dale Crank is pastor of Oak Ridge Alliance Church at 109 Raleigh Road in Oak Ridge. The church is an accredited church with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a missionary denomination with ministries in more than 80 countries and almost four million people who worship Christ under the banner of the CMA each week. Pastor Crank is a graduate of Columbia International University in Columbia, S.C. Pastor Crank and his wife Mary have three grown children.

Faith column: The hand always above my shoulder

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One of the highlights of my trip to Israel and Jordan some years ago was a visit to the Western Wall, or “Wailing Wall” as it is also called, the only visible remnant of the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Not only faithful Jews, but religious pilgrims from many different religions from all over the world gather at the Wailing Wall to meditate and pray. A long-standing practice is for the faithful to write short prayers on tiny scraps of paper, roll them up, and then stuff them in one of the cracks between the massive stones.

During my visit, I wrote two special prayers the day we visited the Wailing Wall and carefully and prayerfully stuffed them in the cracks. The first prayer was for a little boy whose family attended our church at that time. The mother had asked that I say a special prayer at some holy site for their son, James, who had cerebral palsy and pretty much lived in a wheelchair. What better place to offer a prayer for James, I thought, than the Wailing Wall.

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Faith column: Sometimes you have to encourage yourself, trust God’s word

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David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. (1 Samuel 30:6, KJV)

There may come a time in your life when you find that all that you hold valuable is gone. Your job, your spouse, your children, your home—everything you truly loved and held dear is gone.

To compound the problem, you may also find that the individuals you thought you could count on have not and will not come to your aid. People that you trusted, loved, looked out for, and even blessed are too often the first to align themselves against you when you need them most. When you need an encouraging word, when you desire some level of human assurance, people you thought you could count on may be the first to withhold the very thing you need to help turn your situation around.

I pray that you never find yourself in this predicament.

However, if you do, remember that you are not necessarily in your situation because you were disobedient. The spiritual fact is that evil tests and puts the most pressure on the most worthy souls. No one has been greatly used of God who did not experience the great fires of adversity. If you are there, it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with your level of anointing. No one was more anointed than Jesus, but He found Himself in the midst of adversity.

Sometimes there will be no one to encourage you. Every now and then you must take it upon yourself to independently lift your own spirit. You are going to have to encourage yourself.

The only way to do this is to focus upon and have trust in God’s Word. Find out what God has to say in His Word about your situation. If God said it, that settles it. You can count on Him to do all that He has said. Do all that you can do. Make a commitment to the application of His Word in your situation. Encourage yourself with the truth of God’s love for you, His commitment to bless you, and the reality that He cannot lie.

Anthony Collins is the Senior Pastor of The House of Worship at 190 Manhattan Avenue in Oak Ridge. The devotional thought above comes from his book “100 Days of Inspiration,” available at Cedar Springs Christian Books or at www.TonyCollinsMinistries.com.

Faith column: We elect a president, not a king or messiah

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On Nov. 6, a great and tragic event may occur in America. We will have an election for president and king of our country. I say president and king because many people tend to view the office much that way. And because they do, it becomes the tragedy of our own making.

In the book of I Samuel, Chapter 8, the story is told of how God’s people became dissatisfied and afraid of their current administration (namely Samuel) and petitioned Samuel to “appoint for us a king to govern us like all the other nations.” The idea made Samuel angry because they did not trust God but rather chose to be “like all the other nations.”

The story is a classic example of the confrontation between faith and fear. It includes the warnings of such earthly leaders and indicates that it will be a tragedy the people will regret. However, if they insist, a leader will be given. The closing episode of the confrontation has the ominous warning, yet the people continue their request. “No! But we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us to fight our battles.”

I feel these last few words by the people betray some of the underlying motives that had plagued men and politics ever since they have existed. The people wanted things done for them, a Messiah to deliver them from everything; things they chose not to do for themselves or allow God to do for them. And so government and politics seems to have become somewhat of a necessary evil with inherent weaknesses.

As we watch our own 2012 presidential race, we should be able to see some of this. As “mud-slinging” and outlandish promises are made, we should see that the people we elect are, at best, no better than the rest of us. They are not especially divine. They are not the world’s authority on any given subject. Many promises they make, no one could possibly keep. Many other well-intentioned ideas will never materialize. And I imagine, some of what they said, they wish they had never said at all.

I write all this to say, simply…We are electing a person to help our government operate. If we are electing a king, to do our part for us, we are most wrong. As you vote, remember what you are voting for and help others do the same. On Election Day, we will not be electing a Messiah!

(PS. We already have one…)

Joseph M. Westfall is a bi-vocational minister living in Oak Ridge. Since 1975, his ministry has covered pastoral positions in 17 churches across several denominational lines in six different states. He has special training and experience in interim ministry for churches in transition. He has a Biblical style and teaching heart. He encourages honesty and relationship with the Holy Spirit. His favorite response to a sermon he has preached? “You make me think!”

Faith column: When not to be bold

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In his letter to Philemon, Paul says, “…Though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you…” (vv. 8,9).

This admission by the apostle Paul is amazing! It gives us an insight into a style of leadership that separates it from many other styles. Usually bosses and managers will use any method necessary to get people to do what is required. The church is different. Ministers, teachers, pastors, elders, deacons, ministry leaders, etc.: We all can take a lesson from brother Paul.

Think of the power of love as an appeal. Individuals and groups respond more positively to appeals coming from a heart of love. Several times in Paul’s letters, and other New Testament writers, the notion of “boldness” is held forth as a Christian virtue. We are to be bold when we approach the throne of grace, etc. However, in this case it is different.

Boldness too often is understood as brashness, crassness, manipulation, coercion, etc. Christian leadership understands the human heart. It is sensitive, sinful, broken, wounded, and hurting. No human heart is exempt. Only the blood of Jesus can heal the human heart, but that healing is often incarnational through the human touch of Christian leaders.

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Guest column: Local college graduate thankful for listening ear

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After escaping to a women’s shelter, proceeding with a necessary divorce, and receiving professional diagnosis of her son’s disabilities, a young single mother made the decision that a college education would give her the best possibilities in the journey ahead. After enrolling in college, this young mother found herself confined to caring for her son, attending classes, and studying every day alone. Although she had assumed there would be difficult times, she had no idea that the social isolation would affect her so deeply.

Because of the higher stress levels for single mothers, they have less than a 10 percent likelihood of graduating from college. It didn’t take long for the social isolation to bring this mother to discouragement. She needed someone to talk to.

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Letter: Thanks Anderson commissioners for prayer vote

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I would like to express my appreciation to the Anderson County Commissioners for approving a resolution in their Aug. 20 meeting to continue the tradition of invocations at the beginning of their meetings. The County Commission has always been supportive with regard to this practice, affirming the freedoms on which our country was founded.

The intention of an “Invocation” is to invoke a good and positive blessing through prayer.

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