On behalf of the CollegeLife program at Church Street United Methodist Church,Happy Spring Break to the UT students and others!

For those who will still be around Knoxville or are coming into town from another college, we will still have Sunday school both March 18 and March 25 at 9:45 a.m. at CLC 124.

If you are traveling, have fun and be safe!

John Shearer
adult volunteer

Photos taken Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Book of Deuteronomy

This week, we will wrap up our look at the Book of Deuteronomy and its appliaction to us in the the modern world. The focus this week will be on the importance of ‘remembering.”

Readings:

• Nehemiah 8: 1-18
• Deuteronomy 6: 20-25
• Deuteronomy 15
• Deuteronomy 16
• 1 Corinthians 11: 23-28

Questions… WHat does it mean to remember? How do we translate remembrance into passion? What are the ways that we can instill remembrance in our lives? As we journey through Lent, how does the Jewish remembrance of the Passover tie togetherwith Christ’s establishment of the Lord’s Supper?

Join the conversation this Sunday night, starting in the Parish Hall for FREE dinner at 5:15pm and moving into CLC room 124 for Bible Study until around 7!

This week we will look at the book of Ecclesiastes. Why? Because it’s so different from any other book in the Bible and is one that is worth understanding (and I don’t fully understand it, so bring your intelligent minds to the discussion table). There shall be breakfast and a jolly good time in CLC room 124 at 10am! See you Sunday!

Dear College Friends:

I hope you have had a good week. On Monday during the lunchtime hour, I went to the Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville to watch the free concerts put on there on the first Monday of each month. A couple of accomplished organists — including retired UT chancellor Bill Snyder — play, and some guest singers or choirs perform. Usually the music is close to top quality, and you certainly cannot beat the price.

Since I generally have a more flexible schedule, I usually attend when I can. I must admit that I am about the youngest one there other than the relatives of the performers, as the event regularly brings in buses and vans from the area senior citizens complexes. But I do not feel self-conscious being one of the “younger” ones, as I enjoy sitting in the architectural gem of a theater and losing myself for an hour listening to the beautiful songs from mid-20th-century Broadway musicals and movies.

When I lived in Chattanooga, I used to write newspaper stories about the Tivoli Theatre, the historic theater in that downtown, and tried to document some of the famous movies that played there.

This Monday at the Tennessee Theatre, the guest entertainment happened to be the UT men’s chorale. They did a great job, and I enjoyed listening to them as I munched on my $2.50 popcorn and ate a sandwich I had brought.

I started thinking while there that it is great these singers are able to use positively their talents they have while they are in college. I tried to play sports briefly as a walk-on when I was in college, but after realizing my athletic talents were perhaps not as great as I originally imagined, I became a regular student who simply enjoyed the social aspects of college. As a result, I probably did not try to figure out any other talents I had and perhaps try to use them in some positive manner. But I wish I had.

Toward the end of my college years, I did start writing comments about situations on a piece of paper on my dorm door, and several people told me they enjoyed reading them. So I guess that encouraged me to pursue some kind of career that involved writing.

I know all of you have various talents as well, and you might think you will be able to use those talents down the road when you get your degree and start working full time. But perhaps there are ways you can use them as well in a positive manner to help make the world a more Christian place while you are in college. It would have been neat for me to say I had.

To help inspire you to figure out ways to use your talents, we invite you to come to Breakfast club/Sunday School this Sunday, March 11, at 9:45 a.m. in Room CLC 124 at Church Street United Methodist Church. College intern Merry-Reid Sheffer will again be leading the lesson.

During the 8:30 and 11 a.m. services Sunday, the Rev. Andy Ferguson will be preaching.

The Monty and Elizabeth Walton Bible study will be held at 6 p.m. in CLC 124. Dinner will be served at 5:15 in the Parish Hall and will include various homemade chilis as the church tries to raise money for its benevolence ministry to those in need. The meal is free for college students, but be sure and make reservations with Elizabeth at waltonmonty@yahoo.com.

The rotating Wednesday noon Lenten services will be held this Wednesday, March 14, at Church Street UMC. Following the 30-minute service, a soup and sandwich meal will be served in the Parish Hall. Students are welcome and the meal is free, although donations are welcome.

We enjoyed seeing Trevor Toll, Trevor’s friend Sarah Houston, Chris McCabe and Mike Gair at Sunday school as Merry-Reid led the lesson. We hope Sarah felt welcome.

Have a good week, and we hope to see you Sunday.

John Shearer
adult volunteer

Dear College Friends:

I hope you have had a good “Leap” week and have survived all the storms that have blown through the region.

This week I went to Wartburg, Tenn., in Morgan County three different times to cover some Class A basketball post-season tournaments for the Knoxville News Sentinel.

I have been there before, and there are two ways to get there from Knoxville. The first is to go on Interstate 40 toward Nashville, get off at the Harriman exit just past the giant coal plant, and go north. However, that took an hour, so I switched to going to Oak Ridge on Pellissippi Parkway and then traveling through the communities of Oliver Springs and Coalfield. That way took only 50 minutes.

It was a pretty drive going on that route at dusk, and I wish I had been driving through there during daytime to enjoy the interesting rural scenes along the way.

Once at the games, however, I found the real entertainment. I am sure most of you college students are like me in that you went to either a large public high school or a private school. Class A consists of tiny, mostly public high schools in small communities. It is the heart and soul of the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association (TSSAA). The communities seem to have a lot of small town pride and really support the local team when it is making a late postseason run as these teams playing at Wartburg were. The fans get really passionate about the games. I even saw one fan get escorted out of the game Thursday night, apparently for harassing an opposing coach too much.

But there was plenty good about it as well. I was trying to interview the seemingly shy girls’ region tournament MVP from Wartburg Central after the game Wednesday, and I think half the town’s mothers came up to congratulate her, while plenty of young girls wanted to get their pictures taken with her. It was a neat scene.

Like schools, churches come in all sizes as well and have their own personalities that reflect that size. Church Street United Methodist Church is a large church fortunate to be sitting between the downtown of the state’s third largest city and the large, flagship university of our state. But in the spirit of a small and friendly church, the CollegeLife ministry wants to invite you personally to come to Breakfast Club/Sunday school this Sunday, March 4, at 9:45 a.m. in CLC 124.

CollegeLife Intern Merry-Reid Sheffer, a freshman at UT, will lead the lesson. Her topic will be communion and the importance of family. Snacks will be provided.

The Rev. Sarah Varnell will be preaching during the 8:30 and 11 a.m. services Sunday, and Holy Communion will be celebrated.

Deuteronomy and the “command to watch” will be discussed during the Elizabeth and Monty Walton Bible study at 6 p.m. Sunday at CLC 124. A free meal featuring yummy comfort food of gourmet soups, grilled cheese sandwiches, salads and desserts will be served at 5:15 in the Parish Hall. Email Elizabeth at waltonmonty@yahoo.com to make reservations.

Also, the rotating midweek Lenten service will be held this Wednesday at noon at St. John’s Cathedral. A free lunch will follow, although donations are appreciated. I had an enjoyable time this week writing a story about how all the churches come together to present the Lenten services, and it is scheduled to run in the Faith and Family section of the News Sentinel this Saturday, March 3.

It was great to see at Sunday school last weekend Merry-Reid, Chris McCabe, and Ben Ward, who came in from St. Louis for the weekend. We ended up going down to hear part of the lecture in the Parish Hall by Dr. Ben Witherington III of Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky.

Have a great weekend, and we hope to see you Sunday.

John Shearer
adult volunteer

The Book of Deuteronomy- Is the Old Testament still applicable to us? (continued)

In our discussion last week, we looked at how we might set ourselves apart for God. This Sunday, join us in talking about another theme of Deuteronomy- the command to “watch.”

Readings

• Deuteronomy 6
• Deuteronomy 8
• Hebrews 3:12-16
• 1 Timothy 4:7-16

Questions… What does it mean for us to “watch?” How do we watch? What are we watching for? What are the symptoms of a person that is not “watching?” What do we say when someone asks us, “What is the meaning of the words that God has spoken to man?”

P.S. Breakfast Club last week spontaneously turned into “let’s go watch the guest speaker” Sunday, so this Sunday’s topic will actually be the one that was planned for last week. See you Sunday!

The Book of Deuteronomy- Is the Old Testament still applicable to us?(continued)

Last Sunday, we noted that Christ cited to Deuteronomy when resisting the Devil’s temptations and when defining the first and greatest commandment.

Taking a cue from Jesus, we will take time over the next few weeks to soak in the teachings of Deuteronomy and consider howw they relate to us today.

Readings:

• Deuteronomy 7
• Deuteronomy 20
• 1 Peter 1: 13-16, 2: 5-10
• 2 Corinthians 6: 14-18

Questions… Are we willing to be set apart for God? Really? What would that look like? Where in our lives have we entered into “treaties” with people that cause us to water down our relationship with God? What gold and silver have we plucked and kept from things that are abhorrent to God? In your honest assessment, would you say that your church is more interested in being a “people set apart” or a people set together, i.e. a social club?

Hope to see you Sunday night!

Communion and Family

(^That’s my family!)

This week we will look at the importance of communion and our families, whether they are biological family, church family, or just your circle of friends, and how these things influence our lives. Meet us in CLC Room 124 at 10am to join the fun and get free breakfast!

Inspiration for the lesson:

• http://revegofthenerd.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/life-death-and-a-dinner-table-a-family-tale/
• 1 Corinthians 10: 16-17
• 1 Timothy 5: 8
• Ephesians 6: 1-4

…Feel free to study up before Sunday morning!

Dear College Friends:

I hope you have had a good week.

Are any of you fans of watching the Oscars, which will come on this Sunday evening at 7 on ABC?

For the second year in a row, I went and saw half or more of the Best Picture nominees. In recent weeks I saw “The Artistt,” “The Descendants,” “Hugo,” and “War Horse,” and had seen “The Help” last fall. I enjoyed them all, with my favorite being “The Artist,” followed by “Hugo,” “War Horse,” “The Descendants,” and “The Help.”

I wrote a review story on some of them for chattanoogan.com, and would recommend any of them. If you go and see just one movie, I would recommend “The Artist” for its uniqueness.

I also had the good fortune in recent days of writing two UT-related stories about Hollywood-like celebrities or storylines. I had interviewed Roberta Martin a few weeks ago, and the story ran in last Sunday’s Knoxville News Sentinel in the LIfe section. If her name does not sound familiar, let me put it another way — she is also known as Mrs. Cuonzo Martin. I found her to be a very down-to-earth and seemingly unpretentious person as we talked in the lobby of the UT men’s basketball coaches’ office about her social support website she has set up for coaches’ wives and about her husband.

I also interviewed Dr. Harold Black, a recently retired finance professor from UT, about his experiences being one of the first black students at the University of Georgia in the 1960s. Despite facing a few minor harassments typical of that time period, he enjoyed his time at Georgia. But it was due primarily to the fact that five white friends befriended him the first day, and he was also accepted at the campus’ Presbyterian Church USA center.

The News Sentinel was kind enough to run the story on last Monday’s front page, and it was neat to read the comments from the readers complimenting Dr. Black at the bottom of the online version of the story.

As usual, since these are both college-related stories and might be of interest to some of the readers, I will include links to them below.

I guess Dr. Black’s story shows us all how a college ministry — whether at somewhere like the Wesley Foundation at UT or through the “CollegeLife” ministry at Church Street UMC — has the potential to impact students in such a positive and Christ-like manner.

We invite you to come to Church Street UMC this Sunday as we try to offer several studies and activities in hopefully a Christ-like manner. Breakfast club/Sunday school will be held beginning at about 9:45. a.m., at Room CLC 124, with CollegeLife intern Merry-Reid Sheffer presenting a lesson on why we give things up for Lent, and what that means. A breakfast-style snack will be provided.

The Rev. Sarah Varnell will be preaching during the 8:30 and 11 a.m. services.

The Elizabeth and Monty Walton Bible study will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday in CLC 124. The focus this week, according to Monty, is on the teachings of Deuteronomy and how they relate to us today. A free meal of coconut tilapia fish, potatoes, mixed vegetables, and black and cherry cobbler will be held at 5:15 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Email Elizabeth or Monty at waltonmonty@yahoo.com to make dinner reservations or to find out more about the Bible study.

The Lenten worship services at the various downtown churches has also begun, with one at First Baptist Church Wednesday, Feb. 29, at noon. A free meal will follow, although donations are welcome.

Also, the Rev. Rick Isbell recently passed along a book called “Questions and Answers about the United Methodist Church” after a student had inquired about United Methodist beliefs and I pulled some information together in a previous “Word on the Street.”

I may try to pull out a few excerpts over the next few weeks, but here are a few of the answers about what is different or distinctive about being a United Methodist. They include, according to the book by Thomas S. McAnally, the availability of God’s grace for all, the essential unity of faith and works, salvation as personal and social, and the church as a community of Christ’s disciples who seek to share in God’s mission.

Have a great weekend, and we hope to see you Sunday.

John Shearer
adult volunteer

story about Mrs. Cuonzo (Roberta) Martin

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/feb/18/roberta-martin-ut-coachs-wife-reaches-out-to-in/

story about retired UT professor Dr. Harold Black and his experiences as one of first black students at Univ. of Ga.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/feb/20/retired-ut-professor-harold-black-recalls-civil/

Why do people give up things for Lent? What does it mean?

Join us this Sunday at 10am in CLC room 124 to discuss the upcoming Lent season and look at its meaning. Hopefully we can help answer each other’s questions on the topic!