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A PUBLICATION OF FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
THEWINDOW 1411 BROADWAY | LUBBOCK, TX 79401 | 806.763.4607 | FUMC.COM |JULY 2022
What’s Inside Page 03 Helping Hands
Page 04 CLC Upgrade
Page 05 Lil’Ceta Camp
Page 06 Quilting Friends
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH•LUBBOCK
FIRSTLBK
MOVED BY JESUS. LOVING PEOPLE. SERVING ALL.
Our mission is to create a grace-filled environment in which Christ transforms lives.
INDEPENDENCE AND RESPONSIBILITY As a child, I loved the weeks leading up to Independence Day. I knew that my family would participate in a variety of traditions that we practiced every year. While some families would gather with others for a meal SENIOR PASTOR and to attend largeTodd Salzwedel scale fireworks shows, Independence Day was one of those times when we knew my mother and father and little sister would spend time together as just the four of us. I can still see the big, black charcoal grill and the flaming inferno my father would create because he put entirely too much lighter fluid on the charcoal briquettes! Somehow, though, the hamburgers and hotdogs just tasted better that day. We had to finish that meal in short fashion so we could go to cheer on the Albuquerque Dukes, the triple A baseball team in the LA Dodgers farm system. For many years, a concert followed the game there with a concert by none other than the Beach Boys! I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen them in concert, but for me tunes like “Be True to Your School” and “I Get Around” are somehow synonymous with July 4th! In a similar sense, some of my most profound lessons on responsibility took place on July 4th. The first time my father sent me into the backyard to start the charcoal grill on my own took place on July 4th (I started the lawn on fire because I was too liberal with the lighter
fluid!). As a child, it was my responsibility to keep sparklers and long fire sticks lit to ignite the fireworks we set off on the half-court in our backyard. That resulted in me burning my left hand so badly that we ended up in the emergency room and I wore a splint to keep my severely blistered fingers apart from one another for more than a month! Responsibility – I learned – has consequences! In Paul’s Second letter to the Corinthians, he says, “the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). In our American context, we often use freedom and independence synonymously. But freedom does not release us from responsibility, nor the consequences of our actions. Instead, freedom allows us to fully realize the effect of both. The apostle Peter gives us instruction as to how we are to use the freedom we have in Jesus. He writes, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God” –1 Peter 2:16. Peter is clear to his readers that our freedom is not to be realized solely at the individual level for our own self pleasure, but that when fully realized, it should be used for the benefit of all. His instruction helps to remind us that we are created for and accountable to the communities to which we belong. Our witness, then, is a testament to our faith and how we live that out. Many of the visionary minds that helped to shape the birth of our country valued rights (of speech, religion, property ownership, JULY 2022 |(continued THE WINDOW 1 2) on page