Posted on 06/11/2006 8:54:40 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici
Billboard I saw on the way home advertising for the UMC: If you can wish, you an believe.
The billboard is generic as to church, but the one I saw ref'd the United Methodist Church.
The link above was mainly to give a little background on the billboard that I found on the net.
Any comments?
Closed Bibles. Empty pews.
I left the UMC many years ago. I have a best friend who is a pastor and theologian in the church. Since I left I have learned there are liberal and conservative UMC churches. One almost has to visit to see the flavor. One UMC church in Kansas, The Church of the Resurrection, is one of the fastest growing in the country. One lady told me, "When you listen to Adam hamilton preaching it is almost as if he has been in the presence of Jesus."
How highly appropos that the UMC chose the image of a dandelion - a weed, aka a tare (Matthew 13:25-40) - to represent this message.
The Parable of the Weeds
24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds [3] among the wheat and went away.
26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants [4] of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Gary, I've never heard of the Church of the Resurrection. Though that's a reflection on me and not the church :)
Have you ever heard of the Church of the Brethren? I have several (old) friends that left the Methodist church to join them.
LOL! Very nicely done! I didn't even catch it at first.
The Church of the Resurrection is a UMC church in Leawood, KS. The church has grown from four people in 1990 to over 12,000 adult members with an average weekly worship attendance of over 6,500 in 2005. The church was listed as the most influential mainline church in America in a 2005 survey of American pastors.
Question: Isn't a wish just a prayer to another god? Perhaps the god of chance?
How highly appropos that the UMC chose the image of a dandelion - a weed, aka a tare
Dandelions are not weeds. They are pretty little yellow flowers that God gave us in great abundance to enjoy.
You think I spend hours trying fruitlessly to gouge them out of my yard?
:-).
I crossed the Tiber when they began with the slogan, "Open Hearts, Open Minds".
I left my childhood UMC for similar reasons. I swam in the other direction, and became a Calvinist :)
Yeah, find someone else to bash.
So, are you elect?
Like who? You?
Please forgive, I let myself get carried away each time I see one of these Methodist bashing threads. Hope you are happy in the Lord where ever you have found him.
I'm sorry too. I posted this for feedback because I honestly couldn't believe what the billboard said. If it means detrimental comments towards the current state of the church, then so be it.
My 92yo grandmother still goes to her church almost every weekend 30 miles from her house. The congregation has dwindled from hundreds to 25.
And then I see this (the billboard) and it all becomes clear. The church doesn't seem to want believers but attendance.
Somehow I suspect that is exactly what you were going for in posting this thread. But then again, so mote it be.
My 92yo grandmother still goes to her church almost every weekend 30 miles from her house. The congregation has dwindled from hundreds to 25.
My 50 year old brother goes to a UMC church in Dallas, Custer Road UMC that has grown from a small number 25 years ago to over 8,000 members.
And then I see this (the billboard) and it all becomes clear. The church doesn't seem to want believers but attendance.
Not sure how you get that from the billboard. But to each his own.
Then just wish all the bad things in the church will go away then. I'm sure it will come true.
As I said earlier I pray that you are happy in the Lord where ever you have found him.
I forgot to ask; I take it you like the billboard then?
Not particularily............But I don't condemn an entire church because of it.
But it's not the billboard of one church. You can say the entire church sponsored it.
Nor do I. The ad campaign is just the symptom of a larger problem. I have 20+ years of personal experience with the UMC, and have watched the denomination slide towards apostacy at the national level in the years that followed. The ad tells me that the slide continues, whether I think happy & positive thoughts about the UMC or not.
People who were deeply moved by the Tinker Bell scene in Peter Pan.
Slam the Methodist Church all you want, we will continue on without you, and do just fine.
Slam the Methodist Church all you want, we will continue on without you, and do just fine.
At one point, my local UMC congregation offered a Sunday evening "book study" on Matthew Fox's The Coming of the Cosmic Christ. It wasn't the first time they embraced paganism from the pulpit, and it wasn't the last time, either. If this is how the UMC is "continuing on without us", they're welcome to it. It would have taken a LOT of "praying and hoping" for Jesus to be found in my old church....
"...I am interested in deep ecumenism. I think that the deeper you go into your own tradition in terms of spirituality, the closer you come to the living waters of wisdom. In this image, God is a great underground river. There are many wells into this river: there's Buddhism, Taosim, Judaism, Sufism, the Goddess, Native traditions and Christianity.
To connect with the great river, we all need a path, but when you get down there, there's only one river. What I'm doing is connected with the East. I have a Hindu from India teaching Shakta yoga in my program. We teach T'ai Chi and Aikido. We have Sufis, Buddhists, Jews, Catholics and Protestants and witches. (laughter) So the future of religion is interdenomination....
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....When Christianity was healthy, it didn't stomp on paganism, it embraced it. A good example is Chartres Cathedral which is built right on top of the cathedral to the Goddess of Grain. At that time the church was not stomping on other religions, it was embracing them and bringing them in like a welcoming mother. Pagan comes from the word `paganis' with means a person who lives in the country. A heathen is a person who lives on the heath....
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....I was in Malibu and these people put me up in home with a Buddha statue. And I woke up in the morning with this idea that what makes Buddha different from Jesus was that Jesus never had a mid-life crisis, he died a young man. Buddha went through it all. He died in his eighties and so he had more of a take it easy kind of approach. Jesus was this impetuous young man! He wanted to get it all done, overturn the system and so on.I think you need both. You need the Jesus energy, the prophetic energy, the anger to change things. On the other hand Buddha has the realization of cycles and that everything is fine the way it is. I see Jesus essentially as a very inspired, energetic, passionate Jewish prophet. Prudence was not his best virtue. (laughter)"
- excerpts from an Interview with Matthew Fox
Well, I will just double up on my praying for your old church.
A dandelion is an herb.
It's leaves make a tasty salad. See other uses below.
DANDELION
(Taraxacum officinale)
Image
CONTAINS: High in potassium (vital for a high potency diuretic), and is a source of calcium. High in vitamin and mineral content, (i.e. its use in anemia). Contains balance of iron and calcium, plus choline for cholesterol, plus Vitamins A, B1, C, G and D-2, magnesium salts, sodium salts, silica, the hormone gastrin, tarazacin (a hepatic stimulant), inulin; lacvulin (a sugar), choline (one of the Vitamin B complex), photosterols (prevent the body from accumulating cholesterol), potash (a diuretic), and 15% starch.
IDENTIFICATION: Deep tap root; bright yellow, multi-petaled, chrysanthemum-like head approximately 1" in diameter rising on a hollow stem from rosette type leaves. Reproduction is by means of fluffy balls of parachute borne seeds.
One of nature's most useful plants. Safe enough to be taken as a daily beverage. An ingredient of the digestive aid called 'Bitters'. There is a red-seeded variety of European-Asian origin (T. erythospermum).
Called 'Dens Leonis' by the Romans and 'Dent De Lion' by the French.
No less than 85 different insects banquet on its pollen and the bees use its nectar in their honey. Seeds are also very appealing to song birds.
In the North country of England the folk have used the root in combination with burdock to make a beer which acts as a tonic and blood purifier.
PROPAGATION: By seed. A common lawn and wayside wildflower.
HARVEST: Use the whole plant before it flowers; leaves during flowering; root in fall; flowers fresh.
FLOWER: Yellow. Appear in spring.
RELATED SPECIES:
ASIAN DANDELION (Taraxacum mongolicum) aka Mongolian Dandelion, pu-kung-yin, huang-hua ti-ling, ju-chi ts'ao: Drug Interaction: Check with your doctor about possible interaction with ciprofloxacin.
USES
MEDICINAL:
Blood cleanser, diuretic, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure (root), tonic, aids in eliminating poisons from body, supports liver function.
Although a diuretic, it is a useful one as it contains large quantities of potassium to offset any loss from the body, which normally happens when using a diuretic.
High mineral content and has been used for anemia.
It increases flow of urine and has been used in kidney, spleen and pancreas ailments.
Leaves are bitter and stimulate function of gall bladder and liver. Have been used for liver troubles, especially during hepatitis. Also used for jaundice and cirrhosis (as an adjunct).
Has been used for acne during hormonal change.
Has been used for food allergy sufferers.
Has been used for urinary infections, prostrate enlargement, stones in bile duct and urinary system, rheumatism, gout, arthritis (eliminates toxins), diabetes (fresh leaves), and hypoglycemia.
Root 'coffee' has been used for chronic liver and gall bladder problems.
Leaves have been added to salads for fluid accumulations or urinary conditions.
Has been used for gallstones and gall bladder infection.
Improves appetite and digestion.
Has been used as a backup for all degenerative diseases.
Also: the juice of the plant applied to warts is said to remove them over a period of time. Must be done daily.
CULINARY:
ALSO SEE: Dandelion - Cooking with Herbs and Wild Foods.
Flowers used for wine; fresh young leaves for salads (boiled 5 to 10 minutes); root is cut in small pieces, then slow roasted in oven at 225 degrees F. until color of coffee, then ground up for coffee substitute.
Also: Root tea. The blanched part of the leaf, just below the soil surface is considered the best part by some.
Young flower buds can be boiled for several minutes like a vegetable and served with butter or pickled.
Flowers are good dipped in batter and fried.
Extracts are used to flavor ice cream, candy, baked goods and soft drinks.
Chop the young raw leaves and sprinkle over the sour cream on a baked potato.
COSMETIC:
Use infusion or decoction as tonic for skin and in bath water for inflamed skin.
DYE:
Red or magenta-pink by using all parts of plant with no mordant.
Magenta with alum mordant.
Yellow to brown with iron mordant.
Even though there's a picture of one right on the bottle, I don't think the Ortho company markets this stuff to promote dandelion growth. They're undesirable plants that choke out wanted flora. Maybe that's why this stuff is called herbicide.
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Dandelion wine.
People grow this stuff on purpose.
They don't do that with Johnson Grass (although I'm open to correction on that.)
I'm never ever taking communion at your church ever.
You should.
I keep a well-stocked wine cellar.
Oh, for the love of pete ... it's what a load of nonsense.
Sometimes these ads are good ... but most of the time whatever marketing firm they used should be shot. And it makes me sick that my Apportionment dollars are going for crap like this. :(
Oh ... well ... thank God my congregation doesn't blow money on crud like that.
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