Ask Me Anything Questions

Greetings Friends! If have come to worship at Rinn Church recently, you’ve probably heard of the Ask Me Anything (AMA) box. To give you some quick background, AMA is a segment done by the website www.reddit.com. In it, the public is invited to ask powerful people (politicians, movie stars, inventors, etc.) questions in an interview forum. It’s surprisingly effective and produces some candid answers. Thus, I thought I would bring a version of it to Rinn to help you get to know me as your new pastor. My plan is to answer in future newsletter articles, blog posts, sermons and face-to-face conversations. So please feel free to fire away with your musings! With that out of the way, here are two recent submissions:

 • When you get free time, what do you like to do? –Sharon Thompson

 Good question! I am actually an introvert. So when I get free time, I usually take a moment to zone out in front of the TV or with a good book. It’s hard existing in a hustling, bustling world. Therefore, it helps me to recoup energy before I do anything overtly fun. After this happens, I enjoy activities like cycling and playing various sports. I used to do much more than I do now, but I haven’t been as active since I blew out my knee playing softball a couple years ago. Otherwise, I also love to study history, play various video games and participate in the “geek” culture that is so popular in America., That’s right, I am an avid fan of things like Star Wars, Star Trek and Battlestar Galatica, And whenever I see a trailer for a new Marvel Comics superhero movie, I squeal with joy and watch it several hundred times before joining online discussions about it. Back in high school, this sort of behavior got me teased. Yet nowadays, it is amazingly fashionable. The times, they are a changing!

 • Are you liberal or conservative? Ha ha, just kidding. - Anonymous

 This query may have been made out of jest, but it touches on an important issue. My old barber used to joke that religion and politics were two things he would never talk about in his shop. They were always in conflict, so he felt it better not to bring them up (especially when he had sharp scissors in his hand!). That being said, I believe there has to be some interaction between faith and politics. It must be done carefully, however. One must never come to fully define the other, as stated so well in the First Amendment. This is my one concrete political belief. Other than this, I hold to perspectives from both major political parties and I regularly vote for the person I believe will best carry them out. As far as existing with those who believe differently, I feel Methodism’s Founder, John Wesley, said it best when he wrote:

 “I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them: 1) To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy. 2) To speak no evil of the person they voted against. 3) To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.”

Essentially, I am an independent who tries to love everyone as God loves me, while letting that belief guide who I vote for. I know that’s a real brief explanation, so please feel to follow up with me in person if you are interested. I think that’s a great start to this AMA experiment. If you’d like to participate, the box will be outside the sanctuary for the next month or so. Or feel free to email me your queries at rinnpastor@gmail.com. Keep writing friends, and I look forward continuing the awesome start I’ve had with you! Until next time.

In Christ,
Bryson

A New Place for Old Memories

I recently moved to serve a new congregation, Rinn United Methodist Church in Frederick, Colorado. It should come as no surprise if you've read the undercurrent of my previous posts. Things weren't going well in Wellington, or at Fort Collins for me. So a new start was desperately needed. It has been great so far. Rinn Church is so different, with so much possibility. So I pray that God will bring forth the growth and vitality that was so illusive in my previous setting. Thoughts on the past are heavy on my mind as I write this note. How can I not be nostalgic? This is my first time back to the ol' blog in some time. So much has happened, making this place and time a natural location to sit back and reflect.

Additionally, I finished setting up my new office today. It now holds all my books, as well as the many knickknacks I've picked up over my 7 years of ministry. Many of these items hold a great deal of significance. There is the battered handle of a hammer, broken off by a well meaning lug of a kid who didn't realize his own strength during a mission project. I will always remember the look on his face when he realized what had happened. The hammer had gone up, but not come down having broken off mid swing. The there is the mini trophy given to me at FUMC Independence's Youth Group End of the Year award party. It was a gag award ceremony, and my particular trophy surely is that. It recalls how I nearly destroyed the church van's emergency break, while driving around with it on without realizing it. I can still smell the smoke that built up in the passenger compartment, letting me know something was amiss. And I will always remember the hooting laughter of the kids when they remembered how frustrated I got. There are many more items. My bobble head John Wesley from Annual Conference. A container of rice and a piece of brick from a latrine made by a Fort Collins mission team in Cambodia. The Green Lantern doll I won during a night out with the family of a close colleague. . . and so much more.

 Each item is yoked to a memory, all speaking of the man I have been. And yet in this place new life is dawning. What I was, all the previous instances of God working in my life through my ministry will feed into what I become, all because of grace. I am grateful for this, friends. And you should be too. So take a look at your own knickknack shelf tonight. What experiences do the items there represent? And how has God made you through them? How is the Divine Life continuing to transform you using the foundation the memories give? I hope you can recognize this in your lives this week, friends. May you see the way the Potter is molding the clay.

In Christ,
Bryson