Our local Crop Hunger Walk will be September 13, with registration at 10:15 a.m. at Riverside Park in Heyburn. 25% of donations will stay in our local community and will be distributed to our Open Hearts Food Pantry, Hope Community Food Pantry in Paul, and Community Food Share Inc. in Burley. The other 75% of donations is used for hunger relief in our country and in the world.
I have never known true hunger, nor has my family. I cannot imagine how it feels to watch a child die from starvation. I cannot imagine the panic of not having food available no matter where I turned. We can make a difference.
World hunger by the numbers
The world produces enough food to feed all of its 8 billion people, yet 733 million people (1 in 11) go hungry every day.
Half of all child deaths are linked to malnutrition.
9 million people die from hunger-related causes every year.
4. Hunger rates in Africa are especially high, with 1 out of 5 people going hungry each day.
2.8 billion people around the world (35% of the global population) cannot afford a healthy diet.
That percentage is even higher in low-income countries, where 71.5% of people cannot afford a healthy diet.
According to the 2024 Global Hunger Index, hunger levels in 36 countries are ranked at Serious.
The 2024 Global Hunger Index also rates hunger levels as Alarming in 6 countries: Burundi, Chad, Madagascar, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.
The number of people experiencing hunger has gone up by approximately 152 million in the last five years.
As of October 2024, the Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC) estimates that 1.33 million people around the world are experiencing famine or famine-like conditions.
How can you give?
We will take a special offering in worship on September 14 to give to the Crop Hunger Walk. Please donate generously!
Who can walk?
Every person here can participate, whether it is walking, riding a scooter, being pushed in a wheelchair, getting a piggyback ride, or dancing through the park…
Register and/or donate
You can register to walk with the Rupert UMC team or give a donation by going online to:
https://events.crophungerwalk.org/crophungerwalks/team/rupert-united-methodist-church
                                           Grace and Peace
~Brenda

I thank the many of you who participated in helping our congregation discern our values. The results were not a surprise.

We welcome everyone. That means exactly what it says. It does not matter who a person is, we recognize that they are a child of God. One person wrote, “this church is a friendly, welcoming church that greets people, gets to know new people, and then helps connect them in ministry.” Another listed the ways we are welcoming, “the food pantry, church service, Roca Firme Congregation, greeters, coffee hour. When people come to this church, they feel welcome.” I appreciated the insight of one member who wrote, “Sometimes, we can be overwhelming, but people like to know they are recognized as a new attendee.”

We are thankful. A member wrote, “Members are thankful for each other and for the ways we reach the community.” According to another, “With our church family, thankfulness just spills out!” From the sharing of joys and concerns in worship to the many texts, emails, and cards we receive, people express their thankfulness for God and each other.

We love God, the community around us, and each other. One person wrote, “Love is the value one ‘Feels in this Church.’” Our coffee hour and the food we serve is an expression of our love, as is our very active prayer chain and our food pantry.

We value education. “Bible studies, Christian Education studies, movie night events, discussion panels, speakers, United Women of Faith meetings, Church camp scholarships, and college scholarships, we help people learn about themselves, their faith, and how to better live as Christians.”

We are a strong church community and we support the community of Rupert. We pray for each other, socialize together, eat together, cry and laugh together. We support the community through our very active food pantry, by inviting the whole community to an ice cream social (with homemade ice cream), movie nights, and a Fall Harvest dinner. We attend other church’s functions and share Holy Week with the Episcopal Church. We host concerts and community groups. We are family.

Grace and Peace,
~Brenda

Several years ago, I joined the local Lutheran pastors in Idaho Falls to bring a professor from Pacific Lutheran University to town to lead us in a study of Bowen Family Systems Theory. It was the best continuing education I have taken. What I learned changed my parenting and my ministry.
 
One of the most vivid teachings was that every family or system has chronic anxiety. The professor explained this using two glasses with water. The water in the glass represented chronic anxiety. The fresh water that he then poured into the glasses represented anxiety producing situations. One glass was one-fourth filled with chronic anxiety water, while the other was two-thirds filled. When the same amount of fresh anxiety producing situation water was poured into each glass, the two-thirds filled glass overflowed onto the table. The one-fourth filled glass was able to handle the additional anxiety ridden fresh water.
 
When a family or system already has a large amount of chronic anxiety, a new anxiety producing situation will cause the anxiety to overflow and affect everything and everyone around them. That explains why some people who experience a traumatic event can take it in stride, while it may cause much drama for other people with higher chronic anxiety.
 
Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." As Christians, we are encouraged to reduce our level of chronic anxiety! When we trust and rely on God, there is no need for such high anxiety. Unfortunately, we are not always good at reducing our anxiety.
 
This is what I thought about when Christians were angry about what they saw as the French organizers of the Olympics disrespecting Christians in the opening ceremony by portraying Jesus' Last Supper with men in drag. They immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was portraying the Last Supper without verifying their assumption. It actually portrayed an interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus. By the time this information was given, the offended Christians were too anxious and could only perceive themselves as victims.
 
Why are some Christians so filled with chronic anxiety that they perceive things around them as threats? Why do they see themselves as victims? Why do they feel a need to defend God, and pay more time and attention to perceived slights, than they do feeding the poor and taking notice of the refugees participating in the Olympics? I don't know what has caused the chronic anxiety, but it appears that their anxiety leaves them vulnerable to those who would want to manipulate them.
 
Instead of jumping on the anxiety band wagon and being annoyed that the Olympic committee may have slighted Christians or being annoyed that some Christians have become so angry, we have the option of following the Biblical teaching of Philippians 4:6-7. We can choose to pray, to give thanks that God is bigger than this situation, and ask for understanding. We can accept the peace God offers us, and use our energy to build up the Kingdom of God as we already begin to experience it here and now. We can choose to let go of our chronic anxiety, so that the next time we perceive a slight, the fresh water in our glass will be absorbed and not overflow! Amen.

We are beginning a new sermon series this Sunday, April 14. The scripture readings during the great 50 days of Easter (the time between Easter Sunday and Pentecost) concentrate on the book of Acts. Acts tells the story of the early church. Jesus’ disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit led them to share what they witnessed. God worked through their sharing, transparency and authenticity, to inspire people. Many people made the choice to follow Jesus.
It is not an easy thing to be transparent and authentic today, and to share our faith stories. We are sometimes afraid to be considered pushy and judgmental. In our culture, when so many Christians are known for the people they reject or the politicians they follow, we are afraid to be identified as “one of those Christians.” We acknowledge that too many people have been wounded by Christians and churches. We don’t want to cause any harm to anyone.
Instead of pushing our faith on people, we can follow the example of the early Christians. They did not tell people what they had to believe. They simply shared their own experiences and stories. We do not convert people. It is God working through us and our stories that can change someone’s life. It is not pushy to share with someone that life is better here and now for you because of your faith, and that the community of the church has enriched your life. If you are worried about being judgmental, look at yourself and ask if you love all the people Jesus loves…which means every person. If you believe that God’s “enemies” are the same people you reject, then perhaps you could read Matthew 5-7 again.
My hope is that we can return to sharing our faith transparently and authentically. For the next several weeks, I will interview people in our congregation about their faith. I hope that by doing this, we may learn to talk more openly about our own faith experiences. Since our lives have been enriched by our faith, we can share the hope that God will work through us to inspire other people to also be open to the Holy Spirit enriching their lives. Together we can help build a better world for our community.

I love that there are many churches in the small community of Rupert. People get to choose which church meets their needs. Healthy churches are not in competition with each other. When one church thrives, the whole faith community can thrive. When one church suffers, the whole faith community can suffer. We share the love of Christ in all of our churches. Our individual beliefs may divide us, but we do not all need to think alike in order to love alike and work side by side to share the good news of God’s love with our community.
Each church emphasizes a different part of the good news. Some churches emphasize a heart religion of personal holiness, a person’s personal relationship with Christ. Others emphasize social holiness, living the teachings of Jesus and the faith in the world around us. Some emphasize a more intellectual faith, requiring their pastors to have an extensive education. Others emphasize that pastors are called by God and require little education. Some churches claim to have a truer faith, while others see themselves as one part of the family of God.
Rupert United Methodist Church strives to balance personal holiness with social holiness. We believe that each person can deepen their personal relationship with Christ, and that our faith produces good works in the world, making life better for the people in our community. Our church works diligently through our food panty to meet the needs of the hungry in our community. You will never hear a sermon in this church about who to vote for, but you will hear sermons about how our Christian values should have influence on our political decisions. You will also hear much about Jesus’ teaching to love all people, including those with whom we disagree.
United Methodist pastors are required to have a Master’s degree (MDIV), to have a proven service record in the church, to have psychological testing, and to take continuing education through their whole time in ministry. The more I have learned, the more I realize how much I will never be able to learn! There is not enough time or education for any of us to be able to claim to understand everything. While we want our pastors to be well-educated, we recognize that the perfection we strive for is perfection in love, not perfection in knowledge.
United Methodists do not claim to have the only truth. I often jokingly say that United Methodists “play nicely with others.” We encourage people to question their faith, because an examined faith leads to a deeper and more committed faith. We encourage people to learn about other denominations in the Christian faith, and even other faiths, because that also encourages individuals to come to an understanding of what they believe for themselves. We encourage people not to check their brains at the door, but to be confident enough in their faith to openly ask questions.
Some in the Rupert and Burley communities have judged this church because of its openness to having a woman as a pastor. We believe that God is powerful enough to work through anyone, including women. We believe that scripture is inspired, but not dictated, and that the Bible was written and interpreted through the lens of culture.
Some in the community may be uncomfortable that we follow Jesus’ teaching to love all people, and to not judge people. We do not find “love the sinner, hate the sin” to be a teaching of Jesus. Jesus told us to love. We accept anyone and everyone, Republican, Independent, Democrat, poor, wealthy, in between, elderly, young, somewhere in the middle, documented, undocumented, gay, straight, bi, trans, retired, employed, unemployed, tattooed, not tattooed. Whatever you label yourself, or whatever label others have placed on you, you are welcome here.