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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
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July/August 2006 |
Church is about believing Jesus Christ, says Brindel during Memorial Service
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - "Ministry today is a hard gig," proclaimed the Rev. Jean Moorman Brindel during the North Indiana Annual Conference's Memorial Service held in Purdue University's Elliott Hall on June 1.
Brindel represented the ordained women of the conference in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Full Clergy Rights of Women in the Methodist Tradition. Brindel was the first women ordained and made a full member of the North Indiana Conference in 1977. She now serves as pastor of the Saint Matthew's UMC in Frankfort.
She said one reason it is difficult to be a minister is because the church is eclectic in its theology today. People choose what they want to believe a little bit of this -ism and that -ism. But it doesn't work.
Our theology colors the way we see the world. As United Methodists, we need to go back to our Wesleyan roots to see how we need to live today. Wesley said it's not what you believe that matters but being a Christian. It's about our relationship with Jesus Christ, as being the center of all of life. Out of that comes a new way of understanding - living and believing God's word about Jesus Christ.
Believing in God is not enough; believing God is the center. she said.
When we live an empty religion, we live almost as Christians. We need to reach out and touch the lives of others.
When we are more concerned about apportionments than being the church, we need to ask in whom we believe. Otherwise we are ALMOST being the church.
The world is so empty. We need to move beyond what we believe in and move toward who we believe. Is Jesus Christ the center of our life, the church, the center of who we are?
We remember today those who shared their relationship with Jesus Christ with other people. They touched a hurt world. Jesus calls us to be His church.
Deceased ministers and spouses remembered included: Ministers - Edward Mitchell, Samuel Overmyer, Robert Lundy, Theodore Roberts, Charles Williams, John Ward Jr., Charles Lane, John Stalions, Louis Haskell, Billy Rogers, Evan Bergwall Jr., Donald Weaver, Richard Girton, Churchill Cox, Thomas Weigand, Donald Abbey, Lynn Henry;
Spouses - Mary Jane Abel, Marjory Glass, Carol Burris, Mabel Kistler;
Surviving Spouses - Lillian Morris, Evelyn Simons, June Hancock, Irma Stork, Violet Littrell, Velma Wilson, Mary Brittain, Gayle Corrington, Alice Smitley, Ancile Overmyer.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008