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Pastor Barbara's Page
Rev. Barbara Moore
"My vision of the church is one of
God's people cooperating with each other to spread the message of
God's love and forgiveness to the rest of the world. My desire is to
lead others to a greater understanding of what it means to be Jesus'
disciples through study, piety, and action. In other words, I
believe the church needs to be constantly practicing the spiritual
disciplines of worship, study, and prayer, and spreading the love of
God throughout the world.
"There is one God, both
transcendent and immanent, who is revealed to us as Creator, Redeemer
and Sustainer. Through Jesus' resurrection we have a living Christ who
promises us a resurrection as well. Jesus as Christ reveals the gospel
of God's love freely offered to us and God's command that as we are
loved, we are to love God with every part of our being and to love our
neighbor as ourselves. The Spirit sustains us through an awareness of
God's presence, which is exhibited through our behavior and attitudes,
including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."
Dear Friends,
I just received this via
email. Perhaps you’ve heard the story, perhaps not. Even if you have, it’s
worth hearing again. It is a story of the Christmas spirit that does not take
place at Christmas time. May you be both blessed by the story and motivated to
bring such love into the lives of those around you:
At a fundraising dinner
for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the
students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When
not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with
perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He
cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of
things in my son?'
The audience was stilled
by the query.
The father continued. 'I
believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes
into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and
it comes in the way other people treat that child.'
Then he told the following story:
Shay and his father had
walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked,
'Do you think they'll let me play?' Shay's father knew that most of the boys
would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood
that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of
belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his
handicaps.
Shay's father approached
one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play.
The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the
game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put
him in to bat in the ninth inning.'
Shay struggled over to
the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father
watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the
father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the
ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no
hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the
field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In
the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and
the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled
to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they
let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was
given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay
didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped
up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting
winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the
ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and
Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to
toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball
and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be
over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the
ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the
end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher
threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team
mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to
first! Run to first!' Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made
it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.
Everyone yelled, 'Run to
second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second,
gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards
second base, the right fielder had the ball ... The smallest guy on their team
who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown
the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's
intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the
third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners
ahead of him circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming,
'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'
Shay reached third base
because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction
of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay, run to third!'
As Shay rounded third,
the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming,
'Shay, run home! Run home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was
cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.
'That day', said the
father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams
helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.
Shay didn't make it to
another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and
making his father so happy, and coming
home and
seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
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United Methodist Church of Peace