2/1/15

Ministry Matters

by Dr. Mapson

As we are yet early in the dawning days of the new year it is incumbent upon every loyal member of Monumental to prayerfully re-consider your level of financial support for your church in the year 2015.  Did you know that Jesus had much to say about the use of our money and financial resources?  Such things as, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matt. 6:21)” Or, “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.  For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you (Luke 6:37)."  Or, “If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own (Luke 16:12)?"

The point being that God requires us to be generous toward Him and toward His church, because the church is God’s only representative in the world commissioned by Him.  God uses our hands, our feet, our voices, our resources, to do His will and His work.  God expects from us our “tithe, talent, time, and testimony,” to use the words of our Who Are We? statement, recited each Sunday.  The book of Malachi even suggests that when we don’t tithe we are robbing God (Mal. 3:8-10).  God desires from us just a dime out of every dollar.

I encourage each one of us to tithe. However, if you choose not to tithe, you can still be more generous and increase your giving in this new year.  This will do several things.  First, giving is as much about the giver as it is about the gift.  Your giving is a testimony of how much you love God, how much you appreciate what God had done in your life, and how thankful you are for the precious gift of God’s only Son who came into the world for our redemption.  Second, your giving will help increase the financial resources of the church so that we can more effectively do the work of ministry, maintain our beautiful building, and consider expansion as we continue to grow.  What will we leave the generation that will follow us?  Third, your generous giving will allow us to meet our budgetary responsibilities for the year 2015 without undue strain and struggle.  No church can effectively operate on a ‘shoe-string” budget.  We need to build up funds, not just for future projects (e.g., parking lot) but for emergencies as well.  We inhabit an old building (almost 100 years old), always in need of repair.  

Remember the words of Paul to the Corinthians:  “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7).”  And, in your giving, may the Lord bless you!   

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mapson

1/25/15

Ministry Matters

by Dr. Mapson

Everyone should see—as I did a few days ago—the movie “Selma,” which chronicles the 1964 march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others.  Montgomery is not only the capital of Alabama in the heart of Dixie, but at one time the capital of the Confederacy, the group of southern states that succeeded from the Union, primarily over the issue of slavery, an inhumane and degrading “way of life” southerners had pledged to preserve.  It launched America’s Civil War.  Montgomery was a city steeped in segregation and entrenched racism.  

Although all movies, in presenting drama and entertainment, may take some liberties with historic truth, Selma takes us back to a time in our history far removed from this generation.  It is not fortuitous that such a movie would come to the big screen during a time when the nation is once again embroiled in racial strife, as we think of places like Ferguson, Cleveland, and New York City, where matters of injustice and inequality continue to create a climate of hopelessness, anger, and despair on the part of so many African-Americans.

While watching the movie I was struck, not only by the drama on the screen, but by two disappointing realities away from the screen.  I looked around the theater and saw no young people.  In fairness to them, it might have been the time of day.  Yet, it is my hope that young people will see the film, not only because it is a slice of history they did not experience, but also to give them a reason to join the fight for justice and equality in a world where the poor are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer; a world where the powerful continue to take advantage of the powerless; a world where education is still the key that unlocks the door for a better, more productive and prepared life.  Those in the civil rights’ movements fought, not only for the right to vote and sit at lunch counters, but for educational opportunities, then closed to blacks because of the color of our skin.  And let us not forget the sacrifices made by many whites who were exiled from their own families and communities for standing beside blacks in the movement for justice.

I was also disappointed by the ‘all black’ audience in the movie theater.  Again, in fairness, I am sure that many non-blacks will see the film, but usually whites are not generally interested in movies with primarily black actors, or movies with black content, except when blacks are acting like clowns and buffoons.  They respond to our humor, but not to our pain, our tears, our sense of disenfranchisement, our anger and frustration over past and present injustices, while urging us to, “just get over it!”  Many people flock to movies that depict black people as mindless, films that stereotype the black church and the black preacher, movies that demean us as a people.  

Unfortunately, some of our own people will not go to see Selma because it tells a painful truth that many of us are not ready to acknowledge.  We like movies that make us laugh, not movies that make us think.  This movie may be the only history some of us will ever read.  Go see it!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mapson             

1/18/15

Ministry Matters

by Dr. Mapson

Everyone should see—as I did a few days ago—the movie Selma, which chronicles the 1964 march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others.  Montgomery is not only the capital of Alabama in the heart of Dixie, but at one time the capital of the Confederacy, the group of southern states that succeeded from the Union, primarily over the issue of slavery, an inhumane and degrading “way of life” southerners had pledged to preserve.  It launched America’s Civil War.  Montgomery was a city steeped in segregation and entrenched racism.  

Although all movies, in presenting drama and entertainment, may take some liberties with historic truth, Selma takes us back to a time in our history far removed from this generation.  It is not fortuitous that such a movie would come to the big screen during a time when the nation is once again embroiled in racial strife, as we think of places like Ferguson, Cleveland, and New York City, where matters of injustice and inequality continue to create a climate of hopelessness, anger, and despair on the part of so many African-Americans.

While watching the movie I was struck, not only by the drama on the screen, but by two disappointing realities away from the screen.  I looked around the theater and saw no young people.  In fairness to them, it might have been the time of day.  Yet, it is my hope that young people will see the film, not only because it is a slice of history they did not experience, but also to give them a reason to join the fight for justice and equality in a world where the poor are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer; a world where the powerful continue to take advantage of the powerless; a world where education is still the key that unlocks the door for a better, more productive and prepared life.  Those in the civil rights’ movements fought, not only for the right to vote and sit at lunch counters, but for educational opportunities, then closed to blacks because of the color of our skin.  And let us not forget the sacrifices made by many whites who were exiled from their own families and communities for standing beside blacks in the movement for justice.

I was also disappointed by the ‘all black’ audience in the movie theater.  Again, in fairness, I am sure that many non-blacks will see the film, but usually whites are not generally interested in movies with primarily black actors, or movies with black content, except when blacks are acting like clowns and buffoons.  They respond to our humor, but not to our pain, our tears, our sense of disenfranchisement, our anger and frustration over past and present injustices, while urging us to, “just get over it!”  Many people flock to movies that depict black people as mindless, films that stereotype the black church and the black preacher, movies that demean us as a people.  

Unfortunately, some of our own people will not go to see Selma because it tells a painful truth that many of us are not ready to acknowledge.  We like movies that make us laugh, not movies that make us think.  This movie may be the only history some of us will ever read.  Go see it!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mapson             

1/11/15

Ministry Matters

by Dr. Mapson

By now most of you know that last Sunday morning while on our way to church Sister Mapson and I were involved in a car accident at an intersection on Belmont Ave., an accident perhaps caused by a defective traffic light.  By the grace of God we survived a very traumatic and harrowing experience.  Cars can be replaced. Both of us thank you for your prayers and concern.  I have been in a couple of fender benders in the years I have been driving, but nothing near the nightmare of that experience. If you have ever been in an accident of that nature you know that there is a second or two, when after being hit, as the automobile is spinning around in the middle of the road, you feel your very life is threatened.  One can almost taste and see death.  

The fact is that I never thought I would be writing this message today because I never imagined this would have happened.  What a way for the new year to open.  However, life always has lessons to teach us if we are open to being taught.  Lesson # 1:  We never know how the day—and our days—will unfold.  My plan was to do what my wife and I have done for 27 years; get up on the Lord’s Day, get dressed, get in the car, and make our way to church.  We are not in charge of how our days unfold.  

Lesson #2:  We are reminded how close we humans are to death; just a second or two can separate us forever from this life.  Had our car been hit a half-second earlier the accident would have been far more severe, and who knows whether or not we would have survived or what shape we would have been in had we survived?  I’m reminded of the biblical passage when David says to Jonathan, “…there is but a step between me and death (1 Sam. 20:3).”  The mere thought of this ought to make our days more precious.

Lesson #3: I looked into the face of my wife, more concerned about her than myself, as she was at the same time more concerned about me than about herself.  What better definition of love than when one thinks of the other more than of self?  I appreciated more than ever her presence in my life, how much she means to me, and the mere thought of losing her, as well as being taken from our children, would be too much to bear.  Lesson #4:  Sometimes things happen so fast until there is no time to pray.  However, I believe that prayers already prayed can sustain us in times when there is no time to pray.  I had called on the Lord so many times before.

Lesson #5:  The accident happened while on our way to do the Lord’s work.  I was on my way to conduct worship and preach, and Sister Mapson on her way with me to sing with the choir.  Christians are not exempt from accidents and other calamities, even while on their way to serve the Lord.  But this is the final and most important lesson:  God is with us.  I trust God.  If we had not survived, God is still God.  If God had not delivered us, He’s still God.  There is hope for the new year, because He continues to hold us in the palm of His hand.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mapson           

1/4/15

Ministry Matters

 by Dr. Mapson 

Although we are still exchanging with one another the traditional greeting, “Happy New Year,” we also bring with us into the new year the pain and unrest of last year.  Think Ferguson, New York, Cleveland, as well as other cities across America where frustration has boiled over regarding the killing of black men by white police officers.  Even though the new year has dawned, troubling issues from last year and decade upon decade of frustration by African-Americans remain.

Adding to the tensions was the recent slaying of two police officers in Brooklyn, NY by a disturbed man who first shot his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore, took a bus to Brooklyn where he, with premeditation, gunned down the two officers as they sat in their patrol car, then took his own life.  This cowardly and gutless act only added fuel to the fires already burning across America, and has worsened the already fragile relationship between law enforcement officers and the people they have pledged to protect and serve.  When will the hostile and hurtful rhetoric between the two sides cease?  

The two slain police officers (who were themselves minorities) did not deserve to die, even though their assassin claimed retribution for the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Gardner.  In the first place, the slain officers had nothing to do with the incidents in Ferguson, New York, and Cleveland.  In the second place, one has no right to take a life for a life, since no human being is the giver of life.  God is the giver of life.  How dare anyone ‘play’ God?  In the third place, the officers were simply doing their jobs, patrolling the mean streets, standing between order and chaos, which is necessary in order to maintain a society of law and order, although historically the application of ‘law and order’ has seldom been just and fair when applied to black people.  Fourth, and of foremost importance, those officers had families who loved them as Michael Brown and Eric Gardner were loved by their families.  One officer had been married only two months.  The other, married and the father of two sons, was active in his church, was referred to as “God-loving,” and was studying for ministry.   Don’t we need more “God-fearing” police officers?  

If we are God’s people we will show the same compassion and sense of outrage regarding the killing of the officers, for they too were human beings who had a right to live.  Will those who demonstrate for justice also demonstrate against the violence and hatred that took their lives?  What we have now in America are demonstrations against the police, as well as demonstrations for the police, with each side against the other.  Now law enforcement is on even higher alert and more defensive, which only adds to the tensions.  As people of God do we think this situation is good for the country and pleasing to God?

Let’s keep in mind the real issue, which is not just the killing of black men by white police officers.  The deeper issue is that police officers are not held accountable by grand juries for taking a life, and an unjust justice system that permits grand juries to make decisions not to indict police officers, rather than at least allowing a trial to determine their guilt or innocence.  

As we begin this new year of Grace let us be prayerful for our nation during these troubling times.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mapson