This Sunday, I'll return to the pulpit after a couple of Sundays off to deal with maybe the most pressing question of the entire series. People asked this question more than any other. So, I want your take as I prepare this week.

Here it is:

If God is an all powerful and loving God, then why does suffering exist?

This is one of the biggest questions of life. We've all experienced suffering to some extent. We've witnessed suffering around us. We've watched on TV as children starve; as wars destroy lives.

What do we make of it all? If God is all powerful, and loves everyone, then why doesn't God reach down and stop the pain and suffering of the world?

Felix Adler once said this: We stand, as it were, on the shore, and see multitudes of our fellow beings struggling in the water, stretching forth their arms, sinking, drowning, and we are powerless to assist them.

Are we powerless? What do we say?

This week, in preparation for the sermon, I'm reading God's Problem, written by a former minister who rejected the faith because of his struggle with the question of suffering.

I wait expectantly for your thoughts.

Posted by Eddie Rester at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Want up-to-date images of the new building?

Wish you had answers to a few questions about the campaign?

Now, there's a place you can go.

Now you can get up-to-date information about our Prepare the Way Capital Campaign through our campaign website, www.preparethewayonline.org. This site has the latest plans and images, a section for frequently asked questions, stewardship information, powerpoints, and other important information about the building project and campaign. As we move through March and April, the site will also feature important dates, a devotional and prayer guide, and other vital information for you. The site is a great tool for you to find answers to questions, but also a way to draw the entire congregation into prayerful consideration about how each of us will Prepare the Way for future generations to encounter Christ through the ministry of Parkway Heights UMC.

Posted by Eddie Rester at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The question for this week is basic is so many ways, How should I pray? Do we participate in the will of God?

Let me ask you, how do you pray? When do you pray? What do you believe happens when you pray?

I'm excited about looking at this this Sunday.

Posted by Eddie Rester at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Sunday night TV turned out to be ugly for me.

First, my Duke Blue Devils got slammed by Wake Forrest (The demons beat the devils. Who knew?). Then things got really ugly.

A little background, first.

When I was a 6th grader at Ackerman Elementary, I played peewee football. That's right. I was an intimidating tight end on offense (a thankless position in peewee football, BTW). On defense I was a cornerback. I almost intercepted a pass, but my best friend Hamp--also going for the interception--knocked me and the ball to the ground.

Our football team was the Knight Riders. 

Back to last night. As I turned off the Duke game, I flipped through the channels only to discover a BRAND NEW KNIGHT RIDER. Except this time, the car is a Mustang. Thirty seconds of viewing reminded me of how badly we need the writers to write good shows again. It was terrible. Really terrible. It was so bad that I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I just kept staring at the screen, not believing that something this bad could actually make it onto network TV. American Gladiators is better viewing (and that's not a compliment to American Gladiators).

So, I end up watching the last 30-40 minutes, I think out of pure shock. And guess who shows up at the end? David Hasselhoff. As the father of the new Michael who drives KITT.

Lately lots of remakes of 1970's and 1980's shows have made it to TV or the big screen. Battlestar Galactica. Bionic Woman. The Dukes of Hazzard. Starsky and Hutch. Charlie's Angels. And guess what? Almost every remake is terrible. And not in a cute terrible way. In a Mariah-Carey-in-a-movie-way.

Maybe there's a lesson for us. You can't go back. You can only go forward. We try to go back to life as it was or as we remember it. But it's never there. We cannot recreate moments of life. We can only find new moments.

Just a thought for a Monday.

Sunday's Question will be up later today.

Posted by Eddie Rester at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

OK. Now that we've all enjoyed the discussion of Stan, we'll move on. Thanks for everyone being so kind to me about my little slip. I didn't realize we had a congregation of spellers and English teachers.

Our question in week 2 of Lent is the Question of Belief.

Here's the question for Sunday:

Question: Can you still be Christian if you focus on the teachings of Jesus and not the details (virgin birth, walking on water, living in a fish, parting of the red sea)?

So, what do you think? What do we have to believe? Is it all or none? Our scripture for this Sunday is John 3.1-17. Take a look at it and let us know how you think it relates to the question.

Posted by Eddie Rester at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

This Sunday begins the season of Lent. Lent comprises the 40 days before Easter (not including Sundays) and is a time to fasting and repentance. It is a time to ask questions of ourselves and God and seek answers.

So, over the 6 Sundays of Lent, we'll be asking questions at Parkway Heights. Your questions. Back in December and January, you had an opportunity to turn in the questions you had about God, theology, etc. And during Lent, we're going to tackle those. Here's the first one:

Why don't Methodists ever talk about Stan, the devil, evil forces, or whatever you want to call it? Evil is everywhere. What about the 40 days and nights in the desert where Jesus was tempted by Lucifer--what about all of that?

Soooo . . . .

Here's what I need from you. I'm going to tackle this one on Sunday. But what do you think?

Is the devil real? What do you believe about evil? Is it just us or is there a power that moves us to evil acts?

I'm interested in what you think. Forward this around to some of your friends so I can get their perspective, too.

Each week, I'll post the coming Sunday's question so we can chat about it.

Posted by Eddie Rester at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)