Hello Saints,
If you haven’t heard the song ” With a Little Help from My Friends,” then we need to talk, because it’s a classic. “With a Little Help from My Friends” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and sung by drummer Ringo Starr, his lead vocal for the album.¹
I mention this song because of a recent article in the Jefferson County Leader newspaper. The article I am referring to starts on page one and is titled “A little help from his ‘friends,'” by Peggy Scott.² The article is centered around teenage homelessness and an organization called the Homeless Youth Initiative.³ The story unfolds about a 21-year-old named Daniel Schilling of Hillsboro. Many of you from the Hillsboro, Missouri area may know this young man and his family. I want to lift up this story because this is what living out the Kingdom of God looks like in the world in which we all live. Here is a troubled young man, that finds his way back from homelessness with a little help from some friends and an organization called the Homeless Youth Initiative. Daniel found himself homeless in his senior year of high school, for unknown reasons. The main point is he was homeless and needed help, and this organization stepped in and provided some assistance, along with other friends and family, I’m sure. I don’t know if Daniel or his family has a church family to support them, but thank God that the Homeless Youth Initiative was there for him. They helped him get into Jefferson College, where he earned an associate degree in welding, and discovered a passion for learning, praise God.
In this same article, Daniel is quoted as saying, “They gave me hope, and hope means much more than money or the items. It gives you inspiration and help and guidance. It means ‘You’ve got this.’ It gives you hope that I can do this.” Friends, what Daniel described, is the kingdom calling each one of us have on our lives as kingdom people. The hope that Daniel reflected on is the greatest gift that we have to share with others. Our friends in recovery would refer to this as sharing one’s experience, strength, and hope. I have only been here for two weeks as the new pastor for Hillsboro UMC and Transformation UMC. I am excited to learn what both of these kingdom-centered churches are doing to provide hope, justice, righteousness, and peace for each of their communities in Jefferson County, Missouri.
Saints, let me ask you a couple of questions when is the last time you shared your hope with someone else? What is the hope that you have to share with someone else? If you feel hopeless, what needs to change in your life and attitude so that God can put hope back into your life? Maybe, just maybe, you could use a little help from your friends, just like Daniel needed, and I have needed off and on throughout my life. If you feel hopeless or don’t even know where to start, please contact me, and let’s discuss it. God wants you to be hopeful, joyous, happy, and free, living out your kingdom calling, and if you are not, then we need to fix that.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am a very kingdom-focused believer. Jesus commands us to live our lives as kingdom people. Living out the kingdom life is much more than merely coming to church on Sunday. The kingdom life should bear witness in all areas of our lives. We should be practicing these spiritual principals in all of our affairs. None of us will ever do this perfect, but by living as a vibrant kingdom community we will for sure experience many blessings together as one in Christ. We need each other in order to grow in understanding and effectiveness. Providing kingdom services, meeting people where they are at, and helping people take the next steps on their spiritual journey, as the good folks at the Homeless Youth Initiative are doing, is imperative for our survival as a kingdom community, and for advancing the kingdom of God. God’s character is revealed throughout all sixty-six books of the bible and personified in the person of Jesus Christ. The three guiding principals of God’s character are Justice, Righteousness, and Shalom (or Peace). Our job as kingdom people is to practice living out these three characteristics in everything we do. My purpose statement for Hill-Tran United UMC is simply “Kingdom People Helping People Find and Follow Jesus.” I hope that we all learn to memorize this purpose statement, but more importantly, I hope we learn to live it out together.
On behalf of Suzie and our family, we want to thank everyone from Hillsboro UMC and Transformation UMC for their prayers, encouragement, and support. When we arrived here at our new home on June 25, 2020, we moved into a clean house, and whatever minor things that needed to be fixed were fixed, so we are truly grateful for everyone helping make our new home feel like home. Many of you have stopped by to introduce yourselves, bring food, and even gifts. Your generosity is appreciated and was helpful during our transition. It’s always necessary and delightful to be welcomed anywhere, but especially inside your new church family. Our family is pretty down to earth, easy to approach, and we love to fellowship. We have two basic principals to live by outside of the spiritual principals Jesus taught us to live by, and those are. 1. Rule #63 “Don’t take yourself to darn seriously.” 2. Rule #7 – “Have Fun.” We hope that we get to know every one of you on an intimate level and quickly become lifelong friends. Everywhere God has taken us on this spiritual journey, we have always left taking with us many new lifelong friends. You will meet many of them in time when they stop by to visit us and join us for worship. Our family would not be where were are today without a little help from our friends. Thank you for being our new friends. God is going to continue to do amazing things through our kingdom family, and we are going to have fun doing it, despite this pandemic.
Friends, I hope you have a blessed week, and I am always here when you need me.
Shalom,
Harold Long
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_a_Little_Help_from_My_Friends
- A little help from his ‘friends,’ Jefferson County Leader by Peggy Scott, Page 1 and 9
- Homeless Youth Initiative, https://www.facebook.com/homlessyouthinitiative/
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