By Pastor Tracey Leslie
Scripture:  Genesis 12:1-4a

​In July of 2008 my father-in-law became ill.  Britt traveled to Cincinnati to accompany his dad to the doctor, at Lloyd’s request.  Just three short days later, Britt called me to confirm our worst fears:  a glioblastoma brain tumor.  Because of Lloyd’s medications, they weren’t able to biopsy until later that week.  The area of the brain affected by the tumor controlled Lloyd’s emotions and judgments.  My once nearly stoic father-in-law became, overnight, an emotional wreck.  His speech, incessant, was a jumbled mess of anxieties, frustrations and obsessions.  The afternoon of the biopsy, his pastor came to pray with us.  After the prayer, Britt and the pastor walked out to the lounge area to talk together.  I stayed with Lloyd and endured that constant painful loop of anxieties, frustrations and obsessions.  I tried to listen, but not take to heart, what was being said.  But one thing touched me deeply.  Lloyd tearfully said to me, “I promised Pat [Britt’s mother who was already deceased] I’d get Britt through.  I’d see him through his Ph.D.”  Britt’s mom loved scripture.  She wrote her own bible study curriculum and her adult Sunday School Classes at the Bethel UMC were standing room only.  So you can imagine her excitement and delight that her only son was going to be a bible scholar.  I think, for her, it was the best blessing a parent could receive.  And so that day in the hospital, for as poorly as Lloyd’s brain was working, he was still able to recall and be pained by the promise he had made – “I promised Pat I’d get Britt through his Ph.D.” – a promise he would now break.
There is great power in promises.  Perhaps someone once made a promise to you that placed a blessing within your grasp.  Perhaps you once made a promise that powerful to someone else.  Or perhaps you have been on the receiving end of a broken promise, a lost blessing, that caused you to doubt and question everything you ever believed and trusted in.

By Pastor Tracey Leslie
Scripture:  Matthew 18:15-20

​What good is the Church to the world?
What can the Church offer the world?
A young father, studying the Jewish Torah, was making every effort to raise his child in the faith, yet meeting with little success.  He went to his rabbi:  “Rabbi, what am I to do?  I love my child.  But, he’s disobedient and surly.  He’s rebellious and he violates some of the laws in the Torah, the Talmud and our tradition.  He even does just stupid things.  He disagrees with what I say and he does what he knows will annoy me or hurt me.  He spends time with people I abhor and evil-doers.  What can I do?”
The rabbi looked at him with great compassion and said, “Love him more!”[i]
What good is the Church to the world?  What can the Church offer the world? 


[i] Story found in Matthew: the Book of Mercy by Megan McKenna; New City Press; 2007; p. 98

By Pastor Tracey Leslie
Scripture:  Psalm 139:1-18

Last week on Facebook I read about the passing of my high school choral director, Donald Batiste.  In 6th grade, I signed up for chorus.  Soon my parents learned that Mr. Batiste taught piano lessons and asked if he would be my teacher.  In middle school, I was socially awkward and terribly unsure of myself and who I was meant to be… as so many of us were at that age.  It wasn’t long before Mr. Batiste asked me if I would be willing to accompany the school chorus.  The offer both terrified me and thrilled me simultaneously.  That one choral selection became many over time and, by the end of senior year, about 90% of what both the Junior and Senior High choruses performed was accompanied by me.  Mr. Batiste also trusted me to rehearse the small vocal ensemble when his schedule required him to, impossibly, be in two places at one time.  I owe a lot to Mr. Batiste.  But, what I didn’t realize during high school was that Mr. Batiste was helping me discover something unique and basic about the person God had created me to be.  I am a collaborator.  I didn’t remain a professional accompanist, but to this day, any project, task, or activity is more enjoyable to me when I work on it with someone.  Later this month I’ll begin Coaching training with the conference.  The first required text for the training is a book entitled “Co-active Coaching.”  Or as they define it in the book, collaborative coaching.