Dear Hyde Park Family,

In his biography of St. Francis, the great theologian and author G. K. Chesterton described the venerable saint as “the mirror of Christ rather as the moon is the mirror of the sun. The moon is much smaller than the sun, but it is also much nearer to us; and being less vivid it is more visible.” The history of the church is filled with such mirrors of Christ, and they show aspects of holy living that strengthen and encourage us.

Starting June 30, we will share in a special six-part worship series called “Voices of Inspiration,” in which we will explore and celebrate significant figures in recent Christian history. We will not just remember the story of their lives; we will lean into their example and explore how we can carry on their legacy in the way we live.

June 30   Dietrich Bonhoeffer   Matthew 4:18-22 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most significant martyrs of the 20^th century, whose courageous stance against the Hitler and Christian Nationalism continues to inspire us. In his famous book The Cost of Discipleship, he calls the church to remember that when Jesus calls people to follow him, he “bids them to come and die.”

July 7   Mother Theresa   Psalm 113:7-9 

Mother Theresa of Calcutta was the greatest charitable force in our lifetimes. She inspired us to give of ourselves humbly and obediently for the sake of the poor and needy, regardless of the cost. Her life and witness are captured in her quote, based on Psalm 113: “Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”

July 14   Howard Thurman   Psalm 139: 13-18 

Howard Thurman was one of the greatest preachers, writers, and mystics of the 20^th century. His book Jesus and the Disinherited was a landmark work that invited us to see Jesus on the side of the oppressed, and inspires us to work through non-violent means to bring justice and social change.

July 21   Mahalia Jackson   Matthew 6:25-34 

Mahalia Jackson was one of the greatest musical artists of her generation, not just for her beautiful music, but also for her inspirational witness. Her most iconic moments were in her singing of “His Eye is On the Sparrow,” based on the teaching of Jesus in Matthew, which inspired comfort and courage during the civil rights movement.

July 28   Oscar Romero   Luke 4:16-21 

Archbishop Oscar Romero was a powerful voice for freedom and liberation for the people of El Salvador, and his untimely death by an assassin’s bullet leaves behind a stirring witness to the power of non-violence in addressing systemic inequities and injustice.

August 4   Mary McLeod Bethune   Hebrews 11:1-6 

Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator, philanthropist, and civil rights activist, whose work was deeply rooted in her Christian convictions. Bethune-Cookman University stands as an enduring reminder of her legacy, as this state’s only United Methodist historically black college. Her famous quote “Without faith, nothing is possible; with faith, nothing is impossible” captures her belief in the power of God to transform hearts and communities for the better.

We hope you’ll join us all throughout this exciting and inspiring series. And if you find yourself out of town, remember to worship with us online!

Grace and Peace,

Magrey

MIDWEEK MESSAGE RESUMES IN AUGUST

I will be observing my customary summer hiatus from writing the Midweek Message, and will return in August. In the meantime, stay tuned for some special Summer Midweek Messages, written by other members of our staff.

Dear Hyde Park Family,

It is with great joy that the Staff-Parish Relations Committee welcomes back the Rev. Bernie Lieving to our staff, beginning August 1. For many in this church, Bernie is no stranger, having served here as an Associate Pastor from 1994 to 2013. He returns to serve as our Parish Associate, working primarily as part of Rev. Sally Campbell-Evans’ ministry of Congregational Care. He will occasionally participate in worship leadership.

Bernie was born and raised in West Virginia, and grew up in the United Brethren tradition, which led to the Evangelical United Brethren Church, and ultimately, the United Methodist Church in 1968. He reflects a rich part of our spiritual heritage as United Methodists, along with nearly three decades of service as a Chaplain in the United States Army.

After leaving as an Associate Pastor in 2013, Bernie served on the clergy team at Palma Ceia Methodist, and most recently as the interim Senior Pastor at Land O’Lakes United Methodist. In 2015, he married Cindy Lieving, who has been an active part of our church. For 54 years, Bernie was married to Dorothy Lieving, who started our Peanut Butter Buddies program, which eventually became Open Arms, our ministry to unhoused persons.

Bernie has been a formative influence throughout my ministry. As associates together, he mentored and supported me as I “learned the ropes” of ministry at Hyde Park. He modeled the kind of care and compassion for people that helped to hone my own skills. His long tenure among us means that he is now celebrating the college graduations of children that he baptized, who were born to parents that he married! It is a joy to have him back to share ministry together here.

Join me in welcoming the return of this beloved pastor, leader, caregiver, and friend!

THIS SUNDAY: WHERE IS GOD AMID SUFFERING?

We continue our worship series “Hard to Believe” with one of the most difficult questions in our faith: “If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why is there suffering and evil in the world?” We will tackle this question and claim some assurances that will comfort us in moments of hardship.

REMEMBERING REV. TANNER WHITE

It is with profound grief and sadness that we share the news of the sudden death of Rev. Tanner White, who served Hillsborough United Methodist. Tanner’s pursuit of ministry was rooted in this congregation, and nurtured by our clergy, especially Justin LaRosa, who was one of his covenant group brothers. We shared in the joy of his ordination last Saturday in Lakeland. He died two days later of sudden, natural causes.

It is tragically ironic for some sudden cause of death to cut short a life marked by such survivorhood. He persevered against one challenge after another, in life and ministry. His unyielding relentlessness against adversity and his steadfast trust in God will be part of his legacy.

He leaves behind a wife and two young children, a reeling congregation, and grief-stricken colleagues and friends. We entrust him to God’s eternal love, and pray God’s comfort for all of us.

A memorial service for Tanner will take place in the Hyde Park Sanctuary on Saturday, June 22, at 10:30am.

Dear Hyde Park Family,

In 1952, Encyclopedia Britannica published one of the most ambitious publishing projects in the 20^th Century. It put out a series of 52-volumes called The Great Books of the Western World. Every important work from Western Civilization is in there, from Anselm and Aquinas to William Shakespeare to Sigmund Freud.

The first two of those 52 volumes are just the index, which categorizes these thousands of works along various topics. Turn to the topic of nature, for example, and you’ll see a list of entries from the Great Books that talk about them. Turn to the topic of wisdom, and you’ll see what Plato said about it, or what Mark Twain said about it.

And what do you suppose is the longest entry in the entire index? The one subject that more authors in Western Civilization said something about than another topic?

God.

Mortimer Adler, the great philosopher and editor of this majestic set of volumes, was once interviewed by Larry King. King asked him, “Why is the topic of God the one that is most addressed throughout western history?”

His response: “Because our consequences for life follow from that one issue than any other issue you can think of.”

What a simple answer to a big question. The way we understand God has more consequences for life than any other subject. It impacts how you speak. How you see others. Whom you love, and whom you despise. How you apportion your energies and how you spend your money. Every other subject is a mere footnote to the ultimate question of who God is.

This Sunday we continue our worship series “Hard to Believe” with a deeper exploration of the nature and character of God. In particular, we will think about these three classic descriptors of God: Omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (in all places), and omnipotent (all-powerful). Each of these convictions is not without complexity or complication, but each offers a distinct way to experience God personally.

Join us Sunday, with your curiosity and your questions, as we ponder who God is, and the consequences of those answers for our lives.

Grace and Peace,

Dear Hyde Park Family,

Last Sunday we began our new worship series, “Hard to Believe,” which explores essential tenets of the Christian faith that are difficult to fully comprehend. You can watch last week’s sermon here.  My hope is that this series will give you the freedom to both embrace mystery and ask sincere questions about what we claim as Christians.

Asking questions is how we mature, both in life and in faith.

After worship, a parishioner named Sheffield Crowder shared a powerful personal story with me. Sheff is a gifted community leader who works with non-profits in the area of education and leadership development.

He is also a deeply committed Christian. He gave me permission to share his story.

Sheff grew up on a small horse farm here in Tampa, with aspirations of being a nationally renowned equestrian rider. As those dreams were ending and he was struggling to find his course in life, a friend invited him to a local gathering of the Christian ministry Young Life during his junior year in high school, and his faith journey really began.

Sheff developed both the acumen and passion for thinking hard thoughts about spiritual matters. It ignited an interest in philosophy and theology, which he eventually pursued at Wheaton College in Chicago. Part of his education included some study abroad in Amsterdam, ministering throughout the Red-Light District, where he experienced the diversity of persons and perspectives in this international, cosmopolitan city.

It is there that he began to wrestle with deep and profound questions of his faith, and how his beliefs related to other religions and people with no religious affiliation.

The result for Sheff was an existential crisis of faith.

As he continued to attend theology and philosophy lectures by leading professors and lecturers, his intellectual dilemmas deepened. His chief areas of struggle were about the trinitarian nature of God and the dual nature of Christ’s incarnation. (Which, incidentally, are the topics of the first two sermons in this current worship series.)

Eventually, Sheff reached a point where, in his words, “I got to the top of my intellectual capability, and I couldn’t figure it out.” It was a poignant moment. After pestering his friends and colleagues with questions, and after reading as much as he could to think his way through his struggles, he came to the only conclusion he believed was intellectually honest:

He needed to reject the claims of Christianity and become an agnostic.

That’s when, the very same night that he resolved to let go of his faith, a beautiful, miraculous thing happened in his life. Here’s how he tells the story:

“One night in my dorm room, after much personal study, angst, and turmoil, I decided that if I was going to be intellectually honest, I needed to become an agnostic. It was something I didn’t want to admit, but I had to. So, I did.

I was depressed about my decision as I wanted to believe. I then fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, my roommate told me something that changed my life. He said I had been praying aloud in my sleep. Apparently, at the very moment that my head took my spiritual journey as far as it could go, that’s when my heart took over. That’s when I began to pray, even as I was sleeping, with my head and my heart.

At that moment, when my head and my heart became fully integrated, that’s when my belief went to a different level.

And I have never had a crisis of faith since then.”

Sheff’s story is a powerful reminder to us of how each of our spiritual journeys, while so different in their own rights, are all connected by the same gracious work of the Holy Spirit. When we allow both our head and our heart to guide us on our journeys, we can ask hard questions of the faith, while still embrace mystery and ambiguity. Our intellect can be both humble and curious, and our hearts can be both prudent and passionate.

I hope you will join us this Sunday as we tackle profound questions about the full humanity and divinity of Jesus, along with every other Sunday in this five-week series. And if you would like some “bonus content” that does a deeper dive into these topics, we are debuting a new video series called “Beyond the Sermon,” featuring conversations between me and Mat Hotho, our Director of Production and Online Engagement. You can watch last week’s 15-minute conversation here.

See you Sunday!

Dear Hyde Park Family,

We can freely admit that there are some aspects of the Christian faith that are simply hard to believe. It’s not that we don’t believe them. It’s just hard to fully comprehend them. There is a whole category of essential concepts to the faith that cannot be completely explained with reason.

• What is the nature of the trinity? How can one God exist in three persons?
• How was Jesus fully human and fully divine?
• How can we believe that God is all-powerful, all-loving, and all-present, especially in a world filled with such suffering and evil?
• What does prayer mean, and what difference does it make?

These are questions that stretch the mind.

For some people who consider themselves irreligious or non-Christian, these questions are barriers that prevent them from having faith. In a world filled with such unsettledness and uncertainty, we crave the reliable and the predictable. We would much prefer answers that are clear, cut and dry. So, for some, these concepts are not only hard to believe; they make it hard to have faith.

But for others, including many of us, these are questions that actually reinforce the need for faith.

For the next five weeks, our worship series is called “Hard to Believe,” and we will tackle each of these imponderable questions that are at the core of the Christian faith.

• May 26: The Trinity: How Can Three Equal One?
• June 2: The Nature of Christ: How Can He Be Fully Human and Fully Divine?
• June 9: The “Omnis” of God: All Powerful, All Knowing, All Present
• June 16: The Impossible Chess Match: The Problem of Suffering and Evil
• June 23: Prayer: What Difference Does It Make?

We will discover that these questions not only remind us of the limitations of our intellect and keep us humble. They help us to embrace mystery, not shy away from it. They remind us that we are not God, because if we had everything completely figured out, there would be no room for wonder, and no need for God. To believe in God is to believe in something beyond us, and beyond our capacity to grasp it. And that’s what each of these questions do.

So, join us for this series. Bring your questions, and your openness to mystery. We will discover that these essentials to Christian doctrine are not barriers to faith but are reminders of faith.

See you Sunday!

Dear Hyde Park Family,

The greatest Pentecost hymn you may never have heard of was written by Dr. Henry More, an 18th century British theologian and philosopher that one contemporary called “the most holy man he ever knew.” Despite his zealous study and prolific writing, one of the few poems to ever gain notoriety is called “On the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.”

It is a poem that caught the attention of a young Anglican preacher named John Wesley.

When John and Charles Wesley put together their volume called A Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodist, they included four of More’s original fifteen verses. (You may choose to hum these lyrics to the tune of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” or the “Old 100th” Doxology.) Here are the first two verses:

On all the earth Thy Spirit shower;

The earth in righteousness renew;

Thy kingdom come, and hell’s o’erpower,

And to Thy scepter all subdue.

Like mighty winds, or torrents fierce,

Let it opposers all o’errun;

And every law of sin reverse,

That faith and love may make all one.

The hymn became a standard selection for Methodist Christians throughout the early part of the movement’s history.  We can imagine Christians just like us, gathering together on Pentecost Sundays, singing this hymn and praying for the earth to receive a “Spirit shower” which would renew the earth in righteousness, overpower hell, reverse the law of sin, and make all people one. 

But there’s more!

Wesley, the consummate perfectionist, did more than a bit of tinkering to Henry More’s original poem, adding two verses of his own:

Father! If justly still we claim

To us and ours the promise made,

To us be graciously the same,

And crown with living fire our heard.

Our claim admit, and from above

Of holiness the Spirit shower.

Of wise discernment, humble love,

And zeal and unity and power. 

Wesley believed that it is not enough simply to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit to shower the earth and unleash the Kingdom of God on earth. The Pentecostal work of the Spirit requires nothing less than our full participation.  It was just as critical to Wesley that Christians stake a personal claim on the work of Pentecost, and fulfill the calling each of us receive as followers of Jesus Christ. 

For Wesley, there was a required five-fold response to Pentecost for every Christian: wise discernment, humble love, zeal, unity, and power. 

Join us this Sunday as we gather to celebrate the birth of the church and the work of the Holy Spirit once again in our midst. We will be honored to hear from our youth, who will lead us in our annual Youth Sunday, along with celebrating those who are graduating from various degrees of education.

Together, we will celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, alive and well in our lives.

See you Sunday!