"I THINK WE ALL NEED A PEDICURE" -Laynie Shebester, UMW Sunday 
Scripture reading: Romans 10:14-17
14 But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 15And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ 16But not all have obeyed the good news;* for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ 17So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.*
Sunday, Apr 27, 2008: "I THINK WE ALL NEED A PEDICURE" -Laynie Shebester, UMW Sunday
LAYNIE SHEBESTER: I can think of many
attributes that I would call beautiful, a beautiful
smile, beautiful hair, beautiful mind and even a
beautiful heart, but feet would definitely not qualify
in this category.
In fact, of all the feet I see in my practice
each day, between the bunions, the hammertoes, the
plantar warts and calluses, I don't think I've ever
called a single set of feet beautiful. Yet in Isaiah
52:7 and Romans 10:15, God chooses to classify them as
beautiful. He created our feet to be one of the most
useful parts of our body.
We walk, we run, we jump, we skip, hop, climb.
We use and abuse our feet everyday. Regardless of how
much abuse they take, they get us from point "A" to
point "B", just as God intended. In fact, during the
time that these verses were written, news was most
often spread from town to town by walking.
Jesus even spent a great deal of time on his feet
walking and talking, and with every step he took, he
came another step closer to bringing another lamb into
his flock. While these footsteps are a very important
part of the verse, so is the news itself. Beautiful
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feet bring glad tidings, not false tales or bad news.
Part of what makes the feet beautiful is the fact that
the news is good news of redemption, salvation and
peace.
I have a devotion book that I read each morning
before I leave the house. It's my five minutes of
peace that I get each day. It's stories from
different people who feel like they were touched by a
certain bible verse, and this bible verse was actually
in this book.
The story was written by Judy Brady, who is a
minister and author, and she tells of a Mother's Day
when she gave a sermon, and a parishioner was
especially touched by that sermon. The parishioner
told her that she had beautiful feet, for the words
Ms. Brady spoke gave her hope in her current
situation.
Ms. Brady felt like that was one of the greatest
compliments she had ever received as she herself was
going through a fairly rough time. The compliment
taught Ms. Brady that even in her worst times her own
words can be the hope that someone else needed.
I've been a member of Wesley for seven years.
I've seen many changes. We have grown by leaps and
bounds. We have added Sunday school classes and
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started many new programs. We have done a great job
using ourself to be God's feet in spreading his word
to those around. Our growth proves our ability to
preach glad tidings to those who don't know His word
or His love, but there is an area that I feel like we
need to work on.
Our beautiful feet have become callus in dealing
with respect with each other, and I think we need to
look at Barnabas as an example. Barnabas means son of
encouragement. He was drawn to people he could
encourage, and he would build their trust through
encouragement, not criticism.
Barnabas knew that encouragement could be the
catalyst that could completely change a person's life.
So he dedicated himself to having beautiful feet of
encouragement. Barnabas was a critical part of Mark's
life, and he was a key person in encouraging him to
write his gospels and spread his word. I know Wesley
has many Barnabases.
With the many members we have drawn in, we've
created within ourselves a diverse amount of talent
and personality. We have the potential to be an even
greater church than we already are, a church that
everyone knows and thinks I would love to be a member
there and become a part of that wonderful family.
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We've been dealing with issues of whether to have
one or two services, traditional or non-traditional
services, praise hymns versus traditional hymns, and
even the kids' ball pit versus no ball pit. These are
just a few of the issues that have been brought up
lately. It is beginning to overtake our focus which
is God and his plan for us. With all the talent we
have within these walls, the nominating committee
still has trouble every single year filling positions
on committees.
As someone who has been very active in the past,
I can tell you I backed off of everything except
United Methodist Women. Part of the reason was I felt
compelled to be more available for my children as they
grew older and more active, but the larger reason was
the lack of encouragement I was receiving compared to
the amount of criticism. As the spouse of the sound
system coordinator, I can tell you that not a single
week goes by that someone doesn't complain to him
about something to do with the sound regardless of
whether he's in the booth or not.
As someone said to me last week, personal lives
tend to be very busy and sometimes messy. For many of
us, coming to church is the one place where we can
find peace, refocus and re-energize ourselves, but for
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a lot of us, church has become far from peaceful.
We as a church family need to refocus our energy
on the positive, not the negative. We need to refocus
on God and everything that he's given us because we
have so many blessings to be grateful for. We
shouldn't be focusing on what we don't have. We need
to bring good tidings, not criticism. Most of all, we
need to remember that we are all human. We are going
to make mistakes, and we have our limitations. We
need to thank our staff for all that they do.
We need to remember that if we choose to critique
and criticize, we need to be willing to step up and do
the job ourselves. I can tell you I cannot and do not
want to run the sound system. I can also tell you
when I have critiqued my husband regarding the sound
system, he let me have it.
We all need to be like Barnabas. We need to take
steps with beautiful feet and encourage one another
and spread glad tidings within our walls. I love this
church and am very proud to be a member. Anyone at
work can tell you I go to church at Wesley.
I encourage all of us to get rid of the calluses
that we've developed and learn how to value others'
opinions. Have beautiful feet and spread the good
news inside and outside these wells. I challenge us
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to become encouragers, not discouragers; builders, not
destroyers.
Finally, I encourage all of us to refocus ourself
on the one who matters most, the one who wants us to
spread his news not only of redemption and salvation,
but also of love and encouragement. Amen.