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		Points of View Carolyn "Candy" Peterson April 14, 2006 Guest Column © 2006 Carolyn Peterson. Reprinted with permission. Photo © 2006 and courtesy Rolf Peterson. Reprinted with permission.

My outward-facing church

By Carolyn "Candy" Peterson

Our minister, Eugene Bacon, raised in the Catholic Church, has a degree in physics from the University of Michigan. His search for ultimate meaning and first causes led him from the auto industry to seminary. He is an outstanding minister. Having listened to sermons for over fifty years in Congregational, Episcopalian, Lutheran and now Methodist churches, I have never heard more inspiring sermons. I have collected printed copies of Gene’s words for ten years. Week after week he challenges us to stand outside our culture of competition, hard work, frenetic activity and material possessions and to recognize how these influences have stifled our better selves. He encourages our congregation to be an outward-facing circle that sees the good in all people.

In a recent sermon titled "Salvation Now," Gene told a wonderful story. In brief -- a family was on an outing when the children in the back seat noticed a stray kitten and asked their father to stop and rescue it. Reluctantly, the father complied, getting scratched in the process. After weeks of care and feeding, the kitten was transformed and became affectionate and trusting. "Was it the same kitten?" Gene asked.

In our adult Sunday school class, we are free to discuss our individual beliefs, which are varied and interesting; but as I look at the people in the pews during the service, I really don’t know what they believe about the nature of God and Jesus, resurrection, baptism, etc. We undoubtedly hold a wide variety of beliefs, and our ability to work together is enhanced because we can overlook our differences. I expect most of us have given up on finding all the answers and have instead learned to enjoy the questions.

Antoine de Saint Exupéry wrote, "Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction." 

When we spend an hour a week listening to Gene Bacon's words, singing the same songs and spending a few moments in silence together, we sense an atmosphere of trust; hopefully we can effectively extend this feeling to all those who enter our doors.

Some of the projects we support are the CROP Walk, Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project, Habitat for Humanity, Relay for Life and Bread for the World. On Saturday mornings free Tai Chi classes are offered.

First United Methodist Church is on Quincy Street, between the Hancock City Hall and Hancock Middle School. We meet every Sunday morning at 10:45. A nursery is provided during the service, and older children can attend "Junior Church" during the sermon. There are Sunday School classes for ages four through adult, and Rob McTaggart leads the children in singing. Visitors are welcome.

Editor's Note: Carolyn "Candy" Peterson has been a Copper Country resident since 1975. She spends her summers on Isle Royale, assisting her husband Rolf in the moose-wolf research project. Candy says she has volunteered for a variety of programs "out of gratitude for the many blessings I have been given." (She received the "Heart and Hands Award" in 2004.)  Views expressed by our guest columnists are not necessarily the views of Keweenaw Now.