Hyde Park Speaks

Life: Passing Us By

By Matt Horan

          It's easy to drive right by Hyde Park United Methodist.  I don't have the traffic count in front of me, but surely there are tens of thousands of cars that drive by us on Platt St. every week on their way downtown.  However, you will not find many of those same cars parked in our parking lot on Sunday morning.  People are neck-deep in their busy lives, and they are not motivated to make room in their life for church.  Life is so full.  So busy.  There are so many demands.
          It's easy to drive right by Hyde Park United Methodist.
          To many, they needed to hit some sort of low-point in order to sense a need for Christ, or for the church.  Is that always necessary?  Might someone not just see a good group of people that they enjoy and want to be a part of it?  Might someone not just hear about the many wonderful things happening and just decide to have a look for themselves?
          Hopefully Hyde Park will soon become a storytelling congregation.  Hopefully we'll have the courage to tell people what we've seen and heard, and invite them to come and see for themselves.  Tell your story.  Tell our story.  I have a hope for this place in the not too distant future.  I hope that someday...
          It's really hard to drive by Hyde Park United Methodist without pulling in and seeing what's going on.

Jim Finds Truth In "The Shack"

In case you missed it, you can read Jim Harnish's excellent take on "The Shack" online here.

At one point he says:

"I don't believe that everything that happens is micromanaged by God. But I will bet my soul on the assurance that there is nothing that happens that cannot be used by God for God's redeeming purpose, and that God's grace can bring good out of even the worse that happens to us."

That particular quote more or less illustrates one of my stronger impressions of The Shack (which our Tuesday night group has been reading). I've always struggled with the thought of pre-destination and whether or not God is micromanaging our lives. I don't believe He is. It's just beyond my human comprehension that this would even be possible (even though with God, anything is possible). I mean, if we're all praying for certain things to happen and they're in complete opposition to one another, how can that be managed? The answer is "I dont' know," and may never know. So I much prefer to follow the notion that God takes the events of our lives and uses them for His purpose.

This is why I don't pray for a good parking space or for the Gators to win their next game. I pray more for ... well, God to help me make sense of whatever is going on in my life. Right or wrong, that's my opinion.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Life: The Whim of the Wheel

By Matt Horan

          I must confess that I'm not a big fan of the game "Life."  When I heard that we were doing a sermon series using the game as a motif, I thought it was a good idea visually, but I still don't like the game all that much.
          My main problem is that you have almost no control over how your "life" turns out.  You spin a big colorful wheel, and then you move your car (Nice car--spacious, seats 6 comfortably.) the appropriate number of spaces, as instructed by the big colorful wheel.  I mean, I guess you're technically controlling the wheel, but who has the skills to really influence where the wheel will stop?  Not me. 
          So my defenseless family drives around the board at the whim of the wheel.  My college degrees can't help me.  My formative and educational past mistakes can't help me.  Spin and move and hope.  Spin and move and hope.  Spin and move and hope.  Winning or losing the game of "Life" has absolutely nothing to do with wise or foolish choices you made in life.  Just spin and move and hope.  
          Well, I guess you could argue that I'm not really much in control of my real life anyway.  Accidents happen.  Markets change.  Health fails.  We get lucky.  We get unlucky.  We succeed.  We fail.  We try again.
          Somehow, when I play this game, the game of "Life" that I don't like, I have a lot of fun.  I play around and laugh with friends and family, and win or lose, they are still there.  It's so good to just laugh with them and be with them.
          Hmmm... maybe this game has it right after all.
         

Hyde Park Softball Shows Improvement in Narrow 16-5 defeat

By Matt Horan

          Hyde Park's softball players were flying all over the place Monday night, making acrobatic catches, diving stops, and tagging opponents out with semi-violent collisions (normally mild-mannered 2B Kellie Stock, for example).  Hits that were rolling all the way to the fence in their last game were being cut off by outfielders Amanda Galbreath, Courtney Beitler, and recent call-up Richard Nicholas.  Jarod Rouch made a full-extension diving catch in the first inning to preserve an early 4-run lead that Hyde Park grabbed in their first at bat.  On top of that, catcher Esther Will caught a foul ball behind the plate for an out in the 4th inning, and newly signed shortstop Scott Roxborough was obscured from view all night by the cloud of dust that he kept kicking up with all of his diving plays.
          "That's how we do it in Scotland," Roxborough said, dusting off the shirt that he borrowed from Matt Horan.  "Until Hyde Park Soccer starts up, I'll have to dominate this game instead."  William Wallace was unavailable for comment.
          Giving up 24 runs in their previous outing, 16 was a nice improvement, especially considering that their opponent, the Landsharks scored a 26-2 victory in their first game.  Unfortunately for the Landsharks, Hyde Park will play them again next Monday night, 9:30pm.  Supposedly employees of a fishtank design company, the team featured several former players from the U.S. Women's Olympic Softball Team, and a couple of guys who'd played a few years in the Baltimore Orioles organization.  Cal Ripken was unavailable for comment.
          Pitchers Matt Horan and John Stock had a tough night, giving up 8 runs apiece, thanks in large part to the umpire's "strike zone in motion."  
          "Try as we might, it was difficult to figure out where the strike zone would be from one pitch to the next."  Horan lasted just three innings, yielding a 24.00 ERA.  "I could have sworn that, at one point, I heard the ump say, 'Well, I guess, the last one was a strike, so, I'll call this one a ball.'"
          "Plus, the outfield ump kept giving me advice during my pitches," Horan complained, "Tiger Woods would throw a fit if someone talked during his backswing.  He's lucky that I'm no Tiger Woods."
          Tiger Woods was unavailable for comment.

Twittering The Final Hours

This past "Good Friday," New York City's Trinity Wall Street - an Episcopal church in lower Manhattan - found some creative ways to share Holy Week online.

With Trinity's "Stations of the Cross," parishioners restaged Jesus' final hours - shared in evocative black-and-white photos set to music. It can be seen here.

The story was also shared via Twitter. For those familiar with how Twitter works, most of the actual "tweeted" story can be found in posts dated April 10th, between noon and 3 p.m. If you'd like to see the story, click here. Once you get to the Trinity's Twitter page, you'll have to scroll down to the bottom of their page and click the "more" button (as necessary) until you find the beginning of the story (on or about noon on April 10th).

Jim Harnish spoke to TV's Channel 10 about the importance of telling a story visually, even in these modern times.

By the way, if you didn't already know, you can now follow Hyde Park United Methodist on Twitter.

Stock Family Carries Hyde Park Softball to Narrow Defeat, 24-10.

By Matt Horan
Hyde Park Speaks Sports

          Thanks to the razor sharp fielding and hitting of John and Kellie Stock, Hyde Park's opening softball game was only a two-touchdown defeat.  
          An expansion team at Gadsden Fields, just across a couple fences from Macdill Air Force Base, Hyde Park put up a spirited effort, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead on hits by Beth Schmidt, Jared Rouch, Phil Schlossnagle, Matt Horan, Player/Manager Courtney Beitler, and the Stocks.
          Facing off against "Sonuva Pitch," a team claiming to be from a law firm, but really filled with softball ringers only loosely affiliated with the firm, HP fell behind soon after, despite diving plays by Kellie Stock at 2nd base, John Stock at 3rd, and Phil Schlossnagle at shortstop.  1st baseman Joe "Joey the Fish" Fisher stretched and leaned and even did a few splits to dig out some desperate throws.  The umpires were rarely kind to Joe on those close calls.
          Trailing 24-6 going in to the last inning, HP staged a daring rally with bunt singles by Esther Will and Beitler, and more clutch hitting from the Stocks, but the rally fell just fourteen runs short.  After a bye this week, Hyde Park will face a team called the Landsharks on April 13th at 8:30pm.  The Landsharks won their first game 24-2.  Ouch.