Welcome to the United Methodist Church of Vista, 490 S. Melrose Dr., Vista, California 92806, Church srevice are Sunday 8:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., all are welcome

Sunday Morning Worship
8:45 a.m. Praise Service

Featuring "The Praise band"

10:30 a.m. Traditional Service

Featuring "The Chancel Choir"

8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.

Nursery Care

8:45 a.m. until 10:00 am.

Sunday School

Meet in the sanctuary, after the children's moment go to your room

9:45 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.

Coffee Fellowship

5:00 p.m. High School Youth Group (Grades 9-12), Room 204

Life’s Path

It matters not what path you take when you walk the path called Life. Every path has its ups and downs with problems cutting like a knife.
The path you take will not be
     smooth,
but will be strewed with rock
     and stone,
rivers to cross and hills to climb, and surprises strange, unknown.
Those who walk with their
     head held high
with a smile and a merry heart, will not feel the journey’s stress, but will storm surprises rampart.
-Max Foss (06/11/08)

Find the right path and invite others to follow

What is important to you in this life and the next? If you listed what is really important, would God and His

church be numbered 1, 10 or 20?

If you asked, you would discover that those who list God and His church as most important are:

1. committed to regular presence in worship, study and fellowship;

2. pray daily;

3. share their gifts of time and talents;

4. provide service in the name of the Lord; and

5. pledge to financially support their church weekly, monthly or annually.

They have joined a church and they are active. They have joined the education program and teach children or

adults...or they have joined the music program...or they have joined a committee or help in some other capacity.

In this process they have made new friends and begin to understand all the wonderful things their church does

as well as its needs and problems. They help solve the needs and problems of their church home just like they would

their own.

Finally they begin to realize how important their church family and church is to them. They want other families

to have these great benefits and they invite them to visit their church.

-Don Raun

Grace Notes
    Rev. George Hooper
    Weeds. The bane of the gardener’s existence. Any plant can be a weed if it grows where you don’t want it to be, but some are not wanted anywhere. These of course, are the ones which spread and multiply, and keep coming back no matter how hard you try to get rid of them.
    After spending the better part of a day pulling weeds, I went inside to relax and read. I ended up reading about gardening, and there, in one of my books, was an article on Oxalis, one of my enemies! The article explained how the plant can be so insidious. When the plant begins to grow, the first thing it does is to nourish a bulb deep underground. This bulb then sends out roots and shoots. The growth above ground breaks off fairly easily from this bulb. If the top growth is removed, the bulb simply sends out more. The bulb can continue to do this, season after season. That is why the weed keeps coming back. We pull off that which shows above the surface, leaving the source of the weed buried deep.
    We do this in our lives too. We want to make it appear that all is well, so we ensure that on the surface we appear perfect, or at the least “free of weeds.” We hide our tears, bite our tongues, cover bruises, drink only in secret, and never show fear. If we feel that faith should make one happy, we wear that mask in public. When we care for another, we seldom delve beneath the surface. We even try to hide the bulbs of our pain and guilt from ourselves.
    I imagine it has always been this way. In Jesus’ time the prevailing attitude seems to have been that the appearance of following the law was most important. Never mind what was going on inside the person. Jesus was amazing because he broke through, and in his gentle listening and encouraging, helped people to dig deep within themselves.
    The rich young man had all the appearances of being righteous and happy. He followed the law and went out of his way to do right. He had successfully pulled all proof of weeds away. He went to Jesus asking for confirmation of his goodness. Jesus saw deep within him, to the “bulb” of his pride of wealth. He dug that out, and showed it to the man. Unfortunately the man preferred to keep it buried, and he went away shaking his head in sadness.
    The crowd pulling the woman to the town square, gathering stones as they went, were preparing to do away with this “weedy woman.” She had been caught in adultery and must be punished. The town must be righteous, and they all showed their righteousness by pointing out her flaw. Jesus spoke to them, and with a simple request to let the one without sin go first, caused them to look within themselves and to see that in themselves which they tried to hide. After they left (without throwing one stone) Jesus looked at the woman, spoke caringly to her, and encouraged her to dig out that bulb and free herself of that weed once and for all.
    Our Lord continues this work today. We are not called to appear perfect, but to allow the grace of God to make it possible for us to dig out the root causes of pain, sin and guilt in our lives, and to let God free us of them. God wishes to mend us, to make us whole. In order to do this we must trust, and must look honestly at ourselves. We must at times ask for the help of others, too.
    For Wesley’s covenant meetings, the first question asked was not “How are you doing?” This would simply encourage the false “fine” we give today. Instead he had the people ask, “What is the state of your soul?” In doing so, the people encouraged true self reflection and sharing, so that the wounds which lie deep might be addressed.
    It takes more work to dig deep, and trust. But God makes all things possible.

    Grace and Peace,
        George