Besides the milder temperatures and longer days, there is a newness to spring that instills hope to our winter souls.
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From the Pastor's Heart
Bookends are typically placed at the beginning and the end, or otherwise stated, on both ends (because what’s the beginning, and what’s the end?) of a row of books. They help to keep the books upright and orderly.
As long as we at Sewickley United Methodist Church continue to profess the good news of Jesus Christ, we will live out our faith by fighting against systems of oppression starting with our own hearts. We will not be on the side of history that repeats itself and continues to benefit from the dehumanization of our black brothers and sisters.
This does not seem like the start of a cheery message for the hope of the New Year. Yet maybe it comes close to speaking truth to our hearts and the way we feel as we continue to face the uncertainty before us.
Angels have long been a part of the biblical narrative of heaven and of earth. We understand them to be God’s messengers, a part of God’s army, protectors of truth, witnesses to the kingdom of God, and sometimes even our very own guardians. As we ourselves journey to the manger this Christmas season, we will find in the angels good traveling companions.
On Thanksgiving Day, you can find about 40 of us gathered in my Aunt’s farmhouse about to demolish the Thanksgiving meal laid out in front of us buffet style. But first… prayer.
Our worship, our witness, our outreach, our nurture, our administrative boards, our education, our building, our community will be givers of life. This might mean some things will have to be adjusted so we can fully live into being life-givers and life-receivers. Finding life and giving life is the greatest gift we have in this world.
According to the website Knowing Jesus, the Bible refers to food 1,207 times. Jesus, on multiple occasions, refers to himself as the Bread of Life. We can read a couple of different stories that involve Jesus sitting down and eating with others. There is something holy and mysterious about sharing a meal together that really has a way of inviting others into our lives.
A wise man (cough, cough, Barry Lewis) said to me the other day that Christians laugh. We laugh. When life is tough, we laugh. When we are full of sorrow, we laugh. Don’t get me wrong, we cry too, and we anger too, but we laugh, because we know our lives are in the care of God Almighty.
July is the month where many of us will take a vacation or find ourselves going somewhere special for a day trip. It is the busiest travel month for airlines and busways. This also means July is the month in which we have the greatest opportunity to meet new people and spend some time with a stranger.
Marriage is not about fitting perfectly together, but it’s about compromise and commitment. After a year of being together, I want to offer up these commitments to you.
We will observe Memorial Day on May 31st. This month, we will remember the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. Military. We observe this day every year as a way to recognize the greatest sacrifice that one can make and those who have made it.
Some of the most interesting weather I find is when it is raining and sunny out, AND there is a rainbow. It doesn’t seem like all of those things should be happening at the same time. That’s life though, isn’t it?
When a zero stands alone, it does not carry worth. But when you put a zero behind a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9… it increases the value greatly. If you add a couple of zeros onto the end, well, you know how it goes. In our lives, we will sometimes play the part of the zero and sometimes be the one out front.
The gong and cymbal are very large and very noisy instruments. They had to be, because they often were used to notify an entire town of a town meeting, approaching royalty, or an approaching army. But in the case of speaking without love, they are simply instruments being banged on by a child with no understanding or care for their created purpose.
I re-shared a post on Facebook the other day that said, “I need to get back in shape but I’m kind of waiting to see if the world is going to end before I put any real effort in.” Now that produced a light hearted laugh. In the meantime, I just get more and more unhealthy as the world continues to spin on.
For the first time in my life, I found myself waking up on Christmas morning all by myself with no friends or family around.
In Jewish tradition, they have a practice called Midrash. Essentially, this is a practice where you fill in the blanks of biblical stories. When you read scripture, do you ever imagine beyond the written text? What is not being said that could have taken place?
It’s a boy! We would like to formally introduce you to Lincoln Todd Loughman.
It’s a… Boy? Girl? Soon we will find out! The day is quickly approaching when we will be welcoming a new member into our family. Todd and I have prayed and tried for four and a half years for this.