Pastor Hannah writes a letter to the congregation every month, which is published here and in the Newsletter.
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.
It is good to be seen, isn’t it? Whether by a 4-year-old or a 40-year-old, it is good to know that someone sees you.
I prayed for you. In October 2019, I requested a move on behalf of my family. Though this was a very difficult request to make, it was without a doubt a Spirit-led decision. After I made my request, I began to pray for the type of church that I would want to call home if my family and I were searching for a place to belong.
My last pastoral letter to the good people of Sewickley UMC.
Long… long ago… long before I realized I can’t sing a note… can’t carry a tune in a paper bag to save my life, I tried out for chorus. I was in the 5th grade. Mrs. Pandolph called each student up to stand beside her and sing while she played the piano.
I went to the Leetsdale Giant Eagle the other day to pick up a few items. There was very little meat and bread, there were no eggs and no doughnuts, and of course, no toilet paper. By now, we are all getting used to the empty shelves we are finding. We have never seen anything like this! In a matter of a few days, this thing has gone from “wash your hands and cover your cough” to a significant lifestyle change that most of us have not experienced in our lifetime.
These forty days, (not including Sundays) invite us to journey inward and to take inventory. And as we do so, we wonder how could we have collected so much stuff? Some of it is good and certainly worth keeping. We also must own the fact that we need to dispose of some trash we have gathered.
As we step into the month of February, it has given me pause to reflect on the past. For you see, this month, I turn 66.
She could not see our sister in her beautiful white wedding gown, she could not see her walk down the aisle, and she could not see the spectacular setting of the wedding reception. She was in total darkness.
