God has created us and placed us in times such as these. As followers of Jesus Christ with a passion to share the love of Jesus with all, we can make the soil around us vitamin rich and ready for good things.
What I truly appreciate about funerals is the knowledge that they all end the same. No matter the circumstances surrounding them, the ending message is the same. That message is not one of endings at all, but of new beginnings.
It does not just require faith to believe the promises of God will come to be amongst the believers of Sewickley UMC, but it requires faith to believe those promises might not look the way we expect or prayed for them to look.
As I sit to write the Pastor’s Peace for the November newsletter, it is only half-way through October. There are a few bold(ish) statements I would like to make in faith.
What do Vanocka, English Muffin, Yufka, Zopf, Naan, Bagel, Qistibi, Paratha, Obi Non, and Grissini all have in common?
I have a very serious question for you: “Why did the math book look so sad?” If you want to know the answer, you must read to the end…
In the famous words of a much loved Sunday school song, “this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” Please make a commitment to shine your light over our children.
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Galatians 5:1
Much like the “Where’s Waldo?” scenes, the more you train your eye to see Jesus, the more you will actually see Jesus. Jesus is out there.
Jesus doesn’t climb back up on the cross every year; we just remember what he did every year. Until Jesus comes again, we are in the Eastertide season. We are tasked with a single purpose: to show the love and truth of Jesus.
Besides the milder temperatures and longer days, there is a newness to spring that instills hope to our winter souls.
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.