Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the LORD. — Ephesians 5:19   “Glad you’re here!” “What would you like on your name tag?” “I’m not sure, but let me take you to someone who knows that. Here we go.” Those are…

From Christ Jesus — “I pray that they may all be one.” (John 17:21) From yesterday’s 2nd century song — “Watch over your church, O Lord, in mercy, save it from evil, guard it still; perfect it in your love.” And now it’s our turn — …uhm… With our United Methodist General Conference vote yesterday,…

From the 2nd Century — “Watch over your church, O Lord, in mercy, save it from evil, guard it still; perfect it in your love, unite it, cleansed and conformed to your will.” — Apply as needed. Like now. And yes, this really is a song from the 2nd century, translated from its original Greek…

We all said it together in worship yesterday morning. It came from China. Everyone had a copy to take home as well. I found it, like many of you have at some point, in our official United Methodist Hymnal.  All I’ve done is edit for simplicity. It’s an honor to be a part time, retired,…

See if this sounds as familiar to you as it does to me. “The program is in the book plain and simple,” writes Olivia Pennelle. She’s discussing The Big Book, a foundational part of the Recovery movement. But doesn’t it sound like her topic might be our Bibles? God’s grace as manifest best in Christ…

Rick Pierson speaks for many of us, maybe most of us, when he wrote this yesterday about our United Methodist General Conference 2019 (meeting today through Tuesday, February 26, in St. Louis). I thank him for graciously giving me permission to share this with you here today  — I’ve gone to a Methodist church since…

I love this (it’s from http://www.umc.org), so I’ll get out of the way — Throughout the Bible, God surprises people. Through the prophets, God said unexpected things to kings, judges and other religious leaders. The teachings of Jesus often confounded the disciples, Pharisees, and others who thought they knew God’s Law well. Paul, the author…

I see a pattern here. Maybe you do as well — A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much. Proverbs 20:19  A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. Proverbs 16:28 Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down. Proverbs 26:20  A…

WARNING: Prayer Requests Ahead. From http://www.umc.org — “On February 23, elected United Methodist delegates along with our bishops will gather in St. Louis, Missouri, for a called special session of General Conference. The goal of the meeting is to find a way forward through our disagreements about same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBTQ clergy.” Please…

WARNING: Prayer Request Ahead. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body, it’s exactly the same with Christ. Our old friend St. Paul wrote that in 1st Corinthians 12. “Last time I checked, we’re all on the same team.” You might have heard me say…