“As a church that is united on the need to care for children, we can be in mission together.”* I’d chanag one thing in that line from our United Methodist Church Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Capitalizing one word opens the door, expands our horizon, and reminds us of what Jesus prayed for those first disciples,…

Long ago but not at all far away, I presented a piece about Comradeship. It included the biblical example of David and Jonathan and the Greek example of Damon and Pythias. We could add innumerable others, including the Old Testament’s Ruth and Naomi. People like this are treasures. “You don’t tie a bundle of wood…

“Hope is being able to see there is light in spite of the darkness.” That’s attributed to Desmond Tutu. May you and I give evidence to that hope today, in both what we say and what we do.

“In the darkness, we found the light.” That’s from the ads for the new VW micro-bus. Sure sounds like a line from Advent or something, right? And then we get to the rest of that line, which in its entirety is — “In the darkness, we found the light. Introducing a new era of electric…

By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. — St. Paul, 1st Corinthians 15:10 Robert Johnson’s credited with the song that includes the line, “It’s hard to tell, when all your love’s in vain.” John Wesley found three kinds of God’s grace in Scripture…

By the grace of God I am what I am — St. Paul, 1st Corinthians 15:10 There’s an old song that has us singing about God’s “marvelous, infinite matchless grace.” I can hear St. Paul singing about that, can’t you? After all, he wrote By the grace of God I am what I am. And…

“The Home of Popeye” is how Chester, IL, describes itself, and with good reason: it was the home of Elzie Segar, the cartoonist who first drew Popeye. It’s also the home of The Chester First United Methodist Church, a delightful congregation it was my honor to serve. But that’s another story — okay, a whole…

Skeptic: If God is everywhere, why do we have to go to church? Priest: The whole atmosphere is filled with water. But if you want to drink, you have to go to a well. Mic drop — Thank you for finding this, Lawson Stone. Lots of us are gonna be using it!

From our official United Methodist Church site (http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/biblical-fathers-faithful-flawed-servants-of-god) – Adam The first father and human being is introduced in Genesis 2:7. God forms “adam” from the dust of the ground, “adamah,” breathes life into his nostrils, and he becomes a living being. God sees that it is not good that man is alone and resolves…

From our official United Methodist site — In Scripture, fathers play a dominant role as leaders, providers, protectors, and spokespersons for the larger family unit. It can be a challenge to read these ancient stories with modern eyes. Yes, times have changed, but there is still much to learn about human nature and redemption from…