This Sunday is Mission Sunday!
Every Sunday, we worship with our hearts and voices. This Sunday, we will add it in our hands as well. Please plan to join us for a time of volunteer service right here in our Parish Hall. Worship in the Sanctuary will be at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM. Take your pick.
All morning long, from 8:30 to noon, there will be stations set up in the Parish Hall for measuring, labeling, mixing, and packaging dried food items to be sent wherever there is a hunger emergency. Stay and help out as long as you wish. Dress comfortably. There will be a variety of tasks for different tastes and abilities. Children are welcome, along with youth and adults.
Update on The United Methodist Church
Last Saturday, there was a good article that describes much of what is happening in the larger denomination. Here is a link to that story. https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/lifestyle/religion/united-methodists-are-breaking-up-in-a-slow-motion-schism/article_c4c78456-b6ce-5a99-ab36-b38e7b581c6d.html
Here are a few of my thoughts on this matter as your pastor. First, this is just one moment in an ongoing story. The UMC has always been made up of people with various perspectives and theological positions. It can be hard to be united when there is so much diversity inside the denomination. Over the last 250 years, there have been many times that division took place either in the particular congregation or in the various denominations that make up the Methodist family tree. There have also been many times in which different groups came together and strengthened their ties to one another.
One of the fractures that have been with us since the UMC was formed in 1968 has to do with human sexuality. With the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBTQI persons, this fracture has led various individuals and congregations to find a way out of the denomination. This includes both those who support same-sex marriage and the ordination of homosexuals as well as those who do not.
Back in 2019, the General Conference met in a special session to try to resolve this division. Attempts at compromise broke down, and a path was created that would allow particular congregations to “disaffiliate,” that is, to leave the United Methodist denomination and take their church building with them. Now we see some churches considering this possibility or even actively pursuing it. We don’t know how many churches might leave. Some estimates suggest that there might be 30 churches within our 600 churches that make up the Baltimore Washington Conference or 300 churches in the denomination made up of more than 40,000 churches in the U.S. and around the world.
To be clear, no church is required to “take a vote” unless that church is attempting to leave the denomination. The sign on the front of the church will still read “Calvary United Methodist Church.” Your pastor will continue to be appointed by the Bishop. We will still pay apportionments to the conference and the denomination as part of our larger mission and connection. The ministry provided by the church will continue as it has for many generations.
I’ll see you at the church and as the church.
-Pastor Steve