by cbaker | Jun 29, 2018 | Pastor's Pondering
We are in the midst of Vacation Bible School this week. This time around we is learning that “Jesus rescues.” When we feel lonely, when we are worried, when we struggle, when we have done wrong and when we are powerless, Jesus rescues. It’s a great message that gets...
by cbaker | Jun 11, 2018 | Pastor's Pondering
June 11 On Sunday, Rev. Shannon and I completed our sermon series on peacemaking. Here is the gist of what I shared on Sunday. It includes an observation, four signs that we are slipping into dangerous conflict and three suggestions for building peace where we are. ...
by cbaker | Jun 7, 2018 | Pastor's Pondering, Updates
Last week the Baltimore Washington Conference of the UMC met in Baltimore for its annual session of business, worship and “holy conferencing.” They are more than 625 churches in Maryland, the District of Columbia and two counties in West Virginia that make up the...
by cbaker | May 30, 2018 | Pastor's Pondering
May 28 The United Methodist Church was born just over 50 years ago on April 23, 1968, when the Evangelical United Brethren (E.U.B.) Church and The Methodist Church united to form the new denomination. In the midst of a nation divided over the Vietnam War, the civil...
by cbaker | May 22, 2018 | Pastor's Pondering
New Sermon Series: Blessed Are the Peacemakers “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5: 9) I don’t know about you, but reading the newspaper, checking social media or listening to the news on the radio...
by cbaker | May 16, 2018 | Pastor's Pondering
Pastor Ponderings At the last General Conference, held in 2016, the United Methodist Church as a whole was headed towards a messy division over the matter of human sexuality. The General Conference was deeply divided over how to respond to inclusion of LGTBQ persons...