Pastor’s Ponderings
Pastors Pondering
Have you ever stopped to wonder why it is that we read the Bible? Scripture doesn’t tell us how to make decisions or how to make a living. It won’t help you find a parking place or tell you who will win a football game. And yet, we read the Bible with the expectation,...
Pastors Pondering
Wishing you a Happy New Year, look for the next Pastors Pondering next week, January 4, 2022
Pastors Pondering
Life interrupted my plans. I was so looking forward to seeing the poinsettias in place, the time with the children, the lighting of the fourth Advent candle and the return of a choir in the worship service this past weekend. However, as many of you know, my father...
Pastors Pondering
Not so very long ago, we would often see Deacon Julie Wilson at the church, assisting with worship, leading a time with the children on the chancel steps or organizing the volunteers for the Emergency Family Shelter. Since leaving Calvary Church in September 2019, she...
Pastors Pondering
Since September, I have participated in a group of pastors working on cultivating playfulness. Each time we come together, we start off with a prayer and then some kind of silly game intended to get us laughing. We have played holiday BINGO, done a scavenger hunt and...
Pastors Pondering
As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, may your hearts be filled with love and gratitude for the goodness and blessings in your life. I offer these prayers as a way to put that appreciation into words. (I am boldly borrowing and sharing these two prayers that I recently...
Pastors Pondering
I have had a few requests recently about joining the church. While churches have seen worship attendance and participation in church life drop, there are still many good reasons to connect with others in a congregation. Here’s a few: The church is a place where we can...
Pastors Pondering
News from the larger church Last week I mentioned some of the work being done by the Baltimore Washington Conference. I want to follow up on this with mention of some of resolutions that were passed that will impact us here at Calvary United Methodist Church First,...
Pastors Pondering
Last week, the Baltimore Washington Conference held its annual meeting. This is the opportunity for pastors, staff and laypersons representing 603 United Methodist congregations across Maryland, the District of Columbia and a sliver of West Virginia gather for...
Pastors Pondering
Some of you may have seen or shared a post that was on Facebook over the weekend. I am not sure who originally wrote the words, but I saw Bishop David Epps’s name attached. I will offer the words here: “As church attendance numbers fade across the nation on...