Pastor’s Ponderings

Changes in Youth Ministry Martha Moked is the chairperson of the Staff Parish Relations Committee. On Sunday, she shared the following announcement at the morning services. I asked her if we might repeat this announcement here: The Staff Parish Relations Committee is...

Every time we go through Holy Week, there is a difficulty that comes up. In addition to the sorrow and sacrifice of Jesus, there is also a part of the reading from the Gospel of John that is problematic. The author of the Gospel regularly refers to “the Jews” as the...

Thank you, youth! The youth lead us in a great service of worship on Sunday. Through the music, the Bible readings and their own words, they held up a radical kind of faith for all of us to see. They spoke from their own experience at school, home, and in the church....

Calvary Weekday School to Have a New Director Louis Walmsley will be retiring as the director of the Calvary Weekday School at the end of June.  She has served as the director since 2015. I am pleased to announce that after an extensive search, a new director has been...

An update on the UMC It’s been a few weeks since the Special General Conference met in St Louis where the majority of delegates made the decision to adopt the so-called “Traditional Plan.” Since the decision was made at the Special General Conference, we are in a...

For many years now, each United Methodist Church in our conference has been expected to establish and maintain a set of policies and practices that would lessen the risk of sexual abuse to children and teenagers that take part in any of the ministries of the church....

It’s been a difficult time at the Larsen household this month. Wanda’s mother was already in hospice care for several months. The day after Ash Wednesday, we got the call that her vital signs were crashing. Wanda left work immediately and headed for the Cleveland area...

Dear members and friends of Calvary United Methodist Church, I walk with a heavy heart this week. The United Methodist Church finished its Special Session of the General Conference in St. Louis on Tuesday and it seems that the church that I have loved and served for...

After much prayer and discussion, the Church Council decided to move ahead with a special capital campaign to raise money for the organ project. This decision was informed by the report of the feasibility and readiness study carried out last fall. The capital campaign...

Each January, every United Methodist congregation compiles and completes a list of figures and statistics that are turned into the denomination. Average weekly worship attendances, members, the number of baptisms and confirmations, as well as the total amount of money...