Pastor’s Ponderings
Pastors Pondering
This Thursday, January 24, at 7 pm in the Fellowship Hall there will be discussion of the upcoming Special General Conference session to be held next month in St. Louis. The General Conference will be taking up the recommendation of the United Methodist Council of...
Laity Sunday
A message from Zan Fleming, Lay Leader To mark Laity Sunday at both services on January 13, Kyle Bostian and I are working hard to make it a meaningful worship experience. I have been privileged to serve with Kyle as Lay Leaders over the last 2 years. Kyle is a...
Why don’t we have Christmas cards with John the Baptist?
If you plan to go to Bethlehem this year to see the child in the manger, you need to first make a stop in the wilderness of Judea. There, standing knee deep in the swirling, muddy water, you’ll find a man with rough clothes and an even rougher message. It’s John the...
Pastors Pondering
We know that the cost of living in Frederick County can be a stretch for even working families. Many of the people in this county worry that they are one emergency away from financial disaster. The United Way has come up with a way of determining a basic household...
Pastors Pondering
A few weeks ago, we held a meeting to consider the future of the United Methodist Church. After years of division and argument over the church’s position on human sexuality, same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy, the General Conference of the denomination created a group...
Pastor Ponderings
Sometimes there really are no words. There are no words to explain. There are no words to lessen the pain. There are no words to make things better. Instead, the most appropriate response is to tear. When the Pennsylvania Grand Jury reported its findings on child...
Pastor 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...
Pastor Ponderings
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. ...
Pastor’s Pondering
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...
Pastor’s Ponderings
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...