Pastor’s Ponderings

This month I am taking some time to look at several episodes in the life of Simon Peter. Simon Peter was among the to be called as a disciple. At times he showed genuine faith and at other moments he faltered terribly. By looking at some of the episodes in Gospels, we...

Pastor Pondering (June 18) Since at least the mid- 1980’s, Calvary Church has provided a ministry to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Frederick County. The church works with Community Living, Inc. to identify those who wish to take part...

Welcome Rev. Wilson! This Sunday we welcome Rev. Julie Wilson with us at Calvary UMC as guest and preacher for the day. She worked on staff here from 2014-2020 offering leadership in outreach and mission projects. Julie is currently a missionary with the United...

Several questions have been raised to me following recent decisions made by the United Methodist Church General Conference meeting that took place in March. People both inside and outside the church have asked me: What was decided? What will be the impact on Calvary...

Last week, the United Methodist Church held the postponed 2020 General Conference. Historic changes unfolded at this meeting that impacted the denomination in the U.S. and overseas. After decades of division over matters of human sexuality, many congregations chose to...

Oftentimes, the challenges of a big issue such as caring for the environment seem overwhelming. Where do we start? What can we do? The best thing is to start somewhere and to do what you can.   There was a recent meeting of the church “Green Team” where we...

The General Conference, the global gathering of The United Methodist Church, will meet April 23 - May 3 in Charlotte, N.C. This will be the first General Conference session held since the special session held in February 2019. There will be the opportunity to remove...

From time to time, I am asked to do some work on behalf of other congregations in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Recently, I was asked to be part of a study team to examine the current health and ministry of the United Methodist Church elsewhere in Frederick...

During the season of Lent, we had a weekly study of the various parts of Holy Week using a book by Amy-Jill Levine called Entering the Passion of Jesus. We did not get a chance to discuss the last chapter which focused on Jesus in Gethsemane just prior to his arrest....