Pastor’s Ponderings

Happy Easter to all.  Check out the new photo gallery from our Easter Celebration and Easter Sunday.  The Pastors Pondering will return April 9.

These are some full and exciting days! On Sunday, we celebrated the start of Holy Week. We remembered the way in which an excited and joyful crowd welcomed Jesus into the ancient city of Jerusalem. We were reminded that all too soon, the people would turn against...

WE CARE. That’s the name of the group that offers a meal after a memorial service or funeral. When a family is in grief and busy with all the things that need to be done after the loss of a loved one, this time for sharing food and memories and being with one another...

During this season of Lent, I have been using the book Freeing Jesus, by Diana Butler Bass as a starting point with my Sunday messages. In the book, she lays out seven different ways of experiencing Jesus. We’ve looked at Jesus as a friend, teacher, savior, and...

The Staff Parish Relations Committee wishes to announce that the church seeks someone to serve as Financial Secretary. The Financial Secretary is responsible for handling, recording, and reporting financial contributions and other sources of income received by the...

Blessings in a Backpack (BIAB) Frederick County provides bags of nonperishable food to elementary school-aged children.  These bags help feed children who qualify for free and reduced meals (FARM) at school.  Without this program, many of these children would not have...

This year, the Valentine’s Day holiday falls on the same day as Ash Wednesday. That means we will begin the season of Lent with calls to repentance of spiritual discipline on the same day we celebrate romance and love. Not much is known about the real history of the...

A few times I have written about the disaffiliation that has been taking place in the United Methodist Church. That’s a fancy word for a congregation that has decided to separate from the denomination according to a particular window that was available over the last 4...

Each year, every United Methodist congregation is asked to complete a statistical report. The report includes financial numbers, such as income and the amount spent on the program, staffing, and operating costs for the year. The report also includes statistics...