Pastor’s Ponderings

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...

While watching the snow come down yesterday, I reread King’s famous Letter from Birmingham Jail. It can be found at click here.  Written in 1963 on scraps of paper smuggled out from a jail cell, the letter is a stirring account of what King was intending to accomplish...

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, had a practice of leading people to renew a promise to God. During Wesley’s life, this became a yearly practice that came to be known as a “covenant service,” often celebrated on New Year’s Day or on a Sunday near...

I had an interesting conversation over the holiday. Somehow, while wishing Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to friends, someone at the table asked, “Can you wish everybody well? How about someone who was an abuser, a criminal, a bully? Is it possible to wish that...