Pastor’s Ponderings

For many years, Calvary Church has sent groups to various places on mission and service projects. Groups have gone to do repair work after hurricanes and floods and done work to build or repair homes, schools, and retreat centers. Some of these projects have been here...

I heard an interview on a podcast this morning. Tom Long was being asked about a book he wrote about Christian funerals. It got me thinking about what makes a good funeral. Here are a few of my thoughts.   A good funeral needs to lift the life of the person who...

One of the practices that Calvary Church followed for many years was a time for blessing those who had a birthday. At the end of the closing hymn on the final Sunday of the month, those who had a birthday sometime that month were invited to come forward to the front...

Calvary United Methodist Church offers a Bible Study for all ages on five Wednesday evenings during the Lenten season starting March 1. This will be an excellent time for sharing and fellowship. We start at 6:00 pm with a meal and finish by 7:30 pm. Each Wednesday, we...

Tomorrow, we begin the season of Lent.   Lent begins with the reminder that we are fragile and our time here on earth is limited. At the other end of the season of Lent, we encounter the news of the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. Along...

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is working with the International Blue Crescent to provide tents, heaters, blankets, warm clothes, ready-to-eat meals, and first aid kits to those displaced by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, which killed more than 32,000...

We are all missionaries. Yeah, I know that word doesn’t seem right, but it’s true! All of us are called to be his hands and feet, to share his heart and his hope with others. We are called to love our neighbor and to offer service to each other in Jesus’ name. We can...

Some of the best experiences in life happen with other people. That’s certainly one of the ways we grow in our walk with Christ. We grow by being in conversations with others, listening deeply, and putting our questions, experiences, and insights into worlds.  ...

When you go to a party or share dinner with a friend, you go with the expectation that you will meet with the host and spend some time with them. Perhaps there may be a group of friends or neighbors that will be present also, people that share some connection with the...

When the people called “Methodists” were first came into being in the mid-18th century, it became necessary for property to be purchased for ministry and meetings. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, had several lawyers work on language that made it clear that...