Archive

I’ve been thinking about leadership lately. There are at least two ways of thinking about leadership. One way is to think that most of us are followers and there are a few leaders among us who are accomplished in some way. They can show the rest of us where to go and what to do. […]

This Thanksgiving, we are so thankful, for our lives, for health and healing, for abundance in our experience in so many ways. We praise God for the families-biological and other- that surround us, physically, emotionally, or spiritually this year at the start of a season of holidays. We give thanks for the food we consume, […]

I’ve been reflecting on the Common Table event last week and the remarks that were shared during the State of the Church part of the agenda by Brad, Melinda, Jen, Dorothy, and Robbin. I was struck by the way that each of the speakers was able to weave together the good news of ministry well […]

In Biblical times, the well was the source of life for ancient people. Water represented the connection between people and the connection to the Earth. This day we celebrate our connections with other Protestants on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. There are lots of Biblical stories about wells. Jacob met his wife Rachel […]

This week we take a break from the book of John and turn instead to the book of James. James is a letter that was probably written by a scholar in the Jesus movement several generations after Jesus, who named the letter after James, the brother of Jesus. The central idea of the letter is […]

As the season turns to Autumn, I am reminded of Parker Palmer’s reflections on Autumn: “Faced with the inevitable coming of winter, what does nature do in Autumn? It scatters the seeds that will bring new growth in the spring- and scatters them with amazing abandon.” I attended a conference recently and listened to our […]

During this our third and final week with the Wesleyan understanding of grace, I want to share with you a poem written by our own Bob Olson. Grace Grace is God’s gift of love Unfailing redemption “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” This Christian challenge Is to be like […]

In this first month with you, I’ve learned a lot about you. I’ve met many of you and had a chance to learn from you what some of your priorities are for the life of our congregation. I appreciate you letting me learn from you and listen to you and grow with you. One of […]

While Pastor Brad is on vacation, we will have three weeks to consider grace at work in our lives and in the church. We’ll use Scripture from the book of Acts and look at the various ways that God’s grace acts in the lives of God’s people. We’ll also connect with our Wesleyan heritage and […]

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my first two weeks with the Aldersgate community! This week, I will share the message in worship for the first time. This summer is a time when I’m getting to know you and you are getting to know me. It is also a time when the Spirit is moving among us, inviting […]