June 8, 2021
Pastor Mark’s Pondering’s
Heat, humidity, and thunderstorms every day after 4:00pm!! What more would somebody want in life? As I have gotten older this is how I measure my summers. I don’t do heat as well as I did as a child or even a young adult, but I also understand that it is not going away and I can’t change the weather. So that has become a constant in my life and I have learned to live with it, for better or for worse.
So often we gauge our lives by the constant events and occurrences that present themselves; birthdays, anniversaries, family get togethers, and yes church. One might say, “preacher, church is not constant!” and that would be true to an extent. The Church (Big C or the Universal Church) has been changing throughout history. So has the United Methodist Church changed since its inception in 1968. Often times I refer to the Church being in a “constant mode of change”. Yes, that is an oxymoron, but it is true. The Church as we know it and as we “knew it” prior to 2020 is always changing. Sometimes with sweeping changes, sometimes with tiny changes, but as God works and changes things in our lives so the church often mirrors those changes. Change is not a bad thing at all. Sometimes it is difficult, sometimes it is painful, but it doesn’t have to be ‘bad’.
As the United Methodist Church moves into the months that will precede General Conference in 2022, we will hear about changes, proposed changes in hierarchy and structure, we will hear people argue and be less than pleasant. I want to encourage you and ask you as a solid congregation to be in prayer for the changes that may come our way as a United Methodist Church. I plead with you to be in communion with God in prayer, worship, and sacrament. To listen to the movement of the Holy Spirit in your life and in the life of the church.
It is a lot like the weather! We tend to define our existence by the things that stay constant. Yet we need to be flexible so that when the humidity is low, the cool breezes blow, and the rain stays away, we can hear God in the midst of our lives.
Thank you for being such a faithful congregation and moving in the direction God has in store for us.
Sincerely in Christ,
Pastor Mark
