I look out my window today, and it is eerily silent. Not even a single bird has come to roost anywhere in my yard. My dog, Ava, does not even bother to look out the window where she normally gazes for long periods of time. 

All of these certainly are signs of a changing season and the arrival of autumn. I am sometimes asked…

 

-So what do we as Methodists believe about Halloween?

-Why is All Saints a Christian observance?

 

The answers I provide are Methodist answers to these questions, not Patti answers, but I do agree with them.

Before worship this last Sunday, there were many members who shared in a prayer walk around the church inviting the presence of the Holy Spirit to be present in every space and moment. Each of us walked silently in prayer covering various parts of the church knowing that within an hour those spaces would be filled with hearts for God. 

Archived Posts

One Final Scene About Scrooge

There was one more scene in Dickens’s novel that reveals something of what has happened to Scrooge over the years.  I did not have time to share it on Sunday, but I believe it reveals a great deal about the regrets in Scrooge’s life....

 

What Jacob Marley Would Do,

If He Could Do It…

         I thought about using the following for a benediction—since Jacob Marley was warning Scrooge about the danger of loving money and what it could buy.  Ends up with the Cantata and everything else going on, I didn’t have the time.  So here is what you might have heard if the sermon itself was 5 minutes shorter!

A Confirming Word on Old King Herod

          I just want to echo what Rick said in his fine sermon yesterday (Nov. 23).  Herod was a ruthless tyrant and skilled politician.  When the Magi don’t report back to him, he decides to kill all the male children of Bethlehem under the age of 2.  That’s one paranoid dude.

Power Without Conscience?

          I ran out of room for this vignette in Sunday’s sermon.  Remember the quote that could be the headline for Ahab and Naboth:  “All that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” The following reinforces that truth.

The Cars Are Looking for A King

          I don’t have a thing to add to Pastor Jessica’s excellent sermon this last Sunday.  The fable/parable she shared has been one of my favorites for all the lessons she pulled from it in her message.  I was playing around with my friend Chat GPT and after several abortive attempts, we came up with the following modernized version of Judges 9:7-15.