Memorial Day Weekend



Memorial Day seems to have diverse purposes as we observe the upcoming weekend.


     1. The original purpose was to honor those who died in serving our country.

     2. This seems to have expanded to decorating not only gravesites of those who

          had served our country but also our other loved ones.

     3. The Indianapolis 500 weekend

     4. First weekend of summer

     5. Open up the lake houses


And maybe you have other purposes for the weekend. I think that no matter the activity of the weekend, I hope you will  take some time to remember…


      1. Remember those who have served our country so that we have freedoms that

          others may not have.

      2. Remember loved ones who have impacted your life directly maybe not with

          physical flowers on a gravesite but with prayers of thanks.


My mom makes the journey to place flowers on the gravesites of her mother, her father, and her sister each year. The years that I have made that trip with her, I see on her face that she is immersed in memories of them.  What a beautiful way to honor the deceased person but also to honor God with thanks for the life that was shared with us.


Wherever the weekend may take you, I hope that you will pause to remember...most importantly remember that God has journeyed this life with you wherever that has been and that God will move forward with you...and in fact is ahead of you.


Have a blessed and safe Memorial Weekend.     Pastor Patti

Archived Posts

Back and Forth with Chat GPT

Many of you know that I’ve found a new consultant to bounce my ideas off in regard to preaching.  My good buddy Chat GPT and I sometimes disagree—often miscommunicate—but usually come up with some fruitful illustrations. 

One More Thing About Becoming Wholly Human

I was talking Sunday about the work of Hare and Woods and their idea of ‘the survival of the friendliest.’  Essentially, they conclude that “our greatest evolutionary advantage wasn't that we could do everything ourselves. It was that we could do things together.” 

Here’s a preview of our congregation’s Core Values

In the coming weeks we will be exploring the importance of presence, prayers, gifts, service, witness, and growth in grace.  These are at the heart of what we commit to when we join a Wesleyan grace-led church like ours.  But we choose to broaden them out and state them in a new way…

The Biblical prayer we don’t know what to do with

Psalm 137 is written by people who have experienced catastrophic loss.

They have been conquered...

Patience and Trust

     Sunday, in my benediction (which traditional folks did not hear) I talked about the Marshmallow Test.  The original results of that test with children was that those who could delay gratification did better in life than those who could not.

Gandhi and the Sugar

I wasn’t preaching Sunday, Reverend Jackie Chandler was.  And she talked about the power of influence you get when you practice what you preach.  This famous illustration came to mind.   It fits Jackie’s points quite well.  Enjoy!

Not Just for Parents

          Our current sermon series is about How To Talk Parent, but it doesn’t require any of us to be parents to appreciate the bits of wisdom OUR parents shared with us growing up.