The poet Mary Oliver asks in one of her works, “what are you going to do with your one wild, precious life?” The Apostle Paul is trying to spread the Gospel news of new life in Christ but new Christia...  Read More

Every little thing we do with compassion is a small seed that can sprout into good things beyond our imagining. Like “paying it forward” or “random acts of kindness,” we can tend a new creation with a...  Read More

Tending a new creation may involve the creation or expansion of our concepts of “family.” In the scripture Jesus confirms that kinship in God’s Realm can go beyond bloodlines. We can re-create family ...  Read More

As we begin the series, we will look to what Jesus taught about keeping the Sabbath. In order to tend a new creation within us, we focus less on rules, and more about what gives us life and light as a...  Read More

“Want to be friends?” I often marvel at my children’s natural ability to make friends effortlessly at the park. They’d simply ask, “Want to be friends?” and, just like that, a new connection was form...  Read More

Easter is tricky when it comes to faith. We come for the happy ending–the “and then they lived happily ever after.” The resurrection story proclaims hope over despair and life over death, yet we know ...  Read More

Some days are just lousy and that doesn’t even begin to cover it. The first recorded use of "guode friday” was in the South English Legendary, a text from 1290. Calling a day “good” was a way to denot...  Read More

In this Week's Bulletin:AnnouncementsScheduleMonthly EventsMonthly MissionPastor's DiscretionaryLiturgyGatheringMessageOfferingClosing The United Methodist Committee on Relief is one of the “best thin...  Read More

The story of Jesus includes many moments around tables, as this was part of his ritual of relationship even to the last. In this fifth week of the Lent season, we will hear a story of love and devotio...  Read More

Judgment. Judgment. Judgment. Who among us doesn’t struggle with this… judging others, judging ourselves. And usually we are our own harshest critics. Some preachers have expressed a worry about how t...  Read More

In this Month's Newsletter:Preacher's Part from Pastor DavidA Note From Pastor DonnieMonthly MissionPastor's DiscretionaryHospitalityThe Church MouseEaster Egg HuntCommunion for the Home boundBirthday...  Read More

As we continue our look at what it means to release oppressive expectations about perfection in our lives and in our faith, this week we turn to a harmful idea that the prescription for our fear of fa...  Read More

We continue our movement through the Lent season this week with another kind of “letting go.” This week we lament that so much in life is out of our control. This is frustrating to us and so sometimes...  Read More

The liturgical season of Lent developed over the centuries as a time of deepened reflection. Originally a period of preparation for baptisms on Easter Eve, it later became a time for all Christians to...  Read More

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lent season, a time when we aspire to make some room for deeper introspection and practices that will draw us into the love and assurance of faith. But sometim...  Read More

Whether this Psalm was aspirational (written before the exile ended) or was a reflection of what was happening already, the last verse reminds us that we can keep hope even in our waiting because God’...  Read More

This Psalm is the first of several that begin, “Alleluia” It is like the moment we hear good news that we have been waiting for and we let out a “hoop and a holler” or a “woo hoo” The mixture of joy a...  Read More

The Monthly Newsletter for St. Paul's UMC...  Read More

Written in a time when the Hebrew faith claimed one God while other faiths around them claimed many, the point of this Psalm seems to be making the case for the Holy “One and Only.” But it also names ...  Read More

The Hebrew poets made sure to highlight that their God was not one so high and mighty (like other gods worshiped by their neighbors) that the people could not “know” God and be known fully and wonderf...  Read More

The repetition in this Psalm (“the voice of ADONAI”) points to this literature’s musical origins as an earthly and heavenly call for us to worship the One who is in all things, including the storms of...  Read More

We begin a new worship series today that we pray will bring a “breather” and a sense of assurance to us all. Life is a series of exclamations from “O No” to “Help” to “Oh Yeah”. We can swing between ...  Read More

December 31, 2023 PreludeStephanie ShordenGreetingPastor Donnie Sturgill*Threshold MomentLeader: Ahhh… here we are again, friends, and for the last time sitting in a time of contemplation together. As...  Read More

December 24, 2023Traditional Candlelight Service PreludeStephanie ShordenOpening HymnGood Christian Friends RejoiceUMH #224WORDS: 14th cent. Latin; trans. by John Mason Neale, 1855 1. Good Christianfr...  Read More