Pastor's Message: February 25, 2021
First United Methodist Church
by First United Methodist Church
3y ago
Dear friends,   In the last few days, there have been meetings at the General Church level to determine IF General Conference will be held in 2021. From all that I read, it is looking doubtful that the international gathering will be held. The final decision has not been made yet.  However, delegates are meeting preliminarily to prepare for the future.   A document has been drafted and is now public. I share the link with you because I know that many within our congregation are interested. The international group unveiled its vision map, Out of Chaos, Creation: Imagining a ..read more
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Pastor's Message: February 18, 2021
First United Methodist Church
by First United Methodist Church
3y ago
Dear friends, The Lenten journey has begun, unusual as it is.  It hardly seems possible that it is soon to be a year since we have gathered in person.  If you will recall, we offered three Ash Wednesday services on February 26, 2020.  The First Sunday of Lent was March 1st and we celebrated communion.  The Second Sunday of Lent was March 8th … and the 12th was when leaders gathered to make the decision that for the safety of our people, we needed to move to online worship.  And First Church has been solely online ever since.   We are beginning the conversations a ..read more
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Pastor's Message: February 11, 2021
First United Methodist Church
by First United Methodist Church
3y ago
Dear friends   I’m sure that you are as deeply moved and disturbed as I have been over the last few days at the unveiling of videos and revealing reports of all that transpired surrounding the events that happened in Washington, D.C. on January 6. To even write the above sentence that ends with January 6 … the Feast of Epiphany … the manifestation of the coming of the light of God shining in Jesus ... gives me a pain in my soul that is raw. To now link the violence and ugliness of what happened in the Capitol Building just over a month ago, with one of our Christian Holy days, is a violat ..read more
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Pastor's Message: February 4, 2021
First United Methodist Church
by First United Methodist Church
3y ago
Dear friends, It is with sadness that I inform the congregation of the deaths that has visited the families of Pastor Tim and Pastor Joan. Pastor Tim’s mother, Jan Tuthill, passed away unexpectedly on Monday, February 1st at St. Mary’s Hospital following a stroke.  Tim’s parents lived and worked in the Jackson area, his father (Thomas) as a funeral director who passed away a few years ago, and Jan, as a hospital dietician and then as a long-term care administrator. Jan moved to Grand Rapids fairly recently to be closer to her family and transferred her membership from Jackson First UMC ..read more
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Pastor's Message: January 21, 2021
First United Methodist Church
by First United Methodist Church
3y ago
Dear friends,   There are so many potential topics to write about on the morning after the Presidential Inauguration. It is hard to know where to begin!    To be sure, I have opinions about what I heard on January 20th, just as I have political opinions about what transpired last week, and the week before that, and November 3rd, as well as the events, words, and feelings that led up to November 3rd.  And so, surely, do you!    But I did find one article in the USA TODAY that was intriguing to me and I’d like to share it with you. It was an “Opinion Editorial” by M ..read more
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Pastor's Message: January 14, 2021
First United Methodist Church
by First United Methodist Church
3y ago
Dear friends,   Back in my Minister of Music days, I learned the hard way about the “January BLAHS.”  Liturgically, Epiphany is the season that moves us from Christmas to Lent. The season of Epiphany is focused on discovering, seeing, and living “in” to the light of Christ. More often than not, there are six weeks or so, between January 6 (the Twelfth Day of Christmas), and Ash Wednesday, (this year, Ash Wednesday is February 17).   In our worship planning back then, we had a rather wonderful plan for Epiphany. In choosing music, I selected hymns for congregational singing that ..read more
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Pastor's Message: January 7, 2021
First United Methodist Church
by First United Methodist Church
3y ago
Dear friends,   Let me start my letter to you the way I have started most notes I have written the last six days; A “HAPPIER New Year to you!”  I wish I could take credit for that appropriate embellishment to a common greeting at this time of year, but I can’t.  It came from a note I received from the Bishop’s office, and I am borrowing it freely because it is so appropriate.   We do indeed need a “happier” new year, don’t we? 2020 was as difficult a year as any of us have ever experienced. The difficulties are legion. The issues are too numerous to name succinctly.  A ..read more
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Pastor's Message: December 23, 2020
First United Methodist Church
by First United Methodist Church
3y ago
Dear friends,   It’s almost Christmas!  Christmas is most assuredly different this year. But different is neither good nor bad; it is simply, DIFFERENT!   There have been times throughout this elongated pandemic season when I have struggled with the juxtaposition of trying to effectively do ministry in a distance model. While I am 110% supportive of every effort to keep people as safe as possible by following all of the guidelines recommended, there is often a collision between a relational model of ministry and the prudent choices for keeping all of us safe. Examples of wh ..read more
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Pastor's Message: December 17, 2020
First United Methodist Church
by First United Methodist Church
3y ago
Dear Friends,   In a recent trip to our neighborhood grocery store, there was a bell ringer for the Salvation Army standing in the entryway with the traditional kettle and singing Christmas carols, inviting patrons to donate to the important ministries of the Salvation Army.  I rarely walk by a kettle without donating, not because of the ringer, the singer, or even to be thanked verbally with a “Merry Christmas.” I give because of the memories associated with the Salvation Army.   My Grandmother Hundley grew up in the Salvation Army in Toronto. Her entire family was deeply commi ..read more
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Pastor's Message: December 10, 2020
First United Methodist Church
by First United Methodist Church
3y ago
Dear friends,   Writing weekly pastoral letters has been a practice of mine for more than 20 years. Writing has been a good discipline for me. Every week, the goal of writing is similar to the goal of preaching: to educate, inspire, correct, reflect, reveal, console, connect, or to cast a vision. Very few times in my 20 years of weekly letters have I been faced with such a frustrating topic. I may be ‘preaching to the choir’ (so to speak) to some folks … and challenging to others. Still, I feel compelled to write, so here goes.   I don’t understand the resistance or refusal to wear a ..read more
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