The scripture this Sunday is John 5:2-18 and tells the story of Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath who had waited 38 years to be healed as he lay by a pool of water. I hope to tease some meanings from it for today as we listen to Jesus ask the guy, "what do you want?"
Thank you to everyone who came out Monday evening to hear the Pure Sound Youth Choir from Bethany United Methodist Church in Austin, TX, a small, but powerful ensemble of singers.
Hello DGFUMC family!
I just wanted to let you know that I arrived safely in Guatemala City yesterday. I have a cute little room on the top floor of the UPAVIM building. The other volunteers are very friendly and helpful. Today I took a tour of the UPAVIM building and met many of the UPAVIM members and their children (some of whom I met last July, since I was part of the North-to-South delegation). I also started helping with the Reforzamiento tutoring program. Tomorrow morning I will start working in the clinic as well.
Father's Day is an opportunity for each of us to show our love and appreciation to those men in our lives who have nurtured and cared for us; a moment to honor our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers and husbands who have guided us through sunny days and stormy nights. This Father's Day my sermon will focus on Luke 8:22-25, which tells the story of Jesus calming a storm. I will reflect on my experience of watching my dad set sail into some stormy weather and focus on how faith, hope and trust help us to negotiate the storms we all face along life's journey.
For many of us, summer unofficially begins after Memorial Day weekend - but for Jim and me, summer starts when we arrive back home from our United Methodist Annual Conference, held again this year in St. Charles.
Conference was Sunday through Tuesday of this past week, and as always, it was a refreshing and inspiring time with good sermons, services, and teaching; news about the ministries and missions we are connected with as Northern Illinois United Methodists; and meeting and reconnecting with some great people.
Welcome to June! We will kick off the new month by moving to our summer worship times of 8:30 and 10:00 a.m., beginning this Sunday, June 5.
A very special part of this Sunday's 10:00 service will be the Recognition of graduating high school seniors in our congregation. We'll celebrate with them this milestone in their life, and bless them as they step into the future.
We'll reflect on the scripture account, in Acts 13:1-3, of Paul and Barnabas being prayed for by their church as they embarked on a new journey, with the message You Are Called.
This week as the temperatures rose, we were giving a reminder of what summers in Chicago are really like; a surprising reminder after a cool spring.
With the warmer weather, comes the job of dusting off the winter debris. I want to thank the 20 plus volunteers from DGFUMC who joined in cleaning up a stretch of the St. Joseph Creek as part of the annual DuPage River Sweep last Saturday.
Last Sunday's special service, celebrating and dedicating our new sanctuary stained glass windows, ended with the Chapel and Chancel Choirs singing the powerful anthem, There Is a River in Judea. That anthem lifted our vision to God's ultimate purposes of love and healing for humanity.
This Sunday's worship will include a celebration and dedication of the new stained glass windows that have been added to our church sanctuary over the past two years. As we'll be reminded on Sunday, they tell a story of the "Hymns of Praise" that teach and inspire us as a congregation. But they remind us of other stories of our life together, too.
This week, I ran across a quote from Abraham Lincoln about his mother's influence: "I have always remembered my mother's prayers. They have clung to me all my life."
On Mothers' Day, May 8, people across the country will be thinking of their mothers, or the women in their lives who have been, in some way, like a mother to them. In the church, we celebrate every woman on Mothers' Day, thankful for the ways their particular personalities and gifts have influenced us in our lives and faith, and have influenced the world.
My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. - John 10:27-28
These are the words Jesus spoke when the Jews rejected him at the festival of the Dedication. Jesus tells them that those who believe in him will never perish. "No one can snatch you out of my hand." The question becomes, if God is catching us all the time, what are we holding on to? Let's explore this question together at the 8:15 a.m. service this Sunday.
We hope that you, your family and your friends will join us this Sunday at 9:30 or 11:00 a.m. for the Chancel Choir Spring Cantata, Sunrise Mass. This evocative contemporary cantata, by Norwegian-American Ola Gjeilo, consists of four movements - The Spheres, Sunrise, The City, and Identity & The Ground - which move from transparent and celestial to emotional and dramatic. The cantata will include projected images designed to enhance the listener's experience and will feature a guest orchestra.
Just as I expected, the music from last Sunday's Easter services echoed in my mind throughout the week - reminding me of the gift of Christ's resurrection even in the midst of the more ordinary days of the week.
Easter, of course, is much more than just one day - it is reality that changes how we live the other 364 (or, in the case of 2016, 365) days of the year.