http://www.ugumc.com/blog An Ongoing Conversation with the Pastor (Please click on "Comments" to leave yours) Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:53:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en \"TAKE HEART\" http://www.ugumc.com/blog/index.php/2008/10/12/take-heart-sermon-preached-101208-entire-worship-service/ In the latest issue of The Christian Century, an article written by Chistian Smith, Michael Emerson, and Patricia Snell makes the following statement in bold type:  "Most American Christians give either nothing or very little to church or charities."   The article goes on to report that in 1998, the amount ... http://www.ugumc.com/blog/index.php/2008/10/09/who-gives-10908/ After the last time… When I finally turned from flight And from somewhere came the strength to go back… I rummaged the ruins, A refugee picking through bombed belongings For what surely was destroyed And began again. I began my new life Thick and rough With an alarm system on the heart And an escape hatch in the head. It was ... http://www.ugumc.com/blog/index.php/2008/10/07/prayer-of-someone-who-has-been-there-before10708/ track011 http://www.ugumc.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/29/homecoming-service92708-sermon-preached-by-the-rev-fred-thompson/ track03 http://www.ugumc.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/29/homecoming-sermon92708-preached-by-the-rev-fred-thompson/ From Frederick Buechner's devotional book, Beyond Words: To confess your sins to God is not to tell God anything God doesn't already know.  Until you confess them, however, they are an abyss between you.  When you confess them, they become the Golden Gate Bridge.  (p. 65). http://www.ugumc.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/25/confession92508/ For All Christians The words of Padre Pio On his feast day, September 23rd "Keep yourself from continually converting your occupations into disturbances and anxieties of spirit. Even if you are being tossed around on the waves and blown about by the winds of many perplexities, look up constantly and say to our ... http://www.ugumc.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/23/the-feast-day-of-padre-pio92308/ From Frederick Buechner's devotional book, Beyond Words: The major difference between hating and loving is perhaps that, whereas to love somebody is to be fulfilled and enriched by the experience, to hate somebody is to be diminished and drained by it.  Lovers, by losing themselves in their loving, find themselves, become ... http://www.ugumc.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/16/love-and-hate91608/ Check out your knowledge of justice in the world and United States at this URL: (from my friend Tammy Ambrosio)     http://www.truthout.org/article/twenty-questions-social-justice-quiz-2008?print     ". . .what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6: 8     "If you want peace, work for ... http://www.ugumc.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/15/justice-a-long-way-to-goseptember-15-2008/ I just received word this morning that the Rev. Jan Brittain, former pastor of New Salem UMC in our district, lost her son, Wade, in a car accident last night.  This is, of course, every parent's worst nightmare, so please remember Jan, her husband Cecil Donague (also a UM pastor), ... http://www.ugumc.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/11/pray-for-this-family91108/