Posts by admin (Page 4)

Pastor’s Corner: October 2020

Friends, It is October! Why am I so giddy? I have learned to greet the month with glee. I was born on the 2nd day and therefore long ago decided that I may claim the entire month as a celebration of being alive on this planet. I am convinced that the color in the leaves soaks into my psyche and paints my inner sacred space with all the colors of a burning bush. I am conscious of impending harvest in…

Pastor’s Corner: September 2020

Beloved Friends, Thirty minutes into the clergy-only session of MN Annual Conference 2020, I found myself in my sun-porch home office with my computer, my note pad, and a take-out coffee, attempting to digest what had just happened. Two hundred (or so) MN UMC clergy had all completed 4 hours of preparation for this event, had Zoomed together to an opening announcement that included the strange celebration of being “together” as a body in these times of social distancing. Yes,…

Worship Service: Be the Light, Live Hope

A clergy covenant group within our conference has created a gift in the form of a pre-recorded worship service around our 2020 Annual Conference theme (“Be the Light, Live Hope”) that’s available for all congregations to use Aug. 30 or after. Thank you to Revs. Shawna Horn, Jay Jeong, LaQuaan Malachi, Nate Melcher, Kate Murphey Payton, Whitney Sheridan, and Mariah Furness Tollgaard for developing this great resource. Prospect Park UMC streamed this service on August 30 during our 10am worship time.…

Pastor’s Corner: August 2020

I begin to write this note listening to a recording of “Amazing Grace,” played on the sanctuary piano by Kathy Webb. I look up and out our front door and the snow-white squirrel that lives in our neighborhood pops up like a Jack-in-the-box in the lawn across the street.

Pastor’s Corner: July 2020

I have long been fascinated by what Jesus looked like at the time he walked the dusty paths of Nazareth. I noticed early and often that the images of Jesus I encountered in the painting in the Sunday School classroom, in the stained-glass window in the sanctuary (pictured), and the small one in a book in my grandmother’s house looked nothing at all like one another.

This Is the Time

It is difficult for me to speak these days. It is difficult to stand in a pulpit that has historically belonged primarily to white voices and raise up my own white experiences and sensibility, my own comparatively insignificant pain and suffering. And “difficult” doesn’t cut it. “Difficult” can’t stop us. I am so deeply humbled by these times, that I can barely assemble a coherent sentence. And yet. A friend told me about hearing James Corden of TV’s, “The Late…

The Book of Job

We are studying the book of Job. It is beautiful. It is a wonderful vehicle for considering many of the questions we have about how (and why) we suffer. It is profoundly challenging. We’ve just begun our study and will be at this for awhile! If you are interested, please help us suggest where we study next.

PPUMC Responds to COVID-19 Outbreak

Beloved friends, by now, I’m certain you have heard several opinions about helpful response to the virus spreading throughout the world. C-19, Covid, COVID-19, the Pandemic – by whatever name, this contagion has its own momentum and must be reckoned with. Let’s respond boldly and set our goal at 0% illness within our small and mighty church community! The facts seem to shimmy a little depending on whose opinion is currently in front of you.This we do know – it is important for…

Grove Church Response from MN UMC Conference

In light of recent publicity around the closure and relaunch of The Grove UMC church in Cottage Grove, we wanted to provide additional context on what has become a complicated and often confusing mix of media accounts and dialogue. For many years, there have been two campuses for The Grove church – one in Woodbury, and a much smaller congregation in Cottage Grove. Despite efforts to engage more attendees over the years, the Cottage Grove congregation has worshiped about 30…