I was working on my sermon tonight, here in Mississippi, at St. Paul UMC/CORE Base Camp, and overheard two gentleman talking. They noticed how many United Methodists mission teams were here at the camp, which is ecumenical, for all volunteers. And one said to the other (more or less), "The things about United Methodists is whether they're liberal or conservative, they're really focused on mission and service." I was proud to overhear such a comment and know that we have something good in our reputation!
Sermon 2/18/18 Mark 1:1-4, 9-15 Jesus in the Wilderness You’ve heard me say before that the gospel of Mark is my favorite gospel. Part of the reason I love it is because of Mark’s brevity. I don’t love that he’s short on details, exactly. I love that he seems practically breathless in getting the good news of Jesus to us, and that he seems to believe that the news is so good it isn’t even going to take very many words to convince you of his message! His frantic style strikes me as showing both how important and how convincing he believes Jesus’s message to be. But, then we arrive at a Sunday like today, and I find myself a little frustrated perhaps, or at least a little challenged by Mark. In the lectionary, the series of the first Sunday in the season of Lent always focuses on the temptation of Jesus – his time in the wilderness, where he confronts Satan, and commits to God’s path rather than the flashy alternative Satan presents. This is the fo
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My parents are down in your general area right now on a mission trip.
When my current church sent a group down to hurricane-ravaged Clewiston, I heard one of the men remark that what he loved about UM churches was that no matter which one he went to, he always felt welcome.