This Sunday we begin a three-week series on living as Easter people based on the First Epistle of John. The season of Easter, or Eastertide, can be difficult to navigate. On the one hand, there is the ongoing unexplainable joy of resurrection and the hope of new life. On the other hand, there is the inevitable feeling of “So, what?” as we notice that the world seems pretty much unchanged or perhap...  Read More

I thought I had the topic for this month’s newsletter article figured out.I was going to write about dandelions. Seriously.But then a wealth of athletic events happening at the same time in Spokane created a shortage of hotel rooms. Consequently, some of the competing teams had to be housed in Coeur d’Alene. And then they had to walk to a restaurant.Most of the nation knows what happened then. Not...  Read More

Our Easter offering this year will 100% support the 2nd Harvest Mobile Market. Mobile Market brings healthy food directly to high-need communities throughout the Inland Northwest. Since 2006, the Mobile Market has provided fresh produce and other groceries at no cost to families, children, and seniors experiencing food insecurity. Last year Mobile Market served over 900 people at CUMC alone. Mobil...  Read More

Dear church,Last week, Fred Asher, Sherry Graham, and I spent three beautiful, wintry days at Clearwater Lodge in Newport, WA. We gathered there with five other churches for our second Resilient Church Retreat. The Resilient Church Project is a two-year program funded by the Whitworth Office of Church Engagement with the aim of helping churches explore the marks of resiliency as we navigate our ra...  Read More

Though we often avoid exploring the places in our lives marked by shadows anddarkness, these challenging moments can be ways through which God leads us out of dark times into the dawning of new opportunities and fresh starts. In his own journey from the wilderness to the cross, Jesus experienced moments of gathering shadows and distinct darkness. But for those of us who know how his story ends, we...  Read More

John Wesley listed "holy conferencing" as one of the means of grace, by which he meant believers gathering to worship and pursue the will of God together. 2024 is a big year of conferencing in The United Methodist Church!Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth has officially called the 151st session of the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference for June 13-16 in Richland, WA at Central United Protestant Church. A...  Read More

He was an old hippie. At least, he appeared to be.My wife Florence and I had taken a trailer load of “green and clean” yard waste to the transfer station/recycling center—mostly tree branches from limbing pine trees. We’d backed the trailer in and started dragging and tossing the branches off it into the “green and clean piles.”I don’t recall the amount of material we had, but it likely was a half...  Read More

During Lent we are encouraged to:1. Give up something,2. Start something, and3. Do something for the community of God.If you are looking to start something, consider joining the Read a Chapter a Day Challenge! Across our connection United Methodists are being challenged to read a chapter a day from the Gospel of John during Lent.Reading the Bible is one of the essential spiritual practices of disc...  Read More

This Lent you are invited to go deeper with our Lent worship series, Song of the Shadows (based on our District Cantata), by joining our all-church Lent study. Author and pastor Thomas Steagald encourages you to explore the similarities between your spiritual journey and the journeys of some of the people Jesus met and ministered to on his way to the cross. As Jesus bravely enters the thickening s...  Read More

"My soul magnifies the Lord,and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Luke 1:46-47)These words of Mary, which we read in worship this week, remind me of you and how you and our congregation are living out the Gospel message.First, this letter is one of appreciation. Your gifts to the ministry of Community UMC this year have magnified God in so many ways. A few highlights include:Celebrating one f...  Read More

“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.” (Psalm 126)What does it look like to live as those who dream? The prophets, the psalmists, John the Baptist, Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, the shepherds, and the Magi—they were all dreamers. They received, discovered, and responded to God’s dreams for the world. In Advent and at Christmas, we step into the myster...  Read More

This week is the All Hallows Triduum of All Hallows Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day. During this season we remember those people who have gone ahead of us into glory and the example of faith they set for us while they were alive. For the next three weeks, we will explore the marks of sainthood in worship:November 5: Clothing of the Saints (All Saints' Sunday)November 12: Stories of the Sa...  Read More