Pastor's Notebook: Introducing Our Stewardship Worship Series, #BeUMC It is stewardship season at CUMC! Your Finance Team has been hard at work preparing the church budget for 2023. The budget is a practical document that helps us wisely steward the financial gifts that are given to the church. But more than that the budget is a statement of values. It describes who we are and what we do as a fait...  Read More

Laity Sunday is a day set aside to remember and lift up a 24/7 reality: the priesthood and ministry of all believers (1 Peter 2:5-9). In Protestant Christianity, we believe in three kinds of priesthoods: The priesthood of every baptized Christian, the priesthood of ordained clergy, and the priesthood of Jesus, who is our High Priest in heaven. Laity Sunday celebrates the ministry of all Christians...  Read More

This Sunday we begin our fall worship series, Gifted for More. Every person is a gift from God with gifts to share! In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote that our gifts exist for the benefit of others rather than for only ourselves: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ so that there should be no division in the body, b...  Read More

As of this week, I have been serving among you for ten weeks. Many of you have inquired how I have been settling in. Thank you for asking! My apartment is mostly unpacked, though I am always slow to get pictures hung on the walls. The same goes for my office. It takes time to learn the rhythms of a church, but because so many of those rhythms were interrupted by COVID and most of your church staff...  Read More

Join your CUMC family in worship on August 28 for a Blessing of the Backpacks! Students of all ages are invited to bring their backpacks to church for a special blessing and a gift as they prepare for a new school year. We will also bless the school supplies we are donating to the older siblings of our Head Start preschoolers. ...  Read More

Two Sundays ago I preached on the importance of setting aside time to pray and be still before God. God has placed upon my heart the invitation to start a prayer ministry at CUMC. This ministry will gather on Mondays at 9 am in the Chapel for a half hour to pray for the mission and ministries of our church, attend to the presence of God in our midst, and listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit ...  Read More

“For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven” (Eccl 3:1, NRSVUE). During seasons of change and transition, this small line from Scripture always gives me comfort. It reminds me that change is part of God’s providential plan for creation. With every change comes an opportunity to listen carefully to the Holy Spirit and pay attention to what God is doing....  Read More

While the global church celebrates a new year in the church calendar at the beginning of every Advent, in Methodism we celebrate a second, unofficial new year at the beginning of July. This is when the appointment year turns over and local churches receive new pastors. My clergy colleagues and I joyfully wished each other a "Happy Methodist New Year" on July 1st as we entered into new ministry set...  Read More