From Behind the Pulpit

I recently worked my way through Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman. He opens with a quote from Heinrich Weinel and Alban G. Widgery, that I want to share with you below.

“To some God and Jesus may appeal in a way other than to us: some may come to faith in God and to love, without a conscious attachment to Jesus. Both Nature and good men besides Jesus may lead us to God. They who seek God with all their hearts must, however, some day on their way meet Jesus.” [1]

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[1] Heinrich Weinel and Alban G. Widgery, Jesus in the Nineteenth Century and After (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1914), 405, quoted in Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), 1, Kindle edition.

From Gary Beach, church treasurer:

“Thanks to your generosity, we have already reached our goal of raising $5,000 to meet this year’s pledge from our church to the ministry of Common Table.”

From Staci Payne, chair of the Worship Commission:

“Thank you again to everyone that brought a cross or picture for our Stations of the Cross. The Worship Committee is so grateful. Your crosses are ready for pickup in the fellowship hall at your earliest convenience.”

Here at CAUMC, our informal guiding scripture reading is Micah 6:8, which tells us to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. In my estimation, we’re great at loving kindness, we’re pretty good at walking humbly, but we struggle (like most churches) with doing justice. We’ve got an excellent opportunity to do justice coming up.

Jeanne Koontz, a United Methodist Deacon working on behalf of the Direct Action and Research Training Center (DART), will share a 40-minute presentation in Fellowship Hall on Sunday afternoon, April 12, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. Jeanne will be talking about the importance of doing justice as a church and how we can be part of what DART is doing in central Kansas. You can learn more about DART at the link below. Everyone is welcome, and everyone is welcome to bring a friend.

Link: https://thedartcenter.org/

We’re starting new office hours beginning tomorrow, April 5, 2026. Those new hours can be found below. Because we are without an Administrative Assistant, it is still a good idea to call 785-539-4191 before driving over.

8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. — Monday through Friday
1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — Monday through Thursday

It is a glorious thing to be outside at 7:00 a.m. on Easter Morning for the Sunrise Service, but this Easter Sunday, the weather forecast says it’s going to be not only glorious but cold. For that reason, we’ll be moving inside to Fellowship Hall tomorrow morning (Sunday, April 5, 2026). Come and join us!

We had quite a few people show up for the Stations of the Cross in Fellowship Hall last night. The stations will be available to walk through a view at your own pace again tomorrow (Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026) from 10 am to 12 noon.

If you can’t make it in person, you can view the readings here: https://bit.ly/47IFWel

A Good Friday Service of Tenebrae will be held tonight (April 3, 2026) at 7:30 p.m. We will have Holy Communion.

I meant to post both of these announcements from the Staci Payne, the chair of the Worship Commission more than a week ago. Better late than never, but just barely.

Stations of the Cross (by Staci Payne) — Please bring crosses or pictures of the cross with a stand to the Fellowship Hall on Sunday, March 29th (9:30–10:30 AM) or Wednesday, April 1st (5:30–6:30 PM). Help us reflect, remember, and rejoice in the sacrifice, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Stations of the Cross will be open on Maundy Thursday, April 2, from 6:00–7:30 PM in the Fellowship Hall, and on Saturday, April 4, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Help Us Bloom! Share the Joy of Easter (by Staci Payne) — We invite our entire church community to help transform our sanctuary into a glorious tribute to God. Please bring fresh flowers or blooming plants to the sanctuary on Saturday, April 4, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 pm. (Early arrivals are appreciated!) You are welcome to take your plants home after the Easter service, or you may choose to donate them to another local organization to spread the joy further. Fun Flower Fact: Did you know the daffodil represents eternal life? As one of the first flowers to bloom each spring, it serves as a beautiful reminder of renewal. Please note: For the comfort of all, lily stamens/anthers will be removed to prevent allergic reactions.

Some words of wisdom we discussed last night in our Lenten Bible study by N. T. Wright:

“We come to the gospels hoping and imagining that they are going to be ‘nice’; that we will find a Jesus who tells us it’s all right, we don’t have to worry, nobody’s going to get hurt, no one will even be cross. But with the world the way it is, if God doesn’t get cross about it he is not a good God. If he doesn’t do something about it, sooner or later, he’s quite simply not God.” [1]

I like that, thought I would rephrase it slightly. If God doesn’t get upset about injustice than God isn’t good. If God doesn’t eventually do something about injustice, than God isn’t even God.

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[1] N. T. Wright, Lent for Everyone: Matthew, Year A: A Daily Devotional (New York: Harper Collins, 2018), 86.