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Miracle Sunday

This coming Sunday, May 17, 2026, CAUMC will join with United Methodist congregations worldwide in a special, one-time offering. The purpose of this offering is to raise money to endow 500 theological scholarships in perpetuity for Africa, the Philippines, and parts of Europe. United Methodists have long valued theological education. The need is great because while 71% of U.S. clergy hold a theological degree, fewer than 5% of clergy outside the U.S. have access to the same level of education. The need is real, and I would encourage you to give generously.

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Humility

Humility is a Christian virtue, but it is not easily defined. I wanted to share this explanation from Frederick Buechner:

True humility doesn’t consist of thinking ill of yourself but of not thinking of yourself much differently from the way you’d be apt to think of anybody else. It is the capacity for being no more and no less pleased when you play your own hand well than when your opponents do. [1]

[1] Frederick Buechner, “Humility,” Frederick Buechner (blog), August 18, 2016, https://www.frederickbuechner.com/quote-of-the-day/2016/8/18/humility.

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Utterly Unconditional Generosity

I’ve been reading Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief by Rowan Williams. It is an introduction, but he comes at the Christian faith from a different perspective than I normally do, and I’m finding it fascinating. I wanted to share this:

“We have to bend our minds around the admittedly tough notion that we exist because of an utterly unconditional generosity. The love that God shows in making the world, like the love he shows towards the world once it is created, has no shadow or shred of self-directed purpose in it; it is entirely and unreservedly given for our sake. It is not a concealed way for God to get something out of it for himself, because that would make nonsense of what we believe is God’s eternal nature. God is, in simple terms, sublimely and eternally happy to be God, and the fact that this sublime eternal happiness overflows into the act of creation is itself a way of telling us that God is to be trusted absolutely, that God has no private agenda. It may be a bit shocking and hard to absorb, but that’s what it seems we have to say. When – rather rarely – in our world we see someone acting without any thought for themselves, without reward or consolation, wholly focused on another, we see a faint reflection of what God is naturally like.” [1]

I don’t disagree with any of that, but I had never before put it all together that way.

[1] Rowan Williams, Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), 12–13. Kindle edition.

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Spring Potluck Luncheon

From Sheryl Fjell

“The Willing Workers is inviting everyone to join us for our Spring Potluck Luncheon on May 7 at noon. Our speakers will be Bethany Stock and Debbie Nuss, directors from the Common Table. Please bring food to share and your questions about the progress and future of this very important mission in our community.”

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Snacks for Dead Week

From Jennifer Sturges, chair of Family and Friendship Commission:

The Family and Friendship Commission is going to treat the students at Wesley House during K-State’s “Dead Week.” If you would like to contribute snacks, drinks, etc., please have them in the main church kitchen by noon on Sunday May 3, 2026. We will be delivering to them that day. Thank you! Know the students will appreciate it.

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Annual Food Packaging Event

From Sheryl Fjell, chair of the Outreach Commission:

Sunday morning, April 26, is our Annual Food Packaging Event. We will be packaging 3000 Mac and Cheese meals and 2000 Beans and Rice meals from 8:30-10:30 am. Please come and help. This event is for all ages. We do the task in assembly-line fashion, so there is a job for everyone. We work to get it done so we can attend church. See you then.