Thoughts and Musings from My Faith Journey
From Peggy Riley via Anna Kozak:
CAUMC will host a youth rally on Saturday, August 17, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Come join our youth for youth fun, friendship, and fellowship — and don’t forget to bring a friend! All are welcome!
Please contact Peggy Riley for details at 785-539-4191.
Here’s the YouTube link: youtube.com/watch?v=S1By1AqjEZ8
You can find the bulletin here: caumc.church/worship/
Looking for a previous service? Here’s the College Avenue United Methodist Church YouTube page: www.youtube.com/c/caumcMHK.
The church office will close at 3:30 p.m. today (Monday, July 29, 2024). We apologize for any inconvenience.
This past Sunday during our question and answer period, I received the text “What is the Free Methodist Church on Poyntz and [what is the] difference to the United Methodist Church?” I said that I didn’t know exactly and I would follow up. Here’s what I found. From the Free Methodist Church Website:
“The Free Methodist Church was birthed in 1860 when Benjamin Titus Roberts, a pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church [a predecessor to the United Methodist Church], could no longer serve in harmony with their practices. B.T. Roberts observed that no church could support slaveholding, rent seats in the church, withhold women from full service in the church, and quench the movement of the Holy Spirit in public worship. Therefore he promoted freedom for all people from slavery, free seats in every house of worship, freedom for women to serve in all roles in the church including pastoral ministry, and freedom for the Holy Spirit to move in public worship.” [1]
That account aligns well with the account found in The United Methodist Book of Discipline:
“A Methodist preacher, Benjamin Titus Roberts, had formed the Free Methodist Church in 1860 to oppose worldliness, especially the grand middle class churches in cities financed by renting pews.” [2]
As I’m sure you know, The United Methodist Church has come around to seeing the above issues from the Free Methodist perspective. Moreover, my sense is that while the “Free Methodist Church” was more progressive at it’s founding, the United Methodist Church would be considered more progressive now. But a lot probably depends on which congregation you’re talking about and which member you’re talking to.
[1] “History of the Free Methodist Church,” Free Methodist Church USA, February 16, 2024, https://fmcusa.org/history.
[2] The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church 2016 (Nashville, Tennessee: United Methodist Pub House, 2016), 55.
Here’s the YouTube link: youtube.com/watch?v=uOzz9IBndSU
You can find the bulletin here: caumc.church/worship/
Looking for a previous service? Here’s the College Avenue United Methodist Church YouTube page: www.youtube.com/c/caumcMHK.
Here’s the YouTube link: youtube.com/watch?v=0KN9vZ89es8
You can find the bulletin here: caumc.church/worship/
Looking for a previous service? Here’s the College Avenue United Methodist Church YouTube page: www.youtube.com/c/caumcMHK.
This last spring, I was confident we could squeeze in a book study on John Wesley: Optimist of Grace by Henry Knight this summer. I was very, very wrong. We’ll pick it up this fall.
I’ll be out of the office on vacation Monday, July 15 through July 20, but I’ll be back in worship on July 21. I plan to have “Question and Answer Sunday” once again for the sermon. You’ll be able to ask questions out loud, on paper, and by text. Please have questions, I love doing my best to answer them.
Jo Sanborn has passed away. A service of Life, Death, and Resurrection will be held on the morning of August 1, 2024 at 10 in the Sanctuary. Please keep John in your prayers.
Here’s the YouTube link: youtube.com/watch?v=Q_lmtsSS0ZE
You can find the bulletin here: caumc.church/worship/
Looking for a previous service? Here’s the College Avenue United Methodist Church YouTube page: www.youtube.com/c/caumcMHK.
This Independence Day, I wanted to share a prayer written by Andy Langford, found in The United Methodist Book of Worship:
“Almighty God, you rule all the peoples of the earth.
Inspire the minds of all [those] to whom you have committed
the responsibility of government and leadership
in the nations of the world.Give to them the vision of truth and justice,
that by their counsel all nations and peoples may work together.Give to the people of our country
zeal for justice and strength of forbearance,
that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will.Forgive our shortcomings as a nation;
purify our hearts to see and love the truth.We pray all these things through Jesus Christ. Amen.”
A friendly reminder that the church office is closed today.
N. T. Wright argues for the existence of God (whom we cannot see or hear) from beauty (which we can see and hear).
“We are all of us hardwired for beauty, searching for a deeper and richer meaning in a world that sometimes seems to overflow with delight but at other times feels dreadful and cold. Beauty—the haunting sense of loveliness, the transient yet utterly powerful stabs of something like love but something more and different as well—is not after all a mere evolutionary twist, an echo of [a primitive] urge to hunt prey, to find a mate, or to escape danger. It is a pointer to the strange, gently demanding presence of the living God in the midst of his world.” [1]
Ultimately, I think this is one of the best indications of God’s existence in the world around us. One can rationally argue the existence of God both ways, but the existence of beauty is undeniable.
[1] N. T. Wright. Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World (HarperOne, 2020), Kindle, 92-93.