The Third Trimester

Before we go very far, I want to thank Abby, DJ, Tim, Donna, Steve, and Bob for leading worship last week. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to return from Nebraska last Saturday due to wind and subsequent road closures. We spent the night with friends and colleagues who graciously fed us and gave us a place to sleep. I’m sure there is a sermon in that story somewhere, I just can’t put my finger on it.

Abby and DJ enthusiastically took the lead and rumor has it was a wonderful worship service.

EpistleTechnology TeamDecember 7, 2019Isaiah, John

Runways

Susan Cain is the author of the book /Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking./After coming out with the book, she then started a Podcast with the same name for parents of introverted children. During one of the episodes, she talked about how ‘runways’ can help children who feel anxious in social settings prepare themselves for future social engagement.

EpistleTechnology TeamNovember 30, 2019Isaiah, John

Where do I belong?

This week I'm preparing a worship message that invites us to practice gratitude as a community. Yet, as I work on this message I realize that I am assuming you feel you are a part of the community we call Louisville United Methodist Church.

EpistleTechnology TeamNovember 23, 2019Colossians, Luke

The Method of Methodism

This week’s epistle comes late, and for that I apologize. The past three days I have been at an event called “Western Jurisdiction Fresh Methodism,” with the purpose of the event to better discern as a larger community where we might be going as a religious denomination and the church.

EpistleTechnology TeamNovember 16, 2019Colossians

Why We Give

Stewardship Sermon Series finales don’t make a lot of sense. Ideally, over the last few weeks, your pledge for 2020 has already been on your mind. If you’re in a serious relationship, ideally, you and your partner have discussed your relationship with LUMC, your convictions around giving, and maybe even thrown out a number or two as suggestions of what you’d like to give. If you have a family, ideally, you all have talked over dinner or before bedtime about what it means to have values and how our words and actions are how we communicate our values to our friends, neighbors, and even strangers.

EpistleTechnology TeamNovember 8, 2019Matthew, Proverbs

Searching for God's Temple

While I was working on my Master’s degree at Iliff School of Theology, there was a clear narrative about what classes were for PhD students, what classes were for PhD students that Master’s students could survive, and what classes were primarily for Master’s students. I decided to delve into one of those “Master’s students could survive” classes with Dr Amy Erickson.

The class was focused on the time after the 2nd Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem. For the first time in history, the Hebrew people needed to reestablish a relationship with a God that had previously lived in a house, the Temple. Much of their relationship had been centered around the Temple - it was where God lived, it was where they made pilgrimages, it was where they and the high priests conducted rituals and sacrifices.

EpistleTechnology TeamNovember 2, 2019Mark, Acts of the Apostles

Notes from the pastor