Dear Friends: The season is upon us--Christmas is here. I write this on the first day of Winter, after the longest night of the year. I read a story--and we have to be careful today in knowing what is reliable--but the story said that last night was the longest and darkest...
Dear Friends: I marvel at my daughter, Katie, as I watch her "mother" her four sons. My grandsons came into her life in different ways, the older two via her marriage to Patrick and the younger two through more conventional means. She is a remarkable mother to all four...
Dear Friends: Fear not! Words shared by angels on dark nights, in encounters where God's plans are shared, when a heart is being invited to open to a new way of life. Fear not. Why not? Aren't there times when fear is warranted, natural, even necessary?...
Dear Friends: I mentioned during worship Sunday that my wife Donna and I had gone to the Christmas concert by Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith the night before. In addition to those two well-known stars of contemporary Christian music, a fellow named Jordan Smith, who had been a...
This is one of my most favorite days of the year. I suppose it goes back to my childhood, to my love of food and, perhaps, to a time when the family of my origin called a temporary truce and began to act more like the Waltons and less like the Bunkers. The night, particularly, held a...
I am so excited to be part of Union Chapel’s UMC’s staff and part of this church’s future. I strongly believe our church has a lot to be proud of and that we have a crucial role to play in the life of our neighborhood, our city, and our world. I have spent nearly my whole life...