Intersections

What will be the lasting impact of Bethany UMC? That is an interesting question. Thinking about legacy seems like a very odd thing to do at the beginning of my second year as pastor of this church. But here we are. The summer is winding down. Before long, my kids will be back in school, and the neighborhood will be a little quieter behind my office because school is in session at Shambaugh.  Sometimes it is good to reflect - to wonder, though. I was listening to a podcast recently which said, “Start with the end in mind,” referring to Stephen Covey’s second principle in his book “Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.” In the book, Dr. Covey offers a thought experiment - writing your obituary. Now, some people may find this to be too dark and macabre to consider doing. I know, especially in my 20s and 30s, I would think, “that’s a long time away! I need to make some living first before I figure out what the end is going to look like!” But after living through a pandemic and half...

We are starting an adventure today, also known as my first preaching series! We will be taking a deep dive into the Gospel of John chapter 6 to see how food and faith intersect to bring us closer together as a community. I hope you came here today hungry for ice cream, but most importantly, JESUS! We will be checking out the first 21 verses for this first week. Here they are, in the Contemporary English Version:  “Jesus crossed Lake Galilee, which was also known as Lake Tiberias. A large crowd had seen him work miracles to heal the sick, and those people went with him. It was almost time for the Jewish festival of Passover, and Jesus went up on a mountain with his disciples and sat down. When Jesus saw the large crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?” He said this to test Philip since he already knew what he was going to do. Philip answered, “Don’t you know that it would take almost a year’s wages just to buy only a littl...