Lord, teach me. . . .

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me. –Civilla D. Martin It is summer in Ohio, and it is (finally) hot. (How hot is it?) It’s so hot, sunshine pours down through steamy skies, turning the world into a sauna even on cloudy days. It’s so hot, exposed skin peels like Velcro from vinyl seat cushions. It’s so hot . . . even the robins are wearing tiny flip-flops so they don’t burn their feet. (Okay, maybe not!) There are seasons, less predictable, perhaps, in our spiritual lives, as well. Sometimes we burn with passion for the Lord; nothing and no one is going to quench our enthusiasm for living. (Did you know the word enthusiasm comes from two Greek words meaning filled with God ?) But then the seasons begin to change. The fire may cool a bit; we may even seek a break now and then, a chance to “cool off.” It happens in nature, and it happens in our lives. Yet even as summer gives way to fall, and fall to winter, God’s desire to be near God’s children...

The go-between wears out a thousand sandals. –Japanese proverb The Chancel Renovation Project continues. The organ has been removed; construction of the raised platform is underway. And outside the Sanctuary, a new lift is being installed, to further validate UCUMC as a place where ALL are welcome. ALL the time. What an exciting thing to be a part of! Fulfilling our pledge to create this new, accessible worship space is a Big Deal. It’s important that all God’s children have a place to gather and worship. But remember: Coming together in this place is only one small part of being faithful. Our Sunday morning service is intended to be less destination and more fueling station. Come on Sunday morning, like the woman drawn to the well (John 4). Come hungry or thirsty. Come questioning, like Nicodemus (John 3). Come, believing or unbelieving, like the father of the boy plagued by seizures (Mark 9). Come and feast on the Word, lift your voices in praise. Love and be love...

“Our life is frittered away by detail . . . simplify, simplify.” –Henry David Thoreau When was the last time you stopped and took an inventory of your “stuff”? Did you know that in 2011, American consumers spent an average of $764 on Christmas gifts, for a grand total of over $600 billion ? That the average American household credit card debt is over $15,000? All because somewhere along the way we began to believe that the more we have, the better and more worthy we are. Our value as human beings became tied to our net worth. Here is a news flash: Nowhere in Scripture does it say that he (or she) who dies with the most stuff—wins. In fact, as we have loaded our camels with more , it becomes more and more difficult for us to maneuver that camel through the eye of the needle. We cannot take it with us. Don’t get me wrong: there is nothing wrong with having a nice car and a lovely home—but none of these things adds one iota to your value as a Child of the Most High....

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. –John Muir When I was a child, we had one doctor, a Family Doctor. All of us saw Dr. Moore, for everything from tendinitis to tummy aches, lacerations and vaccinations. Dr. Moore did it all, for a long time. But by the time my little brother came along, things were changing. He had a pediatrician, a doctor just for kids. And not only that—as he got older, there was an adolescent pediatrician, even more specialized. Today, it seems the specialists far outnumber the generalists. Sometimes our faith walk seems to be following a similar path. It’s not enough simply to be a Christ-follower. Are you a Baptist or a Methodist? A “dunker” or a “sprinkler”? Bread and juice? Or wafer and wine? We seem bent on particularizing God in our (very human) efforts to understand God more fully. (Did you know there are over 33,000 Protestant denominations in ...