News from the Pastor

August 19, 2024

I subscribe to a newsletter from the School for Contemplative Living. The Director William Thiele wrote an amazing article. I wanted to share with you all because I thought it was very pertinent for us at this time of our church. His article was entitled “The Power of Presence.” He had this quote from Winnie the Pooh: “Today was a Difficult Day,” said Pooh. There was a pause. “Do you want to talk about it?” asked Piglet. “No,” said Pooh after a bit. “No, I don’t think I do.” “That’s okay,” said Piglet, and he came and sat beside his
Read More

July 19, 2024

While we are excited to welcome Rev. H.N. Gibson beginning in July, I wanted to also take this space to acknowledge the collective grief that can accompany losing a beloved pastor. Being on staff here and at the co-op (Woodlawn Community Table), Emily’s reappointment has left me with many complex feelings: grief, anger, happiness, curiosity, relief- just to name a few. Holding all of these conflicting emotions at once is hard for me; we aren’t taught to be happy and sad at the same time after all. During this time of transition, I have made more of a practice to
Read More

January 4, 2018

Most likely you’ve unwrapped a gift or two in the past couple of weeks.  You’ve probably thrown away the wrapping paper by now, thanked the gift-giver and maybe put the present to good use.  Even though the Christmas season is over on January 6th (Epiphany – the day we celebrate the wise men visiting Jesus with gifts) we will continue to focus on gifts at WUMC.  This month we will begin a sermon series on our God-given gifts;  plus we will use an online tool to help us unwrap and discover our spiritual gifts.  This gift inventory will be offered
Read More