Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

  Psalm 90   I took some time off last week to catch up on some projects at home.   While I worked, the radio was on in the background. Every hour, on the hour, it was evident that the news was not getting any better.   The newest recommendation is that families cancel their thanksgiving gatherings this year.   This was followed by a report that the South Bend, Indiana, Health Department tried to close churches until March 31, 2021.   (Being near the Indiana border, what happens in that state concerns us in Michigan.) I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired, weary and worn down by this pandemic that seems to have no end.  COVID-19 has isolated us from important networks of support:  family, friends and supportive communities like the church.  We are denied healthy, appropriate touch which is so important to our ability to thrive as human beings, and we feel helpless and hopeless as our options dwindle.   These days, one ...

  Scriptures:   Psalm 84:1-4,10                   John 4:23-24   What does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth?   True worship comes from within when we are present to the presence of God.   It is a sincere response to God’s love expressed in our own love for God and gratitude for all that God is and has done.     It is informed by who God is and what God is like.   When it comes from the heart, worship can happen anywhere at any time and in many different ways – in church with hymns and liturgy,   around a fire pit on a clear, starry night, on the shores of Lake Michigan or at the kitchen sink.     Worship initiates an unspoken dialogue between our spirits and the Spirit of God in which we experience God’s unconditional love in action within us – healing, affirming, comforting, forgiving, challenging, and always life changing. ...

  Matthew 9:35-10:8 Jesus tell us to “go,” to get out of the confines of our church and into our communities.   The nurturing ministries tend to focus us on our inward needs, and that's okay because those kinds of ministries are needed for the care and feeding of growing disciples.     However, the fruit of outreach and missions lead us to focus outwardly, to reach out.   Outreach and missions call us to be field hands in God’s harvest of salvation. After living for 15 years in Des Moines, Iowa, my husband and I moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.    In seeking direction for this new stage in my life, God revealed this to me: As a Christian, I had been playing it too safe.   I had gotten too comfortable “volunteering” rather than serving, to comfortable with being involved in programs and projects rather than ministries and missions.   God opened my eyes to what was happening around me -- people were dejected and rejected, harrassed and...

  Because both White Pigeon and Constantine United Methodist Churches have returned to in church worship services for the time being, we will not be offering a full Sunday worship experience on this site.   Instead, I will be posting my written message as well as a link to a video of the message here.  Should should we have to discontinue in-person services, we will return to offering a worship experience on line. Please follow this site to read other blog entries.  Thank you. God bless, Pastor Lane Van.