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.

  Welcome to Constantine and White Pigeon United Methodist Churches! Click on the links that appear in the order of worship to take you to music, scripture and more.  A new tab will open to take you to the site.  If the sound is off, click on the corners of the video until you find the unmute icon.  After the video is over, close that tab and you'll return to this page. If you are worshipping with others in your household, please feel free to read responsively or in unison where indicated.   Gathering Together Good morning you  beautiful  people of God!  We continue in our se rmon series, “Thrive.”   SPECIAL MUSIC    “Thrive”    Casting Crowns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCKmF3AqHC0    CALL TO WORSHIP (Psalm 78:1-4) Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, Things that we have heard and...

  Welcome to Constantine and White Pigeon United Methodist Churches! Click on the links that appear in the order of worship to take you to music, scripture and more.  A new tab will open to take you to the site.  If the sound is off, click on the corners of the video until you find the unmute icon.  After the video is over, close that tab and you'll return to this page.   If you are worshiping with others in your household, please feel free to read responsively or in unison where indicated.   Gathering Together Good morning,  you beautiful people of God!   SPECIAL MUSIC   “Thrive”    Casting Crown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ71RWJhS_M CALL TO WORSHIP (From “Thrive”)   Like a tree planted by the water, we never will run dry. So living water flowing through God, we thirst for more; Fill our hearts and flood our souls with one desire Just to know You and to make You known. We lift Your name on...

  Welcome to Constantine and White Pigeon United Methodist Churches! Click on the links that appear in the order of worship to take you to music, scripture and more.  A new tab will open to take you to the site.  If the sound is off, click on the corners of the video until you find the unmute icon.  After the video is over, close that tab and you'll return to this page.   If you are worshiping with others in your household, please feel free to read responsively or in unison where indicated.   Gathering Together Good morning, you beautiful people of God!   S PECIAL MUSIC   “Holy Now”  Peter Mayer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiypaURysz4   CALL TO WORSHIP (based on Psalm 1:1-3)   Happy are those who delight in the Word of the Lord, Who think and pray on it day and night. They thrive like trees planted by streams of living water Which bear the fruit of the Lord in every season. Never dropping a leaf, ever blossoming with ...