A few years ago, I ran into a friend who was going through some tough family times. I asked him if there was anything I could do; his response caught me off-guard. He said, “I am struggling to have faith, and I just need other people to have faith for me.” I confess that before this, I didn’t really consider
Perhaps this is the real significance of Christ the King Sunday. It is an opportunity to look at what has been ruling over us in every aspect of our lives. It is an opportunity to dethrone the Caesars of today, allowing Christ the King to reign in their stead.
How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! –Psalm 133:1 I have heard many people share with me recently their concern over a lack of unity in our world. Nations are deeply divided over politics, the appropriate response to COVID-19, racial and ethnic justice, and many other issues. Not even the church is a safe
[iframe style=”border:none” src=”//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/16719752/height/100/width//thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/custom/tdest_id/3433802/custom-color/87A93A” height=”100″ width=”100%” scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Eliza Edge is the first Resident In Mission and the Director of Programming at Trinity United Methodist Church in Conway, South Carolina. Contact Eliza at eedge@trinityconway.com. Learn more about RIM at ResidencyInMission.org. Let us hear from you: podcast@worldmethodist.org Find us on Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram Connect with Rob
If you’ve been part of a marching band, you know how intricate the planning is for halftime. I spent the last 16 years in Ohio, where it’s impossible not to hear regularly about Ohio State University. Renowned for its sports teams, OSU is also known for its marching band and its creative halftime shows. One halftime show particularly caught my
In 2,000 years of church history, you will find an ebb and flow of opportunities seized and opportunities lost. While church history is often a study in fracture – who split from whom, when, and why – nevertheless, it remains remarkable that community is found even today among drastically different people. An illustrative moment comes to mind: a few years
In many churches around the world, we marked All Saints Day this past Sunday, taking the time to honor the clouds of witnesses that have gone before us – all those people who have shaped, challenged, and carried us forward on our spiritual journey. As I contemplate the saints in my own life, I’m reminded of two interrelated and intriguing
We’re inclined to activity, to busyness. Quiet contemplation and active listening are challenging endeavors. We may feel that this challenge comes as a by-product of our modern twenty-first century world, but it’s actually the human condition. Peter pursued that inclination as well. In Matthew 17, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with him to a mountain top where they have
Core Team (Left to Right) Arpit Charan, Augustine Frederick, Nikul Masih, Vijay Bannet (not pictured – Anosh Charan, Amber Massey) One of the joys of my work with World Methodist Evangelism is to be able to see the dramatic way God works in the lives of young people. Surprisingly, the current pandemic has highlighted this joy, reminding me that even
Our Wesleyan tradition holds a rich heritage of understanding the way the whole of our created being functions. We share a long history of encouraging one another to health and wholeness in every way, just as our God designed. We believe that we are responsible for the well-being of not just our souls, but our bodies and our minds as
Singing is one of our greatest expressions in the Christian faith and way, especially in the Wesleyan Methodist tradition. We sing our faith. One of the hymns we sing often is Blessed Assurance. The hymn is emotionally overwhelming when we know about the author, Fanny Crosby. From six weeks of age until her death shortly before her 95th birthday… Fanny
Worship is often an understated matter for us church folks. Think about the last time you used the word “worship.” For many of us, it refers to the time of singing before the sermon at a church gathering. Some even call that gathering “worship.” For others, the last time we said the word worship, it was in reference to an
Scripture Focus: If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you
In the questions Jesus was often asked, two stand out. A young man of great wealth asked him, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). In another setting an expert of the law questioned, “Teacher, which one was the greatest commandment in the Law?” The first question, often phrased “What must I do to
In my last article I reflected on Paul’s emotional struggle as he wrote his letter to the Ephesians. He was filled with emotion as he thought of these new Christians, and in his mind, probably rehearsing his own Damascus Road experience. How could he say what he was feeling and thinking? What did he need to say? All he had
Scripture Focus: When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Abide in my love. When you obey my commandments, you abide in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have told you
“For the first time in my life, I had joined with Jesus’s compassion for someone who was sick and felt the power of God flow into another to make him well.” In their book Healing Prayer: God’s Idea for Restoring Body, Mind, and Spirit, David Chotka and Maxie Dunnam remind us that healing miracles still happen today. Healing miracles in
Scripture Focus: When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die
Join me in your imagination. We are a part of a Christian congregation in Ephesus. At one of our gatherings, a fellow member reads a letter written by the great apostle, Paul. He is seeking to shepherd the new emerging Christian movement and he is praying for us. Hear him, now. I kneel in prayer to the Father, from whom
We transfer this mantle from our generation to the young, indicating that the responsibilities of the older generation will be caught up and carried on by the young, and that the spirit of today’s Elijahs will rest on today’s Elishas.” Nearly a decade ago these words rang across the retirement service as a retiring elder handed me a symbolic lantern.
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