All posts in Notes from the Pastor

Dear Gathering Community, It is a season of transition. There are obvious transitions, as evidenced by the many graduation invitations I am receiving in the mail. Spring is a top time for buying and selling homes and several among us are moving. Some are preparing to go to new places to pursue new opportunities. There…

Dear Gathering Community in Clayton, Well yesterday was Mother’s Day. Thank all of you who reminded me to call my mom. I was able to call her yesterday afternoon. She was grateful and got the opportunity to rub it in that the family was sharing fresh blackberry cobbler without me! I hope you were able…

Dear Gathering Community, This Sunday is Mother’s Day. If you have yet to remember, or do something for your mom, I have a suggestion. Get on it. Last year I shared one of my favorite poems about Mothers. It is The Lanyard by Billy Collins. Here are a few things I want to share as…

Dear Gathering in Clayton, You could probably guess it, but wherever I go people are curious how the Clayton site is going. From friends and family back in Arkansas to my old co-workers at Wash U and people at the McCausland site, everyone I know seems to be interested in how we are doing at…

Dear Gathering Community, As I write this I am preparing for my last day of General Conference. I have been here since Tuesday April 24 (yes 11 days) helping our denomination to make important decisions about our future together. The days are long, beginning at 8 am and ending usually somewhere past 9:30 pm. We…

Dear Gathering in Clayton, Today in my devotional time I came across one of my favorite verses. It is located at the end of Matthew 11. I’ve been using The Message Translation lately in my own devotional time and I encourage any of you looking to start reading the Bible to use the Message because…

Dear Gathering Community, Last Tuesday I traveled to Tampa for the quadrennial (that’s every four years) General Conference of The United Methodist Church. It is an intense 11 days of meeting, worship and dialogue about some of the most pressing issues facing our churches in the 21st century. There are thousands of people here, though…

Dear Gathering in Clayton, As many of you know, I was out of town this week celebrating my birthday with my family in Arkansas. I love going back to Arkansas to visit my family because it usually affords me the opportunity to pause and reflect. I can get away from my usual routine, which makes…

Dear Gathering Community, I hope you all are having a good week. I missed many of you last Sunday. I took a post-Easter day off to support my wife as she ran her first marathon. I saw many of you running as well so congratulations to everyone who ran. As I watched, I was reminded…

Dear Gathering Community, It is not often that I write a special letter to the whole congregation, but this week is different. I could not wait to share this news. We just finished processing our Christmas Eve offering and it totaled over $110,000! That is nearly 50% higher than last year and is an amazing…