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Welcome to Grace UMC on the Web! We are glad you stopped by. We hope you find useful information on our Web site. Please come worship with us on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in our sanctuary or listen to us on the radio at 11:00 a.m. on AM station 1180 WLDS. God Bless! From the Pastor’s Desk… What if the word "open" in "Open hearts, Open minds, Open doors" was a verb instead of an adjective, not describing who we are but instead telling people what we do? (UMCOM) "Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?" And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,* you did it to me." Matthew 25:3140 NRSV Jesus’ illustration of the judgment scene paints a clear picture of expectation for the church in the world. Jesus’ followers took these words to heart, following the calling to take the message to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Just as the early church was on the move, so too, we are called to move beyond our doors to engage a world longing for love, compassion and hope. Over the next few months Grace United Methodist Church will need to remake itself. We will need to take even more serious the call of Christ in our lives. In "rethinking" ourselves, we need to come to an understanding of what "open" means. It needs to become a verb, a call to action for us to be reaching out to the people of this community and the world. We are doing many of these things, however; we need to consider doing more. I just came from a Kiwanis meeting in which our guest speaker, Les Huddle, Superintendent of District 117 shared with us that the district has over a 60% poverty rate. Many of those families live close to our church, many of those folks we probably even know. We have people who are not familiar with what church is all about and need to be introduced to it in ways they can understand. God is calling us to make a difference. We need to respond to that call with "Open hearts, Open minds, Open doors". Grace and Peace, |
