From The Pulpit of DUMC

On this Inauguration Day, Shane, Kevin, and Karen have a guest, Mary Shea, join them. Did you know that the DUMC Chapel has a bell in the steeple? Kevin shares where the bell came from and when it was rung for the first time. The main topic the group discusses today is about the new building proposal that has been in the works for years. Mary gives an update on the progress the Building Committee...

This Sunday we begin our first sermon in our new series and churchwide book study on Gary Moon’s Apprenticeship with Jesus: Learning To Live Like The Master. We will launch the series by reflecting on the question posed by two prospective disciples to Jesus, a question which begins John’s gospel: “Master, where are you staying?” Their question captures the essence of what discipleship, a word ofte...

In typical fashion, Shane, Kevin, and Karen go down a rabbit hole of discussing old tv shows and movies and come out with a topic idea for a future episode. Shane also shares what character he dressed up as for Halloween based on a popular 80's television show. The main topic for today focuses on the events of last week at the Capitol and how the Girardian philosophy regarding the mob and scapegoa...

This Sunday we will commemorate, along with churches the world over, the Baptism of Jesus, which officially began the mission for which he was born at Christmas. Remembering our Lord’s baptism will also provide us a chance to remember our own baptism and to recall what happened on the day when we too entered the blessed waters and had pronounced over us the name of the Triune God. Much was at stak...

It's the first Page - Turner episode of 2021 and Shane, Kevin, and Karen recap their Christmas and New Year's Eve holidays. Today's topic falls on Epiphany which is perfect timing to discuss the Magi and their importance to the Christmas story. Who were they? Where did they travel from? What is the significance of the gifts they brought and what can we learn from them today?

Join us this week as we continue in our journey from Christmas to Epiphany. Epiphany is the culmination of all that we’ve been anticipating during Advent, as we continue taking steps out of darkness and into light. Our biblical text for Sunday is Matthew 2:1-12 the story of the Magi’s journey to see Jesus. We will experience together the gift that the Magi received through this encounter. We will...

This Sunday we will enter the next chapter of the Christmas story, the reading appointed reading for Sunday, concerning the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple (Luke 2:22-40). This passage contains a host of theological themes, Old Testament connections, and several motifs regarding the mission of Christ. This week let's consider a few of them and especially Simeon's ominous p...

For the last episode of 2020 Shane, Kevin, and Karen discuss Christmas shopping and New Year's resolutions. This Sunday is the final week of advent and the three discuss love. Shane explains its true meaning and that love is more than an emotion.

“Who are you?” (John 1:19). This is a question that we might hear today as people get to know one another and it is a question John is asked in the Scripture for this Sunday. This week we will explore John’s response to this question and what it means for us. As you prepare for worship, ask yourself the question: Who are you? How would you respond if someone asked you this question?

Karen tells the story about her Christmas tree and Kevin shares how the Christmas Eve service is coming together. This upcoming Sunday in Advent is Joy, and Shane, Kevin, and Karen discuss what the true meaning of joy is and how to find joy during this holiday season.

This Sunday we will reencounter one of the primary figures of Advent, John the Baptist. He is a strange, enigmatic figure and yet the Church finds him and his message essential ingredients for a proper preparation for Christmas. All the gospels relate John’s preaching before they relate Jesus’s preaching. This Sunday let’s hear the gospel according to John the Baptist (Mark 1:1-8) and thereby make...

After three weeks, Shane, Kevin, and Karen are back together! They catch up on what they did over the Thanksgiving holiday, talk about Christmas trees and then discuss reclaiming the real meaning of Advent. Advent is much more than only preparing for the birth of Jesus.

This Sunday marks the first Sunday of the season of Advent. Every first Sunday of Advent, the church appoints the gospel reading to be one in which Jesus goes apocalyptic. Look, our Lord will say this week, for the sun to darken, for the moon to stop giving its light, and for the stars to fall. Why this reading, why this sermon from Jesus, as we begin decking the halls with our festive ornamentati...

Thanksgiving has been understood as a day to humbly reflect on the abundant gifts that saturate our lives. It inspires us to think about what it means to be truly thankful and to consider the impact that gratitude can have. Some have described gratitude as “ the practice of making space for appreciation.” Embracing gratitude as a practice is about acknowledging the goodness in our lives and acknow...

Kevin and Karen have another guest on today's show, Brittany Viehmann, who has started her job this week as the DUMC Youth Program Coordinator. Brittany shares how she and her family came to DUMC and what she is looking forward to with our youth program now and in the future.

If you grew up going to Christian camps or youth groups, you may have sung: “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning, burning, burning…” This Sunday in worship, we will hear Jesus’ parable of the ten bridesmaids, which is where this little song gets its theme. Join us as we reflect upon the meaning of this story, and see that keeping oil in our lamps isn’t just a message for kids, but for Christia...

This Sunday we will spend time reflecting on a popular parable of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew, the parable of the talents. A rich man entrusts his servants with a certain number of talents, which was a huge sum of money, and then asks for a reckoning for how they invested it. A parable with many stewardship themes, it nevertheless has a curious wrinkle in it, which says more about us than about...

Kevin and Karen have a special guest on today's show, DUMC member Ashley Nydish. Kevin and Karen initiate Ashley to the show by discussing fall, the holidays, and of course space. Ashley shares how Bags of Hope got started and explains how the program provides meals for students in the Lake Norman area and how you can help.

We survived Halloween, the time change, and a full moon all in the same week. Now as voting is over and as we are waiting on the results of the president-elect, Shane, Kevin, and Karen discuss religion and politics and how they coexist. Click on the video link below to watch this week's episode.

This Sunday we will experience again one of the high Sundays of the year, All Saints Day. A day set aside for the commemoration of all the faithful who have died in the Lord—in particular those in our own church community who, within the last year, died in hope of eternal life in Christ—All Saints Day is a Christian pedagogy, that is, it teaches us why we exist and for whom we exist. For all the s...

DUMC's Senior Accountant, Sarah Haynes, joins Shane, Kevin, and Karen today and gives an update on our year-to-date finances and how things are looking for the end of 2020 and into 2021. They also discuss Halloween and All Saints Day and what worship will look like on November 1.

This Sunday we conclude our series on Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, reflecting on his concluding words in the 7th chapter (Matthew 7:21-29). Jesus envisions two types of hearers: the foolish who disregard his words and the wise who stake their lives on them. Jesus ends his great sermon with a choice. It belongs to us to respond.

Shane, Kevin, and Karen give some updates on what has been happening at DUMC over the last two weeks and then dig into the topic of evidence that God exists.

This Sunday in our reflections of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount we will spend time pondering the words closing out chapter 6 of Matthew's gospel: "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or wear...but seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you." Within the context of the sermon, Jesus, I think, identifies what is often the source or contributor of many of our mat...

This Sunday we come to the next portion of Jesus’s sermon on the mount in which he instructs his disciples to avoid parading their good works or their generosity before the public gaze. Instead his disciples should give in secret, pray in secret, and practice their piety in secret. Why? This Sunday let’s contemplate our Lord’s instructions and understand how his is a call to freedom.