From The Pulpit of DUMC

An encounter with God in worship is a foretaste of a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. Cultivating a mature life in Christ requires more than weekly worship. It involves our faithful attention to the means of grace, or staying in love with God by setting aside regular and intentional time for listening to God in prayer, for the study of Scripture, for fellowship and holy conversation in...

On this special episode of This Thing Called Church, David, Kevin, and Karen are together in-person and recorded the show in front of the DUMC PrimeTimers audience! They answered a wide range of questions submitted from the audience from how did they meet their spouses, where did they go to college, and is there purgatory, to taking the Bible too literally, Methodist theology, and an update on the...

On Sunday we continue exploring five practices that shape and define a faithful and fruitful life. Last week we explored the practice of radical hospitality, of welcoming God’s love into our hearts and lives recognizing that the most basic truth about us is that we are first, finally, and forever loved by God – and then extending God’s love and radical welcome to every person we meet. This week we...

This week we begin our church-wide study and a series of sermons focusing on Bishop Robert Schnase’s book, Five Practices of Fruitful Living. Bishop Schnase asks, “How do we cultivate lives that are abundant, fruitful, purposeful, and deep? What are the commitments…and practices that open us to God’s transforming grace, and that help us discover the difference God intends for us to make in the wor...

David, Kevin, and Karen give an overview of the book "Five Practices of Fruitful Living" by Robert Schnase for our upcoming church-wide book study and also discuss ways you can participate. They also have conversations about officiating weddings and parenting moments.

Christianity is an embodied faith, a way of life, a way of living and being in the world that reflects the love and mercy of God. Jesus calls us to come and follow, to live and love like him. With that in mind James reminds us that “faith without works” is dead. Now to be clear, salvation is God’s gift to us. Our works or acts of service cannot and do not earn us God’s love and acceptance. That sa...

Now that we have wrapped up our summer sermon series from the book of Ephesians, we continue journeying through our lectionary texts, with a mini- series, from the book of James. This mini-series will carry us through until we begin our Church-Wide Sermon Series on The Five Practices of Fruitful Living! This week’s message will focus on James 1: verses 2-8 and 16-18. This is a rich passage that sp...

The Lord's Prayer is the topic for today's discussion. It's a prayer the majority of us know by heart, but David, Kevin, and Karen dig deeper into where it came from, the meaning behind it, and why you should pray it every day.

This Sunday we will conclude our journey through the letter of Ephesians, focusing our attention on selected verses from chapter six. Here Paul reminds us that our struggle is not against enemies of “blood and flesh.” Contrary to the divisive and dehumanizing rhetoric and behavior that occupies too much of our common life, we’re not at war with or seeking to defeat or destroy those individuals wit...

In writing to the Church in Ephesus, Paul reminds us that our calling is not to superficial faith, casual Christianity, or cheap grace.  Our calling is to imitate God, to be holy.  What Paul hopes we’ll see is that the resurrection means that God’s new world has come, that there is a better way to be human, and that we are invited to take part in it.  As such Paul urges us to wake from our spiritu...

After a short summer break from recording, David, Kevin, and Karen are back together again and recap what has been happening lately. Kevin and Karen give David a special mug to add to his collection. Recapping the Youth Choir trip that happened this summer creates a conversation about keeping people engaged and connected at church and why it's important to be together in-person.

This week as we continue to reflect on the book of Ephesians, we will reflect on how this Scripture relates to our calling to go and be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. The Scripture says, “let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors” (4:25). What does speaking the truth to our neighbors mean when we respond to our faith and participate in mission work in our community? We will also r...

As we continue our study of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, this Sunday we will look at Ephesians 4: 1-16, where we are encouraged to “bear with one another in love and make every effort to maintain unity….” Unity in our world and country, and especially in our churches, must surely be one of the most difficult challenges we face as a people. We might even ask: Is it possible to hold on to...

In this week’s reading from Ephesians (3:1-13) Paul points to the great mystery of Christ, that “…people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of God all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the boa...

In this week’s reading from Ephesians (2:11-22), Paul invites us to think about the walls we build - the dividing wall of our sin that separates us from the God, the walls we erect that divide us from one another, and the walls that barricade our hearts, keeping us from our true and best self. Walls have their place, they support the roofs of our offices, schools, and homes, but then they also can...

It is easy to be overwhelmed and disheartened by the challenges facing the church and our world. We may even feel ill-equipped or powerless to make much of difference. The earliest Christians surely knew what this was like. This week we begin a seven-week series focusing on Paul’s letter to the first Christians living in Ephesus. Ephesians is a wonderful letter in which Paul encourages the early c...

David, Kevin, and Karen recap their Fourth of July weekends, talk about space travel, and then discuss some of the differences and similarities between Methodists and other religions. These are the books that Kevin and David referenced during the conversation; Living as United Methodist Christians, by Andy and Sally Langford Being United Methodist in the Bible Belt, by F. Belton Joyner Why I Am a...

Sunday is Independence Day, a day we celebrate freedom. As we gather for worship we will encounter a section from Paul’s magnum opus, the Epistle to the Romans. There Paul acknowledges our lack of freedom and how at times we seem prone to do the very things we know we shouldn’t, and incapable of doing the things we know we should. He then points to Christ as the source of perfect freedom. As we ce...

Last week's theme with David and animals continues as he shares another interesting tidbit. June 28 is John Wesley's birthdate and David, Kevin, and Karen discuss the foundation of Methodism and what it means to be a disciple. Kevin also explains tying in discipleship through music and hymns.

This Sunday, June 20, is Father’s Day. This is a holiday that often gets overlooked in our Christian calendar. In honor of this day, we will be exploring a scripture passage from Deuteronomy 6:4-9, known as The Shema. This scripture passage calls us to hear anew the great commandments and to make living them and sharing them a part of our daily lives. This invitation highlights for us the importan...

In this episode, our new Youth Director, Evan Nester, joins David, Kevin, and Karen. Learn more about Evan and what fun and exciting plans he and Brittany are working on for our Youth Ministry. Also, find out what unique animal David ate for dinner once while on a Mission Trip.

In Christ we are a new creation and are granted a shared in Christ’s ministry of reconciliation. That is, as friends of Christ we participate in God’s work of reconciling all things, of healing division, and making all things new. This transformation involves a new perspective, a new lens through which we view the world. Being a new creation means, that we come to see the world through the eyes of...

This week is Trinity Sunday. We will discuss the Triune God and how we encounter the Trinity within Scripture and in our lives. We will look together at some of our theological understandings of our one God in three persons. As you prepare for worship this Sunday, we invite you to reflect on how you see the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit present in your life.