“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit” ~John 12:24 We are called to experience, celebrate, and share God’s love. This is our mission as First United Methodist Church of Kalamazoo. Our call […]
In the Old Testament, when Moses raised the staff of the serpent any who had been bitten by a venomous snake could gaze on the staff and be healed of the serpent's poison. It is a strange reference to an obscure story. The point is, those who look to Jesus who was lifted up on […]
Inclusion seems to be a buzz word of the time with many organizations and entities claiming inclusion as a value. For Christ followers, inclusion is an ancient spiritual practice that was embodied by Jesus. His life and ministry consistently exemplified that love and community must include the marginalized as they too were God’s beloved. Jesus […]
This second Sunday of Lent we raise the congregational value of COMMUNITY. How fitting then to celebrate the baptism one of our youngest disciples as the community reaffirms our own baptismal covenants and welcomes a child into the covenant. In our Baptism we put on the grace of God through Jesus Christ, and we commit […]
The story of Jesus’ baptism and the Spirit driving him out is certainly brief in the Gospel of Mark but there is plenty of drama. With the clearing away of details, we find ourselves focusing on Jesus. This is the meaning of the season of Lent. The opening verses of Mark are demanding our attention, […]
Join us in person or online at 10:00 AM. Elisha saw an astonishing thing take place right before his eyes when Elijah, the greatest of the prophets did not die but was swept away into the heavens by a chariot of fire. The student was so devastated he tore his clothes in two. The next […]
Join us this Sunday at 10:00 AM for a special Sunday, where our Young Adult resident, Jonathan Townley, will be preaching. We will also have a reading from “This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us” by Cole Arthur Riley, the first of the writers we will continue to feature throughout the […]
“I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Mark 1: 24b We need healing. One of the beauties of being a Christ follower is recognizing that we are wounded, and that Christ is the healer of our every ill. When we can recognize our own woundedness and accept the vulnerability that comes from […]
Join us this Sunday in person or online at 10:00 am Our understanding of God and God’s all-embracing grace can be so limited, and when this is the case then so too can our own efforts to be God’s love in the world. This was certainly a problem for Jonah, a preacher who didn’t want […]
“You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:11b “But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. It is this type of understanding […]
In our baptism, we are claimed by God, we are reassured that we are God’s Beloved. Let us gather this Sunday to remember the mark of baptismal water upon our foreheads and live into the grace and abundance that is God given. Remembering our baptism, is a renewal of our awareness of God’s faithful love […]
With Christmas Eve behind us and a new year merely hours away in our present time, we find Mary 2,000 years ago with a Baby Jesus only 40 days old as she brings him to the temple. There Mary is met by Simeon and Anna, an old man and a prophetess whose deepest longings have […]
