The lessons continue from this year’s virtual charge conferences continue. And the inspiration I get from lay people’s testimonies in response to the questions of how are they loving God and neighbor continues to grow. Recently a lady told me that the current situation – by which she said she meant pandemic, societal unease, divisive… Continue Reading→
HELLO FROM HARVEY: Charge Conference Continues to Teach
This is the third in an unintentional series of gleanings from Capital District charge conferences. I have to reiterate how impressive and inspiring they have been: unfailing graciousness and a profound desire to remain vital and deeply engaged in their own communities, our local church’s leaders are a gift. And I have learned and pondered… Continue Reading→
HELLO FROM HARVEY – CHARGE CONFERENCE IN A PANDEMIC Part II
I hadn’t intended to make a running article about charge conferences despite having used them as my foil in the last “Hello from Harvey,” but the over-all content of the conferences has been so encouraging – and the spiritual context so beautiful — I have to share. In case you haven’t had yours yet –… Continue Reading→
HELLO FROM HARVEY: CHARGE CONFERENCE IN A PANDEMIC
“They” start this week. They are the 2020 charge conferences. In our United Methodist family, a charge conference is one of the most obvious and certainly one of the strongest ties that keep our family together. Charge conferences are times to celebrate what a local congregation is doing for God and for their neighbors, but… Continue Reading→
HELLO FROM HARVEY: WALLOW vs. THROUGH
Recently, I got to hear a friend of mine preach; he gave the devotional message at a Wespath meeting I attended. He serves in the Western Pennsylvania Conference and talked about his recent life as a pastor. He admitted to being tired of the current troubles, and he listed all of them: pandemic, divisive politics,… Continue Reading→
HELLO FROM HARVEY: HOW TO BE LESS ANXIOUS
I enjoy two on-line devotional gifts: one a daily scripture reflection and the other a daily prayer reflection, rooted in the Word, and always concluding with a task, an assignment for me to live out my faith. I am dependent on them for growing my devotion to Christ, and, frankly, during the… Continue Reading→
HELLO FROM HARVEY – CHRISTIANS AND POLITICAL DISAGREEMENT
Last week, on my way to record a sermon for a coming Sunday’s worship service at one of our churches, I pulled up at a stoplight immediately behind a car hosting a fascinating pair of rear bumper stickers with a stick-on cross in-between. One sticker had lots of words: 2 lines, a website reference, and… Continue Reading→
HELLO FROM HARVEY: PATIENCE?
My wonderful mother-in-law was a “stitcher”: she literally stitched all sorts of things and once owned a needlework shop. I treasure the things she made including a prayer sampler that reads, “Lord, grant me patience . . .but HURRY. Amen.” I get it. I can be patient but just now, patience is in… Continue Reading→
HELLO FROM HARVEY: LISTEN
Communication. It’s always meant a two-way process to me: you talk, I listen; I talk, you listen. But I’ve been thinking more about it because of two things I’ve heard in the past week. First, a friend of mine, a psychotherapist, volunteered in a conversation that she thinks one major reason people struggle within families… Continue Reading→
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 13
- Next Page »