United Methodist Chucks

This Sunday we look at Naomi in our Mother's Day message for Day by Day. "Mother IN Hard Times" looks at Naomi's role in Ruth's journey. What was it like for her to be a mom? What can we learn from her for today's struggles? Day by day, we get through with God's help. Our scripture reading comes from Ruth 1:7, 11-14, 18-22; 2:1-3, 19-20; 3:1-5, 16-18; 4:13-17.

Our Easter series is Day by Day and for this fourth Sunday of Easter, our message is “Devotion.” We show our devotion in many different ways. How do we show devotion to God in this time of distancing? Should we be pushing to get back into the church building? What is it others see when they see us following God? Day by day, we let God lead us. Our scripture readings come from Acts 2:42-47 and 1 Peter 2:19-25.

Our Easter series is Day by Day and for this third Sunday of Easter, our message is “New Information.” How is new information presented to us? When it is, do we believe it? Why? Why not? How do we present new information to others? Do we accept God giving us new information? Day by day, we let God lead us. Our scripture readings come from Luke 24:13-35.

Our Easter series is Day by Day and for this second Sunday of Easter, our message is "Personal Experience." As we work through this unprecedented time, we explore what personal experience means to us. How does it shape our faith? How does it impact our witness? How do we maintain faith and trust in trying times? Our scripture readings come from 1 Peter 1:3-9 and John 20:19-31.

Our Easter message is "He Is Not Here." How do we celebrate the resurrection while we practice social distancing? How do our current situations influence our faith? Where is our hope? We explore these questions today! Our scripture reading comes from Matthew 28:1-10.

Ready for Lent continues with "Ready for the Spirit" as we continue to navigate these difficult times. Being ready for the spirit means being ready for things to be different. But it also means recognizing when things are difficult. Our scripture readings come from Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:6-11; and John 11:1-45.

"Ready for Sight" is the next installment in Ready for Lent. Today we look at different ways that we are ready to see the world the way God sees it. How do we see each other? What happens if we think differently than God? Do we try to change our view? Or do we try to change God to fit our view? To be ready for Lent we must be ready to change. Our scripture readings come from 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Ephesians 5:8-14, and John 9:1-41.

This week in Ready for Lent we try to be "Ready for Unity" in the midst of an unusual situation. As the Coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are holding off on having services at the church for the time being, so today's message addresses that situation. How do we find unity in times of struggle? What can we do when we don't know what comes next? We trust that God will make us ready to help each other. Our scripture readings come from Exodus 17:1-7, Romans 5:1-11, and John 4:5-42.

"Ready for Faith" is the next preparation point in Ready for Lent . How do we get ready for faith? Shouldn't we already have faith? What is our faith? What do we have faith in? What should we have faith in? Let us be ready to follow Christ and get ready for Lent. Our scripture readings come from Genesis 12:1-4a, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 and John 3:1-17.

Our new series is Ready for Lent and "Ready for Temptation" is our first message. We are given examples of how to face temptation in today's scripture, but what do they mean? What is one of our greatest temptations? Are we ready to face those things? We get ready for Lent by focusing on Christ. Our scripture readings come from Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7, Romans 5:12-19, and Matthew 4:1-11.

Our final message of Following God is "In the Glory of God" for Transfiguration Sunday. What does the transformation mean? What is the message Christ has? What do we learn about following God? We explore what it takes when we are following God. Our scripture readings for today come from Exodus 24:12-18 and Matthew 17:1-9.

"Speak to Life" is the next to last installment of Following God. If we are given a choice between living a life dedicated to what's good or what's not, how do we know which we are doing? Are our actions enough? Or do we have to feel it? How do we balance the personal with the social? Should we be cutting off limbs to avoid sin? We explore what it takes when we are following God. Our scripture readings for today come from Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and Matthew 5:21-37.

"With a Purpose" continues in the Following God series. We look again at serving selfishly versus selflessly. What kind of fast does God want? Prayer? Worship? How do we shine a light or be the salt? How do we do anything? We explore what it takes when we are following God. Our scripture readings for today come from Isaiah 58:1-12 and Matthew 5:13-20.

"Choose the Good" is the next message in our series Following God. What does God want? Sacrifices that we can purchase? Does God want self serving actions? Or does God require something more from us? We explore what it takes when we are following God. Our scripture readings for today come from Micah 6:1-8 and Matthew 5:1-12.

We begin Following God with "Leave the Dark." We often hear about walking in darkness and seeing a great light, but what do we mean? What is the darkness we leave behind? How do we deal with selfish desires? What about failure? We explore what it takes when we are following God. Our scripture readings for today come from Isaiah 9:1-4 and Matthew 4:12-23.

"So It Begins" is the final message in The Story Goes On. We jump forward from an infant Jesus to a grown man. How does Christ begin his ministry? What can it teach us about our own ministry? As long as God is still telling it, the story will go on. Our scripture reading comes from Matthew 3:13-17. I'm on vacation, so I'll be back in two weeks with a 5 part series on following God.

"Strange Visit" is our second message in The Story Goes On. On this Epiphany Sunday we take a look at the visit of the Wise Men. Why is this story in Matthew? What do we know about the visitors? What do we not know? What lessons can we learn from them? Christmas may have passed but the story goes on. Our scripture reading comes from Matthew 2:1-12.

We mark the first Sunday after Christmas with a new series, The Story Goes On. The first message is "Flight for Survival" and looks at a dark part of the Christmas story. What do we make of a story of violent oppression as part of the Christmas story? What does it say about hope? About love? Christmas may have passed, but the story goes on. Our scripture reading comes from Matthew 2:13-23.

Today marks the end of our Advent Journey with the Christmas Eve message about "Living in Love." What does Christmas mean? How do we look at it? How do we love? Merry Christmas to you all! Our scripture readings come from Isaiah 9:2-7 and Luke 2:1-20. The transcript can also be found here.

"Learning to Trust" is the message for the final Sunday of Advent, and the next to last message from our Advent Journey. What does trust look like? How do we learn to trust? Why do we trust? We embark on an Advent journey to prepare for the road ahead. Our scripture readings come from Isaiah 7:10-16 and Matthew 1:18-25.