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Pastor Michael

Spiritual Chemotherapy!

Colossians 3:5-8

This coming Sunday, I will be preaching a sermon entitled, Spiritual Chemotherapy! It is based on Colossians 3:5-8. The sermon is on the 2nd of the “Other Ten Commandments” in Colossians.

The theme is God’s Grace pursues us. (John Wesley would call this, “Prevenient Grace.”)

I look forward to seeing you this coming Sunday.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

Pastor Michael

From the Pastor

Since childhood, I’ve always tried to fill most of the minutes of the day. At graduation from high school, I was given the annual award for the senior with the most school-related activities. Even to this day, I have the constant impulse to fill my days with something; and it’s common to feel just a little guilty if I have an empty time slot.

My wife, Anne, has been reminding me that’s it’s ok to take a break from time to time. While I often still have some misgivings about having a little free time, at 75 years of age I am finally learning to take a little break and “smell the roses.”

What has this to do with faith? While I’ve filled some of those less active times with prayer, I have found that freeing myself up from the constant pressure of “doing” has led to times of greater meditation on the richness of God’s many blessings in my life. And, it has given me a better opportunity to concentrate on my prayer life. A favorite chair is not only good for watching a television show, reading a book, or taking a nap. It has enriched my personal prayer time. I now realize that becoming too busy to pray deeply has put a dent in my personal discipleship and kept me from being truly invested in someone’s life—if only from time to time.

It’s o.k. to take a little time off. It will not only benefit you; it will also add strength and depth to the things you do to show God’s Love to those who need your sincere efforts to answer Christ’s command that we love others as Christ love us.

Michael O’Bannon, Pastor

Pastor Michael

You know what…?

Psalm 73: 1-3; 21-26.

On February 5th the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, our sermon title is “You know what…?”

The theme addresses the contemporary, widespread problem of cynicism.

I look forward to seeing you this coming Sunday.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

Pastor Michael

January Update

Dear congregation,

It’s that time of year again when churches and pastors have to make decisions about pastoral appointments. The appointive system has been part of the foundation of Methodism from the very beginning.

The Rev. John Wesley began his career as a clergyman in the Church of England. He had some pastoral experience helping his father in a small local church, but his most significant years in the beginning included being a college teacher.

It was while he was at Oxford that he began doing things methodically. People called him and his followers, “Methodists,” as a kind of joke. They had a method for doing everything in their daily lives, especially when it came to prayer and Bible study.

Eventually, John and his brother, Charles, decided to go to America as chaplains to Gen. Oglethorpe’s colony in Georgia. He thought of himself as a missionary; but as a missionary, he was less than effective. Upon his return to America, he is reputed to have said something like, “I came to America to save the Indians, but who is going to save me?”

After his return to England, he begrudgingly attended a Bible study on Romans at the invitation Of his brother. At that Bible study, John came to the realization that we are saved by Grace and not our good works. His life was transformed. He began preaching that in earnest.

As John Wesley’s following increased, there was the need to get others to help him. As the Methodist societies grew, he began to send his preachers to pastor those societies. At first, John Wesley changed their appointments every quarter. Eventually, appointments were made for longer periods of time. Today, each appointment is made for a year. Each year, those appointments are continued or changed; and this has continued to the present.

I want all of to know that I have just asked the District Superintendent to send me back to Kedron and Lock’s for another year, if at all possible. We now have to wait and see what the Bishop and cabinet of District Superintendents decide. I just wanted to keep you up to date.

Michael O’Bannon, Pastor