Good Friday 2021 Download the free Zoom app and click this link on Friday a little before 7pm: http://bit.ly/3tdDqpt OR you can call in from your phone (even a landline! Remember those?) Dial this number 646-558-8656 and enter this Meeting ID: Meeting ID: 816 9025 417 Passcode: 923188 If you dial in and need to un-mute […]
Committed to Lament
“To be AWAKE is to LAMENT that much is wrong with the world, but to be awake also means we are PRISONERS of HOPE.”* (Zechariah 9:12) As I wrote on Monroe Free Methodist‘s page this week,I know these small choices and declarations are just that: SMALL. But as a white woman, as a parent, as a […]
#pastorlife 📆 Maybe you’re curious what it’s actually like?
“What does a typical day look like?” A couple days ago one of my bffs asked me what our life actually looks like. She’s a nurse practitioner, going to grad school and parenting 3 kids under 5. So she was pondering what ours lives must be like as pastors and as parents, especially during a pandemic. […]
Fully You
One of my favorite parts of being a pastor is observing your lives and noticing how God is changing you. I know…you’re probably thinking, “Sure Pastor Mel, you think I’m becoming more loving, but you don’t know the whole story. You don’t know what it’s like at home or at work.” And you’re right. I […]
Reflect + Reset
I love spending time reflecting on what God has been doing in my ordinary life. Writing helps me process what’s going on in and around me. In putting my thoughts into words, I can pause to observe the seemingly-hidden work of God and begin to notice what kind of fruit my life is producing. It’s […]
Why we do church
Following Jesus is about so much more than checking a “Christian” box on a survey. It’s even more than about going to church on Sunday (*gasp*). I believe following Jesus means living like Jesus: seeking to be prayer-filled, rooted in Scripture, holy in lifestyle, Spirit-empowered, and social-justice oriented in the midst of living out our […]
Step One is Rough
Being a Christian is about more than checking a religion box on a survey. Going to church is about more than the style of music or the brilliance of the pastor or the roast of the coffee. To be a Christian is to literally follow Christ, and in so doing our lives look more and […]
Loving Everybody, Always
To follow Jesus is to respond to God’s invitation to love everybody, always. For the past few weeks I have been reading a book with a group of earnest Jesus followers. Everybody, Always by Bob Goff is all about “Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People.” Sounds simple, right? A little […]
God With Us
For the 7 weeks since Resurrection Sunday, we have been aligning ourselves with the Spirit Empowered Stream of Christian Tradition, seeking the power of the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. We cling to the message Jesus gave to his disciples as he predicted his ascension back to the right Hand of His […]
This is 11
It feels just right, like your favorite sweatshirt on a cool summer evening. It kind of feels like the type of work Jesus describes in Matthew 11, easy and light. It’s still work. There is still plenty of trouble to navigate, and it takes focus and intentionality to move forward together. But doing so with […]