Peakland UMC

From Pastor Joe:

In my first sermon to you all I acknowledged the challenges that come for the church community when a new pastor arrives. What if the pastor changes things? What if the pastor doesn’t change things? Fear not folks, I’m going to do both. I’m going to change some things and keep some things exactly the same.

From Pastor Dave:

I continue to scan through poems written by Charles Wesley on select passages of Holy Scripture. Often, I will be sitting in my favorite chair, with one hear on the TV and my eyes scrolling through hundreds of hymns and poems searching for just the right selections for a Wesley Wednesday devotion. A verse of scripture will catch my attention and I will quickly give focus to see how Charles will expound it’s meaning. Such was the case for the poems I share this week. They each are from the final words of Jesus from the Cross.

Andrew shares a story from his time in undergrad and a made up word that created conflict in the congregation.

From Linwood:

There is a wide variety of music at Peakland UMC. Everything from classical piano or organ along with hymn arrangements. And then there is the more contemporary flavor of our music.

For me, the variety is a wonderful opportunity to express our praise and worship, regardless of what that may be. And this week, we turn towards the upbeat side of praise.

The setting is a small lake not too far away from the church. The song - Everlasting God. Here we go!

Grace and peace to you, welcome to Peakland United Methodist Church Sunday morning worship for August 21, 2022. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor here. All are welcome.

In this story from the Gospel of Luke, we will hear how Jesus heals a woman who had been crippled for 18 years. Luke writes that she was bent over and quite unable to stand up straight. This passage is special for me because this was the passage for my very first sermon, which I preached in August 1995 at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church in Arlington, Virginia where I served as a seminary intern. I’m not using the same sermon today that I used then, but the lesson of this story remains the same. Jesus offers us healing and liberation from sin so that in his name and with his Spirit guiding us we can offer healing and hope to the world around us.

From Pastor Joe:

Boys and girls these are my reading glasses. I use them to read books when the print is too small. I also where contact lenses to help me see clearly. Lots of people need help seeing. In today’s Bible story, we’ll meet a man named Bartimaeus and he needs help seeing as well.

A Night At The Bowling Alley PODCAST EDITION by Peakland UMC

From Pastor Joe:

This past week I finally hung all of my pictures in my office here at the church. That’s not the most important thing I’ve done since I’ve arrived at Peakland, but my pictures on the walls of my office help me feel more at home.

One of the pictures I have on my wall is this version of the Serenity prayer. A clergy colleague gave it to me 20 years ago as I was starting at a new church. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I cannot and wisdom to know the difference.

From Pastor Dave:

There was a period of time in the life of Charles Wesley , where he devoted himself to reading and studying the Holy Scriptures with a deeper intensity. He did so as an act of spiritual discipline in order to grow closer to God. As his read and reflected prayerfully on these sacred words; he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

From Pastor Joe:

Last week Peakland hosted Vacation Bible school. We had three sessions in the evenings and then a session Sunday morning at the 9:45 worship. As part of the Sunday worship service, we had printed on the bulletin a picture of a cross made up of a variety of words, some positive like Kindness, justice, light, and shine. and some negative words like Bitter, hateful, fear and abuse. Folks were then to block out the negative words with a pencil leaving the positive words to shine forth.