Adventures with Pastor Andrew from "The Quincy Quill," August 2016

-
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8: 28).

What an AMAZING first few weeks this has been since arriving here in Quincy!!  I cannot thank God enough for having this opportunity to serve this beautiful, friendly community.  Thank you everyone for the different signs of welcome this past month, for the gifts of food, conversations, dropping by the office, and for welcoming me here with open arms.  Several of you have told me that you feel a new sense of energy here and I feel it too!!  I am constantly renewed each time I walk the neighborhoods, each time I see the mountains, streams, and trees, drive to the lakes, and each time I get to see you.  It has made this transition into pastoral ministry smooth as I continue feeling my way around. 

This past month, we have been talking about loving God and neighbor and one thing that struck me and was mentioned was how this community is respectful of one another and those who are here to lead and those who are here to protect.  As we have been seeing in the news WAY too often, there is a lot more violence that we see on TV and in the newspaper, as well as tension over differences, whether it is race, politics, religion, etc..  As I said in my sermon on July 10, “How to be a Neighbor,” we as the church can be the example for our community and greater world when we are able to find common ground and work together for the common good.  Or as Paul says in Romans 8: 28, “all things work together for good for those who love God,” and we need to continue sustaining our way of finding places we can work together for the good in making our community a safe and welcoming place for everyone who visits or lives here.  I am grateful that we are able to focus more on what we agree on and that we are able to work together for the common good. 

As we head into August, we will be exploring a new series, “What Faithful Living Looks Like” and will be working through the Book of Hebrews, chapters 11-14.  Even though we will be in those “dog days of summer,” we still have a lot to look forward to in worship and fellowship and I hope you will be able to make it to worship when in town.  As always, I welcome conversation at any time, so please feel free to come by the church house to say hi when I’m in the office Tuesday-Thursday, or join me in town wherever I may be.  To start our conversation, what does faithful living look like for you?  Also start thinking of hymns for Hymn Sing Service on Sept. 4. 

Finally, my office door is always open if I am in the office on Tuesday-Thursday, unless I am out in the town or in a meeting.  You are also welcome to join me for conversation at my “remote office” most Fridays between 10:30am-12:30pm, wherever that may be (likely Midtown Coffee).  If you would like me to come visit you in your home, please let me know too.  I look forward to getting to know you more along the way!!


Peace & Blessings, Andrew

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adventures... - April 2017 from "The Quincy Quill"

-
In the bulb, there is a flower, in the seed, an apple tree; In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free! In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be, Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see. (Hymn of Promise, v. 1, UMH 707) Natalie Sleeth’s “Hymn of Promise” is a beloved hymn by many with its themes of new life, hope, and resurrection.  It is often sung for memorial services and during the Easter season because of these themes of new life, hope, and resurrection.  Dr. Michael Hawn, who recently retired as professor of church music at Perkins School of Theology, writes that “Hymn of Promise” was written at a time when the author states that she was "pondering the ideas of life, death, spring and winter, Good Friday and Easter, and the whole reawakening of the world that happens every spring." Inspired by a T.S. Eliot line, the germ of the hymn grew from the idea "in our end is our beginning," the ...
Read more

Where Do We Begin? Sermon, July 3, 2016

-
Community UMC, Quincy, CA “Where Do We Begin?” Pastor Andrew Davis July 3, 2016 Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20         It feels so much like Christmas Morning. - You know, that feeling when we were all children?  No matter how late we went to bed, we still woke up early on Christmas Day with that sense of anticipation, just waiting to see what was laying beneath the Christmas tree, or what waited in our stockings on the fireplace mantle or wherever the stockings were hung. -- Likewise, today also feels like the first day of school, slightly along with that same sense of nervousness of not knowing what to expect, not knowing who will be in the same class, or whether or not you’ll like your teacher. -- I think both feelings can sum up how both of us may feel this morning, this first Sunday together as pastor and people. - We both come into today with a sense of anticipation, a sense of new energy, but perhaps a sense of nervousness as well, - not...
Read more

Geared Up for Life: Setting our Hope, Sermon July 11, 2021

-
  Foothills UMC, Cameron Park/Rescue “Geared Up for Life: Setting Our Hope” Ephesians 1: 3-14 Rev. Andrew Davis July 11, 2021            What a wonderful weekend last weekend was as we celebrated Independence Day and our new beginning together.  I cannot begin to say thank you enough to everyone who has made Trevor and I feel welcome here at Foothills UMC.  This first full week together has been no exception.  It has been nice getting a chance to know many of you via email, phone, or in joining me for coffee at Cameron Park Coffee & Deli on Tuesday (which I will be doing every Tuesday) or swinging by the office to say hi.  I continue to thank all of you who have made recommendations of places to eat or have coffee at, as going out to these places is one of the ways I do ministry and go into the world, and witness to the community around us.         ...
Read more