Rev. Andrew's Adventures

Community UMC, Quincy “Keep On Going” June 18, 2017 Pastor Andrew Davis Matthew 9: 35-10:23 While it sometimes feels like a broken record and a little easier to be a ‘negative Ned OR Debbie Downer’ right now, it is hard to escape or ignore the news cycle right now.  While I usually like to err on the side of hope and joy, it seems as if violence and bad news has become all too common in our world these days, including violence over differences in thought.  It is a feeling like being a lamb in the midst of the wolves (or in our case, coyotes and mountain lions).  Just this past week, we have seen incidents of violence in Alexandria, VA, in San Francisco, seven sailors dying in a crash on the USS Fitzgerald, as well as terror attacks in London and Manchester England a couple weeks ago, or remembering those who were killed in the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando a year ago.  There is also more, as other incidences that don't always get reported. Plus, w...

Community UMC, Quincy “Go” June 11, 2017 – Trinity Sunday Pastor Andrew Davis 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13 Matthew 28: 16-18             As I referred to in my most recent article for the newsletter, June feels like it’s a month that's on the GO.  It’s a time to go on vacation, a time of going from one grade to the next like many of our students have done this week; a time of going on from high school like we saw on Friday at Quincy High School’s graduation and seeing Alyssa graduate.  Or, June is also a time of going to Annual Conference which Gloria and I will be doing next week when we travel to Burlingame to represent our church in the work of our regional body of the UMC in California-Nevada.  But the month of June is also a time of transition for many, as a number of my clergy colleagues will be going to other churches (aka ‘The Methodist Shuffle’) and in the case of a number of my friends who just gra...

Community UMC, Quincy “Fan Those Flames” June 4, 2017: Pentecost Sunday Pastor Andrew Davis Acts 2: 1-21 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-13             About 30-ish years ago, I got to go on my first camping trip with my dad, grandpa, and a family friend up to Antelope Lake not too far from here.  Now, this was my first time camping away from home and will just say it only lasted one night for me, as I went back down with our family friend the next day.  But as he and my dad went out to do some scouting, I think for the upcoming deer season, my grandpa and I stayed behind.  I was eager to build a campfire, so my grandpa decided to show me how to build one.  It was only with small twigs and some paper towels to start and while it was a pretty pathetic fire, that moment taught me the basics of building a fire, a skill I’ve developed over the years.  Then again, I’m known to build some pretty hot fires too....

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son And of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age – Matthew 28: 19-20 It feels like the month of June is the time to GO as we begin summer here in Quincy!  It’s a season of going on vacation, of going forth from one grade in school to another, from going from high school to college or the workforce, college graduates preparing for a new life, going to our Annual Conference Session, or for many of my colleagues, a time of going to another church and for many of my former classmates, going to their new churches for the first time as pastors.  But the main thing is that Jesus says to GO, to GO make disciples of ALL nations, but that no matter what, Jesus is with us wherever we may go and will always be with us until the end of the age.  It’s the Great Commissi...

What a month April was!!  Amidst the weather not making up its mind if it would be cold or warm, we made it to the end of our Lenten journey and through Holy Week and Easter.  However, what a powerful and meaningful Holy Week and Easter we had here at Community UMC!!  Even though I am writing this installment of Adventures two days after Easter, the afterglow of our Easter Sunday is still with me as I feel uplifted from the music, seeing a full sanctuary, and that we are slowly seeing signs of Spring around here.  Our Holy Week services had a wide range of emotions from the excited shouts of “Hosanna” on Palm Sunday that quickly turned to “Crucify Him” as we made our way through Jesus’s Passion, the Last Supper, his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and death.  But of course as we heard and saw on Easter, death WILL NOT have the final say.              But now, we are in the Great 50 Days between Easter...

Community UMC, Quincy May 21, 2017 “Singing the Songs of God: The Power of Music and Praise” Pastor Andrew Davis Psalm 96; Psalm 150         Now I may be a little biased being a musician, but music has always played an important role in my life and faith journey.  I have found over the years that music has the power to relax, calm, or even heal, particularly in memory care and in the hospital or nursing home.  Music helps us express ourselves in ways we may not ordinarily be able to do, as there is a special power in the songs and hymns that can bring us closer to God.  Like many of you, I too am deeply moved by the poetry and words of music, just as I am by the melodies that are written.  In a class I took at Wesley a few summers ago, “Exploring the Hymnal” with Dr. Eileen Guenther, Eileen made it a point that congregational songs and hymns are a means of “portable theology.” [1]   After thinking about and refle...

Community UMC, Quincy “Becoming One in Ministry” May 28, 2017 Pastor Andrew Davis Acts 1: 6-14 John 17: 1-11         I’m not sure how it’s happened, but I find it hard to believe that we are already standing on the verge of summer.  Now it sure didn’t seem like spring or summer would happen after this longer and colder than usual winter we’ve had, but all I can say is that I am sure glad to have the longer and warmer days, have the windows on my truck open while driving, but also glad to be able to get up to some of our local lakes without having to 4WD through snow banks.  Plus, I’m glad to be putting in a vegetable garden and playing in the dirt, something I find renewing.  However, I’m not so sure I’m glad about the mosquitoes!!          As we are getting into a slower pace and more laid back time here in the church and remembering the memory of those who have died serving our c...