15
Sep 2023
By Rev. Lynn Bartlow A good friend of mine in Illinois used to make fun of me and my travels. “Do you ever stay home and work?” Apparently he thought my husband and I were always planning our next vacation, our next education event, our next trip. Our Book of Discipline gives us, as appointed pastors, four weeks every appointment year for vacation, plus a week of continuing education and a week for camp or revival kinds of opportunities. I believe pastors should take every day of their four weeks. Ideally, we......
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Skipping the Messiness and Giving the Highlights
On May 30, my Covid test came back positive. We had flown the day before from Paris to Manchester, preparing for the Wesley Tour portion of our trip. With a positive test in hand,...
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On Inclusivity and Becoming One Church
Our family just returned from an epic three-week trip to Paris and England. One of the things we noticed was how inclusive everyone was. It wasn’t some political statement; it just was. Vegetarian? Got...
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Remembering Our Methodist Heritage
Did you miss me?!? The Bartlow family has returned from our three-week epic vacation and Continuing Education opportunity in Europe. We spent a week walking around Paris, joined the Wesley Heritage Tour for an...
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Guest Post from Rich Howell
On April 30 both the congregations of St. Mark’s and Sanctuary UMCs will vote on whether to merge. I have served as part of a task force team made up of Pastor Lynn, Marsha...
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The Hard Work of Change
Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! This isn’t just a mantra we share on Easter Sunday, but it’s the reality that we live each day. Christians believe that Jesus was crucified, died,...
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On Decisions and Voting
This past week, the Covenant Council met at St. Mark’s for its regular meeting. As you know, this is the committee in the church tasked with keeping us on target with our ministries and...
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‘All in,’ But Which Way?
At last Sunday’s Town Hall meeting about the potential merger with Sanctuary UMC, we were asked why a merger and why not just a shared ministry, a partnering, a cooperative model. This is an...
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Denominational Update
What’s happening with the United Methodist Church? If you watch mainstream media, you might have seen articles about the church splintering or splitting. This isn’t entirely true, but it has some truth in its...
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Jurisdictions & Conferences
What do you know about Jurisdictional Conference? This week the United Methodist Church will be in the news again, and I want you to be aware of it before it happens. Next week I’ll...
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