Pastor's Message for the week of January 1, 2012
Happy New Year, Sisters and Brothers! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season! Mine involved more hospital time than I expected... with my mother being hospitalized Christmas evening. As I write this, we are waiting for the last doctor to see her for discharge. Thank you for your calls, posts, texts and prayers! For 83 years old, she is still very active.
We are beginning a new year... what will it hold? What will happen? Who will join us? Who will leave us? Our job is to be present... to be obedient... to stay in touch with God and with each other. I believe God has wonderful things in store for us this year. I pray we not miss a single blessing or opportunity to serve!
Blessings,
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of December 18, 2011
Good Morning, Sisters and Brothers! Christmas is almost here! Are you all ready? I don't mean have you bought and wrapped all your presents... or is your house decorated... or are your travel plans made... or is the menu set for dinner! I mean... are you ready to let a baby in a manger enter you life and change you life yet again? Are you ready to worship and adore Him? Are you ready to "go tell it on the mountain" that a life changing child has come into our world? You have a few days yet... GET READY!
This Sunday morning our choir will share a Christmas Blessing with us. Wednesday night will be our final Advent meditation service. Saturday night we will have a special Christmas Eve service at 6 p.m. And Sunday at 10:45 a.m. we will celebrate the birth of Christ. I hope you will include us in some of your Christmas week plans.
You, MCC Charlotte, are a gift to me!
Merry Christmas,
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of December 11, 2011
Happy Sunday, Brothers and Sisters! Happy Third Sunday of Advent! I pray your season of anticipation of the birth of Christ is giving you time to appreciate the gift of Jesus to us. So often we focus on gifts at Christmas that we overlook the gift given to us in the Christ Child.
Thank you to all who participated in the service last week. I was able to enjoy celebrating with my former congregation knowing that all would be well in MCC Charlotte. MCC of the Blue Ridge sends you greetings and love.
Please remember our sister and brothers at House of Mercy this week. We will be going out there Saturday night, December 17, at 7 p.m. for caroling and snacks. They so appreciate our gifts to them each year. Gift cards from Walmart, movie tickets, and other redeemable certificates gives them the freedom to select what they most want or need. Be generous to those who love us so and have so little.
Many of us will be traveling over the next few weeks. I pray for your safety... for those whom you will visit... for joyful and peaceful visits. As you go, take the spirit we share to all you encounter. Hebrews says we may encounter angels in the guise of strangers. Be kind to all... including yourselves!
Blessings and peace,
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of December 4, 2011
Good Morning, Sisters and Brothers! Happy 2nd Sunday of Advent! Today we will light a candle of Peace. I pray you can find a place of peace in your heart and in your life. Turmoil will always be swirling but Jesus has promised us peace.
Keep in mind the Advent Meditation services each Wednesday evening. Come aside and find a few moments to focus on the coming of Christ.
Next Sunday, December 11, we will be sharing in our annual Congregation Meeting. We will be electing Board of Directors and discussing our 2012 budget. All are welcome at this meeting... but it is imperative that members be present. We promised... when we became members... to support our church... to work together to make it a place for all of God's children. Next Sunday will be a time we will all need to step up.
I will miss you all this week. Pray for me as I celebrate the 25th Anniversary of MCC of the Blue Ridge. I pastored there for 10 years. I will always be thankful for what I did and learned there. And, I am sure, this weekend will make me even happier that God now has me with you at MCC Charlotte!
Blessings
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of November 27, 2011
Happy Advent, Sisters and Brothers! I am writing this column on Thanksgiving morning as I sit in my office at church. The smell of turkey permeates the air. Laughter rolls down the hall. Folks are busy preparing our meal. I am so blest to be the pastor of MCC Charlotte.
The altar has been changed to purple colors....the color for the season of Advent. We will be preparing our hearts the next four weeks for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Join us on Wednesday evenings for our Advent services...a time of quiet and reflection!
Following the service this week, November 27, we will be sharing in our annual Congregation Forum. December 11 we will hold our Congregation Meeting. During the forum you will meet the three candidates for the open Board of Directors positions. We have 3 gifted and qualified candidates. We will also be discussing our budget for 2012. Please come with open and teachable spirits.
Blessings and peace
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of November 20, 2011
Blessed Season of Thanksgiving, Sisters and Brothers! Later this week, on Thanksgiving Eve, we will join in a service of Thanksgiving and Praise for all God has done for us this year. Be thinking about your blessings so you can share those. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, join us for a wonderful meal together as a community of faith. Turkeys are being provided but please bring a dish to share with all.
We always seem to have more prayer requests than praises in our P and P book each week... yet we are so abundantly blessed... moment by moment. This past week I pulled into the church parking lot and, before I could open my door, an accident had happened on Eastway. I prayed for those in it... but also thanked God I was spared! One of God's gifts to us is our very lives. May we treat our bodies and minds in ways that please God. Jesus came that we could have life... eternal... abundant... joyful... peaceful. May we claim those and share those with others.
Hope to see you during our Thanksgiving Week activities.
Blessings and thanksgiving!
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of November 13, 2011
Greetings in the name of our Lord, Sisters and Brothers. As I write this I am in the final days of a wonderful vacation. I have thought about you often and prayed much for and with you. I look forward to our very busy days ahead as we prepare for Thanksgiving and for the celebration of the birth of our Savior.
This Sunday, November 13, we will be recognizing and honor those who have served in the military. November 11, 1918 was the actual day we commemorate each year...it is also the day my father was born. He would have been 93 this year... his last 7 birthdays have been celebrated in Heaven.
Sunday we will also share in a special day for one of our young congregants. Calvin will be receiving his God and Me pin as a Cub Scout. He worked very hard to accomplish the goals necessary for this award. I have been blessed and honored to share in this experience with him.
Well, I am off to the pool. Tomorrow we will go to Disney's Magical Kingdom. It is called the "Happiest Place on Earth." I believe the "happiest" place we can be is living in the love and strength of Jesus. Much of that is done, for me, with you all in Charlotte!
Blessings,
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of November 6, 2011
Happy Sunday, Brothers and Sisters! As you see this in your bulletin on Sunday I will be worshipping in Florida at Joy MCC in Orlando. I met Rev. Lisa Helig at the Clergy Retreat recently and look forward to being there with them. It will be good to sit and the congregation and worship. I know Deacon Judy Wesson will bring a dynamic message today. God has blessed MCC Charlotte with some gifted and graced men and women able to bring God's word to us.
I know our calendars are already filling up for the remainder of the year. Please keep the activities of your church in mind. We will have a Thanksgiving Eve service at 7 p.m. on November 23rd. Join us for Thanksgiving dinner the next day at 1 p.m. We will provide the turkeys and everyone can bring sides and drinks. Invite your friends who may enjoy the meal with a large family!
You will be in my prayers this week. I am looking forward to a wonderful week away. See you next Sunday!
Blessings and peace,
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of October 30, 2011
Blessings, Sisters and Brothers! I pray we all have had a week of appreciating God. My sermon last week truly spoke to me! We ask God for so much....yet so often forget to say thanks...or even spend time just telling God how LOVED God is.
This week we will be sharing from I John about who we really, ultimately, intrinsically are: Children of God. I think it fits well with this being Halloween weekend. So many of us have walked around for years in costume, behind a mask, with our treat bags out hoping someone will fill it with goodies. The time has come for us to be all God has created us to be...our faces open and shining with the love of Jesus...realizing our goodie bags of life are filled to overflowing with God's blessings.
Blessings and peace,
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of October 23, 2011
Good Morning, Brother and Sisters. I pray this has been a good week for you... that you have walked in God's blessings and grace. We have so many opportunities each day to used by God and to be a blessing to someone.
In a book of devotions, Quiet Moments Alone With God, I read today:
Hebrews 2:11 "Jesus, who makes people holy, and all those who are made holy have the same Father/Mother. That is why Jesus isn't ashamed to call them brothers and sisters."
In some cultures, it is common for several generations of the same family to live in the same house. The older teach the younger and the younger are able to care for the older.
God has also chosen to live among his family. As a member of that extended household, others strengthen and support you. You are able to teach and be taught, comfort and be comforted, nurture and be nurtured. Take joy in belonging to the family of God.
As holidays are approaching, as rhetoric rages about "family", and everyone tries to say what a family is or is not, know that you are a beloved son or daughter of our living and loving God! Spend time with your God Family!
Blessings and peace,
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of October 16, 2011
Happy Sunday, Sisters and Brothers! I hope you told someone last week that God had shown up in your life at some point and time. Sharing our stories...our blessings...our victories is such an encouragement to others. God continues to show up and bless us over and over and over.
If you have looked at the financial listing on our bulletin insert, you will see that we have not been meeting budget. We as a church voted last December to support this budget. Some of us have missed giving some weeks. I pray God will abundantly bless us individually so we can share that blessing with the life and support of our church. If you are away or prefer to give over the internet, go to mcccharlotte.org and you will find a link to help you do that. If you have questions about this, please talk to Jeremiah, our treasurer.
School has been in session now about long enough that report cards will be showing up. For some students and parents this is a fun and exciting time.....for others it is NOT. Today we will be looking at some scripture we may want to consider as a report card basis for our church and for us. Be open....be honest....be willing.
Blessings and peace,
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of October 9, 2011
Good Morning, Brothers and Sisters! I want to share with you a passage from Psalms Now by Leslie Brandt... a restatement of a part of Psalm 40:
You, God, are not looking for genius; You do not require great talents.
You are not charmed by our panic-ridden activity.
You simply ask for our faith and our obedience.
It was when I turned from self-seeking to embrace Your will for my life
that I discovered serenity and security.
These words spoke powerfully and gently to my spirit this day. I pray we as a church be faith-filled and obedient to the leading and call of God. That is how we, both individually and corporately, will know serenity and security.
Blessings and peace,
Rev. Catherine
Pastor's Message for the week of October 2, 2011
Happy Sunday, Sisters and Brothers! Fall is here. Weather is changing. Cooler weather always energizes me. I hope I can convey some of that energy to you and to the life and work of our church. It is time for us to decided some directions for our outreach and programs to encourage us in our faith walk! Be listening for some challenges and opportunities for involvement.
This Sunday we will celebrate the founding of our denomination, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches! 43 years ago Rev. Troy Perry opened his home to 12 men and women for a service celebrating God's inclusive love. From that day forward doors have been opening around the world for a worship community for all of God's children! May our doors be always open to all seeking community, hope, love and direction! In the service today we will receive a love offering for MCC to continue this work around the world! MCC saved my life and gave me a place of ministry. I pray others will also find those opportunities!
Blessings and peace,
Rev. Catherine
