Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the Lord!
Psalm 134:2
Today, I'm thankful for United Methodist houses of worship. Particularly, the sanctuary of First United Methodist Church of Duncan.
This may sound strange as I was not raised here, and I've never worshipped regularly here or been appointed here.
I was married here though.
Duncan FUMC informed my spouse as she was raised in the faith and she blesses me all the time.
After we married, I received a scholarship for seminary from this congregation while I attended Candler School of Theology to become a pastor. Someone in this congregation was forward-thinking in their support of the future.
I was also blessed by Rev. Phil Wahl who was Pastor Emeritus at this church. If you never met Rev. Wahl, you missed out. He has lots of great stories associated around his ministry. A notorious speeder late in life, I was told that he would tell the secretary to call the Highway Patrol. "Tell them not to stop me - I'm headed to the hospital!"
He established a Lenten series where they would bring in different speakers each year and he invited me to come and fill this spot while I was still early in my career.
I was honored to do this but also a little intimidated. But I was able to develop some teachings and lectures on the biblical exile and how this relates to our current faith.
This moved me into a greater confidence in developing the word for congregations.
As I mentioned, I've never served here or worshipped here regularly but Duncan First United Methodist Church has served me throughout my ministerial career. That's just a part of the connection at work.
Where are those places that have impacted you along your journey? Places that may be tangential to your life rather than directly associated with you?
I don't know why but it seems that God just works through some places for us more than others.
As we move through Lent, how can you invest in a place so that others might see God at work through this space?
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