Category: Letters from Pastor Andy

Dear U Park Family,  Have you ever hard a mentor who was demanding and hard to please? Maybe it was a teacher, or someone who took you under their wing as your career was beginning. People like that can be hard to work with, or for. But they can also change our lives, sometimes to...

Dear U Park Family,  Last week, Bishop Stoneking and the Cabinet (the leaders with whom she works) held a lunch for local clergy downstairs in our East Fellowship Hall. About 60 pastors from around our District showed up. In her brief remarks, Bishop Stoneking cited the Czech poet and President Vaclav Havel’s thoughts on hope....

Dear U Park Family,  As I mentioned in my last letter, I’ll be out of town this weekend attending a memorial service. Our guest preacher will be Caralyn Ware, who is is a 3rd year MDiv student and co-chair of the student senate at Iliff. She is a certified candidate for ordination as an Elder in...

Dear U Park Family,  Have you ever had a moment when you realized that you needed to change something about your life? Maybe it was a job or career change, realizing that your old way of making a living had to shift. Or maybe in a friendship or marriage you came to see that the...

Dear U Park Family,  I know life moves fast, and even on the church staff we’re dealing with programming and plans for May. But I’m still basking in Holy Week and Easter. Our choir did a wonderful job with the Good Friday cantata; the Easter Vigil and Holy Thursday services were beautiful and all our...

Dear U Park Family,  Holy Week and Easter are here! Sunday’s Palm Sunday procession, led by our church’s children and our choir, was a glorious way to start this sacred time.   This week, we’ll have the opportunity to experience the story that is at the heart of our faith with a series of worship services...

Dear U Park family,  It feels to me like Lent has gone fast this year. From our Shrove Tuesday Pancake supper to our upcoming Palm Sunday pretzel making Sunday School doesn’t seem like 6 weeks – but here we are and we have a lot happening!  Tomorrow morning at 10:00 in the church library, Dr....

Dear U Park Family,  There’s an old preacher’s cliché: “if you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”   I’ve never liked that question, partly because we can never be sure about the inner lives of others. Although we might see outward behavior that points to Christian commitments, we...

Dear U Park Family,  In our men’s group, we’re reading Mike McHargue’s book Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found it Again Through Science. In the beginning chapters, McHargue tells the story of being raised in a theologically conservative church and finding that the explanations and doctrines he was taught...

Dear U Park Family,  In an old song called “Church,” Lyle Lovett tells the story of going to worship on Sunday morning “so I could sing and pray.” In the song, the sermon drags on much longer than the congregation would like. Seeing their impatience, the preacher says, “Children, I have one more thing to...