Category: Letters from Pastor Andy

Dear U Park Family,  How do you know when your body is healthy? How do you tell the difference between a mild illness and a reason to go to the doctor, or even to be hospitalized? For some of us (sadly, I’m pointing to myself here), stubbornness enters the calculation. I never want to admit...

Dear U Park Family,  Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of this year’s Lenten journey. I hope you’ll have time to receive ashes today, but if not we can still use the day as it’s intended: as a time of reflection to patiently focus on removing the obstacles that prevent us from growing closer to...

Dear U Park family,  2025 is nearly one-sixth over, and around church it’s gone fast. Over the past 8 weeks, we’ve held food and supply drives for Metro Caring, sponsored by our United Women in Faith; we’ve put together a winter clothing drive for indigent patients at Porter Hospital. On Saturday, we’ll finish our strategic...

Dear U Park Family,  Have you ever felt like you couldn’t do enough to meet the demands of the moment? I recall a conversation I had years ago with a man in the church I was serving at the time. He had retired from a very successful business career, finishing his professional life as the...

Dear U Park Family,  Last month, I had the privilege of spending a few days with a friend of mine I’ve known since I was seven years old. We spent very little time reminiscing. Most of our conversation was about now: our perspectives on our very different careers and lives, the basic values we share,...

Dear U Park Family,  We’ve probably all thought of the perfect retort in a disagreement –  two or three hours after the conversation is over. Or maybe we think of what we want to say, but we let the moment pass. Or now and again, we can’t resist that oh-so-perfect comeback that puts someone in...

Dear U Park Family,  Since November, I’ve been providing updates on the pledge campaign for our operating budget in 2025. I’ll provide one last update this coming Sunday, but in case you aren’t in worship I wanted to make sure that you got the good news. Our original goal was $375,000 in pledges. (I thought...

I hope you’ve stayed warm over this past week. I’m glad that people stayed home and safe last Sunday, when it was so cold – but I have to say I was also pleasantly surprised at the number of people who did attend worship in person.

Because we expected low attendance, we rescheduled the dialogue sermon I had planned with my friend Logan Robertson for this coming Sunday instead. Logan is the Pastor at After Hours, an innovative United Methodist ministry begun by the Rev. Jerry Herships.

It’s hard to believe that the holidays are behind us. But now we’re setting off on a new year, and I hope that you’ve had some time to think about 2024 and what’s coming in the next 12 months. 

This week, I’ll send out a final letter to close out the 2025 pledge campaign for our operating budget. If you haven’t pledged your financial support to our ministry yet, I hope you’ll consider doing so.

After all the planning and gift shopping and holiday frenzy, I hope that you are enjoying a delightful day with loved ones. Gayla and I will be with family today.

This week’s letter is short, and its message is simple: thank you. On the church staff, we try to plan our programming about six months ahead. That means we have our first Christmas conversations in July or August. A little at a time over the ensuing months, we put our Advent and Christmas preparations in place. But none of it would be possible without your kindness and commitment to our shared ministry.