Practice Makes Perfect

10^th Sunday after Pentecost
Just these lines, my friends …

… to say that I was so excited to introduce our Habitat for Humanity family, Marie and two of her boys (Prince and Celestine) to you this past Sunday. Are they not a beautiful family? Imagine a mother and her 5 boys living 16 years in a tent made for three persons … in a refugee camp with 19,000 people in it. You can watch their GodStory by clicking here. By the way, did you know that Celestine was sworn in as an American citizen this past Friday? I am beyond thrilled we were able to be a part of providing this family a home through one of our great mission partners, Habitat for Humanity. These are your Global Impact dollars at work.

This past Sunday was our 3^rd message in our worship series, “Why I am Enthusiastically a United Methodist Christian.” I hope you’ll give a listen to why I think Ted Lasso would definitely be a Methodist. Click here to watch my sermon, Because I Need a Little Help from My Friends, and click here to watch the powerful music of our Sanctuary Choir.

This week is our annual Music & Arts Camp here at this church … albeit a scaled back version this year due to COVID. Led by Jill Willis and her cast of faithful volunteers, our kids learn beautiful, enriching music, deepen friendships, make new ones, experience God’s unconditional love and so much more. Join me in saying, “Thanks be to God for the children of Matthews United Methodist, our community and the church that loves them so. Amen.”

Wednesday Devotional

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch my “Why I am Enthusiastically a United Methodist Christian – Part 3” devotional for today. These devotionals are supplemental material to what I’ve been doing on Sunday mornings. Please click here to watch.

Covid-19 Reminder

We continue to pray for our church, community and world as we navigate this season. Like you, we are monitoring the increase in new Covid-19 cases and the concerns around the Delta variant, and its rapid spread, especially among those who are unvaccinated. As we do our best to protect the most vulnerable among us, we encourage you to please use sanitizer while on campus, wash hands frequently, wear a mask if you are unvaccinated, and utilize the sections within pews where it may be easiest to maintain social distancing if you are most comfortable with that option. Please also continue to extend grace to one another. Be sensitive to children under 12 years old who are not old enough to be vaccinated and those who are unable to be vaccinated because they are immune compromised.

We continue to encourage anyone who would like to wear a mask to feel welcome to do so as they participate in ministry and worship.

Please be sure to read our Celebration email on Friday for any updates on protocol changes. 

Important Dates for Your Calendar

• August 17 – Community Forum at Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, 7 pm.
• August 21 – Our 6^th Annual Hug-A-Cop Event at Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church. Drop in 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm for wonderful food and around the table conversations with friends from Mt. Moriah, First Baptist Matthews, Cross and Crown Lutheran and Matthews Presbyterian. All of this to say thank you to law enforcement in our community.
• August 22 – Back to School/Church celebration.
• August 29 – 5^th Sunday Fellowship with our friends from Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist.
• September 12 – Our 8:15 am worship service will return.

A Special Request

Many of you may know Quinn Holmquist from all his years growing up in MUMC. His parents, Mike & Beth Holmquist, have served so faithfully in many capacities throughout our church. Quinn graduated from Duke University a couple of years back and is now working with Reality Ministries of Durham, a ministry designed to create opportunities for adults with and without developmental disabilities to experience belonging, kinship and the life-changing Reality of Christ’s love.

Well, Quinn is getting married and he asked me to extend a special invitation to you to participate in his wedding by attending virtually. You can do so by clicking here on Saturday, July 31 at 1:00 pm.

I hope you can join to celebrate Quinn’s marriage to the remarkable Annie Janick this coming Saturday.

This Sunday in Worship

We invite you to join us in person or online this Sunday at 9:30 am (contemporary), 11:00 am (traditional) or 12:30 (Spanish – in person only).

In our Spanish-speaking CCH community, they will be celebrating Holy Communion. Pastor Roldan’s sermon is How to Improve Ourselves from Ephesians 4:17-24.

At 9:30 and 11:00 am, we will celebrate Holy Communion (those of you watching online, please prepare at home). I will continue week #4 of our worship series on the United Methodist Church titled Why I am Enthusiastically a United Methodist Christian.  My sermon is Because Practice Makes Perfect from I Timothy 4:11-16.  

And now, as we are excitedly making our way slowly and carefully out of a global pandemic, may we never forget to remember … God does God’s best work in moments like this.

We are in this … together,
Dr. Charles (Chuck) W. Wilson II