The Fragrance of God’s Love

3rd Sunday after the Epiphany
Just these lines, my friends …

… to say that Sunday morning (1/15) at Matthews United Methodist (MUMC) was filled with awe and wonder. We had beautiful music with trombones and piano from Wes Broome, Steven Beaver, and Kathy White, powerful singing from John Woodall, Maggie Fraser and guest vocalist, Brett Axell. We heard Tomorrow Allen-Collins bring greetings as the new Executive Director of Christ Our Shepherd Ministries (COS Kids). If, perchance, you missed being with us, you can watch my sermon, Jesus, Justice, Jubilee, and the entirety of our morning worship by clicking here. By the way, you’ll also hear Dr. Martin Luther King’s favorite hymn, Lift Every Voice and Sing, and our opening hymn (8:15 am and 11:00 am) with its powerful text, Help Us Accept Each Other.

I’m writing this afternoon (1/16) basking in the power and inspiration of our Matthews community remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Sunday afternoon from the Matthews Town Hall steps, our very own John Higdon (Mayor of Matthews) offered us some inspirational Charlotte history about the long arc of racial justice in our region and Howard Nussman challenged us to courageously take action now for actions of justice. Howard said, “Dr. King inspires me to ask what can I do? Looking around the world today, there is so much yet to be done.”

The weekend moved on to our Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative worship service on Monday morning (1/16) at the Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church. Rev. Justin Buchanan, Pastor of Matthews First Baptist Church, was our preacher for the morning and he engaged us boldly, brilliantly, and beautifully saying, “Racism violates God’s will, God’s order and God’s mission.”

By the way, have I told you lately how grateful I am to belong to a church and community that is so deeply committed to eradicating racism?

Wednesday Devotional

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch my devotional for the week titled, The Fragrance of God’s Love.

Don’t Miss!

• Church-Wide Family Bingo Night sponsored by Age-Level Ministries this Friday, January 20, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm in The Gym. $20 per family includes Italian style dinner & dessert, followed by Bingo & a chance to win some awesome prizes. Nursery is available for kids 3 and under at an additional cost of $10 per family. Registration deadline is today, so register here now.  
• Leadership Connection on Saturday, January 28, 9:00-12:00 in The Commons. Everyone is welcome! Register here by this Sunday, January 22.

Global Impact Celebration in February!

Our 13^th Global Impact Celebration is coming up in February, and our theme is Transformation.  We will focus on the transformation that occurs every day in our partner ministries, as well as transformation we experience by serving.

• Saturday, February 4 – Rev. Gaston Warner, CEO of Zoe Empowers, will also present at the UM Men’s breakfast at 7:30 am.
• Sunday, February 5 – Rev. Warner leads worship at all three Worship Services. Come and hear stories of empowerment and showing God’s love around the world.
• Saturday, February 11 – OPERATION: SATURDAY SERVE: We invite individuals & families to come to The Commons & serve 9:00-12:00 noon. We’ll be making sandwiches for Roof Above, Blessing Bags for Blessed Assurance Adult Day Care and Valentines for other ministry partners. Register here!
• Sunday, February 12 – Our focus is on our Local Mission Partners, featuring speakers in worship & the Local Ministry Fair in our hallways.
• Sunday, February 19 – Commitment Sunday: Prayerfully consider the commitment you will make to support Global Impact Missions in 2023.

This Sunday in Worship

We invite you to join this Sunday at 8:15 am (traditional; in person only), 9:30 am (contemporary; in person or online here), 11:00 am (traditional; in person or online here) or 12:30 (Spanish; in person or on demand here). Also, we will have Family Worship in the Gym at 9:30 am (moved from January 8).

In our Spanish-speaking CCH community, Pastor Roldan will be preaching from Deuteronomy 31:1-8 and his sermon is titled: The Order of the Factors Alters the Product.

In Family Worship, join us for an action-packed service of songs, games, skits and activities centered on our Virtue of “Knowledge – Learning something new so you can be better at whatever you do” and our Bible verse: “The Lord gives Wisdom. Knowledge and understanding come from his mouth.” (Proverbs 2:6, NIrV)

In our morning Sanctuary services, as we worship God, we will welcome our Scouts to the 11 am worship hour. My sermon is titled You Can’t Step into the Same River Twice from Matthew 4:17-22 and Hebrews 13:8. As you come to worship on Sunday, I hope you’ll consider inviting someone to join you who is wrestling with change.

And now, as always, during these strange, uncertain, and hopeful days, remember … God does God’s best work in moments like this.

Humbled to be in this Adventure with you,
Dr. Charles (Chuck) W. Wilson II

Did you know that MUMC donated funds made available by Global Impact for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship for 2023?  Jenesis Anaya Burse was recognized at the MLK Celebration at Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church on January 16.  Area churches gathered for a joint celebration and to honor the recipient of the scholarship.