May 6, 2025

Praises! It is a month of celebrations! Thank you for your service and skills, nurses and teachers! This is National Nurses Week 2025, May 6-May 12, and 2025 Teacher Appreciation Week May 5-May 9. Thank you (too many to name here) for your calling into these fields, your education, training, commitment and generosity to do more than the job requires, and your experience. I think it is fitting that both coincide with Mother’s Day, since many women who are mothers, grandmothers, aunts, great grandmothers, step-moms, and most women have the same “non-professional” gifts of nurturer and trainer. We will recognize all on Sunday. Please join us.

 

Speaking of competent women, it was my pleasure to be invited and participate in Worship and a “Ministry Lab” at the annual Virginia Baptist Women in Ministry conference, called FEAST, in Richmond last Friday with 77 present. I also serve on their Board of Directors, but the Lab was a panel discussion with a moderator and 5 qualified, creative women in different pastoral and chaplaincy contexts. We shared what “Uncovering the Sacred,” our theme, meant to us in our contexts, how we cultivate the sacred as we pastor diverse congregations, what leadership areas reveal the sacred in the mundane, and what personal spiritual practices we use. Hearing others wrestle with this topic, yet also creating a “show and tell” table with my Israel prayer shawl, helpful books, photos of our church activities, one of our Taizé music books, a candle we used on Good Friday, and seashells representing personal time helped me realize and share that we are having a lot of sacred or Kairos moments right here! I may not use those words “holy” or “sacred,” yet through our UBC and extended relationships, missions, resources, studies, prayer, hospitality, fellowship, and so much more, we are beginning to uncover more sacred and Kairos moments among us, even during the mundane tasks of building repairs and maintenance. God’s presence is felt in those quiet moments of service and thought! Sacred spaces are anywhere two or more are gathered in His name and focus is yielded toward Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

 

Thanks to our creative and talented Worship Team, we had lovely Palm Sunday and Easter services this year with special music and guest instrumentalists. Even though they rehearse and I preach, the Holy Spirit does the work through each person participating, I find the services so inspiring and refreshing, remembering Christ’s forgiveness and love for us, that I look forward to it every year. Thank you to Roudaina, Charles, David and Beth for their Good Friday “Disciples’ Lunch” and special service music; and to Roudaina, David, Charles, Sonia, Melissa, Jeff, Bob, Elmer, Bill, and Debbie for their musical, choral, and sound talents, as well as those who set things up and welcomed everyone on Easter Sunday. The Pastor’s role is understood, but cannot be accomplished without church laity and many helpers! So thank you again.

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April 1, 2025

Happy Snow Day! April Fools! Temps did drop 30 degrees, but when I got in this morning, an April Fools phone failure was no joke! Until we resolve the issue, please use my cell 571-278-7115 or email me for a few days at pmoyer@unitedbaptchurch.org. Our Admin. Assistant is on well-deserved vacation, so I’m glad I could cope. Pastors develop unusual skills serving in church, like plumbing, HVAC, basic electrical, simple IT, custodial, finance, landscaping, mental health, etc.--none of which is taught at Seminary! No complaints here, because the life skills developed in most “jobs” exceed professional skills. For that I am most grateful. These little “jokes on us” remind me that you and I are not in charge. God is and always will be. 

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There are so many epic prayer concerns in our world right now that a small admin or facility repair seem minor and manageable. I do hope you are spending this Lent in prayer, and perhaps using a Lectio Divina practice reading Scripture. If you’ve missed Sundays, contact me to send you the bulletin inserts with instructions. This Lenten prayer practice will deepen your study, prayer life, and life with Jesus. As a church, we are praying for the devastating losses in Myanmar and Thailand as well as for healing, surgical preparation, grief, resources, and strength for our own congregants, extended family, friends, disaster response teams, and government leaders. Please pray with us as you can. 

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Will you be with us during Holy Week? Palm Sunday is April 13th, with special music and palms; on Good Friday at noon, April 18th, will be our now familiar “Disciples’ Lunch”, shared Communion, and reflective Worship of Scripture, Singing, and Prayer in the Fellowship Hall. Then Sunday, April 20th at 9:30 am is our normal hymn sing, Bible Study/Sunday School and at 11:00 am will be Resurrection Sunday Worship with special music and flowers adorning the Sanctuary. Please bring a friend or family member with you to reconnect with us and your faith story. 

Then, true to our theme, Vital Hospitality, get ready for May/June events and recitals. Page 1 has details of monthly opportunities. This is gentle evangelism. Thank you to Kohaku vocal ensemble for a beautiful, inspiring recital/concert with reception last Saturday. Blessed, we hope to see you soon! 

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March 4, 2025

Well, Spring is on its way! But we know that March is unpredictable, so don’t put away those puffy coats yet! Although things in our lives, our country and world are still tumultuous (“Jesus calls us o'er the tumult/Of our life's wild, restless sea/Day by day his sweet voice sounding
/Saying, ‘Christian, follow me.’”) and uncertainty still abides with us, I choose to write this month instead about our theme, Vital Hospitality. Not out of naivety, but out of hope, faith, and assurance that God is still sovereign and we are His. And we are called to share hospitality with others, no matter what is going on around us. Amen? Amen! 

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The fear of deportation is real for our neighbors and Food Mission guests here in Annandale. We have educated ourselves about the legal, spiritual, and physical issues surrounding this concern. The anxiety of federal job loss is a reality even for those recently promoted; continue to pray for our extended church families who are directly impacted by this. The sadness of war exists for so many that our hearts ache, and we want peace. The competition of politics and inflation is getting uglier day by day. And yet . . . we are loved by God who sent his only beloved Son for our benefit. And still . . . we are taught and discipled by Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who is God with us, and who sacrificed his own life for our disobedience and sin. Nevertheless . . . we are comforted by the Holy Spirit who reveals the truth to us and empowers us to rise above our worldly concerns to give and to serve others.

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What precedes the actions we typically associate with hospitality, like potlucks, guest bags, better signage, coffee shops, bookstores, hotels, and spas? Personal and spiritual preparation come first. In this calling to Vital Hospitality, there is preliminary work to be done. We must get ourselves in order. Our values like love, hope, faith, joy, kindness, mercy, building community, relationships, healing, creativity, mission, and evangelism must be examined before the physical actions have meaning. Prayer, praise, confession, and reflection all must come first so that our intentions are true. If we love and expect reciprocity, that fails us every time. If we are hospitable expecting a reciprocal invitation, that is sinful and arrogant. Yes, it might be the cultural expectation, but Jesus in Luke 14 teaches us otherwise: “13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 

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Won’t you come Sundays to explore other areas of hospitality preparation? We are expecting a resurrection soon! We must be ready. Our Palm Sunday worship is April 13th at 11 am in the Sanctuary; Good Friday lunch, communion, with service beginning at 12 noon, on Friday, April 18th in the Fellowship Hall, and our Resurrection Sunday (Easter) service begins at 11 am on Sunday, April 20th in the Sanctuary. Please make plans to bring your families to celebrate Holy Week with us. We miss you!

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February 4, 2025

Oh my, what a month to start 2025! January 6th this year was marked by a predicted snowstorm of 8-10 inches! What a cold, icy, yet beautiful mess! The contrasting days this week in the 50’s have been a relief! And then we lost a Sunday due to snow warnings that did eventually hit in the afternoon. In 2019, my trial sermon date was postponed due to snow, and on the day we were off this year was the day the church voted to bring me onboard back then! Thank you for that! If you’re superstitious, Punxsutawney Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter after he saw his shadow on Groundhog Day. Bad weather is a mild inconvenience  compared to recent losses and collective grief we feel now. 

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I attended the heartbreaking yet joyful Celebration of Life for the 16-year old son, Rowan, of a fellow pastor and encourager, Josh Hayden, at First Baptist Ashland. There were over 1,100 people of all ages in attendance and more online. What I learned is that years do not determine impact on friends and family. We must recall that as our lives are surrendered to Jesus, we become better and if called, we influence many others for the good. We typically think of grief as personal, but groups grieve, too. The tributes, love expressed, and comfort I witnessed for this family will stay with me forever. The wildfire devastation in California brought people together of every economic level. So much more work to be done, yet some good coming from it. 

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And then the recent American Airlines Flight 5342 mid-air collision at Reagan Airport and the medical transport plane outside of Philadelphia. It has been such a heavy time. Our heating and air contractor, Bennett Mechanical (now called The Riverview Group, Inc.) lost 4 steamfitter friends from the Local 602: Jonathan D. Boyd, Alexander “Alex” Huffman, Charles “Charlie” McDaniel, Michael “Mikey” Stovall. Keep Bennett’s CEO, Victor and the techs in your prayers, and of course the other families and friends of local skaters, crews, the Army folks lost, and others on board, as well as all of the responders and investigators. It was so reminiscent of the 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 crash on the bridge into the Potomac that many were “triggered” by this event, and brought more collective grief. 

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Major events like wars, natural disasters, school shootings, accidents, 9/11, and pandemics create far-reaching losses. They change what counts as “normal” life. We grieve the shared experiences we’ve lost as we struggle to imagine a changed future. Emotional and physical responses will vary and surprise you. Stay connected with friends and church; read the comforting Psalms; watch less news; pray more; sleep well; and help others. Call me privately if you need to talk it out. God’s got this! We had over 70 families at our end of January Food Mission; the children made stickered Valentine’s Day Cards for their parents. We sang Happy Birthday in English and Spanish to one little girl. We did Mailbox Angels again. So, let us set the example of “Good Grief.” Share the love and joy Christ brings into our lives; spread some Valentine’s cheer. Happy Valentine’s Day! ​​​​​​​