In worship yesterday, we began a sermon series called Holy Character from Royal Heroes as part of our Bible Year 2022. Yesterday’s sermon focused on the book of Ruth and how the holy characteristic of loyalty to God and all of our neighbors in response to God’s unwavering loyalty to us, brings life out of death and hope from despair. This demonstration of loyalty has become evident to us in numerous ways in recent weeks.
First, we had several of our CHUMC members jump into action on Ash Wednesday. A woman arrived just as our Ash Wednesday worship was about to start explaining she had escaped a human trafficking situation and arrived at our doorstep about to run out of gas. After our Ash Wednesday worship, members worked to get her some gas and a gift card for more gas. After that was done, she discovered a tire was very low on air. The next morning, a member aired up her tire so she could get help with her tire and continue her travels. The loyalty of our members provided for her need.
Next, on Communion Sunday we took an offering for United Methodists in Ukraine and Moldova who are providing relief for those who are affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These brave saints are on the ground in their homelands offering loyalty to refugees and others facing the horrors of war. If you would like to help fund their ministry, you may send in your Communion offering to Chapel Hill or give directly to UMCOR’s efforts in Ukraine here:
https://umcmission.org/advance-project/14053A/
Finally, in addition to being the bishop of the North Texas Conference, Bishop Mike McKee also serves as the bishop of the United Methodist Mission in Honduras. Honduran United Methodists are working together to show loyalty to God and neighbor in a nation struck by great poverty and gang violence. Bishop McKee is asking the North Texas Conference to express our loyalty to Honduras United Methodists by watching a series of testimonials from Honduran pastors during Lent (they speak Spanish but you can turn on closed captioning in English in the YouTube videos) and through giving to a fund that supports the clergy of the 22 Honduran United Methodist churches. The goal is to raise $85,000 through our conference during this Lenten season. You can go to the following link to watch the videos and learn how to give to the effort:
https://ntcumc.org/lent-2022
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