Good morning!

How am I answering God’s call to feed more sheep? Before I go any further with the question, let me tell a little about this God that I have learned to lean on and trust in. Church, this God is real. Yes! And worthy of our praise. It is because of God’s grace and mercy that we have come thus far on our journey, and traveling this journey I have learned that GOD LOVES US!

God, the Creator of heavens and Earth and all that is within – Yes, the creator of you and me – this God has given each of us some kind of talent. Some more than others. Why? Now, hold it, Jim; that is God’s business.

What I do know is that I am held responsible for what God has given me. Luke 21:1-4 tells us about the widow who gave only two small copper coins, which were worth very little, to the temple treasury, while the others were putting in large amounts. Jesus, seeing this, said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth; this poor widow has put in more than all the others.” Little things mean a lot.

So, when you see me smile, embrace God’s grace and mercy, feeding more sheep.

When I give you a hug, embrace God’s grace and mercy, feeding more sheep.

When you hear me sing or play my horn, embrace God’s grace and mercy, feeding more sheep.

Church, we serve a good God! PRAISE BE TO GOD!

March 13, 2026

In the late fall of 1992, I was talking with Byron Leasure, pastor of this church, about how nice it would be if we had some type of daily devotional booklet for Advent. Thus was born the first of a long line of booklets for Advent and Lent. The first ones were collections of favorite readings, poetry, and original writings submitted by the congregation. Eventually, the contributions dwindled out, and something told me that each booklet should have a central theme, and in 1998 the Lenten booklet was entitled “Follow Me” and talked of the various ways Jesus calls us.

I hope that, over the years, these booklets have been helping to feed more sheep. I know that they have traveled as far away as Texas and Arizona and that one Lenten booklet was used in Pennsylvania in a discussion group for prisoners convicted of violent crimes. I know that at least one member of this congregation has told me that she has kept every one of them and rereads them.

This year, right after Christmas, I mentally asked the usual question: “Okay, what are we going to do for Lent?” The phrase I heard in my head was: “Spiritual gifts.” Hmmm. Forty-seven entries on spiritual gifts? That sounded hard. Knowing that Easter was late this year, I decided to revisit the topic at a later date. Then, at our January Council meeting, we adopted the goal of 52 voices in these Mission Moments… people telling how they are using their “spiritual gifts” to feed more sheep. I knew then why I had been given that topic. So, here is this year’s booklet: “Many Gifts, One Spirit.” Through Lent, we will look at how we recognize our gifts, how we are using them now, how we might use them differently, and how we can recognize and acknowledge the gifts in others.

The booklets are free. If you are able to donate $1 to defray the copying costs, that’s fine. But please take one as our gift to you to help you feed more sheep.

March 6, 2026

When it comes to feeding more sheep, actively engaging our faith in love for the sake of our neighbors, there can arise a distinct and unhelpful bias. Thinking about mission in our communities often leads to the notion that we must do something, typically something extra-ordinary: solve hunger, rebuild devastated neighborhoods, travel halfway across the world. These motivations are well and good, but most of us won’t do these things daily. Are there “common” practices useful for feeding more sheep?

One that I’ve been challenging myself with recently is the gift of listening. That’s right, sitting back and hearing another person with compassion, as Jesus models toward Nicodemus, the Centurion, and the dejected travelers to Damascus. Listening communicates to others that we value them, their time, and their experiences. On my best days, I’d like to think I have a penchant for listening, but the gift has become quite relevant of late. Listening – not some weeks ago – to the intermediate stories and faith-journey of a friend with whom I had been estranged for several years. Listening with an open heart as tensions rise in a difficult and trying family situation. Listening to the joys of a friend whose post-high school life and future seems – Lord willing – to be coming together.

There’s much to be said for opening our ears. Besides, if we do not listen, how will we know the needs of those whom we are called to feed?

February 27, 2026

I have been one acquainted with the sheep.
I have walked out in fields — and back in fields.
I have outwalked the most experienced Bo Peep.

Robert Frost will have to forgive me my petty theft, but I can think of no better way to describe my adventures as a young boy growing up on a small island in the Pacific Northwest.

Let me explain.
Rather than walk the two miles of county road between the bus stop and our family home, my brother and I would attempt to cut the journey in half by crossing into the Bond Brother’s Farm and navigate the sizable flock of sheep that stood between us and home. Sometimes we succeeded. Other times we should’ve stuck to the county road. If sheep have a mission statement, it is definitely “Strength in numbers.”

Now, as both an attendee of this church and a student of the seminary, I find myself once again confronted with my wooly friends. Only this time, my task is much different. “Feed more sheep.” This community has both challenged and identified itself by these three words. Kingston United Methodist has understood the Gospel to be a commissioning in which the life and breath of its congregation is defined by bearing witness to Christ in fields of faith and doubt; pain and healing; sorrow and joy. Although my wife, Charley, and I have only recently entered into the life of this church, we have both felt a strong sense of identification with this calling. And so the question is important: what am I doing to feed more sheep?

I find it significant that the word “sheep” is both singular and plural. One doesn’t shepard sheeps, and my brother and I weren’t terrified of those angry sheepen. No, when we speak of one sheep, our very language includes all sheep. In fact, when imagining sheep, I have a difficult time envisioning just one. Sheep are sheep. There truly is strength in their numbers.

And so when Jesus shares the Parable of the Lost Sheep in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, I can’t help but imagine what the words of the Good Shepard might have been on the return home. “What are you doing here isolated from the others? Aren’t you aware of your place with them? I did not give you life so that you could live it as an individual. I made you a sheep, and sheep are sheep.”

So here is my answer to the question: what am I doing to feed more sheep? Well, I live as a sheep among sheep, recognizing that as an individual, I am only a shadow of the life to which I am called. As an individual, I can only attempt to bear witness to a God revealed in community. But as a member of the flock, I point to the Good Shepard and say, “I am a sheep, and sheep are sheep.” Amen

February 20, 2026

Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. These words, spoken by George Santayana, have always reverberated in my head over the years. I was always drawn to the lessons people had learned: Newton, being rudely awaken from a perfectly good nap, reviewed that brief history and discovered God’s perfect law on gravity. Countries, nations and empires have left letters, books, whole Ages from which mankind to learn. The Bible is a great piece of history, telling peoples’ stories on both sides of the ledger. Examples of what to do, and what NOT to do. This never quite equated to a career in my head, but just a hobby of sorts while I searched for meaning in every other corner.

They say that happiness and success are elusive by nature, and, as is usual for us, the things we search for the hardest tend to be right under our nose! So, very recently, in fact, I heard clearly God’s call to me to feed more sheep by learning history, both worldly and Biblically. I am going back to school to become a history professor and continue into anthropology. I want to help fuse the Bible with the history books so that I might combine my career and passion with my faith to open the eyes of the blind sheep wandering further away from what truly is history. His story. Much like the Bible, the books ARE written physically by man, but they don’t realize the Holy inspiration behind the screenplay. Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.

I never realized, though, that the voice in my head saying those words was not George, but Jesus.

February 6, 2026