Dear St. Matthew Family,

As your pastor, my heart has been deeply moved this week as I have listened to your varied responses to the election results. From weeping to rejoicing, I have heard and held space for the full spectrum of emotions within our congregation. I find myself standing in the middle of all these emotions.

I want you to know that I care deeply for ALL of you - regardless of your political beliefs, your background, or how you process these times. Each of you is a precious child of God, worthy of love, dignity, and respect. While I wish I could offer simple scriptural answers that would ease everyone's concerns, I believe my most important role right now is to listen with an open heart and remind you that you are cared for and valued in this community.

My own heart has been particularly heavy as I've witnessed the ripple effects of this election across our extended church family.

I grieve with those who have shared stories of loved ones receiving targeted, discriminatory text messages because of their race. Such actions wound not only individuals but tear at the fabric of our shared humanity and go against everything we believe about being created in God's image.

I ache alongside those in our community who have expressed hope that this election's outcome might finally help them afford basic necessities like groceries for their families. No one in our abundant nation should have to worry about feeding their children. This is both a political and moral issue that touches the core of our faith's calling to care for one another.

My spirit is troubled for our friends and neighbors who now live in fear of deportation - whether because of their skin color or whom they love. Their anxiety reminds us that behind every policy debate are real human beings, beloved by God, whose lives and families hang in the balance.

In these challenging times, I invite us to remember Jesus's command to love one another. This love transcends political divisions and calls us to see the divine spark in each person. While we may disagree on policies and priorities, we must never lose sight of our common humanity and our shared need for grace, understanding, and compassion.

Let us be gentle with one another in the days ahead. My door is always open to those who need to talk, pray, or simply sit in supportive silence. Together, we will continue to be the body of Christ - broken but beautiful, diverse but united in God's love.

This week I have found myself praying a song that I sang in a college ensemble called, “We are not alone, God is with us.” This song has reminded me that God will continue to be with us in the days ahead. I invite you to listen to this prayer by clicking on the the link below and be encouraged to know that God is with us.

You are Love and Appreciated,

~Pastor Joel

Dear St. Matthew Family,

As we enter into the Fall Program season at St. Matthew, I invite you to pause and notice the incredible ways God is moving within our church. The Holy Spirit is stirring among us, calling us to deeper engagement and service.

From Bible study classes to our community outreach programs, God's love is manifest in every act of kindness, every shared smile, every helping hand. As we witness this divine work, we're called not just to observe, but to participate actively.

This season brings a wealth of opportunities to join in God's mission. Whether it's through our committees, food ministry, music ministry, youth programs, or adult groups, there's a place for everyone to contribute their unique gifts.

I encourage you to prayerfully consider where you might plug in. By saying "yes" to God's invitation, we not only enrich our own spiritual lives but also strengthen our church family and impact our wider community.

Let's step forward together, embracing the work God is doing among us.

You are loved and appreciated,

~Pastor Joel

Dear St. Matthew Family,

The Apostle Paul reminds us to "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). These words challenge us to embrace a spirit of thanksgiving, not only in times of abundance but also in the midst of uncertainty and challenge.

What is thanksgiving, if not the act of accepting with joy whatever life brings? It is the willingness to release our own agendas and to trust fully in God's plan. In my experience, thanksgiving means surrendering the outcomes we so often wish to control, and instead, embracing whatever God desires for us and for the world.

As a congregation committed to being change-makers in our community, we are called to this higher form of thanksgiving. Our efforts to bring about justice, compassion, and love are sacred, but they are not without their trials. There will be moments when the fruits of our labor are not immediately visible, when the outcomes we hope for seem distant, and when we might feel weary.

In those moments, I encourage you to remember that our work is not a waste of time. God is always at work, weaving together our efforts into something far greater than we could ever imagine. Our opportunity is to remain faithful, to continue sowing seeds of hope and love, and to trust that God is at work.

Let us give thanks not just for what we see, but for the unseen ways in which God is moving through us. Let us release our need for control and instead embrace the journey with joy, confident that God’s goodness is guiding us every step of the way.

May we continue to encourage one another, to hold each other up in prayer, and to stay the course in the work to which we have been called. Let us press on with thanksgiving in our hearts, knowing that God who calls us is faithful and will do it.

You are loved and appreciated,

~Pastor Joel

Dear St. Matthew Family,

Thank you all for sharing your "noticings" of God's work in the past year. Your observations have been truly inspiring and will help guide our path forward.

Over the past few weeks, we've discussed the concept of "starting." Drawing from the Changemaker team's efforts, we're on the brink of initiating something new. As we're still in the discernment phase, please keep us in your prayers.

This Sunday, we'll explore what it means to "keep going." While starting something new is exciting, maintaining momentum can be challenging. It's during these times that remembering our purpose becomes crucial. The "keep going" phase often requires evaluation and adjustment. We may need to change direction or refine our approach, but the key is to remain true to our identity as God's children and stay open to the Holy Spirit's guidance.

Some of my most valuable lessons have come from significant failures. Through evaluation, I learned to improve and grow. Though tempted to quit, I was blessed with incredible mentors who encouraged me to persevere.

As St. Matthew looks to the future, let's continue to support one another, encouraging each other to keep going and to recognize opportunities to join God in the work.

You are loved and appreciated,

Dear St. Matthew's family,

I am excited to share with you an important journey our church has embarked upon – becoming a "RISK-taking church." This initiative isn't about reckless behavior, but rather about boldly following God's call for our congregation and community. What is RISK? RISK is an acronym that encapsulates our approach to this transformative process: R - Realize who we are I - Immerse into who God has created us to be and use our gifts S - Start something new based on our history, gifts, and creativity K - Keep going with the ministry God has called us to do

In August 2023, Sue Edman and I began working with our dedicated St. Matthew Change Maker Team. This team, comprising Robin Watson, Virginia Hughes, Betsy Hertzler, and Danté Amedee, has been diligently working to help guide our church through this process of discernment and growth. Over the past year, we have been:

• Studying our rich church history
• Exploring how Jesus was a change maker
• Conducting interviews with members of our congregation (and we're still continuing this process)

This comprehensive approach is designed to help us consider how we can be a RISK-taking church within our community. We're learning to listen attentively and notice where God is at work, all to help us discern what God is calling us to do now. This summer in worship, I will be preaching how Jesus is our model change maker. This Sunday, the focus will be on the Radical Compassion Jesus that exemplifies for us. Can’t wait to see you on Sunday!

You are loved and appreciated,

Pastor Joel

Dear St. Matthew Family,

As we strive to be a RISK Taking Church, a spiritual discipline we practice is “noticing what we notice." We pay attention in our relationships with one another. We wonder “how is God at work in this situation and how can God use me?” This takes time, patience and vulnerability to be in intentional relationship with one another and with persons God is calling us to serve. As we notice what notice and strengthen our relationships with another, we are better able to discern what God is calling us to do for today. Our Changemaker Team is on the verge of starting something new because we have done our best at “noticing what we notice.” However, we can still use your input to notice what you notice about St. Matthew. We have received several responses on the assignment I have given you the last couple of weeks. Recall, I challenged you to notice all the various ways that God is at work at St. Matthew in 2023-2024. I want you to make a list. Write down all the noticing’s that you have seen God at work at St. Matthew. Where have you seen God at work in your women or men’s group, in your Sunday School class, in your dinner group, in your service work with food ministry, etc? Please bring your list to church as soon as you can and drop it in the offering plate or hand it to me. If you are unable to be in service, email me your noticing’s at joel@stmatthewmesa.org. Let’s notice what we notice and celebrate what God is doing among us. We are collecting your “noticing's” and will be using these to celebrate where God is at work.

You are loved and appreciated,

Pastor Joel

What are you noticing? As a changemaker church, we are called to notice what we notice, We notice where God is at work. How do we do this? We study our church identity and purpose, we discover and utilize the unique gifts God has given our congregation. 

We innovate and create new ministries that align with our history and strengths and finally, we sustain our commitment to the calling God has placed on our church. Being a changemaker church requires us to be a RISK taking church. It’s been a joy learning about the first 50 years of St. Matthew and the RISKs our church has taken to build relationships with our community and participate in God’s transformative  work.

This Sunday  we continue to explore how Jesus is our model change maker. We'll be considering how God is calling us, both individually and as a church body, to be a RISK taking church in our community. Can’t wait to see you on Sunday.

You are loved and appreciated,

Pastor Joel

Dear St. Matthew Family,

This has been an epic week of change for the United Methodist Church because the Holy Spirit has been at work. For the past two weeks, delegates from around the world joined together for General Conference to discern and decide spiritual, theological, and financial decisions for the church. Three major changes that have happened include the following:

Removal of the harmful language towards the LGBTQIA+ community that has been in the Book of Discipline for over 50 years.

Regionalization-Each region (USA will be it's own region) will determine it’s own Book of Discipline for contextual and cultural purposes. 

Revised Social Principles These principles help guide the work of the church. In addition, so many more changes have been adopted as well. To see more of the work of the General Conference go to www.resourceumc.org.

One thing that was highlighted constantly at General Conference was the importance of the local church because this is where the heart and ministry of our work is done as a denomination. As we discern the missional future of St. Matthew, let us prayerfully consider how God is calling us to be the church in our neighborhood, in the Valley and in our world.

You are loved and appreciated,

Pastor Joel

One of my favorite quotes comes from the movie, “New In Town” starring Renée Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. Zellweger plays “Lucy, the executive, who is brought into a small Minnesota town to restructure the town’s largest manufacturing employer. The whole town is nervous about this Miami executive coming in from the outside to bring big changes that will most likely result in lost jobs. To help with saving costs, one of the office employees personally drives to Minneapolis to pick up Lucy from the airport. While driving back to the small town from the airport, the office employee asks Lucy a burning question that was very important for her to ask.  “Have you found Jesus?” With a puzzled look on the executive’s face, she responds hesitantly and with pause, “I didn’t know he was missing?”  This quote makes me laugh because of the executive’s snarky response, but also because of the sincerity of the office employee’s question, “Have you found Jesus,” especially as we prepare for Christmas. Christmas, for me, is all about finding. It’s about finding new insight, finding new meaning. It’s about finding the heart of Christmas.

In the church year calendar, we find ourselves in the season of Advent. This is a time when we prepare for the great mystery of Christmas-how God came to earth to love us through a baby. During this time, we recall the hope given to the people who felt marginalized and forgotten. We remember the courage of Mary and Joseph, who answered the call to be the earthly parents of God. We remember the Shepherds who received the “Good News,” from the Angels and were told, “Don’t be afraid.” And of course, we remember, the gentleness of the baby Jesus, who came to earth to show us the way.

As we journey through Advent, I pray that we will find the true meaning of Christmas. I pray we will find hope for the marginalized in society, the disenfranchised who need jobs, and for those who feel unsafe because of their religion, nationality, or even skin color.  I pray we will find the courage to do what is right in our world and boldly proclaim God’s love for all people in the market place, in our church and in our homes. I pray we will find the gentleness of God’s spirit as we look into our brothers and sisters faces who are hurting and find ways to be agents of God’s healing touch in their lives.  And I pray we will not fear in being who we are and celebrate our commonality of being children of God. 

I pray that you will find the true meaning of Christmas over and over again this year and when you do, let me know. I would love to hear what you have found.

 

You are loved and appreciated,

~Pastor Joel

For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: 

- Romans 12:4-6a NRSV
 
Grace and peace be with you all this day. As United Methodists we, the bishop and the members of the Desert Southwest Conference Appointive Cabinet, have been in prayer for our pastors and our United Methodist churches and would like to share a statement of faith and grace. Our Conference has a commitment to be a ‘big tent’ church. We recognize that we do not all think or believe the same. We have differences in understanding of scripture. We have different gifts that have helped us serve countless communities in ways specific to the needs in those places. We speak many languages, come from many cultures, and hold differing theological perspectives. And yet, amidst our differences, there is one God who activates and enlivens us as disciples of Jesus Christ, sending us out into the world as bearers of Christ’s love.
 
As United Methodists, we continue to aspire to be a more just, loving, and inclusive force in the world. Yes, we have failed in this calling many times and we have the work of repentance and restitution to do. Yet we believe with intentional effort and with God’s help we will become the beloved community God created us to be, living more faithfully into our identity as God’s people. We have the ability to end the harm done to LGBTQIA+ siblings, to communities of color and our immigrant congregations, to those who live with differing conditions, and to creation itself. As an Annual Conference we made a commitment to end harm when we adopted our Vision Statement which reminds us all:
 
God calls us to be a Courageous Church:
loving like Jesus, acting for justice, united in hope.
 
As United Methodists, we believe we are stronger together. Our diversity is a gift from God, one we have not yet fully claimed. We need not fear our differences. Instead we believe we are called to embrace our differences in a way that models what unity in Christ looks like. We believe that unity does not require uniformity. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it has taught us how much we need one another. The pain and sorrow experienced through the pandemic has been overwhelming, yet we have risen to the challenge, and in the process we did not ask first what someone believed before deciding whether or not we would serve with them. We have stood shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, and have been the Body of Christ in powerful ways. As United Methodists we embrace a church built on loving relationships rather than uniformity in thought and action.
 
Washed in the waters of our baptism, as United Methodists we will walk in our commitment to love one another in grace-filled ways. We will be liberal, evangelical, progressive, traditionalist, middle of the road, conservative, centrist, or something else and together we will continue to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
 
As your Bishop and Appointive Cabinet we value each and every one of you as a precious child of God. We believe that every church in Desert Southwest Conference is an important part of this shared work. There is a place, through God’s grace, for us all.
 
Let us all be the Hope,
 
Bishop Grant J. Hagiya
Rev. David McPherson
Rev. Dan Morley
Rev. Javier Olivares
Rev. Matt Ashley
Rev. N. Susan Brims
 
#BeUMC

Our Commission on General Conference decided this week that our next General Conference will be held in 2024. I imagine this means that, for now, the policies and positions espoused by the United Methodist Church, and by the Desert Southwest Annual Conference, will remain more or less status quo. As for us at St. Matthew, we will continue to worship, serve, and fellowship together across unity and diversity as we have always done. Our call to ministry and mission to and with all people in the name of Christ, in connection with other United Methodists around the world, and in ecumenical solidarity with Christians everywhere, remains.

You can find the statement from the Commission, as well as a response from Bishop Cynthia Harvey, President of the Council of Bishops, in the press release at https://www.unitedmethodistbishops.org/newsdetail/general-conference-cancelled-16384635

December 5, 2021

I continue to receive requests to share an update concerning the postponed General Conference and Western Jurisdictional Conference. I realize that this is an anxious time for everyone in our church. Not only are we reeling from the COVID-19 threats, but our whole church has been on a massive holding pattern for over a year. It has been a tough time for everyone, and that includes the entire global population!

Over the next few months, I will share what I can about the state of The United Methodist Church, and I realize that I will not have many answers. The truth of the matter is no one knows what will happen next, and this fact should sober all of us.

First, let me address what we know about General Conference. The only one who can decide on holding the General Conference is the Commission on General Conference, a global elected body of laity and clergy tasked with the oversight for the General Conference. Their leadership and staff have been meeting regularly to determine if it is possible to hold our General Conference in 2022. They are exploring every angle to this very question. At this time, they still cannot determine with assurance if this is going to be possible. They are juggling hundreds of considerations. One of the major issues is getting Visas and safe travel for our Central Conference delegates. Since the Central Conferences make up over 40% of the General Conference, it would be impossible and unethical to hold it if they could not participate. As the Delta variant continues to rage worldwide, the ultimate safety of our members continues to be a significant hurdle to physically meet in Minnesota or anywhere else in the world.

I have tremendous respect and confidence in the leadership of the Commission on General Conference. I know that they are working diligently every week to answer whether we will be able to meet or not. We can only wait in patience as they do their work, and as soon as they make a definitive decision, they will let all of us know.

My challenge in writing this briefing is how to tie in this season of thanksgiving with the latest information of our general church. One thanksgiving that I regularly lift to God in my daily devotions and prayers is the faithfulness of all of our churches, laity, and clergy during such a trying time as this. I thank God for all of you who are doing everything you can to keep your churches and communities afloat and viable under the COVID-19 conditions. You are the heart and soul of our entire church, and I am proud to be a part of such a dynamic and faithful community. However, it is to God and God alone to whom we must give our thanksgiving and praise. God is the one who is not letting us down and continues to guide and empower our ministries!

So, during this important thanksgiving season, let us turn to God for hope and vision. It is time for us to take stock in all that we have, not what we lack. God will give us all we need to get through the challenges of this hour and the hours to come.

Let me close with that great inspiration from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians:

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at

harvest time, if we do not give up.  So then, whenever we have an

opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those

of the family of faith.       –Galatians 6: 9-10

Be the Hope,
Bishop Grant