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Lenten Hymn and Devotion, Week 1

Brian Stevenson, Pender UMC Director of Music, presents a series of hymn-based devotions on Wednesdays during Lent.

The first is Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross by Fanny Crosby

Jesus, keep me near the cross;

there a precious fountain,

free to all, a healing stream,

flows from Calvary’s mountain.

Refrain:

In the cross, in the cross,

be my glory ever,

till my raptured soul shall find

rest beyond the river.

The United Methodist Hymnal Number 301

Text: Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915

Music: William H. Doane, 1832-1915

Tune: NEAR THE CROSS, Meter: 76.76 with Refrain

The Pender UMC Traditional Service Middle Hymn “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross” on Sunday January 29, 2023 was played by Liz Eunji Moon on piano, accompanied on guitar by Brian Stevenson, a student cellist  and sung the Pender Sanctuary Choir and congregation.

 
 

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Transfiguration Sunday

Transfiguration Sunday. The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported by the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus is transfigured upon a mountain. Why is this event lifted up and celebrated?

Transfiguration Sunday might not be a common observance in the United Methodist tradition. There are those who do attempt to pay attention to this significant moment in the life and ministry of Jesus, but many do not. Now would be a time to take a moment and consider this event.

This is the one who calls us to follow. We can always ask which is the real Jesus? Is it the one who gets his hands dirty with the mud and spit of this world, or is it the one who stands on the mountain top and glows with a radiance divine? Well, of course, the answer is yes! Yes, it is both. The human Jesus and the divine Christ. The transcendent part of the Trinity of God, and the immanent, incarnate human laid in a manger and nailed to a cross, the one who walked and taught and healed and loved on earth just like you. Yet not like you. More than you. A glimpse of what you might be. A hint of what you were created to be. An invitation and a hope.

It is not the task of the preacher or the worship team to explain transfiguration. Thanks be to God. But to stand with the congregation in open-mouthed wonder at the fullness of the Christ we worship. In this in between moment, before we launch into Lent, we catch our breath by standing on the mountaintop with Peter and John and James. And we watch Jesus do something unexplainable. The Transfiguration has always been a puzzle to the church, raising more questions than answers. At its heart, the event presents the “otherness” of Jesus, even as it celebrates his oneness with his followers. There is always more to Jesus than we can know or figure out. And that’s a good thing. We worship one who can still take our breath away in wonder and awe.

So, sing the songs about the glory and grandeur of God and of Jesus. And if you’re not singing just yet, then listen to them. Get carried away by the wonder and the beauty of the Christ who calls us to follow. This is a moment for reaching beyond yourself, beyond everyone, and simply basking in the light that is the Christ. Worship today should be about lifting us up, higher than we thought we could reach. It should be deep, more profound than we have attempted before. Speak of the mysteries and the promises of eternity beyond the grasp of our human brain to comprehend.

Our prayers should be statements of praise and awe. Our confession should be full of the realization that we have diminished the wonder of Christ, that we have reduced God to something that we could grasp, simply because it makes us feel better about ourselves.

Provide the worshipers with an experience that is all-encompassing, that gathers them up and sparks the imagination and the hope. The response might be tears or might be laughter; both are appropriate in the awesomeness of God.

At the same time, in the face of the awestruck wonder, there is also a call to follow, to stay close to the one we worship. Even the voice on the mountain told us to listen to him. Now is the time, if you haven’t before in the series, or even if you have, to come to the altar and declare your intention to follow where he leads. Now is the time to follow him down the mountain and to remember that the commandment to not tell was given to them, but not to us. We are to tell anyone and everyone. We are to live our telling, walk our proclamation.

But the key will be for us to keep the focus off ourselves and our successes and failures and instead keep our eyes on the Christ. That’s the emphasis of the title for this Transfiguration Sunday: “But Only Jesus.” We are surrounded by distractions and responsibilities aplenty. We are overwhelmed by injustice and oppression; we are almost overwhelmed by needs and brokenness, our own and that which envelops us. But in the end, it is only Jesus. The source of the strength and the focus of our attention is only Jesus. To be sure, this does not mean that we don’t care about that which surrounds us. In fact, if anything, we are even more eager to be at work in the world, bringing hope and healing, bringing justice and freedom. But it is not to our own benefit that we work in the world, but only Jesus.

Let our worship be that which lifts up the name of Jesus through our work and our service, through our passion and our commitment, through our songs and our prayers, through our compassion and our caring. Let us worship only Jesus.

Adapted from https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/follow-me/transfiguration-sunday-year-b-lectionary-planning-notes

 

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Weather Update: Worship Online This Sunday (January 25)

Due to the weather, all in-person worship services and Sunday activities are canceled this Sunday, January 25, 2025, the Third Sunday after Epiphany.

We will record a worship service and share it online at 10:00 AM, and we invite you to join us from the comfort and safety of home via YouTube or our Facebook page.

Pastor Bruce Johnson will preach on “The Fabric of Our Unity,” offering a message of hope and connection as we worship together—apart, yet united.

If you are able, we invite you to continue supporting the ministry of Pender through online giving at penderumc.org or by mailing your offering. Most importantly, please take care of yourself and one another.

Stay safe, stay warm, and know that you are held in prayer.
We look forward to worshiping together online this Sunday.


“The Fabric of Our Unity”,
January 25, 2026 at 10 am
Online Only

Due to inclement weather, we invite you to join us online for worship this Sunday as Pastor Bruce Johnson preaches “The Fabric of Our Unity.”

In this timely message, we will reflect on how God calls us together—even when we are physically apart—and how faith, grace, and love weave us into one community in Christ. Scripture reminds us that unity is not about sameness, but about being bound together by God’s purpose and call.

Scriptures:
1 Corinthians 1:10–18
Matthew 4:12–23

Though weather may keep us at home, we remain connected through worship, prayer, and the Word. Join us online as we gather virtually to seek God’s guidance and celebrate the unity we share as the body of Christ.

Watch live online and participate from wherever you are—warm, safe, and together in spirit.

 
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Posted by on January 23, 2026 in Posts of Interest

 

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Baptism

Chuck Knows Church

 

 

Chuck Knows Church — Baptism. What is the meaning of the sacrament of baptism? What’s best: sprinkled, dunked or poured? Chuck will explain a little about this important ancient act and perhaps have a surprise along the way.

 

 
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Posted by on January 11, 2026 in Chuck Knows Church, Videos

 

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A Chapter a Day: Journey Through Luke This December, Luke 24

Jesus Has Risen

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

On the Road to Emmaus

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.

17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

19 “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension of Jesus

50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Footnotes

  1. Luke 24:13 Or about 11 kilometers

 

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