As summer winds down activities ramp up. Those who have school age children are busy getting them ready to return to classes. The list of things that must be done is long and detailed. There are clothes to buy, school supplies to have on hand, perhaps a medical visit, schedules to accommodate and sometimes even a last of the summer trip to get done. All of this can leave families harried and anxious.

End of summer activities and busy schedules are not the lone experience of parents of children headed back to school. While the list may be different, we all have our lists. For Deborah and me, our list includes a trip to Kentucky and the Reed family reunion (Labor Day weekend), followed by a return to Reddick, Florida and the celebration of 130 years of ministry for First United Methodist Church. Deborah and I were serving there when Andrew was born. They have asked us to return and they want me to "preach their homecoming sermon."

The leadership of Central United Methodist Church has been very busy this summer and right now they are scrambling to get ready for special events for us this fall. God is calling us to explore new possibilities and new ways to live out our calling as Christians. Personally, I am excited about what I see on the horizon for us as a community of faith. I know seeking God’s will, planning and implementing new initiatives looks like adding more to already busy lives. Perhaps so! But know this too, to do nothing or have nothing to do isn’t much of a life much less Christian life!

Our community of faith at Central is being reshaped. We are being asked to reach out to a community that is itself undergoing change. It isn’t a matter of changing with the times; no, it is a matter of declaring our message of Christ during changing times. Our mission is not change. Our mission is to faithfully proclaim the good news of Christ in ways that will reach out to a changing world. To do what God is calling us to do will require that we have an active faith.

May God bind us together in ministry; make us to be an awakened people, actively engaged in living our faith.

Grace and Peace,


David Reed