Adams United Methodist Church

03/30/2026

09/29/2025

Week 1 of Sermon Series Both/And: Heart & Head

Mark 12:30-31
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these.”

Acts 8:26-30

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[a] eu**ch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

Having faith is not just about believing the right things or feeling a certain way. Faith in Jesus brings together both head and heart, understanding and experience.

Join us for worship on October 5th at 10 a.m.

09/29/2025

Join us for worship this Sunday, October 5th, at 10 am for our new sermon series, Both/And.

This is "BOTH/AND Bumper Video" by United Methodists of EPA&GNJ on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

09/14/2025

09/06/2025

Pastor Martin Niemöller is best known for writing First They Came—one of the most famous poems about the Holocaust—but he is a complicated figure. Initially an antisemitic N**i supporter, his views changed when he was imprisoned in a concentration camp for speaking out against N**i control of churches. He later encouraged Germans to take responsibility for N**i atrocities.

'I had to tell him, "Dear brother, fellow man, Jew, before you say anything, I say to you: I acknowledge my guilt and beg you to forgive me and my people for this sin.”'
– Sermon in Erlangen, Germany 1946

Read more:
https://hmd.org.uk/resource/pastor-martin-niemoller-hmd-2021/

09/03/2025

Join us for worship this Sunday, September 7, for a new sermon series titled 'Obstacles to Peace.'
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God,” (Matt. 5:9). But in a world divided by conflict, violence, and war, there is so much that gets in the way. This series delves into some of the common obstacles to peacemaking – complacency, resentment, and violence – leading us first to receive Christ’s peace in our own spirits and then get to the hard work of making peace in the world.

09/02/2025

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

James 1:22-25
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Most, if not all of us, check the mirror before leaving the house. We do it to ensure our hair is in place, our shoes match our pants, and that our clothes fit correctly and look good on us. The point of looking in the mirror is to correct what looks wrong with us. God's word acts as a mirror that reflects our sinful nature. When we choose not to be fazed by our reflection that is distorted by our sin, we rebel against God. The sin in our lives leads to alienation, guilt, shame, and causes emotional and spiritual harm. When we commit to fully following Jesus and turn from our sin, we experience true joy and peace. The Epistle of James encourages us to love one another, to live out our faith in our actions and speech, and to walk humbly with God.

04/19/2025

Holy Saturday, April 19, 2025

Read: Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24; Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16; 1 Peter 4:1-8; John 19:38-42

When I read John’s description of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus caring for the body of Jesus, I am touched by their quiet care. Both Joseph and Nicodemus are described as disciples, yet we are also told that they follow Jesus in secret, out of fear. Fear has not kept them from retrieving Jesus’s body, though. John tell us of their deliberate and determined efforts: working together to wrap the remains with their own hands and, with great expense, carefully lodging the body of their lord in a safe place.

I have known many disciples like Joseph and Nicodemus. They are quiet. They do not want to preach, or teach, and they often hum along with the hymns if they sing at all. They do not proclaim their faith quickly like Peter or boldly like Paul. Yet the Josephs and Nicodemuses that I have known find ways to serve and show their devotion behind the scenes: mowing the church lawn when no one is around, bringing a casserole to an overwhelmed caregiver, taking the trash can to the road for the family that unexpectedly had to be at the hospital. Most of us have benefited from their care and love at some point in our lives. We didn’t have to ask. They knew what “needed doing,” and they did it. And, although their actions were straightforward and practical, we felt the trace evidence of their tender, quiet love for us in every gesture.

I’m a professor and a preacher, and I can get pretty wrapped up in words and ideas. I like to understand things and to strive ambitiously towards greater heights of knowledge and faith. Maybe you do, too. But on this Holy Saturday, I think it is a good time to consider those disciples whose faith centers not around complicated ideas or bold spiritual declarations or courageous moral stands, but around quietly and tenderly attending to what is material. In the material world is found, after all, the most fragile and delicate parts of God’s beloved creation, the most easily ignored or trampled.

Holy Saturday is a good day for me (and you?) to practice the Joseph and Nicodemus kind of discipleship. Maybe this looks like behind-the-scenes actions such as sitting with someone in the hospital or bringing flowers to a grieving neighbor. Or maybe it can be even smaller, even quieter (and even more tender): brushing my daughter’s hair more slowly, more gently; setting aside the kitchen work to pet the hovering dog
nearby; holding a loved one’s hand a little longer, and with intention; or massaging lotion into my own winter-dry hands with all the attention due to a beloved child of God.

The spiritual aspect of our faith is important, and there will be times when we are called upon to live that faith in bold and brilliant ways. On this Holy Saturday, may we join Joseph and Nicodemus in quiet, loving devotion, perhaps without any words at all, knowing that just as we ccare—“dounto”—these living bodies around us, we care for the body of our Lord.

Prayer:

Dear God, on days like Holy Saturday, we are confronted with so much brokenness. We recognize how delicate physical life is, how easily wounded and trampled. In these moments, lead us toward tender and quiet care for all you have created, in all its fragile beauty.
Amen.

Reverend Dr. Kelsey Grissom