McIntosh United Methodist Church

04/16/2026

🎉🥳HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our Godly, wonderful, kind, caring, intelligent, funny, rabbit-chasing Pastor🤠!! We all love you, Bro. Digger, and pray you celebrate many, many more! We’re blessed with the best… and we thank God for you!!✝️🙌🏽♥️

04/05/2026

Holy Communion – The Cup

Velma Barfield Was the first woman to be executed in 22 years in the United States. Her crimes were hideous. She murdered her fiancée, two other people, and even her own mother.
But while in prison, and prior to her ex*****on, Velma gave her heart to Christ and became a Christian. Velma’s close friend, Anne Graham Lutz, revealed that this former murderess changed completely and became a godly woman.
As the hour of her ex*****on drew near and eternity seemed but a step away, Velma needed reassurance that her sins were forgiven. Listen to what Mrs. Lutz said to this new believer and then place it deep within your own heart.
“Have you ever been to a beach and noticed the tiny crab holes?” Mrs. Lutz asked.
“Yes, I have,” said Velma, perhaps a bit puzzled by the seeming change of subject.
“Have you ever watched children digging holes in the sand to build sandcastles with?” Mrs. Lutz continued. Velma nodded her head affirmatively.
“And have you ever seen the huge holes dug by those large cranes when they are trying to widen a channel somewhere by the beach?”
“I have seen them once or twice,” admitted Velma.
Mrs. Lutz then made her point. “Velma, you've seen all types of holes at the beach: small holes, middle sized holes, and huge holes. But what happens when the tide comes in? The tide covers them all equally. Velma, that is exactly what happens when your sins are covered by the blood of Jesus. Small sins, middle-sized sins, big sins, all are covered equally by the blood of Jesus.
As we take this cup as a symbol of the shed blood of Jesus Christ for all of our sins, it is my prayer for all of us that we will honestly just now confess our own sins to God and allow the blood of Jesus Christ to cover each and every one of them. And then, let us leave this place today, determined to tell one and all of God's great love for us in Christ Jesus, his son, and our Lord.
Bro. Digger

04/05/2026

Holy Communion – The Bread

After a spring-time avalanche in 1987 near Parpaner, Switzerland, a woman lay buried for half an hour beneath 3 feet of snow. Though unconscious, she was still alive. But death seemed imminent.

Earlier that day, the woman had bought a pair of electronic strips called Personal Locators. The new rescue devices are tiny strip transponders that stick onto boots or clothing. They are part of an electronic tracking system that alters and re-transmits a microwave signal, enabling rescuers to find avalanche victims and hikers rapidly.

With a helicopter, the detector can scan up to 31,000 square feet per minute; and it can locate someone as far away as 600 feet

After the avalanche occurred, a rescue operation began. Within 9 minutes after starting the search for missing persons, a rescue team picked up the electronic signals from the Personal Locator strips on the buried woman, and they rescued her

The Holy Spirit, which is Jesus Christ living in our hearts, is just like those Personal Locator strips; we can never be lost from our father God. His love searches us out when we are buried under the avalanches of life's problems, just as that rescue team searched out the person buried under an avalanche of snow in Switzerland.

As we receive this bread as a symbol of the broken body of Christ, let us remember that the cross on which Jesus was crucified, was the culmination of God's search for sinful mankind. My prayer for all of us just now, is that we will give ourselves to rescuing a lost world, just as Jesus, the Christ, gave himself to rescue you and me when we were lost.

04/05/2026

Holy Communion

“After the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’”
In our morning worship today, we will observe the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. We, like many other Christians, call this observance an “ordinance.” Jesus said it was a “covenant.”
The word “covenant” has its roots in the Old Testament, deriving from two Hebrew words: one which essentially means “fetter,” and the second which means “to bind.” Thus, the root idea of covenant is something which binds together the parties making the covenant. In essence then, a covenant is an agreement, but an agreement of a solemn and binding force.
Historically, a covenant normally involved blood. In its earliest history, men would drink each other's blood, thereby demonstrating kinship. In the Old Testament, animals were slain and their blood sprinkled upon the covenanting parties as they paced back and forth between the quartered parts of the slain animal, reciting the words of the covenant. The covenant would then be sealed with these words: “May the Lord do to me and more so if I break this covenant.”
There are also two different shades of meaning of covenant. The first is this solemn mutual agreement of which we have just spoken. The second is more of a command. That is to say, instead of an obligation voluntarily assumed by two equal parties, it is an obligation imposed by a superior upon an inferior. This second meaning has clearly been derived from the first. It is easy to see that an agreement between contracting parties of unequal position, might include those agreements that tended to partake of the nature of a command. For example, many times in Deuteronomy, God says, “If you will obey my commands, I will bless you.” This process could not, however, be readily reversed; that is to say, the Hebrew nation could not make a covenant as inferior to superior. For example, they could not say, “If you will bless us then we will obey your commands.”
Jeremiah makes it clear that God's people disobeyed Him, thereby nullifying the covenant between them. But then Jeremiah goes on to say that God is making a new covenant with His people. He will now write His laws upon every individual heart, not on tablets of stone. Jeremiah prophesized the new covenant, the writer of Hebrews declares it done: Christ is the mediator of the new covenant. Every individual, therefore, knows God's laws and is without the excuse of ignorance.
And the blood of the new covenant? Why it is none other than the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who was slain for the sins of the world. And every person who accepts this new covenant offered by God has his sins forgiven and becomes part of the clan, the family of God.
As we receive Holy Communion this morning, let us not be lulled into some presumptuous familiarity. Rather, let us also remember those other words of our Lord in the garden: “My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” Let us remember that the Lord's cup was filled with rejection: “He came unto his own and his own did not receive him.” Let us remember that His cup was filled with humiliations, cruel treatment, hatred, and eventually crucifixion. Let us remember that He asked, “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” And then He declared, “You will indeed drink from my cup.”
Lord Jesus! Help us to also remember this wonderful paradox of your cup: your cup is also filled with glory! Did you not say, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you.”? So, as we drink of your cup this morning, Lord Jesus, allow us to hear your words again, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.” If we are to withstand the rejections and humiliations and hatreds and crucifixions of your cup, we must first receive the glory which the father gave to you and which you have given to us.
For you to glorify us, Lord Jesus, that we may glorify you, is our H O P E …
Bro. Digger

03/28/2026

03/07/2026

02/27/2026

A while back, for our Wednesday evening Bible Study, we studied The Sermon on the Mount found in Matthews Gospel. One of handouts I gave was this summary by Barbara Brown Taylor. I thought some of you might enjoy it. So, enjoy!

The Sermon on the Mount*
Matthew 5:1—7:28
Curb your anger.
Cut out the insults.
Be reconciled to your kin.
Come to terms with your accusers.
Keep your hands off what’s not yours.
Stay with your partner.
Keep your word.
Stop swearing.
Turn the other cheek.
Go the second mile.
Give to everyone who begs from you.
Make a loan to anyone who begs from you.
Love your enemies.
Pray for your persecutors.
Be perfect, as the one who made you is perfect.
Give alms quietly.
Pray modestly.
Forgive others their trespasses.
Fast discreetly.
Don’t hoard.
Stop worshiping wealth.
Go all-out for the kingdom.
Do not worry.
Do not judge.
Notice the log in your own eye.
Do not be careless with what is holy.
Ask for what you need.
Search for what you want.
Knock freely on doors.
Do to others what you would have them do to you.
Enter the narrow gate.
Do not fall for false prophets.
Do the will of my father in heaven.
Act on these words of mine.

*Barbara Brown Taylor, Always a Guest—Speaking of Faith Far From Home, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 2020, pg. 63.

Blessings! Bro. Digger

02/24/2026

Bro. Digger leads us in Bible Study each Wednesday night at 5:00p. This week we will begin our study in the book of Esther. Come on! Join us!!

02/21/2026

Tomorrow is the first Sunday in the season of Lent. If you do not have a church home, we invite you to come and worship with us here at McIntosh United Methodist Church.
Each year, I like to post some basic information about the season of Lent to remind us of what "Lent" is all about. To that end, here is my annual post:
The Season of Lent
The word “Lent” is a shortened form of the Old English word, “lencten,” meaning “spring season” or “lengthening,” which noted the lengthening of daylight hours. The earliest mention of Lent in the history of the Church comes from the council of Nicaea in 325 AD. The word used for “Lent” is the Koine Greek word tessarakonta which means “forty.” So, for the first time in the history of the Church, came the assignment of a period of forty days to the “Season of Lent.” This length of time was used in imitation of the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert at the beginning of his public ministry; the time in which Satan “tempted” or “tested” Jesus. In Protestant and Western Orthodox Churches, the Season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on the evening of Holy Saturday. With Sundays excluded, the Season of Lent is therefore 40 days.
The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the Christian believer, through prayer, penance, almsgiving, and self-denial, to genuinely commemorate the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
During Lent, many Christians commit to fasting, as well as giving up certain luxuries in order to replicate the account of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ’s journey into the desert for 40 days; this is known as one’s "Lenten Sacrifice." Many Christians also add a Lenten spiritual discipline, such as reading a daily devotional or praying through a Lenten calendar, with the goal of drawing themselves nearer to God.
The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigor during Lent are prayer (justice toward God), fasting (justice toward self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbors).”
The season of Lent has not been well observed in much of evangelical Christianity, largely because it was associated with the “high Church” liturgical worship that some churches were eager to reject. However, much of the background of evangelical Christianity, for example the heritage of John Wesley and the Methodist Church, was indeed rooted in “high church.” Many of the evangelical churches that had originally rejected more formal and deliberate liturgy are now recovering aspects of a larger Christian tradition, in an effort to restore spirituality in a culture that is increasingly secular.
With Ash Wednesday beginning the season of Lent, we begin our march toward Easter and the Cross and the Resurrection. I pray that with this season of Lent at McIntosh United Methodist Church, we will all find a renewal of our faith, to the end that we all shall do our part to bring the Kingdom of God to earth as it is in heaven. AMEN & AMEN!!
Bro. Digger

02/21/2026

Ash Wednesday Sightings—The Elevator Lady
It was a strange looking sight indeed! The young woman with whom I shared the elevator was a picture of contradiction. The Holy Cross marked on her forehead with ashes, was flanked by two bloodshot thieves. The gold cross hanging from a chain around her neck was entangled by strands of glass beads, caught during the last parade of Mardi Gras on Fat Tuesday.
The ashen cross on her forehead seemed to draw particular attention to her eyes. I was not sure which one made the most poignant reminder that it was Ash Wednesday: the ashen cross, or those bloodshot eyes. The ashes in the form of a cross reminding her of her mortality. Dust to Dust. Ashes to Ashes. Her bloodshot eyes, a painful reminder of her debauchery, her need for repentance. Hours earlier, she had lost her moral compass. For some reason, wheat and tares came to my mind.
“So, what are you going to give up for Lent?” I inquired.
“Cigarettes,” she replied instantly. “I figure if I can give them up for 40 days, I should be able to give them up for the next 40 years!”
My mind picked up the number “40” and I went off into Bible daydream. I saw Moses going up on the mountain for 40 days and nights to receive the Law. I saw Israel wandering in the wilderness for 40 years due to their lack of faith in God, who had just delivered them from Pharaoh’s army and slavery in Egypt. I saw Elijah spend 40 days on the mountain where Moses had received the Law, and where Elijah had found God in a still, small voice. I saw Jesus, 40 days and nights tempted by Satan.
The season of Lent, those 40 days and nights of our own personal sacrifice and repentance leading us up to Easter, seemed most appropriate.
Actually, the word Lent is derived from the old English word “Lenten,” which means, “Spring.” So, “Lenten” is a time to remember that winter is past. Gone are the cold, grey clouds bringing gloominess. Gone is the frigid cold that had locked our whole earth in its death grip. Here, now, are the first Robins heralding the coming Spring and the promise of new life.
Even so, Lent marks the end of a spiritual winter. Gone are the cold, grey clouds of depression and despair. We voluntarily, now, “give up” some sin that had wrapped its tentacles of death around our souls. For now, we are marching toward the cross and the empty tomb, and the promise of new birth and new life. The earth struggles to cast off the icy fingers of winter. Even so, we also struggle spiritually to cast off the icy fingers of sin’s enslavement.
“So! How long has it been since you smoked one?”
“Three hours, ten minutes, and uh, (looking at her watch) forty seconds!”
“Hey, you’re almost there! You can do it! God will help you.”
Bro. Digger

02/18/2026

ASH WEDNESDAY

“Memento, homo, quia pulvus es, et in pulverem reverteris.”
Remember, mortal: dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
Memento! “Remember!” Thus the Priest / Pastor has said for centuries on Ash Wednesday, as he sticks his finger into a dish filled with ashes and transfers those ashes to the parishioner’s forehead. Forming a cross, he murmurs, “Remember, you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Ash Wednesday marks the first of the forty days we call Lent. Each and every year during the days of Lent, the deep Spirit of God stirs something deep within me calling me to Memento, Remember! Calling me to focus on the Passion of Christ. Calling me to focus on my own sins that He carried to that cross. Calling me, therefore, to remember my own inevitable death. But far more importantly, calling me also to look forward forty days to Easter! Calling me toward Resurrection Sunday!
But slow down now! Get the sequence! Let’s start at the beginning. Memento! Remember! Remember that “Begat” chapter in Genesis that you so hated to read as a child? I hated it then because no one would take the time to explain “begot” to a ten-year-old boy. But even when I had matured enough to understand “begat” in all its fullness, it took me many more years to finally understand that the real reason I hated that fifth chapter of Genesis had nothing whatsoever to do with “begat,” but everything to do with that oft-repeated phrase, “…and then he died.” Over and repeated over again, no matter how many hundreds of years each ancestor lived (even Methuselah with his 969 years), yet comes that phrase, “…and then he died.”
It took me years, I say, to learn that I hated that chapter because it caused me to Memento that I also would one day die. And I remember how all of us humans try to deny death or at best delay it. So we spend billions of dollars on make-up, and hair coloring, and wigs, and implants, and face-lifts, and youthful clothing; anything to deceive us into believing we are still young and thus far from death. Even the art of the undertaker is the final act of denial. So I stood at the casket of my own mother and listened to those around me saying, “Why, doesn’t Lillian look good?” says one. “Oh, yes, she looks just like she could sit up and start talking to you!” replies another.
So the sequence of remembering starts off with my hating to remember my own impending death. Especially when all the priests of this world cry “Live!” urging me to do it my way while I grab all the gusto I can because I deserve it. And after all, did not Jesus himself promise me abundant life? So why must my abundant life be interrupted by this morbid reminder that it shall all too soon end?
Yet, incessantly: Memento! Deep calls unto deep and I remember the words of our Lord, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Ah, yes, Lord Jesus!” Your beautiful paradox turns the sequence from hateful remembrance to true humility. For now, I remember that you left your throne in glory to become Emanuel, God with us. Humbly, now, I remember why you did that.
“For this cause, I have come…” you said as you turned your face toward Jerusalem and the cross. “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…,” said John, the disciple.
“Memento! Digger Creel! Remember "Tetellisti",It is finished! Paid in full! Remember my death, Digger Creel, for in my death, you have life eternal!”
Even so, I do remember, Lord Jesus! And so I remember the sequence contained in these forty days of Lent leads me not only to a cross, but also to an empty tomb. And H O P E …
Bro. Digger