MUMC - Magnolia United Methodist Church

04/23/2026

This week, we continue our Easter journey by asking a fairly simple question: How do we know when we’re truly living the life we were created for? In John 10, Jesus speaks of a shepherd whose sheep recognize his voice. But what does that mean for us today, in a world full of so many competing voices?

Together, we’ll explore what it means to live in alignment with who we were created to be, to discern the voices that lead to life, and to move toward the kind of abundant life Jesus promises.

In person services 11am each Sunday.
May 31 - 3pm - MUMC Closing celebration service
June 21 - Final MUMC service.

https://umcMagnolia.com

04/17/2026

What do we do when hope doesn’t turn out the way we expected?

This Sunday, we step onto the road to Emmaus, where two disciples walk away from Jerusalem carrying disappointment and unanswered questions. As they process their broken hopes, they discover something surprising: Jesus is already walking with them, even though they don’t recognize him.

Building on last week’s message, we’ll explore what it means to keep walking in faith when things aren’t clear, and how we often come to recognize Christ not through certainty, but as we live, share, and show up in love.

Come as you are. Keep walking. Christ is with you.

Join us at MUMC, Sunday morning at 11am. No online services currently.

04/09/2026

What if doubt isn’t the opposite of faith?

This week we explore the story of Thomas, the disciple often labeled “doubting,” but who actually shows us what honest faith looks like. In a world that doesn’t always make sense, where questions are real and certainty can feel out of reach, we’ll discover a Christ who meets us right in the middle of it all.

Together, we’ll explore a deeper truth: faith isn’t about having everything figured out. Rather, faith grows as we live it. As we show up, love others, and carry hope into a complicated world, belief begins to take root. Being is Believing.

Come join us at 11am each Sunday.
(current on-line services are no longer available, although dozens of earlier, archived sermons can be found at our website https://umcmagnolia.com )

03/23/2026

TITLE: Protecting Transgender Civil and Human Rights, a letter from General Secretary Bishop Julius C Trimble.

Summary: The United Methodist Church unequivocally supports gender inclusivity, sacred worth and equal protection for transgender and non-binary people.

Excerpt:
God so loved the whole world and in every life is a reflection of divinity, so every act of injustice defaces the image of God.

As United Methodists, we are called to stand with transgender people rejecting laws that allow politicians to dictate their health care decisions, to take away their basic freedoms like access to facilities, and to pursue discriminatory practices against transgender and non-binary people in the workplace or places of business.

Full letter in comments.

03/22/2026

We'll be hosting our final concert at MUMC this Wednesday (Mar 25th). Some really stellar folk music on this bill. Hosted by yours truly (Pastor Brad, aka Giantish). Really hope you can join us.
https://umcMagnolia.com

03/20/2026

Over the past weeks of Lent, we have been talking about some of the common forces that drain life from us: shame, fear, and the false stories we carry about ourselves. And each week, we have encountered a God who gently restores life through grace, trust, and true sight.

This week, we face the deepest challenge of all: despair. What do we do when something feels finished? When hope feels distant? When loss is real?

Through the stories of Lazarus and of Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones, we hear the truth truth, that: even now, Jesus calls life forth. Not in denial of what has been lost, but in the midst of it. Join us as we explore what it means to live into resurrection hope… not just someday, but today.

We no longer offer online services, so please join us in person, Sundays at 11am.

Website: https://umcMagnolia.com

03/13/2026

Lent is a season of coming back to life. Over these weeks we’ve been talking about some of the forces that quietly drain life from us. In Week 1 we faced shame and the ways it pushes us into hiding. In Week 2 we named fear and the way it keeps us small. This week we go deeper… to an issue beneath the issues… because beneath shame and fear are often the distorted stories we carry about ourselves.

In this week’s service, entitled Seeing Clearly, we’ll explore how those internal stories shape our lives. In John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind and challenges the assumptions people have made about him his entire life. In 1 Samuel 16, David is overlooked by everyone… except God. Together these stories invite us to rethink the stories that we live by: What if the story I believe about myself isn’t the truest story? And what if God sees something different… something so much more beautiful?

Join us this week as we continue our Lenten journey and learn what it might mean to see ourselves (and one another) through God’s eyes. Services are currently in-person only (no recorded version), so please join us at the church at 11am on Sunday, March 15. See you there!

02/27/2026

Lent is a season of coming back to life. It is a time for releasing the things that keep us from living fully and rediscovering the grace that restores us. Last week we named how shame pulls us into hiding and how God brings us back into the light. This week we turn toward another powerful force that shapes our lives: fear. Where does fear keep us small, cautious, or stuck? And what might it look like to step into life beyond fear?

Through the nighttime questions of Nicodemus and the courageous journey of Abram, we will explore what it means to trust the quiet prompting of God’s Spirit even when the path ahead is uncertain. This service will offer space for reflection, encouragement, and hope as we consider how God is inviting each of us to begin again. Living new life… not without fear, but beyond it. Join us as we continue this Lenten journey back to life together.

02/20/2026

Here's a recording of MUMC's full service from 2-15-26 (Transfiguration Sunday), entitled "Transformed by the Light".

Website: https://umcMagnolia.com
YouTube: https://youtu.be/kto96XpPw3s?si=jrUp1v49G44RjtEH

Magnolia United Methodist Church, Seattlehttps://umcMagnolia.com

02/20/2026

This Lent we will work through a series I’m calling “Coming Back to Life.” Rather than focusing on guilt or self-criticism, this season invites us to notice the ways we lose our sense of aliveness (through shame, fear, distorted self-understanding, and despair) and to encounter the God who gently restores us. Each week we will move one step further into life: from honesty to trust, from clarity to resurrection hope. This is not a Lenten journey of beating ourselves up, but a journey of being drawn back into grace, belonging, and new life.

This first week, “Brought Out of Hiding,” we begin by naming the weight of shame and the freedom of grace. Psalm 32 speaks of the heaviness of hidden burdens, while Jesus in the wilderness refuses the lie that worth must be proven. Together these scriptures invite us into honesty before God and into the grace that meets us there. As we begin the Lenten journey, we are invited to release shame, step into grace, and remember that God’s deepest desire is always to bring us back to life.

There is no online version of this week's message, but you are welcome to join us in person each Sunday at 11am. If you would like a transcript of this week's sermon, send us a message.

02/13/2026

As we conclude our Alive in the Light Epiphany journey, we arrive at the mountaintop of Transfiguration Sunday. Throughout this season we have followed Christ’s light, learned to recognize it in unexpected places, and discovered what it means to live illuminated by God’s presence. This final week invites us to see where that light ultimately leads: not only to guidance and comfort, but to transformation. In the radiant glory of Christ revealed on the mountain, we glimpse both who he truly is and who we are becoming.

Yet the story does not end on the mountaintop. Strengthened by that vision, Jesus and the disciples go back down into the world; into need, uncertainty, and the work of love. As we close this series together, we will reflect on how the light of Christ changes us and empowers us to engage the world with renewed courage, purpose, and hope. Alive in the light, we are being transformed and sent to carry that light forward.

Please join us in-person, Sundays at 10:30am. See you there.

Website: https://umcMagnolia.com

02/06/2026

As our Epiphany series Alive in the Light continues, this week we hear Jesus’ words, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world,” not as pressure to be heroic or perfect, but as an invitation to live from the grace we have already received. Having explored how we are alive in the light, named by it, drawn toward it, called by it, and blessed within it, we now turn to what it means to live as the light. How do we reflect Christ’s presence in a world that often feels heavy with fear, instability, and exhaustion?

This message explores how faithfulness is not about generating our own brilliance or fixing everything around us. Instead, it is about staying turned toward Christ so that his light becomes visible through ordinary lives and communities. In a time when many feel overwhelmed or uncertain about what difference they can make, we are invited to rediscover a quieter calling: to be people whose steady presence, shared compassion, and enduring hope help others see more clearly.

Unfortunately, I was not able to put together a video for this week's service. I hope you can join us in person on Sunday morning. If not, feel free to message me for a copy of the sermon manuscript and this week's bulletin. Services at MUMC, 11am.

Go Seahawks!