It’s almost time to paint our new build in Celina. However, our planned April 16th workday has been postponed. Keep an eye on the newsletter for more information, or click here to email Pastor Janet.
Monday, December 6, 5:30 pm, via Zoom
Annual Charge Conference
God has given you gifts, talents abilities…dreams!
To consecrate means to set aside something as sacred or holy. On September 19 at 9 and 11 am, Bishop McKee will lead us in a service of consecration for Melissa UMC. We will celebrate God’s presence in the space we share, the altar table, the pulpit, the baptismal font, and more. It is a gift to be able to gather and celebrate God’s goodness, while remembering the courage and boldness it took to get to this point in our journey together. We will be celebrating our 9th birthday on that Sunday as well. When you look back at the last 9 years of your life, where have you seen God’s faithfulness and for what are you thankful?
Walls and buildings are a tool set aside to be used for God’s goodness but they are not the body of Christ in the world. We, the church, are called to be connected to one another. We have sacred moments in our own lives and sacred friendships that we know are set aside for God’s presence to be known in our lives. Like a moment when you recognize the work of God in the space between your everyday earthly life and your hope for life eternal. Or a moment when a beloved friend reaches out at just the right moment because they were just thinking about you. These are sacred moments of connection that remind us of our connection to God and to one another.
May we be a people of God, consecrating the sacred spaces in our lives and celebrating the sacred connections. Be bold & courageous, friends… and remember you are loved!
Pastor Stacey
Oh… speaking of Connections, Connections Coffee at Melissa UMC is now open 7 days each week from 6:30-10:30 am. I’ve had the chance to learn how to brew espresso and spend some time in that drive-thru window talking to friends and neighbors who needed a morning boost. I hope you’ll stop by sometime soon!
In our cozy Indiana home, we always opened our Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. Not because my brother and sister and I couldn’t wait until Christmas morning, but because our Mom couldn’t wait! We kids did agree that opening gifts as soon as possible was a great plan. Since we were evidently one of the first houses on the route, we would have to hide in our rooms to let Santa do his work. I remember looking out the bedroom window, convinced that I could see something in the sky that sure looked like a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer. And never mind that we had no chimney. We knew that Santa could make things happen no matter what.
Holding on to that Christmas joy, July 25th is a bonus Christmas celebration for our church this year! It’s either the earliest or the latest that I’ve ever celebrated Christmas. What a great reminder that we can open God’s gift of love on any day and that Jesus calls us to share God’s love all year long. To help share that love, we are invited to give a special Christmas in July gift to support the ministries of the church and reach out in love.
Later on Christmas Eve, we would pry ourselves away from our new toys and drive to the church for candlelight worship at 11 pm. It was a long wonderful day, but we could sleep as long as we wanted on Christmas morning. Hmmm… Maybe that’s what Mom had in mind all along…
Wishing you Christmas joy in July!
Pastor Patty
After driving from West Texas to McKinney in the spring of 2002, Chris Rickwartz circled the block a few times and then parked at First United Methodist Church. When he walked into the church parlor for the job interview, he met a dozen people seated around tables in a U-shape. With an easy smile and an authentic, honest way of talking about his life, faith, and love for Jesus, Chris soon became our director of youth ministries. In the 19 years since, it is impossible to count the students, parents, church members, and people in the world blessed by the gifts and heart Chris brings to ministry.
Our church stepped forward in faith together with Chris. After thousands of miles and hours of teaching, fellowship, worship, adventure, and mission, we give thanks that Chris’s journey intersected with ours. Now he moves to a new appointment at Asbury UMC in Denton with his wife Amy and their daughters Sophia and Lily, all beloved members of our church family. With joy we watched their family grow and they hold our hearts. We send our love, support, and prayers as they step forward in faith together.
Chris is still that sincere pastor I met 19 years ago at the U-shaped tables in the parlor. He serves with grace, applying his strong intellect and theological depth thoughtfully with compassion, humility, and a good dose of humor. For me, like so many others, Chris has become a dear friend. While we will miss Chris in so many ways, we know that he is faithfully following God’s call. As the Church, we all remain connected in the love of Jesus.
To our dear, dear Rickwartz family, God bless you. You have blessed us! We cherish the wonderful times shared in life and ministry. We laugh at the memories of fun and mischief (many stories could be inserted here!). And because we trust the God of love who holds the future, we anticipate with an easy smile what the next 19 years will bring.
With love,
Rev. Patty Froehlich
Take a look at this picture of our new Melissa UMC building at sunset. Do you notice how the lights in the tower look a bit like a lighthouse or a beacon? I have stood on this property countless times in the last 7 years. For the first 5 years of my ministry in Melissa and McKinney, the vision of that building against a sunset sky sometimes seemed more like a dream than God’s vision that would some day be reality. Yet, here we are.
Hope is watching children gather in this building and speak to the truth of God’s love for them, which is greater than they can imagine. Hope is youth gathered for games in the yard or Bible study in the commons. Hope is the group that gathered even this week to sit and read the Bible over their lunches as we learned together. The Church will always be so much more than a building, but this building is an important tool for God’s work in Melissa and surrounding areas.
Maybe that is what is giving me the most hope in these days on the heels of a pandemic as our lives begin to regain a sense of normalcy… Hope is God’s people as they gather, again and again and again.
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I’m there with them.” – Jesus, Matthew 18:20
Blessings,
Pastor Stacey