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Why ashes? Connecting to who we are and who we can be
Lent 2016 begins on February 10. What do United Methodists need to know about the imposition of ashes, or other Lenten practices?
Find out
A file photo by Kathleen Barry, United Methodist Communications
Many receive a cross of ashes on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday, an ancient symbol of our humanity.
Why ashes? Connecting to who we are and who we can be[A UMC.org Feature by Joe Iovino*]
One Wednesday a year, sometime in February or March, you notice someone at work, school, or elsewhere with a smudge on her forehead. It looks as if she missed a spot when washing. Then you see another who looks as though he needs to glance in the mirror. By the time you see the third, you realize it is Ash Wednesday and these passersby must have received the imposition of ashes.
This practice we use to mark the first day of Lent may seem odd. People go to church mid-week to have a cleric place dirt on their foreheads.
In the early days of the church, it was even more dramatic. Pastors did not dip their thumbs into the ashes to draw the shape of a cross on your forehead. Instead, they poured or sprinkled ashes over your head.
Under any other circumstances, most would run from ashes. We avoid cleaning fireplaces for fear of the filth from them, yet we participate in this practice that is growing in popularity. In fact, the receiving of ashes seems to connect with all sorts of people.
Several United Methodist pastors took their vials of ashes to the street Ash Wednesday 2015, to meet people where they are.
The Rev. Kim Kinsey offers ashes to a youth on the sidewalk outside of Christ United Methodist Church in Albuquerque, NM. Photo courtesy of the Rev. Kim Kinsey.In Clearwater, Florida, the Rev. Emily Oliver of Skycrest United Methodist Church applied ashes to the foreheads of those who drove into the church parking lot on the morning of the first day of Lent.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Rev. Kim Kinsey spent much of her day on the busy sidewalk in front of Christ United Methodist Church with her pyxis of ashes. The previous year she made the sign of the cross on the forehead of one she describes as “tattooed head to foot,” and adults from a nearby housing complex for those with developmental disabilities.
The Rev. Peter McNabb of Wheatland United Methodist Church offered ashes outside a Dallas Area Rapid Transit train and bus station. McNabb sees this as a way of living into “our Wesleyan tradition: to literally take the ashes to the streets.”
Why ashes?
In “A Service for Worship for Ash Wednesday” in the United Methodist Book of Worship, two suggestions of what worship leaders may say as they make the sign of the cross on another’s forehead are offered: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” and “Repent, and believe the gospel.” Each points to an aspect of what the ashes represent.
Remember that you are dust…
Ashes were an ancient symbol of our humanity. In Genesis, we read that God formed human beings out of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7). The Hebrew word translated dust, is occasionally translated ashes elsewhere.
When Abraham felt the need to acknowledge the difference between him, a human being, and the infinite God, he referred to himself as dust and ashes. “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord,” he said, “I who am but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27).
…and to dust you shall return
Our humanity also calls to mind our mortality.
After expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the first human beings are told by God, “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19 NRSV). We know the day is coming for each of us when we will return to dust.
We wear black as a sign of mourning. Ancient people wore ashes. For example, a priest named Modecai puts on sackcloth and ashes to grieve the many deaths he sees coming from an order King Ahasuerus gives to kill all Jewish people (Esther 4:1-3). The prophet Jeremiah later calls the people of God to “roll in ashes” as a way of mourning the coming devastation from an opposing army (Jeremiah 6:26).
Receiving the imposition of ashes is a powerful way to confront our humanity and mortality. They remind us that we are not God, but God’s good creation. In them we recognize that our bodies will not last forever, and come face-to-face with the reality of our eventual death.
Repent…
Ashes also signify our sorrow for the mistakes we have made. People in ancient times wore sackcloth and ashes as a way of expressing their repentance of their sins.
When Jonah reluctantly preached to the people of Nineveh after the giant fish spit him up on the beach, the King and his people put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. God saw this act of repentance and spared the people (Jonah 3:1-10).
In the New Testament Jesus mentions this practice. Warning the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida Jesus said, “if the miracles done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed their hearts and lives and put on funeral clothes and ashes a long time ago.” (Matthew 11:21 CEB).
The dried palms from the previous Palm Sunday are burned to make the ashes used for Ash Wednesday. Photo by Kathryn Price, United Methodist Communications.When we participate in the service of ashes, we confront our sin. We recognize our inability to live up to all God has created us to be, and our need to be forgiven. No matter how often we go to church, how far we have come in our spiritual journeys, how accomplished we may feel, each of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
The palms waved the previous Palm Sunday to welcome Jesus as our King, have been burned to form the ashes. In some sense, they serve as a reminder of how far we fall short of living up to the glory of Christ.
On the first day of Lent, we come before God recognizing our humanity and repenting of our sin.
…and believe the gospel
While this may sound fatalistic, it is not the end of the story. Lent leads to Easter, the day we celebrate that though our bodies are temporary and our lives are flawed, a day of resurrection will come when we will live in the presence of God forever.
One Wednesday every year we go to church remembering who we are, and hopeful of who we can be.
To find a United Methodist Church near you that is holding an Ash Wednesday worship service, useFind-A-Church.
*Joe Iovino works for UMC.org at United Methodist Communications. He may be reached atjiovino@umcom.org or
615-312-3733.This story was originally posted February 9, 2015.
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40 Days of Lent: Find your own spiritual path
The Book of Worship encourages us to "observe a holy Lent." There is no one way to do that, instead we offer various ways to grow our faith.
Get started
Beyond fasting: 10 tips for a more meaningful Lent
Giving up something for Lent isn't the only way to observe the season. Consider trying some creative alternatives for observing these 40 days.
Get ideas
Timeline: Methodism in Black and White
February is also Black History Month. Learn more about the role of African-Americans in the history of Methodism.
View timeline
Courtesy of New World Outlook.
Missionary Vivienne Gray served with her husband, Ulysses, in Liberia, 1948 to 1988. Photo courtesy of New World Outlook.Timeline: Methodism in Black and White
1758
John Wesley baptizes two “Negro slaves,” at least one woman, thus setting the pattern for receiving people of color into the societies and the church. These two return to Antigua to start the Methodist society in the “new world.”
1760s
Anne Schweitzer, a black woman, becomes a founding member of the first Methodist society in Maryland. Two years later, another black woman, known to us only as Bettye, is one of five persons to attend the Methodist services inaugurated by Philip Embury in New York City. When the John Street Church is built in 1768, the names of several black subscribers appear on its roster.
1784
The Christmas Conference in Baltimore founds the Methodist Episcopal Church. Among those riding out to issue the call for the conference is “Black Harry” Hosier. Born a slave about 1750, Hosier receives a license to preach in 1785 and becomes one of the best preachers and most effective early circuit riders.
1790
Drawn by the Methodist Episcopal Church’s anti-slavery stand, blacks (slave and free) make up 20 percent of the 57,631 American Methodists.
1791
John Wesley dies. His last letter is one written to anti-slavery crusader William Wilberforce, urging him to “Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.”
1794
Increasing segregation within churches causes Richard Allen to form the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. In 1796, blacks walk out of John Street Church in New York and eventually build the Zion Chapel. Similar movements occur in other communities.
1805
The African Union Church is formed.
1816
The African Methodist Episcopal church is formed in Philadelphia. Richard Allen becomes its first bishop.
1819
John Stewart is named as the first missionary to the Wyandot Indians. A black man converted in 1814, he was engaged in this ministry for several years before obtaining a license to preach in 1819.
1821
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is formed in New York. James Varick is elected as first general superintendent.
1844
Rising tensions over slavery come to a head in the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church when Bishop James O. Andrew of Georgia is told to desist from the exercise of his office until he frees slaves passed down from his wife’s estate.
1845
In a break along regional lines, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is formed in Louisville, Ky.
1858
The Liberia Conference elects Francis Burns as bishop. The first missionary bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he had served as a missionary to Liberia for 24 years.
1866
A group of black Methodists within the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, petition the General Conference for their orderly dismissal from that church.
1870
Those former members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, found the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in Jackson, Tenn.
1902
Susan Collins goes as a missionary to Angola where she is welcomed as “one of us” and serves 29 years.
1920
The Methodist Episcopal Church elects Robert E. Jones and Matthew W. Clair Sr. as bishops.
1939
The Methodist Episcopal Church; the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and the Methodist Protestant Church unite to form The Methodist Church. Blacks are segregated into a separate Central Jurisdiction.
1956
The General Conference, meeting in Minneapolis, Minn., adopts Amendment IX, allowing transfers of churches and conferences out of the Central Jurisdiction into geographical jurisdictions.
1968
The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church unite to form The United Methodist Church. As part of the plan of union, the Central Jurisdiction is abolished and formal segregation ended.
Roy C. Nichols becomes the first African American to be elected bishop by a regional jurisdictional conference in the new United Methodist Church. Black Methodists for Church Renewal is organized. The General Commission on Religion and Race is formed, with Woodie White as the first African-American to head a United Methodist general agency.
1976
Mai Gray becomes the first African-American president of the Women’s Division, General Board of Global Ministries.
1977
Trudie Kibbe Preciphs becomes the first African-American member of the secretariat of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women.
1984
Leontine T.C. Kelly becomes the first African-American woman to be elected bishop.
1990
Charlotte Ann Nichols (Peninsula-Delaware Conference) and Joethel Jeannette Cooper Dicks (West Ohio) become the first African-American women district superintendents.
2000
General Conference delegates participate in a service of repentance for racism within the denomination.
2004
General Conference delegates celebrate the African-American witness and presence within The United Methodist Church and recognize “those who stayed” in spite of racism.
2008
16.6 percent of the U.S. delegation to the 2008 General Conference are African-American.
2009
African-American United Methodists speak at the inauguration of the first African-American U.S. president.[This timeline first appeared in New World Outlook, May-June 1992. Adapted by permission and updated by United Methodist Communications. Photo courtesy of New World Outlook.]
The Book of Worship encourages us to "observe a holy Lent." There is no one way to do that, instead we offer various ways to grow our faith.
Get started
Beyond fasting: 10 tips for a more meaningful Lent
Giving up something for Lent isn't the only way to observe the season. Consider trying some creative alternatives for observing these 40 days.
Get ideas
Timeline: Methodism in Black and White
February is also Black History Month. Learn more about the role of African-Americans in the history of Methodism.
View timeline
Courtesy of New World Outlook.
Missionary Vivienne Gray served with her husband, Ulysses, in Liberia, 1948 to 1988. Photo courtesy of New World Outlook.Timeline: Methodism in Black and White
1758
John Wesley baptizes two “Negro slaves,” at least one woman, thus setting the pattern for receiving people of color into the societies and the church. These two return to Antigua to start the Methodist society in the “new world.”
1760s
Anne Schweitzer, a black woman, becomes a founding member of the first Methodist society in Maryland. Two years later, another black woman, known to us only as Bettye, is one of five persons to attend the Methodist services inaugurated by Philip Embury in New York City. When the John Street Church is built in 1768, the names of several black subscribers appear on its roster.
1784
The Christmas Conference in Baltimore founds the Methodist Episcopal Church. Among those riding out to issue the call for the conference is “Black Harry” Hosier. Born a slave about 1750, Hosier receives a license to preach in 1785 and becomes one of the best preachers and most effective early circuit riders.
1790
Drawn by the Methodist Episcopal Church’s anti-slavery stand, blacks (slave and free) make up 20 percent of the 57,631 American Methodists.
1791
John Wesley dies. His last letter is one written to anti-slavery crusader William Wilberforce, urging him to “Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.”
1794
Increasing segregation within churches causes Richard Allen to form the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. In 1796, blacks walk out of John Street Church in New York and eventually build the Zion Chapel. Similar movements occur in other communities.
1805
The African Union Church is formed.
1816
The African Methodist Episcopal church is formed in Philadelphia. Richard Allen becomes its first bishop.
1819
John Stewart is named as the first missionary to the Wyandot Indians. A black man converted in 1814, he was engaged in this ministry for several years before obtaining a license to preach in 1819.
1821
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is formed in New York. James Varick is elected as first general superintendent.
1844
Rising tensions over slavery come to a head in the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church when Bishop James O. Andrew of Georgia is told to desist from the exercise of his office until he frees slaves passed down from his wife’s estate.
1845
In a break along regional lines, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is formed in Louisville, Ky.
1858
The Liberia Conference elects Francis Burns as bishop. The first missionary bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he had served as a missionary to Liberia for 24 years.
1866
A group of black Methodists within the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, petition the General Conference for their orderly dismissal from that church.
1870
Those former members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, found the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in Jackson, Tenn.
1902
Susan Collins goes as a missionary to Angola where she is welcomed as “one of us” and serves 29 years.
1920
The Methodist Episcopal Church elects Robert E. Jones and Matthew W. Clair Sr. as bishops.
1939
The Methodist Episcopal Church; the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and the Methodist Protestant Church unite to form The Methodist Church. Blacks are segregated into a separate Central Jurisdiction.
1956
The General Conference, meeting in Minneapolis, Minn., adopts Amendment IX, allowing transfers of churches and conferences out of the Central Jurisdiction into geographical jurisdictions.
1968
The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church unite to form The United Methodist Church. As part of the plan of union, the Central Jurisdiction is abolished and formal segregation ended.
Roy C. Nichols becomes the first African American to be elected bishop by a regional jurisdictional conference in the new United Methodist Church. Black Methodists for Church Renewal is organized. The General Commission on Religion and Race is formed, with Woodie White as the first African-American to head a United Methodist general agency.
1976
Mai Gray becomes the first African-American president of the Women’s Division, General Board of Global Ministries.
1977
Trudie Kibbe Preciphs becomes the first African-American member of the secretariat of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women.
1984
Leontine T.C. Kelly becomes the first African-American woman to be elected bishop.
1990
Charlotte Ann Nichols (Peninsula-Delaware Conference) and Joethel Jeannette Cooper Dicks (West Ohio) become the first African-American women district superintendents.
2000
General Conference delegates participate in a service of repentance for racism within the denomination.
2004
General Conference delegates celebrate the African-American witness and presence within The United Methodist Church and recognize “those who stayed” in spite of racism.
2008
16.6 percent of the U.S. delegation to the 2008 General Conference are African-American.
2009
African-American United Methodists speak at the inauguration of the first African-American U.S. president.[This timeline first appeared in New World Outlook, May-June 1992. Adapted by permission and updated by United Methodist Communications. Photo courtesy of New World Outlook.]
---------------------
Part of history, African-American spirituals still heal
Songs allowed slaves to freely express true feelings and offer prayers to God, and sacred music still inspire.
Read story
Video image courtesy of United Methodist Discipleship Ministries
Choir sings as part of "Reflect, Reclaim, Rejoice" project about black sacred music. Video image courtesy of United Methodist Discipleship Ministries.
Part of history, African-American spirituals still heal by Pamela Crosby*
African-American spirituals, also known as Negro spirituals, are a familiar, precious part of American history. Today their melodies are an integral part of worship services. Often sung as part of Martin Luther King Jr. birthday and Black History Month celebrations, oppressed people worldwide continue to use them as protest and liberation songs.
While these songs have strong connections to historical and personal experiences, the entire function of the spirituals may not be obvious. Songs originating during the slavery years in the United States, 1600 through 1870, are generally categorized as plantation, sorrow and jubilee songs; however, the use of these melodies goes beyond those labels.
African-American spirituals emerged from a mix of the brutal institution of slavery, Christian influences and African culture. The songs expressed a yearning for a better life, claimed identification with the children of Israel, named the slave owner's deceit and hypocrisy, underscored the need for a closer walk with God, identified the reality of Satan and emphasized the slave's hope for freedom and the future. Love, grace, mercy, judgment, death and eternal life are among the themes enfolded in these songs.
The spirituals offer a historical record revealing the slave's struggle for freedom and survival, and yet reflect the exciting worship experiences that expressed their hope for life's possibilities.
The slave's acceptance of Christianity, while experiencing the conflicting behavior of slave owners, is a testament to the power of the gospel. Often slaves believed that the salvation and new life of which they learned when "worshipping" with their owners would happen not on earth, but, rather, when they went to heaven. While many slaves understood God's promises were meant for all people while on earth, they also knew they could not openly pray for deliverance and equality. The traditional spiritual "All God's Chillun Got Shoes" mentions having shoes — something most slaves did not have — plus a robe, a harp, a crown and wings, As they sang it, the slaves also knew none of these were actually available on earth.
Ah gotta shoes, You gotta shoes
All o' God's chillun gotta shoes.
When Ah git to Heab'n gonna put on mah shoes
Gonna walk all ovah God's Heab'n.
Imagine hearing of a God who loves and cares for all, who provides for needs and urges God's children to ask for their needs, but all the while being afraid to request openly for fear of beating or death. The "invisible church" developed as a place for slaves truly to express their concerns.
In their songs, the slaves named issues and fears they could not express publicly. Meeting in the woods or arbors, out of the sight and hearing of slave owners and overseers, the slaves were free to worship and praise, to express their true feelings and to offer unbridled prayers and requests to God. They could lay their burdens down and find strength to face another day.
Many of the spirituals carried dual meanings and symbolic messages unknown to slave owners. The lyrics of "Steal Away" alerted slaves that a religious meeting would occur that night; slaves sang the song all day until they notified everyone. Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman used the spirituals "Wade in the Water" and "Deep River" to warn slaves to travel in the water to throw off their scent from the bloodhounds.
The lyrics of "Ride On, King Jesus" were an answer to the mistreatments by slave masters, who were no match for the God who was on the slaves' side.
Ride on, King Jesus, No man can a-hinder me...
King Jesus on a milk-white horse, No man can a-hinder me.
The text of many spirituals, such as "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel" and "There Is a Balm in Gilead," came directly from the Old Testament. As he grieved over the sin of the Israelites who had turned their backs on God, the prophet Jeremiah posed the question, "Is there no balm in Gilead?" In their new religion, enslaved Africans found the answer in Jesus Christ.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead, To heal the sin-sick soul.
Don't ever feel discouraged, for Jesus is your friend,
And if you lack for knowledge, he'll ne'er refuse to lend.
Just as the text of this soothing spiritual captures a timeless message, the strength and power of African-American spirituals speaks to the continual relevance of these songs and the reason they still heal souls today.
[*Pamela Crosby, a freelance writer and producer, is executive director of Black Methodists for Church Renewal, Nashville, Tenn. This article was first published in the Jan.-Feb. 2014 issue of Interpreter.]
---------------------
A faux pas in the pew: What to do?
Remember that at Easter more people will attend church. Get tips from an advice columnist on how to be patient and kind at church.
"Ask Amy"
United Methodist sacraments, rites & rituals
Learn more of what The United Methodist Church teaches about sacraments, rites and rituals. Perfect for personal reading or to share with a new member or confirmation class.
Learn more
You are encouraged to use these links for personal reflection and to share them with others for inspiration.
UMC.org is your one-stop site for all things United Methodist.
Visit UMC.org now!
People in your area are looking for a church.
Help them find you!
Update Your Find‑A‑Church Profile
The United Methodist Communications
810 12th Avenue South
Part of history, African-American spirituals still heal
Songs allowed slaves to freely express true feelings and offer prayers to God, and sacred music still inspire.
Read story
Video image courtesy of United Methodist Discipleship Ministries
Choir sings as part of "Reflect, Reclaim, Rejoice" project about black sacred music. Video image courtesy of United Methodist Discipleship Ministries.
Part of history, African-American spirituals still heal by Pamela Crosby*
African-American spirituals, also known as Negro spirituals, are a familiar, precious part of American history. Today their melodies are an integral part of worship services. Often sung as part of Martin Luther King Jr. birthday and Black History Month celebrations, oppressed people worldwide continue to use them as protest and liberation songs.
While these songs have strong connections to historical and personal experiences, the entire function of the spirituals may not be obvious. Songs originating during the slavery years in the United States, 1600 through 1870, are generally categorized as plantation, sorrow and jubilee songs; however, the use of these melodies goes beyond those labels.
African-American spirituals emerged from a mix of the brutal institution of slavery, Christian influences and African culture. The songs expressed a yearning for a better life, claimed identification with the children of Israel, named the slave owner's deceit and hypocrisy, underscored the need for a closer walk with God, identified the reality of Satan and emphasized the slave's hope for freedom and the future. Love, grace, mercy, judgment, death and eternal life are among the themes enfolded in these songs.
The spirituals offer a historical record revealing the slave's struggle for freedom and survival, and yet reflect the exciting worship experiences that expressed their hope for life's possibilities.
The slave's acceptance of Christianity, while experiencing the conflicting behavior of slave owners, is a testament to the power of the gospel. Often slaves believed that the salvation and new life of which they learned when "worshipping" with their owners would happen not on earth, but, rather, when they went to heaven. While many slaves understood God's promises were meant for all people while on earth, they also knew they could not openly pray for deliverance and equality. The traditional spiritual "All God's Chillun Got Shoes" mentions having shoes — something most slaves did not have — plus a robe, a harp, a crown and wings, As they sang it, the slaves also knew none of these were actually available on earth.
Ah gotta shoes, You gotta shoes
All o' God's chillun gotta shoes.
When Ah git to Heab'n gonna put on mah shoes
Gonna walk all ovah God's Heab'n.
Imagine hearing of a God who loves and cares for all, who provides for needs and urges God's children to ask for their needs, but all the while being afraid to request openly for fear of beating or death. The "invisible church" developed as a place for slaves truly to express their concerns.
In their songs, the slaves named issues and fears they could not express publicly. Meeting in the woods or arbors, out of the sight and hearing of slave owners and overseers, the slaves were free to worship and praise, to express their true feelings and to offer unbridled prayers and requests to God. They could lay their burdens down and find strength to face another day.
Many of the spirituals carried dual meanings and symbolic messages unknown to slave owners. The lyrics of "Steal Away" alerted slaves that a religious meeting would occur that night; slaves sang the song all day until they notified everyone. Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman used the spirituals "Wade in the Water" and "Deep River" to warn slaves to travel in the water to throw off their scent from the bloodhounds.
The lyrics of "Ride On, King Jesus" were an answer to the mistreatments by slave masters, who were no match for the God who was on the slaves' side.
Ride on, King Jesus, No man can a-hinder me...
King Jesus on a milk-white horse, No man can a-hinder me.
The text of many spirituals, such as "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel" and "There Is a Balm in Gilead," came directly from the Old Testament. As he grieved over the sin of the Israelites who had turned their backs on God, the prophet Jeremiah posed the question, "Is there no balm in Gilead?" In their new religion, enslaved Africans found the answer in Jesus Christ.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead, To heal the sin-sick soul.
Don't ever feel discouraged, for Jesus is your friend,
And if you lack for knowledge, he'll ne'er refuse to lend.
Just as the text of this soothing spiritual captures a timeless message, the strength and power of African-American spirituals speaks to the continual relevance of these songs and the reason they still heal souls today.
[*Pamela Crosby, a freelance writer and producer, is executive director of Black Methodists for Church Renewal, Nashville, Tenn. This article was first published in the Jan.-Feb. 2014 issue of Interpreter.]
---------------------
A faux pas in the pew: What to do?
Remember that at Easter more people will attend church. Get tips from an advice columnist on how to be patient and kind at church.
"Ask Amy"
United Methodist sacraments, rites & rituals
Learn more of what The United Methodist Church teaches about sacraments, rites and rituals. Perfect for personal reading or to share with a new member or confirmation class.
Learn more
You are encouraged to use these links for personal reflection and to share them with others for inspiration.
UMC.org is your one-stop site for all things United Methodist.
Visit UMC.org now!
People in your area are looking for a church.
Help them find you!
Update Your Find‑A‑Church Profile
The United Methodist Communications
810 12th Avenue South
Nashville, Tennessee 37203-4704, United States
umcom@umcom.org
umcom@umcom.org
Phone: 615.742.5400
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615.742.5400---------------------
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