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To the Wesley Community

Pastor Candy’s First Sermon July 7

“There’s no place like home,”

I’d whisper with Judy Garland, clicking the heels of the dressy church shoes I’d ruined by covering them with glue and red glitter. The Wizard of OZ was my favorite movie as a child; I could recite the lyrics and lines along with the cast, including the transporting phrase “there’s no place like home.”

Home, I’ve found, is a word not limited to a single space or place. “Home” is the place where my family lives, the place where we gather together around the dinner table, the place where I tuck the kids in at night. “Home” is the house where I grew up and where my parents still live; the town where I went to high school and worked my first job in an ice cream stand; the church where I was baptized and confirmed, where I went to Sunday School and sang in the children’s choir. For the past five years, “home” has been in the sanctuary and amongst the people of Faith UMC, impacting the lives of others, building relationships with one another, and growing closer to Christ together. I’ve treasured those five years at Faith – and yet, God now has something else in store for me, for us.

As I pack boxes of Bible commentaries into my blue Ford Escape and head down Route 33 towards Bethlehem, a growing part of me feels a sense of coming “home.” Bethlehem is a kind of home for me. It is the place where I went to college and wrestled with my call to ministry. It is the city where I met my husband, where our children were born. This Christmas City stole its way into my heart nearly two decades ago when I was a high school student touring prospective colleges, and it has never let go.

And yet, it’s not just Bethlehem… there is a piece of Wesley that is “home” for me, too. During my senior year of college, just months before I’d head off to seminary, I found a temporary church-home-away-from-home at Wesley. I attended worship services (sitting in a pew near the back on the left-hand side) and even found my way into a Sunday morning Bible study. What I carry most from that time, from those Sunday mornings in that beautiful sanctuary, was that Wesley was one of the first places, one of the first churches, where I felt challenged to bring both my brain and my heart into my relationship with God. That has become a meaningful part of my identity as a pastor and as a Christian: to think and to feel, to follow, to serve. Now at the time, I had no sense that I would ever return to Wesley to serve as your pastor… yet somehow, that history and sense of “home” makes this appointment change feel full circle for me in a big-picture, God-directed way.

There’s no place like home, friends… so I look forward to finding “home” with you once again. I look forward to the things we’ll learn, the conversations we’ll have, the lives we’ll transform, the laughs we’ll share. I look forward to all the Christmas Eves and Easter mornings to come.

Most of all, I look forward to experiencing what it means to be “people blessing people” as we serve Christ and embody Christ’s love together.

Rev. Candy LaBar

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During the Week…

Prayer Group
Thursdays  10 AM
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Have a prayer request? Send here.

Tuesday Book Club
Tuesdays at 7:15 PM
Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson
Contact Chris Foster to join.

Thursday Night Women’s Group
will resume on January 7, 2021.
Journey through the Gospel of Luke.

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Weekly Wesley E-News

Wesley E-News: March 7, 2021



Catching Up
with Pastor Candy:
March 6

    This week, I had the chance to touch base with my friend and colleague Ron Schane, who currently serves as the director of Pocono Plateau, one of our conference’s United Methodist camp & retreat centers. While last year’s summer camp programs were cancelled due to COVID, the directors and camp staff are working on plans for the 2021 camping seasons — plans that include all kinds of necessary COVID mitigation procedures, of course. This week, Ron and I were talking about those plans — as well as the ways that I, as a pastor in our conference, can volunteer in the camping program.

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Today’s Community Connections

  • If you are interested in providing fresh flowers for worship, please sign up at the Connections Corner table.
  • Feel like you missed something? The Connections Corner table can help. Head across the atrium and get the information you need just under the tv monitor.
  • Don’t receive our Weekly E-News? Please email Sue Kiefner at: SueK@wesleychurch.com to get on the list! Or sign up at the Connections Corner table.
  • Do you enjoy being creative with pictures and video?  Do you like telling a story through images?  We are looking for people who enjoy making videos, who can use technology to help represent some of the music we use in worship, and possibly other parts of the worship service such as announcements, testimonies, and more.  If this interests or excites you, please see Becky Graybeal for more details and to get plugged in!

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