Life in the City is having fun. We are lifting up our praise to God and saying THANK YOU for this crazy, mixed-up life. Traditionally we worship God with word and song, but we really like other forms of art too. We want to encourage praise of God through art in all its variety. In ages past the church was the center of the art world. Until the last century almost all art was religious in nature. Now? Not so much. So our prayer is to create safe space for everyone to feel free to offer their particular gifts. Whether your gift is doing gymnastics, or singing, or acting, or painting, or … [Read more...]

One day last fall my family went out to lunch after church -my sister, her husband, her two boys and my youngest daughter. My sister's youngest son, Joseph, is 3 years old and all boy.  He is also the cutest child on the planet.  We were all seated at the table, parents on one side and kids on the other.   Joseph is in the middle of the kids being a complete 3 year old. Pause for a moment to remember three year olds at their worst, and then you will have some small inkling of how he was acting. My sister sounds like the old Cosby routine, "Joseph sit down.  Joseph stop hitting your … [Read more...]

Austin Energy Rate Hike - click to watch YNN's interview with Reverend Wright. I don't know about you, but I often hear from friends outside the "church" who think that the church exists to maintain itself.  I cannot speak for other places, but at FUMC that just isn't true.  We exist for the world, and if this congregation was not here, specifically in downtown Austin, than Austin would suffer. If you were to look at our budget you would see that the vast majority of what we pay for is our location, followed by our staff.  I will not apologize for that and neither should you. Our … [Read more...]