First Word from Our Pastors
Our pastors observe how God’s transformation is working in the world, within our church, and within people.
Breath, Belovedness, and the Postponed General Conference
Dear Church, Last week, we learned that the meeting of the General Conference, the legislative decision-making body of the United Methodist Church, already postponed twice, will now be postponed once again. The meeting will now take place in 2024, when the next...
First Word From Pastor Taylor – You Need People
Dear Church, You need people. We all need people--those who create a safe space to wonder about life's questions, who accompany us in our struggles and celebrate with us in our joys. These are the people that tangibly remind us of God's presence along the journey of...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Church in the age of COVID, July 2021 edition
Dear Church, Nearly two months after our return to in-person worship, I know I'm not alone in expressing how wonderful it is to join together in worship through gathering, hearing God's Word, celebrating the Sacraments of Communion and Baptism, and being...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Register for June 20 Worship Services!
It's Time to Register for Worship! Worship registration is now available for Sunday, June 20. This is the last week that we will remind you about worship registration. The registration link will still be posted at 12:00 p.m. on Mondays, but we won't keep clogging your...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Register for June 13 In-person Worship Services!
It's Time to Register for Worship! Worship registration is now available for Sunday, June 13. Before you click the link to sign up, here are a few things to know: Please individually register every person who is coming to worship. You can register yourself,...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Time to Register for Worship!
It's Time to Register for Worship! Worship registration is now available for Sunday, June 6. Before you click the link to sign up, here are a few things to know: Please individually register every person who is coming to worship. You can register yourself, family...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – In-Person Worship Starting June 6th!
Dear Church, The time has come! We are ready to launch in-person worship in the Sanctuary at FUMC! On June 6, we will begin offering in-person services at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. You can expect a worship service that brings together all of the...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Status Update
Dear Church, I write today to give you an update about our operations at FUMC. As more and more people receive vaccines, we anticipate that you will have questions about changes to our ministry opportunities, and we want to keep you updated as we go. Our Executive...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Election 2020
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. -Romans 8:24-25 Dear Church, On Tuesday, many of you signed up for FUMC's Election Day Prayer...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Black Lives Matter to God and to Us
Last week, we hung a banner on the Family Life Center that reads, “Black Lives Matter to God and to us.” The banner hangs at a time when fewer people are driving by our building than ever before, thanks to the Coronavirus. So why hang it? FUMC has been on a...
UMW Circle Up Receives Grant Funding
Circle Up, a subgroup of United Methodist Women at First United Methodist Church Austin, has received a Just and Resilient Communities Grant offered through the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church. Circle Up was formed in 2018 to focus...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Will we ever get there?
Will we ever get there? One part of traveling that I do not miss is the nearly-constant barrage of questions from the back seat, all centered around the same theme: Are we there yet? Children have a different sense of time--I’m not quite sure I’ll ever figure it out!...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – The Wounds of Racism
Dear Church, Part of the nature of providing virtual worship is that everything is completed several days in advance, in order to allow time for post-production editing and uploading to the platforms where you can view and participate in the worship service....
First Word from Pastor Taylor – New Video Worship Service
"...Let us go to the House of the Lord." -Psalm 122 Dear Church, Things are moving and shaking around FUMC! We are gearing up for our summer worship series, summer Bible and book studies, summer programs for children and youth, and a new website (coming soon)...wow!...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Spiritual Practice of Worship
Fasting. Service. Giving. Now, worship. At times in this series on the spiritual disciplines, I worry that I am just nagging you, trying to get you to do the things that you “should” do. Perhaps the better approach is that these practices are the windows of your spiritual life. Opening them creates an opportunity for the fresh wind of God’s spirit to blow through your life, and opening more than one creates a cross-breeze that can even change the temperature of the house.
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Reopening
Dear Church, I want to share with you that our leadership is hard at work developing guidelines and protocols that will govern our approach to reopening the FUMC building in the future. Our approach is cautious; we are taking very seriously the call to “Do no...