Give me the dirt! Show me the mud! Let’s get our hands dirty. . . I enjoy finding myself in the garden, digging and planting, and reshaping little plots in my yard. Add some water to dirt and you get mud; in our Piedmont region, we have clay: moldable, formable clay. Dirt reminds us of who we are and Who formed us. In Jeremiah 18, we read: “So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.’ (v.2-6) We were formed and made in the hands of God. We are God’s creation, and God declared us good. As clay, we are shapable, over and over. No mistakes, just opportunities for re-formation.
This Jeremiah passage is the OT reading for September 7. We are also gifted on the same week with Psalm 139, which reminds us: “it was you who formed me in my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” God knows, inside and out, for we were carefully designed, wonderfully made, formed in the image of the Creator. When we love and care for one another, we are caring for a gift from God. We honor God when we love our neighbor. This is a bold and amazing love God has instilled in us! How are you loving and honoring your neighbor as a wonderful creation?
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One way we honor and love one another is by living as disciples. Most readers of this newsletter can state the United Methodist Church’s mission statement by heart: “The mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” We are seeking daily to live into this mission from a personal and a communal perspective.
Earlier this year, our Council of Bishops released a vision statement to complement our mission, and it reads as follows: “The United Methodist Church forms disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide connections.” The hope is that we, as UM’s, will: love boldly by passionately loving God and like Jesus embrace all people; serve joyfully by having a Christ-like heart to journey with the most vulnerable and offering compassion and care with joy; and lead courageously by following Jesus’ example to dismantle systems of evil and injustice while striving for peace, justice and reconciliation.
Our Annual Conference theme this year highlights “Love Boldly” for us here in NCC. Following this theme, we will celebrate “loving boldly” during Charge Conference season as well. Our annual charge conferences, “Love Boldly: Building a Bigger Table,” will begin later this month and continue through mid-November. Please go to the NCC website and click on the Charge Conference tab that appears as the site opens. You will find a wealth of resources to assist the congregation in completing the charge conference work, as well as prepare for our in-person work at our meeting this fall.
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You can celebrate the holy theme of Creation throughout the month of September as the Season of Creation Care is here! September is a time for celebrating the creation as well as God the Creator as a close and continually creating partner. If you have not yet made plans to yet to celebrate this season in your context, you can still plan something within the month. Simply choose a Sunday and look for the resources online. We have a wonderful webinar available online, which was released by NCC on August 12 in Connections #25-31. This is a recording of a full explanation and theological discussion on the Doctrine of Creation (which moves us beyond the creation of the world in seven days to the fullness of creation and how it relates to the resurrection!). As a part of this world and of God’s creation, I commend a celebration and recognition of this season to you and your congregation!
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Our new appointment year began on July 1, 2025. At this time, our pastors move to their new appointments, and churches welcome new leaders and new seasons of mission and ministry together.
In Harbor, we welcome:
Linda Grider at First UMC in Mount Olive
Clay Parker at Camp UMC
Miles Baker Hunt, Associate at Wrightsville UMC and
Julia Hayes, beginning a New ministry and a New Faith Community
We celebrate the exciting formation of a new faith community in the rapidly expanding Leland area! Julia Hayes served four years at Wrightsville UMC while her husband, Matt, served in Burgaw. They are jumping in with both feet by recently moving to Leland. While Julia immerses herself in the community, Matt continues to lead and work alongside his growing congregation in Burgaw. Let us offer our prayers and presence to Julia as she engages in this new way of ministering and coming alongside those seeking to worship and know Jesus in Leland.
I give thanks for each of you as God’s creation and gift to our district and to your local congregation. Thank you for being clay in the potter’s hand, willing to be shaped and formed even as you work alongside leaders to shape and form disciples and spread a gospel of love and hope throughout your communities. May the Lord bless us as we worship, work, and delight in God’s presence with us this fall and always!
