The Midweek Message

Dear Hyde Park Family, At noon today, Joe Biden will be inaugurated as our 46th president. To mark this occasion and to invite you into a spirit of prayerful reflection, the rest of today’s Midweek Message is a near-exact reprint of my message four years ago,...

Dear Hyde Park Family, The last time this church did an in-depth worship series on the Sermon on the Mount was February 2002, in the wake of 9/11. Reading through the Beatitudes during that time took on unique meaning in the context of the greatest act of foreign...

Dear Hyde Park Family, A PASTORAL WORD Before I get to the heart of today’s Midweek Message, I offer a pastoral word in response to the violence we witnessed in the United States Capitol Building yesterday. It was deeply disturbing to our ideals as Americans. It was a...

Dear Hyde Park Family, For today’s Midweek Message, I’m delighted to hand the message over to our Executive Director Peggy Hisey, who has an exciting report to share with us. Peggy came to us at the beginning of the year, with none of us knowing then what kind of year...

Dear Hyde Park family, “We are now in the wake of one of the most captivating, bewildering presidential elections of our lifetime.” That was the opening sentence of my Midweek Message from Nov. 10, 2016, following the election of President Donald Trump four years ago....

Dear Hyde Park Family, At the time of this writing, we are still waiting for vote tallies from the general election. As your thoughts race and your emotions run high, I offer you some pastoral words of guidance and comfort. Remember that the first thing God did to...

Two years ago, geneticist Yaniv Erlich announced a major breakthrough in genomic studies. His team at Columbia University set a record for the largest family tree ever created, made up of 13 million people, spanning 11 generations, going back 600 years. Using...

Dear Hyde Park Family, We are now nineteen days from the general election, and along with encouraging you to practice your civic duty to vote, I offer you some words of wisdom from John Wesley. In October 1774, John Wesley was preaching in some small English towns...

Dear Hyde Park Family, “I believe, therefore I am.” - Eberhard Jungel, German theologian Not long ago I found an online message board in which people were asked to complete the sentence, “I believe...” Many of the responses were profound. Some were pretty hilarious. I...

Dear Hyde Park Family, So, did you watch survive the first presidential debate? People may have disagreements about political ideologies and policies, but perhaps we can all agree that this debate was the single worst political spectacle we have ever seen. For me, it...

Dear Hyde Park Family, A modern-day parable of hope, straight out of recent news headlines: Last summer, a woman named Dr. Elaine Soloway harvested 111 dates from a date tree, then she sampled one. She said it had a “honey or caramel aftertaste.” Nothing really...

Dear Hyde Park Family, This week’s special Midweek Message comes in the form of this video update from me! Please watch the video below and go to hydeparkumc.org/innovations to find out more. Grace and peace, Magrey The Rev. Magrey deVegaSenior Pastor, Hyde Park...

Dear Hyde Park Family, Do you remember where you were on Monday, Sept. 10, 2001? No? Me neither. The day was largely forgettable, and the news headlines were mostly unremarkable. Michael Jackson rang the opening bell on Wall Street. Disgraced Senator Gary Condit was...

Dear Hyde Park Family, Okay, 2020. Let’s recap what you’ve brought us so far, shall we? A global pandemic has infected over 25 million people and killed nearly 900,000 around the world. We’ve had a series of jarring reminders of the ongoing presence of systemic racism...

Dear Hyde Park Family, First, I invite you to pause for a moment and offer this prayer with me, for the people of Texas, Louisiana and all those affected by Hurricane Laura: God of Power and Provision, our hearts are joined in prayer for the people facing the ferocity...

Dear Hyde Park Family, This Sunday our journey through the Bible makes a familiar stop at the story of Jonah. It’s a fun story that many of us have known since childhood, and has an endearing, “Aesop’s fable” kind of quality to it. It’s no wonder when the producers of...