February 2026
I am a former journalist, and every day it is a struggle to read the news, watch the news or listen to the news. It’s a struggle because I cannot believe what I’m reading, watching or hearing. It sickens me.
It sickens me because since 1987 – when President Reagan signed into law the removal of the fairness doctrine – the media has gradually sided with empire. As that has happened, truth has been a casualty. I just didn’t understand it at the time.
What has yet to be mentioned, however, is that truth has been a casualty for what is now the United States since 1619, and compromised truth has created periodic flash points. Sadly, those flash points cost people their lives. Often anxiety drives the flash points. The reason I chose 1619 is that it was that year when slaves were first brought to America to serve white men who fled a different type of slavery in England and other parts of Europe. It is the year America went from being an original blessing – which Native Americans lived – and transitioned to America’s original sin.
Seeing anyone as “other” in a derogatory manner expresses America’s original sin. The European settlers saw Native Americans as inferior, often calling them “heathens” because too few of those first European settlers had the capacity to seek understanding of the original homesteaders and their customs. Then, Africans shipped to America became people who had to be “broken” like horses. Then, America’s original sin expanded to brown people from Latin America and then to Chinese people and people with different dialects. And let’s not forget the way women have historically been treated by white men.
Through the years, the most difficult yet rewarding thing I have done is to face my shortcomings honestly and truthfully. It isn’t easy to do, and at times it has been excruciatingly painful, but it has always been necessary. When I was in seminary, I recall one of the harsher confrontations I had to face: first toward my white male privilege, then toward my fears of sisters and brothers of color, then with people who were poor, some of whom were homeless, and I’d be remiss not to mention sisters and brothers who are LGBTQ. It was painful for me to realize how much I had let my privilege inhibit me from some remarkable people and some beautiful relationships. I have found that every day I work through my privilege.
I’m sure I’ve unintentionally left out a few folks who deserve mention here. Each person I’ve known and loved have helped me form certain truths I hold to be self-evident in how I live my life and in how I practice my faith, and they inform me what is right from what is wrong.
What I see happening in the United States right now is wrong. It reminds me of Nazi Germany. It reminds me of cancer that destroys lives. It sickens me when children are taken as bait, so parents can be taken into custody by and large – by mostly white men who have no concept of how broken their lives are, who project the anger and hate they have of themselves onto those they harm, and murder because the content of the character of those they assault and kill is evident both in their effort to do the right thing, and offensive to the cowardly white men who mask themselves not only from witnesses but mostly from themselves.
As I write this today, the words of John Wesley’s three simple rules course through my head, “First, do no harm” and I pray what I have written encourages people to think and ask themselves, “is the America of original sin, fear, and hate what I want to leave for my grandchildren and great grandchildren?” or would I rather the legacy I leave be one that treasures how “all people are created equal?” After all, aren’t flash points times when people face choices, where people can go along with the status quo or points where people can do their part to foster what Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. referred to as “the blessed community”?
If “we the people” choose the former, God help us because I do not believe the reinvention and regurgitation of 1619’s “ideals” should be what any human being values. If “we the people” choose the latter, may the ideal of “loving our neighbor as ourselves” (Mark 12:31) and care for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40, 45) take priority. And just for the record, the least never have been and never will be greedy millionaires and billionaires or the corporations that overpay executives and wealthy stockholders while depriving employees a livable wage. The least are often those who’ve suffered the effects of hate and discrimination. The least are the people who often stand with us in our times of need who need us now, to stand with them, so may we stand with them.
So, just keep pedaling, and Lord, in your mercy …
Pastor Mark
UPCOMING EVENTS
Feb 1 Fellowship Sunday following service
2:00 – Parent/Study Meeting for Upcoming Confirmation classes
Feb 2, 4, 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25 – Ladies Exercise Group at 9:30 am
Feb 5, 12, 19, 26 FUMC Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Study at 4:00
Feb 23 6:30 pm – Administrative Board Meeting
FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS
Feb 2. Don Hartshorn Feb 17. Anthony Stipp
Feb 2. Dwayne Nutt Feb 19. Alexus Gardullo
Feb 6. John Williamson Feb 20. Jill Ulepich
Feb 6. Bill Knowles Feb 22. Adam Bradshaw
Feb 12 Zack Siebuhr Feb 25. Miranda Johnson
Feb 15. Nikki Knaup Feb 28. Pat Mason
SERVERS DURING WORSHIP
Feb 1 Greeter & Usher – Mike Creel & Peggy Yaeger
Feb 8 Greeter & Usher – Mike Creel& Peggy Yaeger
Feb 15
Feb 22
Please sign the clipboard to help with our services.
FELLOWSHIP SUNDAY
February 1 is a special time of fellowship. Come and enjoy this time together after our worship service to visit with our church family and enjoy a snack together. We still need someone to be the host/hostess of this event.
CONFIRMATION CLASSES FOR YOUTH TO BEGIN WITH THE PARENT/STUDENT CLASS SCHEDULED FOR FEBRUARY 1, 2026 AT 2:00 PM
Reverend Mark has scheduled a meeting for the parents and students for February 1 at 2:00 pm to discuss the beginning of Confirmation classes. He wishes to start the classes during the afternoon on Sunday, February 15th. A definite time will be set at the
February 1st meeting. This will be a 6-week class for students 7th grade through high school who are ready to become members of the United Methodist Church. Please contact the church office if you are interested in attending the classes either by email fumcadmin@gmail.com or via phone 620-231-7798 (please leave a voice message if no answer.)
LENTEN SEASON PROJECT
Reverend Mark is a member of the Crawford County UMC Network, of which the Arma and Frontenac UMC are members, is doing something different for Lent this year and we need your immediate help.
Instead of doing Network Lenten services, this year, we are putting together a devotional booklet for churches, clergy, and a few others in the Great Plains. In order to pull this off, we need your contributions by February 5th so the book can be available for distribution by Ash Wednesday, February 18. If you are interested in writing a devotional article, it needs to be 150-200 words, which isn’t long. Just pick your scripture and share a story of a time when you felt God working on your life.
If you plan to write an article, please reply to Reverend Mark as soon as possible so he will have time to directly ask people to write a devotional article if we are falling short. For those who write something, please send it directly to Reverend Mark at rev.mark.crist74@gmail.com. If you have questions or would like help, please ask Reverend Mark – he’d be happy to help.