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Kindred in Christ,

As we head toward our special yearly Brunch Church gathering this Sunday, coming together with friends around tables, good food, and creative spiritual reflection, I find myself deeply grateful for the community we are and the community we are becoming. These past few weeks, we have been reflecting on our roots and branches as a people shaped by God’s grace.

We have remembered our deep roots in the Methodist revival movement, a movement that centered marginal voices, sought personal and social holiness, and held piety and works of justice together. We have also stretched our imagination toward the branches, the many ways God may be calling us into new forms of ministry, new partnerships, and new ways of living the gospel in our time.

Last week we explored how, throughout early Methodist history, every step forward came with both openness to the new thing God was doing and resistance to it, sometimes from the very same people who had welcomed change only a few years before. Yet again and again, the Spirit challenged and expanded the early Methodists as the revival movement spread across England and the United States. God kept bringing new people from new contexts: the Wesley brothers in England, Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury in America, Richard Allen- the first Black minister in our tradition, and Jarena Lee- the first Black woman preacher in Methodism. Each time God raised up new leaders with new experiences and perspectives, there was resistance to that newer thing God was doing, even from those who once championed the movement’s earlier transformation.

Both of our congregations know something about change. We, too, have been stretched, challenged, and invited to grow in ways we never expected. And like those early Methodists, we continue to welcome new people, explore fresh possibilities, and listen for where the Spirit may be nudging us next.

As we extend and gather around the table this Sunday, may we glimpse a small sign of God’s new creation unfolding in our midst. Every shared dish, every conversation, and every moment of connection becomes a reminder that God is still weaving us together into a community of grace and possibility.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

This Sunday, we continue our Roots and Branches series and reflect on a simple but powerful truth: God is always doing a new thing. Isaiah speaks of new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17-25). Jesus reminds his disciples that even the most solid structures, the Temple they thought would last forever, may give way to something fresh (Luke 21:5-9). God’s work of renewal is alive, surprising, and sometimes a little disruptive.

Our Methodist roots remind us of this pattern. From John Wesley’s heart “strangely warmed” at Aldersgate to the spread of American Methodism, God’s Spirit has consistently moved beyond anyone’s plans. And just like roots growing into new soil, that movement was not without conflict. John and Charles wrestled with how far to go, navigating tensions between tradition, authority, and the unexpected work of the Spirit. These growing pains remind us that new life often comes through challenge, debate, and faith stretched beyond the familiar.

Thankfully, our tradition gives us tools to discern God’s leading. This Sunday we will explore the Wesleyan Quadrilateral—Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience—which helps us reflect on God’s guidance and follow the Spirit faithfully, even when the path is new.

This sense of discernment, growth and possibility connects to our ongoing pledge campaign. As we prayerfully consider our gifts of time, resources, and finance, we participate in God’s new work among us. I invite you to sit with your pledge packet, pray, and reflect on what you might be called to give for the sake of ministry in the year ahead.

I am deeply grateful for each of you. May we hold our roots with gratitude, our present with courage, and our future with open hands, ready to join God in all the new things yet to come.

Alongside you,

Pastor Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

John Wesley, 18th-century reformer and founder of the Methodist revival movement, wrote in his journal about what he called the three rises of Methodism, moments when the Spirit stirred him, his brother Charles, and those around them to live a faith that was bold, inclusive, and rooted in justice. They were seasons of awakening born from ordinary circumstances. Yet they changed the course of Wesley’s life and the shape of the church and the world. They remind us that renewal often begins not with something grand, but with a restless heart refusing to settle for life or religion as usual, a heart that longs for faith to be real, embodied, and seeking justice.

This Sunday, as we continue our Roots and Branches series, we will look back to those early stirrings and listen for what they might say to us today. Isaiah’s words confront hollow worship and call us to a faith that seeks justice and mercy (Isaiah 1:10-18). In Zacchaeus’ story (Luke 19:1-10), we glimpse what happens when grace climbs into our lives and transforms how we see, give, and belong. Like Wesley and like Zacchaeus, we are invited to rise from what is comfortable into what is courageous.

In this season of pledging and renewal, we are invited to rise from the ordinary in our own time. As you prayerfully consider your financial pledge and ways to serve in ministry, remember that each gift strengthens the roots of our community and helps our branches reach further in love, justice, and inclusion. Come and be part of the rising. Let us rise from the ordinary together, rooted in God’s love and called to courageous faith.

Alongside you,

Pastor Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

This Sunday, we gather in the beautiful rhythm of remembrance and renewal. It’s All Saints and Día de los Muertos—a sacred time to honor those who have shaped our lives and reflect on how their love still lives in us. We remember family, mentors, friends, and even beloved creatures who reflected God’s love and helped us see blessing in unexpected places.

As Jesus teaches in this week’s Gospel (Luke 6:20–31), true blessing comes not from comfort or success but from mercy, justice, and love that endures. The saints we honor this week remind us that remembrance is never passive—it’s a call to carry forward the work of compassion and justice they began.

It’s especially fitting, then, that this Sunday also marks the launch of our first joint pledge campaign for University Gathering and Green Lake UMC: Roots and Branches—Rooted in our histories, growing together in shared mission.

This is a collaborative campaign with two congregations’ separate operating budgets, united in vision and ministry. Throughout November, we’ll reflect on our Methodist roots—the connection that binds us in grace and sends us outward in service. John Wesley called this connectionalism—a network of grace linking disciples, congregations, and ministries in shared mission. Just as the saints remind us that we belong to one another across time, our Methodist heritage calls us to live out that connection today in love and action.

If the ministry of these congregations has blessed your life, I invite you to prayerfully consider your pledge for the coming year—an act of gratitude for what has been and hope for what’s yet to come.

May this All Saints and Día de los Muertos Sunday ground us in remembrance, root us in love, and send us to grow new branches of mercy, justice, and joy.

Alongside you,

Pastor Paul Ortiz

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector Block Print by Richard Beerhorst

Kindred in Christ,

Our world often feels parched—our spirits, our communities, even the earth itself. Inequality grows, the climate strains, and the work of making things right can feel beyond our capacity. And yet renewal keeps breaking through—beyond what we can do on our own—in shared vision, acts of mercy, and the surprising flow of the Spirit among us.

As we move toward the close of our All Creation Sings series, I’ve been reflecting on how every part of creation—rain, soil, breath, and heartbeat—points us back to the Source of life and renewal. This Sunday’s theme will draw from Joel 2:23–32 and Luke 18:9–14, inviting us to notice where grace is already at work among us and within us.

In Joel, the rain becomes a sign of the Spirit—restoring what has been lost, healing what has been broken, and bringing new life where the ground has grown dry. In Jesus’ parable (depicted above), we meet two people at prayer: one relying on his own righteousness, and one simply opening his heart to mercy and change. Together, these passages remind us that renewal begins not in our strength, but in our openness to grace—the Spirit raining down upon us and within us, calling us to live in ways that heal and sustain our communities.

Before we gather on Sunday, I’m also deeply looking forward to our second Vision Retreat on Saturday with our facilitator Kristina Gonzalez. A lot has been bubbling up lately—new energy, creative ministry, and meaningful collaborations between our two congregations. This weekend is a chance to listen deeply to one another, to celebrate what’s emerging, and to stay open to where the Spirit may be leading us next.

I can’t wait to be with you—listening, praying, and being renewed together.

Alongside you,

Pastor Paul Ortiz