Pastor Christopher Edward Weems with his wife Brianna and son Kamien

Pastor Christopher Edward Weems (who likes to be addressed as Pastor Weems). 

Greetings Family,

I bring you greetings grace and peace in the name of the one who first loved us that is our lord and savior Jesus Christ. As we enter the season of Lent, I pray that you are well, in good spirits, and living a life that reflects the love that Christ has for all of us into everyone you come in contact with. As we seek to create an equal and equitable world, your reactionary and revolutionary love must be the primary agent used in how we interact with one another as people. This love is a gift we are granted from God to all humankind. By his grace and mercy, we are guided and lead to strive for a world that is to be enveloped in the love of Christ. 

The Lenten season is a time of repentance and renewal. It is a time where we analyze and prioritize the things in our life and assess how important those things are in respect to the people around us, the community we live in, how we live our own lives, and the God we serve. Therefore, in respect to the season we sacrifice something during the season of Lent in reverence to God in a spiritual display to show that the time in which we would normally spend doing the thing in which we sacrifice is replaced with time with God. This has been the traditional way and practice of Lent. 

It is my hope that this practice is of importance to you. However, Lent can also be enacted not only through sacrifice or what you seek to give up, but also in what you do or what you give. Often times during Lent people will give up TV, junk food, social media, etc. But you can also do things like exercise, smile more, laugh more, and certainly give more! You can increase your tithing, your time donated to outreach programs in the community, and even start a project of your own that extends past the Lenten season. It’s important that you know it’s not merely what you sacrifice during Lent but what you’re willing to sow into another. 

In this spirit Athens UMC will be collecting donations that will be given as an offering with ½ going to Feed My Sheep food pantry and the other ½ to our church Ministry Plan (Budget). We do this in the hopes that people with food insecurities will benefit from this offering and that our church expenses can be paid for without the need to turn to our Wills and Memorial Funds. This is a perfect way for you during this season of Lent to exercise your spiritual growth and not only sacrifice but give! I pray that the peace of our lord and savior Jesus Christ be with you today and all the rest of the days of your life. And as always, please remember and never forget that I love you and there is absolutely nothing that you can do about it. 

                       - In a Lenten Spirit of Giving 

                 Pastor Christopher E. Weems M.Div. 

                   Athens United Methodist Church