Midweek Message – 4 March 2026
Dear Campbell UMC Family & Friends –
How is it with your soul? I pray this note finds you well. Before reading further, I invite you to pause for a moment.
A One-Minute Meditation
Take a slow breath in.
Gently release it.
If you are able, place your hand over your heart.
Let your shoulders soften.
Allow the pace of the day to slow, even if only for this moment.
Take another breath.
As you breathe, remember this simple truth: You are held within a love greater than the headlines, greater than the noise of the world, greater even than the worries we carry.
Allow that love to steady you.
If a word helps you focus, you might simply whisper in your spirit:
Peace.
Love.
Hope.
Take one more breath.
Return gently to the moment, carrying that quiet grounding with you.
Holding the World in Prayer
Since last week’s note, global headlines have once again been filled with war and rumors of war. The escalation of conflict in the Middle East following strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran has created a volatile and deeply uncertain moment for many nations and communities across the region. Neighboring countries are feeling the ripple effects of these tensions, and many around the world are watching with concern.
Within our own congregation, many thoughts, perspectives, and emotions are likely present. Some may be following every development closely, while others may feel overwhelmed by the constant flow of information. However each of us engages—or chooses not to engage—it is important to remember something central to our faith. 
Scripture reminds us that we are called to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).
During this past week’s sermon, we also reflected on some of the most well-known words in scripture: “For God so loved the world…”
(John 3:16).
The whole world is included in that love.
Every nation. Every people. Every life.
God’s love stretches beyond borders, beyond politics, and beyond conflict. People of “the way” are invited to remain grounded in that love, even when the world feels uncertain.
The invitation before us is not to retreat from the realities of the world, but to respond with a faith that is rooted in hope and powered by love. Such faith keeps moving forward. Such faith refuses to let fear have the final word. Such faith trusts that God is still at work, even when the future feels unclear.
So…March 4th
Today is March 4th—the only day of the year that sounds like a call to action: March forth.
In a world filled with uncertainty, faith invites us to keep moving forward — not in fear, not in despair,
but rooted in hope and powered by love.
Continuing the Lenten Journey
This posture of prayerful grounding is also why we are sharing daily Lenten Devotionals during this season. Lent invites us to slow down, reflect, and pay attention to the spiritual journey unfolding within us and around us.
If these reflections have been meaningful to you, please consider sharing them with someone who might also benefit from a moment of pause and encouragement.
This Sunday: Come and See
This coming Sunday marks the Third Sunday in Lent, and I look forward to sharing a message titled
“Come and See,” based on John 4:5–30.
In this lesson, we meet a woman whose life has taught her to expect little and guard herself carefully. In the ordinary setting of a well at midday, Jesus sees her fully and speaks truth without condemnation. Lent reminds us that learning to see with new eyes often begins when Jesus meets us exactly where we are and invites us to come and see who we truly are and who God is becoming for us.
An Invitation to Belong
Our congregation continues to grow, with more faces in the sanctuary and more people joining online each week. This growth is a beautiful sign of the Spirit’s movement in our community. You are encouraged to invite someone to worship with you, whether in person or online. A simple invitation can open the door for someone to experience community, hope, and belonging.
Please continue to keep Campbell UMC in your prayers as we seek to be faithful to the opportunities before us.
Carrying This Practice Into the Week Ahead
Return to the meditation from the beginning of this message and carry it with you in the days ahead.
For yourself:
Set aside one quiet minute each day to breathe, pause,
and remember that you are held in God’s love.
For someone else:
Offer a word of kindness, encouragement, or prayer to someone who may need it.
May you have a meaningful and grace-filled week. Please know that I am praying for you,
and I invite you to continue praying for one another.
Grace & Peace.
~ TJ3
Rev. Dr. Theon Johnson III
Read All the Daily Lenten Reflections with Prayers & Challenges.
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Read Previous Mid-Week Messages
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Come to Sunday Worship in-person! You may also view Sunday’s worship streamed live at 10am on our Facebook Page OR on our YouTube Channel. You do not need an account to view the worship video. If you subscribe to our channel and Like our Facebook page, you will be notified of new videos. You can also view/hear previous worship services and anthems on our website. Check Coming Up in Worship for instructions to view Sunday’s online service (for streaming or viewing later).
We share with you a message written for the Lenten season, by our Pastor Emeritus, the Reverend Dick Corson. He preached this sermon at Wesley UMC in San Jose, entitled: You Can Step Down Now. It is a message for all seasons, and for all people of hope. Read on and be blessed ~
Read the last blog post from Pastor Larry LaPierre,
“The Circuit Writer”
about prayer and speaking with God –
“Giving Up on God”
OTHER MESSAGES WORTH PONDERING
July 19th, 2020
View the online service on YouTube
Music: Horn Concerto – French horn, Brian Holmes; Piano, Shine Kwon
Text: Psalm 135:1-3; 13-21
Sermon: “Abyss, Mystery, and Wonder”
— Rev. Ouk-Yean Kim Jueng Read Sermon
December 8th, 2019
“Bring Us Hope” – Chancel Choir with Zhou Yi, cello
Text: Romans 8:24-25
Sermon: “Miracle on 34th Street – Hope”
— Rev. Ouk-Yean Kim Jueng Listen to Sermon Read Sermon
August 11th, 2019
“I Waited for the Lord” – Abraham Akapo, Samuel Akapo
Text: Isaiah 40:28-31
Sermon: “A Candle Against the Wind”
— Rev. Richard Corson Listen to Sermon Read Sermon
March 3rd, 2019
“Milele (Forever)” – Carillon [Handbell] Choir
“Feed Us Now, O Son of God” – Chancel Choir
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:10
Sermon: “When the Church is Divided”
Rev. Ouk-Yean Kim Jueng Listen to Sermon Read Sermon
June 3rd, 2018 – Music Sunday
“Stand Up & Praise Him” – The Joyful Notes
“Down By the Riverside” – Chancel & African Joint Choir
Text: Acts 16:25-34
Sermon: “Empowered to Praise”
— Ouk-Yean Kim Jueng Listen to Sermon Read Sermon
For more Sermons, click here.
STATEMENTS OF FAITH
“Why I Am United Methodist: Because Of Love” 
– a blog post by Ben Gosden
Precious Pearl ~ Words of comfort (for all) from a Memorial Service of 5 November 2016… Click to read…
BOOKS WE’VE BEEN EXPLORING
“On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity & Getting Old“ by Parker J. Palmer. This book is not for elders only. It was written to encourage adults of all ages to explore the way their lives are unfolding.
Available on Amazon and through Santa Clara public libraries or San Jose Public Library.
Check it out via the “look inside” feature at Amazon.
“Jesus through Middle Eastern eyes: Cultural studies in the Gospels” by Kenneth Bailey.
Beginning with Jesus’ birth, this study of the four gospels examines the birth and the life and ministry of Jesus with attention to the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes, Jesus’ relationship to women, and especially Jesus’ parables.
It is never too late to set aside some time for one’s “intentional spiritual development.”
Together we will read and discuss Marcus Borg’s book “Days of Awe and Wonder: How to Be a Christian in the Twenty-first Century” as Borg explores the Christian faith and what it means to be a Christian today. (Kindle $10, hardcover/paperback $15.)
The book, “If the church were Christian: Rediscovering the values of Jesus”, by Philip Gulley (a Quaker minister) is a readily accessible, thought-provoking presentation of how focusing on the positive aspects of Jesus’ values can help one to discover their own spiritual path.
The book and e-book are available and can be previewed at smile.amazon.com.
Convictions: How I Learned What Matters Most
by Marcus J. Borg
On the occasion of his seventieth birthday, the renowned scholar Marcus J. Borg shares how he formed his bedrock religious beliefs, contending that Christians in America are at their best when they focus on hope and transformation and so shows how we can return to what really matters most. The result is a manifesto for all progressive Christians who seek the best path for following Jesus today.
With each chapter embodying a distinct conviction, Borg writes provocatively and compellingly on the beliefs that can deeply ground us and guide us, such as: God is real and a mystery; salvation is more about this life than an afterlife; the Bible can be true without being literally true; Jesus’s death on the cross matters—but not because he paid for our sins; God is passionate about justice and the poor; and to love God is to love like God.
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Other notable group readings:
In the Shelter, by Padraig O’Tuama
There’s an old Irish proverb: “It is in the shelter of each other that the people live”. In this book much-loved poet, storyteller, theologian, and speaker Pádraig Ó Tuama applies ideas of shelter and welcome to journeys of life, using poetry, story, biblical reflection and prose to open up gentle ways of living well in a troubled world.
The fourth gospel tells of Jesus arriving in the room where the disciples are gathered, full of fear, on Easter Sunday. He does not chide or admonish; instead he says ‘Peace be with you’, which, in the Aramaic of his day, was simply a greeting. ‘Hello,’ he said, welcoming people locked in a room of fear to a place of deep encounter; encounter with themselves, with their fear, with each other and with the incarnate one in their midst.
Interweaving everyday stories with analysis, gospel reflections with mindfulness and Celtic spirituality with poetry, this book explores the practice of welcoming as a spiritual discipline. In particular, Pádraig tells careful stories of welcoming parts of life that are often unwelcome.
and
When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi
New York Times Bestseller • For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question, What makes a life worth living?
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.
What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.
The Active Life: Wisdom of Work, Creativity and Caring by Parker J. Palmer
Vital, down-to-earth wisdom for active people who serve others or work for social change. Drawing from the teachings of Chuang Tzu, Martin Buber, Jesus, and Julia Esquivel, Palmer presents a detailed framework for a spiritual life in the active world–for the uncelibate, unsolitary, and unsilent lives that most of us lead.
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More inspirational reading…
Change Your Questions, Change Your Life
by Marilee Adams
In this new expanded edition of her classic international bestseller, Marilee Adams shows how the kinds of questions we ask shape our thinking and can be the root cause of many personal and organizational problems. She uses a highly instructive and entertaining story to show how to quickly recognize any undermining questions that pop into your mind—or out of your mouth—and reframe them to achieve amazingly positive and practical results. The third edition includes a new introduction and epilogue and two powerful new tools that show how Question Thinking can dramatically improve coaching and leadership.
What Did Jesus Ask?
edited by
As a teacher, Jesus Christ put many of his lessons in the form of questions. The gospels recorded some 100 others. Some are rhetorical, needing no answer, but most were real questions posed to real people. Many of Jesus’ questions are familiar to readers today, yet the context and the potential interpretations of such phrases will offer enlightenment to many.
Organized by Biblical verse, in “What Did Jesus Ask?”, more than 70 of today’s most prominent spiritual writers, religious leaders and artists offer modern meditations on the questions Jesus asks in the Bible. Their contemplations provide telling context, with both contemporary and traditional interpretations to lead readers on an exploration of their own faith and to shape their own meaningful answers.
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