Midweek Message – 8 July 2026
Dear Campbell UMC Family & Friends –
I pray this note finds you well.
As we move further into this week, I have found myself returning to Sunday’s invitation from Jesus: “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Last week, both here in the newsletter and in worship, we reflected on what at first sounds like an ironic invitation: working hard to rest. In a world that constantly tells us to do more, produce more, and carry more, Jesus offers another way—a way of trust, grace, and freedom. So let me ask you a simple question:
How are you doing so far this week in working to rest?
Perhaps you’ve found a few quiet moments for prayer. Perhaps you’ve taken a walk, shared a meal with someone you love, laughed a little more, or simply paused long enough to take a deep breath. Or perhaps you’re realizing just how difficult rest can be. If that’s where you find yourself, know you are not alone. Jesus’ invitation remains open. 
We Were Never Meant to Carry It Alone
One of the thoughts that has stayed with me this week is that the kind of rest Jesus offers is never merely individual. It is communal. We were never meant to carry life’s burdens alone. Christ bears them with us, & we bear them with one another as the Body of Christ.
What a gift it is to belong to a community where grace is shared, burdens are lightened, hope is renewed, and love reminds us that none of us walks alone. In a world that often encourages independence above all else, the Church continues to bear witness to a different way—a way of shared ministry, shared hope, and shared joy.
Growing the Kin-Dom Together
This Sunday, we continue our Pentecost journey together as the Rev. Richard Corson brings the message,
“Just Give It Time,” based on Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23. Jesus’ parable reminds us that faithful growth is often quieter—and slower—than we expect. Seeds spend time beneath the surface before they ever emerge into the light. The same is often true of God’s work within us. We are invited to remain patient, faithful, and hopeful, trusting that God is nurturing new life even when we cannot yet see it.
Although I will not be with you in person this Sunday, I will be preaching at one of our United Methodist congregations & reflecting on the newly adopted vision statement of The United Methodist Church. I was grateful to participate in the team that helped shape this shared vision, and I look forward to exploring it with you in the weeks ahead. As I have reflected on it, I have found myself giving thanks for the many ways it echoes the journey God is already leading us on here at Campbell. I can’t wait to share more with you.
Rev. Steve Lundin will also be away this Sunday for a preaching engagement, and we both look forward to worshiping with you again on July 19.
Special Called Charge Conference
Following worship this Sunday, we will gather for a Special Called Charge Conference, both in person and via Zoom, to approve the compensation package for Rev. Steve Lundin as Associate Pastor for Congregational Care and Discipleship and the updated compensation package associated with my appointment as Co-District Superintendent for the El Camino Real District of the CA-NV Conference of The United Methodist Church.
To coordinate with the schedule of our Presiding Elder, Rev. Dr. Oliver Mangubat, we anticipate beginning the session at approximately 12:00pm, following our Fellowship time. I hope you’ll take the opportunity to enjoy a few extra moments of conversation, connection, & hospitality before we gather to conduct this important work together.
An Invitation to Share the Journey
As always, I hope you’ll prayerfully consider inviting someone to worship. Whether they join us in person or online, a simple invitation may become the very seed God uses to transform a life. We never know what God can do through an ordinary conversation, a warm welcome, or an open seat beside us.
Thank you for your continued prayers for our congregation and for our team as we seek to be faithful to the opportunities God is placing before us. I remain deeply grateful for the privilege of serving alongside you in this exciting season of ministry.
Whether you’ve been part of this community for years or are just beginning to explore, know this: You belong here.
Wishing you a wonderfully restful week ahead.
Grace & Peace.
~ TJ3
Rev. Dr. Theon Johnson III
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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
March 15th, 2026
Text: Galatians 5: 1, 13-14
Sermon: “Free to Choose”
given to Wesley UMC, San Jose, CA
— Rev. Richard Corson Read Sermon
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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