Changes At Hope

In a world with many diverse people, there exists a large group of religious beliefs. Such different beliefs calls for people to find a religious institution that best fit their ideas, morals and overall liking. As a child being a member of the Methodist Church, I can remember my Sunday mornings to be full of traditional religious hymns topped off with a minister's message of morality, which I pondered for the week to come in an effort to better myself and those around me. As an adult, my Sunday mornings have dramatically changed. Mass has seemingly become a theatrical display of lunacy designed to catch the eye of an outside or new face acuity then actually conveying a useful message. I believe that Hope United Methodist Church should return to its traditional format and divert from its current path of unorthodox proceedings and preaching's.

The primary reason my family and I decided to attend Hope was because of the pastor's meaningful messages in his sermons. Pastor Jeff, who has been our pastor and developed Hope, has a remarkable way of not only catching ones interest but also relating part of his sermon to the everyday lives of his audience. His messages have significantly changed my way of looking at things through the years. Pastor Jeff has single handedly educated me about God and his teachings while positively affecting the way I treated others. Lately, the time allotted for his sermon and his actual message seems to be clouded by repetitive attempts to introduce new age music to the congregation in place of the traditional hymns I have come to know. Such music is portrayed with small skits which at times are embarrassing to watch that attempt to convey the pastor's message in an ordinary way but often are misunderstood and ineffective.

Some people may like the concept of a more contemporary, laid back way of doing things in the church. "This will draw young people into Hope United Methodist", they may argue. However what they fail to realize is not everyone feels the same way. Through talking to different members who are apart of the church and have been for years, tend to have the same attitude as I do. For example, a woman named Robin Argo has been apart of Hope since the beginning and through