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Dear San Marco Church Family: When Colleen and I first moved to Florida in 2003, we began attending Memorial United Methodist Church in Fernandina Beach. It was at Memorial that I pursued my calling to ordained ministry. The pastor of Memorial at the time was Bruce Jones. Bruce was and is an excellent preacher, but more importantly, Bruce and his wife Haley are great people. I learned a great deal from Bruce’s sermons, even as he used clips from the movie “Bruce Almighty” on many occasions. Bruce baptized our youngest son, Nicholas, while we were at Memorial, and Nicholas is now 20 years old and in his sophomore year at the University of Florida. I mention this because Bruce is preaching this Sunday, February 23, at San Marco Church! Please come to worship this Sunday and look forward to an inspiring message from Bruce. Bruce knows about this church because he served as the pastor here from 1992-1998. He has some memories from this church and some entertaining stories to tell! He left this church in 1998 to go and serve Memorial in Fernandina, and then, in 2006 he became the pastor of Southside United Methodist Church here in Jacksonville, where Bruce served for approximately 12 years. For Lent this year, I will be leading a sermon series based upon Magrey deVega’s book entitled “Embracing The Uncertain.” This book focuses on the contrast between the Advent season, in which we anticipate the joy of welcoming Christ into our world, with the Lenten journey that acknowledges death and its implications. The Lenten journey of 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday is a time to acknowledge our mortality, our sinfulness, and our deep need for a savior. I have learned over many years that the joy of Easter Sunday is amplified when we endure the scripture study and best spiritual discipline practices that go with Lent. Please plan now to attend our Ash Wednesday Service on March 5 at 7pm. As always, I welcome your questions and ideas about sermons or sermon series ideas that interest you. Feel free to email me anytime with your questions and ideas at stevehart100@gmail.com. I remain grateful to serve as your pastor, and I am enjoying the process of getting to know many of you as you share your stories! Steve Hart
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