Welcome to Barryville United Methodist Church.

The doors of Barryville UMC are open wide to welcome all who would gather here in praise and worship. Join us as we glorify our Lord and Savior!

Dear Friends,
There is a hill behind the Grower house, with a play area that faces the eastern mountains in Berkshire County. Dick, Jack, Jerome and myself, the neighborhood gang, played on that cherished hill for countless hours-we were just kids a few years ago.

A Massachusetts winter has a long arm reaching into spring, but occasionally in early April, the warm sun will shine on the Grower hill. We would play all morning until the sun passed to the other side. By keeping our heads below the peak, we could keep away from the freezing northwest wind. Lying on the hill we would make up stories and together make plans for the rest of our lives.

Allow me to travel with this image for a moment. I suspect that some of us would like to spend our earthy life on the eastern slope. Here calmness and serenity is assured. No troubles, no problems, just a place to live, play and make merry. No mortgages, No tuition payments, No utility bills, No budgets, No shared ministry gifts, and No missions. It would be a “heavenly” place to be in ministry.

Do you remember the game where you held your palms together and said, “Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the door and see all the people.” Big problem friends! Most of these people live on the western side of the hill. They are the elderly, the separated, the addicted, the unemployed, and you know and I know, many have lost hope. Some of them are like us.

The Lord is calling the church to this other side; it’s where you will find the people. This is life. The Jesus of the Cross and the Lord of the Resurrection did not play in the sun, but he journeyed with all kinds of people. He did not come to comfort the comfortable. Jesus came to shake up the comfortable. He came to bring hope to the comfortless. The Kingdom is at hand, it is here, and it is also coming.

In our troubling times, some folks have become “mean spirited.” What a time to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Rejoice, repent and believe. Christ’s resurrection is a sign of reconciliation. Christ came to heal, mend and restore the broken, namely, the hearts of men and women. Let us rejoice! Remember: Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again! As Easter people we know what to do. Come, live and serve with me on the western slope. Let us be in ministry together.

 Happy Easter from the Barryville United Methodist Church

Doug Miller

Dr. Doug Miller, Barryville United Methodist Church