Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell NJ

10/10/2026

Please join Pastor Will this coming Sunday, October 11, 2026, as he preaches: "Growing in the Life of Faith: The Art of Forgiving," Part 2.

Scriptures:
Psalm 103
Psalm 51:1–12
Matthew 6:9–15

Synopsis:
"If you forgive others... your heavenly Father will forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.”

Let’s admit that this is a difficult topic for all of us. The words fall easily from our lips, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” But everything in us resists the notion of forgiving—large affronts and small. We simply don’t want to do it.

It feels so good to be angry. It feels so right to resent, and hold a grudge and to wait for payback time. Frederick Buechner once said that we love the taste of anger at someone who has wronged us: "We roll it around in our mouths as long as possible, savoring every last drop."

To be forgiven is a miracle. It comes from God. God’s forgiveness is something that happens inside us, not inside God, freeing us of the shame of the past so that we can be different people, choosing and acting differently in the future.

Dr. W***y L. Mafuta,

Senior Pastor,

Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell, NJ 08525

www.hopewellmethodist.org

10/03/2026

Please join Pastor Will this coming Sunday, October 04, 2026, as he preaches: "Growing in the Life of Faith: Christian Practices", part 1.

Scriptures:
Psalm 51:1-1;10-19;
Isaiah 58:3-9a,
Matthew 6:1-8;16-18

Synopsis:
For the next 4 weeks, I will be preaching a series from Professor Craig Dykstra’s book “Growing in the Life of Faith.” It is based on the Sermon on the Mount, a collection of Jesus’ teachings.
In these teachings, we explore how Jesus wants to meet the deep spiritual hunger inside every human being, how He wants you and I to live a full and faithful life far from the legalistic practices that religious traditions imposed on us.

Fasting, for example, long ago in Jesus’ day and today, has always been a favorite thing to do for God. In Jesus’ day, some people who were fasting did so in public: they put on a long, dismal face; they showed how miserably hungry they were.

Jesus pokes fun at this use of religious practices for self-promotion.

Jesus made a joke about it. He creates a scenario of a man with a pathetic posturing-long face, disheveled clothing, and straggly hair. Jesus recommends that when we fast, we wash our face, shave, and put on makeup, so that only God and us know what is going on. He would make recommendations as well for praying and giving.

Dr. W***y L. Mafuta, Ph.D., Th.D

Senior Pastor,

Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell, NJ 08525

www.hopewellmethodist.org

10/01/2026

09/12/2026

Please join Pastor Jammin Henry this coming Sunday, September 13, 2026, as he preaches: “The Never-ending Story of the Cross”

Scriptures:
Jonah 4:9-11
Mark 16:1-8

What do Mark and Jonah have to do with one another? When people typically think about Jonah in the New Testament, they tend to think of Jesus’ reference to Jonah in Matthew and Luke. Mark does not mention anything about Jonah. Nonetheless, I want to draw our attention this week to the narrative composition of these two books.

Both books provide us with a rather disappointing ending. Jonah finishes his story with a strange comment about some animals, and Mark finishes his story with a strange remark about fear. Neither story gives us the satisfying, “and they all lived happily ever after” that we so desire in storytelling.

I am going to explore how these unsatisfactory endings may be more honest to how humans make their way through life by participating in a series of new beginnings rather than a series of clearly defined stops and starts. The cross will remain the guide for us throughout this week as we look to it as the ultimate story of a new beginning.

09/04/2026

Please join Dr. Will this coming Sunday, September 6, 2026, as he preaches: “What Good Is It To Have Faith But Do Not Have Works."

Scriptures:
Psalm 25:1–10
Mark 7:24–37
James 2:1–7, 14–17

Synopsis:
As the Christian church started to expand in the first century, the apostle James, most likely the brother of Jesus, recounts an event he witnessed:
Two people came into a worship service. One of them was wealthy, had great-looking clothes on, fine jewelry, manicured, polished, put together. About the same time, a poor person arrived, dirty clothes, disheveled, messy hair, hadn’t shaved or washed for weeks, obviously. It wasn’t a very big church, so everyone there could see everything that was happening.
The usher, or whoever was watching the door that day, made a big fuss over the rich person, extended the right hand of friendship, showed him to a good seat, even held the chair for him. And then told the poor person that all the seats were full so he’d have to stand in the back near the door.

Having witnessed this, James went right home, got out his pen and legal pad, and wrote a little letter of protest to the ministers and elders and people of that church.
In his letter, he reminds them, and consequently us, that you really don’t believe something until it shapes and forms what you do and how you live. “Faith without works is dead,” he said. “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?”

James makes the point that faith lives in acts of generosity and kindness and healing and love — nourishes others, but also us; meets the needs of others but also our own deepest need.

Dr. W***y L Mafuta, PhD, ThD.

Senior Pastor,

Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell, NJ 08525

www.hopewellmethodist.org

08/29/2026

Please join Dr. Will this coming Sunday, August 30th 2026, as he preaches: "Difficult Words of Jesus, Part 5: Conclusion."

Scriptures:
Psalm 104:1–9; Mark 10:35-45

In the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, James and John, two disciples of Jesus, came with an unusual request. “When you enter into glory and reestablish God’s kingdom as the Messiah, please make sure you appoint us to be by your side. Give us central spots in your kingly cabinet. One of us as your right hand, and one as your left."
In their view, they earned the spots. They are entitled to it. They were the first ones to follow Jesus. They dropped their lucrative jobs to join the new Jesus movement, and they should be rewarded.

Marcus Borg argues that based on what you believe God is like, there are two very different Christian messages: on the one hand, it’s bad news of a coming last judgment for which you’d better be ready, a religion of threat, anxiety, and self-preservation, or, on the other hand, a very different kind of news--good news of an invitation to trust God with your eternal destiny and to live life now in gratitude, love, and compassion.

There is a little of that in James’s and John’s request to Jesus for seats of honor in the kingdom of Heaven. They’re trying to use religion for their own advantage, their own self-aggrandizement now and in the hereafter. They are thinking like contemporary televangelists: the gospel of prosperity and success. Jesus tells them to forget about it and to become servants, to trust him with the outcome of their lives now and always.

Dr. W***y L Mafuta,

Senior Pastor,

Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell, NJ 08525

www.hopewellmethodist.org

08/23/2026

Please join Dr. Will this coming Sunday, August 23rd 2026, as he preaches: "Difficult Words of Jesus, Part 4: The greatest among you will be your servant.”

Psalm 99�
Matthew 23:1–12

Near the end of his life, Jesus taught his followers a new definition of success. He used as a foil an example of what he did not mean: some people who, by any definition, were successful- wealthy, influential, important, respected, highly successful. What he said about them is often interpreted as a critique of their Jewish practices.

The scribes and Pharisees, he said, in their piety, are a burden to everyone. They love the attention they receive. They wear large phylacteries, leather straps around their foreheads and arms, and long fringes on their robes—both symbols of devotion to the law of God. Jesus had no argument with the practice. He must have worn a phylactery himself. It was what was going on beneath the surface. They enjoyed their position too much. They played to it, postured. They defined success this way, by the admiration their piety generated.

The alternate reality—the truth, the saving truth, Jesus taught them that day—is the opposite to what you are seeing: “ The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Jesus was not opposed to success. In fact, Jesus called his followers to a rigorous life of hard work, selfless devotion, and self-sacrifice. He called his men and women to be successful by a different definition: by giving life away, by dying a little, by serving others, humbly, faithfully, selflessly. Does that really work out there? Can you live by Jesus’ definition of success in the real world?

Rev. Dr. W***y L Mafuta, PhD, ThD.

Senior Pastor,

Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell, NJ 08525

08/13/2026

Please join Dr. Will this coming Sunday, August 16th 2026, as he preaches: “The Difficult Words of Jesus, Part 3: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you"
Ephesians 4:1–6; Luke 6:27–31

Frederick Nietzsche said love for enemies was an ethic for cowards, deserving of contempt, not respect. Sociologists and anthropologists observe that many societies define themselves in terms of the other, the enemy everybody hates, and that once the enemy is vanquished, the society either has to find a new one or suffer an identity crisis.

So perhaps it was one of Jesus’ most courageous moments when he said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” And perhaps it is not only the most difficult mandate, but also the most realistic, authentic, and true. Perhaps, given the historic reality that every war to end all wars is simply the prolegomenon to the next war, and given the reality that our penal system seems to succeed best at training and motivating prisoners to become more efficient and more violent criminals when they get out.

Given the personal reality which we have all experienced—that hatred breeds hatred, or as someone succinctly put it, “an eye for an eye" merely leaves two people blind—given all that, perhaps Jesus is the final realist and instead of ignoring or blowing off his moral teaching as too weak, too vulnerable, perhaps we should be taking it seriously and entertaining the notion, at least, that love for enemies may be a very practical strategy and remedy for peace individually and collectively.

Rev. Dr. W***y L Mafuta, PhD, ThD

Senior Pastor,

Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell, NJ 08525

www.hopewellmethodist.org

08/07/2026

Please join Dr. Will this coming Sunday , August 9th 2026, as he preaches “ Difficult Words of Jesus , part 2: “ If You Want to Follow me, Deny Yourself and Take up Your Cross. Psalm 22:22-31; Mark 1:16-20; Mark 8:31-38.

“Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asks his disciples. “Some think you are John the Baptist; others say you are Elijah or one of the prophets.” “But you,” he says, “who do you say that I am? You decide.”
Simon—Jesus has been calling him “Peter,” the rock—blurts out an astonishing response, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

“Yes, Peter, what you have said is true, says Jesus . And in order for me to be Messiah, I must go to Jerusalem and suffer and die.” “God forbid, Lord,” Peter says. The assumption was that Messiah doesn’t suffer. The expectation was that when the Messiah comes he will rally the people, organize an insurrection.

“Get behind me, Peter. Stop talking and listen.” Sweeping his eyes over all of disciples, “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, pick up a cross, and come along. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. It’s your choice.”

Jesus denied himself by replacing his own agenda with God’s. He followed God’s plan, God’s will—to love, to heal, to reach out in forgiveness and compassion, to challenge the values and assumptions of his own culture and religion, even if it meant suffering and dying.

To take up the cross of Christ is not an acceptance of oppression and suffering but resistance, the voluntary assumption of costly behavior on behalf of others in the name of Jesus Christ.

Dr. W***y L Mafuta,

Senior Pastor,

Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell, NJ 08525

We’re a community rooted in faith, worship, and a shared life. Our church is located at 20 Blackwell Ave Hopewell, New Jersey (NJ).