Stoking the Fire: Pentecost Weekend
Pentecost Weekend!
From Michael Sherman, FUM’s Coordinator for North American and Caribbean Ministries: “In one of her books, the author Brené Brown writes about a muscle injury that took her off the pickleball court. As she worked toward healing and preventing future injury, Brown’s physical trainer explained that her core muscles were weak. This left Brown open to injury, because she was relying too much on smaller muscle groups rather than on her larger muscles groups—lats, abs, and glutes. In order to achieve her goals on and off the pickleball court, Brown had to go back to the fundamentals, building the strength of her core.
This year’s Stoking the Fire theme, Rediscovering the Basics, is about reclaiming the fundamentals of our spiritual fire—getting us to a place where we can empower the core strength of our faith. We will be exploring questions about the space between ideal and real. What do we consider spiritual fire? Does everyone’s fire need to be identical? How do we show up for ourselves and one another when all we have is a small spark? What does it look like to stoke the flames of spiritual fire when it is raining and damp and the kindling is wet?
Stoking the Fire will be held May 22-24, 2026—Pentecost weekend. This year the retreat will take place at First Friends (Whitewater Monthly Meeting) in Richmond, Indiana. Presenters for this year’s retreat will be FUM General Secretary Kelly Kellum, FUM Global Ministries Coordinator Karla Jay, FUM Communications Director Dan Kasztelan, and FUM North American and Caribbean Ministries Coordinator Michael Sherman.
We will be kindling our spiritual fires with meaningful songs of formation and grounding, such as, “I Love You, Lord,” “It Only Takes a Spark,” and “Create in Me a Clean Heart.”
And renew a right spirit within me.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence;
Take not Thy holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation;
And renew a right spirit within me.”
