Rev. Dan Albrant serves as the pastor for both Mineral and Mt. Pleasant UMC’s.
Welcome to the website for the Mineral-Mount Pleasant Charge of The United Methodist Church! We are very glad you stopped by for a visit and to learn more about us. Our churches have been yoked together in a charge (that is they share one pastor) since 1947. The churches themselves are only about 6 miles apart, one in the town of Mineral, and the other closer to the town of Louisa.
I have been the pastor of this Charge since July 2022. I was pastor of the Madison Charge in Madison, Virginia, from July 2017 to June 2022. Prior to that I was a hospital clinical pharmacist, practicing in intensive care, emergency departments, and operating rooms. I served as a consultant on new pharmacist practices and quality improvement as well as designing and implementing new training programs for pharmacists to improve patient outcomes.
You may be wondering how I got from Pharmacy to Ministry? Good question…it was an evolution. I was called by God to be a pharmacist, of that I am certain. During my time working in the high stress, low touch environment of intensive care, I began to feel disquieted in my soul. Something was missing – I needed to care for people in a different and more wholistic way. So, God moved me along a path of rejoining church, getting involved in Stephen Ministry as a minister and leader, and in an intentional period of spiritual growth. All this took about 12 years before I found myself at age 50 with the strong desire to attend Seminary. I attended Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC, from 2013 to 2017 and graduated with a Masters of Divinity degree with honors.
The United Methodist Church has gone through a season of change with disaffiliation of about 20% of its churches. That time has now ended, and both of these churches remain firmly United Methodist under the care and direction of our Resident Bishop. Our worship style is Traditional, and sermons come directly from the weekly scripture readings of the Revised Common Lectionary (used by many Christian denominations). There is a Choir at the Mineral UMC and many wonderful ministries for you to engage in at both churches. We hope that you will come and give us a try one Sunday. You will be warmly welcomed, and we believe that you will feel like you are at home.
I love serving the rural church and her people. My wife and I have found a home here at Lake Anna and we look forward to many years of ministry outreach, worship, fellowship and fun. We enjoy sharing our lives with those whom God has called to be the church of Jesus Christ. We have two young adult sons, one of whom flies for NetJets and the other who is training to be an electrician. Our black Labrador, Hope, rounds out our immediate family. Let me know how I might be of service to you, or how we might pray for people or situations that are important to you. You can find copies of my sermons under the "Blogs" tab and links to other resources for your spiritual journey. May God bless you on your way!
Listening
I’m writing this on a snowy, sleety, cold winter day in central Virginia. Having grown up in Minnesota, I am familiar with this kind of weather, though I have lived below the Mason-Dixon line now for the majority of my life. On days like today, I am reminded what I really enjoy about snow. I enjoy the peaceful way the flakes fall and land. I enjoy that each snowflake is unique in its design. I enjoy the sound of the snow – the hush, the hiss, the way that the world stops and stillness can reign supreme for a while.
I love listening to snow fall, as I love listening to a soft rainfall. I especially love to listen to the snow when I am safely inside, warm and dry. Just sticking my nose out the door every once and awhile to experience the weather outside before turning back to the comfort of my home. The soft sound of snow or rain stills my overactive mind and allows me to slow down and come back to myself and to what is truly important. It gives me space in this noisy world to begin listening to that which is really important – the still small voice that calls me beloved.
There is much to which we are listening in our world – angry and insistent voices, voices which are trying to influence us in many different directions, voices that lie and mislead, voices which tear down and never rebuild. Voices that in one way or another tell us that we’re not good enough, smart enough, rich and successful enough, young and beautiful enough – voices that tell us that we are lacking that which the world values. Voices that have an agenda that is not our own; that do not reflect that which we know to be right, true, honest, peaceful, non-violent, hopeful, just or loving. These are the voices which suggest that they must be listened to – but they are not the most important voice that is speaking to us.
We who do our best to follow the God of our understanding know that there is an important voice available to all of us. A voice that is speaking opposite all that the world speaks. Writer Shel Silverstein tells us about that second voice: “Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
Mr. Silverstein reminds of the importance of listening to the naysayers, but minding the voice of the One who makes the impossible into the possible. The One that brings life back to the dead. The One who is love and shalom.
The voice of God can be difficult to hear in our noisy age. The Bible tells us that God’s voice is spoken in a tone that is still and small. A voice that is easily drowned out by the cacophony of the immediate. The blessed assurance that we have is that the voice of God is persistent and consistent. It does not change with changing times, fads, life events, or our distractibility. It takes time and effort to experience the soft voice of God, but when you do, you will find that it is the one voice in your life that can still your anxious mind and heart and renew your faith in something larger than yourself.
You may be wondering where it is in the world that you might experience listening for the voice of God. You can step outside and listen when the world is silent in the snow and rain. You can begin by listening for God as you lay down to sleep at night, or upon waking in the morning. You can begin to listen by inviting God to speak to you like young Samuel did as he served in the Temple saying, “Speak God, for your servant is listening!” You can begin by attending a faith community time of worship and prayer – by surrounding yourself with other faithful people listening for the Word of God spoken into their individual and congregated lives. This week, I hope you will be listening for God’s loving voice which makes all things possible. I know you’ll like what you hear.