U Matters - 28 Jul 2016 | U Matters

U Matters - 28 Jul 2016

by Matthew Fredericks on July 28, 2016

Summer entails change, transition, and travel. Antonin, our new youth director, has fashioned a novel, amazing summer youth program. In mid-August Antonin will leave briefly for his U.K. wedding. This Sunday Union welcomes our newest staff member, Hunter Purvis, to assist Antonin. Lee-Ann, who served so faithfully for three and half years, said farewell last Sunday and returns to Africa with Freddy this week. Hundreds of Union members visit family on six continents during the summer school recess. Beyond our community, we are angered, disheartened, or confused by violence in Turkey, Kashmir, the U.S., France, Mali, etc. Amidst change, we take refuge in the promise 'I am the Lord, and I do not change' (Malachi 3:6). Elaborating this universal, spiritual constant, God said through Jeremiah 'I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love' (31:3). May God's unchanging love guide and ground us in all times, places, and seasons.

About the Author

Matthew Fredericks

Matthew was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Frederick Maryland by his father Richard (a theology professor and senior pastor) and his mother Sallie (a hospital manager turned homemaker). Eager to learn and experience the world at large, he has studied in London, Rome, and Calcutta. After graduating from Wake Forest University, he taught history, geography, and mathematics to high school students in Brooklyn, NYC through a program called Teach for America. During his years teaching, he completed a Master of Education at Lehman College, C.U.N.Y. in the Bronx. Before joining the amazing team at Union Church, he completed a Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary. In 2015, Matthew earned a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Hong Kong. Also in 2015 Matthew met his wife, Jolene Fredericks (née Wee), in Union's courtyard, and they were married in May 2016. They celebrated their wedding at Union's Sanctuary, 15 metres from where they first met. Matthew loves Chinese vegetables, running, translating the Greek Bible, swimming in Repulse Bay, Sunday dinners at St. Barnabas' Shelter, Shakespeare at the HK Academy for Performing Arts, and especially Jolene, as well as his large, adopted family in Hong Kong.