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!
Shining Lights
I’m someone who would like it if the nights were a bit darker than they typically are in many places in the world. Now, I’m not advocating for returning to a time before the electric light bulb was invented, but I am a fan of “dark sky” technology and places where people can go to see the beauty of the night sky. There are actually three Virginia State Parks near us that feature dark skies. They are James River, Sky Meadows and Staunton River State Parks. Here you can stargaze until you fall asleep and see the wonders of the millions of stars, the Milky Way and the constellations, without a ton of light pollution getting in the way.
In the Book of Genesis we are told that on the fourth day of creation, “…God said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark the times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light to the earth.’ And it was so….” God created the stars to give light to the earth and to help us keep time. We’ve lost a bit of that as we have created ever more powerful lighting to keep back the night and our fears of it. There are many places around the world that are never dark anymore – and that is a shame and possibly a sin.
Yet, God also designed humans to be a light in the world to shine into the darkness. In the Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter five begins a three-chapter long teaching that we know as the “Sermon on the Mount”. In verses 14 through 16 of Chapter five, Jesus is teaching his disciples about how they are to be in the world. Jesus says, “…You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven….”
Author Marianne Williamson, in her book entitled, “A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of ‘A Course in Miracles’” writes a similar teaching to that of Jesus stating, “….It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same….”
Thus, the blessed assurance we have is that we are created to be shining lights not so that people can marvel at how great we are, but to shine our light so that others can see God more clearly through us. You might be living in darkness right now, unsure whether you have a light to shine, or how to be a shining light in our world. The great good news is that there are many faith communities in Louisa County that are darker than they need to be, because people have left them or have not come to lend their light to the cause of illuminating God’s work in the world. I encourage you to come and share your light with others so that people can see the glory of God that is within you. Shining lights like you will never cause light pollution - you will simply encourage others to shine their light as well to the glory of God. Blessings as you shine this week!