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EPUMC WEEKLY MEMO
You Are WELCOME AT EDEN PRAIRIE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Empowered by God's love, we are a community of Christ's disciples, centered in worship and fellowship with:
OPEN HEARTS to live and serve with compassion and to share God's love OPEN MINDS to seek spiritual formation and encourage each person's faith journey OPEN DOORS to invite and welcome all to join in discipleship
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Weekly Memo from Prairie Church –
May 4, 2008 Abundant grace to you and your household. This Sunday is known as Ascension Sunday. The Gospel of Luke includes the story of Jesus’ ascension as does the book of Acts, also written by Luke. This Sunday we will hear both of these stories and consider what they mean for our time. The scripture selections for this Sunday are Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53. In the reading from Luke, Jesus advises the disciples to “stay here in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.” The title of my message is “WAIT”. What does it mean for us to wait as disciples of Jesus? The Chancel
Choir will sing at both worship services. The sacrament of
communion will be served at each worship service. This
Sunday you will be invited to give a gift to the LOVE
Offering. This special offering is part of the work of our
Annual Conference. For the next several Sundays, United Methodist
churches throughout the state will be giving money for the support of Mission
Projects in Bolivia, Mexico in Liberia; Volunteer in Mission
Scholarships for first-time Minnesota Volunteers in Mission and
Minnesota Ministry projects such as Emma Norton Services in St. Paul,
CHUM (Churches United in Ministry) in Duluth and the Department of
Indian Work in St. Paul. Offering envelopes will be available
in the pews for your gifts. The
annual Spring Garage Sale will be
held next week. Large items will be picked up by request. Call
Brenda Starkey by this Friday (May 2) to arrange for Sunday afternoon
pickup: call 952-975-0578 or send an email to KBWKA@aol.com.
This Sunday afternoon, the work of “set up” begins. If you have not
volunteered to assist, I would like to encourage you to do so. If you
are a newer member, or attend worship regularly but are not yet a
member, consider volunteering for this
project. It’s a great way to get to know others from
the church, and a wonderful way to raise money to assist those still
trying to put their life back together after the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina. We have pledged a minimum of
$2500, or half of the proceeds if we do well, to provide financial
assistance through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). The
Garage Sale will be open to the community beginning on the evening of
May 7, all day on May 8, and until noon on May 9. In your
busy day, take a moment now to pray this prayer – silently or aloud.
It comes from the book Living the Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg: O
God you have searched us and known us; Be
the light of our discerning, be the wings of our imagining, Be
the worker of our wonder, be the breath of our conversation, Be
the ground of our journey, now and forever. Amen. This Sunday, let us gather in
worship once again as public testimony to our faith as we celebrate the
ways God’s love is at work in our church and in the world through the
Risen Christ. Worship at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. Be
Blessed, Pastor Mike Miller
mikem@prairiechurch.org
Weekly Memo from Prairie Church – May 11, 2008 Grace
and peace to you as we welcome the return of spring. This Sunday is a
“double header” for the church: Mother’s Day and Pentecost.
Mother’s Day is a fixed observance, which is celebrated by our culture
on the second Sunday of May. The church celebrates Pentecost,
50 days after Easter Sunday. This year they both end up on the
same Sunday. The first Mother’s Day was observed in the Methodist
Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia in 1907, initiated by a woman
named Anna Jarvis. It was initially known as a Day for Peace. It has
changed focus over the past 100 years. Pentecost
is a much older celebration. The story of the first Pentecost
is recorded in the book of Acts 2:1-21. It is the story of how the
Spirit of God, infused the followers with boldness and power to witness
to the risen Christ. It is the birth of the church. Red is the color for
Pentecost, reminding us of the “tongues
of fire” on that day. WEAR
SOMETHING RED THIS SUNDAY FOR OUR PENTECOST CELEBRATION. The scripture readings for worship this week are: Acts 2:1-21 and 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13. The title of my message is “Life Giving Spirit”. The
Praise Singers will lead worship
music and singing and The Prairie Kids Choir
will provide special music at both worship services. You
can still give a gift to the LOVE Offering.
This special offering is part of the work of our Annual Conference. For
the next several Sunday’s, United Methodist
churches throughout the state will be giving money for the support of
Mission Projects in Bolivia, Mexico in Liberia; Volunteer in Mission
Scholarships for first-time Minnesota Volunteers in Mission and
Minnesota Ministry projects such as Emma Norton Services in St. Paul,
CHUM (Churches United in Ministry) in Duluth and the Department of
Indian Work in St. Paul. Offering envelopes will be available for
your gifts. Last Sunday, $497.00 was given. The
annual Spring Garage Sale is in
progress. Many volunteers working long hours are making this sale, a
successful event. Working together we are helping support our church
budget for ministry in this community and we are also providing
financial assistance for those still trying to put their life back
together after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. We have pledged
a minimum of $2500, from the proceeds to provide financial assistance
through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). The
following prayer has been used often in various settings in our church.
It is called “A Prayer for Holy Boldness”. It is a good
Pentecost prayer, as we open ourselves to the power of God’s spirit to
strengthen us for faithful living as individuals and for faithful
ministry as a church: Make
us bold, O God. Bold
enough to expect you to do far more than we can ask or imagine. Bold
enough to believe that you can take our small, faithful acts and make of
them something great. Bold
enough to proclaim that your church, the body of Christ, is the hope of
the world. O
God, now help us to be who we say we are. Amen. This Sunday, let us gather in worship once again as public testimony to our faith. Worship at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. Be Blessed, Pastor Mike
Miller Weekly Memo from Prairie Church – May 18, 2008 Grace
and peace to you and your household. This is the last Sunday of
our winter/spring worship schedule until next fall. This
Sunday in worship we will celebrate the gift of music offered by three
groups in our congregation: The “Youth
Handchimes” will play two songs, the “Adult
Handbell Choir” will play two anthems and the “Chancel
Choir” will sing an anthem based on one of the scripture
readings: Matthew 28:16-20. The
title of my message is: “Old Math: Three
Equals One”. The other scripture reading for worship is: 2
Corinthians 13:11-13. Communion will be served at both
worship services. This
is also the last Sunday to give a gift to the LOVE Offering. This
special offering is part of the work of our Annual Conference. For the
past two Sundays, United Methodist churches throughout the state have
been giving money for the support of Mission Projects in Bolivia,
Mexico and Liberia; Volunteer in Mission Scholarships for first-time
Minnesota Volunteers in Mission and Minnesota Ministry projects such as
Emma Norton Services in St. Paul, CHUM (Churches United in Ministry) in
Duluth and the Department of Indian Work in St. Paul. Offering
envelopes will be available for your gifts. For the past two Sundays we
have received generous gifts totaling nearly $1000. This
Tuesday evening, May 20 at 7 p.m.
our church will be one of four faith communities receiving the Human
Rights Award for non-profit organizations, from the City of Eden Prairie.
The presentation will take place in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
This award recognizes the churches that worked together to organize and
lead the Inter Faith Thanksgiving Prayer Service for the past two years.
Thanks to Cari Maguire, Prairie Church member and Chair of the Human
Rights Commission for making this nomination. Last
week I purchased a book of Celtic morning and evening prayers for each
day of the week, called: Sounds of the Eternal. This is the “Opening
Prayer” for Thursday morning. A beautiful prayer for everyday!
With
you is the source of life, O God. You
are the beginning of all that is. From
your life the fire of the rising sun streams forth. You
are the life-flow of creation’s rivers, the sap of blood in our veins, earth’s
fecundity, the fruiting of trees, creatures’
birthing, the
conception of new thought, desire’s origin. All
these are of you, O God, and I am of you. You
are the morning’s freshness. Amen. This Sunday, let us celebrate the source of life, known to us as: Creator, Christ and Spirit. The Trinity. Worship in the sanctuary at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. Be Blessed, Pastor Mike
Miller
mikem@prairiechurch.org
Weekly Memo from Prairie Church – May 25, 2008
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