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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 – July 5, 2009 Blessings to you and your household.
We continue with our summer worship schedule: one worship service at 9:30
a.m. with Sunday School for children from preschool through 4th
grade. This Sunday our worship service will be held outside on the front lawn of the church. Bring a lawn chair or blanket for seating. The scripture reading for this Sunday comes from the Gospel of Mark 6:1-13. The title of my message is: “Sent Forth With Power”. We will conclude worship by blessing our youth mission work teams who will go, over the next two weeks, to work projects in the Cass Lake area of Minnesota and the St. Louis, Mo. area, to be the hands of Christ in those communities. Our worship service will also
include communion as we form a circle and receive the sacrament. If it rains
on Sunday, we will move back into the sanctuary. Rain or shine, we will have
worship! The children’s offering for
July will be given for the work of PROP (People Reaching out to Other
People). The money raised will be designated for essential items for children
who come to PROP with their families. As we celebrate our nation’s
independence this weekend, I offer the following prayer, from our United
Methodist book of worship: Almighty
God, you rule all the peoples of the earth. Inspire the minds of all women and men to whom you have committed the responsibility of government and leadership in the nations of the world. Give to them the vision of truth and justice, that by their counsel all nations and peoples may work together. Give to the people of our country zeal for justice and strength for forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will. Forgive our shortcomings as a nation; purify our hearts to see and love the truth. We pray all these things through Jesus Christ. Amen. (Andy
Langford, USA, 20th century) I look forward to being with you for
worship this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. as we gather outside on the front lawn of
the church. Be Blessed, Pastor Mike Miller
Weekly Memo from Prairie Church – July 12, 2009 May God’s love be with you and
your household. Our summer worship service schedule continues. Worship is at
9:30 a.m. and Sunday School for children from preschool through 4th
grade. This Sunday we are back in the
sanctuary for worship. The scripture readings are: Jeremiah
1:4-10, 17-19 and 1 Peter 5:1-4.
Our guest preacher this week is Whitney Starkey.
Whitney has just graduated from the U of M and will begin seminary
this fall at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill. The
title of her message is: “So Get Yourself Ready
and Stand Up”. She will talk about our “call” to Christian
ministry. Whitney is a “candidate” for ordained ministry. She was
unanimously affirmed at our annual meeting last January. The children’s offering for
July will be given for the work of PROP (People Reaching out to Other
People). The money raised will be designated for essential items for children
who come to PROP with their families. We are called to share God’s love
each day through our vocations and our ordinary life experiences. May the
following prayer by the Scottish preacher/teacher William Barclay guide you
in living God’s way faithfully: O God, give me the fruit of your Spirit in my life: LOVE, that I may love you as you have loved me, and that I may love others as you love them. JOY, that I may be happy myself, and that I may help others to be happy. PEACE, that I may never again be restless, or worried or nervous. PATIENCE, that I may no longer be irritable and in too big a hurry. GENTLENESS, that I may be humble and not proud, and that I may never deliberately or carelessly hurt others. SELF CONTROL, that no moment of impulse or of passion may make me injure another or to bring shame on myself. Grant
me, and each of us, these things, O God. Amen.
See you in the sanctuary this Sunday
at 9:30 a.m. as we gather for worship. Be Blessed, Pastor Mike Miller
Weekly Memo from Prairie Church – July 19, 2009 May God’s love be with you and
your household in these summer days. This Sunday we will participate in a musical worship service, which includes singing old and new songs. We will sing the Lord’s Prayer, use a sung communion liturgy, and pray with music. The scripture readings for worship are: Psalm 90 (selected verses) and 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28. The title of my musical message is: “Pray All Ways”. Musical leadership for worship will
be provided by the “Summer Choir”.
You can be part of the SUMMER
CHOIR this Sunday! Come to Room #7 at 8:30 a.m. and rehearse the
two anthems for worship. This is a great way to participate in the choir
experience – especially for those who are unable to do so during the winter
months because of work schedules. This Sunday you will learn more
about our church summer musical: DOWN BY THE CREEK BANK,
directed by Serra Dewey Vickery and Rev. Linda Evans. This musical drama will
be presented on the evenings of July 25 and 26 at 7:30 p.m. each
evening, in the Sanctuary. It is an inter-generational drama and will
be enjoyed by all ages. A special free will offering will be taken and part
of the proceeds will go to Feed My Starving Children. This summer I have been trying to
sort through resources and paper files to find some badly needed file space
for the piles of paper that are getting larger in my office. Going through
old files, I have found some interesting clippings and thoughts saved over
the years. Here is one that comes from Wendell Berry’s Manifesto: The Mad
Farmer Liberation Front. “So,
friends, every day do something that won’t compute…Love the Lord…Love
someone who does not deserve it. Denounce the government and embrace the
flag…Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoia’s…Put your faith in the
two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh…Be joyful though you have considered all
the facts. Practice resurrection.” And I would suggest adding one more
thing that doesn’t “compute”: take an hour on Sunday morning to gather
for worship with your church family. Come not only to receive the Body of
Christ (by participating in communion), but come to BE THE BODY OF CHRIST
for each other and for the world. See you in the Sanctuary this Sunday at
9:30 a.m. as we gather for worship. Be Blessed, Pastor Mike Miller
Weekly Memo from Prairie Church – July 26, 2009 May you be blessed with God’s
grace and peace in these summer days. This Sunday the sanctuary will be transformed into a woodland setting as we gather “Down by the Creek Bank”. Worship will include a song and a short dramatic sketch of the longer play (presented Saturday and Sunday evenings). The scripture readings for worship are: John 6:1-15 and Ephesians 3:14-21. Rev Linda Evans will be preaching this week. The title of her message is “What Can We Do For You?”. The Adult
Handbells will provide special music for worship. The summer musical/drama, DOWN
BY THE CREEK BANK, directed by Serra Dewey Vickery and Rev. Linda
Evans will be presented on the evenings of Saturday,
July 25, and Sunday, July 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary. It is
an inter-generational drama and will be enjoyed by all ages. A special
free will offering will be taken and part of the proceeds will go to “Feed
My Starving Children”. Each week we learn of the loss of
young people serving in the military, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our
United Methodist Book of Worship offers the following prayer for those who
are in the armed forces around the world. “Righteous God, you rule the nations. Guard brave men and women in military service. Give them compassion for those who confront them as enemies. Keep our children from hate that hardens, or from scorekeeping with human lives. Though for a season they must be people of war, let them live for peace, as eager for agreement as for victory. Encourage them as they encourage one another, and never let hard duty separate them from loyalty to your Son, our
Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
And finally this thought from Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate
cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Let us learn the ways of love as we
open ourselves to the presence of Divine Love, through prayer and worship.
See you in the Sanctuary this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. as we gather for
worship. Be Blessed, Pastor Mike Miller
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