Eden Prairie United Methodist Church
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Weekly Memo: Who taught You to be generous?

10/31/2019

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Dear Friends:
 
“Share with your friends,” we tell our children to get them to loosen their grip on the toys available to them and their friends.  At Christmas we take our children to buy gifts for children they do not know as part of a giving tree ministry.  When the crayons come out, we encourage our children not to hoard all the colors of crayons, but instead to take only what they need at the moment, leaving some for the other artists at the table.
 
Generosity is a learned behavior. 
 
I learned generosity from my parents. They were generous with their time and their resources. I remember the generosity of my father, who worked fulltime and in addition ran the family farm. But on Sundays he was incredibly gracious with his time, always playing baseball or starting a snowball fight with us  I appreciate the generosity of my mother, who consistently wants to do for her kids anything she possibly can do for them!  I also remember the financial generosity of my mother and father.  I remember them giving money to a relative in need, demonstrating the habit of giving to God through the church, and always having the money I needed when times got tough. They were not rich.  But what they were generous with what they had.
 
From whom did you learn generosity?  What did those with influence on you teach you about  financial resources?  So much of our attitude and thinking about our resources comes from what others taught us.
 
In the next four weeks we are going to learn again, or re-learn, or learn for the first time what it means to be generous with what God has given us. We going to learn from Jesus how to develop a heart of generosity. I hope you and your family will join us on this journey as together we discover what it means to be extravagantly generous with our lives.
 
See you Sunday!
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink
 

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Weekly Memo: Cold Weather options

10/24/2019

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​I walked out of the garage this morning with three layers on. They were clothing layers. I chose not to put on a coat.  As you might have guessed, the cold penetrated all three layers of clothes and I was immediately cold. I had options.  I could have gone back into my warm house and picked out any number of fall / winter coats. I could have sat down in my vehicle with its heated seats and working heat source (which is what I did). I had options.
 
This weekend I am mindful of those who don’t have options. There are folks who don’t have warmer clothes or a home or a vehicle in which to warm up. They may be hanging out in the mall or at the library for some relief from the cold.  They may or may not have an option for shelter for the evening. Their every day and night is a battle which I have never experienced. These folks and their struggle are on my heart.
 
This weekend the youth will get a taste of homelessness and food insecurity to enable them to develop a sense of empathy. The youth will be sleeping outside in cardboard structures that they design and build. They will have no sense of when or from where their food is coming.  You can support the learning of our youth. You can support our local PROP agency that is in ministry with folks experiencing homelessness and food insecurity in Eden Prairie and Chanhassen. Drop by any time on Saturday after 3:30 p.m. and bring a donation for PROP (food or finances) and visit with the youth. Come Sunday morning prepared for a donation. Pray for our youth. Pray for those who have no other options for shelter. And pray about how you might be involved in a systemic change that eliminates homelessness and food insecurity in Minnesota.
 
Blessings!
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink
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weekly memo:  The Importance of rest

10/17/2019

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Dear Friends:
 
Rest is a beautiful thing! 
 
When I don’t get enough rest I become cranky and irritable.  I am short with people, even those I love.  I have a more difficult time seeing the good in people and situations.  Chores that should be easy become more difficult.  And I reach for caffeine and sugar to get me through – not the best life choices.
 
When I get enough rest, I crave exercise and healthy eating.  I carry a peace about me that brings out the best in me and in others.  I have patience and grace.  I can see people and situations with greater clarity and positivity.  When I get enough rest, my whole world about me is different.
 
Rest doesn’t just come from sleeping 7-8 hours at night.  Rest comes from having play time with your family.  Rest comes from re-connecting with nature.  Rest comes from getting lost in a good book or engrossed in a conversation with a friend.  Rest comes from a spiritual retreat or a day spent alone.
 
However rest comes to you, it is a beautiful thing for resetting the mind and the heart and the attitude and the outlook on life.  And we all need rest.  Even God needed rest.  Genesis 2:3 reminds us that “God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that [God] had done in creation.”  Being created in the image of God, we also need to attend to the rhythm of work and rest.  It is a decision for health and wholeness and beauty.
 
In Minnesota we have this built in “rest period” called MEA Break.  For some time now, Chad and I have planned a little “get-away” to attend to the rhythm of work and rest.  I’ll be back to be with you in worship on Sunday.  Thank you for allowing me this time of rest so that I can come back renewed for the next season of our “work” together.
 
How will you use your time this week to attend to the rhythm of work and rest?  Whether you sleep, or play, or hike, or read, or do something else that recreates your soul, I pray you find the rest for which your soul searches.
 
Blessings,






Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink 


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Weekly Memo: Grace is amazing

10/10/2019

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Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.
 
The words of the hymn can be sung with familiarity but without a sense of their fullness.  I have a hard time calling myself a “wretch” and if you stand close to me you’ll probably hear me sing “wreck like me.”  That is a truer depiction of who I can be in my life – a wreck in need of saving!
 
But these words were written by a former slave trader who knew very well what it meant to be a “wretch.”  John Newton’s journey of living fully into God’s grace for his life was a slow one.  He left the slave trade because of health problems, not moral dilemmas.  Even after a revelation of God’s grace on his life, Newton continued to support slave trade.  It would be three decades before he would fully live into the grace God offered him, a forgiveness and restoration marked by a changed and maturing faith life.  We have this classic hymn because eventually grace grew roots in Newton’s life, and he became an ordained clergy who wrote hymns to be sung in his worship services.  Newton’s is a life covered by grace, even when he didn’t know he needed it, convicting him and making him right with God when he came to realize his “wretched” self, and helping him grow into maturity in faith.
 
You, too, are covered by grace!  From the moment you are born until the moment you die, God’s grace is pursing you.  God’s grace covers you at your most beautiful moments and in your most “wretched” acts.  God’s grace is available to you, even you, even there, even now, even then.  There’s nowhere for you to go to escape the cover of God’s amazing grace.
 
This is good news!!!
 
Join us for the next three weeks as we look carefully at this core belief of the United Methodist Church – grace!
Blessings!






Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink


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15050 Scenic Heights Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
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