Dear Friends
Crampons. They have become one of my more valuable possessions this winter. While the temperatures have been conducive to walking outside for exercise and a change of scenery, melting some of the snow around, they also hover in the freezing areas in late afternoon and evening. I love walking outside. But Minnesota has taught me that no tire or shoe tread is a match for ice, even a thin layer of ice.

I have strapped those crampons to the bottom of my shoes so that I could walk with confidence in the beautiful weather. They aren’t that impressive. Small metal cleats are what grips into the ice to create the sure footing. I am always amazed that this small addition to the bottom of my feet give me the security and confidence of walking on ice without slipping (and falling!).

The national ground around us is slippery, folks. Yesterday was a downright ice storm across our country. It seems nearly impossible to walk the landscape of America right now without slipping and falling. What is it that can give us a sure footing in the days ahead? 

There are political answers to that question, but that is not my role with all of you. I am charged with seeking spiritual answers that will guide me and those in my spiritual care. My sure footing is my belief in a God of love and hope. 

We worship a God who hounded after God’s people when their hearts turned cold, a God who sent prophets to woo God’s children back, and when all else had failed, came among us to demonstrate in flesh and blood God’s love for us. When the brightness of God’s love in Jesus illuminated the shadowy places in their lives, the people turned on Jesus, collectively nailing him to the cross. One would have thought that death would be the end of the story of God’s pursuing love for us and the absence of hope forever. But the love of the God we worship will not be deterred or defeated. Resurrection is certain hope and the never failing love of God! The resurrected Jesus speaks the words of comfort that enabled his followers to carry God’s love generations into the future: “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This is where hope lies! I have hope in a God whose love cannot be defeated. I have hope in a God who promises to be with us always!

So in our country, with uncertain footing of rising deaths due to the pandemic, the icy terrain of racial inequalities (on full display again in yesterday’s events), and the slippery landscape of political crisis created by deep division, our sure footing is in the truth that God is with us always. We must stand up, strap the crampons to the soles of our shoes, and walk in the love of God, being God’s love in the flesh everywhere you go.  In your activities, in your rhetoric, in your social media posts, in your conversations, in your willingness to see your hurting neighbors, be the love of God in the flesh. This is the sure footing of our future together. This is the way we walk with confidence. God is with us always! In this promise we have hope and we live out that hope.  So be it!

Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink
 

Dear Friends,
With the joy of God in our hearts, we are leaning into these final days to prepare for Christmas. Not with a superficial joy based on the circumstances of our days. Because, let’s face it, there are so many circumstances that are difficult, uneasy, frustrating and tragic. Many of us won’t get to “be with” our relatives for Christmas. Some of us may be unable to provide the gifts we would have liked. Some of us won’t be able to put a feast on the table. Some will be lying alone and frightened in a COVID unit at the hospital. Some will be grieving the loss of loved ones. Let’s face it, this Christmas is short on circumstantial joy.

But joy from God is deeper. It is not based on our circumstances, but on the truth of Christmas. God has come among us, Emmanuel. Christmas means that we are never alone, even when we are lonely. Christmas means that we are forever filled up by the love of God. Christmas means that we are rich because of our identity as beloved children of God. Christmas means that, even in our grief and loss and tragedy, God is at work creating all things for good (Romans 8:28).

You can spread that deep joy this Christmas.  Here are some ways you can do that:

You are invited (along with your relatives and friends) to join us for worship on Christmas Eve.  Use this link to join our Christmas Eve worship, combining live and prerecorded segments, ending with holy communion. You can view a recorded Christmas Eve worship featuring “The A B Cs of Christmas” as shared by children from Eden Prairie UMC, on the home page of this website beginning Dec. 24.

By the way, we want to make Christmas Candles available to you for your at-home worship time, especially if you want to join us for the live Zoom Christmas Eve Worship Service at 7 p.m.  You can come to the church, enter by the front doors (masks on, please) and gather from the table as many candles as you and your family need for Christmas Eve worship.  Feel free to take some to share with your neighbors or loved ones, too.  The candles will be available 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 21-23.

You can spread that deep Christmas joy by being a part of the Christmas Offering at Eden Prairie UMC.  The offering will be shared between PROP’s COVID Relief Fund and the Solidarity Fund at New City Church.  You will have deep joy in being able to make a difference in our neighbor’s lives. You can learn more about the offering here. Your gifts can be mailed or given electronically through the website or the Give Plus+ App.  Choose “Christmas Offering."

You can spread that deep Christmas joy by being a part of the MN United Methodist movement called “Go Light the World.” a campaign to bring the light of hope, peace, joy, and love to our communities and the world by offering encouraging cards and greetings to health care workers in these challenging weeks and month.  Learn more here (https://www.minnesotaumc.org/golightyourworld).

Join us for worship this weekend as we focus on the peace that Jesus’ coming gives us, a peace that we share as we work for justice in our society.

Blessings to you,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink

Dear Friends
Advent season is for waiting patiently for God to reveal God’s plan and purpose of salvation in each generation. We wait, whether patient or not, for such a revelation. We have waited to see how God is going to redeem the chaotic year we have had, the effects of the virus on our lives, the unrest in our political systems, the injustice among people of color in America.  How do we wait?

Sometimes we wait patiently. We stay home. We keep our bubble secure. We work remotely. We rearrange our homes so our children can attend school on electronic devices. We wait patiently for God to work and act through scientists and public health officials and others who are empowered by God to bring about an actual healing from the virus. We would like to be able to act, but the action that is required of us is patient waiting.

Sometimes we wait impatiently. We cannot sit back and watch the thing happen. So we seek ways to partner with God in what God is doing to bring salvation and redemption in a particular setting. I am waiting impatiently for racial justice in America. My impatient waiting involves educating myself and speaking up, all while I am praying for wisdom and guidance from God.

Always we need to pray in our seasons of waiting. Prayer enables us to know if this is a time to act or a time to still ourselves to make room for God to act through others. Knowing the difference is critical. Joseph wanted to walk away from the pregnancy he had nothing to do with. But in a dream, God came to him with a prompting to act.  And he did.  He acted out of love, following the will and direction of God. He took Mary as his wife and raised the Savior as his own.

In this season of waiting, what is your prayerful discernment revealing about God’s call on your life? How is God prompting you in this season of waiting? Where is God calling you to act? Where is God calling you to wait more patiently? 
​
May God give you the courage to act when you must, and to wait more patiently when you ought.
Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink

November 12, 2020
Dear Friends
Reimaging a new way to do things has been a constant practice in the past eight months.  The pandemic has forced us to reimagine ways to celebrate birthdays, engage in small group discussions, attend school, go to group dance or exercise classes.  We even reimagined our “Great Minnesota Get Together” in fun ways!  Reimagining these things has brought vitality, energy and innovation.

This week in worship we are invited to reimagine our personal and corporate money stories, leaning into God’s economic system that is built to provide for and benefit all.  God’s economy stands in stark contrast to our American economy. There are choices to be made. Will we be a people who get what we can for ourselves and our own?  Or will we be a people who live as trustees of what God has given us? Will we hoard our resources and our energy for ourselves and those like us? Or will we share what we have so that others can eat, find shelter, be loved?  Can you reimagine economic and social systems where people in need are lifted up and liberated and honored?  Because that’s what God’s economy looks like. Can you reimagine?

Poet Sara Are invites us to reimagine such things in our time, in COVID times, in times of racial injustice, in these days in which we find ourselves. In invite you to take in and reimagine with her words.
​
Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink
 
Love, By Another Way
I used to think that love was simple.
You would know when you know,
What was meant, would be.
But I fell in love
And it’s not that easy.
It’s compromise and identity,
Mountains and valleys,
Apologies and memories,
Imbalance, recentering.
It turns out,
Love took reimagining.
 
I used to think that Church was simple.
Church was community, not the walls,
Faith and hope mixed with call.
But then the world grew violently sick
And the way to be Church
Was to keep distance.
So doors were closed,
And people sent home.
It was all love, by another way.
And yet it was not how we imagined Sunday.
 
I used to think that justice was simple,
That I could make a difference, all by myself.
There was a clear right and wrong, a way I could help.
But then I learned of privilege and bias,
Of white savior complex and our Church’s silence.
And all at once, it wasn’t so easy.
I needed to learn. I needed to listen.
I needed to reframe my original vision.
 
I guess what I’m trying to say is
Life will throw first drafts our way.
The chance to dream,
To lead, to sing,
To love, and give,
To pray, and be.
But in order to grow,
To follow God’s lead,
We have to to do the work--
Reimagining.
 
And despite our best efforts,
Love will fail.
Churches will close.
Justice will leave the vulnerable exposed.
And when that happens,
We must own our part,
Say we’re sorry
And try to restart.
 
So write it all down.
And write it again.
A first draft,
A second,
An epilogue, and then
Share it with me
And we will pray.
 
And the spirit will move,
And maybe one day,
We can write this world
inside heaven’s gate.
 
For I am
Starting to believe
That what matters in life
Will never be easy.
So we must imagine and imagine again.
We must dream and try, die and rise.
And in our rising, may we see
The next right reimagined thing
Until step by step we are home.
 
Love, by another way.

By Sarah Are
from Sanctified Art Our Money Story Study Journal

 

Dear Friends,
 
When the seven confirmation youth took their vows of membership on Sunday, they committed to support the church “by their prayers, their presence, their gifts, their service and their witness.” Each of the youth and I talked about what these meant.  The one they easily understood was supporting the church with their presence. “It means you show up” they would say. Yes, that’s exactly what it means.
 
When each of you made a commitment to Eden Prairie UMC, whether by becoming a member or claiming this community of faith in another way, you made a vow to support the church by those same means. In particular, supporting of the ministries of the church with your presence has become a new experience. How do you “show up” when the building is closed to in-person gatherings?
 
Well, you have been doing it! You have shown up for online worship. Our average worship attendance is running very close to last year’s numbers, which tells me that you are showing up, maybe in part because there is the flexibility of time given that our worship in “on demand” right now. I have heard several of you say that you worshiped when you returned from one place or another, even if that meant you worshipped on a Tuesday evening!  Isn’t that an awesome benefit to this season?
 
You have shown up for leadership meetings, Let’s Connect Groups, book and Bible Study discussions, gardening for PROP, donations for various service organizations, for Sunday School and youth group.  You have shown up!
 
This week I want to encourage you to “show up” for two very specific opportunities.
 
“Show up” this Sunday at 10 a.m. for Semi-Live Worship on Zoom.  We will worship together, pray together and share communion together.  While it isn’t in-person, it will be a holy experience and I would love to have you “show up” for it.  Come at 9:30 a.m. for Fellowship Time to visit with one another in a small group format (breakout rooms).  Follow this (link) to connect on Sunday morning.
 
Please consider “showing up” for our Trunk-or-Treat event this year! The children’s experience of Halloween will be vastly different this year, and we want to make it special. Our Trunk-or-Treat event will be on Halloween, Saturday, October 31, from 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. in the church parking lot. We need people to commit to decorating their “trunks” so the kids can have an amazing experience. If you are willing to do that, please contact Jody Veatch (jodyv@prairiechurch.org).
 
Thank you for all the ways you support the ministries of the church, especially in the ways you “show up!”
 
Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink

​ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.  Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  Philippians 2:3-4(NRSV)
 
Dear Friends: 
I have been reflecting on this passage as it relates to our election season. Like many of you, I have requested a ballot that came to my home this week. I am not waiting until the first Tuesday in November to vote. But I do have some more homework to do before I am ready to fill in the entire ballot. That has led me to think about what criteria I will use in my discernment for voting in 2020.
 
As always, I want my vote to reflect my faith in Jesus. I want it to be obvious, at least to myself and to God, that I have voted with the values of my Christian faith. I think Paul’s letter to the Philippians does a good work of encouraging that perspective. We are encouraged to put the interests of others before our own. We are to look out for the powerless and voiceless among us.  We are to take action from a place of humility. I need to check myself. I need to stop and honestly ask myself what motivates me to vote for a particular candidate. And when I honestly discover that truth, ask myself if that motivation reflects humility and the value of putting the interests of others before myself.
 
Wherever you are at in the voting process, I would encourage you to carry around this scripture. Pray it daily. Put it to memory. Let it be a test to your actions, your attitudes, and your vote. That is the way in which our civic duty as citizens of the United States of America intersects with our citizenship in the kingdom of God.
 
Join me in reading and learning as we discuss A Good Time for the Truth. In this provocative book, sixteen of Minnesota’s best writers provide a range of perspectives on what it is like to live as a person of color in Minnesota. They give readers a splendid gift: the gift of touching another human being’s inner reality, behind masks and veils and politeness.They bring us generously into experiences that we must understand if we are to come together in real relationships.Discussions will be held Wednesdays at 7 PM OR Thursdays at 10 AM on Zoom starting October 7th / 8th.  SIGN UP by emailing beckyjom@prairiechurch.org. Find your own book at https://www.mnhs.org/mnhspress and other typical online book retailers in both print and e-book versions. You can prepare to discuss two chapters at each session.
 
This weekend you may have to bundle up to join us, but outdoor worship will be worth it!  Bring your own chairs, wear a mask, and dress for the weather (blankets are welcome!). Click here to register for outdoor worship on Sunday October 4th or Sunday October 11th.  As always, worship will continue to be available on our website.
 
Rally Day is this Sunday, October 4th. We will “rally” in two ways:  1) a drive through rally for all ages (beginning at 1 PM) where you will receive information about fall programs and treats from the Grow Team, and 2) a car bingo rally for all ages (beginning around 1:20 PM) - sign up here for a spot in the parking lot to park your car and play bingo for prizes. Friends, join us at least for the drive through. But the bingo will be fun for all ages, too!

See you on Sunday, whether in person, in the drive through, or online.
 
Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink

Dear Friends,  
I find myself attentive to my breathing lately. I feel attentive to taking in the cool morning or evening air and find it refreshing. I am aware that sometimes I need to take in a breath slowly and breathe it out even more slowly so as to center myself and calm my spirit. Maybe you have been doing the same thing. I’ve been thinking about our brothers and sisters on the West Coast and their inability to take in a deep breath right now without it being filled with smoky air. Maybe you had the same kind of wondering the other day when the haze of smoke from the fires covered our sun. 
 
Yesterday I took my sister for an appointment in Rochester. She needed to have a Covid test done in Rochester, among other things. The Covid test was the last thing. She found herself very anxious in those moments. But the person who was providing her the testing immediately calmed her spirit. She asked my sister to take a deep breath in and blow it out through her mouth. As they practiced this breathing and relaxation technique, the technician used the technique to help her through the actual swabbing. And it worked! That breath in and breath out, slowly, calmed my sister's spirit and enabled her to have the procedure she needed. What a gift her breath was.
 
How are you breathing these days?  Is your breath short and rapid from too many things to do and too many things to be worried about? Or is your breath strained because there are things in life that are difficult to take in right now? Or are you having some other breathing difficulty in these days of isolation and distance and strangeness?
 
The Holy Spirit, that presence of God that is always with us, always guiding us, always helping us through, is often referred to as breath or wind. So when you find yourself having difficulty “breathing,” take a moment to notice your breath. Notice how your lungs fill and empty with the pattern of your breath. And to be aware that every time you breathe in you are breathing in the power of God through the Holy Spirit. And every time you breathe out, be aware that you are breathing God‘s presence back into the world.

Wherever and however you worship this weekend, may you breathe in the power of God through the Holy Spirit that enables you to breathe out God’s presence into the world. 
 
Becky Jo Messenbrink, Pastor
Eden Prairie United Methodist Church