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Weekly Memo: After 8 weeks, what's next?

4/30/2020

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This Sunday marks the eighth week of online only worship at Eden Prairie United Methodist Church. When we started the shut-down of in-person worship, we had from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning to put together something meaningful. It was a sprint to the finish, and I am exceptionally grateful for the work of Eric Peterson, that week and every week since, to make sure there is a quality worship experience online each week. Eight weeks is a long time!
 
But we will be at it for a while longer. Yesterday Bishop Bruce Ough asked “every Minnesota congregation to continue to suspend in-person worship through May 30 and to spend that time carefully and prayerfully developing a plan for how to return to in-person worship in a gradual manner while continuing to strictly adhere to federal and state recommendations.” The staff and I have been planning for online-only worship through the end of May (Pentecost, May 31) and are leaning into some experiments with worship and community. 
 
Tonight, the Church Ministries Council (CMC) will meet on Zoom to begin our work of developing a plan to safely return to in-person worship in some form or another. It will, of course, look very different than the worship experiences  in the early part of 2020. I ask for your grace and understanding as CMC makes the best decisions we can with the information that we have. We will do our work with prayer and discernment and with an eye to what is best for our community of faith and the larger community around us.  The very last thing we want is for someone to get sick with COVID 19 because they came to worship.  Anything we can reasonably do to prevent that, we will do!

Missing you and praying for your safety, in body, mind and spirit!
 
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink
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Weekly Memo: False Events Appearing Real (FEAR)

4/16/2020

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Friends
 
Have you settled into this newness yet? Yeah, me neither. It’s felt a little bit like riding a roller coaster ride I didn’t think I was going on until I found myself climbing that first hill for the big drop. And about the time I got to the bottom of that first big drop, and I thought the ride was just about over, I realized this roller coaster is a longer ride than I thought. 
 
Now, I don’t particularly like roller coasters. How about you? It’s hard for me to find any joy in the ride. I have an excessive and unrealistic fear about all the things that could go wrong. Somewhere on the ride I am sure I am going to be the first person ever to have the car I’m in come to one of those corners and fly completely off the rails. This is an unrealistic fear. When I am able realize that the roller coaster ride is safe, and I loosen my (literal) death grip on the bar in front of me, I have the potential to feel the thrill and joy of the ride.
 
Sometimes our fears are unrealistic.  Sometimes our fears are False Events Appearing Real (an acronym introduced to me in the book Unafraid by Adam Hamilton).  My fear of rollercoaster rides is False Events Appearing Real.  When I name them as such and take actions based on that truth, I can experience joy on the ride. 
 
In the midst of this pandemic rollercoaster ride we are on, there are very real fears that need our attention and action. But there are also unrealistic fears (False Events Appearing Real) that have the potential to take all of the joy and thrill out of our lives.  Right now it may be difficult to tell the difference between real and unrealistic fears. That’s part of what makes this journey exhausting and difficult.
 
Over the next few weeks in worship we will explore how to live in the very real fears of our life (like this pandemic), yet do so unafraid. We will explore some practical steps to quieting the unrealistic fears and keeping our eyes on the joy and thrill of life that God intends for us. Join me as we ride the roller coaster of this pandemic in the sure and certain hope that God is on this ride with us!
 
Pastor Becky Jo


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Weekly Memo: Palm sunday parade

4/2/2020

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 Friends,
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, people were excited to see him.  They cried out “Hosanna,” which means “Save us!”  The people were looking to Jesus to be the one to save them from the oppression they were experiencing by the Roman authorities.  They lived in this constant fear.  Their faith was shaken by the fact that they believed in an all-powerful God, who, as of yet, had not demonstrated the kind of power for which they were looking.  They wanted God to send a Messiah who would overthrow the Roman government and take back their holy city.  They wanted a Savior who would save them from the life of fear in which they were living.  So when they cried out, “Save us!” this is what they wanted from a savior.
 
When we cry “Hosanna!” on Sunday, for what will we be crying “Save us!”?  We are held up in our homes this Palm Sunday weekend, and presumably for the remainder of Holy Week.  Some of us are bored.  Some of us are lonely.  Some of us are sleepless.  Some of us are overworked.  Some of us are fretting over finances.  Some of us are scared to death.  Some of us are heartbroken by grief.  For what will we be crying “Save us!”?
 
In our hope for a Messiah right now, we are longing for things like an end to the spread of the virus, an end to the restrictions and an end to the suffering and death.  We hope for a vaccine for the disease, supplies and relief for the health care workers, a light at the end of what is looking like a very long and dark tunnel.  We hope for a peace which we do not know how to obtain.  And so we cry, “Save us!”
 
This Palm Sunday’s parade will be different (we'll parade in place, safely, and share our photos).  But the sentiment of the original parade will be the same.  “Save us, Jesus!”  Save us from all that grips us in fear and paralyzes us from living in the peace and joy of your saving work.
 
Holding you in prayer and love,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink
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(952) 937-8781

15050 Scenic Heights Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
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