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Weekly memo from pastor dan - june 26, 2014

6/27/2014

It’s Vacation Bible School (VBS) week at EPUMC. It’s one of the best weeks of the year to measure the vitality and energy of our congregation. Really when you see the excitement of everyone: kids, leaders volunteers, and staff something reminds you of why we do what we do as a church. We are going to celebrate this at worship this Sunday.

One of the things I’ve been talking about is that part of the reason our VBS is so great is that the ambiance, the atmosphere, the vibe you get from the moment you pull into the parking lot. I don’t know what this thing is suppose to be, but at 57 years old it made me smile. I heard that more than a few kids wanted to get their picture taken with it.

Of course VBS is about the kids and they are having a great time using the theme, “Workshop of Wonders.” It’s about how God not only is with us in many wonderful and creative ways that are fun, invigorating and encouraging but that God also will help us do our part. God has created each one of us with some gift that the world needs.

One of my personal favorite parts of VBS is the introduction of a new prayer for each VBS theme. This year the images being used are of different kinds of work so it’s the “Hard Hat Prayer.” First, you put your hands on your head and sort-a scratch or feel you scalp sideways and then front ways and then you say, “God will always love me...” Then you reach up to the sky with your palms up like your holding up a piece of dry wall or something and say, “and will help me to do my part.” “God will always love me, and will help me to do my part,” is a pretty simple prayer… but at the end of three hours of VBS you gotta keep it simple.

I want to invite you to take a moment right now as you’re reading this and in whatever way you can reflect upon the idea that your connection to EPUMC, however you understand it, is a part of VBS week. You see although you may not be a leader or a volunteer or a kid you are a part of this week. You may be stuck in some cubical reading this taking a break, or maybe it’s at the end of the day after a meeting you are just glad is over or maybe it’s the weekend and it’s the first you’ve heard of “Workshop of Wonders,” still you are a part of what is going on at VBS this week. I believe the ambiance, the environment, the good vibe that is present here from the moment people pull into the parking lot is here because of you, because of all of us.

So today, right now just for fun, sort-a scratch your scalp sideways and then front-ways (that was good) and now sideways (Good) now say, “God will Always Love Me.”

(That was great!) Now reach up, hold up that heavy piece of dry wall and say….”and will help me to do my part.”

“God will always love us and will help us to do our part”

Keep the Faith!

Pastor Dan

P.S. Please make note that there will be no Adult Faith Formation class this Sunday, June 29.

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Weekly Memo from Pastor Dan — June 19, 2014

6/19/2014

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In the past few weeks, during the sermon I’ve been trying something different. I’m spending a little more time doing what feels more like teaching than I normally do in a sermon. It’s been challenging and interesting as we dive deeper into the scripture lesson. I’d be interested if you have a comment to share about the last two Sundays.

Another “something different” That I will be trying in our worship, is a series of sermons and worship experiences not based on our assigned Lectionary Bible text, but are instead more topical. Then move on to what the Bible is saying about these questions. I want to ask for your input on what this series might be about. What are some of the issues of your life that you would appreciate having addressed in our worship experience? Another way to think about this might be what are some of the questions you have about the Bible or Faith or Life that your friends, who are not a part of a church, might be interested in enough to give our worship experience a try?

Now having asked that, I need to say that Don and the worship team give a lot of great input and direction into our worship experience. We all think it’s time to ask some of you.

A great example of a sermon series was shared at Annual Conference this year. It was entitled; “Manure Control.” It was a series of sermons which explored how we all have manure in our life. What are some of the ways we handle manure in our life. And finally, how does God use the manure of life to transform us and help us to bloom.

II hesitate to put other examples out there because I’m very interested to hear what you might come up with. Worship is always about celebrating/addressing our need for God in our life. There are times when it’s a good thing to also recognize that we come to understand that need, from a variety of directions. Our need to be comforted might come not only from our grief but our anger. Our need to be encouraged might come not only from our failures but our successes. Our need to understand someone who is different than us may not only be our need to get along or find common ground but to perhaps change a little bit of our own world.

This isn’t going to happen for a few months so you have some time to think about this, reflect upon it even pray about it. Send me a response to this “memo”; send an email to me or even a text when it crosses your mind. I promise to talk through your idea with you before moving ahead so that I’m clear about your need. In fact, I’m hoping to announce the theme of the series far enough ahead, to start some conversations around your theme, thoughts, stories and experiences.

Speaking of experiences; Vacation Bible School begins this coming Monday. Remember to pray for Deb and all the volunteers who make VBS at EPUMC such a wonderful experience for children and families in our community.

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WEEKLY MEMO from pastor dan - june 5, 2014

6/6/2014

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Sunday is Pentecost. Pentecost occurs 50 days after Easter. It’s the day we celebrate the gift of what some people use to call the Holy Ghost and what many of us still call the Holy Spirit and what others refer to as God’s continued sustaining presence. There is a lot going on around Pentecost this year at EPUMC.

Pentecost Sunday this year is also is the final Sunday of the season for our Chancel Choir. Our Choir and the music they create is for many of us the experience of that inspiring empowering presence of God being showered upon us. You’ll want to be there not only to experience it, but to also share in a time of expressing our gratitude. We‘ll also hear from Ginger Eddy our delegate to the Annual Conference about what happened in St. Cloud last week.

We are going to be celebrating the Baptism of Lucas Robert Scott, the son of Catherine and Rafael Scott. We don’t often have baptsims on Pentecost. We usually talk a lot of about how it is the “Birthday of the Church.” It’s the day that our forebearers in faith were both inspired and empowered to witness to the difference their experience of Jesus had made in their lives. The scripture in Acts tells how they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. We are going to use water to baptize Lucas. But the story of how his mom and dad found EPUMC and have experienced this as a place to begin their son’s journey of faith has the Holy Spirit in it and is inspiring to me. I’m hoping to share a bit of that story.

Here is the graphic for the front of the bulletin. I don’t usually comment on visuals because frankly I believe they should have the opportunity to speak for themselves. But I want to point out something that drew me to this one. It’s the rain - like drops coming from the dove. The dove is in our traditional a way of envisioning God’s presence. This comes from Jesus’ baptism. Listen to Matthew 3:16 from The Message; “The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” The message of this Pentecost image, at least for me, speaks to how we are empowered in the same way as was Jesus. We are marked by God’s love in order to be present for families like Lucas’s. On Sunday, I believe we will experience a little rain.

Many of us have been thinking and praying about how we can talk about how our church is a place where people like you and me and Luca’s family are marked by God’s love and empowered to reflect that presence. One way to do this is a short statement that could almost fit on a t-shirt that gives us a focus. Here is what several of us have come up with. It’s a big t-shirt, but it is true to who we are and through Gods’ grace what we strive to do. EPUMC exists to discover, love and serve God as we make a difference in our world and care inclusively for each other. I want to invite you to sit with this sentence for a day or two. There are a lot of ways we could expand and change it, but for now just sit with it. And then on Pentecost Sunday let it inspire and empower us into the future. I believe somehow the Holy Spirit is going to show up for you this Pentecost Sunday.

Keep the Faith! - Pastor Dan

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