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Weekly Memo: Blessings for backpacks and more

8/29/2019

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Dear Friends,
It’s back to school time.  Either the children in your family or neighborhood already have, or they are about to next week.  These are important times in the lives of children and youth, teachers and parents.  At the church, we value marking important times in your lives and being able to see them through the lens of faith.  That’s why this weekend we will be Blessing the Backpacks.  If you are in town this weekend, please join us for worship on Sunday and bring your bags with!  Bring your backpack or diaper bag, your briefcase or knitting bag, your gym bag or your shopping bag, and come for a blessing on these bags and the activities they represent.  Come for a blessing on you as you enter this “back to school” season with fresh eyes of faith and an encouragement to be the presence of the Holy One wherever you go.
 
I know some of you are squeezing out a last bit of summer this weekend, and who can blame you.  I’ll be doing that at the State Fair on Saturday with family, something like 9 of us going together!  I love the ability to sample food and pass it on to others in my tribe.  And being with my tribe makes the day the biggest blessing of the summer to me.  I love spending time with adult children and my mother as we, in child-like joy, ooh and ahh at the wonders of the State Fair.  And if there is a tilt-a-whirl, I’m on it!
 
The same joy of being with my tribe that I experience with the family at the fair, is possible in our family of faith.  It’s so fun to see the family return from busy summer schedules to gather as our tribe and grow together in our love of God and our love of God’s people.  The oohs and ahhs will come on Promotion Sunday (formerly Rally Sunday) on September 8th and at the first Wednesday Night Live on September 11th.  Mark your calendars now so you don’t miss out!
 
See you at church for all the family fun, all the growing in faith, all the unexpected blessings of being with our tribe!

 





Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink


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Weekly Memo: Help your Faith find Legs

8/15/2019

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Dear Friends
 
A couple weeks ago now, I came to Sunday morning with a message that wasn’t going to be enough.  We had witnessed the mass shooting in El Paso the day before and woke up to news of the mass shooting in Dayton.  The message God was tugging at me to preach wasn’t exactly what I had prepared.  Grumbling, grieving and unsure, I came into the church early that morning to add words to my already prepared message that dealt with the events of the weekend.  Those words culminated in four questions to ponder:  What if we acted?  What if our thoughts were matched with protests?  What if our prayers were accompanied by purposeful actions?  What if our faith grew legs?
 
I wanted to act.  I have decided how I am going to act when it comes time to vote for candidates.  But I wanted to do more.  There could be a hundred valid excuses why I didn’t do more in that week that followed, but none of those are important now.  The truth is, I didn’t take any of the concrete actions I wanted to take that week.  Only later in the week did I hear about the demonstration on the steps of the capital and wished I had been there.
 
That morning there were guests in worship.  They had a very different response to the movement of the Holy Spirit among us that day.  They heard the questions and were compelled to respond.  They drove down to the capital that Wednesday.  They did not carry placards or signs.  Instead they carried the love of God and a spirit of determination, and they stood silently as a witness to the need for something to be done to stop these deadly mass shootings that are plaguing our nation.  Their faith grew legs and they acted!
 
So today I want to offer you a way to respond in faith that will help your faith grow legs!  Follow this link from UMC Church & Society to ask our elected officials to pass background checks legislation   I did it today and the letter of encouragement went specifically to my elected officials. 
 
If that is not your thing, that’s fine.  I encourage you to find some way to offer more love, stand in protest, speak out or act out.  Do something to respond  It will change your life!  It will change all of our lives!  And when you have done something to help your feet grow legs around our nation’s sin of gun violence, tell me your story.  I am grateful to hear about the variety of ways faith grows legs!
 
If you are in town this weekend, join me as we look at what it means to persevere even when life throws a curve at us!  I’ll see you in worship!
Blessings,






Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink



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Weekly Memo: Mature Faith -- What's Needed?

8/8/2019

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Dear Friends in Faith,
 
Tuesday morning I was putting away the clean dishes from the dishwasher.  Because I bring my lunch to work many days, and for a variety of reasons, we have a lot of plastic storage containers in the dishwasher.  I leave them until the end to put away.  Why? Have you seen the cabinet they are supposed to go in?  It's ridiculous, honestly.  I have so many that my best effort in putting them away is to open the door, throw them in, and push the door shut fast before they all come tumbling out.
 
Excess is just that, isn't it?  Excess!  More than we need.  More than we can actually manage or take care of in our lives.  
 
Sometimes our excess is as simple as plastic storage containers.  Sometimes it’s schedules that leave no breathing and being room.  Sometimes it’s toys we were able to buy as adults that we now have to care for, not just enjoy.  Sometimes it’s the food we eat and the health concerns associated with that excess. 
 
Maturing spiritually sometimes involves acknowledging our places of excess and growing in our relationship to those things.  When we live in excess, we live with a broken relationship with God, who wants us to rely on God for the things we need in life.  When we hold on to excess because we live in scarcity, we live with the need to feel important, or we live with the reality of over-indulging, we say to God, “No thank you, I’ll take care of this without you.”
 
I know it’s just plastic storage containers, but it represents so much more.  So as part of my maturing spiritually, I’m tackling the plastic storage containers this weekend!  What are you going to tackle in order to mature in your faith and grow closer to God in Jesus?
 
In worship this weekend we are going to explore how the decision to mature can change our lives.  If you are in town, I’ll see you in worship!
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Weekly Memo: Say 'Yes' to god and be blessed

8/1/2019

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Dear Friends
 
Last night Chad and I were able to take in a preview of the world premiere of Floyd’s at the Guthrie. Chad’s middle son, Matt, is a lead carpenter for the Guthrie and was able to treat us with complimentary tickets. This play wasn’t on our must see list at all.  We knew nothing about it.  But we responded with a resounding “yes” to free tickets. The play was amazing. I am still churning over its impact on me.  I’m grateful when Matt offers us tickets to performances we aren’t thinking about going to, because, inevitably, when we respond with a “yes,” the play blesses us in ways we had not expected.
 
Nine years ago today my oldest daughter, Abby, left for her first mission trip. She was only 12, just barely old enough. She and the youth group from our church took an exotic mission trip experience to St. Paul (we lived in Rochester at the time). I am so glad that she responded to God with a “yes” for that first mission trip, because it has blessed her and others in innumerable ways. It began a journey of serving in mission that has taken her across the United States and into Mexico. 
 
I remember my first mission trip when I was 17. I wasn’t sure I would be able to do the physical things asked of me.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to travel that far from home. I wasn’t sure. But when another youth group shared their experience and invited our youth group to the same, we responded with “yes.” And today I am remembering the dear saint, Barney, who made that trip with us and was a spiritual mentor for me as he led our small work group. Barney passed away last night…I grieve with his family. But I know for certain that the experience blessed me and Barney.  The two of us, though never together again, have served in missions around the world.
 
What spiritual experiences are waiting for your “yes” response? Where has someone invited you to experience something about Jesus that you have hesitated to respond “yes” to?  Where is God nudging at your heart?
 
This I have come to know:  when I respond “yes” to a spiritual experience that isn’t on my “must do” list, I am usually deep blessed. I trust that is universal. God is waiting to bless you. How do you need to respond “yes” to God now, so that God can bless you?
 
If you are in town this weekend, respond “yes” to worship. You will be blessed as we explore the third decision that will change your life…THE DECISION TO RESPOND!
 
I’ll see you Sunday!

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Pastor Becky Jo
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15050 Scenic Heights Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
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