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

Dear Friends, 
I wonder about the bent-over woman described in the 13 Chapter of the Gospel according to Luke. She had been bent over, unable to walk upright, for 18 years. I cannot imagine what life would have been like, not being able to look people in the eye, constantly staring at the ground, encountering life one set of feet at a time. She could only engage life from the knees down. I don’t know about you, but I don’t often notice this part of the world around me. I am looking up at the trees and the sky and the birds.  I look up (because I’m short!) into people’s eyes. It’s rare that I notice what is low to the ground, except when I am walking and not wanting to trip.
 
But this bent-over woman noticed what was low to the ground. It’s all she had. That means that she saw the animals scurrying around her.  It means that she could look children in the eye easily. It means that she could see and engage the world in a way that we only do when we work at it intentionally; when we sit on the ground to play with children, or reach down to snuggle our pets, or notice the ground on which we are walking for our own safety.
 
The woman encounters Jesus, and she is healed by him. She was able to stand upright. She was able to look people in the eye again. She was able to notice the blue of the sky and the color of the leaves and the movement of the flying birds. But I wonder about this bent-over, now healed, woman. After she was healed and able to stand upright, did she ever again see what was lower to the ground?
 
During this pandemic season I hear us longing for life to get back to “normal.” We say that while having a deep awareness that what is “normal” will be forever changed. But I wonder about when things “get back to normal.” I wonder if we will be able to see the things that we have had to notice during the pandemic. Will we look in one another’s eyes as intently as we do when there’s a mask across the mouth? Will we find as much delight in taking a picnic lunch to the park to meet up with friends and family? Will we make fewer trips for errands than we used to because we found that all that running around only made life more complicated? Will we lean into that reality that sometimes an online encounter will suffice when we need the space for family and loved ones and ourselves?
 
I want to believe the bent-over woman still noticed the ants on the ground, even when she was able to watch the birds soar. I want to believe she delighted in looking adults in the eye while never passing up a chance to kneel down and engage a child face to face. And I want to believe that there are parts of this pandemic season that have fundamentally changed for the better how we will engage one another and the world around us. 
 
As you continue to live through this pandemic season, may you lean into a new normal that brings health and wholeness. And may you find a delight in it.
 
Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink

Dear Friends,
 
What a lovely night for an outdoor worship service!  It was a deep delight to actually be with some of the family of EPUMC last night. We sang (though briefly and through our masks). We worshiped together. We soaked in the community we had been missing. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen (it took a lot of people doing their individual tasks!) and to everyone who came to worship. It was a delightful evening. 
​
 
B.E. L.O.V.E
We are launching a new series in September and we need your help. We are looking for your unique and creative pictures of YOU making a heart with your hands (or with your hand and someone else’s hand). Use your creativity.  There can be something you love in the opening of your heart, or something that makes it artistic and beautiful from your perspective. We could search the internet for such pictures, but we would love to have YOUR hands in the pictures.  It will be the hands of the family of faith at EPUMC demonstrating B.E. L.O.V.E.  You can send your pictures to Becky in the office (office@prairiechurch.org). Maybe take this holiday weekend to create a few pictures and email them to the church!
 
You may have noticed the “Save the Date” notice in the newsletter for Rally Day. This year the staff and leadership of the church chose to delay our typical Rally Day excitement. We wanted to give families a chance to settle into their school routine before we launched any additional programming for families. Wednesday Night Live will look different.  There are plans for exciting additions to our on-demand Sunday School. We are thrilled about the opportunities coming for children and youth. The Grow Team invites you to save the date of October 4th at 1 PM for a socially distanced and fun Rally Day experience in our church parking lot. Following Rally Day, we will launch some Wednesday Night Live-ish programs for children and youth. 
 
We are here to serve you, to connect you to one another and to grow your love of Jesus. That has not changed. But, as with most things in our lives these days, how we deliver those opportunities has changed. Our commitment to you and your family remains steadfast. Thank you for all the ways you are engaging in community, worship and growth through EPUMC.
 
As always, this weekend provides you an opportunity for Bible Study (Sunday at 8:15 AM on Zoom), for Fellowship and Prayers (Sunday at 9:30 AM on Zoom), for on-demand Sunday School (on the private EPUMC Sunday School page – email Rachel for access), and for a special children’s message (available on our website). Worship is ALWAYS available on our website.  I hope you will find your time this weekend to join us for worship online.  Consider inviting a friend personally or inviting friends through sharing a link on social media. You are the best witnesses to Jesus possible. I encourage you to witness through invitation in this season when folks are looking for more meaning and purpose in their lives and just waiting for someone to show them the way.
 
Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink