This Sunday we’re having a Picnic at church following worship. Wear comfortable clothes, hope for great weather and make plans to stay for a little while. EPUMC will provide the hot dogs, and we’re asking those of you who can, to bring a salad or a dessert. I want to thank everyone who responded to this request this past Sunday via our brand new, invitation to ministry tear-off in the bulletin. We got quite a few responses.
Watch for this new section of our bulletin where each week you will be invited to pray for a need or function of our church and one or two other ways in which you can respond. We have boxes where you can check off what you are willing to do in the coming week. Then we’ll ask you to tear off the section of the bulletin and put it in the offering plate. This week you’re invited to pray for one of the three families of the four children being baptized this Sunday. You’ll be encouraged to bring jars of peanut butter for PROP (we have a goal of something like 400) and /or to contact Deb Soderholm to find out how easy it is to help out at our Sunday School.
Don, Deb, Andrew and I are hoping to make this a more permanent part of our Sunday morning experience. We’ll have other announcements about other mission opportunities and activities of our church, but every week we hope to focus on the three in that box. We believe there is something to focusing our commitment as a congregation. You can check as few or as many boxes at one time as you like.
I was thinking about this focus the other day when talking about what it meant to be an intimate congregation. Somebody, who told me it was OK to use this thought but didn’t need her name publicized, was pointing out that intimacy not only means that we are small enough to care, but that we also need each other to show up so we can make a difference. These opportunities that you’ll be asked to contemplate doing each week are an attempt at focusing our lives together. They will, we hope, define what it is that makes us Big Enough to Make a Difference, Small Enough to Care on any given week.
If you want to sign or otherwise comment, we’re going to leave a space for that but you don’t have to. If you’re worried about making noise or tearing in a straight line… don’t. Perhaps waiting until after the silent prayer is a good choice. We hope soon to have something that will make it easier for you to quietly tear straight.
See you at the picnic. Say, would somebody save me one or two of the kinda burnt hot dogs, I really like those.
Sunday, July 12 Baptism Sunday
Sermon: “We Care an Awful Lot about how We Look”
Scripture: Ruth 2:1-11 (selected verses)
Music: Summer Choir
Fellowship: All-Church Picnic
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