Eden Prairie United Methodist Church
Connect with Us!
  • Home
  • Being Church
    • Crops For PROP
    • Serving Our Neighbors
    • Fellowship >
      • Women's Retreat
  • Children | Youth
    • Nursery
    • Sunday School (Preschool through 7th grade)
    • Especially for Families
    • Rooted (3rd - 4th grade)
    • Vacation Bible School
    • Middle School Youth (Grades 7-8)
    • Confirmation (8th-9th grade)
    • Higher Ground (10th-12th grade)
  • Music
    • Adult Music Opportunities
  • About EPUMC
    • Worship
    • Staff
    • Notes from Pastor Becky Jo
    • Lay Leadership
    • A Reconciling Congregation
    • Tumbleweed Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Annual Report
    • Calendar
  • Prayer
  • Online Giving
  • Contact Us

Weekly Memo: Help your Faith find Legs

8/15/2019

Comments

 
Picture
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



Comments

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2012

    RSS Feed

Connect with us!
office@prairiechurch.org
(952) 937-8781

15050 Scenic Heights Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Picture
Picture