
We are Showing Up. It is difficult to measure what showing up really means; our numbers are very good, beyond expectations, and yet showing up includes something more than attendance. Showing UP is also how everyone shows up. You could say that when we are together, we are engaged with our church family. Or that when we show up, no matter when, we have fun, and by fun I mean that we are genuine, real with each other. Or maybe what best describes what I mean is that most everyone who shows up wants to be here.
We are Stepping UP! When you want to be some place, when you are engaged and can be yourself, it naturally follows that you want to be more connected, more involved. And that is what is happening at EPUMC this year. There are so many of you who are saying “yes” to stepping up and taking on projects, being a part of different teams and saying yes to leadership.
There is important news about how many of us are stepping up financially. Our treasurer tells us that we are tracking to come very close to breaking even on our budget. Remember this includes a substantial deficit in our planning for income and expenses at the beginning of the year. This news includes paying off the small loan we took out to cover the cash flow of our capital campaign. That right there deserves a big WOW! And THANK YOU! And a “Keep Stepping UP!”
We are also Setting Up those who are yet to arrive. Perhaps the most important thing about this wonderful gift of community God has given us is that we understand this gift is meant to be shared. We are preparing our space and our times together for those who have yet to arrive. This includes all our friends and neighbors and others looking for a church family. This year it also includes setting up a new pastor, a new director of worship and a new Children’s Ministry director to be able to arrive in July and bring their best gifts to be a part of what God is doing at EPUMC.
This Sunday we’ll have our traditional pancake breakfast. The pancake breakfast is a celebration, a time to Show Up… It’s also a time for you to continue to Step Up. This week you will receive a Financial Fitness report in the mail. As a part of that, we’ve included a card that asks you to estimate or pledge financially what you will offer to God through EPUMC in 2019. Bring it with you to church or mail it in. And then we will celebrate together how we are Setting UP a future that includes, if you will allow me to mix mantras… helping others to experience how
Pastor Dan