APRIL GLENNON HEIGHTS MENNONITE CHURCH 2017

Transcription

1 NEWS & NOTES APRIL GLENNON HEIGHTS MENNONITE CHURCH 2017 April 2-9 Family Promise rotation April 16 Easter Sunday! Breakfast, 9:00 a.m. Worship service, 10:00 a.m. April 29 MSMC Faith and Life Forum, 9:00-noon Beth-El Mennonite Church, Colorado Springs July 4-8 Mennonite Church USA Convention Orlando, Florida July 9-16 Family Promise rotation August 4-6 MSMC Annual Assembly Larkspur, CO September 9-10 Annual Church Retreat Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp April is National Volunteer Month. It is fitting that we start it off with another Family Promise rotation (April 2-9). It takes a lot of us (+/- 30!) to pull this off along with folks from Lakewood Christian Church and First Mennonite. Congregations that are much larger than ours have a hard time gathering that many volunteers. The fact that we do this four times/year is no small thing. What a difference it makes for families who are temporarily homeless. In recent months there has been an upsurge of interest in volunteering in our society. Claire Mattoon told the Faithful Response Support Group that at the library where she works there s been an explosion of tutors for folks learning English. This is happening in other places, too. People are concerned that as a country we are becoming more fearful and mean and they don t want that to happen. They re looking for ways to build up their communities, to open their hearts and share what they have. This is a wonderful impetus, guided and inspired, I know, by the Holy Spirit. Writing in the March 13 issue of the Mennonite World Review, Hillary Watson says that in order for us to be able to stay sane and centered as we work for change in the world around us, we have to engage in domestic activism. This is bringing change in our smallest social sphere. Reorienting our households to the values we believe in. Bringing cookies to new neighbors. Volunteering in your child s classroom. Reading an inspiring book with your spouse. Transferring your money to a credit union. This is domestic activism, but at its core it is ethics drawing our actions closer to our beliefs in a sustained, habitual way. These are spiritual 1

2 BIRTHDAYS: 8 - Anita Landis-Eigsti 9 - Thoreau Hale 9 - Anna Unruh 11 - Samuel Graber-McCrae 22 - Merritt Welty 28- Emily Yoder-Horst Adult Sunday School schedule April 2017 April 2: Intergenerational gathering April 9: Palm Sunday no Sunday School April 16: Easter Sunday no Sunday School April 23: Holistic stewardship: A three-legged stool, led by Dennis LeFevre April 30: The Bible Story - Salvation History, led by Bruce McCrae From the Pastor, continued disciplines that root us in a sense of God s love and our own createdness. Hillary shares what she has been doing to stay grounded in a time of heightened anxiety about the state of our country and the world: I am returning to the practice of writing poetry. Trying new recipes in the kitchen. Learning the patient practice of fermentation. Getting together with friends and trading little inspirations. Increasing the donations column in my household budget, giving more and more intentionally. Going on regular walks. Taking time outside, no matter the temperature. Birdwatching as the early spring migration begins. Learning to identify who is moving into the neighborhood. An intentional focus on what is good, what is close, and seeing what is life-giving in our immediate environment gives us the grounding we need as we open our lives to others. As we move outward, attention to the small things is still very important. Remember what Pope Francis said when asked how to respond to homeless folks asking for money. Give freely, he said. Don t worry too much about whether or not they will use the money well. But when you give, look people in the eyes, connect with them, touch them. Let them know that you recognize them as fellow human beings. Interact always on a human scale. This is what makes a difference. Our involvement with Family Promise happens on a human scale. We ve been given an opportunity to focus in on parents and children who just need a bit of friendly support to make it through the day, the week. We aren t asked to solve their problems, we re just asked to care for them while they re with us, giving of ourselves and our time freely, and paying attention, always, to where God is at work among us. Thank you for volunteering. Your pastor, 2

3 Restore us, O God! Lent 2017 Our world is filled with many voices and distractions that call us away from God violence and fear, consumerism and materialism, hectic schedules and constant busyness, to name just a few. As Christians we are not immune to the side effects of living in this environment and can feel afraid, filled both with doubt and an inner restlessness. So what is an antidote to this perpetual bombardment? We have entered and are living in the season of Lent. Lent is a 40-day period in the Christian calendar that provides a chance to step back and create space, offering opportunities for reflection. It is a time to repent, to renew our commitment to God s ways, and to empty ourselves of what distracts us from hearing God s voice. Lent is often referred to as a wilderness, a space where the familiar is stripped away and we face our brokenness. Jesus began his ministry alone in the wilderness, where he faced temptation, fasted and prayed. The scripture texts of this Lenten season contain a call to be restored. We have been invited to enter into this Lenten journey of new life. This is not a journey of perfection, but one where we face both the limits of our humanity and our need for divine transformation. Restore us, O God! Lenten theme song: You are all we have, STJ 29 Lent #5, April 2, 2017 Restore us, O God! We wait. Scripture passages: Psalm 130; John 11:1-45 Focus statement: Sometimes life is a mess. Things go wrong. Things are wrong. We don t know what to do to make it right. The Holy Spirit bids us, wait. Wait for the Lord. Wait in expectation. Wait for restoration. It will come, in God s time. Palm Sunday, April 9, 2017 Walking with Jesus through Holy Week Scripture passages: From Matthew 21, 23, 26, 27 and John 13:3-17 Worship service: It was on readings from Stages on the Way by the Iona Community Wild Goose Worship Group interspersed with scripture and song. Sharing the Last Supper and washing each other s hands. Easter Sunday! April 16, 2017 Christ is risen! Breakfast at 9:00 a.m. Worship at 10:00 a.m. Scripture passages: Psalm 118:14-24 and Matthew 28:1-10 Message title: Balance restored Alleluia! 3

4 The Future Church Summit: Encountering God in the unexpected By Mennonite Church USA on Mar 29, :06 am The Future Church Summit (FCS) will take place July 6-8, at the Mennonite Church USA convention in Orlando. It will be a generative, open space for denomination-wide conversation to dream together, reset priorities and engage one another in answering the question: How will we follow Jesus as Anabaptists in the 21st century? Leading up to the summit we invite you to reflect on our shared history, what being Anabaptist means for you and your hopes for the Future Church Summit. Iris de León-Hartshorn is director of Transformational Peacemaking for Mennonite Church USA. explore the moral imagination as the capacity to imagine something rooted in the challenges of the real world yet capable of giving birth to that which does not yet exist. John Paul Lederach, The Moral Imagination In his book, Lederach refers to Romans 8:22, We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now, encouraging us to be open to the unexpected and finding the doors that open up to something we could not have imagined alone. The Future Church Summit for me is about encountering God in the unexpected and finding a way forward for the church. As a member of the Theme Team for the summit, I ll be gathering the dreams, ideas and passions of the 700-1,000 people attending the summit. A few weeks ago, we did a trial run of the FCS with the Constituency Leaders Council, and I can t explain the excitement that I experienced as I listened to people engaging with each other, telling their stories and dreams for the church. Their ideas and dreams started to trickle into the Theme Team. And then the pace started to pick up, and we were off and running. I can t even tell you the excitement I felt just reading what people were sharing. As our team of six began to work at discerning recurring themes, we started to see places of unexpected concurrence, and I could feel God s spirit among us. (cont d) 4

5 I have been working as a facilitator for many years, and I d be the first to tell you no process is perfect, but I believe God is calling us to be faithful and open to a path that we may not be able to yet imagine. I find hope and anticipate God s wonder in the midst of our human messiness. It might be difficult to allow ourselves to let go of our preconceived ideas and dream together. But we have a choice to make: we can enter this process in fear that we might lose, or we can enter with our imaginations open to see the realities of our challenges while being open to something we have not yet seen. I pray we choose a posture of openness to God s spirit and are willing to enter into the summit with expectation and wonder. Our hope is that we will have many places of engagement to hear from youth and the many people attending Orlando. I want to encourage you: when you find places to engage in the Future Church Summit, do it. The more dreams, ideas and passion we are able to gather, the fuller picture we can create of where God is moving us. We find ourselves at a crossroads both within our church and with our current culture in the world. Division is a matter of fact, but there has developed a culture of encouraging division among people and groups of people. Many institutions are fragile and that includes the Christian church. We, as part of the communion of Christians, will need to make choices that help shape another narrative a narrative of hope, love and our commitment in following Jesus. And in our world s present culture this narrative is going counter to what we are being told. We are at a place where we need to seek God deeply, listen to each other in love, and be open to follow Jesus in unexpected ways. The Future Church Summit process is one way for us to engage in birthing something different that we desperately need. It is on the verge of being revealed if we are open to see it. The post The Future Church Summit: Encountering God in the unexpected appeared first on Mennonite Church USA. 5

6 MYF Pie Auction! 6

7 7

8 April 2017 Calendar April 2-9 Family Promise Rotation Sunday, April 2 Easter choir practice, 8:30 9:15 am Tuesday, April 4 Bipolar/Depression support group, 7 pm Sunday, April 9 Easter choir practice, 8:30 9:15 am Faithful Response group meeting, 11:30 am Monday, April 10 Outreach team meeting at Doris, 7 pm Tuesday, April 11 Sister Care Session, 7 pm Saturday, April 15 Men s breakfast, 9 am Sunday, April 16 Easter brunch, 9 am Easter worship, 10 am Tuesday, April 18 Daytime Mennonite Women, 9:30 am Bipolar/Depression support group, 7 pm Wednesday, April 26 Elders meeting, 7 pm Saturday, April 29 MSMC Faith & Life Forum, Beth-El Mennonite Church, 9 am - noon GLENNON HEIGHTS MENNONITE CHURCH ghmc@comcast.net W. Virginia Ave. Lakewood, CO Pastor Betsy Headrick McCrae ghmc.betsy@comcast.net ; Cell Hours: Tuesday Friday 8:00 am 4:00 pm Kate Rempel Administrative Assistant Office Hours: Tuesday, 8 am 2 pm Friday, 8 am 2 pm Our Mission To be a faithful community of Jesus Christ Our Vision Empowered by the Holy Spirit, We envision growth; building a community of faith which practices constructive responses to conflict; and, in a world driven by fear, promoting a Christian voice of love and nonviolence. NEWS & NOTES Compiled by Betsy Headrick McCrae and Kate Rempel Layout by Kate Rempel 8