Monday, September 2: Lectionary study cancelled this Monday for Labor Day.
Wednesday, September 4:~ Women’s Fellowship, 1:30 pm, Fellowship Hall. All women are invited to attend.~ Grill’s On, 5:30 pm – ? Bring your lawn chair, something to grill or a side, a friend or neighbor. We’ll move indoors if the weather is too cold or rainy.
Sunday, September 8: Morgan Park all class reunion. Reunion-goers invited to worship at UPC before heading to the DECC.
Christian Education beginning soon! We’re working on the final details for a planning meeting in the next week or so. If you are interested in lending a hand, or have some resources that we would value, we would love to hear from you!
Choir Practice: 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 6:00 pm. Everyone who likes to sing is welcome.
History Work Days: 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 10:00 am. All are welcome to help sort and organize. Last week, some very interesting letters from around 1920 were found. They included offers and negotiations with Rev. Ramshaw to accept call as UPC minister.
Looking Ahead:~ Friday, September 13, 7:00 pm: Concert by Finnish kantele group “Kardemimmit” at UPC, sponsored by Finlandia Foundation Northland. Cost is $10/adult, children free.
From Pastor Paul: Toward Sunday Well, I’m a schoolboy again…no “big man on campus” to be sure (never was, never wanted to be!), and certainly not now because these days the courses are taken online, with a camera, a headset, and microphone. Those that haven’t done this, well, just picture a video screen on the computer, with twenty or so people’s heads in small squares filling the screen. For my part, my computer’s camera makes my nose look big, but I can live with that (after all, if you want a good laugh, ask to see the new photo for my driver’s license). I’m taking classes in the field of Addiction Studies. I’ve found this to be a great need in the ministry I do on a daily basis here at UP. See, when I have a drunk or an addict show up at the church, I don’t just call the cops, but rather invite them in, offer them food, and talk to them. Some never come back, intimidated, perhaps, and my direct nature of wanting to provide realistic and tangible help, but some do, and come back often. Word has gotten out, I suppose, but I’m an open-minded guy, willing to take the time to talk, and willing to lend a hand of support to their own desires to make their lives better. We are a people of resurrection, and we are called to practice resurrection in our daily lives. I believe that with every fiber of my being! At any rate, classes are in the evening, ending at nine p.m., and being too late for coffee, I need to find something that can help me stay awake. So on my breaks, I took to playing the organ. Now…I have no talent on the keyboard (let’s emphasize the word “play” here), but I have serenaded the empty sanctuary with the most thoughtful and sensitive versions of “chopsticks” and “heart and soul” that I can muster, and must admit I’ve tried my memory on a few of those 1980’s rock anthems…but it works to keep me awake! I try all the sounds, all the buttons (and please note: I am sure to put them back to how I found them when I am done). For those of you that know anything about the organ, here goes: I discovered the magical pedal. You know, the one that takes a single note and makes you sound like you are playing with twenty-five fingers? I call it the “swell” pedal. Occasionally, it even heads toward “great.” That one pedal, I tell you, can make even this chopstick tappin’ pastor sound right groovy on the keys! Something new. Swell. Will I ever be any good? Dunno. But…Am I done learning? Oh no no no! Are you? Take a moment here…and think about some of the things that you “always wanted to do” but never had a chance to learn. Or perhaps the interests that you set aside in deference to other responsibilities (work, children, etc.) – or perhaps because you saw someone better than you and you never thought you could achieve that status… What was it? And are you still interested? And can your church community be supportive? Was it art? Because we have folks here very interested in creating works of art in all styles and mediums. Was it music? We have a lot of three-chord strummers, developing singers, and chopstick-playing keyboardists eager to put together and share. Gardening? We’ll hit the ground running in the spring. Teaching? Christian education is returning. Public Speaking? I’d love to have other voices be heard in the microphone than my own. Counseling or care-taking? There is deep need and you can be coached easily. Computers and Technology? Geesh! Of course! Technology? Wanna dive in and be a geek like me? There is…oh…so…much! “Go and sit down at the lowest place” says Jesus in our Gospel for Sunday (Luke 14), “so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.'” This doesn’t just apply to table manners. We enter humble, with our limited gifts, to any situation in life…but we are a people that know that hope and curiosity and creativity are much better things to focus our lives on than fear, insecurity, and solitude. Come on in…be creative…move up higher.
Let’s talk!
Pastor Paul