Monday, August 26: Bible Study, 6 pm – Join Pastor Paul for a first look at the Lectionary texts for the following Sunday. This is a time for questions and conversation in our lives of faith – and your participation greatly assists in creating a meaningful sermon for Sunday.
Wednesday, August 28:~ History Team meets at 10 am (2nd & 4th Wednesdays). Join us as we lift up our past and make sure our memories are well preserved. ~ Grill’s On, 5:30 pm – ? NOTE that beginning August 28, “Grill’s On” is moving from Thursdays to Wednesdays. Bring your lawn chair, something for the grill or a side, a neighbor or friend, and enjoy the fellowship. If the weather does not cooperate, we will move indoors.
Looking Ahead:~ Wednesday, September 4: Women’s Fellowship meets at 1:30 pm, Fellowship Hall. All women are welcome to attend.~ Sunday, September 8: Morgan Park all class reunion. Reunion-goers are invited to worship at UPC before heading to the DECC.~ 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 Hate to repeat myself, but this “pray with a lamp, not a flashlight” guidance from God that I keep talking about has been an awesome thing recently. Oh, you remember: the notion that we should pray for this very moment in life, with God’s illumination in this single moment, this single step (as if illuminated by a lantern) can be more effective than looking at length into our future or back in our past (as if illuminated by a flashlight).Pastor “Scoops” VanAntwerp here, reporting some examples: Thursday picnics: We start humble and small, maybe 10 of us…in late spring. We step forward. Trust God. As of last Thursday, we end up with 30 people and a freezer full of meat (all donated). Community members have been engaged in our ministry, and have received an understanding that we are good and kind and welcoming people. All indications are that this ministry will continue to grow, should we follow God’s guide into the upcoming season. Thanks God! OK now…Next step? In this Pastor/Reporter’s own life: I pray “God I am working daily with people suffering from addiction, but I only know so much. How do I make sure I’m helping them right?” God guides me with the single step of seeking some continuing education in the field of Addiction Studies. OK God! I step forward, with the scarcity of time and money lurking in my shadows and trying to paralyze me with fear. A day later, I hear about a scholarship. I apply, and funding arrives in the form of a state scholarship to make this affordable. Thanks God! (I begin classes Tuesday)…Next step? Christian Education: We need to re-energize our Sunday School program? Scarcity in the shadows? You betcha! But I’m following the pattern, and off we’ll go with six or so kids. Step forward. With hope. Thanks God! This is to tell you (or to remind you what you already know): change is a slow process, in each of our souls and certainly in institutions and ministries and God’s call. And change is often made more difficult by our difficulty in seeing God’s presence in this…just this…step in our lives. But God is there, illuminating this step of life, should you choose to look at the step that is immediately in front of you and not far into the distant future or past. And God will be in that next step. And the one after that. Before we know it, lo and behold we are walking God’s path, yes, that same path we’ve always made big picture statements about wanting to walk. No matter how it happened in the past, or might happen in the future, let us be content that, with God’s guidance, it is happening right now!
Let’s talk,
Pastor Paul