Weekly Reminders
SUNDAY:
Worship at 10:30. Third Sunday in Lent. A message of
hope in a time of fear. Fellowship downstairs to follow.
MONDAY: Bible Study at 6pm. Join Pastor Paul as
we explore this week’s scripture in the lectionary and bring it into our lives
and faith. Questions encouraged. Stories honored. Eye-rolls for the Pastor’s
tangents accepted.
WEDNESDAY
“Grill’s On!” Community Potluck 5-7pm
Join us in the
Fellowship Hall as we share a community meal together. Friends and strangers
welcome! As always, bring what you have, or just bring yourself. There is
always enough!
Choir Practice at 6:00. NOTE: Choir will be meeting every
Wednesday through Lent in preparation for Holy Week. All interests and skill
levels welcome to join us!
THURSDAY: AA Meets in the Fellowship Hall, 7pm.
COMMUNITY:
Sunday March 22nd: Norton Park UMC
Chicken Parmesan Dinner—12-2pm
A number of church folk are attending
this event, and (per Norton Park) we are welcome to bring additional guests
without reservations if we like. Join us! Worried about cost? Contact Pastor
Paul!
A Look Ahead:
Holy Week at United Protestant Church
Wednesday, April 8: Easter Egg
coloring (for kids and community), 5-7 pm (during community potluck)
Thursday, April 9: Maundy Thursday Gathering, 6 pm
A humble gathering and conversation to center us for our
most important story.
Friday, April 10: Good Friday:
Stations of the Cross Driving Tour (details to be announced)
Good Friday Ecumenical Service, 7 pm Our Savior’s Lutheran
Church, 4831 Grand Avenue West Duluth clergy and congregations will share in worship.
Note: Our church will be hosting the first stop on the
“Stations of the Cross” Driving Tour and YOUR CREATIVE ENERGY IS
REQUESTED.
Want to lend a hand? Contact Pastor Paul!
Saturday, April 11: Easter Egg Hunt Watch
for more details.
Sunday, April 12: Easter Service, 10:30 am (Breakfast
at 9 am). Watch for more details
From Pastor Paul, Toward Sunday:
“…and the doors of the house where the
disciples had met were locked for fear…”
–John
20:19 (excerpt)
WARNING—PASTOR
NERD WORDS AHEAD: Here’s a fun phrase I don’t get to say very often: “I’m
picking a particular part of a pericope.” In other words, I’m only quoting a
small part of a Bible verse, leaving the rest of the text behind—an exegetical
choice that I normally squint cautiously at because, when combined with
demonstrative proclamation in print or sermon from a so-called figure of
authority, it can run the risk of missing the big picture, in service instead
to nit-picking words in the Bible that justify a particular ideology or notion that
said “authority” wishes to make cultivate and spread. In other words: I’m
thinking that the Bible shouldn’t support what I want to say, rather, I should
support what the Bible has to say to me. We can pick and choose words in the
Bible to justify almost anything we want. Plenty have done it. Plenty have
caused great harm in the name of Christianity. Let us all remember to take the
message as a whole.
But hey, back
to “picking particular parts of a pericope”—this time I’m stealing from a
larger narrative of the disciples in the upper room (Jesus appears, Thomas
doubts, etc.) and thought it fitting in this time of the world that we live in.
See: be it “fear of a mob of people that want to hurt you” or “fear of disease
or pandemic”, we often keep our doors locked, and ourselves guarded and wary.
I’m not telling
you that fear is not justified now. I’m not telling you anybody is being
“paranoid”—nor that any of this is “all this is blown out of proportion”. I
don’t know. I have taken time to read and listen and learn, that I may share
with the best of intentions and information, but still: I don’t know.
I do know that
people are afraid, and that people in fear must be honored, because fear is an
honest emotion. I also know (or at least have learned by way of best intention
and information from study and prayer) that Jesus does not want you to live in
fear.
So I’m changing
the church sign today—the sign now once again visible as the snowbanks recede,
with these simple words:
WHAT YOU FEAR
CAN TEACH YOU
WHAT YOU LOVE.
I think that’ll
fit. We’ll see. I’ll be sharing more about this on Sunday, so I’ll spare you
too many words here (I already was a nerdy pastor in the first paragraph!),
save to remind you that God has the last word, and that last word is love. So:
it is our good and holy work as Christians to engage in prayer and work
together that we may turn our fear into love.
Jesus didn’t
appear in that Upper Room saying: “quit hiding you scaredy-cats!” No. He said
“Peace be with you.” And with peace, comes hope, which is our faith’s response
to fear.
So: if there is
enough room and enough tiles, on the bottom of that sign I’ll put:
WORSHIP:
SUNDAY, 10:30
HOPE: EVERY
DAY.
Keep in touch,
friends. We have some creative work toward hope ahead of us.
Pastor Paul