Sunday, July 19: Sunday's worship will be a Service of Hymns, led by our musicians and worship leaders. A great opportunity to learn a little more about a few hymns so familiar to you. Fellowship will be shared following the service. You are asked to wear a mask or face covering and practice social distancing and hygiene protocols.
Monday, July 20, 5:30 pm: Bible Study You are welcome to join in with your questions and thoughts. Masks, social distancing and hygiene protocols are observed.
A team of people in the church is forming to explore how we might begin Wednesday "Grill's On" picnics in a safe and healthy manner. If you are interested in being part of this conversation, please contact the church.
Community Events coming up:
Saturday, July 25: Ruby's Pantry at Mission Creek Church, 521 131st Avenue W., 11 am-12:30 pm.
Saturday, August 8: Western Garden Tour & Continental Breakfast-to-Go, Norton Park UMC, 436 N. 79th Avenue W. Cost is $10 day of tour only. For more information, call Kathy at 218-590-1964,
From Pastor Paul: Toward Sunday
…for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. ~ Matthew 13:29
Kind of cool to be sending out a commentary on my birthday. I'm tempted to write a spiritual reflection on this last voyage of mine around the sun, but there's another voyage more immediate on my mind today.
As I write this (a few days early), I anticipate that on my birthday I will be in or around the Targhee National Forest in Idaho, watching the sunset reflect in gold and pink hues off the snow-covered peaks of the Grand Teton range. More specifically, I anticipate that I will be eating a giant baked potato, loaded up with goodies from a salad bar, at a little restaurant in Ashton, Idaho. And from there, it is southwest to the Sawtooth Range, where a series of alpine lakes, dotted in the midst of snow-covered peaks, have invited me back to the place where I turned twenty-one years old. There I hope (not anticipate, really, but hope…we'll see what God has in store) that I can be reminded of that awake young man I was back then, full of curiosity and questions, easily pleased by new experiences and eager to jump into the next chapter of my life.
These little – seemingly selfish – details matter here. Here's the other way I could have written that first paragraph: I'm heading out. I need to get away for a bit. There are a lot of issues going on with family and children and transitions in life. I feel myself starting to get anxious and crabby and just need to get it all together. And the church has less in-person requirements than it has since I've been here, and I never know what the future holds, or if I will have the same health and resources to take this trip, so why not do it now?
Hear the difference? The first is focusing on the YES, while the second focuses on the NO. I'll be honest, the thoughts in the second paragraph are the ones that sparked the idea of heading out there, but as a faith discipline, I try my best to turn every NO to a YES, and in so doing begin to center on joyful, not painful, memories. Happy experiences instead of things I would like to forget.
I think I say almost every week (in some form) that God is with you all the time and wants you to feel God's grace and love. God wants you to be happy and thrive.
So: it only makes sense to turn all of the negatives into positive ones. This is not meant to be a light and simple message of ponies and kittens and rainbows, though. This is to remind you that it takes practice and requires discipline. I couldn't have made that shift from the NO in paragraph two to the YES in paragraph one, without practice. Without prayer.
Try it on in your faith life. If you need a hand getting going, give me a call or stop by for a chat. (Note: I'll most likely be out of cell range from Saturday through next Thursday.) I'd be more than happy to tell you how God led me in this faith discipline. I'd be more than happy to walk with you, the same.
Keep in touch, friends
Pastor Paul
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' But he replied, 'No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, 'Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!"