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EPUMC WEEKLY MEMO
You Are WELCOME At EDEN PRAIRIE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Empowered by God's love, we are a community of Christ's disciples, centered in worship and fellowship with:
OPEN HEARTS to live and serve with compassion and to share God's love
OPEN MINDS to seek spiritual formation and encourage each person's faith journey
OPEN DOORS to invite and welcome all to join in discipleship
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Weekly Memo from Prairie Church – June 6, 2010 May
the presence of God’s grace and peace be with you. Teachers and
children are counting the days (and hours) until summer vacation
officially begins. Those graduating from High School do so with
excitement and some anxiety as they begin a new chapter in their lives. This Sunday is “Graduate Recognition”. It is the pattern of our church to invite those graduating from High School to introduce themselves and be recognized in worship. Some of the High School graduates will help lead the worship service. The theme for worship this Sunday is "A Time for Every Season”, based on the following scripture readings: Psalm 104:19-30 and Luke 7:11-17. Graduating Senior, Sarah Jarvis, and Rev. Linda Evans will bring the message based on this theme. Other graduating seniors will also participate in the service: Eli Zink will provide special Offertory Music; Sarah DeYoung will provide Gathering Music; and Kayla Huck will be doing the Children’s Time. The Youth Choir will sing as well. You are invited to greet the graduates at a special reception in Fellowship Hall, immediately following the worship service. This
Sunday we celebrate the sacrament of communion as part of our worship. Summer
Sunday School
begins this Sunday for preschool children through grade four right after
the Children’s Time. This
week, over one thousand Minnesota United Methodists are gathering in St.
Cloud for the “Annual
Conference”
meeting, which will conclude tomorrow afternoon. An update on the
actions taken will be shared in worship on June 13 and at the June
Church Ministry Council meeting. Attending “Annual Conference” this
year from Prairie Church: Whitney Starkey (seminary student), Ginger
Eddy (lay member from our church), Rev. Linda Evans and myself. Here
is a prayer for the graduates: “Gracious
God, in this glorious hour of dreams realized, of goals fulfilled and of
the priceless satisfaction of personal achievement, grant, we pray, to
these graduates and their loved ones, not only the pride of
accomplishment, but also the honest humility of true learning and the
grace of gratitude. Give them the wisdom to know the mind does wonders
but not everything. It takes head, hand and heart to make a person
complete. That in making the most of oneself indeed is giving the best
of oneself. Amen.” I look forward to being in worship with you this Sunday: one worship service, at 9:30 a.m. Keep the faith! Pastor
Mike Miller Weekly Memo from Prairie Church – June 13, 2010 I
believe I heard a collective sigh of relief today as teachers and
students anticipate the final hours of another “school year”. As we
move into these summer days, may you learn and listen for the presence
of God in all people and experiences. This Sunday we welcome new members into the life of our church. We will also “bless and send” the youth mission team as they prepare to travel to New York (Brooklyn) for a week long work team experience, departing early in the morning on June 20. We will also recognize and thank all those who have given time to serve Christ through the Children’s Ministry area of our church, as teachers, shepherds and other leaders. Our
scripture reading for this Sunday is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians
2:15-21. The title of my message, based on this reading is: “Garage
Sale Gospel”. Part
of our worship service will also include an “Affirmation
of Faith” written this spring by the Wednesday evening
“Connect Club”, 3rd and 4th grade children.
They will help lead the affirmation of faith they have written. Last
week the worship services for our Annual Conference Gathering were
coordinated and designed by Dr. Marcia McFee. She planted new seeds of
creativity and visions for worship in the hearts of all who attended The
following prayer comes from one of her books. The prayer uses the image
of our forehead. You will pray it in worship sometime soon. I promise! “O
God, we forget. How quickly we forget the touch of our baptism, the
connection to our call. A wet hand to our forehead, cleansing, anointing
us – connecting us as members of the Body of Christ. We are
so often hesitant to respond. We
forget. We forget the touch of a cool hand to our hot foreheads. We are
reluctant to reach out to touch the blazing fever that rages among your
people. We are afraid, so we retreat, prescribing instead of soothing,
looking and not touching, unconnected. We
forget. We forget what it is like to reflect truthfully about ourselves.
We are unwilling to sit with ourselves, holding our head in our hands,
hesitant to claim your possibilities for us, reluctant to name our sin. Be
with us as a parent who sits with a child: patiently, painfully,
wrapping us in your love and care – even when we refuse to be touched.
Send us your merciful healing. We ask for your grace and peace, that by
it, we might have the courage to stay connected. Amen. Stay connected to your church
family. Stay connected to the Holy One. Remember to Whom you belong!
Join your sisters and brothers in the faith as we gather for worship in
the sanctuary this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Keep
the faith! Pastor
Mike Miller Weekly Memo from Prairie Church – June 20, 2010 Greetings
to you as we move into green, summer growth. The recent rains have kept
our landscape green and our lawns growing with vigor. Happy
Father’s Day to all dads! This Sunday we welcome our new worship accompanist, Kathy Hill as she begins her work among us. The July newsletter will have more information about her interests, her passions and visions for serving in this role. Since I will be on vacation this Sunday, the Rev. Judy Myers will be participating in worship and giving the message. The title of her message, based on Psalm 42, is “TAKE AUTHORITY”. Communion
will also be included in our worship gathering and the “Summer
Choir” will provide worship music. If you wish to sing with
the choir, you may join them for a Sunday morning warm up at 8:45
a.m. in Room 7, (the Music Room). A
“Family Picnic”, planned for
this evening (at the church) has been moved to next Wednesday evening,
June 23, (same time/same place). For further information, contact Deb
Soderholm, Director of Children’s Ministries. Our
recently developed Ministry Plan includes a component on evangelism.
This word conjures up many images, many of them negative. Here is
another way of looking at the work of evangelism or of sharing the Good
News of God’s love: the poem/prayer below is by Ann Weems, titled:
“Cold Water, Hot Coffee” Sometimes
that cup of cold water turns out to be a cup of hot coffee,
and what we’re asked to do is to pour it… and to listen. Sometimes
we Christians in our enthusiasm think we were asked to save the world,
when what we were asked to do is to go into it and tell God’s story
to people in need of some good news. Anxious
activists forget that just listening is an act of compassion. Driven
disciples forget that just listening is an act of faithfulness. Guilty
givers forget that just listening is an act of stewardship. Since
we church people have a tendency to be driven and anxious and
guilt-ridden,
perhaps we should read the directions again and pour a cup of hot coffee
and listen in His name. Stay connected to your church family. Stay connected to the Holy One. Join your sisters and brothers in the faith for worship this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Keep
the faith! Pastor
Mike Miller Weekly Memo from Prairie Church – June 27, 2010 Grace
and peace to you as we come to the last Sunday in June! This Sunday we
welcome The Zimbabwe United Methodist Fellowship Choir to our
worship as they present a “mini concert” including songs and dance.
This Christian fellowship meets at Brunswick United Methodist Church in
Crystal. Be on hand to welcome them to our church this Sunday as we
build community across the United Methodist connection. A
special offering will be taken to express our thanks to the choir and to
provide support for their newly emerging ministry. Our
scripture reading for this Sunday is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians
5:1, 13-25. The title of my message, based on this scripture
reading is
“THE CANDLE OR THE MIRROR?”.
Summer Sunday School will not be held this Sunday so that children may
enjoy the music with the adults. We
are receiving daily reports from the adults who have accompanied our
Youth Mission Team to Brooklyn, New York this past week. Many
significant and transforming experiences are taking place each day. They
will return home this Sunday. Keep them in your prayers as they come to
the end of this week of servant ministry. They will be sharing their
experiences with us on the first Sunday in August. The
following prayer, found in our Hymnal expresses well the sense of
gratitude for each new day. It is a prayer I turn to often. New
every morning is your love, great God of light, And
all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir
up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors And
to devote each day to your son our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. Stay connected to your church family. Stay connected to the Holy One. Join your sisters and brothers in the faith for worship in the sanctuary, this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Keep
the faith! Pastor
Mike Miller
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