I love this season- the season of spring and Easter- both are reminders to us of hope and renewal. There are signs of new life all around us- grass starts to turn greener, leaves begin to show up on trees and beautiful flowers in various colors adorn the ground. The season of Easter is felt all around ‘celebrating all the ways in which resurrection is possible in our lives.’ In the Eastertide this is what we are exploring, as some of you have already experienced, if you were in worship last Sunday.
During this season of resurrection, we are exploring the ‘powerful testimonies of courage, kindness, strength, and overcoming,’ not only in scripture but also from our world- and hopefully be empowered and inspired to UNLOCK our own resurrection story!!!
This week we will explore the fact that we need the presence of the divine in this work and therefore need to release our desire to control what happens to us and in our lives. Hope you will join and unlock your way into liberation!!!
Beloveds, another reminder I want to share with you is that last Sunday you may have heard Richard Alton and our green team member talk about Styrofoam! We are moving toward making our building Styrofoam free!
So- please refrain from bringing Styrofoam supplies to the building and do the same at home as well. According to Washington University, Styrofoam takes 500 years to decompose; it cannot be recycled, so the Styrofoam cups dumped in landfills are there to stay. Please use this link to learn more about Styrofoam.
You have also been hearing about General Conference a lot lately- from me and in church also. General Conference is a meeting of about 1000 elected United Methodists from all around the world- to discuss and decide on the policies and polity of our denomination. This is the only decision making body in the United Methodist Church. Ronnie and I are among the 14 delegates from the Northern Illinois Conference (Annual Conference that we are a part of), so today I personally invite you to use the prayer calendar that we have shared with you and PRAY. We will need to be wrapped in prayer as we do the important work on behalf of the whole denomination. We will leave on Monday, April 22nd and return on Saturday, May 4th.
Beloveds, may we be blessed, and be a blessing to all we meet, and I look forward to seeing you all at church.
