Easter Resurrection Services, PodCast Interviews, and CEH in the News!

Christ has Risen!  He has risen, indeed!

Friends, what a glorious worship service we had together on Easter morning.  It was a special opportunity for me to sit at home and enjoy worship with my church family. I enjoyed seeing all the comments pop up on YouTube and I was extremely proud of all of our friends who worked hard to make the worship so special. Of course, as a proud Mama, I can’t help but offer gratitude for my son Stephen, who had a vision with the black and white/color changes reminding us that there is still Easter Light to be seen and felt in this time of darkness.

Truly, Easter is not a day — Resurrection Life is our theology that we trust in and live out every day. That’s why my new sermon series will be called “Resurrection Stories” and will feature stories of resurrection life from our church family. I have some amazing family lined up already to share: Linda Brumagin, Dale Brown . . . who else is willing to share some faith stories? Please email me or leave a comment here and I’ll contact you about filming. We can maintain physical distancing while filming your story, so we won’t be violating any public health guidelines. This week you’ll be hearing from Rev. Dr. Bob Bielenberg in a sort of resurrection. His precious wife Donna shared an important sermon with me called “Does Resurrection Matter?” I used portions of it in the homily at his Memorial Service, and it is truly relevant to our time now. I know many of you will hold his words especially close as you had such great admiration and love for him.

We all have a little more time to be online and more time to watch and listen to things, so I’m including a couple of links here for you:

Click here to read an article about a recent podcast interview I did and you can then click through there to listen to the interview. It’s a little silly and actually pretty fun, and who knows? You may learn something new about me!

Click here to read about how the “Outbreak of Kindness” began and what our intentions were as we started up over a month ago. Special thanks to my daughter Addie, who made the volunteer forms that easily allow people to ask for help and sign up to volunteer help. Since that article, we have trained over 200 volunteers! We are still trying to get more connection between our vulnerable populations and our volunteer force, so click here to see how you can help reach out and find some of those who are living in fear and isolation and need some assistance.

As an FYI: Forum Class has scheduled a Thursday afternoon class. This would be a terrific time for you to join this discussion group and give it a try! You’ll get to see some of your church family through video conferencing, and you’ll be challenged to apply your faith to current issues. I’m thankful to Philip Brinkmann for working to continue this weekly class online.

Other classes you may be interested in are: Lectionary Study at noon on Mondays; Genesis/Exodus Study at noon on Tuesdays. I’ve also emailed some folk about opportunities for morning devotions/coffee time. If any of these things interest you and you would like to enjoy some fellowship until we can fellowship in person, please contact the church office and sign up. You’ll be added to the class lists and receive an invitation through the email.

I am so looking forward to continuing to live our Resurrection Life together. Someday when we can safely gather for worship, you need to expect big, awkward hugs from me!

In Hope and Love,

 

Rev. P