Pastor’s Corner: October 2020
Friends, It is October! Why am I so giddy? I have learned to greet the month with glee. I was born on the 2nd day and therefore long ago decided that I may claim the entire month as a celebration of being alive on this planet. I am convinced that the color in the leaves soaks into my psyche and paints my inner sacred space with all the colors of a burning bush. I am conscious of impending harvest in…
Pastor’s Corner: September 2020
Beloved Friends, Thirty minutes into the clergy-only session of MN Annual Conference 2020, I found myself in my sun-porch home office with my computer, my note pad, and a take-out coffee, attempting to digest what had just happened. Two hundred (or so) MN UMC clergy had all completed 4 hours of preparation for this event, had Zoomed together to an opening announcement that included the strange celebration of being “together” as a body in these times of social distancing. Yes,…
Worship Service: Be the Light, Live Hope
A clergy covenant group within our conference has created a gift in the form of a pre-recorded worship service around our 2020 Annual Conference theme (“Be the Light, Live Hope”) that’s available for all congregations to use Aug. 30 or after. Thank you to Revs. Shawna Horn, Jay Jeong, LaQuaan Malachi, Nate Melcher, Kate Murphey Payton, Whitney Sheridan, and Mariah Furness Tollgaard for developing this great resource. Prospect Park UMC streamed this service on August 30 during our 10am worship time.…
Pastor’s Corner: August 2020
I begin to write this note listening to a recording of “Amazing Grace,” played on the sanctuary piano by Kathy Webb. I look up and out our front door and the snow-white squirrel that lives in our neighborhood pops up like a Jack-in-the-box in the lawn across the street.
The State of Our Democracy is troubled… What’s our role in renewing the path to “A More Perfect Union?”
Harry C. Boyte, Senior Scholar in Public Work Philosophy and Co-founder, Institute for Public Life and Work at Augsburg University, speaks to this on Thursday, August 20 at 7pm via Zoom. See the below flier for more information:
Pastor’s Corner: July 2020
I have long been fascinated by what Jesus looked like at the time he walked the dusty paths of Nazareth. I noticed early and often that the images of Jesus I encountered in the painting in the Sunday School classroom, in the stained-glass window in the sanctuary (pictured), and the small one in a book in my grandmother’s house looked nothing at all like one another.
This Is the Time
It is difficult for me to speak these days. It is difficult to stand in a pulpit that has historically belonged primarily to white voices and raise up my own white experiences and sensibility, my own comparatively insignificant pain and suffering. And “difficult” doesn’t cut it. “Difficult” can’t stop us. I am so deeply humbled by these times, that I can barely assemble a coherent sentence. And yet. A friend told me about hearing James Corden of TV’s, “The Late…
The Book of Job
We are studying the book of Job. It is beautiful. It is a wonderful vehicle for considering many of the questions we have about how (and why) we suffer. It is profoundly challenging. We’ve just begun our study and will be at this for awhile! If you are interested, please help us suggest where we study next.
Virtual Open Yoga with Leslie Ball
OPEN YOGA / Virtual Schedule Mondays at 6pmWednesdays at 5:30pmSaturdays at 11am Classes are open to all levels. No previous yoga experience necessary. Instructor Leslie Ball is a certified teacher in Vinyasa, Hot, and Yin formats. She trained at Corepower Yoga in Minneapolis, and at Kripalu Center in Massachusetts. She is a licensed practitioner of LifeForce Yoga, using Yoga to address depression and anxiety. For nine years she has been leading Open Yoga, a restorative yoga program incorporating spirituality and the arts…
Tapping Meditation: Calming Fear About What’s Happening in the World
In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, Angela Hed Vincent would like to offer the below tapping meditation. Whether it’s the coronavirus, climate crisis, or political unrest, there are so many things in the news right now that have us leaning into our fears. Studies have found that chronic states of fear, stress, and anxiety weaken your immune system. This tapping meditation was designed to help you reduce this fear, making space in your body for peace and boosting your…