Sunday, June 21st Worship Service

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LifzyPI6zfE

Sunday Worship for June 14th, 2020

Please join us for our worship service for Sunday, June 14th.
June 14^th: Service June14th 2020 

Sunday Worship, June 7th, 2020

June 7^th: Service June 7th 2020 

 

Bishop’s Webinar on Racism

Bishop's Webinar on Racism, June 3, 2020
https://vimeo.com/425619352

From Bo May 21, 2020

Folks,

Thursday May 21, 2020, was Ascension Day, the day we remember Jesus concluding his 40-day time of teaching with his disciples following his resurrection, and his ascension to heaven, as portrayed in the first eleven verses of the Acts of the Apostles.  It is ten days before Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit would blow into the upper room and into the disciples, driving them out preaching to the world, giving birth to the Christian Church (Acts, Chapter 2).

In her devotional given at the beginning of the May 20, 2020 Greater Northwest Area webinar, Rev. Erin Martin, the Columbia District Superintendent in the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference drew our attention to a question the disciples ask Jesus just before he ascends—“Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” (Acts 1:6, CEB).  Her mention of this question reminded me of past homilies I’ve done where I’ve stated that I think this must have been a disheartening question for Jesus to hear.  After all the time they had spent together, both before and after his crucifixion, the disciples were still looking back to a restoration of Israel’s glory days, hoping to reclaim the national strength, wealth, and right relationship with God held in the days of King David and King Solomon.  The disciples see the display of the power of God in raising Jesus from the dead as a precursor to God’s resurrection of Israel’s idealized past.

Rev. Martin noted that we too, pastors and laity alike, are often looking back to the past in these days of COVID-19 isolation.  We speak of “getting back to normal,” and in the church, of “getting back to worship.”  I feel like my focus has been on waiting it out until we can get back to doing what we were doing before.  But now I’m realizing that’s going to be a long time yet, longer from now even than we’ve been out of our routine already.  And I’m also wondering if maybe God wants us to to look forward, instead of backward, move forward, instead of backward.  I’m wondering if this isn’t a good time to evaluate what we’re learning about what it means to be Christian when we can’t join together in person on Sunday mornings, what we need to be doing to live that out, and to consider what we might want to carry forward with us out of this time.

At the beginning of the Langley UMC May 17, 2020 worship service, their pastor Rev. Richard Fuss reflects on this time of being away from our church buildings on Sunday mornings, and suggests that we may have become too Sunday morning focused in our understanding of Christianity.  His comments raised in my mind the question “Do we believe we worship because we’re Christians, or do we believe we are Christians because we worship?”  Is worship an expression of our Christian faith, or the extent of it?  Rev. Fuss hopes that this time away from worship in our church buildings can help remind us that what is central to Christianity is “an open heart, a great love, and a willingness to serve.”

We have many ways we can be the church.  Being together on Sunday mornings in the Prosser UMC sanctuary is one of them, but not the only one, just as gathering around the dinner table on Sunday is one way of being family, but not the only one.  We have shown open hearts, great love, and a willingness to serve in continuing our monthly soup distribution, even while observing pandemic restrictions.  We have shown these aspects of our faith in the new Community Needs program that you support with your contributions, and we deliver to organizations helping people in our communities.  We show our support for our own church family through our continued giving to the church, to pay staff salaries and church bills.

We are also family when we support each other, giving each other our time and attention.  Donna Barr is setting up a phone tree for the church.  We can use this in case a message needs to get out to everybody, and not everybody is on e-mail.  I would hope we would also use this to check in with each other once a week, to share what’s going on and how we’re doing with all this time at home.  E-mail and text are quick ways to communicate, but they don’t allow for as much of our “open heart” and “great love” for each other to come through.  We hope to have this ready soon, so if you don’t hear anything about it after a week or so, and want to be a part of this phone tree, call the church office.

As we move through the state’s, and church’s (more about this next week), re-opening phases, think about what ministries we have started during this time away.  Which of them are expressions of our faith that should continue when we gather together again?  What are the things we had been doing that perhaps we now feel don’t reflect our faith—that we might let go?  As we go forward, not backward, how may we keep open hearts to “receive power” when God’s Holy Spirit enters us, so that we may be Jesus’ witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8, NRSV)?

Shalom,

Bo

A note from Bo, May 17th, 2020

Folks,

The theme for my devotional readings last week was “Taken Where You Do Not Want to Go.”  I was struck, thinking about that idea, by how many stories there are in the Bible of God taking people where they did not want to go.  Abraham was taken to the mountain to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Moses was taken back to Egypt to bring Israel out of captivity.  Elijah was told to go back and face Queen Jezebel, after she had threatened his life.  Jesus was led by the Spirit from the waters of baptism to the dust of temptation, as well as from the cheering crowds of triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the jeering mobs of crucifixion on Golgatha.  Paul’s vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus led him in the exact opposite direction from where he had been going.  For none of these people, and many others like them in the Bible, was this necessarily the desired direction they wanted to go.  All of them, however, recognized the necessity of following God’s leading.

There are also times in life when it may not be God taking us where we do not want to go.  I’m sure very few of us were hoping that sometime in our life we would get to isolate ourselves at home, and wear facemasks and keep 6 feet distance from others when we went out.  Few of us ever dreamed that we would not be able to go to church for several months (see our bishop’s extension of the suspension of worship until at least June 15, below).  Yet, we have been taken there.  I don’t believe God brought about this death and disruption.  I do believe that in the midst of this death and disruption, God is with us.

At the end of John’s gospel, Jesus and Peter are eating fish cooked by a campfire on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias.  Jesus asks Peter three times if Peter loves him, and Peter responds that he does each time.  After the third response, Jesus says to Peter, “When you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished.  But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go” (sounds like our experience today!).  John then inserts a parenthetical comment that this was to indicate the way in which Peter would die.  Jesus then goes on to say to Peter, “Follow me.” (John 21:18-19, NRSV)

I have always heard this “Follow me” in the same way as when Jesus called his disciples at the beginning of his ministry.  “Follow me.  Be my disciples. Travel with me.  Learn my teachings.  Ask me questions if you don’t understand something, and I’ll explain it to you.”  But this time, and in this time, when I read those two verses, I heard “Follow me” in a different way.  Much like the children’s game, Follow the Leader, where everyone lines up behind the leader and does whatever he or she does (the leader skips, they all skip; the leader raises a hand, they all raise the same hand), Jesus is telling Peter “Follow me.  Teach what I have taught.  Heal the sick.  Feed the hungry.  Cast out demons.  Calm the sea.  Raise the dead.  Follow me.  Do what I have done.  I have died and I have been resurrected.  Follow me, through death and into resurrection.”

Jesus called Peter, and through Peter, each of us, toward death, and through death, into resurrection.  Jesus has already done this ahead of us, and will be there with us as we go through it ourselves.  This Lent and Easter, we have experienced the death of our lives as we have known them.  Many in the world have experienced physical death because of the virus.  We grieve the loss of those people, and the loss of our previous way of being.  As Easter people, though, we know there is new life ahead.  We know that many of us will be forever transformed by this experience.  We know that, even though we have been taken where we did not wish to go, God is with us in this dying, ready to raise us to new life.

Shalom,

Bo

Click here to see May 13th, 2020 Bishop's Message

 

May 2020 Newsletter

• Here is a link to this month's Prosser UMC  newsletter.  
• Bo's Blog for May 2020.

From Bo 4/25/20

Folks,

It seems like we’ve been in this “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” mode of living forever, but as I write this note it is just approaching one month since we began it.  April 26 is the seventh Sunday we have not gathered together for worship.  It will be several more weeks before we are able to gather together again.  Although plans are being discussed and made for “re-opening,” as we have heard, it will be a gradual process.

The data for our state at covid19.healthdata.org shows we reached the peak number of deaths from the virus on April 6, which means the infection rate peaked in mid to late March.  Projections show we will still have over 100 more deaths during the next 3 to 5 weeks.  We still need to be cautious.  As we re-open our state, it will be done in phases.  Group gatherings will be among the last restrictions to be lifted.  Consequently, our bishop has asked all United Methodist churches in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska to continue to suspend in-person worship services through the month of May (although she does express hope that we might be able to get together May 31 for Pentecost; see below).

This is disappointing, I know.  I’ve heard many of you say how much you miss being together on Sundays.  But even though this tends to be the primary way we think about church, I’ve noticed ways in which you all are adapting to our situation:

·         You are calling and talking with each other.  I’ve heard many times in my conversations with folks how they were talking to someone else from church earlier that day.  Although we’ve certainly talked with each other over the phone before COVID-19, I get the sense we’re doing more of that now.  (I know my phone needs recharging more frequently these days.)  We remain in “touch” with each other through these conversations.

·         You continue to support your church.  The March financial report you’ll see in the May newsletter will show that we again received more than enough income to cover our budgeted expenses, even though we didn’t meet for 3 of the 5 Sundays that month.  This consistent support through the year affirmed the trust expressed by our Finance Committee in our ability to pay our own bills, as they voted to postpone applying for the small business Payroll Protection Program loan, so that other small businesses in greater need could receive that money now.  Our Church Council was also encouraged by our income, and voted to pay staff whose hours were reduced or eliminated by the church closure their full contracted pay.

·         You are caring for your community by donating to the “Community Needs” fund we established.  We sent our first check—over $3,000.00—to Mustangs4Mustangs to help people in need in Prosser.  We would like to hear about programs helping people in need in the Grandview and Sunnyside areas as well, for future donations.  Please call the church office if you know of any such programs.

·         You are helping those you know are in need.  I’ve heard stories about toilet paper, groceries, or baked goods being delivered to a friend or neighbor’s house.

·         You are coming by the church to do a little weeding, gardening, lawn mowing, or re-supplying the custodian’s closet.  This helps keep the building and grounds ready for when we do come back together there.

I know there are many other things you all are doing that I haven’t seen or heard about.  These are ways in which you are living out your faith, being the church.  We are showing, to ourselves, to each other, and to others around us, that although we tend to think in terms of what church we go to, as Jesus’ disciples we also carry it with us every day of our life.

Shalom,

Bo

Bishop's COVID-19 Notice #5, April 24, 2020 United Methodist Clergy and Laity of the Greater Northwest Area, By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, guide our feet into the way of peace.    Luke 1:78-79 EXTENSION OF WORSHIP SUSPENSION AND BUILDING CLOSURES As bishop of the Greater Northwest Area of The United Methodist Church, I am extending the suspension of in-person worship in United Methodist Churches and other ministries and the closure of church facilities to all but essential services throughout the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho and Pacific Northwest Conferences through May 30, 2020, until and unless state government and health officials lift restrictions based upon their published criteria for re-opening. This date may be reconsidered as circumstances change. How did I come to this decision, and what does it mean? MARCH 24: Suspension of In-Person Worship and Closure of Buildings. On March 24 I directed that in-person worship and other gatherings be postponed in United Methodist Churches and other ministries through April 30, 2020. At the same time, I directed that all Church facilities were to be closed except for essential services. These actions were taken to protect the health of vulnerable people, to slow the spread of the disease, and to prevent health care systems from becoming overwhelmed by a sudden surge of cases needing hospital beds and equipment. You helped keep people HEALTHY! You did it! You made adjustments and found ways to be church without gathering for worship. Your actions, and the general populations’ compliance with the orders of the governors appear to have slowed the spread, flattened the curve of the crisis, and averted a crisis in our health care systems. I thank God for the incredible ways you have contributed to these outcomes. At the same time, we grieve over people who have contracted COVID-19, some of whom have been hospitalized and even died. And we continue to hold in our hearts and prayers all who are at risk for this disease because they render essential services, or have compromising health conditions, or who, because of systemic inequities in our society live with little or no social safety net. EASTER: You celebrated Resurrection in the Shadow of Death. Alleluia! You found ways to overcome all kinds of obstacles to celebrating Easter. Your clergy and lay leaders have demonstrated an adventuresome spirit, as you learned how to care for one another, conduct worship and support vulnerable people in your neighborhoods, while maintaining physical distancing and suspending all gatherings. Christ the Lord was Risen again this Easter, with shouts of Hosannah!, prayers for strength and healing, and acts of generosity. Well done, good and faithful servants. MAY 1 We are now approaching the end of the directives I gave on March 24 and many of you are eager to know whether the restrictions will be lifted or extended. I am closely monitoring the guidance and criteria for loosening restrictions in each of our four Greater Northwest states, as well as the daily reports of new cases, deaths and health system capacity. As you know, the disease has unfolded at different rates across the area. And the cultural and political climates across our region are varied, leading to different assessments of the risks involved. I find myself leading in the midst of continued uncertainty and significant controversy about the best course of action. Three value-based priorities inform my leadership as your bishop. Do No Harm: Protect the public health Do Good: Share the financial burden with persons most vulnerable to economic impacts Stay in Love with God: Promote the life-giving ministries of the Church DO GOOD. Protect Public Health Following the leadership of four very different governors, our four states are all weathering the pandemic better than expected. I am pre-disposed to trust the governors of each state to listen to their health care advisors, to know their region and its people and to give prudent guidance. While all four governors have laid out their criteria for incremental loosening restrictions within their states, at present none of these governors has taken specific action to lift restrictions that would affect our Churches. When they do, Churches will need to be especially cautious about re-opening and gathering, taking into account that among our members and friends are many participants who are at risk for severe illness from COVID-19, due to age or compromising health conditions. DO GOOD. Share the Burdens of Most Vulnerable Persons During this season of closed buildings and postponed in-person worship, I hope that every congregation will re-engage its neighbors, by partnering with community organizations that are directly involved with people who are most vulnerable to the economic impacts of the pandemic. How this neighborhood engagement looks will be specific to your congregation, its context, and the partnerships you are able to form to serve people most at risk during this crisis. I heard the other day of a church in a small town that set up a “tab” with the local grocer so that people who needed food could “shop” for what they needed and charge it to a tab that the Church paid. In this win-win-win arrangement, people get food, the church serves people in need, whom they may not even know, and the grocer’s business is supported in the process. There is no recipe for this kind of innovative response. It’s all based on local relationships that can become networks of care. STAY IN LOVE WITH GOD. Promote the Life-Giving Ministries of the Church. While I know that the effectiveness of ministry and health of congregational life suffer when people are not able to gather for worship, this hardship does not justify taking the risk of spreading the disease through church gatherings, or exposing older and health-compromised people to infection and possible death by re-opening our church gatherings too soon. I trust and know that the leaders and people in each church are finding creative ways to continue to serve God’s promise of abundant life for all people and the whole of creation despite these extreme circumstances. When the time is right, we will gather again and re-build and renew our ministries. MAY 31 – PENTECOST As we enter another month of some level of physical separation, let’s hope that we will be able to gather in our churches on Pentecost, May 31. Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Church, when people from many nations gathered in Jerusalem to hear Peter preach. The book of Acts describes how the people understood what he said, even though they spoke many different languages. I hope that we will be able to gather in worship that day – maybe sooner. Let’s hold it as a date to hope for, to pray for, to work for. And if it can’t be May 31 – if it comes sooner, or later – then, we’ll adjust, just as we have been adjusting for these many weeks. I don’t need to remind you that God is with us and at work. I don’t need to remind you that miracles happen every day, even in the midst of disease and death, as people of generous hearts pour their life out in love and service where there is need. We are blessed to be a blessing. Thanks be to God, who opens the way of life before us. May God bless you and keep you today and through the days ahead. Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky Read & Share Online → Forward this email             View in browser prosserumc.99350@gmail.com is receiving this email from Bishop Elaine Stanovsky because you have an existing relationship with us. To ensure that you continue to receive emails from us, add bishop@greaternw.org to your address book or safe sender list. To unsubscribe or manage mailings, click here The Greater Northwest Episcopal Area provides leadership for the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and the Pacific Northwest Conferences of The United Methodist Church. www.greaternw.org | bishop@greaternw.org 206.870.6810 | Toll- Free: 800.755.7710

Holy Hilarity, Batman!

Folks,

 

For centuries, the Sunday after Easter has been celebrated in a lighter, more humorous, vein.  After the seriousness and intensity of Lent, particularly for those participating in fasts and study in preparation for joining the church on Easter Sunday, the church recognized that people needed a little lightening of their spirits.  We, too, as a congregation, for the past two decades or so, have developed the tradition of celebrating Holy Hilarity Sunday the week after Easter.

This may seem like an awkward time for humor.  We live in a time where we are surrounded by a hidden killer called Coronavirus, and each day we see the death and infection tallies on the news.  We are sheltering in our homes, physically shut off from the rest of the world, and when we do go out, we are advised to wear masks and keep six feet or more distance from other people.  People are losing their jobs in unimaginable numbers.  Businesses are closed.  People are running out of money and can’t pay their rent, mortgage, loans, bills.  There are fears the world is heading for an economic depression worse than the Great Depression of 90 years ago.  How could humor possibly be appropriate now?

Actually, humor is not only appropriate, but necessary, now more than ever.  Psychology and studies of the brain have shown that laughter helps us relax.  It eases stress and anxiety.  It releases chemicals in our brain that are healthy for it.  Humor breaks us out of our obsessing about the negative things in our lives.  It can give us a healthier perspective on the events going on around us, and increases our capacity to deal with it.  It does not dismiss the seriousness of life, but it helps us to not take life, and ourselves, too seriously.  Too much worry is physically unhealthy for us, and for that, laughter really is the best medicine.

So break out the old Calvin & Hobbes books.  Watch a Pink Panther movie.  See if you can binge-watch Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, M*A*S*H*, or Monty Python.  Google “Church Jokes,” or call up Bob White and have him tell you a few.  Look for ways to laugh.  God created laughter to help get us through times like these.

Ho, Ho, Ho,

Bo

Easter Together 2020

• Easter Together 2020 on vimeo, During this time of physical separation, United Methodists in the Greater Northwest Area are invited to celebrate together this Easter! Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky's message of hope is complemented by the visual, musical and vocal gifts of people across the Area.  https://vimeo.com/showcase/6974983
• Printable Bulletin: https://greaternw.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Easter-Together-2020.pdf

• Web Presentation, Worship Guide: 
• https://greaternw.org/easter-together/
• Facebook Page, Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church:
• https://www.facebook.com/pnwumc/

Pastoral Leaders serving across the Greater Northwest Area!

A video of the entire worship service, and the component elements, are available to download right now on Vimeo. Please note that while most of the materials are original or in the public domain, two elements – "An Easter Psalm for Children" and "Thanksgiving" – may require additional licensing if used separately within your local church's worship service.

We've also created two additional resources for those who plan to encourage members to participate in the full service online this Sunday! 

• A printable bulletin for those who like to have print in front of them.
• A web presentation of the service with text and video.

As with the video resources, please use whichever is helpful to you.

Finally, remember that the complete worship service will also be available as a Premiere on Easter morning at 7 am Mountain Time, 6 am Pacific Time, and 5 am Alaska Time on the following Facebook pages:

• Greater Northwest Area Facebook – Visit
• Alaska Conference Facebook Page – Visit
• Oregon-Idaho Facebook Page – Visit
• Pacific Northwest Facebook Page – Visit

Local churches on Facebook are encouraged to consider using the Watch Party feature to participate in this service offering alongside other members of their local church.

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Holy Week

It is Holy Week.  Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey, while people laid branches of trees and their own cloaks on the ground in front of him, calling out “Hosanna!,” which means “Save us!”  Jesus has spent time at the temple, teaching, and knocking over the tables of the money-lenders.  Judas Iscariot has become disillusioned with Jesus, and has agreed to lead the religious authorities to him.  Events lead inexorably to Thursday night—the Passover meal, a last supper together, questions, confusion, anguished prayer, betrayal, fear, the disciples scattered, denial, Friday’s trial, execution, death, burial in a tomb.

I don’t know about you, but my home is beginning to feel a bit like a tomb.  Sure, I get out in the yard to do some cleanup on these beautiful sunny days, and I take Buddy for rides to the Post Office or the church, and I talk to people on the phone.  But it feels different, because right now I’m not choosing to stay at home.  I’m doing so because it’s what I’ve been asked to do.  I am practicing obedience to authority.

I wonder if Jesus didn’t feel a bit like this at the beginning of his week.  He knew what was coming at the end of this trip to Jerusalem.  He had already warned his disciples about it, and even at the end, in the garden, he asked if this had to be the way.  I wonder if he felt this hemmed-in feeling as people were asking him to save them, knowing he would be doing that, but not in the way they were thinking he would.  Knowing his disciples would be confused, scared, and scattered.  Knowing that he would die a painful death.  But he was also practicing obedience to authority.

This has been a disturbing season of Lent.  We are used to being able to choose what we do in Lent—giving up ice cream, chocolate, or meat on Fridays, adding a new spiritual practice like journaling or using The Upper Room, or doing nothing for Lent.  But this year we’ve all been given a task that makes us uncomfortable—not being able to be, or worship, together.  We’ve become further hemmed in, entombed, by the “Stay at Home” order.  The experience of denial in Lent has been enforced upon us, in some ways making it a more conscious part of our daily life.  We have joined with Jesus in the loneliness, the apart-ness, of Holy Week.  We are practicing obedience to authority.  We may dislike it, but it is probably good to be experiencing it. 

This is not to say that God created the coronavirus so that we could have a more meaningful Lent.  A virus is a virus.  There is no “intention” behind it.  However, all of our experiences in life affect us at the spiritual level, as well as the physical, mental, and emotional levels.  It makes me wonder if this Lent, and our reflections upon it, will affect how we experience Lent for the rest of our lives.

Shalom,

Bo

April Newsletter

• April Newsletter: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LbW3vXog1I_H1-V-dRd5uKx6HBXAV7bT

• Bo's Blog. (Updated 3/31/20)