El Centro Methodist Church

In this season of Eastertide, #ResistHarm celebrates the light of the risen Christ. May our prayers guide us to this light and help us become light for others. ... Let us pray: Living God, We, like the women before they approached your tomb, often wonder how we will ever overcome obstacles in our path. "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" But you are a God of surprises, power, and new life. On this Easter Sunday, surprise us, Holy God! Work your earth-shaking, death-trampling, life-giving power in our lives and throughout all of creation. We bring before you ourselves, our family and friends, our churches, our denomination, our country, our world. Because of you, death cannot claim us and fear cannot bind us. It's in the name of the risen Christ that we pray. Amen.

This newspaper is saddened to learn of the death of longtime IVP columnist and retired Methodist pastor Ron Griffen. We understand he passed away late Monday evening with friends and family at his side.

Worshiping our God of Love

The first police officer reaches under the one-ton bale of hay and attempts to lift it off of me. Of course, it doesn’t budge. He grabs his flashlight and shine...s it under the hay into my face. I blink. He yells over his shoulder to his partner, He’s alive! He’s alive! Help me move the hay. Even working together two officers can’t move it not a fraction of an inch. A thousand pounds each? Of course they can’t move it. Cut the strings, I whisper. My voice is weak. They can’t hear me. I am not going to last much longer. If they will just cut the strings, the bale will break apart, and they can drag me out of here. Lift, Joe, lift! Just cut the strings, I mumble, Please cut the strings. C’mon harder. It’s too heavy! We can’t lift it. We gotta go for help! Hang on Chad, we’ll be right back! I am alone again in the growing darkness. Wonderful painless, peaceful, irresistible sleep beckons. I struggle to remain conscious. One. Two. Three. Four Where are they? How long does it take for police, fire, ambulance, to arrive? Where is the Coast Guard? Where are the Marines? Where is that one old farmer with enough common sense to just cut the strings? The desert air grows chilly as the sky darkens. I grow weaker. Dizziness overcomes me and I begin to drift off into that gray space somewhere between the living and the dead. Help finally arrives. One of the police officers bends down so I can see his face. Hold on! A fire engine is here. There are six men aboard. I do the math. Two big, strong cops and six burly firemen must move a ton of dead weight off me. That’s two hundred forty five pounds each. No way can they possibly do that but somehow, miraculously, they do. A couple of neighbors who have arrived at the scene stand by to catch me. They lower my limp body to the ground where I lie in a broken heap. Why didn’t they cut the strings? They could have saved a long, tortured hour. How heavy is hay? A piece of hay is about the weight of a feather. How many pieces of hay does it take to make two thousand pounds? Lots. That package of sixteen bazillion individual pieces of hay wrapped in a gigantic bundle is a crushing weight. But separated, it would have been nothing. I feel bad saying this, because it makes me sound ungrateful and I am very grateful to the guys who saved my life that night but there is a point to be made here, isn’t there? Is it too big? Is it overwhelming? Cut the strings just cut the strings! Are you buried under crushing burdens? Projects that are too huge? Schedules that are too complicated? Maybe you are trying to do too much at once trying to do everything instead of doing something. Cut the strings and cut yourself free. Do one thing at a time and get it Done. Move out of the strain of the doing into the peace of the done.

Our prayer focus this week is simply love. May you experience and share the love of God in the week ahead despite our polarized and broken world. Generous God,... whose love knows no limits, teach us how to love one another. Lest we become a resounding gong and clanging cymbal, may all we do be done in love. As we walk through this life together, give us a spirit of faith, hope, and love, but may love be what sets us apart. In the name and power of Jesus we pray, Amen. Our images were taken earlier. They are from our #ResistHarm friend, Hope Church in Bloomington, IL. Thank you, Hope Church!

Worshipping our Lord this beautiful Sunday. Jesus, the Good Shepherd

All we need is love.

Here’s the parade!

Imperial Valley PRIDE parade

We were decked out today for Imperial Valley Pride!

A Prayer As I Lift Up A Mask Submitted by Ginny Feldman As I prepare to go into the world, Help me see the sacrament... in wearing this cloth Let it be an outward sign of an inward grace A tangible and visible way of living love for my neighbors. Christ, Since my lips will be covered, Uncover my heart, that people would see my smile in the crinkles round my eyes. Since my voice may be muffled, Help me speak clearly with my actions. Holy Spirit, As the ties go round my ears, Remind me to listen carefully Full of care to all I meet. May this simple piece of cloth be shield and banner, May each breath it holds, Be filled with your love. AMEN May it be so

Where God’s will reigns, there’s a way. De Colores.