Lancaster United Methodist Church

Fourth Sunday of Easter -- "The Good Shepherd" (Luke 10: 11-18)

BREAKING NEWS: Outside services have been great -- but starting tomorrow (April 25th) our All Church Council has voted to move the 9 a.m. service to JOHN WESLEY HALL! The move to the Hall is part of our goal to be Creative, Caring, and Careful, as the Hall has more fresh air circulation options than the Sanctuary does.... The same restrictions for masks and social distancing are still in place, but those restrictions will allow us to sing and read responsively. Please join us!

Third Sunday of Easter-- "Jesus is Older than Dirt" (Luke 24:36-48)

As we celebrate Black History Month in February, we will have opportunities to read and view various media forms covering this tribute. We will be inspired by those who have paid a high price of living for justice through our nations very dark past of racial abuse, inequality and its many complexities. Some of the books our groups have been reading include "Be the Bridge" by Latasha Morrison and "White Fragility" by Robin D'Angelo.

"Jesus Led Them to the Mountain Top" (Mark 9:2-9)

Our Prayer Group will be starting a smart-phone based 40-day devotional, called - "Journeying with Jesus - 40 Days Lent Devotional. The devotional is based on the last two chapters of Matthew, focusing on Jesus’ last days on earth, what that means to us, and how this changes who we are. It's a plan that helps us consider where we are on the journey of knowing Jesus. Participants can download a free app called YouVersion, then accept the text in for the plan called - "Jou...rneying with Jesus - 40 Days Lent Devotional. The app will feature scripture reading and group discussion. Participants can check in daily, hear the devotional and scripture, and then leave a comment if they want. There is no set time of each day, so this is a very flexible plan. If you have a smart phone and would like to join the study during Lent, please call the front office, or contact Becky Sivalingam, and you’ll get a text message inviting you to join in.

Saturday with Mr. Wesley is a series of (4) 12-15-minute videos for children and young people examining what it means to be good and do good. This is the second video in that series and it covers the core value of Speaking in truth and love. #wherelovelivesUMC https://youtu.be/ZhUt_PvBAQw

"Becoming All Things to All People" (1 Corinthians 9:16-23) Also Communion Sunday: please have your elements ready.

"A New Teaching?" (Mark 1:21-28)

On March 20, 2020, the Historical Hymn Sing had its first broadcast. It was envisioned as a temporary aid to the pandemic lockdown, so that those who were shut in had a way to sing and be comforted by the traditional hymns. However, the limitations of copyright are beginning to be felt, as listeners request more recent hymns for comfort. That, among other issues (including oral surgery for me), have led me to put the broadcast on hiatus for at least one month while I explore... some creative solutions. I hope to have an alternative by March, and will keep you posted. Each Friday I will continue to post music that may be used in your private devotions, and give you a way to sing to God. Today's list is posted below. It has been a blessing for me to lead you in this devotional exercise. I hope in some small way that it helped with the isolation that we're all experiencing. Be blessed this day. Peace -- Heather https://www.youtube.com/playlist

Did you miss our live streamed service on Sunday morning? No worries! All of them, as well as other special services, are saved in our Videos section (listed in the column to the left) They are also saved (with captions) on the YouTube channel, lancasterunitedmc.

Today's Prayer: Prayer for the Morning Did you rise this morning,... broken and hung over with weariness and pain and rage tattered from waving too long in a brutal wind? Get up, child. Pull your bones upright gather your skin and muscle into a patch of sun. Draw breath deep into your lungs; you will need it for another day calls to you. I know you ache. I know you wish the work were done and you with everyone you have ever loved were on a distant shore safe, and unafraid. But remember this, tired as you are: you are not alone. Here and here and here also there are others weeping and rising and gathering their courage. You belong to them and they to you and together, we will break through and bend the arc of justice all the way down into our lives. By Audette Fulbright Fulson, Prayer for the Morning

We have more than one time change to remember! Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour tonight -- then tune in to our streaming service at 9:30 a.m. Plus our meditative courtyard service moves from 8:30 to 11 a.m.!

Heather here, I need to cancel today's hymn sing. Please pray fuzzy prayers for my dog Prince. He's having xrays.

Today's Prayer; Wade in the Water Wade in the water, wade in the water children... Wade in the water, God's gonna trouble the water WATCH VIDEO https://youtu.be/7_euSS86dvE One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" John 5:5-6 NRSV Now, O Lord? Is it now when you will trouble the water that we might have healing? We’ve been lying here a long time, waiting for you to come and fix what is wrong with us. We see all that is wrong around us. We are overwhelmed; we are sick and broken and afraid of one another. Is it now when you will come and stir up the waters that will make us whole again? Oh, we are deep in it; that is for sure. And yes, these waters are troubled, Lord. But is this the time? Can there be healing, even in these troubled waters? Why aren’t you here, with your legions of angels to make it right, to fix what is broken, to heal what is diseased in our midst? Now, O Lord, is it now when you will trouble the waters? Or, does your question to us imply the waters are plenty troubled and maybe it’s time we got in and saw to our healing? Do we really want to be well? Or do we want to complain about the trouble? Is it now, O Lord? Have you put the healing in our hands and now you’re waiting on our will to be well? I’m afraid it might be a long wait. Now, O Lord? Derek C. Weber, October 2020

Today's Prayer: O God, Source of our Life, the One who calls us past race and nation, clan and creed, to be one people in Christ; who has gifted us with the power of love that we might fulfill the law; we have ignored your gift, turned from the way, and deferred the dream; awaken us to the evil we are doing to our brothers and sisters, and embolden us for the great good we have yet to do together; in the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Philip S. Krug, from Race and Prayer: Collected Voices Many Dreams edited by Malcolm Boyd and Chester L. Talton (Morehouse Publishing, 2003, p.194).