"Midweek - PT Edition" Pastor Trevor's Devotion 04/15/2020

Hello Church! 

Peace to you in this strange time. Was anyone else feeling the joy of the resurrection and hoping you’d wake up the next day with this all just have been a bad dream? Yet, this seems to be our reality. In some ways, I have noticed some pretty good blessings: increased family time, reading, working on house projects, cooking more, to name a few. I also realize that these "blessings" are the result of some pretty significant privileges. The salaries in my household have continued and much of our work can be done remotely. We have the internet. We can afford to buy groceries and to keep the heat on - even if we are always running low on toilet paper!

Last Sunday was Easter. We entered into a time in the church calendar known as Eastertide. We stay in Easter for 50 days until Pentecost. Can we continue to experience resurrection in this strange time? Can our lives be uplifted out of the normal? I think so. 

I’ve become pretty good friends with Chip & Laura Hutler, the directors of Wesley Woods Camp & Retreat Center down here in Indianola. Their ministry revolves around creating an atmosphere similar to what we are experiencing. One of the ways they see God's work is when folks get out of the normal routines of life. They shake things up for people. 

On the other hand, a man referred to only as Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, said something else about the presence of God. He served as a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris in the 17th century. He suggested that the presence of God is found in the most mundane aspects of life: In the washing of dishes, the cooking, the staring out the window. Has anyone been doing any of those things lately? So. Many. Dishes. Am I right? 

So whether this time feels like you’re out of your routine or it all feels so mundane, know that God is present. God is not just at the church building. That has become clear to us all. Peace to you, friends. 

Blessings! 

Pastor Trevor

Pastor Trevor Vaughn
West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Ave.
West Des Moines, Iowa 50265
515-279-0826

Announcements: 

• Join us for live worship on Facebook at 9:30 am on Sundays!
• Just Read Bible Study is going virtual next week! Tuesdays at 4:30 pm.  
• https://zoom.us/j/91418695206?pwd=SlJVc2trd3lqK2dPelRoSVI4c0NHZz09
• Meeting ID: 914 1869 5206
• Password: 004957
• Are you funny? Know any good jokes? This upcoming Sunday is Holy Humor Sunday. Text Pastor Trevor a short video of you telling a joke to 515-333-8489. We’ll select a few to play live on Sunday. 

"Midweek Devotion; Need a Quiet Place?" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 04/08/2020

Good morning—
Every time I write to you, I try to imagine what it looks like at your house.  This week, while we are all staying home, I am particularly wondering if you have some sort of sacred space in your home, a place where you can spend a little soul time.

In normal times our sanctuary does that for us.  We enter the sanctuary and the enormous ceiling gives us a sense of something lofty.  The stain glass windows bring light and color.  Each window is a story told in symbols.  The trumpet pipes on the organ seem ready to announce something important even when they are silent.  The cross looms over us all and it carries the story of Christ throughout the centuries.

I think part of why our sanctuary feels sacred is because the walls and ceiling are coated with a hundred thousand prayers.  The sanctuary is just a room, bricks, and wood.  But so many of the turning points in our lives have happened there.   Our joy at weddings and baptisms and Holy Communion has seeped into the carpet.  Our children run forward for children’s time and our confirmation students kneel at the steps to commit themselves to Christ.  And we carry our sorrows into the sanctuary, too.

The sanctuary holds our longing for the kind of world Christ told us about, where all would be fed, where justice would be shared, where the love of God would be the full measure of life for every person on earth.

So in this time, when you can not come to the sanctuary, I wonder if you might need to create your sacred place in your home.  I would encourage you to follow your heart on this.  I bet your soul has already told you where it feels most comfortable in your house.  It might be a place where the light comes in just so. Or it might be sitting in an old rocking chair that has belonged in your family for a long time.  It might be somewhere outside now that spring has arrived.  Last night I saw my neighbor sitting quietly in her garden and just watching her, I felt more peaceful.

What material things hold special meaning for you?  Do you have a coffee mug that has been your morning companion for years?  Has someone given you a gift that holds special meaning?  I have a small blue bird made from glass that sits in the kitchen window.  It is a small point of beauty.  Maybe you have a cross you like to place before you.  Bring these reminders of comfort into your space.  Use what speaks calmly to you to create your sanctuary.

And parents and others with children around, this could be a good time to introduce children to the idea of holiness, of listening to their souls and to God.  Maybe you could invite them to create a holy space for prayer.  Just for them.

In this time, when we are so conscious of what is wrong in the world, I think it would be good to have a place to remember what is good.  A place to pray.  In the last week of Christ’s life, he went to a garden for prayer.  His soul needed rest and reassurance.  Ours does too.

Easter Morning we will celebrate the Good News!  Christ is Risen!  (And I am hearing you echo “He is Risen, Indeed!”)

Every blessing,
Pastor Cindy
Pastor Cindy Hickman
West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Avenue
West Des Moines Iowa 50265
515-279-0826

Like us on Facebook or visit us at wdmumc.org.

Holy Week Worship  Livestreaming
Easter Prayer Vigil from sunrise on Saturday to midnight.  Look for details on our Facebook page or email Pastor Trevor.

The Tolling of the Bell Friday at noon.  The bell will toll 20 times for the Pandemic of 2020.

Good Friday worship at 7 pm.

Easter Sunday the Tolling of the Bell at 9 am.  Christ is Risen!

Easter Sunday Worship at 9:30 am.

Sweet Gossip!  Looking for your bits of good news!  Email them to Pastor Cindy and we will share them in the link.

And a huge thank you to all of you who have continued to support the church through your financial support!  Your gifts are arriving in the mail and through on-line giving.   Through your generosity, the church goes on!

"Midweek and We Are Praying" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 04/01/2020

Friends,
So we pray. 
We are in week three of self-quarantine.  I am sure you are following the news and taking the advice of the experts.  We are limiting our contact.  We are washing our hands.  We are staying at home as much as we can.  We are being good citizens.

But more than being good citizens, what do we followers of Jesus Christ do?

We pray.  We bring this all before God.

Years ago I was diagnosed with cancer.  That was a fearful uncertain time when I didn’t know what would happen to me.  In recent days, I am realizing how many people live with uncertainty every day due to health issues or relationship struggles or financial challenges.  Young people wonder about their future.  The elderly battle loneliness.  All of this uncertainty can feel like our own personal pandemics.  Now we face a shared time of uncertainty.

When I was diagnosed, a kind woman named Susan gave me the prayer below.  I carried it in my pocket, and I prayed it throughout the day.  I still have the original copy in my nightstand.  It is creased and worn from having been read so many times.  (And to be honest, when I would pray this prayer, I often didn’t get beyond “Refuge of our Bewildered Hearts.”  I was very bewildered.) I have shared this with some of you in the past when you were facing struggles.
 
God of All Mercy, Shepherd of every hope, The Refuge of our Bewildered Hearts, steady us with your tender mercy, lest the shadows of this hour hide a lifetime of blessings from our sight.  Within the shadow of our fears, your love stands waiting upon the very threshold of our need.  Though we can not see the way, guide us step by step, and strengthen us for each day’s journey with a peace beyond our making. 

Help us to pray for those we love, that we may commend them to your care, not alone by the anxiety of our affection, but by our faith that you also take delight in them, and will shepherd their days and nights with a wisdom greater than our own.  Where ever we walk, in sunshine or in shadow, show us the sign of Christ our Lord, who goes before us—in life, in death, in life beyond death—that we might be delivered from fear and in all things trust you with our life.  Amen

I am certain of this.  The careful way you are living is easing the burden on our health care workers.  By the actions you are taking, by staying home, by sacrificing your personal freedom and limiting contact, you are saving lives.

And through your prayers, God responds with grace, and we are delivered from our fears.  

Blessings, even now, especially now,
Pastor Cindy
Pastor Cindy Hickman
West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Avenue
West Des Moines, Iowa 50265
515-279-0826

Like us on Facebook or visit us at wdmumc.org.  Each Sunday at 9:30 we are Livestreaming our worship service.  

This Week At WDMUMC
Palm Sunday and Holy Communion  This Sunday we will celebrate Palm Sunday and we will also celebrate Holy Communion.

Preparing for Holy Communion  Holy Communion is a sacred act in the church.  At its core is the act of Christ giving himself up for each of us.  In that sense, it is intimate.  And at the same time, it is an act of community.  Christ gave himself for all.  It is the grace of God come down to us in Christ.  And the grace of God distributed through us to the community.  All that is to say it is personal, a God to a person to person experience.  Until this pandemic, communion could only be offered in person, face to face.  Our Bishop has permitted churches to offer communion this Sunday via live-streaming.  Due to the sacred intimacy of communion, it cannot be recorded and the communion portion of the service, will not be posted on the web later.

To prepare for communion, please have some sort of bread or tortilla ready.  If you have juice, that is fine, if not feel free to go without.  Do not make a special trip to the store for juice!  For centuries, when communion was first instituted in the church only bread was used.  Our bishop has prepared a liturgy in response to the pandemic we are now facing.  I hope you will join in at 9:30 and share in Holy Communion.

Please send your Palm Sunday and Easter Pictures and Videos!  We want to see your lovely faces and join in your Easter celebration!  Can you host your own Palm Parade waving something?  A scarf?  A towel?  Your hands?  And what preparations are you making for Easter?  Snap a picture or a video and send them to contactwdmumc@gmail.com.  We hope to put together a collection of videos and pictures to show on Easter Sunday. Please send them by Wednesday, April 8.

ZOOM!  Yesterday I participated in three zoom meetings and I am telling you, YOU CAN DO IT!  Covenant groups, Sunday school classes, and bunches of friends use the zoom!  It is so good to see one another’s faces.  Contact Pastor Trevor for directions and training.  Watch for more ZOOM events at church.

Sweet Gossip! Keep sending your sweet gossip!  Good snippets of news that we would share if we were together.  Watch this week’s Link for some sweet sharing!  You can reply to this email with the sweet news from your house.

And Pray for Our City!  Hannah has created a banner and it is hanging outside our church inviting everyone to pray for our city.