Archeology | April 9
You’ve seen all the movies that depict ancient artifacts uncovered with dramatic consequences...Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, or my personal favorite, National Treasure. What is our fascination with the past that fuels a whole genre of movie making?
Well, I can tell you what it is for me. I have seen enough of life to believe that my experiences are not unique among humanity. I believe that what happened centuries -- even millennia -- ago has real consequences for our life today. One of my fascinations has been with the Dead Sea Scrolls. Seventy years ago, these ancient manuscripts were discovered by accident. They presented us with a considerably different picture of the Hebrew Bible, what Christians refer to as the Old Testament. The past really does affect the future.
As we prepare for our new sermon series, “The Lord’s Prayer...Uncovered,” we are asking the question, “What if the Lord’s Prayer hadn’t been spoken for centuries and then was uncovered by those seeking clues from the past?” This generates many other questions. What would they discover about those of us who pray it daily? What parts of this prayer might speak to them that we pass over because we pray it without thinking? What transformative power would this prayer have as it is uncovered, power that we’ve missed? We’re taking a new look at the Lord’s Prayer for the next six weeks.
During this series, I am asking you to pray the Lord’s Prayer twice every day -- once in the morning and once before you go to bed. We are providing you with a tool, prayer beads. Made by members of our congregation, this string of prayer beads move up and down. As you pray each phrase, move a bead. I promise you, this method of prayer will help you slow down and pay attention to the words you speak. We want everyone to have a set of beads and will have them available for you each Sunday at church. You can also stop by the office during the week and receive a set. Or, we will mail them to you. Just email me and I’ll be happy to get a set in the mail to you. Beyond your own prayers, I hope you will use the prayer beads to invite a friend or family member to join us for this series. Offer them a set of the beads and encourage them to join us as we uncover the transforming power of this prayer for a post-pandemic world.
Last weekend was amazing, Faith. What a beautiful Easter we shared. We worshipped with Living Water UMC on Turkey Mountain, hosting almost 200 people. We worshipped in the sanctuary with 100 people. We don’t have our online viewer numbers yet, but suffice it to say that we had more people sharing Easter worship with us than we have since last spring. We were hungry for a celebration and blessed with resurrection power. Thank you to all the volunteers, staff and technical wizards who made it possible for us to share such a lovely morning together.
I will be teaching a new class, beginning May 6, Praying the Psalms. The Psalms are a rich resource for prayer among both Jews and Christians. Our forebears in the faith have been praying the psalms, particularly in the fixed hours of morning and evening, for millennia. Since my Sabbatical, I’ve wanted to establish a daily rhythm of praying the Psalms and I figured the best way to do that is to do it with you. I am creating a schedule for praying a Psalm a day. Then, being schooled in prayer by the Psalms, we’ll gather each Thursday evening at 8:00 pm for an hour of deeper learning -- for 14 weeks. Friends, there are 150 Psalms, so it is going to take us a while. We’ll make it through the majority of the Psalms by the middle of August. If you want to join me, click this link or send me an email.
Finally, I wanted to show you a cool feature we now have on our Google Listing. We had a photographer come take pictures right before the ice storm hit that can be manipulated for Google’s 360 degree view. Check it out! Hopefully, this will allow those who find us online to see what it is like inside our building.
Faith, I wish you a blessed Eastertide. I’m looking forward to uncovering the Lord’s Prayer together.
Pastor Charla
