2024
A Letter from Pastor Andy: February 21, 2024
Dear U Park Family,
How do you pray?
You might answer that question in myriad ways. When Jesus’s disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he responded with the Lord’s prayer. But it’s not like that’s the only way. We can pray wordlessly. We can pray using scripture. Our prayer can be expressed in our bodily movements and our breath. There are probably hundreds of ways to pray.
I think that’s why it’s always seemed strange to me that the most common question people have when I discuss prayer with them is whether they’re doing it wrong. I’m sure there are other Pastors and theologians who would disagree with me, but I think there are very few ways of praying wrong. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible. For example, prayer that cultivates self-hatred is praying wrong. Prayer that asks God to harm others is praying wrong. Prayer in which we admire our own moral superiority is praying wrong. But apart from that, it’s hard to go too far wrong with prayer.
My sermon series for Lent this year focuses on spiritual practices that help us fulfill Lent’s basic purpose: to free us for deeper, more loving relationship with God and creation. This week I’m talking about prayer. I think that prayer is one of the truly indispensable spiritual practices in Christianity. But the good news is that there are so many ways of praying. I hope you’ll join us in worship this Sunday at 9:00 in Wasser Chapel or 11:00 in the Sanctuary. If neither of those work for you, we livestream our 11:00 service on Facebook and post it to YouTube later on in the day (you can find us there by searching @UniversityParkUMCDenver).
There’s some confusion about an article in Monday’s newsletter. We passed along an invitation from a researcher named Jason Winn, who is focusing on the University Park area of Denver along with other places to learn how people develop a sense of place or home (or how they don’t). Anyone is invited to watch the video that article links to and complete the online questionnaire, which should take about 15 minutes. When we posted the article, my email signature accidentally got copied onto it (as if I had signed the note inviting people to take the survey). So to be clear: I’m not doing this research or going to Tunisia to present it. My name just accidentally got attached to the invitation. I called and spoke to Dr. Winn about the project before running it in our newsletter. I told him that we’d be willing to run the article, and that some people from our church might take the online survey, but I could not guarantee any participation. So if you’d like to help out, I know he’d be grateful.
Also, you may have seen the sign posted on our church lawn at the corner of Warren and Josephine. A group from the University Park neighborhood is working to create a “non-contiguous historic district” that would include our church. As you likely know, Wasser chapel is on the Colorado Historic register already. We have the opportunity to give input into the process in meetings coming up. Call me or email if you’re interested in learning more and I’ll be happy to pass along what I know. A representative from the group came and spoke with our Administrative Council months ago, and we saw nothing that alarmed us then about this effort.
I hope your Lent is starting off well – see you in church!
Grace and Peace,
Andy
March 2, 2022
Dear U Park Family,
Blessed Ash Wednesday to you. I hope it’s been reflective and rewarding. We have services at the church today at noon and 6:00 P.M., and I hope you can join us for one of them.
I’ve talked with several Pastor friends of mine, and we are unanimous about one thing: traditional Ash Wednesday and Lenten themes don’t resonate very well this year.
Traditionally, Ash Wednesday is a time to reflect on the transience of life and to think about how we can appropriately use the time we have. It’s the beginning of Lent, and the Ash Wednesday liturgy usually includes what’s called the “invitation to the observance of Lenten Discipline.” Traditionally, when we make the sign of the cross in ashes on the hands or foreheads of worshipers, we say, “you are dust and to dust you shall return.” It’s meant to be a solemn reminder of our mortality, as the beginning to a season of reflection and repentance.
But discussing it this year, my friends and I all agree that we’ve had more than enough reminders of mortality over the past couple of years. Thank God, vaccinations continue to increase and the pandemic mortality continues to decline. But the pandemic is far from the only thing reminding us of our mortality lately. Climate change (complete with the recent, bleak IPCC report), escalating rates of violence in our nation, Russia’s sudden and disturbing attack on Ukraine: it seems like everywhere we turn we’re being told that we’re dust and to dust we shall return.
For that reason, I’ll be approaching Lent differently this year. What if the Gospel stories are not just stories about Jesus, but stories about us? What if the resurrection story isn’t just about Jesus’s miraculous triumph over death, but a template for us? In our Lenten reflections this year, I’ll be focusing on what we’re called to leave behind in order to be resurrected – to be formed into the joyful and thriving people we’re called to be. This Sunday in worship, I’ll focus on the story of Jesus’s temptation in the desert, found in the Gospel of Luke. I’ll be asking the question of what the story asks us to leave behind. I hope you’ll join us at 10:00 A.M. in the Sanctuary, or later that afternoon from home by watching on our YouTube Channel.
Speaking of things we’re leaving behind, this coming Sunday we’ll move from “masks required” to “masks encouraged” status. As always, I’m very grateful to our congregation’s medical professionals who have advised the staff throughout the pandemic. We’re all agreed that this is the right move. Of course, there are a number of people in the congregation who need or wish to remain masked, and we completely support that need and encourage you to do so. Others may decide to go unmasked. What’s most important, it seems to me, is that we continue to respect one another and support one another’s needs just as we have done throughout the pandemic.
On the 20th and 27th of this month I will be in Guatemala with our church’s mission team, serving a medical clinic operated by the nonprofit agency Salud y Paz (“health and peace”). Those two Sundays, we’ll have guest preachers – I’ll keep you posted here about who they will be.
May your Ash Wednesday and Lent strengthen and ground you in these unsettling times, as we begin this season of reflection.
Grace and Peace, Andy