2024
A Letter from Pastor Andy: March 13, 2024
Dear U Park Family,
I’ve been privileged to teach a few undergraduate and graduate courses in philosophy, religion, and church leadership, and I always love it. I especially love the fact that to teach well, I have to be learning. If I’m making new discoveries for myself and I’m excited about what I’m learning, I find that the students tend to be interested in their own learning as well.
John Wesley, the Church of England priest who is regarded as the primary founder of Methodism, felt that reason and truth were God-given gifts. The Free Methodist Church, an early offshoot of Methodism in this country, echoes that idea in its doctrine that “all truth is God’s truth. If something is true, we embrace it as from the Lord.” If that’s accurate, then one way to learn about God is to learn what’s true about God’s creation.
Each week throughout Lent, we’ve been looking at spiritual practices to help us grow closer to God, and so far I’ve talked in sermons about worship, prayer, fasting, and service. This Sunday, we’ll continue our “Inheritance” sermon series with a look at the spiritual discipline of study. I know that we may not experience study as a spiritual exercise – we often study for more practical reasons like passing an important test, gaining some certification, or because we have to know something for our profession. But we can study simply for the joy of learning about creation and using our God-given minds. I hope you’ll be part of our worship this Sunday as we contemplate the spiritual benefits of study. We’ll have our regular worship services at 9:00 and 11:00, and if you can’t be here in person you can always join us live on our Facebook page at 11:00 or see our worship service recording later in the afternoon on our YouTube channel.
Sunday March 24 begins Holy Week. That morning at our 11:00 service, our choir will present their Cantata. Starting on Thursday, we’ll celebrate the classic Holy Week “Triduum” of worship with services on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, all beginning at 7:00 P.M. These worship services mark the most sacred time in the Christian calendar, and being present for that sequence of worship is a wonderful way of immersing ourselves in the story of Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. Holy or “Maundy” Thursday is a service commemorating Jesus’ last supper with his disciples. On Good Friday, we hear the story of his arrest and crucifixion. The Saturday vigil in marks the turning point between Good Friday’s despair and Easter morning’s hope. In the early church, new Christians were baptized during the Holy Saturday Vigil, joining Christ’s resurrection to their own new life; traditionally, the Saturday vigil is the first service of Easter.
On Easter Sunday morning, we’ll hold three services. At 7:00 A.M. we’ll have a sunrise service in Wasser Chapel. Our 9:00 and 11:00 services will be in the Sanctuary, featuring our choir and guest musicians to celebrate the resurrection. I hope you’ll be with us for this year’s celebration of Easter.
Finally, because of the snowstorm that’s forecast for this evening and tomorrow, most of the groups at church on Thursday are cancelling their meetings. If you’re scheduled to be at church on Thursday, check with the office at upark@uparkumc.org before coming in if the weather is bad. If the church building is closed, we’ll post that information on our website at https://uparkdenver.com . If the storm comes, I hope you stay warm and enjoy the spring snow!
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