2024
A Letter from Pastor Andy: February 28, 2024
Dear U Park Family,
Yesterday morning in our men’s group, we discussed the work of a religious sociologist named Aaron Renn, who believes we are now living in what he calls “negative world:” a culture in which Christianity and church membership are predominantly viewed negatively rather than positively or even as a neutral influence. I don’t know whether Renn is right about that, but I do know that we’re in the middle of what many are calling “the great de-churching:” a decline in religious engagement across the board. All religious faiths in this country are seeing less participation and more skepticism, and families are more likely than ever before to be unchurched – sometimes for generations. This means that Christian ideas that used to be well understood in our country are now foreign to many. While that may be disturbing to those of us who love the church, it can also be good news. We can no longer take widespread cultural acceptance for granted. We have to think carefully about who we are and what it means to follow the Jewish peasant from Nazareth, and in the long run I think that’s good for the church.
I’ve been thinking about this as I work my way through our Lenten sermon series, “Inheritance,” about the spiritual practices we’ve inherited from the Christian tradition. Traditionally called “spiritual disciplines” (“discipline” in the sense of “disciple”), these are methods and tools we’ve inherited to deepen our spiritual life. This week, we’ll be focusing on a practice that in some ways is familiar even in our “de-churched” world: fasting. We’re all familiar with the concept of skipping meals. “Intermittent fasting” diets are popular with people trying to lose weight and athletes trying to improve their performance. They’re even touted as ways to help cure disease. But perhaps because we are so de-churched, the spiritual benefits of fasting are unfamiliar. On Sunday, I’ll reflect on those spiritual benefits, whether we fast from food or from some other habit or behavior. I hope you’ll be in worship, either at 9:00 in Wasser Chapel or at 11:00 in our Sanctuary. If you can’t be there in person, you can always catch live video of our worship on Facebook at 11:00 (find us at “UParkUMCDenver”) or on our YouTube channel after 5:00 on Sunday afternoon (www.youtube.com/c/UniversityParkUMCDenver).
On Thursday, March 14 at 10:00 A.M., everyone is invited to attend the United Women in Faith meeting for a special presentation from Jim Van Someren of Metro Caring. Metro Caring is one of Denver’s very best front line food pantries. They provide food, employment services, IDs, and other necessary help to people in need, and our congregation has supported their work for years. We’d like to build a regular cadre of volunteers who go there monthly, and this presentation will be a great way to learn more about what they do and how we can help.
I hope you’ve been enjoying the Lenten devotionals Kevin (our church administrator) has been sending out. During Holy Week, we have another devotional opportunity in addition to the classic “triduum” of worship services on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. Starting on Wednesday, March 27, we’ll have our canvas labyrinth on the floor of East Fellowship Hall in the basement of the church through Easter morning. The labyrinth is an ancient form of Christian walking prayer, in which we’re invited to walk slowly to the center of a painted path, pray quietly in the center, and then return to the beginning of the path. The labyrinth path is a visual and spatial metaphor for the winding road of spiritual life as we approach God, who is always at the center. I hope you’ll take advantage of this way of praying during Holy Week, and we hope to have community members from outside the church joining us as well.
I hope that your spiritual life is enriched and deepened this Lent. I’ll 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