Running on Empty
Lacking is a bad thing. If you doubt that, turn on your televisions and count the number of times someone tells you you don’t have what you need: a medicine, a snack food, a beer, a car, whatever. Our entire economic system, it seems, is built around telling us that we’re lacking something and if we buy such-and-such product, we’ll finally have our needs fulfilled.
But it doesn’t work like that. Even when we get the new car or the new medicine or whatever, we don’t always feel that our lack has been met. Sometimes this even happens in church, where we get the long-touted experience of God in a worship service, but it doesn’t last and we have to keep coming back to fill that emptiness.
It’s why the experience of want and desire can be such a wilderness experience. We can feel that when we’re in this state of want we are far removed from God. Surely if God were near me, we think, I would have what I want and need.
But it was God who emptied Godself to become one of us. It was God who self-limited, self-emptied, and created a lack within God’s own being to become human and walk beside us in the person of Jesus. It was that same Jesus who knew temptation and want in his life. And so, what we find is that when we feel that lack, that emptiness, we find ourselves not removed from God, but in a God-moment. We find in the acknowledgment of our emptiness a fullness that we never would have thought possible. And we find in our letting go and loving that we find the very thing we sought.
Rev. Mark Schaefer, Pastor
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Ecclesiastica
SUNDAY’S WORSHIP SERVICES
Thanks to everyone who participated in worship services Sunday. Thanks to Lu Lawrence for leading us in worship and for reading our scripture lessons, and to Chiara Griffith for providing our beautiful music.
Sermon: “The Wilderness of Want,” Rev. Mark Schaefer
Sunday’s attendance: 48
Collection: $ 2,203
ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICES
Sermon: “A World in Ashes,” Rev. Mark Schaefer
Attendance: 13
Collection: $ 72
NEXT SUNDAY SERVICES, MARCH 8, 2020, 10:00 a.m.
Second Sunday in Lent
Sermon: “The Wilderness of Fear,” Rev. Mark Schaefer
Scripture Lessons: Genesis 12:1-4a; John 3:1-17
Want to help out in worship? Use our online sign-up to be a greeter, usher, liturgist, lector, or communion server.
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Community Events & Information
TRUSTEES MEETING
Monday, March 2, 7 p.m., Furgang Hall
There will be a meeting of the Board of Trustees, this Monday evening at 7 p.m. The meeting is open to members of the congregation.
PASTOR’S WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY CONTINUES
The Pastor's Bible study continues this week and every Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. We will be doing a deeper dive into the lectionary texts used on Sunday during worship. Everyone is welcome to attend. No prior experience required!
Contact: Rev. Mark Schaefer, cumcpastormark@gmail.com
PASTOR’S “OFFICE” HOURS—MAIN STREET COFFEE & TREATS, UPPER MARLBORO
Wednesday, March 4, 2–4 p.m.
Rev. Schaefer’s “office” hours in the community this week will be Wednesday, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Main Street Coffee & Treats in Upper Marlboro. Feel free to stop on by!
Contact: Rev. Mark Schaefer, cumcpastormark@gmail.com
LENTEN SERMON SERIES BEGINS SUNDAY
“A JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS”
March 1–April 12, 2020
When you’re in the wilderness of want, fear, despair, tragedy, death and loss, or betrayal—where is God then? Beginning next Sunday, we will be embarking on a Lenten Sermon series exploring the experience of journeying through the wildernesses of our lives and where we encounter God in their midst.
REGISTER FOR THE CONNECT LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
March 14, 2020, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Southern Region—Brooks and Waters Memorial UMC
5400 and 5550 Mackall Rd, St. Leonard, MD 20685
What if every connection we made built up the body of Christ here and now? What if together we connected people to one another and connected churches to better connect to their communities and with their causes. Jesus exists in these connections. Join us on a this year's Connect Leadership Summit, a conference designed for leaders—lay and clergy—on March 7 or 14. Following a dynamic keynote presentation in the morning, you have the option of choosing 1 of 6 dynamic tracks geared toward equipping you in your role as a leader in the Body of Christ. Pre-registration is required! Registration fee includes a Connect Leadership Summit journal, lunch and the copy of Daniel Im’s book “No Silver Bullets.” The deadline to register and submit your registration fee is March 1, 2020 by 4:30 p.m.
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