Monday, February 27 - Pastoral Team Meeting - 10 am
Tuesday, February 28 - Leadership Team Meeting - 6:30 pm
Wednesday, March 1 - Last Week Class - 10 am
Thursday, March 2 - United Women In Faith - 6 pm
Thursday, March 2 - Choir Practice - 7 pm
Lent’s First Sunday
Carl opens the season’s look at Luke this Sunday, February 26th, with “Revisiting Us vs. Them”, a reflection on the Pharisee and the Publican at Prayer (Luke 18:10-14). It’s a parable study. You’ve got to be wary of parables; they’re almost never what they seem to be.
Bishop Dyck Opens Lent with a Letter to the Churches
Relent: the word of the season
Hi, I’m Bishop Sally Dyck, the interim bishop of the California-Nevada Annual Conference
Today is Ash Wednesday and it starts the Christian season of Lent. Lent is a time when Christians reflect on our mortality and to seek to deepen our spiritual practices. Traditionally Christians have “given up” something for Lent, usually something that brings pleasure, like chocolate!
Recently I watched an old but favorite movie, Chocolat. It’s about a woman chocolatier who moves into a small French village and opens a chocolate store at the beginning of Lent! She’s an outsider to the village. She doesn’t go to church (but then isn’t welcome). She “sees” those who are invisible and unloved or unwanted and befriends them. (And yes, there’s also a romantic twist to the story.)
Her introduction of these delicious, mouth-watering chocolates to the villagers during Lent becomes a major challenge between her and the priest and others who are “giving up” pleasures for Lent including chocolate. But there’s not any “giving up” of some judgmental attitudes and the rejection of those who aren’t accepted in the village whatever reasons. As is the case in real life, our rejection of others usually comes back to our own detriment. But spoiler alert: by Easter there are many hearts strangely warmed! A new attitude in the village exists!
Many Christians have begun to pick a word at the beginning of the calendar year to focus on: hope, peace, or trust (trust would be a good one since there’s a supply shortage these days). The idea is to use that word to frame our daily lives, to look at things a little differently. It’s not a resolution but a perspective.
During the season of Lent, I would like you to consider focusing on the word RELENT. To relent means to soften our hard feelings or temper. God is slow to anger; are we? Some things may be worth our anger, but a lot of things aren’t! To relent means that we bring into focus what is making us angry at the moment and decide if it’s really worth being angry about instead of letting ourselves become so annoyed that we do and say things that are unkind, even hateful, and vengeful. Relent this Lent!
To relent also means to become more compassionate. To be compassionate means to have a softer heart; more empathy toward those who are hurting and therefore not acting out of their best selves. Such persons may be part of our everyday lives or only people we see on the evening news. Usually people we don’t understand. The opposite of being compassionate is to be condemning or judging. So relent this Lent!
To relent also means to become more forgiving. When we say that we want to become better Christians, or more like Jesus, or to have a deeper walk with God, too often we think in terms of doubling down on practices that are external or beliefs alone rather than internal attitudes that exclude instead of include, that perpetuate fear and prejudice rather than openness and acceptance. Relent this Lent!
Relent is a great word, isn’t it? You have to admit that it can have an added nuance: literally to lent again; relent. When we focus on a spiritual practice or in this case a word, hopefully it begins to take root in our thinking, feeling, relating, and being. To relent is to begin and to continue to follow Jesus, to become more like Jesus, in our hearts, in our minds, in our relationships, and in our commitments.
This Lenten season, “Relent! Relent! And again I say, relent!”
I’m going to try!
PS: Movies can move us through their stories to reflect on ourselves a little deeper. Another beautiful movie, like Chocolat, with a similar theme of relenting is Babette’s Feast. Like Chocolat, it tells a story of a village who focuses on external religious practices, like food rather than attitudes of the heart. Watching a group of people gathered around a table (an apt metaphor) relent toward the woman who prepares the feast (and gives her all to them even though they were unrelenting toward her) gives witness to how joy comes when we relent!
Relent! Rejoice! And again I say, relent and rejoice this Lenten season!
Sincerely,
Art Walk Coming Back
March 11th is the start of our return to Second Saturday Art Walk. The eclectic display in the chapel once again is being designed and administered by Susan Nakamoto. Look for the full article next week.
Shrove Tuesday Dinner – a Great Evening
Some fifty diners gathered in the Terrace Room for the Pennsylvania Dutch treat of Chicken and Waffles (with all the fixins). We learned what a distelfink is and had a chance to color our own hex signs too. Thanks for the visuals and table settings go to Pat Peck; and chef Aaron Johnson brought us the wonderful food. Both these leaders had teams of helpers as well. And, some of the diners pitched in on the spot to add jovial assistance.
Check Out the Black History Month Display in the J Street Hall.
We’re in the third week of this four-part series this Sunday. Join us for a lively and supportive discussion in class at 9 AM. Here’s the link to this week’s video. Remember, It will not be shown in class. Please view it at home in advance.
FAITH_IN_ACTION
February is African American History Month: The Blessing and Burden of Being Black in America Read more here ...
The Spiritual Development Team and the LGBTQ+ Social Justice Committee of First UMC Sacramento have partnered to offer this helpful video speaker’s series to our congregation as a part of our celebration of Black History Month.
Want to know what’s up? Check the calendar on our website. Need to change a meeting date for your committee? Go to the website for that too, https://firstumcsac.org. Just scroll down to the Calendar of Events Request Form and tap it. Your calendar item, when submitted, goes immediately to processing and soon will appear in the calendar.
Pastoral Team Contact Information
Reverend Carl Thomas - - - Carl@firstumcsac.org
Reverend Jim Mishler - - - Jim@firstumcsac.org
Reverend Linda Caldwell - - - Linda@firstumcsac.org
Firstumcsac.org / (916) 446-5025
At First Church, we believe in the power of prayer. We want to lift up concerns in our community and nation continually. We also want to be joyful for how we have seen God move. Here are some topics to pray for during your week.
Pray for women across the world who are currently fighting for their freedom.
Pray for those among our congregation who are struggling with physical illness or chronic disease.
Pray for those in our city who are without a home. They need rest.
Pray for those struggling with mental illnesses. They need rest.
