The Spirit is Among Us!
Happy Tuesday Gadsden Street UMC!
What a wild few weeks we've had. October has certainly presented some challenges and changes for many of us and we come here to the end of the month maybe seeking some piece of normalcy. Maybe we're waiting on those trees to be cut up and removed from our yards. Maybe we're still seeing our neighbors picking up the pieces as we begin to move forward. Maybe you are tired from the work this month has brought. Maybe you find yourself thankful for the ways in which the community came together and are inspired by the human connection we've seen. Regardless of where you find yourself, God has certainly been present this month in small ways for some and big ways for others.
Thank you to all who helped clean up the church property after the hurricane! Thank you to all who helped to trim back the bushes on 9th! Thank you to all who participated in Trunk-or-Treat! We have been up to great things here at Gadsden Street UMC and we are just getting started. I am so excited to see where God leads us. The Spirit is in this place!
This week marks the end of a month and pulls us into the final two months of the year. However, if you want to be technical in the liturgical sense, Advent marks the very beginning of the Chrisitan year. In the Church, we could say that the week of Thanksgiving is the New Year! A reason to feast indeed! It is also a time that for potentially the majority of human history, we are invited to slow down, to get cozy, and connect with our loved ones. I hope and pray that you are all looking forward to this season of connection, holiness, and compassion.
This coming Sunday is a time where we can look back and honor what has gone before and who has gone before us. As we prepare for All Saint's Sunday, please bring a memorial, memento, photograph, etc. of someone that you wish to honor and remember. We will take time at the start of the service to place those items on the altar and give thanks to God for the ways in which they have shaped us. There will also be candles that you will be invited to light and at the end of the service, you will be able to take home if you would like to continue to keep the flame going in memory of your loved one.
This Sunday is also day light savings! Don't forget to "fall back" as they say. This Halloween, we will gian an hour of sleep before we come together Sunday morning to worship and celebrate All Saint's Sunday.
This Week
Ladies and Gents Dinner
Tonight | 5:30PM | Cheddars on N Davis Hwy
If you would still like to join in the dinner this evening, please reach out to Brenda to let her know that you will make it. As of this afternoon, we have around 17 on the reservation. Join us for an evening of fellowship over great food!
Wednesday Morning Devotional
October 27 | 10:00AM | Online via Zoom
Join us tomorrow morning as we delve into The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer - Week 43: Belonging. It is always a wonderful time to offer reflection, discussion, and lift up prayer requests. If you would like to join, please click on the link below at 10:00AM tomorrow morning!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87017514017
Wednesday Coffee with Pastor Heather
October 27 | 1:30PM - 4:00PM | Craft Bakery on Scenic Hwy
Pastor Heather will be working out of the office at Craft Bakery and Cafe tomorrow afternoon, following a lunch meeting. Drop on by for some incredible coffee and tea menu items and even some great bakery items.
A Weekly Reflection
This week, I offer a reflection that comes from another section of Richard Rohr's devotional book Yes, and... Daily Meditations. As we keep the message that Jesus speaks, to love God and to love our neighbors, I believe Rohr makes a meaningful connection and worth meditating on. I leave this paragraph for you to consider this week.
"The Gospel cannot happen in your head alone.
The Gospel is about relationship. Unless there is someplace on this earth where it's happening between you and another person, I don't believe you have any criterion to judge whether it's happening at all. Unless you're in right relationship with at least one other person on this earth, unless there is someplace you can give and receive love, I don't think you have any reason to think you are giving or receiving divine love either.
Is there at least one place in your life where you are giving and receiving love? If it happens in one place, it can happen everywhere. If you are truly capable of loving one person, you're capable of loving more than one, and eventually even your enemy, and finally all. Love is one piece. Thus, you rightly speak of being 'in love' and Paul writes of being 'in Christ'. Love is all or nothing. You either express love or you don't. The Scholastic philosopher Josef Pieper (1904-1997) said it very well: 'The natural habitat of truth is human conversation'. How you relate to anyone is how you relate to everything else too."
Adapted from The Good News According to Luke: Spiritual Reflections, p.138.
Peace and blessings,
Heather Nysewander