These weeks when we cannot gather in person for Sunday worship, Lakewood United Church of Christ is providing brief weekly sabbath programs for you to listen to on your own or with those you live with. They will be posted on Friday so that you can schedule your sabbath time to suit your schedule and your spiritual inclinations. We hope these programs are of spiritual support to you in these difficult times.
There is a poem, a scripture reading and a brief meditation by Pastor Kim Wells followed by music offered by Music Director Hilton Kean Jones. Following the video and music, there is a photo montage of pictures of nature taken by the LUCC church family.
Find a quiet place, inside or outside. Light a candle. Perhaps have something present that represents nature for you. Breathe. Be present.
You may begin by offering these words:
The creation is quite like a spacious and splendid house, provided and filled with the most abundant furnishings. Everything in it tells us of God.
–John Calvin, 1509-1564
As you listen to the music video from Hilton which follows, you are invited to pay attention to the thoughts and feelings and reflections that arise for you. The music video features photos of nature taken by members of the Lakewood Church family offered in honor of Earth Day.
(opening titles begin in silence – for best audio, headphones or external computer speakers are recommended)
After viewing the videos, you are invited to offer the following closing –
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. . . I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.
–Ann Frank, 1929-1945
Breathe. Extinguish your candle and engage whatever may come with a sense of peace and a desire to serve.
This Sunday, in celebration of Earth Day, there will be an LUCC Family Zoom gathering on Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. to share our experiences and thoughts about Earth Day. The links will be sent to you later in the week. Please plan to participate. Pictures wanted! Hilton is compiling a photo montage of pictures of nature taken by the church family. Please email them to the church by today – Wednesday. Here’s the email link: lakewooducc@gmail.com
Each Friday, the church will post a devotional with readings, video from Kim, and music from Hilton. You are invited to access these at the website and observe the sabbath according to your schedule over the weekend. There will be a new one posted each week. This week’s post will highlight the Earth Day.
In addition to the weekly Corona Sabbath devotions on the website every Friday, Hilton is also posting music, mainly hymns, on the website daily. These are also posted on the church’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. You may find links to all the music posts on the website at https://lakewooducc.org/category/posts/music/ — note the “Older Posts” button down the page.
In an effort to stay connected as a congregation, a text version of the Corona Sabbath posts is being sent in the mail to those in the church family that are not regular users of the Internet. The church is also sending a paper version of the Weekly Update to those who may appreciate keeping in touch that way. Additional Zoom gatherings are also being planned. There is one this Sunday at 10:30 in honor of Earth Day.
Labyrinth Walks
Labyrinth Walks are being held as scheduled on Wednesday mornings at 9:00. We feel given current information and restrictions that it is safe to hold this activity. It involves less than 10 people, it is outside, and the people can be at least 6 feet apart. Bring your own chair and wear a mask if you wish.
Church Finances Unexpected Funds Arriving and Thinking of LUCC: Claire Stiles
As many of us will be receiving unexpected funds from the federal government soon, perhaps we can consider giving some of the money to help our church and other service organizations survive and provide for others during this challenging time. Some of us have been blessed with sufficient income in retirement or are still employed so could more easily share some of the $1200 or $2400 that our households will receive. If that is true for you, please join me in deciding to use a portion of this income to support our beloved LUCC and any other organizations and services in our community that need our help!
Many thanks to those who have continued to support the church financially. Your gifts are greatly appreciated!
Fabric needed for masks
A local nonprofit of refugee women from Congo is making masks for healthcare and other facilities. They are in need of fabric. The material needs to be 100% cotton and the tighter the weave the better. If you have fabric to donate, please contact the church office at 727-867-7961 or lakewooducc@gmail.com.
Subscribe to Website
This would be a good time to subscribe to the church website. As a subscriber, everything that is posted on the website will be sent to your email.
There’s now a new way to subscribe to posts from the church website by email. On any page of the website, look down the page for “Follow Blog via Email.” If you subscribed before, you’ll need to subscribe again with this new button. Notice, it’s right above the Paypal “Donate” button!
If you would like assistance with this, please contact the Church Office.
Sundays. . .
On Sundays, Rev. Wells will be at church from 10:30-11:30. The peace candle will be lit and prayers will be offered. You are welcome to stop by to pray or meditate. The labyrinth is also available. This is a symbolic witness that the church is still here, is still serving, is still active, is still shining light – even in these drastically changed circumstances.
Help Offered
Several people from the congregation have offered to help others as needed. If you need something from the grocery store or help with an errand or some other kind of assistance, please contact the Church Office. There are those who are ready and willing.
Church Office Changes
Given the increased restrictions on social contact, the church office is closed until further notice. The church administrator, Gabi Paxton will be working from home. The ministry of the church is continuing to the fullest measure possible under the current conditions. Please continue to be in contact and reach out to the church and staff.
April Birthdays: Zachary Blair-Andrews 4/16, Mary Beth Lewis 4/29, Someone missing? Contact the church office with birthday information.
Circle of Concern: William Owen, Wilbur Reid, Martha Lamar, Jen Degroot, Carolyn Moore, Ann Quinn, Maggie Brizendine, and Ann Rogers. All healthcare workers and essential workers. All those suffering from COVID-19.
Please keep LUCC member, Olivia Gibson, in your prayers. She is a nurse on a COVID-19 unit in a local hospital. We are grateful for her ministry!
Weekly Update: If you are involved with an activity or event that you would like to share with the LUCC family, please send the information to the Church Office by Tuesday since the Update usually is sent out on Wednesday.
The Week of April 20 – 26 includes EARTH DAY on Wednesday, April 22th, the 50 th Anniversary of the very first Earth Day held in 1970. To honor and celebrate this event and to show our support for our at- risk environment, LUCC Creation Justice Task Force would like to recommend a number of possible activities for you and your family to do together or individually on each day of Earth Day Week. On April 26 th at our 10:30 church gathering on Zoom, you will be asked to share what you did and how this activity made you feel and think about Mother Earth. We especially look forward to hearing from our children and youth!
Please feel free to add to this list and find other creative ways to celebrate Earth Day Week!
NON-ELECTRONIC ACTIVITIES – NOINTERNET OR COMPUTER NECESSARY
Take a walk or sit outside and observe the natural world around you for 15 – 30 minutes. Make a list or note what you observe
Stand barefoot or lie down in the grass or sand and feel the earth under you as you “Ground” yourself with the earth. Research has shown that allowing the bottoms of your feet, palms of your hands, or entire body to touch the earth may have health and mental health benefits. See https://www.healthline.com/health/grounding or search the net for other information
Write a Haiku poem about nature or the environment
Traditional Haiku Structure The first line is 5 syllables. The second line is 7 syllables. The third line is 5 syllables like the first. Punctuation and capitalization are up to the poet, and need not follow the rigid rules used in structuring sentences.
Draw, sketch, or photograph an image of one of your favorite animals, flowers, trees, or landscapes/seascapes of the natural world
Enjoy singing or listening to a hymn or song celebrating nature. Some examples,
For the Beauty of the Earth To You, O God, All Creatures Sing In the Bulb There Is a Flower Finlandia Home on the Range America the Beautiful Edelweiss
Plant a tree, bush, flower, or vegetable in a garden, a pot, or in your yard
Hug a tree – Even if we can’t hug each other now, we can hug and say thank you to our trees. Facts about trees: filter pollutants from the air, especially CO2 cool the air slow evaporation, save water, prevent erosion help the healing process – patients with trees out their window heal faster. reduce symptoms of ADHD, mental fatigue, and even violence in neighborhoods with more trees reduce level of fear.
Go through your house and eliminate any single-use plastics still in your drawers and cupboards
Eat a meatless meal one day
Use an item usually recycled or thrown in the trash and repurpose it for another use
Create an Altar with natural elements from outside your house, Light a candle, and use this blessing.
Climate Blessing – We Hold the Earth
We hold everyone who suffers from storms and droughts intensified by climate change. We hold all species that suffer. We hold world leaders delegated to make decisions for life. We pray that the web of life may be mended through courageous actions to limit carbon emissions. We pray for right actions for adaptation and mitigation to help our already suffering earth community. We pray that love and wisdom might inspire my actions and our actions as communities. So that we may, with integrity, look into the eyes of all living beings and truthfully say, we are doing our part to care for them and the future of the children. May love transform us and our world with new steps toward life. So may it be. Find more Climate Blessings for different faith traditions at www.faithclimateactionweek.org
ELECTRONIC ACTIVITIES – COMPUTER AND INTERNET ACCESSREQUIRED
After each web experience or activity, reflect on the experience by writing a brief paragraph, poem, or letter OR draw an image or picture that best describes how this experience has touched you, what you learned, and what action you might take based on this knowledge.
Attend a Multi-Faith Earth Day Service at the Washington National Cathedral co-hosted by the Interfaith Power and Light Organization on Sunday, April 19, 2020 at 2:00pm live on Facebook at http://facebook.com/wncathedral
Check out the Eat the Weeds website at http://www.eattheweeds.com/ See if you can identify any edible plants in your garden or neighborhood. Ruth and Claire regularly make Spanish Needle and Lemon Grass tea from their yard plants! Use the Search function at the right top of the website screen to see any of these plants and their use!
For many options to get involved and do one of them. Here is a sample script shared by leaders of the Green New Deal locally if you contact Mayor Kriseman (727-893-7201 or by email: mayor@stpete.org ) or the City Council of St. Petersburg ( 727-893-7117 or by email: council@stpete.org ) via email or phone Script: Hi, my name is __ and I’m a (local activist/resident of) ________ (St. Pete, Pinellas County, etc.). I am (calling/writing) to urge ______ (you/Mayor Kriseman/City Council/Councilman/woman X) to advocate for more funding for St. Pete’s Integrated Sustainability Action Plan in the upcoming fiscal year’s budget. I’m proud of St. Pete for the work we’re doing to become green and sustainable, but we need to do more to combat climate change as well as help foster social and racial justice and equity in our community. I would love to see this plan become more of a priority, and a blueprint for other cities in Pinellas County to do the same.
Go to the Eckerd College Environmental Film Festival website https://www.environmentalfilmfest.com/ and choose one film that you missed and would like to view. Kim liked Aga and Honeyland and Claire liked The Wall and the River.
These weeks when we cannot gather in person for Sunday worship, Lakewood United Church of Christ is providing brief weekly sabbath programs for you to listen to on your own or with those you live with. They will be posted on Friday so that you can schedule your sabbath time to suit your schedule and your spiritual inclinations. We hope these programs are of spiritual support to you in these difficult times.
Find a quiet place, inside or outside. Light a candle. Breathe. Be present.
You may begin by offering these words:
What we are confronted with, then, is a foreign land, a passage through a desert; testing and discernment. But in this same land, from which God is not in fact absent, the seeds of a new spirituality can germinate. This spirituality gives rise to new songs to the Lord.
–Gustavo Gutierrez
When you are ready, start the video below.
There is a scripture lesson and a brief meditation by Pastor Kim Wells followed by music offered by Music Director Hilton Kean Jones.
As you listen to the music from Hilton which follows, you are invited to pay attention to the thoughts and feelings and reflections that arise for you.
After viewing the video and listening to the music, you are invited to offer the following closing:
Fill me, joy of Jesus; anxiety shall cease,
and heaven’s serenity be mine, for Jesus brings me peace!
–from the hymn “Heal Me, Hands of Jesus” by Michael Perry
Breathe. Extinguish your candle and engage whatever may come with a sense of peace and a desire to serve.
Each Friday, the church will post a devotional with readings, video from Kim, and music from Hilton. You are invited to access these at the website and observe the sabbath according to your schedule over the weekend. There will be a new one posted each week. This week’s post will highlight the Easter Story.
The Easter post has a compilation of words and images from the congregation expressing creativity during this corona time. It also includes special Easter music from Hilton.
In addition to the weekly Corona Sabbath devotions on the website every Friday, Hilton is also posting music, mainly hymns, on the website daily. These are also posted on the church’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. You may find links to all the music posts on the website at https://lakewooducc.org/category/posts/music/ — note the “Older Posts” button down the page.
The church will be having another Sunday morning Zoom gathering in honor of Earth Sunday on Sunday April 26 at 10:30 a.m. There will be more information coming about this next week. Please plan on joining the church community to celebrate nature and Mother Earth.
Connecting
In an effort to stay connected as a congregation, a text version of the Corona Sabbath posts is being sent in the mail to those in the church family that are not regular users of the Internet. The church is also sending a paper version of the Weekly Update to those who may appreciate keeping in touch that way.
Easter cards were sent from the Care Team of the church to all those who live at a distance, as well as those who are routinely homebound, and to staff. These cards included a letter from the pastor with Easter greetings from the church family.
Easter messages were mailed to all of the children and youth of the congregation.
There were 11 people on the Maundy Thursday Communion Zoom gathering. People were grateful to see one another, to share prayers, and to share in communion, feeling a sense of community, even though physically separated. There was a connection to one another as well as to the stories of our faith tradition, particularly the last supper.
For the Easter Sunday Zoom, there were 34 participants. We shared our concerns during this corona time and shared in affirming the Easter themes of hope and joy in these uncertain times.
For both of the Zoom events, there were those who were using Zoom for the first time.
Lots of support was offered. We are all learning together! Please consider joining the next church Zoom event. Many thanks to Barbara Donohue for helping to host the Zoom events.
Labyrinth Walks
Labyrinth Walks are being held as scheduled on Wednesday mornings at 9:00. The walk on Wednesday April 22 will be themed around Earth Day. We feel given current information and restrictions that it is safe to hold this activity. It involves less than 10 people, it is outside, and the people can be at least 6 feet apart. Bring your own chair and wear a mask if you wish.
Church Finances Unexpected Funds Arriving and Thinking of LUCC: Claire Stiles
As many of us will be receiving unexpected funds from the federal government soon, perhaps we can consider giving some of the money to help our church and other service organizations survive and provide for others during this challenging time. Some of us have been blessed with sufficient income in retirement or are still employed so could more easily share some of the $1200 or $2400 that our households will receive. If that is true for you, please join me in deciding to use a portion of this income to support our beloved LUCC and any other organizations and services in our community that need our help!
Support for Medical Supplies
LUCC has signed on to a letter from countless organizations demanding that the federal government provide all needed medical supplies to effectively combat COVID-19.
Subscribe to Website This would be a good time to subscribe to the church website. As a subscriber, everything that is posted on the website will be sent to your email.
There’s now a new way to subscribe to posts from the church website by email. On any page of the website, look down the page for “Follow Blog via Email.” If you subscribed before, you’ll need to subscribe again with this new button. Notice, it’s right above the Paypal “Donate” button!
If you would like assistance with this, please contact the Church Office.
Sundays. . .
On Sundays, Rev. Wells will be at church from 10:30-11:30. The peace candle will be lit and prayers will be offered. You are welcome to stop by to pray or meditate. The labyrinth is also available. This is a symbolic witness that the church is still here, is still serving, is still active, is still shining light – even in these drastically changed circumstances.
Earth Day Celebration at LUCC during the week of April 20 – 26
Look for additional information to arrive by email to you soon. Ideas of how to celebrate Earth Day from home and the days leading up to it next week will be coming your way! Let’s all do our part to celebrate Mother Earth and safeguard her future and our own!
Help Offered
Several people from the congregation have offered to help others as needed. If you need something from the grocery store or help with an errand or some other kind of assistance, please contact the Church Office. There are those who are ready and willing.
New Cleaning Routines
The church custodian, Tony Rogers, is being sure to thoroughly sanitize the building including door handles, faucets, etc. We are grateful for this increased effort.
Church Office Changes
Given the increased restrictions on social contact, the church office is closed until further notice. The church administrator, Gabi Paxton will be working from home. The ministry of the church is continuing to the fullest measure possible under the current conditions. Please continue to be in contact and reach out to the church and staff.
New Street Light In The Back Of The Church
Duke Energy has installed an enhanced street light on the north side of the church building in the parking area. This increased lighting will help to facilitate the use of the new electric vehicle charging station on the north side of the church.
WHAT IS NOT GOING ON AT CHURCH – AA Sunday Afternoon rental church Regular Sunday Services Choir Rehearsal Church School Westminster Suncoast monthly luncheon
Weekly Chat and Check-In LUCC Member Wally LeBlanc to Host Weekly Chat
This is being postponed until further notice.
April Birthdays: Zachary Blair-Andrews 4/16, Mary Beth Lewis 4/29, Someone missing? Contact the church office with birthday information.
Circle of Concern: William Owen, Wilbur Reid, Martha Lamar, Jen Degroot, Carolyn Moore, Ann Quinn, Maggie Brizendine, and Ann Rogers. All healthcare workers and essential workers. All those suffering from COVID-19.
Please keep LUCC member, Olivia Gibson, in your prayers. She is a nurse on a COVID-19 unit in a local hospital. We are grateful for her ministry!
Weekly Update: If you are involved with an activity or event that you would like to share with the LUCC family, please send the information to the Church Office by Tuesday since the Update usually is sent out on Wednesday.
These weeks when we cannot gather in person for Sunday worship, Lakewood United Church of Christ is providing brief weekly sabbath programs for you to listen to on your own or with those you live with. They will be posted on Friday so that you can schedule your sabbath time to suit your schedule and your spiritual inclinations. We hope these programs are of spiritual support to you in these difficult times.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 