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.
This is another one of those hymns that ought to be in every hymnal but isn’t. It’s in only one, a magnificent hymnal: the African American Heritage Hymnal. I recommend it very, very highly. It should be on every church musician’s bookshelf.
Can’t give the words because of copyright, but I can tell you that the text is built on John 14:18 — I will not leave you orphaned. I am coming to you.
Here it is featuring piano but with some traditional B3 organ and cheezy strings. Absolutely love that “N” in Magnolia. That’s the Magnolia Cemetery in Hurley Mississippi. It used to be the Jones cemetery (our family cemetery and in fact most of the graves–everyone in town???–are relatives).
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.
Date: Easter Sunday 2020 Zoom Reflection Scripture: Mark 16:1-8, 9-20 Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells
This version of the Easter story ends in fear. The women flee. They are shocked. They have no idea what to make of this. They are in the middle of it and it is unprecedented. They cannot make meaning from this.
Yet. But in our Bibles there is more to the story. After time passed, as people reflected and discussed, a short ending was added to the gospel of Mark.
Read Mark 16:9. The shorter ending.
So, we are told that the message was shared. But we are only given a general conclusion. Broad strokes.
As more time went on, and there was more reflection and discussion, new circumstances were unfolding, as people carried on with their lives in new ways, they began to see something more emerging, so they found new words to convey their experience.
We live by the stories we tell. So the original story that has come down to us from the Gospel of Mark was given a longer ending. It was completed. As we have it today.
Read Mark 9-20.
Sometimes when you are in the midst of something it is hard to see what the something is. It is confusing to make sense of it. You can’t pull back to get a better perspective or to see more clearly because you are in the middle. So you can’t take in the whole situation. Even many years after historical events, historians and scholars still find new meaning and understandings of things that happened long ago.
So, we are in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic. We can’t see the whole picture. The story is still unfolding. We haven’t gotten to the end of the season let alone the series as a whole. We haven’t read the epilogue. We don’t know what the outcomes will be. There may be many endings added to this story.
But there are some things we know.
The date for Easter is set according to the phases of the moon. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Yes, I know, it almost sounds like astrology! But the date for Easter is set according to the moon. And what a moon it was this week. We ogled the gorgeous, HUGE pink super moon. I got up in the middle of the night and thought someone had left a light on somewhere in the house, it was so bright inside. I looked around. No lights on. It was all of the light coming in the windows from that amazing moon!
The moon is reflecting its glorious light. Birds are astir building nests and hatching eggs. Plants are coming back to activity. Pollen fills the air. Butterflies are emerging from cocoons. In the pictures that people from the congregation sent in to show what they have been seeing and doing during this time of shelter-in-place, many of you sent in pictures of nature – glorious and thriving. Life flourishing in its many forms – plant and animal.
Scientist tell us that since the decrease in human activity due to the coronavirus, the air is cleaner and the water is clearer. I think of the words to the hymn based on the Canticle of the Sun St. Francis of Assisi, “Your flowing waters, crystal clear, make melodies for you to hear.”
While humans are struggling and our activities are restricted, nature is thriving in glory!
So, we remember the words from the book of Job: “But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.”
Easter is in the spring so that we will be stirred by the glories of nature. This is even more conspicuous in more temperate climes where new life emerges from the dormancy of the cold of winter. But even here, in our ever warming tropical climate, we will see the natural world coming alive, and we witness again that life is stronger death.
The power of the love of God cannot be extinguished. It cannot be contained. It cannot be subdued. The image of Jesus released from the tomb, out of the ultimate lockdown, expresses that love prevails. New live, thriving, vibrant, transformational is loose in the world. The energy, passion and power of love is stronger than death.
For those early followers of Jesus, life was never the same after Easter. And we tell their story each year to remind ourselves that our lives, too, have been transformed. We, too, live with in a new world – a world rooted in love. A world of community, interdependence, and mutuality. A world in which life in all its forms is treated with reverence and respect. A world in which death does not have the last word. Even the thousands upon thousands of deaths left in the wake pandemic. Even the COVID-019 cannot stop the transforming power of love. Some even suggest this crisis is moving us toward a more compassionate, just world. Yes, in the designs of God good can come even from the most devastating tragedy. Love truly does win.
So, How the Grinch Stole Christmas has always been one of my favorite Christmas stories. As I have been imaging how to celebrate Easter on lockdown, I have been thinking about the story of the Grinch. There is that scene toward the end of the book when the Grinch, who has removed every material vestige of Christmas from Whoville and returned to his mountain with the spoils hears, what does he hear? Singing? So, here’s my Easter version of a part of Dr. Seuss’s beloved classic:
The virus hasn’t stopped Easter from Coming! It came! Somehow or other, it came just the same! It came without baskets! It came without grass! It came without bunnies, lilies, or brass! Yes, Easter, we know, doesn’t come from a store Yes, Easter, we know, means a whole lot more!
This is another one of those hymns that ought to be in every hymnal but isn’t. It’s in only one, a magnificent hymnal: the 
Lakewood United Church of Christ 