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A Joint Newsletter of St. John’s Episcopal Church & Union Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ
A Joint Newsletter of St. John’s Episcopal Church
& Union Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ
Easter Lilies
Thank you to everyone who purchased Easter Lilies in memory or honor of loved ones for our Easter Worship. Due to our
commitment to flatten the curve of Covid-19, we will only have 3 lilies gracing the worship table on Easter Sunday for our live stream worship. Thank you to all the
donors for contributing the rest of the dollars to Harts and Flowers who
donate flowers to us all year round for our Sunday worships. Goodness
abounds even when were together apart. Bless you.
In Memory of Margaret Warby From Maurie White In Memory of Jerry Warby From Maurie White In Memory of Stacey Warby From Maurie White In Memory of loved ones who have gone before. From Bill and Janet Hoyt
Easter Lily Memorials 2020
In Memory of Henry & Annie Nalivaka, Louis, Ruth & Robert Gaspar From Deborah Gaspar
In Memory of The Crouch and Green Families From Sara Green In Memory of loved one who have passed From Chuck & Wilma Realing
In Honor of our 4 children, 9 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren From Dean Makie
Easter Lily Honors 2020
In Honor of the members of St. John’s From Doug & Peggy Smith
PASTORAL PONDERINGS
Six feet apart, they say;
Keep your distance! But the truth is
God is not about social distancing.
God refuses to stand so far apart.
Even when we choose to move away Spirit quietly moves in around us hovering with strength and power even when we might not notice.
And what’s that line from the song that speaks of God as a shepherd who constantly watches out for us.
Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Even now
When we choose to move away goodness is hunting us down; mercy is chasing us, refusing to let us out of her sight.
Six feet apart, they say; Keep your distance!
But the truth is God refuses to stand so far away.
Well our Lenten theme of Encounters took a slight detour and became Encounters from Afar. Contemplating these strange days of physical distancing and our work to “be together apart,” Spirit reminded me that God refuses to be distanced from us. Thus, the poem above. The rest of the poem will be shared during our Easter celebration.
And what about our Easter celebration? Well, it looks like we will be practicing this physical distancing and being together apart at least through April 26th. Drats! But even with that said, I’m proud of our church leadership that has been stepping up to help lessen the impact on our church body.
The rest of the newsletter will give you information on how to worship, study and meet together on-line. Being mindful that not everyone is on-line, we are also working to stay connected by phone and U.S. mail as well.
If you have any needs that I or we as a body can address, please let us know. You can call the church office or my home phone. You can leave us an email or even message us on Face-book. Meanwhile, please know that you are in my prayers. May you see God all around you and may goodness and joy bless your days. Stay healthy, find creative ways to live fully and love deeply, and remember: no matter what, You are God’s Beloved!
Peace y’all, Pastor Jenny
Narcotics Anonymous
Mansface Church is home to the local NA
chapter. Sunday night meetings are always an
open meeting which means if you or a loved one
is struggling with a drug addiction, you are
welcomed to come. They meet at 8:00 p.m. in the
Sunday School rooms.
Tuesday 3/31 7:00 p.m. Diaconate/Worship planning via Zoom.com
Thursday 4/2 noon: Lenten Lunch Encounter via Zoom.com
Sunday 4/5: PALM SUNDAY/PASSION
9:00 a.m. Worship Live Stream – Facebook
4:00 p.m. Confirmation Class Zoom Check-in
Thursday 4/9 MAUNDY THURSDAY
TBA
Saturday 4/11 Easter Egg Hunt?
Sunday 4/12 EASTER CELEBRATION
9:00 a.m. Worship Live Stream on Facebook
Monday 4/13 6:00 p.m. Trustees Zoom mtg.
Sunday 4/19 9:00 a.m. Worship
10:30 a.m. Council
4:00 p.m. Confirmation Class via Zoom
Sunday 4/26 9:00 a.m. Worship
4:00 p.m. Confirmation Class Zoom ?
Ellen Jacobsen 1
Ethan Hart 3
Forrest Fry 5
Bryce Strampe 12
Nicholas Strampe 12
Scott Travis 13
Judy Graham 27
Adrianne Brown 27
Lisa Bothem & Dave Westling 16
Dennis & Debbie Braithwaite 20
WORSHIP WITH US (AND FIRST UCC)
Even though we are not gathering in the sanctuary to worship, you can join us from your living room, kitchen or any other room in your house. You don’t even have to dress up – unless you want to. Watch your emails each week for one that gives you all the info you need to worship on-line. Then tune in Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. on our Facebook page.
You do not have to have your own Facebook page. Just click on this link and it will take you there: https://www.facebook.com/UnionCongregationalChurchUnitedChurchOfChrist/
If you do not have on-line access, let us know and we will send you a copy of the days worship and Pastor Jenny’s sermon and morning prayers.
Since First UCC’s pastor is not arriving until end of April (we hope), First UCC is working with us to live stream worship. Their leaders are joining in! Cool! We will live stream from First Church in Rock Springs on April 5th and 19th.
Disclaimer: If you want to sleep in on Sundays, you can watch the Facebook live stream anytime. You also can find the videos on our website www.unioncongregationalucc.org
OFFERINGS
Whether we are gathered or scattered, it still takes your financial gifts to keep our church vital and vibrant. There are several ways you can make your pledges or make contributions to the church. You can write a check and drop it in the mail. Send to UCC – P.O. Box 400 – Green River. You can also check with your bank and have them send a check.
We also have electronic giving available now. Go to our webpage: www.unioncongregationalucc.org and click on the Give On-line button or download the GivePlus app to your phone and go from there.
Speaking of Offerings You can continue to make gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing through April. Mark your checks or let us know via email if you’d like a portion of your on-line gift to go towards OGHS.
Invest in Futures
One Great Hour of Sharing® is the Lenten Offering of the United Church of Christ that supports disaster, refugee, and development activities throughout the world
WHAT ABOUT MAUNDY THURSDAY OR THE EASTER EGG HUNT??
We’re not sure yet, but we are putting on our creative bonnets and thinking outside the box. If you have some ideas,
let us know as soon as possible. Send us an email or give us a call.
Remember we will still have our Palm Sunday and Easter worship services – they’ll just be on-line.
SABBATICAL NEWS
At this point, we are moving forward in hopes that our sabbatical will unfold as planned. The 90 Days of Gratitude Journals have arrived, and Council has appointed an Intern Support Team which includes Bill Hoyt, Judy Graham, Courtney McDonald, Kathy Wiekhorst, Pam Kerr and Debbie Braithwaite. We also are forming celebration teams to coordinate 3 different special events during the Sabbatical period.
May 24th Welcome of Intern/Bon Voyage Pastor Jenny End of Summer Farewell/Thank you for our Intern September 20th Sabbatical dinner and celebration.
We’ve got some folks stepping up to help with the celebrations. If you’d also like to help please let Kathy Wiekhorst know.
MEET OUR STUDENT INTERN
We are delighted and hopeful that Claudia Mosby will be joining us around May 20th as our Summer Intern. We say hopeful, because we are hoping that the efforts to have
flattened Covid-19 have worked and that we can be living life more normally. That is our prayer.
Claudia lives in Redding, CA and will finish her Masters of Theological Studies work at Pacific School of Religion this May. She is a teacher, facilitator and writer and has
experience in chaplaincy and pastoral leadership. She will share more with you in this newsletter, but we are excited to have her among us this summer.
Intern Search Team: Kathy Wiekhorst, Bill Hoyt, Judy Graham, Ray Curtis and Pam Kerr.
Dear Union Congregational Friends in Christ,
In this greeting rests my hope that each of you feels the nearness of Spirit as you adjust to the way you are “doing church”—and the rest of your life—during this unprecedented time of change under Covid-19.
As Pastor Jenny and I were ‘Zooming’ this past week to check-in and offer mutual support to one another, she mentioned she was working on the church’s newsletter and I offered to write a brief introduction since it’s quite likely that most of you, outside of the wonderful interview committee members I met with in mid-February, know little about me.
Whether I am able to join you as planned in mid-May remains uncertain, but both Pastor Jenny and I are affirming that her sabbatical and my time with you during her absence will arrive at the appointed time.
This past week, my seminary observed “Reading Week” (an erudite term for “spring break” J). Tomorrow, my online classes resume along with research for the papers yet to be written. Presently, I’m taking a deep dive into The Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke’s Gospel; in fact, some of you may know that Luke’s Gospel is the only one in which this particular parable appears.
Through my research, I discovered an intriguing article that offered new insight and perspec-tive regarding one of the seemingly minor characters in the interpretive retellings of the parable that I have heard: the Innkeeper.
When we read or hear the term “Innkeeper” in the parable, many of us may associate it with the proprietor of a small hotel, perhaps akin to the modern bed and breakfast. As readers and lis-teners, we likely form an association based on our own knowledge and experience with inns and innkeepers.
In the ancient world, however, innkeepers had a well-documented reputation for dishonesty and violence and their inns were frequently home to licentiousness (likely not the image many of us have when we think of the Innkeeper in this parable).
Why might this character—one only briefly mentioned at the end of the story—be important then?
Innkeepers, like Samaritans, were looked down upon, viewed as untrustworthy. They also represented a potential “threat” to Samaritans, along with robbers and uncompassionate priests and Levites.
By entering into an agreement with the Innkeeper for care of the wounded stranger, the Sa-maritan has risked double jeopardy: First, by stopping to help a wounded stranger presumed to be a Jew (the enemy of the Samaritans, who could also give the Samaritan the evil eye, a great concern in first century culture); secondly, by entrusting the care of the wounded stranger (and his two denarii) to the innkeeper until his return.
And the innkeeper—who had nothing “in it” for him besides financial reimbursement—also took a risk. Certainly, he would have had to take time away from his other lodgers and his nor-mal duties to provide the hands-on care required for someone so badly wounded. Might he lose business? Sleep? His own health?
Entering into such a partnership to care for another outside their kin or cultural group was a risk for both the Samaritan and the Innkeeper. They had to trust one another: the Samaritan that the innkeeper would defy the stereotype of those in his profession and the innkeeper that the Sa-maritan would indeed return again and pay for any additional costs the former assumed in his care of the wounded stranger.
DON’T FORGET TO DO YOUR
AMAZON SHOPPING WITH
By entering into an uncommon, untested, and fragile relationship with one another, the Sa-maritan and the Innkeeper demonstrate the action of God’s mercy, goodness, and justice flow-ing not only to those most in need but those who find themselves unlikely partners for the ben-efit of others.
As we each continue on our journey along life’s risky road, one travelled by those both like and unlike us—religiously, politically, culturally, physically, socially, economically, and in many other ways—may we steadfastly call upon God’s infinite love and grace to risk, to trust, and to serve the wounded among us and the strangers we meet along our way.
Until next time & with love in Christ I am holding all of you in my prayers, Claudia
P.S. I got so caught up in my parable sharing, that I did-n’t provide much of a personal introduction but follow-ing are a few of my favorite ‘things’: exploring, hiking, and simply ‘being’ in the natural world (I feel God most profoundly when I’m in the midst of Creation), particu-larly the Northern California Redwoods; autumn; rain; Mexican food; anything colored purple; Van Morrison; making art; reading; cooking; spending time with friends and family; adventure; humor; the NCIS fran-chise; dancing; lifelong learning and growth…
Moderator’s Message April 2020
Hope everyone is staying close to home and staying safe. We are so blessed to have tech-
nology and able hands to help us use it; enabling us to have virtual live streaming church
services!!! I was looking back on my Lenten challenge of last month, to reach out to each
other every day. However, we may not be able to “reach” someone physically. The follow-
ing are some comforting and challenging words from Rabbi Yosef Kanesfsky:
“Every hand that we don’t shake must become a phone call that we place.”
“Every embrace that we avoid must become a verbal expression of warmth
and concern.”
“Every inch and every foot that we physically place between ourselves and an-
other, must become a thought as to how we might be of help to that other,
should the need arise.”
Please let us know if there is anything; we can do for you!
Xoxoxoxxo
Kathy
Corona Virus Prayer
Dear God,
I pray for healing to all affected
by this deadly virus. Only You
can move in a mighty way and
do the impossible for them. We
pray for all negative outcomes
to be resolved by Your healing
hands. Bless and cover each
and every single person and
bring whole healing to their
bodies, from the top of their
head to the soles of their feet.
AMEN
St John’s Episcopal Church 350 Mansface / P.O. Box 400
Green River, WY 82935
The Priest’s Corner
Social Distancing Dispatch Hello from my four walls, which seem to get closer, and closer and closer every day. We are living in interesting times indeed. However, such times are not without their blessings. What say we do as the old hymn says and count them, one by one?
We can have a greater understanding of the Biblical warnings ie: “Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon,”( Psalm 91:6).
We can start our spring cleaning early-yay. We can learn to cook again. We can have more time for prayer, introspection and scripture study. We can take daytime walks. We can catch up on bad daytime TV. We can practice that hobby-- the one we never seem to have time for. We can brush up on our technology so that we can participate in online
learning, meeting, and worship. We can turn shopping into a competitive sport, as long as we share the toi-
let paper. We can love the Lord, our God, with all our might, mind and strength and
love our neighbors as ourselves. So, indeed, there are plenty of blessings to be had from this current adventure.
Please count these and others as you hunker in your bunker. Know that I am thinking of you all and praying for your continued health and safety.
Love, Ruth
Please remember these families in your prayers
The family and friends of Jeff Travis, The family and
friends of Harris Foster, Becky Gomez, Eli Muller - Jean
and Thane Yennnie's grandson, Mike Hanks, Morris and
Trish Sheets, Cherie and Jack Haire, Jose’ Alvarez, Margo,
Jack, Kyle, Tim, Evie Grace Huebner, Kasyn, the Porter
family, Marion, Kenny, Nathan and Briana Wolfe, Joan
Palin, Friede Foster, Debbie and Kendra.
Cindy Harsha 7 Al Carollo 9 Deborah Gaspar 9 Nikki Smith Urasky 18 Timmy Warren 30
All Vestry Meetings are
cancelled until further
notice due to COVID-19
Social Distancing.
UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
