We invite you to join us as we complete the journey through Holy Week to Easter

Palm Sunday, March 29, 11:00 a.m.

Join the palm waving and singing procession which opens our Holy Week observance. The service will start in Fellowship Hall (weather permitting.) We will take up palms as they did that day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem . Join us as we walk and sing together into the church for worship.

Maundy Thursday Seder, April 2, 5:30 p.m.

We will share the traditional meal that remembers the Passover and the deliverance of God’s people from slavery to freedom. Jesus’ last supper with his disciples was this Passover meal.  As we share the meal we will also share communion as he did. (Please sign up or leave a message with the church office if you are planning to participate in this meal. We want to have enough food to welcome everyone.)

Good Friday, April 3, a time for meditations

Come any time between 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Centers for reflection and meditation will be set up for you to experience at your own pace, or, you can just come and reflect on all the Jesus did for us however is most meaningful to you.

Easter! April 5

10:00 a.m: Breakfast. We begin our joyous celebration with hot cross buns, Easter eggs and fellowship.

11:00 a.m. Worship. Our Easter worship will begin with kindling a new fire, lighting a candle for Jesus who is the light of the world and then a candle for each of us. Bring a stick to help kindle the new fire and a heart ready to sing praise.

Let’s put some dates on the calendar!

Let’s meet on Sunday, March 8, after fellowship for lunch. We have lot’s to talk about and plan for, a fun outing – Boondocks? SLC? a mission trip? retreat? how are your service projects going? possible small groups for spiritual growth?

I know your schedules are complicated, but put this date down, let’s doing something fun together on Saturday, March 21!

More dates: Meet for lunch on Sundays, April 19 and May 17.

We haven’t seen enough of this this winter

Lent is the season to get ready to celebrate Easter. OK, so maybe it doesn’t take much to enjoy chocolate Easter bunnies and pastries, but is that all you want your Easter to be? Easter is the central event of the Christian faith. It can be as thin as the foil wrap on a chocolate candy or as deep as the universe, it depends on what you are open to and ready to experience.

On the Wednesdays during Lent (2/25, 3/4, 3/11, 3/18, 3/25) join us for a simple meal of soup and bread. We will start at noon and be done in time for people to get back to work. In addition to the fellowship of sharing this time together we will share our experiences of preparing for Easter. Our discussions may include the practices and routines we use to deepen and grow in our faith, how we manage the temptations and barriers we encounter as we try to live faithful lives and how we make  faith a part of our lives.

This is going to be the best Easter ever!

Join us for a worship on Ash Wednesday, February 18 at 5:30 p.m.

In worship on Sunday, January 18, we will ordain and install our church officers who will serve on the church Session. This is a time to celebrate the devotion our members have to the work that God gives us to do.

The annual meeting of Union Presbyterian Church will follow  worship. We printed the annual report for distribution on January 11 so everyone could review it before the meeting. Stop by the office to pick up a copy.

Join us for a beautiful worship service on Christmas Eve at 7:00 p.m.

What joy it was to tell the story of Jesus’ birth to our youngest members! Mary, Joseph, the angels, the shepherds, we know it all so well, but for our youngest members it was a new delight. The whole congregation took a part in the play and the songs. Then there was this very personal telling of the story again.  We are at our best when we are telling the Good News of Jesus!

These are some of the things that were mentioned at the last youth gathering 11/2/14. We have the four categories, Fun, Fundraising, Study and Service. This was a good start. Now we need to plan together to do some of these.

Topics for Study
Making commitments, setting priorities
Making decisions
Church fundamentals
How is our church distinct? Why be a Presbyterian

Service projects
The lord’s Storehouse, Tues. 6:45am -7:45am – coordinate with Sam
Dec. 7 decorate church (and talk about Christmas)
Super Bowl subs
build houses, Habitat for Humanity
Trips to New Orleans or New Mexico

Ideas for Fun
Indoor surfing
trampoline places
I Fly
Go Carts at Boondocks
Movie

 

You may have noticed that it is not customary for Presbyterian Churches to worship together at the church on Thanksgiving Day (or Christmas Day for that matter.) There is an historical reason for this. In our tradition there have been two regular settings for worship. One is the church. The other is the Christian home. That means that when worship is not planned at the church we invite you to worship in your home. If you are not accustomed to this it may seems strange. Planning worship can seem intimidating to some. It doesn’t need to be like that. Many homes can say a blessing over a meal. It is now a common practice to go around the table giving each person the opportunity to express what they are grateful for. Singing or music is a regular part of many households, especially if young people are taking lessons. If worship in this setting seems strange to you then you might want to start before Thanksgiving Day to practice. Any family meal or a meal with friends who would appreciate this practice is a good setting. You might try it on a daily, weekly, monthly schedule or whatever works for your home. If you really need suggestions for this the pastor is more than happy to spend some time with you preparing.

There will be a brief special congregational meeting following worship and before the Thanksgiving Feast on Sunday, Nov. 16. The purpose of the meeting is to elect new church officers for the coming year. This schedule may seem unusual, but we hope it provides more opportunity to do training with the new officers and with all the leadership of the church. The session has already set the date for the regular congregational meeting for January 11, 2015. We hope to have everything in place by then so our work together will continue without a pause.