Focus Statement:
With scandalous remedies, God
provides healing and hope in the midst of death and despair. We respond in trust, looking to God to
restore us in times of trouble.
Call to Worship:
L:
We
are God’s chosen trying to follow, trying to trust.
All:
We are learning
to lean on God even in times of trouble.
L:
When
desolation haunts us, God provides…
Right: wholeness
and expectation.
L:
When
shadows darken our path, God offers
Left:
healing and hope.
All:
Even in the midst
of despair, God restores us.
Theme Hymn: We
sing to you, O
God
SJ 1
Poem:
I
am not asking you, by Jan L. Richardson
I am not asking you
to take this wilderness from me,
to remove this place of starkness
where I come to know
the wildness within me,
where I learn to call the names
of the ravenous beasts
that pace inside me,
to finger the brambles
that snake through my veins,
to taste the thirst
that tugs at my tongue.
But send me
tough angels,
sweet wine,
strong bread:
just enough.
Prayer of Confession:
Eternal God,
We confess that we
are afraid
to die. We want your gift of
everlasting life, but are unwilling to risk dying to our selves and our
desires. Grant us the courage to
trust in your transforming power to bring new life from death; help us
to die
to our old lives so that we may be born again in you.
[Arc
gesture] May the arc
of our lives bend towards you, O God.
[Hands
together]
We offer
this prayer in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Hymn:
By
gracious
powers
HWB
552
Scripture:
Numbers
21:4-9, John 3:14-21
Children’s
Story:
Hymn:
Teaching:
Offering
Hymn:
My
life flows
on
HWB 580
Sharing and prayers
Hymn
Give
thanks for
life
SJ
108
Benediction:
Leader:
May
God’s hand restore you,
the
Spirit speak in the depths of your hearts,
the
strength of Jesus fill you,
so
that you can follow God’s teaching,
rejoice
in God’s salvation,
proclaim
God’s forgiveness
and
glorify the Lord.
All:
Our
lives are in your hands, O Lord.
Leading us in worship
today: Worship leader – Michelle Webster Hein, Speaker - Paul
Versluis, Children’s story –
Nelson Shantz, Pianist- Laura Brubacher, artist – Ben
Clingenpeel–
Laura Ponstein as the 'Liturgical Carpenter'
If you
have congregational concerns, contact
the pastor or the
Congregational Life Committee:
Roxanne Cross ;
Curtis
Weaverdyck a
SHALOM
COMMUNITY CHURCH HAPPENINGS
Moms’ Small Group
• Patti
Sprunger
Peace and Justice Interest Group
April 13, 7:30 Weaverdyck
·
Gertrude Warkentin
Readers’ Group Lincoln March 29, 7pm Toews
Lincoln's Greatest Speech, R.C. White; Lincoln, Fred Caplan; The Eloquent President, R.C. White; A Team of Rivals, Doris Goodwin; or Lincoln at Gettysburg. Gary Wills.
· Priscilla Chamberlain
Slow Cookers
·
Gertrude Warkentin
Committee Meetings:
Nurture Committee:
April
2,
9 AM
Worship Committee:
March
23,
7 PM Versluis
Congregational Life Committee
March
24,
PM
Cross
Service Outreach
Committee
6:30 Powell
Folk music showup
March
26,
7:30 Hallberg
Congregational Business Meeting
You are invited to submit pieces or ideas for Shalom's church newsletter. Pass
items on to Joy .
Submissions due by March 22.
Here is the list of the March Rotating
Potlucks.
Host: Shantz, Guests:Versluis, Showalter, Kanagy
Host: Hallberg, Guests: Brubacher/Clingenpeel, Hansen, Nafziger
Host: Chamberlain/Hollander, Guests: Clemens, Harvey, Warkentin
Host: Seelbach, Guests: Miller Polley, Smith, Ponstein
Host: Weaverdycks, Guests: Webster-Hein, Holland/Carbary, Ropp
Host: Tang, Guests: Sprunger, Cross, Burkhalter
We raised over $500 from the Soup
Fundraiser for the Church of the Brethren Youth Workcamp for
Miriam,
Joseph, Dylan, Caleb, Scott, and Michelle.
New online calendar!
Go to our church website and see theHappenings page
http://shalomcommunitychurch.mi.us.mennonite.net/Happenings.html
. To add calendar events you will
need to set up an account with your e-mail
address. Let Kevin know and he will have an invitation
sent to
your e-mail address. We also have a
new Google Group! The link is below the calendar. The
Google Group
is great for posting items of interest that you wouldn't necessarily
send to
everyone at shalomcc. It's also a place where you can start a
discussion
on anything you like.
Paul’s schedule
for 2009
¨
Central District Conference meeting
at Camp Freidenzeld,
March 25
¨
Maundy Thursday Love
Feast/footwashing Versluis
home, 6PM, April 9
¨
Interfaith and University Life
Science Biobank
forum discussion, April 23
¨
InterSpiritual Dialog and its
Mentoring Program,
June 2 – 8th with Father Thomas Keating at the St Benedicts
Monastery in Snowmass,
Colorado.
¨
Mennonite
Church Convention Columbus Ohio,
June 30 – July 5
¨
Central District Annual Meeting June
25-27, Sugarcreek,
Ohio
¨
Michigan District Annual Meeting , Hastings Mi, Aug
10th-11th
A group from Shalom will go to hear Shane
Claiborne Wed March 25th at 7:30. Meet for supper
at Silvio’s Pizza on North
University at 6pm. You are invited too.
Calibourne will
speak at 7:30, at
the First
United Methodist Church,
120 S State St. Parking $2, Liberty Square Structure. Claiborne is the author of The
Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President.
There has been some interest in starting a group
that
gathers and makes folk music.
Making folk music includes instruments (guitar, banjo, jews harp,
finger
snapping, fiddle??), voices (singing, whistling, etc.), listening, and
sharing. You don't need to have an instrument to come and join in. We will meet the 4th Thursday each month
at 7:30 pm.
The
first meeting is at Jan Hallberg's house. Don't
need to RSVP, just show up.
Biobanking
relates to saving human DNA. Repositories for blood, tissue and DNA are not new, but we now stand on the
verge of
formalizing such biobanks here in the US and very possibly in the
State
of Michigan. How do we do something like this well
and in service of the good of all? Would you like to be involved in
such
conversations? What wisdom--sacred,
ethical or religious--can help this initiative serve the people of our
state? What are some of the risks
and benefits? In matters of science
and religion, where do we get religious voices? Is
yours one of those? The Interfaith Round
Table has joined up
with the University’s Life Science and Society Program to sponsor four
public sessions. Thursdays at the Ann Arbor Public
Library
from 7-8:30 pm on
April 23,
30, May 14 and 21.
Nate Polzin has
been hired to serve as our interim District Executive. The office is
now in Saginaw
where Nate's also
serves as the pastor of The Church In Drive. Send correspondence to Michigan District Church
of the Brethren, 320 S. Washington,
Suite
S-220, Saginaw, MI 48601,
phone 989-560-3563
Paul
is not able to attend the Central District Conference annual meeting. Does anyone wish to serve as our Delegate
in SugarCreek Ohio, June 25th
– 27th ?