To Belove Dear UUMC friends, “The first four books of the New Testament tell the story of how Jesus lived, died and then was raised from the dead.” As I said the words before a mostly Hindu audience at the Chinmaya Mission interfaith event, I realized anew our astounding theological claim. How must it sound to those of a different tradion? Do we sound profound or just pro- foundly strange? As our members in the Chrisan Believer class know, we have spent centuries examining our own faith claim. It is like a diamond that we hold up to the light, turning it around, admiring its perfecon, looking for its flaws, and seeing how the light is reflected just a lile differently through each facet. Over the last hundred years, theologians have strug- gled to arculate the various lenses through which humans experience the death and resurrecon of Christ. Our astounding faith claim is so compelling that peoples of all na- ons, tribes, and languages want an authenc part of it. No one wants to be leſt out. The Lan word for “I believe” is credo, which can also be translated as “I belove” or “I give my heart to.” Humans do not liſt up the diamond of our profound faith claim be- cause we need to work out the exact language of a contract that we can sign onto. We aren’t negoang a deal with God. And anyway, as Marcus Borg writes, “’believing the right things’ does not intrinsically lead to a changed life. It is possible to have strongly- held beliefs, even more or less right beliefs, and sll be unchanged: fearful, self- preoccupied and self-concerned, angry, judgmental, mean, even brutal and violent. Chris- an history and the history of other religions are filled with examples. Believing has lile transformave power. ” But beloving – ah, that is different altogether. When we give our hearts to the event of Jesus the Christ, and our lives are changed to incarnate our best expression of God’s compassion and jusce, and when the world begins to transform with that love – that is when our profoundly strange faith claims become compelling to others. During Lent and Easter, you are invited to believe an incredible story, not so that you can argue for Christ, but so that you can give your heart to him. Grace and peace, Pastor Paige Eaves March 6 Holy Communion Mark 12:28-44 Shiſting the Frame: Speaking Up for the Pharisees With Rabbi Joshua Levine- Grater March 13 Mark 13:1-8, 24- 37 Daylight Savings Begins March 20 Palm Sunday Featuring choir anthems & selecons from the groundbreaking movie Cast the First Stone March 27 Easter! A Combined Celebraon with our Irvine Dream Congregaon and our Nozomi Congregaon Coming Up April 10 Early Morning Beach Bapsm of Nathalie Gubelmann & Preschool Sunday!
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To Belove - Amazon S3 · The Latin word for “I believe” is credo, which can also be translated as “I belove” or “I give my heart to.” Humans do not lift up the diamond
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Transcript
To Belove
Dear UUMC friends,
“The first four books of the New Testament tell the story of how Jesus lived, died and then was raised from the dead.” As I said the words before a mostly Hindu audience at the Chinmaya Mission interfaith event, I realized anew our astounding theological claim. How must it sound to those of a different tradition? Do we sound profound or just pro-foundly strange?
As our members in the Christian Believer class know, we have spent centuries examining our own faith claim. It is like a diamond that we hold up to the light, turning it around, admiring its perfection, looking for its flaws, and seeing how the light is reflected just a little differently through each facet. Over the last hundred years, theologians have strug-gled to articulate the various lenses through which humans experience the death and resurrection of Christ. Our astounding faith claim is so compelling that peoples of all na-tions, tribes, and languages want an authentic part of it. No one wants to be left out.
The Latin word for “I believe” is credo, which can also be translated as “I belove” or “I give my heart to.” Humans do not lift up the diamond of our profound faith claim be-cause we need to work out the exact language of a contract that we can sign onto. We aren’t negotiating a deal with God. And anyway, as Marcus Borg writes, “’believing the right things’ does not intrinsically lead to a changed life. It is possible to have strongly-held beliefs, even more or less right beliefs, and still be unchanged: fearful, self-preoccupied and self-concerned, angry, judgmental, mean, even brutal and violent. Chris-tian history and the history of other religions are filled with examples. Believing has little transformative power.” But beloving – ah, that is different altogether. When we give our hearts to the event of Jesus the Christ, and our lives are changed to incarnate our best expression of God’s compassion and justice, and when the world begins to transform with that love – that is when our profoundly strange faith claims become compelling to others.
During Lent and Easter, you are invited to believe an incredible story, not so that you can argue for Christ, but so that you can give your heart to him.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Paige Eaves
March 6 Holy Communion Mark 12:28-44 Shifting the Frame: Speaking Up for the Pharisees With Rabbi Joshua Levine-Grater March 13 Mark 13:1-8, 24- 37 Daylight Savings Begins March 20 Palm Sunday Featuring choir anthems & selections from the groundbreaking movie Cast the First Stone March 27 Easter! A Combined Celebration with our Irvine Dream Congregation and our Nozomi Congregation Coming Up April 10 Early Morning Beach Baptism of Nathalie Gubelmann & Preschool Sunday!
Belong-Ministries that nurture a sense of belonging to God and to this faith community
First Look
Sisters Book Group
The Sisters meeting March 23 was a good one! We were
able to talk to the author of China Dolls, Lisa See, by Skype.
She was wonderful—gracious, funny and informative. Our
usual Sisters group was joined by some guests, our found-
er, Cindy Williams, and two other ladies from the Newport
Methodist church. They just wanted to hear Lisa too. We
all had a wonderful evening. Many thanks to Dale McCart
and Mandy He whose technical expertise made this all
happen and to Tonya Carrasco, Mickey Chase and Joy
Corkery for their delicious dessert and drinks.
The next Sisters meeting will be March 22nd at the home of
Carol Pukli (714-731-0258).
We will be discussing The Perfume Collector by Kathleen
Tessaro. Don’t miss out on all the fun—join us for a
meeting of fellowship, reflection, and dessert!
See you at Sisters!
Introducing Our Office Administrator & Director of Young People's Ministries: Andrew Ponder Williams
We are delighted to announce that Andrew will be adding Young People's Ministries to his portfolio at UUMC. This makes his position with us full-time. We will benefit from this all-around investment of his time, energy, and creativity.
The parents who interviewed Andrew are enthusiastic about his experiences in bringing young people together for worship and service; his commitment to helping families transi-tion well into the teen years; and his knowledge and passion for using our UMC connectional resources to strengthen our local ministry.
Andrew also has a heart for young adults like himself who love Jesus and seek those rare, safe places for spiritual nurture. He will continue our College Persistence Program and nurture ministries for our young adults. With the hiring of Andrew, we re-commit ourselves as a church to the spiritual health of our young people. He will need a team of volunteers to re-build our program. Consider your calling to this ministry. Andrew will transition from his current youth ministry job at Huntington Beach UMC and begin full-time with us on March 7. We will introduce him in worship on Sunday, March 13.
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Pride Day!!
9a, All Campus
Quilters
9a, FH
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Scouts Training 9a-
6p, FH
Easter Lilly Delivery
10a, Sanc
27 28 29
Disciple II
10:30a, Ed-A
Preschool Closed
30
Devotion, 7:30, CoW
Lunch Bunch
11:30p, Ed-D
Choir, 7:30p
Preschool Closed
31
Christian Believer
1:30p, Ed-B
Preschool Closed
March 2016
Devotion, 7:30, CoW
Lunch Bunch
11:30p, Ed-D
Lenten Dinner
6:00p, FH
Choir, 7:30p
ReJoySing, 7p
B. Scouts, 7p, FH
Heart to Heart
9:15a, FH
ReJoySing, 7p
B. Scouts, 7p, FH
ReJoySing, 7p
B. Scouts, 7p, FH
Preschool Closed
Disciple II
10:30a, Ed-A
SPRC, 7p, Ed-D
Devotion, 7:30, CoW
Lunch Bunch
11:30p, Ed-D
Lenten Supper
6p, FH
Child’s World B., 7p
Devotion, 7:30, CoW
CWS Chapel, 10:30
Lunch Bunch
11:30p, Ed-D
Lenten Supper
6p, FH
Choir, 7:30p
Worship, 9:30a
Kid Jam 9:30a, Ed
Korean Dream 9:30a
Blood Pressure Check
10:30a
Noiseful Joy 10:30a
Nozomi 12:30p, Ed-A
Devotion, 7:30, CoW
Lunch Bunch
11:30p, Ed-D
Lenten Dinner
6:00p, FH
Choir, 7:30p
Worship, 9:30a
Kid Jam, 9:30a, Ed
Noiseful Joy, 10:30a
Korean Dream, 9:30a
Nozomi, 12:30p, Ed-A
Worship, 9:30a
Kid Jam, 9:30a, Ed
Noiseful Joy, 10:30
Korean Dream, 9:30a
Nozomi, 12:30p, Ed-A
Sack Lunch M., 4p
Worship, 9:30a
Kid Jam, 9:30a, Ed
Noiseful Joy, 10:30
Korean Dream, 9:30a
Nozomi, 12:30p, Ed-A
Heart to Heart
9:15a, FH
ReJoySing, 7p
B. Scouts, 7p, FH
Disciple II
10:30a, Ed-A
Safe Sanctuaries
Disciple II
10:30a, Ed-A
Disciple II
10:30a, Ed-A
Messy Church
Planning, 1p, Ed-B
Christian Believer
1:30p, Ed-B
Christian Believer
1:30p, Ed-B
Trustees 7p, Ed-D
Christian Believer
1:30p, Ed-B
CWS Chapel, 10:30
Christian Believer
1:30p, Ed-B
Messy Church
5:30p
Quilters
9a, FH
4th Sunday in Lent
Daylight Savings!!
5th Sunday in Lent
Palm Sunday
EASTER
Stations of the Cross
12-7p, Sanc
Contemplative Worship
7p, Sanc
Good Friday
El Nino Trip
7a, Irvine Pres
Sandwich Ministry
4:30p, FH
Stephen Ministry
Prayers
Contribute to University
United Methodist Church
http://uumcirvine.org/give
For the peace of Christ in the midst of grief, we pray for:
The family and friends of Pauline Hall.
The family and friends of Patti Ferguson, sister-in-law of Stacy Ferguson.
Jack and Kay Lucas at the loss of Jack’s aunt.
John and Trish Young at the loss of John’s cousin, Leonard Pomphrey.
We pray for those recovering from illness, injury, or surgery:
Ann Ownbey, Paul Arthur, Thelma Friedel, Barbara Albers, Carol Gauger, Joy Corkery’s grandson Daniel
We pray for those who are keeping vigil with dying
family members:
Marge & Larry Anderson, Brad & Roxane Fowler
And for our homebound members:
Carol Moore, Diane Monjay, Mary Poehler, Paul Black,
Betty Quilligan, Barbara Albers, Anne Ramsey
Compassionate, trustworthy, full of faith, skilled-these adjectives make up the Stephen
Ministry’s Caregiving Compass. We use this compass to guide our high quality care for
hurting people. As our congregation builds a Stephen Ministry of our own we are asking
you to consider these adjectives and whether they apply to you. A link to an application is
available below if you are interested in interviewing to become a Stephen Minister. Once
selected as a candidate, your 50 hour training will commence. We’ll offer two session in
2016, one running April through June, and a second running in September through No-
vember. Pastor Paige and I will provide that training and ongoing support for your caring
relationship through a precisely formulated program that has been successful in congrega-
tions in Orange County and across the country for over 30 years. If your calling lies elsewhere, please consider praying
for our Stephen Ministry, Pastor Paige and myself as leaders and our first class of Stephen Ministers.
Questions? Stephen Ministry leader Barb Doherty will be available on the Patio after the 9:30 serve each Sunday in
Believe-Ministries that educate, equip and inspire us as passionate followers of Jesus Christ
...
Special Speaker on Sunday March 6th
Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater was ordained as a rabbi in 1999, and has served three different congregations. Starting as a Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellow at Congregation B'nai Jeshu-run in Manhattan from 1998-2000, he then served as the rabbi of Congregation Ahavah Isra-el in Kingston, NY from 2000-2003. From 2003-2015, Rabbi Grater was the senior rabbi of Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center. He now runs Grater & Company, which offers personal and creative life-cycle ritual events for Jewish families. Rabbi Joshua and Pastor Paige are friends through their interfaith advocacy work, especially that of the Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative.
Rabbi Grater is also a percussionist. He is a lover of music, hiking, family, reading, and riding his motorcycle. He lives in Pasadena with his wife, Franci, and his teenage twins.
Operations
Mission Trip Opportunity: We will be taking a team to Napa to help repair
homes damaged in the August 2014 earthquake on May 22nd-28th. All are
invited to go! If you are interested please contact Sue Harriss