Dear St. Paul’s Family,
In preparation for this Sunday’s return to our sanctuary, I have been reading the Old Testament book of Ezra. The context for that book is an Israelite nation that had been separated from its sacred homeland for seventy years due to their traumatic exile to Babylon in 586 B.C. During that time, they were forced to maintain allegiance to God without the comforting confines of their house of worship, which had been destroyed by invading armies. Upon their return, the Israelites were a different people: they spoke differently (adapting their Hebrew language into the Aramaic of Jesus’ day), they marked time differently (making significant changes to their calendar), and they transformed their religious practices (making the Torah central to their lives, giving rise to the scribes and sages as Jewish leaders).
Most importantly, they expanded their view of God. Before the exile, the Israelites believed in a God who was fixed and immobile, and seated on the throne of the Temple mount. This was a God they had to approach, ascending a mountain to visit. But their traumatic displacement taught the Israelites that their God is not static after all, but free to accompany them, even into a foreign land, continuing to guide them no matter where they were.
Naturally, we can draw some parallels between the Israelites’ return to the Temple and our return to the sanctuary after seven months of being in “exile” in the Cherokee Community Center due to our fire last spring. We, too, have learned a lot about ourselves and about God. We’ve learned that the mission and ministry of St. Paul’s is not confined to the bricks and mortar of our sanctuary, but is housed in the hearts and hands of its faithful people. We’ve learned that God can be praised any time, at any place, even from the auditorium of a community center. We’ve learned that the body of Christ is bigger than the People Called Methodist, as we have been graciously hosted by the Lutherans and the Presbyterians for weddings, funerals, and luncheons. And, we’ve learned that God can use the tragedy of a fire to galvanize a community and unite them in common cause, as we have worked together to accomplish the mission of the church. Despite the fire, we were able to serve a record eighty-five children for Vacation Bible School, feed a thousand cyclists for RAGBRAI, support local and global missions through our special offerings, minister to many grieving families through our funeral ministry, continue the same standard of excellent, inspiring worship for which we have become known, all without the typical summer slump in worship attendance and financial stewardship.
Our building may have been destroyed, but our building the kingdom never ceased.
And now, this Sunday, we are ready to return. It’s interesting to read what the Israelites and their leader Ezra did once they first stood on the remains of the old temple, preparing to lay the new foundation. Notice Ezra’s descriptive language:
And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:10-13)
The scene was both so moving and so festive that folks didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. So they did both. They were completely overcome by joyful emotion that their God had seen them through their toughest and darkest time, and enabled them to seize a future with hope. When they realized the enormity of this gift, the gift of coming home after so much time away, they wept for joy. They shouted out loud. And people could hear them for miles.
This Sunday, we will gather to worship, and raise our voices high so that we can be heard from afar. You will not want to miss this historic occasion, when we sit in worship together to give praise to a God who journeys with us, empowers us for the living of these days, and, ultimately, leads us home.
Welcome home, St. Paul’s! Welcome home!
Magrey
The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
Email: mdevega@sp-umc.org
YOUTH GROUP MINISTRY CELEBRATIONS
We celebrate the ongoing success of our senior high youth “Teen Time” with Craig and Monica Schmidt, which has been involving about eighteen youth every Wednesday night. Last week, a new Wednesday night mid-high youth group led by Emily Kramer started in the lower level basement, and seven youth came. We are grateful for the wonderful impact this church is making on the lives of our young people, and to the volunteers who are leading them. If you know of a youth who is looking for a fun, safe environment on Wednesday nights to explore issues of faith and life, please invite them to these weekly gatherings.
CLEAN UP DAY THANK YOU
A big thank you to all of you who helped with the campus wide clean up day Saturday. If you were unable to make it and are available to help with smaller projects throughout the week, please contact the church office.
MAGREY OUT OF TOWN
I am currently in Florida leading a retreat for some area church leaders. I will be back on Saturday, in time to preach on Sunday. In the event of an emergency, please contact the church office, or respond to this email.
CHARGE CONFERENCE DATE SET
Our District Superintendent Tom Carver has scheduled our charge conference for Monday, October 29, at 7:00pm, here at St. Paul’s. We will again be gathering with First UMC in Aurelia, Grace UMC in Marcus, and the churches of Sutherland-Larrabbee. All members of St. Paul’s are voting members of the charge conference, which will celebrate ministries in the past year, approve the 2013 budget, and set goals for next year.
HELP NEEDED FOR WORSHIP
We are looking to fill our lay liturgist and children’s sermon schedule for this fall, so if you are interested in helping out in these important roles, please contact Sue Parker, Kim Luetkeman, or the church office.
CONFIRMATION RESUMES SEPTEMBER 30
Along with resuming all of our Sunday school classes, we will finish up last spring’s Confirmation Class with this year’s eighth graders starting next Sunday, from 8:50-9:50am, in the church library. Seventh grade Confirmation will begin next January.
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