Linda Vista United Methodist Church
Welcome to Linda Vista United Methodist Church
8:30 a.m. Vietnamese Service: Holy Worship with Pastor Mary Dang – maryddang@yahoo.com.
11:00 a.m. English Service: Holy Worship with Pastor Jeri Newell-Davis – jeri@LindaVistaUMC.org.
— The first Sunday of every month Holy Communion is offered during the 11:00 worship service.
— All are invited and welcome to participate: There is plenty of enough for everyone at the table of grace.
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Lenten Book Study via Zoom: Holy Currencies by Eric H.F. Law
Sundays: February 26, March 5, 12, 19, 26, and April 2 at 6:00 p.m.
The book can be purchased through the church at $15 each or from your own book source.
Contact us for more information.
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Weekly Bible Study (in person) with Allan Bravo
10:30 a.m. Every Sunday
Contact us for more information.
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10:00 a.m. Every Thursday
Contact us for more information.
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A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.
~ Jeremiah 31:15
Dear Family in Christ,
As the sun rises today, countless families in Uvalde, Texas, are shattered as the beds of their children are empty. Instead of helping their precious ones get dressed for school, they are beginning to plan for their funerals. Families are devastated as two beloved wives and mothers didn’t return home from their work as teachers. And family and friends of an 18-year-old child, who brought on this latest horror in our nations, are left with grief, guilt… shame.
And so, we pray, for we must. We pray for all those families whose grief cannot be comforted. We pray for all in that small farming community that will hold these families in their care. We pray for the teachers there and everywhere who will need to face their students today with assurance and care and comfort.
We pray for lawmakers across our land, prayers that they will be moved beyond political posturing to comprehensive actions that address the complex realities that feed our nation’s addiction to violence, hate, and destruction.
And we pray for the church, for us who claim to follow the Prince of Peace, for we have failed. We have failed to care for our communities. We have failed to demand change. We have failed to move our prayers from our hearts to our lives. We have chosen weak resignation to the ways of the world, wringing our hands at how the world is. We have given up on God’s Kin-dom dream, ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ We pray that God will convict us, forgive us, and change us.
Prayers don’t – can’t – stop with our lips and hearts; prayers must also be lived in our daily choices through what we prioritize in the world we create. This is not the way the world is. It is the way we have allowed the world to become.
The United Methodist Church urges “congregations to advocate at the local and national level for laws that prevent or reduce gun violence.” If you are looking to find ways to address gun violence and create a climate of safety and compassion, there are resources in our church you can use. See https://www.umcjustice.org/what-we-care-about/peace-with-justice/gun-violence-prevention for concrete steps you and your congregation can engage in.
People should not be afraid to go to the grocery store. People should not be afraid to gather in their places of worship. Children and teachers should not be afraid to go to school. We can address those fears. We can make changes. We can prioritize God’s Kin-dom where “no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days or an old person who does not live out a lifetime, for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth…” (Is 65:19-20a) We can pray in word and action because God’s grace is sufficient for us every day.
DS Sandy
Rev. Sandra K. Olewine
South District Superintendent
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A helpful tool for parents, teachers, and all child caregivers.
We don’t always know what children are thinking because they may not have the language to express themselves. Maybe they experienced trauma on a global scale, or just on a social scale, but knowing how to express it may be difficult.
However, sitting down together with a child, equipped with only paper and crayons, all social media objects aside, gives you an opportunity to listen to them, watch them, and share sacred space with them as they offer you a picture of what they did, heard, or experienced during their day or their life. No need to do anything else, just observe and have conversation about what is on their minds.
It’s an opportunity to learn from them what they need to learn from us. And they need to learn from us trust, love, and acceptance for who they are and what they are experiencing. Only then can we train up a child in the way they can grow. ~Pastor Jeri
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Another resource for those who need more, myself included.
Peace,
Pastor Jeri.
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Note from Pastor Jeri
Friends, as we continue to see the events unfold in the Ukraine, people have asked how they can help.
UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief is an agency that is working with the United Methodist community directly in Ukraine and in surrounding countries. Here is a link to UMCOR if you’d like to assist in the humanitarian efforts to bring relief
to those seeking shelter and aid. https://umcmission.org/…/how-to-assist-the-ukrainian…/
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UMCOR Global Ministries – Ongoing
UMCOR supports programs that fight hunger and poverty, assist the displaced, and responds to disasters. We will be joining in UMCOR’S Special Offering Sunday on March 27 during out 11:00 a.m. Holy Worship service. Every penny counts, every donation is needed and very much appreciated. Thank you all for your generous hearts.
UMCOR’S Annual Goal: $7,000,000.00 To Date: $4,744,982.58
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The UMC Constitution
The United Methodist Church proclaims the value of each person as a unique child of God and commits itself to the healing and wholeness of all persons.
The United Methodist Church recognizes that the sin of racism has been destructive to its unity throughout its history. Racism continues to cause painful division and marginalization.
The United Methodist Church shall confront and seek to eliminate racism, whether in organizations or in individuals, in every facet of its life and in society at large.
The United Methodist Church shall work collaboratively with others to address concerns that threaten the cause of racial justice at all times and in all places.
~from The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church 2016, paragraph 5
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CONSPIRE
We stand in a place where opposites come together,
In a world of fault lines and fractures,
awaiting the birth of what is to come.
If you are doubting, welcome.
If you are healing, welcome.
If you are angry at injustice, welcome.
We await a new genesis,
one more beginning in a series of starts,
trailing backwards in time to the very first day.
If you are afraid, welcome.
If you are joyful, welcome.
If you are longing to belong, welcome.
God’s generous rhythm of life, death, resurrection,
moving in and through all things,
the very breath and source of the cosmos itself.
Our pathways converge and continue,
each one of us a catalyst for loving action.
We, a community of saints.
Conspire.
Breathe with us.
~from Conspire, by Father Richard Rohr
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It is never too late to light a candle for beloved departed soul.
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