March 7, 2008

Dear Resurrection Family,

I can't believe Easter is just around the corner. You may be aware that Easter is the earliest it will be in most of our lifetimes (only those who are 95 or older have experienced Easter this early). The next time it will be this early is March 23, 2228. This year my Easter message will focus on Hope. There seems to be a shortage of hope these days. The stock market slide, mortgage lending crisis, and general economic uncertainty lend themselves to this sense of hopelessness. The ongoing conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and the uncertainty surrounding the presidential elections contribute to this sense of malaise. In our personal lives there are a host of things which might call for an infusion of hope. Easter is the story of God's victory over evil, God's triumph over darkness, and God's response to sickness, aging, and death. It is hope unbound and set loose on the world. I look forward to celebrating Easter with you this year.

Here's what I'll cover in today's email:

1. This Weekend: Lead Us Not Into Temptation…Which Voice Will You Listen To?
2. Daylight Savings Time Begins This Sunday - Spring Forward (Ugghh!)
3. Searching for Disciples for Maundy Thursday - We Need YOU!
4. Staff Members Serving More than Ten Years
5. Honduras Report
6. What's the Feasibility Study? How's It Going?
7. Pastor Judy Long O'Neal Asked to Serve as Senior Pastor in Topeka

1. This Weekend: Lead Us Not Into Temptation…
This weekend I'll continue the series of sermons on The Lord's Prayer by focusing on the words, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." This first line, "Lead us not into temptation" has perplexed Christians since the first century. A passage in the letter of James is probably meant as a commentary and response on it. The early church struggled to interpret it. Even modern scholars and Bible translators are challenged by it. The question is, "Why do we need to petition God not to lead us into temptation? Would God ever lead us into temptation? If God wishes to lead us into temptation why should we pray for him not to do this? If temptation is translated as "test" the problem remains - if God wants to test us, who are we to ask him not to do so? This weekend we'll consider what Jesus may have meant by this prayer. We'll look at how we struggle with temptation and how this prayer can help us in resisting temptation. If you ever struggle with temptation, this sermon is for you.

2. Daylight Savings Time Begins This Sunday - Spring Forward (Ugghh!)
Don't forget to set your clocks forward Saturday night before you go to bed! This weekend we "spring forward." If you forget, you'll make it here just in time for the closing announcements!

3. Searching for Disciples for Maundy Thursday - We Need YOU!
On Maundy Thursday we commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples with a very powerful service of music, scriptures and lights. During Advent we light candles, climaxing with the lighting of the Christ candle on Christmas Eve marking the birth of Christ. During the Maundy Thursday Service we extinguish candles, ending the service by extinguishing the Christ candle and thus marking the death of Christ. As a part of this service we re-enact the Last Supper and to do that we need 12 disciples. These are non-speaking parts but they are very important. We have the costumes and will give you great direction. I think you would find this a very meaningful way to participate in Maundy Thursday and to prepare yourself for Easter. The service is on Thursday, March 20 at 7:00 pm in the Sanctuary. We'll hold rehearsals so that you are prepared and ready for your role. If you would like to be a first century disciples for a night, please contact Jeanne Ackermann at Jeanne.Ackermann@cor.org or by calling her at 913 544-0750.

4. Staff Members Serving More than Ten Years
When an employee reaches their tenth anniversary with our church we celebrate their ministry in staff chapel and they receive a gift from the church - typically a crystal cross and a night's stay and dinner on the Plaza. They also receive additional vacation. This week we celebrated Dave Robertson's ten years on staff. At this time we have 19 staff who have served with us more than 10 years including myself (17 years), Dan Entwistle (16 years), Debi Nixon and Eleanor Hill (14 years), Kelly Williams, Barbara Eichenberger and Alyne Burley (13 years), Sue Thompson, Janice Updike, Christie Hix and Ann Dikeman (12 years), Gia Garey, Kathy Carter, Joyce Schulz and Paul Wilson (11 years) and Connie Stella, Jenny Nehbrass, and Dave Robertson (10 years). Each of these persons has made a significant contribution to the ministry of this church.  

5. Honduras Report
Last weekend I traveled with a team from the church to Honduras to participate in the consecration of the church building you built in Ciudad Espana. You may recall that this church was worshiping under a tree four years ago, and trying to hold their programs in a home the size of a typical bedroom in America. The people in the community earn approximately $100 per month and purchasing land and building a building would never happen without the help of others. As a congregation, through our contributions and money raised from past golf tournaments and auctions you purchased the land and provided the funds to build this building. Architects and engineers volunteered their time to help oversee the project, and 120 different Resurrection members went down to help at various times during the construction, some more than once. A Honduran contractor hired local labor, thus employing people in the community, to work on the building as well. The building consists of a 500 seat multipurpose/sanctuary, an apartment for the pastor, a medical clinic to supplement the town's other clinic which is only open mornings, a computer lab, library, sewing room, classrooms and kitchen. This weekend we've prepared a two minute video to show you what's happened there and we'll pause to pray for the congregation there. Interested in seeing photos of the church?  Click here.  If you've been on any of the Honduran teams you'll want to see the video this weekend.

6. What's the Feasibility Study? How's It Going?
Over the last six months our leaders have been looking at several long term visions, opportunities and needs we believe God is calling us to address. These are all visions of a scope that they could not be funded within the regular operating budget of the church and thus we've considered conducting a capital funds campaign. Unlike previous campaigns, this one would not be focused on building another building on our site (though one small component of the campaign includes the building of some additional classrooms and some renovations and improvements to our facility). Instead the end goal of the campaign would be focused on ministries to reach people, to pursue mission both of which would be funded, in part, by paying off our current debt.

Rather than moving forward with a campaign, however, we felt it important to invite you, our members, to be a part of the discernment process - to share with you what we're thinking about, to invite you to pray about this, and to give us your response to these ideas as well as offering your own. We've held five focus group meetings all together so far with over 500 people participating. Our next step in gathering feedback is an on-line survey which lays out the needs, opportunities and visions we're proposing funding through a capital campaign. If you have yet to participate in this survey, and you are a part of this congregation, would you please take a moment to click on this link, and take the survey. It will take about five minutes to complete. We'll have a complete report from the consultants in May; and so far the focus groups and feedback has been very helpful.

7. Pastor Judy Long O'Neal Asked to Serve as Senior Pastor in Topeka
It is with both sadness and excitement that I announce that Pastor Judy Long O'Neal will take leave of us. Bishop Jones has asked Judy to become the new Senior Pastor at Shawnee Heights United Methodist Church in Topeka. Judy has been with us as a pastor of congregational care for three years. Judy will be missed. She has done an outstanding job of offering congregational care and giving leadership in a variety of ways here at the church. She'll be with us through June and we will celebrate her ministry at that time. Shawnee Heights will be blessed to have Judy as their lead pastor and she will be missed here.

This is the season when pastoral changes occur in United Methodist Churches. Pastors are appointed by the Bishop on an annual basis. Every spring the Bishop and the District Superintendents come together to pray, assess the needs of the churches throughout the Conference, and to discern where to deploy each clergy - either reassigning them to their current appointment or sending them to a new location.

Next week I'll have news for you of who will be joining our pastoral team to step into Pastor Judy's role. Our Staff Parish Committee met with a candidate last night but his assignment here will not be confirmed until next week.

That's a bit of the news around the church today. I look forward to seeing you in worship this weekend!

In the Love of Christ,

Adam Hamilton