Archive for February, 2010

Dear Holy Covenant Community,

This week, we conclude our worship series on the Lord’s Prayer. Over the last weeks, we’ve explored the ancient words Jesus taught us to pray and how they speak fresh to us today. As I mentioned on Sunday, biblical scholar N.T. Wright writes that the Lord’s Prayer is something we breathe in and then breathe out. We breathe in God’s holiness, experiencing intimacy and awe; we inhale the promise of God’s kingdom, when pain will be no more and justice rolls down like waters; we consume the daily bread of God’s abundant provisions; and we receive God’s unconditional forgiveness.

When we breathe in the prayer, we can’t help but breathe it out, sharing it with the world: living relationally with God; actively building a more just and peaceful community on earth; sharing material and spiritual bread with others; and forgiving our neighbors.

On Sunday, we’ll explore our final phrase together: Deliver us from evil. How do we breathe in this final phrase of the prayer, and then breathe it out? It’s easy to believe that evil is all around, from the things we can’t control, like cancer and natural disasters, to human made injustices of war, poverty, and oppression. The question of evil looms large in our theological imaginations, and the realities of evil hit home in the particularities of our lives.

As I wrestle with evil this week, and God’s role in the world, I have many, many questions. I’m sure you do, too. As we prepare for Sunday, I encourage you to read part of our Scripture from Romans 8, below. Sit with it. Argue with it. Meditate upon the words. Breathe them in, and then breathe them out:

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What questions do you have about evil? God’s deliverance? The love of God that will not let us go?

Join us on Sunday as we delve deep into our hearts and the heart of God, who promises to always be with us, in love.

See you then, and think about who you can bring with you.

Grace and Peace,

Kate

Forgive us our Trespasses, as we Forgive Those who Trespass Against Us
Holy Covenant UMC, Sunday February 7, 2010
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd
Matthew 18:21-35

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There are many phrases commonly attributed to the Bible, that in fact have very different origins. Nonetheless, we often mistakenly hear them as gospel truth (even though they are nowhere to be found in the gospel). For example:

God helps those who help themselves (Benjamin Franklin)
God never gives you more than you can handle.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
No rest for the weary.
Even: Do Unto Others as you would have them do unto you. Sure, we have variations, but this phrase is not biblical.
There are many phrases we misattribute to the Bible that actually come from Shakespeare:
For example: Neither a borrower nor a lender be

And, finally, “forgive and forget”. Friends, this phrase is found nowhere in the Bible and has been taught too often in churches as gospel truth. (more…)

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Holy Covenant,

I often think that the beautiful song “In the Bleak Midwinter” falls too early in our liturgical calendar. Christmas doesn’t happen in the bleak midwinter. Here in Chicago, we know the bleak midwinter. And I’d say it’s setting in right…about…now. For some of us, February falls like a blow, reminding us it is really truly is winter, in a northern city, meaning we’ve got a good few months to go.

On the other hand, there is something precious about this down time, this ordinary time, that comes after Christmas and before Lent. Without the full bore scheduling of our brief summers or the holiday season, it’s easier to simply be with one another. We have the opportunity to hunker down and tend to ordinary tasks: eating meals together, cleaning the apartment, getting back to the gym. This is true in our households and at Holy Covenant too. Pastor Kate’s sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer points us back to the very center of our faith: blessing the name of our God, breaking bread together, and forgiving one another. Let’s dig in this winter and prepare ourselves and our community for what’s next.

There are lots of opportunities to dig deeper this winter, to build community and relationships. This week, many Winter Small Groups are starting. Several still have room for you. You may have noticed that we seem to be having more longer term groups. As a congregation, it seems like we’re ready for this. We also continue to need and have shorter term groups in order to focus on specific topics, or so that people who’ve never been in a small group can get their toes wet. Visit our site for more information on all the groups. Note especially Matt Kuzma’s new group (Wednesdays at 7, at church) designed to introduce newcomers to each other and to give some basic information about Holy Covenant, the United Methodist Church and the Christian faith. Drop in once or regularly. Note too that there is still room on Thursdays in Freed-up Financial Living. It’s not too late to budget faithfully, however daunting that is during tax season! We can support each other as we get our priorities in order.

It turns out that Holy Covenant, and even Chicago, isn’t too bad a place to spend the bleak midwinter. Not when we’re in a community that recognizes and celebrates the truth that, as the song says, heaven can’t contain our God. Instead, our God is breaking into ordinary human lives again and again. Come to worship, join a small group, come to the congregational summit this Saturday, stay for pizza after the February 14th evening service. You may find out that while, yes, “snow has fallen, snow on snow,” underneath the cold, the ground we are standing on is holy and ablaze with God’s presence.

In the deepest ways, stay warm!

Rebecca Anderson
Minister of Small Groups

Holy Covenant asks you to bring in a wide variety of items to support us in our quest to reduce, reuse, recycle, provide for our congregational community, and care for our greater community.

If you have any of these, bring them in!

CINDER BLOCKS NEEDED
Holy Covenant needs cinder blocks for a Lent project! Have a few in your basement? Willing to schlep them to church by February 20th? Let Rebecca Anderson know.

HOT CUP SLEEVE DRIVE
The Green Team and Hospitality have partnered up to start a coffee sleeve drive at Holy Covenant. Please bring in your used hot cup sleeves so we can offer them at the coffee station during hospitality! When using a sleeve during church, please remember to return the sleeve to its basket before tossing your cup. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

BRING US YOUR CORKS!
The Green Team will be collecting wine corks, both natural and synthetic, in the coming year. For every cork collected, Terra Cycle will donate 2 cents to Holy Covenant United Methodist Church. There is a box in the gallery labeled “Cork Collection”. Please bring in any wine corks you have (or your neighbors have, or your local restaurants have) to be donated to this worthy cause!

COAT DRIVE
Holy Covenant is collecting coats for those in need that will be distributed to Dignity Diner guests every Tuesday. Please bring adult coats (L-XL), mittens and gloves (no scarves or hats) to the church and place at the bottom of the basement stairs. We will collect coats through the winter so that as many as possible will receive the gift of warmth. Questions? Please contact Walter Treash.

HAVE PICTURES OF HOLY COVENANT? SEND THEM IN!
We would love to look through your photos and possibly pick out a few for the church’s website! Mission events, social events, hospitality or small groups — if you have any, send them to Katie Cook.

In addition, something you do every day can benefit Holy Covenant:

SEARCH THE INTERNET, GIVE TO HOLY COVENANT!
Every time you search the internet through www.goodsearch.com, the site will donate 1 cent to HCUMC. Just go to the site, enter Holy Covenant to verify, and then search away! It’s free and easy to use for you, and Holy Covenant receives a donation at the end of the year. Many sites also offer a % donation if you make a purchase. So search away, which you do anyway, and give to the church. Their motto is: You search, we give.

Daily Bread
By Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd
Holy Covenant UMC, January 31, 2010

Luke 19:1-10

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Give us this day our daily bread.

When we pray this, what are we praying for? To have enough to eat today? Are we praying to have our material needs met ? Are we praying to be fed spiritually—filled up with comfort and hope and peace? Are we praying about feeding others, who are hungry? Feeding them with bread and with love and with justice?

What is daily bread?

We know it has to do with the daily: something we ask for each and every day. We’re not asking about tomorrow, or next year, or after we die: we ask to be supplied daily.

It’s easy for us to live in the future…asking for a secure retirement, hoping that in 10 years our family life will look like we want it to, living for our summer vacation instead of focusing on the work at hand (trust, me, this winter, I’m continually fantasizing about the sun): but this phrase is calling us right back to the moment: give us bread today. (more…)