Mainstreeter Weekly Blast February 23, 2023

View this email in your browser Beginning Feb 22 For forty days of Lent, we consider how we might be instruments of peace and agents of change in the world. Watch Live So many folks give something up for Lent – meat, sugar, cursing. At last night's Ash Wednesday service, Jaye, the online host, suggested giving up negative self-talk and self-loathing for Lent. Instead of being annoyed by a body that is too whatever (sick, fat, bumpy, in pain), why not try softening to its realities, or a little gratitude for how it partners with you to move through the world? Another worshiper said they were giving up Facebook for Lent. I know some Greek Orthodox Communities, who traditionally have given up certain foods each week, have also offered a progressive technology fast. Where, each week, you refrain from another source of technology until by Holy Week, you're technology-free. So you might choose to let go of social media, then television, YouTube, Xbox, email, etc. There are some weeks I wouldn't mind giving up Zoom. I remember a colleague's son choosing to "give up" the gaming system on the very last week, so he only had to endure a week without video games. Lent is an invitation to do things differently. To not resign ourselves to the well-worn patterns we have, but to examine how those habits serve us and our neighbors. It's never too late to turn toward God. To try on a new way of relating to God and your faith, if only for a season. It is not our humanness that we repent of but our tendency to deny the belovedness of our humanity. And how we can use our humanness, like Jesus, to serve the world. Last night's service featured "Even Here" by Mark Miller. You can hear it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm-U3-3kCSU I have turned away, I have set my fate. I have run too far, I repent too late. Can the hand of God, the voice of love find me even here? O forgive me Lord, I've denied your grace. May I die in peace with a song of grace. The Commission on Religion and Race offers this prayer for the beginning of Lent. This is a day of repentance, God of mercy and of justice. And it is a day of remembering our mortality, God of eternity and today. But what if we realized that those aren't the same thing? What if, this Ash Wednesday, we decided not to repent of our humanness, but to repent of those things that made us less than what you created us to be and to do? Call us to repent of those thoughts and deeds that make us less than human, less than a part of this creation. And invite us to celebrate our oneness with the world in which we live and the whole, multicolored tapestry that is your human community. Let us be marked with a reminder that we are bound up with those we often call "other." Let us be repentant of that which demeans ourselves and our neighbor and you. In the name of the one who wore our flesh, Amen. Pastor Kelly Click Here for Sunday's Bulletin Hear from our Bishop, Peggy Johnson, as she shares this three-part Pre-Lenten devotional series. Click Here to Watch Download Guides Click here to REGISTER Watch Trailer Here THIS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH - THERE'S STILL TIME TO DONATE TO A GREAT CAUSE! We are excited that more people have joined our team for the Nor'ester on Sunday, Feb 26 after service (noon after a quick lunch). It's always fun and challenging with stops along the way and exercises (and social media assignments) that relate to their ministries. DONATE to the cause of helping the United Way support all the wonderful non-profit agencies in town. Each of us needs to raise at least $50. On donations to MSUMC, mark Nor'easter or put our team name: Frosty Frogs! You can donate using the button below as well! IF YOU ARE WALKING WITH US, YOU MUST JOIN THE TEAM THROUGH THE LINK BELOW! Click Here for Team Donation Page OR to Join Team Click Here for ASCC Website UMCOR continues earthquake response ATLANTA — The United Methodist Committee on Relief continues to work with its humanitarian partners to aid earthquake survivors in Turkey and Syria. UMCOR has released initial solidarity grants to International Blue Crescent and Forum for Development Culture and Dialogue to help provide shelter, food and first aid kits to those who have been displaced. Winter weather and a cholera outbreak are complicating the response. Watch Video Here Click Here to Donate Click Here to Follow the NSKS Click Here to Volunteer Click Here for Pantry Wish List MARCH 23, 2023 DATE MOVED - AGAIN! NEXT PLANNING BOARD HEARING Pastor Kristy and Nancy Long have continued to attend visibility events coordinated by GSOP to educate the community about the asphalt plant proposal for Temple Street. This plant will be harmful to the many neighbors near the site, who will be subjected to pollution, noise, and a significant increase in asphalt truck traffic on pedestrian routes. The Planning Board hearing has been tabled again until March 23rd. We would appreciate those who are willing to write letters to the planning board to please do so at pb@nashuanh.gov. If you are willing to speak against the plant at the next meeting (at this time both zoom and in person are available), please reach out to Pastor Kristy for more information on how to do so and what criteria are most important to the Planning Board. Copyright (C) 2023 Mainstreet United Methodist Church. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Mainstreet United Methodist Church PO Box 1517 Nashua, NH 03061-1517 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

Mainstreeter Weekly Blast February 16, 2023

View this email in your browser Join us Sundays Each week from Jan 8 - Feb 19th we will present a worship series to help you shine a light on the blahs! Watch Live This Sunday is the last in the season of Epiphany, often called Transfiguration Sunday. It's the dramatic story of mountain and light, dazzling clouds and the appearance of spiritual ancestors. Sometimes the story is seen as a sneak peek of the resurrection for the disciples. It's a turn in Jesus' life toward Jerusalem so it prepares us for Lent. I appreciate the rhythms of the liturgical calendar. It reminds us that people of faith have lives that aren't oriented around nominal civil holidays. We serve a deeper purpose and our gathering isn't ever nationalism, cultural pride, or sentimentality. "It organizes and shapes our lives by the Christian story, instead of the things the kingdom of the world holds valuable." (Patheos.com) Intentionally choosing a gospel-centered organization system helps us to maintain our first allegiance to Christ and his kin-dom. We serve the way of Christ that calls us to rise above the noise of culture wars. And of course, there are the changing colors of the liturgical year and meaningful symbols that guide us through the nuances of the gospel stories. The liturgical calendar unites us with the larger, longer church tradition, observed in one form or another, since the actual events themselves. It disciplines us to consider parts of the story we might overlook, to linger in the valley instead of rushing toward the mountaintop. It is the antidote to our culture's obsession with instant gratification and busyness. Easter doesn't happen without the terror and anguish of what comes before, so on Ash Wednesday, February 22, we're invited to "walk with Christ for those 40 days, to see him ride into Jerusalem over the path of palm branches, dine with him in the upper room, fall asleep in the garden, and feel the hammer locked in our palm's grip as the nails pierce our Savior's body." (Patheos.com) We will take on the ashes of repentance, as a sign of the cross on our foreheads, as a symbol of our willingness to walk the way of Christ, not the way of the world. We will set aside a season for introspection as we listen to Jesus and the pain of the world. We will not look away. We will spend our days reflecting on the justice Jesus envisioned rolling down like waters and the righteousness that flows like a mighty stream. Pastor Kelly Click Here for Sunday's Bulletin Equalization Member Our District Superintendant has asked us to respond this week (today) with an Equalization Member for our Annual Conference. This is an important role and we need to take advantage of this opportunity. Please contact Pastor Kelly or Lisa Svenson if interested immediately. Especially needed are young persons between the ages of 12 and 17, and between the ages of 18 and 30, please see guidelines below. Download Guides Watch Trailer Here We are excited that more people have joined our team for the Nor'ester on Sunday, Feb 26 after service (noon after a quick lunch). The deadline for our team is quickly approaching, so use the button below to JOIN our team! It's always fun and challenging with stops along the way and exercises (and social media assignments) that relate to their ministries. OR donate to the cause of helping the United Way support all the wonderful non-profit agencies in town. Each of us needs to raise at least $50. On donations to MSUMC, mark Nor'easter or put our team name: Frosty Frogs! You can donate using the button below as well! There is a DRIVE option as well and they suggest following the 1/2 Marathon Route for that, so if you want to sign up and DRIVE the route, that would also help the cause….. IF YOU ARE WALKING WITH US, YOU MUST JOIN THE TEAM THROUGH THE LINK BELOW! Click Here for Team Donation Page OR to Join Team UMCOR continues earthquake response ATLANTA — The United Methodist Committee on Relief continues to work with its humanitarian partners to aid earthquake survivors in Turkey and Syria. UMCOR has released initial solidarity grants to International Blue Crescent and Forum for Development Culture and Dialogue to help provide shelter, food and first aid kits to those who have been displaced. Winter weather and a cholera outbreak are complicating the response. Watch Video Here Click Here to Donate THIRD SUNDAY FOOD PANTRY - THIS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH Please come if you need to stretch your food budget this week or let your friends know. Contact Phyllis Appler if you want to help with distribution. Cereal and pasta are needed. Click Here to Follow the NSKS Click Here to Volunteer Click Here for Pantry Wish List MARCH 23, 2023 DATE MOVED - AGAIN! NEXT PLANNING BOARD HEARING Pastor Kristy and Nancy Long have continued to attend visibility events coordinated by GSOP to educate the community about the asphalt plant proposal for Temple Street. This plant will be harmful to the many neighbors near the site, who will be subjected to pollution, noise, and a significant increase in asphalt truck traffic on pedestrian routes. The Planning Board hearing has been tabled again until March 23rd. We would appreciate those who are willing to write letters to the planning board to please do so at pb@nashuanh.gov. If you are willing to speak against the plant at the next meeting (at this time both zoom and in person are available), please reach out to Pastor Kristy for more information on how to do so and what criteria are most important to the Planning Board. Listen Here Copyright (C) 2023 Mainstreet United Methodist Church. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Mainstreet United Methodist Church PO Box 1517 Nashua, NH 03061-1517 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe