Easter is just a couple of Sundays away now, and that means that we are about to enter into Holy Week - the week in which we remember the events of the last week of Jesus' life before the Resurrection. As we remember, we also reflect on the depth of God's love for us - a love that would sacrifice so much for our sake. During Holy Week, we will have several opportunities to worship together as we make the journey to Easter together.
We begin this Sunday - Palm Sunday - by remembering the expectation and celebration as Jesus entered into Jerusalem. Children will have a chance to lead the celebration with a gift of palms - the branches that people waved in excitement along Jesus path.
On Thursday at 6:30 pm, we will join with our brothers and sisters at Grottoes UMC for a Living Last Supper. Come experience what the disciples experienced in sharing a last meal with Jesus. A light dinner will be provided. If you are interested in playing the role of one of the disciples, please let me know. On Friday at 7 pm, we will gather again with Grottoes UMC at our church for a service of Tenebrae - a reading of the story of Jesus' crucifixion as we reflect on the darkness of that day. 
On Easter Sunday, we will have two opportunities to worship together. At 6:45 am in Bradburn Park, we will gather with other churches for a community Sunrise Service. Refreshments will be provided, so come out to worship and stay a while to visit with your neighbors! We will have our regularly scheduled service at 9:30 am exploring the power of Jesus' Resurrection for our lives today and finishing with communion.
We hope to see you in the next week for these worship services!
Blessings on the journey, Jim

Forgiven: 1, 2, ..., 490 (Matthew 18:21-22)
​Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Three strikes and you're out. In conventional wisdom, we have a low threshold for tolerating wrongs by other people. If someone wrongs us a time or two, we are advised to write them off in pretty short order. So we keep count of rights and wrongs (mostly our rights and other people's wrongs) and hold grudges when we feel the two are out of balance.  Should it be this way? How many times should we forgive someone who sins against us? Peter asks on our behalf. As many as seven times? In comparison to our conventional wisdom this seems a generous number that Peter offers. Yet, in reality, is it that many? Who that is a regular part of your life has wronged you seven or less times? We sin against each other often - it is a part of living alongside one another. If we only forgave seven times, we probably wouldn't have many people left as a part of our lives. So what does Jesus say? Not seven times, but seventy times seven (or seventy plus seven - either way, a much larger number). Jesus' answer points out that Peter is asking the wrong question to begin with. Could you actually keep count long enough to reach 491 (or 78, depending on whether we go with multiplication or addition) without losing track? When you reached that threshold, could you be certain that you had not miscounted and still needed to forgive? The truth is that once we pass the number of fingers (and maybe toes) that we have, we begin to lose track of the exact number. Would we actually try to keep an accurate count until 78 or 491? If not, why would we begin counting anyway? Why would we keep track of #1, #2, #7, #19, ...? That is the point Jesus' answer makes. The real question is: should we keep count of the wrongs of others in the first place? Jesus answers with a resounding "No!"  Forgiveness means that we quit keeping score of rights and wrongs and just love people no matter how many times they may have wronged us. What sins are we keeping count of today? What grudges do we need to let go?

After a few weeks of demolition, restoration, and preparation, the new metal stairs have been installed. They are ready for use in entering the upstairs office and classroom area as is the now accessible fellowship hall entrance. While this finishes the work we contracted out, we still have a few final touches that we will be handling in-house in the coming weeks including landscaping, cleaning the brick, and reinstalling lighting. Thanks to all of our Trustees for leading this project, especially to Keith for giving regular oversight! Thank you, everyone who helped support this project through your generosity and your patience! We are excited to finally have an accessible entrance and safer stairs!

Welcome to our newest member Brad who officially joined our congregation on Sunday!

Wednesday, March 21
Office Hours and Events cancelled due to weather
Thursday, March 22
9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours
7:00 pm - Keeping Children Safe: Drugs in Our Community
​Sunday, March 25
9:30 am - Palm Sunday Worship: "Forgiven: For Real"
​11:00 am - Sunday School
Monday, March 26
9:30 am - Bible Study at Dianna's house
Tuesday, March 27
7:00 pm - Bible Study at Dianna's house

"You have a story worth telling!" These are the words that were shared at a workshop I attended this past weekend. The presenter was talking about how we encourage others on the path of discipleship, and so she talked about the importance of sharing our stories of what difference following Jesus has made in our lives. As examples, she shared some video clips of people who told their own stories - stories of drug addiction and broken relationships, stories of being abused and taking that pain out on others, stories of finding God and being mended, stories of raising children to know Jesus and serving others who are broken. The videos left a little tear in your eye if not running down your cheek. No one had any doubt these stories are worth telling, but many of us - perhaps most of us - in the church do not feel that we have such a powerful story to share. There has been bad news in our lives, but it has not been as bad as for these folks. We have experienced the power of God in our lives, but it doesn't seem that dramatic in comparison. So the presenter says to us, "You have a story worth telling!" What difference has following Jesus made in your life? What difference has your journey with Jesus made for those around you? That is a story worth telling!

What is your story? I would love to hear it if you want to share by email, note, phone, or face-to-face!

Blessings on the journey, Jim 

Forgiven: Leave the Table ( Matthew 5:21-24)
When we talk about forgiveness, we often focus on God's forgiveness toward us and the forgiveness we are expected to show one another. We mostly overlook a third aspect: our need for forgiveness from others. Perhaps it is because of a fear of vulnerability or lack of control. When we are the ones forgiving others, we are in control of the situation. Even when God is forgiving us, we feel in control because we have God's promise of forgiveness if we repent. We have no such promise, however, from other people, so asking forgiveness of them is risky. What if they refuse? So we tend to ignore that we need forgiveness from others. We even go so far as to pretend that our sin against others is only a sin against God. "It's between me and Jesus," we say. But Jesus tells us another story in his Sermon on the Mount. If we are at the altar bringing our gifts - that is, seeking to be close to God - and we remember someone has something against us, Jesus tells us to leave the gift and first go and be reconciled. Jesus is telling us that we cannot draw close to God if we are not able to be close with another. We cannot be reconciled to God if we are unwilling to be reconciled to one another. Jesus takes this so seriously that he says that we should leave our gift at the altar, go to reconcile, and then come back. This is an absurd idea because those he was speaking to lived a long way from the altar in Jerusalem. The journey back home to seek forgiveness and then back to the altar could take days. Yet they were supposed to make such a long, time-consuming trip to be reconciled before coming before God at the altar. Perhaps this could be justifiable for a big sin, but surely Jesus would not mean for them to do this for any everyday kind of sin. Just before this, however, Jesus was talking about how someone who was angry at a brother or sister or calls them a fool is liable to judgment just like a murderer. Perhaps it is a bit of hyperbole to get us to understand how important being reconciled to one another is to God, but Jesus is saying that it is worth traveling hundreds of miles back and forth just to ask for forgiveness and to be reconciled to one another, because we cannot be close to God without it. Being close to God means being brave enough to ask for forgiveness of others for our sins.

Join us on Thursday, March 22, at 7 pm as members of the Harrisonburg Police lead us in a conversation of what we need to know about "Drugs in Our Community" in order to keep our children safe. Whether you are a parent, a grandparent, a friend, or a teacher, this will help you be better prepared to help the kids in your life face the challenges that are out there for them everyday. Invite a friend or neighbor, and join us for the this important event!