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Holiday Service Projects Update

Holiday Service Projects for the Violence Free MN Women’s Shelter Thank you to everyone who contributed to our two holiday projects for the Violence Free MN women’s shelter. This Christmas 68 people (32 women and 36 children) spent the holidays living in a hotel since all the shelters in the state were full, and safe, affordable housing (especially for families) is hard to come by. To create some holiday cheer, PPUMC took on two projects. Our first project was creating…

January Pastor’s Corner

Beloved Community, A new year has begun, and I am ready to celebrate its unfolding! 2020 was a year of challenges on a global level – a year of resourcefulness and vigilance and constant check-ins for our community. And as strange, fluid, precarious and unexpected as it was, David and I personally crowned the year with a life-changingexperience. As most all of you know by now, on Sunday evening, Dec. 13, we were involved in a serious car accident near…

Watch Now: Christmas Eve Service

We celebrate the incarnation of the Prince of Peace. We open our arms with the whole of the earth in welcome and wonder. There are candles, music, Jesus and his animal friends in the manger, Silent Night and more. We encounter the characters of Christmas.

Watch Now: A Virtual Christmas Carol

Thank you to everyone who joined us this morning during worship to watch the world premiere of our production of A Christmas Carol! We had a stellar turnout. We are pleased to let you know that the full video, Fezziwig dancers and all, is now available on YouTube. Please share this video with your friends and family and spread the good tidings! We look forward to seeing you at our 4:00pm worship service on Christmas Eve, via Zoom. Details can be…

United Methodist Creation Justice Tips for Christmas

The holidays are wonderful in many ways, but they have an environmental cost. Americans throw away 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. The waste from each of those weeks adds up to one million extra tons of discards going into landfills. These Tips can help you and your family enjoy the season and care for God’s good creation. With COVID more of us will be doing our Christmas shopping online. Turn your shopping green by exploring companies that…

December Pastor’s Corner + Advent Schedule

Dear Fellow Travelers, We are in the season of anticipation! The word alone can make a person jiggly. “Come on, come on, come on,” we wiggle, “Enough with the waiting. Let’s go!” There are many times we wait. We wait in line at the Post Office, for the results of tests; for supper. We wait for our turn to turn left, for the day we can simply high-five each other in person, in glee! We wait. Weary of it all,…

Pastor’s Corner: November 2020

Holy Moley, Friends!!We are in motion!!Make no mistake about it, we are going into winter with NO plans of hibernation. In fact, I feel the need to remind us all that as we do our fall work of putting things in order for the long, cold season, we also will remember the basic safety guidelines that protect us from spreading the virus, which is again on the rise. If you are planning to come to the church building, it is…

Pastor’s Corner: October 2020

Friends, It is October! Why am I so giddy? I have learned to greet the month with glee. I was born on the 2nd day and therefore long ago decided that I may claim the entire month as a celebration of being alive on this planet. I am convinced that the color in the leaves soaks into my psyche and paints my inner sacred space with all the colors of a burning bush. I am conscious of impending harvest in…

Pastor’s Corner: September 2020

Beloved Friends, Thirty minutes into the clergy-only session of MN Annual Conference 2020, I found myself in my sun-porch home office with my computer, my note pad, and a take-out coffee, attempting to digest what had just happened. Two hundred (or so) MN UMC clergy had all completed 4 hours of preparation for this event, had Zoomed together to an opening announcement that included the strange celebration of being “together” as a body in these times of social distancing. Yes,…

Pastor’s Corner: August 2020

I begin to write this note listening to a recording of “Amazing Grace,” played on the sanctuary piano by Kathy Webb. I look up and out our front door and the snow-white squirrel that lives in our neighborhood pops up like a Jack-in-the-box in the lawn across the street.