Read: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 (UMH 839)
1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18 or Mark 16:1-8
1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18 or Mark 16:1-8
"Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples:
'I have seen the Lord'." (John 20:18)
Jesus, the Christ, crucified and resurrected, is with us in our joys and in our suffering. We experience him in:'I have seen the Lord'." (John 20:18)
· The face of new Christians in Laos, Bulgaria, Senegal, or Honduras,
· The cry of a mother whose child dies in her arms in Haiti,
· The smiles of youth as they join the church in Havana and Houston,
· The service of volunteers in free health clinics in Kansas and Panama,
· The fear in the eyes of migrants awaiting deportation in Texas,
· The hands of volunteers distributing malaria nets in Zambia,
· The relief in the eyes of families reunited after a storm in Illinois,
· The labor of church builders in Liberia, Nepal, and Latvia,
· The witness of Word and Sacrament in Serbia and Brazil,
· The hungry equipped to grow food in Darfur,
· The hope of a pastor released from unjust detention in the Philippines, and
· The worship of the living God by people of all ages and cultures.
· The faces of the Berry community
Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
There was a time in my life when I clearly made a choice between staying in the church to work for a difference or leaving church to find another way. At that time I was torn about church and my experiences of the institution of church. I felt unable to become a strong self while remaining. It had become oppressive for me. Yet, I did not find a clear path out either. I searched and searched, from Christian Reformed through Catholicism through an American Baptist and Mennonite church, through Episcopalian and Lutheran and finally to United Methodist. And then there was that nagging call from the God who is at the same time searching for me; the call that to be who I am is to be ordained as clergy.
Thank God that I have come to be pastor at Berry Church. I am able to be more fully and completely who I am as pastor, spiritual leader, preacher, activist, mother, and partner here at Berry than at any other place before. There is change happening. At times I feel that the Holy Spirit is waiting to burst out of me and out of us, the body. The building of community, the creativity, and the struggle for justice is what keeps me in church. And then there is that call from God. I am bent to listening with all that I am.
Pastor Sherrie Lowly
Thank God that I have come to be pastor at Berry Church. I am able to be more fully and completely who I am as pastor, spiritual leader, preacher, activist, mother, and partner here at Berry than at any other place before. There is change happening. At times I feel that the Holy Spirit is waiting to burst out of me and out of us, the body. The building of community, the creativity, and the struggle for justice is what keeps me in church. And then there is that call from God. I am bent to listening with all that I am.
Pastor Sherrie Lowly
Read: Isaiah 6:1-13
Whom Shall I Send (UMH 582)
Whom shall I send?
Our Maker cries: and many,
When they hear God’s voice,
Are sure where their
vocation lies;
but many shrink from
such a choice.
For who can serve a
God so pure,
Or claim to speak
in such a name,
While doubt makes
every step unsure,
And self confuses every aim?
And yet, believing God
who calls knows what we are
and still may be,
Our past defeats,
Our future falls
We dare to answer: Lord, send me!
Those who are called God purifies,
And daily gives us strength
to bend our thoughts, our skills, our energies,
And life itself to this one end
Image: Photograph by Katie Schofield © 2008 Processing by Tim Lowly
Read: Matthew 19:13-14
By the Berry Sunday School in an interview with Karen Syverson:
The question Karen asked: Why do you like to come to Berry Church?
Ben: Because we learn about Jesus.Rudden: At Sunday School we learn about art and stories about Jesus.
Ben: Every church day teaches us about Jesus.
Rudden: We learn about all different God things and Jesus at Sunday School and church.
Ben: Pastor Sherrie and Jim teach us.
Rudden: And also Ryan.
Ben: We just don’t eat the bread and dip it in the juice because we’re hungry. We do it because we love God.
Rudden: We love God and want to be close to him.
Ben: We’re going to go play now.
Rudden: We have to go back to our club.
Evie: I would like to have church every day. Because there are snacks and I like Sunday School. I like all the people, of course.Caely: We get to pray to God. I like Sunday School because I get to draw pictures.
Ben Peppler, Rudden Gardiner, Evie Peppler, Caely Peppler, Karen Syverson
Faith into Action
We at Berry believe faith is not only a personal, inward hope and assurance of beliefs, but that faith is also expressed by outward actions of kindness, justice and goodness. We see that our faith in God's love and healing is poured out through us into the neighborhood and the world. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, stated that, "the goal of the Methodist movement is to reform the nation, particularly the church, and to spread scriptural holiness over the land." We are committed to perpetuate this vision and to spread scriptural holiness as divine love of God and our neighbor-with everything we have and everything we are.
Initially, I attended Berry because it was in the neighborhood when I first moved to the city. Although I had grown up in the United Methodist Church, I had never attended a reconciling congregation. At that time in my life I needed a church that would provide me with a home that would fully accept me for who I am and give me a place to grow spiritually. I came to appreciate that Berry has not used reconciliation as an excuse to disengage from the world but as one of several ways to engage and transform it for Christ. I look forward to doing my part to help Berry United Methodist Church move forward in its second century.
Submitted by Doug Renkenberger
Isaiah 55:
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor."
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD's renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed."
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor."
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD's renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed."
Read: Luke 19:28-40; Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 (UMH 839)
Canticle of Christ’s Obedience (UMH 167)
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant,
being born in our likeness.
And being found in human form
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.
Read: Jeremiah 1: 4 - 10
A calling is a deep sense that your very being is implicated in what you do. You feel that you fit into the scheme of things when you do this particular work. You have a sense of purpose and completion in the work. It defines you and gives you an essential tranquility. The work that provides such a deep reward may change over time, and you may go through several periods in your life defined by a different work. Toward the end of your life you may see all the jobs you have done as fateful, composing your life work and answering your calling.”
– Thomas Moore in A Life at Work: The Joy of Discovering What You Were Born to Do
Image: from the book of sunday mornings - photography and processing - Tim Lowly © 2010
Read: Psalm 100
What drew me in to Berry is the music. Literally. Living on the same street, my wife and I walked by the building for 2 years without me piecing together it was a church I could attend. Then one evening I heard a brass band practicing through a basement window and I went around the corner to read the sign. We added Berry to our list of churches to visit and soon thereafter had a fantastic first visit. During that service we learned about Berry’s activism, and actions towards social justice, and I got to hear fantastic music. Afterwards we were given a tour and learned about some of the other groups that share the building, such as the Hull House Daycare, the food pantry, the African Methodist church, and some of the local organizations. A few weeks later I was playing harmonica in the Berry Worship Ensemble on a regular basis, and meeting more of the church members. Over the years our children have developed their beliefs with Berry’s help, and Sunday morning church is a big highlight of our week. I love attending a church where children are welcomed and participate in the service, and everyone is family.
Today’s believers come from many viewpoints, some literal, some symbolic, and some that might have been shaped outside a Christian church. It can be difficult for a church to thread together the traditional with the fringes, the outcasts with the status quo, the established believers with those just starting their journey. Berry weaves all of that and more together into a wonderful tapestry, with it often to great music.
Submitted by Jon Peppler
