United Christian Ministries is in need of: canned soup, canned chicken and Boost. To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!
1st Explorers After-School Ministry Update
We explored the world of Dr. Seuss this week! We read “Green Eggs and Ham” and made our own colorful plates of green eggs and ham. We read “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut.” After, we played a game where two people had to keep their eyes closed and draw something only with the help of a teammate telling them where to place the marker. We finished the week with “The Cat in the Hat Comes Back” and made our own silly Dr. Seuss style hats.
Our pen pal program is back in full swing as well, and we wrote our pen pals back!
Midweek Meal & Activities
Our Wednesday evening fellowship meal and bible studies are going great! Let’s keep the momentum going, inviting others to join us and enjoying the deepening of our fellowship.
Please spread the word. And remember, preschoolers and college students’ meals are free, grades 1 to 12 are $7, and adults are $11. The menu this Wednesday is meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas and a roll. Join us!
REMINDER: Reservations must be made before noon on Mondays.
Below is the schedule for our Wednesday evening activities:
The meal begins at 5:30 p.m. each Wednesday. Group time begins approximately 6:10 p.m. and goes to 6:45 p.m. This group time is for college students and adults.
Our youth will meet from 6:10 to 7:00 p.m. in the youth room.
Our children also meet from 6:10 to 7:00 p.m, and they will be in the children’s department for a devotional, activity and play time.
Choir rehearsal follows at 7:00 p.m.
We can’t wait to see you on Wednesday evening!
Mission Moment 3.12.25
Mike Liga
Hospice Chaplain, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
“It can be seen that mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become.” —Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Through my work as a chaplain, I am increasingly aware of the tension within me. Namely, the person I was, the person I am and the person I will become.
I’ve struggled with identity for most of my life, not having had a physical, psychological or even a theological home. I grew up in the “in-between,” whether that’s growing up in two cultures (American and Filipino), or in two theological frameworks (Pentecostal and Baptist traditions). The resulting feeling has been a cycle of self-shame and an unease from never having the ability to please anyone.
As I reflect upon being in the “in-between,” I see now that it has been a gift all along. The very thing that I found shameful, has now brought me to a place of peace and wonder. The “in-between” has always been my home.
I can see now the “detours” in my life have been nourishment to my soul. By detours, perhaps I mean more of the unexpected paths of life, even within a single day—a call from a friend, a surprising affirmation from a colleague, a smile from a patient. These fillers of joy and meaningful encounters have always made me feel at home, a hospitality between destinations.
I wonder in my own life at the power of slowing down and embracing those moments of surprising detours. Seeing them not as a chore or a distraction, but as glimpses of joy and opportunities for growth. I wonder if what is saving my life is not just tolerating these detours, but simply being open and present to them. Seeing them as opportunities to see God and see myself anew, constantly learning the wonder of being with God and others.
In a busy and efficient world, particularly in the West, I wonder if what we need most is slowness and presence during the tension we sense within and outside ourselves. And perhaps we might see that tension, transience, slowness and openness as part of deep enrichment to our souls.
Prayer, Practice, Ponder
God, may we see your wonder in the tense, the transient, and the detours of our lives. Would that we would be open to them, following the leading of your Spirit into the unknown with courage and humility. Amen.
Ash Wednesday Service
TONIGHT, March 5 at 6:15 p.m.
At 6:15 p.m. in the sanctuary, we will observe Ash Wednesday in a brief service of contrition and worship. This day begins a 40-day (plus Sundays) march through the season of Lent.
1st Explorers After-School Ministry Update
Jackson Neighbors in Need
Mission Moment 3.5.25
Daniel Sostaita
Senior Pastor, Iglesia Cristiana sin Fronteras (ICSF), Winston-Salem, N.C.
“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.”
—Jamie Anderson
On February 23, 2024, my mom (born July 31, 1932) departed this life to be with the Lord. No one likes goodbyes and that painful agony, especially when it is a loved one. My mom lived the last 22 years in my home, along with Irene, my wife of 33 years and my three beautiful daughters Barbara (Barby 31), Daniela (K 29), and Victoria (Vicky 24).
Caring for my mom was not easy. Becoming a primary caregiver, without resources or legal status, automatically makes you the only source responsible for sustaining the life of the person who is in your charge (my mother). Within this context, a unique bond is also generated, being a provider child, a caregiver child and a child who gives love and receives love.
Understanding how the Lord took care of us all these years and understanding that suffering can be a sweet experience in Christ, leads me to another reflection: Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. The love of my wife and my daughters are the elements that are saving me during this time of mourning.
Pray, Practice, Ponder
My prayer today is this: Thank you, Lord Jesus, for my beloved congregation of Sin Fronteras, friends, colleagues, neighbors, partners in our activism, community leaders; in short, all those who day-by-day commit themselves to be wipers of tears and washers of feet for our community. They also save me every day.
Pain aligns us with God’s perspective; everything is stored in the memory that often eventually saves or rescues us.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.
Giving the Jesus Way
United Christian Ministries is in need of: canned soup, canned chicken and Boost. To donate items, please drop them off at UCM’s building at 191 Skyland Drive. Thank you!