Info and a Prayer

We often think of repentance as something that requires a dramatic turning of our lives – an about-face. Sometimes that’s true. On Sunday, Sept. 20, I’ll be talking about another perspective on repentance as part of our sermon series, “What Do These Words Mean?” What if repentance was (at least sometimes) about moving a little bit, a few steps to change our lives to be more in line with God’s desires for us? Join us for recorded worship at 9:45 a.m. on umcstmarks.org/live-worship, or Facebook StMarksTucson, or YouTube UMC St. Mark’s Oro Valley.

You can now sign up to be part of “We Gather Together,” our small-group in-person worship experiences that begin Monday, Oct. 5. These groups of no more than 10 people will be held twice a day, Monday/Wednesday/Friday during October around the theme of “Care Born … Out of Solitude.” Register here on our website under “Latest Update” on the homepage or click this link.

Our Genesis Team and I continue to prayerfully and carefully move us toward reopening our buildings. We Gather Together is our first step in in-person worship. We are looking at a variety of options for when and how to begin other in-person worship experiences and will keep you posted on that. Many thanks to the 330 of you who completed our recent short survey, the results of which are helping to guide our decisions. While some of you who completed the survey are ready to begin in-person now and others feel they might do so in the near future, many people say they will not be ready to come back in person for quite some time or until there is a reliable vaccine for COVID-19.

Finally, a prayer that is on my heart: Gracious God, hear our prayer. We come to you today with thanksgiving for all the ways you are with us and bless us. We also come with heavy hearts, longing for those who are sick to be well, for wildfires to be put out and those fighting fires to be safe, and for leaders of our community and country to be guided by your wisdom. Give us your peace, O God, and a calmness of heart and spirit. Heal our worries and give us trust that you are with us. Again, we give you thanks for your love and healing grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Blessings,
Sharon