The Rev. Jim Young’s new series of Adult Education classes will continue on the next two Sundays, May 19 and 26, focusing on the Book of Job and the issue of Suffering.
Jim’s classes meet on Sundays at 9 a.m. in the Sunshine Room.
Judy’s Produce Pantry will again be open this Tuesday, May 14, and with most fresh produce still at least a month away from being available, the pantry needs donations of non-perishable food items.
The pantry operates out of the church’s Sunshine Room on Tuesdays throughout the spring, summer and early fall, and every other Tuesday the rest of the year.
The pantry provides fresh produce donated by farms and community gardens in Cape Elizabeth and supplements its offerings with non-perishable items donated by individuals and families, many of whom are from our church.
Foods items most needed are cans of tuna, jars of peanut butter, boxes of pasta, juices, salad dressing, canned fruit, cereals, tomato and pasta sauces, cleaning products, paper products, and pet food.
Last year, the pantry helped more than 30 families on a weekly basis.
If you would like to donate non-perishable items, please leave them by Grace the giraffe near the front entrance to the church or in the box by the side door near the chapel.
Thank you!
For the Children’s Story at Sunday’s 10 a.m. service, Rev. Ruth Morrison introduced the congregation to a family of newborns, all less than a week old.
As has become a spring tradition in our church, Janet Mageles’ World of Wonders Nursery School celebrated the hatchings of its duck eggs this week and they became the focus of attention for Sunday’s Children’s story.
The ducklings are named Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc., for whichever day their egg hatched.
For the third consecutive spring, the Adult Social Activity Group is sponsoring an evening at the Portland Museum of Art, followed by dinner at nearbt Margaritas.
Join us on Friday, May 3. We will carpool at the church at 5 p.m. If you can’t make it that early, meet us at the museum any time after 5:30.
All adults from the church and their friends are invited to attend. We had 15 adults take part for this event last year.
There is no admission to the museum on Friday evenings.
If you have any questions, see the Hills, Linds or Haiders.
Enjoy these pictures from the Easter Egg Hunt.
Easter Bunny
HOLY WEEK
Palm Sunday ~ March 24
Maundy Thursday ~ March 28, 7pm ~ Nazarene Church
Good Friday ~ March 29, 7pm ~ CEUMC
Easter Sunrise ~ March 31, 6:10, Two Lights
Easter Breakfast ~ Nazarene Church
following Sunrise Service
Free Will Offering
EASTER SUNDAY WORSHIP
10:00 am
“What is Lent for but to bring us back to life? – to submit to those spiritual disciplines that bring us to life and bring another to life.” With those words Pastor Ruth began the Ash Wednesday Lenten service in the narthex at CEUMC. The service was a new format, beginning with a shared dinner (potluck) followed by a service involving traditional and nontraditional readings and music.
There were people from each of the churches in the cluster, each of which will be hosting a service on sequential Wednesdays this Lent. The tables in the narthex were set up in the shape of a cross, and the mirror at the back … caught a reflection of Jesus standing in the sanctuary.
The title of the evening was “Ash Wednesday in A Major Key: Lord of the Dance.” It was a reflective and thoughtful service with community and laughter and energy.
Ruth commented, “Lent is a walking humbly – but joyfully. Lent is a holy spring, a time of trusting in the earth as the giver of life. A season to celebrate that we come from ashes and to ashes we return, from the earth we come and to the earth we return… Ash Wednesday is about life and death, dust and ashes. The joy God intended in settling us in a garden. And out of a garden on Easter morning we shall know a newness of life – fragrant and filled with joy. We are beginning a holy journey and a joyful journey to find those places that give us life, to practice, to rediscover the dance of life.
“Our groundedness in the earth, on the face of the earth, our trust in the elements of the earth, and in the one who created heaven and earth.
Mark Braun played on the piano a suite of dances by JS Bach, the Partita #5 in G major with the individual dances played between the readings and the different parts of the service. At the end we sang Sydney Carter’s “Lord of the Dance,” which is based on the Shaker Hymn, “Simple Gifts,” written in Alfred, Maine.
One of the moments included Pastor Ruth relating how at Ginny Jordan’s burial Lester Jordan, a farmer, lovingly placed dirt onto Ginny’s grave as if he were planting. Some of the readings, masterfully read by various leaders, included, “Blessing the Dust: A Blessing for Ash Wednesday,” by Jan Richardson; “What the Living Do,” by Marie Howe; “Lenten Psalm of Awakening,” by Edward Hays, and a prayer from the Iona Community. There were readings from Joel 2 and Matthew 6 on fasting, from Matthew 6 on offering, and from Psalm 51 on communion.
We wrote on special purple tissue paper, crumpled the paper, then uncrumpled it and rolled it and then lit it with incense sticks of myrrh and magically, still flaming, it lifted upwards and floated back down as embers.
We shared communion.
The offering was taken for a Medical Clinic in Guatemala. This clinic is ready to go but has no doctor. It will take $40,000 to staff it for 3 years. The New England Conference has as a goal to raise this money. Our cluster has a goal of raising $4000 for this. We really have to raise only $2000, because an anonymous donor has pledged $2000 if we raise the other $2000. We are on the way, having raised about 1/6th of this at this service. Enjoy the photos.
Please come for the upcoming Wednesday services during Lent at the other cluster churches.
Thornton Heights UMC – 2/20/13,
West Scarborough UMC – 2/27/13,
Peoples UMC – 3/6/13,
Elm Street UMC – 3/13/13
First UMC – 3/20/13
For additional photos of the evening, click here:
On Sunday, February 10th we will have an exciting worship service with jazz musicians followed by a pancake lunch. Stephen Bither and his jazz musician friends will perform with Mardi Gras style music. The service starts at 10 AM.
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Members of the congregation gather following a special service in May to celebrate the church's 150th anniversary