Dear friends in Christ,
I hope you’re all doing well this week. I have a few things to highlight:
Spring Clean Up: Saturday 4/30 from 8am-12pm
This Saturday is our annual spring clean up of the church and parsonage grounds. We will have a breakfast/bagel break at 10am. Please bring yourself, any yard work tools you have, pickup trucks, and trailers. It looks like we should have a nice, clear day. If you can only come for part of the morning, that’s quite alright. I look forward to seeing many of you!
Vacation Bible School is Back!
Join us June 27-July 1st for a fun-filled week of Vacation Bible School for grades K-5. The theme this year is “Food Truck Party.” Registration will begin in May. If you’re interested in volunteering, please email vbeard@middleburyucc.org.
Resource for Grief
On the bookshelf in the Parlor, the room next to the Social Hall, there are a number of booklets on dealing with grief/loss. They’re a four booklet set for different points in the year after a loss (few weeks following the loss, a few months after, 6 month after, and a year after.) Anyone is welcome to take the books to keep or to borrow. Let me know if you need any help finding anything.
Praying for Peace in Ukraine
On Sundays at noon, we’ll ring the church bell as a prayer for peace. Everyone is welcome to take a moment then, wherever they are, to join together in praying for peace in Ukraine and throughout the world.
General Comments
As we continue in the Easter season, I wanted to share part of the Easter sermon of 4th century bishop John Chrysostom. This is perhaps the most famous Easter sermon, and Orthodox churches read it every year on Easter. As this past Sunday was Orthodox Easter, it seems particularly fitting to read a bit of it this week:
“Let no one fear death; for the death of the Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed death by undergoing death.
He has destroyed hell by descending into hell.
[…]
[Hell] received a body, and encountered God. It received earth, and it confronted heaven. It received what it saw, and was overpowered by what it did not see.
O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
Christ is risen, and you are cast down.
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen.
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice.
Christ is risen, and life reigns in freedom.
Christ is risen, and the grave is emptied of the dead.
For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the first-fruits of those who sleep. To him be the glory and dominion to the ages of ages. Amen.”
Peace,
Pastor Katrina
