When God plucked Abraham out of his home in the city of Ur and told him to go to a new land, God promised that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Abraham was 75 years old; but he got up and went. As we celebrate our graduates, we’ll look at what it means to be blessed, and the calling that we all share to use those blessings for the good of the world.
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Porchfest is returning to Winchester and to Crawford on June 10, from 12:00 noon to 5:30 pm. Crawford is happy to host the following acts:
- 12pm – The Morningside Messengers – Jazz sextet playing bop, swing, Latin standards (and some rarities) – John MacRae – drums, Jeff Bates – bass, Michael Rosen – keys, Bob Salitzky – guitar, Jefferson Xu – trombone, Bruce Raisner – trumpet”
- 1:30pm – Randall Kromm – (pictured here performing at Crawford during Porchfest 2021) Singer-songwriter playing original acoustic music.
- 3pm – Mark Hastings – Solo performing songwriter on keyboards with vocals. I play a variety of covers and originals in the genres of Classical, Swing, Boogie, Pop, Folk, Blues.
- 4:30pm – Gaia Mobilij – A sophisticated loop sensation that brings different travel experiences into her work. Istanbul, Mexico City, Barcelona, Mumbai: Gaia has been at home in many places and processes the influences of these cultures directly in her performance. Armed with vocals, an accordion, electronics and a variety of small instruments, audiences quickly wonder what a single person is musically capable of.
We hope you’ll join us under our tent to enjoy one or more of our musical guests! The full Porchfest schedule can be found here.
The culmination of our Easter celebration is the day of Pentecost. While the dove is a common symbol of the Holy Spirit, so is fire, which is why the United Methodist logo has a flame in it. Acts 2 describes the Holy Spirit as descending on Jesus’ disciples with a rushing wind and tongues of flame, accompanied by a miracle of speech as the disciples began speaking in other languages. Join us in exploring the message in the miracle.
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While Jesus’ ascension into heaven is a moment that fills Jesus’ disciples with awe and wonder, they did not get to go along with him. They are still very much earthbound and wondering how to move forward. Acts 1:14 tells us that they “were constantly devoting themselves to prayer.” But what does that mean?
While Mother’s Day is not a religious holiday, the Bible is full of stories about the hardships of motherhood and commands to care for women and children. Here in the United States, we are not good at caring for mothers. As the chart here shows, we have the highest rate of maternal mortality in the developed world.
But living through the actual birth is merely the first challenge faced by mothers, both historically and today. So, this Mother’s Day we will focus on the challenges facing mothers in our world and how we might embody our prayers for them. BonnieJean Butler will join me in the sermon to highlight the plight of mothers in a war zone and how we can help.