No "April Fooling" - Just Exciting Holy Week and Easter Plans!

Dear Resurrection Family,

A bit of fun trivia (thank you History Channel!): On this day in 1996, Taco Bell announced they were acquiring the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and renaming it the “Taco Liberty Bell.” And in 1998, on this day, Burger King announced an amazing new burger, the Left Handed Whopper where the condiments would be rotated 180 degrees (think about it). Yes, this is April Fools’ Day! I have no pranks today, and no fake news, just a few things I think you’ll find interesting including our Holy Week and Easter plans, information about our city-wide Easter Egg Hunt (the Egg-Venture) and more.

THIS WEEKEND IN WORSHIP: “FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE CRUCIFIXION”

We’ll continue our study of Luke’s gospel this weekend in worship by turning to Luke’s account of the five days leading up to Christ’s crucifixion. We’ll consider the events Luke describes starting with Palm Sunday and ending with the Last Supper. If you are worshipping at home or online, have bread or crackers and grape juice or wine available so that you can join us as we share in the Lord’s Supper at the conclusion of the message. If you are able to join us in person, please do. It’s going to be an inspiring weekend in worship as we sing, pray, share Holy Communion together and walk with Jesus through the last five days before his crucifixion.

INVITE A FRIEND TO WORSHIP THIS WEEKEND:
Invite them to join you in person at one of our five locations:
Leawood location at 7:30, 9, 11 am (traditional at 11 in the sanctuary, modern at 11 in the Foundry) or 5 pm
Downtown location Saturday at 5 pm or Sunday at 9 or 11 am
Blue Springs, Olathe (West) and Overland Park locations Sunday at 9 or 11 am
Online at cor.org on Saturday at 5 pm or Sunday at 7:30, 9 and 11 am or 5 pm
On KMCI Channel 38 television at 8 am or 11 am
On demand on YouTube throughout the week.

MAKE YOUR EASTER PLANS AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS

After two years of COVID, I’m so looking forward to Easter this year – it’s going to be AWESOME! If you are in Kansas City and physically able, I hope you’ll consider worshipping in person at one of our five locations. We’ll have services Saturday night at 5 pm, Sunday at 7 (or 7:30 am at some locations), 9 am and 11 am. The complete list of times and locations is available on the website. One note for those of you who worship at 5 pm on Sunday, we are moving our Sunday night service to Saturday night at 5 pm for Easter weekend. We surveyed those who worship on Sunday nights and found that most prefer celebrating Easter Saturday night or Sunday morning.

If you’re outside of the metro or not able join us in person, we’ll have online and television services at our regular times: online at 7:30, 9 and 11 am; and on KMCI Channel 38 television at 8 and 11 am. In addition, we’ll have a televised worship service on KSHB Channel 41 at 10 am on Easter Sunday. At all of our services we’ll have inspiring music and a message of hope.

We all know someone who needs hope this year (who doesn’t?!). If you have a friend who isn’t involved in church and who needs hope, invite them to join you for worship this Easter. We’ll have a postcard available this weekend you can share with others, or check out this Easter page where we have some great suggestions and tools you can use to invite your friends to worship.

HELP WELCOME GUESTS TO EASTER WORSHIP

As we look forward to more people returning to in-person worship this Easter, we could use some additional volunteers to serve as ushers, greeters, Connection Point contacts, parking lot attendants and nursery volunteers. Use the link below to select you location, service time and position to serve.

Volunteer to serve at Easter worship →

JUST EIGHT DAYS UNTIL THE BIGGEST EGG-VENTURE IN THE CITY!

Bring your basket and friends for the annual Resurrection Easter EGG-VENTURE – a free, family-friendly event with an egg hunt, crafts and fun-filled activities for kids of every age! The Egg-Venture is happening simultaneously at 5 locations from 10 am – noon on Saturday, April 9. The Leawood, West, Overland Park and Blue Springs events will be on their church sites, and Downtown’s will be on the grounds of the World War I Museum and Memorial in KCMO. You don’t have to sign up in advance, but if you can RSVP here and let us know you’re coming it will help us plan the number of eggs we will need. Plus, if you RSVP, you’ll be entered in a drawing for fabulous family prize packages.

STOP, DROP AND PRAY: GOOD FRIDAY PRAYER EXPERIENCE

Luke 23:44-46 marks Jesus’ last breath at 3 pm on what we now call “Good Friday.” Traditionally Good Friday is a time for prayer and reflection, and this year we are inviting you to join in a powerful experience of community prayer. On Friday, April 15, at 3 pm CDT, we are encouraging you to stop wherever you are, drop whatever you’re doing and pause to pray. We’ll be praying together as one church, at one time. Wherever you find yourself in the world on that day…stop, drop and pray. At the very moment that changed the world, pause to reflect on how Jesus has changed your life and express your gratitude.

Take a minute right now to put a reminder on your calendar or an alarm on your phone for 3 pm on April 15 and plan to join us in prayer. You can click here to learn more and then download a guide next week that you can use during your prayer time. Downloading the guide will also help us track how many people are praying together at this one moment in time. How cool is that!

GOOD FRIDAY WORSHIP SERVICES AT 7 PM

In addition to the 3 pm prayer experience, make plans to join us for a Good Friday Tenebrae worship service of music, scripture, message and prayer at 7 pm CDT on Friday, April 15, as we reflect on Jesus’ crucifixion and death. We’ll have services at all five of our locations or you can also join online at cor.org or our YouTube channel where we will be live-streaming the Good Friday service from the Leawood location.

EARLY RESPONSE TEAM TRAINING AND RECERTIFICATION APRIL 9

This past week’s storms just north of the city reminded us of how natural disasters can occur at any time. At Resurrection, Early Response Teams (ERT) train to respond to disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and floods whenever and wherever they occur. As soon as emergency workers determine an area is safe after a disaster, ERTs move in to provide for immediate physical needs. They also provide a caring Christian presence to those in need. Resurrection is offering Early Response Training and recertification on Saturday, April 9. Training for new certifications is from 9am – 4 pm at Resurrection Leawood in Building B, Room B252. Recertification training is from either 9 am – noon or 1 – 4 pm in B251.

Learn more and register for now →

MORE PEOPLE TO CONGRATULATE ON PERFECT WORSHIP ATTENDANCE IN 2021!

This week we heard from more people who had perfect attendance in 2021 and were not on the report we ran last week. Thank you for your commitment and faithfulness – and for letting us know. Here’s the list of names. The new names are on the first page followed by the rest of the list in case you missed it last week.

Remember to sign in to worship online each week, whether you are worshipping in person, online or television, so we can accurately record you attendance. If you are not able to register online, you can contact the church an we can assist you.

JOIN ME TUESDAY NIGHT FOR VESPERS

Join me this coming Tuesday at 7:30 pm CT on Facebook Live, on my Facebook page: Pastor Adam Hamilton on Facebook for Tuesday Vespers. I’ll be sharing some reflections from the Gospel of Luke that I didn’t have time to include in my sermon. You’ll also be able to view it on my Facebook page or the vespers YouTube page after Tuesday night.

UPDATE ON THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

A quick update on events happening in The United Methodist Church. 18 years ago, a UM pastor in Houston called for an “amicable separation” in our denomination over the church’s position on the inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the church. Our official denominational policy then, as now, claims that all people are of sacred worth and should be welcome, but that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” Then, as now, many United Methodists disagree with that last statement and would like to see it removed from our Book of Discipline. Bill Hinson, the pastor who suggested the split, was a leader among a group of conservative churches, wanted the most conservative churches to be allowed to leave the denomination with their property to form a new denomination. The General Conference of 2004, conservatives, centrists and progressives overwhelmingly rejected this idea.

18 years later, some conservatives have formed a new denomination called the Global Methodist Church which will officially launch on May 1 of this year. The theological position of this new denomination mirrors that of the United Methodist Church. Both hold to the historic doctrines of the Christian faith. But the Global Methodist Church will continue to maintain that same-gender marriage and same gender relationships are incompatible with Christian teaching. Meanwhile, The United Methodist Church is expected to remove that language from our Book of Discipline in 2024, no longer dictating a policy concerning same-gender marriage, but allowing pastors and churches to minister according to their convictions and interpretation of scripture.

Over the next few months some United Methodist Churches will be leaving to join the Global Methodist Church. No one knows for sure how many will leave. My guess is 15% of our 30,000 US churches, but in some areas, the southeast in particular, there may be more. In the north, perhaps less (of the 100+ United Methodist Churches in the Kansas City area, there won’t be more than a handful).

This week I published the first of eight blog posts outlining what I value about the United Methodist Church and why I am excited about its future. If you are interested in reading this week’s blog post, click here. It is focused on the “Intellectual Evangelicalism” that defines United Methodism. My hope is these posts will help United Methodist readers to remember and better understand and appreciate the core beliefs, theology and rich traditions of our denomination, and to choose to continue to be United Methodists.

Finally, and along a similar lines, you play an important role at Resurrection, in encouraging other churches and leaders in our denomination. Here are just a couple of examples. We held a three-hour virtual event this week with 420 pastors from across the country focused on Preaching with Impact. We have another virtual event focused on Radical Hospitality on April 28. We’ll have 2,000 plus pastors and church leaders here at Resurrection this fall at our annual Leadership Institute. Currently thousands of small groups across the country are studying my new Lenten book on The Lord’s Prayer or one of the other Lenten studies that came from my preaching here at Resurrection. Your heart and vision for strengthening churches continues to be an important part of what we do. Here’s the link to learn more about these upcoming ShareChurch conferences and training event.

I love you, Resurrection, and I’m proud of the church you seek to be.

Adam

SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING AT YOUR RESURRECTION LOCATION!

Watch for the “Next” newsletter in your email on Tuesday. This newsletter includes a personal message from your location pastor (Wendy, Anne, Bill, Penny, Joshua and Ashley) and opportunities for you to engage and connect at your location. If you’re not receiving it right now, you can sign up here.