Weekly Update from Pastor Adam - March 8, 2024

Dear Resurrection Family,

This morning, LaVon and I began the day singing Happy Birthday to our granddaughter, Stella, via Facetime, before she went to school. She’s ten years old today! How quickly time flies by. I’ll share a bit more about this at the end of my sermon this weekend – as I preach about The Difficult Sayings of Paul (more on this below).

I’m looking forward to worship this weekend as I continue our sermon series on the Gospel According to Paul. I know many schools are beginning Spring Break this week, so if you are traveling, don’t forget you can always worship with us online.

Also, we begin Daylight Saving Time this Sunday morning at 2 am, so don’t forget to set your clocks forward Saturday night before you go to bed.

THIS WEEKEND IN WORSHIP: THE DIFFICULT SAYINGS OF PAUL

As we continue our Lenten study of The Gospel According to Paul, this weekend my message will focus on “The Difficult Sayings of Paul.” We’ll consider how we make sense of passages in Paul’s writings about slavery, the subordination of women, homosexuality and predestination. The underlying message is how we read and interpret scripture.

We’ll seek to make sense of Paul’s treatment of these subjects, and how we might read and interpret scripture today. If you have friends who don’t go to church, this might be a message they would find particularly meaningful. Often these topics in Paul have turned people away from faith. This weekend’s message might help draw them back.

Join us in person if you are in town, at any of our six locations. Or join us on TV. If you are traveling don’t miss worship – join us on demand on our YouTube channel which you can find here or join us on our online platform!

MARCH OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE

Throughout March, we have a variety of ways you can make a difference in the Kansas City community by lending a helping hand and connecting with your neighbors. Take a look at the many opportunities and find one to sign up for here.

MUSIC FROM YTHEFFECT AND AFFIRMATIONS!

I’m so proud of the many amazing artists, songwriters and musicians God has brought together here at Resurrection! Our student ministries have been releasing songs under the name YTHEFFECT and I wanted you to have a chance to hear a couple of the songs they have written and recorded – I’m really proud of them. Click here to listen to With Everything – a beautiful song with Zae Romeo! Or click here to see Braxton Medellin and a group of our youth singing, Made Me Knew. Zae leads our youth worship at Leawood, and Braxton at Resurrection West.

I’m also excited to share that our music team just released Amazing God, the new single recorded LIVE at Affirmations 2023 Night of Worship last year on all digital platforms! The official video debuted on YouTube and also on the church social media sites. There is also a plan to release one more song from Affirmations 2023, so stay tuned! In the meantime, please share with your friends, family and loved ones about the new music! Just click on the links: video premiere on YouTube and music downloads on Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

COMBATTING HATE AND ANTISEMITISM IN OUR COMMUNITY

This April is the 10th anniversary of the horrible shootings at the Jewish Community Center and Village Shalom that took the lives of two Resurrection congregants and the aunt of a staff member. This is a tragic reminder that antisemitism and hate crimes impact us all. And unfortunately, we have seen an increase in acts of antisemitism over the past 10 years. There are two community events coming up that offer an opportunity to stand with our neighbors and replace prejudice and hate in our community with kindness through education and dialogue.

Seven Days, with events to encourage kindness through knowledge, mindset and behavior, is an annual experience created by the families of the three who were murdered in 2014. Their Kindness Breakfast will be in the Resurrection Leawood Foundry on April 10. You can learn more about all the activities, which culminate with a Community Kindness Festival on April 14, on their website.

Driving Out Darkness in the Heartland is a regional summit sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Bureau and the American Jewish Committee on April 15-16. The event begins with a Unity Seder meal on Monday night followed by a symposium to explore ways to combat antisemitism on Tuesday. If this is something that you are interested in, the link for information and registration is here. I plan to attend the Unity Seder on Monday night.

DON’T FORGET EASTER EGG-VENTURE – MARCH 23

Who can you invite to Resurrection’s annual “Egg-Venture” on Saturday, March 23? Friends? Neighbors? Co-workers? We host this at all locations. This is a family-friendly, FREE community event at all of our locations. Kids of every age will enjoy an egg hunt, meaningful crafts, and fun-filled activities. Egg-Ventures are from 10 am – noon at Resurrection Leawood, Overland Park, and Brookside and hosted by Resurrection Downtown at the National WW1 Museum and Memorial, and from 2 – 4 pm at West and Blue Springs. You can sign up here if you want to volunteer to help make sure everyone has fun!

CELEBRATING EASTER MARCH 30/31

As you make your Easter plans, you can see all the service times and locations here. On Saturday, March 30, and Sunday, March 31, we will have a total of 22 worship services at six locations, including special interactive services for children. At each service, we will share the story of the first Easter and celebrate with moving music and an inspiring message that will fill you with hope. I hope your plans might include volunteering to serve at one of our services, as we will need extra volunteers to greet and usher in worship and serve in our nurseries at all locations. Here is the link, where you can sign up to serve.

NO VESPERS THIS TUESDAY

LaVon and I are taking a special trip with Stella for her 10th birthday next week during her Spring Break. I’ll post a few pics throughout the week, and you can take a guess where we are at, but I won’t be sharing a Vespers next Tuesday night as we have tickets to a show with Stella.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT RESURRECTION:

Resurrection regularly has openings on our staff team. You can check current openings at resurrection.church/employment. We currently have an opening for a First Impressions Coordinating Assistant at the Leawood location. We are looking for someone who is passionate about hospitality, administrative tasks, caring for people and helping develop a team of volunteers to assist with hospitality at our information desks during the workweek at our Leawood location. There are also many other positions currently open at most locations, including summer internships! You can see all open positions here and learn more about this opening here.

CONCERN FOR PALESTINIANS

Above, I mentioned an upcoming event standing against antisemitism, something I feel strongly about and something our congregation is committed to. I hope you’ll join me for that.

I also feel great concern for what is happening to the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. The terrible atrocities of October 7 of Hamas against Israelis killing 1,200 people, cannot be excused or forgotten. Hostages are still being held and we cannot forget them.

But the five months since October 7 have seen over 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza killed, including many women and children. The conditions in Gaza have been described as dire. I spoke with one Palestinian woman who lives in Kansas City this week and she’s lost over 100 members of her extended family. There is an event being held at Prairie Baptist Church tomorrow night in support of a cease-fire and more humanitarian aid. I am unable to attend as we have Stella’s birthday party, but I knew some of you would be interested. You can find out more and sign up by clicking here.

I look forward to worshiping with you this weekend!

Adam