Weekly Update from Pastor Adam - October 20, 2023

TRUNK OR TREAT AT RESURRECTION LOCATIONS

Last year, thousands of children and their families came to one of our locations for our annual Trunk or Treat. This free, family event with decorated trunks, exciting games, and loads of candy is happening at all of our Resurrection locations: Saturday, Oct. 28 from 3 – 5 pm at Leawood, West, Blue Springs, Overland Park and Brookside and Sunday, Oct. 29, after the 9 am and 11 am services Downtown! This is one of our biggest outreach events all year to families with young children. You can still sign up to decorate your trunk and join in the fun here. Plan to attend and bring your friends!

THIRD GRADE BIBLE ADVENTURE

We will celebrate an important milestone moment for our third graders on November 12 when they receive their own Bibles during worship. If you have a third grader in your household, plan to join us in worship. Then, on Friday, November 17, we’ll have a special retreat where each child and their grown-up will enjoy food, fun, and faith as they explore how to use their new Bible together! You can learn more and register your third grader here.

LOVE KNOWS NO LABELS: LGBTQ+ ALLIES GROUP STUDY

Over the years, I’ve met with family and friends of LGBTQ+ persons who were trying to understand and to be supportive of their loved ones. That is one goal of a new six-week group study called Love Knows No Labels launching Nov. 5 at Resurrection. This group will be hosted in person at our Leawood location, as well as online. It’s designed to support and educate friends and family members of those in the LGBTQ+ community. This will be a great opportunity to gain insight and broaden vocabulary and understanding, while at the same time offer a safe space to process and share the sometimes-complicated emotions associated with supporting our loved ones. For more information, visit cor.org/next. 

JEN HATMAKER AND TYLER MERRITT AT RESURRECTION NOV. 11

Jen Hatmaker was a high profile evangelical Christian blogger, podcaster, pastor’s wife, a NY Times bestselling author, and she even had a time when she hosted a reality TV show on HGTV. But, over time she found herself struggling with some expressions of evangelicalism, questioning some of the things she’d been taught in church, among which were how churches talked about gay and lesbian people. When she questioned these things she was “cancelled” by many evangelical Christians. This led her, like many today, to struggle with church and the faith she had known. During this time she went through a divorce which led to a process of rebuilding her life and faith.

Jen has shared her insights and journey with her millions of followers, through podcasts and bestselling books, and people have found, in her journey, hope for their own. On November 11, at 7 pm we’ll be hosting her at our Leawood location where she will speak along with her collaborator Tyler Merritt, in an evening called, “Dream Again.” It will be a night of storytelling, humor, inspiration and hope. In addition to collaborating with Jen, Tyler is a popular writer, actor and content creator. Learn more and purchase tickets here.

VESPERS THIS TUESDAY NIGHT

This coming Tuesday, on my Vespers, I’ll be sharing the presentation of Dr. Paul Chilcote to our Leadership Institute three weeks ago. Dr. Chilcote is currently a Research Fellow at Cambridge’s Wesley House. He has written a dozen books on Wesley and Methodism including his latest, Multiplying Love. His PhD from Duke in is Wesleyan theology, and he  has taught Wesleyan theology at several seminaries. After my intro, you’ll hear him share a 15-minute presentation on United Methodism with inspiring stories and an important point drawn from his new book. Don’t miss Vespers this Tuesday night. Here are the links: Facebook, or YouTube. I’ll be back live for Vespers on the following Tuesday. 

JOURNEYS OF PAUL ITINERARY

I thought you might enjoy following along this week while I’m leading a group of our members on the Journey’s of Paul in Greece and Turkey. Our tour officially begins on Sunday with a tour of Istanbul, visiting Hagia Sophia, built in 532, it was one of the great churches of the Byzantine world and served as a church for 900 years before it became a mosque under the Ottoman Empire. We’ll disembark Sunday night and make our way to Phlippi.

On Monday, we’ll visit the ruins of Roman Philippi, see the traditional prison cell where Paul and Silas were imprisoned, and we’ll remember our baptism at the same river where Paul baptized his first European convert, Lydia. Paul wrote his “epistle of Joy” – Philippians – to the church he started there. On Tuesday, we’ll be in Thessaloniki, where Paul started a church to whom he later wrote two epistles that are in our New Testament. We’ll also visit Berea where Paul started a church, and we’ll see the ancient palace of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.

On Wednesday, we’ll visit the amazing monasteries of Meteora, perched atop tall mountain pillars. Look them up, they are amazing. On Thursday, we’ll arrive at Ephesus in Turkey, where Paul stopped on his second missionary journey, then spent more than two years in ministry on his third missionary journey. The New Testament letter to the Ephesians was addressed to this community. Later, John would live in Ephesus and would write Revelation to Ephesus among other churches. The ruins there are among the most amazing in the ancient world. On Friday, the group will have a day to explore Santorini before heading to Corinth. We’ll spend Saturday in Corinth. Some of us will hike to the top of the AcroCorinth in the morning, then we’ll be joined by the rest of the group as we explore the ruins of Corinth, recounting Paul’s 18-month ministry there. Those who wish, will have a chance to renew their wedding vows among the ruins where Paul wrote the famous “love chapter” – 1 Corinthians 13.

Finally, on Sunday, we’ll conclude in Athens as we remember Paul’s message to the philosophers there found in Acts 17, then climb to the top of the Acropolis and see the same buildings Paul saw when he came to town – the beautiful Parthenon and Erictheion. That night we’ll close with worship and Holy Communion together. In addition to learning about Paul, his life and message, those on the trip will enjoy fellowship, seeing amazing sites, as they cruise through the beautiful Aegean Sea.

At each of the Pauline sites I’ll be teaching on Paul, and we’ll be filming video, as I noted earlier. So, when I’m back in November and preaching on Paul, I can take you to each of these sites with the help of these videos. We head back on Monday, October 30.

PRAYING FOR ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS

I want to conclude today’s note by inviting your continued prayers for Israelis and Palestinians. Like many of you, at times, I am uncertain what to pray. For an end to Hamas’ violent terrorism? Yes, of course. For innocent Palestinians not to die as a result of either Islamic Jihad’s errant rockets, or Israel’s pursuit of Hamas? Yes. For a resolution to the current crisis that might ensure Israel’s security and address the grievances of Palestinians, providing them a secure and just home? Yes. And at times my prayer is simply, “Lord, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

I love you, Resurrection, and look forward to seeing some of you here this weekend, and to being back in KC in ten days!

Adam

P.S. Check out your location newsletter on Tuesday for more opportunities to get connected with Resurrection. Sign up here.