April 2, 2023
WORDS OF GREETING AND NOMOFOMO
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
Welcome to Brunch Church! Many thanks to everyone who brought food to share!
Holy Week Plans! (Full Details can be found on the homepage of our website or in the in the latest RISE Report)
“The Last Supper” Dinner Church - Maundy Thursday, April 6 @ 7 pm (Home of Laura Douglas)
Please let us know that you are planning to come and if you will be bringing food to share by completing this form no later than Tuesday, April 4th.Good Friday Worship - Friday, April 7 @ 7 pm (JMU Edith J. Carrier Arboretum)
Easter Sunday Picnic and Worship - Sunday, April 9 - 9ish - Noonish (worship @ 10ish) (JMU Edith J. Carrier Arboretum). Volunteers are needed to help provide and set-up food - Click HERE to sign up!
Harrisonburg Chocolate Walk - Friday, April 7, 4 - 7:30 pm
“The Sweetest Event in Harrisonburg" returns for its TENTH year in action! If you like chocolate and supporting local nonprofits, then this is the event for you! It doesn’t get much easier to support a cause you care about than by feasting on chocolate treats and enjoying a leisurely stroll around downtown Harrisonburg. Participants follow a map, which guides them through downtown as they stop at participating stores, restaurants, businesses, and offices along the walk's route and sample a wide variety of handcrafted chocolates prepared by the area's best chefs, bakers, and the Collins Center's confectionary-minded supporters. All proceeds support the work of the Collins Center & Child Advocacy Center to promote healing to all affected by sexual harm in our community.Volunteers are needed during the event in two shifts! The first one will run from 3:30-5:45pm and the second one will run from 5:45pm-8:00pm. Most of the time on these shifts would entail helping distribute chocolates at participating host sites nearby, with some help setting up/cleaning up at the event's beginning and end. If you are interested in the possibility of volunteering, please fill out the short form HERE to let the event organizers know. Contact Abby B-C if you have any questions!
A New Season at RISE
Those of you who are on the RISE E-mail list received an e-mail recently highlighting some of the transitions that are happening at RISE. (If you have not yet seen that letter you can view it HERE.) Leadership Team would like to know what questions and feedback you have after reading it. To submit your questions, thoughts, and comments, please complete this FEEDBACK FORM. Leadership team will be reviewing the submissions received, responding as necessary, and compiling a FAQ document as appropriate.Connect:
If you would like to connect more deeply with RISE, you can start by submitting this short form to Get Connected!
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Please continue to check social media/the website for all updates and information!
Requests for care and/or prayer can always be sent via e-mail to cares@riseharrisonburg.org, texted to 833-803-0868, or submitted online via our RISE Cares form.
Make sure to check out the latest edition of the RISE Report - Your bimonthly(ish) source of information for all things RISE!
WELCOMING STATEMENT
Isaac Chenoweth
RISE believes that God has open arms, and so should we. Our Creator wants us to love, accept and affirm every human being, including persons of every age, race, ethnic background, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, family or socioeconomic status, educational background, and physical or mental ability. We celebrate our diversity and recognize the sacred worth and dignity of all. Everyone is invited and encouraged to join us as we seek to follow Jesus with mutual respect, understanding, and love.
*Read more about “Why Pronouns Matter” HERE.
Hit Pause for a Moment
Shiree Harbick
THEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION
Pastor Amanda Miller Garber
Today, we’re exploring the idea of reclaiming power. This is an odd day, really - it’s a day that invites us to examine the ways we use power. Is it a good thing? A bad thing? What should we do with it?
Matthew 21:1-17
1 When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave two disciples a task. 2 He said to them, “Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter, you will find a donkey tied up and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that their master needs them.” He sent them off right away. 4 Now this happened to fulfill what the prophet said, 5 Say to Daughter Zion, “Look, your king is coming to you, humble and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the donkey’s offspring.” 6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had ordered them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their clothes on them. Then he sat on them.
8 Now a large crowd spread their clothes on the road. Others cut palm branches off the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds in front of him and behind him shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up. “Who is this?” they asked. 11 The crowds answered, “It’s the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12 Then Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those who were selling and buying there. He pushed over the tables used for currency exchange and the chairs of those who sold doves. 13 He said to them, “It’s written, My house will be called a house of prayer. But you’ve made it a hideout for crooks.”
14 People who were blind and lame came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and legal experts saw the amazing things he was doing and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were angry. 16 They said to Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
“Yes,” he answered. “Haven’t you ever read, From the mouths of babies and infants you’ve arranged praise for yourself?” 17 Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND CONVERSATION:
When you hear the word “power,” what images or associations come to mind? How would you define power? Does it have a negative or positive connotation for you? Why?
Why should we examine the idea of power and seek to reclaim it? How has power been abused or used to cause harm in the church or other faith based settings?
Why are many of us so afraid of power?
How does Jesus use power in this passage? What strikes you as odd or surprising or inspiring?
What does this say to us about power and how we’re called to use it? The word “political” can be defined as “the way power is shared.” With this in mind, was Jesus “political” - particularly in this story? Is it wrong to be “political” as a person of faith? Why are we taught that faith shouldn’t be “political?”
Parting questions (Full Group):
Did you hear anything in your group that really made you think? Anything that stuck with you? Anything that challenged you?
As we begin the Holy Week journey, what messages from today will you take with you?
FINAL BLESSING
Kadie King
“For One Who Holds the Power”
~John O’Donohue
May the gift of leadership awaken in you as a vocation,
Keep you mindful of the providence that calls you to serve.
As high over the mountains the eagle spreads its wings,
May your perspective be larger than the view from the foothills.
When the way is flat and dull in times of gray endurance,
May your imagination continue to evoke horizons.
When thirst burns in times of drought,
May you be blessed to find the wells.
May you have the wisdom to read time clearly
And know when the seed of change will flourish.
In your heart may there be a sanctuary
For the stillness where clarity is born.
May your work be infused with passion and creativity
And have the wisdom to balance compassion and challenge.
May your soul find the graciousness
To rise above the fester of small mediocrities.
May your power never become a shell
Wherein your heart would silently atrophy.
May you welcome your own vulnerability
As the ground where healing and truth join.
May integrity of soul be your first ideal.
The source that will guide and bless your work.