Hello, you wonderful humans you!
It has been another crazy week for your pastor, and though it was filled with wonderful things I am truly praising the Lord for the return to normalcy that begins next week. Whew.
This week, Kathy Fraker, Kelly Frost and I joined friends from Fallon and Fernley churches and local government at the Nevada Interfaith Prayer Breakfast in Reno, where I had the tremendous honor of offering the opening prayer. It is a wonderful event, though I always come away from it feeling as though there isn’t nearly enough time to truly enjoy it or talk with everyone. There are always several hundred people there, including folks from city governments and members of a wide variety of churches and other faith communities. It’s a time to pray for and support leaders of all kinds, and to spend a little time in kinship rather than division. What a concept, right? That sort of thing is a little taste of paradise to me, when all kinds of people come together to pray and eat and work alongside each other for the sake of a better world.
I had to rush away from that wonderful event to travel to the coast to spend the rest of the week helping to lead worship with the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. It was lovely, in spite of the rush to get there. We did our work at the San Damiano Franciscan retreat center in Danville, and though we worked long hours together the atmosphere was prayerful and beautiful. Stunning even. Flowers blooming everywhere, and so many hummingbirds! I love, love, love our beautiful desert oasis here in Fallon, but I confess it kinda blows my mind to be in places where plants just…grow. With, like, no effort at all.
The work we were doing together was hearing about and praying over folks who are living into their callings as new local pastors, deacons, and elders in the United Methodist Church. I came away INCREDIBLY inspired. Friends, there are some shockingly gifted ministers being raised up in our midst. I felt so humbled to be among them, and so hopeful for the future of the church.
And THEN, just today I had the privilege of co-teaching part 2 of an introductory preaching class with some folks from all over the Conference. It felt like we were in worship together all day long. So many great stories, really thought-provoking sermons on Psalms, the Gospels, and even the book of Revelation. So, so good.
And in the midst of it all, the ordinary wonder of everyday life. Babies learning new things. Adults, too. Prayers prayed, and blessed assurance given. People doing hard things, and standing by each other. All the holiness of birth and life and death and new life.
Life is full. God is good, all the time. All the time. All the time.
See you in church.
Pastor Dawn
Worship This Week
Monsters Under the Bed, Part 2: Parenthood
It’s Mother’s Day this weekend, and it’s very fitting with our worship series about Faith Over Fear, because parenthood might just be the most terrifying thing on earth. And it’s *especially* fitting, because our family relationships are nothing if not incredibly complex, and it is the peace and joy we find in the Lord that makes them the best they can be. Worship will be filled with music, answered prayers, playfulness, and blessed assurance as we celebrate our joy in the Lord, who hems us in, behind and before. If God is for us, who can be against us? If God is with us, of what should we be afraid? Not one single thing!
Worship begins at 9:00am every Sunday, in person. If you can’t be there, remember to find us on YouTube so that you can watch live from wherever you are, or join us on KVLV radio on AM980 every Sunday beginning at 9:30am. If you have ideas or questions, or if we can be in prayer for you in any way, please call the church at 775-423-4714. We’d love to hear from you.
Wednesday Evening Prayer
Wednesday Evening Prayer is held on the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00pm on YouTube Live. We pray together in the tradition of lectio divina, a special way of using the Bible to guide us in prayer and help us listen for the voice of God. If you subscribe to our YouTube channel, you’ll be notified by email when we go online…otherwise, just go to our channel at 7pm and we’ll be there. We’ll meet next on June 4. Let us know if you have any trouble connecting, 775-423-4714.
News and Fun Stuff
Bike4Alz on Tuesday, May 27
12 young men from Kentucky will join us again this year, as they cycle over 3600 miles across the country to raise money for Alzheimer’s research and treatment. We’ll serve them dinner that evening, and breakfast the next morning to keep them going. Come and meet them!! Their stories are inspiring, and it is a cause well worth supporting. We’ll serve dinner around 5pm. Sign up to help cook and serve, too! To meet the team, see pictures, learn more, or donate, go to bike4alz.org.
Spring Bible Studies
To suggest new studies or for more information, please call Kelly Frost via the church office at 775-423-4714. Join any class, any time!
“God Heard Their Cry” by Ray Vander Laan, Mondays at 10:30am in the Good News Room
“Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets” by Andy Stanley, Sundays after worship in the Good News Room
Tintabulations is Coming to Fallon on Sunday June 15!
We’re renting the Fallon Theatre this time, and sponsoring a matinee showing at 1pm. Let’s make it a whole church, whole neighborhood event! Invite EVERYONE YOU KNOW, the music is SO great, and the people are so much fun. Their Christmas concert is always standing room only, and their other music is just as fun, lively, and beautiful. There will be flyers available at church, please help us post them everywhere to let people know. Let’s fill up the Theatre and have a great summer afternoon of music!
Pizza with the Pastor on Sunday, May 18 at 12:30pm
Normally on the 2nd Sunday of each month but moved to the 3rd Sunday this month because of Mother’s Day, join us on May 18 at 12:30pm at the Pizza Factory for lunch with church friends and neighbors! Pizza is provided, and it’s a great time to get to know each other, learn more about Epworth, and talk about any topic on our minds. Everyone is welcome, feel free to bring friends. Let Pastor Dawn know if there are any dietary restrictions so that she can order accordingly.
Church Family Pot Luck on Sunday May 25
Bring something to share if you’re able, and have lunch with your church family before you head off to music practice, Bible study, or the rest of your Sunday.
Messy Church on Sunday May 25, too!
Messy Church is our special worship and Bible study program for ALL AGES, on the 4th Sunday of each month. Our pot luck brunch is part of it, with its emphasis on all Jesus said and did and taught around tables, and then we have a Bible lesson using music, art, science, games, and conversation. Everyone is welcome!
Come Be Part of Our Lunch Making Team!
This ministry is growing, and needs new team members! As you may know, a couple of years ago some members of the Country Church who are frequent guests at Fallon Daily Bread asked to use our Fireside Room kitchen to prepare free lunches for hungry folks during the week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We were glad to say yes. Awhile back we here at Epworth joined their team as the ministry grew, and we are in charge of Wednesday while Sarah Oscapinski and her friends from the Country Church have been doing Saturday. Now, Sarah has developed some health issues and is planning to move to be closer to family. So we need to help Sarah build a new Saturday team. It’s a lot of fun, and Debbie Sherman and Pastor Dawn will be glad to teach any new team how it’s done. We are putting the word out to our whole community, and developing some new processes for donations too. Please pray for us, and let Debbie or Pastor Dawn know if you’d like to be part of this good work.
The Founding of Mother’s Day
From a video transcript by UM Communications at UMC.org.
All the cash and commercialism of the modern Mother’s Day goes against everything the women who originated the idea wanted. Meet the Methodist mother and daughter team who worked to create a day to honor a mother's love and to emphasize how important a mother's role is in building a peaceful world.
Harriet Olson, Chief Executive, United Methodist Women: “When Ann Jarvis was working to establish Mother’s Day as a national event, and when her daughter picked up the mantle from her, they were not thinking about greeting cards and flowers. They were thinking about the work of women and the significant testimony that women could give about the need for peace.”
Ann Reeves Jarvis organized women’s clubs in the 1860s to serve suffering mothers and children. “Women came together with their sisters in their locations to respond to the needs that they could see. For Ann, she was in a coal mining part of what is now West Virginia. And she could see the needs of women and children. And she could see the effect of the economy of her day on the people that she cared for most directly.”
Donna Miller, Archivist, Historic St. George’s United Methodist Church: “She started mothers clubs. And she talked to them about hydration for fevered babies, about sanitation and nutrition. And then the Civil War came along and they put a field hospital right outside Grafton.” Ann recruited nurses for military hospitals, and after the war formed friendship clubs to promote reconciliation.
Harriet Olson: “Ann Jarvis was convinced that mothers, women, but especially mothers, had to work for peace because they could see the ravages of war in their husbands and in their sons, in a way that was so focused and so clear that their voices would be powerful. And that’s what’s at the genesis of the current Mother’s Day.”
Faith was always foremost. When she was older, Ann Jarvis and her daughter Anna became members of Philadelphia’s St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church.
Donna Miller: “Anna became a Sunday school teacher here at St. George’s. But she’s best known for the efforts she made to get Mother’s Day recognized as a national observance. She and John Wanamaker, who was a famous retailer here, are the ones that got Woodrow Wilson to sign the petition.”
Ann Jarvis died in 1905, before an official holiday was in place. But her daughter Anna (who was never a mother herself) stayed true to the purpose of the celebration. She envisioned Mother’s Day as a time to write a personal letter to your mother, a time to send her an inexpensive carnation (a flower in which the petals hold tight like a mother’s love) and a time to visit or attend church together. She later became an outspoken critic when the special day turned too commercial.
Donna Miller: “She was really aggravated at people that turned that observation into a commercial outlet. So she had to say to Hallmark. She had a lot to say to the Salvation Army that started selling carnations. When she made carnations the symbol of Mother’s Day they sold for pennies. But the price soon went up to $1.50, $2.00 apiece because people found they could make money off of it. And her comments about Hallmark are just wonderful. She said, ‘How lazy can you be to buy somebody else’s sentiments for your mother? One day out of the year sit down and tell your mother what you really think of her.’ And she was just furious. I like that kind of spunk. She would have been a really interesting person to know.”