Upcoming Events and Meetings
- All meetings and events listed are at Walker Church unless noted otherwise
- See our website Calendar walkerchurch.org for happenings further into the future.
- For more information please contact the Walker office office@walkerchurch.org
Star Lake Dinner and Dave Hudson Concert: Sat, Feb 4, 5 pm to 9 pm at Walker Church
5 pm silent auction, 6 pm dinner, 7 pm concert. FFI Walter
Sunday Celebration
February 5, 2017
Greetings by Jan Werness & Greg Garman
Communal Singing led by Mary Parker & Howard Kranz
Communal Reading: Our mission is to nurture spirituality, build caring community & work courageously for peace with justice and mercy of the
Welcome, Announcements, Offering by Pastor Walter Lockhart
Scripture Reading: Matthew 7: 7-10
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?”
Invocation of the Well of Blessing and Labyrinth by Bonita Blumenauer
Lao Tzu Reading # 4 followed by 5 minutes of silence by Bonita
The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.
It is hidden but always present.
I don’t know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God
Labyrinth Walking Time with music and poetry led by Mary Parker and Howard Kranz
(folks may take this time to walk and meditate within the Labyrinth while music and poetry are led by Mary Parker and Howard Kranz)
Sermon by Pastor Walter Lockhart
Walker Singers: Praise We Sing to Thee by Franz Joseph Haydn
Circle with Joys & Concerns
& sharing of bread & juice brought by Collen Puent & Pam Bonzalet
About this season of hope and renewal often called Imbolc or Candlemas…
This time of the year (between Yule and Spring Equinox) celebrates the beginning of the end of winter and heralds the coming of spring with festivals such as the Celtic Imbolc or Candlemas which is also honored by some in the Christian tradition especially within the Catholic church. Imbolc is believed to have come from an old Gaelic word called “Oimelc”–referring to “new milk” and when ewes would begin to lactate. This is when the Celtic goddess Brigid would spread her green mantle over the land and release it from the ice and hold of winter. And for many in the Christian tradition this was the point when Mary returned to the Temple in a rite of purification 40 days after the birth of Jesus. Both traditions celebrate renewal, purification and hope as we welcome the growing light and gentle signs of the spring which is coming. To honor the Celtic goddess Brigid–of the forge, flame and well–as well as the light and renewal of Candlemas we may make our own journeys to the holy well for blessing, renewal and hope.
On walking today’s Labyrinth…
Labyrinths are a meditative tool of peace, inspiration, and ceremony that has been utilized by cultures all over for thousands of years. Walk, run, dance, pray as you enter and enjoy the magic and enchantment of the labyrinth. The path leads into the center and out again. There is no right or wrong way to walk a labyrinth. Walking a labyrinth is sometimes referred to as a body prayer or walking meditation. It is a place where you can respect your journey and that of others you may encounter on the path. At the entrance you may wish to stop, quiet yourself, make a prayer or intention, and center yourself with a couple of deep breaths. After taking what time you wish at the center of the labyrinth, feel free to begin the journey back out and into your life, taking with you whatever insight or gifts you may have received.
Hospitality treats by Allyson Hayward
Improvisation Movement & Reader’s Group: Sundays, Feb 5, 12, 19, & 26, 12:30 to 1:30pm in the sanctuary. The group will be led by Janet Skidmore. Bring a favorite poem, scripture, or other reading. You can either read or move, or do both if you want. FFI Janet
Rapid Response Team meeting: Sun, Feb 5, 12:15 pm.
The Peace with Justice Committee is forming a Rapid Response Team monitoring Congressional activity nd the first meeting is this coming Sunday. Who should attend? Anyone interested in being part of a coordinated group effort committed to calling and emailing their Federal and State Senators and Representatives on key legislation, hearings, and other congressional business. They need to know that we’re paying attention. What if you can’t attend? Email Allyson Hayward or Deb Ramage:
Building and Grounds committee meeting: Wed, Feb 8, 6 pm. Everyone welcome FFI Ed Ed Mueller
“Experiencing Minnesota through the Eyes of Black Women”: Thursday, Feb 9, 7 pm to 9 pm
Deb Douglas will do a presentation followed by discussion and an action workshop. The event is presented by Resonate “which developed out of Deconstructing White Feminism in 2016, the goal of which is to start a discussion around how white feminism has been limiting and damaging in its erasure of other types of femininity and gender identity, while also being complicit in racial injustice in the United States. One of our goals is to spotlight the lives and amplify the words of Women of Color in Minnesota, hence our series “Experiencing Minnesota through the Eyes of Black Women.” We hope you will join us for a powerful event of truth telling.” This is a free event with donations welcome. https://www.facebook.com/events/432509260420193
Women’s Prison Book Project Pancake Breakfast: Sat, Feb 10, 8 am to noon
The Love Jam Community Sing: Sunday February 12 will feature love songs or anti love songs led and facilitated by Greg Garman. If you want to lead a love themed song during community sing let Greg know, get a chord chart for the band and lyrics for the congregation. Having enough copies on hand would also help enormously or else Greg or somebody will have to run copies.
Cabin Fever Song Circle: Fri, Feb 17, 7 to 9 pm in front of the Walker fireplace. We’ll go around the circle. You can play or sing a song, request a song, (and we’ll play it if anybody knows it), or pass and just listen. We should be able to go around the circle several times. Bring your instruments and any snacks or beverages you might want. FFI Janet
Church Council meeting: Sun, Feb 19, following Celebration. FFI Lulu Philips
Pastor’s Annual Report
Simpson and Walker United Methodist Churches, I pray for our church’s ministry as we enter into 2017. Our nation is at unrest as we experience a change of Presidential leadership. Our city continues to struggle to welcome immigrants and to find healing for generations of racial and ethnic discrimination and unrest. Both Simpson and Walker churches are numerically small groups that continue to impact the city in many important ways.
Both Walker and Simpson are actively providing food to the community. I have a particular passion for providing healthy food and both churches are reaching the needs of South Minneapolis. Community meals at both locations provide immediate food and a place for community. Both churches also have programs to provide food for neighbors to take home and prepare at home. I am particularly grateful for the partnerships with St Vincent DePaul. We are able to hand out tons of food each month from this partnership.
Both Simpson and Walker have dedicated staff and volunteers that insure the ministry continues with both buildings in use every day of the week. Simpson and Walker are blessed to welcome New City Church and Living Stones Church as new neighbors and partners in ministry.
I am blessed to be finishing my second year at Simpson and my eleventh year at Walker. Both churches have supported me in my work to provide justice in the United Methodist Church for our Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Queer members and neighbors. The work continues on this front.
Finally, in the coming year I am focusing on ministries of mercy. How does the work of the church, and my role of pastor, provide mercy to a broken world and to keep people alive? As an urban pastor I see too many hungry, rejected, tired, suicidal, and desperate people. I am focusing my work to be present with a broken world and to find strategies to walk with people as they find housing, health care, employment and mental health care they need to survive. Mercy and Justice always work together, but for this year I am working on focusing my personal goals around mercy.
As always I am available for coffee or tea. Email me a revwalt@juno.com and we can get together.
Peace
Rev. Walter Lockhart
If You Could Go Back
by Danny Bryck
I know, I know
If you could go back you
would walk with Jesus
You would march with King
Maybe assassinate Hitler
At least hide Jews in your basement
It would all be clear to you
But people then, just like you
were baffled, had bills
to pay and children they didn’t
understand and they too
were so desperate for normalcy
they made anything normal
Even turning everything inside out
Even killing, and killing, and it’s easy
for turning the other cheek
to be looking the other way, for walking
to be talking, and they hid
in their houses
and watched it on television, when they had television,
and wrung their hands
or didn’t, and your hands
are just like theirs. Lined, permeable,
small, and you
would follow Caesar, and quote McCarthy, and Hoover, and you would want
to make Germany great again
Because you are afraid, and your
parents are sick, and your
job pays shit and where’s your
dignity? Just a little dignity and those kids sitting down in the highway,
and chaining themselves to
buildings, what’s their fucking problem? And that kid
That’s King. And this is Selma. And Berlin. And Jerusalem. And now
is when they need you to be brave.
Now
is when we need you to go back
and forget everything you know
and give up the things you’re chained to
and make it look so easy in your
grandkids’ history books (they should still have them, kinehora)
Now
is when it will all be clear to them.
http://jocsm.org/if-you-could-go-back/
