Free Blood Pressure Checks

Remember, this will be the fourth Sunday of the month, so free blood pressure checks will be available in the rear of Swain Hall during Fellowship at 10:00 am, following the 9:00 worship service.  We hope to see you there!

Summer Office Hours Start June 2

The church office will be closing earlier during June, July, August, and September.  Our summer office hours are:

Monday - Wednesday: 8:00 am to 3:00 pm
Thursday: 8:00 am to noon
Friday: office closed

May Mission Corner

Justa Center

Justa Center is here for seniors.  We are blessed for not having to use their services and belssed again that we can help support those who do.

Scott Richards started the center in December of 2006; it is the only one of its kind for homeless individuals in the US, caring for those with problems that created their homelessness, which can include medical (physical, mental and emotional) problems.  They give the people the help they need to become self-dependent.  The support is for those 55 years of age or older.

Justa Center hosted two events in May to raise funds, their first annual Golf Tournament on May 10 and the Culinary Caravan on May 16.

For more information on Justa Center, visit their website at http://www.justacenter.org.  While on the site, click on the News heading and see Scott on the PBS network show Horizon.

~Gene Downing

Retirement News

Wednesday, April 30, was Marge Hagerman's last day in the office, and Carol Arseth, R.N., is retiring as our church nurse at the end of May.

Church staff, l to r: Marge Hagerman, Norma Mack, Rev. Harrell Davis, Carol Arseth, Beth Mabee

We are grateful for their dedicated service over the years, and hope they will enjoy their free time!

The View from Above

Did you know that the brick pattern surrounding the fountain in our courtyard is in the form of a Celtic cross?  You can see all but the very top of it in this Google Earth aerial photo.  Thanks to Bill Wentling for pointing this out!

In Joy and Awe

"The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the source of all true science….
“To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, this knowledge, this feeling, is the center of true religion.
“Science without religion is lame…religion without science is blind.”
~Albert Einstein.

Einstein was, arguably, the most influential thinker of the last century. His theorems and postulates paved the way for space travel. His ideas inspired a new generation of thinkers and now we live in a world of cell phones and computers and nuclear submarines.

The everyday of today was scarcely a dream in the 1920’s when Einstein won the Nobel Prize in physics. But his most important contribution—in my opinion—was his reverence for the mysterious. Einstein knew there are limits to human know-ledge, but that reality didn’t disturb him. His declaration that imagination is more important than knowledge gives us the encouragement to hold a cell phone in one hand and our bible in the other.

According to Matthew, two women made their way to Jesus’ tomb three days after his execution. It was early morning. As they neared the tomb an earthquake shook the ground. The stone covering the entrance to the tomb rolled away. The Roman guards stationed there fell to the ground terrified. An angel, descended from heaven, spoke to the women: “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him….’”

“He has been raised from the dead….” The post-Easter proclamation is the essence of Christian faith. “He is not here…he has been raised….” The women, in joy and terror ran to tell the disciples. And the world has not been the same since. We still tell that story today with a mixture of joy and awe over the mysterious.

We live in a post-Modern world, a technological age. There are limits to our knowledge. We live in a post-Easter age. And there are no limits to what God will accomplish with us and through us, “on earth as it is in heaven.” Go quickly then, in joy and awe. Declare the Good News. “He has been raised from the dead,” the world and all things in it are changed! Thanks be to God!

~Harrell

Mother's Day Photos

This year our Mother's Day worship service featured the "Great Bells of Fire" handbell choir in their last scheduled performance until fall, and ladies in hats!