The Journey March 2022 Issue

Telephone: (570) 342-8263 Email: [email protected] Website: elmparkumchurch.org Rev. Mike Bealla Senior Pastor “A Journey of Forgiveness” Grace and peace to you in people. Some believe it is study being offered this year. the name of Jesus Christ our the time to give something A good start would be to ask Lord! up… for instance, “I am fast- yourself what things you need ing from desserts and to leave behind as we move Another Lenten Season is sweets for Lent.” Others towards Easter. Too many of upon us. We will begin our seek to pray more or attend us carry things with us that journey on Ash Wednesday, special services in order to truly become a burden, yet March 2. These forty days strengthen their relationship we continue to drag such have historically and tradi- with God. Still others fast things behind us throughout tionally been a time of prepa- for all or part of the forty our lives. ration for the celebration of days and find spiritual re- Easter. Our theme for this newal during their fasting. Consider leaving some of year will be “A Journey of these things behind… words Forgiveness!” I try to find ways to take we wish we had never spo- some extra time each day to ken… the remembrance of In the early days of the come before God in humble broken promises… the pain Christian church, Lent was confession and thanksgiving of a broken relationship… ir- also a time of preparation for God’s immeasurable rational fears of what might and learning for those who grace that will find its full be or what may never be. were seeking baptism and measure on Easter morning. You can add your own membership in the church. In “baggage” to this list if you our day, the season means I would encourage you to are holding on to something I different things to different take advantage of the spe- haven’t mentioned. cial services and Lenten

2 The Journey - March 2022 So, I’m just thinking that if you are considering giving up something for Lent, something that might really change your life, maybe it could be some of those things that you have been carrying around as baggage in your life. If so, let those things go and be ready to replace the anger, fear and hurt with the transforming power of God. Maybe this Easter will be your best one ever! Join us in fellowship for our weekly Lenten “Soup and Sermon” series. We will be meeting each Wednesday at 12:10pm in the Dining Room for a brief worship time followed by a deli- cious bowl of soup and some wonderful fellowship. A list of guest speakers also appears later in this edition of “The Journey.” Finally, continue to worship regularly during the Lenten Season either in person or online… Until next time… Grace & Peace! Rev. Mike Bealla For the latest news and event information, visit the Elm Park UMC website at www.elmparkumchurch.org

The Journey - March 2022 3 A Note From Our Associate Pastor Church Family, I see my prayers being answered as the number of COVID-19 cases in our area continue to drop drastically with Lackawanna County now being listed in the “Medium” category regarding wearing masks indoor. This is certainly a step in the right direction as the Omicron variant wanes. That being said, I am hopeful that I can begin in-person visits in the near future as more institutions end their COVID-19 visitation restrictions. The reopening of institutions is the gauge I will use to resume my visitation schedule. As in the past, I will usually call before I visit anyone. As we begin our Lenten season, I pray that this time leading up to our celebration of Easter Sunday will allow you to look within ourselves to rid ourselves of the sins we are not proud of and enter a time of penitence and asking God for forgiveness. God Bless and be safe, Pastor Andy A prayer for Lent This year, Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, falls on March 2. During worship ser- vices that day, pastors in many Christian churches dip a finger in ashes (often made by burning branches from the previous Palm Sunday) and make a cross on parishion- ers’ foreheads. Why ashes? Traditionally, they’re a sign of mourning, humiliation and penitence. Ash- es also represent the frailty and temporary nature of human life (“You are dust, and to dust you shall return,” Genesis 3:19). Christians are pained because our sins led to Jesus’ death. With repentant hearts, we begin the season of Lent, knowing that it leads to Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday. For Ash Wednesday — and throughout the 40 days of Lent — ponder this prayer from an Italian sacra- mentary, or liturgical book: “O God, you know how fragile is our human nature, wounded as it is by sin. Help your people to enter upon the Lenten journey strengthened by the power of your word, so that we may be victorious over the seduction of the Evil One and reach the paschal feast in the joy of the Holy Spirit.” Our Mission: Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World

4 The Journey - March 2022 With Soup and Sermon back I wanted to let you all know that if you can- not make it to either just one or all of the dates, like every year, we will be posting the sermon portion of each week onto our YouTube page the next day. Also for the first time we will be streaming the entire Soup and Sermon services on both YouTube & Facebook Live! This gives anyone who can’t drive to the church because they are working or who are not comfortable coming in-person, a chance to watch the entire service live. We are hoping that this helps you better be apart of this Lenten series and we hope that this brings new people who may not have ever seen or have come to Soup and Sermon be apart of it. If you have any questions on how to find it on Facebook or on YouTube either call the office at (570) 342-8263 or email [email protected]. - Wesley Bealla Director of Communications & I.T. For the latest news and event information, visit the Elm Park UMC website at www.elmparkumchurch.org

The Journey - March 2022 5 Our Mission: Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World

6 The Journey - March 2022 Mid-Winter Institute 2022 … An Amazing Two Days After Covid-19 caused our efforts to be thwarted in 2021, we brought it back this year on February 5 and 6 with the theme of “Leading Through the Wilderness.” In all honesty, we did so with great anxiety over what the event would look like offered in a hybrid format. Would anyone come? Would people just decide to watch from home? How would the prolonged battle with Covid affect our spirits as well as our success. It takes countless hours of planning and communication to make such a venture successful in any ordinary year let alone a pan- demic version! But we did it! And you helped make it work!! Thanking everyone who helped would take up more space than we have here to report. So many persons helped in so many ways. Our Keynote speaker Rev. Lisa Garvin was wonderful. She helped us understand the positive challenge of living in the “wilderness.” Our current Covid dilemma is a kind of wilderness, but there are other wilder- ness experiences we all face in our lifetimes. She helped us remember many of the biblical stories of God’s people wrestling with living in, and through the wilderness experiences. Lisa also led a dynamic workshop and stayed through Sunday morning to preach a sermon addressing the current schism of the UM Church. Please take the time to watch her sermon on You Tube during the Sun- day Service from February 6 service on our You Tube page. Her sermon was entitled, “An Open Letter to the United Methodist Church!” All the workshops were wonderful. Presenters included Dr. Bill Miller, Wesley Bealla, Rev. Andy Weidner, Rev. Judy Walker, Rev. Marian Hartman, Rev. Beth Jones, Pastor Eric Luczak, Dr. Janet-Muse Burke, Chi- ara Zigray, Stephanie Ciuccio, Nate Smith, George Simmons, and Rev. Mike. Videos of all the sessions will be posted soon on our You Tube page. Please be patient. But most of all enjoy their content and give thanks to God for what we learned together through this very successful Mid- Winter Institute 2022! For the latest news and event information, visit the Elm Park UMC website at www.elmparkumchurch.org

The Journey - March 2022 7 Our Mission: Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World

8 The Journey - March 2022 For the latest news and event information, visit the Elm Park UMC website at www.elmparkumchurch.org

The Journey - March 2022 9 MARCH ALTAR FLOWERS March 6th - Available March 13th - Available March20th - Available March 27th - Available AVAILABLE DATES FOR ALTAR FLOWERS: April 3, 10, & 24. Please call Marie Priblo at 570-342-8263 Ext. 10 if you are interested in any of these available dates. Thank you. Our Mission: Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World

10 The Journey - March 2022 17 Lois Schwalje 17 Sharon Wagner 18 Donald Fisch Jr 02 Mark Dallolio 18 Jared Hill 03 Connor Kreig 18 Randy Wagner 05 Julieann Baum 20 Ceilia Severini 05 William G Smith 21 Edward Bugno 06 Maddie Emick 21 Ruth Curtis 06 Sarah Lester 21 Keith Davis 06 Tyler Scotch 21 Kyle Kearney 06 Robert Stemphoski 21 Sally Thompson 07 Dylan Anderson 22 Donna Dutter 07 Quinn Anderson 22 Bradley Jones 07 Andrea Daniels 23 Cheyenne Cortazar 08 Sean Eidenberg 23 John McDonald Jr 08 Robert Griffiths 24 Melissa Luczak 08 John Zumbach 25 Luke Andres 09 Donald Dakin 25 Mark Kozik 10 Kelly Harron 25 Joe Lieber 10 Joseph Smith Jr. 25 Michelle Muro 11 Maryanne Pabst 26 Clara Davis 12 Erik Anderson 26 John Davis IV 13 Conor Dempsey 26 Meredith Dempsey 13 Georgia Granza 27 Janet Campbell 13 Jeff Moran 27 Elaine Donly 14 Patricia Atkins 27 Hong Van Nguyen 14 *Thomas Brogan 27 Julia Tucker 14 Gary Powell 28 Karen Kowalski 14 Virginia Rodriguez 29 Catherine Delguercio 14 Carole Thompson 29 Betty Jane Miller 15 Carly Griffiths 30 Celestine Conrad-Kifer 15 Ava Smolley 31 Walter Knorr 16 Katie Cooper 31 Michael Serge 17 Emilee Butler 17 Edna Housley For the latest news and event information, visit the Elm Park UMC website at www.elmparkumchurch.org

The Journey - March 2022 11 This is a snapshot of Events & Activities scheduled for the month of Lent. A full schedule is available on our website. Should you like to schedule an activity or have questions, please contact Marie Priblo at 570-342-8263 ext. 10. Weekly Events for March Rev. Mike Bealla - Senior Pastor Phone: (570) 342-8263 Ext. 2 Monday 10:00 AM Staff Meeting (L) Email: [email protected] Tuesday 10:00 AM Lectionary Meeting (L) [email protected] 7:00 PM Lent Bible Study (L & Online) Rev. Andrew Weidner Associate Pastor/Visitation Pastor Wednesday 10:00 AM Bread Basket (MPR 1) Phone: (570) 342-8263 Ext. 3 Sunday 10:00 AM Sanctuary Service (Sanct./Online) Email: [email protected] 11:30 AM African Prayer & Praise Service Marie Priblo Administrative Assistant/Bookkeeper Funny Signs! Sponsored by Phone: (570) 342-8263 Ext. 0 Email: [email protected] Betsy Miller [email protected] Wesley Bealla Director of Communications and I.T. Phone: (570) 342-8263 Ext. 4 Email: [email protected] [email protected] Mike Heffron Director of Maintenance Phone: (570) 342-8263 Ext. 6 Email: [email protected] [email protected] George Simmons - Director of Music Phone: (570) 342-8263 Ext. 5 Email: [email protected] Our Mission: Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World

Elm Park UMC 712 Linden St. Scranton PA, 18510 Address Service Requested In This Issue Worship Times 8:30 AM Chapel Service A Message from our Senior Pastor 9:00 AM—10:00 AM Fellowship time A Note from our 10:00 AM Sanctuary Service Associate Pastor 12:00 PM African Service Soup and Sermon 2022 Mid Winter Institute Recap Lilly Order Form A Note from our Communicator