Weekly eNote from Senior Pastor Adam Hamilton from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection on Leawood, Kansas, United States for Friday, 23 September 2016

Weekly eNote from Senior Pastor Adam Hamilton from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection on Leawood, Kansas, United States for Friday, 23 September 2016
Friday, September 23, 2016
Dear Resurrection Family,
This weekend is a very special weekend at Resurrection Leawood - we’ll be ending worship a bit early each service and walking into the new sanctuary to take a peak and to sign our names and inscribe our prayers on the floor of the sanctuary. These will be sealed under the final layer of flooring and remain there as long as the building stands - for generations. This week the center portion of the stained glass window featuring Jesus was installed (they should finish this portion today). For those at our other campuses, please attend worship at your campus, but feel free to come out immediately following the Leawood Saturday, Sundaymorning or Sunday night services to tour and sign your names on the floor. If you worship online, I want to encourage you to join us in person this weekend and be a part of the excitement!
In my sermon this weekend we’ll conclude our series on Moses. I’ll take you to Jordan, near the Dead Sea, where Moses delivered his final words to the Israelites - what we know as the Book of Deuteronomy. I’ll end the sermon by taking you to the top of Mt. Nebo where Moses was allowed to look over the Promised Land before he died. We’ll consider Moses’ challenging words and how they speak to us, and I’ll invite you to think about your own “promised land” - the vision that drives you. I’ve been moved as I’ve been preparing this message and I believe you will be as well. Invite a friend to join you for worship this weekend!
Tomorrow morning is our annual Sacred Steps 5K run/walk supporting projects providing clean drinking water in Malawi.4 million people in Malawi lack access to clean, safe drinking water. I’ve been to Malawi twice to see the “bore holes” - the wells that we have built. Child deaths drop in half when a village has access to clean water. People from all over Kansas City will join us at the Leawood campus for great fellowship as we run or walk. We’ll have prizes, hand-made medals from Africa, and tents with lots of great food. Join us rain or shine! LaVon and I, and Danielle and Stella will be walking. Many of our other pastors will be there as well. Online registration is closed but you can sign up from 10 to 7 today at the Leawood narthex, or tomorrow morning before the race. The race begins at 8 am. For more information click here.
In the light of the latest violence in Tulsa and Charlotte I’d like to invite you to a conversation hosted by Resurrection Downtown Campus Pastor Scott Chrostek with Rev. Dr. Willis Johnson, the United Methodist pastor from Ferguson, Missouri. Johnson is a thoughtful pastor and a great guy who has been featured on NPR, CNN, and a host of other media outlets. His new book, Holding Up Your Corner, describes Johnson's work in Ferguson, Missouri and what will be necessary to find racial healing in our country. This will take place Saturday, October 1 from 8:30 to noon at Resurrection Downtown (1522 McGee). Register by clicking here. Johnson is also speaking at our Leadership Institute next week.
We have two exciting things happening on October 8 to coincide with the 26th anniversary of our first weekend of worship at the Church of the Resurrection. On Saturday during the day we’ll join forces once more with Christmas in October, offering painting, repairs, yard clean-up and winterization of homes for the elderly, disabled and veterans. Anyone 14 and older can participate - come as a small group and join us. Register by October 1 - you can register by clicking here.
On the evening of October 8, following Saturday evening worship, Resurrection Leawood will host our Fall Festival with burgers, hot dogs, kettle corn, cotton candy, children’s carnival games, and fireworks. Bring a blanket or lawn chair and invite a friend or neighbor. We’re looking for volunteers. Click here to help. You can purchase meals in advance ($5 per person, $20 per family) or with cash the night of the event. Click here for more details.
I wanted to end with a couple of thoughts I had about the stained glass window. The first is a simple response to a question I was asked this week about the cost of the window. Each year we give more to missions and serving those outside the walls of our church than the total cost of the window, but this window will be here generations from now, continuing to speak to all who enter the room. The window was paid for by memorial gifts, or gifts given in honor of loved ones. 4,000 people, if I recall, helped purchase some part of the window including children who bought as little as one square inch! The window tells the story of the Bible from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. It is a sermon, or really hundreds of sermons, in glass.
The central focus of the window is Christ, following his resurrection, standing in the garden near the tomb - a fitting focus not only for our Christian faith, but also for a church called the Church of the Resurrection! I stood on the catwalk 50 feet above the sanctuary floor this week as the artisans from Judson Studios installed the face of Christ in the window. I watched as several of the men crossed themselves before they lifted up the panel. I bowed to pray, then watched as they carefully positioned this, the single most important panel in the window, in place and screwed in the support pieces from behind.
My prayer was that this window would serve as a kind of sacrament - a visible instrument through which God’s grace is communicated to his people. My hope has been that when people walk in the room and sit down, even when there is no one else in the room, they will hear Christ speak to them, feel his grace and mercy, his love and embrace. I was reminded of a conversation I had with the artists who created the window. They reminded me that with stained or fused glass windows, the artist is actually painting with light - the various colors and densities of the glass hold, reflect or transmit light in various ways to create the image. As I stood there it struck me that there could be no medium to portray the One who came to be the Light of the World. This weekend will be your only chance to see this part of the window until the building opens.The window will be covered with protective Styrofoam panels next week to protect it from damage during the rest of construction. Plan to be here and to invite a friend to join you as we tour the new sanctuary and sign our names and prayers on the floor!
Don’t forget our neighborhood food drive is going on! I have not yet taken my sacks to our neighbors and will be doing so tomorrow, inviting our neighbors to join LaVon and me in donating food for people in our community.
In Christ’s Love,
Adam Hamilton
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue

Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120

www.cor.org
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