Weekly eNote from Senior Pastor Adam Hamilton for Friday, 11 November 2016 from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States

Weekly eNote from Senior Pastor Adam Hamilton   for Friday, 11 November 2016 from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States
Friday, November 11, 2016
Dear Resurrection Family,
Today is Veteran’s Day, a day that was first set aside to honor those who had fought in World War I. It was known then as Armistice Day (an armistice is a truce or agreement to end hostilities) and was instituted by President Wilson in November of 1919 commemorating the heroism of those who had died in service to our nation. In 1954, following a second world war and the Korean War, Congress and President Eisenhower changed the name to Veteran’s Day to honor all who had fought for their country. Thank you to each of you who served our country through your service in the military. We were blessed to recognize our veterans last weekend in worship and to have veterans reading the scripture in each service. You can read more about the history of Veterans Day here. (On a related note, LaVon and I saw the film Hacksaw Ridge this week – it captured both the hell of war and the heroism of those who fought and of “conscientious cooperator” Desmond Doss who saved 75 men as a medic on the battlefield – it was worth seeing.)
This weekend I’ll continue in our series of sermons on the spiritual life, 21. We’ll focus on the question of forming Christian character. I’ll draw upon something columnist David Brooks wrote in his excellent book, The Road to Character to set the stage for the sermon in which we’ll look at what Christian character looks like, and how we cultivate it. This was the focus of several of John Wesley’s 21 questions we’re studying this month. I’ll talk not only about our personal character, but our national character as we reflect upon this week’s presidential elections. I’ve been thinking a lot about President-elect Trump’s campaign theme, Make America Great Again, and wondering, if Jesus were calling us to make America great again, what would he ask us to be and to do? That’s the title of my sermon: Jesus on Making America Great Again. We’ll consider how Jesus defined greatness and look at moments in our nation’s history where the United States was at its greatest. This week in worship we will have a copy of The Examen for each of you. You can put it in your Bible and refer to it daily for spiritual self-examination.
This has been a very interesting week in Presidential history and politics. It reflected once again the deep divide in America. Some celebrated. Others were distraught, disappointed and some even afraid. A friend texted me the morning after, “Tell me this is going to be okay!” I wrote a blog post about the election. In response to the blog I had a couple of Resurrection members write to express their disappointment that I did not say more about those who feel not only disenfranchised but afraid or critique Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric or proposed policies. I completely understand and I appreciate your concerns and share many of them. I’ll speak a bit more about it this weekend.
I would like to welcome our new members who joined at Resurrection Downtown last week and Resurrection Blue Springs last month. We have 14 new members from Downtown and 3 from Blue Springs. You will find their names listed at the bottom of this eNote. If you recognize any of our new members please drop them a note of welcome.
Don’t miss Kansas City’s must see musical event of the season featuring more than 300 musicians, children, actors, dancers and technicians retelling the traditional story of the birth of Christ, along with an Olde English Christmas by Charles Dickens as he prepares to write his historic masterpiece, “A Christmas Carol.” Christmas At Resurrection performances are Dec. 8-11 at 7:30 pm, Dec. 10 at 1 pm and a new matinee performance, Sunday, Dec. 11 at 1:30 pm. Make your plans now to invite your friends and neighbors to experience a family celebration at Christmas at Resurrection. Purchase tickets at the Box Office in the Leawood Narthex this weekend or online.
Why go on serve trips? Imagine serving as God’s hands and feet as you reach out to help people who are undernourished, homeless and lonely. Imagine a place and time where you can know, love and serve God more fully and grow together with others on an amazing journey. Check out serve trip opportunities in Dallas, Denver, New York City, Omaha and Columbus, Ohio. Please check out the website for more information and to sign up for one of these domestic serve trips here. You will be greatly blessed in service to others.
This Monday and Tuesday we have a great opportunity to serve our community by stopping by and giving blood—you can either register at the table in the narthex to have an appointment you can walk right into, or you can just stop by on Monday or Tuesday, 8 am – 8 pm. You can register online here.
Are you new in town (or been around a while) and don’t have family or friends to spend Thanksgiving with? Are you single and want to be with others on this day for giving thanks? Will you be alone and want to be with other sisters and brothers in Christ on Thanksgiving Day? This Thanksgiving, we want to provide a home cooked meal for you and to be the family you will spend this special day with! Pastor Cheryl is hosting this event. I’ll be there helping set up and at the start to welcome those who are coming to share the meal together. Join us for the Annual Thanksgiving Meal on Thursday, November 24, 2016. We will gather in the Student Center at 11:30 am and eat at 12 pm. Children are welcome! We’ll provide the food, but will receive a donation to help in the cost of the meal. To ensure a place at the table, please RSVP here by November 22. Questions? Contact Cheryl Jefferson Bell at cheryl.bell@cor.org or call at 913-232-4144.
On this Veterans Day, I would like to let you know about how the students in our Sonflower Bakery have cared for some of the military families in our community. The Sonflower Bakers made a box of delicious cookies, cinnamon rolls, scones and cake pops for the family of Staff Sergeant Bryant Mackey, who served in Iraq and lost his life there. The family was presented with the gift last Saturday.
Last week the students were baking for active marines in the Philippines. Fred Galvin, a Marine Veteran and coordinator of the Snowball Express, took the baked goods to the Philippines this week to give away. Also, they baked for a Veteran’s recognition dinner in Topeka tonight. The Veterans will be presented with 30 gift boxes of Sonflower cookies! These students do amazing work blessing others.
I look forward to seeing you all in worship this weekend!
Adam
New Members from Downtown:
Rosemary Arroyo
Steve Berardi
Ali Boehler
Dennis Graf
Steven Jackman
Mary Kimball
Ryan Lincoln & Liz Hawkins Lincoln
Jennifer Lindsay
Tara Ramsey
Dustin and Lindsey Walton
Lucas and Maddie
New Members from Blue Springs:
Steve & Sarah Green
Jeff Inman
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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