For a number of years EMUC has been sending out its newsletter, Communique, to keep people informed about the life of its congregation. The newsletter is available on the website as well as in hard copy. The April issue is currently available on emuc.ca. Thanks to Jim Watts for his work over the years preparing the layout of the Communique. Jim is continuing this work and we thought it was time to update the format.

This month we have also prepared the newsletter in a new email format. We recently started using this tool to send out the Friday Message and have received positive feedback. This is the first mailing of the newsletter and we are interested in knowing what you think, what you like and don't like, as well as suggestions for improvements.

You will notice a number of changes. The added table of contents "In This Issue" on the left hand side will help you maneuver through the articles more quickly and jump directly to the articles of interest. The table of contents is in a 'gold' column; gold is the colour of the Easter season and this colour will change with the changing seasons of the church year. After reading a section, use the 'Top of Page' link to return to the top of the email and the table of contents. Links to websites have also been provided for those interested in related information. Pictures of actual EMUC events are interesting. We have also added a 'Join our Mailing List' button for new people wanting to stay in touch with us. Going forward the newsletter will continue to be available on the website.

In today's world, many people prefer using technology to receive information. It is efficient and cost effective. Recently postage has increased and using email will help contain our costs. In the future we will be encouraging people to read the newsletter online and print out their own copy, if desired. Of course hard copy will be available for those who do not have access to some form of technology.

With this email, we would like to receive your feedback. Take a look below and let us know what you think! Please respond to me at barbara_jennings@sympatico.ca . Your opinion matters to us and your suggestions are most welcome.

Barbara Jennings

Chair, Communications Committee

An Embodied Love

With advances in technology, our communication patterns have been dramatically altered in the last decade. Facebook, texting and emails have become the new norm, largely replacing telephone calls and face to face encounters. While these modern forms of communication may be more efficient, many question whether they are more effective. A text or an email or a comment on Facebook can't communicate the way a face to face encounter does where conversation is enhanced by a tone of voice, a facial expression or body language. A lot of the important cues that we've counted on for millennia are absent from these modes of modern communication and as a result, we often run the risk of greater miscommunication. Have you ever received a text and thought that the sender was annoyed with you, only to discover later in a face to face encounter that it wasn't their intent at all? Have you ever fired off an angry email in the heat of the moment, only to escalate a disagreement? And later in regretful retrospect did you come to the realization that if you'd had the conversation face to face you would have probably reached an amicable resolution?

In his book, Undone by Easter, American United Methodist Bishop, William Willimon writes, 'The gospel is meant for embodied performance'. In other words, the good news of God is best communicated in face to face, in-the-flesh encounters. A tablet of commandments can only say so much. A Torah scroll or a leather-bound Bible can offer a reader much wisdom and truth about God, but nonetheless is still limited as words on the page. It is in embodied encounters that the 'Word of God' truly comes alive. John's Gospel proclaims that 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us'...in other words, the Christian conviction is that God's love and truth; the essence of who God is comes to birth and is fully expressed in encounters with the 'flesh and blood' life of Jesus of Nazareth.

And we continue to experience that 'embodied' Word of God best when we gather together as a 'body' to act out again the good news of God in concrete ways - in baptism as water is poured on our heads; at the beginning of Lent as an ash cross is traced on our foreheads; in the Lord's Supper as bread is broken and grape juice is poured out and as we eat and drink in remembrance and in communion with Christ. We best embody the gospel commandment to love, when we reach out in love to real people in real ways - in acts of kindness and hospitality, in face to face encounters where we offer comfort and support, in getting our hands 'dirty' in work that helps to repair and mend people's lives and communities near and far.

In mid-April we move into Holy Week; a week that offers us a profound experience of the gospel as 'embodied performance'. By participating in the special services and events offered at EMUC, the stories from that first Holy Week are lifted off the pages of the New Testament and come alive to us once more. Over the years at EMUC, through drama and music, symbols and meaningful rituals, we have tried to enter fully into the gospel narrative. We start with singing 'hosannas' and waving palm branches in a parade through the streets of Jerusalem. We echo the excitement of the crowd and we feel the growing tension as we overhear those who are beginning to plot against Jesus.

On Thursday we climb the stairs to the Upper Room, where in the fading light of day, we break bread and drink the cup and hear again the words, 'Do this in remembrance of me.' When the supper is over, we accompany Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane. And like the disciples we promise to pray 'one hour' with Jesus by taking part in the prayer vigil. And in that time of prayer, whether it is in the darkest hours of night or as the dawn is breaking, or by the light of day, some of us will relive the fatigue and bewilderment of the disciples, some of us will taste something of the fear or anguish of Jesus, and many of us will plead for God to guide us safely through the challenges ahead.

On Friday in the cold light of morning, in an unadorned worship space with a stark cross before us, we will speak words of betrayal and join the crowd as they shout 'crucify him'. We will examine our own hands and see our complicity in denying God's love and in adding to the suffering and death in this world. And as we softly sing, 'Where you there, when they crucified my Lord?' we will be transported to a Golgotha; hill outside the gates of Jerusalem.

Saturday's silence will drag on as we continue to keep vigil in prayer. But that silence will be broken on Saturday night as we gather in the cool night air to relive an ancient Christian worship service. As we ignite the first Easter fire and hold up the Pascal candle and our own lit tapers and shout, 'Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!, our voices will mingle with those who were the first witnesses to the resurrection. And as halleluiahs are sung on Saturday and Sunday, the love and life proclaimed in the gospel will be released and embodied once more in our lives and in this world.

May you have a blessed Holy Week and Easter.

Peace, Kathy Toivanen.