Dear Keller UMC Family,
Greetings in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord. We have much to share with you in this email, including events happening this weekend and Ministry Council plans for “yellow light phase” ministry. First and most importantly, however, we share our lament over the death of George Floyd and countless African American lives taken by violence. We are grieved by the continued struggle against racism and injustice. We want to highlight the covenant we all share as followers of Christ. The second vow of our Baptismal Covenant - the historic questions asked whenever someone comes for baptism in the United Methodist Church - states:
Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you
to resist evil, injustice, and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves?
Christ calls us to repent of our sin and actively resist injustice. This includes the sin of racism. We hope you will join us in repentance and in a re-commitment to listen and to work with others to dismantle systems of oppression as we continue in our calling to love God and love our neighbor.
It is in the spirit of repentance and confession that we will join in Holy Communion this Sunday at both online worship services. Please prepare bread and juice for your use as we remember and participate in the broken body of Christ which redeems the broken world.
Also This Weekend
•
June Sunday School Packet Pick Up
-
Saturday, June 6
, from 10am-12pm. Drive through the porte cochere to pick up Sunday school materials for adults, youth and children.
•
Parking Lot Parade
-
Sunday, June 7,
at 4pm. Help celebrate graduating seniors by hosting a trunk and cheering the graduates.
Click here to host a trunk.
Keller UMC Stoplight Reopening Update
The Ministry Council met on
Monday, June 1
, and made progress with plans for the gradual reopening of in-person ministries at KUMC. As you likely recall, our metaphor for reconnecting in-person is a stoplight, and we are currently planning for the “yellow light phase” of cautionary return. A plan for KUMC staff members to return to the church office is currently being finalized. After staff members return and adjust to new protocols, a plan for the return of small groups will begin.
Concurrent with staff return, we are also finalizing plans for in-person worship opportunities. Consistent with the “yellow light phase” priority of creative and adaptive solutions, the first in-person worship opportunity will be a Thursday evening offering called
Vine and Branches Midweek Worship.
This thirty-minute prayer service will include music and a guided devotional, and will be held in the Keller UMC Sanctuary.
Vine and Branches
will be held at 4, 5, 6 and 7pm on
June 25,
with the 4pm service reserved for at risk participants. In order to maintain social distancing, we’ve developed a seating chart for
Vine and Branches
and reservations will be taken to allow us to safely prepare for capacity. Ushers are being recruited and will attend a training before the service begins.
Vine and Branches Midweek Worship
is a prototype to help us learn how in-person worship resumes following safety guidelines. Our hope is to offer this worship service a few times this summer and then adjust accordingly. Sunday morning worship will continue online as we learn from
Vine and Branches
and understand better how in-person worship functions with guidelines in place.
Friends, through worship, sacrament, word, song, service and justice, we are drawn into the love of God. And so, hear these words of blessing at the conclusion of the Baptism ritual and make them your own:
May the God of all grace, who has called us to eternal glory in Christ, establish you and strengthen you by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you may live in grace and peace.
May the peace of Christ be with you,
