United Methodists have been recognized through the years as agents of change in society. As we walk through our changing world today, join us in looking back on our Wesleyan heritage to uncover the beliefs and practices that make us Methodists and enable us to journey through change. In this six session series, on Wednesdays at 7pm, continuing on May 19, we will examine John Wesley’s life and legacy to reconnect with the core beliefs of our faith and to find some Wesleyan wisdom for responding to the changes of our lives, our church, and our world today.

For the fourth session on Wednesday, May 19, you can find a hymn ("Christ, from Whom All Blessings Flow") we will be using as a devotion and four additional resources, which you can find by clicking HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. Also, if you can, click and read these short biographies of Georgia Harkness (  https://www.bu.edu/sth-history/prophets/georgia-harkness/ ), Howard Thurman (http://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/who-was-howard-thurman/), and Albert Outler (https://goodnewsmag.org/2014/09/albert-outler-remembered/) 

To access the discussion each Wednesday, join by zoom at https://zoom.us/j/99925205944 or by phone--you can dial 1-929-205-6099 and use the Meeting ID: 999 2520 5944. We hope you can join us!

May 19: Contemporary Wesleyans: The Journey Forward

May 26: Wesleyan Practices for Us: Becoming Champions of Change

June 2: Wesleyan Practices for Our Church: A Change to Keep

If you are interested in finding out more about our ministry at Harvard-Epworth, whether you are new to the church, interested in membership, or just have questions of any sort, we hope you will join Rev. Taylor on Sunday, May 16, at 12:45pm after worship and coffee hour for a zoom discussion. You can access the meeting at https://zoom.us/j/97631785779 or else dial in at 1-929-206-6099 and use meeting ID 976 3178 5779. Rev. Taylor will discuss the history and ministry of Harvard-Epworth as well as membership in the church. But, anyone who wants any information about the church family or its ministry is welcome to come and ask any questions they have.

The Church Council has voted to move up to allowing 15 worship attenders on Sunday morning (a total of 20 in the sanctuary including worship leaders). In making this decision the church used an analytical tool developed by MIT, which you can also access by going to https://indoor-covid-safety.herokuapp.com/ .  The analytical tool, with data for our sanctuary and worship, showed that making this decision was a very cautious and safe step toward the journey of opening fully. If you are interested in attending a Sunday morning worship service, you must go to this google form - https://forms.gle/rjbQPEzZnGdSGXjeA - and register your interest. We will then assign people to Sundays and be in touch relative to the date for attendance. Masks and social distancing are required for all attendees and there will be no singing by attenders in worship. Please keep this process in your prayers and let Rev. Taylor at pastor.herb@harvardepworthchurch.org know if you have any questions.

During the "online reality" that we find ourselves in, it is difficult for new people to get a sense of who we are as a church. Therefore, the Welcome and Evangelism committee is inviting people to submit a video (30 seconds or less) that introduces themselves and says what they find special about our church. We are hoping to put together a number of these short videos and release them in the coming weeks and months. This will be a great way for people to get a sense of this ministry we share in together. Please consider recording a short video and emailing it to Erin Lee, our Welcome & Evangelism Chair, at erinism614@gmail.com. Thank you in advance for being a part of this important opportunity of welcome! 

The next Women's Zoom Potluck will be at 6:45pm on Thursday, May 20. All women of the church are warmly invited to an evening of fun and connection. Join us at https://zoom.us/j/95924229517 or call by phone 1-929-205-6099 and enter meeting ID 959 2422 9517.

Harvard-Epworth is making a commitment through this crisis we find ourselves to provide opportunities to connect each day.  Look for an email tomorrow that will outline program and support opportunities for next week. To see this week's programs and opportunities, click here.

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/93538291213

You can also join by phone at 1 929 205 6099. The meeting ID is ID 935 3829 1213.

Adult Forum meets once a week before the Sunday service. Feel free to come to all or to whatever might interest you. To join Adult Forums on Sundays at 10:00am, go to: https://zoom.us/j/96481096640 or call 1-929-205-6099 with meeting ID 964 8109 6640

This Sunday, May 16, Graham Kelder will be leading a discussion on "How Can the Indigenous Peoples of New England Guide Us to a More Ecological Christian Faith?"

Next Sunday, May 23, Lane Lambert, author of Splendid Epworth, will be sharing about the history of Harvard-Epworth and how it teaches and guides the church today.

All young adults are invited to the events hosted by the group, which usually range from engaging discussions to outings and meals. If you are a young adult or university student who would like to receive weekly email updates from Dom Mejia regarding programming for young adults and students, and are not yet receiving those, please email Dom at dom@harvardepworthchurch.org to be added to the list.

Neighborhood Text Groups: Connect with Your HEUMC Neighbors! As vaccines roll-out and weather improves, several young adults have volunteered to coordinate neighborhood group texts. Find someone to go for a masked walk, share info of interest for your neighbors, and check-in with your church family near you.

Right now we have Clara coordinating a group in JP, Janie connecting folks in Cambridge, and Bailey organizing people in Brighton. If you would like to join one of these group texts, please email Dom with your phone number and your neighborhood. Is your neighborhood not represented? Connect with Dom to set up your own group text. Please reach out with any questions.

Young Adult Check-ins: We have Young Adult Zoom check-ins only on the first Wednesday of the month at noon. 

Thanks for all the students and volunteer teachers who were involved in online Sunday School this past Sunday. It was a great experience and we had great numbers, so a wonderful start to this new initiative.

Children's Sunday School will be offered virtually for children age 3 to 4th grade from 10-10:25 am via zoom. We will have a brief Bible lesson and a craft or activity. To join, please go to https://bostonu.zoom.us/j/5397806919 at 10:00am on Sunday.

Youth Sunday School will be offered virtually for students grades 5 to12 from 10:30-10:55 am via zoom. We will provide an opportunity to check in and discuss how our faith relates to our church and wider world. To join, please go to https://bostonu.zoom.us/j/5397806919 at 10:30am on Sunday.

Volunteers are needed to help us ensure Sunday School on Zoom is a success this Fall.  Please consider volunteering in Sunday School this year. There are opportunities for people of any ability to get involved for whatever time in whatever way you can help. Please express your interest in volunteering for Sunday School go to https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B4DA4AA2CA7FA7-youth to sign up.  By volunteering you will make a big difference to the children and youth of our church and a big difference to your life too!  Thank you in advance! 

Thanks to all those who have donated to the Stained Glass Window Project. We have raised over $30,000 of our $35,000 goal, so are hopeful that we will reach it soon. Please help ensure the light of God shines bright and that these stained glass windows continue to inspire for decades to come.

   This individual giving, plus funds available within the church and a grant from the Cambridge Historic Commission combine for us to accomplish this $125,000 project to restore and refurbish the stained glass windows which have not yet been restored. This project will include the large windows behind the altar, as well as 15 other windows in the sanctuary and vestry hall. As you can see in the photo below, the stained glass windows have already been taken out and work has begun on them. We took photos of the windows people could see on the worship livestream and hung these posters in front of the weather tight wood structure that replaced the windows

Please send in a check to the church (1555 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138) or go to http://harvardepworthchurch.org/giving/ and click on Give Now so you can be a part of this important effort. Note on your gift that this is for the Stained Glass Window Project.(This picture is from Easter, 2017.)

Our next contemplative in-person worship service will be Tuesday, June 1 at 7:00pm. Our focus would continue to provide a safe in-person worship experience for a small number of people. This is different from our typical Sunday morning worship service (as it does not have congregational singing, passing of the peace, sermon, unison readings, etc.), which we continue to livestream on Sunday mornings. This contemplative service, which will happen mid-week in the evening, would include prayer, scripture reading, times for reflection or silent meditation, and may also include piano or organ music during the reflection time. We would limit the size of this in-person service to below the gathering size limitations the city or state would allow. All attendees would be required to wear masks throughout the service and keep socially distanced.

To see the In-Person Contemplative Worship Service from May you can go to the church's YouTube channel at  https://youtu.be/feE1bZ5PTxM or click on the thumbnail above.

Therefore, in order to register to potentially attend this in person service you must express your interest in attending by Saturday, May 29. If you have not expressed interest before in this sort of contemplative in-person service, so that we can plan how to manage its operation and number of attendees, please click here to be directed to a Google Form to register your interest through providing your name and email address. If you have questions, please email pastor.herb@harvardepworthchurch.org.

If you would like to take a tour of Harvard-Epworth join Rev. Taylor as he gives a brief visit to the building by going to https://youtu.be/Lp1YeyzDP84 or clicking the image below!

If you'd like to learn more about Harvard-Epworth, you can watch this video from the Harvard Square Business Association's (HSBA) "Sacred Spaces and Good Works" project by clicking on this link. 

Friday Cafe will now works in a bag-lunch format, offering lunches provided by caring neighbors like you! With the help of Doing Good Together, Friday Cafe has set up an online signup  where you can commit to making 10 or more bagged lunches each week. Sign up to make sandwiches once, or once a month, or every week, if you want to! This is a great activity to do with kids, if you're home with family and looking for things to do. Lunches can be dropped off curbside on Fridays from 12:30-1:00: You don't even have to get out of your car. Just text Rev. Kate Layzer, Director of the Friday Cafe, at (617) 851-5074, and she'll come to you.

Remember that we have a Harvard Epworth Church Member Online Directory.  You can log in to the directory by going to directory.harvardepworthchurch.org by clicking on the link in the menu on the church website (it's next to the live stream link).

Current users can reset their password with the "Need a password" button on the directory login. If you don't have a directory account or access to it, email pastor.herb@harvardepworthchurch.org  and we will be in touch with login information for you