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Today is Palm Sunday!

Our live streams will be at 9:00 am (Traditional/Blended) and 11:15 am Common Ground (Contemporary).

Traditional/Blended at 9:00 am with traditional hymns, handbells, children’s message and more.

Common Ground Contemporary at 11:15 am with praise band, praise music, children’s message and more

The days leading up to Easter often have an understandably somber feel to them, particularly as we contemplate Jesus’ arrest, trial, and execution. It’s easy to forget that the week begins with a joyful event: the Triumphal Entry!

Sunday, March 28, 2021, is Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, we commemorate Jesus’ celebrated entry into Jerusalem just a few days before his arrest, trial, and crucifixion.

The “palm” in Palm Sunday refers to the palm branches waved by the adoring Jerusalem crowds who welcomed Jesus and proclaimed him King. The event is commonly referred to as the Triumphal Entry. Here’s the account from Matthew 21:1-11:

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

From Chuck Knows Church — Palm Sunday. Have you ever waved a palm branch in a worship service? If so, do you know why? Chuckle along and learn about Palm Sunday with Chuck

Holy week at Pender

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Posted by MaryO on April 2, 2023 in Books of The Bible, Chuck Knows Church, Get Involved!, Holidays, Lent, Music, Music Ministry, Palm Sunday, Pender UMC, Posts of Interest, Sermon, The Holy Bible, Videos

Tags: children's message, Chuck Knows Church, Easter, handbells, Holy Week, Hosanna, hymns, Jerusalem, Jesu, Mount of Olives, palm branch, Palm Sunday, praise band, praise music, The One WHo Cimes, video

Ash Wednesday – Yet Even Now

17 Feb

Ash Wednesday, February 17 at 7:00 pm

Dear Pender Friends,

I want to encourage you to participate in our “Ash Wednesday” livestream this Wednesday, February 17, at 7pm.

As always, we will be on YouTube, Facebook, and the church’s website and we’ll be returning to a presentation style that is more familiar to you. You might be asking, “Why do we need Lent this year?” With the pandemic, we’ve been through the “Lentiest Lent that has ever Lented”. As for self-reflection, “Just what do you think we were doing during the months we were on lock-down?”

But, maybe this year, more than ever, we need to focus on Jesus. We need to focus on the cross and the hope it brings. In the Lenten box delivered to your home, get your charcoal out and be ready at 7pm on Wednesday! I’ll provide instructions as to how to apply “the sign of the cross” during the livestream.

Grace and Peace,
Will

p.s. Children love symbols, so please include them. There will be a special “Time with Children” for them.

“Yet Even Now”

Worship Service, Time with Children, Sermon, Use of Ashes

(In your Lenten bag, there is some charcoal, please have it on hand when the service begins. Please enjoy the soup supper before or after worship as a reminder to live simply during Lent.)

Adults, please listen for the answers to the following…

What is the significance of the ashes?

What kind of ashes do we use “normally”?

What does it mean to repent?

Why is that important?

Think about what YOU can do to participate in Lenten discipline this year.

Help children experience Ash Wednesday…

First, include them! Kid’s love symbols. They get it!
Tell the children that they know the “brands” of their sneakers, backpacks, coats, etc. Ask them to tell you about their favorite brands…
- Then say, “What does it mean to make the cross your ‘brand’ for life”?
Tell them, “From tonight until Easter Sunday (April 4th), we want to be the best followers of Jesus we can be.”
- Ask them, “What should we do?”
- Then ask, “What should we not do?”
Tell them that the sign of the ashes means, “You belong to Jesus.” Encourage them to wear the sign of the cross (charcoal) on their foreheads for the rest of the night.

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Posted by MaryO on February 17, 2021 in Holidays, Lent, Pender UMC, Posts of Interest, Sermon, Sermon, Videos

Tags: Ash Wednesday, Lent, livestream, stream, video, worship, Yet Even Now

Watch Night 2020

30 Dec

John Wesley believed that Methodists and all Christians, should reaffirm their covenant with God annually, so he created a service in which an individual renews his/her covenant with God.

In 1755 Wesley held his first covenant service using words written earlier by Richard Alleine. Wesley published this service in a pamphlet in 1780, and this form was used without alteration for nearly a century in England. It has been modified somewhat in more recent years.

The covenant hymn, “Come, Let Us Use the Grace Divine,” was written for this service by Charles Wesley. The service is included in The Book of Worship under the title “An Order of Worship for Such as Would Enter Into or Renew Their Covenant with God–For Use in a Watch Night Service, on the First Sunday of the Year, or Other Occasion.”

This covenant service is often used in United Methodism as a Watch Night Service on New Year’s Eve. The covenant service is observed in some local churches on New Year’s Day or on the first Sunday in January. The service focuses on the Christian’s renewing the covenant of response to the grace of God in Christ.

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Posted by MaryO on December 30, 2020 in Holidays, New Year, Pender UMC, Posts of Interest, Sermon, Sermon, Videos, Watch Night

Tags: covenant, John Wesley, New Year's Eve, video, Watch Night

Sunday, September 13, 2020 at Pender

12 Sep

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Rev. Will White will begin a new Worship Series
“Through the Wilderness”

A tweet is floating around that simply says, “I miss precedented times.” How often do you hear that these are unprecedented times?

Of course, like all broad statements of that kind, this is both true and untrue. It is true that most of us haven’t lived with a pandemic. The natural disasters and the political and racial unrest all roll together to create a miasma of despair unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. Except we have. Maybe not exactly this, but we know the experience.

We’ve been here before. We call it wilderness. It is a regular occurrence in the lives of followers of Jesus. One might say it is standard operating procedure. But familiarity doesn’t mean ease. Wandering through the wilderness is a difficult journey at the best of times. Other times, it can seem impossible.

Our task in this series is to help us find our way through the wilderness of this time by allowing the first of God-wanderers in the book of Exodus to speak to us. The stories of the people of God, along with the hymns of the faith in the Psalms, become our guides through the wilderness today.

The first Message will be “Into the Sea”

The Scriptures for Sunday are
Exodus 14:19-31 and Exodus 15:1-4

There is an irony in the selection of texts for this week. We are two days past 9/11, a date when we mourn the loss of life in such large numbers in the terrorist attack on New York and Washington DC and Pennsylvania. And we read a story of a miraculous rescue through an impossible barrier and the subsequent loss of lives of the pursuing nation, while a song is sung in praise of the victory. We remember the false reports of Muslims in this country singing and dancing with joy at the devastation on 9/11. We were outraged that such a celebration should occur. Those lies were exposed, but some still cling to that image. So, how do we as the people of God celebrate the destruction of the Egyptian enemy in the sea with dancing and singing and feel good about ourselves? There is a rabbinic teaching that says that when the Israelites crossed the sea and were safe, a cheer broke out in heaven. Then when the sea crashed down on the pursuing Egyptian army, another cheer went up in heaven. But God turned to the angels and said, “Why do you rejoice when my children have drowned in the sea?”

We cannot resolve all these issues in one act of worship this month, any more than we can “explain” how the sea parted and the people were set free. But we can be aware of the implications of our celebrations and our praise. We can be aware that praying for freedom is threatening to the status quo and unsettling for many; some will be hurt in the struggle for liberation; blood will be shed. It is happening around us all the time. We cannot ask for an easy road; we cannot ask for painless transformation.

But we can, and we should, indeed we must, ask for God to go with us. That is the focus of our worship today—not a celebration over enemies, but a recognition that in the difficult times, and in the comfortable ones, God is with us. God goes before and God follows behind. So, like the people of God on the shores of the Sea of Reeds, let us rejoice that God is with us; when there seemed to be no way, God makes a way. When there seems to be no hope, God is our hope. And God continues to be our hope, the hope we live out in our moving forward, even when lying down and giving up seems like the logical thing to do.

Remember, we are in the wilderness. The people standing on the shore, amazed at what God had accomplished, were not done with their journey. They had only just begun. We are on a journey too, making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. And we have only just begun. We are still wandering, no matter how focused our mission and our goals might be, we are still wandering in the wilderness.