Worship 10-24-2021

October 2021 at the United Methodist Church of Santa Cruz

Welcome to our October 2021 edition of activities at the United Methodist Church of Santa Cruz!

We remain committed to making healthy adjustments to our services to keep people safe as this pandemic continues … We offer you Worship and Small Groups In-Person and on Zoom (Hybrid)! Thanks for connecting with our website! If you are new to our website, we invite you to share your contact information with us under “Contacts” to receive the latest recurring link to Worship, and updated information on Small Groups. “Like Us” on Facebook.  Our Web Address:  https://umcsantacruz.org

Rainbow Heart

Join us as you grow deeper in your faith.  Whoever you are and wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome to grow with us.

Our Zoom Small Groups continue every Tuesday; first, third and fourth Thursdays, and on Wednesday mornings; Hybrid options are available for many of our Small Groups.

New This Month:  Safe Communion offered on the 1st Sunday; Outdoor Mask requirement has been relaxed; Passing of the Peace will be more interactive.

Enrich your spirit; let us know how we can support you!                   

Take a peek at our Hybrid Worship for October . . . .

October 3rd – Communion – Psalm 26. 

This Psalm is a reminder of both the Book of Job and Proverbs 16:18 (Pride comes before disaster and arrogance before the fall.) 

Ask yourself these spiritual questions: 

Worship 10-03-21
Photograph by Johnny Miller, “Unequal Scenes”

  • Does pride get in the way of interacting with people from around the world? 
  • Is arrogance found in my prayer life? 
  • Am I striving to be humble in my deepest spiritual life?
  • Where does pride and arrogance get in the way of being able to focus on grace and service to God and one another?  

As we celebrate World Communion Sunday, be mindful of the needs in our world and our own community.

October 10th – Mark 10:17-31.

What are your thoughts on living faithfully and the concept of eternal life? (Have you seen the one season program Midnight Mass?  This does indeed stretch the reality as we think of ‘faithful living’.)

  • What if … eternal life was our current reality?! 
  • Would you act any differently?
  • Would you change your behaviors … why or why not?
  • What is it like for us to follow Jesus?
  • What are the ways we are extending our spiritual living to others?
Worship 10-10-21
Photo from a Small Group Walk

October 17th –  Job 38:1-7, 34-41; 42:2a, 5-6. 

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Summer Desert Sky

You may wish to read the Book of Job.

Can we be satisfied in ‘not knowing all the answers to our questions’?!  This may be our biggest human struggle.  Job wants answers!  Job leads with his Ego and the spiritual place of humility never enters into his frame of being until he relents! Are we listening for God?

What blocks us from being understanding and compassionate about new realities?

What spiritual practice might help you move from being narrowly focused to a place of possibility, compromise, and understanding? Where might you be needing to grow deeper in your spiritual humility?

October 24th – Mark 10:46-52.

When someone annoys you, what do you do?  How do you cope?  What are the changes that empower us into a deeper spiritual understanding of “seeing” with the eyes of faith?

Bartimaeus wants to see; the crowd is annoyed with him for being “in the way” …for living on ‘their street’…for bothering ‘their messiah’…for mucking up ‘their neighborhood’.

What we don’t always ‘see’ is how Bartimaeus becomes cared for by Jesus; We don’t see how his life is changed by the gift of faithful kindness. 

Worship 10-24-2021
What Do You See?’, a photo from our Small Group Walk

Jesus invites us to ‘see’ by teaching us to care about our neighbors….

October 31st – Mark 12:28-34.  Reformation Sunday and The Blessing of the Animals.

Worship 10-31-21
Cheshire Cat in an East Side Santa Cruz Alley’; photo by Joseph Jacobs

What a reforming thought … to experience all our loved ones in Worship!   You are invited to send a photo of your pet to the contact page of our website by Tuesday, October 26th as we explore ‘Loving God…Loving Neighbor’ on this Sunday.   The ‘Blessing’ part of our service will be outside.  How are you able to ‘love God and love your neighbors’ in our current climate?   Is there room in your heart to help support a refugee?   We are asked to get out of our little world and to stretch and grow…to Serve God and One Another … first by caring for those ‘in our own back yard’ (as Dorothy Gale discovered).

Annual Conference Livestream Worship may be accessed at 11:15 am through the Conference Website: https://cnumc.org

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