Easter Season 2022

Easter Season 2022 at the United Methodist Church of Santa Cruz

Welcome to the Season of Easter; a time for Celebrating new life and sharing the love of Jesus Christ with our neighbors.

We remain committed to offer a healthy and safe ministry as this COVID Pandemic changes.  We offer Hybrid Worship and Small Groups. Thank you for connecting with our website, where we provide updated information about our ministry.  Worship information may be obtained by contacting us on our website: https://umcsantacruz.org  

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Join us as we deepen our resolve to share love generously.  Whoever you are and wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome to grow with us.

We offer Zoom Small Groups on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and the first, third and fourth Thursdays.    Friday Night Shelter is offered as part of our service to the community.  Indoor Worship includes welcoming vaccinated participants, indoor masking and singing, interactive Passing of the Peace, Prayer Stations at safe distances, and outdoor masking based on your comfort level.  Safe Communion is offered on the 1st Sunday.  Sing with Music Team on Tuesday evenings!  Enrich your spirit; let us know how we can support you!

Here is our Hybrid Worship the Easter Season:

April 17th – Celebrate the Resurrection

The Easter story comes from John 20:1-18. 

We welcome everyone to gather and celebrate new life as experienced by the first witnesses who have passed down this exciting faith to us!    Our Music Team will sing; their will be additional music.  We invite you to stay and socialize outside as we offer fellowship treats and festive conversation!  There might event be treats to share!  No matter what, the Celebration of New Life is a gift to share!

April 24th

Join Haley Feuerbacher as she shares the message from John 9, focusing on “Christianity Is a Verb”, helping us to understand compassion and connection as the heart of following Christ.  Dr. Haley Feuerbacher is the founder and executive director of the Center for Courageous Compassion and is a storyteller, facilitator, spiritual activist, and theologian transplanted from Texas.

May 1st – Communion

“Drink of it, for it is my blood,” was created by Ulyana Tomkevych of Lviv, Ukraine

This Religious Icon, “Drink of it, for it is my blood,” was created by Ulyana Tomkevych of Lviv, Ukraineh.  This image will serve as a reminder of the way hearts can be changed … O God Hear Our Prayer!  As we celebrate the early followers of ‘The Way’ in Acts 9:1-20, we discover how “Saul” would become “Paul”. No, he didn’t just have a ‘name change’ … he had a ‘faith change’!  He began to see (literally!) in a new way, and such new sight gave him the opportunity to treat others with empathetic understanding.  Are we open to new insights about ourselves as we relate to others in new ways? 

May 8th

Acts 9:36-43 invites us to explore how we can learn to support others on their journey… as we have learned (and continue to learn) from others on our journey of faith. This Sunday is an opportunity to celebrate those mentors in our lives who have taught us life lessons.  Who are we mentoring in our lives … supporting, nurturing, welcoming into this new season of life?

Photo courtesy of Joseph Jacobs

May 15th

John 13:31, 33-35 instructs us to ‘Love One Another’. We are to follow the Resurrected Jesus into the world by caring and sharing with our neighbors.  As we are nourished by our faith, how do we nourish others?  What are the ways we acknowledge our brokenness and the brokenness of the world, and make a commitment to bring healing to others and the brokenness of our world?

May 22nd

From John 14:23, 25-28 and Acts 16:9, 12-15, we discover what it means to find peace as a ‘spiritual state of being’.

Perhaps we all have a longing to find that great place of peace…in our hearts…in our minds…in our world.  Peace within our family systems … Peace in our neighborhoods … Peace within the Chaos!

The gift of spiritual peace is found by cultivating peace with one another.

This picture of peace comes to us by way of Pat Verheul, from a recent visit to Henry Cowell.

Breathe in the peace … Breathe out peace to our world. Repeat. Repeat often. Repeat for as long as it takes. 

Photo courtesy of Pat Verheul

May 29th

Acts 16:16-34 reminds us of what keeps us imprisoned and what brings us liberation.  How ironic that Paul and Silas stayed free of their imprisonment in order to keep someone from being imprisoned—or worse!  What does being free mean to us?  And how does our spiritual freedom encourage us to offer reconciliation to others?

Reconciliation with the world brings us true freedom.