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

November 7th – Communion – All Saints Sunday

For many people over the last year, this has been a time of grief and loss.  Today we will acknowledge this time of dying as we remember loved ones and friends who have died, and give thanks for this time of living, with sure and certain hope that we are never left to grieve on our own.

As Isaiah 25:6-9 suggests, we can honor loved one, grieve as a community of faith for the losses we have experienced over the last year, and give thanks and praise for God who sustains and holds us.

It is in this context of our spiritual community where we gain support and grow in the midst of these stressful times.

November 14th

How are we intentionally sharing the gifts God has graciously shared with us?  How are we an offering … what does it mean to “share intentionally and generously?”  What could possibly cause us to hold back from sharing?

As demonstrated in Mark 12:38-44, perhaps fear and scarcity can prevent us from sharing a ministry of generosity.  Might we be able to move from a place of withholding/hording into a discerning place of spiritually sharing our gifts?

What benefit(s) do we receive in thoughtfully offering to others what God has given to us?

November 21st – Celebrating with Thanksgiving

‘Give thanks with a Grateful Heart’ comes to mind as we think of Matthew 6:25-33.

As we move toward God’s Beloved Community, how do we give thanks … and for what?!  In our comfort and in our discomfort; in the distresses of this world; we struggle sometime to find the words and the ability to ‘give thanks’.  May we find the   ability to let go of the worry, and to offer praise that is beyond us.

September 5^th – Communion –  Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23.  On this Labor Day Sunday, we explore our common denominator.  How do we maintain a common thread to our humanity as we struggle with so much diversity … and … animosity in our community and our world?  In our Diversity … where is our Humanity?!  And in this mix, where do we find God? 

This illustration comes to us by way of the Western Service Workers Association website, by CF Payne.

September 12^th –  Luke 14:12-14.  We are blessed to have as our speaker, Sam Altis, new to the Association of Faith Communities (AFC).  Sam will share spiritual updates and insights about our Unhoused Community and the work of AFC to address homelessness in Santa Cruz County.  His message will reflect on “It’s All Relational”.

September 19^th – Mark 9:30a, 33-37.  Do you experience many “for the sake of argument” discussions?  While in discussion, do you find yourself escalated to the point of a ‘win or lose’ argument?  In such a situation, are you able to “remember yourself” as the “place where Jesus welcomes God in our midst”?  Remember, that the least can serve the most.

September 26^th – Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, and 9:20-22.  Do you have an Anniversary Date where you remember ‘putting to rest the troubles you had with an enemy’?  Do you remain faithful to that anniversary experience?  There is an anniversary date commemorating this experience of freedom for Queen Esther and her people…a time of giving thanks to God and letting go.   Such ‘remembering and letting go’ can be a spiritual gift as we live into our future…. 

This picture of the Ester message, is a wood engraving after a Gustave Dor print

July 4^th – Communion.  Mark 6:1-13 invites us to revisit what it is like to gather once again in person after this long period of sheltering-in-place. 

We remember that Jesus was not welcomed in his hometown. 

He left the dust from his feet in that community, gathered a following of faithful disciples, and sent them out to care for all whom they met.

How are we challenged to share our faith in new and inviting ways? 

What will be our way of Spiritual Welcome in this new era? 

July 11^th.  II Samuel 7:1-13 reminds us that David was obsessed to provide a Sanctuary for God.  Yet God was interested in how David would care for God’s people.  As we enter into this Hybrid Time of Spirituality, interacting with people in person and on Zoom, how will we ensure care for one another in our community and throughout the world?  What will be our focus in this near era?  Are we envisioning where and how we will grow — the substance of our growing in faith with God and one another?!

July 18^th.  Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 provides us with the understanding and the challenge of how to “spiritually feed” people on their journey of life, as well as how to care for the healing of so many people … locally and globally.  Pat and Bob’ picture caught the essence of this concept.  How can we be instruments of God’s healing in our own lives as well as in the lives of our neighbors . . . .

We are living in the reality of a post-shelter-in-place, as we witness the reality that sickness and unrest are still surrounding us.  What are the ways God is calling us to respond?

July 25^th.  John 6:1-14 invites us to literally feed those who are seeking to spiritually grow as well.  Jesus asks us to serve; to sit with those in need; to gather up the leftovers and to share what we have.  As we maneuver past sheltering-in-place, where will we find our strength and our resolve to answer “YES!” to this call to grow and serve with grace and understanding.  What resources and commitments will we personally need to share the resources God has given us?

Even in the midst of a pandemic, where the illnesses of our broken world continue to confront us, we celebrate the healing power of God’s Grace!   We hope you experience this healing on your faith journey.

Our Zoom Groups continue online every Tuesday; first, third and fourth Thursdays, and Sunday mornings. 

As we move through this pandemic into the unknown new reality of our future … to vaccinate or not to vaccinate, to continue to wear masks in the crowd or not, and to join in-person activities or continue to live our lives through online ventures, we will spend time re-acquainting ourselves with our new reality post-COVID.

On May 2^nd, Communion Sunday, we will explore Acts 8, and see how Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch learned a new way of being post-resurrection.  What can we learn from their experience so long ago?  How are we growing and how do we grow, a “new” faith community, reaching out to existing and new neighbors?  

Each Other.  What a simple statement!  And yet, with racial tensions and violence continuing, loving one’s neighbor is challenging … more difficult than it was to learn how to shelter in place!  Yet, we did learn how to shelter, wear masks, and stay six feet apart … for the care and safety of our neighbors.  Loving our neighbors is something we have yet to fully embrace as a society.  And this is literally killing us all!  On May 9^th, focusing on John 15, we will explore how intentionally sharing love as we move out of this pandemic into our new reality can help.  Are we capable of feeling “loved enough” to share our loving God with others? 

As we move out of this time of pandemic, what have we  developed through our spirituality, our leadership, and/or our survival skills (cooking, cleaning, gardening, technical skills, or about being an extravert or an introvert?)

On May 16^th, we will explore through Acts 1, how the early faith community had to grow after the resurrection, by choosing a new apostle to help lead the faith after the death of Judas.  Our post-pandemic task is to begin to reconnect in a more personal way with our neighbors.  Is it possible to be a new creation in this new era?  YOU BET!!! 

We are in this together . . . let’s help one another to live anew in faith.

Pentecost 2021 … May 23^rd.  We often refer to this Sunday as “The Birthday of the Church”.  From Acts 2 we hear the story that is so familiar to the Christian Faith Tradition, kind of like sitting around the meal table during our most significant celebrations … a birthday party, an anniversary, graduation, a holiday event, retirement or even a memorial!  Pentecost is like swapping stories:  “tell us the one about…” or “remember when…” or “what will you do now?”  Today, we hear how the Spirit came into our midst!  As we move from pandemic to re-entry into our ‘unknown reality’, what will we do differently in our spiritual lives as a community of faith?  How will we invite others to ‘sit around the table’ once again and explore our visions and dreams for this new time.  Pentecost is so much more than having a slice of cake!   

This is our time to begin anew … safely, healthy, neighborly.  Where will your faith take you/take our faith community … as we are empowered by the Spirit?! 

May 30^th returns us to the ‘heart of street art’ once again.  So Diverse; separate, yet unified.  We are desperate to try and set a new reality as we move into this new reality of living with the realities of COVID-19.  We have a lot of repair work to attend to “in-person”.  People have been hurt and our world is still hurting.  We are not yet healed; we are not yet whole.  On this Peace with Justice Sunday, we will address the justice issues of poverty, “homelessness”, isolation, continued racism and sexism, and the  new reality of in-person safety issues.  So many things to deal with!  Healing our world; walking with our neighbors; being kind. What are the new ‘survival skills’ we need; what “faith tools’ are we lacking, so that our communities/our nation/our world can find healing?  Romans chapter 8 will be our guide.