Best News of the Week:
The Peanuts folks helping us celebrate “Stayin’ Alive.”
News from Peace
A Short Music Concert
by David Tidball
I have the privilege of working with some fine musicians (and good friends) here at Peace. With the pandemic dictating that large groups should not gather for music making, I have been working with some smaller groups. The month of July saw several recording sessions with David Trelles on violin, Jan Rasmussen on handbells and yours truly on piano. Because it took several recording sessions, you may notice changes in clothes between the three recordings below. Cindy and I were also experimenting with using two cameras for the video, with mixed results due to formatting differences between the two cameras.
I heard Tim Doran play as part of a Handbell Duo the last time that the Handbell Musicians of America Area Festival was in Duluth. Several years later, at another festival, looking for new music (a never-ending task), I happened across a set of trios for handbells, violin and piano that he arranged. All three of the pieces below are from this set of lovely arrangements. I hope you enjoy listening.
Amazing Grace
A hymn well-known and loved far beyond Christian cultural circles, Amazing Grace is a text written in the 18th century by ex-slave trader John Newton. In the poem, he reflects upon the saving grace of God that enabled him to entirely change his life, leaving his slave-trading days behind.
Jesus Loves Me
Another much loved hymn, often thought of as a children’s song. Yet, my favorite story (perhaps apocryphal) about this song quotes renowned 20thcentury theologian Karl Barth as saying that the phrase “Jesus Loves Me, this I know – for the Bible tells me so” could function as an adequate summation of his entire 20 volume systematic theology.
God So Loved the World
This is by far the best-known segment of a much larger work, The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer written by English composer John Stainer in 1887. I remember singing it as a high school student in the choir of my home church. The lyrics are based on a well-known text from the Gospel of John – chapter 3, verse 16.
Announcing a New Website for Peace Church!
We are excited to launch a brand-new website for Peace Community of Faith. It will serve as a welcoming front door to our community of faith as well as the go-to source of information for our regular participants. You can find it at the same URL as before, peaceumc.com.
Features include:
- Peace Times, our online worship experience, both current and past
- Peace Notes, our online newsletter, both current and past
- Information for members and participants, including links to online giving, committee members, current budget and a calendar of meetings.
- Information for the public like what we’re about, where we’re located, who’s on the staff, calendar of events (admittedly sparse during this pandemic time!), and links to partners’ and connections’ sites (Good Neighbor Meals, Ralph Reeder Food Shelf, etc.)
- Opportunities for adults, children and youth to get involved
- A music page that highlights our various groups and some past experiences
- How to contact us and sign up for our online communications
We encourage you to use the Contact Us feature to submit photos of church activities or information you’d like us to post. For the participant calendar to be useful, it’s also critical that all committees keep Cindy Tidball (cindy@peaceumc.com) in the loop on your emails about scheduling, agendas, and minutes.
A big thanks to Cindy Tidball and Dean Jensen for their creativity, hard work, and determination over the past several months to bring this project to fruition.
Now I invite you to go explore our new online presence at peaceumc.com.
Fifth Sunday is Coming
May is another of those months with five Sundays. That means another opportunity to help Peace Church chip away at the principal on its mortgage. You now have the option to contribute to Fifth Sundays online, too! Just click the Fund dropdown to select Fifth Sunday rather than General Budget. Or, if you prefer, you can mail your check to Peace Church with “5th Sunday” written in the memo line.
Time for Annual Love Offering
Each summer, the Minnesota Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church collects funds for the annual Love Offering. These funds provide the opportunity for us to be light and hope for those crying out for love, grace, compassion, and social and racial justice in their lives. The four recipient organizations this year are:
Emma Norton Residences (40%)
Simpson Housing Services (40%)
Joyce Uptown Foodshelf (10%), and
Committee on Native American Ministry Diaper Drive (10%).
Please go to https://www.minnesotaumc.org/loveoffering to make your donation today.
United Methodist Happenings
Panelists urge action on race issues
https://www.umnews.org/en/news/panelists-urge-action-on-race-issues
Standing Against Racism
This video is part of a series of reflections following the death of George Floyd and the renewed call to end racism. In it, Rev. Frenchye Magee, associate pastor at Hennepin Avenue UMC in Minneapolis, talks about how the murder of George Floyd was a seminal moment, what she has seen and learned, and how she’s called to help her congregation work for racial justice.
https://vimeo.com/430363437
Grace Connections of the Week:
Grace connections invites you to find the power of God’s love in the midst of the harm, confusion and news of the week. Below are a few stories from the news of the week.
Video of the Week: College student from Boston given valuable piano after playing for patrons at Norwood shop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC73vwtq8qg
Photos of the Week: https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/top-photos-of-the-day-idUSRTX7REHJ
Dr. Anthony Fauci Talks to Healthline About COVID-19 Vaccines, School Safety
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/dr-anthony-fauci-talks-to-healthline-about-covid-19-vaccines-school-safety#Vaccine-candidates-are-showing-promise
Greenland Ice Sheet Melting “Passed the Point of No Return”
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/08/18/greenland-ice-sheet-melting-passed-the-point-of-no-return/