Blessings in the Bag

Advent at Home kits containing items for communion, candles, crafts ala Advent Workshop, and illustrated Ministry's An Illustrated Advent for Families: Do Not be Afraid were hand delivered in paper bags and mailed in packages to Epwroth's extended family near and far.

We asked people to share photos of their crafts and a few did.

The Advent bags also had paper bags and shapes for making luminaries to be returned to church where they were used to enhance our Christmas Eve service.

Communion elements and votives for passing the light on Christmas Eve were also in the bag.

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Power of music to illuminate the darkness

By Mary Ellen Reetz-Pegues Even while recovering from knee replacement surgeries, Mary Ellen Reetz-Pegues continued teaching her Adult Sunday Class via email. She missed only one class -- January 10 – two days after her second surgery. She was back teaching on January 17 with a lesson about one of her favorite things – music! We’re sharing that lesson below and asking that you respond to one or more of the questions Mary Ellen poses in this lesson and email your response to us for the next Echoes. As I’ve been reading the lessons, I've found many that were meaningful and pertinent. However, I’m going to mention a couple that dealt with music, and in particular, the songs we sing. We so need our songs in this trying age! From Our Daily Bread , January 13, “What’s Your Song?” with a reading from Deuteronomy 31: 15-22. “So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.” Deuteronomy. 31:22 Hymn singing is part of our faith tradition, a very bi

Sharing Love with Lefse

By Nancy Meisel Youngman What can you do with mashed potatoes, cream, butter and a little bit of love? Make lefse! Thankfully, we have a neighborhood friend who combined those ingredients to provide lefse for sale to the Epworth community and the Seward/ Longfellow neighborhood. Julia Vanetta knows that this pandemic season has been hard for everyone. She shared her skills and a favorite family recipe to bring cheer to neighbors and financial support to several charitable organizations, including Epworth. Not only did Julia make lefse to sell at Epworth’s Holiday Boutique in November and other places, she also donated all proceeds to Epworth, Second Harvest Heartland , and Sisters Camelot . Julia learned to make lefse from her sister who learned to make lefse from their Norwegian grandmother. When Julia was a young girl, she sold wooden “lefse turners” at her parent’s store. These turners were made of hard wood by her grandfather who immigrated from Sweden in 1907 and la

Christmas Eve traditions and innovations

Although our Christmas Eve service could not be in person to protect our families and neighbors from coronavirus infections, it still held many of the traditions we've enjoyed over the decades at Epworth plus some clever innovations, some necessary for our new reality. Christmas Eve worship, although filmed in the sanctuary, could only be seen on Facebook. The virtual worship experience opened with a video of luminaries lining the aisles leading to the altar decorated with our traditional poinsettia and Advent wreath Besides the innovative video, the manger that has decorated the balcony for the past few years was placed on the altar instead so that worshippers could see it from home. Traditionally, Christmas Eve services have consisted of scripture and familiar carols with special music interspersed throughout. This year was the same – with a few twists. Jasper Ayers Assad has been the first soloist for Christmas Eve for a couple of years and he carried on this new tradi

Epworth Echoes: Winter 2021

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