The Messenger A Reflection for Pentecost There is inside a burning discontent With the status quo The shallow mundanities of church The lack of connection with God And the burning Fans the flames of passion And desire Of longing To become what God calls us to be To be In a place where God is ignited to move To excite Where God may reach out And people may be reborn Where the passion and desire Grow stronger Till we ignite each other And the flame burns even brighter And we are purified Made holy The dross burnt off Until we stand in the heart of the flame And remain unharmed Then we stand in the right place With the right focus Our hearts aflame With passion Our eyes focused on God
May 13, 2013 Volume XXIII, No. 5 Nationalchurch.org
BRING ON THE RED
Happy Birthday Church! Pentecost is celebrated as the birthday of the church. It’s the day when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early church. The disciples were gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish Festival of weeks, praying and worshipping God. All at once there was the sound of a rushing wind, and what looked like tongues of fire came and rested on the heads of the disciples. The disciples went out and spoke to the people of the crowds in many different languages, telling them about Jesus. The Holy Spirit brings with it various gifts and skills, and today is a day to explore those skills. It is also a day in which we are encouraged to go out and tell others about God and Jesus. Here at Metropolitan, we are celebrating this special day as a combined parish with members of Wesley United Methodist Church and members of the Crossroads Worship Community at St. Luke’s joining with the members of Metropolitan. It will be a glorious day of music as choirs from all locations and ages join their voices together. We are also joined by our friends from Brighter Day ministries, a merged parish in Southeast Washington. Our celebration will continue with a neighborhood picnic under the tent. We will have games, moon bounces and live music, as we welcome all who come to join in our party and celebration. This is an excellent day to invite a neighbor or friend to join you at church to experience the best of what we, as a joint worshiping community, can offer.
A Brighter Day On Pentecost
Stop by the Brighter Day table on the plaza of the church during Pentecost to learn about our growing relationship with Brighter Day Ministries, a cooperative United Methodist parish in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast Washington DC. Metropolitan will be supporting its Summer Academic Camp Explosion this summer through a donation from our Foundation, volunteers, and supplies. For more information, see article on page 7.
Pentecost - Sunday, May 19 One Worship Service at 11:15am Pentecost on the Plaza - 12:30pm
Join us as we celebrate the birth of the Church! Our “Pentecost on the Plaza” will take place after our single worship at 11:15am with a picnic of sandwiches, salads and lots of ice cream. And we need your help! We ask congregation members to bring their favorite salad including pasta, green, potato, etc., enough for 10 to 12 people. We will also have live music from the Wesley combo, a moon bounce and games for the kids. Plus we’re bringing back the origami Pentecost doves to support Brighter Day. Come and celebrate and don’t forget to wear red!