We're starting a new series here at Fredericktown United Methodist Church this week called "Who are we?" Throughout Lent, we worked on the spiritual process of asking. We asked questions of Jesus and had questions asked of us. All of that culminated with the celebration of Easter Sunday where the questions we asked helped us to see what we need to let go of so that we can pick up resurrection and share that life with everyone we meet.

So, now as we enter into Eastertide as a resurrection people, what does that mean for us? What does it mean to carry resurrection with us into the world and how does that shape our identity? In the grand plan of God's work in this world: who are we and what is the part we have to play? I hope you'll join us over the next several weeks as we learn together about who we are in the light of the resurrection.

We're kicking off a brand-new series this week that will take us all the way through Lent called: Asking. Through our lectionary Scriptures, we're going to see these moments when someone asks Jesus a question or Jesus asks them a question. In each of these question-filled moments, the people are seeking something that they need in their lives and looking for answers. So, this Lent, we're going to focus on asking questions. They won't always be easy to ask, but they'll help us to find what we need. Let us engage in the holy and spiritual practice of asking.

We’re starting a new series this week that will take us from the first Sunday after Epiphany through the beginning of Lent. As we journey from one holiday season in the life of the church to another, we try to live our lives as best we can in between. So, as we live in this time between Advent-Christmas and Lent-Easter, let’s take a look at what life together as the people of God might be like. This is the life we live that isn’t just a special occasion or holiday way of life, but an everyday life where the ordinary isn’t ordinary. Let’s look at how we can live out the kin-dom here on earth, to bring it closer to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The stories and traditions of Christmas have been passed down to us through our families: both the families of our birth and our families of faith. This season holds a lot of emotion and memories with us as we journey through it together. Sometimes those emotions and memories might be good, and sometimes they might be difficult. Through it all, though, our stories always have God’s story as a part of them. In our stories and the stories of those who came before us, God continues to show up and help us continue to move towards love, peace, and liberation as we come to behold the God who chose to make the Divine’s home here among us in flesh and blood. This is not just a story about us, but about those who came before and those who will come after, a family story that continues on, transcending space and time, as its work continues building on what has been toward what is to come. Join us as we journey through Advent together looking at our family story.

We are getting ready to begin a new year on the church calendar, but even though something new is beginning it’s too easy for us to get stuck in the same old routine. Let’s prepare for this new year by renewing the direction, purpose, and soul of who we are, so that we can claim the fresh start God makes available to us. Let’s not just renew ourselves but let us re-new or make new again who we are and who we are called to be!

We start a new series this week called "Face Off" and it's going to focus on people who have up close and personal encounters with Jesus. We might expect them to face off and go in one direction, but we will see that what happens when people encounter Jesus is that what people least expected to happen is what did. Instead of reacting as we might, or we might expect others to, Jesus instead takes people in a new direction, off the beaten path to someplace new that is filled with possibilities.

Today we're starting a new series called "Forecasting!" In it, we're going to take a look at many of the prophets in the Bible and some of the unusual ways they guided the people. Today we're starting with Elisha and Naaman. Naaman and his king thought his wealth, status, and power were enough to get special treatment from the God of Israel and get a miraculous healing for his condition. However, what he found out was that God is no respecter of wealth, power, and influence, and the backroom deals of humans. This is a God who heals ordinary people through ordinary water and cannot be bought, sold, or controlled. Our work with God should be less about being in the spotlight and more about being with the ordinary people who need help and healing.

This week we’re starting a new series looking at the fact that a lot of time when we think about serving or helping or finding ways to do ministry in the world, it can seem overwhelming. The problems are too big to tackle, the people are too many, and we don't even know where to start. That can lead us to get frozen in place because there are just too many options and we're not sure what to do. When we look at Jesus, though, we see that most of the time, when he affected real change in the world, it was through a one-on-one relationship with someone. Yes, he had big sermons with thousands of people that absolutely made an impact. But those times were few and far between. Mostly it was a one-on-one relationship where he really got to see the other person and know them for who they are and where they are. Join us as we learn from Jesus more about how to “one” another.

Our current series takes a look at the way the resurrection is unsettling. Because while it might be joyous for us, it's unsettling to the powers that it acts in opposition to: death, division, shame, and all of the forces in the world that want to keep it quiet, to keep people in line, to keep the status quo the status quo, and who certainly don’t want any change, oh heavens no. To all of these forces and others like them, like a flower growing among weeds, resurrection breaks in and unsettles their ability to keep hold over us, to keep control over this world, and to keep us apart. So, let's look for the ways we can unsettle this world together through the power and message of the resurrection.

This year, as we journey through Lent together, we're going to see Scriptures that are filled to abundance with grace. We’ve done nothing to deserve or earn this grace, and yet, like water, pours out and washes over us. So, this year, we invite you into a radically different Lent with an invitation to be authentically who you are and to pour out even more grace wherever it is needed in this world. When we allow ourselves to be filled with this abundance of God’s extravagant love, it spills over from us onto the world around us, touching everything in its path.