Highlights from Messy Church NOW Webinar

Highlights from Messy Church NOW Webinar

 July 14, 2020
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Logo Messy Church NOW

We had a great representation from all over the USA at the recent Messy Church NOW zoom webinar.  Messy Church leaders representing 25 churches from 16 different states and 5 denominations signed on to hear Jennifer May, Johannah Myers and Leyla Wagner share what they have learned in facilitating their Messy Church in a physically distanced world. 

Highlights from presentations

Jennifer used her teacher expertise to create a google slide show with recorded videos, activities and games that she emailed to her Messy Folk to use at home at their convenience. To keep the experience interactive, she provided a ‘would you rather’ game at the beginning that is the usual start to their in-person Messy Church. She vulnerably shared that it was difficult for her to get past her anxiety of seeing herself on a recording at the beginning which resonated with many of us on the zoom call. Taking risks and placing ourselves into new situations can be an uncomfortable experience. Jennifer leads Messy Church at Freysville Emmanuel United Church of Christ in rural Red Lyon, PA.

Leyla shared how their Messy Church has evolved as they have learned from each iteration of their Messy Church.  Their first COVID-19 Messy Church was a 15-minute zoom celebration worship that ended up lasting almost 45 minutes because people were so happy to see each other.  Since then, they have kept adapting their monthly on-line Messy Church. Their most recent Messy Church included an introduction video from their pastor emailed out one week prior, an activity bag that people came to the church parking lot to pick up, and a zoom community Messy Church that included doing activities together,  worship with favorite songs, and break out rooms to share reflections from questions. Leyla is from Community United Methodist in Huntington Beach, CA. favorite songs.

Johannah kept their first on-line zoom Messy Church short and simple.  The scripture story from Children of God Storybook Bible by Archbishop Desmond Tutu was read by Johannah after a time of welcome.  After the story, Johannah led everyone through making a hat of flaming tongues of fire out of a paper place, scissors and colored pencils and folding an origami dove from one piece of paper. Keeping the supply list simple was important.  To connect Messy Folk with Sunday morning worship, people were encouraged to drop off their origami doves at the church which were then placed in the worship space for the Sunday traditional recorded worship. Although the Messy Church zoom crowd was a bit smaller than their usual in-person Messy Church, those who participated ranged in age from toddler to over 70 years… a truly intergenerational experience!  Johannah is from Aldersgate United Methodist in Greenville, SC.

Some Messy Church NOW Ideas for you

Throughout the presentations and after, the chat room was busy with people sharing their own experiences of how they have continued to bring their Messy Church communities together over the past four months. Here are a few evaluation responses to the question, what are you key takeaways?  

  • We are all in the same boat. We try things and adjust accordingly. None of us has the “perfect” answer, we just keep working at it to reach people and have connection. 🙂
  • We had not considered recording our event so people who cannot attend live could come. What a great idea. As well as the ideas for how to share their crafts if they aren’t live with us.
  • Ideas, but most of all hope and strength – not in this aloneI

We are planning more webinars for the future so that we can continue to connect as we all experiment with ways to adapt our Messy Church during this weird time in history. Share your stories with us via Facebook or email roberta@messychurchusa.org.

Messy Church USA logo and mission
Equipping Messy Churches to start, sustain and connect across the USA

Categories : Messy Thinking, Resources, Sessions, Uncategorized
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Messy Creativity during “in-between” time

 July 13, 2020
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Roberta J. Egli

“We are made in the image of God, and God is the great Creator of new things and re-creator of people and communities who are broken. As we create and play together, we echo (God’s) creativity and we are renewed and repaired ourselves.”

Lucy Moore, Messy Church: Fresh Ideas for Building a Christ- Centered Community

My husband is the gardener in our family! He patiently plants bulbs and waits for them to spring up out of the ground.  He gave up on a few bulbs he planted earlier this spring only to be surprised when a little green shoot came out of the ground much later than he expected.  The growth that was occurring underneath the ground was beyond our visual perception.

As I engage in conversations regarding what is next for Messy Church in the USA, as well as the global community, I wonder how God is creating something new, even though we may not perceive it.  I wonder if the anxiety that I feel arising from the unknown to the many complex questions regarding how Messy Church adapts to our changed world blocks me from placing my trust in our creator God.  Rev. Nicole Reilley, a Messy Church USA board member, shared in her recent sermon on July 12 that “we need to look to God rather than the past or the future…we are to live in the in-between space trusting in God.

Do not remember the former things,
    or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43: 18-19

Trusting in our Creator God and grounding ourselves in the messy foundational value of creativity, I am wondering….

  • What are the most effective ways our Messy Church USA network to engage with one another to learn from one another and to perceive the movement of the Spirit?
  • What kind of resources do local church Messy Leaders and the households they engage with need at this time?  How can we most effectively provide those resources without overwhelming overworked people engaged in ministry?
  • How can we equip local Messy Churches to engage with their Messy folk through on-line, in-person or hybrid experience?
  • How do we stay grounded in our five values of Hospitality, Creativity, Celebration, All-Ages Together and Christ Centered as we experiment with new forms of Messy Church?
  • How do we envision new ways of being Messy Church in our changed world?
  • What are the spiritual practices that we need so that we can more clearly perceive God’s presence and guidance for our ministry?

On July 23rd at 10 am Pacific time, you are invited to a Messy Church USA Zoom town hall to engage with the above questions as well as questions that you bring to the conversation.  Here is a link to the Zoom invitation. 

My friends, this is a difficult time.  This is the first (and hopefully last) global pandemic that we have had to navigate.  Many of us who work in the church, use the summer to plan out the worship and curriculum for the coming school year.  However, everything is constantly changing which causes our plans to not be relevant in just a few short days or week.  Let us place our trust in our Creator God who is making something new that we cannot even imagine right now.  Let us live in a sense of curiosity rather than anxiety as we experiencing the unfolding of the next weeks and month.   I look forward to our ongoing conversations as I hold you in prayer this day.

Prayer: As you find yourself in times of uncertainty, may you perceive God creating a new thing within your life and community. In the places that are broken, may you experience the healing power of Christ. In the spaces where community is being re-created, may you place your trust in God’s Spirit to lead and guide you. May your spirit be renewed as you place your trust in the God of Love.  AMEN.

Grace and Peace,  Roberta

Messy Church USA logo and mission
Equipping Messy Churches to start, sustain and connect across the USA

Categories : Inspirational, Messy Thinking, Uncategorized
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“What Next” Questions

 June 24, 2020
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Roberta J Egli

During the past several months of hunkering down at home, I have gained a greater appreciation for the global Messy Church Community and the USA network.  Hearing how people from all over the world are adapting their Messy Churches to on-line, or at home, or zoom calls has been a highlight.  I give thanks to God for all of the many ways that people from all over the USA network and world have creatively shared the good news of Christ in a large variety of ways over the past four months.

 One of my weekly routines has been to turn into the Messy Church/BRF Facebook Live event every Wednesday. Several weeks ago, Lucy Moore,founder of Messy Church, voiced something that I had been thinking for a while.  When COVID-19 began, there was a sense that we were in for a several month crisis that would soon pass and then we would get back to our regular church routines.  How silly!   It is now apparent that we will be living with COVID-19 precautions for an extended period of time. Even though some churches across the country are re-opening across the country many others will not hold in person worship until much later this fall or in early 2021. Even when we gather again in person, Messy Church will look much different as we have entered into a new reality of how we can gather to worship all-ages together!  

Lucy shared some questions that I have been pondering. (Read More Here)

  • Is it too early to decide on a course of action or strategy for the next seven months?  Should we just do all we can to listen to families, leaders of Messy Churches, wise people?
  • Should we keep pushing the ‘Keep contact, keep caring, keep serving, keep reaching out even if nobody seems to respond, keep offering Messy Church at home resources, keep doing Messy Church on Zoom and Facebook Live for a much longer stretch than we’d imagined
  • Should we see this as a fallow/sabbatical/Jubilee period and give Messy Churches permission/encouragement to stop rushing about…and use the time to think and pray and listen to God?
  • Is this an opportunity to leave the garden to its own devices and recover or not after the storm to re-imagine everything from scratch and break the ground in the new field we now find ourselves in? (“Wilding” is a concept that i learned about in Lucy’s blog, learn more here)

Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything.

Rainer Maria Rilke

What I found inspiring at the end of the 30 minute FB live session with Lucy is that she did not proceed to give any answers to the questions. She simply invited others to join her in conversation to discern which questions to ask.

We are called at this time to live in the tension of ‘what next’ questions which reminds me a favorite quote:

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903
in Letters to a Young Poet

So, my friends, what are the questions that you have been asking in your local church settings?  In my next blogpost I will share some of the ‘what next’ questions we have been asking at Messy Church USA.  Our mission as an organization is to equip Messy Churches to start, sustain and connect.  In order to meet our mission, we need to hear from you what it is that you need at this time. Look for an opportunity to gather via zoom to learn from one another on July 23rd.

Grace and Peace,

Roberta

Below are some articles that have been helpful in my pondering! Happy Reading!

Messy Church USA logo and mission
Equipping Messy Churches to start, sustain and connect across the USA
Categories : Inspirational, Messy Thinking, Uncategorized
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Celebrate the Mess Postponed until October 2021

 June 23, 2020
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Due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic, the Messy Church USA Board of Directors have decided to postpone the Celebrate the Mess National Conference for one year. We are so grateful that both Lucy Moore and Stephen Fischbacher are both available to be with us on our new dates of  October 21-23, 2021.  We will continue to use the same location for the 2021 conference at Northfield Community Church in the greater Chicago area. 

Although we will need to wait one more year to all gather, we are in process of planning an ‘on-line’ celebration this fall.  As a new expression of church, Messy Church is primed to continue to innovate to share the love of Christ with all-ages…certainly something to CELEBRATE! Stay Tuned for more information.  

If you have already registered for the 2020 event, you will be contacted regarding your registration.  If you made hotel reservations, please move forward with cancelling them.  We will put up our registration for the 2021 conference after January 2021. Contact Roberta Egli with any questions at roberta@messychurchusa.org.

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Stones of Help

 June 22, 2020
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Johannah Myers, Associate Director of Messy Church USA

Johannah Myers from South Carolina led the Messy Church Facebook Live event on June 10th.  Watch the FB live here.

Johannah Myers
Messy Church UK Facebook Live, June 10, 2020

Johannah’s original blog post from Messy Church UK is posted below.

I’m in a part of the world where things are opening back up – including churches. In fact, we’re planning to start back with in-person worship this week. It’s very scary. And it’s very different! One of the changes that will be hardest for many of us is that we won’t be singing together any time soon. I’m not sure if I know how to be Methodist if I can’t sing!

One of my favorite hymns is ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing’. There’s a line in the second verse that says, ‘Here I raise my Ebenezer.’ And of course, how many times have we sung this song without ever knowing what an Ebenezer was and how we might would raise one?!

It comes from a rather random story in 1 Samuel 7. The Israelites messed up (again) and lost the ark of the covenant to the Philistines. Of course, while the Philistines were in possession of the ark, they experienced nothing but trouble – passing it around from city to city because no one wanted it! Finally, the Philistines take the ark back to Israel! But it’s another 20 years before it seems the Israelites are ready to turn back to God in a way that they can bring the ark back into their center. Samuel gathers them to repent and pray. But the Philistines learn that Israel’s gathering, and they decide to attack. Israel calls on God for help and God protects them. Samuel takes a stone and sets it up and call it Ebenezer – eben = stone, ezer = help. Samuel wanted the people to remember the ways that God helped them. The stone was a visible sign of God’s faithfulness.

A few years ago, on a retreat, we made ‘Stones of Help’. Mine has names of people who, throughout my life, have been a source of strength, help, encouragement. As I look over this rock and all the names, I realize how many ages are represented!

iStock

As we begin to think about Messy Church during this season of forced physical distance, but also what Messy Church will look like as we begin to gather, I wonder about how we will make space for the Messy togetherness.

For the last few years at my church, we’ve had small groups (10 or so people, 3-5 family units) that meet monthly for really what amounts to a mini-Messy Church or a Messy Church at home. They’ve done Bible study and activities together, worked on mission projects, they eat together… so basically Messy Church, just smaller! As we’ve moved out of strict shelter-at-home restrictions, some of our Companion groups have even gathered to reconnect in person.

Like many of you, I’m realizing that our Messy Church may be one of the last pieces we can bring back in full. But like Greg, who did this Facebook Live earlier today, I’m wondering what opportunities this season presents for us. Our Companion groups were an accompaniment of our Messy Church – now, they might very well be the primary access to Messy Church, at least for a season. Maybe we think small as a way of thinking big?

Going back to my Ebenezer – my stone of help. These people are here, listed on my rock, because along the way we had space for relationships to grow and development. In those spaces, I found help and support along my faith journey. These are the people who pointed to God, the ultimate source of my strength and help. Where will we create the spaces for relationships to flourish in ways that we can point the way to God, our Rock?

Equipping Messy Churches to start, sustain and connect in the USA.
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Messy Adventure- Take Two- Journey with Jesus to a Hillside

 June 22, 2020
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iStock

As per the previous blog post, while sitting in our respective home offices, many people journeyed around the world on a Messy Adventure on May 21st.  This fifteen-hour YouTube live event was the brainstorm of Messy Church founder, Lucy Moore.  Messy Church USA collaborators provided two one-hour sessions for the world event.   

Our second one-hour session explored a few of the many teachings from what is known as the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ from Matthew 5-8. We began by taking a hike with Jim and his dog Milo to the mountains surrounding Palmdale, CA.  Jim shared some background on this important teaching of Jesus before he showed us the lights that began to shine brighter after the sunset.   

We explored sharing the light of Christ through pictures, a science experiment, hearing the scripture in another hike in Texas, a story around the campfire and learning the art of making cards to share with others.   We also explored ways in which people are reaching out to others during the Pandemic to share Christ’s light.  We ended our session with the prayer that Jesus taught his followers on the hillside shared from around the world.  

Below is the outline for the Messy Session.  The link for the video follows the outline. Be sure to also check out the bonus video from Community UMC that we did not get into our session due to a oops glitch. 

Light your Light Shine
iStock

Jesus journeys to a hillside to teach Messy Adventure

Theme: Share the Light of Christ

Scripture:  Matthew 5: 1,14-16 (NRSV)

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them…You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven.”

Outline

  • Hike with Jim and Milo
  • Science Experiment with Light
  • Video Montage -Where have you seen Light of Christ during the Pandemic?
  • Scripture reading with Jenna and her dog in Texas
  • Song
  • Making Cards to share Messy Activity
  • Other ways to share light of Christ
  • Lord’s Prayer from around the world

Join the Journey to Hillside Adventure Here

Find the entire Around the World Messy Adventures Here

Bonus Video from Community United Methodist in Huntington Beach Here 

Equipping Messy Churches to start, sustain and connect in the USA.
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Journey to the Jordan Messy Adventure

 June 22, 2020
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While sitting in our respective home offices, many people journeyed around the world on a Messy Adventure on May 21st.  This fifteen-hour YouTube live event was the brainstorm of Messy Church founder, Lucy Moore.  Messy Church USA collaborators provided two one-hour sessions for the world event.   Our first session was filled with stories and activities focused on baptism.

In remembrance of Jesus baptism in the Jordan, Messy Church USA virtually traveled from coast to coast as we explored stories from various waterways.  We began at the James River in Virginia with Cindy Banek taking us to the water’s edge and then sharing a number of shell craft messy activities.  Next, we went to the Mighty Mississippi as Jillian Mayer from Illinois led us in a breath prayer as we gazed at the Mississippi flowing past the majestic St. Louis Arch. Roberta Egli then introduced the Willamette river that flows south to north in Oregon.  WE then headed to the California coast line of the Pacific Ocean as Marty Drake and Leyla Wagner shared the scripture through sand art. 

A Coast to Coast Journey

the outline for the Jesus Journeys to the Jordan Messy Church Session if below and a link to the video follows the outline.

Theme: Come to the Water

Scripture:  Mark 1: 9-11

“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you, I am well pleased’”

Outline:

  • Welcome
  • St James River and Shell Craft Activity
  • Prayer at the Mighty Mississippi
  • A song by the Willamette
  • Scripture at the Pacific Ocean
  • A Messy Science Water activity
  • Renewal of Baptism Celebration
  • Water Fun

Messy Church Adventure USA Collaborators:  Cindy Banek(VA), Marty Drake(CA), Roberta Egli(OR), Crystal Goetz(WA), Jillian Mayer(IL), Johannah Myers(SC),Jenna Reinke(TX), Leyla Wagner(CA) and Jim White(CA).

Join the Journey to Jordan Adventure Here

Find the entire Around the World Messy Adventures Here

Renewal of baptism Order

Sahalie Falls, Oregon
Picture by Roberta Egli

Categories : Activities, Inspirational, Messy Thinking, Uncategorized
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Messy Church Now

 June 3, 2020
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Stories of How Messy Churches are reaching their communities now

Curated by Roberta Egli

iStock. Used with Permission

Messy Church USA…Forming Community while Physically Distant

One of the great joys in my role at Messy Church USA is to discover how people are innovating and adapting Messy Church to their own specific context.  During these past three months, as we have physically distanced due to Covid-19, you have used a variety of ways to engage with your Messy Church communities.  Well done! 

To equip you to sustain your Messy Church (MC) during this weird pandemic time, I am the stories of two different churches. They have adapted their MC to meet the needs of their communities. First the story from Barb Tegtmeier from Christ United Methodist in Albuquerque, NM followed by a story from Dori Fotsch, Marie Reyes, and Jill Elsemore of Thousand Oaks United Methodist in Thousand Oaks, CA.

30- Minute Weekly Zoom from Albuquerque, NM

Barb writes:

 Our weekly 30-minute Zoom Messy Church came about accidentally…or maybe not. I recorded and posted a MC message for the first “real MC” in April.  Our MC congregation liked it, but missed not seeing each other.  So, the thought came to me to try getting together every Saturday at our normal start time of 4:00 for just 30 minutes based on several webinars which suggested to keep online sermons, etc. shorter than normal because it is too easy to lose people’s attention.  The most amazing things started happening once I announced the new weekly plan.

 One family who attends regularly doesn’t usually have a chance to take any leadership role…(however a) Mom asked to come up with an activity involving food to combine those two elements of MC that people were missing.  The story was Adam and Eve and she planned (a food activity…with proper protection (we)put together bags with the ingredients then joined in a parade of two to deliver the activity packets to our MC family’s doorsteps Saturday morning.  The kids got to do something they loved and also were able to see people who are normally at MC from their car seats.  (She) led the activity online before we did a Celebration message.

 Another benefit of MC online is that attendees can invite family and friends around the country to join us for just 30 minutes.  We (met a cousin from) Nebraska this Saturday who invited all of us on a road trip to go visit them. 

  • Barb and friends
  • Delivering Messy Packages
  • Relaxing while one Parade
Christ United Methodist Messy Church at Albuquerque, New Mexico with Barb Tegtmeier

Messy Combination

On-site physically distanced activity, at home activities and a 30-minute Zoom to FB live Celebration in Thousand Oaks, CA

The team from Thousand Oaks (TO) United Methodist, were ambitious as they adapted their Messy Church for the Covid- 19 pandemic.  The theme was Soul on Fire!, based on the story of Pentecost from Acts 2. Prior to the Saturday 30-minute Zoom to Facebook Live celebration, they both delivered bags of craft activities and created an outline for a dove banner at the church.  People dropped by the church to add their thumb prints to a beautiful dove banner while maintaining physical distance.

Soul on Fire! Banner, Thousand Oaks United Methodist Messy Church, CA

The bilingual TO MC used both live and previously recorded videos to share music, scripture readings, a skit and prayer during their gathered together live zoom to Facebook celebration. As they gathered on their Zoom to Facebook live event on Saturday afternoon, they focused on the scripture of Pentecost when people were confused as they began to speak in multiple languages. 

Jesus O., a high school senior who attends TO MC, created a video of a variety of people praying the Lord’s prayer in their language that was used during their celebration time. Seeing and hearing the Lord’s Prayer in English, Spanish, Farci, Korean and Sign Language brought the message to life for today’s context. Messy Church USA is grateful that TO MC  graciously gave us permission to use their video in our contribution to the Messy Global Adventure on May 21st.  

Lord’s Prayer Video by Jesus O. 

Following their May MC, families have been sharing pictures of their at home activities on the TO MC Facebook page.  What a wonderfully creative way to keep Messy Church families engaged with one another even though they are unable to gather in person!

Soul on Fire! Messy at Home Activities
Thousand Oaks United Methodist, CA

Messy Church NOW Opportunity

On Tuesday June 30th, you will have an opportunity to discover three more models of how Messy churches have adapted their gatherings to be safe for all.  Messy Church USA NOW is a 90-minute webinar that will engage you and your team in ways you can reach out to your Messy Church community. 

Learn More and Register Here 

For now, I would love to hear how you are adapting your Messy Church.  Send me your stories to share with others and some pictures!

Grace and Peace, Roberta

Equipping Messy Churches to start, sustain and connect in the USA

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A Confession and Prayer for the USA

 June 3, 2020
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A Blog Post from Roberta J. Egli, Executive Director of Messy Church USA

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Several weeks ago, as I was preparing material for our “Jesus Journeys to the Jordan” Global Messy Adventure video, I debated telling the story of the African American spiritual hymn, Wade in the Water. I kept thinking of the song as I recorded videos of the Willamette river close to my home and wanted to use the song in the video but sensed a need to share the story and confess to our global Messy Church brothers and sisters in the USA we have not faced our original foundational sin of racism. However, I ended up not using the video as it didn’t seem to ‘fit’ with the story we wanted to tell.

On Memorial Day, I realized that I could no longer be silent regarding our country’s complicity in the continuation of systemic racism. In one day, the news lit up with the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN and the story of a white woman who deliberately called police during a conflict with an African American bird watching man in Central Park NY. I realize that I can only speak from my experience as a white woman of privilege.  I do believe that I must listen, study, confess and learn while also having the courage to speak. 

These words from Jim Winkler, National Council of Churches President, convict me that I can no longer stay silent.

We are all responsible for doing the hard work to end racism and white supremacy, especially white people. The burden cannot always be on our African American brothers and sisters. These are not just ideologies or individual opinions. These are the systemic issues at the core of American society and it is deadly. The words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ring loudly: ‘Riots are the language of the unheard.’ Our nation needs healing but there can be no healing without justice.

iStock

So the following is what i initially wrote two weeks ago and the rough video that I recorded beside the river that was not used in our Messy Adventure from Messy Church USA video.    

Wade in the water is one of more than six thousand African American spirituals that have been cataloged. Water is an important image in the African American Spiritual…water was a primary aspect of slave experience—the ‘middle passage’ marked the beginning of their captivity as they traveled across the ocean to a new land in slave ships.  The Ohio River was the dividing line between slavery and freedom on the Underground Railroad.

There is a story, although not confirmed,  that Harriet Tubman and other underground railroad conductors used songs like Wade in the Water. They were songs with their own codes that communicated hidden messages that guided slaves on their dangerous journey to freedom.  It is thought that “Wade in the Water” was used to tell slaves to get into the water to avoid being seen and make it through. This is an example of a map song, where directions are coded into the lyrics.

God’s a gonna trouble the water is taken from the scripture in John 5 when the Spirit came down and troubled the water at the Bethesda pool (also known as the pool by the sheep gate).  When the water had been stirred, whomever was able to get into the water first was healed of their disease. Many people were waiting by the pool. One man had waited for 38 years as he required help from others to enter the pool.

Howard Thurman- an African American theologian wrote,“For the slaves the ‘troubled waters’ meant the ups and downs of life. Within the context of the ‘troubled waters” of life there are healing waters, because God is in the midst of the turmoil. Do not shrink form moving confidently out into the choppy seas. Wade in the water, because God is troubling the water.”

Slavery is part of our history as United States of America—not one we are proud of but one that we must acknowledge before we can move forward for justice for all. Before we take a moment to remember our baptism, it is important to remember the things in our past and present that separate us from receiving God’s love.

Wade in the Water Video

i Stock

Questions for Messy Church USA to ponder:

  • How might Messy Church be a sign of hope in the midst of our despair?
  • How might Messy Church be a place where we can build bridges?
  • How might we talk in our Messy Churches about race, about diversity, about justice?
  • Messy Church loves hands-on creativity. What might our confessions look, taste, feel, smell like? How can we put these confessions, worries, hopes, etc into something creative or tangible? 

Resources for Conversations about Racism with children and all ages

Prayer

God of all ages, from the beginning of time, we have turned away from your vision of love as you desired beloved community and we broke our relationship with you and one another. We are a broken people…we are a broken nation. Forgive us for our refusal to see clearly our sin of racism. Forgive us…send your mercy. Guide us in taking steps to know peace and justice and to work together to create equity from our chaos. We pray in the name of Jesus the Christ, with the power of the Holy Spirit who is always creating something new, AMEN.

My friends, I am praying for you…I am praying for us. May the grace of God, the love of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. AMEN.

Grace and peace, Roberta

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On May 21st you are invited to an Around the World Messy Adventure

 May 19, 2020
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To celebrate the amazing international Messy Church community and to bring a little joy to the day we will set out on the speediest round-the-world trip ever. On Thursday May 21st, (Ascension Day for the liturgical geeks), Messy Church leaders from England, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA will journey (digitally) journey through the Bible with worship, storytelling, prayer and food for thought. Starting with Lucy Moore, Messy Church founder and captain of this trip, the voyage begins at 11 Pm (Pacific Daylight Time on May 20th) and will conclude at 3 pm (PDT).  The Messy Church USA Journey to the Jordan begins at 9am(PDT) and our Journey to the Hillside will follow at 10 am(PDT). 

Join us as on the Messy Church YouTube  as we set sail (virtually), take off (in our imagination) and rev our (digital) engines for a whole day of Mess!

The Messy Church USA collaborators for this adventure are Cindy Banek,(VA). Robin Cannon (NC), Marty Drake (CA), Roberta Egli (OR), Crystal Goetz (WA), Jillian Mayer (IL), Johannah Myers (SC), Jenna Reinke (TX), Leyla Wagner (CA), and Jim White(CA).

Messy Church around the World, created by Dave Martin

The entire journey itinerary for this Messy Adventure is below in British Standard Time!

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