This Palm Sunday, my family and I helped the Mercy Chefs serve over 1,000 meals to people who have been given permission to cross into the US, pending a later trial. Some of those meals went in boxes to hotels where those who tested positive for COVID are in quarantine. The rest of the meal was carried, in warming cases, to the Catholic Charities Respite Center in downtown McAllen where we served hundreds of young children and their families. These families have been processed and are awaiting family in the US to get money together to get them a plane or bus ticket. They are typically here for 24 hours at most.

If you have been vaccinated, please give a night to taking food to the Respite Center. It will be a hard night, but I believe it will do something for your soul that a decade’s worth of sermons never could. The people have so very little--a mat to lie on, a donated blanket, a piece of floor. Their clothing is dirty from the paths they walked to arrive here. They all have little children who will run up and ask, with a smile and a “please,” for a few extra grapes to nibble. Many of them carry their documents and paperwork everywhere they go, often in folders that say, “Please, I don’t speak English, will you help me…?”

We’re at the center of a crisis in our nation. As Susan Hellums and I discussed, none of us think this situation is right OR what God would want. But what is clear is that there are hungry people, hungry kids, who have only a scrap of floor to sleep on, who would love someone to smile at them and get them grapes. At their sides are parents who will eat every bit of the food you put on their plates. Jesus said that we feed him when we offer food to the least (Matthew 25:40). The very least are among us, my friends. And we have the chance to do something kind for Jesus.

Choose a day over the next few weeks to help. You will not regret it. It will make you so aware of all that we have and take for granted (and here we thought COVID had already done that). If you have not had a COVID vaccine, come help cook, prepare, and pack the meals at the church. We make and deliver meals every day, always at dinner, often for lunch. All of us can get on the list here: CLICK HERE TO HELP OUT

And now, here are FUMC’s Holy Week services and experiences:

• Holy Thursday (TODAY!)- 5-6pm Communion to Go in the parking lot along McColl Road. All are welcome. This the day Jesus ate his last meal with his followers. We will remember his love and sacrifice.
• Good Friday- 3-6pm Stations of the Cross. On Friday Jesus was tried, convicted, beaten and nailed to the cross. The stations of the cross follow Jesus on this journey, allowing us to walk with him as he offers his life up for us. This self-guided worship experience will take place at 14 stations throughout the FUMC grounds, ending in the sanctuary. Come for a contemplative, self-paced walk with Jesus through the last hours of his life. 
• Easter Sunday (all three services are followed by an outdoor egg hunt for the kids)
• 8am- Outdoor Traditional Worship – hymns and the chance to rejoice in our salvation under the freshly-risen sun. Bring your own chairs or blankets. We’re encouraging all our regulars to come to this outdoor service so we can make room at 11am. There will be a special egg hunt (with chocolate and golden eggs) following this service.
• 9:30am- Contemporary Worship – inspiring music, prayer, and worship on Easter morning. Egg hunt will follow the service. I also expect this to be a service with plenty of room for our regulars.
• 11:00am- Traditional Worship – beautiful hymns, prayer, and worship on Easter morning. Our bell choir is assisting on the final hymn. Egg hunt will follow the service.

Before you go, I thought you’d enjoy some images from Palm Sunday. It was so wonderful- the hand chime choir performed for the very first time, the children blessed us with a beautiful palm processional, and the kids’ singing Hosanna Rock was just the best.

I’m so glad to be celebrating my first Easter as your pastor, FUMC!

Pastor Laura

*Click on the link below if you would like to print this letter without color or graphics:

Pastoral Letter, Thursday, April 1st