This guided tour, hosted by Rev. Britt Skarda and Jay Clark, will be January 8-17, 2013.  Click here to download a brochure. If you have questions, please contact Jay Clark.  We hope you will consider joining us on this spiritual pilgrimage to the land where Jesus walked.

While in London recently, Karen and I had the opportunity to see a wonderful new production of the musical Singing in the Rain adapted from the 1952 American movie classic of the same title.  Showing at the Palace Theater in London’s West End, Singing in the Rain has all the charm, romance, comedy and tinsel town glamour of the original film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds.

While there has been no announcement that Singing in the Rain will cross the pond and open on Broadway, Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church will celebrate its own version later this month with a sermon series in the Sanctuary based on Noah’s Ark.  From motion pictures, to children’s books, to comic strips, the story of the Flood has been told and retold in a million different ways, always including loads and loads of rain!

Join us for this three-week series in the Sanctuary designed to move us beyond the quaint children’s tale of our youth to a powerful story of God’s all-encompassing love that literally knows no bounds.   The series will culminate with a production of Benjamin Britten’s powerful opera Noye’s Fludde, complete with cast and crew and magnificent Broadway designed set:

• Friday, April 13 & Sunday, April 15 – “Judgment” –  Genesis 6: 9-22
• Friday, April 20 & Sunday, April 22 – “Grace” – Genesis 9: 9-17
• Sunday, April 29: Benjamin Britten’s “Noye’s Fludde”  (public performance 4 p.m.)

Don’t miss it!

Britt Skarda

“If you live in the dark a long time and the sun comes out, you do not cross into it whistling. There’s an initial uprush of relief at first, then – for me, anyway – a profound dislocation. My old assumptions about how the world works are buried, yet my new ones aren’t yet operational.  There’s been a death of sorts, but without a few days in hell, no resurrection is possible.”

– Mary Karr, Lit: A Memoir

American poet, essayist and memoirist Mary Karr captures the paradox of the human experience.  Apart from pain, there can be no pleasure.  Without sorrow, there is no joy.  Without death, there can be no resurrection.  How does the old Apostles’ Creed put it?  He descended into hell; on the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. Simply said, it is impossible to experience the dawn of a new day without first passing through the darkness of the previous night.

When I was a boy, the promise of the Resurrection was easy to embrace since my youthful self had never known the grim reality of death.  However, as I grew into manhood, those unavoidable dark moments began to arrive with alarming frequency.  To be perfectly honest, there have been moments in my life when I was convinced the light would never shine again.

While I can only imagine the dark places you may be facing at this very moment in your life – health concerns, grief over the loss of a loved one, tenuous relationships, uncertainty about the future – I do know that, in Jesus Christ, God has provided a patch of bright blue sky.

Are you struggling to catch a glimmer of light in the midst of life’s dark uncertainties?  Then join us this Sunday, April 8, as we celebrate the good news of Christ crucified and risen.  Join us at Riverfront Park at 7 a.m. for the 24^th Annual Community Sunrise Service.  Experience the joy of God’s redemptive light at 8:30, 9:45 and 11:00 a.m. Sanctuary services and 9:45 and 11:00 a.m. New Heights services.  The dawn has come!  Christ is risen!  Alleluia!

Britt Skarda

Rev. Britt Skarda has started a new blog titled “The Virtual Word.”

Check it out to catch up with Britt as he travels with the PHUMC Chorale in the UK.

Congratulations PHUMC members and friends!   With the inauguration of our new Sunday morning schedule this past weekend, worship attendance swelled to a whopping 1248!  This marks a 24% increase over our current average weekly attendance.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

Sunday school was bursting at the seams, and Fellowship Central in the Great Hall created a real buzz.  Join us this Sunday, March 4^th, by climbing aboard the trolley at War Memorial Stadium, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.  Due to the popularity of this endeavor, additional parking spaces are now available.  The hours for Fellowship Central in the Great Hall have also been expanded from 8 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Experience the great things God is doing through Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church!

Blessings,

Britt Skarda

Ash Wednesday is my least favorite day of worship. You come to church and you are reminded that you will die, and you get some ashes smeared on your forehead. How’s that for an uplifting service? However, I also happen to think that Ash Wednesday is one of the most important days of worship on the Christian calendar. It begins a centuries-old tradition of marking the 40 days leading up to Easter (excluding Sundays) known as Lent. This is traditionally a time in which we focus on on Jesus’ call to die to self so that we may be raised to a new life centered in Christ.

Read the rest of the article on Rev. Heath Bradley’s blog, The Sunday Drive Home.

Beginning Sunday, Feb. 26^th, PHUMC will begin a free trolley shuttle service between the church and War Memorial Stadium.  The trolleys will run continuously from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Sunday.  We are offering this trolley service to alleviate parking issues on campus and allow first time guests to find parking on site.

Trolley riders can park at the west parking lot area of War Memorial Stadium by the “Stars and Stripes” sculpture.  The trolley will then take the riders to Pulaski Heights UMC and return them after services.

Here’s the planned route from War Memorial to PHUMC.

View Larger Map

Feb 28^th- March 13^th

Wesley Hall, 6:30-7:30pm

(childcare available)

Taught by Rev. Heath Bradley

The Franciscan author Richard Rohr likes to say, “We cannot think ourselves into new ways of living.” Anyone who has ever set out on a journey of personal change knows that mere information doesn’t lead to actual transformation.  Knowing what you need to do and being able to do it are two very different things. In order to change, we must engage in intentional spiritual practices that go deeper than the thinking mind and touch the heart. This Lent season we will offer a 3-week series of workshops on simple spiritual practices that Christians have engaged in for centuries that allow for God’s Spirit to work in our hearts to produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Feb 28^th- Sacred Breath: Introduction to Meditation

March 6^th- Sacred Meals: Introduction to Fasting and Feasting

March 13^th- Sacred Walk: Introduction to Labyrinth Spirituality

There’s nothing stagnant about it, is there?  If we live long enough, we come to understand that time flies.  It’s not so noticeable when we’re young.  In our youth, the days are laidback and slow.  The earth rotates on its axis at a more leisurely pace.  Christmas comes but once a decade.  However, as we mature, time accelerates and life moves faster and faster.   While it may not be so obvious in our daily routine—the getting up, going to work, coming home, putting-the-kids-to-bed cycle—we experience it most clearly in the margins; those gaps in time when our past catches up with our present.  Last week I had a chance encounter with my first-ever college roommate.  We barely recognized each other.  He’s older now and retired after 35 years with his company.  “No, it’s not possible,” I told myself, “but I’m afraid so.”  Almost forty years have passed since we shared a stereo and a portable TV with rabbit ears in room 327.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a forty day season of prayer and fasting.  Lent echoes the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness before beginning his public ministry, a ministry that led to his sacrificial death on the cross.  Lent is a time to get in touch with our own mortality.  It is a time to be reminded that we don’t have all the time in the world.  Life is finite.  It comes to an end faster than we realize.  Join us at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church this Lenten season as together we make this timeless journey with our Savior.  Hear the words “from dust you came and to dust you will return” as we gather on Ash Wednesday.  Pray, fast, worship, study and give thanks to the God who lives beyond time and who promises us the timeless hope of a glorious Easter!

-Britt Skarda

— Michelangelo

Unveiled in 1504, Michelangelo’s sculpture of David has been described as the ultimate masterpiece.  This stunning work, located in the Gallery of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, expresses the pinnacle of the artist’s genius.   On a trip to Italy this past spring, Karen and I stood speechless as we gazed upon this magnificent creation.  It is, quite simply, the image of perfection.

The church, the body of Christ, is God’s living masterpiece on earth.  You and I are the physical manifestation of God’s love for all.  Because of this, it is both our privilege and our responsibility to create a work of art that both inspires and transforms the lives of others.  This is our aim and purpose at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church.

Thank you for your generous financial support of our many ministries this past year.  Contributions in 2011 reached a record high, and all apportionments and budget expenses were paid.  Likewise, financial commitments for 2012 are up by a whopping eight percent.  Incredible!

Of course, our financial success is merely an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual desire to serve God and neighbor in all that we do.  It would be impossible to list the myriad life-changing ministries that flow out of PHUMC.   From cradle to grave, we have the blessing of participating in this living work of art called “church.”

Beginning February 26, our Sunday morning schedule will change in order to more fully accommodate the people God has called us to love—those who may not have heard the message of Christ, crucified and risen.  Concurrent worship services will be celebrated in the Sanctuary and Wesley Hall at both 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.  These four services will allow for additional worship space and more user-friendly time slots.  Sunday school will fall between the two hours of worship.

An ongoing shuttle service will be provided from War Memorial Stadium to the front door of the church from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.  The greatest gift you can offer the church during this transition is a willingness to ride the shuttle.  It is an easy and convenient mode of transportation, and it will leave more on-site parking spaces for our guests.

Our aim is high as we continue to mold this masterpiece called PHUMC.  Thank you for being a part of this “body.”  Thank you for being an artist!

Together in ministry,

Britt Skarda