Greetings to all!
Memorial Day weekend offers an opportunity to reflect on our nation's struggles and sacrifices.
Few persons had greater occasion and capacity for such reflection than Abraham Lincoln.
His Second Inaugural Address remains one of the most profound reflections on war in general
and the Civil War in particular. In his book, American Gospel, Jon Meacham comments on
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address.
The eloquence of Lincoln's address can conceal the starkness of his message. Read
carefully, the speech is startling in its religiosity and its insistence that the events of this world
are linked to the will and mind of a God who presides outside of time and space. Here is a
president of the United States, waging a civil war in which his countrymen are the only
casualties, quoting the Nineteenth Psalm - "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous
altogether" - to say that an indefinite struggle would be not only divinely ordained but just,
for America was being summoned to account for its sins against the human beings it had long
enslaved. Eleven days later, answering a congratulatory message about the speech, Lincoln
said he understood that the address was not going to be "immediately popular," but he was
confident he had done right. "Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a
difference of purpose between the Almighty and them," Lincoln wrote. "To deny it, however,
in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is a truth which I thought
needed to be told..."
The Scripture lessons for Sunday, May 30:
2 Samuel 1:17-27
1 Peter 2:11-17
Mark 13:1-8
Men's Coffee - Men are invited to gather for coffee this Saturday, May 29, 8am, at Paneras on
Richmond Road. Feel free to stop in for as long or short a time as your schedule allows. No rsvp
required.
Sunday Conversations resume this Sunday, May 30, 10am, in Trinity Hall with conversation
focused around the Memorial Day weekend. We'll watch and talk about a segment from the
Ken Burns Civil War series titled "Was it Not Real?"
One Spirit, Many Gifts is the title of a three part series of Wednesday evenings in June
(June 9, 16, 23), 6pm - 7:45pm for all ages to gather for a meal and service. The first Wednesday,
June 9, we will gather for a cookout (burgers, hot dogs, etc) and then some service to Walnut Hill
Church. Subsequent Wednesdays will focus on service to the Community, and to the World.
Your rsvp by reply email or by the sign up sheet in the Sanctuary will help us plan for our
evenings together. You may attend any or all these Wednesday gatherings as your schedule
permits.
The Community Fund Grant Meeting was held on Sunday, May 23, to determine recipients of
2010 Grants from the Walnut Hill Community Fund. Twenty ballots were submitted to guide
final grant decisions. Grant recipients and amounts will be reported on Sunday, May 30. Thanks
to all who participated in this process.
Thanks also...to the Inquiry Team and all who participated in last week's "focus conversations" following up
our recent congregational survey;...to Glenna Fay, Ruth Sharrard, and Barb Waldmann-Ward for recent
work on the church flower gardens; ...to Dave Sharrard for recent building repairs;... to youth Sunday
discussion participants for their Sunday morning planting;...to Sherry Warden and Dorothy and Gene
Brockopp for providing last Sunday's refreshments.
Peace to all.
Mike Ward
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