Hello Church Family!

This is Pastor Karissa, and I have the pleasure of writing the pastor's note to you all this week since I will be preaching on Sunday! I hope that you are having a wonderful week and have experienced God in the midst of your days. 

As spring comes upon us, I am getting busier, the church is getting busier, and maybe you are too. It can be an exciting time of the year as everything wakes up from the winter slumber, new life comes forth, and activities that were on hold resume. It can also be stressful and tiring, so I pray that you are able to find rest and a sense of centeredness in God. We are in the middle of Lent, after all, a time when we are meant to be intentional about turning back to God and preparing ourselves to remember and re-experience the death and resurrection of Jesus. We cannot do this if we are so busy that we don't have time to breathe, to stop and marvel at the ways God is speaking to us through the beauty of the blooming creation, to reflect on Jesus' life, and to simply be in the presence of God. I'm preaching to myself here, so if you struggle with this, know that you're not the only one. 

Like I said, the church is getting busier in this season, and there are a lot of exciting things coming up (I've listed several happening within the next month below)! I hope that you will pray and discern how God is calling you to use your time and your gifts to participate in what's coming up! May whatever you do enrich your journey with God.

Grocery Collection for Doorstep (Month of March) - We are collecting groceries for one of our mission partners, Doorstep, during the month of March. Pick up a grocery bag with a list of needed goods at the table under the Missions Bulletin Board in the Celebration Room!

Spring Cleaning Day: March 25th from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Come and help the Men's Group and Dave Hutchinson make the outside of our building look beautiful for the spring! You'll be doing basic landscaping and cleaning while also getting to know your fellow church members better. Donuts and coffee will be provided! 

Easter Egg Hunt: April 1st from 10:00-11:30 a.m. - Bring your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and friends to this exciting event on the Capitol grounds. Also, please don't wait to bring candy donations and to sign up to volunteer so that you can join in the fun, regardless of whether you're bringing kids or not! We are offering this event for the community with 3 other downtown churches, and we need lots of candy and volunteers to make it happen. Our church, in particular, is in charge of the carnival games, so we'd really appreciate it if you sign up to help with those! You can sign up at the table in the Celebration Room or at this link.

Youth Pancake Feed Fundraiser: April 2nd from 8:45-10:45 a.m.  - On Palm Sunday, make sure to stop by the Youth Pancake Feed that will be in the Celebration Room! All the proceeds will go towards their summer mission opportunities! 

Mobile Access Partnership (MAP): April 11th and 13th from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - The Mobile Access Partnership, which is a coalition of different organizations in Topeka that travels around the city to provide services (i.e., showers, medical care, food, clothing) for our neighbors experiencing homelessness, is going to be in our parking lot two days a month starting in April. If you want to volunteer to help offer those services, please email Kim Turley at kturley@trmonline.org. If you want to volunteer for an hour-long shift as a bathroom monitor (allowing our church to be more hospitable to our neighbors), please contact me! Questions? Please let me know! 

This weekend in worship, we will be continuing our Lent series: A Wesleyan Journey with Jesus. We'll be looking at how Jesus engaged with Scripture to form his beliefs and practices, and we'll be reflecting on how we can follow his example by using a tool that can be traced all the way back to Wesley. As you prepare for worship, I encourage you to reflect on the question, "How do I form my beliefs when it comes to my faith?" Have a wonderful weekend! I'll see you Sunday!

Blessings,
Karissa Miller
Associate Pastor