Teresa’s Note: October 11, 2024

Dear friends and members of University UMC: This morning I am writing to you from the Chicago area, where I am attending a Commission on the Status and Role of Women board meeting. This agency of The UMC challenges The UMC for the full and equal participation of all women in the full life of the church. This is one of the smaller agencies with around twenty members. Most board members and participants come from places in the United States, but there are also representatives from The Philippines, Norway, and The Congo. The diversity of our general agencies is a reminder that we are a global church. And faithful congregations, like UUMC, pay apportionments that support a variety of worldwide ministries including our agencies. I’m grateful for this time and the rich conversations with new friends from places near and far.  Each morning our worship began with a land acknowledgment – a formal statement that recognizes Indigenous peoples as the traditional stewards of the land and acknowledges the relationship between Indigenous peoples and their territories. Monday is Indigenous Persons Day and in worship on Sunday the Gospel Lesson will be read from The First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament. This translation was the vision of Native American and United Methodist pastor, Terry Wildman. I’m placing below The First Nations Version of The Lord’s Prayer. See you Sunday! What a joy to be your pastor! Teresa The Lord’s Prayer - First Nations Version O Great Spirit, our Father from above, we honor your name as sacred and holy. Bring your good road to us, where the beauty of your ways in the spirit-world above is reflected in the earth below. Provide for us day by day-- the elk, the buffalo, and the salmon. The corn, the squash, and the wild rice. All the things we need for each day. Release us from the things we have done wrong, in the same way we release others for the things done wrong to us. Guide us away from the things that tempt us to stray from your good road, and set us free from the evil one and his worthless ways. Aho! May it be so! Terry Wildman reads The Lord’s Prayer - First Nations Version Prayer from Morning Worship God of the Bible, God in the Gospel, hope seen in Jesus, hope yet to come. You are our center, daylight or darkness, freedom or prison, you are our home. Hope we must carry, shining and certain, through all our turmoil, terror and loss. Bonding us gladly, one to the other, till our world changes, centered in love. Amen. 2409 Guadalupe Street Austin, Texas 78705 512-478-9387 Want to change how you receive emails from us? Click here to update your preferences or unsubscribe or unsubscribe from this list