Seventh Sunday of Easter

Message from Pastor Mori 

Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church The Weekly Newsletter    Message from Pastor Mori Dear RFUMC Family If you feel tired all the time, feel exhausted and irritable, and even feel mental fogginess, it is not just your story. NPR said, "While some people who have had COVID -19 report brain fog and fatigue as lingering symptoms of their infection- what is known as long COVID- mental health care providers around the U.S are hearing similar complaints from people who weren't infected by the virus."   I agree with NPR: it's a normal reaction to a very abnormal year. The American Psychological Association found that 3 in 4 Americans said that the pandemic is a significant source of stress. And the reason why stress can leave us feeling drained is it "keeps our mind vigilant and our nervous system vigilant and that uses more energy," said Elissa Eple, who is a psychologist at the University of California.    As I read the article, I thought about how we could release our stress. NPR introduced many psychological solutions, but I think about our Sabbath time. The Sabbath: a time with me and God; a time for peace and fulfilment when I worship God, focus on God, and enjoy mutual relationship with my faith community.    I always appreciate the opportunity to have online worship and give thanks to God for technology. However, as I prepare for the in-person gardening worship, I realized how much I missed the worship time with my community. Last Sunday, as I listened to Jonathan's music in-person, I felt like my soul was dancing with the hymns.    On May 23, we will have In-Person Sunday worship at Japanese Memorial Garden. This worship will be broadcast on Zoom as well. I hope you can come join us and experience the Sabbath time as a community.    For sake of our heath, we will keep MDN (Mask, Distance, No Congregational singing) and I want you pre-register (link here) so we can prepare your seat.    Setting aside one hour a week for rest and prayer and listening to God's word as we worship as a community will be a great way to give you the room to release your worries and stress!    Blessings   MORI   Give on PayPal    Community Info & Links                             Ravenswood Fellowship UMC Sunday Outdoor Worship  We will have our first in-person worship service on May 23rd at 10:30 am.  This will take place in the garden.  We will keep the capacity size to 20 people.  Face masks are required.  If you are interested in attending in person, please sign-up using the link here. If you are unable to attend, we will still have our worship online as well, using our Zoom link. Please feel free to bring your own lawn chair if you feel more comfortable!     Justice Generation Virtual Concert                                                  Kimiko and Eriko Darcy will present a fundraising virtual concert to advocate anti-racism.  The concert will take place on Saturday May 15th  6:30 - 7:15 pm.  Please click here to view the concert.  To learn more about Eriko and Kimiko, and what they have been doing, click here for Eriko's bio, and here for Kimiko's bio.. The Justice Generation organization is a United Methodist Church (Northern Illinois conference) anti-racism high school youth group. Kimiko is active in this group. The group shares experiences and opinions on social justice and racial issues. To learn more about this organization, click here.  The proceeds of the concert will be distributed to various charitable organizations which promote social justice. To support this concert, please send checks to the church, payable to Ravenswood Fellowship UMC.  If you would like to make a donation using paypal, please click here.  (Please designate any donation "Darcy concert")                                 Japanese Mutual Aid Society of Chicago Virtual Memorial Service  Each Memorial Day, the Japanese Mutual Aid Society of Chicago (JMAS) holds a service at Montrose Cemetery, 5400 North Pulaski Road, Chicago, IL.  This year the Memorial Day service will be a virtual service.  Pastor Mori will do the prayer as a representative of the Christian community. The service will be on Monday May 31 at 11:00 am.  To view the service, click here.                                                                        This is an initiative of the Pathways Toward Peace group that is centered at St. Benedict Parish. The vision statement for this group focuses on racial social justice to end inequality. The group is organizing an event for all faith communities to join in commemorating the one year anniversary of George Floyd's death. The plan is to have a prayer service and action to occur on Tuesday, May 25th from 4:30 to 6PM. The prayer service will occur in front of St. Benedict's and last about twenty minutes, and will be followed by simply forming a presence on the north and south sides of Irving Park Road at Leavitt until 6PM.  The idea is to use our prayer, presence and signs to visibly honor George Floyd and other victims of racism. For more information please contact St. Benedict Parish at http://www.stbenedict.com/ or 773-588-6484.                      Volunteers Needed!   Calling all volunteers for the period between May 21 - June 7.  The church custodian will be away from the church during this time.  He performs countless duties throughout the week.  If you have some spare time and can lend a hand during his absence, please call us at the church office (773) 561-2610 and let us know.  We appreciate any and all offers of help!  Thank you!                                                        If you do not have computer access or cannot access our Sunday worship service through a smart phone, we now have a sermon by phone service, which is available at any time! The phone number is (773) 219-0861.  You can listen to a recent version of Pastor Mori's Sunday sermon and it's free!                                                                              Ravenswood Fellowship UMC May 2021 - Calendar  Click Here    Church Room Reservation Form (to request use of the common areas of the church Click Here        After Covid-19 Updates.    Read about the Phases for Re-Opening here. Is that document too long? Read the summary version here. State of Illinois "A Bridge to Phase 5" Here                                         Links for Worship.  Join Zoom worship by going to this link at 10:30 AM on Sunday: https://zoom.us/j/806489040. Or call in at 1-312-626-6799 (Meeting ID: 806 489 040).  Let's boost our worship! Please sign-up for Worship service Bible reader Sign-Up here. Young People's Bible Study. Ages 12-18 are invited to join the Zoom discussion of Jesus stories at 9 AM on Sunday mornings. Join the Zoom call here (Meeting ID: 828 2305 3546, One-tap mobile+13126266799) Want prayer? During our Prayers of the People, we will read your prayer requests. Submit your prayer requests here. Download. Get your bulletin here. Having trouble? Try logging off and logging back on to Zoom during the video. Or simply log off and call in.  Missed last week? Check out the Facebook Live video on our page here.  Give on PayPal Our mailing address is: 4511 North Hermitage Ave. Chicago, IL 60640 Contact us at: ravfelumc@yahoo.com (773) 561-2610 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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