Passion Week Activities

GOOD FRIDAY: April 3rd 6:30pm reflective worship

EASTER!  April 5th, 2015 - 11:00 AM WORSHIP - FELLOWSHIP TIME and EASTER EGG HUNT: after the service

Sunday, April 5th – During the 11 AM worship, Pastor Teresa will preach John 20 from bringing a sermon titled ‘Hearing’ Jesus. After the worship service will be a robust fellowship time of Easter Finger Food and an Easter Egg Hunt. All are welcome! Invite your friends.

*** Upcoming Preaching Ministry and Community Time

April 3rd       Good Friday, 6:30pm in the Sanctuary – reflective service including 33       bell rings, harp and organ.

April 5th       EASTER, please bring flowers to decorate the altar, Pastor Teresa preaching at Worship 11am, Singing Communion, Easter Egg Hunt and ROBUST Easter lunch after service (bring something yummy, eggy or Eastery to share.)

April 12th     Multigenerational and Adult Sunday School, Pastor Teresa preaching.

April 19th     Rev. Dr. Jim Sack preaching, Communion will be served.

April 24th     Friday night game night in the sanctuary – all are invited, invite your                                          friends!

April 26th    Multigenerational and Adult Sunday School, Weng Kong Loh (Singapore Campus Crusade Mission Worker) preaching.

May 3rd       Pastor Teresa preaching, Communion will be served.

May 10th     Multigenerational and Adult Sunday School, Rev. Dr. Naoya Kawakami, Gen. Sec. of Tohoku HELP preaching.

May 17th      Jon McCurley, Community Life Director of ARI (Asian Rural Institute) will be preaching, Communion will be served.

May 24th     PENTECOST!, Multigenerational and Adult Sunday School, Rev. Dr. Jim Sack, Professor at the Lutheran College and Seminary will be preaching.

May 31st      Carol Sack, director of Lyra Precaria at the JELA Center preaching.

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CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CORNER (we value your prayers & involvement in this vital ministry)  Any questions, please contact Pastor Teresa at wtucrev@gmail.com, or Julie Rogers for HS; Amy Harbaugh and Steve Bennett for Upper ES and Lower MS, grades 4-7; and Carrie Bennett for Lower ES, grades K-3.

Little Kids: All are welcome to go with Sara and have fun learning about the two brothers.

ES – Tentative swim and devotions dates – April 8th (PACT) 5:00pm, May 13th (PACT) 5:00pm, June 3rd 5:00 pm

MS/HS – Game Night on 4/24, Praise Music Sunday 4/12, all youth are encouraged to send suggestions for music to Mrs. Rogers.

ALL Sunday Schools – Sunday, April 5th EASTER EGG HUNT, after the service

MULTIGENERATIONAL and ADULT Sunday School – Sunday, April 12th

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MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL!! ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL!! We have Multigenerational Sunday School from 9:30 in the cafeteria the  second and fourth Sundays of the month. Who is welcome? All ages. We will be creating, discussing, playing games, acting out bible stories and more. At the same time, the Sacks host the Adult Sunday School, also at 9:30 am in their living room. The method used is the, “Swedish Bible study method,” interacting with the texts for the service through our own life experiences. Their home is right across the Lutheran Campus from our sanctuary.  Best coffee in town = ) Come and enjoy! (At times Adult Sunday School is held in the Upper Room, on the 2nd floor above the Sanctuary.) All are welcome. Need more information, contact wtucrev@gmail.com any time = ) Sunday School schedule:  4/12, 4/26, 5/10, 5/24, 6/14 and 6/28.

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Thomas John Hastings through Pickwick Publications, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers, has recently released a book (2/2015): Seeing All Things Whole: The Scientific Mysticism and Art of Kagawa Toyohiko (1888–1960). ISBN 13: 978-1-4982-0407-1 Retail: $31 Pastor Teresa has access to an excerpt if you would like it sent to you.

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WTUC  Announcements:

  *Questions or concerns?  Feel free to email wtucrev@gmail.com anytime.

  *Please enjoy and refer our website https://wtuc.net/ and FB page (West Tokyo Union Church) to others.  Please make any suggestions for additions to the Pastor Teresa and/or Steering Committee.   

  *If you’d like to be added to the WTUC church email list, please contact Gene Witt ewitt@asij.ac.jp

  *If interested in joining the WTUC Prayer Chain, let Pastor Teresa or Prayer Chain Coordinator, Kayo Ozawa, know of your interest. Please submit prayers to wtucrev@gmail.com or Kayo Ozawa.

  *Sign up for snacks for fellowship time with Ann or on the list on the white board for next year. We appreciate your contributions to our community life!

  *Each week we will be setting up the chairs for worship and preparing the sanctuary, anyone around at 10:30am is invited to be involved in the fun = )  Each week we will also return our sanctuary to it`s classroom style after the fellowship time.

*Interested in baptism or membership, please contact Pastor Teresa.

*Interested in a paid position setting up and/or taking down the chairs of our sanctuary?  Contact Pastor Teresa at wtucrev@gmail.com

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Passage for the sermon – John 20:1-18

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, (she grabbed him) “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.