From Behind the Pulpit

From Jennifer Sturges, chair of Family and Friendship Commission:

The Family and Friendship Commission is going to treat the students at Wesley House during K-State’s “Dead Week.” If you would like to contribute snacks, drinks, etc., please have them in the main church kitchen by noon on Sunday May 3, 2026. We will be delivering to them that day. Thank you! Know the students will appreciate it.

From Sheryl Fjell, chair of the Outreach Commission:

Sunday morning, April 26, is our Annual Food Packaging Event. We will be packaging 3000 Mac and Cheese meals and 2000 Beans and Rice meals from 8:30-10:30 am. Please come and help. This event is for all ages. We do the task in assembly-line fashion, so there is a job for everyone. We work to get it done so we can attend church. See you then.

If you would like to submit an article for the weekly newsletter or an announcement slide to be displayed before worship, please email info@caumc.church with “Announcement” in the subject line. All submissions must be received by Thursday at 8:00 a.m.

I recently worked my way through Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman. He opens with a quote from Heinrich Weinel and Alban G. Widgery, that I want to share with you below.

“To some God and Jesus may appeal in a way other than to us: some may come to faith in God and to love, without a conscious attachment to Jesus. Both Nature and good men besides Jesus may lead us to God. They who seek God with all their hearts must, however, some day on their way meet Jesus.” [1]

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[1] Heinrich Weinel and Alban G. Widgery, Jesus in the Nineteenth Century and After (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1914), 405, quoted in Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), 1, Kindle edition.

From Gary Beach, church treasurer:

“Thanks to your generosity, we have already reached our goal of raising $5,000 to meet this year’s pledge from our church to the ministry of Common Table.”

From Staci Payne, chair of the Worship Commission:

“Thank you again to everyone that brought a cross or picture for our Stations of the Cross. The Worship Committee is so grateful. Your crosses are ready for pickup in the fellowship hall at your earliest convenience.”

Here at CAUMC, our informal guiding scripture reading is Micah 6:8, which tells us to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. In my estimation, we’re great at loving kindness, we’re pretty good at walking humbly, but we struggle (like most churches) with doing justice. We’ve got an excellent opportunity to do justice coming up.

Jeanne Koontz, a United Methodist Deacon working on behalf of the Direct Action and Research Training Center (DART), will share a 40-minute presentation in Fellowship Hall on Sunday afternoon, April 12, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. Jeanne will be talking about the importance of doing justice as a church and how we can be part of what DART is doing in central Kansas. You can learn more about DART at the link below. Everyone is welcome, and everyone is welcome to bring a friend.

Link: https://thedartcenter.org/

We’re starting new office hours beginning tomorrow, April 5, 2026. Those new hours can be found below. Because we are without an Administrative Assistant, it is still a good idea to call 785-539-4191 before driving over.

8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. — Monday through Friday
1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — Monday through Thursday

It is a glorious thing to be outside at 7:00 a.m. on Easter Morning for the Sunrise Service, but this Easter Sunday, the weather forecast says it’s going to be not only glorious but cold. For that reason, we’ll be moving inside to Fellowship Hall tomorrow morning (Sunday, April 5, 2026). Come and join us!

We had quite a few people show up for the Stations of the Cross in Fellowship Hall last night. The stations will be available to walk through a view at your own pace again tomorrow (Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026) from 10 am to 12 noon.

If you can’t make it in person, you can view the readings here: https://bit.ly/47IFWel