Redeemer Announcements & Prayers | February 25, 2021

ZOOM GATHERING OPPORTUNITIES // Throughout the season of Lent we’re offering numerous opportunities for you and your families to gather together online: 
        WEDNESDAY EVENING LENT HOLDEN EVENING PRAYER & DISCUSSIONS  //  You're invited to join us via Zoom each Wednesday evening at 7pm during Lent when we will share in pre-recorded Holden Evening Prayer (created by Paul & Amy Koopman) and discuss various traditional Black spirituals (provided by Christine Belfry Johnson & Traiveon Dunlap). You may also view the videos on our website each week. (Zoom Meeting ID: 874 4538 4114 | Passcode: 340861 or dial-in by phone to 301-715-8592)
        FAMILY SUNDAY MORNING FELLOWSHIP // Each Sunday morning at 10:30am we gather for Zoom Fellowship. This Sunday, will be our first monthly "Redeemer Family Fellowship"  gatherings for children and families. These virtual gatherings will be an opportunity for us to connect and grow in our faith together! Activities are designed for children ages 12 and younger, but all ages are invited to join the fun! (Family fellowship will be held in place of “regular” fellowship these weeks).
        COMMUNITY ORGANIZER TRAINING ROUNDTABLE // This Sunday morning, Dr. Robin Bell (Redeemer Council minister for Racial Justice) and others among the recently-trained Redeemer community organizers will host a special Zoom conversation at 10:30am (during Family fellowship time). They will share their experiences of the weeklong Community Organizing for Faith Leaders training and discuss what you might experience should you join the June 2021 training! (Meeting ID: 844 0857 4545 | Passcode: 730137 or dial-in by phone to 312-626-6799)

LENT ON THE NORTHSIDE // Our Northside Parish sibling congregation, Christ the River of Life, will be hosting at 12 noon a short hybrid Holden Evening Prayer worship each Wednesday in Lent. Those who come in person with masks and distancing may enjoy a soup supper, while others may join via zoom.

NEXT WEEK AT WORSHIP // We will host Virtual Holy Communion, Sunday, March 7th and Happy Birthday song for the March-born! (Pre-recorded worship will be available online by Saturday at 10am)

PRAISE & PRAYERS FOR REDEEMER NEWBORNS // We offer profound congratulations and celebrate together with Rachel Birkedal and Derwin Halim on the birth of their daughter Eka Matana (2/10/21); and Linnae Nelson-Seys and Jamie Seys (and Abraham) on the birth of their daughter Leora (2/14/21). We hold in prayer those awaiting the arrival of babies: Alyssa Schwitzer and Elizabeth Hanson, and Steven Hobert and Sarah Lindsey. We can’t wait to meet these little ones and shower their families when it’s safe to do so!

WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES // We need readers for Lent worship!! Please register online or email Amy to sign up to record yourself and/or your family speaking the assigned lectionary readings for our prerecorded worships during the months of January and February. Know that you can speak aloud the readings linked on the sign-up or from a children’s or other translation in your home. 

COVID-19 PREVENTION & VACCINES // The best protection from the various mutations of the COVID-19 virus—whether you are vaccinated or not—is to: 
-- stay home whenever possible; 
-- stay 6 feet away from others in all spaces; 
-- wear a mask (or two) so that there is adequate filtration and a snug fit over the bridge of your nose, cheeks, and chin; and
-- wash your hands often and well. 
See the MN Department of Health COVID-19 site for more in-depth and current information about symptoms, testing, and vaccines. At this time, in MN, vaccines are being given to long-term care residents and staff, healthcare workers, K-12 teachers, child care workers, and people over 65. Currently, vaccine demand exceeds the supply. MN Department of Health offers a vaccine locator site. When you receive a vaccine appointment, be sure to dress appropriately so that your upper arm is easily accessible (for example, wear a short-sleeve t-shirt under your sweater/jacket). 

HEALTH COMMONS at the LIVING ROOM currently offers Zumba, Book Club Discussions, and Health Q&A's online and via Zoom. Follow them on Facebook to get current schedules, events, and other resources: Health Commons at the Living Room.

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Second Sunday in Lent | Readings & Gospel: 
Genesis 17:1-7, Psalm 22:23-31, Romans 4:13-25 & Mark 8:31-38

Relying on the promises of God, we pray boldly for the church, the world, and all in need . . .
 
Your gift of grace is for all people. Give confident faith to all the baptized, that they may follow you wholeheartedly. Give new believers joy in your promises; give hope and courage to those who suffer for their faith. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.
 
You rule over the nations. Raise up advocates for peace and justice within and between nations. Give life where hope seems dead by teaching us to wonder at your works and tend the well-being of creation; call into existence new realities we cannot even imagine for residents of the Congo, Myanmar, and Texas as well as places unnamed. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.
 
In Jesus you joined humanity in suffering and death. Reveal to all the depth of your love shown on the cross. Bring vindication for victims of injustice, exploitation, and oppression.  Accompany all who suffer in body, mind, and spirit. Restore all who are sick or grieving especially Dennis, Itasca, Ione, Kogo Nora, Mary, and Sarah, our local and global siblings, the vaccinated and unvaccinated, all living with surging and variant COVID-19 in Slovakia, Britain with accompanying lockdowns alongside of quarantines, for all emergency responders, transporters, security guards, as well as disaster volunteers, the unsheltered campers at 2nd Ave North and Van White Memorial Blvd, brothers James and Bobbie, Cindy, Linda, Jovita, Maggie, Samantha, William . . .. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.
 
You made Abraham and Sarah the ancestors of a multitude of nations. Bless grandparents, parents Rachel and Derwin, Linnae and Jamie, and foster parents, and the children who look to them for care and guidance. Console those who deal with infertility, parents who have entrusted their children to adoption, and children longing to be adopted. We thank you for the Redeemer Education-Youth ministry equipping a monthly virtual ministry to families. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.
 
We await the day of Christ’s coming in glory. Lead us by the example of all the saints whom you have called to take up their cross and follow you Fessehatsion Kiflu Berhane, and Agui Elicki, Josh . . . that together we may find our lives in you. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.
 
We entrust ourselves and all our prayers to you, O faithful God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.