Good Friday 4/6, 6:30-8pm
Stations of the Cross here at Servant Church. You can come and go as you are able, the doors will be open.

Holy Saturday 4/7, 10am Easter Vigil @ Mt. Bonnell
Meet at the top of the stairs.

Easter Sunday Egg Hunt and Breakfast 4/8, 9:30am
We are providing free food for anyone in our neighborhood, an egg hunt for the kiddos on Easter morning, and collecting canned food for the Maplewood Food Pantry. WE NEED LOTS OF HELP! Sign up at the Service Station.

“You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody”

- Bob Dylan

There are many forms of clarification. You can clarify a statement by restating it in more understandable terms. You can clarify an image but taking out the blurs and imperfections. You can clarify butter by melting it down in order to separate the milk solids from the butter fat (Milk solids burn at a lower temperature than the pure butter fat).

For Christians, Lent is a time of clarification; a time of restating, de-bluring, skimming. The what of the clarification, though, is not personal achievement but declaration of service. Who you gonna serve? Lent isn’t a time of past tense. It isn’t a time to live off of former glories and former pledges and deeds well done. It is a precise declaration of the present. Of the need for Easter, of the need for a savior.

The ascetic disciplines of lent are really simply idol testers. Do I worship this idol? I can ask myself a thousand different ways, but once I live without it I will know. It is like the distinction between money and the love of money (as being the root of all evil). How do I know if I love money? How do I know if I love God? My faith is in Christ but am I?

As a church community, we continually clarify our mission and our faith through service. Our service focus for Lent is on Human Trafficking. We have been providing resources during worship as well as decorating our new worship space with images of Human Trafficking from both around the world and in Austin. You can follow more updates and get more information at Freedom Together: Mediations on Slavery and Actions Towards Freedom.

On Tuesday, March 13 from 5 PM to midnight at the Faith United Methodist Church parking lot, located at 2701 South Lamar Blvd., Imagine No Malaria will host an event to raise funds and awareness about malaria and the plight of many sub- Saharan Africans affected by it.

The East Side King traveling food trailer, famed by Top Chef finalist Paul Qui, will be on site providing delectable dishes. Members of the Servant Church community will be contributing music throughout the evening.

Admission is free and proceeds from food sales will benefit Imagine No Malaria, an initiative of the United Methodist Churchʼs Austin District which aims to end malaria related deaths in Africa by 2015.

RSVP on Facebook
Download: Imagine No Malaria Poster

UPDATE: We had to cancel due to the high probability of super cold rain tomorrow. We’re sorry and we’re working with BCDC to reschedule in late March or April.

This Saturday you’re invited to help with a community building project right in Servant Church’s own neighborhood. We’ll be partnering with the Blackland Community Development Corporation (BCDC), an organization that fights for preserve affordable housing to low-income families and senior citizens in the Blackland neighborhood of Austin, just south of Cherrywood across Manor Rd.

We’ll be helping to build raised beds and dig irrigation trenches for a small community garden on site at the Stewart House, just behind Red House Pizzeria. Followed by a lunch, prepared by BCDC.

Date: Saturday, February 18th, 2012
Time: 8am-1pm – Lunch BCDC.
Location: 1902 E. 22nd St. Austin, TX 78722

More information on Blackland

Every month with a 5th Sunday at Servant Church is an opportunity to “do” church a bit differently. In addition to preparing our monthly Community Meal, this month the Service Team has coordinated a special event at Austin State Hospital (ASH).

On Sunday the 29th, the Servant Church Community will be throwing a party at the Austin State Hospital. We’ll have music (an acoustic set by Good Field), food, games outside, and art with the patients of the APS West wing of the hospital. Please come celebrate life with us and help raise awareness about mental health issues in our community. Over 16 only, please, on account of state policy.

Our service team at Servant Church is focused on mental health issues this next month and will also be collecting clothes for the patients at ASH. If you are not able to attend, please consider donating clothes. When folks arrive and leave ASH, they often need clothing. Especially needed are XL and XXL items. PJs, socks, and shoes (of all adult varieties) are great items too.

5th Sunday

• 11:11am: Worship Gathering
• 12:30pm: Community Meal

If you’d like to contribute food for the Community Meal, email Abby.

ASH Information

• 1:00-4:00pm: Party at ASH! Facebook Invite
• Please bring donations of clothing, stuffed animals, or toys to Servant Church by February 12, 2012.

If you’d like to join the team going to the ASH Party there are 5 spots left, please email Abby, you’ll need a confidentiality form (required by state law).

On January 14th 2012, Servant Church participated in the annual MLK Day of Service by volunteering at Urban Roots, a youth development program that uses sustainable agriculture to transform the lives of young people and increase access to healthy food in Austin. 40% of all produce from the Urban Roots farm goes to local food pantries and soup kitchens. The rest is distributed and sold through farmer’s markets and the Urban Roots CSA.

Led by the youth at Urban Roots, we spent the morning planting food to feed Austinites and learning about Central Texas’ food crisis. At the Capital Area Food Bank, 1 in 5 families attending suffer the pains of hunger. It was humbling to “get our hands dirty” planting vegetables in an effort to help such a community-focused organization. We saw firsthand that Urban Roots raises up young leaders and invests in our city’s health and wellness, honoring the life and message of Dr. King.

On behalf of Servant Church, we’re looking forward to the next opportunity to visit the farm.

©Photography by Ashley Price

Finally, if you’re in town this Christmas weekend, you’re encouraged to join with Asbury UMC in the sanctuary for Christmas Eve worship at 5:30 on Saturday, and Christmas Day worship at 10:30 on Sunday. Servant Church will not have our Sunday worship gathering this Sunday; our next Servant Church worship gathering after tomorrow will be January 1 at 11:11.

Today’s song:
Amazing Grace
Words: John Newton, 1779.
Music:  James P. Car­rell and Da­vid S. Clay­ton, 1831.

Right Click to Download Audio
Right Click to Download PDF

Amazing Grace is the most popular Christian hymn of all time, as well as one of the most popular songs in general.  There’s not much to say about this song that hasn’t been said better elsewhere.  This is our humble Gentle Wolves take on it.