{"id":80993,"date":"2026-02-19T08:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=80993"},"modified":"2026-02-19T07:19:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T12:19:40","slug":"happenings-at-wawa-first-united-church-february-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/happenings-at-wawa-first-united-church-february-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Happenings at Wawa First United Church &#8211; February 18"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Exodus 24:12-18\u00a0 and Matthew 17:1-9<\/p>\n<p>Moses goes up the mountain to receive the ten commandments (actually 613 in total). While there, he encounters God in a strange manner. The \u201cGlory of the Lord\u201d comes upon him. In Hebrew, the word is <em>Shekinah,<\/em> meaning \u201cThe Light of God\u2019s Presence.\u201d The <em>Shekinah<\/em> so changed him that when he came down, his face glowed.<\/p>\n<p>Think of the blessing (from Numbers 6:25): \u201cMay God\u2019s face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.\u201d The Psalmist knew how God could change human existence and how an encounter with the Holy can make us children of the light.<\/p>\n<p>The epistle of Peter recounts the words from the baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration, reminders to the early Christian community as it was wrestling with a way to define God in Jesus. The Greek work for transfiguration is <em>metamorphothe,<\/em> meaning\u201d he went through a metamorphosis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Was it Jesus alone who went through a metamorphosis or did the disciples go through one as well? Thinks of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly. The same genetic material that goes into the chrysalis comes out as a winged insect, but we now experience it in a different light and with a different understanding. The light of God\u2019s presence changes everything, but are we prepared to be changed?<\/p>\n<p>Mark Twain is reputed to have said that \u201cthe only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper.\u201d How can we experience this scripture, ourselves, our communities of faith and our world, in the light of God\u2019s presence? This will change everything.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Creation Connection<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How does light (or the energy behind what makes light) transform our everyday living? Welcome the energy of our life-giving sun each day.<\/p>\n<p>Used with permission the Gathering a\/c\/e\/\u00a0 2025\/26<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sunday February 22, 2026.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First Sunday of Lent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Scriptures:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0Genesis 2:15-17,3:1-7\u00a0 The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.<\/li>\n<li>Psalm 32\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blessed are those\u00a0 whose sins are forgiven<\/li>\n<li>Romans 5:12-19\u00a0 Through one came death; through one came life.<\/li>\n<li>Matthew 4:1-11\u00a0 The temptation of Jesus<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lay Leader: Lorna\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lay Reader:\u00a0 Heather<\/p>\n<p><strong>Announcements:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We welcome all those on a journey of faith to join us as we take our journey of faith. Service is at 11. am.<\/p>\n<p>This Sunday, Feb. 22,\u00a0 we will be having our Annual Meeting. It will take place immediately after the service.<\/p>\n<p>Prayer Shawl group will meet this Sat. Feb 21 at 2 \u2013 3:30 pm in the Family Room at the Church. We welcome you to join us if you like to knit or crochet or would just like to learn. There are supplies available.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exodus 24:12-18\u00a0 and Matthew 17:1-9 Moses goes up the mountain to receive the ten commandments (actually 613 in total). While there, he encounters God in a strange manner. The \u201cGlory of the Lord\u201d comes upon him. In Hebrew, the word is Shekinah, meaning \u201cThe Light of God\u2019s Presence.\u201d The Shekinah so changed him that when &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-02 20:18:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80994,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80993\/revisions\/80994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}