CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENTS/EVENTS
Please email all announcements to
Carol Merante at the church office.
OFFICE HOURS :
Mon 4:00pm - 6:00pm,
Sat 9am -11am
Additional hours possible on Thursdays: Contact Carol
845-657-2326
Sunday, March 7:
• 9:30 AM - Sunday school
• 11:30 AM - Worship
• 12:30 PM - Social Action Committee presents Diane Reeder
from Queens Galley in Kingston (postponed from last week)
Monday, Mar 8:
• 10:00 AM - Art class for seniors
• 7:00 PM - Worship Committee – library
• 7:00 PM - A.A. – DuBois Hall
Tuesday, Mar 9:
• Noon - Office for the Aging Senior Lunch
• 7:00 PM - Church Council – library
Wednesday, Mar 10:
• 8:00 AM - Bible Study at Stephens’ home
• 1:15 PM - Women’s Bible Study
• 5:30 – 7 PM - Lenten Soup Supper & Study
• 7:00 PM - Men’s Chorus; A.A.
• 7:30 PM - Cantata rehearsal
Thursday, Mar 11:
• 9:00 AM - Seekers’ Bible Study – Library
• 10:00 AM - Yoga class (DuBois Hall)
• 7:00 PM - Line Dancing Class (DuBois Hall); A.A. A.A.
Friday, Mar 12:
• 10:00 AM - P.E.T. project – Don DuBois’ shop
• Noon - Men’s Bible Study – Don D.’s shop
Saturday, Mar 13:
• 9AM -Noon - Lay Speaking Classes
• 7:00 PM - A.A.
Sunday, Mar 14:
• 8:30 – 10:30 AM Pancake Breakfast to benefit One Great Hour of Sharing
• 9:30 AM - Sunday school
• 11:00 AM - Worship
COMING EVENTS:
Tuesday, March 16: Planning meeting for May yard sale (7 PM, library)
Saturday, March 27: 12-hour prayer vigil for our church; sign-up sheet available in narthex
Holy Thursday: service at Phoenicia UMC; Good Friday: Lenten choir cantata at Overlook UMC; Holy Saturday: bonfire, prayer & singing at Reservoir; Easter Sunday (April 4): Sunrise service at Grays’ (6:30 AM), followed by breakfast in DuBois Hall; regular worship at 11 AM. Watch for details about these events.
NEWS IN BRIEF - March 5, 2010
Brief items for use in local church newsletters
prepared by United Methodist News Service
The bride wore white—a Western tradition. The newlyweds cut their multi-tiered wedding cake with a sword—a Thai custom. An unusual wedding? Perhaps by U.S. standards, but in a cross-cultural setting, the nuptials of Jurirat and Sompap made perfect sense. The first wedding at the Bowin United Methodist Church near Bangkok blended Christian and traditional Thai cultures. That the Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, wedding also occurred at the start of the Chinese New Year added to the excitement, according to the Revs. Mike and Sherri Morrissey, United Methodist missionaries affiliated with Bowin Church.
Methodists in Chile are assessing damage caused by the massive Feb. 27 earthquake. Bishop Mario Martinez of the Methodist Church in Chile said on Feb. 28 that church buildings in the districts of Chillán, Los Angeles, Segunda de Temuco and Primera y Segunda de Santiago suffered major damage from the earthquake. Because of communication problems, he had no information on the condition of churches and members in the Concepción, William Taylor and Sur districts in Chile’s central region, which were hit hardest in the earthquake.
The Rev. Edinson Caba Burgos and his wife, Mariela Correa-Montecinos, were just settling into their new assignment at a Methodist church in the historic section of Santiago, Chile, when the Feb. 27 earthquake struck. Their unpacked boxes remain forgotten as they shared tea and cookies with those sleeping in the streets around Primera Iglesia Metodista, located in Sector Centro near the Alameda. Like many Chileans, they are concerned about having enough food and water. “Trust in the Lord” is what Caba is telling his congregation as they and other Methodist churches hold prayer services for earthquake survivors.
A feeling of uncertainty lingers for survivors of Chile’s massive earthquake as the country struggles to recover. Continuing aftershocks and televised images of damage, desperation and violence have left everyone “in a state of unhealthy alert,” the Rev. Shana Harrison, a United Methodist missionary based in Santiago, said in an e-mail. “Please continue to keep the Chilean people in your prayers,” wrote Harrison, executive director of the Foundation Crescendo, a workshop and group home for adults with intellectual disabilities. “There is a long, long road ahead.”
On Sunday, Feb. 7, when almost all churches in Maryland were closed because of snow, some clergy in the Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional) Conference conducted Sunday services electronically. The Rev. Ramon McDonald of Mount Oak Fellowship United Methodist Church in Mitchellville, Md., delivered his sermon, "Focus on Jesus," from the comfort of his own home. More than 100 people heard the sermon by picking up their phone or turning on their computer.
A Moravian preacher is bringing the film “Wesley” to a movie theater near you. The two-hour movie that is slowly building a platform in theaters across the United States brings to life the story of the founder of Methodism. The Rev. John Jackman, 53, pastor of Trinity Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., says he got into the movie business as a way of telling stories of redemption, and John Wesley’s story has enough action for several films. “I wish I could have made this into a mini-series,” Jackman says. “There is enough great material here to make an eight-hour film.”
Renewing a centuries-old debate, Arkansas pastors have taken to the Internet to discuss the spiritual value of making personal sacrifices such as giving up chocolate or television for Lent. The conversation started when a Facebook page of Lakewood United Methodist Church in North Little Rock posed the question of whether anyone was planning to give up social networking for Lent.
Living in a country experienced with earthquakes, Methodists in Chile knew how to react when the big one came along. As she felt the tremors of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake early on Feb. 27, Gloria Millar realized that she was too close to the sea and evacuated her home in Penco, a coastal town just 7 miles from Concepción, which was devastated by the quake. The Rev. J. Daniel Pacheco and his family left the parsonage in Lota, 5 blocks from the water, and spent the rest of the night in the hills.
Two United Methodist-related theological schools are taking steps to have their Ministerial Education Funds reinstated after the denomination’s University Senate placed an embargo on those funds. Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, Calif., and United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, were placed on public warning Jan. 21 by the University Senate, a sanctioning body within the denomination that determines which schools meet the criteria for listing as institutions affiliated with The United Methodist Church. The fund embargoes took effect Feb. 1.
Eight days after the January earthquake in Haiti, Melissa Crutchfield led a small team to the island to start assessing emergency needs for the United Methodist Committee on Relief. The ability of her team to get to Haiti quickly was due in part to One Great Hour of Sharing, an annual churchwide offering for UMCOR taken on the fourth Sunday in Lent. This year’s offering is on March 14. To Crutchfield, who coordinates international emergency response for the relief agency, One Great Hour of Sharing “is the backbone of what makes everything possible.”
The United Methodist Committee on Relief’s Justice for Our Neighbors has joined with Church World Service and other organizations to hold free clinics in churches and offices to help Haitian immigrants apply for permits to stay in the United States. “We’re talking about a community that already is stressed,” says Panravee Vongjaroenrat, Justice for Our Neighbors director. “On top of that, now they have lost family in Haiti or have surviving relatives who want to join them here.”
Preaching magazine has selected “The New Interpreter’s® Handbook of Preaching” from Abingdon Press as the 2010 Preaching Book of the Year. The handbook is a major reference tool for preaching, with articles from 135 contributors on Christian sermon preparation and delivery. Paul Scott Wilson served as general editor, with associate editors Jana Childers, Cleophus J. LaRue and John M. Rottman.
A room in the new North Carolina Conference headquarters will be dedicated to the memory of the Rev. Samuel W. Dixon, Jr., a clergy member of the conference and deputy general secretary of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Dixon died after the earthquake destroyed the Haiti hotel where he was meeting with other United Methodist leaders. The room will be dedicated as the Dixon Chapel and Meeting Room during the building dedication service planned for early June.
For the first time in more than 45 years, the historic black Methodist denominations gathered at a March 1-3 summit known as the “Great Gathering.” The African Methodist Episcopal, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches pledged attention to the plight of black males. The churches relate to The United Methodist Church through the Pan-Methodist Commission. Coverage of the event can be found here and at CNN.
Caring for Creation, to be held April 8-11 at the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center, helps members of faith communities learn ways to care for the Earth. Scholarships are currently available for ethnic young adults ages 18-35. Scholarship money will cover registration fee, housing and meals. For more information, contact Loy Lilley, 828-454-6750, llilley@lakejunaluska.com, or visit www.lakejunaluska.com.
Twenty women who have made an impact on faith are being saluted by the National Council of Churches as part of Women's History Month. Each of the women will be featured daily at www.ncccusa.org. Persons following the series may also name women who have made a special impact on their lives by contributing to the "Circles of Names" campaign to support women's ministries and gender justice programs in NCC member communions. More information on the campaign can be found at http://circlesofnames.org.
United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: www.umns.umc.org