Florence United Methodist Church May Newsletter Tide-ings 2012 RUTH’S RAVES Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Good day to you from warm and sunny Tampa, Florida. It is such an honor to care for our delegation to General Conference from Oregon Idaho Annual Confer- ence. They are committed, and seemingly tireless, servants of Jesus Christ as they rep- resent you here in Florida. Thirteen of us are staying in a couple of va- cation rental houses in Historic Ybor City, which is a little more than 2 miles from the convention center. David and I are with that group. A few more, including Rev. Laura Jaquith Bartlett and Jan Nelson, who are our 2 voting delegates are staying at a hotel closer to the convention center. I have been VERY busy shuttling the delega- tion back and forth and making sure that the houses are stocked with food and necessities. My days of driving in Denver and New York have come in handy. I have need to learn the streets of Tampa in short order and can now navigate around pretty easily… but boy do they drive fast in Florida! Last night I got an opportunity to attend the last half of evening worship and listen to our own Bishop Bob Hoshibata preach about the healing power of love. Afterward, the whole OR-ID delegation, along with many others, participated in a silent protest asking the church to be more inclusive. (look for the pictures in this newsletter) This week, General Conference is mostly busy with legislative groups who are work- ing through various pieces of legislation from United Methodists around the globe. Even though OR-ID only has 2 vot- ing members at General Conference, the alternate delegates, like David, are busy monitoring the legislative groups so that Laura and Jan can keep apprised of things going on in many places at the same time. Next week, after the legislation has been “perfected” it will go before plenary sessions to get more debate and then voted upon.
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Any and all men are invited each Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. to a no-host breakfast at Bliss’ Hot Rod Grill.
UMWOMEN NEWS
On Thursday, May 3rd, the UNITED METHODIST WOMEN will meet in the Tedd Powell Hall and you'll want to be there by 1:30 p.m. when the hostesses, Hazel Vacura and Rosie Goodwin, will serve dessert. Guest speaker, Mary Horrillo, is to present information about the Florence Humane Society. Devotions will be given by Delores Powell and a book review is to be shared by Barb Walker. All women are invited!!
-Jean Hefty
UMWomen
PLANT & RUMMAGE SALE
Saturday, May 5
9:00 am—2:00 pm
FUMC
Contributions of furniture, kitchen stuff, puzzles & books, bedding &
rugs, lamps, crafts, toys & tools are all welcomed. Please, no clothing.
Helping hands are needed to set up the day before, May 4, between
9:00 am and 12 noon. To request assistance in getting things to the
2 Brush & Palette Club 9-12 S.B.I.P. Mtg. 6:30-8:30
3 UM Men 8 am
Women’s Covenant 8-10 Free Lunch 11:30-12:30 UMW 1:30-3 Choir Practice 4:30-5:45 Meditation Group 5:30-7
4 Plant & Rummage Sale Setup 9-12
5
UMW Plant & Rummage Sale 9-2 A. A. Meeting 11:30-12:30
6 Adult Sunday School 9-10 Worship 9-10 & 10:30-11:30 Kids Sun. School during 10:30 service Community Chorus Con-cert 2-4:30 @ FEC Voice of Christ Worship 5-7
2 Brush & Palette Club 9-12 S.B.I.P. Mtg. 6:30-8:30
3 UM Men 8 am
Women’s Covenant 8-10 Free Lunch 11:30-12:30 UMW 1:30-3 Choir Practice 4:30-5:45 Meditation Group 5:30-7
4 Plant & Rummage Sale Setup 9-12
5
UMW Plant & Rummage Sale 9-2 A. A. Meeting 11:30-12:30
6 Adult Sunday School 9-10 Worship 9-10 & 10:30-11:30 Kids Sun. School during 10:30 service Community Chorus Con-cert 2-4:30 @ FEC Voice of Christ Worship 5-7
31 UM Men 8 am Women’s Covenant 8-10 Office Hours 10-12, 1-5 Free Lunch 11:30-12:30 Choir Practice 4:30-5:45 Meditation Group 5:30-7
Birthdays
Anniversaries
4 Jean Parr
5 Harry Rickard
7 Jack Keller
16 Donna Embree
16 Keith Brown
18 Dominic Grey
19 Judy Jones
20 Tessa Ramsey
22 Connie Farmer
24 Trisha Goss
24 Charles Walker
25 George Hesser
25 Mike Jones
25 Bert Schniepp
26 Jeana Thompson
28 Jon Holden
1 Gerry & Nancy Cedarleaf-Grey
1 Jack & Bonnie Ross
6 Rev. Ruth Marsh & David Armstrong
13 Jeff & Diana Landon
19 John & Lila Hyder
24 Harry & Nancy Rickard
28 Joe & Raye Weisbrich
Rev. Ruth at General Conference in Tampa, Florida
Who’s Doing What When in May
Date
Time
Liturgist
Usher/Greeter
Fellowship Host
May
6
9 am
Hazel Vacura
Aaron Gallegos &
Ray Feay
Host & Bring Food Jennie & Peggy
10:30
am
Cindy Hughes
Peggy Hughes &
Kathy Bones
Host & Clean Up
May
13
9 am
Beth Newell
Joanne Caddell
Host & Bring Food Hazel Vacura
10:30
am
Rosie & Leah
Goodwin
Host & Clean Up
May
20
9 am
Diane McCalmont
Host & Bring Food
10:30
am
Bert Schniepp
Carol & Dick Johnson
Host & Clean Up
May
27
9 am
Host & Bring Food Sabrina Hand & Diana Landon
10:30
am
Bob Hefty
Carol & Dick Johnson
Host & Clean Up Jonathan &
Laureli Holden
SAVE THE DATE...
Trisha and Jonathan are running away to get married! But you’re
invited! Their “elopement” will be on the lawn facing the lake at the
(enclosed) Woahink Lake picnic yurt on Saturday, June 30th, at 11
am. Please bring a chair and a potluck dish to share after, and add
your well-wishes and hugs to the blessings of the day.
Sock it to U.M. in Salem is organized by
UMW across Oregon-Idaho
and EVERYONE is invited to participate.
All socks collected, for infants through adults,
will be taken by Pastor Ruth
to Annual Conference
held in June.
Look for the container
at church
and respond as you can.
DOUBTING THOMAS
While our Roving Reporters most often report back from more distant places, on occasion there’s an irresistible item that arises when we’re at one of two “home”
churches in Bend or Florence. This Reporter goes by the name of Tom, but his real given name is “Thomas”. I was reminded of this fact recently when Rev. Ruth, in consecutive weeks, alluded specifically to one of the disciple—”Doubting Thomas”. I thought I saw her glance in my direction at the beginning of her message; but with hindsight I now think we must all share some of the characteristics of that biblical character. There were two very specific “take aways” from her messages in con-secutive weeks that I found particularly deserving of underscore and comment. The first was the observation that most of us tend to carry forward the early impressions about our religious beliefs that we learn and accept without question as children. At some point we begin to examine our beliefs more criti-cally. This is in fact the starting point for something that will become very impor-tant to us—it is what will become our own “personal theology”. A very normal part of this process is to acknowledge that we all experience “doubt”; that we all find that our intelligence compels us to re-examine those concepts and beliefs that we were taught as children. The point that Rev. Ruth was making, however, is that doubt is normal, and can be both a healthy and a positive part of our spiritual growth. The second—and very much related—point that I found inspirational is this: That sometimes when we carefully examine the causes of our doubt we find we have encountered a “new edge of faith”. How very true that is… For this particular Thomas, I found these brief but highly insightful obser-vations fit quite neatly into my own evolving personal theology. And with a bit of reflection just perhaps it will fit yours as well…. -Tom Gonser
SUNDAY SCHOOL SCOOP
Oh, what a fun time we have had at Sunday school this past month. We learned about the meaning of the Last Supper and practiced communion in Sunday school with crackers and water before we headed to the sanctuary to participate in Holy Commun-ion with the adults. On Palm Sunday the children enjoyed waving palm fronds as they walked down the aisle before the 10:30 service. We learned about Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey rather than a white horse and discovered that was because He came as our savior and friend not as a conqueror or dictator. We reminded ourselves that Jesus is the son of God and was doing what God asked him to do. Our Sunday school materi-als have sticker projects, mazes and sometimes very snazzy art projects for us to com-plete. One favorite was a necklace made of yarn and fish that said “You are the Mes-siah, the son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16, NRSV.) On Easter Sunday we enjoyed an egg hunt where there was no competition to ‘win;’ everyone got plastic eggs with prizes inside and some special Easter candy. They were able to trade around prizes and candy so hopefully everyone left in a happy spirit. The children knew that Jesus, our savior had risen on Easter morning and was alive and watching over us all right now. We even yelled a cheer. “Jesus has risen! Whoo hoo, whoo hoo! He is with us, it’s true, it’s true!” (Teacher Beth makes these up on the spot to add excitement and allows everyone to speak up and participate.) We have had several visiting children in Sunday school this past month with an atten-dance one day of 10 children. We regularly have 3 and often 6 attendees. Thank you to Teacher Beth, Teacher Darby and the other helpers on Easter (Renee and April) and on other Sundays (Donna.) Sunday school is super! Here is our regular prayer to which we add our own prayers of thanks and petitions.
Thank You God
Thank you for the land and seas Thank you for the flowers and bees
Thank you for the moon at night Thank you for the bright sunlight
Thank you for the sky so blue Thank you God for all you do.
-Beth Newell
MAY Newsletter
Florence United Methodist Church
333 Kingwood St., Florence, OR 97439 Pastor: Rev. Ruth Marsh
Sunday Worship: 9 and 10:30 a.m. Office Phone: (541) 997-6025