BATON ROUGE DISTRICT UMW NEWS

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1 May 2015 Issue Brenda Thomas-Nero, Editor The Official Newsletter of the Baton Rouge District United Methodist Women BATON ROUGE DISTRICT UMW NEWS Inside this issue: Broadmoor UMC Hosts An Amazing Tea Calendar of Events 2 Treasurer s Report 2 Do You Know What To Do As Vice President? Book Reviews Shared at Leadership Meetings Book Reviews Submitted for Publication in Newsletter How To Contact Officers 7 Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. - John Wesley The President s Message... Dear Sisters in UMW, We are now in the second quarter of our 2015 reading program. Book reviews have been shared by units to help you decide the next book your unit selects for the second quarter reading. Four of those reviews are included in the newsletter. Thank you for all you do for the women in your unit. Keeping the fire burning is sometimes tedious work. However, we never know who we are impacting. And if God can t use us, who does He have? Remember it was Mary Magdalene who Jesus chose to bring the message that He had risen. To be effective messengers, we need to know the message. We need to read and share Dear UMW Sisters, Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:3 A few years ago, I planted two rose bushes near my bay and what we have read. All that is needed is your own sincere desire, to tell your stubborn selfishness to take a hike. Let yourself be the seed that God germinates. Be the fuel in the fire that God lights. Give permission to the Holy Spirit to let your reluctance be turned to courage, jealousy changed to brotherly love. The Holy Spirit is available to us today, to lead us into all truth, to be our helper, our guide. Do not let the forces of evil lead you into frustration and disappointment. It is true we cannot change human nature, but God can. Human nature must be changed if we want wrong situations corrected. The wrong situations that make our hearts sore and lives uneasy. Words From The Editor... kitchen windows. I love roses. It s one of the few flowers that doesn t cause my allergies to flare up. Each flower is exquisite, lovely and unique; just like we are as humans. I pray that we as UMW sisters will continue to bloom side by side. I pray for unity and harmony in Reading the books on the UMW reading list, we find specific examples of how the Holy Spirit worked through various people. These books are meant to encourage and renew our minds. We need to see ourselves as God sees us; to ask the Holy Spirit to come into our being and let the miracle begin. Remember God designed us. Psalm 139:13: For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful. I know that full well. I am excited about our reading program; how we think determines how to live. Thank you again, Vallan this world. May we rejoice not only in our own beauty but also in the unique beauty of all those whom God has planted here with us. May God continue to have the UMW a positive force! Blessings, Brenda Brenda

2 Page 2 BATON ROUGE DISTRICT UMW Brenda Thomas-Nero, Editor Broadmoor UMW Hosts Spring Tea On April 25, 2015, the Broadmoor United Methodist Women had its annual fundraising event called the UMW Spring Tea, chaired by Beverly Hammond. A four string quartet played on the stage. Every table was decorated differently and the food was fabulous. Two husbands attended; one dressed in a tuxedo acted as maitre d and the other served as the photographer for the event. The mission for the tea was to invite and interact with members children and grandchildren in a fun way. There was an Olde Tea Store, a book, jewelry and bake sale. Over $8,000 was raised for missions. The tea was so well attended that it was completely sold out! Very beautifully done, Broadmoor!!! Beverly Hammond Calendar of Events District Leadership Meetings July 18 Blackwater UMC, Room 101, Adult Building October 24 Ingleside UMC, Fellowship Hall Refreshments served at 9:30 a.m.; with the meetings beginning at 10:00 a.m. (All local unit presidents are invited to the meetings.) Mini-mission u August 1 Blackwater UMC, Blackwater Road, Baker Annual Meeting November 7 Ingleside UMC, 4264 Capital Heights Avenue, Baton Rouge Registration 8:30 a.m. for both meetings. Meetings begin at 9:00 a.m. Three generations of Shirley Lloyd s Family Conference UMW July Mission u, Wesley Center, Woodworth October 9-10 Annual Meeting, Banquet and Mission Activities, Lake Charles Quadrennial Meeting April 15-17, 2016 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Treasurer s Note from Sandie... The first quarter report shows a remittance to the UMW Conference of $12, and a closing balance of $4, The third quarter reports are the last opportunity to meet the requirements for Five Star Giving. It will be August 15th. Also, units should be thinking about Special Recognition Pins. We have a new electronic ordering system which makes receiving the pins more efficient. Units must order pins through me in order to get credit.. All of this sounds like it is too early, but before you know it, we will be preparing for Annual Conference.

3 BATON ROUGE DISTRICT UMW NEWS Brenda Thomas-Nero, Editor Page 3 DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU RE TO DO AS A LOCAL UNIT VICE PRESIDENT? The vice president works cooperatively with the president, She assists the unit in fulfilling the PURPOSE. She will: Guide the leadership team in its responsibility for planning and implementing the program of the unit, Performs the duties of the president in her absence, Promotes ecumenical relations Chairs the committee on program where one exists or, if there is no separate committee, chairs the leadership team when dealing with matters relating to program. She serves on the committee on finance where one exists. Book Reviews Shared At April 18th Leadership Team Meeting Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowshi King Peggy by Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Keman Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Ann Lamott How Is It With Your Soul? By Priscilla Pope-Levison and Jack Levison The Church & People with Disabilities by Peggy Johnson Finding God In A Bag of Groceries by Laura Lapins Willis The Call: Living Sacramentally, Walking Justly by George McClain and Tilda Norberg The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer January First (A Child s Descent into Madness and Her Struggles to Save Her) by Michael Schofield Accept what is, let go of what was and have faith in what will be.

4 Page 4 Book Review No. 4 By Patricia Watson, St. Mark UMW L.B. Lewis Christian Involvers Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott Anne Lamott is the New York Times bestselling author of Some Assembly Required, Grace (Eventually), Plan B and Traveling Mercies, as well as several novels, including Imperfect Bird and Rosie. Lamott writes about the three essential prayers that will get you through times, everyday struggles and the hard work of ordinary life. It is these three prayers HELP asking for assistance, THANKS appreciating the good we witness and WOW feeling in awe at the world that get us through the day and show us the way forward. She states in the book that her favorite prayer is Philippians 4:4-7 which is one of my favorite scriptures, which states, Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything about prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I enjoyed reading Help, Thanks, Wow. I found it easy to relate to and beneficial to my prayer life. I realized that most prayers do fall into one of the three categories. For example: Help, we pray for assistance or when we have a need, we spend time asking the Lord to help us. Perhaps of the three essential prayers, Help, is the prayer we request most often. We may ask for health and happiness for our friends, children and loved ones. We may pray for our leaders to act in the common good or we may pray and ask for help for those after catastrophes, natural and man-made. And the list goes on and on. So the first great prayer is HELP! Lamott writes about appreciating the good we witness, like, thank you for another day, thank you Lord for a reasonable amount of health and strength. She talked about a hymn that they sing at her church, St. Andrew, that says, God has smiled on me. He has set me free. For us to acknowledge that we have been set free is just plain astonishing. We know that 1 Thessalonians 4:18 tells us Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Reading the book helped me realize how essential the power of Thanks is. We cannot thank the Lord enough! The second great prayer is THANKS! WOW, the third great prayer awakened my realization of how awesome God is. Simple things like witnessing a rainbow, a sunset, a beautiful day or just a look at nature are many times taken for granted. This chapter helps one to not forget the marvelous wonders of God. Reading this book has helped me focus better and to strengthen my prayer life. Therefore, I recommend it.

5 Page 5 Book Reviews No. 1 and 2 Submitted by: Ingleside UMW No Longer Silent by Susan Dehn Matthews (Spiritual Growth) This book is about The Empowerment of Women in the Gospels. We are familiar with many stories in the Bible of women who did great things. The book takes the lives of these women and gives you reason to think that there could be more to their stories. There are also women who have been ignored, unnamed and invisible. But by discovering within themselves the Divine energy, it altered their lives, empowered them to live and offer their unique gifts to the world. By reading this book, it is hoped that, we too, can be empowered and transformed by the Divine spark that exists within us. Allow God To Wear Your Face By Alice G. Knotts This book is about Spiritual Care For Those Who Are Ill. There is a good and correct way to provide spiritual care to the ill and then there is a not so good and correct way to provide spiritual care to the ill. Alice Knotts does a very good job of showing how to be there when someone is needed. She uses the word L.O.V.E. to represent spiritual care. The four ingredients are: (1) L Listen actively and non-judgmentally, O Observe with detail situations and feelings, including your own, (3) V Value and respect people and (4) E Engage others. This is a really good book if you have someone in a nursing home or at home who needs special care.

6 Page 6 Book Review No. 3 An Invisible Thread By: Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski Submitted by: Broadmoor UMW Have you ever wondered how your personal experiences could help someone else or why you had the experience in the first place? Laura Schroff, with help from Alex Tresniowski, tells the complex story of her life and how her own experience, which she thought horrific and embarrassing at the time, helped her form an unlikely friendship with an eleven year old African-American male panhandler. Laura, a busy New York City sales representative, meets young Maurice on a Manhattan street. By sharing ordinary events such as lunch with him, she remembers personal episodes, realizing they were dysfunctional but not as dysfunctional as those Maurice experiences daily. Through shared events, Maurice learns valuable lessons which last him a lifetime. The friendship begins with a McDonald s lunch and evolves into Maurice s experiencing family life and holidays with Laura and her sister s family. His favorite memory of those special times is that of a smiling, laughing family gathered around a large, food-laden dining table. Promising himself that some day he will have a table like it in his own home motivates him to achieve his goal. Through ups and downs, the friendship thrives and Laura mentors Maurice for three decades. As the Chinese proverb says, an invisible, unbreakable thread binds them together. Hope and inspiration abound in this honest, straightforward account of strangers destined by God to be part of each other s lives. After reading this book, one has to say, I m lovin it!

7 Baton Rouge District UMW News Official Newsletter of the Baton Rouge District United Methodist Women United Methodist Women is the largest denominational faith organization for women with approximately 800,000 members whose mission is fostering spiritual growth, developing leaders and advocating for justice. Members raise up to $20 million each year for programs and projects related to women, children and youth in the United States and in more than 100 countries around the world. Sisters With A Purpose To have news about your unit published in this newsletter, please contact Brenda Thomas- Nero at Wisdom Avenue, Baker, LA Phone: 225/ Fax: 225/ BreNe3@aol.com Faith Hope Love How To Contact These Officers Vallan Corbett President Ann Wilson Vice President Sandie Webb Treasurer 225/ (home) 225/ (cell) vbcorbett@bellsouth.net 225/ (home) harlanwilson1@cox.net 225/ (home) sandiefwebb@cox.net