Bergen UMC News 2019 PUTTERERS SATURDAYS. January 2019 FOLLOWING JESUS TOGETHER SHARING HIM WITH OTHERS. JANUARY 12 FEBRUARY 9 MARCH

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1 Bergen UMC News January 2019 FOLLOWING JESUS TOGETHER SHARING HIM WITH OTHERS PUTTERERS SATURDAYS Sunday Morning Small Group Update! Come join us Sunday mornings at 8:00 AM in the Fellowship Center for coffee, snack, and Bible study. We have completed Always True: God s Promises When Life is Hard, by James MacDonald and our current Advent study is All I Want for Christmas, by James W. Moore. On January 20th, we will move on to a new study. Updates available when we select a topic. Consider joining us for casual conversation and prayer as we study God s word and apply it to our lives. Come and visit, come and stay, all are welcome. JANUARY 12 FEBRUARY 9 MARCH 9 APRIL 13 MAY 18 JUNE 15 JULY 13 AUGUST 24 SEPTEMBER 14 OCTOBER 12 NOVEMBER 9 DECEMBER 14

2 Page 2 Pastor Wilson Well, the New Year is almost here at least as far as the calendar tells us. The turning of the calendar has become a time for looking back, taking stock and, for some, vowing to do better this coming year often related to health and eating. And for many (me included), the hope of doing better in the New Year is overtaken by a different reality before too many weeks have passed. I see the New Year as a chance to look back with thanksgiving and to look forward to another year of serving our Lord. Some folks have more to be thankful for than others and some folks will feel better about how they served God in the past year than others but all of us can engage in this review. In fact, finding things to be thankful for when being thankful is not as obvious, and finding ways that one did serve God faithfully when one might not feel like he or she served very well are both helpful exercises. The New Year can also provide us with an opportunity to refresh our desire and commitment to follow Jesus. Although this is an implied aspect to Holy Communion (and dare I say every day of our lives), we can sometimes benefit from making this commitment more explicit. To that end, I wanted to share with you a small part of the Wesley s Covenant Renewal Prayer. In some churches (as it was for John Wesley) this prayer is included in a Watchnight Service held on New Year s Eve or Day. This service is not a part of our tradition here at BUMC, but the prayer can be meaningful for use with your family or alone. Bergen UMC News Let me be your servant, under your command. I will no longer be my own. I will give up myself to your will in all things. Lord, make me what you will. I put myself fully into your hands: put me to doing, put me to suffering, let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and with a willing heart give it all to your pleasure and disposal. While the commitment expressed in this prayer is a high ideal, my experience has been that nearly all of us can resonate with these words even if we may often fail to live them out. And I am reminded once again of the line from a prayer by Thomas Merton: I do believe that the desire to please you (God) does in fact please you. May all of us find 2019 to be a year filled with love, grace and peace as we strive and struggle together to serve our Lord.

3 Bergen UMC News Page 3 INFORMED TO TRANSFORM The Genesee Valley District's annual leadership training event will be held on February 2, 2019 from 8:30 AM to 3 PM at Asbury First UMC in Rochester. Cost is $20. Offerings include workshops on youth ministry, Safe Sanctuary Training, disaster recovery and hospitality as well as many more. The day will end with a chance to assemble Flood Buckets to stock UNY's Mission Central HUB in Liverpool. Detailed descriptions for workshops are available at the church. Please the church office for a link to the registration site. Our long time custodian, Gretchen Defabaugh, has decided to retire effective December 31, Gretchen has kept the Bergen UMC incredibly clean for the past 22 years!!! She will continue to live in the O'Brien House so be sure to say "Hello" when you see her in passing. The Trustees are already at work to make arrangements for the church to be cleaned after January 1. In fact, an announcement might already have been made by the time you are reading this!!

4 Page 4 Bergen UMC News We also learn a different memory verse and 9-10 books of the Bible at a time during each unit. The children are doing a great job remembering these! We always end our class time with individual prayer and the Lord s prayer. Hope this gives an idea of what happens in my classroom. This month I want to introduce you to one of the Powerxpress classes. We have two Powerxpress classrooms. Grades 1-3 and grades 4 & 5 rotate to a different classroom each week. Carolyn Pulcini is the shepherd for grades 1-3. Ivan inouye is the shepherd for grades 4 & 5. They make sure that the children end up in the correct room and help the teachers in the different classrooms.the only time they are together is movie day. Liz Gates fills in where needed. Check out the bulletin board next to the Fellowship Hall to see the fun we have while learning about the Bible, God, Jesus, and ourselves. If you haven t been to Sunday School lately, join us, we would love to see you! Sue Inouye The Powerxpress program has a theme that is taught over a 5 week period. Powerxpress uses different learning styles so everyone has an opportunity to learn. The lessons are reinforced with different types of activities. In my classroom I use movies, games, and storytelling. So far this school year the units we have covered are Dig into the Bible, Creation, and The Gift of Jesus. Currently we are teaching Jesus and the Children.

5 Page 5 Bergen UMC News January Youth News The SPRC has begun the work of deciding how to move forward in finding new Youth Group and Underground leadership. Plans are being made to make sure that both ministries continue until a replacement for Yelena can be found. The Underground volunteer staff will be taking the reins under Rick Woodring's leadership. Carrie Wies and Pastor Wilson are working to recruit volunteers and plan Youth Group meetings. Please keep the SPRC in prayer they as move forward. 1 Olivia Mundell Jeremy Fink Joyce Smith 4 Christine Jones Doris Daycock 7 Joan Scott Shari Schuck NAOMI 9 Marcia Lowe 11 Fred Dunham 12 Michelle Pocock 13 Joe Heukensfeld Carl Pocock There will be NO MEETING of the Naomi Circle in January. 19 Abby French Joel Pocock 21 Ed Adams 24 Tom Wolford 26 Harry Garner 29 Alyssa Drexler

6 Page 6 Bergen UMC News January Layhelper Schedule 9:15 Worship Greeter Marie Aradine Warren Pocock Marie Barringer Bonnie Brinkman Nursery / Cradle 6 Sherry Chraston 13 Liz Mundell 20 Sherry Starowitz 27 Deb Coleman Acolytes & Ushers Bonnie Brinkman / Donna Pringle Rick Woodring / Sherry Starowitz Ed Adams / Ginny Adams Ron Chraston / Sherry Chraston Scripture Reader 6 Barb Walence 13 Mike Lovett 20 Rose Chambers 27 Donna Lievense 11:00 Worship Greeter 6 Linda Stephens 13 Bob Beale 20 Sandy Bater 27 Mary Lowe Scripture Reader 6 Mary Lowe 13 Dick Gates 20 Susan Barr 27 Sydney Miller Nursery / Cradle 6 Nancy Daniels 13 Sawyer Zinter 20 Marge Busmire 27 Vicki Kuipers If you cannot serve as scheduled, please attempt to switch Sundays with someone on a different week and call the office at with the change. Opportunities are available for all positions in the 9:15 and 11:00 Worship Services. Please call Nancy Daniels at or at nancydnls@rochester.rr.com to volunteer to serve. YOU are needed!

7 Bergen UMC News Page 7 Christmas Flower Fund Donations In Loving Memory of: William Stedge from Betty Stedge Fred E. Dean from Alysia Fink from Fred & Gladys Dunham Hilda Adams, Dorothy Dorman, and James Dorman from Ed & Ginny Adams Anthony Bartz Family, George MacConnell Family from Larry & Pat MacConnell Andrew Matthews, Clifford & Eleanor Oehler, Leroy Moors from Jim & Ann Oehler United in Christ, we are led by the Spirit and called to worship, build relationships, and dig deep into the Scriptures so that each person grows into maturity. God calls and empowers all of us to go out to our communities to build relationships so that others will come to know the exceptional love of Jesus.

8 Pushing the Goal, Missing the Process - #8310 hutchcraft.com Chimney Mountain! I had to get to the top! Why? Because it was there! Of course, I had to drag my young family into this obsession with me. One vacation day, I made that "Daddy's Great Adventure for the Day." Well, it wasn't a steep hike; it was a trail through the woods that gradually took you to the top of the mountain. As we walked along, my wife and the kids kept noticing little things...like chipmunks and squirrels and flowers and interesting rocks. Of course, whenever we noticed one of those little things, we had to stop; which was not my favorite thing to do. I had a goal, folks, and chipmunks and interesting rocks didn't help me get to it. Nope! At one point, they stopped us just to listen to the wind blowing through the tall pine trees. Isn't that wonderful? But not if you want to see the top of Chimney Mountain before sunset. Finally, my frustration made it to my mouth, "Honey, the reason for this hike is to get to the top. Don't you understand?" To which she said something like this: "Oh, I thought we came to enjoy the hike." Great! I was interested in the result; she was interested in the process! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have "A Word With You" today about "Pushing the Goal, Missing the Process." Later, my wife and I were reflecting on our different perspectives about our Chimney Mountain expedition. (Oh, by the way, we did finally get to the top.) My wife said, "I wonder if this was a little like God and us. We're more interested in getting the result we want, and He's more interested in the process." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Samuel 22:31. "As for God, His way is perfect." I think when the Bible talks about God's way, it isn't just talking about where we end up. It's talking about the road He takes us on; the way we get there, the methods He uses. OK, I'll have to agree with my wife - the process. And His process is always perfect, but it's certainly not predictable. In Isaiah 55:8-9 it says, and God is speaking here, "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.'" God's ways, God's means of getting us to the answer are unpredictable: they are "beyond finding out" in the words of Romans 11. Which brings us to whatever mountain you're working on right now. If you're like me, you're focused on the result you need: the money, the life partner, the healing, the place to live, the job, the change, the answer! You're in a hurry to get to the top of the mountain. But God, the God whose ways are perfect, is asking you to slow down and enjoy the hike, let the process be beautiful, not just the destination. The easy part for God is giving you your answer; showing you the top of the mountain. The hard part for God is you - getting you to be the man or woman He redeemed you to be. And He's using this climb to develop faith in you, or deeper personal holiness, or humility, or greater dependency on Him, to move you from trusting in yourself to totally trusting in Him. He wants you to become a better you on the way to the answer or the goal that you want so much. I'm by nature a goal-oriented person. Just ask my fellow hikers. But in recent years, God's been teaching me an exciting new way to pray, "Lord, I ask You for this answer that we need, but please do it in Your time and in the way that will bring You the most glory and us the most growth." Surrender to your Lord is more than just, "God, give us what You think is best." It's a total surrender to whatever timetable He wants, whatever process He wants to use, and whatever He wants to make you go through on your climb up the mountain. We want to scale the mountain. God wants to change the mountain climber, and He's using the trail to show you what you need to be. You are His goal. So, enjoy the process.

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10 BERGEN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 27 South Lake Avenue P.O. Box 216 Bergen, NY ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Following Jesus - Together -Sharing Him with others. Office: bergenoffice.umc@gmail.com Pastor: Rev. Dr. Wilson Jones pastor.bergenumc@gmail.org Check us out on Facebook! Sunday Worship Services 9:15 am Traditional (organ and hymns) 11:00 am Contemporary (praise band) (Childcare available at both services) Sunday School 8:00 am Adult Small Group 9:15 am Children