Senior Adult Ministry Calendar, 2017

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1 MARCH 2017 VOL. VI, ISSUE 2 O OAK GROVE UMC SENIOR ADULT MINISTRY Editors: Madge Watson & Mary Lou Gilbert Creative Editor: Dean White Comments? watson1213@comcast.net North GA Annual Conference th Saturday, March 9...and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. ~James 1:4 T he Annual Gathering for Senior Adults in the North GA Annual Conference will be held on Saturday, th March 9, at Lawrenceville First United Methodist Church. The theme of the day is Living Better as Mature Christians. The keynote speaker will be Rev. Dana Everhart, our Emory District Superintendent. The $30 fee covers food and the programs from 9:30am until 2:45pm. Anyone who wishes to go from Oak Grove church will gather in the church parking lot and car pool, or go by church bus, depending upon our numbers. We will leave at 8:45am. If you plan to go with the Oak Grove group, please tell Sandee Edmondson in the church office, but don' t orget f to register with the annual conference beforehand, and then with Sandee, so we will have adequate transportation. Brochures are available at the church. For more information call the church office and leave a message for Mary Lou Keynote Speaker, ( ). Rev. Dana Everhart

2 Oak Grove Lunch Bunch April 4, 2017, 11:30am-1:30pm The Phoenix Players The nine cast members are ages 60-90, and the group has performed in Atlanta for 20 years. Their performances are mostly about life s lessons learned and life s lessons sometimes ignored but they always leave the audience laughing. Phoenix Players will present four short plays: Wal Mart Blu, Clover Meadows, Oysters & Deceit, and Croissants & Bourbon. Make reservations in the church office or in a Senior Adult Sunday School Classes. The cost is $8 at the door for lunch, Oak Grove UMC Fellowship Hall. Senior Adult Ministry Calendar, 2017 March 5, 12, 19, 26, 4pm-6pm Series of Four Classes on Life of the Caregiver, Led by Mary Lou Gilbert & Susan Pendleton, Rm 101. OGUMC March 9, 8:30am-3pm Living Better as Mature Christians, North GA Annual Conference Event, Lawrenceville First UMC, by Church Bus March 25, 8am-4pm Seniors are invited to go by church bus to the All Church Retreat at Forest Hills Conference Center near Dahlonega, just for the day! More details coming soon. April 4, 11:30am-1:30pm, $8.00 Lunch Bunch, Phoenix Players Present Four One Act Plays, Fellowship Hall May 2, 11:30am Tuesday Lunch Bunch, Line Dancing [Tentative] Summer Lunch Bunch will Feature Short Bus Trips [TBA] Summer Service Project: Smart Lunch-Smart Kid June 20 & 21; 27 & 28 and July 11 & 12; 18 & 19; 25 & 26 September 10, 11:00-Noon Annual Celebration of Life and Longevity, Honoring Church Members who are 90+ Years of Age Oak Grove United Methodist Church MEMORY CAFÉ Mark your calendar for future gatherings of Memory Café &

3 Oak Grove Joke Trove A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird s chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head and sadly said, I m sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away. The distressed woman wailed, Are you sure? Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead, replied the vet. How can you be so sure? she protested. I mean you haven t done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something. The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room. A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room. The vet looked at the woman and said, I m sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100%c ertifiably, a dead duck. The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman. The duck s owner, still in shock, took the bill. $150? she cried, $150 just to tell me my duck is dead? The vet shrugged, I m sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it s now $150. NO ACT OF LOVE IS EVER WASTED: A book that helps us engage with friends and loved ones who have Alzheimer s Disease No Act of Love is Ever Wasted is a book by Jane Thibault and Richard Morgan that I have often recommended, and there are two copies in our church library. Alzheimer s is becoming more prevalent and when we hear the word it strikes fear in our hearts! Here are a couple of the poignant themes the authors discuss. The authors' words are bolded, and my responses are in plain type: Alzheimer s may destroy the mind and body, but it cannot destroy [or cover with plaque] the soul. I have glimpsed the soul when serving Holy Communion to people with Alzheimer s. One gentleman held the tiny cup in his hand, looked at it with knowing, and clearly said It s been a long time! Another lifetime Christian lady who had not spoken for years, closed her eyes and mouthed the words of The Lord s Prayer as I said it aloud at the communion table in her assisted living community. When asked what will happen to my faith when I can no longer remember? or Why has God let this happen to us? our responses demand spiritual, not medical or scientific, answers. Caregivers and loved ones [and friends at church ] are fellow travelers into this unknown land that the psalmist called the land of forgetfulness (Psalm 88:12). Only God, who became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, can give us the kind of spiritual support we need, and as we become Christ to our loved ones, the least of these, we provide the same kind of spiritual care. I am sure that we as a church are to surround those with dementia as well as their caregivers to give emotional and spiritual support. Sometimes we have to set aside our own sophistication and orderliness and allow ourselves to enter into the other person s zone of bewilderment and loss. Then we can participate in their conversation that includes imagined people and places where we have never been before, but where they are dwelling at the moment. There is deep dread and shame associated with Alzheimer s Disease. Some people have said they want to be taken out and shot if they get the disease. However, Richard Morgan says the trauma to the family in the wake of suicide or early death associated with the disease is far more traumatic to friends and loved ones than the caring for the victim over the long-haul and until a natural death occurs. I have found this book to be extremely helpful for accepting people with Alzheimer s Disease where they are. I recommend that if you are living close to Alzeheimer s, No Act of Love is Ever Wasted, will offer helpful insights, and will be a comfort and source of courage for the reader. God bless us all as we face the future together and as we seek to walk faithfully, as far as we can go, with one another. Rev. Mary Lou Gilbert

4 Sunday evenings March 5, 12, 19, 26 4 to 6pm in room 101 There will be four group sessions to address self-care and insight for maximizing the effectiveness of the care you give. The group leaders are Susan Pendleton LCSW, United Methodist Pastor, Pastoral Counselor, and Mary Lou Gilbert, United Methodist Pastor, Pastor to Senior Adults, Oak Grove United Methodist Church; and Board Member for Senior Connections. Registration: Register online ( or call the church office ( ). The cost is $20 for the class materials. I offer to you this wonderful writing by Walter Bruerrgermann, former professor at Columbia Theological Seminary. Note his use of the word Easter as a verb. Consider this use during Lenten Season. Madge Watson Marked by Ashes Selected by Dan Clendenin. Walter Brueggemann (b. 1933) Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day This day a gift from you. This day like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received. This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility. This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home halfway back to committees and memos, halfway back to calls and appointments, halfway on to next Sunday, halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant, half turned toward you, half rather not. This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday, but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth: of failed hope and broken promises, of forgotten children and frightened women, we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust; we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues. We are able to ponder our ashness with some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death. On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you you Easter parade of newness. Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us, Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom; Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth. Come here and Easter our Wednesday with mercy and justice and peace and generosity. We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon. For over thirty years now, Walter Brueggemann (b. 1933) has combined the best of critical scholarship with love for the local church in service to the kingdom of God. Now a professor emeritus of Old Testament studies at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga, Brueggemann has authored over seventy books. Taken from his Prayers for a Privileged People (Nashville: Abingdon, 2008), pp

5 The hedgehogs It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold. The hedgehogs, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm. This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions. After awhile, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their companions in order to receive the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive. The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person's good qualities. roger darlinton.me.uk Observations in Haiku tall waving sea oats wet with early morning dew blown by mist-filled winds. gull dart in and out soaring through mist, white wings spread like ghosts in their shrouds evening clouds sailing like ships on a quiet sea night owls break the silence trees cast tall shadows wooded landscape silent, still sun slips slowly down. rain drizzles away wispy clouds scurry through sky katydids sing loud. Introspection As the sun slips slowly down to nestle in the crown of purpling hills Evening descends quiet, still. No late birds call. No forest creatures stir. Woods, now silent cast long shadows in the last rays of light. Growing darkness envelops the land like a mantle placed by a loving mother s hand covering her sleeping child. In such eerie silence no raucous noise dare intrude. An enchanted world where time and being are seemingly forgot as though stopped in limitless space. Solitude engulfs hauntingly beautiful land and man in an aura of brooding peace. Alone, in so silent a world, Mind, released, turns inward, soars and creates. moon timidly beams bathing rocks in silver sheen as whippoorwill calls. fingers of ivy pushing at old brick headstones attempting escape waxy white blossoms perfume the air gardenias fragrance from heaven. Poetry by Valerie Harper, Oak Grove Church member who died

6 GAME DAY February 7, 2017 with host Dean Crownover