On the Right Path. Southern Maryland Emmaus 4th Day Seminar. Con nect to This Power. Childcare Pro vided

Transcription

1 On the Right Path The News let ter of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity Third Quar ter, 2013 Walk In the Light Vol ume 13 Is sue 3 Con nect to This Power I urge, then, first of all, that pe ti tions, prayers, in ter ces sions, and thankgiving be made for all peo ple for kings and all those in au thor ity, that we may live peace ful and quiet lives in all god - li ness and ho li ness. 1 Tim o thy 2:1-2 As I write this ar ti cle, the head lines are filled with chem i cal weap ons, shoot ings at the Na val Yard, dis sen sion in the gov - ern ment, floods and fires, and count less other dev as ta tions and bad news. It can eas ily lead us to ward hope less ness and com plaints. How ever as Chris tians, we are called to a dif fer ent re ac tion. We are called to PRAYER. Prayer is com mu ni ca tion with the Lord, and as with any good re la tion ship, com mu ni ca tion is a cor ner stone. There is also power in prayer, as ev i denced through out the Bi ble from 2 Chron i cles 7:14 if my peo ple, who are called by my name will hum ble them selves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will heal their lands to the 1 Tim o thy scrip - ture men tioned at the be gin ning of this ar ti cle. I m sure many of you have wit nessed nu mer ous per sonal ex am ples of this power as well. Now I m lay ing a chal lenge or re quest be fore each of you. Con - nect to this power!!! Pray for our lead ers at the lo cal, state, na tional and world-wide lev els. Whether you agree or dis agree with their pol i cies, PRAY FOR THEM. In Ron Kincaid s book The Prayer Dare, he gives the ex am ple of the 54 pas tors in Spring field, Il li nois in Not one of these pas tors voted for Abra ham Lin coln, but they did cov e nant to gether that they would pray for him. Is there any ev i dence to the re sult of that prayer? Southern Maryland Emmaus 4th Day Seminar No vem ber 16, Sem i nar 4 PM Pot luck 5:30 PM Gath er ing 6:30 PM at Good Shep herd UMC 305 East Smallwood Drive Wal dorf, Mary land Childcare Pro vided Bring Friends, Fam ily, Neighbors Everyone Welcome Note: There will not be a gath er ing in Oc to ber so that ev ery one can at tend the Fall Walk events. See CONNECT page 15

2 Fall Walks West River Men s Walk # 45 - October Women s Walk # 46 - October 31 - Nov. 3 Make plans to at tend the com mu nity events for each walk: Thurs day - Spon sor s Hour - 7:00 p.m. Sat ur day - Can dle light - 8:00 p.m. Sunday - Closing - 4:00 p.m. This Week: 9/16/2013 Emmaus Com mu nity Stats 23 Week ends in 15 State and 3 Coun try 14 Women's Week end 9 Men's Week ends Sign up to pray for our walks (and oth ers) online at: Pil grim and Team Ap pli ca tions and this news let ter may be down loaded from the web at CLICK on Doc u ments, Lists and News let ters Recurring Events of the Southern Maryland Emmaus Community Next Gath er ing (4th Day Sem i nar) - No vem ber 16 at Good Shep herd UMC 305 E. Smallwood Drive Wal dorf, MD Sem i nar - 4 PM, Pot luck- 5:30 PM, Gath er ing 6:30 PM watch your for fur ther information 4th Day Sem i nars Sem i nars are held in the spring and in the fall fol low ing the men s and women s walks. The next sem i nar date will be No vem ber 16, at 4:00 p.m. At ten dance at a 4th Day Sem i nar is re quired in or der to spon sor pil grims, and highly rec om mended for those who wish to team. The sem i nar will be held at Good Shep herd UMC. 2

3 Ob ser va tions From the Church Of fice When Good Re clin ers Go Bad Dan Brennan Af ter a gen er ous God, a de - voted wife, and lov ing chil dren the most im por tant thing in a man s life may well be his re cliner. Re clin ers are those re mark able in ven tions that un like our cloth ing, man age to con form to our ever chang ing body shape. These is lands of fab ric, leather and wood seem to wrap them selves around us like lov - ing hands, cra dling us in bliss ful com fort. Pee Wee Herman had his Chairy, and while I never of - fi cially named my re cliner, we had a re la tion ship forged by years of give and take. The chair would give me plea sure and com fort, while I would grate fully take ev - ery ounce of it. We did ev ery thing to gether: the af ter - noon naps; the pieces of pie, cake and ice cream en joyed while watch ing hours of mind-numb ing tele vi - sion; the po lit i cal con ven tions. When Pres i dent Obama fa mously said You did n t build that, I knew he could n t mean my chair, be cause I had formed ev ery wrin kle, in - den ta tion, and fold un til it had be come nearly an ex ten - sion of my body. My lei sure life flashed be fore my eyes recently when the crit i cal mech a nism that formed the heart of my chair seized up like a clogged ar tery. It had bro ken a ma jor bolt (not an eas ily re placed screw, but a bolt welded into place) and my be loved source of re spite re fused to re - turn me to a sit ting po si tion. (Note: ser vices will be held next week.) I needed a new chair. Just as the search for a lost child may cause you to go to parts of town you would nor mally avoid, so the search for a new re cliner took me to the dark un der belly of the fur ni ture in dus try. A place where sales are de cep tive, as so ci ates lurk in ev ery cor ner armed with men ac ing look ing clip boards, and war ran ties are printed in fonts so small as to ren der them un read able. First stop, a ma jor fur ni ture ware house. We were lured by the mas sive bill board that read "50% off ev ery thing - La bor Day Week end! Noth ing held back!" Who could re sist? En ter ing the show room we were greeted by no less than five ea ger sales rep re sen ta tives all thrust ing cheaply printed busi ness cards in our di rec tion with the prom ise that they were only a cell phone call away from any where within the mas sive cav ern that was the ware - house. 50% off signs were ev ery where, and each piece of fur ni ture sported two prices. The first read Com pa - ra ble Price and the sec ond read Our Price. Now, I am con vinced there are more peo ple in the world who know the true lo ca tion of the Holy Grail, than there are peo ple who know some place that ac tu ally sells stuff at the com pa ra ble price. I want to sell my mer chan dise for $310.00, so I post a sign that says Com pa ra ble Price $ Who can ar gue? Well, be ing typ i cal con sum ers we as sumed that 50% off meant off of the price at which the store nor mally sells the item. But when I asked one of the shad ows that fol lowed us ev ery where, I was in formed that it meant 50% off of the com pa ra ble price. A price that did n t ex ist any where but in the minds of the ad ver tis ers. And so the ac tual price was $ only $10.00 dif - fer ent from their nor mal sell ing price. Such a deal! As See Re cliner on page 5 On the Right Path Dead line for next is sue is December 1, 20, The pre ferred method of sub mis - sion is as an MSWord doc u ment file or a WordPerfect file (.rtf file also ac cept able) sent via- to the fol low ing ad dress: dbrennan6@verizon.net. Very short ar ti cles or notes may be sent in the body of the mes sage. Please send your com ments and rec om men da tions as well to the ed i tor, Dan Brennan, at the ad dress above. "On the Right Path" is pub lished by the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity. Dan Brennan Ed i tor. 3

4 Southern Maryland Emmaus - Leadership & Service Re sources on Our Web Site Visit for these and other com mu nity re sources: Southern Maryland Emmaus Leadership Roster & Board of Directors Southern Maryland Emmaus Prayer Points of Contact Team & Pilgrim Applications Team & Pilgrim Lists (where available) Prayer Coordinator Ken Cain ken.cain@capitaltristate.com Visit our website. No need to reg is ter at our new website as no per sonal in for ma tion is main tained. On The Right Path This is the news let ter of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity. It is Pub lished quarterly by , dis trib - uted by the Point of Con tact for each par tic i pat ing church, hard copy mailed, and avail - able on the South ern Mary - land Emmaus website. South ern Mary land Emmaus is af fil i ated with the In ter na - tional Emmaus Move ment of The Up per Room, Nash ville, Tn. Emmaus is a pro gram of - fer ing of Up per Room Min is - tries of the United Meth od ist Church. Our pur pose is to in - spire, chal lenge, and equip church mem bers for Chris - tian Ac tion. Please con tact the POC for your church as listed in this news let ter if you are not re - ceiv ing the news let ter. Southern Maryland Emmaus Community Reunion & Accountability Groups The Re union Group list ing is tem po rarily un avail able while we are in the pro cess of ob tain - ing up dated in for ma tion on Re union Groups in the com mu nity. Pub li ca tion will re sume shortly. 4

5 Re cliner from page 3 we left this den of de cep tion, we no ticed that the printed ver sion of the bill board sign did, in fact, make that clear in type you would never be able to read at 50 miles per hour. No point in call ing the law yers. We moved on to a sec ond fur ni ture den which was ad - ver tis ing a Go ing Out of Busi ness sale. We ac tu ally found a chair we liked and the price seemed rea son - able, but when we asked if there was a sec ond chair (we wanted a pair) the salesman told us he thought so, but he could n t check the in ven tory un til we had com mit - ted to buy. This place wanted us to buy some thing they could n t even say for cer tain they had. He did this with a straight face. Sur prise - they re go ing out of busi ness. There was more, but ul ti mately we found our selves at a rep u ta ble store with good prices, sell ing items they ac - tu ally had in stock, and we were n t even given a busi - First Saints Community Church First Saints Com mu nity Church, St. Paul s cam pus in Leonardtown is now hav ing a foot ball food fight news wor thy be cause the MD food bank hasn t had much in the way of canned goods. We are gath er ing food for our pan try through a lit tle friendly com pe ti - tion.(1 pound of food = 1 vote for your team.) The food pan try is the over all win ner, as we have food on our shelves again to give out on Thurs days! At the Cal i for nia Cam pus that meets in Esperanza Mid - dle School, we are gath er ing food for be gin ning a food pan try. (30% of stu dents there are in fam i lies liv ing be - low the pov erty level.) The first day of gath er ing food, we filled over two gro cery carts. The First Friend ship Cam pus in Ridge feeds sev eral fam i lies weekly from their food pan try. In Au gust, we ness card by the pleas ant sales per son who let us shop and test the chairs in peace. It is in our na ture as hu mans to be lured by the pros pect of low prices, easy so lu tions or cheap al ter na tives. As we look for so lu tions to life s prob lems we may be tempted to move away from the things we know work to - wards empty prom ises and im - pos si ble dreams. But we know where the an swers to our prob - lems lie. God is the one true and de pend able source for so - lu tions and his ad vice is free. He does n t tempt us with false prom ises or un reach able trea - sures. He prom ises sim ply to be with us and to guide us, and all he asks in re turn is our love and obe di ence to His word. If only God made re clin ers. col lected back packs and school sup plies at all of our cam puses. The Cal i for nia Cam pus pro vided 50 back - packs, filled with sup plies for stu dents at Esperanza Mid dle school. St. Paul s Cam pus pro vided 59 back - packs for stu dents of var i ous ages that at tend the Ed u - ca tional Out reach Cen ter and the neigh bor hood chil dren near Leon ard s Free hold. First Friend ship pro vided back packs and sup plies for 7 stu dents as well as ex tra sup plies given to Ridge El e - men tary school. And, our St. George Is land Cam pus pro vided about 20 filled back packs to Piney Point El e - men tary School. First Saints is a multi-site church in St. Mary s county, with 4 wor ship ping lo ca tions. These are a cou ple of ways we are liv ing into our vi sion: Meet peo ple where they are; lead them to where Christ wants them to be. An Emmaus Interpretation for Children If you are look ing for a fun way to share the Emmaus story with your chil dren, there is a video on You Tube which does it in a fun way. Even adults will en joy it. This short car toon was writ ten, re corded and an i mated for the Adventureland at Cibolo Creek Com mu nity Church by Jared Chap man. Here's the link: 5

6 Southern Maryland Emmaus Please prayer fully con sider serv ing as a mem ber of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Board of Di rec tors Name: Church: Mem ber Since: Ac tiv i ties sup ported through the lo cal church: Re union Group Time and Place: Other Mem bers: I walked on (date and place): Team ing Ex pe ri ence: Please re turn your com pleted form with a cur rent pic ture by Sep tem ber 30th to: 1. Any Cur rent Board Mem ber 2. Bring it to the Sep tem ber Gath er ing 3. Mail it to South ern Mary land Emmaus, PO Box 1242, Leonardtown, MD Scan and it to ken.cain@capitaltristate.com 5. Fax it to Ken Cain at Event Good Shep herd UMC Wal dorf MD FALL AUCTION: This year's Fall Auc tion to sup port Good Shep herd's Mu sic Pro grams will be held on Sat ur - day, Oc to ber 5th be gin ning at 9:00AM. Please start set ting aside white el e phant or flea mar ket type items for sale--and be sure to put the auc tion date on your cal en dar! We'll gladly ac cept do na tions from lo cal busi nesses also. Lunch will be avail able, too; so come so cial ize and en joy the food. If you have any ques tions, please con tact Bud Camp bell at , budlekel@comcast.net or Anne Heffentreyer at aheffentreyer@gmail.com,

7 Urban Ministry Where God s Word is the Bridge from the Burbs to the Hood On the third Sunday of ev ery month vol un teers from Prov i dence-fort Wash ing ton United Meth od ist Church and Spirit of Eli jah King dom Church gather at 7:30 A.M. to travel into Wash ing ton, D.C. to wor ship with mem - bers of the House of Peace in the base ment Sanc tu ary at the Third Street Church of God. The House of Peace con gre ga tion is pre dom i nately home less men and women who live on the streets of the city. We pro vide wor ship lead er ship in clud ing read ing from God s Word, de liv er ing the morn ing mes sage, of fer ing prayers, and bring ing spe cial mu sic. We also pro vide a meal to some who might oth er wise miss one, which in cludes a bag lunch, plus hot soup in the colder months. Dur ing the win ter months we also bring do nated warm clothes and coats to dis trib ute to those who might not be ready for Wash ing ton win ters. And re cently, we have been tak ing zip-lock bags filled with toi let ries to dis trib ute to folks who might otherwise consider them luxuries. Charles "Skeet" Shane preach ing at the House of Peace in D.C. Walk to Emmaus grad u ates, Charles Skeet Shane, Rich Weaver, and Rev. Ste phen Ricketts pro vide vi tal lead er ship through preach ing, prayer, mu - sic, and wor ship. Other mem bers of both churches, es pe cially re - cent Wes ley Sem i nary grad u ate and PFW UMC Pas to ral In tern Mi Ja Cho who ini ti ated the min is try, also make im por tant con tri bu - tions. Our pres ence speaks vol - umes. Christ is count ing on us; we are counting on Christ. Rich: I re mem ber be ing asked to serve down town but was re luc tant at first. How ever, I grew up just a cou ple of miles down Mas - sa chu setts Ave. from the N.W. House of Peace, across the Anacostia River, off Randle Cir cle in South - Rich Weaver lead ing wor ship at the House of Peace in D.C. east. I had to go back to my roots to change my own mind about Ur ban Min is try be fore I could be a part of the Our" in Chang ing Our World. I did not ex pect to be as re warded as I felt af ter serving there." Skeet: Shar ing the Means of Grace with our neigh bors in the city is about as close as we can get to be ing Christ s hands, feet, ears, mind and voice in our greater neigh bor hood. Rev. Ricketts: I have dis - cov ered that God al ways uses our time at the House of Peace as a way to fill us with His grace. Mem bers from both sub ur - ban churches gather on the Sat ur day be fore go ing into D.C. as a time of fel low ship, Rev. Ricketts de liv er ing the message at the House of Peace in D.C. and also to make the lunches and as sem ble what ever we will be tak ing with us that week to share, from the bounty God has en trusted to us, with our neigh bors up the road. The group will be next as sem bling meals on Oc to ber 19, and head ing into D.C. for a morn ing of Spirit-led wor ship on Oc to ber 20. All are wel come to join us! Mem bers of Prov i dence - Ft. Wash ing ton UMC, Spirit of Eli jah King dom Church and House of Peace join to gether in prayer. 7

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10 sis sippi and North Carolina. Jim is a very dear friend from my church. We have had sev eral bi ble stud ies to - gether and wor ship to gether most ev ery Sunday. Archie Verdiglione Week end Lay Di rec tor Walk #43 Pat Goodwin sat at my ta ble on his Pil grim walk South - ern Mary land #7. Dean Gass sat at my ta ble on South - ern Mary land #3. Bob Ev ans and Ernie Jumalon both teamed with me on South ern Mary land # 41. These men did a great job as Ta ble Lead ers. You know, that be ing a Ta ble leader or As sis tant Ta ble Leader is where the rub ber meets the road. They are the ones who have the most con tact with the Pil grims. One of my fa vor ite things about be ing a part of Emmaus is the friend ships that I have cul ti vated over the years. My name is Archie Verdiglione Sr. I wor ship at La Plata UMC. I walked on South ern Mary land Emmaus #3 and Sat at the ta ble of Paul. When I re al ized what I had agreed to do af ter ac cept ing the po si tion of WLD for Men s Walk #43, I thought, What am I do ing here. My first con cern was putt ing to - gether a team. I had no idea where to be gin! Then, as I of ten do, I thought of an old song that I some times sing, Where Could I go but to the Lord. and that s just what I did. I went to the Lord and prayed long and hard. That s when I thought of all the won der ful friend ships that I had made dur ing my time in Emmaus. I started out by call ing old friends, then I called some not so old friends, and finally I called some new friends, in clud ing men I had teamed with on #41. My old friend from Cal vary UMC, Wayne Welsh, was will ing to be the lead ALD. Wayne and I had teamed on South ern Mary land walk #7. Rick Pitonyak and Gary Cox were will ing to take the other two ALD po si tions. I had teamed on Rick s Pil grim walk, South ern Mary land #25. Gary Cox was one of the not so old friends. I can never thank these three enough; they were al ways there for me, through train ing and es pe cially on the walk. They kept me on time and on track. I was dou bly blessed, to have Pas tor Rob Carter as the SD for the walk, and Pas tor Bruce Jones as one of the ASD S. Alan Hem ming and Pas tor Ste phen Ricketts were both new friends, and be came very spe cial to me dur ing the train ing and walk. These four men were al - ways ready to help in any way that they could. They pro - vided spir i tual guid ance to both team and pil grims, and gave very mean ing ful talks. They were great. Roy Wil son, our mu sic lead, was also a Pil grim on walk #25, Roy. Barry Oren and Jim Risley did an out stand ing job as our mu sic team. The mu sic was very up lift ing, and I know that everyone re ally en joyed it. Barry and I have been on sev eral mis sion teams to gether, in Mis - 10 The ATLs were John Hastings, Wiley Tolbert, Gerry Murphy and Gordon Piscacek. John and Wiley at tend wor ship with me at LPUMC, Wiley teamed with me on #41 and John s Pil grim walk was #41. Gerry s Pil grim walk was #41. Gordon sat at my Ta ble on South ern Mary land walk #3, and he was kind enough to take Don Geller s place when Don had to drop out about half way through our train ing, Our Agape team in cluded Ed Priest, who was the WLD for walk #7 and is a very dear friend. He came through as the lead Agape. Also on the Agape team were Frank Ross who s Pil grim walk was #41 and Bill Ev ans, Pil - grim Walk #41. They made a great Agape team and were the first up in the morn ing and the last to go to bed at night. Dan Brennan, our board rep. was so help ful with the com puter work and pro vid ing ad vice on some things that I had never done be fore, I re ally felt good hav ing him with us for our team train ing and on the walk, Dan is a past WLD and very in volved in South ern Mary land Emmaus. He was a great source of en cour age ment to me. I sim ply could not have made it with out the help of Sheila Hanson. I was so thank ful that she al ways got back to me when I called or ed - even when she was on va ca tion. She gave me en cour age ment when I re ally needed it. Thank you Shelia. The schol ar ships were all han dled in a con fi den tial way by Linda Horty, and she was a plea sure to work with. Thank you Linda, P. J. Pitonyak in spired me and was a great help dur ing the train ing. We worked to gether and re ally helped each other. Of course, I want to rec og nize the peo ple at Trin ity and La Plata who fed us, Thank you all very much. See Archie page 11

11 Archie from page 10 And Last, but surly not least, I want to thank the com mu - nity who prayed, and at tended the events. How awe - some it is to know that when I go to bed at night, there is some one pray ing for me, when I get up in the morn ing, there is some one pray ing for me, and when I am giv ing my talk, there is some one pray ing for me. That is an awe some feel ing. Thank you South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity! And while I try not to use the word Awe some too of ten, I want ev ery one to know that our Pil grims on Emmaus Walk #43 were ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. A walk is not about me, or the SD or any one per son, as I have tried to show in this let ter. A Walk is about God, and all of you. The Com mu nity made South ern Mary - land Emmaus #43 a great suc cess. As for me, I re ally have a better con cept of the mean ing of the word, "per se ver ance." Be ing WLD for walk #43 has been one of the most trea sured events of my en tire life and it was all about my God and the South ern Mary - land Emmaus Com mu nity, Thank you all, and may God bless you all in your fu ture with South ern Mary land Emmaus. Our Emmaus Friends in Australia The won der ful thing about the Emmaus ex pe ri ence is that it is world wide. Aus tra lia, for ex am ple has com mu ni - ties in all of its states and prov inces as rep re sented by the but tons shown be low. As I spent some time brows ing their website I was most struck by the com fort ing feel ing that if I were to find my self in Aus tra lia, I would be right at home with my Emmaus broth ers and sis ters in that coun try. In fu ture is sues of our news let ter we will try to take a look at other Emmaus com mu ni ties around the world. In any lan guage it's still De Colores. 11

12 Di rec tors For Fall Walks Men's Walk #45 Lay Di rec tor - Gary Cox Spir i tual Di rec tor - Da vid Graves As sis tant Spir i tual Di rec tors: Gerry Headley Sheri Comer Cox Ray Mc Don ald Women's Walk #46 Lay Di rec tor - Ca thy Lavoie Spir i tual Di rec tor - Mel Grover As sis tant Spir i tual Di rec tors: Marianne Brown Jeanne Parr Ruth Dixon also finds a clear re flec tion of grace. It is the grace that co mes from a prac ticed and open di a logue with the God of the uni verse, who de spite our short falls and earthy ties, lis tens and hears our con cerns and praises, at any time we wish to ut ter them. I have an ex tra copy of this book so the first per son to ask me for it, gets it! I guess if no one asks I can as - sume no one read this far : - ) HAPPY READING. My name is Con nie Wells; I at tend Lexington Park United Meth od ist Church. I walked on SME #28 and sat at the ta ble of Na omi (clap). This month s book Help. Thanks. Wow. by Anne Lamott. Books are the qui et est and most con stant of friends; they are the most ac ces si ble and wis est of coun sel ors, and the most pa tient of teach ers. Charles Elliott I do not know much about prayer, but I have come to be lieve, over the last twenty-five years, that there s some thing to be said about keep ing prayer sim ple. Help. Thanks. Wow. It is with this sen ti ment that New York Times best sell ing au thor Anne Lamott be gins her ex plo ra tion of prayer. With her trade mark gritty hon esty, Lamott shares what she s learned in her prayer jour ney, from the first time she prayed se cretly as a child so her athe ist par ents would n t find out, to her prayers for when life does n t make sense, like when a friend has can cer. Lamott s stark re flec tions on prayer and life are al most too hon est, and they re not for ev ery one, (she of ten uses strong lan guage and writes for a broad, i.e. non-chris tian au di ence) but in her brusque ness one 12

13 Event Olde Tyme Christmas Bazaar - Nov. 2 Bethel United Methodist Church shining a light on Community Events Bethel UMC at Swanson Rd., Up per Marlboro, MD is tran si tioning to an Olde Tyme Christ mas Ba zaar on No vem ber 2 from 10AM to 4PM. Visit and shop the At tic Shoppe, Bake Ta ble, Bethel Bou tique, Christ mas Shoppe, Coun try Store, Chil - dren Only Se cret Shop, Gift Shoppe, Prayer and Med i ta tion Hut, Book Store, Food Stop, and the Si lent Auc tion. Bring your friends, fam ily, and your self. For more in for - ma tion con tact Emmaus Walker Barbara An der son at Event La Plata UMC Holiday Bazaar - October 26th The La Plata United Meth od ist Women are host ing their an nual Hol i day Ba zaar Oc to ber 26th, from 9 AM to 2 PM. A wide va ri - ety of crafts will be for sale and make great gifts for that hard to buy for per son who has ev ery thing. Gifts can be per son al ized. Come early to get the best se lec tion. The women in the Cre ative Cir cle made a gor geous quilt. This trea sure will be sold in a si lent auc tion that day. De li cious hol i day baked goods pre pared by church mem bers will be for sale to eat now or stock in your freezer to have through out the hol i day sea son. The Christ mas Re cy cled area is al ways loaded with beau ti ful gently used or new that will help you do your hol i day dec o rat ing at a bud get price. You can also get bar gains in the Used Book room. The UMW kitchen crew is pre par ing de li cious break fast or lunch foods to pur chase when you take a shop ping break. Door prizes from the crafters will be drawn through out the event. Pro ceeds fi nance our gift to mis sions. Event The Great Pumpkin Festival (2nd Annual) The Patch at La Plata UMC For years poor Linus has been rel e gated to spend ing Oc to ber hid ing in a pump kin patch alone, cold and wait ing for the ap pear ance of the Great Pump kin. Could this be the year it fi nally hap pens? Could this be the year the Great Pump kin shows him self right here in Charles County? It could hap pen. You see, The Great Pump kin Fes ti val (GPF) is com ing to La Plata United Meth od ist Church and it will be a month-long fes ti - val of fun and ex cite ment fea tur ing "The Patch at La Plata UMC". The GPF be gins on Oc to ber 1st with the patch open ev ery day through Oc to ber 31st from 12 noon un til 6 PM. We will be sell ing lo cally grown pump kins this year with all pro ceeds go ing to the Charles County Chil dren's Aid So ci ety. The GPF will in clude a num ber of spe cial events in clud ing a full Fes ti val Day on Sat ur day, Oc to ber 5. You will be able to see the Chin Himaya Danc ers (a Jap a nese/ko rean dance group) that will amaze you with their in no va tive and en er getic rou tines. Other per form ers are cur rently be ing booked as well. Get your pump kins this year at our patch, and you just might be the one to see the Great Pump kin. For more in for ma tion please contact Dan Brennan ( ) or pumpkinfestival@laplataumc.org. Community members are encouraged to submit information about up com ing events at their church 13

14 Re new Your Trust in God Let me hear of Your un fail ing love each morn ing, for I am trust ing You. Show me where to walk, for I give my - self to You. Psalm 143:8 NLT Don t you love it when God uses Scrip ture to speak to you as you re strug gling with some thing? Over the last sev eral years, God s been tear ing down mul ti ple walls in my heart that kept me sep a rated from Him. But I m re luc tantly re al iz ing lately, there are still more walls to tum ble down, be cause there are still ar eas of my life in which I have not given my self to Him. The Scrip ture above, which I came across this morn ing, firmed up that re al iza tion. Philippians 1:6 tells us that He who be gan a good work in you will carry it on to com ple tion un til the day of Christ Je sus. I find com fort in this re minder that God is not fin ished with me yet. I ad mit, though, I m get ting pretty im pa tient. Through my lo cal church and Emmaus Com mu nity, I m blessed to know so many peo ple I con - sider true dis ci ples with hearts for God and His peo ple; they seem to have it all to gether. Am I the only one still won der ing, where is my call ing ; what is my mis sion? What is the role God has planned for me in His story, and when will I get started fill ing it? Am I do ing the right things in the mean time? Am I hon estly fol low ing Je sus Great Com mand ment to love God with all my heart, and love oth ers as my self? Am I do ing enough in re sponse to His Great Com mis sion to pro claim the Gos pel and go make dis ci ples of all na tions? How do I help build His King dom in a grand way amidst the day-to-day re spon - si bil i ties of fam ily, home, and work? Just as God s un fail ing love re news each morn ing, my trust in Him must re new each morn ing as well. My im pa - tience is not go ing to knock the rest of those walls down. Only by con tin u ing to give more and more of my - self to Him, will my eyes be opened to see the path He is point ing me to wards, gain ing the cour age to walk it. Grow ing pains hurt, though; there will be dif fi cult de ci - sions and changes as God helps me find an swers to my ques tions. But in the same way as the strug gle to ex er - cise and eat right leads to better health, as ten der care leads to better re la tion ships, as good old-fash ioned el - bow grease turns a messy house into a wel com ing home I can look for ward to the joy wait ing for me when I fi nally know I have in deed given all of my self in faith and trust to God. I pray that all your own ef forts, in what ever God leads you to do, brings you the same kind of joy ful re ward as well. Decolores, Linda Horty So. MD Emmaus #30, Ta ble of Mar tha Welcome To Our New Website? A clean, at trac tive ban ner wel comes you to our com mu nity's new website: While you may be used to us ing other URLs to reach our site, please up date your book marks and re cords to use only the ad dress pro vided above. There are some tech ni cal is sues we are deal ing with re gard ing our older sites that may take a lit tle time to re solve, but we want you to be able to look at and com ment on our re de signed site. We know there are up dates still to be ap plied to the new site, and we are in the pro cess of tran si tioning re spon si bil i ties for main te nance of the site. So please bear with us. Your sug ges tions are al ways wel come. 14

15 Ken's Perspective Ken Cain I have pro cras ti nated send ing any thing to Dan for this is sue, try ing to not re - peat my self over and over about how im por tant your in - di vid ual par tic i pa tion and lead er ship con tri bu tions are to your church and to your Emmaus com mu nity. I m Try ing to say some thing im por tant: I thank God for Dan ev ery day. We Chris tians have a lot of words to de scribe the in de - scrib able. Love, Grace, Faith, the Holy Spirit, and my per sonal fa vor ite, The Face of Christ or Christ like. I sat with Bob and Ka ren at a cou ple of Gath er ings and was for tu nate enough to have break fast with them about two months ago. They were kind enough to give me some sug ges tions on Emmaus, but more im por tantly they were just plain kind. I re gret I did not make a in ten tional ef fort to get to know Bob better. I pray Christ will help me avoid this weak ness with oth ers. There s a lot of stuff we as a Com mu nity need to ad - dress; all good, but stuff nevertheless that we need to ad dress. There will be enough time for that. Praise God we are mov ing for ward with the fall walks and I Pray we can look for ward to many more in the years ahead. Four per year to be ex act. Please pray for our Pil grims and our Teams. To day I re ceived word that Bob Bohn passed away last night. By now most of you know that. In fact most of you knew Bob. Some of you have known Bob and Ka ren for years. I hardly knew Bob at all. Bob was Christ Like We will all miss him. De Colores Ken Death does n t bother me much. It never has. Be fore I came to Christ, I did not care, and af ter, well, I ac tu ally be lieve Bob is in heaven. So why do I so strongly feel the ne ces sity to say some thing about Bob s pass ing? CONNECT from page 1 and wis dom in choos ing these lead ers. PRAY FOR THEM. Pray for your church and the church through out the world. Your fel low Chris tians face per se cu tion on a daily ba sis in many ar eas of the world. PRAY FOR THEM. Pray for the Walk to Emmaus move ment. In SoMD Emmaus, we have a men s week end and a women s week end com ing up Oct and Oct. 31-Nov. 3 re - spect fully. Pray for the teams as they pre pare to serve. Pray for the pil grims, that they ar rive with open hearts and minds. Sign-up for the 72 hour prayer vig ils. While you are sign ing up to sup port our week ends, see if there is an other week end some where else in the coun try or world that you could pray for at the same time. PRAY FOR THEM. The SoMD Emmaus com mu nity also has elec tions for the board of di rec tors com ing up. Pray for will ing spir its Fi nally, pray for each other. When you re ceive a prayer re quest, take a few mo ments to lift that in di vid ual or sit u - a tion up be fore the throne. If some one crosses your mind, give thanks for the bless ing they are in your life and ask the Lord to bless them. PRAY FOR THEM. May we live peace ful and quiet lives in all ho li ness and god li ness. May we live prayer and praise-filled lives. Prayer fully yours, Ka ren Smith North Cen tral WV Walk to Emmaus #36 Ta ble of Ruth South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity Lay Di rec tor 15

16 Walk in the Light - South ern Mary land Emmaus Visit us on the web at "Were not our hearts burn ing within us while He was speak ing to us on the road, while He was ex plain ing the Scrip tures to us? Luke 24:32 In for ma tion on the South ern Mary land Walk to Emmaus, as well as pil grim and team ap pli ca tions may be found on our website: South ern Mary land Board of Di rec tors for 2013 Com mu nity Lay Di rec tor/chair Ka ren Smith Asst. Com mu nity Lay Di rec tor/ Vice-Chair/Fa cil i ties Rich Ulrey Past Com mu nity Lay Di rec tor Rick Pitonyak Sec re tary/his to rian Con nie Wells Asst. Sec re tary/his to rian Dawn Townsend Trea surer Linda Horty Asst. Trea surer Angie Barnes Reg is trar/pil grim Se lec tion Rich Ulrey Asst. Reg is trar/pil grim Se lec tion Pat Dawson Agape Co or di na tor Cheryl Merkle Asst. Agape Co or di na tor Len Lent Team Se lec tion Rick Pitonyak Asst. Team Se lec tion Mike Bliz zard Com mu nity Events Laura Suban Asst. Com mu nity Events Jeff Ford Com mu ni ca tions/di rec tory Ken Cain Mu sic Di rec tor Neil Mar tin Re union Groups/Spon sor ship/ Fourth Day Bob Ev ans