Merry Christmas and many blessings for the New Year, From your Meridian Street Staff

Transcription

1 December, 2017 meridianstreet.org Merry Christmas and many blessings for the New Year, From your Meridian Street Staff 1

2 Generosity and Year End Giving Thank you so much for your generous giving in It is my prayer that each of us will end the year by celebrating Jesus birthday by giving Him a gift to support the ongoing transformational ministries of Meridian Street Church. Thanks to your extravagant generosity Meridian Street is making a huge impact in the Butler-Tarkington and Meridian- Kessler neighborhoods and throughout Indianapolis and the world. Children are fed, people are clothed, educational opportunities are provided because of the moving of the Holy Spirit in your life. Help us continue to transform our city with the love of Jesus! The end of the year is also a good time to review your legacy wishes and make sure that Meridian Street is included in your plans. Because of gifts that have been received this year we were able to purchase furniture for the Welcome Center and our new piano for the Sanctuary. As December 31st quickly approaches, please consider these important reminders regarding giving to Meridian Street Church: Contributions to Meridian Street are tax deductible as allowed by law. IRS rules recognize a contribution on the day of delivery. In order for contributions to be deductible for 2017, they must: By Mail: be postmarked on or before December 31, Online: be completed by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, December 31, o Online giving via the church web site is always available and is a convenient option for any lastminute gifts. o Go to meridianstreet.org/stewardship and click on Give Online button. In Person: we will have our two normal services on Sunday, December 31; any gift received at that time will be credited to o Our last business day of the year (when the office is open) will be Friday, December 29 from 9 3. Please contact us soon for further instructions if you wish to make non-cash gifts of stock or other assets. Please note it might take up to 20 days to transfer mutual fund shares from your broker account to our JP Morgan investment account. If you have not already filled out an estimate of giving for 2018 you can do so by calling the church office or filling it out online: meridianstreet.org/stewardship. Thank you for your generous support of the ministries of Meridian Street United Methodist Church; it is a privilege to be a part of the team. If you have questions or need assistance, contact our Financial Secretary, Keisha Boger, at ext. 113 or kboger@meridianstreet.org. I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and look forward to serving with you in the coming year. Peace, Pastor Steve 2

3 Generous Gift to Music Ministry Earlier this year Meridian Street received a bequest from the estate of William B. Jackson. Mr. Jackson died August 19, 2003 and his estate had created a trust that continued until the death of his brother Richard A. Jackson, who died on July 13 this year. William Jackson was an active member of Meridian Street and sang in the Chancel Choir. His estate requested that the gift to Meridian Street be used to support the music ministry of the church. As a result our sanctuary is now the home of a new Yamaha 6 7 Grand Piano! We are excited to have this wonderful new instrument to enhance our worship services, as well as outside events and services. We were also able to pay for much needed repairs on the Kawai Grand Piano that is in the Chapel. We are grateful to the Jackson family for this wonderful gift that will be a legacy to our community. Help Give the Youth a Christmas Gift! Meridian Street would like your help in creating a space that's even more fun for youth. We want to provide the youth a Christmas present in the form of a game room on the third floor. This will allow us to provide a more youth centered atmosphere that can be used on Sunday mornings between services and during the week as the youth program grows in the new year. If you'd like to help foster an atmosphere that lets youth know there is an important space for them at Meridian Street, please consider donating new or lightly used arcade style and video games such as foos ball, ping pong tables, etc. Please contact Rick Belbutoski, Director of Youth and Young adult Ministry at rbelbutoski@meridianstreet.org or call at Dinner with the Conger s Pastor Steve and Nancy have set dates for dinners in their home for the first part of They invite you to join them for monthly dinners as an opportunity to get to know you and your dreams and passions. The dates are: Sunday, January 21, Tuesday, February 20, Tuesday, March 20, and Thursday, April 19. If you would like to come to a dinner, please contact Mary Sue McAlister in the church office at mmcalister@meridianstreet.org or What s Happening in CDI Our Weekday Children s Ministry The children of CDI (Children s Day In) who are here during the week have been very active so far this semester. We invite you to our annual Cocoa and Caroling event on Thursday, December 14 from 1:30-2:15 p.m. It s a short and sweet program with holiday music from the mouths of babes! We ll enjoy cookies and hot cocoa and even invite you to join in on a few traditional Christmas Carols. Won t you join us? This event is open to everyone whether you have a child in our program or not. We d love to share some Christmas cheer! For more information about the CDI programs and how to get involved (we re hiring!) please contact Christy Whaley at or send her an at cwhaley@meridianstreet.org. Christmas Cantata - Sunday, December 17 Our Christmas cantata this year, God is With Us, will be presented during worship on December 17 at both the 9:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. services. Both services will be in the sanctuary. The cantata features many well-known Christmas melodies and brings to us the never ending message of God s greatness and love. It closes with some of our favorite Christmas carols enhanced by an underlying accompaniment of The Nutcracker Suite. Come hear our Meridian Street Chancel Choir, accompanied by a 13-piece orchestra, as we begin our final journey to the manger knowing God is With Us. 3

4 Neighborhood Ministry Spotlight: Celebrating Christmas in our Neighborhood conversation with a mom who is preparing to celebrate the holidays for the first time without her mother. She remembers going to performances of the Messiah with her mom so we invited her to come for our Christmas Cantata on December 17. She and her daughter both plan to come to that as well as to our family Christmas Eve service. Another mom expressed interest in our book study on race in January. She and a friend have been discussing the challenges of how to not pass on biases to their children. We are glad to be part of this neighborhood as we strive to be a resource and to love people in all the ways that we can. On November 16, Meridian Street participated in the Holiday Block Stroll at 56th and Illinois. A table was set up and we gave out candy and information about the church. Peggy Marshall, Bethany Scott, and Pastors Steve and Matt took shifts manning the table and greeting our neighbors. It was a cold night but a fun opportunity to talk with a lot of people from our community. We met some families with children who went to daycare or preschool at CDI and had a good Conversations on Race: Church and Neighborhood In October of this year, I met with several clergy and lay leaders of congregations around the neighborhood. We talked about how to respond to an act of racial intimidation that happened in our neighborhood. We decided to sign onto a letter that I drafted. The statement is below. We also decided that every congregation needs to begin a conversation about race and racism and our role in responding to this. This has brought us to two conversations happening on race. being planned by the Social Justice Ministry Team of Meridian Street. The second conversation that is still being planned includes every church in the neighborhood. In an effort to build community, we have decided to host the neighborhood on the last Sunday of the month for dinner and a speaker from Christian Theological Seminary, Butler, or in the neighborhood. We will have more information out in the coming months, but Meridian Street will be hosting on Sunday, February 25. Please save the date and plan to attend. The first conversation will begin for Meridian Street on Wednesday, January 10 th from 6pm to 7:15pm. We will meet on January 10, 17, 24, 31, and February 7 to discuss a book titled Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving. The final session on February 7 will be facilitated by Dr. Leah Gunning Francis who will help us determine next steps as a church. I hope you will join us for the conversations 4 It is so important that people of faith begin to have this conversation on race. How we view race affects our nation, city, and even our neighborhood. If you have any questions or if you would like to be involved please contact me at or at mlandry@meridianstreet.org. Grace and peace, Pastor Matt.

5 Statement from Neighborhood Congregations on Racism To the residents and friends of the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood: As people of faith representing the congregations of our neighborhood, we feel that it is our duty to respond to the racism, hatred, and discrimination that exists and continues to resurface in different ways within our nation and even here at home. We were profoundly troubled to learn of racist comments and an act of racial intimidation in our Butler Tarkington neighborhood. Collectively we are speaking out against any action, group, or ideology that demeans the unique dignity of every person that lives, travels through, or even visits our neighborhood and beyond. We condemn acts of racial intimidation in any form. We recognize the systemic injustices that exist against the African American community and have a collective desire to act. We condemn groups like the Ku Klux Klan, all white supremacist groups, and all others that adopt their beliefs, recognizing that their roots are not found in any of our faith traditions. Every faith tradition values every life. It is our common hope that our faith and goodwill will encourage everyone to seek understanding, peace, and reconciliation among all people. We are committing not only our congregations, but asking all people to join us in praying, if that is your tradition, and certainly acting in love toward others. We look forward to future engagements with the clergy, congregations, and neighborhood and future partnerships with the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Association. We invite you into this journey of conversation, listening, acting, and supporting one another during this time. Signed: Rev. Ronnie Bell, North United Methodist Church Rev. Jeff Bower, St. Paul s Episcopal Church Rev. Shawn Coons, Fairview Presbyterian Church Rev. Steve Conger, Meridian Street United Methodist Church Rev. Sarah Ginolfi, St. Paul s Episcopal Church Fr. Michael Hoyt, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church Dr. Philip Karl James, Pastor, Mount Zion Baptist Church Rev. Matt Landry, Meridian Street United Methodist Church Pastor Jim Matthies, Common Ground Church Pastor Jeff Reichanadter, Common Ground Church Jamie Hinson-Rieger, Worship Leader, Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis Bethany Scott, Director of Family and Neighborhood Ministries, Meridian Street UMC Rev. Darren Cushman-Wood, North United Methodist Church Meridian Street Little Library Do your little ones like to read? Do you like books? You re in luck! We will be installing a new Little Library very soon near the playground for use by the community. Thank you to Steve Hastings for making it for us. Bring a book. Take a book. Check it out! Celebrate Christmas at the Martin Luther King Community Center Each year we hold a family Christmas party with some fun guests from the North Pole. This year we are holding the party at the Martin Luther King Community Center on Friday, December 15 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. We re opening the party up to families in the neighborhood as well as those that attend the after school program at the MLK center. Meridian Street families are encouraged to attend! We will still welcome those special guests (hint see picture to the right!) For more information, please contact Bethany Scott via at bscott@meridianstreet.org. 5

6 More Neighborhood News Celebrating Dr. King in January Meridian Street is looking forward to hosting the Martin Luther King Community Center s Founders Breakfast on Friday, January 12 th at 8am. This will be our second year hosting this great event. Click the link to register. We will also need volunteers to help us host. Please contact Mary Sue to volunteer. MLK 5K The very next day, Meridian Street is proud to be a sponsor of the inaugural MLK 5K that will be held on Saturday, January 13. This event is being planned by the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Association and is sponsored by Butler University and Meridian Street United Methodist Church. The link to register is below. The race begins at 9:30 a.m. at the MLK Community Center at 40 W. 40 th Street. Come a little early as Pastor Matt and Pastor Steve will participate, along with other clergy from the neighborhood, in remembering and celebrating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Even if you don t want to run, you can still volunteer. Contact Pastor Matt to learn more. /mlkday5k/ Pastor Matt Landry to Serve on BTNA Board Pastor Matt is looking forward to serving on the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Association Board starting in January. Through his service on the board, he hopes to plan community building events and bring the congregations of BTNA together. His bio and and information will be featured December s BTNA news. Finance FAQs by Keisha Boger Meridian Street utilizes JP Morgan for investment management services. The endowment committee, that oversees the church s financial portfolio, recently met with Jamie Rich, our banker with JP Morgan. During that meeting, Jamie encouraged us to reach out to our church donor base and remind everyone that now is a great time to donate appreciated stock since the market is doing very well! Jamie shared with us some promotional material published by JP Morgan on donations to charity; below are some highlights from the brochure. Tax Benefits: Gifting certain appreciated assets to charities might provide more bang for the buck, as not only may you get an income tax deduction based on the fair market value of the donated asset, but you would also not have to pay capital gains tax on that asset s unrealized appreciation. It is advisable to review how much and to whom you are planning to give and to time your gifts properly. Ways to Give: Charitable IRA qualified distributions: It is possible to direct transfer from an IRA to a charity and count those donations toward your required minimum distributions. 6 These distributions are not included in your taxable income. Donor-advised funds: many timing issues can be eased by using a donor-advised fund. Gifts to donor-advised funds provide an immediate charitable deduction while allowing you to defer recommendations about the ultimate charitable recipients and the timing of future distributions to charities. Charitable lead annuity trust: now is a particularly good time to consider using a CLAT. Two key factors that help CLATs success are now in place: interest rates are low, and the outlook for long-term investment returns is good. A CLAT is a trust you can create to benefit both charity and your heirs. Charities you name receive a fixed amount at least annually for the trust s term. At the end of that time, the trust ends, and any assets remaining typically pass to other family members. When to Give: Some assets can take more time to transfer than others. If you are planning to transfer stock or mutual funds to Meridian Street by the end of the year, please act now and contact your broker and Keisha in the church office. Especially note that mutual funds could take up to 20 business days as your broker will need to request specific account numbers and BIN info from JP Morgan to complete the transfer for mutual fund shares.

7 News from The Gathering of Men Reflections on the 5 th Annual Men s Retreat Nineteen guys found their way to the YMCA Flat Rock Camp the last weekend in October for the Gathering of Men s Fifth Annual Retreat. We built on a successful combination of fellowship, faith journeying and fun! (And for a couple of us, some successful fishing!) Over the course of a Friday night and all day on Saturday, we quickly got comfortable being together and talking and listening to each other; a rarity today. We shared meals, family stories, and bio-snippets and enjoyed being outdoors learning new activities (for many) in the crisp fall weather. A cold, rainy Friday evening made it too nasty to be outdoors for long. We had a relaxing, group dinner in the mess hall surrounded by noisy, blissful kids and their leaders. Lots of memories arose, of times gone by at camp, both as kids and as parents. Post dinner vespers convened in our meeting lodge, followed by a group viewing of The Shack, a powerful, painful but hope-filled movie. And then, an after movie heartfelt discussion concerning our individual takes on God's image, the Trinity and the nature of forgiveness and grace continued until almost Midnight, a thing both cathartic and totally out of character for a bunch of guys. No one went to their bunk beds unaffected by the conversation. Saturday, too, was filled with sessions focusing on our theme of Roots, Branches and Seeds as we explored our faith roots, our connections to Meridian Street, our current ministry reach and our vision for the years to come. But we also had time to enjoy some trap shooting, some hiking around camp and some just-getting-intothe-quiet time. Our final session was a service of servanthood, where we were sent into the world feeling embraced by the power of the Spirit to continue to do God s work. Join the Gathering of Men Supply Drive for School 43 The Gathering of Men actively supports School 43 as part of our neighborhood outreach. We are aware of the great challenges that the teachers face day in and day out. One area where we have helped and which we invite you to join is a resupply program. By this time in the school year, classroom supplies run low. Often, teachers dip into their own pockets to get what is needed for 7 their students to make progress. Your gift to this program can be one of those seeds planted in the neighborhood that bears fruit in the years to come! From working with the School and getting input from teachers that are part of the Gathering, we have come up with a list of those things of high need: Wide rule writing paper ( Ct.) #2 pencils (18-24 Ct.) Dry erase markers 4 pk Kleenex (any label) Pocket folders (often have 3 ring holder) Disinfectant Wipes (Tube) Large dry erase erasers 2"X1" 4 pk. Spring clips multiple pk. We have found the following suppliers to be the best place to get good prices, with Dollar Tree being the best, Walmart 2 nd. Also Dollar General, Target and Office Depot. Timing: We are collecting these items through the holiday season and will deliver them to School 43 when classes restart after the first of the year. Where: Please bring your gifts to the church office marked for the School 43 Supply Drive. Questions? Please contact Dick D Alton at dickdalton@comcast.net, Dan Gangler at dan.gangler@inumc.org, or Marvin Miller at Marv1127@aol.com

8 5500 North Meridian Street Indianapolis, Indiana fax meridianstreet.org First Class Postage Christmas Eve Services Morning worship: 9:15 (Chapel) and 10:30 a.m. (Sanctuary) Evening services: 5 p.m. (Family Service) 9 p.m. and 11p.m. (Candlelight Services) Holy Communion offered from 10:15-10:45 p.m. i th Ch l 8