We are a Christian community reaching out to others with Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors

Transcription

1 We are a Christian community reaching out to others with Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors Palm Sunday, April 9, join us in worship as we celebrate Jesus arrival and reception in Jerusalem during Passover Week and our arrival to Holy Week. Serving this month: Usher: Ken Maki Maundy Thursday, April 13, there is still some potential for a Passover Seder Supper, but the numbers who have signed up are very small. This may be your last chance to grow that group. If you are back in Hayward and interested in sharing in a meal very much like Jesus ate to celebrate Jewish Passover. Please plan to join us and let me know as soon as possible. On Good Friday, April 14, 1pm, we have invited the Hayward Community to worship at HUMC. Ken Frame will sing, Pastor Joel Bacon ( newly arrived at 1 st Lutheran) and myself will each share a short message, and we will serve communion to all who will partake. Liturgists: Carol Loveland Easter Sunday, April 16, we will celebrate with joy, for death is not the end for those who believe in Christ. Sunday, April 23, is for those who still have doubts. Next Newsletter Deadline April 23, 2017 Sunday, April 30 is Confirmation Sunday. We have students who have been studying all year and will be ready to share their faith statements with you. We will follow the worship service with an all church potluck in celebration of their work and accomplishments. Confirmation Potluck Join the Confirmation students celebrate on Sunday, April 30th after Worship. Please bring a dish to pass.

2 Baby Clothes Needed The United Methodist Midwest Distribution Center, located in Chatham, Il sorts and delivers needed supplies collected by local United Methodist Churches around the world to those in need. During 2016 they distributed: 19,279 Student School Bags, 271 Teacher Bags, 37,214 Personal Health Kits, 576 School Desks, 493 Bicycles, 285 Sewing Machines, 1593 Baby layettes, 8948 Flood Buckets, 403 Sewing Kits and1278 Birthing Kits. We can help grow these numbers by collecting baby receiving blankets, onsies and gowns. Baby shopping is fun. Items must be new. Just bring to the church by the end of May and Pastor Cathy and Bethe Wiberg will take them to the collection semi-trailer at annual Conference in June Second Quarter Loose Change will contribute to Zimbabwe Scholarships In Zimbabwe, education costs $ for a child to receive 1 year of education. Gary and Cathie Erickson have more information on the children that will benefit from our help and would be more than willing to share it with you. Summary of Operating Revenue & Expenses Year to Date as of February 28, 2017 Income $ 25,962 Expenses (23,922) $ 2,040 All bills, including apportionments, are paid to date.

3 Home is where God heart is. Where is yours? Every Sunday, as I grew up, we would come home to chicken dinner that had been in the oven while we were at church. Before we left for church we had made the jell-o and set the table. Often my parents invited someone from church to join us for Sunday Dinner. Many times it was a foreign student from the college or the pastor s family. But for Easter we went to Grandma s house in town and had a big ham dinner. On Easter we had new or new to us clothes, and when I was young I remember even hats and gloves. Grandma worked in St Paul at S & H Green Stamps and across the street was a Fannie Mae Candy Shop, where every year she would buy us huge Fruit & Nut Eggs. These we would eat just after dinner until our bellies began to ache. Easter was a family feast day, just as Christmas was. Many preparations went into getting ready for Easter Day, just as it took much time to plan and make Christmas happen. Even every Sunday was like a little Easter as things were laid out ahead of the moment. This year the whole month of March was Lent, and half of April as Easter falls on April 16. We still have much preparation to be ready for Coming Home to the Spiritual feast on Easter. This year as you are journeying through Lent, how are you experiencing things? My Lenten Sermon on March 5 had these words: Here is the catch: The party can t start, until we decide to bring our heart back home. God waits for us to decide, not forcing us to return. The Bible is all about God s continual reaching out for us, wanting a relationship. When Adam and Eve had done the very thing God told them not to do, they hid in the garden. God went walking among the bushes, calling Adam, Eve, where are you? All through the Bible God calls people into relationship. God takes the initiative in calling Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Esau. God called Jonathan, David, Ruth, Naomi, Miriam, and Esther. The story of Jesus Christ reveals that same theme: God calling to us, Bob, Anne, Carmen, Francis, where are you? I want a relationship with you. I am waiting for you to be open to receiving all that I have for you. Coming home to God requires you to spend some time with God. Start praying more. Right now!! Any words can work as God just wants some of your attention. Find your Bible and read something, read anything and then ponder it. Watch for God, who is waiting for your return home. Look for Christ s face in the people you are with. Help others find their way home as well by encouraging and serving. And then honor Holy Week by attending services for Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. I know that not all of you will be back in Hayward by then, but almost everywhere on earth there are services to attend on those days. Now is the time to start stirring the jell-o not at meal time. There is no reason to wait to return home. God is already watching for your return. Welcome Home! As Always, Pastor Cathy Communications Church calls and go to the church. I am not always there, so I give you permission to call or me at my smart phone, which I always have near: aacath@hotmail.com or If you are sick or in the hospital, please let me know so I can pray for you. It will only be shared with your permission. Thank you, Pastor Cathy

4 Confirmation Class Our three Confirmation Students will continue to meet during Sunday s in April, with the exception of Easter Sunday. Their confirmation of faith will take place in worship on April 30. We will celebrate their accomplishments as a church with a potluck lunch after worship. Soups on Sunday Ascension Episcopal Church is doing Soups on Sundays 11-noon every 2 nd and 4 th Sunday; April s dates are 4/9 & 4/23. Free of charge, All are welcome! Education Fund Church Council has approved the establishment of an Education Fund to be used like a scholarship fund for children or youth of the church who may be attending a school trip, church camp or other educational opportunities in the future. This is a way for us to enhance the Christian Education we offer here at the church and celebrate the children and youth of the church. To help support this fund mark your gifts HUMC Education Fund. If you have any questions talk to Pastor Cathy. Sermons & Pictures Online If you are away from Hayward for a week or a month or even longer...you can always find the sermons and pictures on the church website. Worship Attendance for March 3/ / / /26 40 Upcoming Worship Themes In April Lent 5/Communion Psalm 126; Isaiah 43:16-21 Coming Home: From Past to Future Palm Sunday Psalm 118:19-29; Coming Home: Arrival and Reception Luke 19: Good Friday HUMC HOSTS Community Service at 1 PM Easter Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Coming Home: Death and Resurrection Luke 19: Psalm 16; John 20:19-31 Coming Home: See It to Believe It Confirmation Sunday Psalm 27; Coming Home: Growing toward God Philippians 3:17-4:1

5 Plans are being made to hold a 2 day sale out of our church garage, sometime this summer. This will be a true garage sale. Items not allowed will include: Clothing, electronics, kitchen, luggage, picture frames, knickknacks. Suggested items include: lumber, tools, yard/garden, sporting goods, exercise equipment, furniture, lamps, nails, screws & bolts, bird feeders, animal traps. Some items already available include: toboggan, Ice Auger, Weed Trimmer, bicycles. If you have questions about the type of items to be sold, please call Bruce Konkler or Bethe Wiberg. Spring Day of Enhancement April 22 Pastor Cathy will be at the Holcomb UMC to share about the Wesley Quadrilateral, during the United Methodist Women s Spring Day of Enrichment. The quadrilateral gives us a way to make decisions using scripture, tradition, reason and experience. It is earth day, so the other speaker will share green ideas. All are welcome to come along. It should be an insightful day Liturgists and Ushers Anyone interested in reading the liturgy during service or serving as usher, please contact Robin Frame at rframe@centurytel.net or home phone Book Club Book Club meets on April 28th at 11:15am At Flat Creek Eatery Sister North by Jim Kokoris will be discussed. Everyone is welcome! May 26 The Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs June 30 A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman July 28 The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure The Hayward Library has copies available each month. Just ask for the Methodist Book Club book. Ruby s Pantry April 20 5:30pm Third Thursday of every month at the Wesleyan Church. Sign-up on line at Ruby s Pantry and walk right in. Cost is $20 (plus $1 for online) and you will receive $100 or more worth of food. Share with others what you can t use Men s Group will meet the first Saturday of May. Breakfast and conversation at 8:00 am. Helping Hands If you are in need of help with winter projects, please contact Pastor Cathy. pastor@haywardumc.org or call with your requests for help. Attention all women of the church! Women in Conversation invites you to join us Monday, April 10th.

6 Kathy Heinkel Kathy grew up in the Hayward area and graduated from Hayward High School in After attending college in Eau Claire, she moved back to her hometown where she started her family. She was employed by Midwest STIHL in Hayward for nearly 25 years. Kathy has two daughters: Danielle is a Surgical Technician and currently lives in Eugene, OR. Billie Jo lives in Hayward and is employed by the Northern Lakes Co-op as an Accounts Payable specialist. Billie is also engaged to be married, and has one son, Hunter James, who was just recently baptized here in the church. In her spare time Kathy enjoys reading and spoiling her grandson, but most of her time is spent working on her home (there s always something to update when you re a homeowner!). SUPPORT FOR Harbor House Crisis Shelter Rev. Barbara Certa-Werner from Harbor House Crisis Shelter shared stories of her work with the hurting families and homeless in Superior, WI. In recent years her funding has been cut and part of the struggles of her work is financially supporting the shelters. If you would like to help you can check it out at or put it in the church offering marked Harbor House.

7 BLACK MAIL (Previously known as: TALES FROM THE BLACK FOREST) The Birds (and others) Are Coming. I heard a red-wing blackbird singing last week. When I was a kid, many years ago many, many years ago I lived across the road from a large field. It had been used for farming, later for strawberries, but by this time it had just become grown-over. It was wet in spots, and cattails grew in bunches. We knew that spring had arrived when the red-wing blackbirds invaded the field. We could hear them cawing, a cackling trill, a rich, musical O-ka-LEEEEE, which they sang from one end of the field to the other. That is how I knew the bird heard last week was a red-wing blackbird, singing out back, and that SPRING was on its way. Other birds have arrived. The robins came in about the same time, in like an invading army. I saw them first in the cherry trees, out our rear window, in the neighbor s yard. They were eating the berries that had hardened over the winter. I think they got drunk on them because they kept flying into our sliding-glass door. They bonked the window, but flew away. Soon they were hopping around on the ground again, as When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobin along, as generations have done before these robins came on the scene. Cardinals, the state bird, were around in the winter, but only a few. Now, they are more numerable. I like to whistle their song, a high whistle that the Audubon Field Guide to Birds portrays as a rich, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet sound with a metallic chip. They answer me, but I have no idea what I am saying. A few weeks ago I saw two red-tailed hawks fly back into a gnarled, dark-green, cedar tree. My dad used tell me to shoot the chicken hawks, which he called them. But, they could not take down a full grown chicken. As the female entered the tree I saw she was carrying a piece of vine, or a shred of bark, about ten or twelve inches long. I thought it was early for nesting, since we had just had a snowfall a few days earlier. Yet, it must have been a nesting flight, for it didn t make any sense doing anything else. Later, I learned the hawks make their nests from a heavy structure of sticks, lined with shreds of bark and with green vegetation. It must have been a shred of bark or a stem the female was carrying. The hawks use the same food as the great horned owl, and hunt during the same hours, but don t often compete with one another. They will nest in the same area. Strange to say, but great horned owls do not make nests. They often use the empty nests of the red-tailed hawks, and since the owls begin nesting in early December, they lay their eggs earlier than the hawks. Maybe that is why the hawk was making a new nest. Another strange fact about red-tailed hawks. I was surprised to discover that red-tailed hawks are often used for falconry, in fact, most often. Hawks live for a long period of time (one has been known to live 29 years), so a long relationship with a falconer can be establish. They are resistant to diseases, and are comfortable with humans, so a long-time hunting companion can be established. Falconry is a well-regulated hobby. There about 5,000 falconers in the U.S., but there are about a million red-tailed hawks in the U.S., and more than that around the earth. Red-tailed hawks used for falconry are, therefore, no danger for the extinction of the species. Anyway, SPRING is on its way. The birds are returning home, as are the people who have gone south for the winter. Welcome them, joyfully, birds and humans, back into the community. Remember, the Bible has God saying we should welcome the stranger, and that includes all strangers, including human immigrants. In America we are all immigrants, except Native Americans, and sadly, many of today s human immigrants are from nations where it is impossible, under threat of death, to return to their home again. See Deuteronomy 10:19; Matthew 25:35. I hung a wren s house in the tree out back. The wrens aren t here yet, but I am ready for them when they come. I ll do the same with my neighbors from near and far. I ll see you in church, in person or spirit. Pastor Black (retired)

8 Hayward United Methodist Church P.O. Box 587 Hayward, WI Mailing Address Goes Here ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED Mark Your Calendars April 1 April Fool s Day April 4 12:00 PM SPRC Meeting April 9 10:00 AM Palm Sunday April 10 10:00 AM Women s Group April 11 12:00 PM Trustee s Meeting April 12 9:00 AM HUMC April 16 10:00 AM Easter Sunday April 17 10:00 AM Ad Council Meeting April 20 5:30 PM Ruby s Pantry Distribution April 22 9:00 AM Spring Enhancement April 23 Newsletter Articles Due April 28 11:15 AM Book Club