Focus our thoughts on God

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1 Focus our thoughts on God First United Methodist Church Rev. Rhonda Kouterick, Editor Message from Pastor Rhonda S e p t e m b e r, 2015 Inside this issue: Outreach 2 UMW 2 Thoughts of Fall For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: It s nearly that season Fall; cooler weather, garden harvest, back from the lake, school, maybe a more regular schedule. September 13 marks the time for Horseheads First United Methodist return to 2 services, 8 and 10:30, and the beginning of Sunday School. We ve planned a potluck dinner that day so everyone has a chance to reconnect and visit over lunch. The church will supply beverages and hotdogs, and ice cream; so bring your table service and dish- to-share; if you no longer cook a free-will donation would be appreciated. UMM 2 2 Christian Ed 2 Our Friends at Home 3 Missions 3 Media Musings 3 Adult Sunday School 4 Other Stuff 4 Thank you 4 Calendar 5 Upcoming Events 6 Invite a friend, speak to a neighbor, call someone you ve missed over the summer let s fill the pews and get this season off to a good start. Hoping that your time off has been re-creating, and your spirit renewed as you ve enjoyed God s great creation. Be sure to visit our newly renovated younger adult Sunday School Classroom (Room 6). Pastor Rhonda 1 P a g e

2 Outreach Team Our fall food drive begins September 13. Donations made to the food drive will help the Horseheads Food Pantry purchase food and help alleviate hunger locally. United Methodist Woman Welcome back, Ladies! After a hopefully relaxing summer, plan on coming to one of the UMW (United Methodist Women's) Circle meetings in September and enjoy the fellowship. All women are invited to attend. The Deborah Hannah Circle meets on September 15th. It's their annual Salad Luncheon so instead of your own sandwich bring your favorite salad dish to share. If you don't cook anymore, come anyway there is always plenty. Electa Circle meets September 16th. Bring your own sandwich, dessert and beverages will be provided. The Electa Circle will be having a book review afterwards. Both circles meet in the Church Narthex at noon. Thank you for your donations for the UMCOR Health Kits. There is still time, if you wish to donate items (listed on the bulletin board) or money for shipping (memo: UMCOR Health Kits on your check or envelope). The Mountainview District UMW will have their fall meeting at New Beginnings UM Church on September 26th starting at 9:30. Again, all women are invited to attend. Details will be on the September UMW bulletin board. Don't Forget! The UMW Fall Rummage Sale will be coming up in early October. Let our overflow become United Methodist Men All are welcome to join the UMM on Saturday, September 12 th for breakfast in the Narthex at 8:30 Guest Speakers will be Emmanual & Florence Mefor Medical Missionaries serving in Zimbabwe. August 2 the Gift of Music was beautifully presented to the glory of God by Barbara Cunningham, guest pianist with a piece of music which required nimble fingering in Reflections. Comments: Barbara stated that she chose this piece of music as it reflected calmness in a pool of water and a reminder of when the family visited Scotland and her children sailed their boats in a park. (They visited Scotland 10 times, her husband George was from Scotland.) Ada Copp Our Fall Schedule begins September 13 th with 8 and 10:30 services. Please plan to stay for a Welcome Back brunch after the later service. The Church will provide ham and beverages please bring you own table service and a dish to pass if you like. If you do not wish to cook join us anyway. We plan to have brunch on the second Sunday of the month through Fall & Winter. Christian Education Hometown Nazareth where Jesus was a K id was the theme for this year s VBS. The children started each day with their group Huddle learning a Bible Point and Bible verse, along with a discussion that they could apply to their own lives. Throughout the week they visited Mary, Jesus mom to hear about his childhood adventures; they experienced the town Market Place; they visited the Synagogue School, Joseph s Carpenter shop, the Farmer s Field shops of Dye, Olive Oil, & the Bead bazaar; as well as the Food Market and the Barnyard with Jesus friend, Levi. The children learned about the UMC mission of Imagine No Malaria and donated to the cause. Please look at the Narthex BVBS Photo Boards for a Visual Experience 2 P a g e

3 Our Friends at Home Parish Visitor Cindy Ellis ( ) We re nearing the end of summer. It was refreshing, with more time for reading, etc. Yet, I still enjoyed my visits and phone calls with many from our church family. Bob Hall came through his surgery quite well. David Rouse is doing well. Connie Cruttenden is home. Cynthia Stansfield is always a joy to visit we laugh a lot! Both Rob Scott and MaryJane Cooper are recovering from shoulder surgeries. We keep in prayer those who lost loved ones this summer: Joan Oliver, Mary Brown, Shirley Weston, the family of Virginia Coon, and John Young. There are others in our church working through their illnesses. Bob Harter is home. Bev Ring is home recovering from a back injury. Lorraine Flanders will be going to Bethany Manor. Ron Hynes is at Bethany Manor. Becky Stock is at the Chemung Co. Nursing Facility. I am sure these folks would love cards and prayers. This reminds me to ask you to sign the cards on Sunday mornings. They are located on the shelf outside the church office. The people really like getting mail and reading your names, even if they don t know you. They are glad that our church family remembers them. Please call the church office is you or a family member is in the hospital and would like a visit. We never want you to feel neglected. God s blessings today and every day. Missions Team Thank you for the wonderful response to the Christmas in July collection (5-30 gal. bags and two storage bins full of gifts plus monetary gifts). Special thanks to the Praying for their two bins of lovely hand-knit items and the $50 donation toward the shipping costs. The final House Banks for Hunger collection for 2015 has something new. On September 6th and every Sunday in September, you will see a wooden house bank in the narthex (many thanks to Charlie Hackett). Donations put into the house bank through the chimney or in your regular envelops and marked for House Bank will be divided between Horseheads Food Pantry and UMCOR World Hunger and Poverty. Let s all work toward the goal of ending food insecurity locally and throughout the world. We were happy to have a Robin, former FUMC member and now a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators, worship with us on August 16 th. His work with Wycliffe had her husband elsewhere that Sunday; but her sons and mom were in attendance also. Our congregation, through missions and the UMW help to support their work and wish them well as they itinerate for a year here in the US. UM missionaries, Dr. Emmanuel and Florence Mefor, who our congregation also helps to support, are also itinerating for a while in the US. They will be at our church on Saturday, September 12 th, for the UMM s breakfast and program. Media Musings September 13, the day when all books for Summer Reading must be finished and returned, is coming up fast. Please make sure that you have recorded all your books. Mark your calendars for September 27 th, the day we plan to celebrate Summer Reading Pizza Party in the library. We will also hand out new books to the children who have completed their quota, on the 27 th at the 10:30 service. During the summer Rita Colvin donated All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. The story is about two children growing up during WWII; one in France and the other in Germany. There is also an element of suspense other than the war. *** Jan Przybylski bought Grounded, book I of Windy City Neighbors, written by Neta and Dave Jackson. We already have book II, Derailed. Both stories revolve around Chicago and some of the same people who are in the Yada Yada novels. ***Karen Kingsbury has begun a new series with The Family of Jesus and The Friends of Jesus. Written in story form and contemporary language, these books can make the Bible more understandable. They were given to the 3 P a g e library by Lee Padgett.

4 Adult Bible The "Then How Shall We Live" Adult Sunday school class will spend September & October on The Call, an in depth study of the Apostle Paul by Adam Hamilton. We welcome and strongly invite new participants - give us a try! Sundays, 9:15 in the Large Conf. Room Dick Williams Join our Adult Sunday Scholars in the Winter Fantasy Room at 9:15 concerning World events & Bible Prophesy comparing the history of Islam & Christianity, Allah and God. One source is an informative book by Michael Youssef, Ph.D., Jesus, Jihad and Peace and of course our main text the Bible. Our 10 Monday Bible study will discuss the Prophets of the Bible beginning with Isiah and Lamentations finding the amazing prophesies (over 300 fulfilled about Jesus 1 st coming and over 500 telling of his 2 nd coming. Come join us and see how truly amazing God s word is. Karren Harter Other Stuff Parenting Class begins in our newly renovated classroom (room 6) from 9:20 10:10, Sunday, September 13 th. Because self-esteem is the foundation for a successful like, a happy family, and a health culture, the conversation will center on Self-Esteem, a Family Affair a book by Jean Illseley Clarke. Children preschool age & older may attend Sunday School; little ones play in the nursery. Pauline LeShure would like donations of Children s bible Stories or activity booklets for the quiet bags she fills each week for the children. Nancy Learn would like to share God Sighting stories much like the Guidepost feature named His Mysterious Ways. Please write about miraculous ways that God has touched their lives. Nancy has shared several of her own experiences and would like to hear about yours. There is a folder in the workroom (across from the office) labeled God Sightings for sharing stories. Billy Alley 4 P a g e Thanks to all of you that gave me financial support for my Mission Trip to Honduras to work with Mike and Glenda Miller. To be there and do our Lord s work has become something I have become passionate about. It is most rewarding to see how God is working through Mike and Glenda. I plan to return to help with the Lord s work, God willing. I will also begin sponsoring one of the many children in need. Kirk Hollenbeck

5 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3:45 p.m. Missions Team 3 7 p.m. Outreach :30 Communio n 13 8 & 10:30 Pot Luck at 11:30 Fall Food Drive begins 20 8 & 10:30 Dedication of the Teachers 27 Fall Fantasy Summer Reading Program 7 10 Bible Bible 7 p.m. Bible 21 9 Quilt Ministry 10 Bible 7 p.m. Bible Bible 7 p.m. Bible 8 7 p.m. Trustees 15 Noon Deborah Hannah Circle 7 p.m. Team 22 9:30 Bone 7 p.m. Church Council Noon Electa Circle 7 p.m. Staff Parish 23 6:30 p.m. Blessing of the Animals 30 7 p.m. Stewardship p.m. Ecumenical Council 17 9:30 Bible CHAT 24 9:30 Bible 7 p.m. Christian Ed. October :30 Mefors will speak at UMM :30 Scrapbooking :30 The Mountainview District UMW fall meeting at New Beginnings UM Church 2 3 Rummage Sale Setup 5 P a g e

6 United Methodist Church 1034 West Broad Street Horseheads, NY NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION PERMIT #66 We re on the Web! Upcoming Events September 6 th Fall hours begin: Services at 8 & 10:30 ; Sunday School at 9:15 September 13 th Fall Hours begin; Sunday School resumes;fall Food Drive begins Welcome back Pot Luck at 11:30 September 23ed Blessing of the Animals Week of September 27 th September 27 Summer Reading Program Pizza Party in the Library October 4 th World Communion Sunday Fall Rummage Sale: Wed. Oct. 7 th 9 th - Early drop off Saturday, October 3 rd. October 11 th UMW pie sale - Fellowship Brunch after 10:30 service October 18 th Laity Sunday 6 P a g e