New Milford United Methodist Church 68 Danbury Road, New Milford, Conn (860)

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1 New Milford United Methodist Church 68 Danbury Road, New Milford, Conn (860) Beloved siblings in Christ, (yes, that s how you were created, and that s who you are to me!) May this newsletter reach you in a delightful moment of summer bliss. I, for one, have been riding on an awesome wave of joy, and I don t think that it s just because summer finally arrived after a long winter. I firmly believe this strange warming of my heart has to do with being in ministry with you. Your radical hospitality has transcended all reasonable expectations. I feel warmly embraced into the life of our faith community and blessed with the opportunity to get to know you as individuals and co-workers in this fruitful vineyard. And, as I get to learn about the rich history and legacy of our church, I further realize the honor of walking with you as your pastor, partner in ministry, and brother in Christ. August 2015 In addition to the gladness springing from individual and small-group interactions, I must acknowledge that our worship services have been nothing short of awe-inspiring! The worship teams (Wednesday & Sunday services), lay leaders, youth, children, transition team, and volunteers have not only made room for me to become part of our church s worship life, but also have been creating intentional space for the movement of the Holy Spirit. The Sweet Sustainer truly infuses and continually transforms all who make themselves open and available to the power of Christ s love and God s infinite grace. Pastor s Message As we welcome the Spirit together and learn from one another, please allow me to go deeper into one principle. Corporate worship is a very important aspect of my calling and one of my profoundly held ecclesiological beliefs! As I mentioned in my first sermon, God and communion with God can and should be found outside the grounds of our church, but that is no substitute for worship celebration as a church community the gathered Holy Body of Christ. I am certainly passionate about works of justice, mercy and loving-kindness, but I believe those spiritual practices are only sustainable and truly fruitful if we set aside time to meet God and worship God also as a church. That essentially translates to: It s hard (some would say impossible) to be a well-rounded Christian if communal worship is not part of one s spiritual practice. Jesus did have His moments in contemplative solitude, and scriptures suggest that He spent much of His time outside the walls of a temple. But, in addition to the Gospel being proclaimed and lived out in community, it was greatly celebrated in community. From cover to cover, the Bible tells us of the vital importance of corporate worship. The essential value of praying, singing, studying, and allowing the Holy Spirit to make us one cannot be over emphasized. In corporate worship we come together to give God praise for God s mercy and grace upon us as the people of God. In communal worship, we are blessed with opportunities to be fed spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally. Most importantly, it is in communal worship that we get to holistically witness and support one another. You might continued on next page

2 Pastor s Message continued be having a great weekend (or year) and might not feel the need to come to church, but that might be the very Sunday that one of your siblings in faith needs to hear, see, and feel God s presence through you. Remember Mr. Potato Head? Yes, how can the Body of Christ be complete if you are not there? Well, my sisters and brothers in Christ, it is a profound joy and delight to be in ministry with you. It is an honor to learn about your human journey as a spiritual beings, and it is awe inspiring to be in worship celebration with you. Some would call this the honeymoon phase, and we know that honeymoons do not last forever. However, my prayer is that this is not a phase but the byproduct of God s unconditional love for us, the inevitable reality of a people committed to being one in Christ Jesus, and the undeniable consequence of following the highest of the commandments. 28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, Which commandment is the first of all? 29 Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. 31 The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. ~ Mark 12:28-31 May we continue to come together as the Body of Christ in worship and celebration of the unconditional love and infinite grace flowing from our God, Three in One. And may the unshakeable peace brought to fruition by the movement of the Holy Spirit be within us, for us, around us, and through us! Yours in Christ, Pastor Alex [Rev. Alex, Rev., Pastor, Brother Alex, other names by arrangement in consultation with the One that has all of our names written on the palms of the Divine hands!] 4 Athena M. 5 Damon M. 8 Rich T. 13 Jacque G. 14 Travis K. 24 Bonnie W., Angie C. 26 Tracie N., Elizabeth K. 27 Tom N. 28 Lu Vivona Attendance & Offerings July 5 84 $1,971 July $5,192 July $4,057 Monthly Giving $11,220 YTD Giving $101,559 YTD Giving $97,178 (Budgeted) To the church family, Thank you for all the thoughts, prayers and cards sent to our family after my father s death. Your caring and kindness were appreciated. Rita and Paul Iverson Church Cleaning Tile floors and carpets in the Education Center wing and the church are being cleaned during the week of August Tom Nixon and Jan Parsons have worked out a schedule to minimize any disturbance to our normal weekly schedule. Signs will be posted when areas are closed for cleaning or drying purposes. Thank you for your cooperation. The Trustees

3 VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL G-Force God s Love in Action August 3-7, :30 7:30 p.m. New Milford United Methodist Church New Milford United Methodist Church is gearing up for an exciting week of Vacation Bible School (VBS). VBS is open to ages Throughout the week we will be using G-Force God s Love in Action VBS program to learn about God s amazing grace. Kids learn how to put their faith into acti This is a mission-centered VBS, allowing kids to experience God s love and discover how to move through life with God. In order to properly plan for VBS, your registration forms must be received by July 30, Completed forms may be dropped off to the Church Office or sent via to office@newmilfordumc.org. There is a $10 registration fee, for which scholarships are available if needed. Additional forms may be downloaded on the NMUMC website at If you would like to volunteer, we still have a few roles left to fill. If you can assist in this VBS program, please contact Nancy Mascio at or her at nancymascio10@hotmail.com. If you have questions, please contact the Church Office at We hope you will invite your friends and join us for an exciting week!

4 UNITED METHODIST MEN All men of the church are invited to attend the September meeting of the United Methodist Men (UMM). UMM meet the second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. For more information, please contact Dave Kullgren at (860) First of all, I want to take this time to thank EVERY- ONE for their support of the seven youth and six adults who attended U.M. ARMY camps this summer. Our time in Elliot, Maine and Scranton, Pennsylvania were blessed and a great learning experience for all participants. The gifts of prayers, thoughts, snacks, and money were so greatly appreciated! As we finish one season, it s not too soon to start thinking about next summer! Keep an eye out for ways to get involved in U.M. ARMY and other youth activities and ministries! Our Daily Bread (ODB) operating hours are every Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. Donations and volunteers are always welcome! Growing season is here and our clients are enjoying fresh vegetables. We are getting some from the Connecticut Food Bank and the Waldingfield Farm in Washington, but we can always use more. If you find yourself with an abundance for fresh produce this summer, please consider donating it to ODB. Produce donations can be brought to ODB on Thursday from 9 to 11:30 a.m. or from 2:30 to 3 p.m. If these hours are not convenient, call Gene Parsons at to arrange a suitable time. Other current food needs are white pasta of any kind, plus canned fruits and vegetables. Pastor Alex has been visiting ODB each week to meet with clients. We are fortunate to have his language capabilities to enhance our volunteer/client communications and interactions. With the summer, sadly, winding down shortly, comes preparations for a new youth year! The first official youth meeting for the fall will be Sunday, Sept. 13 at 2:30 p.m. (location TBA). Youth meetings are open to all young people grades If you or your child(ren) are entering 6th grade, or fit into that grade range, please join us!! All are welcome! The youth address has changed. To make communication more convenient and efficient the new youth is nmumcyouth@gmail.com. I look forward to a great year sharing fellowship, experiencing missions, and having FUN with the youth of our church! If you have any interest in how the youth can be involved in various missions and ministries of the church please me so that we can arrange something!! Peace and Blessings, Brinna Kolitz Youthminister@newmilfordumc.org

5 SAVE THE DATE Fall Fair 2015 The 2015 Fall Fair is two months away! It will be held on Saturday, Oct. 10. We will have all the favorites: Soups & Chilis, White Elephant, UMM Grilling treats, Vendors, Baked Good, Homemade Bread, Pies and so much more! We also want your ideas on new things we can try and ways to make our traditional things even better. Think about how you would like to help. Prior to the fair we will need people to put up signs, bake goods, cakes and pies, make soup and chili. We will also need set- up and take crews on the day of the fair. If you have any questions or ideas, please let us know! Tracie Nixon at or (203) or Marlene Davis a mmdavis@sbcglobal.net or (203) Joys & Concerns MOTHER AND FATHER S DAY CARDS I would like to thank everyone who purchased Mother s and Father s Day cards and made a donation this past May and June for the Blanket and Tool Program. We collected $410 from the sale of the cards that will be sent to the Church World Services. The money goes toward blankets and tools for the people at home and around the world. Since we have started selling cards, our church has donated over $8,000! Once again, thank you for your support and generosity. Bonnie Knapp RALLY sunday Mark your calendar: Sunday, Sept. 13 our prayers are with: Mary Prause as her foot continues to heal. Alma Hough who is experiencing health issues. Joe Tigner who is in need of prayer. Marcia Cairns nephew who is not responding to treatment. Liz Burwell who is having medical issues. Rob, Traci Poeti s brother, who has a muscular disorder. Alexis, Chris Martirano s niece, who is going through chemotherapy. Terri Hudak s cousin, Julie Spence in Virginia, who is battling cancer. Terri Hudak s aunt in California who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Steve Bowers, who is now on dialysis and has been added to the transplant list. Laurel Partrick s cousin, Cynthia, is facing her third recurrence of cancer. Emily Nixon s cousin, who has been diagnosed with cancer. Marlene Davis son, who is undergoing chemotherapy. Kay Jones niece, Sherri, whose cancer has returned. Joăo s family and friends mourning his death.

6 I am a dog person. I have had dogs almost my whole life. When I was growing up it was expected that dogs lived about seven years. Thankfully that is no longer the case. We currently have two dogs Scrappy, a large nine-year-old mixed breed and Jack, an almost 15-year-old Cairn Terrier. Jack had the misfortune to become diabetic when he was 11. This has meant twice a day insulin injections, severe dietary restrictions, and, as it has for 90% of diabetic dogs, cataracts and blindness. Cataracts are similar in people and dogs. The lens of the eye that focuses light and images on the retina becomes cloudy and vision is impaired. Vision through cataracts has been described as looking thru many layers of wax paper. There is no medical treatment for cataracts. Surgery is the only thing that will improve vision. The surgical procedure is quite simple. The cataract is removed by a process called phacoemulsification. A small probe is placed though an incision into the eye that uses high frequency ultrasound power to break up the lens into small pieces that are then vacuumed out. Once the lens proteins have been removed, a man-made lens is placed within the lens capsule and the incision is closed. Surgery carries some risk of detached retina, glaucoma, and infection, but complications only occur in about 5% of surgeries. What causes cataracts in people? As we age, the eye s lens becomes less flexible, less transparent and thicker. Risk factors include advancing age, diabetes, alcohol use, exposure to sunlight, smoking, high blood pressure, and previous eye injury or surgery. Cataracts cause cloudy vision which is often worse at night. They can also cause sensitivity to light, halos around lights, and fading or yellowing of colors. The surgery to correct cataracts is often done when the decrease in vision causes quality of life issues. If you have any of the symptoms of cataracts, see your eye doctor. Jack has gotten to that point. His vision is completely gone and he is less outgoing than he was. Thankfully, there is an excellent veterinary ophthalmologist in Wilton and Jack had successful surgery on July 21. He can see again, and doesn t really know quite what to make of it. Unlike people, who can be told what not to do to jeopardize the eye, he must wear a cone for three weeks and have multiple eye drops administered four times a day. We are hoping that he has no complications, for unlike people, very little can be done if they occur. Gail Abernethy, RN A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself John Billings Spaghetti Dinners get cookin again - Volunteers needed! Spaghetti Dinner will be starting up once again in September. These dinners are held once a month, on the second Saturday of each month, starting Sept. 12. We are considering changing the time this year to 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. By volunteering to help at the dinners, it is a great opportunity to work with other members of the church and get to know them better. We have a variety of jobs to volunteer for. We need people to help in the morning to put up the round tables and chairs, to cook spaghetti, and make the sauce. In the middle of the day we have a salad crew that can always use help making the salads. In the evening, we need volunteers to sell the tickets, serve the food, bus tables, runners to keep the food coming, and dish washers. Last but not least, we need a lot of hands to help clean up, which includes putting the round tables and chairs away. You do not have to sign up to work every month. Volunteering just a few hours every now and then would help out greatly. A signup sheet will be available at the church starting August 30. The more volunteers we have the better it works out. As always, we need people to sign up to donate fruit and vegetables each month for the salads and homemade desserts for the dinner in the evening. This year we will be trying something different. We will be offering alternate dinners 2 different months, instead of spaghetti. We will keep you posted what months and what type of meal will be offered. Just a reminder, the money the dinners make goes towards different missions and some to the general fund of the church. For more information please contact the church office at (860) or office@newmilfordumc.org, Bonnie Knapp at (860) or Janet Parsons at (860)

7 Pastoral Transition The committee for the Welcome Pastor Alex Picnic wishes to send a huge thanks to all who gave us their helping hands to put on a fantastic event. Special thanks to the United Methodist Men who set up and broke down the tent which offered delightful shade and who graced us with some delicious veggie burgers, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and all the fix ins. We had many hands who prepared all of the delicious side dishes as well as kind folks who came early and stayed late to assure all was ready to go before and put back in order after. We are truly blessed to have such a loving and helpful church family! Love and Peace, Laurie Putnam and Kimber Malinowski Thank you to all who helped with Pastoral Transition. Over the past few weeks our church has undergone a big change: a Pastoral transition. We said farewell to Pastor Paul and then welcomed Pastor Alex to our congregation. Many people contributed in various ways to help make this transition go as smoothly as possible. Whether making a dish for a pot-luck dinner, helping with the setup, or cleaning out the office & kitchen on July 4th weekend, we were blessed with volunteers who really pitched in. I especially want to thank the members of the Transition team, listed below. They truly put their hearts into taking care of things big and small to help the two pastors through this transition. Harold Jacobson Jan Parsons Ann Tibbatts Kimber Malinowski Laurie Putnam Jane & Mike Walsh I also want to thank Dave Kullgren and the entire Men s Club for their contributions to the Welcome picnic they setup the tent as well as provided & cooked the hot dogs and hamburgers. I believe that both Pastor Paul and Pastor Alex truly appreciated everything we did for them. Pete DelMastro

8 SPAGHETTI DINNER THANK YOU Members of the Book Club, which meets the third Thursday of each month, have been having the summer to read their own book choices. On Aug. 20 at 1:30 p.m., we will meet to share those stories. Due to the cleaning schedule, the location will be determined at a later date. New members are welcome to participate in our book discussions. You do not need to be a member of our church. Perhaps you have a friend who is an avid reader and would like to come. Contact Jan Parsons, jbparsons02@snet.net if you have any questions. Our next book for September will be To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel that is now 50 years old, and many of us read way back when, makes for good discussion. Perhaps you read it under the scrutiny of an English teacher as a teenager, and now our adult eyes may interpret things differently. Suggestions for book titles are always welcome. Join in our discussions; learn and laugh. Jan Parsons We would like to thank everyone who helped make the spaghetti dinners a success last year. Without the help of the volunteers who helped set up, worked the dinners, made the salads, donated desserts or donated food, this would not have been a success. Here are a few examples of where some of the profits go to from the dinners: General Fund Frontier Foundation Mozambique U.M. ARMY Our Daily Bread Purchased Health Kits (A Lenten Project) Purchased a Pet Mobility Cart Donation to help Emily Nixon go to an Open Door Conference Thank you again for all your support! See you in September. Bonnie Knapp, Helen Leary and Janet Parsons

9 METHODIST MOVERS RECAP The 2015 Relay for Life s kicked off with an honorary Survivors and Caregivers lap at 2 p.m. on June 27 and closing ceremonies took place the following morning at 6 a.m. at Sarah Noble School. As Team Captains, and a member of the Event Leadership Team, both Alex and I (along with all the other Team Members) have spent many nights and week-ends working hard helping plan and organize this event to make it a success. Many believe and say it is only a one-day event. Yes, the big event is, but there is a lot happening behind the scenes in order for that one day event to happen. Fundraising takes place September through August, so yes, this event is year round hard work. This year, due to Mother Nature having her own mind for the weather, we had no choice but to hold this annual event in the school s gymnasium. Our community still came together and helped celebrate and support this great cause. Teams set booths up around the gym and a walking path was established for walkers to travel their path for laps to earn the pledges made by many. The Methodist Movers came through and did our best while also having a great time. During the event we enjoyed and participated in many activities such as our Fun lap while our song That s What Faith Can Do by Kutless played. We also participated in Zumba, line dancing, walking laps, dancing to the wonderful music provided by volunteer bands and DJ s, great conversations and making new friends from our community as we all came together to raise funds for a very worthy cause. I had the honor of giving the Luminary Ceremony speech, after which all participants traveled the path of Hope in silence where the Luminary Bags with glow sticks, lit our walk way, to honor the survivors and mourn those who lost their battle to cancer. During the silent lap, a very emotional video of our loved ones was shown. The Methodist Movers booth sold baked goods and had a fun game area. I was fortunate to come across some wonderful games once used by a Masonic organization for field day events. I made a donation and personally purchased these games so I can use them for our annual Relay events. This was a great hit, as the children were in need of activities while confined to the indoor areas. The Methodist Movers team raised the following: 2014 Fall Fair - $38.00 Zumba fundraiser - $ Fifty- four Luminary Bags bought by relatives, friends, and neighbors at $5.00 each, totaling - $ Donations and pledges from loved ones, relatives, friends, neighbors -$1, Event booth - $ Giving a grand total for the Methodist Movers of - $1, New Milford s event grand total to date is $50k. Fundraising can continue until August 31st, after which planning for 2016 will begin in September. Relay for Life of New Milford was once again a huge success! A sincere Thank You to all who helped in any way in making this event, which is such a great cause, a chance for us to come together and take part in helping the fight against cancer, such a huge success. Our hard work and efforts has given hope to a cancer survivor, the chance to celebrate another birthday. Thank you and God Bless. Linda Slater Methodist Movers Team Captain and Event Leadership Team Member Alex Slater Methodist Movers Team Captain