MARCH 2018 VOLUME 22, #03 CARTHAGE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

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1 MARCH 2018 VOLUME 22, #03 CARTHAGE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH MONTHLY NEWSLETTER CUMC FROM OUR PASTOR Rev. Monica Mowdy CUMC WEBSITE: Joel 12:12 That is why the Lord says, Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. 13 Don t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead. (New Living Translation) I caught myself shopping for a new Easter dress online the other day. I found many beautiful, and trendy options that I could see myself wearing. Shopping for an Easter dress for me is akin to shopping for school supplies. I no longer need school supplies come August, yet there is a warm feeling attached to the memory of shopping each year for school supplies; new, fresh pencils, clean and unused notebooks, organizational tools, pristine crayons. I no longer need Easter dresses either. I wear a robe on Easter, but I find some sort of exhilaration in shopping for one. For me, it brings forth memories of Spring air, buttercups, the smell of fresh patent leather shoes and feeling pretty, clean, and new. The tradition of dressing up in new finery for Easter comes from the early days of Christianity. Newly baptized Christians wore white linen robes at Easter to symbolize rebirth and new life. But it was not until 300 A.D. that wearing new clothes became an official decree, as the Roman emperor Constantine declared that his court must wear the finest new clothing on Easter. Eventually, the tradition came to mark the end of Lent, when after wearing weeks of the same clothes, worshipers discarded the old frocks for new ones. While we don t wear the same clothes during Lent (thank goodness) we do wear the same coating from the world: sin, shame, pride, lust, greed, and complacency, just as if they were comfy clothes. You know, the kind you throw on at the end of a long day as you curl up in your favorite chair with a cup of tea and a good book. Easter is a time we are reborn as we rise with Christ from the depths of death to sin. We shed that clothing to put on new life. In the early days of Christianity, the old fasting and repentance clothing were burned, partially because they were ruined and ragged from days of use, but also in destroying the clothes one felt as though their sin went with the clothes; in to the wisps of smoke and tossed about in the soil like the ashes. I often wonder what happens to our comfy clothes of sin. Upon Easter do they go away with the wisps of smoke and ashes on the dawn of the new day? Or do we rinse them out, hang them up, press out a few wrinkles and slip back into them the next time we need something comfy to slip into when days are rough? Let s put on our good clothes this Easter, our robes of white, our salvation clothes and go boldly into The Kingdom of God with new hearts, minds and souls leaving the sweatpants of repentance behind. Blessings and Peace, Rev. Monica Mowdy, Sr. Pastor

2 FROM CHILDREN S MINSTRIES Ms. Nicole Happy Happy March and almost spring from the Children s Ministry! February was a great month for us, the children took turns serving as ushers for offering during the 10:30 service and we are so proud of them! It seems like such a small thing but encouraging them and giving them opportunities to serve now teaches a life long lesson of the importance of serving their church and also shows them they aren t to little to serve God. With the news of another school shooting it is more important than ever to show everyone from the youngest to the oldest that they matter and that hey are His hands and feet! There is a wonderful song on Christian radio called Fearless. My favorite line is I wasn t given the spirit of fear, I was given the power of love, thank you for being a church that teaches the children that they do matter to us and most of all to God and giving them the courage to take His love out into the world every day! Two big happenings in March, Saturday March 24 th we will have our annual Resurrection Celebration and Easter Egg Hunt, it will be at 6PM with food and games in the CLC followed by a glow in the dark egg hunt on the church lawn, it is open to all and please invite your friends! And on March 25 th the children will be leading the 10:30 Palm Sunday service and we hope to see you all there! As always thank you for being a church that loves and supports the children in their journey with God! Blessings, Ms. Nicole, Mrs. Jodi, and the kiddos!!!! FROM YOUTH MINSTRIES Mia Miller HAPPY MARCH and THANK YOU ALL: for showing up happy and hungry for our 1st annual FAT TUESDAY Pancake Dinner on February 13th! The CLC was packed! In fact, we served 15 lbs. of bacon in the first 30 minutes had to make more!! EXTRA Special thanks go to Kathy Rodgers and Rocca Vincent, Sr. for flipping literally hundreds of pancakes and commanding the kitchen everything was delicious! Thank you to PFG and Hartsville Foodland (Jerry Gammon, Sr.) for donating food items; Mark Rodgers, Mary Leslie Wakefield, and our Youth members for helping to set-up, clean-up, and graciously hosting our many guests. Thank you to all those who offered their appetites and love offerings!! We raised over $700 for Youth ministries :) Warmth in Winter 2018 was a blessing and a success for thousands of young people across the TN Conference, including the 42 Youth and chaperones who traveled from Carthage UMC. I can honestly say that we have a fantastic group of engaging young hearts and minds. Not only am I blessed to be their leader, I am honored and humbled! We look forward to sharing many more blessings as we MOVE>>>forward in our ministry together :) With the start of Lent, we have begun the churchwide study written by Adam Hamilton 24 Hours That Changed The World. It takes us on a journey through the events of Christ s last hours on earth. Both our Sunday School lessons and our Wednesday night devotions are based on this book throughout Lent. YOUTH WISH LIST: Flat Screen TV; large area rugs

3 Carthage Youth: Wednesday nights from 5:30-7pm Sunday mornings from 9:30-10:15am All 6th-12th graders are always welcome to attend! Feel free to reach out anytime with questions or ideas. I welcome your input :) My is: carthageyouth@gmail.com or you can text: Looking forward with HOPE for the future of our Youth in Christ Jesus! Lenten Blessings! Mia CHURCH NEWS BECOMER S CIRCLE: MISSION TRIP BAKE SALE Becomer s is hosting a bake sale to help Pastor Monica and her son, Dylan with their mission trip to Africa. The bake sale will be on Sunday, March 25 th beginning at 9am. All items need to be in the Gathering Room, priced and ready for display by 9 a.m. Bring goodies and bring your wallets and/or purses, and let s support them as they take their love of Christ to our African brothers and sisters. EASTER LILLIES: If you would like to purchase an Easter Lily in honor of or in memory of a loved one, please complete an envelope located on the bulletin boards outside of the sanctuary and turn it in to the church office. The cost is $15.00 and make checks payable to: CUMC. The deadline is Monday, March 19th at 9am. THE NOTABLES: WHAT IS FELLOWSHIP REGISTRATION? You may have been asking yourself why we pass the fellowship registration pads each week. There are 3 basic reasons. 1. We feel that it is vital that we make every attempt to identify and connect with our visitors. We hope that by having everyone sign the sheets, our visitors will feel more comfortable and at home than if they were singled out. This will greatly help Rev. Monica. She will not suddenly appear on their doorstep, but she does like to send a welcoming note. 2. The Notables (our church correspondence committee) meet regularly to send cards to our visitors as well as those who are sick, bereaved, or have a special joy. Remember that if you are a member and your current information is on file in the office, all you need to do is sign your name. If there are several members in your family, you don t need to identify each one just sign your name (i.e., Jones Family). We also encourage you to pass the clipboard back along your row after everyone has signed so that you can learn the names of any visitors. 3. The reason for signing is to identify members who have not been there for several consecutive Sundays. Rather, it is a way for Rev. Monica to reach out to people and be sure that they are not sick or in need of other assistance from our congregation. We all appreciate the warm, caring atmosphere in our congregation, with an emphasis on sharing God s love with everyone. Each of us can do our part to assist Rev. Monica in her efforts by greeting visitors, informing the church office of anyone who is in need or has a special joy, and taking a moment to sign the fellowship registration pads.

4 YOUNG AT HEART The Young at Heart met on February 20 th for a bountiful pot luck luncheon. We had catching up to do because we had not met since October. It was so good to see everyone and fellowship together. Our plans for March will be to go to the Wildberry Restaurant in Lebanon for lunch and maybe do some touring of historical places. Many places of interest were discussed for our YAH. Anyone is invited to join our YAH every 3rd Tuesday and we meet in the church parking lot at 10:00am. We hope to see many of you come and join us for a day of fun, fellowship and adventure. Blessings, Gayle Hudson SUBMISSIONS: PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS: Jill Garner Archbishop Christian Lépine: expressed concern about Bill 62 (law requires recipients of public benefits to show their faces) & changes to Canada s Summer Jobs Program (requires organizations to pledge support of human rights, including access to abortion, to receive federal funding for youth employment programs). The Archbishop, among other religious leaders, said the unintended consequences of these types of laws could lead to creating a system of second class citizens who are excluded from publicly demonstrating their religious beliefs. He noted it is a sign of diminishing religious freedom and conscience. (Quebec, Canada) Pastor Paul Song: has served as a volunteer prison chaplain for 20 years. Recently he was banned by prison officials for deriding a prisoner and teaching extremism in the programs he offered prisoners. Pastor Song said the whole reason I served at the prison was because of my desire to bring the good news of the gospel to people, regardless of their religion or background. I believe that it has the power to transform the lives of all who believe, and so I would never do anything which may cause an individual to not want to hear the Christian message. There have been no complaints filed by the prisoners against Pastor Song & some former prisoners have spoken up in his defense. (London, England) Andrew Brunson (update): has served as a missionary in Turkey for 23 years without incident. He has been imprisoned, with no formal charges filed against him, for the past 1 1/2 years; Turkish law allows for a person to be held in prison for up to 7 years without charges being filed. There is speculation he is being used as political leverage to pressure the US. A petition calling for his release is available for signatures at ACLJ.org (Turkey) Be sure to like us on Facebook: Carthage United Methodist

5 CARTHAGE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH MARCH 2018 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY :30am- 2:30pm 4pm Boy/Cub Scouts Meetings 5 7pm YRN 6 7 4pm Children s Choir 5:30pm-7pm Pastor Monica s Bible Study 5:45pm Handbells 7pm Adult Choir 8 9 6pm-8pm Smith Co. Preschool Spring Consignment Sale 10 9am-12noon Smith Co. Preschool Spring Consignment Sale 11 DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS 11:30am- 2:30pm 4pm Cub Scout Meeting 12 7pm YRN 13 7am Boy Scout Appreciation Breakfast 14 9am-11:30am Women s Bible Study 4pm Children s Choir am Shawl Ministry 18 8:45am Men s Breakfast 11:30am-2:30pm 2pm Carthage Pavilion 4pm Boy/Cub Scouts Meetings 19 9am Deadline to purchase Easter Lilies 7pm YRN 20 10am Young at Heart Luncheon 7pm Nursing Home 21 9am-11:30am Women s Bible Study 4pm Children s Choir 5:30pm-7pm Pastor Monica s Bible Study 5:45pm Handbells 7pm Adult Choir am Becomer s Bake Sale 10:30am CLC Service 11:30am- 2:30pm 26 9am April Newsletter Deadline 12noon Book Club Lunch 1pm Book Club Meeting am-11:30am Women s Bible Study 4pm Children s Choir 5:30pm Pastor Monica s Bible Study 7pm Adult Choir 29 6pm Seder Meal 30 GOOD FRIDAY OFFICE CLOSED 6:30pm Good Friday Service 31

6 CARTHAGE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH CARTHAGE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH STD MAIL P.O. BOX 241 POSTAGE & FEES PAID 608 MAIN STREET NORTH PERMIT #18 CARTHAGE TN Be sure to like us on Facebook: Carthage United Methodist Church Website:

FEBRUARY 2018 VOLUME 22, #02 CARTHAGE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

FEBRUARY 2018 VOLUME 22, #02 CARTHAGE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH MONTHLY NEWSLETTER CUMC EMAIL: carthageumcsecretary@gmail.com FROM OUR PASTOR Rev. Monica Mowdy CUMC WEBSITE: www.carthagetnumc.org Tis the