WESLEY MESSENGER. Worship Schedule. April Volume 10, Issue 4. Sunday, April 1 Resurrection Sunday Why It Matters! John 20: Peter 1: 3-9

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1 WESLEY MESSENGER April 2018 Wesley United Methodist Church 40 West Main Street, Strasburg PA Church address: Web: Volume 10, Issue 4 Inside This Issue: Worship Schedule Worship 1 3 Pastor s Ponderings 2, 5 Friends at Home 4 Upcoming Events Missions 3,4 Lifetree Café 5 Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Monday, Tuesday & Thursday Office Phone: Rev. David Alderson - Pastor Kim Badman - Organist/ Choir Director Holly Miller - Secretary Worship Schedule 9:00 am Blended Worship 10:00 am Holy Grounds Fellowship 10:30 am Sunday School Sunday, April 1 Resurrection Sunday Why It Matters! John 20: Peter 1: 3-9 Sunday, April 8 Second Sunday of Easter Thomas! John 20:19-31 Psalm 145:13-21 Sunday, April 15 Third Sunday of Easter Called into Christ s Service Matthew 6:24 Acts 9:1-19a Sunday, April 22 Fourth Sunday of Easter Special Guest Speaker Sunday, April 29 Fifth Sunday of Easter Paul s Sermon at Athens John 1:16-18 Acts 17:16-31 O u r M i s s i o n : W O R S H I P G O D ; S E RV E G O D ; W I T N E S S f o r G O D ; b y t h e P O W E R o f G O D t h r o u g h t h e H O LY S P I R I T.

2 Pastor s Ponderings We are sharing this article from the Wesleyan Covenant Association, so that you may be informed about what the Council of Bishops and the Commission on the Way Forward are proposing concerning the current language in our Book of Discipline regarding sexual ethics, definition of marriage, and ordination standards. Please read this entire article and continue praying about the direction of The United Methodist Church. The first article in this series addressed the present state of The United Methodist Church. Internal and irreconcilable differences, particularly in the U.S., have sapped the church s energies leading to declining membership and worship attendance. The rate of decline is only accelerating. Well over half of the approximately 32,000 local UM churches in the U.S. average less than 50 people in worship each Sunday. The denomination is an increasingly self-absorbed institution focused on survival. Even if the current divide in the church could be bridged, the church still faces existential challenges. Our Council of Bishops (COB), tasked with making recommendations to a special called General Conference to be held February 23-25, 2019 in St. Louis, recently indicated it is no longer committed to the UM Church s sexual ethics, definition of marriage, and ordination standards. Departing from clear biblical principles, two thousand years of Christian teaching and experience, and the position of the overwhelming majority of Christians worldwide, the COB is no longer considering a plan for unity based on an affirmation of our current Book of Discipline with enhanced accountability for those who defy those standards. Instead, the COB indicated its desire for unity based upon two other sketches the special Commission on a Way Forward (CWOF) has drafted. Sketch two proposes the church liberalize its sexual ethics, definition of marriage, and its ordination standards. Sketch three recommends the permitting of three different ways for addressing these issues essentially having United Methodists sort themselves into living in separate rooms, but still in the same house. This article focuses on sketch two. Following its recent meeting to discuss the work of the COWF, the COB stated it is continuing to perfect a sketch two or what it calls the One Church Model. In its recent press release, the COB defined it as follows: The One Church Model gives churches the room they need to maximize the presence of United Methodist witness in as many places in the world as possible. The One Church Model provides a generous unity that gives conferences, churches and pastors the flexibility to uniquely reach their missional context in relation to human sexuality without changing the connectional nature of The United Methodist Church. We trust the COB will have much more to say about a plan calling for such a radical break with the church s orthodox teachings on these matters. Based on COWF reports and remarks from some bishops, it appears sketch two is little more than a re-branding of The Way Forward Plan proposed by Revs. Adam Hamilton and Michael Slaughter in And the proposal seems almost identical to the Connectional Table plan called A Third Way. The latter plan was submitted to the 2016 General Conference where it failed to gain majority support in legislative committees. Only the narrow and dramatic vote to table all petitions having to do with the church s sexual ethics saved it from wider defeat. In its preliminary report to the COB, the COWF stated sketch two removes restrictive language. In short, it would redefine our church s sexual ethics, definition of marriage, and ordination standards. Marriage would no longer be defined in the Discipline as the union of one man and one woman. Annual conferences would decide how inclusive they would be in their ordination standards potentially permitting the ordination of persons who are practicing homosexuals and permitting them to be appointed to serve as pastors of churches. United Methodist clergy would be permitted to preside at same -sex weddings and such marriages would be permitted to occur in our churches. According to the COWF, the sketch would protect clergy who could not, as a matter of conscience, perform a same -sex union or support ordination of openly gay clergy. - continued on page five - 2

3 Karen Bender, Chair-Worship worship Kim Badman, Organist/Choir Director Becky Perry, Altar Guild April Altar Flowers Church Directory Updates Address/Phone Number Changes: April Sundays are open for those who wish to place altar flowers in celebration, in memory of a loved one, or to the glory of God! Sign-up is in Epworth. Kay Graybill 1497 White Oak Road Strasburg PA (717) Stewardship of Attendance Saturday, April 14 9:00 am February Hershey Farms March March Join Us! March a.m. APRIL LAY READER SCHEDULE DATE BLENDED WORSHIP April 1 Karen Bender April 8 Judy Rineer April 15 Bob Marshall Saturday, April 14 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 22 John Lewis April 29 Vicki Henderson One space $15 and two spaces $25 for both days. Call Kay Graybill at , if interested in a space. If you don t have enough items for a space, we will accept donations for the church tables. Save these Dates for the Church Yard Sale! Friday, April 13-8 a.m. to 2 p.m. & Special Music Calendar Apr 8 Betty Heffner Pennies for Missions Apr 15 Ron & Vicki Henderson In February, we raised $35.80 through Pennies for Missions. Pick up a soup can on the counter in the Epworth Room. Then at home, for every meal you eat, place two pennies in your soup can. Pennies collected on last Sunday of the month support our mission projects. Apr 22 Chris Heisner Apr 29 Wanda Albright May 6 Don & Deb Herr 3

4 Hello, April! It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart. -Rainer Maria Rilke Eva Kohlmaier c/o Donna Bitterman 44 Denlinger Avenue Strasburg, PA Eva s Birthday: May 20 Mim Brendle 35 Prospect Road Strasburg PA Mim s Birthday : March 5, 1919 Robbie Golston 433 South Kinzer Avenue 46 VSA New Holland, PA Robbie s Birthday: October 29 Blake E. Nicholson, Jr Harrisburg Pike # ML415 Lancaster PA Phone: (717) Blake s Birthday: January 10, 1923 June Good 2001 Harrisburg Pike Apt B246 Lancaster,PA June s Birthday: July 14 Melvin Rosier The Glen at Willow Valley, Room Willow Valley Square Lancaster PA Phone: (717) Mel s Birthday: August 9 Jerre Groff Oakleaf Manor, Room B Wabank Road Millersville, PA Jerre s Birthday: May 29 L John & Evie Sigman 2001 Harrisburg Pike EW381 Lancaster, PA John s Birthday: September 21 Sunday, May 6 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. A D I E S T E Cost: $12.00 per person Tickets will be available in April. The committee is in need of door prizes. If you want to donate a new or gently-used item, you may bring it to the church and put it in the Kitchen. Please mark it For Tea. A 4

5 Pastor s Ponderings continued from page two As is readily apparent, sketch two would not resolve the irreconcilable conflict within the UM Church; the conflict would surely persist. Because annual conferences would decide how inclusive they would be, the debate on ordination standards will be moved from General Conference to each annual conference. If the annual conference decided to ordain practicing homosexuals, such individuals could be appointed to any local church, potentially bringing the conflict into such churches. Our ordination standards would no longer be uniform across the church as individual annual conferences reach different determinations on how inclusive they will be. Instead of maximizing our witness, sketch two would undermine it. It would sow confusion for those looking to our church for clarity regarding our church s sexual ethics, its definition of marriage and its ordination standards. Essentially, across the connection, each person would be permitted to do what is right in their own eyes a practice which has ill-served the church historically. Such an approach would undermine the UM Church s long held belief in the authority of Scripture, and consequently it would lose its right to speak with authority on other critical theological and ethical issues. A confused church on matters of such import would not lead to a generous unity. Divided over its sexual ethics and its understanding of the institution of marriage, it would not long remain unified. Adopting sketch two would hasten the already rapid decline of the denomination as members holding to orthodox teachings headed elsewhere, and scores of local UM churches departed en masse. The apparent purpose of sketch two is expressed in the phrase that it permits contextualization without changing our connectional nature. Hence, it appears more interested in preserving institu - tional unity than in recommitting the church to theological and ethical standards rooted in Scripture and 2,000 years of Christian teaching. To adopt such a plan would connect us in name only, sow confusion within the church, and undermine our witness to people who need to hear the life giving teachings of the church. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Paul affirms the value of contextualization when it serves the presentation of the truth. But for Paul contextualization is not an end, it is a means. Sketch two does just the opposite; it prioritizes contextualization over matters that require clarity because they are rooted in God s word and the historical teachings of the church. In the end, the characterization of sketch two as the One Church Model is devoid of meaning. It will result in chaos across the church and accelerate its decline as we undermine our once coherent message regarding our sexual ethics, teachings on marriage, and our ordination standards. The Wesleyan Covenant Association has been unwavering in its opposition to sketch two, and it will work to defeat any plan based on the principles expressed in it. The WCA will ensure laity, clergy and churches have other options if sketch two is adopted by the called 2019 General Conference. In the next article in this series, we will examine sketch three which the COB describes as a Multi-branch, One Church Model. Wednesdays 6:30 p.m. Pole Barn You re welcome just as you are. Your thoughts are welcome; your doubts are welcome. We re all in this together. God is here, ready to connect with you in a fresh way. 5