Tracyton Tidings April who lives and believes. believes in me, though he die, yet shall he. and the life. Whoever. in me shall never die.

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1 Tracyton Tidings April 2013 John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? TRACYTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 5153 Naomi St Tracyton, WA church@tracytonumc.org W E A RE ON THE WEB! W WW. T RACYTON UMC. O RG

2 TRACYTON TIDINGS Tracyton United Methodist Church Inside this edition Tracyton UMW Meeting 2 Katherine Parker Calendar TUMW Knitting Group Booksale Food Bank/Newspaper Gazebo Installation Bible School Directory/Name Tags Prisim Weight Loss Congregational Cultures Mission Planning Amy-Jill Levine igive.com ERT Trainging Thank You Everyone! Crea- Festival of God s tion Gods work being done around the world Volume 2, Issue Letter from Pastor 9/ Tracyton United Methodist Women Saturday, April 13 th at 10:30am will be the first meeting for the Tracyton United Methodist Women s unit! We will have a short meeting with the Tacoma District President, Kathy LaFurgey, installing the officers, followed by an Information Fair and a light luncheon to celebrate our new unit! All women are invited and welcomed! Katherine T. Parker February 27 th at Tracyton United Methodist Church. Attendance was 49 people (and one dog). Thanks to Tracyton UMW for sponsoring the program and inviting neighboring units to attend. Thanks to guests from Port Orchard, Colby, Shelton, Brownsville... did I miss any? We found that both her passion for mission and her clear-minded presentation of the work enriching. (you will find these photos and comments on Pastor Wes Stanton s facebook page) Katherine Parker at Tracyton UMC. These kids are learning more than most US adults know about Cambodia. Her story with the children was not about the Khmer Rouge times (no nightmares)... but a lovely introduction to the wearing and uses of the <krama>, weaving into the talk a picture of rural life, ways of making do with limited resources, and ways these children (like the versatile krama) may find themselves called to serve in many different ways. To view the video of Katherine with the children of Tracyton UMC, check out our website you will find this video in the dropdown under Tracyton UMW or visit our facebook page.

3 Tracyton Tidings APRIL 2013 Page 3 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 Visitation 6: Nominations 7:30 pm Prism 6:00pm 7 Food Bank Sunday 8 9 Finance 6:00 Church Council 6:30 pm Prayer Shawl 4:00pm Tracyton UMW 10:30am 14 Tracyton UMW Charity Knitting Group 2:00-4:00 Prism 6:00pm Women s Circle 6:30pm Festival of God s Creation/Earth Day Sunday Prism 6:00pm Trustee s meet 6:00pm Prism 6:00pm Ways to find and contact us: Tracyton United Methodist Church PO Box 127 (5153 Naomi St) Tracyton, WA Phone # Fax # church@tracytonumc.org Find us on Facebook Facebook/tracytonumc

4 Page 4 TRACYTON TIDINGS TRACYTON UNITED METHODIST WOMEN CHARITY KNITTING GROUP We ll start off making hats, booties and blankets For the newborns at Harrison Hospital And see where we go from there! Don t know how to knit! We ll teach you! COME AND JOIN US SUNDAY, April 14st, PM TO 4PM Questions: Ask or call Sally Klein BOOK SALE The Tracyton Community Library is an all volunteer, non-tax supported asset to our community. Our only means of support comes from book sales and monetary donations. There will be a book sale at the Tracyton Library April 5th and 6th from 9:00-6:00. Really good reading for everyone. Any questions contact Katherine Smith Food Bank donations continue to help many people in our community. So far this year you have given $235 and 151 pounds of food. Remember the first Sunday of every month is Food Bank Sunday. Your gifts of food or cash are appreciated. Sunday Paper Sales All proceeds go to the church. Get the news and local information as well as the Sunday shopping fliers and support your church at the same time. In 2013, we have collected $71.25 Sometimes it is just amazing how things come together. Mr Lee Winterowd and son made it look way to easy putting up our beautiful gazebo. You can tell they have worked together once or twice. LOL They started out in the bitter cold and finished up at the beginning of a bright and sunny spring afternoon One day a blank back yard. The next day the erection of our new gazebo. Then work crews both inside and out giving us a spring cleaning we so did need. Many hands help to make short work of things. Thanks to all who pitched in. Soon it will be time to think about planting. We ll let you know when.

5 Page 5 TRACYTON TIDINGS Adult Classes Every Sunday at 9:45am We are beginning the book Fresh Air: the Holy Spirit for an Inspired Life, author Jack Levison helps us to find and experience the everyday presence of the Holy Spirit. Our class facilitator is Mr. Jim Klein.. All are welcome and encouraged to join us for an hour of insight and learning. Children s Classes Every Sunday at 10:00am Our children will be starting their Easterific Curiculum for Lent and Holy Week. If you know any children that would like to come please invite them, all are welcome! And if you are interested in helping out maybe one Sunday a month, we can use your hands and experience. Church Directory Coming soon we will be taking pictures for a new directory. We hope all will participate. A photo directory is such a helpful tool. In the meantime a new print directory will be available. Please contact the office if there are any new changes that you find that need to be made. Name Tags We have been seeing several new faces lately. With newcomers and visitors joining us for Service and upcoming holiday events it would be nice if we could remember to wear our name tags, it does help to put names with faces. If you don t have a name tag please let the office know. Questions? Talk to Sally Klein WE WILL BE STARTING A NEW CLASS IN APRIL PRISM Weight Loss Program is a Christian oriented program. It is a complete, 24 plus weeks program divided into four or more six-week phases. The program is based on the belief that people with weight problems and poor eating behaviors can be restored to emotionally whole, right-weighted individuals. Through the use of seven key principles, we desire to give everyone the ability to become the person they were created to be. Any program can help you lose weight, but most leave you unprepared to continue after weight loss. This program will help you learn to accept and identify with the "TRUE YOU," the person you were created to be. PRISM focuses on transforming your attitude about food, the activity of eating, and most important, your attitude about you! The daily curriculum and video series focus on your attitude becoming right and true. This attitude transformation will produce the right actions to support the person you were created to be! PRISM WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM WILL BE STARTING A NEW CLASS ON THURSDAY, APRIL 4 th at 6pm! We have 7 people signed up for the new class and there are 5 more vacancies. If you are interested in joining us please let Sally Klein know so curriculum can be prepared for you! Our original class will continue to meet and we are so excited to begin a new phase of the program! I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

6 Page 6 TRACYTON TIDINGS Creating Congregational Cultures of Generosity April 26-27, 2013 Des Moines--Wesley Terrace Description: Most of the contemporary resources that deal with congregational finances focus on fundraising techniques. But the mechanisms, like capital campaigns, are like icing on a cake and do not offer a long-term plan for sustainability. This seminar demonstrates how to bake the cake of congregational generosity by exploring the significant and necessary steps to creating lasting cultural change within a congregation and synthesizing research from the Center on Philanthropy and the practical experiences of working with religious organizations from the Lake Institute. Through presentation, small group and individual exercises, and a high degree of interaction, participants imagine and design their own plan for creating cultures of generosity in their congregations. This training is intended for teams of lay and clergy who are directly involved in congregation wide-decisions including stewardship chairs, financial secretaries, board of trustees, administrative board chairs, and lay leaders. Being in Mission is Not a Choice or, in other words, Mission Planning for Your Church April 13, Des Moines UMC Check in: 8:45 a.m. Program: 9:15 2:00 How do we begin or expand our church s mission program? How do we find out what and where our Mission Field is? How do we integrate Mission/Social Concerns/Advocacy? How do we decide which programs to support? All this and more will be discussed in large and small groups throughout the day, plus time for your own group to begin planning. Come join us! Come learn, participate, share thoughts, ask questions, get ideas! Facilitator: Lynn Magnuson, who brings 30 years of non -profit education, fund-raising and leadership to help guide our discussion. Cost: Free-will offering for lunch Child care: If requested during pre-registration Please pre-register by April 8: Rosalee Mohney at rmohney@comcast.net or call to say you are coming and if you need childcare. Kitsap Interfaith Network presents a community lecture by: Amy-Jill Levine First-Century Judaism: Jesus Jewish Context Sunday, April 14, pm Bremerton United Methodist Church 1150 Marine Drive, Bremerton This is a free event, open to the public, however seating is limited! Please reserve your seat by calling the church office (360) or joining via EventBrite ( Help Tracyton UMC every time you shop online igive really is as simple as it sounds. igive members can generate donations by shopping at any of the stores. There are no costs, obligations, nor anyhidden fees. The igive Button makes it simple. It's all free and ever so easy to be socially-conscious! If you do any shopping online you could be generating $$$ for TUMC just by shopping through igive. There's 1276 socially-responsible stores helping to make donations happen. If you haven t already, please check this site out, it s amazing the places you can shop and help out your church at the same time. Here's the link: Or call the office and we ll see if we can help you get set up.

7 Page 7 TRACYTON TIDINGS 2012 was a really tough year across the United States. Natural disasters of all kinds caused massive damage to the infrastructure and personal property. The need for trained volunteers far out stripped the supply. Fortunately, we escaped a major disaster in the Pacific Northwest this year. However, we need to be prepared in the event one does strike us. One of ways the United Methodist Church provides support to survivors of a natural disaster is the Early Response Teams. These seven member teams deploy at the request of a church, a district, a conference or an emergency management agency as soon as the emergency phase is over. Their mission is to provide a caring Christian presence in the aftermath of a disaster. Their goal is to make the survivor s residence safe, secure, and sanitary; and to prevent further damage. Early Response Teams do not do repair or rebuild. Does this sound like something you d be interested in? To become a member of an Early Response Team you must be at least 18 years old, attend an eight-hour Early Response Team basic training class, pass a national background check, and be physically capable of doing demanding work. Three Early Response Team basic training classes are scheduled for If you are interested or have questions, please contact Jim Truitt at umvimdisasterresponse@comcast.net. The class schedule is: April 27, :30 4:30 Olympia First UMC 1224 Legion Way SE Olympia, WA June 22, :30 4:30 Riverview UMC Pasco, WA October 26, :30-4:30 Bellevue First UMC th Ave NE Bellevue, WA For your donations of food, candy, eggs and helping hands. You have made this very busy time of the year for the church a joy for all to share in. For your support of the Foster Children s Clothes Closet. We will continue to have a box available for any further donations you may wish to make.

8 Festival of God s Creation (Earth Day Sunday) April 21, 2013 Each year, the General Board of Church and Society, working with the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Working Group, produces Festival of God's Creation resource materials to help congregations celebrate and promote stewardship of God's creation. Theme for this year's Festival of God's Creation / Earth Day Sunday, "Sunday Morning Sustainability Eco-Justice Impacts & Opportunities," helps us examine our routines and suggests how to adjust them to create smaller ecological footprints, so we can be better caretakers of God s Creation and we can improve lives around the world.. Following you will find a few excerpts from the resource materials. If you would like complete copies please let the office know and we will try to get a copy to you. Making Coffee For some, drinking coffee on Sunday (or any other day) is a critical activity. Coffee is the second most widely traded commodity after oil. But modern coffee cultivation requires the removal of large swathes of tropical forests. These forests are important for maintaining clean air and water in addition to protecting valuable, rare plants and animals, including migratory songbirds. Naturally occurring varieties of coffee plants are shade-loving shrubs that do not require clear cutting of the rainforest. Until two decades ago, all coffee was grown in the shade. Then new full-sun hybrids were developed that produced higher yields. This created a rise in agribusiness-style plantations that used clear-cutting. Clear-cutting destroys not only ecosystems, but also impacts indigenous communities, which rely on forests for food, shelter, and their livelihoods. Pathways for Change, Individuals and Churches: Purchase shade grown, fair trade coffee for your home and encourage its use in your faith community. Two great sources are Equal Exchange ( and Just Coffee ( Support coffee shops that purchase their coffee from shade grown, sustainable sources, and be sure to bring your own mug. Taking a Shower TRACYTON TIDINGS Many people living in the United States are blessed with the ability simply to turn on a tap to enjoy fresh, clean water. It is easy to forget that freshwater is vital to our existence. A typical Sunday morning shower will send about five gallons of water down the drain for every two minutes spent washing up. Yet even in some parts of the United States, freshwater is scarce. In communities where there is overdevelopment or high industrial or agricultural use, groundwater is extracted at a faster rate than it can be renewed. Home water use in the United States, which includes not only bathing, washing, cooking, and lawn care, increases every year. And nearly every region in the country has experienced shortages in the last five years. According to the EPA, at least 36 states are anticipating local, regional, or statewide water shortages by 2013, even under non-drought conditions. Pathways for Change, Individuals and Churches: Install water-saving toilets and low-flow faucets, run dishwashers and laundry loads when they are full, and water outdoors in the evening to avoid rapid evaporation. Use less water for landscaping by replacing lawns with native plants or walkable shrubs that require less water and fertilizer than grass. Look for water-saving resources atwww.epa.gov/watersense/. Because of your generosity we collected a little over $ to be designated to One Great Hour of Sharing Page 8

9 April, 2013 Page 9 Sisters and brothers, Aha! Oh! Now I get it! There s a moment of revelation, when something that had never quite made sense before, suddenly becomes plain as day. When a thing we ve known about all our lives becomes known. I didn t know gravity, until I was thirty-five. Oh, when I was small, I learned that something always made me fall down if I stumbled off balance, brought thrown objects back to earth, caused bumped milk to spill where Mom didn t want it, and so on. But gravity was a stranger to me, until a balmy afternoon in a little courtyard lawn in Vancouver, B.C. Lying there (trying to tell if the birds way up in the bright patch of blue were swallows or swifts), my point-of-view switched. I was no longer gazing up into the sky, but out, or down, into a dizzyingly deep well interstellar space. The shift in perspective was shocking. In my body, I felt the kind of thrill of fear I ve known at cliff-tops or while walking across high, swaying bridges. I clutched at the short grass, to prevent spinning right into the void. But behind me, holding me firmly and safely, was the whole planet. It was no longer my weight holding me down, but the mass of the earth behind me, holding me firmly and safely up. There s another Aha! to tell you. Perhaps this one too is so obvious you already know it, but this one came as a surprise of joy and peace to me. I had been coming up against the problem of forgiveness. In relational crises, like divorce or a broken friendship or a family conflict or a struggle with a sister or brother of the church forgiveness is easy to set aside, or to frustrate to death with strings and conditions. Under what circumstances should I forgive? Must I? What if I don t feel forgiving? What if I don t feel forgivable? I ve heard the church s words on forgiveness my whole life; I ve lived in a forgiving and unconditionally loving family system. Yet I had come to think of forgiveness as tied to specific acts. I d come to think of it as I forgive you for this, I forgive you for that, but I don t forgive you for this other thing. Or, I ll forgive you if you say you re sorry.

10 April, 2013 Page 10 But forgiveness is not so much a specific act as a quality of a relationship. (Aha!) Living in a relationship of forgiveness with someone -- your spouse, your adversary, your God -- is as different from forgiving a sin as living in love is from saying I love your hair. One-sided acts of forgiveness for specific things aren t forgiveness: I forgive you for calling me stupid... but not for calling me ugly. These would be like saying to your child, I love you... if you get straight A s. Putting strings and conditions on forgiveness makes forgiveness deadly, and gets us all stuck in a bind that s hard to escape, and in which healing comes hard. Peter said to Jesus, How often must I forgive my neighbor, if he sins against me, and repents? As many as seven times? Peter was looking for more and more strings on forgiveness. Jesus turned the world upside down: Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven! --- Matthew 18:22, The Message (In other words, don t even try to keep track!) I picture Peter staring terrified out into the space of unconditional forgiveness, grasping at straws to prevent falling. And he would have fallen, too. But he was stuck in the web of conditional love and conditional forgiveness. For him, perhaps, the Aha! came on Easter. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive someone s sins, they re gone for good. If you don t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them? --- John 20:22-23, The Message It takes grace coming from outside a stuck relationship to loosen and free it again. It comes from knowing another relationship, one which is already loosened and free, and full of unlimited forgiveness, unconditional love. Whether that be a relationship with God or with other people, it will turn the world around. Love, Wes