United Methodist Women Upcoming Events

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1 First United Methodist Church August W 9th Ave. Anchorage, AK Tel: Fax: fumc@gci.net First Things First Firstumcanchorage.org Sunday Services Worship: 8:30 a.m. 11:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. (First Samoan UMC) Nursery Care begins: 10:30 a.m. Why the best days are ordinary days by Christopher Fenoglio In this issue: Why the best days are ordinary days 1 UMW 2 UMW Mission u Registration Form 3-4 Book Club 5 Calendar Birthdays, Anniversaries, & Prayer List Blessing of the backpacks 7 6 Interested in receiving the newsletter by ? Forward your address to the church office: fumc@gci.net Ordinary time. According to The United Methodist Book of Worship, Ordinary Time is the Season after Pentecost, beginning the day after Pentecost and ending the day before the First Sunday of Advent. As I write this blog post, we are in the midst of Ordinary Time. Yet, it hardly seems ordinary at all. In the U.S., the Republicans and Democrats have completed their national conventions, and for the next three months, we will hear fierce, negative attacks against each party s presidential, state and local candidates. Brutal attacks on innocent people around the world continue to make the nightly news, especially when the innocent people are our neighbors or the law enforcement officers sworn to protect and defend us. Even in Major League Baseball, the team with the best record is the Chicago Cubs, who have not won the World Series in 107 years! Ordinary? I think not. What s more, we often thrive on exciting and extraordinary events and downplay, or even forget, about the ordinary days in our lives. Yet, given the chance, I would prefer to relive a heartfelt, ordinary day over and over again. I had one of those days many years ago. My wife and I and our three teenagers were eating a fast food dinner after a basketball game. It was just another ordinary day; there was no special occasion or big event. But, as we laughed and enjoyed each other s company, the stresses of work, school, bills and homework evaporated. We shared our respect and love for each other in the things we said. The three teenagers, all close in age, put aside their petty arguments and rested their competitive natures. There was peace around the dinner table. To this parent, it was a sublime, joyous time when all five of us felt the bonds of family love strengthen between us. (Continued on page 2)

2 (Continued from page 1) These glorious, ordinary days are the ones we should relish and remember. They give substance to our lives and challenge us to show our true colors in the midst of daily stresses and worries. For our faith calls us to live a Christian life every day, not only on Sundays, holy days or special occasions. We should see each day as a new opportunity to be a Christian and spread God s love to others. In the movie "Groundhog Day," Bill Murray plays Phil, an egotistical TV weatherman who relives the same February 2nd over and over again. After his initial confusion wears off, he tries to take advantage of the same daily routine for his own pleasure. He spends weeks memorizing personal facts about his producer Rita [Andie MacDowell] and then tries to make her fall in love with him. Despite many attempts to work the situation to his advantage, she always sees through his manipulations and slaps him away. This throws him into a deep pit of despair and he decides to end his life. However, no matter which manner he chooses, he still wakes up the next morning in bed and has to start Groundhog Day all over again. After exhausting his indulgences and narcissistic ways, he realizes there must be a better way to live. He begins to look outward and finds many who need his help the young boy who falls out of the tree, the old ladies whose tire goes flat, the local master of ceremonies choking on a piece of meat. In the end, by finally dedicating his life to helping others (plus showing real humility and compassion along the way), Phil succeeds in attracting the affections of Rita and breaks the streak of endless Groundhog Days. We are called to live our lives just like Phil by looking outward and serving others with our talents and compassion. The Second General Rule of The United Methodist Church states that we will continue to evidence our desire of salvation by doing good to all. This is the message of Ordinary Time when the gospel lessons cover Jesus teaching ministry and tend to center on the theme of the kingdom and reign of God. By our actions and with God s grace, we are building God s kingdom here on earth. In the process, we are touching Christ in others lives. Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. (Matthew 25:40 NSRV) In Phil s case, he was forced to live one day repeatedly until he got it right. Unfortunately, we only get one chance to live out each day the best way we know how. When we live each day to its fullest, then we fill each day with actions and examples of God s love for our family, our friends and ourselves. We can t be a follower of Jesus if we are standing still, says Gilbert Hanke, General Secretary ofunited Methodist Men. As followers of Christ, we are not known by what we say we are known by what we do. When was the last time you did something to make today a good, ordinary day, one that you would enjoy remembering fondly in the future? *Christopher Fenoglio is Managing Editor for UMC.org at United Methodist Communications. He may be reached at cfenoglio@umcom.org, This blog was first published on August 3, United Methodist Women Upcoming Events United Methodist Women s Executive Board Meeting The UMW Executive Board will be meeting on August 23rd at 6:30 p.m. The agenda will be is looking very full! September events: 12th Hope Circle Meeting-7:00 p.m. 13th Executive Board Meeting-6:30 p.m. 14th Sunny Friends Circle Meeting-12:30 a.m. 9th-10th Mission UMC 23rd Used Book Sale Set-up-6:00 p.m. 24th Used Book Sale-9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

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5 On July 25 we discussed Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld. A Modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, with many of the characters being comparable in both books. It was a great discussion on the similarities of the two books that were written 200 years apart! August 22nd at 7:00 p.m. is the next meeting. We will be discussing Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan. At the age of thirty-five, Fanny van de Grift Osbourne leaves her philandering husband in San Francisco and sets sail for Belgium to study art, with her three children and a nanny in tow. Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her brood repair to a quiet artists' colony in France where she can recuperate. There she meets Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who is instantly smitten with the earthy, independent and opinionated belle Americaine. A woman ahead of her time, Fanny does not immediately take to the young lawyer who longs to devote his life to literature, and who Book Club would eventually write such classics as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In time, though, she succumbs to Stevenson's charms. The two begin a fierce love affair, marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness, which spans decades as they travel the world for the sake of his health. Eventually they settled in Samoa, where Robert Louis Stevenson is buried underneath the epitaph: Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from sea, And the hunter home from the hill. (Requiem, Robert Louis Stevenson) August 2015 Please join us at Ann York s house on August 22 at 7:00 p.m. as we discuss this intriguing book. Call Ann at if you need directions. Upcoming Books: August: Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan October: Hamilton By Ron Chernow September: A Man Called Ove By Fredrik Backman November: The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden By Jonas Jonasson

6 August 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Prayer List Our thoughts and prayers are extended to: Fred Stassel Our community 1 6pm Trustees pm Sandwich Making military personnel For People who suffer in the midst of war and violence 7 5:30pm A Place at the Table 8 6pm Finance 7pm Leadership Board pm FSUMC Worship 21 (Blessing of the Backpacks) 1pm FSUMC Worship 28 1pm FSUMC Worship 5pm Filipino Fellowship :30 pm Peanut Farmers 7pm Book Club 23 6:30 pm UMW Executive Board :30 pm Out to Lunch Bunch August Wedding Anniversaries Kim & Stephanie Damrill 12 years Burl & Marian Stephens 67 years Dan & Denise Carey 32 years Patrick & Chrystal Reese 26 years Lani Kile 5 Janice Campbell 7 Burl Stephens 7 Sandy Moore 11 Fred Stassel 11 August Birthdays Carolyn Gordon 14 Nell Mitchell 16 Bailey Kile 19 John Madden 23 Margaret Lewis 24 Lori Staats 24 Chas Warren 25 Sharon Hudspeth 28 Kerry Madden 30 Theresa Vargas 31

7 August is here! For many families that means school is just around the corner! Shopping for school supplies, books, and fall clothes becomes a part of everyone s schedule. Here at First United Methodist Church, Anchorage, on Sunday August 21st, we want to celebrate and bless the beginning of another school year. Students, preschool through adults, bring your backpacks or lunch boxes to worship service at 11:00. There service will life up children and students of all ages, dedicating them to God s glory as we begin a new school year. Teachers, aides, principals, administrators, secretaries, cooks, librarians, janitors and bus drivers...come to church to be blessed, affirmed in your vocation, and encouraged as you serve children and families in our daily work! Join us for this Celebration Sunday!