LITTLE UTICA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

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1 LITTLE UTICA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH A Member of the Upper New York Conference, Bishop Mark Webb and Crossroads District DS Nola Anderson May 2017 Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ It won t be much longer until I will have been pastoring Little Utica UMC for a year! It s strange that in one way it s hard to believe nearly a year has gone by. On the other hand, I have been so warmly welcomed that I feel like I m right at home with family. That defines Little Utica UMC. Those who come through our doors are made welcome and part of the family. Of course they do! That is what we all are family, brothers and sisters in Christ. We are a small country church with a huge heart. Our goal is to grow day by day in our faith. Then put our faith into action maximizing God s love shared with others. Upcoming Events Saturday, June 3 9am 11am New to You Sale $3 Bag Sale Friday, June 16 4pm Take Out Spaghetti Dinner As part of our mission work, we minister to our community through our New 2 You and School House Boutique. We provide clothing and household items to those in need at no cost when they may have lost their home or possessions due to fires or other catastrophic occurrence. We also sell items to raise funds to support our mission programs. We are honored to be active in several mission programs for veterans including helping to raise funds to buy two vans for the transportation of disabled veterans. We are currently raising money for service animals for disabled vets or those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Before I came to serve Little Utica I was told it was a little church with a big heart. That comment is not true. Little Utica is a little church with a HUGE heart! I am blessed to serve this church. And, I invite one and all to join us in worship and service to our Lord and his people. I know you will be welcomed and blessed just as I have been. May God shower you with his love. Yours in Christ, Pastor Judy In This Issue Greetings from Pastor Judy Todt Lay Leader s Desk Blast from the Past Women s Page Trustees Report Men s Page 1

2 From the Lay Leaders Desk Well, it has been several months since my last report. We have gone through an amazing winter and spring. God has spared us from a harsh winter and given us a beautiful spring. All the trees and flowers are in full bloom and all of us can get outside and enjoy the beauty of God s world. I want to share some of the wonderful events that have taken place at Little Utica these past few months. Pastor Judy is settled in and has been such a spiritual inspiration to all of us. When our Bishop sends us a new pastor it s always a wonder if that new pastor will be a good fit for the church. Well, our Bishop hit a homerun with Pastor Judy. She is just what we needed. I am going to highlight many of the past events and a list a few of our upcoming events. 1) The UMM s goal for 2016 was to purchase a new DAV van, ($16,000). With the family event and auction that was held at the Clay Fire Department in October, our goal was reached. The van has been ordered and will be dedicated this year at the Veterans Day Celebration on the 2nd Saturday in November. That celebration will take place at the NYS Fairgrounds, Center of Progress Building. All are encouraged to please attend; more information will be forthcoming. 2) The UMM is now working to raise funds to purchase companion & service dogs for our returning veterans through the Cpl. Kyle R. Schneider Foundation. The men and our church have a wonderful working relationship with the Schneider Foundation. There will be more information in the UMM article. 3) Fundraisers have been a lot of fun these past few months. The UMW is doing amazing with their New-To- You & Schoolhouse Boutique sale. We held two take outs only spaghetti dinners and one Football Sunday Chili dinner. This spring was our famous all-you-can-eat Chicken & Biscuit dinner. Thanks to all those wonderful volunteers who come and work so very hard to make these fundraisers fun and so profitable. 4) We are offering three Lay Servant Classes this year; two advanced and one basic course. Classes are all 5 weeks and 2 1/2 hours of weekly class time plus 2 hours of homework. All those taking Lay Servant classes from Little Utica leave very well equipped to share the Good News of the Gospel. Our latest class is Go Preach and they will complete that class on Sunday May 21st. They will receive their certificates at a special Lay Sunday Service in June. 5) Religious Travel is always on the agenda at Little Utica. We host several Holy land & religious travel information nights throughout the year. There are two trips coming up soon. A Cruise in October with guest speaker for that tour, Adam Hamilton. Our own Bishop Webb is leading a Holy Land tour in January I am also working on the Oberammergau Passion Play in Germany for 2020 never too soon to plan ahead. 6) Many changes are taking place this May. I am very proud to announce that Little Utica is now going to have Worship Services on Saturday afternoons at 4pm. This is a big step allowing us to reach those folks that can t get to church on Sunday morning. Pastor Judy will be doing a full worship service and Holy Communion at every Saturday service. We are also changing our time for our Sunday morning service to 10am, fellowship to follow in the parlor at 11am. Our church council hopes these changes offer to our community many opportunities of worship at Little Utica. At our Saturday service beverages will be set-up in the church vestibule as part of our welcoming hospitality. For our Sunday service, hospitality will be served in the parlor after the service. 7) The church parsonage has been rented and our trustees have made many improvements and plan to do many more upgrades this spring & summer. Everyone should be very proud of the work our trustees are doing and how well our parsonage & church are maintained.

3 Lay Leader s Desk Continued Our church family is planning either a night out to the movies or for dinner. Everyone has worked so hard to make our church a spiritual center. We are taking a night to just have fun!! This is just a summary of what has been happening at our church. I hope from my brief re-cap you can tell how very proud I am of everyone who attends and supports our church. We have come a long way in the past few years. God has opened many doors and we have taken the faith leap to walk through them. We have expanded our commitment to the E.J. Thomas Cluster of churches. We are working closely with the Cpl. Kyle R. Schneider Foundation. The UMM & UMW are doing so many missions to the poor and our veterans and their families. We are an active part of the Upper Room Prayer Line; answering the prayer line on the first Thursday of each month for two hours. And teaching the next generation of lay Servant Speakers. We praise God for the numerous blessings He has given us. Blessings ~ Don Day Sanctuary Flowers If anyone would like to provide flowers for the sanctuary for weekend services, please let Candy know by the Thursday before by calling or e- mail cburtch@windstream.net. Remember they must be in sanctuary before 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Candy Burtch

4 A Blast from the Past 4

5 Our Blast from the Past on the previous page is the program for a play held by the SOS Class (youth group) that was held on the stage in the church basement in the early 1930 s. I m sure many of you will recognize names listed in the Cast of Characters. This valuable bit of history was donated to the church by the MacEwen family (descendants of Lee Cook, who played Henry West in the play) and will be framed and displayed in the church. Lee s daughter, Phyllis (Cook) MacEwen, mentioned that another popular play was held at the church in the 1930 s called Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick where her father Lee also played a prominent part. Safe Sanctuaries Excerpt from Safe Sanctuary Policy The 1996 General Conference of The United Methodist Church adopted (and subsequently readopted) a resolution aimed at reducing the risk of child sexual abuse in the church. The foundation for this is within the Social Principles on the Rights of Children (Book of Discipline, 162.C). There were also two related resolutions, Putting Children and their Families First, and Sexual Ethics within Ministerial Relationships, which is now Sexual Misconduct Within Ministerial Relationships. Today, each Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church has a written and accessible policy. These policies stress the importance of the Biblical mandate from Matthew 19:14, Allow the children to come to me, don t forbid them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these children. (Common English Bible) Little Utica UMC is a certified Safe Sanctuary. All who have access to or works with children, youth or vulnerable adults has a background check completed. 5

6 United Methodist Women We ve had a wonderful year so far. Our missions continue to grow. We were privileged to be able to donate children s winter coats to Pastor Jeff Hodges in Oswego where the Methodist church provides a coat giveaway. Our church received a letter from St. Pauly Textile stating that in 2016, our drop off shed project provided them with enough articles of clothing to clothe an estimated 1,587 people in 44 countries, including the US. How generous our community is! From our New to You/Schoolhouse Boutique mission, we have been able to help families that have lost everything from fire, or dire circumstances, with clothing and household items. We also provided clothing to a local nursery school and continue to work with the schools and fire departments to assist when needed. We continue to be strong in our church mission to help the veterans. We donated homemade shawls, mittens, scarfs and hats at Christmas time. The UMW provides food baskets to veteran families in need at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, working with the Schneider Foundation. The church also donated to the UMM mission of purchasing companion dogs for veterans. We have been able to donate to our sister church, Warners UMC s food pantry. We appreciate all the help our community gives our church, which enables us to continue with our missions. Thanks and Blessings, Carolyn J. Johnson, President Winter Fuel Fund For the winter months of , our church services were held in the parlor. We did not heat the sanctuary. In doing this and receiving generous donations, we were able to meet our fuel budget. Many thanks goes out to those who donated and made this possible. Respectfully, Sylvia Day Trustee Report Repairs of the church office heating system is complete. Continue to raise monies for summer church and parsonage repair projects. Bud Johnson, Trustee 6

7 EJ Thomas United Methodist Men On Saturday, March 11 we held a dinner and movie night to help benefit the Brown Memorial UMC camping scholarships which we promised to help with last year. The $760 raised will go toward helping many kids to attend camp. Many thanks to everyone who helped with the event and to those who so generously donated. The conference-wide UMM completed their Shoes for Service project. Over 7,000 shoes were collected throughout the state (over 700 from Little Utica alone!) and were housed at the new Upper New York Conference facility. They will be weighed and shipped to an organization that will provide $0.40 per pound toward the charity. The cause this year is to split the funds over four different veterans organizations, one being the Cpl Kyle R. Schneider Foundation and their companion dog program. The shoes that are in good condition will go directly toward mission and the rest will be recycled. Many individuals throughout the world will benefit from the shoes that were collected. The men are actively planning their fall event, which will likely include a silent auction, music and food. All funds raised will go to the Cpl. Kyle R. Schneider Foundation and their companion dog program. Stay tuned for more details. Speaking of our friends at the Schneider Foundation, they hosted their annual Honor & Remember Run/Walk on Saturday, May 20 at Van Buren Park. My daughters and I ran at this event. As expected, they both did well, but all I can say is at least I finished! Blessings, - Doug MacEwen 7

8 **Humor** Man Dies Of Old Age In Church Parking Lot After Waiting 60 Years For Wife To Finish Socializing Reprinted from the Babylon Bee, December 27, 2016 LOS ANGELES, CA Local man Herbert Patterson died of natural causes after waiting in his car for over sixty years for his wife to finish socializing at Second Avenue Baptist Church following a November 1956 service, sources confirmed Tuesday. Patterson reportedly got into the couple s 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air about 30 minutes after the close of the service, right after being assured by his wife Betty that she would only be a moment, and then they could go get a hamburger at McDonald s on the way home. But when minutes turned to years, and years to decades, the man began to grow concerned. Well, that s Betty for you, Patterson said with a good-natured chuckle in a 2008 interview, as he continued to sit in the front seat of their car waiting for his wife. Oh, by the way don t tell me who won the Cold War. I want to be surprised when I turn on the radio tonight to check the news. Honey, it s time to go! Come on! he called out, attempting to honk the horn but finding it had long since ceased functioning. Sadly, Patterson would never find out who won the Cold War, as he passed away peacefully in the driver s seat of the couple s now-classic car, as his wife continued to signal that she was just going to be one more minute talking with her friends in front of the church. He went as he would have wanted to waiting for grandma to be done milling about after church, one of Patterson s grandchildren said at the funeral, which Mrs. Patterson did not attend, as she was still reportedly socializing for just one more minute after the church service that ended over sixty years ago. 8

9 Reflections As I gaze into the mirror Whose likeness do I see? One fashioned in God s image Or a mere reflection of me? If I look beyond the mirror Into the heart and soul I can see an inner spirit That affirms a Heavenly goal! My being is but a mirror A reflection of God s love Inspiring the world around me With wisdom from above Now that God almighty Has endowed His amazing glory Within my soul I ll write it And tell the old, old story! Because life is just a mirror A reflection I can see Of the Holy Spirit within my soul Proclaiming eternity! Helen Steiner Rice Contact Us 1459 Lamson Road Phoenix NY (315) info@littleuticaumc.org Visit us on the web at Little Utica United Methodist Church c/o Carolyn Johnson 39 South Granby Road Fulton, NY PLACE STAMP HERE