Epworth Events. Living, Sharing, and Growing in God s Love. Renewing the Covenant

Transcription

1 Epworth United Methodist Church 680 8th Avenue SW Valley City, ND Non Profit Organization US Postage Paid Valley City, ND Permit #40 Presorted Standard Rate Living, Sharing, and Growing in God s Love Renewing the Covenant RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED DATED MATERIAL PLEASE DELIVER PROMPTLY Monday, January 21 Thursday, January 24, 2019 We will join together with both Catholic and Lutheran communities, as well as with Christians around the world, to reflect on the importance of the reconciliation that can be found only through Christ. As Methodists, we often follow a middle way between theological controversies, and it will be a blessing to worship together with our fellow Christians. The service will begin at 12:10 each day, and will leave enough time to enjoy a soup and sandwich luncheon following for a free-will donation. Times and places will be announced in greater detail soon! Volunteer, Share, Enjoy! All are Welcome! Tuesday, January. 29th, 5:30 pm 680 8th Ave. SW Valley City, ND Ph Fax: Dayne Zachrison Pastor pastor@epworthvalleycity.com Home: Cell: Anita Tulp Office Administrator Newsletter Editor office@epworthvalleycity.com Home: Cell: Dawn Thomsen Director of Christian Education christianed@epworthvalleycity.com Cell: Rydel Samuelson Director of Youth Ministries youth@epworthvalleycity.com Cell: VirLyn Hoff Congregational Care Coordinator virlynhoff@yahoo.com Cell: The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people joined in the covenant. 2 Kings 23:3 (NRSV) We might think that New Year s Eve parties are a new, modern thing. We think of crowds around the crystal apple in Times Square, waiting to count down to the new year. We might participate in our own celebration, whether with friends or quietly at home. Would it surprise you to know that New Year s Eve celebrations were getting out of hand in the 1700 s? John Wesley, the spiritual founder of Methodism, was already concerned in the 1750 s with the ways in which people were behaving on New Year s Eve. While Christmas was a celebration held in homes, mostly with family, New Year s Eve was considered a night to revel or, as some might say, party hearty! There was a lot of drinking and public drunkenness, bonfires at the crossroads and major intersections, and behavior that made good Christians uncomfortable. So, for the People Called Methodist, Wesley adapted a service from a Puritan writer of the previous century, Richard Alleine, into a New Year s Covenant Service. He intended this service to not only give families an option on New Year s, but to help Christians see the new year as a new chance to shape their lives as God intended. It was meant to be a time to take stock and consider the past year and make a commitment to follow God in the year to come. The service as Wesley intended lasted three hours, and consisted of much scripture, especially a reminder of all of the covenants that God had made with the people. Readings from Genesis and Exodus, reminders from Isaiah and Jeremiah, concluding with a community meal and communion. By publicly reminding one another of the promises that God has made, the people were able to again enter into covenant with one another. In our hymnal, we use a prayer that contains much of the language Wesley used in this service. It has become a prayer that begins and ends most meetings of pastors in The United Methodist Church, and is a prayer that continues to have meaning for us today. I invite you to pray this prayer aloud in your own home, for it reminds us that the Gospel is not just something we believe, but something we do. Action is required if we are striving to follow God s will in our lives. Continued on pg. 9

2 6 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 9am Sunday School 10am Coffee 10:30am Worship 13 9am Sunday School 10am Coffee Fellowship 10:30am Worship 4pm North Valley 4-H 7pm The Vine 20 9am Sunday School 10am Coffee Fellowship 10:30am Worship 11:30am Open Table Planning 7pm The Vine 27 9am Sunday School 10am Coffee Fellowship 10:30am Worship/ UMW Sunday 12:15pm Meals on Wheels Delivery 7pm The Vine 7 VCSU classes resume :10pm Maryvale 28 1 Offices Closed 8 9am BC Ministerial Legacy 15 Legacy 22 12:10pm Epworth UMC 2 Backpack Truck Delivers Church Offices Closed School resumes BCN, VC, MV 9 9am Building Better Moms 6:30pm Trustees 7pm Confirmation 16 5:30pm Church Family Supper 6:15pm Children s Chimes 6:30pm Ministry Teams 7:00pm Living Low Carb 7:00pm Youth 8pm Ad Council 23 12:10pm Faith Lutheran Circle Meets 7pm Circle of Michelle Grebel s 24 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Worship 12:10 pm 29 Legacy 5:30pm Open Table Community Meal 7pm Worship Planning :30 am Men s Epworth 6:30pm Church Staff Epiphany Party Wishing you Joy and Peace this Christmas :15am Faith Communities Alive 26 2 nd Koltyn Grebel Noreen Smestad 3 rd Camille Zachrison 4 th Avis Richter 5 th Dottie Werkhoven Joseph DeMasi 6 th Kaylee Vareberg Randie Markuson 8 th Darlene Bloom Heather Kvilvang Rob Marshall 9 th Gordon Hoff 10 th VirLyn Hoff Dennis Pederson 11 th Andrew Bruns 12 th Anika Nielson 13 th Darlene Mueller 14 th Ty Peterson 15 th Casper Jacobson Dee Ranum 16 th Tanner Clark 17 th Jill Rischmiller Ben Northridge Kay Sauer Trevor Breske 18 th Lane Nielson 19 th Abigail Martineck Judy Nicholson 21 st Carole Flatau 23 rd Neil Skarloken 24 th Scott Cummings 25 th Anita Tulp Phil Mueller 26 th Liz Fick 27 th Brittney Torbenson Dennis Fick 28 th Joyce Potter John Meredith Kitchen Care Please refer to the poster in the kitchen for care and clean up after kitchen use. Have Questions? Please call: VirLyn Hoff ( ) or Carol Peterson ( ) The next funeral will be served by the October serving group. Your serving group provides the fellowship of Sunday mornings and the comforting presence that all need following a funeral service. These are important ministries that we provide for one another within the community of believers. It is a way to reach out to those who have not found that gift of the Holy Spirit as being real in their own lives. Please take seriously your assignment to one of the serving groups. If the month is not a fit for you, please contact VirLyn Hoff, Carol Peterson, or leave a note in the office with Anita. Serving for January CO-CHAIRS Carol & Ty Peterson Mary Lee & Steve Nielson Celeste & Dean Breske Laura & Duane Borchert Liz & Dennis Fick Robert Hansen Rose & Brad Knutson Scott Miller Julie Munkeby/Drew Janelle & Brad Noeske Avis & Dwayne Richter Serving for February CHAIRS Bonnie & Bruce Ranum Sheryl & Rudy Hanson Gerri & Wayne Hammond Rhonda & Rob Marshall Barb & Jon Owen Craig Ranum Anita & Kevin Tulp January Greeters 6th Dennis & Liz Fick 13th Bob & Anne Bruns 20th Mike & Randi Watterson 27th Bonnie Burchill & Margie Jansen

3 10 December 2018 December 2018 Radical Hospitality Epworth s Holy Grounds November 27 December 31, 2018 Stewardship Daily Expenses/Maintenance $33, Building/Trustees 1, Capital Campaign/Construction loan 10, Christmas Décor Christmas Eve 1, Hospitality Matthew Memorial Open Table Ministry Parking Lot 2, Spirit Lake Ministry Center Sunday School offering Upper Room Wesley Acres Camp Worship Team Sunday Worship Attendance December December December December December The Vine 7 The Vine 7 The Vine N/A The Vine N/A The Vine N/A Sunday School Attendance December 2 63 December 9 60 December December December 30 N/A End of Year Gifts We have been engaged in many ministries in 2018, and we look forward to touching many more lives in In order to best use our resources, we are in need of your gifts to support our continuing work, as we are currently running a deficit. Please consider an additional gift to our Current Expenses for Mortgage Balance 1/1/2018 $508, Mortgage Balance 11/19/2018 $466, Last Principal Payment Principal paid year-to-date in 2018 $41, Interest paid year-to-date in 2018, $24, Total paid year-to-date in 2018, $66, Principal paid in last 30 days $ Interest paid in last 30 days $ 1, Interest accrual as 1/2/2019 $ Daily interest accrual $ day Interest accrual $ 1, When this account was refinanced, that established a maturity date of 3/15/2019. Since our payments have pushed our actual next due date out to 2019, the account currently reflects a due date of 3/15/2019 for the payoff balance of the loan. We will either have to pay off the account or refinance by that date. Thanks to all who have contributed. Wayne Winkler Did you know that in a typical month, 15 community events occur in our facility? Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, play groups, classes and meetings. We cannot begin to imagine the impact these events are having on our larger community. These events not only introduce people to our space, but make it easier for community members to join us in worship. These events would not be possible without the gifts that have been given to pay for the renovation of our building. In the weeks ahead, you will be invited to invest in these ministries through ongoing or new giving to our Capital Campaign. Watch for this invitation to open our doors to all those seeking a church home. We have made some great additions to the offerings available at Epworth s Holy Grounds. Working with a new local bakery, we have added a limited menu of baked goods to the treats we have available. Mainstay Breads is a faith-based business, and we are glad to partner with them to offer chocolate chip or almond biscotti, Scotcheroos, and chocolate chip bars. We have created new versions of our encouraging Scripture labels, and have already exceeded our sales expectation. Also, in the vein of spreading the word of our ministry, we now have insulated tumblers available. We offer an additional discount when you use your EHG tumbler, and, thanks to our recent cold weather, we can verify that these are high-quality items. We continue to build up our savings balances, and look forward to financially contributing to the operating expenses of other ministries here at Epworth. We hope to begin sharing our financial gifts in the coming months, and are glad to continue with our mission statement: Building relationships, one cup at a time. 3 Spiritual Growth There is no way to describe our Advent and Christmas theme, A Journey to Joy, other than as a great success. We have been travelling to the places of the Advent and Christmas stories, and the Christmas Eve service was a special worship service, both as a continuation of the series, and as a stand-alone event for visitors and families. Thank you to all of the volunteers who made this such a special evening. Thank you to our musicians, Peter Nielson on the organ; Hilde Van Gijssel for the offertory at all three services; Taraan Haak, Megan Mueller Hoovestal, Wesley Wintch and Aimee Zachrison for the vocal solos. Thank you to our ushers and to the youth who ran the projection, as well. None of this ministry would have worked without the gifts of the Worship Team that met together to plan our services and shape the series. We look forward to another planning meeting for the Lent/Easter season on January 29th. We will be looking at several possible studies and areas of focus for both the Sunday and Wednesday worship services, as well as discussing altar decorations, new pulpit hangings, music and prayer. Pastor Dayne has found three possible choices for study and focus, but is open to other ideas as well. Please join us for this time of planning and imagining. Tuesday, Jan. 29th, after the Open Table meal. We also continue to use the Deep Blue stories and videos for our children and Submerge for our pre-teens, as well as study opportunities for our Junior and Senior High classes. The Adult FaithLink Group is also meeting a need for study and conversation, gathering in the Sunrise Room at 9:00 am on Sundays.

4 4 Christian Education, Dawn Thomsen, Director Successful Christmas Program We had another wonderful Children s Christmas Program! A Huge Thank You! to all who helped make this a fun, successful program. Sunday School Resuming Our Sunday school classes will resume after the New Year on Jan. 6th. Enjoy the Holiday break. Winter Weather Reminders In case of bad weather, please remember to listen to KOVC on Sunday mornings for any cancellation notices. Our practice is to make any decision on cancelation by 8:00 am. Any announcements will also be posted to the church website, & the church Facebook page. Be sure to like our page & sign up for s on the website. Please use your own judgment when it comes to travelling in bad weather conditions. Your safety comes first. For afterschool activities during the week, if VCPS lets out early or cancels evening events, we are cancelled as well. Safe Sanctuary Updates I am in process of updating our Safe Sanctuary Policy. There are a couple of reminders that we need to keep in mind, especially for our Christian Ed area. 1) Children are not to be in the classrooms or the Christian Ed wing without adult supervision (older siblings do not count). 2) Our preschool through 2nd grade children need to be picked up by their parents (or a 5th grade or higher sibling) from their classrooms. This is important for our children s safety! Before & after Sunday School, our leaders may be in their rooms prepping, but are not asked to be there to supervise children. We currently don t have the Nursery staffed during worship. If this is a need, please let me know so we can make arrangements to provide this. Again, older elementary aged siblings don t count for supervision of kids. Happy New Year! Dawn christianed@epworthvalleycity.com We Love Washington School Please help support Washington School by clipping Box Tops and by bringing them to the Church. The collection box is located in the kitchen. 9 Continued from page 1 A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen. May we join, once again into this covenant of service and sacrifice, that through our lives others might know the light of Christ. As we hold the joy of Christmas in our hearts, may we also devote ourselves to following God s will. In Christ, In memory of Shirley Owen Dean & Nancy Schutte to Memorial In memory of Shannon Bowman Don & Bev Enger to Building Fund Tom & Diana Vagle to Parking Lot Marlys Christ to Memorial Perry Roorda to Endowment Gordon & VirLyn Hoff to Endowment In memory of Merlin Trapp Gordon & VirLyn Hoff to Endowment Bob & Dottie Werkhoven to Worship Perry Roorda to Endowment Richard Hanson to Endowment Shannon Bowman Aug. 4, 1926 Dec. 3, 2018 Sincere sympathy to the family and friends of Shannon. Shannon s life was celebrated on Friday, December 14, at the North Dakota Veterans Home in Lisbon. He will be missed by our church family and many others. Merlin Trapp Nov. 2, 1941 Dec. 18, 2018 Sincere sympathy to Connie and all of Merlin s family and friends for the loss of their loved one. Merlin will be missed by many. His life was celebrated here at Epworth on Sat., Dec. 22. The survey results are in! We found that 45% of Epworth folks surveyed responded that they do eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables on most days. 55% are interested in learning more about healthy food choices and portions. A whopping 77% are interested in having healthy snacks and meals available! 64% want to increase their physical activity level and 54% would like to see opportunities to do more actively at the church. One thing for sure- we WON T be offering activities before or after church! The overall committee met and went over all 4 churches surveys. Looking at the interests we have put ideas together to meet the desires of the survey participants. We will be putting new opportunities every month! Knowing that everyone likes some sweets in their life we put together a suggested plan for the serving tables for snacks and church meals. Arranging healthy foods first with sweets at the end may help make good choices. These diagrams will be sent out to serving groups and a chart will be hung in the kitchen. This is one way to have healthy snacks and meals available to our congregation. Stay tuned.

5 8 5 Confirmation Update Hello Everyone, The youth group is doing amazing things. We did a scripture lesson on how to invite people into the church. They had some really great ideas for how we can do that. Most of their ideas were for inviting their friends to church or youth groups. It was inspiring to hear the youth have so many ideas. The next week we had our Christmas party. We had 12 youth there! We made ginger bread houses, decorated sugar cookies, and watched classic Christmas movies. They also played a card game one of our youth thought of and made for this occasion. It was a great bonding time and was relaxing from the stress of the end of the year. I am looking forward to all the topics we will talk about come the new year. The senior high class finished lessons on the teachings of Jesus. The next couple weeks we worked on our awesome advent reading. We will be starting new lessons on Job, Psalms, and Proverbs come the new year. I am looking forward to having inspiring and thoughtful conversations with this group. The next big event is YOUTH 2019!! This event is a mission/service trip in Kansas City. This is happening July 7th through the 14th in There is a $100 down payment for this trip. I will be sending out a letter on how to sign up soon. Please be looking out for the letter. God s Love, Rydel We have been having a great year of Confirmation sessions. On Sundays, the Junior High Sunday School Class has been creating their own curriculum, by asking great questions and leading the discussions on topic that interest them. Their class leader is also using the book 101 Things Every Child Should Know Before Confirmation. Both the Junior High and Senior High classes wrote their readings for the 3rd and 4th candles of the Advent wreath. Pastor Dayne leads a monthly Confirmation gathering on the second Wednesday of the month. We have been working through the issues of being made in the image of God, what sin does to our relationships, and what the work of Jesus Christ has done for us. These sessions have been great opportunities to ask questions and grow in our faith. It is amazing what we learn together. Many of our Youth are working through their Worship Worksheets, as well. These worksheets are intended to help these young people become more active listeners of the message on Sundays, and more aware of the ways in which the pieces of worship works together to build our faith. During the Lenten season, the 8th graders will also work with their mentors to directly study the questions that form the core of the worship on Confirmation Sunday. We will continue to meet in the weeks ahead, but due to a lack of need on the part of families, we will only schedule the 7:00 pm Confirmation Sessions in the coming months. Youth Group Schedule: 7 pm! Attendance November December 5 12 December 12 6 December 19 8

6 6 January 2018 Our 2019 programing theme will be Sisterhood of Grace. We will continue celebrating 150 years in mission as March 2019 is the 150th anniversary of the organizational meeting for women by the foremothers of United Methodist Women. Those women in Boston were concerned that the women of India were not getting medical care. They found a female doctor and raised funds for her and a teacher to serve in India. Women have been raising funds ever since for women, children, and youth ministries. In Exodus chapters one and two, we read of two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who conspire to defy the angry Pharaoh s decree of genocide. They did this for the sake of the male Hebrew babies at risk. United Methodist Women s history is filled with sisters who conspired together to ensure human flourishing, despite what was happening around them. We follow in the footsteps of women who have transformed the world around them because of their commitment to women, children, and youth. When society was trying to silence people or make them conform, United Methodist Women members have spoken out. We need to continue to speak out on behalf of those who are being silenced or are facing policies that diminish human flourishing. Our financial commitments to the mission of United Methodist Women is one way we put our faith, hope and love into action. Circles donate at the monthly gatherings. We have special themed offerings. And the unit treasurer will accept donations at any unit meeting and throughout the year. UMW has a mailbox in the office area. Plans for the fall bazaar conspire all year. Circles will organize in the new year. You are invited. We meet the third Thursday of the month. Sunny Circle meets at 10 am at the church. Circle of Faith meets at 7 pm hosted by members at various places. I will be pleased to connect you to a time that is good for you. We will celebrate our mission work on Sunday, January 27 as United Methodist Women lead the morning worship. We will recognize the Board of Officers for Pray for us. But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. (Exodus 1: 17) VirLyn Hoff, UMW Unit President Wednesday, February 13 Confirmation, 7:00 pm Youth, 7:00 pm Wednesday, February 20 Church Family Supper, 5:30 pm Ministry Teams, 6:30 pm and Ad Council, 8:00 pm February 21 Circles Meet Sunny Circle, 10:00 am Circle of Faith, 7:00 pm Tuesday, February 26 Open Table Community Meal, 5:30 pm January 2018 Mitten Tree Ministry Thank you to everyone that participated in the Mitten Ministry! We have a wonderful selection of mittens to distribute in mid-january! Thanks again for helping keep heads and hands warm! Epworth United Methodist Women s Christmas Ministries Epworth United Methodist Women would like to express their thanks to everyone who participated in the Christmas ministries with gifts of treats, time and visitation. Christmas Coffee at Legacy Thank you to Bonnie Ranum, Michelle Grebel, Jeane Lang, Darlene Mueller, Pat Nielson, Diana Vagle and Pastor Dayne. Christmas Coffee at Bridgeview Thank you to Michelle Grebel, Bev & Don Enger, Betty Jorissen, Diana Vagle, Dave Zeller and Pastor Dayne. Christmas Luncheon at Sheyenne Care Center Thank you to Bev & Don Enger, Michelle Grebel, VirLyn Hoff, Dave Zeller and Pastor Paul Lint. Christmas Tray Ministry Thank you all for the many treats. 23 trays were given in love and appreciation plus an assortment of treats to the Washington School staff. Thank you to Michelle Grebel, VirLyn Hoff, Perry Roorda and Randi Watterson for making deliveries and giving Christmas greetings. 7 Congregational Care Church Family Supper Our Church Family Supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 16, Serving will begin at 5:30 pm and continue as people arrive for meetings. Ministry teams will meet at 6:30 pm. Administrative Council meeting at 8 pm. All are invited to these times of food and fellowship. Please join us. A free will offering is taken to cover the food cost. In December, we enjoyed potato soup with egg salad sandwiches, cheese whiz with olives sandwiches, fruit salad and birthday cake for Kevin Tulp. Thank you to Anita Tulp for the soup and cake. Thank you to Courtney and Dylan for helping with food prep. Thank you to Marlys Christ for help with serving. Thank you to Richard Hanson and Dwayne for washing dishes and Carol Nelson for help with clean up. We enjoyed some Christmas piano selections by Kaylee Nielson, Skye Nielson, Colin Hoff and Emily Hoff. They are students of Marian Drevecky. Thank you to Randi Watterson for some accompaniment for caroling. VirLyn Hoff, Congregational Care Coordinator Open Table Served on the last Tuesday of every month, this ministry is something to look forward to for many in our community. Planning meetings are held on a Sunday after worship and dates are listed on the calendar and in the bulletin. All are welcome to attend and help! Donations of food items, cookies, funds, and helping hands are welcome. Our December Open Table meal was cancelled due to the storm. Our next Open Table meal will be on Tuesday, January 29. Serving begins at 5:30 pm. All are welcome! The Open Table Team