Messiah United Methodist Church 408 Dominion Commons Way Chesapeake, VA 23322 Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors, the People of the United Methodist Church Messiah Messenger FEBURARY 2019 Volume 23, Issue 2 VALENTINE DINNER FEBRUARY 10TH YOU RE INVITED SEE DETAILS INSIDE Black History Month >>>Churchwide Birthday Celebration<<<
NOTES FROM THE PASTOR Over the last three weeks, I have been preaching on stewardship and more specifically tithing. I know that in today s culture, this talk of tithing, giving ten percent of your income to the church is not relevant to many people. However, I feel it should be relevant to each and every one of us who is a Christian. Many of us who would like to tithe have obligations that we feel keep us from tithing. So get rid of those obligations by paying off your indebtedness, living within your means, and being satisfied with what you need rather than what you want. If you did not get an opportunity to submit your commitment card for 2019 on Sunday, January 27 th, there are extra cards available in the narthex and you can submit them by placing them in the collection plate any Sunday or by mailing them to the church. As many of you may know, Anna, our youngest daughter, has been in France as a part of the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) since late September. She is serving as a teacher assistant helping to teach English to high school and preschool students. French was one of her majors in college and she wanted to become fluent in the language which is best achieved through immersion. Barbara and I are planning to go to see her in April. Since Barbara works for the school system, we are coordinating our trip with her Spring Break. After much deliberation and consultation with the SPRC, the district superintendent and other church leaders, we have decided to schedule our trip April 6-April 20, 2019. That means that I will not be here for three Sundays, April 7, 14, and 21. April 14 is Palm Sunday and April 21 is Easter Sunday. As of now I have arranged for coverage for pastoral emergencies as well as preaching for April 14 and 21. Rev. Paul Phillips has agreed to take calls for me and Rev. Ellen Comstock (I think you know her) has agreed to preach those two Sundays. I appreciate your understanding. Grace and Peace, United Methodist Women Missions without Money = If you were walking down the street and saw a dime on the ground would you stoop down and pick it up? I don't know about you, but I would. Well a dime, ten cents, is exactly what each of the Box Tops for Education is worth to schools. Twice a year schools submit the Box Tops and then receive a check for the total number of boxtops submitted multiplied by $0.10. The schools can then use that money as they see fit. We have been collecting Box Tops for Georgetown Primary School in the past and will continue to do so. But this year let's set a goal of collecting one hundred or more Box Tops each month so that we can give the Georgetown the equivalent of $120 this year. We will begin counting and totaling our Box Tops submission in August. Don't throw them away, clip them and bring them to church and place them in the drawer in the cabinet in the narthex. Postage Stamps for UMCOR (United Methodist Council on Relief) Save your canceled postage stamps. The stamps are sold to a stamp collector and the proceeds are distributed through UMCOR. Stamps should be trimmed to a border no closer than ¼ inch around the outside edge. Do not peel the stamps from the envelope. Place them in the collection box in the narthex. Pastor Bob
LIVE BIG in FEBRUARY: Children s Church FEBRUARY S LESSON IS COMING TO YOUR INBOX SOON! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bible Study meets at the Panera Bread in the Great Bridge Shopping Center at 10 am. We are currently discussing the book "I Love Growing Older but I'll Never Grow Old" by J. Ellsworth Kalas. Our schedule is as follows: Tuesday, February 5 - Chapter 10 - When the Shadows Are Dark and Deep" Tuesday, February 19 - Chapter 11 -"There's More to Life Than Two Front Teeth" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THANKS All who helped with the Get Smart Dinner. All who came out and supported the UMM Breakfast! To those who are providing dinner for the Youth!
The Society of St. Andrew envisions a world in which physical and spiritual hungers are met through God s grace and abundance in Jesus Christ. In order to achieve this, the Society of St. Andrew brings people together to harvest and share healthy food, reduce food waste, and build caring communities by offering nourishment to hungry neighbors through a variety of means including gleaning, reclaiming food waste and then distributing this food to individuals and local food banks. Each year during Advent and Lent, the Society of St. Andrew offers devotional booklets and provides little banks to churches and individuals. The devotionals are written by laity and clergy and they request that you use the banks for your daily pocket change during the season. This year during Lent, March 6-April 21, we will have the devotionals and banks available to you. You can turn in the banks on Easter Sunday, or before, and we will count the change and send a check to them with the combined offering. If you would prefer, you can write a check and place it in the offering plate with Society of St. Andrew in the memo line and we will include that in the offering. We are collecting food items to fill shopping bags which are given out to the families who come to the church seeking food gift cards. This food will be given out in lieu of cards during those times the stock of gift cards is depleted. Below is a list of food to bring: (2 lb) Bags of rice Vienna Sausages (4.5 oz cans) (16 oz) Box of saltine crackers Applesauce (24 oz jar) Green beans (small or large) Cans Spaghetti or Pasta (2 lb box) Peanut Butter (18 oz plastic jar) Spaghetti sauce (24 oz can or plastic jar) Chunk chicken (12.5 oz) Serving for the month of February Greeters Acolytes 2/3 Howell Family 2/10 Tracie Chesworth Ellie Centric 2/17 Phyllis Abeshaheen 2/24 Donna Kumjian Rile e Schaefer Scripture Readers Counters-TBD 2/3 Jan Lawrence 2/10 Debbie White 2/17 Mindy Rew 2/2 Danny Reitz Children s Activities (9:50-10:50) K-2 Teacher(s) / 3rd 5 th 2/3 Phyllis Lewter Phyllis Abeshaheen/ Nan Tarbell 2/10 Annette Kellum Katlyn Gates/Krista Centric 2/17 Katlyn Gates Nan Tarbell/Bev Parrish 2/24 Ed West Shell Riddle/Kerri Cartwright Communion Servers 2/3 Beth & Danny Reitz
Family Birthday Celebration February 24, 2019 12:15-2:00 pm We will have lunch, games and celebrate everyone's birthday with cake and ice cream! You will be getting your invitation soon! Come join us! Shaving Cream is fun in Mrs. Jen s Class Sarah Gardner 2/8 Jan Lawrence 2/9 Lisa Brroughs 2/12 Ethan Lewter 2/12 Susan Stout 2/13 Colton Cartwright 2/15 Krista Centric 2/17 Ernie Stallcop 2/21 Ashlei Gates 2/23 Ann Vokonas 2/27 Registration is now open for the 2019-2020 school year. Please refer your family, friends and neighbors to our wonderful preschool program. Keep in mind that Messiah UMC members receive a 10% discount off of tuition. February is also Dental Health Month. Tidal Smiles Pediatric Dentist office will be visiting our children to teach them about taking good care of their teeth!
Valentine Dinner and Entertainment Sunday, February 10 th at 6:00 PM Messiah United Methodist Church 408 Dominion Commons Way Chesapeake, VA 23322 757-436-1682 Join us for a special evening with a catered dinner and entertainment featuring Open the link below to view a video of The Brightsmiths, the group that will provide the entertainment after the Valentine Dinner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfmu9opmqkw The Brightsmiths An acoustic folk trio from Hampton Roads Cost is $10 per person Limited seating reservations required by February 1 st Babysitting available with advance request See Phyllis Lewter to reserve your seats.
Bishop Lewis issues appeal for flood recovery in Danville, VA Bishop Sharma D. Lewis has issued an appeal addressing disaster recovery from historic flooding in Danville in 2018. Her letter issuing this appeal is included in your newsletter. You are welcome to make donations through your offering and note Danville Disaster Relief on your envelope. Please be aware that our Ash Wednesday offering will be designated toward this appeal. (Letter attached) https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=b832920e81&attid=0.2&permms gid=msgf:1622840366351584127&th=16857cb70b8d0b7f&view=att&disp=i nline&realattid=f_jqzhhnqh1 please email Pastor Bob no later than Sunday, February 17, 2019, to ensure adequate time for materials to be ordered and available for pickup on Sunday, February 24 th. Over the six weeks of this session, you are invited to consider the person of Simon Peter from several perspectives; a called fisherman, a reluctant water walker, a bedrock or stumbling block, the I will never deny you to a denier who finds his true voice, and a faithful disciple. I hope you will consider joining this study during this special season of the Christian Year. Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten Season, is March 6, 2019. We will hold a service for the imposition of ashes with Holy Communion at 7:00 p.m. on that evening. Please mark your calendar for that date. If you cannot make it to the service, but would like to have ashes imposed, I will be available in the sanctuary from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 that morning and in the Starbucks on Cedar Road across from Las Gaviotas from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon that morning as well. Our Lenten Bible Study this year will be an Adam Hamilton study titled Simon Peter Flawed but Faithful Disciple. It will be offered at 7:00 p.m. beginning Thursday, February 28 and continuing each week until Thursday, April 4. Each session will be approximately 90 minutes in length. If you would like to participate Chesapeake Area Shelter Team (CAST) is a coalition of churches that provides shelter to individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness during the months of November until early April. Churches, usually for a one week period, offer a place to sleep, meals, and a variety of other extras to their guests. CAST will be held at South Norfolk Christian Church April 3-10, 2019 and we get to help. On Wednesday night, April 3 rd, we will provide dinner and bagged lunches to be taken by the guests as they leave on Thursday morning. Ideally, we will also provide members of the congregation to serve as the overnight team as well as to prepare and serve breakfast on Thursday morning before the guests leave. Please consider serving this ministry in some way. More details to follow.
FEBRUARY 2019 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Black History Month Dental Health Month 1 Office Closed 2 3 9:45 Sunday School 10:00 Adult/Youth 11:00 Worship Communion 5:00 MYouth 4 5 Bible Study-10:00 @ Panera 6 Praise Team-6:30 Choir-7:00 7 8 Office Closed 9 10 Boy Scout Sunday 9:45 Sunday School 10:00 Adult/Youth 11:00 Worship 6:00 Valentine Dinner & Entertainment 11 12 13 Praise Team-6:30 Choir-7:00 14 Valentines Day 15 Office Closed 16 17 9:00 UMM Breakfast 9:45 Sunday School 10:00 Adult/Youth 11:00 Worship 5:00 MYouth 18 Presidents Day Preschool Closed 19 Bible Study-10:00 @ Panera Trustees Mtg 7pm 20 Praise Team-6:30 Choir-7:00 21 22 Office Closed 23 Set Up for Birthday Celebration 11am 24 9:45 Sunday School 10:00 Adult/Youth 11:00 Worship 12:15 Birthday Party 5:00 MYouth 25 Lenten Bible Study 7:00 (90 min) 26 27 Praise Team-6:30 Choir-7:00 28 MDO 6:30pm