MAPLEWOOD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH MESSENGER MAY 2016 Congratulations to Steve Findley Sunday May 15 is Pentecost Sunday. It s the day we celebrate the Gift of the Holy Spirit being given to the Church. You are welcome to wear red on that day! PENTECOST Sunday May 15 This is the day we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit being given to the Church WOW food delivery has a schedule! Food delivery to MRH, for WOW is the second Monday of the month, so be sure to bring food items for WOW by the second Sunday of the month. June s delivery date will be Monday, June 14th. And if you have extra grocery bags we could also use them as we load up the car for delivery. Thanks. Jan Harsh He has been declared a Certified Candidate for Ordained Ministry in The United Methodist Church by the Gateway Central District Committee on Ordination. Steve submitted written work to this committee and was subsequently interviewed by four teams from the District Committee on Ordination. Based on the outcomes of Steve s work and the interviews, the committee (composed primarily of ordained clergy and as well as lay members of the UMC) decided that Steve shows evidence of gifts, fruits and God s grace for the work of ministry. Steve, we are so proud of you and grateful for the courage and commitment you are displaying in response to your call! Celebration of Graduation coming to MUMC Have you or a loved one graduated from 8 th grade, high school, or a post-high school program in the 2015-2016 academic year? Well, we think that is REALLY SPECIAL and want to celebrate that achievement during worship on Sunday, May 22. Please let Pastor Kim know so that we can be prepared to honor you or your graduate!
some health aids available Thought ya might wanna know MUMC has accumulated several items which you may, at some point, find that you could use for a while. Available for you to borrow and use are: 2 bath tub seats; 3 walkers, 1 wheelchair, a VERY tall set of crutches and a partridge in a pear tree. Uh, no, erase that last one. NO PARTRIDGE! All of these are located in the stairway outside fellowship hall (and stage area) along with a check out page. We hope you will not need any of this equipment (stay well) but it is here for your use if it is needed. L Arche St. Louis Breakfast with Friends 1 Andrew McDonough 4 Madaleaze Cramer 8 Mike Shirar 10 Mike O Laughlin 19 Diane Watkins 19 Ben Shirar 21 Isabella Ward 26 David Phelps 27 Charlotte Phelps 27 Tony Kunce Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 Time: 7:30 a.m. 9:00 a.m. Location: Si Commons St. Louis University High School 4970 Oakland Avenue St. Louis MO 63110 Guest Speaker: Sue Mosteller, CSJ L'Arche St. Louis is a network of homes and community supports for adults with intellectual disabilities. We are an intentional faith community based in Maplewood and part of the global organization L'Arche International. Our mission is to make known the gifts of all people and to build a more inclusive society. 5/1/04 Gary & Rachelle Holt 5/19 - Nina Berry 5/22/94 Tom & Amy Cordeal 5/28/76 Dave & Suzie Ward 5/30/64 - Jerry & Shay Blackwell For reservations or more information, please contact Paula Kilcoyne at communityleader.larchestl@gmail.com or (314) 799-2888. www.larchestlouis.org Ad Council meeting on Sunday, May 15th at 6:30p.m.
Come Holy Spirit! One of my favorite passages about the Holy Spirit is: God s Spirit* blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don t know where it comes from or where it is going. It s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (*some versions say, wind ) John 3:8 As you probably have heard, we are focusing on the Holy Spirit at Maplewood United Methodist Church during the month of May. We will talk about who the Spirit is and how the Spirit works in our lives and in the life of the Church. The Spirit can go anywhere it wants to go. I believe the Spirit wants to go and be active in lots of places! It helps me to remember that in this busy, busy month of May when we go, and do, and celebrate so many events with family and friends--mother s Day, the end of the school year and school-related activities, graduations, the beginning of summer vacation season, and Memorial Day to name some the Spirit is going and is active in all these places too. So remember in this month of May: no matter where you are and no matter who you are, God s Spirit is blowing about! Even when we aren t in church or with church people, the Holy Spirit is present and active. You never know what the Spirit might stir up conversation about faith; some words of grace, love, or forgiveness; an idea for a new solution to an old problem; a word of understanding or encouragement at just the right time; a sense of hope or feeling of joy that makes all the difference in how we face the events of the day. My prayer for myself and for all of us is that we tune our hearts and minds to the Spirit s presence wherever we are. How about let s pray God, we never know what you will do next through your Holy Spirit. We know that your Spirit is not in our control. But we do know that we can choose to pray and listen and look for the evidence of your Spirit s action. Come, Holy Spirit come. Help us be ready and willing to move when your Spirit, your Holy Wind blows in our lives! Amen. Yours in Christ, Pastor Kim Playing catch in worship to help with the sermon
Person to Person Dave Phelps Last month (Person-2-Person, April, 2016), I mentioned that our Music Director, Amy, couldn t be in three places at the same time. Our earliest spiritual ancestors believed the same thing about God. In the story of Adam and Eve, sometimes God was there in the Garden of Eden and sometimes God wasn t (Gen. 3:8). So they could do things like eating the forbidden fruit (vs. 6-7) or hiding from God (vs. 8) without God knowing about them (vs. 9). This was a God who could create the heavens and the Earth but who couldn t see around corners, more of an extraordinary man than the way we think of God today. Over time, God came to be viewed as omniscient or all knowing, as in Jeremiah 23:24 (New Century Version): No one can hide where I cannot see him, says the Lord. I fill all of heaven and earth, says the Lord. Jesus brought these words into the personal realm: Two sparrows cost only a penny, but not even one of them can die without your Father s knowing it. God even knows how many hairs are on your head. So don t be afraid. You are worth much more than many sparrows. (Matt. 10:29-31 NCV). God was always there watching us. The earliest disciples came to realize the same thing about Jesus. They knew he wasn t an ordinary man (Matt. 16:16, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20, John 3:2) but at first they didn t fully realize just who he was. One evening, when he and the disciples were in a small boat during a storm, His followers woke him and said, Teacher, don t you care that we are drowning! (Mark 4:38b NCV). They thought Jesus didn t know about their trouble, or perhaps that he didn t care. It s easy sometimes to believe God doesn t know about our troubles or that God doesn t care, that God is absent or has more than God can handle. If it weren t true, we think, there wouldn t be so much trouble and suffering in the world. Sometimes we might think there wouldn t be so many bad things in our own lives. But during those times we can say with Jeremiah, Oh, Lord God, you made the skies and the earth with your very great power. There is nothing too hard for you to do. (Jer.32:17 NCV). Deuteronomy 29:29 says There are some things the Lord our God has kept secret, but there are some things he has let us know. These things belong to us and our children forever so that we will do everything in these teachings. (NCV). Whatever we know, God knows too, and whatever we don t know, God also knows. God especially knows what is happening to us, and God cares. Paul wrote to the church in Rome,... nothing above us, nothing below us, nor anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:39 NCV). The only one who can stand between us and God is us. Matthew wrote that, when Jesus was in Nazareth,... he did not do many miracles there because they had no faith. (Matt. 13:58 NCV). Mark s gospel goes further and says Jesus was not able to work any miracles there except to heal a few sick people by putting his hands on them. He was amazed at how many people had no faith. (Mark 6:5-6a NCV). As far as Mark was concerned, Jesus couldn t perform miracles when the people didn t believe. How often do we fail to receive miracles or blessings because we don t believe they will happen? We call ourselves people of faith but more often we re people of doubt. I know it s true of me. James wrote, I will show you my faith by what I do. (Jas. 2:18b NCV). If we believe God can do what God said, we should act like we believe. If we believe in the will of God instead of the won t of God or the can t of God, we can show it in our lives. Ultimately, what we believe matters less than what we do about it. People around us can t see what we believe but they can see what we do, and what we do can show them Christ. Oh, Lord God, you made the skies and the earth with your very great power. There is nothing too hard for you to do.... You plan and do great things. You see everything that people do, and you reward people for the way they live and for what they do. You did miracles and wonderful things in the land of Egypt. You have continued doing them in Israel and among the other nations even until today. (Jer. 32:17, 19-20a NCV.) Visit Person-2-Person on the Web at http:// person2person.faithweb.com
So many ways to serve As always, so many people to thank... these folks for their help with the How It s Made: The Bread Christ Calls All of Us to Be sermon series: *Richard Rutz thank you for making the invitation cards and the very cool sermon series video! *Larry Schmid thank you for baking and sharing Ice Cream Muffins. *Marjie Brammeier, Pickett Lema, and Rona Chandler for baking & sharing banana bread. *Jan Harsh and Mary Kunce for bagging rolls, muffins & banana bread on several Sundays in April *Peg Chulick thank you for the the bread and grapes tray you created as a visual for worship. Colette Cummings, Shay Blackwell & Jerry Blackwell for spending a beautiful Saturday indoors to learn more about effective leadership in the church. Thank you and to Beth Abeln who just finished leading her first Anger Management class at Maplewood UMC. Beth has taught Anger Management before in other locations and graciously agreed to take on this ministry at Maplewood UMC. After working alongside Shay Blackwell in an Anger Management class this fall, Beth led a class on her own on Thursday evenings in March and April. During a similar time period this spring, Shay was able to lead a Friday morning class for students who could not attend an evening class. We give thanks to God for your ministry of teaching and care, Shay and Beth! Thank you also to Peg Chulick and her helpers. Peg planned, prepared, decorated the dinner tables,and served meals for the Thursday evening Anger Management class. We give thanks to God for your ministry of hospitality, Peg! Kevin, Kevin-2, and Luke Watkins for sharing their baseball skills during the message on May 1! A BIG thank you to all who helped with meal serving and clean up for the Anger Management Classes and special thanks to Donna Reynolds who cooked for me when I was out of town. We could not give the guys and gals a hot meal without you. We pray that this ministry of love touches their lives in a positive way. Peg Chulick Do we hafta hold hands during grace so everybody gets to start eating at the same time? from JoyfulNoiseletter.com Reprinted with permission of Bil Keane
What if church members began their own form of sermon preparation? For countless decades, we have heard about the role of pastors in sermon preparation. The number of hours they need to prepare. The priority of preparation. The role of prayer in sermon preparation. But what if church members prepared for each sermon they heard? What if they believed their roles as recipients of the Word are also crucially important? We can see incredible church revitalization taking place if church members took on their own responsibilities of sermon preparation. Here are seven ways members can actively prepare for sermons. 1 Pray for the sermon. For a few minutes, the church member should pray for the upcoming sermon. That prayer might take place during the week, the night before the preaching, or the morning of the preaching. 2 Pray for the pastor who is preaching. Pray that the pastor will understand God s message for that text. Pray that the pastor will have no distractions. Pray that God s Spirit will fill the pastor in both the preparation and delivery of the sermon. 3 Pray for yourself as you prepare to hear the sermon. Pray that God will speak to you through the message. Pray that you will not be distracted. Pray for clarity of mind and an open heart to receive the message. 4 Read the biblical text before the sermon is preached. If possible, read the text from which the pastor will preach. Read it thoroughly. Read it prayerfully. 5 Take notes. Take notes as the pastor preaches. You will have a greater focus and greater retention. Review the notes at least once during the next week. 6 Seek an application to your life. Ask God for discernment to help you understand how the sermon should change your life. Seek to understand the sermon not only in its biblical context, but in your life as well. 7 Share with the pastor one thing. If possible, share with your pastor one significant takeaway from the sermon. Pastors hear countless good job, pastor, or nice message, pastor, but they long to know if God really made a difference in the lives of the church members through the preached word. If you are able to communicate just one takeaway from the sermon in person, by email, or in social media, your pastor will be greatly encouraged. The preaching of God s Word is central to the life of the church. It makes sense that pastors should give it the highest priority. But doesn t it also make sense that church members should prepare as well? Submited by the editor and written by Thom S. Rainer. TOGETHER, WE SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF PEACE AND ENCOURAGE COOPERATION LOCALLY, IN THE UNITED STATES AND GLOBALLY. Peace With Justice Sunday is May 22, 2016
Baking Bread How baking bread is a metaphor for spiritual growth. Demonstrated in Sunday School and during worship
Kim Shirar, Pastor Pastor s Office Hours: Tuesday: 9 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. Thursday: 9 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. Cell Phone: (314) 651-9999 E-Mail: pastor@maplewoodumc.org Sally Noel, Secretary Secretary will be in the office: Thursday 9a.m. - 4p.m. Maplewood UMC phone: (314)781-5902 Maplewood UMC Official Website: www.maplewoodumc.org Heart Speaks to Heart: An Evening with Sue Mosteller. 7pm. This is an open, casual opportunity to hear Sue speak for a longer time about L'Arche and Henri Nouwen. This also will be at Si Commons, Saint Louis University High School, 4970 Oakland, St. Louis, MO See Pastor Kim if you want to go to summer camp. There are camps for all ages and the church is offering scholarships to go to summer camp. Maplewood United Methodist Church 7409 Flora Ave. St. Louis, MO 63143 Every Sunday 9:45 a.m. Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Worship