First Things First Sunday Services : 8:30 a.m. 11:00 a.m. Nursery Care begins: 9:40 a.m. Sunday : In this issue: World Communion Sunday 1 Help Wanted! 2 UMW 3 Book Club 4 Calendar Birthdays, Anniversaries, UMW Annual Gathering Pre-Event Workshop 5 6 Interested in receiving the newsletter by email? Forward your email address to the church office: fumc@gci.net TOGETHER, WE ENABLE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE STUDENTS TO CHANGE THE WORLD. World Communion Sunday is October 2, 2016 Around the globe, countless gifted and qualified people face financial obstacles that hinder them from preparing for the vocation God has given them, especially youth and young adults. For ethnic students who will be the first generation in their families to attend college, or for those people of color who haven t historically had access to resources that make higher education possible, the road toward education has often been unwieldy. What would it look like if the church today imitated Jesus affirmation of the full dignity and God-given potential of all women and men especially those who ve historically been assigned to the world s margins? On World Communion Sunday your giving helps to provide scholarships for national and international graduate students whom God has gifted to learn and to serve. Equipping Disciples Like Mary Grace to Serve in Jesus Name As a small child Mary Grace Galapon labored as a housemaid in exchange for food and clothing. Yet, allowed to attend church, she found hope. As a member of The United Methodist Church, your giving on World Communion Sunday has allowed this deaconess, of the Mindanao Phillipines Annual Conference, to pursue an education that is now changing her community as she works to eliminate poverty. Mary Grace s work, and the impact of hundreds more like her, are possible because you give. Will You Equip World-Changers? Will you give generously on World Communion Sunday to make education and vocational impact possible for more students, like Mary Grace? Will you equip gifted and qualified students from around the globe to become the world-changers God created them to be? Nelson Mandela said, Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. And because the people of The United Methodist Church believe that all of God s children have been created and gifted to build the kingdom Jesus ushered in, we re resourcing them to do just that. Because of your giving on World Communion Sunday, the most powerful tool to change the world is in more hands. 1
First United Methodist Church Church upgrades!! We are currently working on increase security, energy efficiency, and reduce utility costs of the church. You can send in a donation to the church, specify its for Special Projects and we will make sure it is used to fund these projects. To do this we need your help! Here are some projects we are focusing on: Volunteers needed Donations needed Please consider championing this effort by donating toward their purchase 1. Case of 25 Led Bulbs $425 each (8 cases needed) 2. Sanctuary Lighting conversion $5,800 We need volunteers to help with the following tasks : 1. Painting outdoor windows & doors 2. Weed pulling/trimming 3. Coffee counter upgrade 4. Window cleaning 5. Stripping & waxing the floor 6. Inside wood treatment & polishing Call Lynn or Lani Kile to volunteer or if you have questions 696-5453. Anchorage Cold Weather Shelter It is getting colder outside! The Municipality of Anchorage has teamed together with area churches to help families who are in need of shelter. When the temperate dips below freezing, churches open up their doors to allow families to stay in a warm place. We are attempting to become part of this outreach! To do so we are in need of volunteers. Melody Milliken has agreed to be the coordinator here at FUMC. There is a sign-up sheet and more information in the Narthex. 2
First United Methodist Church United Methodist Women Upcoming Events October events: 7-9th Annual Gathering~ Anchor Park UMC 10th Hope Circle~ 7:00 p.m. ~ 11th Executive Board Meeting~ 6:30 p.m. 12th Sunny Friends Circle~ 12:30 a.m. Mary Bettis~ host 17th General Meeting~ 11:30 a.m. ~details tbd UMW Annual Gathering Tangible Giving Christmas Brunch/Auction December 3rd will soon be here and that is the date for our annual gala festivity! It will again be held at the Petroleum Club. The tickets will be on sale, in the Narthex, NOVEMBER 13, 20, & 27 for $20. In the meantime, get your hand crafted articles ready or buy one at one of the numerous Anchorage craft bazaars. Get your white elephant commercial articles ready, also, for the silent auction tables. Get your tickets bring a guest (or two)! The amazing Linda Benson will be our auctioneer extraordinaire! This event is always filled with great food and great fun! Each year at UMW's Annual Gathering we take a collection for a "Tangible Offering". This year we have been asked to collect items for Safe Harbor Inn: 1. Full/Twin size Bed bug covers ( the ones that have zippers ) 2. Blankets 3. Pillows 4. Comforters 5. Small travel size lotions 6. Small travel size deodorant 7. Travel size toothpaste 8. Individual pack toothbrushes Please place all items in the basket in the Narthex before October 6th. Or Bring them with you to Annual Gathering! If you have questions; please speak with Jenn Miller or Lori Staats. 3 Alaska Conference UMW Annual Gathering This year s annual gathering is being held at the Anchor Park UMC. Part of each annual gathering is devoted to mission outreach. This year the Silent Auction proceeds will be donated to the Legacy Fund of the United Methodist Women. For our Tangible Giving, we are asking that each participant/unit provide items for Safe Harbor:Full/Twin size Bed bug covers ( the ones that have zippers ), Blankets, Pillows, Comforters, Small travel size lotions, Small travel size deodorant, Travel size toothpaste, and Individual pack toothbrushes. We will be collecting the Unit Pledges for 2017 on Saturday night during worship. During the weekend we will be getting more information about the Legacy Fund. This Fund is being set up to honor our UMW foremothers, the ones who started us on this journey of relationship with God, each other and our world. The Fund is designed to someday support the administrative side of UMW, so that everything we collect for mission can be spent directly on mission. The Alaska United Methodist Women Executive Team hopes that you will come to this year s annual gathering Anchored in Hope, and bring a friend! Friday, 2-5pm, will start will a pre-event worship on Human Trafficking in Alaska, we will have special guests from Priceless Alaska presenting their mission. We will also be having Simone Wilson, for UMW National Office, with us all weekend! Join us and be inspired to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world! If you have any questions or comments, please call Barbara Mitchell at 907-321-5093 or email her at cbmitch@hotmail.com. For information on this or Alaska UMW please speak with Jennifer Miller or Lori Staats.
First United Methodist Church Book Club September 26th we discussed A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door. Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations. We had a lively discussion on how people s lives are shaped. On October 24th we will be discussing Hamilton by Ron Chernow: In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, Ron Chernow tells the riveting story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America. According to historian Joseph Ellis, Alexander Hamiltonis a robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all. Few figures in American history have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Alexander Hamilton. Chernow s biography gives Hamilton his due and sets the record straight, deftly illustrating that the political and economic greatness of today s America is the result of Hamilton s countless sacrifices to champion ideas that were often wildly disputed during his time. To repudiate his legacy, Chernow writes, is, in many ways, to repudiate the modern world. Chernow here recounts Hamilton s turbulent life: an illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean, he came out of nowhere to take America by storm, rising to become George Washington s aide-decamp in the Continental Army, coauthoring The Federalist Papers, founding the Bank of New York, leading the Federalist Party, and becoming the first Treasury Secretary of the United States.Historians have long told the story of America s birth as the triumph of Jefferson s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power. His is a Hamilton far more human than we ve encountered before from his shame about his birth to his fiery aspirations, from his intimate relationships with childhood friends to his titanic feuds with Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Monroe, and Burr, and from his highly public affair with Maria Reynolds to his loving marriage to his loyal wife Eliza. And never before has there been a more vivid account of Hamilton s famous and mysterious death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July of 1804. Chernow s biography is not just a portrait of Hamilton, but the story of America s birth seen through its most central figure. At a critical time to look back to our roots, Alexander Hamilton will remind readers of the purpose of our institutions and our heritage as Americans. We will be meeting I the home of Aimee Rathbun, 3724 Chaffee Circle, October 24th at 7:00 p.m. For November we choose a classic The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson. We are always looking for great new books to discuss! Please come and share what you are reading. October: Hamilton By Ron Chernow November: The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden By Jonas Jonasson 4
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 2 8:30 am Joint FSUMC/ FUMC 11:00 am 5:30 p.m. A Place at the Table 9 3 6:00 p.m Trustees 10 6:00 pm Finance 7:00pm UMW Hope Circle 7:00 pm Leadership Board 11 6:45pm UMW Executive Board 4 5 11:30 p.m. Sandwich Making 12 12:30pm UMW Sunny Friends Circle 6 7 Office Closed 13 14 15 11:30 am UMW General Meeting 1 8 Prayer List Our thoughts and prayers are extended to: Fred Stassel Military personnel For People who suffer in the midst of war and violence 16 17 18 19 20 12:30 p.m. Out to Lunch Bunch @ Loko Moko 21 22 23 5:30 pm Filipino Fellowship 30 24 6:30pm Peanut Farmers 7:00pm Book Club 31 24 26 27 26 29 October Wedding Anniversary James & Kaprice Zuke 22 years Timothy & Gerry Kile 15 years Derek & Kiersten Jedlicka 14 years Congratulations to these happy couples!! October Birthdays Barbara Hatch 1 Rick Miller 1 Jacquie Leibach 3 Diane Peterson 4 Myrna Waters 7 Susitina Normani 11 Delaney McCormack 12 Thomas Tutaan 13 Wayne Campbell 16 Mike Walsh 16 Elsa Tutaan 17 Leah Morgan-Carroll 23 Dan Carey 28 Eric Sikes 28 Kathy Harris 29 5
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