United Methodist Church Newsletter January 2019 Pastor: Rev. Mark Whitley Administrative Council Chair: Jim Igarta Lay Leader: Dolly Kirk Trustee Chairperson: Ray Roberts Office Hours: Monday thru Thursday 9:00 am - 3:00 pm Church Office Closed Friday Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven 14205 East 146th St. North Collinsville, OK 74021 (918) 371-3250 Christmas Memories 2018
Greetings in the name of The Risen Christ! Bonne année! Feliz año! Frohes neues Jahr! Hauʻoli makahiki hou! с новым годом! नय स ल म ब रक ह! Maligayang bagong Taon! Whether you say it in French, Spanish, German, Hawaiian, Russian, Hindi, or Tagalog, it all means Happy New Year! And as this New Year of 2019 begins, as your pastor, the emphasis for me is on Happy! As in HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!!!!!!! And as happy as your pastor is, he is even more proud of our great little church!!!!! In early December, after preaching a series on God s generosity, and our generous response to God s generosity, I sent out the third quarter giving reports with a cover letter, asking folks to remember their commitments and to be generously faithful to what each person or family had committed to give in 2018. And, Lord, have mercy, did you respond faithfully and generously!!!!!!!! Just in December, our church gave $45,469.06 as our monthly giving of tithes, offerings, and special designated gifts!!!!! That is about double what we usually give each month; we needed to average about $25,500 in giving each month to meet our projected expense budget of about $310,000 for FY2018. Your pastor was praying for a $30,000 month in December to help us end 2018 well and start 2019 well. I guess I did not trust the Holy Spirit enough! Our church gave $38,832.06 to the general budget and $7,637 to designated funds in December! And $6.073.41 of the $38,832.06 was given through on-line giving! What faithfulness!!! What generosity!!! Praise God and thank you so very, very much!!!!!! This is a very positive sign going into what may be an unpredictable year for The United Methodist Church as a denomination. As Bob Dylan sang 50 years ago, The Times They Are A Changin. By the end of 2019, it is likely that The United Methodist Church will be undergoing significant changes in organizational structure and operations. These changes will affect our Jurisdictions, our Conferences, and local churches. In preparation, please plan to attend the meeting discussed below. It is important that you be there to learn and contribute. WHAT: A Service of Worship and Holy Conversation on The Way Forward WHY: Preparing for The 2019 Special Session of The General Conference of The United Methodist Church on February 23-26, 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri WHERE/WHEN: Meadowcreek United Methodist Church on Sunday, January 27 from 6:00 8:00 PM. WHO: Rev. Susan Whitley of Skiatook First United Methodist Church, Rev. Dr. Jennifer Long of Oologah United Methodist Church, and Rev. Mark Whitley of Meadowcreek United Methodist Church together will lead worship, offer a detailed presentation, and will lead discussions on the decisions facing The United Methodist Church as a denomination at the Special Session of The General Conference, and what the potential impact of those decisions and outcomes on our local churches might be. Holy Communion will be offered as part of the worship service. This will be a service of worship that includes time for panel-led information sharing and holy conversation preparing our three churches for the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in St. Louis. Rev. Susan Whitley, Rev. Mark Whitley, and Rev. Dr. Jennifer Long will attend the Special Conference in St. Louis as official observers and will report back to their churches upon their return. While so much of what will happen to our denomination in 2019 is unpredictable and will take months to unfold, as your pastors we believe we have a responsibility to begin preparing our churches as best we can. Please be in prayer for our denomination and for our local United Methodist Churches that God's Holy Spirit will truly be at work, and through it all that God s glory will be witnessed by all. Please plan to attend this important meeting. We expect to schedule a follow-up meeting in late March or in April once we have more information available. In Christ, Pastor Mark 2
Christmas Memories 2018 continued... 3
K C Kidz at the Creek, our group for 3 rd thru 5 th graders, is headed for the Tulsa Zoo!!! On Saturday, July 15 th, we will be meeting at the church at 9 am to visit the zoo. Bring a sack lunch and we will eat there after we visit all the animals. The cost will be $6 per child. Contact Darren for more idz details at 918-695-7290 the reek or email at darren.johnson.253@gmail.com. (by Darren Johnson) Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. - Matthew 19:14 Kidz at the Creek, our group for 3 rd thru 5 th graders, will be meeting on Sunday, January 13 th at 2 p.m. We play games, have projects, and even go on outings. Come join the fun! Contact Darren for more details at 918-695-7290 or email at darren.johnson.253@gmail.com. Meadowcreek Youth Group doin s (by Darren Johnson) Superbowl Time!!! The youth are selling superbowl subs for Sunday, February 3 rd. We will be raising money for our trip to Youth 2019 at Kansas City in July. Order forms are available at the church in front of the office and sandwiches can be picked up on Sunday, February 3 rd beginning after the first service ends. The cost per sandwich is $7. Thanks for participating in this fundraiser! The youth will also be having a superbowl party that evening, details to follow. If you need any more youth info please let Darren know by email at darren.johnson.253@gmail.com or by texting or calling 918-695-7290. 4
Saving Graces As I often do, I chose another blessing from Jan Richardson to begin 2019. This is taken from the text of a women s Christmas retreat Jan led in 2017 called Walking the Way of Hope. May each of you begin 2019 with new seeds of hope. Be at peace, and be blessed as you walk the way of hope, Pastor Mark Where Hope Begins A seed in the ground. A flame in the darkness. A hand outstretched. A child in the womb. Hope starts small and overtakes us, stretching the borders of what we have known. One yes to an angel, and a young woman named Mary becomes a revolutionary. The child is hardly noticeable in her womb when she arrives at the home of her kinswoman Elizabeth, but the transformation is written all over her face, and Elizabeth instantly intuits what has happened. She blesses Mary for her hope, for her radical belief that God will fulfill the promise made by Gabriel. Elizabeth, pregnant in her advanced years, knows the power of hope. She, too, carries it in her womb. Her ears ringing with Elizabeth s blessing, Mary pours out a song, a cry of hope that echoes the one raised by her foremother Hannah after giving birth to Samuel. The powerful brought down from their thrones! The lowly raised up! The hungry filled with good things! The rich sent away empty! But Mary sings about these things as though they have already happened! A tiny child in her womb, and God has transformed the world? What sort of outrageous hope is this? Mary knows in her soul, in her womb, that radical hope is found at the boundary where the outrageous gives way to the possible. A child given to her aged kinswoman? The courage to say yes to Gabriel s invitation to her, an unwed woman? Well, then God might as well have turned the world into one where all things are possible! Even justice. Even freedom. Mary knows that some things are so outrageous that sometimes we have to talk about them as if they have already happened in order to believe they could ever come about. And so if we believe that God has brought justice to the world, we live that justice, and we share in making the world more just. If we believe that God has brought healing to the world, we live that healing, and we share in making the world more whole. Hope starts small, even as a seed in the womb, but it feeds on outrageous possibilities. It beckons us to step out with the belief that the action we take will not only bear fruit but that in taking it, we have already made a difference in the world. God invites us, like Mary, to open to God s radical leading, to step out with sometimes inexplicable faith, trusting that we will find sustenance. Hope, writes W. Paul Jones in Trumpet at Full Moon, is the simple trust that God has not forgotten the recipe for manna. The hope of God contains the promise that we will be fed, even if we never see the fruit of our hope-filled actions. Where does your hope begin? Where does hope live in you how do you notice it in your body? When has someone shown up in a way that enabled you to hope in something that seemed impossible? Guardian of the seasons, keeper of every time, tune us so to your rhythms that we may know the occasion for stillness and the moment for action. May we be so prepared so aware. Jan Richardson, from The Cure for Sorrow Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com 5 http://sanctuaryofwomen.com/womenschristmasretreat2017.pdf
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat January 1, 2019 2 3 4 5 6:30 pm Walking Through the Threshold Class with Pastor Mark (orientation) 6 8:30 AM Traditional Worship Service 9:45 AM Sunday School 10:50 AM Contemporary Worship Service 4:00 PM Weekly Youth / Parent Mtg. 4:00 PM Trustees Meeting 13 8:30 AM Traditional Worship Service 9:45 AM Sunday School 10:50 AM Contemporary Worship Service 4:00 PM Weekly Youth Event 20 8:30 AM Traditional Worship Service 9:45 AM Sunday School 10:50 AM Contemporary Worship Service 7:00 PM Fellowship Hall Reserved 7 6:30 PM Boy Scout Mtg. 14 6:30 PM Boy Scout Mtg. 21 6:30 PM Boy Scout Mtg. 27 28 8:30 AM Traditional Worship Service 6:30 PM Boy Scout Mtg. 9:45 AM Sunday School 10:50 AM Contemporary Worship Service 2:00 4:00 pm Ladies Night Out 4:00 PM Weekly Youth Event 6:00-8:00 pm The Way Forward Holy Conference & Worship at Meadowcreek January 2019 8 5:30 PM Hooks & Needles 6:30 PM Cub Scout Meeting 15 5:30 PM Hooks & Needles 6:30 PM Cub Scout Meeting 9 9:30 AM Prayer Group Meeting 6:30 pm Walking Through the Threshold Class with Pastor Mark 6:15-7:30 PM Wed. Night Sun. School with Mary Odom 6:30 PM Choir Practice 6:30-7:30 PM Youth Group Bible Study 16 9:30 AM Prayer Group Meeting 6:30 pm Walking Through the Threshold Class with Pastor Mark 6:15-7:30 PM Wed. Night Sun. School with Mary Odom 6:30 PM Choir Practice 10 11 12 9:30 AM Adult Bible Study 7:00 PM Praise Band Practice 17 9:30 AM Adult Bible Study 7:00 PM Praise Band Practice 7:00 PM Finance Meeting 6:30-7:30 PM Youth Group Bible Study 22 23 24 5:30 PM Hooks & Needles 9:30 AM Prayer Group Meeting 9:30 AM Adult Bible Study 6:30 PM Cub Scout Meeting 6:30 pm Walking Through the Threshold 7:00 PM Praise Band Practice Class with Pastor Mark 7:00 PM Admin. Council Mtg. 29 5:30 PM Hooks & Needles 6:30 PM Cub Scout Meeting 6:15-7:30 PM Wed. Night Sun. School with Mary Odom 6:30 PM Choir Practice 6:30-7:30 PM Youth Group Bible Study 30 9:30 AM Prayer Group Meeting 6:30 pm Walking through the Threshold Class with Pastor Mark 6:15-7:30 PM Wed. Night Sun. School with Mary Odom 6:30 PM Choir Practice 6:30-7:30 PM Youth Group Bible Study Come One, Come All 31 9:30 AM Adult Bible Study 7:00 PM Praise Band Practice 18 19 Will Boyer s Eagle Scout Ceremony *Will be rescheduled 25 26 11:00 AM 1:00 PM Attending Angels Meeting The Sunday School class, Come One, Come All, is starting a new study in January called Faith from the Backside. It is a look at the Christian faith from some different points of view. This class is available for anyone, regardless of age or gender! For more information, call Cindy Johnson at 918-695-7077. We now have church postcards available in a basket in the Narthex. Please take one to send a thank you, a thinking of you, or a get well soon. The postcards are the result of Ron Alexander s hard work. The Alexanders have generously donated the postcards to our church. The Evangelism Committee will be using these to send out to visitors. Sharon Hall 01/02 Bill Bishop 01/05 Lauren Stumpff 01/05 Pat Chappell 01/10 Cindy Johnson 01/13 Dana McBurney 01/13 Jeff Stumpff 01/15 January Matt Houts 01/17 Diane Williams 01/17 Mike Dainty 01/20 Joyce Hodge 01/22 Terry Williams 01/31 Don Clark February 2 Jeanie Ablett February 3 Belinda Risley February 4 Donna Alcorn February 5 John Childs February 8 Trina Stumpff February 11 Clayton Loos February 13 James Hodge February 14 Gary McBurney February 15 Sharon Wilkinson February 18 February Rick Sisemore February 19 David Wilkinson February 19 Jim Ablett February 21 Jane Alexander February 22 Julianne Hayes February 24 Derrell Morrow February 25 Rick Phelps February 25 Janene Dainty February 28 Jackie Horton February 28 Pam Rubottom February 28 If your birthday does not appear on this list of church members, please contact the church office, and we ll be sure to add you to the list for next year! 6
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A special gift from Wisconsin to Pastor Mark from Brenna - Nov. 2018 8