News & Notes 2/28/08
Happy “Almost-Leap-Year-Day” to you, my friends!!
“I’m dreaming of a white Easter.” . . . It just doesn’t have the right “ring,” does it? Whether we like it or not, it seems like we might get it anyway. It’s going to make for an interesting “First Fire” Service at the outdoor chapel!! We’ll celebrate the Lord’s resurrection under whatever conditions we have, won’t we?
This coming Saturday is the next gathering for the “20’s, 30’s & Thensome” group!! A change has occurred since I last wrote about this gathering. Instead of the expense (~$30 per person) and the length of time that it would take to go to the Amesbury Snow Park, in Massachusetts, the coordinating group has decided to move the location. “20’s, 30’s & Thensome” is going for a time of sledding at Wagon Hill in Durham, NH. Those who have children/youth are invited to bring them if you wish. The group will meet at the church at 9 AM, to carpool and/or caravan to the sliding hill. You can come back whenever you schedule dictates that you need to. Plan to come to enjoy the time together. Bring your own sleds/toboggans/tubes — and hot chocolate!! If you would, PLEASE let me know if you’re coming. It would be good to know who the group should be waiting for on Saturday morning — before they leave for the hill.
There’s a group of us who won’t be able to join that party — not because we are “aged out,” but because we’re heading to (or returning from) Slidell, Louisiana! The second group leaves early Saturday morning - and that evening meets up with (I think) the Youth Team that will be headed home. We’ll meet at Roanoke, Virginia. If you haven’t checked them out already, Maggie G. has written some wonderful “articles” about the Youth Teams adventures, on our church’s webpage. If you haven’t done so already, check it out at www [dot] stjohnsdover [dot] org Go to the bottom left section, with all the announcement postings.
Let me remind the members of United Methodist Men that we have our monthly breakfast meeting on Sunday at 7:30 AM. I’ll miss the gathering, but am sure that you folks who DO gather with have a great time. All the men of the church are invited.
The UM Committee on Relief (UMCOR)’s One Great Hour of Sharing is this Sunday, March 2. Because UMCOR receives no apportionment of World Service funds (Note: this is what our Conference calls “Mission Shares”), this annual offering provides the support UMCOR needs to cover its administrative costs, so that 100% of every dollar given in response to specific disasters can go entirely to meeting those needs. Special envelopes will be included in the bulletin.
Looking ahead, don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour when you go to bed on Saturday, March 8th - for Daylight Savings Time. If you don’t, you’ll arrive late for worship the next morning!! I won’t be writing an issue of “News & Notes” for next week, since I’ll be in Slidell. So I wanted to remind you of this now.
Then on Saturday, March 15th, at 6 PM, our Education Committee will be hosting an Eggs-Travaganza. The details are in the March issue of “The Bell-Wether - which is in the mail, and is (by my humble estimate) arriving late to your homes!! The Eggs-Travaganza is the Education Committee’s 2008 version of the Easter party - but this year it’s for people of all ages. Look for the details in “The Bell-Wether” - whenever it arrives!!
That’s all the news that I have to share today. I’ll close with some notices that I’ve received from our Conference office or elsewhere. But before I do, I wanted to tell you about a group of chess enthusiasts who checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. “But why?” they asked, as they moved off. “Because” he said, “I can’t stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer.”
I won’t be seeing you in church for the next couple of weeks, but I sure hope you come anyway — to worship the Lord, and enjoy fellowship with one another!! Peace, Mark
The General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) launched its “United Methodists Do Not Torture” campaign on Feb. 20, urging UMs across the United States and around the world to join in sending a strong message to President George W. Bush and his administration that torture is immoral and ineffective. UMs are invited to participate in this campaign by signing the GBCS’s petition at www.umc-gbcs.org/UMSDoNotTorture. More than 1200 people have signed the petition so far. In addition to the petition, the site offers advocacy resources provided by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT). -GBCS
Bishop’s Day on Passionate Spirituality
Friday, March 14, 2008 9 am - 3:30 pm
According to many surveys, what is lacking in many churches is “passionate spirituality,” an intimate connection to God that brings inner peace, contagious joy and compassionate concern for others. Author Joseph Campbell says, “we serve the world by being spiritually well.” Bishop Peter Weaver invites United Methodist clergy and laity to this day retreat on Passionate Spirituality, a day not about church strategies, but recovering the fire of spiritual leadership. The day will include worship, a keynote address by the Bishop and small groups exploring various paths to a passionate spirituality.
Registration Fee: $40 by February 29 ($50 after)
Registration is limited to 80 persons. You may register online at www.rollingridge.org or by calling Carol Rabs at 978-682-8815. Download a complete brochure including the schedule and an invitation from Bishop Weaver at www.rollingridge.org .
Our Conference Committee on Leadership Seeks Members for COSROW
The Conference Committee on Leadership is seeking potential members for the Conference Commission on the Status and Role of Women (COSROW). Persons interested must be members of The United Methodist Church. Candidates may be lay, clergy, female or male. Candidates may not be elected members of other Conference committees. COSROW functions include: to be informed about the status and role of all women in the total life of the conference, to cooperate with United Methodist Women, to develop ways to inform and sensitize the leadership within the conference at all levels on issues that affect women, and to focus on major priorities of issues related to women within the Conference. Persons who would be interested in serving on this commission are requested to email Leeda Marsh at LeedaM@aol.com before March 8, 2008.
Finally, with our own Isabella W. a native of Kenya, I thought this was a (long but) timely article from this week’s issue of “Newscope”:
UMs Give Humanitarian Relief in Turbulent Kenya
Continued violence in Kenya has displaced hundreds of thousands of citizens and disrupted the food supply in parts of that African nation. Stockpiled food has quickly disappeared, and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is appealing to United Methodists to donate money to bolster the food supply. UMCOR has spent $120,000 on relief needs in Kenya since early January, assisting more than 10,000 people in the region.
“There’s just not enough food to feed people,” said the Rev. Sam Dixon, UMCOR chief executive, in a Feb. 12 interview with United Methodist News Service. A thousand people have been killed in Kenya since the Dec. 27 re-election of President Mwai Kibaki, according to news reports.
The Rev. John Calhoun, a Kenya-based missionary with the UM Board of Global Ministries, credits mediation efforts by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for providing “real hope that the politicians have finally understood what the Kenyan people have been saying for weeks: It is time to end the bloodshed, and find a solution to this crisis.” The humanitarian crisis, however, may not be resolved so quickly, said Calhoun, who serves as coordinator of humanitarian relief and church development for the Methodist Church in Kenya. He estimated that more than 300,000 people remain displaced and said it may take months before they can return home.
UMCOR has assisted United Methodist Bishop Daniel Wandabula, of the denomination’s East Africa Annual Conference, in addressing the humanitarian needs of both those inside Kenya and refugees who have fled to Uganda. Food, water, temporary shelter, and medicines funded by gifts to UMCOR are being distributed through UM churches in the region and by the annual conference, according to Dixon. A UM Volunteers-in-Mission (VIM) team arrived in Nakuru, Kenya, just as violence broke out in that Rift Valley city. C.M. “Kip” Robinson Jr., associate VIM director for the Southeastern Jurisdiction, said the team was never directly threatened during its Jan. 26-Feb. 7 work trip and was happy to bring “a message of hope” to Kenyans there. Robinson, who was making his fourth trip to Kenya and 14th visit to Africa, said he had relied upon advice from his host, the Rev. Josam Kariuki, pastor of the United Methodist congregation in Nakuru, about whether to proceed. “He said they had not experienced any trouble in Nakuru and that the road between Nairobi and Nakuru was safe,” Robinson said. The team arrived at the hotel in Nakuru that night-the same night, they learned from the next day’s newspaper, that 47 people had been killed “in fresh Nakuru violence,” Robinson said. The next day, another 32 people were reported killed.
Working around the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew imposed on the city, the team was able to assist at the construction site. Although they could not visit with church members as they had planned, the team was able to attend a couple of worship services. “We were never threatened and we were never inconvenienced, although we could see all around us that things were happening,” he said.
Donations to assist UMCOR’s response in Kenya can be dropped in local church collection plates or mailed to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Write
“UMCOR Advance #982450, International Disaster Response-Kenya” on the check memo line. For credit card donations, visit www.umcor.org or call 800-554-8583.
-Linda Bloom (UMNS)