What Lent Means To Me - 3/4/2012

This is the second in a series that will be included in the Sunday Bulletin each week during Lent.

by Olivia Natwick:

As a youngster growing up in Wyoming I was not aware of the liturgical season of Lent. What I do remember about this period of time is that it seemed like there was one gray day after another. February and March are cold months in Wyoming . It also seemed that most of the time when Easter morning rolled around it was sunny. Today looking back at that time I know that not every day was cold and gray leading up to Easter and I remember some Easters that were not sunny. I find that today for me Lent is a time when I can sit and contemplate how my sins have led me away from a relationship with God. That separation can feel for me like those endless gray and cold days of my childhood. For me Lent is a time of finding my way back to God. As I do this I can look forward to stepping into God’s love and forgiveness on Easter day.

What Lent Means To Me - 2/26/2012

This is the first in a series that will be included in the Sunday Bulletin each week during Lent.

By Brenda Deertz:

Lent is one of my favorite times of year. Spring is on the way and with hope and renewal in the air I try to take this opportunity to grow into a closer relationship with my Lord. I usually give up something for Lent and I look for something in my life that truly separates me from God. That leaves out things such chicken wings, as that is my favorite food (although God knows I could always eat healthier). I want to strive for things more like the year I gave up fear after I experienced a medical scare. In that vein, as these are uncertain times for many of us and I have a lot of worries right now about the future, I have decided to give up DOUBT. This won’t be easy for me and I will not be perfect at it, but my hope is that by removing doubt, I will learn to put more trust in God's plan for me and for all of us. Doubt is, for me, a barrier to God’s love. Hopefully by Easter I will be putting my trust in the Lord more than I do now and freely experience his love.

Happy New Year!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your amazing support of the ministry of Lafayette Park United Methodist Church in 2011. Each of you has made a significant impact in our ministry within the church, in our community, and in our world. Thank you for your commitment to our ministries with your prayers, your presence in worship, your financial tithes and gifts, your service in mission, and your witness in our community. Our church is stronger and our community is healthier because of you.

Thank you for faithfully committing to be part of passionate worship, intentional faith development, radical hospitality, risk taking mission, and outrageous generosity. Thank you for the many ways you live out your commitment to follow and serve Christ in our community. You truly epitomize our vision statement of being ‘a church without walls creating Christ’s presence in our community.’

On a personal note, there are no words to convey my deep gratitude for the many ways you have supported me and my family through our season of health challenges. You have taught me an extremely important lesson about the power of community. I am truly humbled and overwhelmed by the many ways you have helped sustain my family. I have seen many people over the last several months at both St. Mary’s and the VA who did not have a church family. I don’t know how anyone can survive without one… I know I couldn’t have without you. Thank you for being my family.

God has truly accomplished many wonderful things through you this year. Thank you for participating in the journey. Thank you for the many things you will do this year to share God’s love and grace with the world around us.

Pastor Kathleen

The Wilder View - June 2011

I was raised in a faith tradition that did not observe the full Christian calendar year…we celebrated Christmas and Easter, period.

As a Methodist, I have found richness in my spiritual journey by marking the different seasons of the year, Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Kingdom time.

I am sure when I was younger, I must have heard the word Pentecost, and probably my understanding of Pentecost was based on hearing about our brothers and sisters of the Pentecostal Church fellowship.

I know that from their descriptions, Pentecost seemed a bit scary. It wasn’t an accurate description of the celebration of Pentecost.

Pentecost as you may know is celebrated after Easter. Many people refer to Pentecost as the Birthday of the church. Not a specific church, but rather, the church universal, or the body of Christ. It is the day when a group of really scared followers of Christ encountered the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives and began to speak out and act as people who followed a resurrected Christ. The color for Pentecost is red to symbolize the tongues of fire that came upon the people in the upper room.

I invite you to join us for a Birthday Party on June 12! The theme is celebrating the life and work of our church as a part of the body of Christ. The preferred attire is red. Please invite all of your friends and family to the party!

Happy Birthday!
Pastor Kathleen

Update from Catembe Mozambique

March 25, 2011

Dear Pastor Kathleen,

Greetings for Mozambique. I thank you for your letter, your thoughts and concerns to the children and our church ministries, especially the work at the chapel construction.

Here is what I can say in response to your questions: There are 5 public schools in the entire Catembe; from which one is a secondary school and the rest are primary schools. There is one private commercial school in the village. These schools are far apart from each other and are not enough still to accommodate the huge number of children in the communities and some from our congregation. We have a total of 46 children that are really in need (especially in school materials including the school outfit). These children are vulnerable and mostly orphans and they stay in people’s homes with no basic needs for food. Sometimes we send our contributions for these children in some food and clothing but it is a one time effort. We wish we could have an opportunity to have all these children in a kindergarten.

Under normal circumstances we would need the following in order to care for these (46) children:

• $19.35 per child for uniforms
• $6.45 per child for school books
• $130 for writing pads for all children
• $9.60 for pencils for all children
• $16.00 for pens for all children
• $9.60 per month for food (per child)

In the existing elementary school the children are overcrowded and they are unable to understand the teachings there. This is where the idea of kindergarten comes, because we will have our children in small groups and will learn better. Also these children come from long distances, lack school uniform and sandals and school materials.

There are issues related to HIV/AIDS in our community and also I believe there may be some members of our church with the disease. None have declared yet. One thing we do and taking into the advantage of the existence of 3 nurses in my congregation, they help us in delivering some workshops on HIV/AIDS and other diseases like malaria. This is helping us and the surrounding community to know the dangers of the diseases and work on measures to prevent contamination. Through the Mozambique Christian Center we identified children in our church and community living with the disease and we help with medication. Most do not go through the medication because of lack of food in their home. We pray for these people and help them understand that God is with them.

The Vision of the church of Catembe is to serve the community with knowledge from Christ’s life so that we can better contribute to making disciples, spreading the good news in the communities.

Thanks for your contribution to our mission. May God continue to bless you in all you do there and here in Catembe.

Francisco Rungo, Pastor in Charge
Catembe UMC Mozambique