The Messenger May 2015

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2015

FROM PASTOR JERRY’S DESK

Transition and Stability

I sat in choir practice on Wednesday night as usual, puzzling over the hard

passages with the other tenors (as usual), and being led as usual by Susan

Hamilton. But that last “as usual” was about to change. At that point, we

thought that would be Susan’s next-to-last choir rehearsal before she moved

down to South Carolina. Change was coming.

Then we finished that song, which we were rehearsing for Susan’s last

Sunday with us, April 26, and Susan said, “Now I’m going to hand it over to

Sue Carole.” Sue Carole Volovsek stood and began handing out some

anthems that she had pulled from the music files. Normally the choir goes

on summer vacation at the end of May anyway, so we could have just called

it off a month early, but the choir had voted to continue, and Sue Carole had

agreed to lead us through May. Change was coming, we thought, but the

choir was still going to sing.

Even though Susan’s schedule has changed, there’s something important in

there, I think. As much as we love Susan, she is not the music program of

First United Methodist Church. The music program of FUMC is a group of

people who love to make music working together to praise God with all the

joy they have. And that isn’t going to change. What matters – the love of

singing and playing and ringing to the Lord – is unchanged. Watching Susan

transition out and someone else transition in is a helpful reminder, though.

The parts change; the purpose remains.

We’ve seen other transitions in our church, too. In the past couple of years

we’ve seen two different signature outreach ministries of our church leave.

The Community Christmas Dinner moved, and the Association for the

Religious Education of the Handicapped (AREH) has closed. The Christmas

Dinner moved to St. Paul’s UCC because that’s where the most dedicated of

its remaining volunteer leaders were, and AREH closed because the group

homes where most of the students lived changed their policies and stopped

sending their residents to off-site programs. Change happened. But also

during those years, we inaugurated our cooperation with the Homeless

Coalition to sponsor their Count and Project Connect twice a year, began our

new Downtown Memory Café, and connected with the first overseas mission

trip we’ve done in over a decade. We realize that the outreach ministry of

our church is not any one program, or even any set of programs. The

outreach ministry of our church is Christ’s people working together through

the church to serve people in need, wherever we find them.

One more example. Ten years ago, the church had no less than two staff-

members whose job was primarily the pastoral care of our members. We had

a Parish Nurse and a Minister of Pastoral Care. Well, they are both gone.

Two parish nurses retired, and for financial reasons, we haven’t replaced

them. The Minister of Pastoral Care got another job. Change happens. But

the purpose has not changed. The care ministry of the church was not this or

that staff member. The care ministry of the church is the people of God

bearing each other’s burdens. Without designated staff leadership for this

ministry, we have to find a new way to do it (see “Visitation” on pg. 4), but

the goal is still before us. The parts change; the purpose remains.

Sunday, May 24, Pentecost, Confirmation

8:00am - Morning Chapel

10:00am - Worship

“The Story of the Spirit”

Sunday, May 31


10:00am - Worship

“The Story of the Son”

* * * * * * *

Thursday Noonday Communion

meets every month, on the third

Thursdays, in the Chapel from

12:15-12:45pm

*We observe Open Communion. All are welcome at

God’s table.

Sermon Series: “Sister Death: Reflections on

Life and Death for Resurrection People

Sunday, May 3

8:00am - Morning Chapel with Communion*

“Dying Well”

Philippians 1:18b-26

10:00am - Worship with Communion*

Sunday, May 10


10:00am - Worship

“Grieving Well”

John 11:11-37

Sunday, May 17


10:00am - Worship

“Comforting Well”

Romans 12:9-18

Church Purpose:

Live and Share God's Love

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WAUSAU, WI 54403

The Messenger First United Methodist Church of Wausau

903 Third Street

Wausau, WI 54403

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STAFF

Pastor: Gerald Morris

[email protected]

Music Ministry Coordinator: Susan Hamilton

[email protected]

Faith Formation Coordinator: Leo Jacoby

[email protected]

Building Engineer: Andy White

Accounts & Records Supervisor: Karen Kellbach

[email protected]

Secretary: Arlene Trull

[email protected]

903 Third St; Wausau, WI 54403

Office Hours: Mon-Thurs - 9:00am-4:00pm

Web-site: www.fumcwausau.org

E-mail: [email protected]

I thought in January - Easter is three months away so I have PLENTY of time to plan! All of a sudden –

Easter has come and gone and I’m left wondering, “Where did the time go”? While it is fresh in my mind,

let me give heartfelt thanks for this wonderful, caring congregation! A really big THANK YOU to the

members of the Chancel Choir, Jubilate Bells, Orchestra, Ann Johnson, Kirsten Hornby, Joshua Dvorak,

Dan Maguire, Worship Design Team, and Pastor Jerry for your diligence, dedication, patience, enthusiasm

and spirit of willingness. Your love and support for the music ministry here at First UMC has made it

possible for us to offer our best to God. My thanks to YOU, the members of this congregation, who have

been so very generous with your support of the music program.

CALLING FOR YOUR MUSICAL TALENTS! This summer, as our choir takes the season off, we are trying to

be intentional about highlighting our individual talents - and this church has many. Do you have solo or

ensemble pieces to use as specials? Would you like to plan a jazz worship? Talk to Karen Petersen or

John Ohnstad, of Worship Design, Susan Hamilton, or Pastor Jerry.

Sincere thanks to Sue Carole Volovsek for sharing her beautiful home for our recent

Jubilate Bell and Chancel Choir gathering!!

Sarah Cowan 2015 Pivet Scholarship Recipient

Palm Sunday and Easter

Resources for Ministry Financial Update - March 2015 YTD

FUMC Wired

Website: fumcwausau.org

With links to the weekly sermon

(text and podcast)

facebook.com/WausauFUMC

WiFi Network: FUMC Public

(password: fumcpublic)

Revenue Expense

Pledged Offering $ 57,074.00 Salaries & Benefits $ 61,693.86

Non-Pledged Offering $ 11,110.90 Programming $ 6,183.28

Other $ 7,380.95 Apportionments to Conference $ 13,344.00

Building Operating Expenses $ 22,054.67

Total Revenue $ 75,565.85 Total Expenses $ 103,275.78

Net YTD $ -27,709.93

YTD 2015 Pledged & Non-Pledged Offerings compared to YTD 2014 8,786.88 lower

YTD 2015 Total Expenses compared to YTD 2014 1,096.61 higher

YTD 2015 Other Income compared to YTD 2014 536.86 higher

YTD 2015 Endowment Transfer compared to 2014 0 same

Ordination and Acknowledgement

This year marks an anniversary for me. Twenty years ago, I

was ordained by the Hurstbourne Baptist Church of Louis-

ville, Kentucky. The service was on a Sunday afternoon. My

colleague David Gushee, an ethics professor, gave an address

on the calling to teach. Then I knelt before the church, and it

felt as the entire congregation passed in front of me, laid

their hands on my head and prayed over me. I cried the

whole time, and was unutterably grateful when my friend

Becky Wiley rushed forward to hand me a wad of Kleenex.

I would not trade that experience for anything, but I have

traded in some other things. I have left the Southern Baptist

Convention and found a new home in the Wisconsin Confer-

ence of the United Methodist Church. I tested the waters for

a while (five years), but by 2010 I knew that here was home.

That began five years of nearly starting over. I took classes at

Garrett Evangelical Seminary, learning about the history of

my new church and John Something-That-Starts-With-A-W.

I did a semester of Clinical Pastoral Education. I attended

three retreats a year for “Provisional Members” and met with

an assigned “mentoring” group. I wrote fifty pages of

theological statements (“Soon to be made into a Major

Motion Picture!”), and last November was approved to be

accepted as a Full Elder in the United Methodist Church.

On Sunday afternoon, June 14, at 3:30pm, I’ll be affirmed

again as a minister, this time at Annual Conference, at the

Madison Marriott West, in Middleton, Wisconsin. It’s a long

drive for a worship service, but as I serve Communion in that

service, I would love to see as many of your faces as

possible, for you have walked beside me on this journey.

— Jerry

Appreciation from the Staff

and Church Administration Teams

This past month, the Staff-Parish Relations

Committee asked if any of the congregation

would like to donate toward a one-time bonus

gift, to be divided among the staff. It was to

be a recognition of their hard work, which we

have not had the budget to recognize as they

deserved.

Your response has been overwhelming. On

behalf of both Staff-Parish and Finance

Committees, thank you.

And on behalf of the staff, there simply are

not words. Thank you.

CARE

Savvy Seniors

will meet at

11 :30am on

Monday, May 5,

at Wausau Mine

on Stewart Ave.

Milestones

Deaths: We grieve this month with

the loss of these members of our

church or of our families.

Hattie Wellman, mother of our

member, Mary Towle, died on

April 16. We pray for Mary and all

of Hattie’s other family as they

grieve.

We also missed a couple of deaths

earlier this year. In January, our

member, Gary Boushley, lost two

family members in one week. His

cousin, Ron Klatt, died on January

24 and his mother, Dorothy

Boushley, died on January 27. We

grieve with Gary and his family.

* Signifies an honored elder who is restricted at home or in a care facility.

We invite you this month to remember these members in your prayers, to

send a card, make a call, or a visit.

1 Gianina Chang 2 Arlene Duncanson Lori Mariani Kevin Wyrick Elaine Peterson* 3 Duaine Pieper Toi Pan Jane Smith Dolores Branson 4 Adriana Erickson 5 Tom Bogumill Dawn Hovden 6 Muriel Lambert 7 Quinn Clarke 8 Valerie Tiong Brian Rohland Alex Dahl

10 Lois Wenzel Sophie Getzin 11 Kurt Hornby 12 Mark Lillie 13 Lisa Cole Chad Seidler, Jr. 14 Joan Toivonen 16 Colin Smith 17 Michael Cain Robyn De Vos 19 Mary Jo Bauer Allen Hettinga Mike Mayo Jack Zei 20 Bob Stieglitz

21 Ruth Green Allison Jauch 22 Molly Hoffmann Joyce Luedke 23 Patty Mayo Bonnie McNabb 27 James Duginski Lynne Lattimer 28 Scott Trull 29 Carol Pachmayer Claire Hornby 30 Ronald Krueger 31 Mark Milne

Event: Tuesday, May 12;6:00pm

Open to all women of the church.

If you can, invite your mother, daughter, or a friend,

or feel free to come alone to join us.

Nancy Runner will share autograph books owned by her family members, and explore how the verses changed from the 1880’s to the 1960’s. We will have time for fellowship as well as snacks & treats (“with a nod” to what our mothers would want us to eat, as well as punch and favorite treats from our childhoods). Bring your own autograph books or yearbooks to share and compare. It is being sponsored by the UMW.

Happy Birthday,

Memory Café!

This ministry opened for its first

café in May of 2014. All who have

been a part of this vital ministry to

our own and outreach to others are

invited to the May Café, 10:30am

on Thursday, May 21, in the Parlor

for cake and ice cream and

laughter and celebration.

Giving by Not Throwing Stuff Away

Sometimes giving to others requires sacrifice. There’s nothing wrong

with that: giving sacrificially for others’ sake is what Jesus taught us to

do, after all. But sometimes it is incredibly easy to make a difference,

and the only thing keeping us from doing so is absent-mindedness.

Here are some examples:

Milk Moola - Do you buy milk at Kwik Trip? If so, save the caps of the

jugs. Those can be redeemed for money by the Harbor House Ministry

in Superior.

Labels for Education / Box Tops for Education - These little labels,

found on General Mills boxed foods and Campbell’s Soup cans, can be

redeemed by Northcott Neighborhood House in Milwaukee.

Pop Tops from Aluminum Cans - Those little tabs, when given to the Ronald McDonald House, become cash.

And, so long as you’re pulling the tabs off the cans, bring the cans in, too.

Aluminum Cans - We all know that these can be redeemed for cash, but most of us don’t bother because the few

cans that we have won’t be worth the gas to drive down to the redemption center. But if we all brought our cans

in to the church, they would add up. This year, the proceeds of those cans will be used to fund the mission trip

to Guatemala.

Bring your cans to the recycling bin in the kitchen. Receptacles for all the other items are in baskets

prominently displayed in the Parlor. See? Ridiculously easy. All you need to do is remember.

CARE / OUTREACH

UNITED

METHODIST

WOMEN

Circle Meetings:

May 13

Mary Faith Circle - 9:30am

Other Upcoming Events:

May 2

Heartland District UMW Retreat,

Pine Lake - 8:30am

May 6

Sunshine Gals - 9:30am

May 7

Executive Committee - 6:30pm

May 14

Sunshine Gals - 10:30 am

Bernice Kohlman reported that the

newest books for the UMW Reading

Program are now cataloged in the

Church Library. Heartland District’s

Spring Retreat will occur at Pine Lake

on May 2nd. Flyers for Mission U are

on the bulletin board. May Circle

meeting will be May 13th for Mary

Faith Circle. A special event: May

12th (Tuesday) - 6:00pm – Mother

Daughter Event – See article on page

3!

Caring for Each Other: Visitation

Every year we assess our ministry to others as a church to see what we

are doing well and what could be improved. This year we are focusing

on our care for each other - a core function of the church that too often

is assumed to be the task of paid staff only. This is not enough. It’s

not enough for our congregation, who are being denied the genuine

joy of caring for others in Christ’s love, and it is certainly not enough

for our members in restricted circumstances, who are just not being

visited enough.

So we have begun a new Visitation Team, which is trying a new

approach. In a mailbox beside the Office are lists of members of our

church who are restricted in some way and may not be able to come to

us as much as they would like. This list will show who has received a

visit and when. You are invited to take one of the orange slips there

and go make a visit (which could be in person or a phone visit), then

let us know so we can keep our visitation records up to date.

Some of you are already involved in this ministry, just because you

love it. For you, all we’d like is to know whom you are visiting and

when. Others of you may be interested in doing this, but perhaps have

never done it and don’t know how to start. We understand. We need to

provide training, too. Talk to Pastor Jerry if you are interested in

getting started on this ministry of care.

Page 9

Disciples in the Making ...All the Time

Acts of Justice (continued) We name injustice in our economic systems: when a

few have so much and want it all and they may have so little, I cry out; corporate greed; depriving the poor by our greed; disparity with laws related to economic status; homelessness and poverty; how our government social supports keep people in poverty, even though they try to change their lives; poverty, inequity, inequality; shrinking of the middle class; low wages and poverty; increasing gap between wealthy and poor; lack of a real social ethic for the nation; unfair child & adult slave labor world wide; not finding a good solution to feed hungry children around the world; worker rights and union organization - too many struggling families; those willing to work, but not given a chance; women’s pay inequality (for the same job); our health care system, medical care for all; damage to our environment in the name of jobs; state budget proposals that put burdens on the poor in healthcare and education; women’s pay inequality (for the same job);

We care about our young and know their education includes the living examples of our action or inaction: Our youth growing up too fast; educational opportunities; inequalities and inappropriate priorities in education; bullying on our schools (it begins at home from parents), and social media (glorifying bullies); what computers have done to society; protection for at-risk children; children who are not treated fair in school because of color, race, how they dress; solicitation of students’ political views in school by teachers; teachers not being compensated fairly; teachers who have been advocates for Hmong students for decades, and now are advocates for Hispanic students; the deep divide that is separating our state and nation – we need to compromise and find middle ground to make a difference; money in state and national politics; glorifying bad leaders.

Our impatience may be with a driver in too big a hurry, people not using common sense, or arrogance anywhere anytime by anyone. I am happy when I pray to the Lord – I know he hears me when alone. But I am also accountable to stand with a neighbor and accept my share of responsibility for social ills, perhaps helped by a creative artist who helps us imagine a better future.

————————————————-

Summer VBS—August 3-7 A Vacation Bible School led by a team from North

Central College of Naperville, Illinois. Talk to Leo or Jerry for more information and to let us know whether mornings or evenings work best for your family.

Pentecost and Confirmation—May 24 Some of our youth will confirm their baptism and be

received into full church membership later this month.

Wednesday ChurchFamily Nights We continue our Wednesday nights with meals by the

Mint Café through May 20. (You have the option to sign up to bring a dessert or salad in lieu of a donation.) Good food and great fellowship. Buffet served 5:15-5:50pm. May 6, Turkey; May 13, Meatballs; May 20, BBQ Ribs

Kids Klub, 6:00-7:20pm For children’s activities, we are doing crafts and games

from a VBS kit, “Treasure Hunt Bible Adven-ture.” (The Bible is the map and Jesus is the Treasure!) Thanks to the tweens and teens who are assisting.

Sister Death, 6:15-7:30pm Over two dozen persons are taking part in Wednesday

discussions that supplement Pastor Jerry’s sermon series on a Christian approach to death. Join this opportunity to respond and think further:

May 6 - Dying Well May 13 - Grieving Well May 20 - Comforting Well

Raising Kids, 6:15-7:20pm Five families are taking advantage of a child-rearing

expert sharing practical wisdom and experience (DVD) followed by lively discussion. Raising Kids with a Faith that Lasts on building spiritual foundations your children can rely on for a lifetime—and beyond. Join us:

May 6: Your Family's Faith Plan — Larry Fowler May 13: Tools for Your Family's Faith ... —Larry Fowler May 20: Practical Tips for Parenting —Mark Holmen

Roadside Cleanup—Many Thanks On April 23 seven of our own cleaned up our adopted

two-mile stretch of highway northeast of Wausau: Laura Cowan, Jon Goertz, Don Kissinger, Stan & Alice Schacht, Charlie & Maggie Schoenfeld. Thank you!

2015 Pivet Scholarship Announced

SARAH COWAN

Sarah will be graduating from Wausau East in June.

During high school, she has been a member of the

Skyrocket newspaper staff, the East End Players, the

tech crew, and a full IB student. In the fall, she will

be attending UWMC and hopes to move on to either

Madison or University of Chicago after that. She

wants to thank everyone involved in granting her

this scholarship from the bottom of her heart, and

she plans to stay involved in the United Methodist

Church for a long time to come!

FAITH FORMATION

Page 8

God Is Forming All of Us... Last month we posted comments shared during the March

worship services on the themes of Worship and Devotion, the public and private dimensions of our Love of God.

This month we post here private and public dimensions of our Love of Neighbor: Compassion and Justice.

Each anonymous comment is a precious peek into how one of us lives our faith. You might guess who wrote some of them. Or you can conjure up cinematic scenes starring the faithful at First UM, produced and directed by God.

COLORS OF A CHURCH — Compassion To express love of God through loving others. As one

of us put it, “Not enough. Need to improve on this.”

The most common example of compassion is the simple gift of Listening: striking up conversations with people while in line; listen to all sales clerks; helping people in airports (this happens a lot!); listen and support co-workers who have problems in their lives; actively listen to my friends, family and students; spread good cheer; really listening to sales clerks, waitresses, etc.; talking and listening to someone else’s problems; really listening to others with concern; taking time to talk with an elderly person; meeting people for coffee; sharing time with a lonely person; having lunch with a friend; speaking with a youth and really listening to what they say; one-on-one, in a small group of friends or a large family gathering; conversation with a neighbor long overdue.

The receptivity to another person can take other active forms: call a friend; pray, send cards, listen; mentor a young man to help his business become successful; stay-ing with a friend’s mother in her final hours; visit nursing homes; on a farm call, helping a farmer with a cow that was giving birth; help neighbor in need; mowing neighbors’ lawns and plowing their snow; monitor health of a neighbor; helping a friend after surgery; visiting an older woman when we go back home to visit family; reading to my dad (who is blind); get comfy clothes for a friend to wear to chemo appointments; visiting a friend in a long-term care facility; provide contact and outings with those who have limited family in town; give cheery surprise; celebrating Happy Birthday; send text messages; thanking everyone who helps me in any way; hugs; welcome new people in my new place; pay things forward - give unexpectedly to someone struggling; help comfort others in their time of need; giving computer and telephone hugs; greet each person with a smile and a compliment in a very positive note; hugging a few of our church ladies - they appreciate it; making soup for friend with cancer; meals and invite others to our home; share music and readings; teaching; housework, shopping, laundry for elderly; providing care; providing financial assistance without expectation; be significant other for a woman with no family; helping an elderly lady find her car in a parking lot (I could tell she was lost by the look on her face.)

The church is one arena to express compassion: greet at church service; cleaning the sanctuary and chapel; working at the church; visitations; mission trips; contact with those grieving.

Wider community offers many ways to volunteer with compassion: Warming Center; kindergarten; school; Stable Hands for disabled children; a food pantry; meals on wheels; help Hmong children with homework (United Way); CVA fund raisers teaching art classes; build ramps; sing with Sunshine Gals; helping people find housing or food; stand up for the mentally ill when they can’t for themselves

And we can express compassion in the quiet of our heart: praying for others’ health; pray while driving to come home safe; accepting when others have disap-pointed us; I love friends; I learn and marvel; looking at the moon coming up and wondering why people are still fighting.

COLORS OF A CHURCH — Justice How do you hug the whole village? Expressing our

love of neighbor in the pub-lic sphere requires attention to systems, research, voting with conscience, advocacy, and civic engagement.

Awareness of prejudices in society can lead us to look at our own biases and seek conversion of our own hearts to embrace the full meaning of “neighbor”: discrimina-tion of those who are of a different race, religion, gender, lifestyle, etc.; judging people on their appearance, ie. color, tattoos, sloppy vs neatly dressed, hair, etc.; fighting prejudice; hate of oth-ers who disagree with you; perceptions that are not factual; persecution of every member of a group based on the actions of a few; people being racist, racial slurs, pro-filing, relations and inequality; young people using the race card; lack of respect; thinking we are separate from each other; gender inequality; mistreatment of LGBT people - we are all human, inability to get mar-ried, etc.; religious beliefs others don’t like; attacks on Christianity.

Our hearts’ care for justice may focus on: treatment of undocumented persons; injustice against the elderly (elder abuse); poor and minimal care for our veterans; pregnant women and the unborn; exploitation of women: human trafficking, lack of education, lack of access to birth control, violence against women and girls; issues raised by rape: blame, support, credibility of victims, punishments; women’s rights; drug crime punishment; leaving prisoners in jail without contact from caring people to let know they do count; our legal (judicial) system: courts, judges, attorneys, police officers, jailers.

OUTREACH

“Black Lives Matter” March

May 3, 2015

On Sunday, May 3, churches from around Wausau will gather at noon, at

the First Unitarian Universalist Church (504 Grant Street), for a brief

prayer service followed by a walk across the Scott Street Bridge to Grace

United Church of Christ (535 S. 3rd Ave). The purpose of the March is

simple: to declare as clearly and openly as possible that we stand against

racism here, and everywhere.

Why now? Events of the past year have been eye-opening. Over the past

years, as we have celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr., Days and rejoiced in

the end of Jim Crow laws, some of us had been lulled into the comfortable

belief that racism was old hat. The recent instances of racial profiling in

Missouri, New York, California, and South Carolina have made it clear

that we have more work to do. The Justice Department’s report on

institutional racism in Ferguson, Missouri, make that clear.

But why here? We haven’t had any incidents like that. And raising

awareness of the potential and taking a stand against it before anything

happens is one way to ensure that we do not.

But we’re Wausau, not the south. We’ve never had that sort of racism

here. Um, actually, we have. It is true that we have a very small

African-American population. But one reason for that is because we - like

many Midwestern cities - were a “Sundowner” city in the early 20th

century, with laws against black people remaining within the city limits

after dark. It was preventative racism, but it was still racism.

But won’t this be seen as an insult to our police, assuming that they might

be racist? Absolutely not. The Wausau police is cooperating with the

churches in organizing the March. This is their opportunity to make a

statement as well.

What about other forms of racism that we see - against Asians, Hispanics,

Muslims? An excellent point. Let’s start with this and continue the

conversation.

May Mission Offering

Red Cliff Mission Trip

The Volunteers In Mission (VIM)

of the Wisconsin United

Methodist Conference sends a trip

every year to the Red Cliff Indian

Reservation in Bayfield, and our

own Joan Harvey is one of the

conference leaders of that trip.

This month our Mission Offering

will go to offset some of the

expenses of that project.

To find out more about this trip,

talk to Joan, Bernice Kohlman or

Barb Maguire. The Red Cliff

volunteers work with both their

hands and their hearts. Volunteers

pay their own registration, but the

gifts from this offering help defray

incidental expenses.

The dates for this year’s trip are

June 21-27, and the cost is $150.

Bring 4th Food This month our

4th Sunday offering of

Non-perishable food

will go to

Wesley UMC’s

food pantry

Growing Faith Community Garden

Calling all green thumbs! The downtown churches are working on plans

to start a community garden on land owned by Resurrection Parish at

3015 Townline Road. In the first year, each participating church will have

a 20 ft x 30 ft garden plot to grow vegetables to be donated to area food

pantries and First Presbyterian Community meals. In year two, plans

include plots to be made available to families and individuals who do not

have land for a garden. This year we will be needing volunteers of all

ages to help plant, care for, and harvest our plot. If interested, contact

Dan Marzu at 715-316-2103 or [email protected].

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

Office Closed

2

9:00am Heartland District UMW Retreat - Pine Lake

3

8:00am Morning Chapel - Communion 8:45am Education Hour 10:00am Worship - Communion 10:00am New Life UMC Worship - Chapel 11:00am Coffee Hour 12:00pm Black Lives Matter March - UUC 1:00pm Grapevine Faith Alliance Worship

4

11:30am Savvy Seniors - Wausau Mine 3:00pm Communion - The Gardens 6:00pm Yoga

5

10:00am Program Staff 1:00pm Visitation Team

6

9:30am Sunshine Gals 5:15pm Meal 6:00pm Kids Klub 6:15pm Adult Classes 6:30pm Jubilate Bells 7:30pm Chancel Choir

7 8:30am AA 10:30am PNC Steering Committee 6:30pm UMW Executive Committee

8

Office Closed

9

10

8:00am Morning Chapel 8:45am Education Hour 10:00am Worship 10:00am New Life UMC Worship - Chapel 11:00am Coffee Hour 1:00pm Grapevine Faith Alliance Worship

11

6:00pm Yoga

12

10:00am Full Staff 1:00pm Personal Needs Closet Open 5:30pm Board of Trustees 6:00pm Mother/Daughter Event

13

9:30am Mary Faith UMW Circle 2:00pm Wausau Manor Chapel 5:15pm Meal 6:00pm Kids Klub 6:15pm Adult Classes 6:30pm Jubilate Bells 7:30pm Chancel Choir

14

8:30am AA 10:30am Sunshine Gals 2:00pm Worship - Forest Park

15

Office Closed 8:00am Messenger Articles Due

16

17


18

6:00pm Yoga

19

10:00am Program Staff 6:00pm Staff-Parish Relations Committee 7:00pm Finance Committee

20

5:15pm Meal 6:00pm Kids Klub 6:15pm Adult Classes 6:30pm Jubilate Bells 7:30pm Chancel Choir

21

8:30am AA 10:30am Downtown Memory Cafè 12:15pm Noonday Communion 6:00pm Missions Team 6:30pm Worship Design Team

22

Office Closed

23

9:00am Personal Needs Closet Open

24 BRING 4th FOOD SUNDAY 8:00am Morning Chapel 8:45am Adult Education Hour 10:00am Worship - Confirmation 10:00am New Life UMC Worship - Chapel 11:00am Coffee Hour 1:00pm Grapevine Faith Alliance Worship

25 MEMORIAL DAY

Office Closed 6:00pm Yoga

26 1:00pm Prayer Shawl Gathering 6:00pm Care Council 7:00pm Welcome and Communications

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FAITH FORMATION

God Is Forming All of Us... Last month we posted comments shared during the March

worship services on the themes of Worship and Devotion, the public and private dimensions of our Love of God.

This month we post here private and public dimensions of our Love of Neighbor: Compassion and Justice.

Each anonymous comment is a precious peek into how one of us lives our faith. You might guess who wrote some of them. Or you can conjure up cinematic scenes starring the faithful at First UM, produced and directed by God.

COLORS OF A CHURCH — Compassion To express love of God through loving others. As one

of us put it, “Not enough. Need to improve on this.”

The most common example of compassion is the simple gift of Listening: striking up conversations with people while in line; listen to all sales clerks; helping people in airports (this happens a lot!); listen and support co-workers who have problems in their lives; actively listen to my friends, family and students; spread good cheer; really listening to sales clerks, waitresses, etc.; talking and listening to someone else’s problems; really listening to others with concern; taking time to talk with an elderly person; meeting people for coffee; sharing time with a lonely person; having lunch with a friend; speaking with a youth and really listening to what they say; one-on-one, in a small group of friends or a large family gathering; conversation with a neighbor long overdue.

The receptivity to another person can take other active forms: call a friend; pray, send cards, listen; mentor a young man to help his business become successful; stay-ing with a friend’s mother in her final hours; visit nursing homes; on a farm call, helping a farmer with a cow that was giving birth; help neighbor in need; mowing neighbors’ lawns and plowing their snow; monitor health of a neighbor; helping a friend after surgery; visiting an older woman when we go back home to visit family; reading to my dad (who is blind); get comfy clothes for a friend to wear to chemo appointments; visiting a friend in a long-term care facility; provide contact and outings with those who have limited family in town; give cheery surprise; celebrating Happy Birthday; send text messages; thanking everyone who helps me in any way; hugs; welcome new people in my new place; pay things forward - give unexpectedly to someone struggling; help comfort others in their time of need; giving computer and telephone hugs; greet each person with a smile and a compliment in a very positive note; hugging a few of our church ladies - they appreciate it; making soup for friend with cancer; meals and invite others to our home; share music and readings; teaching; housework, shopping, laundry for elderly; providing care; providing financial assistance without expectation; be significant other for a woman with no family; helping an elderly lady find her car in a parking lot (I could tell she was lost by the look on her face.)

The church is one arena to express compassion: greet at church service; cleaning the sanctuary and chapel; working at the church; visitations; mission trips; contact with those grieving.

Wider community offers many ways to volunteer with compassion: Warming Center; kindergarten; school; Stable Hands for disabled children; a food pantry; meals on wheels; help Hmong children with homework (United Way); CVA fund raisers teaching art classes; build ramps; sing with Sunshine Gals; helping people find housing or food; stand up for the mentally ill when they can’t for themselves

And we can express compassion in the quiet of our heart: praying for others’ health; pray while driving to come home safe; accepting when others have disap-pointed us; I love friends; I learn and marvel; looking at the moon coming up and wondering why people are still fighting.

COLORS OF A CHURCH — Justice How do you hug the whole village? Expressing our

love of neighbor in the pub-lic sphere requires attention to systems, research, voting with conscience, advocacy, and civic engagement.

Awareness of prejudices in society can lead us to look at our own biases and seek conversion of our own hearts to embrace the full meaning of “neighbor”: discrimina-tion of those who are of a different race, religion, gender, lifestyle, etc.; judging people on their appearance, ie. color, tattoos, sloppy vs neatly dressed, hair, etc.; fighting prejudice; hate of oth-ers who disagree with you; perceptions that are not factual; persecution of every member of a group based on the actions of a few; people being racist, racial slurs, pro-filing, relations and inequality; young people using the race card; lack of respect; thinking we are separate from each other; gender inequality; mistreatment of LGBT people - we are all human, inability to get mar-ried, etc.; religious beliefs others don’t like; attacks on Christianity.

Our hearts’ care for justice may focus on: treatment of undocumented persons; injustice against the elderly (elder abuse); poor and minimal care for our veterans; pregnant women and the unborn; exploitation of women: human trafficking, lack of education, lack of access to birth control, violence against women and girls; issues raised by rape: blame, support, credibility of victims, punishments; women’s rights; drug crime punishment; leaving prisoners in jail without contact from caring people to let know they do count; our legal (judicial) system: courts, judges, attorneys, police officers, jailers.

OUTREACH

“Black Lives Matter” March

May 3, 2015

On Sunday, May 3, churches from around Wausau will gather at noon, at

the First Unitarian Universalist Church (504 Grant Street), for a brief

prayer service followed by a walk across the Scott Street Bridge to Grace

United Church of Christ (535 S. 3rd Ave). The purpose of the March is

simple: to declare as clearly and openly as possible that we stand against

racism here, and everywhere.

Why now? Events of the past year have been eye-opening. Over the past

years, as we have celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr., Days and rejoiced in

the end of Jim Crow laws, some of us had been lulled into the comfortable

belief that racism was old hat. The recent instances of racial profiling in

Missouri, New York, California, and South Carolina have made it clear

that we have more work to do. The Justice Department’s report on

institutional racism in Ferguson, Missouri, make that clear.

But why here? We haven’t had any incidents like that. And raising

awareness of the potential and taking a stand against it before anything

happens is one way to ensure that we do not.

But we’re Wausau, not the south. We’ve never had that sort of racism

here. Um, actually, we have. It is true that we have a very small

African-American population. But one reason for that is because we - like

many Midwestern cities - were a “Sundowner” city in the early 20th

century, with laws against black people remaining within the city limits

after dark. It was preventative racism, but it was still racism.

But won’t this be seen as an insult to our police, assuming that they might

be racist? Absolutely not. The Wausau police is cooperating with the

churches in organizing the March. This is their opportunity to make a

statement as well.

What about other forms of racism that we see - against Asians, Hispanics,

Muslims? An excellent point. Let’s start with this and continue the

conversation.

May Mission Offering

Red Cliff Mission Trip

The Volunteers In Mission (VIM)

of the Wisconsin United

Methodist Conference sends a trip

every year to the Red Cliff Indian

Reservation in Bayfield, and our

own Joan Harvey is one of the

conference leaders of that trip.

This month our Mission Offering

will go to offset some of the

expenses of that project.

To find out more about this trip,

talk to Joan, Bernice Kohlman or

Barb Maguire. The Red Cliff

volunteers work with both their

hands and their hearts. Volunteers

pay their own registration, but the

gifts from this offering help defray

incidental expenses.

The dates for this year’s trip are

June 21-27, and the cost is $150.

Bring 4th Food This month our

4th Sunday offering of

Non-perishable food

will go to

Wesley UMC’s

food pantry

Page 5

Growing Faith Community Garden

Calling all green thumbs! The downtown churches are working on plans

to start a community garden on land owned by Resurrection Parish at

3015 Townline Road. In the first year, each participating church will have

a 20 ft x 30 ft garden plot to grow vegetables to be donated to area food

pantries and First Presbyterian Community meals. In year two, plans

include plots to be made available to families and individuals who do not

have land for a garden. This year we will be needing volunteers of all

ages to help plant, care for, and harvest our plot. If interested, contact

Dan Marzu at 715-316-2103 or [email protected].

Giving by Not Throwing Stuff Away

Sometimes giving to others requires sacrifice. There’s nothing wrong

with that: giving sacrificially for others’ sake is what Jesus taught us to

do, after all. But sometimes it is incredibly easy to make a difference,

and the only thing keeping us from doing so is absent-mindedness.

Here are some examples:

Milk Moola - Do you buy milk at Kwik Trip? If so, save the caps of the

jugs. Those can be redeemed for money by the Harbor House Ministry

in Superior.

Labels for Education / Box Tops for Education - These little labels,

found on General Mills boxed foods and Campbell’s Soup cans, can be

redeemed by Northcott Neighborhood House in Milwaukee.

Pop Tops from Aluminum Cans - Those little tabs, when given to the Ronald McDonald House, become cash.

And, so long as you’re pulling the tabs off the cans, bring the cans in, too.

Aluminum Cans - We all know that these can be redeemed for cash, but most of us don’t bother because the few

cans that we have won’t be worth the gas to drive down to the redemption center. But if we all brought our cans

in to the church, they would add up. This year, the proceeds of those cans will be used to fund the mission trip

to Guatemala.

Bring your cans to the recycling bin in the kitchen. Receptacles for all the other items are in baskets

prominently displayed in the Parlor. See? Ridiculously easy. All you need to do is remember.

CARE / OUTREACH

UNITED

METHODIST

WOMEN

Circle Meetings:

May 13

Mary Faith Circle - 9:30am

Other Upcoming Events:

May 2

Heartland District UMW Retreat,

Pine Lake - 8:30am

May 6

Sunshine Gals - 9:30am

May 7

Executive Committee - 6:30pm

May 14

Sunshine Gals - 10:30 am

Bernice Kohlman reported that the

newest books for the UMW Reading

Program are now cataloged in the

Church Library. Heartland District’s

Spring Retreat will occur at Pine Lake

on May 2nd. Flyers for Mission U are

on the bulletin board. May Circle

meeting will be May 13th for Mary

Faith Circle. A special event: May

12th (Tuesday) - 6:00pm – Mother

Daughter Event – See article on page

3!

Page 4

Caring for Each Other: Visitation

Every year we assess our ministry to others as a church to see what we

are doing well and what could be improved. This year we are focusing

on our care for each other - a core function of the church that too often

is assumed to be the task of paid staff only. This is not enough. It’s

not enough for our congregation, who are being denied the genuine

joy of caring for others in Christ’s love, and it is certainly not enough

for our members in restricted circumstances, who are just not being

visited enough.

So we have begun a new Visitation Team, which is trying a new

approach. In a mailbox beside the Office are lists of members of our

church who are restricted in some way and may not be able to come to

us as much as they would like. This list will show who has received a

visit and when. You are invited to take one of the orange slips there

and go make a visit (which could be in person or a phone visit), then

let us know so we can keep our visitation records up to date.

Some of you are already involved in this ministry, just because you

love it. For you, all we’d like is to know whom you are visiting and

when. Others of you may be interested in doing this, but perhaps have

never done it and don’t know how to start. We understand. We need to

provide training, too. Talk to Pastor Jerry if you are interested in

getting started on this ministry of care.

Disciples in the Making ...All the Time

Acts of Justice (continued) We name injustice in our economic systems: when a

few have so much and want it all and they may have so little, I cry out; corporate greed; depriving the poor by our greed; disparity with laws related to economic status; homelessness and poverty; how our government social supports keep people in poverty, even though they try to change their lives; poverty, inequity, inequality; shrinking of the middle class; low wages and poverty; increasing gap between wealthy and poor; lack of a real social ethic for the nation; unfair child & adult slave labor world wide; not finding a good solution to feed hungry children around the world; worker rights and union organization - too many struggling families; those willing to work, but not given a chance; women’s pay inequality (for the same job); our health care system, medical care for all; damage to our environment in the name of jobs; state budget proposals that put burdens on the poor in healthcare and education; women’s pay inequality (for the same job);

We care about our young and know their education includes the living examples of our action or inaction: Our youth growing up too fast; educational opportunities; inequalities and inappropriate priorities in education; bullying on our schools (it begins at home from parents), and social media (glorifying bullies); what computers have done to society; protection for at-risk children; children who are not treated fair in school because of color, race, how they dress; solicitation of students’ political views in school by teachers; teachers not being compensated fairly; teachers who have been advocates for Hmong students for decades, and now are advocates for Hispanic students; the deep divide that is separating our state and nation – we need to compromise and find middle ground to make a difference; money in state and national politics; glorifying bad leaders.

Our impatience may be with a driver in too big a hurry, people not using common sense, or arrogance anywhere anytime by anyone. I am happy when I pray to the Lord – I know he hears me when alone. But I am also accountable to stand with a neighbor and accept my share of responsibility for social ills, perhaps helped by a creative artist who helps us imagine a better future.

————————————————-

Summer VBS—August 3-7 A Vacation Bible School led by a team from North

Central College of Naperville, Illinois. Talk to Leo or Jerry for more information and to let us know whether mornings or evenings work best for your family.

Pentecost and Confirmation—May 24 Some of our youth will confirm their baptism and be

received into full church membership later this month.

Wednesday ChurchFamily Nights We continue our Wednesday nights with meals by the

Mint Café through May 20. (You have the option to sign up to bring a dessert or salad in lieu of a donation.) Good food and great fellowship. Buffet served 5:15-5:50pm. May 6, Turkey; May 13, Meatballs; May 20, BBQ Ribs

Kids Klub, 6:00-7:20pm For children’s activities, we are doing crafts and games

from a VBS kit, “Treasure Hunt Bible Adven-ture.” (The Bible is the map and Jesus is the Treasure!) Thanks to the tweens and teens who are assisting.

Sister Death, 6:15-7:30pm Over two dozen persons are taking part in Wednesday

discussions that supplement Pastor Jerry’s sermon series on a Christian approach to death. Join this opportunity to respond and think further:

May 6 - Dying Well May 13 - Grieving Well May 20 - Comforting Well

Raising Kids, 6:15-7:20pm Five families are taking advantage of a child-rearing

expert sharing practical wisdom and experience (DVD) followed by lively discussion. Raising Kids with a Faith that Lasts on building spiritual foundations your children can rely on for a lifetime—and beyond. Join us:

May 6: Your Family's Faith Plan — Larry Fowler May 13: Tools for Your Family's Faith ... —Larry Fowler May 20: Practical Tips for Parenting —Mark Holmen

Roadside Cleanup—Many Thanks On April 23 seven of our own cleaned up our adopted

two-mile stretch of highway northeast of Wausau: Laura Cowan, Jon Goertz, Don Kissinger, Stan & Alice Schacht, Charlie & Maggie Schoenfeld. Thank you!

2015 Pivet Scholarship Announced

SARAH COWAN

Sarah will be graduating from Wausau East in June.

During high school, she has been a member of the

Skyrocket newspaper staff, the East End Players, the

tech crew, and a full IB student. In the fall, she will

be attending UWMC and hopes to move on to either

Madison or University of Chicago after that. She

wants to thank everyone involved in granting her

this scholarship from the bottom of her heart, and

she plans to stay involved in the United Methodist

Church for a long time to come!

Resources for Ministry Financial Update - March 2015 YTD

FUMC Wired

Website: fumcwausau.org

With links to the weekly sermon

(text and podcast)

facebook.com/WausauFUMC

WiFi Network: FUMC Public

(password: fumcpublic)

Revenue Expense

Pledged Offering $ 57,074.00 Salaries & Benefits $ 61,693.86

Non-Pledged Offering $ 11,110.90 Programming $ 6,183.28

Other $ 7,380.95 Apportionments to Conference $ 13,344.00

Building Operating Expenses $ 22,054.67

Total Revenue $ 75,565.85 Total Expenses $ 103,275.78

Net YTD $ -27,709.93

YTD 2015 Pledged & Non-Pledged Offerings compared to YTD 2014 8,786.88 lower

YTD 2015 Total Expenses compared to YTD 2014 1,096.61 higher

YTD 2015 Other Income compared to YTD 2014 536.86 higher

YTD 2015 Endowment Transfer compared to 2014 0 same

Ordination and Acknowledgement

This year marks an anniversary for me. Twenty years ago, I

was ordained by the Hurstbourne Baptist Church of Louis-

ville, Kentucky. The service was on a Sunday afternoon. My

colleague David Gushee, an ethics professor, gave an address

on the calling to teach. Then I knelt before the church, and it

felt as the entire congregation passed in front of me, laid

their hands on my head and prayed over me. I cried the

whole time, and was unutterably grateful when my friend

Becky Wiley rushed forward to hand me a wad of Kleenex.

I would not trade that experience for anything, but I have

traded in some other things. I have left the Southern Baptist

Convention and found a new home in the Wisconsin Confer-

ence of the United Methodist Church. I tested the waters for

a while (five years), but by 2010 I knew that here was home.

That began five years of nearly starting over. I took classes at

Garrett Evangelical Seminary, learning about the history of

my new church and John Something-That-Starts-With-A-W.

I did a semester of Clinical Pastoral Education. I attended

three retreats a year for “Provisional Members” and met with

an assigned “mentoring” group. I wrote fifty pages of

theological statements (“Soon to be made into a Major

Motion Picture!”), and last November was approved to be

accepted as a Full Elder in the United Methodist Church.

On Sunday afternoon, June 14, at 3:30pm, I’ll be affirmed

again as a minister, this time at Annual Conference, at the

Madison Marriott West, in Middleton, Wisconsin. It’s a long

drive for a worship service, but as I serve Communion in that

service, I would love to see as many of your faces as

possible, for you have walked beside me on this journey.

— Jerry

Appreciation from the Staff

and Church Administration Teams

This past month, the Staff-Parish Relations

Committee asked if any of the congregation

would like to donate toward a one-time bonus

gift, to be divided among the staff. It was to

be a recognition of their hard work, which we

have not had the budget to recognize as they

deserved.

Your response has been overwhelming. On

behalf of both Staff-Parish and Finance

Committees, thank you.

And on behalf of the staff, there simply are

not words. Thank you.

CARE

Page 3

Savvy Seniors

will meet at

11 :30am on

Monday, May 5,

at Wausau Mine

on Stewart Ave.

Milestones

Deaths: We grieve this month with

the loss of these members of our

church or of our families.

Hattie Wellman, mother of our

member, Mary Towle, died on

April 16. We pray for Mary and all

of Hattie’s other family as they

grieve.

We also missed a couple of deaths

earlier this year. In January, our

member, Gary Boushley, lost two

family members in one week. His

cousin, Ron Klatt, died on January

24 and his mother, Dorothy

Boushley, died on January 27. We

grieve with Gary and his family.

* Signifies an honored elder who is restricted at home or in a care facility.

We invite you this month to remember these members in your prayers, to

send a card, make a call, or a visit.

1 Gianina Chang 2 Arlene Duncanson Lori Mariani Kevin Wyrick Elaine Peterson* 3 Duaine Pieper Toi Pan Jane Smith Dolores Branson 4 Adriana Erickson 5 Tom Bogumill Dawn Hovden 6 Muriel Lambert 7 Quinn Clarke 8 Valerie Tiong Brian Rohland Alex Dahl

10 Lois Wenzel Sophie Getzin 11 Kurt Hornby 12 Mark Lillie 13 Lisa Cole Chad Seidler, Jr. 14 Joan Toivonen 16 Colin Smith 17 Michael Cain Robyn De Vos 19 Mary Jo Bauer Allen Hettinga Mike Mayo Jack Zei 20 Bob Stieglitz

21 Ruth Green Allison Jauch 22 Molly Hoffmann Joyce Luedke 23 Patty Mayo Bonnie McNabb 27 James Duginski Lynne Lattimer 28 Scott Trull 29 Carol Pachmayer Claire Hornby 30 Ronald Krueger 31 Mark Milne

Event: Tuesday, May 12;6:00pm

Open to all women of the church.

If you can, invite your mother, daughter, or a friend,

or feel free to come alone to join us.

Nancy Runner will share autograph books owned by her family members, and explore how the verses changed from the 1880’s to the 1960’s. We will have time for fellowship as well as snacks & treats (“with a nod” to what our mothers would want us to eat, as well as punch and favorite treats from our childhoods). Bring your own autograph books or yearbooks to share and compare. It is being sponsored by the UMW.

Happy Birthday,

Memory Café!

This ministry opened for its first

café in May of 2014. All who have

been a part of this vital ministry to

our own and outreach to others are

invited to the May Café, 10:30am

on Thursday, May 21, in the Parlor

for cake and ice cream and

laughter and celebration.

STAFF

Pastor: Gerald Morris

[email protected]

Music Ministry Coordinator: Susan Hamilton

[email protected]

Faith Formation Coordinator: Leo Jacoby

[email protected]

Building Engineer: Andy White

Accounts & Records Supervisor: Karen Kellbach

[email protected]

Secretary: Arlene Trull

[email protected]

903 Third St; Wausau, WI 54403

Office Hours: Mon-Thurs - 9:00am-4:00pm

Web-site: www.fumcwausau.org

E-mail: [email protected]

I thought in January - Easter is three months away so I have PLENTY of time to plan! All of a sudden –

Easter has come and gone and I’m left wondering, “Where did the time go”? While it is fresh in my mind,

let me give heartfelt thanks for this wonderful, caring congregation! A really big THANK YOU to the

members of the Chancel Choir, Jubilate Bells, Orchestra, Ann Johnson, Kirsten Hornby, Joshua Dvorak,

Dan Maguire, Worship Design Team, and Pastor Jerry for your diligence, dedication, patience, enthusiasm

and spirit of willingness. Your love and support for the music ministry here at First UMC has made it

possible for us to offer our best to God. My thanks to YOU, the members of this congregation, who have

been so very generous with your support of the music program.

CALLING FOR YOUR MUSICAL TALENTS! This summer, as our choir takes the season off, we are trying to

be intentional about highlighting our individual talents - and this church has many. Do you have solo or

ensemble pieces to use as specials? Would you like to plan a jazz worship? Talk to Karen Petersen or

John Ohnstad, of Worship Design, Susan Hamilton, or Pastor Jerry.

Sincere thanks to Sue Carole Volovsek for sharing her beautiful home for our recent

Jubilate Bell and Chancel Choir gathering!!

Sarah Cowan 2015 Pivet Scholarship Recipient

Palm Sunday and Easter

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2015

FROM PASTOR JERRY’S DESK

Transition and Stability

I sat in choir practice on Wednesday night as usual, puzzling over the hard

passages with the other tenors (as usual), and being led as usual by Susan

Hamilton. But that last “as usual” was about to change. At that point, we

thought that would be Susan’s next-to-last choir rehearsal before she moved

down to South Carolina. Change was coming.

Then we finished that song, which we were rehearsing for Susan’s last

Sunday with us, April 26, and Susan said, “Now I’m going to hand it over to

Sue Carole.” Sue Carole Volovsek stood and began handing out some

anthems that she had pulled from the music files. Normally the choir goes

on summer vacation at the end of May anyway, so we could have just called

it off a month early, but the choir had voted to continue, and Sue Carole had

agreed to lead us through May. Change was coming, we thought, but the

choir was still going to sing.

Even though Susan’s schedule has changed, there’s something important in

there, I think. As much as we love Susan, she is not the music program of

First United Methodist Church. The music program of FUMC is a group of

people who love to make music working together to praise God with all the

joy they have. And that isn’t going to change. What matters – the love of

singing and playing and ringing to the Lord – is unchanged. Watching Susan

transition out and someone else transition in is a helpful reminder, though.

The parts change; the purpose remains.

We’ve seen other transitions in our church, too. In the past couple of years

we’ve seen two different signature outreach ministries of our church leave.

The Community Christmas Dinner moved, and the Association for the

Religious Education of the Handicapped (AREH) has closed. The Christmas

Dinner moved to St. Paul’s UCC because that’s where the most dedicated of

its remaining volunteer leaders were, and AREH closed because the group

homes where most of the students lived changed their policies and stopped

sending their residents to off-site programs. Change happened. But also

during those years, we inaugurated our cooperation with the Homeless

Coalition to sponsor their Count and Project Connect twice a year, began our

new Downtown Memory Café, and connected with the first overseas mission

trip we’ve done in over a decade. We realize that the outreach ministry of

our church is not any one program, or even any set of programs. The

outreach ministry of our church is Christ’s people working together through

the church to serve people in need, wherever we find them.

One more example. Ten years ago, the church had no less than two staff-

members whose job was primarily the pastoral care of our members. We had

a Parish Nurse and a Minister of Pastoral Care. Well, they are both gone.

Two parish nurses retired, and for financial reasons, we haven’t replaced

them. The Minister of Pastoral Care got another job. Change happens. But

the purpose has not changed. The care ministry of the church was not this or

that staff member. The care ministry of the church is the people of God

bearing each other’s burdens. Without designated staff leadership for this

ministry, we have to find a new way to do it (see “Visitation” on pg. 4), but

the goal is still before us. The parts change; the purpose remains.

Sunday, May 24, Pentecost, Confirmation


10:00am - Worship

“The Story of the Spirit”

Sunday, May 31


10:00am - Worship

“The Story of the Son”

* * * * * * *

Thursday Noonday Communion

meets every month, on the third

Thursdays, in the Chapel from

12:15-12:45pm

*We observe Open Communion. All are welcome at

God’s table.

Sermon Series: “Sister Death: Reflections on

Life and Death for Resurrection People

Sunday, May 3

8:00am - Morning Chapel with Communion*

“Dying Well”

Philippians 1:18b-26

10:00am - Worship with Communion*

Sunday, May 10


10:00am - Worship

“Grieving Well”

John 11:11-37

Sunday, May 17


10:00am - Worship

“Comforting Well”

Romans 12:9-18

Church Purpose:

Live and Share God's Love

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The Messenger May 2015

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Transcript of The Messenger May 2015