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Excitement was in the air on Sunday, September 17th, as 40’ish people stayed after worship to fill cleaning buckets that will be shipped to Texas to help people who are recovering from Hurricane Harvey. We are sending 40 buckets for the relief effort! Thanks be to God! After filling the buckets we enjoyed “breaking bread” together – pizza, veggies & dip, cookies and lemonade. It was a beautiful morning! Thank you to everyone who donated $$ for the cleaning buckets…this would not have been possible without all of us working together for a common cause…from the very young to the “experienced”…it took all of us to make it happen. Please keep praying for those who are recovering from hurricanes. The relief effort will continue for months, even years, in some areas. If you would like to continue supporting the relief effort, please make your checks out to Woodmar UMC with UMCOR – hurricanes in the memo.

In the two weeks we were working on this project, I saw God working in beautiful ways: As I mentioned in my sermon that morning, I doubted that we would fill 10 buckets based on

Woodmar’s monthly mission giving over the past year. Miguel and I offered to purchase as many buckets and lids as all y’all would fill, and we ended up buying 39 buckets! I thought I was stretching you, but you ended up stretching us! Proverbs 27:17 came to mind, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Just imagine what God can do through us as we continue encouraging each other as we pull together with a common purpose!

I witnessed the beauty of God’s people loving God and loving neighbor. Donating $$, bringing in items for the buckets, filling the buckets – these are all acts of worship and obedience in response to God who loves us more than we can possibly imagine!

The Community Preschool and Childcare families were invited to our bucket filling/pizza party. One family of five came and participated. Another family wanted to come, but had a previous commitment, so they donated a FILLED BUCKET! That is why we sent 40 buckets instead of 39! Thanks be to God!

Prudi witnessed firsthand through visiting her daughter in Houston how the cleaning buckets are getting used as soon as they arrive. We are making a difference in Texas!

Woodmar UMC sent 40 cleaning buckets along with United Methodist Churches from the Region and all over the nation. I wonder how many cleaning buckets are being sent through UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief)?! What a joy and a blessing it is to be part of a connectional system! Together, we are more!

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Living in the Grip of God’s Grace,

Please see the picture on page 5!

Our Mission: To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Our Vision: Growing Hope: Embracing the Community Nurturing the Spirit Following Jesus

Woodmar United Methodist Church Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world

Pastor Esta Rosario October 2017

PASTOR’S PONDERINGS

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SCRIPTURE & SERMON TITLES

Sermon Info for October October 1st (World Communion Sunday) Philippians 2:1-13 Just Like Jesus October 8th (Children’s Sabbath) Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 Ten Commandments or Two? October 15th (Laity Sunday) Chris Matthews preaching Philippians 4:1-9, Matthew 22:1-14 The Strength to Choose October 22nd Matthew 22:15-22 It’s a Trap! Forward in Faith Series Week 1: Sunday, October 29th Psalm 51:1-17 Let It All Hang Out! Week 2: Sunday, November 5th (All Saints’ Sunday) Hebrews 12:1-3 Leaving a Legacy Week 3: Sunday, November 12th Joshua 1-3a, 14-25 Choose This Day… Week 4: Sunday, November 19th (Pledge Sunday) Matthew 25:14-30 Trusting God with What We Have

10/02 9:30 United Methodist Women-Board meeting 10/02 !2:30 Preschool Board Meeting 10/05 7:00 Caregivers meet 10/07 9-2 Rummage Sale 10/08 11:15 Congregational Care Corps meets 10/12 4:00 Deborah Circle will meet 10/16 11:00 Book Club meets 10/17 10:00 Tuesday Bible study resumes 10/18 9:30 Hannah Circle will meet 10/21 6:00 Basement Concert 10/25 9:30 Mary Circle will meet 10/31 5-7 Halloween—Trunk or Treat

Weekly Events Sunday 10:00 Praise and Worship Service Coffee fellowship immediately after Worship 6:30 Young Adults Monday 10:00 NO Exercise for Seniors until further notice Tuesday 10:00 Tuesday Bible Study resumes Oct. 17 Tuesday—Thursday 10-1 Sonrise Seniors—everyone welcome

OCTOBER DATES TO REMEMBER

RADICAL HOSPITALITY

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Birthdays…………………………………...2

Community Preschool………………..4

Dates to Remember……………….....2

Extravagant Generosity……………..7

Intentional Faith………………………..3

Mission & Service………………...…5,6

Pastor's Ponderings…………………...1

Radical Hospitality………….............2

United Methodist Women ……... 5

Woodmar Happenings….……..5,6,7

INTENTIONAL FAITH DEVELOPMENT

October Birthdays 10/01 Joseph Jones 10/02 Lori Jones 10/13 Tracey Mark 10/15 Michael Baggett 10/19 Beverly Wiman 10/19 Ruth Swanson 10/22 Cathleen Gonzalez 10/23 Charles Jones 10/25 Jo Ann Wilkinson 10/25 Christian Calkins 10/26 Belen London

CALLING ALL LITURGISTS AND

SCRIPTURE READERS! Immediately following wor-ship on October 15th AND October 22nd we will have a training session on how to be an effective Liturgist and/or Scripture Reader. The training will last less

than one hour.

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WOODMAR BOOK CLUB

The book club will meet on

Monday, October 16

at 11:00 am.

Woodmar Book Club

Our prayers and sympathy to Betty Geurts and her family on the sudden passing of her son-in-law, Jeff Osborne. Betty would also like to thank everyone for the cards, notes, and loving care demonstrated at the loss of her dear husband, Al.

Barbara Iler says “I just want to thank everyone for their concern, calls, visits, etc. during my stay (visit!) at Community Hospital. Thanks again.”

The Woodmar Book Club continue reading The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton.

“During a summer party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is happily dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and watches as her mother speaks to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy—her vivacious, loving, nearly perfect mother. Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress living in London. The family is gathering at Greenacres farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this may be her last chance, Laurel searches for answers to the questions that still haunt her from that long-ago day, answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past. Dorothy’s story takes the reader from pre–WWII England through the blitz, to the ’60s and beyond. It is the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined. The Secret Keeper explores long-ings and dreams and the unexpected consequences they sometimes bring. It is an unforgettable story of lovers and friends, deception and passion that is told—in Morton’s signature style—against a backdrop of events that changed the world. “ ~review from GoodReads website

Tuesday Bible Study will resume on Tuesday, October 17th at 10AM. We will do a 6-week study on Magrey R. deVega’s book entitled One Faith-ful Promise: The Wesleyan Covenant for Renewal. Cost is $13 for the book and workbook. Scholarships are available. Please contact Pastor Esta via email erosario@woodmarumc.org or by calling the church office, 219-844-3030, no later than Tuesday, October 3rd to RSVP for this study.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN A SMALL GROUP STUDY, but Tuesday mornings do not work for you, please contact Pas-tor Esta via email erosario@woodmarumc.org or by calling the church office, 219-844-3030, to express your interest.

PLEASE PRAY THIS PRAYER EVERY DAY:

Holy Spirit, fill me and empower me for the

work to which you have called me. Holy Spirit, fill

Woodmar United Methodist Church and

empower us for the work to which you have called us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Fall is in full-swing with class trips to County Line Orchard and Scheeringa’s Pumpkin Patch. Can you believe that we are in our 27th year of preschool clas-ses at Woodmar UMC? We have begun our second year of offering full time childcare and we begin October as a Level 3 Paths To Quality provider. Being a Level 3 provider will allow us to expand our enrollment next fall by applying to Indiana’s On My Way Pre-K and to Geminus Head Start community partners. As an award for achieving Level 3, we received $1000 in educational items from Indiana’s Paths to Quality program. In anticipation of next fall’s partnerships, items were ordered to help furnish room 2 of the education wing. Throughout the education wing, four classrooms are furnished and staffed for preschool and child-care classes. Two classrooms are used all day. Two classes are used for morning-only preschool clas-ses. As enrollment and childcare needs increase, we will utilize our classroom spaces throughout the full day. Have you wondered who is staffing each of our classes? We are very fortunate to have our entire staff returning this school year. We are especially fortunate to have a staff that our Paths to Quality Rater would like to see giving trainings on quality in early childhood programs. Our youngest children are being taught by Nicole Borys and Janeth Serrano. Our 3-4 year olds are taught by Kathy Wallar and Tiffany Miotke. Our 4-5 year olds are taught by Janet Benson and Sonja Moore. Our childcare class of 3-5 year olds are taught by Stacie McClain and Donna Hough in the morning and the afternoon shift includes our preschool staff. A practicing teacher from Ivy Tech is working with Janet Benson’s class of 4-5 year olds. Practicing teachers from the Area Career Center in Hammond are beginning the morning in the childcare class and then spending time in our class of youngest learners.

Chapel Time with Pastor Esta continues to be a special time for the children to experience rituals of worship, The Lord’s Pray-er, scripture and Bible stories. Children follow the Light of Christ in with Pastor Esta and continue with music and move-ment sprinkled in with important faith-based lessons. Children were very curious about the blue buckets near the altar. They learned that together, we can do great things to help people in need like the people affected by the hurricanes. Children will continue to learn this lifelong lesson: “I am a beloved child of God, called and sent to make a difference in the world.”

COMMUNITY PRESCHOOL & CHILDCARE

In this pic-ture, the

children are building

houses of straw and

sticks, just like the lit-

tle pigs.

Publication’s title The Pylon (Tax ID 35-0988814)

Issue date/frequency/number Sept. 26, 2017, published monthly, Issue No. 82

Authorized organization’s

address

Woodmar United Methodist Church

7320 Northcote Ave., Hammond, IN 46324

Contact information

Office email: woodmarumc@att.net

Pastor’s email: esta.rosario@inumc.org

Web: www.woodmarumc.org

Phone 219-844-3030 Fax 844-3038

Sunday Schedule Worship 10:00 AM Coffee fellowship following

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Nancy Craig reports that we received $3,144. toward filling the hurricane relief buckets and for UMCOR. It has been totally amazing to see the great outpouring of love that has been demonstrated during these disasters. Over 40 people stayed after church on Sunday, Sept. 17 to fill buckets to be sent. You, as members of Woodmar, are fantastic. And our God, is an awesome God. Praise God! The October mission will be our Trunk or Treat. Trunk or Treat is a community outreach event that we do each Halloween. We serve hot dogs, chips, and a beverage and give candy to the children who come. You can help financially or by donating candy, hot dogs, buns, and chips.

Monthly Mission

RISK-TAKING MISSION AND SERVICE

The United Methodist Women laments the DACA program rescission and the fear this move imposes on young undocumented immigrants in the only homeland they have ever known. We stand with the most vulnerable youth and urge all women around the country to stand alongside the Dreamers. All circles reflected on the question “What is important to you about the United Methodist way of being Christian?” Pam introduced this question after sharing an excellent article found in Response Magazine (July/August).

Many Hands in Mission

All of these wonderful people helped fill the buckets for hurricane relief.

WOODMAR UNITED METHODIST WOMEN

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Woodmar has “Care Notes” available in the Lobby/Narthex and Library/Lounge on a wide variety of subjects. Please take a look at them and help yourself if you find something of interest to you. The Caregivers Group meets the first Thursday of the month at 7 pm. A Caregiver can be anyone from a spouse caring for a spouse, a child caring for a parent, someone caring for a family member or friend, or a grandparent helping raise a grandchild. Each has need of a time for self. Join us.

Caregivers Group

RISK-TAKING MISSION AND SERVICE

Congregational Care Corps (CCC) is a team that meets to discuss and plan events for our congregation, as well as tending to the needs of our congregation through visits, phone calls and cards.

Please join us on the second Sunday of the month following the worship service in the lounge. All are welcome, we would love to hear your ideas. Please contact Nancy Craig with any questions at 219-688-2705 or email n.craig@woodmarumc.org.

Congregational Care Corps

American Sign Language Classes in American Sign Language are resuming in the Lounge/Library on Sunday mornings after worship on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Sundays of the month. If you ever said that you would like to learn a new language, here is your chance! It is never too late to start. Please talk to Nancy Craig if you would like to participate. She can be reached at ncraig1660@yahoo.com or (219) 845-0595.

Our annual Trunk or Treat will be inside the Community Center on Halloween evening, October 31 from 5-7. We follow the date and time for the City of Hammond. We are asking for donations of candy, hot dogs, buns and chips. We are looking for volunteers to serve hot dogs and chips, and to have tables decorated for the season to help pass out candy. You can start bringing in the candy right now! This is a great, fun connection to the community. For more details, or to volunteer, please contact the church office. 844-3030. This is also our mission for the month of October.

Trunk or Treat

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Scrip is available for purchase to take with you or to order. Scrip cards are great for Holiday giving! We have Target, Kohl’s, Panera, Cracker Barrel, Applebee’s, Dunkin, and many others. We have no problem ordering the ones you might need, even Amazon or Macy. Take a look at our list! And, as always, thank you for your support.

FINANCES

We all know the Sermon on the Mount and immediately think about the Beatitudes. But, there are many more pages and chapters to that sermon: Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. We often do not like to think about money and our church and spiritual lives being intertwined. But, Jesus mentioned money over 100 times in the above mentioned chapters! He must have believed that it is important. John Wesley also often mentioned money as you can see by the graphic to the left. It is not yet time to consider our giving for the next year, but let us think about where we are for this year. The church finances are almost always behind. We have not fully paid our apportionments in several years. We are doing OK so far this year and we did an awesome job for the mission outreach for the Hurricane Relief. We need everyone to step up and help us keep our bills paid, the electricity on, and the building maintained in order for Woodmar to step up in outreach to the community and to be here, at this place and time, to do what God has asked us: to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

EXTRAVAGANT GENEROSITY

SCRIP FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

SCRAPBOOKERS! Do you enjoy scrapbooking? If so, will you please prayerfully consider scrapbooking for Woodmar UMC? The scrapbook will be entitled “Our Adventure Book.” Contact Pastor Esta at erosario@woodmarumc.org if you are interested! (Materials will be provided.)

SAVE THE DATE! You are invited to attend the District Connection Days – Charge Conference on Sunday, November 19, 2017, 4PM at Crown Point First United Methodist Church. The District Connection Day is not like Charge Conferences of the past. This is a wonderful opportunity for the churches in the northwest part of our District to come together to worship and celebrate what God is doing! Please plan on attending…it would be fantastic to have Woodmar UMC well-represented at this important District event!

SAVE THE DATE! Hanging of the Greens will take place on Sunday, November 26th immediately following worship. We will enjoy a simple soup lunch together as we decorate the Lord’s house for ADVENT and CHRISTMAS! Stay tuned for more details!

Please Note!

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Woodmar United Methodist Church 7320 Northcote Ave

Hammond, IN 46324-2943

Phone (219)844-3030

www.woodmarumc.org

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage

PAID Hammond, Indiana

Permit 1206

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Please join us on Sunday mornings for praise and worship at 10am.

News to share? The November Pylon deadline is Monday, October 23.