Wednesday with the Wesleys

The Wesleyan Concept of Grace

The Bible teaches us that everything we have from God is given because of God’s great love for us. “You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith,” Ephesians 2 reads. “This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. It’s not something you did that you can be proud of” (Ephesians 2:8-9 CEB).

United Methodists recognize God’s grace at work throughout our spiritual journeys. John Wesley, the historic founder of the Methodist movement, wrote and preached about the role of God’s grace to prepare us, redeem us, and continually shape us into the people we were created to be.

Learn more about God’s amazing grace at work in our lives.

This week @ St. Paul's

Monday:

9:00 am, Yoga

Tuesday:
5:00 pm, Insight Meditation

Thursday:
3:00 pm, Women's summer book group

Sunday:
8:45 am, Church School 

9:30 am, Women's Chorus Rehearsal

9:45 am, Fellowship

10:15 am, Worship
12:30 am, Beautiful Boulder Korean Church

Scripture lessons for next Sunday

Parable of the Rich Fool by Rembrandt van Rijn

The scripture lessons for August 4th are Colossians 3:1-11 and Luke 12:13-21.  

July draws to a close

The day begins at St. Paul's

Wendy Wheaton shares her gift

Flowers from Bob & Melanie Muckle

Anthem Aires share their gift

July is drawing to a close but not before a very busy Sunday at St. Paul's was in the books!

Our summer music offering was by the Anthem Aires who shared The Lord Is My Shepherd (our first YouTube channel posting) by Howard Goodall and Reap What You Sow by Pepper Choplin. Pastor Charles' sermon came from Luke 11:1-13.

Thanks this morning to: 

Thanks today to: Amy Abshire (Liturgist), Jessica Bishop (Nursery), Pat Cleaveland & Suzanne Polacek (Offering counters), Anthem Aires (Summer music), Bob & Melanie Muckle (Flowers & Fellowship), and Wendy Wheaton (Accompanist).

Thanks also to the members who stayed for committee/team meetings: Church Council, Trustees, and Worship.

UMW Day Apart

The Peaks & Plains UMW District held a wonderful "Day Apart" today at Estes Park UMC. Deaconess Laurie Fujinami led the attendees in the day's theme, "Waters of Grace."

What then Shall We Say?

As the President and General Secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race, we join with other social, spiritual, and political leaders who have expressed their outrage and denounced the racist comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump in relation to immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and some parts of Africa.

The comments themselves are willfully ignorant, hurtful, and unbecoming of any person who calls themselves a leader. The fact that the very nations criticized by the President have been subject to an insidious history of colonization, where their rich human, natural, and material resources have long been and even today continue to be exploited, stolen, and unethically controlled, only gives further evidence to the reality of ongoing systemic racism. For too long communities of color around the world have been simultaneously targeted for their gifts and contributions, yet at the same time they are stereotyped as having no gifts or contributions worthy of acknowledgment and embrace.

Read more at this link.

A Living Wage for All!

United Methodist Women's Living Wage for All Campaign seeks to engage members as allies in passing state and local legislation that lays the base for a living wage for everyone. The living wage is what it takes for a family to meet basic needs of housing, food, transportation, utilities, etc., in their locale. United Methodist Women joins faith and labor coalitions working to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. But that's still below the living wage, and that alone will not guarantee a living wage for all families. Wage theft and lack of sufficient work hours pose additional obstacles, for example. Domestic workers, tipped workers, farm workers—then majority African American and now mostly immigrant workers—were excluded from New Deal labor legislation and continue to be excluded from some labor rights today. This is a racial justice issue! 

Read more at this link.

Mission u in Longmont

Mission u offered a one-day event today at Heart of Longmont UMC and the 30+ in attendance had a great experience! Pastor Charles & Belinda were on hand and took part in the Gospel of Mark: Radical discipleship (Pastor Charles) and Women United for Change: The UMW at 150 (Belinda).

Wednesday with the Wesleys

Connectional Table Approves Legislation Creating New U.S. Structure

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2019

Chicago, IL—The Connectional Table approved sending legislation to General Conference 2020 that will create a new structure for churches in the United States, called a regional conference, during an online meeting July 18, 2019.

The proposed legislation stipulates that the U.S. Regional Conference will have geographic boundaries congruent with the territory of the U.S. annual conferences. Jurisdictions will continue to function with their current powers and duties, including their process to elect bishops.

“The current proposal will help the General Conference to focus its work on matters truly global,” says Bishop Christian Alsted, chair of the board, “and offers the church in the United States a connectional structure to deal with matters pertaining specifically to the U.S. context, including the development of strategies and priorities, pension and healthcare issues and, not least, adaptations to the Book of Discipline.”

During the Connectional Table’s meeting in April 2019, the body approved bringing a legislative proposal to GC2020 to create a U.S. Central Conference and sent the proposal back to the U.S. Contextual Ministries Advisory Group for further work. Concerns surfaced at this meeting and in the Council of Bishops about calling the U.S. structure a central conference. Calling it a regional conference instead acknowledges the painful, racist history and still-existing wounds associated with the former Central Jurisdiction in the U.S.

Read more at this link.

What’s Next for the United Methodist Church?

Dr. Lovett Weems succinctly reviews how the United Methodist Church got to its current dilemma regarding human sexuality, the situation after the Special General Conference, and options for the future.

See the video at this link.

This week's scripture lessons

Nelly Bube

The scripture lessons for next Sunday are Colossians 2:6-15 and Luke 11:1-13.            

This week @ St. Paul's

Monday:
9:00 am, Yoga

Tuesday:
5:00 pm, Insight Meditation

Thursday:
3:00 pm, Women's summer book group

Sunday:
8:45 am, Church School 

9:30 am, Women's Chorus Rehearsal

9:45 am, Fellowship

10:15 am, Worship
11:30 am, Worship team
12:15 pm, SPPRC meeting

12:30 am, Beautiful Boulder Korean Church
1:00 pm, Church Council

Sunday @ St. Paul's

The church bunny awaits the day

A beautiful morning was had by one and all today as the community gathered for fellowship and to worship God.

Michelle Matthews offered "Man After Your Own Heart" as the anthem. Pastor Charles' sermon was based on Colossians 1:15-28.

Thanks today to: Amy Abshire (Liturgist), Jessica Bishop (Nursery), Pat Cleaveland & Suzanne Polacek (Offering counters), Tim Cook & Wally Cleaveland (Anthem Aires), Michelle Matthews (summer music), Bob & Melanie Muckle (Flowers), and Christopher Wahl (Accompanist).

Women's Chorus rehearsals

The women of St. Paul's UMC will be rehearsing on Sundays (July 21 & 28 and August 4) for the musical offering that will be shared during worship on the 4th of August.  

Please join the women at 9:30 am each of these Sundays and lend your voice to the praise of God!

Humanitarian crisis on the southern border

As United Methodists we are called to stand with the vulnerable and hurting in the world. There is a humanitarian crisis on our border with detained children and families. Regardless of political ideology, we are called to be part of responding with grace, compassion, and justice. 

While UMCOR is barred from the facilities that hold migrants, our United Methodist connection continues along the US-Mexico border. In the past three months, UMCOR has delivered 46,128 hygiene kits to six church-run transitional shelters.

The General Board of Global Ministries asks us to respond in multiple ways. 

The best option to help restock UMCOR’s hygiene kit supply is to work with UMCOR directly at https://www.umcmission.org/umcor/serve/relief-supply-network/hygiene-kit or via The Advance at https://advance.umcor.org/p-616-material-resources.aspx.

Outreach workshop!

A two-day practical and hands on experience in how to reach new people through social media (Friday) and create inviting and welcoming real word experiences (Saturday). You are welcome to attend either or both days.

This event is for lay and clergy local church leaders. Great for pastors, communicators, office managers, and outreach / evangelism teams. Only a minimum of technical skill is required. If you can take a picture with your smartphone and download an App you can participate in the Friday event. 

When:                                                                                                                         Friday, August 9, 2019 at 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM Saturday, August 10, 2019 at 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Register →

Where: 108 King Ave., Johnstown, CO 80534

Email: Pastorjeremy@johnstown.church

Wednesday with the Wesleys

(full quote): “By salvation I mean not barely according to the vulgar notion deliverance from hell or going to heaven but a present deliverance from sin a restoration of the soul to its primitive health its original purity a recovery of the divine nature the renewal of our souls after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness in justice mercy and truth.”

UMCOR on the ground in India

In Maharashtra, India, chronic drought has put the livelihoods of subsistence farmers in jeopardy. Driven from their dry and dusty land, these two women watch over their family's cows in makeshift camps. "If we lose the cows, we are dead," they say. For many farmers, this cycle of drought, decreased crop yields, and debt from failed seasons has led to points of desperation and suicide. More than 60,000 farmers have taken their life.

In partnership with Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA), UMCOR is helping communities reclaim their livelihoods by distributing seeds/saplings, soil test kits and water harvesting systems as well as offering drought resistant agricultural trainings and farmer support groups. Slowly but steadily, India’s farmers are seeing hope rather than despair on the horizon.

Experience education and transformation

Mission u events are inspiring and interactive experiences for all ages of lifelong learners. At Mission u, you will:

• Study one or more of the courses offered:
  • What About Our Money? A Faith Response
    What About Our Money? A Faith Response explores how we relate to money within the context of our faith. Through this connection between our faith and our money, readers discover how to live closer to God and God’s people, even in our North American culture that is so deeply defined by money. She explores the biblical foundation of abundance (sufficiency), which stands in opposition to the scarcity narrative our culture tells us from the time we are very young. The focus of this study is both personal and communal. Readers will explore their own relationship with money, the money choices available to us, and how we individually and collectively respond in light of our faith. The text takes into account that we are all in different places, in different financial circumstances, health, family structure, race, age, and stage of life, and each of us has our own values and capacities.
  • Spiritual Growth Study: Practicing Resurrection: The Gospel of Mark and Radical Discipleship
    In Mark and Radical Discipleship, author Janet Wolf explores what it means to live a life of radical discipleship today using the Gospel of Mark as the foundation. Wolf explores the timeless issues of poverty, gender, justice, liberation, equality, and others using Mark as a guide. The stories of the women in Mark are a particular focus in this study and how, although often unnamed, they are prominent among Jesus’ followers and in Mark’s recounting of the gospel story.
  • Women United for Change: 150 Years in Mission
    United for Change by Ellen Blue is the first in a two-year study commemorating United Methodist Women’s 150th anniversary in 2019. It will provide a historical survey of United Methodist Women and its predecessor organizations and amplify the voices that shaped the work through an overarching story of United Methodist Women changing the face of mission. This study is about women who established vibrant societies to support mission.
• Share meals and fellowship with other members of your community
• Learn about Christian faith and social justice issues
• Grow spiritually
• Access new books, resources, and creative ideas

Contact Janet Wolfer, Mission U Dean, for more information on the Rocky Mountain Legacy Conference One-Day Event at Heart of Longmont UMC, Longmont, CO - July 24.

What you can do right now to end child detention

Across the United States, news headlines are laying bare the horrific and fatal conditions migrant children, families, and adults are facing in detention centers, at the border, and on their way to the border. Many families have fled violence and poverty in their countries of origin to seek asylum in the United States, only to have U.S. immigration officials tear them apart.

Children are spending weeks or months in inhumane detention, lacking access to basic necessities and facing abuse, sleep deprivation, illness, and more.

These policies are immoral and contrary to our Gospel mandate.

The United Methodist Church opposes “immigration policies that separate family members from each other or that include detention of families with children” (Social Principles, ¶162.H). 

For years, the Church has called on the government to eliminate “indefinite detention, [and the] incarceration of children” and to establish “an immigration system that is rooted in the inherent worth, dignity, value and human rights of migrants.” (Book of Resolutions, 3281)

Read more at this link.

This week @ St. Paul's

Monday:

9:00 am, Yoga

Tuesday:

5:00 pm, Insight Meditation

Thursday:

3:00 pm, Women's summer book group

Sunday:
8:45 am, Church School
9:45 am, Fellowship

10:15 am, Worship
12:30 am, Beautiful Boulder Korean Church

The scripture lesson for next Sunday

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna

This week's scripture lesson comes from Paul's letter to the Colossians, 1:15-28.