Haunted? Even the Wesleys heard ‘bumps in the night’

Epworth, Lincolnshire, England

Churches are havens of safety, places of welcome and respite, a heavenly pathway to God - but that doesn't mean they can't have their own tales of unexplained happenings.

Some United Methodist churches, cemeteries and at least one home of a well-known Methodist reportedly have things that go bump in the dark (or daylight) - when no living soul is around. The most famous Methodist of all - John Wesley - was believed to have had a ghost in his childhood home that his family named "Old Jeffrey."

"Old Jeffrey" plagued the Epworth Rectory with mysterious loud noises and knockings and made his first "appearance" Dec. 2, 1716. Susanna Wesley was quoted as saying, "there was such a noise in the room over our heads, as if several people were walking, then running up and down stairs that we thought the children would be frightened." As she and her husband searched the house in vain for the culprit, Old Jeffrey continued "rattling and thundering in every room, and even blowing an invisible horn at deafening decibels."

Read more at this link.

This week @ St. Paul's

 Monday: Reformation Day

9:00 AM, Office Hours

5:00 PM, 5280 Synchronized Swim Team

Tuesday: ALL SAINTS DAY

9:00 AM, Office Hours

Wednesday:

9:00 AM, Office Hours

10:00 AM, Zoom Fellowship

5:00 PM, 5280 Synchronized Swim Team

7:30 PM, Choir Practice

Thursday:

9:00 AM, Office Hours

Sunday: All Saints Sunday

8:30 AM, Bell practice

10:15 AM, Worship

11:30 AM, Fellowship Time

12:30 PM, BBKC

Scripture lessons for November 6

Next Sunday, we will remember the saints who have been present in our community and in our lives. Our lessons will be Ephesians 1:11-23 and Luke 6:20-31.

Please write down the names of those you wish for us to announce as part of our remembrance of the saints who have touched or shaped our lives.

Prayer for All Hallows Eve

Lord, tonight, we will face all that most concerns us: our fears,

the shadowed places of the mind; the coming of winter darkness;

 the cold thin place between waking and sleep.

 We call to mind the powerless, the lonely,

 those who most fear the knock at the door;

 all those deceived by the world’s empty promises;

 all those cowed by menaces or threats. 

We stand with those weak in body, mind or spirit

 and those seduced by treats or hurt by tricks.

 Lord, Your light shines into every darkness.

 You told us: pray ‘deliver us from evil’.

 Your Spirit gives us hope, gives us courage,

 a candle in the window unhurt by the wind. Amen.

spiritualjourneys.org.uk

October 30 @ St. Paul's UMC: Prayers

 Joys:

+Joan Cooper is thankful for Austin's amazing recovery.

+Martha Batch lifts up in prayer the upcoming stewarship campaign.

+Belinda Alkula is grateful for the Children's Activity Packs that are now available.

+Myrle Myers celebrates the Bronco's win in London.

+We are thankful for the wonderful book study, led by Rebecca Glancy, on "Transformation."

+We give thanks for this week's birthday: Belinda Alkula, Karlene Ferguson.

+We are blessed by those who served this week: Belinda Alkula (video), Angela Baker (flowers), Steve Bainbridge (usher), Lorie Courier (piano), Etta Levitt (Zoom usher), Kathy Lloyd (Zoom host), Bob Muckle (liturgist), Myrle Myers (fellowship), & Ron Revier (choir). 

Concerns: 

+We offer continued healing prayers for Louise Cook's sister, Marjorie.

+Pastor Charles lifts up the lives lost in the tragedy that unfolded in Seoul, South Korea yesterday.

+We join with many across the nation in mourning the 217 deaths and 397 injured due to gun violence this past week. 

October 30 @ St. Paul's UMC: Announcements

 

+Remember to set your clocks back one hour Saturday night as Daylight Savings time wraps up.

+Please bring a photo of anyone you would like remembered for our All Saints Sunday worship next week. Additionally, please use the blank cards on the usher's table to write names of those to be remembered. This will enable us to speak from the lectern so everyone will be able to hear.

+From the Fellowship Team: We are delighted to be able to resume after-worship fellowship, but this gathering time is only possible if volunteers sign up to host. If we do not have volunteers, we will have to forego fellowship time. Please sign up at the back of the sanctuary.

+The Ladies Lunch Bunch will not be meeting this week. Instead, we will meet on Monday, November 7, at 11:45 a.m. at the Eat Well Café (909 Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder). Please R.S.V.P. by November 3 to Sandy Bainbridge / 970-584-0311). We will enjoy a delicious meal and learn more about the services the center offers to community seniors.

+The Fellowship Team will host a church potluck on Sunday, November 13 following worship.

+Make plans now to attend the 2022 virtual Church Conference on November 19 at 10:00 AM. We'll take care of important church business including pastoral compensation, church membership, and church leadership.

+Join the Adult Sunday School class for viewing and discussion of “Sacred Texts of the World” from The Great Courses series on Sunday mornings at 8:45 a.m. in the church library.

+The Learning Committee would like to create a list of volunteers to take children to the nursery for part of the service when needed. We no longer have enough children here at St. Paul’s to justify regularly staffing the nursery, yet sometimes children come to church with their parents and are in need of care during worship.  Christian- themed coloring books and crayons/markers and some other materials will be provided, and it is allowed to play with the preschool toys if they are put back in the right place. Please let Claudia know if you are willing to be part of this ministry.

+Advent/Christmas Devotional Reminder: There is excitement in the air as the countdown begins for submissions to come in for this year’s devotional! This year’s theme is people and animals associated with the Nativity story. Pastor Charles would like submissions by November 8.

October 30 @ St. Paul's UMC: Worship

Flowers from Angela Baker

The choir warms up before worship

Myrle offers holiday fare

Fellowship fun!

Reformation Sunday

Today’s Meditation Verse: “Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.”  —Psalm 32:6-7

Welcome... Pastor Charles

Prelude... Lorie Courier / “This Is My Father’s World”

*Call to Worship... Bob Muckle

We have come to affirm our historic faith. To worship the God of our mothers and fathers. We have come to remember God’s benefits to us the living. To respond in thanksgiving to the mighty works of God in our lives. We have come to affirm our trust in the God of all futures, To whose name be blessing and honor, glory, and power forever and ever. Amen

—Ruth Duck, Bread for the Journey Pilgrim Press, 1981, p. 56

*Hymn... “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” (UMH #117)

Affirmation of Unity... Bob Muckle

We share one faith, have one calling, are of one soul and one mind; have one God and Father, are filled with one Spirit, are baptized with one baptism, eat of one bread and drink of one cup, confess one Name, are obedient to one Lord, work for one cause, and share one hope. Together we come to know the height and the breadth and the depth of the love of Christ; are built up to the stature of Christ, to the new humanity; know and bear one another’s burdens, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ that we need one another and up build one another,     admonishing and comforting one another; that we suffer with one another for the sake of righteousness. Together we pray; together we serve God in this world.

—Nolan Palsma, “Prayerful Preparation: Living God, Renew Us.” The World Communion of Reformed Churches

*Offering/Doxology (UMH #95)

Community prayer requests, concerns, and celebrations

Pastoral Prayer / The Lord’s Prayer... Pastor Charles

Epistle Lesson: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 ... Bob Muckle

Choral Anthem... “Appalachian Psalm,” by Tom Lough, arranged by Jon Paige

Gospel Lesson: Luke 19:1-10... Pastor Charles

This is the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Sermon... Pastor Charles / “Salvation has come hither”

(Zacchaeus was a wee little man)

*Hymn... “Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know” (UMH #163)

*Words for the Journey... Pastor Charles

Postlude... Lorie Courier / “Praise Him! Praise Him!”

Prayer for Reformation Sunday

Dear Lord,

On this Reformation Sunday, we thank You for those persons You have poured Your spirit into that then set about reforming Your church. We thank You that You are still at work in the life of the church reforming us reshaping us and remaking us into Your image.

One of the ways we reflect Your image, Lord, is how we care for one another with love, care and prayer. 

We pray for those who are in the hospitals today. 

We pray for those at home with illnesses and recovering from treatments and/or surgeries. 

We pray for those in nursing homes and those who are home bound. 

We pray for their families during these times. 

We pray for those who are facing death. 

We pray for those who have died and for those who are grieving. 

We pray for their doctors, nurses, health care workers, and care takers. 

Lord, may we reflect Your image in our love, care and prayer that we put to action for these Your children. We reflect Your image in how we love, care and pray for the world.                           

We pray for those around the world who as Christians face imprisonment and martyrdom.

We pray for those who countries torn by civil war.

We pray for those living in poverty.

We pray for those who live in starvation.

We pray for those who are being used in slave labor, child labor and sex labor.

We pray for those who have been affected by disasters.

We pray for those in disaster areas who face outbreak of diseases.

Lord, may we put into action our love, care and prayers for the world.

Lord, we pray for Your church that we be a beacon of hope, grace, love and light in this world. May our open doors reflect Your open arms to all. May our arms and hands reaching out to those in need reflect Your love for all. May our forgiveness of one another reflect Your forgiveness for all. Amen.

— written by Rev. Abi, and posted on RevGalBlogPals.   

Methodist History: Communion and Welch's Grape Juice

Dr. Thomas B. Welch

You are probably familiar with Welch’s Grape Juice, but you may not know it has ties to the history of The United Methodist Church.

In the 1800s, churches faced a dilemma. To combat the epidemic of alcoholism, the temperance movement advocated total abstinence from all alcohol. In celebration of the Lord’s Supper though, the church filled the communion chalice with wine. 

Substituting grape juice seems an obvious solution. “For us today it is such common practice. We don’t know any different,” explains Adrienne Possenti, church historian at First United Methodist Church of Vineland, New Jersey. 

In the 1800s, however, that was no easy task. Raw grape juice stored at room temperature—home refrigerators were not available until 1913—naturally ferments into wine. This caused a problem for congregations not wanting to use anything containing alcohol.

Read more at this link.

Worship with us tomorrow

Join us Sunday for worship at 10:15 a.m. in person or online via Zoom here.

Preview Sunday's bulletin here. 

We will celebrate All Saints Sunday on November 6.

As you vote, remember...

 

Pumpkin Prayer

This prayer was on the gift bags at the Northwest Hills UMC (San Antonio, Texas) Fall Festival that Pastor Charles & Belinda attended on October 28, 2012:

Pumpkin Prayer 

As I carve my pumpkin, help me pray this prayer: Open my mind so I can learn about you; Take all my sin and forgive the wrong that I do. Open my eyes so your love I will see; I'm sorry for times I've turned up my nose at what you've given to me. Open my ears so your Word I will hear; Open my mouth to tell others you're near. Let your light shine in all I say and do! Amen.

Ladies Lunch Bunch

Monday, November 7, at 11:45 a.m., at the Eat Well Café which is inside the West Age Well Center, 909 Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder. *Please note the change to a Monday lunch this month.

We will enjoy a delicious meal and learn more about the services the center offers to community seniors. If you want to carpool/process from the church parking lot, please meet Belinda Alkula at 11:10 a.m. Plan is to depart at 11:20 a.m.

Please R.S.V.P. by November 3 to Sandy Bainbridge via email.

Africa University celebrates 30 years

Africa University has a major role to play in the development of the continent, said the keynote speaker at the United Methodist institution’s 30th anniversary celebrations.

Michael Ugwueke, president and chief executive officer of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Tennessee, lauded the university’s accomplishments during the Oct. 22 festivities, while also acknowledging room for growth. 

“Let us look forward to all that might be accomplished in the next 30 years. What does AU need to do to fulfill its responsibility in the progress of Africa?” Ugwueke asked.

He noted that the top 10 largest countries in Africa have 740 universities for a population of 660 million, while the U.S. has 5,300 universities and colleges for 333 million. “So we have a long way to go,” said Ugwueke, who is from Nigeria. “As Africans, we must acknowledge that we are not where we need to be.”

He envisioned that Africa University would have campuses across the continent in the next three decades, adding that a more educated workforce would transform the economy and create more wealth and opportunities for everyone.

Read more at this link.

Wednesdays with the Wesleys

 

Church and Society offers virtual three-day Seminar

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, there are 27 ongoing conflicts worldwide. While there are crisis that receive attention on the evening news like the conflict in Ukraine, the war in Afghanistan, and the civil war in Ethiopia, there are also hundreds of millions of people who are living in the midst of war and conflict that do so without international attention.

Inscribed in the rotunda of the United Methodist Building are these words from   Isaiah 2:4, “they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” This verse is part of a vision that imagines Judah and Jerusalem as a gathering place, where the nations meet to learn the ways of peace. It serves as a reminder that peace does not arrive on its own but must be learned and practiced.

Join us for this three-day series to: (1) engage with experts and practitioners on the root causes of conflict; (2) learn about the methods and means to peacebuilding and preventing recurrences in conflict; (3) delve into a theological grounding on peace-building; and (4) learn how United Methodists have been participating in global peacebuilding efforts.

Church and Society invites you to participate in four sessions over three days in its Called Seminar, “Plowshare Vision: Peace to be Learned and Practiced” from November 1-3.

Each session requires a separate registration. All sessions will be held on Zoom. Closed captions will be available for all the sessions.

Register at this link.

This week @ St. Paul's UMC

Monday: 

9:00 AM, Office Hours

5:00 PM, Fairview Synchronized Swim Team

Tuesday:

9:00 AM, Office Hours

Wednesday:

9:00 AM, Office Hours

10:00 AM, Zoom Fellowship

5:00 PM, Fairview Synchronized Swim Team

7:30 PM, Choir Practice

Thursday:

9:00 AM, Office Hours

7:00 PM, "Transforming" virtual book study

Friday: 

5:00 PM, Dinner Circle @ the Vander Vorstes

Sunday: 21st Sunday after Pentecost/Reformation Sunday

8:30 AM, Bell practice

8:45 AM, Adult class

10:15 AM, Worship

11:30 AM, Fellowship Time

12:30 PM, BBKC

Scripture lessons for October 30

“Zacchaeus” - Joel Whitehead

We will bring the tenth month of 2022 next Sunday with lessons from Luke 19:1-10 and 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4 & 11-12.

October 23 @ St. Paul's UMC: Prayers

Joys:

+Belinda Alkula lifts up the generous church family for the donations shared last Thursday with Fairview HS's Knights Closet.

+Sandra Jordan gives thanks for the amazing hiking trip taken in Greece.

+Judy Waller asks for prayers as she travels to be with family.

+Suzanne Polacek is thankful for no issues from her recent flat tire. She and Ron are traveling this week to see family.

+We give thanks for this week's birthdays: Martha Batch, Dan Daniels, Molly Nunnery, Polly Stowe, Melissa Sullivan, & Gregory Wahl.

+We are blessed by those who served this week: Amy Abshire (liturgist), Belinda Alkula (video), Steve Bainbridge (usher),  Lorie Courier (piano), Etta Levitt (Zoom usher), Kathy Lloyd (Zoom host), Claudia Mills (fellowship), & Ron Revier (choir). 

Concerns: 

+Louise Cook asks for prayer for her sister, Marjorie, who is having health issues.

+Marcia Hult lifts up their son, Greg, for his recovery from surgery and their friend, Chelsea who is facing surgery soon.

+Belinda Alkula lifts up the work done by Fairview HS's Student Support Services   Community Liaison, Rupali Hofmann. She also lifts up the students, teachers, and staff at Fairview following a difficult last year.

+Pastor Charles asks for prayers for his friend from high school, Steve Ayers, and all who were present for the recovery efforts following the bombing of the Beirut Barracks on this day in 1983.

+We offer our prayers of love and support for the people of Ellicott UMC (CO),     United Church of Walsenburg (CO), Leroy UMC (Fleming, CO), and Carpenter UMC (WY) following the approval of their closures by the Mountain Sky Annual Conference.

+We send our prayers with the following congregations whose disafilliation from The United Methodist Church was approved by the Mountain Sky Annual Conference: Chugwater UMC (WY), Genoa UMC (CO), Cheraw UMC (CO), Monte Vista UMC (CO), Mosca UMC (CO), and Stratmoor Hills UMC (COS, CO).

+We join with many across the nation in mourning the 138 deaths and 358 injured due to gun violence this past week. 

October 23 @ St. Paul's UMC: Announcements

 

+Join the Adult Sunday School class for viewing and discussion of “Sacred Texts of the World” from The Great Courses series Sunday mornings at 8:45 AM in the church library.

+From the Fellowship Team: We are delighted to be able to resume after-worship fellowship, but this gathering time is only possible if volunteers sign up to host. If we do not have volunteers, we will have to forego fellowship time. Please sign up at the back of the sanctuary.

+Advent / Christmas Devotional Reminder: There is excitement in the air as the countdown begins for submissions to come in for this year’s Advent / Christmas devotional! This year’s theme is people and animals associated with the Nativity story. Pastor Charles would like submissions by November 6. 

+Time change is coming November 6.

+We will observe All Saints Sunday at St. Paul's on November 6th. Please bring a photo for the display and write the names of anyone you would like remembered on the note cards on the usher's table.

+2022 Virtual Church Conference will be November 19 @ 10:00 AM.

October 23 @ St. Paul's UMC: Worship

Sunrise at St. Paul's

Lorie at the piano

"Yum!"

Enjoying the morning's fare

Sharing as a community

20th Sunday after Pentecost

YouTube link

 

Today’s Meditation Verse: “Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to You shall vows be performed.” —Psalm 65:1

Welcome... Pastor Charles 

Prelude... Lorie Courier / “Joyous Fanfare”

*Call to Worship (Psalm 84:1-4)... Tim Cook

Leader: How lovely is Your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at Your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Happy are those who live in Your house, ever singing Your praise.

*Hymn...“Wonderful Words of Life” (UMH #600)

Prayer of Confession (Rev. Darin Arntson, Cal-Pac Conference, 2019)... Tim Cook

Merciful God, We confess that we have not loved You with our whole heart. We have made idols of our desires, our perceived righteousness, and even our fears.  We have failed to be an obedient church. We have failed to embrace one another as equally valued members of one body, of which Christ alone is the head. We have not done Your will; we have broken Your law. We have been lured into legalism and the confines of church polity, favoring human security over divine,  radical   grace. We have rebelled against Your love... believing that Your favor is earned by faithfulness, rather than freely given to us and every sibling in Christ. We have not loved our neighbors... When we valued certain voices, perspectives, and bodies above others. And we have not heard the cry of the needy... When we overlooked the hungry, the poor, and the outcast; when we turned our back on the one who was lost; when we chose for ourselves who was welcome at Your feast. Even when we fail to seek forgiveness, and have not yet forgiven one another... Forgive us, we pray. Free us for joyful obedience, through Christ our redeemer. Amen.

Silence for personal prayers of confession

Words of Assurance: Hear the good news: Through the expansive, mysterious, divine gift of grace, made known in the person of Jesus Christ, we have been reconciled and restored to our Creator, and

entrusted to bear this unimaginable love to the world. Through Christ, we are forgiven. Thanks be to God. Amen.

*Offering/Doxology (UMH #95)

Community prayer requests, concerns, and celebrations

Pastoral Prayer / The Lord’s Prayer... Pastor Charles

Gospel Lesson: Luke 18:9-14... Tim Cook

Choral Anthem... “Forward Through the Ages”

Epistle Lesson: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18... Pastor Charles

This is the Word of God for the people of God. People: Thanks be to God.

Sermon... Pastor Charles / “Was it worth it?”

*Hymn...“My Hope Is Built” (UMH #368)

*Words for the Journey... Pastor Charles

Postlude... Lorie Courier / “To God Be the Glory”