Wednesday with the Wesleys

"Give no place to a heated imagination. Do not hastily ascribe things to God. Do not easily suppose dreams, voices, impressions, visions, or revelations to be from God. They may be from [God]. They may be from nature. They may be from the devil. Therefore, "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God." Try all things by the written word, and let all bow down before it You are in danger of enthusiasm every hour, if you depart ever so little from Scripture; yea, or from the plain, literal meaning of any text, taken in connection with the context; and so you are if you despise, or lightly esteem, reason, knowledge, or human learning; every one of which is an excellent gift of God, and may serve the noblest purposes."

~ John Wesley (A Plain Account of Christian Perfection)

Helping the General Conference Delegation

It is hard to believe it but General Conference is coming, and your delegation needs your help! General Conference is scheduled to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina from April 23 - May 3, 2024. This conference was originally scheduled for 2020, but due to the global pandemic it has been rescheduled three times. However, all things look like they are ready to go this time around. Which gets to how you can be involved. If you want to help out, fill out this Google Form so we can get in touch with you.

The General and Jurisdictional Conference Delegation has been working throughout this time to stay up to date with changes, additions to legislation, and preparations for our time in Charlotte. As always this is a job that is bigger than what can be done by just those who have been elected to the delegation. If you are someone who has enjoyed the legislative work of our annual conference, or you have been involved at the Jurisdictional and General Conference levels in the past, we could use your help.  

There are three ways you can help the delegation over the coming months as we prepare for our time with the delegates from across the globe.  

Legislation Reading Team - Sign up to read the legislation for one of the Legislative Committees and write up short commentaries on each piece of legislation.  Join a delegation meeting where we will discuss as a team the legislation for the committee you signed up for. Willing to read any legislation? You can sign up for that as well and we will assign you to a needed committee. While the original legislation from the planned 2020 GC is available, submissions of new legislation came as late as September of 2023, and we will be able to a access to new legislative information early in 2024.  

• Legislative Committees:  Church & Society (1, 2, & 3), Conferences, Discipleship, Financial Administration, Faith & Order, General Administration, Global Ministries, Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters, Independent Commission, Judicial Administration, Local Church, Higher Education/Superintendency, Ordained Ministry

Attending General Conference - If you are planning to be in North Carolina we would love to know and connect with you during General Conference. Often General Conference Delegates are asked to be in meetings all day and into the night, and sometimes we wish we could be in more than one place a time. If you are willing to support our Delegation during this time with what’s needed let us know when you are planning to be there and the best ways to contact you.

Participating in a Caucus Groups  - Our conference is full of people with contacts and relationships throughout the connection. If you are a part of a community that is leading or working on General Conference conversations would you be willing to share and report back what you are learning to our delegation. We are better when we know more and can hear from a variety of voices. You can simply fill out this form to contact our General Conference Delegation and let us know if you have information to share.

If you would like to help out the Delegation in one of these ways please fill out this Google Form so we can connect with you as we continue to do this work. 

This week @ St. Paul's UMC

 Monday:  

9:00 AM, Office hours

Tuesday: 

9:00 AM, Office hours

Wednesday:  

9:00 AM, Office hours

10:00 AM, Zoom Fellowship

7:30 PM, Choir practice

Thursday:

9:00 AM, Office hours

11:45 AM, Ladies Lunch Bunch @ Olde Sante Fe

Friday: Groundhog Day

Saturday:  

6:00 AM, BBKC prayer gathering 

9:00 AM, Yoga class 

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

8:30 AM, Bell practice 

8:45 AM, Adult class

10:15 AM, Worship

11:15 AM, Fellowship  

12:30 PM, BBKC   

Scripture lessons for February 4

We turn the calendar page as we begin the month of February at St. Paul's UMC this week. Our lessons will come from 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 and Isaiah 40:21-31.

January 28 @ St. Paul's UMC: Prayers

Joys:

+  Claudia Mills gives thanks for healing.

+  Belinda Alkula is thankful that Rupali and her husband (a Presbyterian pastor) were able to visit on Friday. Pastor Charles was able to donate some books to replenish Rev. Hoffman's library (which was lost in the Marhsall fire).

+  Pastor Charles & Belinda are thankful that a niece in Florida who had runaway has been found safe and is back home.

+ We celebrate this week's birthdays: Nell Grindstaff, Dennis Hult, Sydney Richardson, and Ryan Sullivan.

+ We are blessed by those who served this week: Belinda Alkula (videographer),    Steve Bainbridge (greeter), Tim Cook (class), Rebecca Glancy (liturgist), Etta Levitt (Zoom usher), Heyji Park (piano), Kathy Lloyd (Zoom host), Suzanne Polacek (bells), and Joey & Jim Vander Vorste (fellowship/flowers).

Concerns: 

+   One of our PATH clients had a stillbirth after 31 weeks of pregnancy. She is a single mother taking care of one toddler. Please pray for the healing of her grief.

January 28 @ St. Paul's UMC: Announcements

+ Ladies Lunch Bunch will meet on Thursday, February 1, at Old Santa Fe Mexican Grille (592 McCaslin Blvd., Louisville) at 11:45 a.m. Please R.S.V.P. by January 30 to Marcia Hult (morandfar39@gmail.com / 307-761-0574).

+Mission u Virtual Winter Adult Study (for men and women) will meet on February 4, 11, 18, and 25 from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. (MST). This study will offer spiritual tools and actions we can take to calm anxieties and employ our faith to serve as peacemakers in anxious times. It will be led by Rev. Su DeBree. Find the registration link in News You Can Use. The Mountain Sky Conference United Women in Faith did not change its district name, so please register that you are in the Peaks Pikes Peak District. Questions? Contact Belinda Alkula (Belinda.Alkula@gmail.com / 303-916-2349.) Online Registration.

+Breakfast Fellowship will meet on Saturday, February 10, at 8:00 a.m. at Le Peep (2525 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder, next to McGuckin’s hardware). No reservations necessary. All are welcome!

January 28 @ St. Paul's UMC: Worship

Flowers from the Vander Vorstes

The bells offered today's anthem

Fellowship joys!

Good times!

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

(link to today's worship)

Today’s Meditation Verse: “Fear of the Lord is where wisdom begins; sure knowledge is for all who keep God’s laws. God’s praise lasts forever!”  —Psalm 111:10 (CEB)

Welcome...Pastor Charles

Prelude...Hyeji Park / “More Love to Thee,” arranged Jungmin Kim

*Call to Worship...Rebecca Glancy 

Welcome, travelers. Welcome. Sometimes it is harder to cross an unrepaired sidewalk than travel a thousand miles. Sometimes it is harder to forgive an old friend than to welcome a stranger. But God teaches us that we should welcome the stranger as we would welcome Jesus Christ. However far we have come this week, we bring gifts of ourselves, our minds, our compassion, our love, and our dedication. Let us continue our journey together.  —Bread for the Journey (1981, Ruth C. Duck, ed.)

*Hymn... “Christ Whose Glory Fills the Skies” (UMH #173)

Prayer of Confession (inspired by Mark 1:21-28)...Rebecca Glancy (To be read responsively)

God, we thank you for this extraordinary world and its reminders of resilience, grace, hope and life: for when grass shoots break through concrete when the sun emerges after storms, when people offer laughter in deep sadness, in these moments we see glimpses of who you are – and we are grateful. Yet if we reduce you to being like the cycle of nature or the best of humankind, we diminish your power to make the impossible real: to break apart the impenetrable evils of oppression, to cast out the very real fears that paralyze us, to banish the insidious demons of judgement and worthlessness.

Forgive us God when we do not trust you to deal with the unspeakable awfulness in our lives and world. In the silence, we name the parts of our lives and our world that we believe are too broken to ever be made whole. Cast out our demons. Lord, make us new again.

Forgive us when we contribute to the brokenness of the world and the lives of people around us. In the silence, we name the things we have done that separate us from you and from others. Cast out our demons. Lord, make us new again.

Forgive us when we trust darkness more than we trust your light. In the silence, we name the things we think we need to keep hidden. Cast out our demons. Lord, make us new again.

Scripture says that those who are in Christ are a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, the new has come! Hear then Christ’s word of grace to us: “Your sins are forgiven.” Thanks be to God.

—written by Cheryl Lawrie and posted at holdthisspace.org

Community prayer concerns and celebrations / Pastoral Prayer / The Lord’s Prayer...Pastor Charles

Psalter Lesson: Psalm 111...Rebecca Glancy

Bell Anthem...“Christ of the Snow,” arranged by Valerie W. Stephenson, based on a Hungarian carol

Gospel Lesson: Mark 1:21-28...Pastor Charles

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

Sermon...Pastor Charles / “Could it be?”

*Hymn...“Christ for the World We Sing” (UMH #568)

*Words for the Journey...Pastor Charles

Postlude...Hyeji Park / “Blessed Assurance,” arranged by Sumin Choi

Prayer for Holocaust Remembrance Day

On January 27, 1945, a Soviet Army, under the command of Marshal Ivan Konev, put an end to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest concentration camp of the Third Reich.

Prayer for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day):

"Lord, remember not only the men of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted upon us. Remember rather the fruits we have brought, thanks to this suffering: our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown out of this. And when they come to judgment, let all the fruits we have bourne be their forgiveness."

- Beliefnet.com

Let's worship!

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

Preview Sunday's bulletin here. The bell choir plays this Sunday.

 

Unsung Heroes of Methodism: Sarah Crosby

The Foundry Chapel where Sarah Crosby was
approved as a preacher in the mid-1700s

We’ve all heard the names John and Charles Wesley, but there are a lot of other important names in the history of Methodism you may not know. The Unsung Heroes of Methodism series tells the stories of lesser-known figures whose lives and witness still impact The United Methodist Church today, even if their names aren’t familiar to us.

The Methodist Episcopal Church (a precursor to The UMC) first began ordaining women as full elders in 1924, but women had a long history of preaching and taking on spiritual leadership in the Methodist movement long before. In fact, the first true women preachers emerged in the earliest days of Methodism under the leadership of John Wesley. One of these was Sarah Crosby.

Read more at this link.

Moving Forward in Mission with East Africa

“I feel as if I am in a dream…I can’t believe this meeting is happening,” said Bishop Daniel Wandabula, episcopal leader of the East Africa Episcopal Area, as he welcomed guests attending the East Africa Mission Consultation, Jan. 16-17, in Nairobi, Kenya. The mission consultation, led by General Board of Global Ministries’ General Secretary Roland Fernandes, was the first formal meeting held between Global Ministries and the East Africa Episcopal Area since they announced in May 2023 that they had reestablished formal relations, after more than a decade-long freeze on church and mission funds because of past auditing issues.

In his opening remarks, Bishop Wandabula expressed gratitude to God for allowing 2024 to begin with such an historic event. He praised the courage, commitment and efforts of all who had sought to address the mission opportunities and challenges of the episcopal area and noted the significant efforts by Global Ministries to review past audits and negotiate a path forward that would allow funding for mission work to restart. The Bishop offered appreciation to Roland Fernandes for his dedicated leadership in seeking to reestablish the relationship and in planning and holding the consultation. Acknowledging the deep pain caused by the long-severed relationship, as well as isolation from the ministry of the broader United Methodist Church during that time, Bishop Wandabula reinforced his commitment to transparency and accountability moving forward.

Read more at this link.

Wednesday with the Wesleys

At the New Room - Bristol

Let this especially, fortify us against the fear of death: It is now disarmed, and can do us no hurt. It divides us, indeed, from this body awhile; but it is only that we may receive it again more glorious. As God, therefore, said once to Jacob, “Fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will go down with thee, and will surely bring thee up again;” so may I say to all who are born of God, “Fear not to go down into the grave; lay down your heads in the dust; for God will certainly bring you up again, and that in a much more glorious manner.” Only “be ye steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord;” and then let death prevail over, and pull down, this house of clay; since God hath undertaken to rear it up again, infinitely more beautiful, strong, and useful.

~ John Wesley (sermon On the Resurrection of the Dead)

Heartbreak, hope follow season of church exits

As the new Christian year began on Dec. 3, so did a new United Methodist faith community in Haywood County, North Carolina — filled with hope that after months of heartache, God is doing a new thing. 

Formed by people who wanted to stay United Methodist even as their former congregation left the denomination, the emerging faith community spent a busy Advent worshipping at Clyde Central United Methodist Church and caroling across the county.

The outreach culminated with a midnight Christmas Eve service by the giant outdoor cross overlooking Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center. Amid the bitter cold and spritzing snow, more than 90 people huddled together by candlelight to join in Holy Communion and celebrate Christ’s birth.

“All these conditions that don’t seem good for hosting an outside event, and yet people showed up,” said the Rev. Nicole Jones, the pastor helping the Haywood Emerging Faith Community get started. “People came because there was an open table, there were candles at midnight and there was light in the darkness.”

No question The United Methodist Church — the second largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. — has seen dark times recently.

Read more at this link.

This week @ St. Paul's UMC

 Monday:  

9:00 AM, Office hours

Tuesday: 

9:00 AM, Office hours

Wednesday:  

9:00 AM, Office hours

10:00 AM, Zoom Fellowship

7:30 PM, Choir practice

Thursday:  

9:00 AM, Office hours

Saturday:  

6:00 AM, BBKC prayer gathering 

9:00 AM, Yoga class 

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

8:30 AM, Bell practice 

8:45 AM, Adult class

10:15 AM, Worship

11:15 AM, Fellowship  

12:30 PM, BBKC   

Scripture lessons for January 28

We bring January to a close next Sunday with scripture readings from Psalm 111 and Mark 1:21-28.

January 21 @ St. Paul's UMC: Prayers

 Joys:

+  Prayers go with Austin, Joan, and Terri as they take a trip to Mexico this week.

+  Mark Leifste is happy to share that a new grandson will arrive this summer!

+  Belinda Alkula is thankful for the technology being used for the upcoming Mission u (in February).

+  We are thankful to have Frank & Katherine Richardson with us today.

+  Sally Owen is blessed to have a trip to Frisco (CO) this week.

+  A fun time at “Sew What” at Suzanne Polacek’s home last Friday!

+  Fun Yoga Class yesterday! Six church members/four people from our neighbor-hood attended. Rebecca Glancy and Jovanka Jones were great instructors!

+ We celebrate this week's birthday: Lylah Bishop

+ We are blessed by those who served this week: Belinda Alkula (videographer),    Louise Cook (fellowship), Tim Cook (class), Rebecca Glancy (liturgist), Dennis & Marci Hult (flowers), Etta Levitt (Zoom usher), Heyji Park (piano), Kathy Lloyd (Zoom host), Myrle Myers (fellowship), Suzanne Polacek (bells), and Ron Revier (choir), and Jim Vander Vorste (greeter),

Concerns: 

+   Praying for Joan Russell’s successful surgery tomorrow!

+   Praying for all negatively impacted by burst water pipes last week – as a result of our frigid, arctic temperatures! Bishop Karen’s residence was affected. And our church was, too.

+   Kelsey S. will be having surgery Monday to remove a mass. Kelsey is the daughter of Irene, a former member of St. Paul's. Prayers for a successful surgery for Kelsey and for the best possible outcome. Prayers also for Irene and the family as they support Kelsey during this stressful time.  

+  Prayers are sought for Nancy H. (in Texas) and Paul W. (in California) who are in health care facilities for treatment.

+   All impacted by wars and natural disasters around the world.

January 21 @ St. Paul's UMC: Announcements

+ Ladies Lunch Bunch will meet on Thursday, February 1, at Old Santa Fe Mexican Grille (592 McCaslin Blvd., Louisville) at 11:45 a.m. Please R.S.V.P. by January 30 to Marcia Hult (morandfar39@gmail.com / 307-761-0574).

+ Virtual Winter Mission u Adult Study – Sunday Afternoons in February – 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. (MST) Study: Finding and Building Peace in Anxious Times – This study will offer spiritual tools and actions we can take to calm anxieties and to employ our faith to serve as peacemakers in anxious time. Online Registration.

+ St. Paul’s now has an automatic defibrillator (AED). The AED and a first aid kit are mounted on the wall by the kitchen door. You can watch a ten-minute video to learn how to use the AED just in case—find the link in News You Can Use.

+ 2023 giving statements were sent out on Tuesday, January 9. If you did not receive yours (either by email or by USPS) please reach out to Martha ASAP. Statements can only be reproduced until January 31 as we have switched over to a new bookkeeping system and will not have access to Breeze documents after January 31. If you normally receive your year end statement by U.S. mail, those are on their way or have been received. We appreciate your patience as we navigate a new system.

January 21 @ St. Paul's UMC: Worship

Flowers from the Hults

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

(Link to today's worship service)

Today’s Meditation Verse: “Those who use the world should be like people who aren’t preoccupied with it, because this world in its present form is passing away.”  —1 Corinthians 7:31 (CEB)

Welcome...Pastor Charles

Prelude...Hyeji Park / “I Need Thee Every Hour” by Bo Kim

*Call to Worship (Psalm 62:5-8)...Rebecca Glancy

Leader: Oh, I must find rest in God only, because my hope comes from the Lord!

People: Only God is my rock and my salvation – my stronghold! I will not be shaken.

Leader: My deliverance and glory depend on God.

People: God is my strong rock. My refuge is in God.

Leader: All you people: Trust in God at all times! Pour out your hearts before the Lord!

People: God is our refuge!

*Hymn...“For the Healing of the Nations” (UMH #428)

Responsive Litany (inspired by Psalm 66)...Rebecca Glancy

To be read responsively

O God, who made the world and everything in it, we pray with one voice, proclaiming Your presence to all the earth. For skeptics and believers, for clergy high and low; for those who seek God at home, at work, in the streets, and in the pews; for all who search for life, come and listen: And we will tell you what our God has done for us.

We are alive in the spirit. We are saved through water. Because Christ lives, we also live. For we too are God’s offspring.For presidents and prime ministers, for bosses and wardens; for those who set the course at home, at work, in the streets, and in the pews; for all who wield power, come and listen: And we will tell

you what our God has done for us.

We do not fear what others fear. We proclaim the hope that is in us. Because Christ lives, we also live. For we too are God’s offspring.

For friends and lovers, for neighbors and strangers, for those who eat bread at home, at work, in the streets, and in the pews; for all who live in the world, come and listen: And we will tell you what our God has done for us.

In God, we live and move and have our being. From God, we have life and breath and all things. Because Christ lives, we also live. For we too are God’s offspring.

For the sick and troubled, for the fearful and alone, for those in pain at home, at work, in the streets, and in the pews; for all who suffer, come and listen: And we will tell you what our God has done for us.

Our prayers are not rejected. Our souls are held in life. In truth, our God has heard us, and love is not withheld. Because Christ lives, we also live. For we too are God’s offspring.

For those kept in memory, for those long forgotten, for all who ever took the breath of life at home, at work, in the streets, and in the pews; for the dead and those who mourn them, come and listen: And we will tell you what our God has done for us.

We are blessed by your presence. We are filled with the Spirit. Because Christ lives, we also live. For we too are God’s offspring.

God of heaven and earth, Companion in life, Spirit of truth, to you alone we turn our eyes and lift our hearts. Amen.

—written by Margaret D. McGee on “In the Courtyard” (www.inthecourtyard.com)

Community prayer concerns and celebrations

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

Gospel Lesson: Mark 1:14-20...Rebecca Glancy

Choral Anthem...“Hallelujah, Amen” by George Frederick Handel, arranged by Thomas Hoekstra

Old Testament Lesson: Jonah 3:1-5, 10...Pastor Charles

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

Sermon...Pastor Charles / “Listen up!”

*Hymn...“I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” (TFWS #2129)

*Words for the Journey...Pastor Charles

Postlude...Hyeji Park / “To God Be The Glory” by William H. Doane

Yoga is underway!

Twelve were present on a chilly morning for the innagural yoga class at St. Paul's UMC! The class, led by Jovanka Jones and Rebecca Glancy, is offered to the community at no cost. 

Join us each Saturday morning at 9 AM, you'll be glad you did!!!

Today in Methodist history

Born on this date,1669, Susanna Annesley (later Wesley), the Mother of Methodism, was born in Spitalfields, London.

"I will tell you what rule I observed when I was young, and too much addicted to childish diversions: never to spend more time in mere recreation in one day than I spent in private religious devotions."

It will be warmer tomorrow!

 

After last week's sub-zero temperature, tomorrow will feel almost tropical. 

Come and share in the warmth that is the fellowship at St. Paul's UMC!!

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

Preview Sunday's bulletin here. 

January's Sew What

A nice time was had today at the January gathering of Sew What. Eight were on hand to enjoy working on various projects and the fellowship that is part of these gatherings. Suzanne Polacek provided the delicious lunch.

Next month will take place on February 16 and is tentively scheduled to be held in the Blue Room at the church.

Free Community Yoga Classes -- Saturdays, 9-10 AM