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Centre UMC Newsletter, Vol. II, Issue 5
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CentreNews Rev. Mark Gorman, Pastor
Annual Conference
Centre United Methodist Church is part of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church (http://bwcumc.org/) . The Annual Conference is responsible for approving candidates for ordination, organizing local congregations, setting policy, and maintaining our connection with other United Methodist congregations in our area. Although the Annual Conference has a staff that is responsible for daily operations, officially it only meets once a year. This year’s meeting (http://bwcumc.org/ac-sessions/2015-ac-sessions/) begins on May 27.
The Annual Conference makes important decisions about a number of things that will affect Centre. Perhaps the most important thing is that this year the Annual Conference will select delegates to 2016’s General Conference, a meeting of the entire denomination. The 2016 General Conference may turn out to be one of the most important meetings in recent Methodist history. So it is important that wise and faithful delegates are sent.
Often these matters can seem distant to us. There are many reasons for that, and many solutions to fix it. But when you joined Centre, you became a member of The United Methodist Church. You do have a say in your church. You can participate in activities or serve on decision-making committees beyond Centre. And you can speak to Centre’s Lay Representative to Annual Conference, Jeff Smart, about your ideas and concerns.
This month, I would like everyone at Centre to pray each day for our Annual Conference. You will find a special prayer calendar by clicking here (https://gallery.mailchimp.com/69a6577287c49a350b2087c8a/files/May_2015_Prayer_Calendar.odt) ; copies will also be available in the vestibule. On each day you will find a specific prayer petition. Please include these petitions in your prayer at home this month, every day.
If you have questions about Annual Conference, please do not hesitate to talk to me or to Jeff Smart.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Mark
In Brief…
*Pentecost is May 24. Wear red!
*Annual Conference runs from May 27-May 30.
*Youth group will meet the 1^st and 3^rd Sunday of May. See below for details.
*Read below for a beautiful testimony about the work of Kairos Prison Ministry.
============================================================
Announcements
Monthly Prayer: Please make Centre’s monthly prayer part of your daily devotional time. This month, you are asked to pray for the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference.
As part of the Annual Conference, all congregations are asked to donate at least 4 new books for elementary school children (K-5). But Centre can do much better than that! Let’s aim for 40 books this month. You can find reading lists in the vestibule for examples of good books to buy. Please bring your books to church by Pentecost Sunday, May 24. Recommended booklists can be found ** here (http://www.bwcumc.org/bookdrive.pdf)
, ** here (http://bwcumc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/readingk-2.pdf)
, and ** here (http://bwcumc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/reading3-5.pdf)
.
A new Fellowship Lunch Workgroup began meeting last month and will continue on May 7. We will meet at 11:30 in the fellowship hall to enjoy meal and fellowship together. Following lunch we will work on small projects around the church. All are welcome! Please contact Sandy Barthel or Pastor Mark for more details.
The trustees have identified several critical projects beyond the normal scope of maintenance and repairs. These projects, with estimated costs, include:
-Repairing and replacing the concrete sidewalks and steps to the sanctuary building: $12,000
-Completing the community building ceiling renovation: $6,500
-Replacing roof valleys on the sanctuary building: $5,000
-Repairing and restoring the church bell: $3,850
These projects will have a significant impact on the safety and use of Centre’s facilities. The highest priority is the replacement of the sidewalks and steps, which are severely compromised in many locations and represent a trip hazard. We would like to complete that project before our 150^th anniversary celebration. Please consider making a contribution toward one or more of these projects. Simply put “critical projects” in the “For” line of your check.
We will participate in a Habitat for Humanity build day on June 27. Everyone who intends to work on the site must register online at ** https://www.habitatsusq.org/volunteer/construction-volunteers (https://www.habitatsusq.org/volunteer/construction-volunteers)
, where you will also complete a short safety training exercise.
Our Spring Tea will be on Saturday, May 16, from 1:00-3:00 p.m. Tickets will be available Sundays after church. See Kathy Johnson for questions or more information.
Finance Committee Report: The offering for the first two months of the year was impacted by bad weather. However we were blessed with during the month of March. Below find the updated Finance Committee Report. Please** click on this link (https://gallery.mailchimp.com/69a6577287c49a350b2087c8a/files/Financial_News_Letter_update_4_22_2015_1_.doc)
to see the full report.
The June Newsletter Deadline is May 21.
Please remember to make the Food Pantry part of your weekly grocery shopping. Adding just a can or two each week to your trip takes very little on your part and helps sustain the pantry’s efforts from week to week. Regularly needed items include canned fruit, jelly, beans, baked beans, and cereal.
If you have a graduating senior who is a member of Centre UMC, please contact Pastor Mark by May 17.
On May 10 Centre will welcome guest preacher Rev. Paul Benjamin. Rev. Benjamin is a retired elder in our Annual Conference; for ten years he was the pastor at Emory UMC in Street, MD.
Our readers in worship this month will be Lina Warfield ad Ray Blank. Our communion servers will be Clayton and Nicky Barthel and Lucinda Fisher.
Our Fifth Sundays Series will continue on May 31, when we will welcome guest speaker Joe Ryan of the Harford County Office of Drug Control Policy. One of Centre’s congregational goals is to increase awareness concerning addiction issues, so Mr. Ryan will be talking to us about the problems in the area. There will be time for questions after his presentation. Please be sure to tell neighbors and friends about this special event. Our fifth Sunday potluck will follow.
Many of our congregation’s members participate in Kairos Prison Ministry. Here is a wonderful testimony about this ministry from Ted (not a member at Centre), who recently attended a special post-Easter event called The Feast. MCI-J stands for Maryland Correctional Institute-Jessup.
I had never been in the Dining hall at MCI-J before. I’ve walked past it many times heading to prayer-n-share and the loud chaos and confusion that echoed out through the metal-grated windows always seemed a bit intimidating. Tuesday night, though, I found myself sitting in that same Dining Hall, surrounded by a hundred or so blue-clad residents who had come to celebrate something … what that something was, I was not quite sure. Most of the invited residents where already in the Hall when we were approved to walk in, the rest stood back at the door and allowed us to move in ahead of them, but not without first getting some handshake-hugs in. Aside from the echoing noise that you would expect from a hundred guys in a concrete box, what struck me most, when first entering, was that smell of dirty mop water and disinfectant that must add to the experience of their every meal. As things got started, the Chaplain quieted the group, opened in prayer, and then took
some time to honor a number of individuals for their service to the church community with words of praise and certificates of appreciation–the kind of thing that in the office world, mean you aren’t getting a bonus, but in the penal system, have real value when you are in front of a parole board.
Once the Chaplain was done, he invited the prison music team to play and–oh my–we found ourselves in one of those weirdly surreal Kairos moments where you’re not sure if you are in heaven or if you are in hell. The music team was like a barber shop quartet doing gospel, soul, rock, something, but doing it in such a way as to make you think the Holy Spirit was powering the melodies so that they would speak to your very soul. As I sat listening to the most amazing rendition of the Old Rugged Cross I’d ever heard, I found myself gazing around the room, at the people, the music, and a number of painted portraits they have hanging on the wall … Larry Bird, John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and, in the most prominent position, Tina Turner with outstretched thigh. Just as my thoughts started to go astray, pondering the decorating theme, the music team kicked it into high gear with about fifteen additional choir guys jumping in, adding some synchronized clapping,
dancing, and kick’n vocal accompaniment which got the house rockin’.
Many of those serving us dinner were Kairos guys that we’ve gotten to know in prayer-n-share and they served us as honored guests. Seeing these men serving, smiling, dancing, and getting lost in the music and fellowship, I realized that what God was doing, was that He was bringing a little piece of heaven into this prison hell and He was using it to lift these men up and into a new view of reality–one in which peace, happiness, and joy are possible. I was able to see this, because I’ve seen it before, on past Kairos weekends on which I have served. Several times, over the course of the evening, I felt an almost giddy joy at having the opportunity to witness God at work in this way, but several other times, I found myself having to hold back tears as well.
Many of those who jumped up and danced, who moved around the room with smiles and handshakes, were men that I recognized from Kairos; they were comfortable being free to smile and being free to say “Hey, it’s great to see you.” There were many others, though, that I didn’t recognize and that sat at tables at the perimeter of the room just watching with a lost and longing sort of look. You can never know another’s heart, but I couldn’t help but think that these men were raised in environments that taught them that it’s important to be tough, to be cold, and to be disinterested with this sort of nonsense and so that is all that they know how to be, but as they see the others … the Kairos guys … actually experiencing the joy, there just must be something inside them that wonders if there is any way of getting from where they are to that place of peaceful happiness and joy that appears so tantalizing close at hand, yet so far away.
Is there any way? Yes there is!, there is Kairos. When you sit in a room like this, you know Kairos makes a difference. You can see it in the way they talk, you can see it in the way they walk, and you can see it in the way they smile. Kairos changes lives.
And what was it that the feast was celebrating? I think, in its essence, it was simply celebrating the fact that we have a God that allows us to be free in Him. And isn’t this a great reason to celebrate?
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