BEYOND THE GREEN DOORS
The newsletter of the
Peterborough United Methodist Church
43 Concord Street, Peterborough, NH
January 2020
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Weekly
Sun Worship Service 10a
Mon Confidential Meeting 6-8p
Tue Office Hours 9-12
Wed Office Hours 9-12
Wed Choir Rehearsal 11a
Wed Life Groups 5:00p
Thu Office Hours 9-12
5 Children’s Pageant
7 UMW Meeting 1p
12 Free Community Breakfast 8a
14 Prayer Shawl Group 1p
14 AdCo Meeting 6:30p
17 Open Mic Night 7p
25 Men’s Monthly Breakfast 7:30p
26 Free Community Breakfast 8a
28 Newsletter submissions due
28 PUMC Book Group 1p
CHURCH FAMILY CELEBRATIONS
Birthdays:
Melissa French 1/10
Michael Robidoux 1/12
Charlie Munroe 1/18
Bek Southwick 1/19
Gloria Lodge 1/22
Janet Mack Lewis 1/22
Membership Anniversaries:
Billi-Jo Ogo
Eno Ogo
Ken Schultz
Liz Welty
Mark Welty
Pam Welty
CHRISTMAS EVE OFFERING
We are happy to report that the generous Christmas eve offering of $679 was donated to MATS this year. And, the Steven Crowe Foundation matched the church donation. Thank you to all!
UNITED METHODIST WOMEN
The UMW will meet Tuesday, January 7, 2020 at 1 PM at the church. This will NOT be our Christmas meeting or ornament swap (save those for next year!).
Instead we will be brainstorming ideas for our projects and activities in 2020.
It is really important to know on what and where we want to put our time and energy. Also think about how often to hold meetings.
Remember, we need a new president or co- presidents. Please consider volunteering.
Inclement weather policy will be—if school is closed our meeting will be postponed.
See you on the 7th to plan an exciting and meaningful year!
Carol Owen
PRAYER SHAWL GROUP
Prayer Shawl group resuming monthly meetings on Second Tuesday of each month at 1:00, at church, starting on January 14.
All knitters and crocheters encouraged to join. Yarn and patterns (easy) supplied.
OUR BEST FOR GOD
By Kathleene Card (Inspired by Dr. Carl Schenk)
Dr. Carl Schenk of Manchester United Methodist church talks about how God spoils us. He tells about a woman who came to him because she was having mystical experiences. He connected her to a spiritual director who was a therapist and a teacher. This director’s skill was in helping people understand their experiences spirituality. The spiritual director listened carefully to the woman’s mystical experiences. When she was done the director looked at her and smiled and said, “God sure spoils you.”
This reminded me of a time that I shared a poem I had written with my pastor while I was discerning God’s call to ministry. He looked at me and said, “That just shows how much God loves you.” I was taken aback and said, “I believe God loves everyone.” He paused and said, “Yes, that is true. But are you aware of just how much God loves you?” So I ask you—Are you aware of how much God Love you?
To be honest, I was a bit uncomfortable with God’s love — feeling entirely unworthy. Schenk goes on to say, “even those of us who are not mystics are spoiled by God…. God in God’s generosity is a spendthrift in giving out of abundance and not only quantity, but quality, in our lives.”
Schenk wants us to look at the ways that God spoils us. He starts with observing the splendor in the act of creation. God provides the multitude of stars, as well as a bio-diverse world, where huge plants like the largest redwood tree stand side by side with miniscule moss on the rock under the tree. God provides animals as diverse at a hippopotamus and a giraffe to be extreme and the cat and the dog to be subtle. Do we you ever stop to think that God did not have to be so generous? That this is one more example of God’s extravagance with us?
He asks if we ever think of “what an impossible treasure is the human mind.” Do we ever fathom how important “the web of human society is?” Do we think about how amazingly blessed we are to be connected to each other?
We are blessed by the farmers who plants and harvests what we eat, and by the truck drivers that haul the harvest to the mill, and the manufacturers that turns the grain into bread and pasta and all those wonderful things. We do not know any of those people but without knowing them, nevertheless, our lives are interwoven in with theirs and they bless us every day. This web of human community is a gift!
For us, as followers of Jesus Christ, God’s extravagant gift of God’s Son is God giving God’s best — the very best that God had to give.
Schenk reminds us that while we tend, “even at our best, to treat people according to what we feel they deserve, God doesn’t treat us according to what we deserve, but out of God’s overflowing mercies. God spoils us at every turn, and in every place, and every day of our lives”
So the question is how do we respond? Do we give our best back? In 2020 we have a New Year to pour out blessings upon others in response to the blessings that have been poured out on us. Let’s just do it!
Want to contact someone and don’t see their info listed? They should be in the church directory, or contact the church office at 924-4294 or email info@PeterboroughUMC.org and we’ll point you in the right direction.
Everyone is invited to contribute to the newsletter! Send in your thank yous, birthdays, photos, events, testimonials, prayer submissions…
Please submit all materials for the next newsletter (February) to our editors by the LAST TUESDAY, January 28. This is the newsletter that will be released February 2 and cover until Sunday March 1. Send to Melissa French at 924-4294 or email info@PeterboroughUMC.org, with the subject “Newsletter submission.” Thanks!
Want to subscribe? You can email or call the office (above) to get a print copy of the newsletter, or visit https://www.peterboroughumc.org/about_us/contact_us/subscribe/ to get it in your email.
PETERBOROUGH UMC COMMUNICATIONS
In addition to “Beyond the Green Doors,” Peterborough UMC offers the following ways you can keep in touch.
We are at the church. Come visit us, Sunday at 10 am!
We are on the web: http://www.PeterboroughUMC.org
We are on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pumcnh/
This newsletter was compiled by Melissa French. Any concerns with content can be addressed with Reverend Card.