Please enjoy our newsletter for July 2017.
Beyond the Green Doors
The newsletter of the Peterborough United Methodist Church
43 Concord Street, Peterborough, NH
July 2017
STRAIGHT TALK WITH PASTOR LENA
Dear Fellow Travelers on this Jesus Journey:
We as United Methodists love our slogan, “Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors.”
And we go to great lengths to ensure that our slogan is visible everywhere: websites, Facebook pages, literature, bags, stickers, window clings, bookmarks, paperwork, pencils, pens, and even magnets. Were we to be asked, every one of us would declare, “Of course we believe it to be true.” But do we – individually and collectively?
Inevitably the question rests on two factors vis. What is our definition of “open” and To what degree? Usually when this question is asked, our minds are immediately drawn to the topic of inclusion and the question our denomination is considering regarding the LGBTQIA community. The issue of being open heart-ed, open minded and having open doors is far more extensive than that one topic.
As we traverse through the summers days ahead, and as we consider what we are going to name as PUMC’s “WHY, HOW, and WHAT,” permit me to present a few questions for all of us for ponder and prayer:
Do we have “Open Hearts” to all ages of all generations?
Do we have “Open Hearts” to all people regardless of their race, creed, tribe, socio-economic status or their self-identity?
Do we have “Open Minds” to various forms of worship?
Do we have “Open Minds” to different ideas, methods, and points of view?
Do we have “Open Doors” to the rough, raw, and real?
Do we have “Open Doors” to those with “weak hands, feeble knees, and fearful hearts? (Isaiah 35:3-4)
Remember, our one mission as United Methodists is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” This merits one further question for ponder and prayer: Are we “Open” to God’s leading, even if it means we are those ones in need of change?
Prayerfully and Lovingly; Pastor Lena
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Sun 11 SPRC meeting 6-8p
Wed 26 Prayer Shawl Group 1p
Wed 26 Newsletter due
Sat 29 Men’s Monthly Breakfast 7:30a
Sun 30 Sizzlin’ Sunday Potluck
Weekly
Sun Worship Service 10a
Sun Adult Bible Class 11:15a
PRAYER CORNER
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts,
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
“The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, nobler men and women, or they are making us more captious, more insistent on our own way. We are either getting more like our Father in heaven, or we are getting more mean and intensely selfish…
God does not exist to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God.” —Oswald Chambers, If You Will Ask
O Great and Holy One,
open my eyes to see the wonder of Your creation.
Open my mind to know Your wisdom.
Open my soul to experience Your spirit.
Open my ears to hear the voices of others in need of Your help through me.
Open my heart to love them the way You love me.
And open my mouth to sing praise and adoration to You. Amen.
PUMC BOOK GROUP NEWS
The PUMC Book Group will break for the months of July and August and will meet again on Wednesday, September 16th. Readers will be discussing Claire Fuller’s novel, Swimming Lessons. A mystery drama, the story revolves around a British family who loses its mother mysteriously. Before ‘leaving’ Ingrid writes letters to her husband, Gil,and leaves them hidden inside books in the family’s library. As Gil ages and his two daughters grow older, one daughter returns home to care for Gil and finds a letter, then … more. To join in the reading group’s discussion, find the book, read it and come join in. Easy peasy!
CHURCH FAMILY CELEBRATIONS
Birthdays:
Richard C Clason Jul
Linda French Jul 15
Steve Griggs Jul 12
Bronwin Southwick Jul 6
Membership Anniversaries:
Ron LaRoche 8 years
Charlie Munroe 17 years
Tammy Munroe 17 years
YOUTH MISSION PROJECT
PUMC is starting a mission project with the church youth. We will be doing a project near Portland, Maine 7/28-7/30. The group will be staying in a campground for two nights. We are looking for both people to contribute and people to come on the trip and act as chaperones. Please contact Linda Wallenstein with any questions.
LOVE COVERETH
Dear Family and Friends;
Something to Ponder from Streams in the Desert:
“Love covereth” (Prov 10:12)
“Be eager in pursuit of this love” (1 Corinthians 13:7-13 WEYMOUTH)
…Not long ago I read in a paper a bit of personal experience from a precious child of God, and it made such an impression upon me that I record it here. She wrote:
“I found myself one midnight wholly sleepless as the surges of a cruel injustice swept over me, and the love which covers seemed to have crept out of my heart. Then I cried to God in an agony for the power to obey His injunction, ’Love covereth.’
“Immediately the Spirit began to work in me the power that brought about the forgetfulness.
“Mentally I dug a grave. Deliberately I threw up the earth until the excavation was deep.
“Sorrowfully I lowered into it the thing which wounded me. Quickly I shoveled in the clods.
“Over the mound I carefully laid the green sods. Then I covered it with white roses and forget-me-nots, and quickly walked away.
“Sweet sleep came. The wound which had been so nearly deadly was healed without a scar, and I know not today what caused my grief.”
“There was a scar on yonder mountain-side,
Gashed out where once the cruel storm had trod;
A barren, desolate chasm, reaching wide,
Across the soft green sod.
“But years crept by beneath the purple pines,
And veiled the scar with grass and moss once more,
And left it fairer now with flowers and vines
Than it had been before.
“There was a wound once in a gentle heart,
Whence all life’s sweetness seemed to ebb and die;
And love’s confiding changed to bitter smart,
While slow, sad years went by.
“Yet as they passed, unseen an angel stole
And laid a balm of healing on the pain,
Till love grew purer in the heart made whole,
And peace came back again.”
Pastor Lena
THANK YOU!!!
To all who donated their time, talents, and resources to our First Sizzlin’ Sunday, Praise and BBQ!
Go Team PUMC:
Distributers and Gatherers of hymnals and FWS
Chair and Tables and lectern set up, take down, and return
Grill Owners and Grill Masters,
Kitchen Prep and Clean Up,
Food preparers and eaters
Musicians and Singers,
Liturgist,
Advertiser,
Hospitality Queen who waved her magic wand and wielded the phone
Bubble Blowers,
Chalk Artists
Gabbers and Chatters
And – YOU!
IT’S HUNDRED NIGHTS DINNER TIME AGAIN!
July 29th – 4:30 PM
Time for a barbecued chicken dinner for the folks who come to Hundred Nights Drop-In Center
for their Saturday Dinnertime. If you’d like to contribute salads and desserts or quick breads for the evening supper, please sign on to the Hundred Nights Menu list on fellowship room’s bulletin
board.
This month the menu includes – cold pasta salads, cold vegetable salads, quick bread loaves, iced tea and lemonade for the beverages. Other items will can be seen on the sign-up sheet.
The Hundred Nights has had chicken donated to help with meals so that part of the menu will be taken care of by Susan Lindquist. Dried cranberries and raisins are also available if someone would like to use them in a quick bread or cold salad of some type. If you would like those ingredients, let Susan know and she’ll get them to you before prep day for the meal. Many thanks for helping on this anti-hunger mission!
FAITH & FAMILY NIGHT @ THE FISHER CATS
Saturday, August 19th – Tickets go on sale In July 2nd – The missions committee is heading up a fun summertime fellowship event for the whole church! Come on out to the ball game on Saturday, August 19th at The NE Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, NH to see the Fisher Cats play, here some good praise music, nosh some hotdogs, peanuts, or Crackerjacks! The Fisher Cats are the affiliate feeder team for The Toronto Blue Jays and will face The Altoona Curve, the feeder team for The Pittsburgh Pirates.
See a member of the missions committee for tickets. Tickets will be pre-sold for $9/each. That’s a deal, considering the cost of Sox tickets! Invite community friends and family to be a part of this special evening!
50/50 FOOD PANTRY CHALLENGE
We are starting a challenge for our food pantry collection basket, to see if we can gather 50 jars of peanut butter and 50 jars of jelly by Labor Day!
CAMPBELL’S SOUP LABELS
The Campbell’s Soup label collection program, in which PUMC has participated for some time, is drawing to a close. United Methodist Women across New England have joined together in this mission for the benefit of the Hattie B. Cooper Community Center in Roxbury, MA. The last date for collection of labels will be Sunday, July 16. Labels may be deposited in the envelope on the bulletin board in Fellowship Hall or given directly to Janet Hazel. Thank you for your support of this mission.
BIBLE STUDY ON THE BOOK OF JAMES
Beginning the week of July 17, I will be offering a 7-week Bible study on the book of James.
Knowing that it can be hard to make commitments during the summer, I am offering this study on a “drop-in” basis–come when you are able or use this as an opportunity to try something new with no obligation to continue. Bring a friend. Everyone is welcome!
Dates and times (not yet determined as this goes to press) as well as the passage for discussion will appear each week in the What’s Happening e-mail and the Sunday bulletin. Review it beforehand, or just show up.
For questions or more information please contact Janet Hazel.
In this “how to” book on Christian living, James will challenge you to live a more godly life by putting your faith into action. Who can’t use that?!
DID YOU KNOW?
“GET A RIDE”
“CVTC’s Volunteer Drivers provide “no-fee” transportation for people who do not have access to transportation because of age, ability, economic situation or other limiting circumstances. Our trip purposes include non-emergency medical & social service appointments, as well as trips to the grocery store and the pharmacy.”
Call toll free 1-877-428-2882, ext. 5 to register for rides or to find out how to become a Volunteer Driver. Or check out this link to their website: www.cvtc-nh.org
THE BRIDGE BUILDER
I want to share this poem which has been quoted many times. I came across it about 20 years ago and the message stuck with me. Words to live by. (By the way, Will Allen Dromgoole was a woman who wrote over 7,500 poems). – Hiel Lindquist
The Bridge Builder
by Will Allen Dromgoole
An old man going a lone highway,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim, near,
“You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head:
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”
BEYOND THE GREEN DOORS
Church leaders should not be the only ones contributing to the newsletter! Send me your birthdays, photos, events, testimonials, prayer submissions…
Please submit all materials for the next newsletter (July) to our editors by the last Wednesday of the month, June 28. This is the newsletter that will be released on Sunday July 2 and cover until Sunday July 30. Send to Melissa French with the subject “Newsletter submission.” Thanks!
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: http://www.facebook.com/peterboroughunitedmethodist/
This newsletter was compiled by Melissa French. Any concerns with content can be addressed with Pastor Lena.
43 Concord Street (Rt. 202)
Peterborough, NH 03458