Beyond the Green Doors – June 2019
BEYOND THE GREEN DOORS
The newsletter of the
Peterborough United Methodist Church
43 Concord Street, Peterborough, NH
June 2019
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Weekly
Sun Worship Service 10a
Sun Adult Bible Study 11:30a
Mon Confidential Meeting 6-8p
Tue Office Hours 9-12
Wed Office Hours 9-12
Wed Choir Rehearsal 11a
Wed Life Groups 4:45p
Thu Office Hours 9-12
Tue 4 UMW Salad Supper @Lindquist 5:30p
Jun 8 Church Yard Sale & Rummage 9-1
Jun 9 Free Community Breakfast 8a
Jun 11 Church/Ad Council Meeting 6:30p
Jun 18 PUMC Book Group @Schultz 1p
Jun 20 Visioning Meeting 7p
Jun 21 Open Mic Night 7p
Jun 23 Free Community Breakfast 8a
Jun 25 Newsletter submissions due
Jun 25 Missions Meeting 6:30p
Jun 29 Men’s Monthly Breakfast 7:30a
CHURCH FAMILY CELEBRATIONS
Membership Anniversaries:
Nancy Belletete
Douglas Breda
Andrew Dunbar
Scott Keenan
Robert Venning
Lynda Volante
PRAYER CORNER
Grant to us, O God, this day, to do whatever duty lies before us with cheerfulness and sincerity of heart. Help us in all things fearlessly to do what we know to be right; save us from hypocrisy and pretense. Make us truthful, unselfish and strong. And so bring us to the ending of the day unashamed and with a quiet mind. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
FELLOWSHIP AND A HOT DOG!!! BASEBALL OUTING ANYONE?
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats come up against the Trenton Thunder on Saturday, June 22nd at 6:35 PM. Trenton is the Double A affiliate of the New York Yankees… just so you know. The game will be at the NE Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, NH. Anyone interested in going to the game should contact Hiel Lindquist or Richard Clason, Sr. Tickets are $12/per. The guys can investigate getting a discount if there are enough folks interested in going to the game. Don’t dilly dally! Look at your calendars and see if you’re free! It takes time to get the tickets and arrange for any carpooling that folks might want to arrange! Come on out for fellowship and a hotdog!
PUMC BOOK GROUP
The book group will be discussing Broken For You, a novel by Stephanie Kallos this month. The group will meet on Tuesday, June 18th at the home of Ken and Charlene Schultz. Carpooling from the church can be arranged! If you’d like to join in reading the book and coming to the group, let one of the book group members know! There are some extra copies of the book around, as folks finish reading. We like to share! All are welcome!
ARUN’S SPONSORSHIP
Can you believe how grown-up Arun is? This is his last year of school at World’s Children. PUMC has supported Arun and the World’s Children home and school for many years. We have surely made a difference in his life, and we’re so happy to support this fine organization and the work that they do. Coming soon – More opportunities at church to contribute to Arun’s continuing housing, school, and nurturing!
BECAUSE WE NEED TO REMEMBER TO “DO THIS”
By Kathleene Card
John 14:25- 27 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
The Gospel of John has told us that the Holy Spirit will teach us everything and remind us of all that Jesus has said. The Greek word for this is “anamnesis” which is quite difficult to put into English. Most translations of this word render it as “remembering.” But in the sense that this word was used in Jewish tradition, our definition of remembering is really limited.
Let me try to explain. If I asked you to remember a specific day—say the day you graduated from High School, you might close your eyes, ask for a little quiet, and picture the places were people stood, the clothes you wore, the robe you rented. You might even think something like, “I can only remember the speaker was a man, I cannot remember who he was or what he said. Yet I do remember receiving my diploma and attending a party afterwards.”
But if you were to remember the way the ancient Hebrews did, you would have done much more. Challenged to remember your graduation, you would have rented a cap and gown, and put it on, and walked across a room while a recording of “Pomp and Circumstance” was playing. And after preparing a feast, you would have thrown a party with all the same music. You would have recreated your graduation.
For most of us in the 21st century, remembering is a solitary experience that involves mental recall. However, for the ancient Jews and the early Christians, (the first of whom were all Jews), remembrance was a community act in which the event to be remembered was experienced anew through ritual repetition. When you remembered you did something, you did not just think about something. Thus, the words we use when we celebrate the Eucharist, “Do this . . . in remembrance of me.” are not passive. We have been instructed to “Do this!” “Take bread. Give Thanks. Break the bread and give the bread to the people of Christ. Take the cup. Give thanks and give the cup to the congregation.”
While we can believe the Holy Spirit brings the risen Lord into the church, we can easily forget that the Spirit’s work in the Eucharist is part and parcel of the Spirit’s wider ministry of transformation.
God understands our innate need for outward and visible signs to help explain what we cannot touch and see. It is part of our created nature to want to understand—and God ministers to us by the working of the Holy Spirit in the material form of the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
Thus, we are called, as they were called in the early church, to participate in this experience anew, responding to the presence of the Living Christ among us. So, every time we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion, let us fully understand what Jesus meant when he told us to “Do this, as often as you gather.” Let us “Do this” as a sign of our deep covenantal relationship with God in a community that celebrates God’s love for all of God’s people.
SAY HELLO TO OUR NEW INTERN!
My name is Michael Robidoux and I am very excited to be an intern here at Peterborough United Methodist church this summer. My family joined PUMC when I was five years old and it has been a big part of my life ever since. This church community has brought me much happiness and comfort throughout the years and I feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity to give back to the congregation that has given me so much. As a young child I found it easy to become frightened about life and the real world. However, the church provided me a place of comfort and security that helped me overcome these fears. Today, I continue to look to the church and God for guidance in the decisions I make in my everyday life.
The clarity I have gained from being a part of the Methodist church is truly priceless and I look forward to helping contribute to their mission. As an intern I am excited about becoming more involved in the church community through helping out with administration duties, creating a youth group, organizing mission trips, and working at Vacation Bible School in August. I am very grateful to Reverend Card and the church community for welcoming me into this role and to all those who have made this internship opportunity possible.
YOUTH GROUP MISSION TRIP IN MAINE
The PUMC Youth Group is excited to be hosting a week-long mission trip this summer at Camp Mechuwana in Winthrop Maine. Everyone of all ages is welcome to join us. The trip will include participating in service activities such as house building/repair, gardening, and helping out with local ministries in the community. The week includes four days of service work and one free day in between where volunteers are welcome to explore the surrounding area to hike and swim. The trip is currently scheduled for July 7th-13th. Updates will be sent to the congregation as the dates and details become finalized. Sign-up sheets will also soon be in the bulletin. Please email Michael Robidoux at michaelr@peterboroughumc.org if you are interested in joining or if you have any questions.
PUMC YARD SALE – June 8th – 9 to 2 PM
Weed through your ‘stuff’ and donate to the annual yard sale! Drop off for donations begins on Sunday, June 2nd and runs through Friday, June 7th! This year, it would be nice to have a plant table too, so grab a few pots that are sitting by the fellowship room entrance and do some transplanting for the church! Spring and summer clothing rummage items are welcome also. Please have things clean and semi-folded. Thanks!
Lawn and garden games and tools are welcome too! Gently used housewares, kitchen gadgets, craft and fabric goods, linens and blankets. Small furniture items may be donated, but if they don’t sell we may ask that you get them to the dump or a consignment shop. Let’s make sure we get those posters up this week!
See you at the yard sale!
Donation Drop Off Dates and Times:
Sunday, June 2nd – 10 AM through 12 PM
Monday, June 3rd – 10 AM – 2 PM
Tuesday, June 4th – 10 AM – 6:30 PM
Wednesday, June 5th – 4 PM – 6:30 PM
Thursday – June 6th – 4 – 6:30 PM
Friday – June 7th – 4 – 7 PM
WORSHIP TEAM NEEDS HELP
The worship committee is in need of a couple to sign on to help by being communion stewards. Communion stewards, prepare the host and set up the Communion table on Communion Sundays (the first Sunday of each month) and on special liturgical holidays during the year.
Worship team also needs people to sign on to help plan, prepare and serve during post church fellowship time. A fellowship team could pass different dates around so that no one or two people must carry the whole responsibility of putting on fellowship hour.
Please consider becoming a part of the team that prepares your worship services. Contact Rev Kathleene, Susan Lindquist, or Amy Clason-Gilmet to become a part of the worship team.
Thanks!
COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER TRANSPORTATION COMPANY (CVTC)
Since 2008, CVTC has been providing no-fee transportation to people that do not have access to transportation because of their age, ability, income, and/or life circumstance. Our trip purposes include non-emergency medical and social service appointments and purchasing basic needs like food and medicine. We serve the 34 towns that make up the Monadnock Region in southwest NH.
The CVTC Volunteer Driver Program is developing driver networks in all of our towns in cooperation with the American Red Cross and the Disabled American Veterans.
We are looking to enroll more Volunteer Drivers to get people where they need to go. those who can provide rides in their own vehicles, and those who would like to be trained to drive small wheel-chair accessible vans and buses.
If you have some time now and then to give someone a ride, we’d enjoy hearing from you.
Let us answer your questions about mileage reimbursement, training, insurance and how easy it is to sign up for trips online or over the phone. Our drivers get to choose the rides that work with their schedules.
Please give us a call toll-free at 1-877-428-2882, ext. 5.
http://www.cvtc-nh.org/
EMBRACING NEW AMERICANS
Eva Castillo was the keynote speaker at the NH District Meeting of the United Methodist Women on May 4th. When Eva arrived in the United States from Venezuela in 1976, she went from being a member of a privileged minority—part of Venezuela’s upper class, a daughter of a prosperous businessman, a college-bound, private-school graduate—to being a member of an under-privileged minority. Or at least that’s how people saw her. Her English was polished, and correct. But all people heard was her accent. Forty-three years later, people still make assumptions about her accent.
As executive director of the New Hampshire Alliance of Immigrants and Refugees, and director of Welcoming New Hampshire she spends her days (and many nights and weekends) helping immigrants and refugees integrate into New Hampshire communities – helping them learn English, find jobs that match their skills, become self-sufficient and contribute to civic life. She gets quite close to these families. After seeing a mother of five sons watch helplessly as one by one, her four oldest children were deported, out of compassion, Eva adopted the last so that at least one could realize his mother’s dream.
In the afternoon we heard from Bob Wolfe, a retired Concord plumber. In the year 2000, when Concord became a designated receiving town for war refugees, Bob noticed that the 500 refugee children were having a hard time connecting with other students at school. Recognizing that sports are in international language, he began collecting new and used sports equipment so these kids could participate. Today, he’s a shuttle service, transporting kids with nightmarish backgrounds to youth sporting events all over the city and he’s a savings account, digging into his own pocket to buy sports equipment so the kids can play. “Mr. Bob” is a beloved figure and he is joyfully welcomed whenever he enters their neighborhoods.
On the first and third Tuesdays of every month, an Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice is held at 9 am at the Norris Cotton Federal Building in Manchester, where the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) offices are. These are the days when immigrants report for routine check-ins occur and also when those mandated to be deported must report. Concerned and compassionate individuals come from as far away as Jaffrey, Nashua, and Portsmouth to demonstrate their support of these individuals and families.
I attended the vigil held on May 21st and was moved to tears by this beautiful service, incorporating prayers, song, and a silent Jericho walk. Modeled after the collapse of the walls of Jericho following the Israelites’ circling of the city seven times as told in the sixth chapter of Joshua, the group (about thirty to forty of us that day, but sometimes as many as a hundred) walked around the federal building seven times. I used this time to reflect upon my own privileged life and what it must be like to feel unwelcome in “the land of the free,” to live in constant fear of opening one’s door, of going to the doctor and thus being discovered, of not being able to protect one’s children. I plan to continue to attend these vigils, so if you are interested in attending one, please see me and perhaps we can carpool. Copies of the program are available in the Fellowship Hall.
For those wanting to make an even stronger statement, from August 21-24 there will be a Solidarity Walk for Immigrant Justice, going from Concord to the Strafford County jail in Dover, the NH site for immigrant detention.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ —Matthew 25:31-40
– Janet Hazel
NEW CHAIRS
If you would like to donate to help defray the cost of the new Fellowship Hall padded chairs, there is still time. The cost of each chair is $33.00. Please make out a check to the Church and write chairs in the memo line. You can mail a check to the church to the attention of the Financial Secretary or bring a check to church. Thank you from the Trustees.
BEYOND THE GREEN DOORS
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 (July) to our editors by the LAST TUESDAY, June 25. This is the newsletter that will be released June 30 and cover until Sunday August 4. Send to Melissa French at 924-4294 or email info@PeterboroughUMC.org, 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 Reverend Card.