Newsletter with images in PDF format
BEYOND THE GREEN DOORS
The newsletter of the Peterborough United Methodist Church
43 Concord Street, Peterborough, NH
May 2021
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Events:
Sunday Worship streaming on YouTube Sun 10a http://bit.ly/pumcYouTube
and posted online http://bit.ly/pumcworshipvideo
Online Fellowship Hour Sun 1p https://bit.ly/pumcfellowship
Daily Morning Devotional daily 7p http://bit.ly/revcardfb
May 11 6:30p Admin Council meeting online via Zoom
May 16 10a In-person worship resumes (please let us know if you can come)
May 25 Newsletter submissions due
Stay Involved:
Digital Welcome Card bit.ly/pumcwelcomecard
Bulletins bit.ly/pumcbulletin
Children’s Bulletins bit.ly/pumckidsbulletin
Sunday School To Go bit.ly/sundayschooltogo
Offering bit.ly/pumcoffering
Online Giving bit.ly/pumconlinegiving
Facebook bit.ly/pumcfacebook
YouTube bit.ly/pumcyoutube
Instagram bit.ly/pumcinsta
THE IMPORTANCE OF REMEMBERING MEMORIAL DAY
by Rev. Card
When I facilitated a “Hot Topics” class, I asked the members to define and/or describe what Memorial Day meant to them. From that class we created a list of reflections.
Here are some of the reflections we recorded to explain why we decided celebrating Memorial Day is important.
• We honor those in the past and the present who sacrificed their lives for us.
• We recognize that those who died had families and friends that truly sacrificed, too.
• We can say, “thank you” to those whose family members.
• Some in our class wanted to expand the honor to include not just those who died or were wounded—but anyone who served.
• Some in the class shared personal stories about how they felt during the Viet Nam War when either they personally or soldiers collectively were treated poorly when they returned.
• We remembered the hymns that were sung.
• We recalled placing flowers on graves and cleaning up cemeteries.
• The memories often brought us to tears.
• We remembered that red, white, and blue colors were everywhere.
• It was a serious reminiscence; it was a solemn time.
When the class was over, we discussed what means to serve Jesus Christ and we asked, “What kind of a uniform we would wear?” We decided our uniform would be “putting on the armor of God”. So, I close with Paul’s words to the Ephesians: 6.10-18
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
We then came up with one more list that would describe what a soldier for Jesus Christ would be like. We decided a Soldier for Jesus would do the following:
• Share the Good News of Jesus Christ,
• Respect and protect the elderly, the young and the vulnerable,
• Welcome everyone (no discrimination) into worship,
• Work to provide food, clothing, and shelter for those in need,
• Help children be formed in faith,
• Do his or her service with joy.
I asked then and ask now—whom do you know that matches this description? Take the time to let them know you appreciate what they do. Do you have other qualities you would add to this list? Send me your suggestions to revcard@comcast.net.
One more idea I would like to propose is making a list of everyone who has served or is serving from our church, and then making a booklet with pictures for Veteran’s Day in November. May is a month to remember those whose gave their lives to ensure our freedom.
CHURCH FAMILY CELEBRATIONS
Birthdays:
Kat French 5/1
Greg Robidoux 5/3
Patty Echavarria 5/9
Andy Card 5/10
Andy Dunbar 5/15
Carrie Molloy 5/15
Lilly Molloy 5/25
Kathleene Card 5/28
Membership Anniversaries:
Andy Dunbar 5/1
Lynda Volante 5/4
Carol Hill 5/10
Nancy Belletete 5/21
Doug Breda 5/23
Scott Keenan 5/27
Bobby Venning 5/27
IN-PERSON WORSHIP RESUMES, PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN COME
Dear Friends,
We are working on a plan to reopen the church building only for Sunday morning worship. We hope to start on May 16!
We need to start out slowly and carefully. We will change our plans if need be. Knowing how many people to expect at our first Sunday morning service would help us plan. Would you please tell us if you and your family are likely to come once we start regathering by remailing Laura Constantine, calling Cindy Faust, or letting the office know with a phone/email if we do not already have one. We still intend to live steam for people who cannot come in person.
The committee will do its best to make the worship service as low-risk as we can, using the recommendations of the CDC and the New England District’s resources for reopening.
The main reason we can consider reopening is that so many have been vaccinated against Covid. We would encourage all of our people to consider getting the Covid vaccine to protect themselves and others who cannot get the vaccine yet (children, for example). The more people who are vaccinated, the safer we will be!
If you are interested in helping us plan, please let Laura Constantine know – we need all hands on deck! Won’t it be wonderful to worship together in person again?!
GREETINGS FROM THE MISSIONS COMMITTEE
Some of the children will be writing notes to Arun. You might consider writing as well.
Cards and letters can be sent to (you can send flat things like stickers):
World’s Children
P.O. Box 2345
Sisters, OR 97759
You can also send an email to info@worldschildren.org. In both cases, include the name of our child – Arun Hanumanthu.
We understand he likes soccer. Also, his birthday is coming up.
Our sponsorship of $420 is due soon, so consider making a donation. Make checks out to Peterborough United Methodist Church, 43 Concord St, Peterborough NH 03458, and include “Arun sponsorship” in the memo field. Thanks.
Mission Committee
Thank you so much for your very generous contributions to the Easter Basket project! We filled 15 baskets with candy, toys, and books for MATS and SFTS. And we provided lots of candy and empty plastic eggs so that the moms at New Life Home can make baskets or have egg hunts for their children. We pray that these gifts will bring joy to these families and that they will know God’s love through our actions.
Take care, Laura C
BISHOP DEVADHAR’S CALL TO CONFERENCE 2021
April 6, 2021
Beloved in Christ:
Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
It is a pleasure, privilege, and blessing to cordially invite each and every one to our 2021 Annual Conference to be held virtually from June 10-12. Clergy Session will be June 9. Annual Conference registration will open at noon today, April 6, 2021 https://www.neumc.org/eventdetail/15113846.
We continue to wade through the challenges of COVID-19 that have affected our lives and ministries in numerous ways. As your Episcopal leader, I am grateful to each and every one of you, your churches, and faith communities as you have responded to the question the Psalmist calls all of us to answer: “How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4).
In miraculous ways, you have been adaptive people of God in ministry and mission, in the spirit of Babylonian captives, realizing that our hope is to get to the Promised Land, not just for those in the church but for all the children of God. I am also grateful to the sessions team for continuing with the theme of “Building Beloved Community.”
As baptized Christians who have decided to follow our Risen Lord Jesus Christ who showed us building beloved community is an ongoing work of the people of Easter and Pentecost, we are called to work ceaselessly in transforming our communities, nation, and world. We are reminded that the fabric of humanity is ripped and torn by selfishness, bigotry, pride, and human greed.
It is my deepest hope and earnest prayer that we prepare ourselves to gather virtually in June, clearly understanding the DNA of Methodism is grounded on the five means of grace: Prayer, Searching Scriptures, Receiving the Lord’s Supper, Fasting, and Christian Conferencing.
Friends, Holy Conferencing or Christian Conferencing is a privilege and a blessing given to us as a sacred trust! May we take time to read all the materials and participate in pre-conference conversations, asking questions, getting all the information needed, and prayerfully discerning them, so we truly experience and celebrate real, Holy Conferencing and not a political convention in June.
There are no winners or losers in a Holy Conferencing, for we all work to build God’s reign, not ours. Additionally, may we keep in mind the three simple rules in the Wesleyan tradition: Do no harm, Do good, Stay in love with God. In order to be faithful to these rules, let us make every effort to be flexible, understanding and forgiving of one another.
May we remind ourselves as we do our virtual conferencing that God has blessed us as a Conference with participants who speak many languages with variety and accents! Some have to think in their native tongue first before speaking in English. Additionally, not all are familiar with Roberts Rules of Order. Realizing all of this, may we come totally prepared to extend Christian love to its maximum level!
We are blessed to have the presence of our own sister Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, who has graciously agreed to bring us the memorial service message as our Conference preacher, and Dr. Marcia McFee and Dr. Mark Miller as our Conference worship leaders. Bishop Easterling will also join me in our Service of Ordination and Commissioning.
Friends, as your resident bishop, I look forward to each and every one of you joining hearts with one another enabling us to have truly blessed Holy/Christian Conferencing.
Most importantly, may we join one another and call upon our churches to be in constant prayer, so as our global community watches our Holy/Christian Conferencing, all may see we are the God-bearers, filled with the love of Christ and molded by the power of the Holy Spirit!
In Christ’s love,
Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar
Everyone is invited to contribute to the newsletter! Send in your photos, thank yous, birthdays, events, testimonials, poems, letters, printable artwork, prayer submissions… Please submit all materials for the next newsletter (June) to our editors by the LAST TUESDAY May 25. This is the newsletter that will be released May 30 and cover until Sunday July 4. Send to Melissa French at 603-924-4294 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 http://bit.ly/subscribepumc 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 on the web: https://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.