FLASH FOCUS…January 1, 2011
December 30, 2011
FLASH FOCUS
Fairmont United Methodist
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, Friends of Jesus!
And Happy (almost) New Year!
We had a marvelous Christmas Eve service at Fairmont, and now are amid the very “Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Sunday morning’s service honors tradition among people called Methodists, John Wesley’s “Covenant Service.” What better way to begin the new year?
As this year draws to a close, in gratitude to God for you and for all you mean to us, Peggy and I have regarded our Christmas offering as a “thank offering.” Perhaps you will also want to join with 30 more families who have made such a Christmas offering!
This is the last reminder I can share with you: For your offerings to be counted among those of 2011, you need to have them in the churchoffice by noon on Friday, December 30. Margie will be in for regular hours on Thursday and Friday. Your financial support is crucial (as in critical, imperative, vital, and in all ways highly important!) to the health of Fairmont United Methodist Church.
The latest “Day” is a retrospective on 2011.
Peace on earth!
Pastor Steve
A Day In The Life … The Year in Retrospect
December 30, 2011
At the turning of the year, it seems good to highlight the highlights! This is not an exhaustive list, but at the risk of leaving out important things, I offer these for your remembrance and celebration:
* We welcomed to our membership Phoebe Rummel, Margarete Hermanson, Jane Deacle, Eliese Ronke, Brian Dulaney, Maggie Lewis, Lydia Edmonds, Wesley Weaver, Will Snider, Chase Poli, Katie and Ryan Paul, Betsy Purcell and Patrick Simpson, Maggie and Adam Prince, Sarah and Rich Loeppert.
* Worship has been filled with “special” – children, youth, college students, musicians of all ages, “witnesses,” and leaders of our several ministries.
* At Easter, we entered into a twelve month effort to “become a praying congregation.” A study was followed by a sermon series, followed by distribution of 80 of the When You Pray†books. Then a group of 18 “prayed” the Psalms. Next, a prayer labyrinth!
* The large meeting room upstairs (The Upper Room) got a serious makeover.
* Our church youth have become great gardeners! They have worked on the rehabilitation of many of our planted areas – and enjoyed it!
* After 11+ years, we sent the good folks of Stop Hunger Now out into the world. Reports from 615 Hillsborough St. are that they are managing, but they miss us – a lot!
* Through SHN, we packaged 7,000 meals at Vacation Bible School and were part of a 100,000 meal day at NCSU.
* After 12+ years, we shifted our work with Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network from the “overnight” ministry to hosting an individual family in WIHN’s new “transitional” housing. Kudos to our Outreach Team!
* We have continued to seek justice for persons with mental illnesses, we were among the sponsors for both the NAMI Walk and the 250-strong “Faith Connections” event (Chapel Hill), and will do so again in 2012.
* We hosted groups of people recovering – from a variety of addictions. 17 groups each week.
* Parents’ Morning Out becomes the Fairmont Early Learning Center, and has shown marked growth, interacting with the congregation in wonderful ways.
* The Raleigh Wesley Foundation is doing significant ministry through, among and by college students.
* We “rocked” – Our young people led us March 27 in the amazing musical, “Let’s Rock!” They were back for more in Advent with, “Dude! You Hear What I Hear?”
* We worked – some harder than others, but none harder than the Slidell, Louisiana Work Team, giving of themselves for the long term post-Katrina recovery.
* Church World Service gave Fairmont a special recognition for our faithful response to Blanket Sunday and Tools For Hope. We are apparently a rarity in celebrating those on Mother’s and Father’s days! CWS is the parent agency for CROP Walks, in which we also raised our level of involvement.
May 2011 serve as a pivotal year toward even greater faithfulness in 2012!
Pastor Steve
LIVE ! LINE…Dec. 24 & 25, 2011
December 21, 2011
LIVE ! LINE
Sunday Night LIVE!
Fairmont United Methodist Church
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, LIVE! Friends!
Merry Christmas!
You may also have all this information through “Flash Focus” – you’re welcome!
It’s JESUS’ birthday – almost!
Christmas Eve
10:00 am Gather in Youth Room to bag treats (for 200 )
4:40 pm Luminaries in place
4:45 pm Fairmont Brass in mini-concert
5:00 pm Worship (carols, communion, candle-lighting)
Dinner (right after worship)
Christmas Day
11:00 am Morning Worship – features Julie Southwick, flute
7:00 pm Sunday Night LIVE! features Roenetia Steward & Randy Shepard
Meditation, “What Now?” Matthew 2:1-12
Christmas Column (Day in the Life)
Read it before, on, or after Christmas!
Peace on Earth,
Pastor Steve
FLASH FOCUS…December 24 & 25, 2011
December 21, 2011
FLASH FOCUS
Fairmont United Methodist
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, Friends of Jesus!
It’s his birthday – almost! Fete the festivities – and feast!
Christmas Eve
10:00 am Gather in Youth Room to bag treats (for 200 )
4:40 pm Luminaries in place
4:45 pm Fairmont Brass in mini-concert
5:00 pm Worship (carols, communion, candle-lighting)
Dinner (right after worship)
Christmas Day
11:00 am Morning Worship – features Julie Southwick, flute
7:00 pm Sunday Night LIVE! features Roenetia Steward & Randy Shepard
Christmas Column (Day in the Life)
Read it before, on, or after Christmas!
Peace on Earth,
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Your Christmas?
December 21, 2011
I’m in the odd position of writing a column that will be read
a) one, two or three days before Christmas or
b) on Christmas Day or
c) after Christmas, while cleaning up old emails.
So what is a word for those anticipating, those celebrating, and those cleaning up the debris? A quandary, for sure.
So let’s try this: From now until then, we’ll be asked, “So how’s your Christmas?” I contracted “how” with “is” (as in, how’s that?) or “was.” Don’t know if Webster et al. will let me get away with that, but they are unlikely to read any column of mine. Inherent to the question is not just the how is or how was, but the “your” attached to Christmas. I hope I’m not splitting hairs…
Of course, we do have a mild, or at least polite interest in the “how goes it” for people we care for enough to ask. For the moment, let’s set aside any desire to hear about family feuds (Donnybrooks! Brouhahas! Knock down drag outs!) and say, we want to know – what? What are we asking? Or hoping to hear?
If I’m asked about “my” Christmas, I immediately think of the onrush of activity, the stresses of organizing (will there be enough ham?), the unexpected and nearly derailing surprises that inevitably find their way onto the “track” to Christmas. The question seems to be part “did you keep it together?” and part “did you get any good stuff?”
We’ve used Michael Slaughter’s adage throughout the season, “It’s not your birthday.” Right! It’s Jesus’ birthday. So maybe the “your” in the “How was your Christmas?” question needs to be removed. What if we asked one another, “What happened for you during the season?” or “How did God nudge you toward the manger, and then into the world?” or simply, “Did the star shine upon you?”
I want to save the full Advent Journal for next week’s Focus. There are some themes, five “stars” that shone with a “holy light:”
* Worship – Every Sunday, we worshiped twice, “twofers,” with high regard for the coming of Jesus. The sacred story has come alive for us once more.
* Service – We gave materially to people in need, from Robeson County to next door (Christmas gifts and food), helped gather coats, and more.
* Fellowship – Was that before? Or after? Or during? All of the above! Reception, hot chocolate and cookies, Christmas Eve dinner … we do food!
* Music & Drama – Fairmont Gospel Revue, Dude!, Gloria!, and we sang all manner of Advent (preparation) and Christmas (celebration) music.
* Generosity – The giving of all that we value has been evident in every one of the areas listed above, especially in your Christmas offering.
“Our” Christmas fails miserably in self-centeredness, consumerism, and greed. By the way – you do Christmas remarkably well! May the star shine upon you!
Pastor Steve
LIVE ! LINE…December 18, 2011
December 16, 2011
LIVE ! LINE
Sunday Night LIVE!
Fairmont United Methodist Church
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, LIVE! Friends!
Special service time, 6:30 pm!
Wow! What a great season we’re having! The greens are up (and beautiful!), our young people shared the joy (wonderfully!), and THIS week, we will hear two choirs performing an amazing seasonal piece, “Gloria!” by John Rutter. Community United Church of Christ choir joins our own! And there’s an orchestra – hey, it IS Sunday Night “LIVE!”
Special service time, 6:30 pm!
This will be a BIGGER than usual crowd for our LOVE FEAST. Therefore, we will serve the
hot chocolate and cookies “reception style” after the service. We need another few batches of cookies AND someone to arrange them BY 6:00 pm. We also need more to stir and pour the hot chocolate AND to carry materials downstairs after the service.
WILL YOU PLEASE REPLY BY RETURN EMAIL THE WAY YOU CAN HELP? THANKS!
Pastor Steve
Cookies
Christy Weaver
Peggy Hickle
Margarete Hermanson
Kelly Lewis
Susie Mallard Barnes
Hot Chocolate
Mark O’Quinn
Clean Up
FLASH FOCUS…December 18, 2011
December 16, 2011
FLASH FOCUS
Fairmont United Methodist
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, Friends of Jesus!
What a marvelous time with both the Fairmont Gospel Revue and our young people leading us in, “Dude! You hear what I hear?”
6:30 pm, Sunday NIGHT, our choir will join with singers from Community United Church of Christ in performing John Rutter’s “Gloria!” Vocalists and instrumentalists together promise a stirring performance. 6:30 pm is our special Advent time for our special services.
Morning Worship will be the wonderful service of Advent Lessons & Carols, featuring seven of our youth doing the scripture readings.
Below is the list of helpers AND needs for Christmas Eve. PLEASE reply to me by email YOUR willingness to help! (Where you are already signed up – thank you! I’ve taken out things that are covered.)
Peace on earth,
Pastor Steve
Decorate Tables
no one signed up – help!
Receive Food
Helen Kraus – one or two join Helen?
Turkey Breasts – 1 or 2 more
Susie Mallard Barnes (2)
Chromy
Potatoes (any style) – 1 or 2 more
Helen Kraus
Cathy Ruff
Mary Ellen Anderson
Chromy
Ham – 1or 2 more
Louise Tippett
Joyce Anne Porter
Green Beans – 1 or 2 more
Joyce Anne Porter
Carol Shearin
Beth Koziol
Corn Dishes – 1 or 2 more
Pam Bowden
Carol Shearin
Holly & Jesse Israel signed up to bring a squash casserole
Congealed Salad – 1 more
Shirley Spivey
B.J. Thomas
Desserts – 2 or 3 more
Suzy Krutsch
Sarah Haithcock
Carol Shearin
Chromy
Clean Up – 4 or 5 more!
Rich & Sara Loeppert
A Day In the Life… And now, the offering.
December 16, 2011
During Advent, the mail has gotten more “mixed” than ever. For me, the best part is the cards and letters from those who care enough about us to send them. Of course, the even better part is a package – oh, the excitement! My address is … but I digress.
Most regard the worst part to be the “junk” mail. Yes, it’s year around, but it really gets rolling in this season. Order something from some place one time, and here come the catalogues, as many as three or four a week, which I recycle in the manner of Sisyphus. You remember him from Greek mythology, rolling the boulder up one side of the valley and never quite making it, and starting over, and over… Wasn’t it Gus (Ground Hog Day) who said, “That pretty much sums it up for me!” But I digress again – how do catalogue folks make any money?!
In between those layers of mail is a third tier, the one that interests me, and may interest you, too. It’s the solicitations. These “asks” are sometimes couched as “year end reports,” as if we were all stock holders in their cause. They may also plead their cause in ways ranging from their dire straits to the higher ground they hope to gain – with our help. Where do they all come from?
I’m sorry to say, they come from us. At some point, we have shown some interest, inquired or made a donation. Yes, “they” occasionally share our names with causes like unto their own, but that’s probably the exception, not the rule. We have a range of reactions, don’t we? From “I remember them,” to “Who is this again?,” to “Not them again!” Our interest may have risen or fallen since last we heard from them.
One of the things they’re good at, in my perception, is “guilt.” You know, “Without your help, yes you, we’ll be toes up in a heartbeat.” Who needs that?! At Christmas or any other time?! Somewhere in there might be our compassionate response, and an opportunity to do some good. But one more thing they stir in me is a sense of “value.” Think about it.
Budgets are “moral documents,” right? Don’t they reflect our core beliefs, what is really important? We all have a budget, whether it’s written down or not. The actual “line items” would be fascinating – but mostly not for public consumption, I’m guessing. With every cause that comes to us, the “value” question pops up: do I value this enough to do something about it?
Somewhere in our piles is the Fairmont Christmas letter, and with it, an offering envelope. On a regular basis, all of us are challenged at the level of our “values,” and whether we have what it takes to act upon them. Needs are budgeted, surprises rear their heads, the “ask” is ever before us.
My thankfulness for you is not contingent upon whether or not you respond to this or any other of our appeals. I am simply grateful for the life and ministry we have shared for nearly 2.2 decades. Without your generosity to this point, the journey’s path would have gone in a very different direction. Thanks be to God for you, for all you do, for all you will do. Amen.
Pastor Steve
FLASH FOCUS…December 10 & 11
December 9, 2011
FLASH FOCUS
Fairmont United Methodist
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, Friends of Jesus!
Great moments this Advent:
* Breakfast with Santa, sponsored by Parents Morning Out. Saturday, December 10, 9:00 – 11:00 am. Fun, food, and festive activities with Santa, for five (5) dollars!
* Fairmont Gospel Revue, morning worship, December 11, 11:00 am. The set includes “Joyful, Joyful,” “I Pray On Christmas,” “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” “Go Tell It On The Mountain,” and “We Three Kings.”
* “Dude! You hear what I hear?” Yes, our wonderful young people will lead us Sunday night, December 11, 6:30 pm. We receive an offering of non-perishable foods, and there’s a reception after.
* Robeson County Church & Community Christmas Store items are due Sunday, December 11.
Peaceful Advent,
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Bethlehem, O Little Town
December 9, 2011
Over twenty years ago, in my one and only trip the Holy Land, we spent time in most of the gospel’s marquee localities—the headliners. I was repeatedly surprised how un “hokey” were the sites. Yes, there were souvenir stands, but hey, everybody’s got to make a living. I had really looked forward to going to “O, Little Town of Bethlehem,” the town of song sung since I could sing at all. I was not prepared for Bethlehem, 1989.
Don’t get me wrong. It is an amazing place. Bethlehem, The House of Bread—center for baking! It’s Church of the Nativity is the oldest “surviving” church in the world. The Orthodox church is stunning. One enters through a door on one’s knees—the story is that the low door was built not for an act of devotion but to keep people from riding horses in there! There’s a floor over the original mosaic floor, and an opening to look at it. Pillars of red marble are remarkable. There’s a story that the only reason marauders did not destroy that church, as all others, was a painting picturing the “three kings.” One of them looked to those raiders like a Persian—one of their own! So rather than take a chance, the church was left standing. Whether or not it is built over the place of Jesus’ birth is utterly debatable, but another hole in the floor has a kind of sunburst around it, opening to a cave below. It all gives a pilgrim like me a lot to think about.
But the little town… Adam Hamilton says it might have had 500 citizens at the time of Jesus’ birth, but now it’s 30,000, or maybe 50,000—they’re not big on city “limits.” In 1989, coming out of the first “Intifada,” or “shaking off,” over half the shops around the town square were closed. Most had doors like we seen on a garage, and all them were covered in graffiti. We were told the Arabic slogans spoke to the struggle there and in the West Bank, occupied since 1967.
Just lately, another group of pilgrims was in Bethlehem, ten bishops, mostly from Methodist traditions, all women. I noted that Bishop Hope Morgan Ward was among them, whom some of you will know counts Fairmont among her roots. The bishops met with women: Jewish, Arab, Bedouin, even visiting a YWCA. Here are some excerpts from their report:
“We came to the land of Jesus to stand in solidarity with women working for peace. We heard their voices, listened to their stories and came away disturbed yet hopeful,” said United Methodist Bishop Deborah L. Kiesey, head of a delegation of 10 ecumenical women bishops who recently traveled to Israel and Palestine.”
“All of the women we met sought to empower other women within their communities by building on their strengths, enabling them to name and address the needs of their context and making a difference in the world. These women, by their stories, challenge and inspire us as women to find ways to work for a better future for women, children and men everywhere.”
“Ironically, in the land where the words for peace—peace, shalom and salaam—are spoken as greetings and/or farewells, this land is certainly not at peace.”
“Our passion for peace at home and abroad must be born out of our conviction to live as people, who, created in the image of God, understand the need to listen to the stories of others and admit there may be viewpoints on issues we have not yet seriously considered. We must pray for peace to become a universal priority of the church.” To read more go to Women voices of hope.
When I sing now, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” I realize that now, just as 2,000 years ago, life is harsh. How much we continue to need our Prince of Peace. Pray on.
Pastor Steve