New Circle to Form
January 27, 2012
The new circle (as yet unnamed) will meet Monday, February 13 in the Margaret Hooke-Men’s Wesley Bible Class room at 11:00 AM.
LIVE ! LINE…January 29, 2012
January 27, 2012
LIVE ! LINE
Sunday Night LIVE!
Fairmont United Methodist Church
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, LIVE! Friends!
I can scarcely believe it – the Fairmont Gospel Revue marks 14 years since our first performance. Think of that! Come a little early, 6:45, for some extra tunes!
We’re doing a project on the “Summaries,” the scripture’s encapsulations of the “the big picture.”
John 1:1-18, “The Word IS God.”
See you in church!?
Pastor Steve
FLASH FOCUS…January 29, 2012
January 27, 2012
FLASH FOCUS
Fairmont United Methodist
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, Friends of Jesus!
Is it January? One can scarcely tell!
Sunday morning, we’ll take up one of the Mark passages (1:21-28) where we begin to see the healing power of Jesus.
We’re reminded to “bring our cans to church.” Now that the holiday bubble has passed, our
neighbors’ need emerges once more. Thank you for your generosity!
Here’s a bonus – at SNL!, special time of 6:45, The Fairmont Gospel Revue will celebrate
fourteen years of performing together – making most biblical “joyful noise!”
This Sunday’s Day in the Life speaks to the Fairmont brand of “musical diversity.” Will you “take five” to read it?
Peace and Prayer,
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Musical Diversity
January 27, 2012
“Live from Fairmont – the one and only Fairmont Gospel Revue!” Many’s the time we have heard that said. Oh – you haven’t? If you show up tonight, you’ll have a priceless initiation into an integral part of Fairmont’s musical life. Who could have imagined in the fall of 1997, when we first pulled together some of our interested (and interesting?) musicians, that the project would have legs? And keep walking into the middle teen years? 14?
Unless you just came in, you know that music to be our own brand of “gospel jazz.” Drawing on the rich tradition of R & B, which has its roots in the church, our gang has arranged spirituals, classics, hymns, and rock and roll to give them all a gospel-jazz feel – in an array of styles. While a core of musicians has remained from the beginning, we have been enormously blessed to make music with a sampling of the finest musicians from Fairmont and the wider community.
It might not have happened, had our church not already had a “bent” toward what I’m calling “musical diversity.” That may be most evident in our choir, made up of singers who faithfully rehearse and lead us Sunday by Sunday. We’re blessed with the longevity of several, including our organist, Dayle Welch and our director of music, Eric Grush. Week by week, the choir shows the deep and wide range of music that has inhabited the choral camp – for centuries. The addition of instruments is another way to make that oh, so biblical “joyful noise” (Psalm 100:1 – you can look it up!).
Our young people, from children through youth and college, also lead us with music in worship settings ranging from Sunday mornings to the special programs that frame the seasons. Who would suspect that so much humor (joy?) could be found in music?
Psalm 150 names a number of the instruments of King David’s day: trumpet (of course), lute and harp, tambourine, strings and pipe, cymbals – the really loud ones! Throw in some “dance” and you’ve got a Psalm 150-style celebration, where “everything that breathes praise(s) the Lord!”
We’ve added even more instrument (although there should be a Hebrew word for trombone). Our hand bell choir continues to ring in the good news, season by season. Their recent journey to Durham for a nine-choir workshop is another step in their remarkable development. People! This is good stuff! Add in our young people using hand-chimes and there’s a kind of all-age, all-instrument, all-style continuum across the musical spectrum.
That’s a spectrum which includes all the people. Yes, we get to sing, don’t we? It’s our heritage as the people called “Methodists.” There was a time, a great time, when we were known as “the singing Methodists.” John and Charles Wesley made it so. Charles wrote over 6500 hymns, of which we still have a double handful – alas, we don’t have any of his usual 16-20 stanza hymns currently in use! Man was a poet without end…
We sing what we believe. That’s one reason “new” hymns give us pause. Without even thinking about it, we may be asking, what’s this saying? Do I believe it? Then there are those pesky tunes, but no matter. In Wesley’s instructions for singing (on page vii of our hymnal), “Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.” Reckon how Mr. Wesley would feel about an “other” called “Jesus Is The Rock and He Rolls My Blues Away” ??
Pastor Steve
LIVE ! LINE…January 22, 2012
January 20, 2012
LIVE ! LINE
Sunday Night LIVE!
Fairmont United Methodist Church
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, LIVE! Friends!
The joy continues! What a blessing to be with the Martin Luther King, Jr, All Children’s Choir!
Sunday night, we welcome back the wonderful Sam Harris, 7:00 pm.
We’ll begin a series on some of the Bible’s great themes, this Sunday “This Creating God” brings together the Creation story (Genesis 1) with the gospel, John 1, God’s new creation.
NEXT Sunday (29th), we’ll celebrate the Fairmont Gospel Revue’s 14th anniversary of the very first performance, starting a little early (6:45 pm) for some extra music!
Peace and Prayer,
Pastor Steve
FLASH FOCUS…January 22, 2012
January 20, 2012
FLASH FOCUS
Fairmont United Methodist
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, Friends of Jesus!
What a glorious January!
What a joy to have experienced once again the Martin Luther King, Jr., All Children’s Choir!
Sunday, we’ll “pray over” our 2012 Church Council.
Laura Bottomley is calling together all who are interested in the spring musical, Celebrate Life!,
right after worship. All ages!
Upcoming… January 29, 6:45 pm, marks the 14th anniversary of The Fairmont Gospel Revue!
This week’s “Day in the Life” is entitled Haiti 2.0.
Peace and Prayer,
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Haiti 2.0
January 20, 2012
A letter from UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) begins this way:
There are moments in the life of a nation when a single event charges in with such force that people long afterward point to the day, the hour, even the minute when their lives changed radically. For the people of Haiti, that event was the earthquake that toppled Port au Prince, the capital, on January 12, 2010, at 4:53 in the afternoon.
For many of us, it’s 8:46 am on September 11, 2001, or 7:48 am, December 7, 1941, events simply known now as “9/11” and “Pearl Harbor.” The summary devastation of two years ago certainly finds its place in that company, while in terms of casualties and deaths far surpasses them both. The number is still disputed, but generally is thought to be between 158,000 and 230,00. So yes, in the midst of such death, life has changed for Haitians.
Did you know that there are around 12,000 “Non-Governmental Organizations” (NGOs) at work in Haiti? How in the world can such a vast array of philosophies, practices and beliefs come together in cooperation?!
In the midst of that, it is worth our reflection on one of the best of the NGOs, our very own UMCOR. “We” were in Haiti long before the earthquake, in fact UMCOR’s director and other agency personnel were there when the quake struck. It kind of “came home” when NC’s own Sam Dixon, then leading UMCOR, with Clinton Raab died in the rubble of a hotel – while their friend Jim Gulley survived. A letter from The Rev. Cynthia Fierro Harvey (UMCOR Deputy General Secretary) says,
Jim emerged with his life and a commitment to walk with the Haitian survivors, which he does to this day with UMCOR. Let me continue with her thoughts.
During those first crucial months, UMCOR addressed widespread emergencies, distributing food, water, and shelter assistance to hundred of thousands of beneficiaries. We conducted needs assessments and began to devise immediate and long-term relief and recovery plans in coordination with other international agencies and our chief partner, Eglise Methodiste d’Haiti (Methodist Church of Haiti, EMH).
In the early recovery phase, which continues today, UMCOR’s work has b been facilitated by our strong connections forged over decades of service in Haiti. Together with our partners, UMCOR is advancing work in the fields of education, health and hygiene, shelter and reconstruction, livelihoods, and capacity strengthening. Our regular monitoring and evaluation of UMCOR programs allow us to build on pilot projects, identify and address challenges, an improve our methods and results.
- Providing shelters for families
- Creating education opportunities and rebuilding schools and classrooms
- Increasing access to community-based health and hygiene services
- Improving livelihoods and household income, and
- Rebuilding capacity for sustainable development.
I’m guessing you didn’t know you had been doing all that! Yes, we are part of UMCOR, in the same way we are part of the United Methodist Church: through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, our witness.
There’s a booklet with fuller information on the table by the parlor. Come and see!
Pastor Steve
New Email Now!
January 13, 2012
Fairmont has a new email address…info@fairmontumc.org. Please start using the new address now! (We hope the old address will forward to us for a while.) We will also take the opportunity to make it easier to contact staff members individually. Watch for details in this space and in the bulletin.
LIVE ! LINE…January 15, 2012
January 13, 2012
LIVE ! LINE
Sunday Night LIVE!
Fairmont United Methodist Church
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, LIVE! Friends!
Oh, it’s always so great… I’m talking about the one and only Martin Luther King, Jr, All Children’s Choir! The founder and director, Randy Shepard, has been leading this famous group for 26 years – think of that!
At our regular time dozens (scores?) of singers will gather to “make a joyful noise unto the Lord!” Come early to get a good seat – and feel free to use the balcony!
Sunday, 7:00 pm – Bring a friend AND your friend’s friend!
(Yes, I’m REALLY excited!)
Praying for The Choir,
Pastor Steve
Please read my weekly reflection (Day in the Life), this one a few thoughts on the Martin Luther King, Jr., “holiday.”
FLASH FOCUS…January 15, 2012
January 13, 2012
FLASH FOCUS
Fairmont United Methodist
2501 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27607
Hello, Friends of Jesus!
The new year is off to an unexpected start – these mild days, plunging each night into the 20’s!
Today I’m counting the three day weekends we encounter each year. In 2011, we had Christmas, Thanksgiving, some had Veterans Day and Columbus Day, Labor Day, Independence Day,
Memorial Day, Easter, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day and New Year’s Day. That can mean 9-11 weekends a year that some use to travel. Here’s hoping you’re here THIS weekend!
The evening service, Sunday Night LIVE!, is the setting for our annual celebration with the Martin Luther King, Jr., All Children’s Choir – in year 26! I urge you to come for at least part of the event.
Read this week’s “Day in the Life,” reflecting on why the holiday for the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Much Peace,
Pastor Steve