First United Methodist Church  40 Tuttle Rd  Middletown, CT  06457     860-346-3689    Worship 10:00 AM Sundays
First United Methodist Church, Middletown, CT
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  • Home
  • What to Expect
  • Right for you?
  • Fellowship + Social
    • Adult Study Groups
    • Sew 'n' Sew
  • Get connected
    • Visit or contact us
    • Latest News >
      • For children + teens
    • Meet our pastor
    • Photos >
      • Have a passion?

This Weekend at First UMC Middletown

2/26/2016

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Third Sunday in Lent
 Sermon
“Are You thirsty?" 
by
Pastor Barbara Marks

 Children's Sermon  by John Blossom

Please join us for worship
Sunday at 10:00 a.m.  

 at

The Elk’s Lodge
44 Maynard Street, Middletown, CT 

~

Scripture:

Isaiah 55:1-9 
 &
Luke 13:1-9
 ~

Announcements:
  
Please join me in wishing Dawn Amell many blessings! This will be her last Sunday with us in worship before moving to FL. We are all grateful for the many dedicated years of service she has given the Lord through FUMC. Thank You Dawn for blessing us!
 
 ‘IF’ - New Study Series. Starts THIS SUNDAY and runs Sundays, February 28th – March 20th at the parsonage following worship. Make this YOUR Lenten commitment! Our Church has made a decision to move forward...to set the wheels in motion. This series will help encourage us! Wrestling with regrets? Let God take your "if onlys" and use them as a springboard to a future filled with great possibilities! With his trademark enthusiasm and joy, Mark Batterson helps us embrace a confident, ready-to-conquer attitude based on the astounding question posed in Romans 8: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Sign up and join usthis Sunday.
 
In honor of Black History Month, NYAC Commission on Archives and History (CAH) would like to highlight the biographies of some African-American luminaries in our conference. Throughout 2016 we will celebrate 250 years of United Methodism in the New York area. This morning we are featuring Shirley I. Parris, the First Woman District and Conference Lay Leader. In this Lenten time it is good for us to reflect and be proud of our history. It is also right to be in the present and look to the future to see how far we still need to go.  Please see the insert attached, discuss it at home, and visit the NYAC.com website for other featured articles. 
 
One Great Hour of Sharing – March 6th. One Great Hour of Sharing is a Special Sunday of the United Methodist Church which calls us  to share the goodness of life with those in need throughout the world. The offering is to be used for a variety of relief programs. The funds collected are administered by the United Methodist Committee on Relief Department, General Board of Global Ministries.
 
Amazing Grace Donations can now be brought to church any Sunday. In addition to tuna and cereal, they are looking for donations of oatmeal, coffee and soup.  The Missions committee will collect these items every Sunday and deliver to Amazing Grace.  Please contact Marsha Judson with any questions at 
860-346-0005.
 
The Coordinator of Rides to The Elk’s Lodge in Middletown is Jill Bennett.  Please contact Jill at 
860-345-7382 if you are in need of a ride to our new location.


Our mailing address has changed! All mailings should now be sent to First United Methodist Church at 221 Ridge Road, Middletown, CT 06457. Thank you!
 
We have a Facebook page! Help spread the word about the church by “liking” the church page and “sharing” posts.  (
http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-United-Methodist-Church/109638702407308

 ~
* Please Note:  Church cancellations can be found on WFSB (channel 3) and NBC30.  Make sure we have your email for additional notifications. Thanks.

~

   First United Methodist Church
221 Ridge Road
Middletown, CT 06457
 
churchoffice@fumcmiddletownct.org
860-346-3689

Do not hesitate to call the church office with
any questions or concerns.
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Unique Xue Lights Up a Soulful Sunday at First UMC Middletown

2/22/2016

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On Sunday, First United Methodist Church, Middletown was blessed to have Unique Xue's soulful performance of "Precious Lord," a traditional American spiritual song, accompanied by his Wesleyan University classmate Tina Jiang on piano. Both are from China, studying in the U.S. Unique's heartfelt singing was a perfect expression of how God moves in us during the season of Lent t0 leave behind those things that separate us from being gathered under the wings of our Lord, as Pastor Barbara Marks underscored in her sermon (see Luke 13:34). Unique's performance was the first in our new #FirstMusic series of artists from the greater Middletown community who are sharing how God speaks to them through their music.
Our worship was blessed also by special performances from Eric Buggie, our new Music Director, and his wife Stephanie, who provided the heartbeat of our soul-filled worship experience. We thank Unique, Tina, their Wesleyan friend Jonathan, Eric, Stephanie, and everyone who came to worship on Sunday to share in the miracle of faith in Jesus Christ. ​
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This Weekend at First UMC Middletown

2/19/2016

0 Comments

 
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Second Sunday in Lent
 Sermon
“Warning! Warning!" 
by
Pastor Barbara Marks

 Children's Sermon  by John Blossom
Special musical guest, Unique Xue.
 
Please join us for worship
Sunday at 10:00 a.m.  

 at

The Elk’s Lodge
44 Maynard Street, Middletown, CT 

~
Scripture:


Psalm 27
 &
Luke
 13:31-35

 ~
 
Announcements:
  
‘IF’ - New Study Series. Sundays, February 28th – March 20th at the parsonage following worship. - Make this YOUR Lenten commitment! Our Church has made a decision to move forward...to set the wheels in motion. This series will help encourage us! Wrestling with regrets? Let God take your "if onlys" and use them as a springboard to a future filled with great possibilities! With his trademark enthusiasm and joy, Mark Batterson helps us embrace a confident, ready-to-conquer attitude based on the astounding question posed in Romans 8: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Sign up today.
 
In honor of Black History Month, NYAC Commission on Archives and History (CAH) would like to highlight the biographies of some African-American luminaries in our conference. Throughout 2016 we will celebrate 250 years of United Methodism in the New York area.This Sunday we will be featuring James Varick the first Bishop of the AME Zion Church. In this Lenten time it is good for us to reflect and be proud of our history. It is also right to be in the present and look to the future to see how far we still need to go.  Please see Sunday'sbulletin insert, discuss it at home, and visit the NYAC.com website for other featured articles. 
 
Amazing Grace Donations can now be brought to church anySunday. In addition to tuna and cereal, they are looking for donations of oatmeal, coffee and soup.  The Missions committee will collect these items every Sunday and deliver to Amazing Grace.  Please contact Marsha Judson with any questions at 
860-346-0005.
 
The Coordinator of Rides to The Elk’s Lodge in Middletown is Jill Bennett.  Please contact Jill at 
860-345-7382 if you are in need of a ride to our new location.

Our mailing address has changed! All mailings should now be sent to First United Methodist Church at 221 Ridge Road, Middletown, CT 06457. Thank you!
 
We have a Facebook page! Help spread the word about the church by “liking” the church page and “sharing” posts.  (
http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-United-Methodist-Church/109638702407308


 ~
* Please Note:  Church cancellations can be found on WFSB (channel 3) and NBC30.  Make sure we have your email for additional notifications. Thanks.
~

   First United Methodist Church
221 Ridge Road
Middletown, CT 06457
 
churchoffice@fumcmiddletownct.org
860-346-3689

Do not hesitate to call the church office with
any questions or concerns.
0 Comments

FirstMusic: A Unique Performer Debuts

2/17/2016

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First United Methodist Church, Middletown is excited to present Unique Xue, the first in our FirstMusic series of performers from the Middletown area community; he will be contributing his music to our worship this Sunday, 10AM at 44 Maynard Street.  Unique will be performing a soulful solo vocal of his choosing for our offertory anthem with a pianist accompaniment.

Unique is a freshman student at Wesleyan University and a member of Quasimodal a cappella. Unique is a native in Beijing, China, and his experience at Wesleyan is his first extended stay in the United States. He is a musician, an actor, a feminist and also a advocate for social justice and human rights. Welcome, Unique! We are looking very forward to your performance.

Are you someone who would like to have an appreciative audience for music that tells others how God speaks to you? If so, please contact our FirstMusic program coordinator, John Blossom, at 203.293.8511 (voice or txt), or at outreach@fumcmiddletownct.org.
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Ash Wednesday: From Dust to New Life

2/9/2016

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"You are dust, and to dust you shall return."
​- Genesis 3:19
We all want the promises of Easter. We all want the joy of a new life brought to us in faith. What are we ready to give up to follow in Jesus' footsteps? What will it take for us to trust in God's way of love now, and forever?

First UMC Middletown will come together on Ash Wednesday as a community of people believing in Christ's promises as we begin our observation of the Lent season, the forty days in which we prepare for the new dawn of Easter in our hearts. 

We invite everyone from the Middletown area to come join us on this Wednesday evening, February 10th, at our office and outreach center, 221 Ridge Road. There will be supper and fellowship at 6PM, followed by a simple and moving Ash Wednesday service and imposition of ashes at 7PM.
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First UMC Middletown Welcomes Eric and Stephanie Buggie

2/7/2016

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First United Methodist Church Middletown has a long tradition of bringing God's message to life through exceptional music, a tradition that opened a new chapter today with the official arrival of Eric Buggie as our new Music Director. Along with his wife Stephanie, our worship will now be blessed with their individual and paired talents leading us in worship and others in their own exceptional performances. 

Eric is well known for his enormous creative energies, able to create original worship music at an astounding rate. He has a natural ability to touch people's hearts through his combined keyboard and vocal talents, which has led to his signing a recording contract with a music publisher recently. Stephanie is a perfect complement to Eric, able to play the flute, to help lead choirs, and to play the piano. Between the two of them, there is little music that is beyond their reach.

Eric and Stephanie are also proud parents of their daughter Jocelyn, and as a family they are devoted to expressing their faith to others in their personal lives and in our study groups. We thank them to their devotion to a Christian way of life that is deeply felt and expressed so humbly and honestly.

Eric is also leading the auditioning of new and aspiring musical talent in the greater Middletown area for our "FirstMusic" program, which will incorporate original music and unique performances into our worship services. We held our first auditions for FirstMusic after today's worship, and the results were quite impressive!

We will have more on Eric and Stephanie's ministries in the weeks ahead, but for now, please join us in welcoming these wonderful new additions to our community!

​
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Connecticut Food Bank Open House Reveals Amazing Grace

2/5/2016

1 Comment

 
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Tom and Marsha Judson were on hand for the Connecticut Food Bank's open house tour of their new 80,000+ square foot storage and distribution facility at Research Park in Wallingford, CT. They are the proud parents of Carolyn Russell, a Food Procurement Officer at CT Food Bank, who has helped to put in place amazing logistics for distributing healthy foods to six of Connecticut's eight counties from this facility and a satellite facility in Fairfield, CT. With one in five families not able to meet their basic needs for nutrition in Connecticut, CT Food Bank's work is more important than ever. Many foods supplied are surplus goods from local supermarket chains. The quantity of food managed helps to keep the cost of feeding people down - for as little as fifty cents a person per meal.

Opened in October of 2015, the brand-new distribution facility houses huge aisles of basic foodstuffs, as well as enormous refrigerator and freezer units - don't call them "walk-in" fridges, they're drive-in sized, and then some! The quality of the food is first rate, with an emphasis on healthy eating wherever possible. Mobile food pantry vans visit communities across the state regularly, staffed by people like Jose, who make it a point to be in ministry to all those in need. No income pre-qualifications are needed - get a ticket, get on line, and you'll have access to healthy food. Overcoming the "dignity barrier" is one key point to helping people to step forward for healthy eating. Education is also in the mix, with mobile vans also available to provide classes and adults hands-on experiences with healthy food preparation.

CT Food Bank also supplies many local food pantries across the state, such as Middletown's Amazing Grace food pantry. First UMC Middletown celebrates Marsha and Tom's ongoing leadership in ministries for families needing food and dignity in our community, and all those who help in our community to bring food justice to all in need. For more information please contact ctfoodbank.org or contact our office for opportunities to make a difference in the world in loving service to God's creation.
1 Comment

Turning Vision into Action - Our Church Council Sets the Pace

2/1/2016

3 Comments

 
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A vision is just something to look at - until you decide to take action. First UMC Middletown is a church taking prayerful and thoughtful action towards building a future for faith in Middletown that incorporates the best of our beautiful traditions as United Methodists united with the best that people of all walks of life in today's Middletown area have to offer one another in faith.

​At our Church Council meeting on Sunday, our members and regular worshipers spoke thoughtfully to express their visions for the future of the church and concrete actions to fulfill them. Led by John Parent, our new Church Council Chairperson, Debbie Camp, our new Lay Leader, and Pastor Barbara Marks, a heartfelt discussion after a slide presentation by Seminarian Associate John Blossom led to two key decisions on how best to focus on church growth and discipleship formation.

The first key decision by our Church Council was to have our Board of Trustees report back to the Church Council by 30 March on available options for the acquisition of property for a structure that would be suitable for our church's mission and that would enable us to have a sensible working budget. It is possible that the recommendation of the Trustees might be to acquire land but to delay actual construction, as the church grows and refines its mission capabilities. More will be revealed by their research for the Church Council's further decision making. New people have stepped up to join the Board of Trustees to support them in these efforts.

The second important decision by the Church Council was to have our Sunday School add the teaching of traditional United Methodist music to our children. There's a strong recognition that many children today are not familiar with many basic songs from our hymnals, and that often children in schools today are not taught how to read music. Music literacy will help our children to enjoy both contemporary music and traditional music, creating a rich tapestry of worship experiences that unite all generations.

Slides from the Church Council presentation are below, and minutes will be produced in time for our next meeting. Thank you for everyone's heartfelt participation - it is not always easy to move forward, but, prayerfully and thoughtfully, it will help us to fulfill the gospel in the image of a loving God, who has never been afraid to take action for us.
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