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.

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.

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.

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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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.

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.