​May 29, 2016
2st Sunday after Pentecost
​
 Sermon
"Amazed!" 
by
Barbara Marks, Pastor
 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:

Galatians 1:1-12
 &
Luke 7:1-10
 ~

Announcements:
 
Thank YOU Nancy Burton and Becky Godwin for volunteering to clean the parsonage for the summer.  If you would like to join Nancy or Becky,  please contact the church office for more information.
 
SPPR Committee – Will be meeting at the Parsonage on June 1, 2016 at 7:00 pm.  Please contact Doris Swain with any questions.
 
The United Methodist Men meet at the parsonage for a men’s breakfast Saturday, June 4th, and the first Saturday of each month. Bring a friend! See David Marks or Warren Western for more information. 
 
Church Council – Will be meeting on June 12, 2016 at right after Sunday worship services.  Please contact John Parent with any questions.
 
The Sew ‘n’ Sew’s meet June 13 at the Green Room in Middletown. The time is TBA.  Please contact Rachel Titus for more information. 
 
Clean Water for Nicaraguans –The Accion Medica Cristina (AMC) goal to help provide water filters for Nicaragua.  Connecticut District is asked to support this project by purchasing filters – at $50.00 per filter – So far we have collected $275.00 toward this mission…. LETS KEEP IT GOING!
 
Choir Fellowship  If you have a desire to sing God’s praises with us, this would be a great time to do so.  For more information, please call Eric Buggie at (203) 494-3153, or email ericbuggie@gmail.com
 
Updating our Prayer List – We want to be sure that our prayers are heard and supported, and that we can do this effectively.  Please help us by contacting the Church office to indicate which of your prayer requests of yours on our current list should be active, and how long they should be active.  By default, we will keep new prayers on the list for six weeks, but feel free to indicate another time frame.  If you would like to have a member to pray with you personally, please contact Dianne Clark at (860) 346-7345.
 
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.
 
​

​May 22, 2016
1st Sunday after Pentecost
​
 Sermon
"A More Perfect Union" 
by
John Blossom - CLS, Pastoral Associate

 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:

Romans 5:1-5
 &
John 16:12-15
 ~

Announcements:
 
Thank YOU Nancy Burton and Becky Godwin for volunteering to clean the parsonage for the summer.  If you would like to join Nancy or Becky,  please contact the church office for more information.
 
Trustees Committee – Will be meeting at the Parsonage on May 25, 2016 at 7:00 pm.  All Trustees are asked to be there, if you can’t make it PLEASE contact the church office.
 
SPPR Committee – Will be meeting at the Parsonage on June 1, 2016 at 7:00 pm.  Please contact Doris Swain with any questions.
 
The United Methodist Men meet at the parsonage for a men’s breakfast Saturday, June 4th, and the first Saturday of each month. Bring a friend! See David Marks or Warren Western for more information. 
 
Church Council – Will be meeting on June 12, 2016 at right after Sunday worship services.  Please contact Doris Swain with any questions.
 
The Sew ‘n’ Sew’s meet the second Tuesday of every month at 10 a.m. at Heritage Commons.  Please see Barbara Hendershot for more information. 
 
Clean Water for Nicaraguans –The Accion Medica Cristina (AMC) goal to help provide water filters for Nicaragua.  Connecticut District is asked to support this project by purchasing filters – at $50.00 per filter – So far we have collected $275.00 toward this mission…. LETS KEEP IT GOING!
 
Choir Fellowship  If you have a desire to sing God’s praises with us, this would be a great time to do so.  For more information, please call Eric Buggie at (203) 494-3153, or email ericbuggie@gmail.com
 
Updating our Prayer List – We want to be sure that our prayers are heard and supported, and that we can do this effectively.  Please help us by contacting the Church office to indicate which of your prayer requests of yours on our current list should be active, and how long they should be active.  By default, we will keep new prayers on the list for six weeks, but feel free to indicate another time frame.  If you would like to have a member to pray with you personally, please contact Dianne Clark at (860) 346-7345.
 
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.

May 15, 2016
Day of Pentecost
 Sermon
"Is That Air or the Holy Spirit?!" 
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:

John 14:8-17
 &
Acts 2:1-21
 ~

Announcements:

Wear RED for Pentecost!
 
Finance Committee – Will be meeting at the Parsonage (upstairs) on May 18, 2016 at 6:30 pm.  Please contact Warren Western with any questions.
 
Trustee Committee –Will be meeting at the Parsonage (main level) on May 18, 2016 at 7:00pm.  Please contact the church office if you are unable to attend.
 
Clean Water for Nicaraguans –The Accion Medica Cristina (AMC) goal to help provide water filters for Nicaragua.  Each church in the Connecticut District is asked to support this project by purchasing at least one filter – that is $50.00 per church – To reach their goal of 200 filters for 200 families.
 
Tres Dias Retreat- Is something missing in your faith journey? Are you seeking a closer walk with Jesus? This is an opportunity for you to get away for three days, in a loving and open environment that will make your faith come alive. TDFC has been holding Christian retreats for over 35 years and is one of 100 communities worldwide. You have heard me preach about it; perhaps it's your turn to attend?  Women's Weekend Retreat May 19-22, 2016.  Ask Pastor Barbara how this retreat has changed her life and for an application form.
 
Wanted- A team to clean the parsonage.  We’d work in pairs with each pair doing the cleaning, 2 times a month, during 2 months of the year.  Please contact Doris Swain (860) 632-7877 for more information.
 
Choir Fellowship Meeting Saturday, May 21, 2016, at 9:30 a.m. All adult choir members are requested to attend.  And if you have a desire to sing God’s praises with us, this would be a great time to do so.  For more information, please call Eric Buggie at (203) 494-3153, or email ericbuggie@gmail.com
 
The United Methodist Men meet at the parsonage for a men’s breakfast Saturday, June 4th, and the first Saturday of each month. Bring a friend! See David Marks or Warren Western for more information. 
 
The Sew ‘n’ Sew’s meet the second Tuesday of every month at 10 a.m. at Heritage Commons.  Please see Barbara Hendershot for more information. 

Updating our Prayer List – We want to be sure that our prayers are heard and supported, and that we can do this effectively.  Please help us by contacting the Church office to indicate which of your prayer requests of yours on our current list should be active, and how long they should be active.  By default, we will keep new prayers on the list for six weeks, but feel free to indicate another time frame.  If you would like to have a member to pray with you personally, please contact Dianne Clark at (860) 346-7345.
​
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.

What could be better than faith that warms your heart, lifts your soul, and puts your whole life in God's hands with joy? That's Pentecost - a church season that starts Sunday, May 15th, with the celebration of God's Holy Spirit coming to Jesus' disciples fifty days after his resurrection (see Acts 2). Just as Jesus' first disciples needed help from God to turn their Easter joy into a lasting presence of God's work of love in us, we need to keep that flame of joy for God and for one another in Christ alive and growing.

First United Methodist Church, Middletown invites you to come worship and serve God with us this Pentecost season - grow your joy, allow your life to be transformed through faith, and experience all of the gifts of grace that God has prepared for you and for the world. Our Sunday worship services are 10 AM at 44 Maynard Street in Middletown, CT, but that's just the starting point of our Pentecost experience. Join us in faith and fellowship activities each week with a warm, supportive and open-minded Christian community of all ages and kinds. Let us help you to lift up your prayers to God and to seek their answers.

May God bring you the joy that you seek today, and always!

First United Methodist Church, Middletown is excited to welcome this Sunday Micah Spruance, 14, and his friend Zach Piercy, as the first Christian hip hop offertory performers in our #FirstMusic community music series. Young Christians are finding amazing and creative ways to share their faith walk with others, and the rhythmic poetry of hip hop music produces some of their most powerful and passionate witness.  

Micah has been inspired by music since elementary school, singing and learning band instruments, listening to top Christian hip hop performers online, and then starting to compose his own hip hop sounds in the 7th grade. His Christian family has encouraged him in his creative exploration of faith through this sound, and Micah's music was chosen as the top performance out of 500 competitors at a 2014 national competition. 

Please join us in welcoming and rejoicing in God's gifts shining in Micah and Zach at worship this Sunday, 10AM, at 44 Maynard Street in Middletown, CT. May God's extreme grace rock the house!

May 8, 2016
Seventh Sunday of Easter
 Sermon
"It’s in The Signs!" 
by
Pastor Barbara Marks
 Children's Sermon  by John Blossom
#FirstMusic offertory performance by Micah Spruance
Please join us for worship
Sunday at 10:00 a.m.  

 at

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

~
Scripture:

Ephesians 1:15-23
 &
Luke 24:44-53
 ~

Announcements:
 
Clean Water for Nicaraguans – Our Communion collection today will go towards -The Accion Medica Cristina (AMC) goal to help provide water filters for Nicaragua.  Each church in the Connecticut District is asked to support this project by purchasing at least one filter – that is $50.00 per church – To reach their goal of 200 filters for 200 families.
 
Tres Dias Retreat- Is something missing in your faith journey? Are you seeking a closer walk with Jesus? This is an opportunity for you to get away for three days, in a loving and open environment that will make your faith come alive. TDFC has been holding Christian retreats for over 35 years and is one of 100 communities worldwide. You have heard me preach about it; perhaps it's your turn to attend?  Women's Weekend Retreat May 19-22, 2016.  Ask Pastor Barbara how this retreat has changed her life and for an application form.
 
Wanted- A team to clean the parsonage.  We’d work in pairs with each pair doing the cleaning, 2 times a month, during 2 months of the year.  Please contact Doris Swain (860) 632-7877 for more information.
 
Choir Fellowship Meeting Saturday, May 21, 2016, at 9:30 a.m. All adult choir members are requested to attend.  And if you have a desire to sing God’s praises with us, this would be a great time to do so.  For more information, please call Eric Buggie at (203) 494-3153, or email ericbuggie@gmail.com
 
The United Methodist Men meet at the parsonage for a men’s breakfast Saturday, June 4th, and the first Saturday of each month. Bring a friend! See David Marks or Warren Western for more information. 
 
The Sew ‘n’ Sew’s meet the second Tuesday of every month at 10 a.m. at Heritage Commons.  Please see Barbara Hendershot for more information. 
 
Updating our Prayer List – We want to be sure that our prayers are heard and supported, and that we can do this effectively.  Please help us by contacting the Church office to indicate which of your prayer requests of yours on our current list should be active, and how long they should be active.  By default, we will keep ne prayers on the list for six weeks, but feel free to indicate another time frame.  If you would like to have a member to pray with you personally, please contact Dianne Clark at (860) 346-7345.
 
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.

Late in the afternoon of May 11th, a family of six from violence-torn Iraq will be arriving at a New York area airport. They will get a ride to New Haven for their initial orientation to life in the United States, and then get a ride from local Middletown, CT community volunteers to an apartment in our city. An Iraqi-style meal cooked by First UMC Middletown's Nancy Diehl will be awaiting them to pop into the microwave. A wall in their apartment will note the Qibla - the direction towards Mecca that Muslims use to pray. They will be safe, comfortable, with new bedding and furniture, ready to start a new life in our community, with God at their side.

This will be only the first of many moments in which faith communities in and near Middletown, CT will be helping this family, and two other families like them from Syria expected in the weeks ahead. Middletown's multi-faith coalition for refugee resettlement has been preparing the way for them at local meetings, the latest including a briefing from IRIS, the non-profit agency in New Haven that is coordinating refugee resettlement in our state. While almost everything on the extensive checklist for our first refugee family's initial days is in place, your contribution to Christ's radical hospitality will be appreciated for this family and additional families in the weeks ahead. 

Key needs that will be important include:

• Hospitality - getting our new neighbors familiar with local sites and attractions, including our library.
• ESL services - helping all of the family members to develop stronger language skills
• Shopping -becoming familiar with U.S. shopping for food and necessities
• Employment - the father of this family has a career in computer technologies, so awareness of potential job openings will be helpful
• And many more!

While the father is expected to have some English skills, translators from the local Muslim community will be available for other family members who will need help with English. For more information about opportunities to join our efforts to make God's love present and active for these people, please contact Nancy Diehl, Bill Collins, or email us at outreach@fumcmiddletownct.org.