Baptism of the Lord

Scriptures

Acts 10:34-43

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

"Washed By The Water"
Allison Merrill

First United Methodist Church
11am

                 Navigating in a changing world we step into the community with faith as Jesus followers.
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​NYAC-We are grateful! We were taken by surprise by our DS last Sunday during our fellowship hour. As you know we are asking for contribution for matching funds of $250 per pledging unit up to $20,000. The Bishop and Cabinet have matched the funds given by the generosity of Tom and Alice Macy to honor my husband David. Please do not give up on your efforts! We need to continue our capitol campaign for necessary mission and building funds. 

​Awaken the Spirit Sunday Mornings Study 9:30 beginning January 19th-where will the light of the Lord lead us in mission 2020. What gifts will you bring/share with our neighbors. Grab a coffee and meet in the classroom. All should attend.

​Trustees Committee – will be meeting on Wednesday, January 15th, at 6:30pm, Thelma Blake's home. Our priority details will be reviewed.

​Human Relations Day – is January 19th.  Gifts to Human Relations Day Sunday support the Community Developers Program and community advocacy through United Methodist Voluntary Services, related to the General Board of Global Ministries, and at-risk teens through the Youth Offender Rehabilitation program, General Board of Church and Society.

​27th Annual Dr Martin Luther King Jr Birthday Celebration-Monday January 20, @ 12:30pm South Congregational Church. Keynote Speaker-Reverend Robert K Hoggard. 

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You know from our Pentecost worship service how important is it to share faith with others - people who we invite through God's Holy Spirit to join us in worship are the logs that our faith is meant to set afire in Christ, so that we can be a strong and faith-filled church. We are here not just to sustain one another in faith - we are here to transform the world through faith!

In your Sunday church bulletin we included a greeting card. We encourage you to send it to someone who you know needs to be touched by faith - not necessarily a friend, but someone who you know needs to be touched by God. The card is attractive, and it should make it easy for you to touch one person or one family with the invitation to be present in the warmth of God's love this summer. 

Do you know ONE person or family who needs to be touched by God? For the price of a postage stamp - or less- you can encourage that person to be transformed by God through our church.

If you want to send this card to MORE people, feel free -below is the Microsoft Word file to print it out. Ask the church office for help if you need it. If you're visiting this post as a member of another church, feel free to adapt this design to your own outreach efforts. A church on fire is a church that invites other people to be set on fire. Let's do it!
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Catherine "Cassie" Wilson has been our much beloved music director for only a short time, but in that time she won over our hearts with her passion for music and her willingness to explore the music of our faith traditions together. Our choir was especially thankful for her willingness to work with them at convenient times. We thank Cassie especially for her beautiful trio acapella rendition of "Long Time Traveler" on Sunday with her Wesleyan University friends Torie and Maddie (The Wailin' Jennys version below). We will miss having Wesleyan students in our weekly music mix, and we hope that we will have more in the future through our #FirstMusic guest musicians program.

Now, Cassie is off to the post-graduate world of music, and so we bid farewell to her here in Connecticut. Best of luck, Cassie, our prayers are with you for a bright and fulfilling future, with God's grace upon you! Please visit us when you're in the area again.

This Sunday, May 14th, will be a very special day in the life of our church. Our 10AM worship service will be blessed with the preaching and inspiring leadership of Rev. David Gilmore. Reverend Gilmore is appointed to the cabinet of the New York Conference as the Director of Church Development and Revitalization.  In this role he is responsible for planting new churches; identifying, equipping and empowering emerging leaders (clergy and laity); supporting and nurturing the creation of new ministries; offering one-on-one consultations with churches; and, providing consultations and recommendations for churches seeking to become vital.

Rev. Gilmore is excited to be meeting us, and will be seeking an understanding of our church's commitment to dynamic new growth. We encourage everyone who if a member or friend of the church to hear and to speak to Rev. Gimore, so that the good work that we have started in bringing new life to our church may come to full fruit!

Our thanks to everyone for a joy-filled Easter celebration, with bright Easter joy rolling away the stone of our doubts and fears in the light of Christ's resurrection! Flowers, families, young adults, long-time members, wonderful music - what could be better than to experience faith with such warmth and hope. See our photos below.
Easter is just the start of getting our faith rolling for the year. We invite you to keep your Easter joy rolling in the days and weeks ahead:

• Add prayer to your daily life; a devotional reading like The Upper Room can help you to get started.
• Join a study or prayer group.
• Ask about how you can participate in our worship and mission teams
• Share your faith life at home and in our community.
• Reach out for the help that you need to let God heal the dark places in your life.
• Help others to find new light. Listen to them, pray with them, and invite them to worship.

Take it all at your own pace, but remember, Jesus didn't stop at the door of the tomb - Jesus kept on walking. And so can we, a day at a time!

Two condemned criminals faced death at the side of a man named Jesus, an innocent man, whose crime was being the Son of God, who offered forgiveness, love, healing and hope to them and everyone. How can we not want to be with him as he goes into his kingdom?
Please join us Thursday, April 13th, 7PM, at our 221 Ridge Road fellowship house living room, to experience  being with Jesus at his Last Supper and his sacrifice on the cross, both offered to us as the embodiment of God's love for us in Jesus Christ. 
Stay a while afterwards as you wish for contemplative prayer, and prepare your heart for God's amazing gift of Easter joy.

First UMC Middletown worship is great, isn't it? Well, how do we explain this to the world? How can we tell how warm, fulfilling and hopeful our church can be?

This video, posted on both YouTube and our Facebook page, tells the story of a typical day of worship and fellowship at our church. It shows how we grow from an empty room to a people filled with faith, empty the room, and then bring our faith and fellowship to our parsonage. It captures the life of our church, which you can share with others online, and in person. We have a GREAT church, one that seeks to bring God glory every day. Share that joy with others - by sharing this video and all of our messages of hope for the world.

United Methodist Committee on Relief - UMCOR - makes sure that every cent contributed to relief efforts goes to those relief missions - and not administrative overhead. How does UMCOR do it? Once a year, UMCOR asks for a special donation from United Methodists around the world to pay for that administration. Then, when we need to swing into action, they're ready! Please consider bringing a special donation this Sunday for UMCOR, or contribute online for the "One great hour of sharing" now, at:
http://www.umcgiving.org/ministry…/one-great-hour-of-sharing.
May you be blessed for sharing and caring!

We thank Ted Lawrence for his initiative in taking an online United Methodist Church course on welcoming ministries. His insights will help us to become a more invitational church! You may recall that Ted handed out a questionnaire on Sunday during church announcements. If you haven't done so already, please complete the short checklist questionnaire that he provided and return it to him via his email or in person on Sunday. A printable copy of his checklist is here. Alternatively, you can complete the following online version of the questionnaire and Ted will get the information that way. No personal information is collected. Thank you, your insights are helping us to grow God's mission on earth!