insideIntentional FaithDevelopment

2

Risk-taking Missionand Service

4

Pastor’s Message

1

Extravagant Generosity

4

Radical Hospitality

5

Compassionate Care

6

Passionate Worship

3

March 2016 Edition www.grandrapidsfumc.org

On the radio broad-cast “A Prairie Home Companion,” Garri-son Keillor referred to March as “Mother nature’s hangover.”

Kind of an intriguing image, is it not?

While the winter season has been fair-ly kind to us this year, we never really know about March. There have been years when March is awful (weather wise)… just as there have been years when March was a foretaste of spring. March is quite unpredictable. When I was in high school and playing on the baseball team, we had a “fooler” March. In mid-March, we were already outside with our practices. We were gearing up for an April 10th open-ing game. But we got a 17-inch snow storm at the end of March that caused us to cancel the first several games be-cause the field needed to dry.

The last twenty years or so, March Mad-ness has sort of made March tolerable – regardless of what Mother-Nature throws at us.

College basketball in March is big busi-ness. Admittedly, there is a lot that is wrong with college basketball! The salaries of coachesm, the enormous pressure to win at any and all costs, the viciousness of recruiting battles, the press that is always on the look-out for flaws and failures of people and institutions, and the extraordinary pressure on young student athletes to produce on and off the court, are just a few of the things that need to be al-tered. And yet, regardless of the flaws, I am hooked on March Madness. For years now, I plan my schedule so that I can “over-dose” on watching basket-ball games. I love it! It is fun to watch

the human interest stories with the behind-the-scenes look at players and families that have overcome tragedy or heartbreak. It is interesting to me to see how many underdog teams have their “one shining moment” and knock off the team that was supposed to win. It is fun to watch the surprises – as long as it is not my team that gets surprised. While I would love for Pigeon and I to be on a beach in the Bahamas for the month of March, March Madness makes it tolerable to be at home with TV remote in hand, a full refrigerator, and popcorn ready to pop.

From a church perspective, March (this year) is focused on Lent and Eas-ter. Now I have got to tell you, I am not a fan of Easter in March. When Easter falls in March, I am usually in-undated with questions about “why?” So – here is the “why” answer. On the Gregorian cal-endar (the one that we use), Easter is the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, which is the first full moon on or af-ter March 21. Easter thus always falls between March 22 and April 25. Since 1997, there have been several attempts in the World Council of Churches to set an Easter date in April. In fact, in the United Kingdom, Parliament ap-proved that Easter should be celebrat-ed on the Sunday after the second Sat-urday in April, but they have not put it into practice yet.

Lent 4, 5, and 6 (Palm Sunday), Holy Week (with Holy Thursday and Good Friday), and Easter Sunday are ALL in March. While I adore the deeply spiri-tual meaning of the Lenten season, Holy Week and Easter, from my per-sonal rhythm of things – there is just something wrong with Easter being over before the Final Four.

Now on a more serious note: I DO hope you will make a special effort to join us in these remaining Sundays of Lent. Please continue to pray the Lord’s Prayer three times a day. And then, join us for Maundy Thursday Communion at 6:15 pm, the Commu-nity Good Friday Service from 12:00 - 2:00 pm at Central Reformed Church, our Good Friday service of music, art and readings at 7:00 pm, and then two magnificent Easter morning worship services at 8:15 and 10:45 am in the sanctuary.

God Bless you, and God bless us all in our journey through March.

Grace and Peace.Pastor Bob Hundley

I DO hope you will make a special effort to join us in these remaining Sundays of Lent. Please continue to pray the Lord’s Prayer.

2

Intentional Faith DevelopmentMoms’ Group at FUMCIt takes a village to raise a child.

The internet has changed the way we interpret this African Proverb. His-tory books tell me that fi fty years ago, neighbors knew one another, kids played freely in each other’s homes and yards, and “the village” was tangible. Moms, most of whom stayed home with their children, were relatively iso-lated apart from women’s circles like the United Methodist Women. Since the introduction of the internet, blog-ging and “online communities,” our idea of “a village” now includes peo-ple we’ve never met and who live all over the world. Moms, who are argu-ably less isolated now than they were fi fty years ago, have instant access to millions of opinions and ideas about how to raise their children and have an open platform on which to share their own thoughts and ideas.

Unfortunately, this instant access to millions of ideas can perpetuate the myth that a woman can have it “all” (a successful and powerful career; an immaculate home; a happy marriage; healthy meals every day; a healthy body; perfectly done hair, nails, and makeup; the ability to stay home with her children; etc.), leaving the strug-gling mom to feel inadequate and less-than-perfect.

Cue Moms’ Group.

In 2004, Sami Marasigan started First Church’s Moms’ Group with a small group of other moms with young chil-dren. She cites, “I really needed other moms!” as her reason for starting the group. Sami organized playdates and outings and built strong relationships. Eleven years later Sami and most of the moms from the original group have moved on as their children have

gotten older, but new moms of young children have given the group continued life.

Moms’ Group is a safe place where moms can laugh, share stories, and build a reliable “village” around their children, far away from the pressure to have it “all.” We eat to-gether, pray together, and support one another on our individual and collec-tive parenting journey.

The new year has brought about a new direction for Moms’ Group. Beyond playdates and outings, we have start-ed exploring our potential for service projects and have begun our own Lent-en Book Study. We celebrated Valen-tine’s Day in February with pancakes, crafts, and playing. March and April will bring book discussion playdates of Anne Lamott’s new book, “Help, Thanks, Wow!” and Spring crafts led by Kayla Domeyer, craft blogger and Moms’ Group Member.

If you are a mom or know of a mom of a young person who is looking for a group of people with whom to share your parenting journey, please join us! A schedule of our events can be found on the church website (grfumc.org/momsatfi rst).

Audrey KawelDirector of Children’s Ministry and

Moms’ Group Organizer

Moms’ Group is a safe place where moms can laugh, share stories, and build a reliable “village” around their children, far away from the pressure to have it “all.”

3

This summer at the 2016 General Conference of The United Methodist Church, there will be a vote on legisla-tion concerning the development of a new offi cial hymnal that would be fi nalized and offered at the next Gen-eral Conference in 2020. The offi cial hymnal of the denomination is an im-portant tool in expressing the theol-ogy of the church for each successive generation. In general, hymnals have been published every 20-30 years, and it’s fascinating to read the history of hymnal publication in the United Methodist Church. The United Meth-odist Publishing House was estab-lished in 1789, just fi ve years after the Methodist Episcopal Church was formed in this country. The publish-ing of books and pamphlets was very important to John Wesley.

In recent years, “supplements” to the hymnal have become a good way to introduce new music for congrega-tional singing between publication of “The Hymnal.” In addition to “The United Methodist Hymnal,” we have in our pew racks a supplement pub-lished in 2000 titled “The Faith We Sing.” You have no doubt noticed that the hymns in this volume begin with number 2001 and extend to 2284 as the last hymn in the collection. An-other supplement titled “Worship and Song” was published in 2011, and has hymns beginning with number 3001 and ending with 3190. “The Faith We Sing” has an ecumenical fl avor, and is in use in many Protestant churches under a different cover. “Worship and Song” represents the growing diversi-ty of worship styles within the United Methodist Church, and consequently includes praise music, gospel songs, world music and music from various ethnic traditions, music from Taizé and Iona, as well as newly written hymn texts and tunes. Hymnals are also vehicles for new worship mate-rials such as prayers, litanies, affi rma-tions, and other acts of worship.

It is interesting to ponder what musi-cal and poetic material the next United Methodist Hymnal will include. A de-nominational hymnal has to represent the rich diversity and core values of the people that make up the church. It is not an easy job to select and curate such a huge wealth of material. The standards are high, and involve many questions as to language, theology, aesthetic, and style.

I would like to explore several of these issues over the coming months, and would welcome your input as to what congregational songs you find particularly rich.

I leave you with an interesting hymn titled “Peace of Our Praying” that is found at number 3022 in “Worship and Song.” Written by Terry W. York, a professor of church music and ministry at Baylor University’s Tru-ett Theological Seminary. I fi nd the structure of the poetry to be interest-ing, and not typical of other hymns. The phrases are all short thoughts, each of which could serve as a mini-meditation. There is a micro and mac-ro quality to each statement, and each statement points to fi nding God in all that we experience.

Peace of Our Praying – Terry W. York Copyright 2004 Abingdon Press

Reprinted under OneLicense.net A-703279

Peace of our praying,Song of our singing,Truth of our telling,Love of all loves,Health of our healing,Gift of our giving,Life of our living,Light of all lights.

Peace of our praying,Christ of our crying,Strength of our striving,Heart of our heart,Bread of our breaking,Wine of our waiting,Blood of our boasting,Death of all death.

Peace of our praying,Faith of forgiving,Way of our walking,King of all kings,Breath of our breathing,Courage of caring,Hope of our hoping,Life of all life.

Eric StrandExecutive Director of

Worship, Music, and the Arts

Passionate Worship

The hymnals are also vehicles for new worship materials such as prayers, litanies, af-fi rmations, and other acts of worship.

4

Your Coffee Can Dollars at WorkEach month, we spend a few noisy minutes passing empty coffee cans down the sanctuary aisles. Children dump coins they’ve saved into the can. Adults throw in coins or bills from their wallets. Sometimes people write a check. Those few minutes make a world of difference in the lives of people most of us have never met. In 2015 nearly $9000 was collected and sent to ministries that feed the hungry and offer emergency relief.

Cuba Food Program Our sister church in Herradura, Cuba, provides Sunday meals for children, families in need, and the elderly. Food is prepared and served by members of the con-gregation. Your gifts in 2015 helped launch this new ministry!

Haiti Hot Lunch This program pro-vides hot meals three times per week to over 22,000 students. The program ensures access to nutritional meals, cooked on-site, to provide energy to learn throughout the day. Your gifts in 2015 provided 3 meals a week for a year for 16 children.

Heifer Project International By giv-ing families animals, Heifer empow-ers them to turn hunger and poverty into hope and prosperity. Your gifts in 2015 were the equivalent of 7 goats.

Nicaragua Food Program Our med-ical mission partner, Dr. Mir, feeds children who are in need from her own home. Children are fed on Tues-days and Thursdays, milk is provided on Sundays. $10 feeds one child for a month. Your gifts in 2015 provided 3 meals a week for a year for 15 chil-dren.

UMCOR Emergency Relief UM-COR provides humanitarian relief and disaster response in the United States and internationally. UMCOR’s efforts are targeted in places where natural di-sasters, war, or confl ict have done so much damage that communities are unable to recover on their own. Your gifts in 2015 provided disaster relief in Jesus name.

Westminster Food Pantry Our neighborhood pantry provides an emergency supply of food and per-sonal care items to people in need while also promoting self-suffi ciency through referrals and education. Your gifts in 2015 were used in conjunction with a matching gift from Meijer to provide $1200 worth of food for fami-lies in need.

Tornado Relief for Portland United Methodist Church First Church sent funds to Portland UMC following a tornado that caused severe damage. After 8 months of repair and rebuild-ing, Pastor Tish Bowman and the Portland congregation are again wor-shipping in their sanctuary!

Thank you! You are a generous con-gregation!

Laure MieskowskiExecutive Director of Faith Develop-

ment, Outreach, and Mission

Risk-Taking Mission and Service

Thank you! You are agenerous congregation!

5

Extravagant GenerosityIRA Charitable Giving Becomes Permanent Congressional approval at the end of 2015 once again brought Qualifi ed Charitable Distribution (QCD) back to life and made it permanent. This ends years of last-minute renewals and provides certainty for those looking to take advantage of this charitable gifting strategy.

Starting this year, donors can satisfy their yearly IRA Required Minimum Dis-tribution (RMD) up to the $100,000 an-nual limit.

For example, if Jane has a $30,000 RMD for the year, she could do a $30,000 QCD to the church and satis-fy her RMD. Jane could even contrib-ute more than her RMD if she wishes,

up to the annual $100,000 limit. The benefi t of the QCD is that the amount transferred from the IRA to a charity is not included in your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) for the year.

By not including the distribution in AGI, a donor can potentially avoid the loss of exemptions, deductions, credits, and phase-outs; the alternative minimum tax; the 3.8% surtax on in-vestment income; and the increase in social security premiums for Medicare Part B and Part D. Jane would not have to include her $30,000 RMD in her AGI for the year, which may potential-ly preserve valuable tax breaks for her.

A QCD is also a way for a donor who uses the standard deduction, which many older donors do, to get a tax break for a charitable contribution.

The key planning point to remember is that QCDs lowers your AGI. This makes the QCD a more tax-effi cient way to give to the church. In other words, the cost of the donation is lower due to the additional tax savings from using the QCD provision, as op-posed to including the IRA distribu-tion in income and taking a deduction for the charitable contribution. Donors who are eligible to do a QCDare IRA owners and IRA benefi cia-ries age 70-1/2 and older. If you are considering a Qualifi ed Charitable Dis-tribution (QCD) from your IRA, please consult with your tax advisor and/or estate planning attorney about your unique individual situation. If you have any questions in general relating to this topic, you are welcome to contact Sharon Sorensen at sharons@grandrapidsfumc.org or 451-2879, ext. 124.

Dan Miller

Easter Sunday is one of the biggest days for people without a church home to attend worship. How do you welcome them in worship and make them feel at home? The following is a list of ways con-gregations, and more specifi cally you, as a member or regular attendee of a congregation, can love any and all who walk through our doors. This list is adapted from the book Now Go For-ward by J. David Eschelman, who says,

“Loving unbelievers the way Jesus did is the most overlooked key to growing a church…The command to love is the most repeated command in the New Testament, appearing at least 55 times.”

1. Every regular attendee is a host and not a guest. Making visitors feel welcome is primarily the re-sponsibility of regulars, not the nebulous “church.”

2. The most important person for a visitor to talk to in order to feel at home in a new church is you. It is not the pastor, or the greeter, but a regular attender. Eshleman says “One of the most impressive ges-

tures we can extend to fi rst time visitors is for people with no offi cial position to take the initiative and wel-come them.”

3. Treat fi rst time visitors as guests of God, not strangers.

4. Look people in the eye and smile.

5. Take the initiative, don’t wait for visitors to initiate conversation with you.

6. Ask questions and learn about your guests. It is better to express interest in them than it is to try to “sell” your church.

7. Greet children at their level.8. Let children be children. Yes,

families love children’s church and child care. They also love it when you allow them to decide if their children should remain with them in worship. Even more when you love their kids as kids (crying, playing, singing!) and don’t expect them to be grown-ups.

9. Invite visitors to join you at some-thing, anything! Invite them to return next week to the forum, a class or an upcoming concert.

10. Help fi rst time visitors by being

their tour guide and helping them fi nd worship resources and visi-tor sign-in sheet. Visiting a new church is like a cross-cultural ex-perience.

11. Tell people you’re glad they are here.

12. Pray for them throughout your week. Also pray for the visitors that will be coming next week.

13. Be yourself ! You are loving! You have a good thing going! You have the capacity to love more people, and to love more deeply.

Patsy McGillivrayDirector of Invitational Ministry

Radical Hospitality

6

Caring ConnectionAre you a parent of an active toddler? Someone who travels often for your job? A senior who doesn’t drive any-more? A recent retiree? What you may all have in common is the ability to join our Caring Connection!

Think back to a time when you lost a loved one, were recovering from sur-gery or an accident, had a new baby, were going through cancer treatment, or had just gotten married. What helped you through these challenging times? Likely the cards and notes you received in the mail gave you the lift you needed.

I clearly remember when my mother died after almost 8 months of hospi-talizations. One of the things I looked forward to each day was getting cards in the mail. They were cards of en-couragement, notes saying the sender was holding all of us in their prayers, thoughtful Bible verses, and expres-sions of sincere sympathy and sup-port. There were many times I would come home exhausted, pick up some of the cards and reread what had been

written. When I was too tired or grief-fi lled to pray anymore, it was so comforting to be remind-ed that others were there, pray-ing and caring!

As I visit our members going through all kinds of trials in their lives, I almost always hear how the cards and prayers help them through. I visit our home-bound and see the cards you send on their bedside tables or tacked to their bulletin boards. Even our 90+year olds appreciate birthday cards!

So what exactly is Caring Connec-tion? Formally, it is a small group of

people who meet at 9:00 am on the third Wednesday of each month with our chaplain, Jim Lucas, at New Begin-nings Restaurant on Michigan St NE. After some fellowship time and a tasty breakfast, Jim gives them a list of 6 to 10 people, complete with their ad-dresses, who could really benefi t from cards and prayer support that month. Can’t meet for breakfast? I would be more than happy to email or send you the list each month. Some of the names you may recognize from recent prayer announcements in worship or from the Weekly Pulse. Others may be the names of our homebound, those with upcoming surgeries scheduled, those grieving a loss, or those adopt-ing or celebrating the birth of a baby. Don’t have any cards to send? I can provide you with some! The addresses are provided on the list making it easy to take a few minutes to write a note or sign a card and drop it in the mail.

Please pray about joining this easy yet meaningful Congregational Care Min-istry! I look forward to hearing from you!

Peace and joy,

Marj Timmerman RNExecutive Director of

Congregational Care

Compassionate Care

“Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He an-swered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus replied, “Take care of my sheep.”” John 21:16

Dance and toe tappin’ music provided by our favorite band

Gooder ’n Grits

Pizza! Auction! Cupcakes! Guaranteed Family Fun!$10 per person/$30 family max

Join us for our Third Annual

Adoption HoeDownSaturday March 12

5:30–8:00pm in The Vine

A benefit for the First United Methodist Church Adoption Ministry

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