August 2017 Volume XII, Issue VIII

Wingate United Methodist Church

P.O. Box 396

Wingate, NC 28174

Tracy Schumpert, Pastor

Pastor’s Reflections

The Burden of Death

Mark Flynn, a United Methodist Minister tells the following story. “I arrived at Geth-

semane Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky, for a retreat the day after a monk had died.

While preparations were made for the service and guests were arriving, his body was covered

with a pall and laid in the sanctuary near the altar. Just as they had been next to him during his

illness, the monks all took turns, two at a time, sitting at this brother’s side, singing the Psalms.

My lasting impression of that experience was that for these people, death was not a lonely isolat-

ed experience. Death was something that came to them while they were surrounded by the com-

munity of faith. When I came home and told a Bible study group about the experience, silence

filled the room and hung there uncomfortably. Finally, someone asked, ‘You don’t expect us to

do that, do you?’”

How different from a many years back—when there were no funeral homes. At that

time, the church prepared and buried their own. Dying and death has never been easy, but at one

time, it was understood as a burden we all took up together. It was an opportunity, like other

painful situations, to show loved ones our love.

Flynn reminds us that death is an opportunity to share love with those who are in pain.

He encourages us to see death as “a burden we all take up together.” How different the dying

experience would be for us all if we truly shared the burden of death together instead of denying

its power, ignoring its reality, trying to escape its sorrow.

Wingate and Smyrna UMC have experienced losses of family, friends and faithful church

members. It is tough! This is a moment when we need to walk together through grief. A grief

group “Beyond a Broken Heart” is beginning in September at Wingate UMC for 8 sessions.

Please look for more information in the weekly emails. This is time to share, study and heal. An-

yone who is seeking support and willing to bear the burden with others please come.

As Christians, we bear the burden of death not only with each other but with Jesus Christ.

Please embrace the power of faith, the reality of suffering and sorrow, and the peace that washes

over us when we lean on our Lord. Only as we share the burden of the journey through death

and grief will we be able to fully rejoice in the miracle of resurrection.

Email Pastor Tracy tlschumpert@gmail.com or call 405-323-4425 to be placed on the weekly

email list! Every Monday a vibrant email is sent to everyone sharing ministries, missions and

events!

Lay Servant Training Uwharrie District Lay Servant Ministries Classes Lay Servant Ministries Classes will be held at four locations with classes on the following dates at these locations from 8:00 A.M. until 4:30 P.M with worship from 4:00-4:30 P.M. We are now taking registra-tions for the fall courses. We encourage you to register as early as possible so that you can receive class materials and have sufficient time to read mate-rials. Wingate UMC, Wingate October 7, 2017 "Introduction to Lay Ministry" (Basic Course) Teacher: Rev. Steve Combs, Salem UMC "Living Our United Methodist Beliefs" Teacher: Rev. Tracy Schumpert, Wingate-Smyrna UMC "Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts" Teacher: Rev. Laura Auten, Superintendent, Uwharrie District "Preaching" Teacher: Rev. Aldana Allen, Providence UMC Agenda 8:00 - 8:30 A.M. Welcome, Registration, Coffee 8:30 A.M. - 12:00 Class 12:00 P.M. Lunch 12:30 - 4:00 P.M. Class 4:00 - 4:30 P.M. Closing Worship The cost of the training event is $30 per student to cover mailings, books, handouts, and meal. Registration forms are due into the office by October 1, for the October course. and by October 25, for the November courses. Check with your pastor or Lay Leader for form!

GET REGISTRATION FORM FROM SUSAN HENDRIX

EATING TOGETHER: A Learning Retreat, September 15-16, 2017 Camp Chestnut Ridge, Efland, NC For more information, visit lifearoundthetable.org. Registration is $75 for adults and $30 for children. A Conversation with Angela Thomas- September 15-16, 2017 Rehobeth UMC in Greensboro- A Conference for Women SEJ Disaster Response Academy- September 26-29, 2017 Hosted by WNCC. Held at Central UMC in Asheboro. UMW Annual Celebration- September 29- October 1, 2017 Change is Good, Shannon Priddy, National UMW President, speaker at Lake Junaluska Mourning's Dawn - November 12 -14, 2017 Healing and Living with Grief Led by Margaret Fields and Leslee Wray

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 AT 7 PM

Camino Island by John Grisham

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17 AT 7 PM

Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 AT 7 PM

The Faith Club by Ranya Idiby, Suzanne Oliver, Priscilla Warner

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12 AT 7 PM

P rayer Ministry

Continual Need: Emily Lawrence, Lynn Deason, Eddie Goodman, Charles Riddle, Kevin Neuberth, Diana

Starnes, Taylor Byrum, Polly Mohr (Sue Channell’s sister), Luther Johnson (Verma Johnson’s brother),

Lonnie Whitley (Carrie Wallace’s brother), Martha Burgess (Doris Wheeler’s sister), Aimee Risch (mother

of Victor Hendrix); Thomas Knight (Denise Henton’s friend), Scott Schumpert (Pastor Tracy’s brother), Na-

talie Wheeler (Doris Wheeler’s granddaughter)

Current Need: Molly Bentley; Bill Dunlap; Ervin Hamilton; Verma Johnson; Glenda Ohmann; Bucky

Henton; Matthew Ferguson; Mary Pressley (Georgia Coyle’s sister); J. B Ashcraft (Randy Ashcraft’s fa-

ther); Doris Wheeler; Sam Summers; Wes, Alisha & Faith Kilby; Arlene Frye; Ann Barber, Joyce Goodman;

Diane Griffith; Kay Knight; Rollin Channell; Arthur Johnson (Verma’s brother); Keenan Denard (Tonya

Johnson’s son) ; Lisa and Daniel Brock (Co-workers of Kurt Hendrix); Denise Henton

Homebound: Vivian Chaney, Carrie Wallace, Paul Perkins

College Students: Douglas Lawrence (UNCC), Jonathan Helms-Brown (Wingate University), Kyndal Cas-

key (Wingate University)

Joys and Praises: Weddings of: Morgan Rogers & Jenee Andreacola (Aug. 28); Donnie Lawrence & Chelsea Rich-

ardson (Sept. 2nd); and Scott Rowe & Crystal Lentz (Sept. 9)

Grieving a Loss: The Family of Steve Ferguson; Janie Goforth and the Family of Robert Troy

Missionaries: Rev. Umba Kalangwa, Tanzania, East Africa; Rev. Macklann Basse, Togo, West Africa

Always: Our World, Our Nation, Our Community, Our Church

Podcasts & Possibilities

As this newsletter was being prepared, another opportunity for communicating with church members and

others was re-established. Thanks to John Starnes, who has been working with our sound and recording

equipment on Sunday mornings, and Pastor Tracy’s technological expertise, there will again be podcasts

available of Wingate UMC worship services.

The podcasts can be accessed from our website, or from this link:

http://podpoint.com/wingate-united-church-podcast

This will make it possible for those who, for whatever reason, are unable to physically attend our worship,

to partially experience our service. It will also provide an opportunity for those who do not already have a

connection with our church to know a bit more about us and how we interact with our Lord and His word.

The God we love always offers a variety of chances for us to introduce and connect the world with Him. I

pray that we will make the most of all the ways and times that arise to begin, or deepen, a relationship with

the Creator—for ourselves and others.

-Susan Hendrix

By Jerilyn Small, Minister of Music

(This is a partial transcript of the message given on Musical Heritage Sunday, Aug. 27th)

How many of you have a favorite hymn? I can’t tell you what my favorite hymn is—I have

too many. But what I do believe I can tell you is that the hymn that is your favorite, is your

favorite because it spoke to your heart during a particular time in your life.

When we sing, Our Lord is praised. When we sing, our Lord is pleased. Our Lord is pleased

because we are telling His stories. We don’t always think of this. We think about the stories

of Jesus, the stories of creation, the stories of redemption, the stories of the early establish-

ment of the church as being stories we find in the Bible. And so they are.

I think we tend to forget that when we sing, we are also telling the stories. We are telling

the stories of grace, stories of Jesus, stories of creation, stories of God’s power. We sing sto-

ries of faith, stories of encouragement, stories of comfort. We sing stories of Jesus birth, his

life, his ministry, and also, his death. We sing stories of redemption, of thanksgiving, and of

eternal life.

I looked up hymns specifically with the word “story” in them. This list is not all inclusive,

but these are some that stand out for me. “I Will Sing the Wondrous Story”; (my personal

favorite) “I Love to Tell the Story”; “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus”; and “We’ve a Story to

Tell to the Nations”.

I would like to encourage all of us, myself included, to remember that when we sing, we are

doing more than just singing. We are doing more than just praising God—though that we are

praising God, and certainly that is important.

But I want us to never lose sight of the fact that we are proclaiming God’s message—the

message of our salvation—yours and mine. And that is surely a wondrous song indeed.

(To hear all of Jerilyn’s message, as well as the entire worship service she organized for this

special Sunday, you may listen to the Podcast at:

http:podpoint.com/wingate-united-church-podcast

G race Notes

M issions Ministry

By the O.O.C.

Gleaning Ministry—The Gleaning Ministry had one mission during the month of August 2017. We

received 1800 pounds of fresh produce from Creekside Farms of Union County. Distribution was

made to the Union County Community Shelter, The Winchester Seniors, and Gatewood Village.

Loaves and Fishes—Our church has provided 23 items of food to Loaves and Fishes during the month

of August 2017. The requested item for August was (3) 7.25 oz. boxes of macaroni and cheese. The

requested item for September 2017 is one tin of canned fruit (any variety). As always, substitutions

are welcome.

Community Garden—Due to the “Old Coot’s” bum knee, our scheduled work in the garden has been

delayed. (Some say that his brain could use a little repair work too.) However, our timing is not too

far off normal for Fall planting. A new knee brace along with his normal ornery disposition will have

that “Old Coot” back in action very soon. Thanks Be to God!

Raised Garden—We will plant green leaf vegetables in the new garden during the first week of Sep-

tember 2017. This garden should do very well in Fall season.

Missions Ministry— The Community Thanksgiving Menu and request for volunteers will be provided

as an insert to our bulletin for the third Sunday in September 2017. Thank you for your support.

Mobile Food Pantry Sept. 6

Free food will be distributed from the Mobile Food Pantry this month at Mt. Beulah Baptist Church

on the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 6. (Mt. Beulah Baptist is at 3373 Country Club Rd., Wadesbo-

ro, NC 28170). If you are able to serve this ministry, hosted by our Anson-East Union Mission Net-

work, please arrive by 9 am. In case of rain, please call 704-694-2445 to check cancellation.

UMCOR Responds to Harvey By Mary Andreolli UMCOR is currently working with disaster coordinators and early response teams to provide relief to the many victims of hurri-

cane/tropical storm Harvey. We will continue to update this page and UMCOR social media as we receive new information.

5 Things You Can Do 1. Please continue to pray for those whose lives have been impacted by hurricane/tropical storm Harvey. Please also pray for the Early Response Teams, disaster coordinators, and many volunteers in The Texas Annual Conference of the United

Methodist Church, Louisiana Conference of The United Methodist Church, Río Texas Conference of The United Meth-

odist Church and Central Texas Conference who are working tirelessly to provide relief after Harvey. 2. Make relief kits, send complete kits to http://www.umcor.org/UMCOR/Relief-Supplies/Relief-Supply-Network/Relief-Supply-Network, shipping label/packing list instructions 3. Give to UMCOR's relief and recovery efforts: https://secure3.convio.net/…/SPageNaviga…/umcor_donate.html… 4. Donate only those items requested. 5. Please wait for an invitation to volunteer. To keep relief supplies in stock, give to Material Resources Advance #901440. UMCOR - United Methodist Committee On Relief is grateful for your relentless prayers and support.

http://wordpress.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=abdf73d29d5c1af06b7c714b8&id=74de4310ca&e=97bd9083eb

Loaves and Fishes Ministry

September Donations Requested:

One Tin of Canned Fruit (Any Variety)

As always, substitutions are welcome.

Wingate United Methodist Men’s Breakfast

Wingate United Methodist Women’s Group

The Wingate UM Men meet for breakfast once a quarter, on the fourth Sunday, at

8:00am. The next meeting is scheduled for October 22nd.

Flowers for Worship

If you would like to place flowers in the church for worship, please contact Pat Byrum by the Friday prior

to the date you wish to place them. If the flowers are in honor or memory of a person or event please in-

form Pat at that time so that proper notation can be made in the bulletin.

All women are invited to join the UMW for our next meeting. This will be on October

8th at 1:00pm in the Miriam Braswell classroom.

Electronic Giving Everything we have belongs to God and we are simply managing those resources here on earth. Through our tithes and offerings, we demonstrate in a tangible way our love for God and our neighbors. We are excited to share with you an additional way to give to the ministry of the church at Wingate UMC! Use the convenient GivePlus Mo-bile app or go the Wingate UMC Website. Thank you and all givers for your contin-ued generosity to God's mission!

Views From A Loft (The Choir Loft, That Is)

By Kurt Hendrix

I have been fortunate in my life in that I achieved all of the dreams I had for myself when I was a boy —

save one. You might say that to be able to manage such an achievement indicates a lack of imagination when I

was young, but I prefer it my way — fortunate. The last one, though, becoming a wise, old man is proving to be a

bit of a problem. I managed the “man” part okay, thanks to my parents’ gene donations, and the old part is coming

along a mite too well for my comfort, but the “wise” part is being elusive. I have, however, learned to take my

wisdom from wherever I find it and, lately, I’ve been finding a lot of it in a comic strip named “Frazz.”

The strip is written/drawn by Jef Mallett and takes its title from it’s chief character, Edwin Frazier, called

“Frazz” by everyone. After college, Frazz tried to be a songwriter without much success, so he returned home,

adopted a minimalist lifestyle, and got a job as the janitor of the elementary school he attended as a boy. After

awhile, though, his songwriting career took off and made him independently wealthy, but he keeps the lifestyle

and the job because he can. As the strip’s start, he is in his early thirties and has become very much like the char-

acter of “the Riverman” in Herman Hesse’s novel, Siddhartha.. Hesse once wrote that his character of Siddhar-

tha , while searching for the meaning of his life, “...does not learn true wisdom from any teacher but from a river

that roars in a funny way…” For Frazz, the river that roars in a funny way is the river of children that flow

through the school where he works. Because he is outside the formal hierarchy of school authority but still has

seen much more life than they, they tend to listen to him. He brings to them the things he’s learned through his

experiences while they bring to him forever fresh ways of seeing things. Of course, constant exposure to all the

fresh viewpoints tends to keep Frazz acting much younger than his age. I’ve been reading earlier strips.

In the strip for February 8, 2009, a little girl is distressed, “When my Grandma was young, she was beauti-

ful and funny and smelled nice. When she died, she was sick and weak and didn’t recognize anybody. That hard-

ly seems fair.” Frazz’s response was, “Maybe life isn’t as linear as it seems. Think music. A song isn’t its final

notes. It’s all its notes at once and whatever notes you choose to remember!”

If you heard a loud noise at around 10:00am about two Saturdays ago that didn’t seem to have a source, I

can tell you what it was. It was a major paradigm shift that occurred when I stumbled over the wisdom in that

strip. The simple statement was a revelation of image to me. Life has always seemed to me to be linear. Of

course it is. There is a beginning (birth), an ending (death), and a line connecting the two. It’s the very definition

of linear, and when we celebrate a life, we’re celebrating that journey from one point to another. Aren’t we?

Well, maybe not. There was a truth in the concept of a non-linear life being like music that I could feel but not

grasp. After a lot of pondering, this is the wisdom I found — a life being lived is, in fact, linear; but a life ended is

a song completed — freed from stricture and no longer linear at all. It is probably appropriate at this time to make

the point that one person’s wisdom can be everyone else’s insanity.

But before you send for the nice young men in their bright, white coats; consider — we too often do spend

too much of our time remembering the end of days of our loved ones who have passed beyond. Things close to us

look bigger than things far away and that perspective can distort our memories of the life now beyond us. But, if

we can learn to see those lives as songs and appreciate them as a whole, we will have a better picture of their lives

and better memories because of them.

The subject here is no surprise, I’m sure, because we, as a church family, have lost three loved ones in five

and a half weeks. It can be troublesome because not only do you miss them, it brings home the truth that you have

walked the road that they have taken for three score and six years yourself. Where might your end be? But, if a

life ended is a song, you can take joy in singing all of it, as one day, others will sing of you. So, I would like to

thank you, Johnnie, Steve, and Robert, for writing the songs of your lives on our hearts, that we may remember

you and be glad.

Kyndall Caskey — September 4th

Don Ray Helms — September 7th

William McCollum — September 10th

Scott Fleenor — September 12th

Charles Riddle — September 13th

Gina Scheller September 14th

Jerilyn Small — September 19th

John Starnes — September 21st

James Clements — September 27th

Charlotte Kennedy — September 30th