November is just around the corner and Bazaar day will be here before we know it.

The tent has been ordered and now we need everyone to fill it with crafts, jellies, canned goods, sewn items and produce for sale.

We will be holding workshops on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 from now until the Bazaar.  If you have new ideas for craft items, please let us know.

The UM Women’s group is still taking orders for personalized pans and other items.  See any member to place your order.

 

Every year we have a fall hike and this year is no exception.  So mark you calendars now for Sunday October 18^th so you don’t miss it.

Where are we hiking this year?  When asking our hike coordinators, John and Tina King, they said they would like to go “somewhere new” but haven’t located where.  It was also mentioned that maybe we should call it our “Mystery Hike”.

Regardless of where, old or new” a grand time is awaiting all who want to get out and enjoy the crisp fall air and all of God’s beauty that fall provides. 

Get your hiking shoes (or sneakers) ready and more details will follow.

 

Starting October 1^st, we will be offering Thursday Night Bible Study for all ages. Come to church at 6:30 for dinner and then stay for Bible Study. Everything will be done by 8:30!

The children will be studying the life of Jesus  and teens in 5^th grade and up will also be studying the life of Jesus, with a special video supplement,. There will be a  Parenting class focuses on Raising Spirit-Filled Children, and the other adult class will be on Overcoming Adversary.

Please invite your friends and neighbors!

 

The Wednesday soup and study has started and follows every Wednesday!

We meet at noon, enjoy lunch and Bible Study. We will start the fall with Beth Moore’s Patriarch’s Study. See Pastor Katie for details.

 

On October 11th after worship you are invited to enjoy a lunch with your family and then fall games as we celebrate the light of Christ with each other.

Do you remember last year?  Do you remember the bubble, the slime, the light toss, the lab coats, the good food?  Some of the old and some new games will be available.

Children are welcome to bring their costumes to change into after lunch.

Donations of candy are needed and welcomed.  If you can contribute in anyway, see Linda Reeder or Pastor Katie for details.

 

As we move forward in sharing God’s Word with the World, we are looking for your suggestions.

Please fill out a yellow card answering the following questions: What does Garfield do well? What can Garfield work on? If Garfield could do anything, what would you like to see happening here? Cards can be put in the offering plate or left in the white box in the entry way.

Thank you for taking the time to fill them out!

 

Did you know there are new Sunday School classes?

There is now a class for elementary aged children and a class for middle schoolers

Sunday School is an important part of spiritual growth for all people! Please come at 9:00 on Sunday mornings!

 

September marked the start of the Jr. Kings Kids youth group.  Even though we started out small we have big ideas for the group, like Operation Christmas Child mission project, hiking/mountain biking trips, Hershey Park trip in December with the Kings Kid’s, and building a sled for next year’s sled derby race. 

We met at the church at 5 and started the evening off with an ice breaker game where we learned a lot of interesting facts about each other.  We had a ten minute devotional that got the kids actively involved in studying God’s word.  We also enjoyed a friendly game of kickball outside, before ending the night with pizza.

I encourage anyone with children interested in learning about the Bible, being involved in group activities and trips, and meeting new friends; to bring them to Jr. Kings Kids every third Sunday of the month, we meet at the church at 5 and it last until 6:30 or a little later. 

 

Mark your calendars now for the Charge Conference is scheduled for October 25^th at 4:00 pm at Grace UMC in Hagerstown. This is the time we celebrate the growth of Garfield in the last year, approve new leadership for 2010 and pastoral compensation. Please plan to attend. Worship with other churches will start at 3, if you are able to attend.

 

A beautiful psalm describes God’s majesty and speaks of human dignity. Which of the following psalms describes people as having been crowned by God “with glory and honor”?

A. Psalm 1                 B. Psalm 8

C. Psalm 23               D. Psalm 51

 

From Pastor Katie

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God,

which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity,

but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

2 Timothy 1:6-7

 Standing around a camp fire pit, we realized we had a problem. No one knew how to make a fire – at least a good one. As we did our best to crumple paper and stack wood, each attempt to set the pile on fire was unsuccessful. All we could get was a little spark. Desperate to roast marshmallows, we began to fan the little spark with the extra paper. I am sure we were a sight! Standing there with paper, fanning this little spark – hoping that it would become a big fire. And it did! It took a while, but finally we had the fire we were longing for.

Paul, in his second letter to Timothy calls us to fan into flame the gift of God. He call us to set our hearts on fire for God. We are called to fan the flame of our relationship with Jesus Christ, so that we might have a spirit of power, love and self-discipline. Instead of being timid about our faith, this fire is called to ignite our relationship with God.

Are you fanning the flame? Are you growing in your relationship with, in your love of Jesus? Fanning the flame of the Spirit moving in and through us is important as we seek to serve God and proclaim the Gospel to the world. If we are not on fire for God, there is no power behind our words. If we are not on fire for God, there is no strength in our words. If we are not on fire, there is no depth in our faith. If we are not on fire, we are not ready to face any challenge that comes our way.

So how do we fan the flame? I think it starts with taking time to study the Word. There are lots of opportunities to study the Word of God this fall at Garfield . With new Sunday School classes, our Sunday School is growing to meet the needs of our community. Join us Sunday mornings at 9:00 am to fan the flame. Wednesday’s our Soup and Study is spending time looking at the Patriarchs of the Old Testament – men who fanned the flame so that they could face whatever challenge came there way. Join us Wednesdays at noon for lunch and study. And our new adventure, Bible Study For the Whole Church Family, starts October 1^st and continues every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Join us for dinner at 6:30 and then we will break into classes to fan the flame by studying the Word.

This fall, may you and your family fan the flame of your relationship with God so that you might be set on fire to serve the Lord.

 

In October, many churches conduct stewardship campaigns. Sadly, many church members associate the word stewardship only with pledge cards, budget discussions and a challenge to give more generously. Actually, stewardship deals with managing everything God has given to us — our brain, body, talent, time and spiritual life. It’s our total response to God’s gifts.

Stewardship campaigns give us an opportunity to re-appraise our lives as a whole. Are we glorifying God with our minds, bodies, talents, property, financial resources, etc? Are we using our gifts to spread Christ’s gospel? How are we showing our love to God and the church?

Taking inventory of our stewardship is a meaningful experience. Consider God’s indescribable goodness toward you, as well as your response to his showers of blessing. That will reveal the quality of your stewardship.

--Submitted by Andrew Brown

Many times I am reminded by the power of Faith.  I see it work wonders in mine and others’ life.  I’m reminded of faith every time I’m driving home and look up at the mountains.  Mountains are referenced in the word of God many times, the verse where Jesus said that it takes the faith the size of mustard seeds to move mountains, sticks with me.   Even though I see where faith in God can take me I always seem to doubt what can be accomplished.

On September 11 and 12 the Kings Kids met at the church with one goal on their mind, to raise $1,000 for Military Ministry’s Rapid Deployment Kits.  For those of you who do not know what these kits are, they are small waterproof packages that contain a Bible, a devotional, and information about becoming a Christian.  These “RDKs” are then sent around the world to our men and women serving in the military.

I have to admit that I was a little worried about reaching the goal but as midnight got close, so did our goal.  For the twelve hours we spent rocking we raised over $1,400.  I had no reason to doubt, for I should have known the time we spent as a group praying for this mission project, the time Pastor Katie and the Church Spent in prayer, and the time I spent late at night praying that our Rock-A-Thon would be successful, wasn’t done in vain.  If I had Faith the size of a mustard seed, or even half, I would have known that God was going to provide for us.  Why did I worry? The money we raised wasn’t to send our word out to the world, it was to send God’s Word, and He provided more than what we had hoped for. 

We also had over twenty young people come out to help us raise money and we also had fifteen adults stop by to show their support.  Of course we could not have reached our goal if it wasn’t for all of the people who didn’t doubt us and sponsored our young people by giving generous donations.  A big thank you goes out to everyone who helped with the event as well.  I have Faith that this group can move mountains, serving as a beacon on top of our own mountain here at Garfield.

Now with October upon us the youth are gearing up for the Mummers day parade, to be held this year on October 31.  This year’s theme is Jesus Christ Superstar, and the wagon will, again, be provided and pulled by Mr. Dennis Lewis.  He and the Lewis family were a big help last year and he is the inspiration for this year’s theme.  If your child is interested in riding the float please let me know so we can get costumes made for them.  If you would like to help with construction, we would be more than happy to have the help.  We also need items for the float that include: Gray paint, Green paint, party/disco lights, strobe lights, small spot lights, and a fog machine.

The last session of the young adult Bible study, that is lead by Sara Lewis will be on October fourth.  It’s not too late to join us for this study. We will then meet on the 18^th for the fall hike with the youth group meeting following.

Looking ahead, the youth group is planning on packing shoe boxes with goodies for Operation Christmas Child again this year.  So if you have empty shoeboxes that we can wrap and pack for this mission project, drop them off at the church anytime from now until December it will be more than appreciated. 

Please continue to pray for our groups of young people and that we can become strong in our faith.  As always, I would like to thank our church family for the support they give to the youth. 

Words cannot express how vital it is that this group continues to grow.  So if you know any young people that want to participate in any of our group gatherings and activities please contact Pastor Katie and me, so we can talk to them. 

Would you like to volunteer with any of our upcoming events?  I would never turn down an extra pair of hands; feel free to contact me anytime: A.Brown.87@live.com, or (301)606-5458.  You can find The Youth Group on Facebook.com, search for GUMC Youth and check out our Videos at Youtube.com/TheGUMCYouth.

 

Hospice House is coming to Middletown Valley! It will be located on the Robert Fry farm north of Fountaindale North and will be called Anne's Hospice Home in honor of Robert Fry's wife Anne who succumbed to cancer several years ago.  Mr. Fry and his sons have generously donated the site. The house is expected to be very similar to the Kline Hospice House off Old Annapolis Road, which is a six bedroom ranch house. 

A hospice house is a wonderful alternative instead of a hospital room or nursing home for those who need special care when they are in the end stage of life.  

To learn more about this new hospice house, everyone is invited to come to the next senior citizens' meeting at the Middletown AMVETS on Green Street on October 13.  Laurel Cucchi, director of Frederick County Hospice will be the speaker at 1 PM.  There will also be a catered lunch for $5.  Anyone planning of having lunch should call 301-371-5170, by Saturday, October 10.  

 

Income	2008	2009
Month	14183	13322
YTD	77270	86856
Expenses	2008	2009
Month	9687	8929
YTD	84762	85014
Sunday School/Missions	2008	2009
Sunday school	217	201
YTD	1757	1598
Missions	250	0
YTD	5837	3996
Attendance	2008	2009
Worship	385	318
YTD	3197	2862
Sunday School	100	91
YTD	831	619

 

I am your church envelope

I would like to talk with you, for

I am part of your church life.

I may be a complete stranger to you, but

I can help you be a better Christian.

I like to go to worship on Sunday, for

I help you to be Christ’s partner.

I am very small, but

I am the keystone of your church program.

I am a weekly reminder of your daily blessings.

I dare you to be as good to God as he has been to you.

I am only paper, but

I carry the full gift of a generous heart.

I am the only pocketbook you need on Sunday, and I promise not to be a burden.

I am your chance to preach, for

I am a silent sermon of your devotion.

 

No substitute

The Christian community plays an important role in the life of discipleship because this community is nothing less than the body of Christ in the world today. It is among brothers and sisters in faith that we:

• experience the presence of Jesus Christ, living and incarnate;

• come together for worship, confess our sins, hear the gospel and receive Communion;

• accept church discipline through the gentle guidance of others;

• learn, through the successes and failures around us, what it means to live a life of discipleship.

“There is no substitute for living around other Christians,” write Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon of Duke Divinity School. A “primary way of learning to be disciples is by being in contact with others who are disciples” (Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony). We grow in discipleship as we strive with others to hear God’s Word, feed the hungry, welcome strangers and love one another.

—Homiletics