Bible School this year starts with an air of mystery. Kids wander through Rome with the family group exploring strange places and new ideas. What is this "gift" that they are being offered? What is the haughty Senator Atticus doing with his slave over there in the Marketplace? Does this have anything to do with God or His loving us?

In the Grammaticus School they see strange numbers and a peculiar thing called an Abacus that kids use in multiplying and counting. Going along they see the Food Shop and use their Denariis to buy pasta and fruit. Good! Outside they practice shot-put and play a popular Roman game called "Knuckle-Bones," then roll hoops using cross-sticks and practice the Olympic games of broad jump and relay races.

Why is this man named Paul being guarded by that huge soldier named Brutus? What has Paul done that he has to have that big heavy chain attached to his ankle?

Oh look! There is a cave. Let us sneak in and see what is in there! Shh...it might be the Underground Church we heard about. Be quiet, we don't want the Roman guards to see us. Did you see that the guard close up in the metal-worker's shop in the Market place?

Coming out of the cave, kids say, "goodbye" to Paul and Brutus, the guard, and prepare to leave Rome on Friday evening.

But Wait! What is going on out there on the lawn by Stottlemyer Road? It happens every year one the last evening of Bible School! COME AND SEE

 

On Sunday June 14^th immediately after the worship hour, there will be a cookout to honor the men of our church.

We have a new grille, provided by Jenifer and Dennis Bear and we will have plenty of food to go on this new grille.

Be sure to look for the sign up sheet at church so that you will not miss this great time of fellowship and good food.

 

June 21^st Garfield will be heading to Reeder’s Nursing Home to host the Worship Service with communion. The service begins at 4 pm. This is about a 30 minute service which means so much to the residents. 

 

June is finally upon us and with that means all kinds of fun and exciting times for our church’s young people.  This month we will begin our newest bible study on June 28^th.  As always the study will include interesting and educated conversations, and most importantly dinner!  We will also be doing our yearly Youth Sunday service on June 21^st.  This is always a wonderful time of worship and a great chance to see the talents God has given our youth. 

We are gearing up for our first youth sponsored retreat in July.  Please be looking for details on how you can help and be involved in this exciting new project.

As summer begins please don’t forget our youth program and as always please be praying for God’s blessing on our youth.  

 

Pastor Katie will be away at Annual Conference June 3-6^th. The Annual Conference is held yearly to make decisions, vote on changes to the Book of Discipline recommended by the General Conference last year, and ordain new ministers.

 Pastors Katie and Chris will attend with all the other United Methodist pastors from our conference. Pastor Katie will present the conference with our $100 donation to the Hope Fund to help build schools in Zimbabwe , rebuild the Gulf Coast , and confront the AIDS epidemic. We also have a lay representative, who will be attending..  

If you need pastoral care during these days, please leave a message on Pastor Katie’s home phone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kings Kids Youth group would like to invite you to go on a camping retreat weekend with them.  It will be held the last weekend of July (24-26) and open to every one of all ages.  We will camp at the Mason Dixon Campground near Finzel, Maryland.

The Youth group will leave from the church on July 24 at 4pm and plan to return at 6pm on July 26.  We will have daily devotional and worship sessions, Games, nature hikes, and we will Visit the Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset, Pa. 

Since the Kings Kids Youth group has declared this the year of Outreach, they are looking forward to having you as part of the weekend. So bring your tent, Camper, or RV for a relaxing weekend.  For more information Contact Philip Reid or Andrew Brown. Email: A.Brown.87@live.com

 

With Vacation Bible School just around the corner, we are looking for the following items to use during the week.

Big Baskets

Old Blankets for the floor

Artificial fruit

Shot Puts

8 Jumping Ropes

Hula Hoops

Largest Metal Keys

If you can supply any of these items, please contact Pastor Katie at 301-846-4098

 A WORD FROM OUR PASTOR

The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple,

the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.

I am the Church, you are the Church, we are the Church together.

All who follow Jesus all around the world, yes, we’re the Church together.

We're many kinds of people, with many kinds of faces,

all colors and all ages, too, from all times and places.

I am the Church, you are the Church, we are the Church together.

All who follow Jesus all around the world, yes, we’re the Church together.

And when the people gather, there's singing and there's praying,

there's laughing and there's crying sometimes, all of it saying:

I am the Church, you are the Church, we are the Church together.

All who follow Jesus all around the world, yes, we’re the Church together.

At Pentecost some people received the Holy Spirit

and told the Good News through the world to all who would hear it.

I am the Church, you are the Church, we are the Church together.

All who follow Jesus all around the world, yes, we’re the Church together.

(Words and Music by Richard K. Avery and Donald S. Marsh, 1972)

Eden and I sit on the floor of our living room, singing. She loves to sing. Having sung every song on my list from “Bah, Bah Black Sheep,” to “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” I turn to my church songs. So I sing, “I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together.”

At this point, Eden stands to start her dancing. “All who follow Jesus, all around the world. Yes, we’re the church together.” She is singing “Jesus, Jesus” over and over and now twirling in circles. So I begin verse two. And three… well we just sang the whole summer camp song together, dancing in our living room.

This song will be sung at summer camps all across the world this summer. (I am sure we will even sing it on our trip to Camp Manidoken the first full week of July). As children, youth and their counselors sing this song, they celebrate a truth that we do not always remember to be true. But as 1 Corinthians reminds us, we are the church. It is not the place where we come on Sunday, but the people we gather with. It is not the tables we put our potluck on, but the people we share the meal with. It has nothing to do with the alter we kneel, but those we kneel with. A powerful truth, a difficult lesson.

On May 31^st the church of Jesus Christ at Garfield United Methodist, welcomed in new members and celebrated our graduates. As we did, we celebrated that our church is not a building, or a meeting place, it doesn’t matter that we have a beautiful cemetery or nice pews – our church is the people. Our church is made up of those who follow Jesus Christ, and in this tiny little piece of the world, we celebrate that we are the church together. At the end of June, we will celebrate Youth Sunday – a wonderful time to celebrate the young people in our community who make up the church. As they lead us in worship through Word, song, dance and drama, we recognize that it is together that we are the church of Jesus Christ. It is just a building without those who worship Him. And alone we are nothing, but together we glorify His name.

This summer, as family reunions, ball games, and vacations take us in many different directions, be reminded that wherever you go, you are part of the church that is Garfield. Even if you are unable to gather in the sanctuary, remember that you are part of the church – you are the church! And may others be blessed as we remember this together.

 

Due to an editorial error the March 2009 financial secretary’s report was not in the May newsletter.  Therefore, below are both the March and April reports.

March 2009

Income	2008	2009
Month	11154	10000
YTD	26416	29508
Expenses	2008	2009
Month	9749	9250
YTD	27517	28259
Sunday School/Missions	2008	2009
Sunday school	283	147
YTD	727	576
Missions	339	0
YTD	1073	1846
Attendance	2008	2009
Worship	506	419
YTD	1187	1023
Sunday School	135	91
YTD	319	277

 

April 2009

Month	8137	15406
YTD	34553	44913
Expenses	2008	2009
Month	10205	12615
YTD	37723	40874
Sunday School/Missions	2008	2009
Sunday school	196	189
YTD	923	765
Missions	1105	555
YTD	2178	2401
Attendance	2008	2009
Worship	329	405
YTD	1516	1428
Sunday School	88	85
YTD	407	362

 

This summer, Pastor Katie will serve as the pastor at Camp Manidoken ’s Adventure Camp for 5^th and 6^th graders, July 5-10^th.

We would love to have a group of our young people in 5^th and 6^th grades come to camp! We are also in need of some adult volunteers (18 or older) to serve as counselors that week. Pastor Chris will be serving that week as well, with High School students. High Schoolers are also invited to come. Both groups will participate in high ropes courses, canoeing, hiking, daily Bible Study, and other activities. 

If you are interested in serving or would like to send your youth to camp, please let Pastor Katie know. Forms are available on her desk.

 

The Adult Choir will be taking a break from their Wednesday night practices beginning in June.

There will still be Adult Choir numbers during the worship hour on several Sundays

throughout the summer, but this is a time to show us your talents.  This is the time to use your gift for the GREAT Gifter.

If you wish to play an instrument, read a poem or story, dance or participate in the service in anyway, please see Pastor Katie.

 

One of the great heroes of the early days of our country was John Paul Jones. He was a naval officer and to him went the honor of displaying on his ship, for the first time, the national flag of the United States.

Some people may not realize that Francis Scott Key, the author of 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' composed four stanzas for what became our national anthem. The last stanza is as follows:

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand, Between their loved home and the war's desolation, Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven- rescued land, Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto, - 'In God is our trust.' And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave, O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

Remember to display your flag on June 14th

 

We are looking at trying Bible Study different this fall. It has been proposed and approved by council to try to have a weeknight study for children, youth, their parents, and all adults one night a week.

We would provide dinner at 6:30 and begin the study at 7pm. If you are interested in helping or participating in this endeavor, please let Pastor Katie know.

 

Father’s Day Prayer

Lord, please bless our fathers, these men who mean so much to us, who are greatly responsible for who we are and who we are becoming.

Bless them for having the courage to do what’s necessary to keep us out of trouble, for making us do the right thing, for helping us build our character, even when it makes us angry; and bless them for pushing us to do our best, even when they just want to love us.

Bless our fathers for being our protectors, for leading us through stormy times to safety, for making us believe that everything will be all right and for making it so.

Bless our fathers for quietly making a living to provide for those they love most, for giving us food, clothing, shelter and the other material things that really matter, for unselfishly investing time and money in us that they could have spent on themselves.

Bless our fathers, Lord, for saving some energy for fun, for leading us on adventures to explore the outer reaches of ourselves, for making us laugh, for being our playmates and our friends.

Bless them for being our secure foundation, our rock, for holding on tight to us...until it’s time to let us go.

Lord, bless these men we look up to, our role models, our heroes, our fathers.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

By Joanna Fuchs- Poemsource.com

A word for Our Graduates

Congratulations to the young members of our congregation who are graduating! No doubt they look forward to the next phase of their lives with excitement, anticipation and perhaps a little apprehension.

We hope these words, adapted from Phillips Brooks, will serve graduates well as they embark on their journeys:

“Do not pray for an easy life; pray to be a stronger person. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers but for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you will be the miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself and the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.”

 

Christians are monotheists, meaning we believe in only one God. Yet we talk about the doctrine of the Trinity. In the church year, the Sunday after Pentecost is known as Trinity Sunday. It’s a day for focusing on what theologians call the Triune God — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Someone said about the concept of the Trinity, “You will lose your soul if you don’t believe it, and you will lose your mind if you try to explain it.”

The bottom line is this: God (one Person) has been revealed to mankind in three ways. He is our Creator, who then came to Earth as our Savior (in the person of Jesus) and is eternally present with us as the Holy Spirit.

 

Triquetra

This early symbol for the Holy Trinity is formed from three equal arcs. The arcs represent equality, the continuous line expresses eternity and the interweaving represents indivisibility. At the center is a triangle, another symbol of the Trinity. Because of its beauty and simplicity, the triquetra is often used as a design element in church architecture.

 

Scripture is filled with many famous — and infamous — fathers and sons. Match the name of each father on the left to the name of his son on the right.

1. Noah                                    A. Dan
2. Jacob                                   B. Jonathan
3. David                                   C. Ham
4. Saul                          D. Solomon

 

What is a Christian family?

A CHRISTIAN FAMILY is one in which parents so live the Christian life, and practice the presence of God that children come to accept God as the greatest reality of life.

A CHRISTIAN FAMILY is one in which each member is accepted and respected as a person having sacred worth.

A CHRISTIAN FAMILY is one that accepts the responsibility of worship and instruction to the end of developing the spiritual life of each person.

A CHRISTIAN FAMILY is one that manifests a faith in God, observes daily prayer and grace at meals.

A CHRISTIAN FAMILY is one that is committed to behavior in keeping with Christian ideals for family relations, community life, and national and world citizenship.