Sherman
United Methodist Church
2336 East Andrew Road
Sherman, IL 62684-9646
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Regularly scheduled church services on Sundays
are:
First Service at 8:15 a.m. Childern's Church services are available for children thru 2nd grade at 8:15 a.m. in room 204
Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. Child care is also available for younger children in room 107
Second Service at 10:45 a.m. Click on the "Church Schedule"
button above for weekly church activity schedules
E-mail the Minister at: Rev. Mike Pennell 
For further information please e-mail the:
SUMC Webmaster
Best viewed with Internet Explorer
Last up-dated: November 22, 2009
About
SUMC:
Sherman United Methodist Church(SUMC), Sherman, Illinois, is located in Central
Illinois
just north of Springfield, Illinois, the capital of Illinois. SUMC is a
small-medium size faith
driven church made up of agricultural, rural, small village and surrounding communities Christians.
Upcoming Events:
This column will feature current and upcoming events at SUMC.:
within the United Metnodist Church.
Get in the Nothing But Nets Game!
BED NETS vs. MOSQUITOES
It's a fight to wipe out the Mosquitoes and slam dunk malaria!
The people of The United Methodist Church have joined with the United Nations Foundation,
NBA Cares, Sports Illustrated and others in support of Nothing But Nets, a global effort to end malaria,
a leading killer of thousands of children in Africa each year.
For only $10 you can save a life by buying a bed net to protect children and adults while they sleep.
Visit www.umc.org/nets to donate or to purchase a Nothing But Nets Game Plan Kit to help your church
or organization raise funds to save countless lives.
CONFIRMATION CLASS - 7th grade youth and older
Contact Pastor Mike and/or church office to be included in this year's class!
Confirmation explores the meaning of Christian Faith that leads to professing
one's faith in Christ and becoming a full member of the Church.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR AUDIO/VISUAL SYSTEM on Sundays!
Age requirement - 8th grade and older
CAFE' WEDNESDAY Meal at 5pm: then Wdnesday evening activities
Bible studies, choir, bells, Crusaders follow after 6:00 pm
Contact the SUMC church office.
OUTREACH - Other Related
Activities;
(Here, on occasion, you will find information about activities
of our nearby affiliated congregations and other friends.)
The SUMC Prayer Chain is here for our personal, and immediate concerns
and needs. Please call the church office at: (496-2338) to have your special
needs included on the Prayer chain. You may also drop a note/card in the plate
on Sunday at church service if you prefer.
THE WEEK BEGINNING: November 22, 2009
CHURCH CALENDAR
Today: Sunday, November 22, 2009
Monday: November 23, 2009
Tuesday: November 24, 2009
-
Wednesday: November 25, 2009
Thursday: November 26, 2009 Closed for Thanksgiving
Friday: November 27, 2009 Closed for Thanksgiving
Saturday: November 28, 2009
Sunday: November 29, 2009 Church Office:
Mrs. Shirley Hopkins shermanumc@gcctv.com Sherman United Methodist Church
Staff Contact Information E-Mail Addresses telephone numbers Directing Pastor Rev. Mike Pennell mpennell@gcctv.com 217-496-3258 Director of Youth & Family Ministry Danny Motta mottafamily@casscomm.com 217-496-2570 Church Administrative Assistant Shirley Hopkins shermanumc@gcctv.com 217-496-2338 SUM Kids' Place Director Carmen Arnberger 217-496-2338 SUM Preschool Director Heather Hofferkamp 217-496-2338 SUMC Director of Music Ministry Melanie Pinter
grmekor78@gmail.com 217-496-2338 SUM Church Custodian Michael Folder 217-496-2338 SUMC Webmaster Cary Franks cfranks@gcctv.com " Our
Church Youth News Section. The Pastor's Corner From the Desk of Pastor Mike " JUST A THOUGHT .... for the week."
UMCOR aids the victims of disaster with basic necessities of clean water, clothing, blankets, toilet paper, food,
medicines, temporary shelters and more. Through UMCOR we can minister in ways we cannot do on our own. God bless everyone for what they are able
to do. -Pastor Mike ennell> The Week's Message given: ( November 8, 2009) (I may have my past several weeks' messages here for those who could not attend the services.)
Despite their losses both went on to have long teaching careers and touched the lives of many children and youth. Through them I
That a person can recover from great sorrow and go on to live a constructive, purposeful life would likely be one reason why widows,
Naomi and Elimelech and their two sons move to Moab because of a famine in their homeland of Israel. This tells us that their plight was
All of this information gives us a picture of Moab as being a bad place. It has threatened evil against Israel in the past and because of its
The situation becomes more complex when the sons of Elimelech and Naomi marry Moabite girls. Now you have foreigners being
The story continues with all the husbands dying, leaving Naomi, Ruth and Orpah as widows with no kinsmen to protect them. This left
Back in Israel Naomi is able to re-connect with her husband’s ancestral family. According to the law the family of a deceased husband
Obed becomes the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David. The surprise in the story is that this foreigner from Moab becomes
Overall this shows how God’s salvation works through many generations. It shows what God can do when people like Naomi and Ruth
Jesus would have known the story of Ruth from his family tree. Because they were so poor and powerless, most people would never
What all these women have in common then is the stubborn refusal to accept their sorrows as the final word. They go on living and
Today some of us are spouses without partners too. Some are children without parents and parents without children. Friends without
We can never change the bad things that happen, but we can choose how we respond to them. Either we respond as if our life is at a
The history of God’s salvation tells the story of those who chose to respond to their sorrows by living in faith and through faith. They
The book of Hebrews tells us that our spiritual ancestors like Naomi and Ruth ‘all… died in faith without having received the
In 1 Cor 14 the scripture says: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part;
And again in 1 Cor 2:9, we read “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared
In the midst of sorrow it is easy to believe that our best days are behind us. But those who live in faith see their best days as yet to
How thrilled Ruth and Naomi would have been to hear about King David and Jesus who came after them. And how pleased that
What greater role can there be for you and I than to lead the way for others to follow after us. What greater role can there be for our
Living by faith through faith believes in God’s greater design which God keeps on weaving through the darkest of times. Even the cross
May our faith be a daring faith that is not afraid to leave what is for the sake of the new life to which God is leading for truly “no eye
##################################################################################################################. FROM: the Pastor's
past previous week's Sermon or Guest Speaker
(Mike Pennell)
“ ” ******************************************************************************************************************
SUMC Youth
Page and Info Danny
Motta, Director of Youth & Family Ministry L.Y.N.K. January 11 - LAST CHANCE! $50 Ski Trip Deposit Due Today! Next Week - January 18 Bible Study after until 8:30 Looking Ahead • Ski Trip
Feb 12-14 • Fire-Up
Feb 20-22 • Talent Show
March 15th Poet's
Corner: From
our SUMC poet laurate, Marti Kelly Christ
In Our Lives 12-19-2004 Christmas is coming; Shopping is nearly done All year longChrist is in
our hearts My hope is that Christ will
be Merry Christmas to all
Marti Kelly Blessed
Friend You asked for me to write
you a poem I'm always glad to see you It's always nice to know Before each church service
begins May God bless you and your
family
Marti Kelly Sherman
UMC Links from here - coming shortly Church Pictures & Directory JOB POSITION(s) OPEN AT SHERMAN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Sherman
United Methodist Church No
positions are currently available. Sherman United Methodist Preschool can be
found at: The space for this web site has been
provided courtesy of the General Board of Global Ministries,
8:15 a.m. - 1st Worship Service
9:30 a.m. - Sunday School
10:45 a.m. - 2nd Worship Service
5:15 p.m. - Youth Drama Group
6:00 p.m. - Youth Group
7:30 p.m. - Youth Bible Study
6:00 p.m. - 3rd Grade Basketball
6:30 p.m. - 4th Grade Weeblos
7:00 p.m. - Boy/Cub Scouts
7:00 p.m. - 9th Grade Girl Scouts
7:00 p.m. - Troop 330
3:00 p.m. - 5:00pm - Kids Place Tutoring
6:30 p.m. - Blessed Assurance
6:30 p.m. - Brownies
6:00 p.m. - Zumba Latin Dance Fitness
6:30 p.m. - Weeblos - Den 8
7:00 p.m. - 2nd Grade Girls Basketball
8:00 p.m. - Men’s Basket Ball
7:00 a.m. - Methodist Men - Ray's Route 66 Diner
10:00 a.m. - Prayer Group
3:00 p.m. - Kids Place Tutoring
6:00 p.m. -
6:00 p.m. - Adult Bible Study (Room 104)
7:00 p.m. -
8:15 a.m. - 1st Worship Service
9:30 a.m. - Sunday School
10:45 a.m. -Second Service
-
- No Youth Band
- No Youth Group
- No Youth Bible Study
Directing Pastor: Rev. Mike Pennell -- Rev. Mike Pennell Home phone:
496-3258
Several Sesquicential Plates are still available.
should make your checks ($18.00 each) out to: SUM Women.
"Nibblin Cookbooks" are still available in the church office for $12.
Like Naomi, Ruth and the unnamed woman in the gospel, both Mrs. Jackson (4th grade teacher) and Mrs. Wimmer (HS English) were November 8, 2009 November 8, 2009
Ruth 1:16-18; 3:1-5; 4:13-17; Mark 12:38-44
23rd Pentecost
by Mike Pennell
widowed at a young age. Mrs. Jackson’s husband was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor and Mrs. Wimmer’s husband died in the
war too.
learned an appreciation for poetry and how to write. I was only one among many more they helped to develop a love and appreciation
for learning. Perhaps you recall as well the significant people like this who have had an impact on you.
are especially remembered in the biblical record as role models for extraordinary courage and ingenuity.
especially desperate because Moab was a despised land and people. Moab was pagan territory and thus an unusual place to turn for
help for anyone who believed in One God and that Israel was the chosen people of God. Israel and Moab had been foes in battle that
led to the King of Moab ruling over parts of Israel for a time. In Judges 10:6 we are told that Israel even once worshiped the gods of
Moab.
pagan heritage Moabites were considered morally corrupt. To leave Israel and move to Moab to find relief in a time of famine was
unusually humiliating.
taken into the family of Israel. This may not have been a problem as long as they lived in Moab. But later it would have been a problem
to bring a Moabite back to Israel to live in your household. Later on Ezra and Nehemiah will encourage Israelites who have married
outside the faith to abandon their foreign wives because of their corrupting influence.
them alone to face the rest of their lives in abject poverty and insecurity. There were no legal protections and no support groups either.
For this reason Naomi decides to take matters into her own hands by moving back to Israel and Ruth, even though she is a foreigner,
stubbornly insists on going with her. She vows: ‘Your God shall be my God.’
was responsible for the care of his widow. Naomi shows great ingenuity by devising a plan to help both herself and Ruth. And what a
bizarre plan it is. It would be a great plot for a soap opera today. In essence she tells Ruth to seduce Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi’s
husband. And it works even more than she could ever have imagined. Not only does Ruth gain a new husband with land and wealth;
not only does Naomi find security as the nurse of Ruth’s first born son, Obed. We also learn that God will use her plan in order to
achieve a much larger purpose in future generations.
the Great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest political ruler. And then centuries later, another descendant of Ruth, the Moabite, namely
Joseph and his wife Mary become the earthly parents of Jesus.
do not give in their troubling circumstances, but dare to move beyond them even at the risk of hostility and failure. It was not easy for
Naomi and Elimelech to move to Moab. It was even harder for Ruth to move to Israel given the antipathy she would have to endure as
a foreigner. Only someone willing to leave would be able to show how God works through all kinds of people in all times and places.
God works through Israel, but also through outsiders like Ruth. And the end result is that God brings deliverance, redemption, healing
and wholeness to the whole world.
expect anything extraordinary from a widow. Only Jesus would notice that the widow making an offering to the treasury was also going
beyond the comfort zone of her finances and see in her the same ‘daring faith’ like that of Ruth and Naomi from the past.
trusting in God to provide and care for them. In the deepest sense this is what faithful stewardship is all about – to take up the mantle of
one’s life both good and bad believing that God is weaving a greater purpose through all our ups and downs. We may not see the full
results of what God is doing for generations to come any more than Ruth could see King David and Jesus to come.
old friends. For some love has become broken. Some have faced sadness in other ways and know how overwhelming and hopeless life
can feel. When one door closes, what do we next? Is life over or is there something more?
dead end or we live in the faith that God can create new possibilities even out of death.
lived in anticipation of God’s faithfulness and didn’t dwell on the closed doors. Instead they opened new ones. They didn’t accept walls
of separation and hostility as impossible to climb. They counted on God’s goodness to triumph. They didn’t look at the sadness of life
and say nothing can be done. They dared to reach out beyond themselves even with the risk of failing because they believed God keeps
on working all things new no matter what. We may die, but God lives. And if God lives, then we can live too.
promises,
but from a distance they saw and greeted them.’
but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (I Cor 14:12)
for those who love him" (1 Cor 2:9)
come. God isn’t finished yet. And so they don’t give in to the confinement of their circumstances, but rise up and reach beyond them.
God is not bound by our limitations.
unnamed widow would be for all the generosity she helped to inspire through the centuries from those who came after her. How
pleased the Mrs. Jacksons and Mrs.Wimmers of this world would be that the gift of learning they instilled in so many lives on after them.
Will we not also be pleased for the goodness that endures after we are gone? Staying close to God means trusting God to weave his
purpose to a better end through all seasons of life, both good and bad.
life together in the church than to prepare the way for future generations to follow. It is easy to become stuck in the everyday business
and trials of living as if this is all there is. It is easy to become stuck in the here and now as if nothing can change. But if Moses had never
stopped at the burning bush, if Ruth had never left Moab, and so many others did not dare to reach beyond their circumstances, our life
today might be much different.
on Calvary could stop God’s plan. While we see only glimpses of it in the here and now this is enough to keep us going in the hope that
in the end God’s plan will be completed and that all who live for God’s Kingdom we will be part of the victory celebration.
has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor 2:9)
" ”
and family: Karen, Josiah, Asa, and Mara
"Least You Need To
Know!"
This Week:
And last chance to sign up!
Youth Group 6-7:30pm
Drama Practice5:30 p.m.
Youth Group 6-7:30pm
Band Practice 5:30 p.m.
see Ski Trip LYNK for details
Sr. High sign up now!
• Summer Youth Mission
Trip July 5-12 We're going
To Athens, GA!
- Sign up now! - Ask a friend to come!
6:00 p.m.
SIGN UP NOW!!
all ages young and old are
encouraged to sign up to perform!
or other contributors.
It is getting very near.
Our thoughts are focussed,
On those we hold near.
Our tree is up and decorated.
Christ is in our hearts
As His birth is celebrated.
And His birthday is special for all
Plans begin way ahead
Focus begins in the Fall.
With everyone all year,
And that He will lead us all
To love and care and no fear.
Live the life Christ showed us
Bless those in your life
And love without fuss.
So here I go . . . where it will end,
I don't know.
with your smile upon your face
And sit and visit with you
when I sit in my church place.
Someone you can trust
Who makes you feel quite happy
which is a daily must.
I have a friend to talk to
Friendship is one of God's blessings
Connecting with others is what we should do.
May he bring you happiness
Success and family love
And forgive when you confess.
March 28, 2004
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Here is the link to our Cokesbury Press Virtual Book Store for Christian
materials.
The Cokesbury
Book Store
Go to the Church Directory THEN to view
our church's picture directory enter: IL16261
More Coming soon!
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2336 E. Andrew Road, Sherman, IL 62684
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