Recent news about NBC Nightly News anchorman Brian Williams relating on the air false details of an experience he had in Iraq in 2003 have led to public outcry about his trustworthiness as a journalist. As NBC launched an internal investigation last week, Williams, also managing editor of the program, took himself out of the anchor role for "several days," saying his actions had made him "too much a part of the news." A few days later, NBC suspended him for six months without pay.
This story reminds us of how Jesus often pointed beyond himself to God the Father, and leads us to consider how we, when sharing our faith and ministering to others, might ensure that Jesus is the "news" -- not ourselves. So that topic, along with the reliability of human memory and the psychology of lying or "embellishing," will be the focus of this installment of The Wired Word Adult Sunday School Class. Join us in Fellowship Hall at 9:00 a.m. this Sunday for coffee, scriptures and discussion.
Worship Service for Sunday, February 15th :
Children’s Moment
Hymns - Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us and I Stand Amazed in the Presence
Choir Anthem - Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door
Scripture - James 5:1-20
Pastor Mike’s sermon title - The Judge Is Standing At The Door
Olga’s selections - All Creatures of Our God and King with All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus
Liturgist - Aaron Bersee
Prayer Quilt - Shannon Jones (She was seriously injured in a car accident last week and has multiple injuries.) Shannon is the daughter of WUMC members Thad & Barbara Jones and the great, great granddaughter of Ruth Van Tassel (How many of you long-time members recall that name and face?)
Following the worship service, please join us in Fellowship Hall for a time of light refreshments and conversation. Cindy Box and Penny Greenlese will be your hosts during the month of February.
Stephanie Shelton reports that the children just finished their series in Sunday School called, Maze Days, which focused on Moses and the book of Exodus. The kid’s offering went towards Imagine No Malaria. They raised $50! Their Project with a Purpose was making Thank You cards for the local police and firefighters. Way to go, Kids!
Our former pastor, Rev. David Hogg, was taken to St. Anne’s Hospital at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday with chest pains. Please keep he and Paulette in your prayers as he is undergoing more tests today. Get well wishes may be sent to Dave at his home: 6202 Willowcrest Dr., Columbus, OH 43229
Olga’s classical music CD may be purchased after church during Fellowship Hour. It includes songs from Bach, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Samuel Barber. The cost is $15.00. She is donating a portion of each sale to the church. We also have a few to sell in the Church Office.
Our mission focus for the month of February will be the S.O.W.E.R. Project (Sharing Our Witness – Enriching Relationships). The 2015 SOWER Team is in the planning stages for constructing the 15th home for a family near Frakes, Kentucky (the Cumberland Gap area). The cost of materials to build one of the 28’ x 28’ or 28’ x 32’ houses from the ground up is approximately $43,000 to $47,000 The project is in need of both funding to cover material costs and volunteers for the six week building process. For more information, you may visit www.hendersonsettlement.com and http://www.westohioumc.org. If you are interested in working on the construction phase, you will find the SOWER build schedule and the registration forms on the shelf outside the church office. If you have any questions, please feel free to talk to Pastor Mike or Dave and myself about our experiences at the site during August 2014. Dave will be sharing some of his experiences from last year’s trip at the beginning of this week’s worship service. Mission envelopes are located in the pew racks for your financial gifts.
Ash Wednesday is less than a week away. Our sanctuary will be open on Wednesday, February 18th from 6:30 to 11:30 a.m. for anyone who would like to have the Imposition of Ashes and/or Holy communion prior to the work day. This will be a time in which each of us can spend as much time in the sanctuary as we would like in prayer and meditation, personal worship and reflection. One thing will happen if you are marked with the sign of the cross in ashes. Someone will ask “Why?” This provides a great opportunity to share our personal faith and to invite folks to church.
The congregation is invited to attend the Ash Wednesday Service at 12:30 p.m. at the Browning Masonic Community in Waterville on Wednesday, February 18th for the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion. Pastor Mike will be leading that service.
Friday, February 27, 2015 is the 8th Annual Anthony Wayne Spirit of Giving Spaghetti Dinner in the Anthony Wayne High School Cafeteria from 4:30 – 8:00 p.m. Please mark your calendars and come out and support this organization comprised of AW Staff, students, and neighbors, as we raise funds to help support families within our district with catastrophic illnesses. This year there are four families that have been “adopted” by AWSG and several others that will be given smaller grants to assist with financial needs. AWSG is not just about financial assistance, many AW students and staff assist by babysitting siblings during treatment times, taking care of yard work for families when that’s the last thing that need to care about, or grocery shopping to help fill empty shelves. Please help us help others by coming out to the spaghetti dinner AND if you or someone you know would have a item or service you might donate to the Silent Auction that accompanies the dinner that night, we genuinely welcome the contribution. See Anne Stevens for details.
Theatre-for-the-World will take place on Friday, March 13th, Saturday, March 14th and Sunday, March 15th. Friday and Saturday’s shows will begin at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday show will start at 1:30 p.m. This year’s production is FOOLS, a family-friendly comedy by Neil Simon.
We have printed several flyers for the Theatre-for-the-World production. Karen Longnecker will be placing about 10 of them in locations in the Whitehouse area. Please feel free to take some of the posters home with you this Sunday and display them in places that you shop, dine or at your place of employment. They are located on the shelf outside the church office.
Theatre-for-the-World is now active in social media. If you have a Facebook account, we'd sure appreciate it if you'd "like us" and "share us" with your contacts. www.facebook.com/TFTW06. People will be able to read more about our mission project and even click to donate. Thanks!
We are looking for volunteers to be ushers and food runners for all of the Theatre-for-the-World performances. You will need to be present 45 minutes before the production to hand out programs. There will be a sign up sheet in the hallway on Sunday morning. Please see Bobbie Westfall or Nancy Stafford with any questions. Thank you , in advance, for your support.
Stephanie Shelton has placed sign-up sheets on the bulletin board for reservations for the Youth Lasagna Dinner on the Saturday evening before the Theatre-for-the-World performance on March 14th. The deadline for reservations will be March 11th. She is also in need of lasagna makers and dessert bakers for that evening.
Our Financial Secretary, Tom Wiggins, has a new e-mail address that is linked to the church. If you have any questions or comments about your financial giving, quarterly or yearend giving statements, please contact him at financialsec@watervilleumc.org If you forget this information, it has now been included on the back page of each week’s bulletin along with Jim Page’s church e-mail address: treasurer@watervilleumc.org
As usual, we wish to have lilies in the Chancel Area on Easter Sunday. To help save on the cost of the paper by placing order forms in the church bulletins for several weeks and the printing costs, we would like to try something different this year. If you would like to order a flower or make a donation to our Building Fund, please use the envelopes that can be found on the bulletin board outside Pastor Mike’s office. Write your information on the outside of the envelope and place your money inside the envelope. You may either place them in the offering plate or drop them off in the office. We will be taking orders from Sunday, February 1st to Sunday, March 15th. The cost of each lily is $8.00. There is also a link to order your Easter lily in the February issue of The Ambassador – you will just fill out the form online and send it to the office. (You will then send us a check or place your money in the offering plate – we will not be asking for any credit card information.)
The Church Mouse reports that the new storage area in the basement is almost complete. Randy Reihing has been busy painting the trim wood this week. Jerry Robinson and he will be installing the trim on Saturday. Be sure and stop down in Fellowship Hall and check out the finished product on Sunday.
This is going to be one of those weekends that we will all be wishing we were in Florida. Please be careful out there! It looks like Sunday’s high temperature will be a balmy 3 degrees. Safe travels for those of you who are vacationing on this holiday weekend!