11/6/24

FUMC Newsletter 11/6/24

WORSHIP 

• Topic: Heal and Be Healed

• Speaker: Rev. Zach Moffatt

• Time: 10:00am

• Also available on WKSR Radio 100.9 at 10am, YouTube & Facebook Live! 

  
  

Verse of the Week:

Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

Senioridous is tonight!

Please keep our youth and volunteers in your prayers as they go on the Fall Retreat to Eva, TN.

Our Music Director, Daniel Roberts, is starring in STARR Theater’s Production of Grease - Go out and support him if you can!

Disciple Bible Study will end early this week for a visit to the Chili Cook-Off.

Poinsettia envelopes are in! Bring cash this Sunday to place your advent order - due by December 4th.

Friendsgiving is next weekend - November 17th - Bring a dish and invite a friend!

EVENTS

• Today, 11/6

  • @6:30pm Senioridous

  • @6:30pm Chancel Choir Practice

• Tomorrow, 11/7

  • @4:00pm Chili Cook-Off

  • @5:30pm Disciple Bible Study

• Friday, 11/8

  • Youth Retreat

• Saturday, 11/9

  • Youth Retreat

• Sunday 11/10

  • @9:00am Sunday School

  • @10:00am Worship

• Monday 11/11 - Veteran's Day

  • @8:15am Monday Morning Prayers

  • @9:30am Nursing Home Worship

  • @10:00am Prayer Shawl Ministry

  • No Social Talks

• Tuesday 11/12

  • @9:00am Coffee with the Pastor

  • @5:00pm Wesley Gathering

What's Growing On?

Mustard Greens and Turnip Greens are sprouting in the garden! We are excited to continue blessing others with these fresh veggies.

What's Up With Wesley?

The Young Adult Team will be serving brunch to students for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 27th at the Student Life House. Contact Callie Murrey if you are interested in helping out.

Wesley’s Christmas Party will be December 3rd. Young Adult Team is working to gather some gifts to bless them with.

November 7th - Chamber Chili Cook-Off

First UMC will have a booth at the Chamber Chili Cook-off on Thursday, November 7th, and volunteers are needed from 4pm-8pm to engage & converse with guests, serve food, and share about the blessings of ministries happening through First UMC. Food served will be Daniel's chili, Steve's cornbread, and Stephanie's cookies!

Disciple Bible Study will be ending early tomorrow so they can attend the Chili Cook-Off.

Talk to Rev. Laura to volunteer! Text 931-309-6156 or email lauramcmasters@fumcpulaski.com

Hey, Youth Seniors!

You are invited to join us for a new small group opportunity called Senioridous! TONIGHT November 6th at 6:30pm Life after high school can be difficult, exciting, confusing, and unclear all at once. Join us as we talk about the next stage of life, leaving behind high school and entering young adulthood. This is a program where High School Seniors will meet together as a group and with a mentor from our church family. Church Family, you are invited to begin praying if you would like to serve as a mentor for our High School Seniors.

Blessing Boxes

The Blessing Box needs one more coat of paint. Then, it will be ready to go bless our community. It will be installed sometime between November 11th-26th. Thank you to our Explore Community Group and all those involved for your hard work on this project.

Friendsgiving

Join us November 17th at 11:15am in the Fellowship Hall as we celebrate the blessing of friendship. Bring a dessert, salad, or casserole to share and invite someone you’re grateful for.

Theologian of the Month

Our Theologian of the Month for November is Father Gustavo Gutierrez, a Roman Catholic priest from Peru. (June 8th, 1928-October 22nd, 2024). Through his life experience of having Polio as a child to experiencing political and economic turmoil in Peru, Father Gutierrez was always sensitive to human suffering and the role of religion as it seeks to be present with those who suffer—either by the hands of others or because of life in general. Known as the father of Liberation Theology, Father Gutierrez’s theology did not emerge from the halls of academia, but as a response to the questions and concerns he heard from his parishioners and the poor in Lima. Upon engaging with the people whose lives have been dominated by violence and poverty, Father Gutierrez concluded that the a notion of salvation as an exclusively other worldly hope was inadequate. Although the fullness of salvation is a future of hope, it must begin here and now. Therefore, Father Gutierrez writes that full salvation from God begins with liberation here and now. This brings with it profound implications for how followers of Jesus are to live, believe, pray, and act as we live on this side of eternity. Father Gutierrez says that to reflect on Jesus and God as the great liberator leads us to consider sin not only on a personal level, but in its societal and structural dimensions too. Therefore, we are called, as the Church, to do as Jesus did in Luke 4: “To proclaim good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Father Gutierrez concluded that the Church must not comfortably proclaim a gospel of soft love that allows us to remain comfortable in our bubbles. Rather, the gospel of Jesus leads us meet with others, stand in solidarity with the hurting, and become uncomfortable as we seek to build relationships with those who are different than us. In his pivotal text, A Theology of Liberation, Father Gutierrez writes, “My neighbor, as has been said, is not the one whom I find in my path, but rather the one in whose path I place myself, the one whom I approach and actively seek. The other aspects of the Christian life become meaningful if they are animated by charity; otherwise, in Paul’s words, they simply are empty actions (1 Corinthians 13).”

Book of the Month

Our Book of the Month for November is The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More than Our “Correct” Beliefs by Dr. Peter Enns. In this book, Dr. Enns, with compelling and humorous stories from his own life, explains how Christians often mistake “certainty” and “correct belief” for faith when what God really desires is trust and intimacy. Enns offers a model of vibrant faith that views skepticism and questions not as a loss of belief, but as an

opportunity to deepen one’s religious conviction with courage and confidence. Faith, according to Enns, is not an absolute certain understanding of doctrinal stances, but an orientation where one’s life is open to more questions, more learning, more seeking, and more trust as we deepen our relationship with God, who is the infinite mystery.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1: “When trusting God is central—even just the simply act of trying to trust when we might not feel like it—we are walking a holy path. When we learn that it is okay to let go of the need to be right—that God is not going to pounce on us from behind the corner and give us a whipping but actually welcomes this step of faith—only then will the debilitating stress of holding on to correct thinking begin to fade. Then we are giving control over to God, which is amore secure place for faith to rest than on the whims and moods of our own thinking.”

Opportunities to Serve

Matthew 25 Thrift Shoppe

Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday 9am-3:15pm

Community RFD

RFD meets every 3rd Wednesday at 5:30pm to pack boxes and the following Saturday at 8am at the Giles County Ag Park to distribute them. 

There are so many ways to get involved! Ask us about The Table Praise Band, the Young Adult Team, Youth Events, and more...

RFD Food Collection

RFD (Rural Food Delivery) is collecting donations in The Fellowship Hall. The item of the month is canned soup & chili. Please drop off these & other non-perishable food items on the shelf in The Fellowship Hall.

Community RFD is a non-profit organization that provides boxes of food at no cost to struggling families in Giles County. Some of our congregants regularly volunteer with RFD