Praise Service 9:00 a.m.

Church School 9:55 a.m. Adoration Worship 10:45 a.m.

Rev. Peggy Garrison, Pastor

Marcia Weygant, Director of Music

First United Methodist Church

Volume 7, Issue 8

FOCUS ON “FIRST”

August 2013

Special points of interest:

Communities of

Shalom - Page 4

Message From Bishop

Palmer - Page 6

Living Water

Fundraiser - Page 7

Pastor’s Page 2

Prayer Concerns 3

Church Happenings 5

Birthdays and

Anniversaries

10

Calendar 11

Inside this issue:

Become Part of God's Family at First UMC

Church Events for August

August 27 — Join us for Potluck Dinner & LifeSpan Program

5:30 p.m.—Potluck

6:30 p.m. — LifeSpan Progam

August 27 — Hamilton Living Water Fundraiser — 6:00 a.m.-10 p.m.

At these 3 area Bob Evans

o Fairfield on Route 4 near Symmes Road o Hamilton on Main Street o Fairfield Township on Route 4 near intersection with Route 4 Bypass

Mark Your Calendars for September: September 8 — Rally Sunday September 17 — UMW Annual Salad Lunch

Dear Friends,

Is it OK in the church to take a month off from most meetings? Is it OK for mem-bers to take vacation from the area? Is it good to have a Sabbath? Whoops, where did that come from? Suddenly we are talking about God. You know, the Almighty who made the earth in six days and then rested on the seventh. Sabbath, a time to just be with God and let the fullness of God come into consciousness. That is what I am hoping that August will be for our congregation.

We will still have meals to fix for the community. We will have a pot luck at the end of the month. Ban-ners will come back together as we use our creativity to make symbols that point us to God. But we have tried very hard this month to create a space to just be.

Why do we need to be? I think that we all know how easy it is to get so wrapped up in life that we run from place to place. How many retired people have I heard say, “I am so busy now that I don’t know how I ever worked?” I have heard this statement many times.

There is nothing wrong with being busy, but there is with being so busy that we never pause to see God. One of the reasons that I love to go camping is that the basic elements of life, a place to put the camper, a bathroom near by, food to eat and the world around us, become the important elements of life. We have to slow down, or at least we do slow down. We listen to books as we drive and enjoy the scenery. We smell the woods as we camp at night. We often have a fire to sit and look into, seeing the way that colors play as the wood burns. We sleep with fewer noises at night. OK, there are the bugs and other unpleasant items in camping, but the world seems to melt to a simpler time.

We can even get that sense by sitting outside at night, watching a sunset from the porch or watching the moon. We get a different sense of God when we experience the stillness that can come from nature. I can see David, the one who became King David, sitting with the sheep experiencing a calm that would lead to one of his psalms such as these beginning lines from Psalm 24, a psalm of David. You can check out the rest.

1The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; 2 for God has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers. 3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in God’s holy place? 4 Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully. 5 They will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of their salvation. 6 Such is the company of those who seek the Lord, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

What I am inviting us into in the month of August is a space where we enter into the holiness of God by finding a place that quiets our souls, a Sabbath. One way is letting the creation of God speak to us. Another is through prayer. Some achieve this sense of God’s holiness by quiet, or song, or worship. Find a place this month where your soul is filled and you know God’s presence is all around you. If you need help, give me a call when I get back from vacation renewed and grounded in God. We all need that sense of holiness. Rev. Peggy

Page 2

Pastor’s Page

FOCUS ON “FIRST”

Volume 7, Issue 8 Page 3

The Trustees have been busy at work this first half of 2013. We have worked on several projects around the church and parsonage. Here are just a few of the things we have finished.

The parsonage was inspected and the carpets were cleaned.

An icemaker was installed in the kitchen.

The drain by the kitchen door was cleared and cleaned.

A binder was assembled with all the manuals for kitchen use.

Water shut off valves were installed.

Replaced pressure relief valves on dishwasher and water heater.

Installed handrail into undercroft.

Replaced leaky toilet in 1st floor woman’s lounge.

Replaced faucet in 1st floor men’s restroom.

Replaced toilet and bathroom floor in parsonage.

Sold scrap metal.

There are still many jobs to be completed. If anyone has extra time and would like to help out please call the church office.

Look at What the Trustees Have Been Up To:

Prayer Concerns Ongoing Prayer Concerns: George & Nell Bassitt & Family Kathy Thompson’s niece Rita Mildred Harper Carolyn Jones Sue & LT Williams (Ruby’s Sister) Cindy, (Ruby’s friend) Darlene Day (Ruby & Nancy Young’s Friend) Mike Barrett (Spurlocks’ friend) Three unnamed congregational requests

Ongoing Community Prayer Concerns:

Community Lunch, Missionaries, Peace Corp workers, and those who work for international peace. Mili-tary members and their families and national leaders.

Those who are sleeping outside. Those who live in places of war and social unrest. Those who have no food.

Those who do not know the peace of Christ or Jesus as their Savior. Let us offer the Christ who will heal their souls.

Communities of Shalom as we move from training to forming who we will be and what we will do in Hamilton. Pray that God will bring to the table those who need to be there.

Let us remember all those impacted by “natural” disasters and wars.

Do you have someone you would like to add to this list? Please call or e-mail the office. 513-896-LOVE (8653) or firstumc@firstumc-ham.org

Page 4 FOCUS ON “FIRST”

August Potluck & Program Join us on Tuesday, August 27, at 5:30 p.m. for a potluck. Following the potluck, there will be presentation by Ruth Atha of LifeSpan. She will discuss SCAMS; if you are the victim of identity theft, who can ask for your Social Secu-rity Number, tips for avoiding scams; also, she will be giving out a Financial and Important Document Checklist. This information will be helpful to anyone — no matter your age. Mark your calendars and plan on joining us for an evening of delicious food, fellowship, and knowledge to help protect you and your family.

Two Shalom student interns, from Drew working in East Belfast for ten weeks this summer, wit-nessed the eruption of nationalistic and religious violence between so-called Protestant and Catholics last week. This historic religious and cultural divide which was officially over after a Peace Accord was negotiated and signed several years ago, still erupts at least annually—usually during Patriotic parade in July in the neighborhood of East Belfast where a shalom zone has been established. These two Drew students—Zakariya Harrison and Joanna Chenoweth—are both safe and sound, and fully engaged in seeking shalom in the community where they have been sent (Jeremiah 29:7). Ac-cording to their professor, Michael Christensen, International Director of Communities of Shalom, they discussed in their online class this week the connection between what is happening in the USA in the aftermath of the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin verdict, and the culturalclasses and violence in East Belfast. “Seeking Shalom for the City remains our challenge in cities across America as well as in shalom zones in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, ” Dr. Christensen said. After three years of long-distance communication and partnership working to establish a Shalom site in Northern Ireland, Zakariya and Joanna arrived in Northern Ireland in early June. Their assign-ment is to work with the staff, volunteers and community members at The Skainos Project of the East Belfast Mission, an urban regeneration project committed to community transformation and renewal. This shared communal space is open to the public as a civic square, mixed housing units, retail and commercial office space,health services to youth and families, counseling, community hall and audito-rium and an open-air café looking onto the square. The Methodist congregation at East Belfast Mission, Oaklee Housing Association and Belfast Metropolitan College are key partners in this community revi-talization effort. The Skainos Project aims toward the beloved community by creating a sacred and safe space for people to come together and share meals, worship and find assistance for improving their qual-ity of life. Health care, employment opportunities, education, childcare and housing are all resourced from this unique site.

This give us ideas for our local Community of Shalom.

What Communities of Shalom Are Doing In Another Part of the World. Shalom—The Irish Way Drew University Spreads Shalom in East Belfast

Volume 7, Issue 8 Page 5

Focus on “First” - ISSN383367-148 Published Monthly, Issue No. 8 Issue Date: August 2013 First United Methodist Church, 225 Ludlow St. Hamilton, OH 45011 SEPTEMEBER NEWSLETTER DEADLINE: August 20

Game Night Friday, August 16, 2013 @ the Stephenson’s

7:00 PM The fun and fellowship continues for any and all fun-loving adults. Join this merry group for lots of laughter, pizza, games and loving fellowship. Just bring $5 for dinner, your own beverage and a favorite board game.

Pocket Change Sunday

August 18, 2013

During worship services a special collection of pocket change (dollars, too) will be taken as an offering for the Saturday Community Lunch Program.

Circle Meetings

On Summer Break!!

What’s Happening in August at First Church

For newsletter submissions, contact Stacey Morefield, newsletter editor, at edsjmorefield@gmail.com

The 4 F’s Lunch For August, 4F’s will be meeting on August 29 at the Bangkok Café. Please mark your calendars for August.

Thank You Many thanks to Karen Epperson, Teri Trent, Lori Ott, Kathy Thompson, Mikola Fuhrman, and Judy Cooley for all their help in the office while I was on vacation. It was great to be able to get away and know that things would continue to run smoothly in my absence. Vicki Wheeler

News from Helen Harness On June 29 the movers came and had their truck loaded by 11:00. After lunch we left on our way to Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. By this time I am settled into my two-room suite in the home of my daughter Marcia and family.

A few days later, July 3, we all went to Grand Ole Opry to hear Alison Krauss, along with John Conlee, The Whites, Mandy Barnett, Larry Sparks, Jamey Johnson, and others. Although I’m not a fan of country music, I enjoyed the concert. Since then, I’ve been busy getting my new driver’s license, automo-bile tag, apartment-size refrigerator, seeing an eye doctor, and so on.

I miss my friends and church in Hamilton but have found a country church not far from our house that I like—Epworth United Methodist. I am enjoying Rev. Peggy’s HomeTouch letter, the email prayer requests, and so forth. I want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers as I’ve moved to a new community.

Helen Harness

Page 6 FOCUS ON “FIRST”

Message from Bishop Palmer

July 17, 2013 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus: To say that I was surprised by the decisions of the jury in Sanford, Florida in the trial of George Zimmerman for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin is an understatement. I offer this because as one who by trade traffics a fair amount in hyperbole, I don’t do understatement nearly as well. To be sure I had no predictions about the outcome of the trial. Maybe that is why I was and continue to be so sur-prised. In fact I am so surprised that even at this writing I can’t decide if outrage or numbness is the best way to describe how I feel. Maybe I have too many existential lenses through which I view the continuing tragedy that started on February 26, 2012. In our heart of hearts, given our narrative about 'the other' in this nation and culture, the roots of this specific historical tragedy are long, deep and tangled. We cannot literally change history, but we can learn from it, and as people of faith we dare to be-lieve that history can even be redeemed. What we can influence the most is the present and the future by the choices we make today. So, in this hour when every media platform is bombarding us with coverage of the post-verdict response, how do we engage the Gospel and how does it engage us? I have often heard that Karl Barth, the great 20th century Protestant theologian, once said that Christians should “read the bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” In fact it is hard to pin down a definitive speech, ser-mon, book, etc. where Barth said exactly this. But he apparently said enough things close to it that it stuck in some hearts and minds and has been instructive for many in wedding faith and life. An article at the online site of Princeton Theological Seminary points to a May 31, 1963 Time Magazine article which notes, "[Barth] recalls that 40 years ago he advised young theologians 'to take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.'" So it was not lost on me that the Gospel reading for the Sunday after the Zimmerman jury issued its verdict was Luke 10:25-37. I tweeted that day “could the Gospel reading for today be more timely?” I think not. (You might want to hit pause and read the text now.) This passage of scripture has tirelessly been referred to as the "Parable of the Good Samaritan." (There are of course many who think it is mis-named. But we will save that for another writing.) Among the things that strike me in this passage is the number of questions that are raised in this short exchange between Jesus and a seeker: What must I do to gain eternal life? What is written in the law? How do you interpret it? And who is my neighbor? What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves? I’ve gone to the effort of spelling out the questions of the text because I believe that these are questions which should en-gage us all of the time, not just in this sensitive and fragile moment. In truth we are answering these ques-tions personally and corporately each day with our lives and ministries, whether we intend to or not. I spell them out because my life tends to affirm a better answer when I really hear the question(s).

Volume 7, Issue 8 Page 7

A Message from Bishop Palmer (continued) So how do we act to shape the future? How will we redeem history? I only ask because I believe we can. In that spirit, I offer a few suggestions applicable to individuals and congregations: 1. Pray for the two families and the community most poignantly affected by the Martin - Zimmerman tragedy. 2. Study Luke 10:25-37 with others and find yourself in the story. 3. “Seek peace and pursue it” in every venue and relationship. 4. Engage with your neighbors and your neighborhood. If you don’t know them you may not really be in ministry. 5. Risk starting a conversation about race and culture. What we don’t know and are too afraid to ask is killing us. 6. Take a step that closes the generational (mis)understanding gap. Our perceptions and stereotypes are an obstacle to building beloved community. As always I am, Your servant in the Gospel, +Gregory Vaughn Palmer Resident Bishop, Ohio West Area

Hamilton Living Water Ministries Fundraiser Hamilton Living Water Ministries will be holding a “Bob Evans Fund-raiser” set for August 27th from 6 a.m.-10 pm. They need all of their partner churches to help make this a success for their children’s afterschool program! What can you do right now? “Save the date.” Here are the details:

· Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 · Time: 6:00 am until 10:00 pm · Locations: 3 area Bob Evans restaurants

o Fairfield on Route 4 near Symmes Road o Hamilton on Main Street o Fairfield Township on Route 4 near intersection with Route 4 Bypass

Diners must present a flyer in order for HLWM to receive 15% of the proceeds. Call the office for a copy of the flyer or copies will be provided in the announcements as the date draws near. Bring family and friends! 15% of one or two families’ meals doesn’t amount to a lot, but with all 18 of our partner churches working together – wow, we can make a big impact!

Page 8 FOCUS ON “FIRST”

By the Reverend Dr. James P. Wind

Sometimes the most important conversations are the ones we fail to have. Take one from the complex world of modern medicine reported in the May 2013 issue of The Atlantic. The magazine's contributing editor, Jonathan Rauch, recounts his father's last hospitalization in "How Not To Die" (pp. 64-69). Suffering from an advanced, un-treatable neurological disorder, Rauch's father was admitted to the hospital for an MRI test. Soon he was in trouble. "I can only liken his experience to an alien abduction. He was bundled into a bed, tied to tubes, and banned from walking without help or taking anything by mouth. No one asked him about what he wanted. After a few days and a test that turned up nothing, he left the hospital no longer able to walk." That experience led Rauch's father to refuse to ever go to a hospital again and launched Rauch on an exploration into one of modern medicine's great weaknesses. What failed to happen for his father-and fails to happen for too many Americans-was something the medical profession terms "The Conversation." Rauch's father needed the "momentum of medical maximalism . . . slowed long enough for a doctor or a social worker to sit down with him and me to ex-plain, patiently and in plain English, his condition and his treatment options, to learn what his goals were for the time he had left, and to establish how much and what kind of treatment he really desired." Rauch provides other examples of this crucial conversational failure, but then shifts his attention to a group of physicians who are trying to create better conversations. These people see themselves as "disruptors" who seek to interrupt normal hospital practice so that people have a better chance to more fully understand the decisions they are making. For example, Dr. Angelo Volandes, an assistant profes-sor at Harvard Medical School, feels that the most urgent issue in America today is "people getting medi-cal interventions, that if they were more informed, they would not want." He tries to prevent this "unwanted care" by creating 6-7 minute videos with a handheld video camera that are prepared for pa-tients and families faced with difficult treatment choices. Regularly, Volandes and his colleagues find that patients and families who slow down for this kind of conversation are declining treatment options that they might otherwise accept. This report from the front lines of modern medicine says several things to me. First, it reveals that Americans live in a world of amazing and overwhelming technological marvels. Modern medicine can do wonders and most of us are beneficiaries of some of its gifts. However, those gifts keep us from noticing that very basic, elemental human things fail to happen-like conversations about how to have a good death. Sometimes the things that we trust the most, our resources, our power, our expertise set up momentums that work against our deepest needs and values. The results of those momentums, which we often lack knowledge about, can be great harm. Dr. Volandes and his bedside videos are signs that we can disrupt normal patterns; new kinds of conversation can occur. Rauch's article raises important questions about why these efforts have not be-come the norm and how health care can continue to improve its practice. What about the world be-yond medicine? Are there other places where certain critical kinds of conversations are not occurring? In our classrooms, laboratories, board rooms, and legislatures what powerful momentums are in motion that silence our deepest questions about what we are doing?

The Leading Edge

Volume 7, Issue 8 Page 9

Here especially I think of American congregations. Many of them are buzzing with conversations. But what is not being talked about within them? Rauch makes me wonder if congregations are talk-ing enough about decisions that their members face. Is one of the reasons that good conversations seem to be so hard to have in hospitals the fact that other conversations did not happen? Have congregations learned how to support people like Dr. Volandes who are seeking to open up spaces for new kinds of con-versation in complex places like hospitals, universities, corporations, or military institutions? Have they learned how to evaluate the conversational ecology of their organizational life-identifying the conversations that are acceptable and those that are taboo, the conversations that are safe and those that are dangerous? In his recent book, Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America (Boston: Beacon Press: 2012), Eboo Patel takes on one of America's most volatile conversational challenges: how contempo-rary Americans speak about the Muslims in our midst. Patel gives an example of how he is trying to help a much needed conversation take place in our country. Patel, a Muslim, reports on how he often engages seminary conversation partners (predominantly Christians) in talk about one of Christianity's favorite par-ables-the Good Samaritan story. In those conversations he slows his dialogue partners down so that they think more deeply about the identity of the hero of the story, underscoring that the only one who stopped to help the roadside victim was a Samaritan, whom we know as "the other," an outsider. Patel then pushes further, pointing out that Samaritans were, for Jesus and his listeners, heretics-"people of a different faith." Sounding a note similar to Rauch's warning about dangerous momentums, Patel speculates that "perhaps it was their expertise that kept them from helping." Then he says something that many routine Christian con-versations about the parable do not make room for. As he points out that "it is the Samaritan, the heretic, Jesus tells them to emulate" this Muslim invites his Christian audience to consider that "Jesus seems to be saying it is not enough to stay within the fold of the faithful, not enough even to follow the way, the truth, and the life. To attain the eternal, the story suggests, you have to engage with people who believe differently than you" (pp. 143-145). Patel helps us see that we need to be intentionally creating new conversations not just in our seminaries but in our congregations, and not just with people from our own faith tradition but with those who come from other worlds of belief, about the overlooked implications in our sacred stories for America's welcome of Muslims. Those kinds of conversations might prevent a lot of harm.

© Alban Institute Used by permission

The Leading Edge (continued)

Page 10 FOCUS ON “FIRST”

August Birthdays

8/2 Clyde Bowden 8/3 Helen Harness 8/4 Cherie Day 8/5 Lorene Dallman 8/6 Jackie Kolodzik 8/7 Melanie Schmitt 8/9 Tamara Campbell Mary Alice Hensley 8/13 Jean Armstrong Edward Frey 8/15 Karen Epperson 8/16 Rick Morner Jack Scherzinger Christy Schmitt 8/18 Esther Ratliff Jessica Tegge 8/20 Janice Blauvelt 8/21 Larry Coombe Elaine Haid 8/22 Mary Logsdon-Lewis 8/26 Claire Fitton 8/27 Gary Hicks 8/31 Judy Cooley Russell Coombe Rick Huff Ferdinand Sneed

August Anniversaries

8/2—Glenn & Joelle Stitsinger 8/4—Aimee & Christian Myerly

8/8—Mark & Kathy Conrad 8/14—Ruth & Joe Stanton

8/20—Carrie & David Mancuso 8/23—Vaden & Dianne Woods

8/24—Alan & Elaine Haid 8/25—Kenneth & Barbara Pierson

8/31—Karen & Greg Epperson

August Worship Leaders 9 a.m. - Praise Service

8/4—Teri Trent 8/11—Rusty Haid

8/18—Jim Sebastian 8/25—Kerry Bossert

August Worship Leaders 10:45 - Adoration Service

8/4—Lynn Kinkaid 8/11—Dave Puckett 8/18—Kathy Conrad 8/25—Jamie Binegar

Page 11 FOCUS ON “FIRST”

Phone: 513-896-5683

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Website:wwwfirstumc-ham.org

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Hamilton, OH 45011

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