Office Phone (707) 442-3015 Rev. Dr. Rebecca Irelan, Pastor

Office Email: grace520@pacbell.net Pastor’s Cell (415) 505-6237

Web site: https://firstumceureka.org/

From Pastor Rebecca,

“I think I died and went to heaven,” is

what I keep saying over and over to everyone I

have met since landing in Eureka last week.

Someday I’ll tell you how I fell in love with the

North Coast, but you should know that I’ve had

my heart on this place for a long time. Pastor

Kathryn was my sister’s pastor in King’s Beach,

which is how I got to know her. When the bishop

appointed her here eight years ago, I had just

recently been appointed to Willow Glen UMC in

San Jose, yet I confess that I was a little bit

jealous.

Fast forward eight years. In January, I

knew that I was likely to be moved this

appointment season, and when I attended the

Gathering of the Orders and Kathryn told me that

she was retiring, I marched right over to your

District Superintendent to let him know that I

felt a calling to serve in the Great Northern

District. And by the grace of God, here I am! Upon

my arrival, I sent Blake Busick an email, saying,

“I’m already loving the town, the environment,

the parsonage, and can’t wait to start loving the

people.”

Now, I imagine that you are probably

curious about me, and I will tell you stories about

my growing up in Iowa and Montana; my call to

ministry at Boston University; my seminary

years at Duke in North Carolina; my first church

in rural Idaho; meeting my husband in Eugene,

Oregon; moving to California to work on a PhD;

and raising a child and serving churches in Santa

Cruz, Marin and San Jose, before plotting my

escape to Humboldt Bay.

As much as I love to tell stories, I love

listening to them even more. But since it will be

hard for us to meet in person for a while, let’s

pretend we remember how to write letters. Via

email and snail mail, I will write to you each

week and share a little about my story, and if you

find that it connects with your story in any way

at all, I hope that you will write back to me. With

your permission, I’ll share those stories with the

whole congregation, and we can all get to know

each other better. I always say: why wait for the

funeral to get to know your friends!

Though I haven’t even met most of you,

you feel like friends already. That’s because I

trust God to show me how I can best love and

serve with you. What a privilege it is to be here

and what promise and potential God has given

us! Today is God’s gift to us. Tomorrow is our gift

to God.

Grace and peace to you from the God who

loves you more than you will ever know,

Pastor Rebecca

From Henry (Hank) Millstein, I am a Jew, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, who

came to faith in Jesus as Messiah and Redeemer at the

age of 18. A long and winding pilgrimage brought me

ultimately to the Roman Catholic Church and to the

Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, a lay order

dedicated to following the teachings of the great Spanish

mystics Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross. I continue to

have a deep love for Judaism and my Jewish heritage that

led to my earning a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies at UC Berkeley

and the Graduate Theological Union after my wife, your

pastor, dragged me down into California from Oregon,

where I was working for the Confederated Tribes of Warm

Springs with the imposing title of Tribal Linguist, helping

them develop a program to preserve and teach their

native languages. I succeeded in working myself out of a

job, with the program continuing, staffed entirely by Tribal

members, but the Tribes recently called me back to work

on an expanded and (hopefully) improved version of a

dictionary of their language Ichishkiin. I'm a long-time

peace and justice activist and am happy to be in a

community open to those concerns. Last, but by no means

least, I am a poet and novelist and have recently published

Speaker for the God, a historical novel based on the life of

the prophet Jeremiah. I look forward to serving as

Rebecca's worse half and doing what I can to join in her

ministry at EFUMC.

Live Stream Worship Sundays at 9:30 AM

“Attendance” at our live

stream worship services on

the church Facebook page

(Eureka First United

Methodist Church) has been

very good, and it is now easier to get connected to the

service than at the beginning of our efforts. You can find

links to the Facebook site and to the church’s YouTube

Channel on the front page of our church website

(firstumceureka.org) The YouTube Channel is not a live

broadcast, but you can view services there later on

Sunday. You can view past services on both platforms. We

plan to continue live stream worship even after we return

to regular worship in the sanctuary.

Future Bible Study

Rebecca and her scholar-husband would like to co-lead an online Bible study once they get settled in and want to know what topics you might be interested in. Rebecca is the theologian and

Hank is the Bible scholar who reads the text in the original languages. We would love to engage you in some rousing conversation! Send us some ideas or questions and we'll design a course. grace520@pacbell.net

Labor Day Weekend at Grizzly Creek State Park

Please stay tuned for

information in regard to

our annual campout at

Grizzly Creek Redwoods

State Park on Labor Day

Weekend. Due to

current state park

campground closures it is unclear whether Grizzly Creek

State Park will be open on Labor Day Weekend, and

reservations are not yet able to be made. Let the office

know if you are interested in camping this year!

Office Manager Gary Quintrell is keeping

regular office hours via telephone ((707)

442-3015) Monday through Thursday

from 9:00 AM to Noon. If you are in need of food from our

food bank, please call the office during those hours and

arrangements will be made to get food to you.

Thank you for your generous giving!

Thank you to all who have

continued to give your tithes and

gifts to the church! There are a

number of ways that you can get

your gifts to the church: write a

check and put it in the mail (520 Del Norte, 95501) or

through the slot in the office door when you are out

getting groceries, if you pay bills on line through your bank

you can add the church as one of your payees, or you can

pay online by going to the church website:

http://firstumceureka.org and then selecting “Support.”

Thank you for your past support, your ongoing support

and your future support.

Re-Opening Committee News: As Churches are being allowed to reopen, we are working

diligently to establish the necessary procedures and

protocols to assure the well-being of all. A re-opening

committee has had its first meeting to discuss the next

steps to re-opening. We will need to provide our District

Superintendent with a written plan for his approval.

Please be assured our plans are to improve and continue

our on-line service, even when we begin to meet in

person. We recognize that not all persons will be

comfortable gathering for worship for some time to come.

Women’s Book Club

The Sisters of Charlotte Literary &

Teatime Society will not be meeting in

July. They will resume August 18th at

3:00 p.m.

Board of Trustees Work Day

Saturday, July 11th

, 9-noon

We have several items that need to be

addressed at EFUMC. If you can come

and help with some yardwork, battery

replacement of smoke detectors, ect..

we would appreciate it. However, due to the social

distancing requirements, folks will be working separately

except those who attend with their family group. Also, we

will not be providing lunch. Sorry. ) :

Church Family News Please send us your prayer requests to be published in the

August Newsletter. You can email them to

grace520@pacbell.net , mail/drop off at the office, or call

the office and leave a message. If you have been on the

list, feel free to give us an update on how you are feeling.

JULY BIRTHDAYS

3 Joyce Hayes 19 Vickie Grammer

4 Crystal Mayberry `19 Rob Dunning

4 Teddie Lyons 20 Janis Schleunes

4 Ann Boyd 21 Dorothy Weber

6 Barbara Welsh 21 Sarah Cameron

6 Grace Kimura 21 Marilyn Cesaretti

9 Paige Olmstead 22 Bill O’Brien

10 Sadiki Koo’s 22 Annie Breen

11 Jerry Faulk 23 Ava Glover

12 Louis Amato 24 Eve Robinson

12 Jonathan Hening 24 Greg Goodwyn

13 Rosey Hoch 24 Dan Dionne

16 Brian Hansen 24 Christopher Kerr

17 Sue MacMillan 25 Barbara Breen

17 Cindy Patton 25 Julie Benson

17 Crystal Johnson 27 Joshua Ruch

27 Heather Shelton

28 Jeanette Thulien

JULY ANNIVERSARIES

1 Jim & Connie Ross

6 Dean & Ann Boyd

18 Wayne and Linda Palmrose

23 Steve & Sue Peacock

24 Michael & Tami Davies-Hughes

27 Neil & Jean Ogimachi

29 Forrest and Patricia Vance

Congratulations! If we missed your special day or have

the incorrect date, please call the church office so we

can get it right next year.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Congratulations Brad &Dorothy

Brad & Dorothy Johnson were married on Saturday, June

27th on the beach near Fairhaven.

2020 Scholarship Recipients Congratulations to our two $500 scholarship winners

this year! Marina Benson will be attending Brown

University and CJ Rechelluul will be attending College

of the Redwoods.

CJ Rechelluul

These scholarships are available through our

Children’s Trust Fund. We encourage you to make

donations to this fund so that we can continue to

support our Eureka First youth as they further their

education goals.

Finance News May 2020

General Fund Revenue: *$34,209.99

General Fund Expense: $17,534.63

YTD 2020(May 31, 2020)

2020 General Fund Revenue: *$107,435.03

2020 General Fund Expense: $87,477.49

Total +*$19,957.54

(*)These amounts reflect a transfer from the Endowment

Fund into the General Fund Cash Reserves of $10,000.

Thank you for your generous giving to God through the

church.

Worship Attendance - June Attendance is live stream plus views

June 7 TOTAL – 97

June 14 TOTAL – 103

June 21 TOTAL – 105

June 28 TOTAL – 116

Passing of the StolePassing of the StolePassing of the StolePassing of the Stole At the conclusion of Pastor Kathryn’s last service she

passed on the Eureka First UMC stole to Pastor Rebecca

which was originally given to Pastor Charles Smith. This

stole has been passed down to each Pastor of Eureka First

since. The stole was made by Margie O’Keefe and

embroidered by Joann Brekke. If you missed the live

stream service you can watch it on YouTube by going to

our website and clicking on the YouTube link.

MUSIC AT EUREKA FIRST

Praise Band Praise Band is on hiatus, but will

resume as soon as we can.

Like all of us, the Bella Norte Bells are quietly waiting

for the dawn. We will resume rehearsals and performances when we are all able to come back

together again. We miss the bells almost as much as we miss all of you!

MISSIONS Food Donations to Be Weighed Sunday,

July 5. June Total was 188lbs. Thank you for those who have left food donations at the

church office. We will weigh them during our live stream

worship on Sunday, July 5th. If you have donations of non-

perishable food items for our food closet and Little Free

Pantry, please arrange to deliver them to the church office

during this week by calling the office (442-3015).

Birthday and

Anniversary

Pennies Even though we are not meeting,

any donations we receive for

birthday and anniversaries will be

sent to the Betty Chin Center to

support their important work.

Picture Gallery

July Word Find

I L G T L J J X W V Z H I A B L M F L S

N D J N D F F T S J W K Y P W S O S P F

D Z G I E O H E D I V M Q X C V D K N P

E K P B U P D Y T C B V O N L X E X Y C

P S N F B A P O Y K B A H Q B J E V O R

E K F H R H M L K P V Y P C E M R K V T

N N S A D I I V H U P J X N X G F L T Z

D B P K U J I Q M J K Q B G C H T T E Q

E C P F R W P S E K F R B R U K Y Q F J

N P B F A O Q U W M O A C F K V M Y Q U

C D Z Q M E W M M T F R M F Z Z S D E L

E P M H B V N E H G P D C I K R J D E Y

C F E P C N U E R T C L N G L Q U U V F

L R Z Y Z D R A U I W P S R N Y Y T K A

B K R E M H A F M W F O U R T H A Z L M

Y D H N O T G N I H S A W E O Q D C O I

A U V O U C F R A H I R M X R I O S L M

Y H D Q L S J N T E T G E J G Z P M Z Y

Q V V Y E W H C F M M S D Q I N B E C D

J W I V T V N H F Y U B Q V A V E X X E

BROTHERHOOD FAMILY

FIREWORKS FOURTH

FREEDOM INDEPENDENCE

JULY PARADES

WASHINGTON

From your friendly editor

Remember to go the church website at

https://firstumceureka.org/ for news

and links to the worship service videos!

Submissions to the

Messenger Send submissions

directly to your friendly editor, Dan Dionne, at

editor@firstumceureka.org.

SUN MoMON TUETUE WED THU FRI SAT

1

2

3

4

5 Weigh Food

6

7

8

9

12 Noon, Missions Meeting @

Fredrickson’s backyard

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18 1:00pm Board of Trustees, In the Parking Lot

19

20

21

22

23

24

25 Newsletter Deadline

26 Birthdays & Anniversaries

27

28

29

30

31

July 2020 *Online Meetings