Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
A Newsletter of the ROANOKE DISTRICT United Methodist Women—June/July 2020
Newsette
Book Reviews by Phyllis Geoghegan, District UMW President
Finding Peace in an Anxious World edited by Erin James-Brown is an appropriate book for us as United Methodist Women to be reading at this time of a critical health crisis in our country. The book is based on “The Serenity Prayer” which is well known for its use in Alcoholic Anonymous and other twelve-step recovery programs. Mostly we hear these first four lines: God, Grant me the Serenity To accept the things I cannot change Courage to change the things I can And the wisdom to know the difference. This was written by Reinhold Niebuhr against the backdrop of two world wars and the Great Depression. His daughter later recorded the continuation or longer prayer: Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world As it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right If I surrender to His will; So that I may be reasonably happy in this life And supremely happy with Him Forever and ever in the next. Amen. (Elisabeth Sifton) As Olivia DiAgostino shares, “this is a prayer for times of uncertainty, for feelings of anxiety, for mo-ments of fear; it is both a soothing balm and a weapon of resistance.” We are reminded to trust in God’s power to work toward good in a place filled with chaos and to participate in that good work for God’s kingdom. Finding Peace in an Anxious World is also a study of Proverbs. Take time to review the verses about wisdom and trusting in God, such as Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” I pray for Peace for you and your families, personal and church. Spend time reading scripture and books from our UMW Reading list. You will be blessed.
When Others Shuddered, Eight Women Who Refused to Give Up written by Jamie Janosz has a warning, “This book might just change your life. No woman is too young or too old, too poor or too rich to become a mighty vessel in the hands of the Lord.” Fanny Cosby is the star in the first 3 chapters. If you love biographies, you will love this book. The lives of these ladies are remarkable! All eight ladies were in mission, God’s work was foremost in their lives. Chicago is the sight for many of their ministries, as well as many world wide ministries. I had not known the life of “Nettie” Nancy McCormick, wife of Cyrus McCormick (yes, the inventor of the reaper; he was 25 years older than her). They were extremely wealthy, but suffered greatly in the fire of Chicago. She es-tablished schools and orphanages in our country, China, Egypt, and Korea to spread Christianity, Christian Education and western medicine all over the world. Another favorite of mine is Mary Mcleod Bethune with such an amazing Legacy of Hope. Her bravery during those critical encoun-ters with prejudice and intimidation was like a lighthouse shining for me. You’ll have to learn her accomplishments, even more than I had known, as well as be inspired by all eight women to be the best we can be wherever God has planted us or maybe wherever He wants us to be.
Treasurer, Karen Lee
Which Way, Lord? written by Rob Fuquay may help us to know for certain what we must do when we survive this time of isolation and questioning. He wants us to understand God’s direction for our lives. Through this book, we are led along a journey reflecting upon Paul’s life and writings. I did not know that Paul studied and discerned what his purpose was to be for 17 years before he actually began his ministry after his startling salvation experience. Paul had many detours and experienced adversity, as well as anxiety during his years of ministry. Fuguay wants us to find ways to use our experiences, to endure the hardships and persevere with hope and faith, as Paul did. This book could be a 6 week study for a UMW unit . It has a DVD for each session filmed on locations of Paul’s missionary journey. It could be a wonderful opportunity for growth for you, your unit and/or your church. It’s a meaningful way to fulfill the first part of our UMW Purpose: to know God and experience the freedom as whole persons in Jesus Christ!
Communications, Cindy Martin
As I prepared this edition of The Newsette I was
struck by all the things in the past four months that
have been cancelled or postponed due to the
pandemic (Spiritual Life Retreats, Ferrum Day,
Mission Encounter, Annual Conference …) I was
sadden by the loss of these opportunities that
bring United Methodist Women together to learn,
celebrate, and deepen our faith in God and our
relationships with each other. My sadness was
short as I began to focus on the ways we have
stepped into the gaps during this time. Thousands
of masks have been lovingly sewn and distributed
in our communities by UMW; food and supplies in
support of Kids Soar’s feeding ministry have been
collected by UMW; countless mission books have
been read by UMW; prayers have been lifted for
our world by UMW; and the list goes on and on.
I realized it is OK to be disappointed and I recognize how much we miss the normal, but let us take a moment to look around and find ways to continue to be connected and continue to be in mission with our world, spreading hope as we do.
Stay current on UMW news at:
www.unitedmethodistwomen.org
www.vaumw.com
www.roanokeumc.org/page.php?pg=missions
Summer is here, and this year, we have lots of time to work on
projects such as that book you want to read or the flower bed
that you envision. Maybe this is the year you plant a small
garden. So many opportunities await.
I just want to remind you that although we can’t meet, our re-
mittance is still due to the district. The dates for remittance are
September 1 and December 5
Individuals may want to send their contributions to their local
treasurer to ensure she has enough funds to meet your unit’s
pledge.
Stay safe and stay strong.
Book Reviews by Phyllis Geoghegan, continued
Program Resources/Reading Program, Ramona Tolley
Stay Safe! We are ALL in this together! Be Kind to One Another! How many times have we heard these statements in the past several months?
Our lives have changed more dramatically than any of us could have ever imagined, and often we feel alone and helpless. But John 14:27 assures us: ”Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.” Perhaps now we may have some extra time that we have not had before. So consider taking the opportunity, taking this peace, and read some of the wonderful books in our current Reading Program. We have happy books, sad books, intriguing books, books to fire us up, books to take us far away, and so much more. Books are available as just that – BOOKS – but many are also available on Kindle and CD. There are just SO many interesting books on the 2015-2020 list. The Children and Youth books count just like the “adult” books, and many of the Children’s books are an easy read and so very joyful. Be sure to look at those too, and if possible, share them with children.
This “Reading Program Year” runs from last September 1, 2019 through this August 31, 2020. Each unit’s summary report, in-cluded in this newsletter, is due to me by September 15. But there is still plenty of time to read before the end of summer.
As you read, remember to write down the book titles as you complete them; you want to make sure they all get counted. You may record them on the Reading Program form located at www.unitedmethodistwomen.org or on a form of your own making. Keep reading “Response”, our wonderful UMW publication, as you need to read it for credit on your Reading Program form. Go to this website to learn more about the Reading Program as well as other UMW information.
Our current 2019-2020 UMW Program book, “Let Your Light Shine,” contains programs from the Old and New Testaments that inspire us to share God’s light as Christian disciples. The programs can be used at any time, but they are also excellent for your own devotional reading. FREE extra copies are available; if you would like one, just let me know.
If you need resources or have questions, please feel free to e-mail or call me. During this unique time in our lives, give yourself the gift of time to pick up a Reading Program book and enjoy!
With God’s blessings, let us remain faithful, strong and courageous as we continue, somewhat cautiously, into the summer and fall of 2020. May we all “let our light shine.” Through our reading and our encouragement to our units to read, may our Roanoke District increase our number of readers and the number of books we all read.
Social Action, Debra Calonge
United Methodist Women Urges Members to Resist Racism in Hearts, Homes, Communi-ties and Country
May 11, 2020, NEW YORK – United Methodist Women decries the February shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, and laments that arrests in his killing were only made last week after a videotape of his final moments went viral although local law enforcement was in possession of this evidence for weeks. The organization also expresses concern in the death of Sean Reed, who live streamed his own killing by police in Indianapolis, Indiana, police officers shooting him more than 10 times and one saying, “Looks like it’s going to be a closed casket, ho-mie.”
United Methodist Women calls for an end to extrajudicial killings that harken back to our nation’s shameful legacy of the lynching of Black people. That contemporaries like Trayvon Martin, Atatiana Jefferson, Tamir Rice, and now Ahmaud Arbery are united in death with the historic lynching victim Emmett Till is a disgrace.
Such devaluing of Black lives matters to God. As Christian women, we stand to demonstrate our faith by challenging racism, racist stereotypes and the criminalization of Black communities and oth-er communities of color. It is a sin to assume a Black person or other person of color is guilty of a crime because they are jogging down a street, or buying Skittles, or playing in a park, or gaming with a nephew at home. Refusing to challenge such racism and injustice is also a sin.
Arbery’s death is happening in a moment when the broader structural racism in our society is in-creasingly revealed through enormous racial disparities evidenced not only in the U.S. COVID-19 death statistics but also in the biased enforcement of social distancing regulations. Black people have been ticketed, beaten and arrested for minor violations of social distancing while armed White people gathering in enormous crowds have been given a free pass.
We are seeing old racist patterns renewed in myriad of ways: Black people are subject to lynching; Native American land rights are undermined in South Dakota; Latinx workers are exploited while la-bor rights are ignored; Asian American communities continue to be demonized with stereotypes of “foreignness” and “disease”; and White supremacists openly organize.
As United Methodist Women, we encourage all members and friends to recommit to The United Methodist Church’s Charter for Racial Justice and resist racism in our hearts, our homes, our com-
You are invited to participate in an Online
Discussion of the 2020 United Methodist
Women Social Action Bonus Book:
This 4-session webinar, led and facilitated by VA Conference United
Methodist Women members Karen McElfish, Karen Booker and Melissa
White, will be offered via ZOOM and will help you process and discuss
what you are learning from this relevant, accessible and honest landmark
book for our times!
When are the sessions? Thursday evenings from 7:00 – 8:30 pm via Zoom
Themes, Chapters and Links included for each session are:
July 23: What does the work of racial justice mean for us right now? We will focus on Chapters 1 – 3
Is it really about race? What is racism? What if I talk about race wrong? Registration link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZckf-GprjItGdVBvm8SbBblMjrhab13hOaq
July 30: Why am I always being told to “check my privilege?” and What is intersectionality and why do I need it? We will focus on Chapters 4 and 5. Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qcOigqz4rGdSJG9sM3vanW-pSMVOLP7pH
August 6: What are some of the educational inequities faced by people of color? We will focus on Chapters 7, 8 and 13: How can I talk about affirmative action? and What is the school-to- prison pipe line? Why are our students so angry? Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcldOmtrjoqGNMf9nZjPNFE83UjrzAl-_po
August 20: How can we take action? Our final session will focus on Chapter 17: Talking is great, but what else can I do? Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtcOCqrTMrGtTXdZXTOr8bIlkmg9s_GYI2
Prerequisites: Read the Chapters in So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo listed for
discussion prior to each session. (Available on Amazon and other vendors) Can’t attend all 4
sessions? That’s ok…register and attend the ones that you are able to attend!
Additional resources and materials will be posted on the Virginia United Methodist Women website: https://www.vaumw.com/events/
What format will we use for discussion:
Introduce each session theme with an overview of the topic and key points
Small group discussion in break-out groups to which you will be assigned
Wrap-up time to share your reflections with the whole group.
Roanoke District
July 18: District Team Finance and Planning Meeting; 9:30 AM, by ZOOM
August 15: Deadline to submit articles for quarterly District Newsette
Deadline for Rainbow Giver donation forms
August 23: District Open Executive Team Meeting; 3:00 PM by ZOOM
September 1: Deadline for Unit Treasurers to send report/funds to District Treasurer
September 15: Deadline for reporting Reading Program, Living Into Our Purpose and
Deceased Members to District team
October 10: District UMW Day; Watch for more information.
November 15: Deadline to submit articles for quarterly District Newsette
December 5: Deadline for Unit Treasurers to send report/funds to District Treasurer
_____________________________________________________
Local unit UMW leaders are invited to join the Roanoke District UMW Team for an Open Executive
Team Meeting on August 23 at 3 PM by Zoom. See the invitation below. Reach out the Cindy
Martin at [email protected] or 540-353-3412 if you need assistance with the Zoom
platform.
Local UMW Unit Leaders are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: District UMW Open Executive Team Meeting Time: Aug 23, 2020 03:00 PM Eastern Time Join Zoom Meeting by computer: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84677246438 Join Zoom Meeting by phone: call 1- 929- 205- 6099 or 1-301-715- 8592 Meeting ID: 846 7724 6438 Passcode: 477275
Be prepared to enter the six digit password. Please mute the audio on your device upon arrival into the meeting.
Some important UMW dates for 2020
Education and Interpretation, Bobbie Rust
Living Into Our Purpose
The Virginia Conference UMW has new recommendations related to the Living Into Our Purpose that
address the challenges of meeting goals during this the of COVID-19 pandemic. Those new guide-
lines along with the LIOP form are attached to this Newette email. The guidelines and forms can also
be found at: https://www.vaumw.com/conference/education-interpretation/ . Contact me if you
have any questions.
Mission Encounter 2020/2021
Even though Mission Encounter 2020 was cancelled, many of the studies will carry over to next year. Take the opportunity to read in preparation for 2021.
Spiritual Growth Study: Finding Peace in an Anxious World
Using the book of Proverbs alongside Niebuhr’s “Serenity Prayer,” this study encourages us to explore vari-ous spiritual disciplines to find the peace that surpasses all understanding in the midst of our busy, some-times anxious lives.
Spiritual Growth Youth Study: Managing Anxiety
In the explorative spiritual growth study “Managing Anxiety,” authors Trudy Rankin and Faye Wilson educate youth on one very normal emotion with considerable power—anxiety—and offer tools and practices that give them the self-confidence to manage decisions, control their emotions and mature into healthy young adults, using our Christian faith as a guide.
Spiritual Growth Children's Study: Managing Our Emotions
“Managing Our Emotions” helps children learn about their emotions and accept God’s gift of their entire range of feelings. The study draws from the Bible, science, music and our lived experiences to help children learn to manage their emotions in positive and healthy ways.
Issue Study: Pushout - The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools
Based on the book by Dr. Monique Morris, this study invites participants to learn about the school-to-prison pipeline and school-to-confinement pathways, mass incarceration and the criminalization of girls of color from a theological perspective, alongside historical information and the words and stories of young people from across the country.
Nominations, Connie Young
The Nominations committee is busy working on a
slate of District UMW leaders for 2021. If you feel
called to serve in a leadership role or have
questions about being a District UMW leaders,
please contact me.
Consider how your gifts and graces and can be a
part of shaping the mission and ministry of the
Roanoke District UMW.
Your Roanoke District UMW Team 2020
President Phyllis Geoghegan (Blacksburg) 220 Slate Creek Dr. Christiansburg, VA 24073 540-382-1545 [email protected] Vice President Carolyn Barnes (Greene Memorial) 2020 Carolina Ave. Unit #208 Roanoke, VA 24014 540-342-6067 [email protected] Secretary Louise Miller (Raleigh Court) 1917 Avon Rd. S.W. Roanoke, VA 24015 540-343-7529 [email protected] Treasurer Karen Lee (St. Marks) 60 Canterbury Circle Roanoke VA 24019 540-992-2082 [email protected] Spiritual Growth Karen Dinkins (Cave Spring) 2977 Winterberry Drive Roanoke VA 24018 540-598-6362 [email protected] Education and Interpretation Bobbie Rust (Cave Spring) 1801 Northwoods Lane Salem, VA 24153 540-387-9139 [email protected] Social Action Debra Calonge (Northview) P. O. Box 1425 Bedford, VA 24523 [email protected]
Membership, Nurture and Outreach Shirley Brown (Asbury) 525 Hemlock St. Christiansburg, VA 24073 540-382-3054 [email protected] Program Resources/Reading Program Ramona Tolley (St. Marks) 3374 Read Mountain Rd. Roanoke, VA 24019 540-992-3496 (H) 540-556-5238 (C) [email protected] Communications Cindy Martin (Cave Spring) 5566 Westbriar Court Roanoke, VA 24018 540-776-0993 (H) 540-353-3412 (C) [email protected] Nominations Chair Connie Young (Cave Spring) 3045 McVitty Forest Dr #210 Roanoke VA 24018 540-989-9416 Nominations Committee Sylvia Bishop (Asbury) Janice Phillips (Raleigh Court) Lou Talbott (Blacksburg) Helen Watson (Northview)
United Methodist Women shall be a community of women whose Purpose is to know God and to
experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ; to develop a creative, supportive fellowship;
and to expand concepts of mission through participa-tion in the global ministries of the church.
