2019 NEWSLETTER Freeland United Methodist ChurchPastor: Kayla RoosaChurch: (989) 695-2101 Sunday School Schedule: 9:00 am / Worship Service 10:00 am Email: freelandumc@gmail.com / Website: www.freelandumc.org Office Hours: Monday & Tuesday 8:30 – 4:00 & Wednesday 9:30 – 1:30

For the remainder of the month, our sermons will continue to focus around the struggle in Corinth as we continue following the lectionary passages from 1 Corinthians. We have heard about the struggles of the church of Corinth and the timing seems appropriate for us to continue on as we navigate through the decisions that may or may not be made at the special called General Conference at the end of the month. Some have voiced concerns about what will happen to our denomination and to our church. The church and it’s mission will still exist and still be in Freeland the day following this special called conference. There still is a great need for our presence in the community and I believe God is calling us to do something new within this community. Many in our church have varying views, hopes and fears about what may or may not happen at the end of the month, that is okay and to be expected. I really would like to encourage you to set those concerns aside and pray that the Holy Spirit moves within the Body of Christ of this special General Conference occurring February 23-26 in St. Louis, MO.

On February 5th, I had the great joy and honor of spending a significant chunk of time with the Bishop of the Michigan Conference. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful man of grace and peace leading our conference. His challenge to each of us is to be patient with one another and this period of time that lies ahead. Even though we do not know what decisions will be made at the end of the month, nothing will change the day after the conference is over. Just a few short days following the special Conference we will enter the season of Lent. There is absolutely no better time to dig into our hearts and souls and seek to be the best followers of Jesus that we can be. Out of that searching we will naturally become better neighbors to one another, as we strive to follow the greatest commandment to love God and love our neighbor.

In the days and weeks ahead, several news outlets may grab some of the headlines. Choose wisely which media outlets you are browsing. I will do my best to communicate what I can when I am able. However, the best media sources can be found from our conference website, where you can sign up for the newsletter for this special General Conference: https://gc.michiganumc.org/. I also encourage you to take a look at Bishop Bard’s blog posts – his most recent post can be found: https://michiganumc.org/news-stories/2019/02/04/the-joyful-journey-2/. As always, if you have questions, concerns or would just like to process, I would love to chat with you if you would like to about this or any topic. Please feel free to give me a call, we can meet for pie at Riverside or coffee at a coffee shop!

Yes, these times will be challenging, but I know that God is in each and every step of the process. The question is – are we looking? Are we turning to God seeking understanding from our Creator or are we relying on our own understanding, hopes, and dreams? Are we limiting God by our prayers for one specific solution to this “problem” or any problem in our life? God’s possibilities are so much larger than our understanding – I urge you to read and re-read the scripture Matthew 6:25-34 and center yourself there. God is taking care of us today. God will continue to take care of us tomorrow and in March, April and throughout the remainder of the year. Worry is a distraction from the work that we are being called to do as the Body of Christ. Are we willing and able to set aside the distraction of worry

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In This IssueIn This IssueAnniversaries/Birthdays...…….….………..3Bishop David Bard Message………………5Calendar………………….…………...........7Remember In Prayer……………….……...3Special Events…………………….….….…4Youth Group………………………………...4

and live into being the Body of Christ, where all of our members and participants are a part of our mission?

At the end of January when we held worship in the Fellowship Hall, I challenged you to ponder many questions, including what it might mean for us to be known as something other than the church with the egg rolls. While I know this really challenged and evoked some feelings in people, it is also a very serious question. Egg Rolls have a wonderful history and the intent of that statement was not to say that it is not important. The egg roll fundraiser has supported our congregation for close to 30 years. However, our mission statement is “Freeland United Methodist Church is a Christ centered mission minded community called to serve all people through God’s love.” How are we doing that? How are we searching for ways to do that in 2019? The God we serve is a God that is faithful in ways far beyond our own imagination. God blesses faithful attempts to do new ministry. I believe that God will abundantly bless us if we are faithful in our mission and ministry in 2019. The list that was compiled that day in worship is still hanging on the wall in the Fellowship Hall – for those who are not present with us because you are enjoying warmer weather…here it is:

Read to Elementary Students Once per month visit to elderly – help with tasks or build ramps Provide a FREE community soup/sandwich meal Pool of drivers to help seniors to appointments Get the scouts to meet at the church Pick up 1-2 Concession Stand Shifts as a church – wearing FUMC T-shirts Work with local churches to do a community service at the Park Look for additional ways to volunteer in the community Keep up the family nights VBS Youth Group Work on additional ways to partner with the schools/PTO’s.

This list of ideas and tasks is just a small representation of how we can be the Body of Christ in Freeland together, leaving no one out in the congregation. Are you ready for this adventure? It’s only just beginning!

Church – this period of time has been a challenge for many people’s faith. It is my sincere hope and prayer that you are continuing to spend time with God in prayer, in scripture, and in silent reflection as you hear the voice of God. As you are shaped by God’s voice, may you be opened to the possibilities that exist for us as a denomination and for us as a church.

Together in Christ,Pastor Kayla

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When entering the hospital or when confined to home, please notify the church office or Pastor Kayla directly!

ASSISTED LIVING:Ms. Kathryn Hilton Mr. Ben Webb Ms. Evelyn FraserKings Daughters Home Brookdale Living Wellspring Living2410 Rodd St 4004 Waldo Ave 2825 Wieneke Apt 105Midland, MI 48640 Midland, MI 48642 Saginaw, MI 48603

HOMEBOUND:Mrs. Wilma Spyker Mrs. Jill Ortega Mrs. Barb Crocker Ms. Mary Goodrich Ms. Joyce Schuknecht4700 E. Kent Rd 9670 Midland Road 5935 Shattuck Apt 33 6102 Jefferson #1404 180 South Colony DrFreeland, MI 48623 Freeland, MI 48623 Saginaw, MI 48603 Midland, MI 48640 Apt 325

Saginaw, MI 48638Chuck & Mary Lou Reid4870 Lone RoadFreeland, MI 48623Cards/Calls only

IN THE MILITARY : AMN Anthony A. Miller / Commander Christopher Osborn, U.S. Navy / Alex Osborn,

U.S. Navy

Please pray for our COLLEGE STUDENTS!!!!!Contact church office with updates to the students address if you haven’t already done so!

Mollie Daly - CMU Derek Miner – University of MichiganMackenzie Davies – Albion College Mitchell Musial – Ferris State UniversityAlly Duley – CMU Meghan Rohn – Western Michigan UniversityLauren Guentert – CMU Kelsey Ruggles – CMUNathan Guentert - CMU James Spaulding – DeltaScott Haines – Delta Tatyana Spaulding - DeltaAaron Jackson Huckeby – Trine University Sam Uptmor – UM FlintSarah Kusowski – Ferris State UniversitySteve McGuire – UM Flint

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FEBRUARY EVENTS Pinterest Day

Middle School and High School Youth (7 th – 12 th

Grade)!

We meet Sundays from 5-7pm. We serve you dinner. Join Us, and bring a friend or 3! We are looking for people to make dinners for the youth group meetings...sign up on the clipboard in the narthex.If you are willing to be a second adult during the meetings please see Tina, she needs helpers.

Come join in the fun. Ms. Tina Castle @ 989-798-3507Events for FebruaryFeb 3rd- Youth Breakfast pizza fundraiser 11-2 We need your help making and serving the pizzasThis will be our youth meeting for the day.Feb 10th- What is Love? Feb 17th- Impact: Influencing my peers as a Christian TeenFeb 24th- Family fun night...triviaIntroducing my faith family (youth)To the church...I would like at least 6 individuals to come forward and be "grandparents " to my kids. Send them a note, a small gift like a candy bar, etc. Once a month or more. See Tina for more information

MANDOO – (Egg Rolls)

Our “EGG ROLLS” are ground beef, ground pork, cabbage, carrots & onions. They sell for $12 a dozen & we make between 170 – 180 dozen each month.Egg Roll Dates:Feb. 22th, Mar. 29th, & May 10th, None in April due to Walleye Festival

Humility, hope, heart, and wisdomA pastoral letter from Bishop David Bard on the upcoming General Conference

Sisters and Brothers in Christ in the Michigan United Methodist Church, in this new year I bring greetings in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the peace and

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power of the Holy Spirit.

As 2018 came to a close, many of us watched portions of the funeral services for former president George H. W. Bush and some of the news specials about his life and career. Along the way, we encountered an acronym: CAVU – clearance, and visibility unlimited. It was something President Bush learned as a Navy pilot during World War II. I imagine CAVU was a joy to hear when flying.

Not long after that, I was in Washington, D.C. for some continuing education with the North Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops, followed by two days with our General Board of Church and Society, finding out about their work and having the wonderful opportunity to meet the Chaplain of the United States Senate, Rev. Barry Black. It was a great trip, except for the flight back to Lansing. My plane from D.C. left late and I did not have a great deal of time between connections. I was worried about making it, and the flight itself was one of the bumpier I have experienced. I need not have worried, though. My flight from Chicago, O’Hare to Lansing was also delayed, by over eight hours! A trip that was supposed to leave at 9 p.m. instead left Chicago at 5:45 a.m. Curling up on airport seats and sleeping for thirty minutes at a time is not the most fun I’ve had. The reason for the long delay was the opposite of CAVU. Lansing was experiencing significant fog.

As we turn the calendar to this new year, we are all aware that next month delegates will be gathering for a special session of the General Conference of The United Methodist Church. Important decisions will be made about who we are going to be moving into the future. Whatever decisions are made, expect there to be hurt and disappointment, and some people may choose to leave the denomination. Just what will happen is unknown. Peering ahead we do not find CAVU conditions, but rather dense fog. Some days, thinking about all this, it feels a little like trying to sleep at O’Hare airport. By the way, did you know airports are rather noisy even in the middle of the night?

Yet there is something else that draws me. I think of the poem of Wendell Berry. “When despair for the world grows in me/, and I wake in the night at the least sound/in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be….  I come into the peace of wild things….  For a time/I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

In the midst of the unknown, the uncertain, the fearful, in the midst of all the noise and discomfort, I invite us all to find some different places where we know grace, the grace of God in Jesus Christ. For those of you who have attended the fall listening sessions, the names of these places will sound familiar.“Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another,a tender heart, and a humble mind” (I Peter 3:8). Go to a place called humility.Humility is not about feeling bad about yourself. It is about knowing yourself, your gifts, your skills, your beauty, your strengths, your weaknesses, your blind spots, your stubborn places. Humility also knows that we can always learn more about the wonder and mystery of life, and the love and grace of God. We can still see more broadly, feel more deeply, think more imaginatively, and love more profoundly.Go to a place called hope.God is not yet done with God’s church. The United Methodist Church may go through a hard time but the mission we have identified of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, that is, bringing people into relationship with Jesus Christ so that their lives can be different and the world can be different, that mission continues. God still calls each of us to that work. God empowers each of us for that work. Forms and structures may change, but God’s love and our ability to know that love, show that love, and grow in that love, does not change.Go to a place called heart.

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There is fog up ahead and fearful things along the way. We all feel some fear, but we need not be defined by our fear. There is fog up ahead and fearful things along the way, but we can, in God’s grace “be joyful, though you’ve considered all the facts” (Wendell Berry). We can be open-hearted and gracious, even when many want to pull us in other directions.Go to a place called wisdom.“Thinking is hard. Fear and blame are easy.” (philosopher Martha Nussbaum) We are called to think more deeply than we often do, think more deeply than perhaps we are even comfortable with. Are we at a moment where the danger is “all the people did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25), or a moment when the more appropriate word is “let all be fully convinced in their own minds” (Romans 14:5)? What reasons do we offer for our own point of view, and are we listening deeply to others who may differ? In all our thinking are we able to focus on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable” (Philippians 4:8)? I invite you in the coming weeks to find places of humility, hope, heart, and wisdom, places where you can rest in the grace of God. As the new year begins, we will quickly find ourselves in the church season of epiphany. Epiphany is a celebration of light, a celebration of a star that brought wise ones from the East to the place where Jesus was born. In the Bible, there are stories of light that shine so brightly and powerfully that people are blinded. In the story of the Magi, the light seems to shine a bit less brightly, maybe appearing through cracks. Why else would the wise ones stop to ask for directions? The rays of light of God’s grace are sometimes spotlight bright and sometimes like the light seeping in under a door. Places of humility, hope, heart, and wisdom will sometimes be bright and easy to locate. They may sometimes be harder to detect. Find them. Find those places of grace. Regardless of what happens at General Conference, letting the light of God’s grace touch us more deeply, profoundly and beautifully is always needed, needed for our own healing, needed for the healing of the church, needed for the healing of the world.

Grace and Peace,

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2019Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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3 9:00am Sunday School

10:00am Worship11:00am Pizza Lunch

4 6:30pmBible Study

7:15pm AlAnon8:00pm AA Mtg

56:00pm

Bell Choir

6 4:00pm Alzheimer’s

Support Group

77:00pm

Trustee Mtg

8 9

10 9:00am Sunday School

10:00am Worship5:00-7:00pm

Youth Group–What is Love

11 6:30pmBible Study

7:15pm AlAnon8:00pm AA Mtg

12 6:00pm

Bell Choir

135:30pm

Card Making@ St. Agnes

14 15 169:00am–3:30pm

Pinterest Day

17 9:00am Sunday School

10:00am Worship5:00-7:00pm

Youth Group-Influencing peers

18 6:30pm Bible Study

7:15pm AlAnon8:00pm AA Mtg

19 6:00pmWorship Mtg

7:00pm Council Mtg6:00pm Bell

Choir

20 21 2210:00-3:00Egg Rolls

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24 9:00am Sunday School

10:00am Worship4:00-6:00pm

Youth Group - Trivia

25 6:30pm Bible Study7:15pm AlAnon8:00pm AA Mtg

26 6:00pmBell Choir

**Newsletter Deadline

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Freeland United Methodist Church205 E. Washington StreetFreeland, MI 48623

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If you have an address change or if you have been receiving this newsletter in error and would like to be removed from the mailing list, please either email us at freelandumc@gmail.com or contact us at 989-695-2101.

FREELAND UNITED METHODIST CHURCH IS A CHRIST CENTERED MISSION MINDED COMMUNITY CALLED TO

SERVE ALL PEOPLE THROUGH GOD’S LOVE.

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