The SpireThe Rutland United Methodist Church Newsletter |
MARCH 2010

Office Phone: (802) 773-2460
E-Mail Address: RutlandUMC@aol.com
Office Hours: Monday – Thursday
8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Staff:
Rev. Deborah Estey – Pastor
Bert Ladd – Business Administrator
Lorraine Dotson – Administrative Secretary
Matt O’Morrow – Custodian
Ann Reed – Organist/Pianist
Karen James – Music Director / Bells of Joy Choir Director
Linda Allen and Marsha Johnson – Sunday School Superintendents
Cathy Fleming – Nursery Staff
From the Pastor’s Desk
We are now in the middle of Lent – a time for us to reflect on our lives, its purpose, and to once again offer God the sacrifice of ourselves. Lent is a time of deep prayer. Did you ever wonder when this conversation with God truly began?
The first prayer is recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures. The second chapter of Genesis declares, “Then the Lord God formed the human of dust from the earth, and breathed into the human’s nostrils the breath of life; and the human became a living being” (Genesis 2: 7, my translation). A human being is merely physical until it is empowered by divine energy, and only then does the human become a “living being”. We are not complete until the body and its divine vitality are joined. The “living being”, or soul, is a unity of the physical and psychic aspects of human life. The “living being", the soul, springs forth as a direct result of God’s breathing the divine energy into the human being’s nostrils. When God shares His breath with each human being, the sacred
“conversation” between that “living being” and God begins. God initiates each person’s first prayer. This sharing of God’s energy with each human being is the most profound declaration of the purpose of human life.
A human being is a living soul and the physical, emotional, psychic, rational, and spiritual aspects of each of our lives are reflected and embodied in the way we live and pray. The sharing of God’s breath with us shows that the meaning of that first prayer is love and it identifies the lovers. We are created to love God with everything we are: our soul. But that is not all. Knowing we are loved by God, we are to love our neighbors in the same way that we care for our own sacred lives. We are a source of God’s love for other people, who, in turn, are called to love God and us. We are not separate; we are a unity of love.
The breath of God makes us a living soul, but it is not intended to be a one-time mountaintop experience. It will sustain our lives every day through a sharing of that same original energy. Prayer is the most fundamental way we care of our soul. If praying is caring for the soul, then it is caring for everything we are, not just the religious part of our lives. Prayer is essential for our whole human being. This Lent,
let us ask God to give us a heart of prayer to praise God and offer love to others.
Pastor Debbie
Financial Team Report
From the Treasurer:
The offering for the most recent weeks is listed below.
01-17 --- $2,207.66
01-24 --- $2,344.83
01-31 --- $3,156.00
02-07 --- $4,281.25
02-14 --- $2,696.49
These offerings also contain contributions made to Haiti survivors.
Thank you for your generosity. Please continue your generous giving, and pray that we will be able to continue to meet our expenses.
Penny Ford,
Assistant Treasurer
Bottles For Missions
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone. Everyone has some Irish in them.
January Challengers were Rosita and Norman Desjardins. Bottles and matching funds came to $90.00. We are making a difference in many lives.
February Challenger is Trudy Billings.
God bless all who contribute to this worthwhile effort.
Beth Fernandes
Haiti Relief
Monetary support for relief efforts for Haiti can be made to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Haiti Emergency Advance #418325. Your gift may be dropped in the Sunday collection plate or mailed to:
UMCOR
PO Box 9068
New York, NY 10087
For online donations visit: http://www.gbgm-mc.org/umcor.
100 percent of your gift will go to support relief and development efforts.
Rutland Community
Cupboard Donations
On Souper Bowl Sunday, February 7th, Rutland United Methodist Church youth collected $148.72 in donations to benefit the Rutland Community Cupboard. Donations also included 100 non-perishable food and household items.
The Rutland Community Cupboard will accept donations of perishable items, such as fresh vegetables and fruits, bread and rolls, if brought in early during business hours:
M, W, F: 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. T, Th.: 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
A reminder that the RCC cannot accept outdated food, dented cans or worn containers.
Easter Lilies,
Vigil Candles
Easter lilies and Vigil candles will adorn the Chapel during the 10:00 a.m. Easter worship service. Lilies can be removed from the church following the Easter service, if so desired. Orders may be placed through March 21st. Each $12 donation is for one individual memorial or honorary listing to be printed in the Easter bulletin.
Prayer Corner
Here it is -- March already -- so we're approaching the first day of spring. Where do the days go? And this year, Palm Sunday comes the end of March - early it seems. Lent begins on March 17th, the beginning of the Holy Season - the time when we reflect on the time Christ prepared himself for his crucifixion. For us, it is also a time of reflection on our own lives and what the future holds for each of us. Should we be doing more for others --- are we living our lives as good Christians as Christ has taught us. Are we ever mindful and as thankful as we should be for all that God provides for us each day. His blessings are many -he knows our needs and is the great provider. Each day, let us give thanks for all his wonderful gifts and for our friends and loved ones.
May God richly bless each one who reads this, and let us all pray that he brings healing to those on our prayer concerns. And also let us remember our men and women in the armed forces and their families, and all of those in Haiti - the ones who are suffering and the many who are there helping.
Walking with the Savior,
Elizabeth Smith
World Day of Prayer
The Church Women United World Day of Prayer will be held at the Trinity Episcopal Church chapel, 80 West Street, Rutland, on Friday, March 5th, at 2:00 p.m.
The speaker will be Laura Vien. Refreshments will be served. All women are invited to attend.
Ruth Colburn,
Key Woman
Church Women United
March Meetings and Events
Sundays
8:00 & 10:00 a.m. Worship Services
9:00 a.m. Adult Sunday School
Mondays - 6:30 p.m.
Alternative Worship Service
Fellowship Hall
Tuesdays - 6:30 a.m.
Prayer in the Chapel parlor
Wednesdays - 12:15 p.m.
Pastor Deb hosts Bible Study
Thursdays
5:15 p.m. Handbell Choir practice
Saturday, March 6th
9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
RUMC Yard Sale and Bake Sale in the Fellowship Hall
Monday, March 8th
4:30 p.m. Worship Team meeting
5:30 p.m. Ministry Team meeting
Saturday, March 13th
7:00 a.m. Men's Breakfast
10:00 a.m. Ukrainian Egg Decorating Workshop in the Fellowship Hall
Tuesday, March 16th
1:30 p.m. UMW meeting
5:30 p.m. Finance Team meeting
6:45 p.m. Trustees' meeting
Sunday, March 21st
Bells of Joy play at 10:00 a.m. worship service
Tuesday, March 23rd
1:30 p.m. Prayer Shawl meeting at the Kelley home
Saturday, March 27th
10:00 a.m. Ukrainian Egg Decorating Workshop in the Fellowship Hall
Palm Sunday Services
8:00 and 10:00 a.m. in the Chapel
Blessing of the Bread
Maundy Thursday, April 1st
7:00 p.m. service at First Baptist Church, 81 Center Street
Good Friday - April 2nd
7:00 p.m. service in the Chapel
Easter Sonrise Celebration
6:30 a.m. @ the home of
John & Dianne Anderson,
254 Quarterline Rd., Center Rutland
Easter Sunday Service
10:00 a.m. in the Chapel
Egg Decorating Workshop
Pastor Deb will host a Ukrainian egg decorating workshop. For those who have signed up, the classes will be held on March 13th and March 27th, at 10:00 a.m. You are invited to come to one or both.
Please bring with you an empty tuna fish can and a candle, plus raw eggs to decorate.
Spire News
We are always looking for news, articles of interest, etc. for the Spire. The deadline for submissions is the 15th of each month. Please email your articles to: rutlandumc@aol.com.
Chocolate Festival 2010
The time of chocolate festival keeps on getting closer and we hope you are all working or at least thinking about what you can make as a donation to be offered for the silent auction. Just today, I heard a suggestion from someone down south of an excellent item. That is to take a cooler and fill it with items needed for a barbeque party. This could include the cooler, barbecue tongs, a flipper for burgers, a couple of hot mitts, some plates, cups, mustard, relish, ketchup, ice tea or drink mix, and plastic silverware. You could include anything else you could use at a barbeque, as long as it was non- perishable. This is just an example of how creative we can be. We also remind everyone that paintings and handmade items always prove popular.
Soon after mid April we will start posting a list of the various things we have committed for the auction. Even if we have duplications, we will have more of certain things to offer.
Let us be reminded that the New England Conference will more than likely tell us we need to right size our church to our income. Simply put, this means we will need to be able to support ourselves. If we want a full time Pastor, we will need to be able to support that Pastor by ourselves. This gives us an excellent opportunity to help ourselves be able to support our own church.
Bert Ladd
Historian’s Report
SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1History of Methodist Church
1932-1933
Nov. 15, 1932 the Ladies’ Aid had a turkey dinner, the cost $.75. The menu consisted of half grapefruit, roast turkey, dressing, giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, string beans, celery, pickles, cabbage salad, rolls, apple pie, pumpkin pie, cheese, coffee.
March 26, 1933 Rev. Evans discontinued the Sunday evening services for economic reasons. At this time Mrs. Dorothy Baker organized The Wesleyan Players and for seven months produced a monthly evening service, a one act religious play taking the place of the sermon. These were attended by a capacity audience. The Ladies’ Aid, at a cost of $496.00, completely furnished the so called “Ladies’ Parlor in the rear of the Sanctuary. The Women’s Home Missionary Society provided a $30.00 scholarship for a student in India.
In May the Wesleyan Players produced a three act play “The Keynote” the purpose of which was to raise money to send delegates to Poultney. Mrs. Dorothy Baker, director.
Dec. 4-8, 1933 a preaching mission was held at our church with Rev. Luther Brown as preacher, and our pastor exchanged pulpits with him in Greenwich, NY.
Dec. 13-14 the Wesleyan Players cooperated with the Orchard Fair put on by the Ladies’ Aid, presenting the three act play “Paying the Fiddler”.
Charlotte Steele,
Historian
Thank You's
Thank you to the many volunteers who worked on the RUMC spaghetti dinner on January 23rd. A big thank you to Penny Ford and chef Steve Dotson for all their hard work.
Thanks to Sue Smith for the new Sunday worship attendance books and Velcro pencil fasteners.
Thanks to Marj Hodgson and Theresa Hall for their generous donations of copy paper and office supplies.
UMW News
We had a meeting on February 16, 2010. The snow kept attendees to nine. We have joined forces with other church members to create health kits for Haiti.
We have collected 26 kits, with one week to go. Last date to give is February 28th.
Next meeting is March 16th. Please join us for fellowship and goodies.
God Bless,
Beth Fernandes
RUMC Bake Sale and
Flea Market
The RUMC Bake Sale and Flea Market is scheduled for Saturday, March 6th, from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. This sale will benefit the General Operating Fund.
There were several items left over from the hugely successful sale that was held a few months ago, and we will also welcome other household items. We are not accepting any electronics/
small appliances.
We are also holding a bake sale. Bakers are needed, as well as volunteers to work the bake sale table. To volunteer, please email the church office: rutlandumc@aol.com.
Meredith Whitman
Marc Whitman has put together information in a website devoted to his beloved wife, Meredith, who is battling brain cancer. You may access the site by typing in your web browser address line or click on:
Type (or copy the name or just click on her name)
in the “enter website name” area.
Lexi Moore has put together a list of needs for those wishing to offer their help to the Whitmans.