“Will you be loyal to The United Methodist Church, and uphold it? by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness?”

These words are from the Order of Service called the Baptismal Covenant III – Holy Baptism for Those Who Can Answer for Themselves, Confirmation, Reaffirmation of Faith, Reception into the United Methodist Church, and Reception Into a Local Congregation, which starts on page 45 of The United Methodist Hymnal. I hope you have heard them before. If you are a member of this church, this is a promise you have made, a vow before God and the congregation.

Over the four Sundays beginning October 29, we will be examining each of these vows in more detail and celebrating them in worship. What does it mean to support the church in these different ways? Here are some ideas to get us started.

Prayers – praying is perhaps the most important action we take as followers of Jesus. Prayer deepens and shapes our relationships – our relationship with God, our relationship with one another, and our relationship with the world around us.

Presence – We give generously of our presence when we show up! When we are here for worship, when we come to Bible study, when we participate in outreach events, and perhaps most importantly, when we show up for one another through phone calls, visits, and prayers.
Gifts – When we recognize that all that we have belongs to God, and we are stewards of God’s gifts, we return a portion of what God has given us back to the local church. Giving to our local church enables Christ UMC to continue its work of mission and ministry both here in this neighborhood and around the world through the larger body of the United Methodist Church.

Service – When we recognize Jesus in each person we meet, we see our call to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world. Whether we serve on a church committee to ensure the well-being of the congregation and its outreach, or help out at one of our many service projects, or simply give a hand to a neighbor in need, we are serving the church and serving God.
Witness – we give through our witness when it is evident in our lives that we are followers of Jesus. When we act in ways that reflect God’s love for neighbor, for creation, and for the world, we are witnesses for Christ.

I hope you will be able to be in worship these next Sundays and will come with your completed pledge card on November 19 as we celebrate together our love for God.

And remember

Fear not
Dianne

“Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5

This passage from the first letter of Peter tells us that all of us, all believers, are called to be
a holy priesthood. We are all called to ministry. In the United Methodist Church, we recognize lay people as having a vital role in the church’s ministry, as explained in this paragraph from the UMC Discipleship website:

Laity have long been a part of ministry in Methodism. Lay preachers, exhorters, and class
leaders have served the church since its earliest days. The certified lay minister is “called and
equipped to conduct public worship, care for the congregation, assist in program
leadership, develop new and existing faith communities, preach the word, lead small
groups, or establish community outreach ministries as part of a ministry team with the
supervision and support of a clergyperson.” (2016 BOD ¶268.1)

A “certified lay minister” is one of three designations for those lay persons who choose to
take courses to become recognized for their ministry in the church and to be trained in specialized forms of ministry. The attached chart shows the two other designations – “certified lay servant” and “certified lay speaker”. Each of these requires specific training. The website BeADisciple offers this training online, and in-person training events are also held in the Conference at times during the year. So why would you want to become a certified lay servant, lay speaker, or lay minister?

• If you feel called to leadership at the local church level, and to worship and preaching, you may want to become a certified lay servant If you are called to preach in this congregation and elsewhere, you may want to become a certified lay speaker
• If you are called to lead a congregation in public worship or to start a new congregation, you may want to become a certified lay minister The training for these designations, both at the conference and denominational level, is a wonderful way to learn more about the church and what it means to serve God by serving the local congregation. If you would like more information, please let me know. The time investment varies.
  
  One other note – another designation we have in the church is “lay leader”. The lay leader of a
  congregation is the link between the pastor and congregation. As the UMC Discipleship website defines : “An effective lay leader functions as the primary representative and role model of Christian discipleship and faith lived out in the church and in daily life. The lay leader works with the pastor to fulfill the mission and vision of the congregation.” The current lay leaders for CUMC are Al Naab and Galen Younkin. So – what is your calling as a lay person in the UMC? Pray about it!
  
  And of course Fear Not – Pastor Dianne

Who are we? If someone asked you to describe Christ United Methodist Church, what
would you say?

In our visioning meetings, we have been talking about our values as individuals and
how they relate to the church. This is a “word map” that shows the words that came up
in our discussions – the bigger the word, the more often it was used.

So what do we value? Dependability is one of the biggest words on our list. It matters
that people in our church and community can count on us. Kindness and caring are also
big values for us – we want to be known as a church that cares and we value that others
can see Christ’s love through us.

How are we living out our values right now? For the past two years, we have worked
hard to keep COVID out of our congregation – and we have mostly succeeded. Thanks to
many of you, we have continued to worship faithfully in person when it has been safe
and every single week online. We have continued to provide treats and share the Good
News with neighborhood children at Christmas and Easter. After a short hiatus, we
started to offer our community meals as carry out, and now can offer them as both
carry out and in person. None of these activities would occur without the help of a cadre
of volunteers who work tirelessly making sure these events can occur.

Where is God calling us next? A group of us (all are welcome!) have started to reach out to the community to talk to our neighbors. We are asking some basic questions – how did you end up living in this neighborhood? What do you like about living here?

What would make it better?

What is a challenge for your living here? Our focus is on getting to know the neighborhood and learning how our church can become a more vital part of the community.

God is doing great things at CUMC. Come and see!

And remember to Fear Not
Pastor Dianne

“That there be no poor among us”

This past January, I got to explore what this statement means and how it relates to our call to be the church today. These words appear in the 15th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, as God is describing to the Israelites God’s vision for their community.

“There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord your God is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, if you only will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command to you today.”

It’s a radical vision, to be sure. God’s vision for the community included a politics of justice, a religion of relationships, and an economics of equality. Do we even put those words together today? Politics and justice? Religion and relationships? Economics and equality?

It’s been a while since Christ United Methodist Church looked closely at our vision and our mission. Why are we here in West Park, and what are we called to do? How has our understanding of ourselves and our neighborhood changed in the past 5 years? In the past 50 years? This church has been here for a long time. We are a congregation that has energy and enthusiasm and we are a church that longs to make a difference. I see that energy and enthusiasm despite the months of isolation we have endured. I see that energy and enthusiasm as we have come together whenever we can, whether to pack meals for hungry people in Haiti or to make to-go dinners for hungry people in our neighborhood, to sing in small masked groups, or to gather for committee meetings or study groups on Zoom (and hopefully soon in person!).

The vision that we – working together with God – create in these next months will guide the ways we choose to spend our time and our resources. I hope you will consider being a part of our meetings going forward. We will meet monthly on Mondays, March 7 and April 4 and Wednesday, May 4 at 7:00pm. Each of you has a calling – how can this church help you answer God’s call and further God’s kingdom on earth?

Let’s find out, together.
Fear Not

Pastor Dianne

my trip, and I was able to share with you when I returned how the people of Cambodia are hungry for the Gospel. Much of the population are Buddhist and many are still struggling to overcome the genocide led by the Khmer Rouge in 1975-79 which decimated over 20% of the population.

The country remains primarily agrarian but many young people are hungry for education. To that end, the United Methodist Church sponsors a home in Pnom Penh for students who come in from the countryside to attend university. Susannah Wesley House is run under the leadership of Janice Lee, who along with her husband Andrew are appointed as missionaries to Cambodia.

Many of you have been receiving the newsletter from the Susannah Wesley House monthly by email for the past couple of years. In last year’s newsletter, Janice asked for churches to become prayer partners with the students. I responded, and I am excited to share that we have been partnered with Ms. Reasey Long. Reasey is the Volunteer in Mission and Scholarship coordinator for the General Board of Global Missions mission in Cambodia and is the Director of Susannah Wesley House.

Reasey accompanied our group from the East Ohio Conference on our trip around the country back in 2019, and so I was able to get to know her fairly well. She is a very positive and encouraging Christian with a real heart for Cambodian youth, a tireless worker and also a lot of fun!

In our monthly newsletters I will share Reasey’s prayer concerns. If you have any specific questions for Reasey or want to know more about her life and ministry please let me know!

Let’s all remember to
Fear Not!
Pastor Dianne

What’s New?

What’s new? Last year, our answer to that question was probably a lot different than if you asked that today. What’s new? We’re finally able to gather in person again! We started worshiping in our sanctuary and those who are vaccinated are no longer required to mask! We can get together with friends again, and yes, we have even begun being able to hug one another without worrying about getting each other sick.

What’s new? As we begin to gather once more, you may notice some things in our building that were not there before. We have new carpeting in some areas. Our nursery has been moved to accommodate our new “pay-as-you-go” store, which hopefully will be open soon to serve the neighborhood. But probably the most exciting thing is this – after 83 years our building is handicap accessible! We have installed chair lifts at our main entrance to allow for access to the Emma Lang Lounge (and the chapel and restrooms), Jump Fellowship Hall, and the sanctuary. With the outside ramp, this means that we can truly welcome everyone without regard to physical ability.

So, what’s new? Perhaps a better question to ask is “What are we going to do differently, now that we have a chance to ‘start again’”? What is your vision for Christ UMC in 2021 and beyond? I’d love to hear your thoughts as we prepare to enter a new program year together!

Fear not,

Pastor Dianne

Well, if you’ve been on Facebook lately, you’ve seen it – a couple of weeks ago I took a Motorcycle Safety Course in Mentor, and then last week I went with a friend up to Michigan to purchase my very own motorcycle – a used Harley Davidson Street 500.

That is a short sentence that doesn’t fully capture the feelings I have experienced during the past couple of weeks. I have wanted to drive a motorcycle since I was 16 years old. The summer before my senior year of high school I snuck down to the end of my street to meet a friend from work who let me ride on the back of his bike to our weekly work softball game. That ride was the beginning of my love affair with bikes.

The first day of class I woke up about two hours early. I was afraid that I was going to make a fool of myself, although I had practiced a fair bit on a friend’s bike. What if I dropped the bike? What if I couldn’t even get it going? What if I forgot how to slow down and went careening around the course?

None of those things happened. Our three instructors were wonderful. There were only four of us in the class, and at the beginning of the second day the class size was cut in half – the other two just weren’t ready to ride. So Ray – a paratrooper and Vietnam vet who was just there to get a refresher after a few years off, and I completed the class together.

Test day was a little scary. I started praying as soon as I woke up. We did a couple of practice runs first thing, and then we had a break. I sat off by myself and tried to breathe and pray. I looked up and saw a hawk, soaring high above, passing overhead. That hawk was somehow a cue to me that I’d do ok.

And I did. I passed the test and am a fully endorsed motorcycle driver – at the age of 54, 36 years after my first ride.

What have you always wanted to do, but have told yourself you can’t? What have you always wanted to learn, but have told yourself you weren’t good enough, or coordinated enough, or smart enough to do? Maybe it’s learning a new language, or taking up a sport, or learning how to knit or sew or crochet.

Learning something new is really the best way for me to celebrate the Sabbath – a time of rest when we allow ourselves to take our focus away from the troubles of the world and the demands on our time. For some of us, our days are empty and we look for ways and mundane distractions to fill them. For some of us, our days are so full we feel as though we don’t have time to sit down. But for all of us, sabbath is a requirement. A day or a time when we stop trying to distract ourselves and instead look for peace. A day or time when we intentionally force ourselves to stop, and to rest.

When I am on my bike, I cannot think about anything else. I have to concentrate fully on being where I am. And when I get off, my mind is refreshed and I am ready to enter the world again and to be fully committed to doing the work I am called to do. That’s what Sabbath rest is all about.

I hope you make time for Sabbath rest this summer, and remember to
Fear Not
Dianne

I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together!

All who follow Jesus, all around the world! Yes, we’re the church together!
The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.

Do you know that song? It’s actually in our hymnal, number 558. When I sing it, I always picture a bunch of children singing along, using the hand motions where you build a church with your folded hands and open them up to show all the “people” (your fingers) inside. You just tried that didn’t you?

Right now, we are living the truth of that song every day. Since March 15, we have not gathered together in our sanctuary for worship. The building continues to be closed, and will be at least until mid-summer, when we will be prepared to open safely. When we are finally able to gather, we will need to keep in mind safety protocols around hand washing, social distancing, and wearing masks.

But we have not, and we will not, stop being the church. I gathered with church leaders on a Zoom videoconference call last week, and we discussed how we can keep reaching out to our community during this time. Our worship services, thanks to Rob and John and our wonderful musicians including Roy and Jiří, are wonderfully produced and have been watched by many more people than those who attend in person! What else can we be doing, to keep answering the call to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world?

Jill and our education team sent out a packet of Sunday school lessons in early April to each of our children and youth. The team will be assembling a Summer Box for each family with activities and ideas to help our younger members know that Christ UMC Cares. Our outreach team, headed by John, is planning on a surprise for church members as well. And as of mid-May, our wonderful administrator Jo and other volunteers including Phil have been ringing our bell every day at noon to proclaim our message to the world that we have joy in Christ!

Our Care Circle volunteers continue to make regular calls to each church member to check in and offer prayer. I give thanks for each one of them!

If you have other ideas about how to keep being the church for one another, our neighborhood, and the world, please let me know. I miss all of you so very much, and am resting in the joy of knowing that in Christ we are always part of one another!

Fear Not
Pastor Dianne

When I wrote my last letter to you, I did not expect that we would still be here. I did not think we would still be isolating in our homes, and I definitely did not consider that we would not really have any idea when we could gather together again as a community of faith and worship together in our beautiful sanctuary.

Not knowing is hard. Admitting we have no control is hard. Realizing that even though we are doing all that we can, staying at home, wearing face masks in public, washing our hands so many times that they are dry and cracked and painful – that we still don’t know if we will catch the coronavirus, and if we do, whether our case will be mild or severe.

How do you handle the not knowing? How do you handle the day to day in your life right now – in a world where the things that you didn’t even think about have become threats – like grocery shopping – and where the idea of going to a movie or out to dinner or a baseball game seems like a dream?

There is a word for what many of us are feeling, a word that is not usually associated with day to day living. That word is grief. We are grieving the loss of human interaction, the loss of normalcy, the loss of dinners out and gatherings with friends and yes, the loss of the ability to worship with each other and to serve the community around us. For some of us, the losses are more painful and more immediately relevant – perhaps the loss of a job or the ability to support ourselves.

So what can we do?

As anyone who has been through our GriefShare class can tell you, acknowledging that we are grieving can be a first step. It’s ok to be sad or angry or disappointed. It’s ok to cry or to throw up your hands or even to yell (just make sure your neighbors don’t get scared!).

Where is God in all of this? You might be asking that question. And my only answer, after walking my own paths of grief, is that God is right here, in the middle of it all. God is walking with us. God is crying with us. God is holding us in the palm of God’s hand.

In these next weeks, I hope to find more ways to reach out to you and to the neighborhood with signs of hope. I know for me, every time I can make a connection, every time I hear from a friend, it makes me feel a little less afraid and a little more ready to get through another day of this pandemic. If you have ideas, please let me know.

And remember, always, always, and especially now
Fear Not
Dianne

Fear Not!

You’re probably tired of hearing it from me now. I know I’ve preached on it more than once, and of course it is at the bottom of every email I send. “Fear Not!” It’s my catchphrase, one my previous church even had silkscreened onto a rally towel with a photo of my face. Yikes!

Fear Not has taken on a whole new meaning these days, though, hasn’t it? We are faced with an invisible enemy, a virus that has killed a large number of people and has hospitalized many more. Our whole lives have been changed – we have been ordered to stay at home, to limit shopping to once a week for food, to go outside for walks but stay at least 6 feet from anyone besides the people with whom we live.

What does it mean to Fear Not in these circumstances? It would not be prudent or safe for us to ignore the warnings and the orders that we have been given, and just go about our lives as normal. That is not, in fact, what I think God is telling us when God tells us not to be afraid. Rather, God is calling us to trust.

We can trust that when we do the things we are being asked to do, we have done all we can to be safe. We can trust that the ones around us are as fearful as we are. We can trust that we have not been told to stop greeting our neighbors, looking for ways to serve, enjoying our families. We can trust that by following the rules, we are making a difference. That we are protecting those who are older, more at risk, more in danger than we are.

And we can trust that by doing that, we are showing in a very real way that our God is a God who loves everyone in the whole world. By doing that, we are proclaiming that Christ is Risen over and over and over again to a world that needs to hear that message of love.

When we do finally get to gather together again as a community in real life, we will celebrate that message, we will celebrate the Resurrection, we will celebrate the church as the body of Christ, and we will know in a very real way that God’s love has led us through this wilderness that none of us has ever experienced before.

And that is why we can Fear Not. Because there is no where we can go where Jesus has not been and where Jesus will not be with us. Jesus has walked every lonesome valley before us. Jesus has endured and enjoyed every emotion we will experience. That is the wonder and the mystery of the incarnation. That is the wondrous love that God offers us through his Son.

So my friends,
Fear Not,
for together,
we will always be the body of Christ,
the beloved of God.
Dianne