THE MESSENGER
December 10, 2010
For the congregation of the Metropolitan Memorial Cooperative Parish
Volume XX, No. 14 www.nationalchurch.org
Metropolitan Memorial, St. Luke’s, and Wesley United Methodist Churches
Christmas is Not Your Birthday We are about to celebrate God’s gift of eternal truth and love made tangible in the person of Jesus Christ. As a way of honoring and passing on the hope and joy of such a gift, we, in turn, give one another gifts. It’s a practice meant to ripple out God’s love across our communities and world, drawing all of us closer to one another. Unfortunately, there are some things impeding those ripples. The rampant consumerism coupled with a drive for maximizing profit has led to slave labor, unsafe working conditions, and the depletion of natural resources. We have focused on what we want for ourselves, making sure the right people have our lists. However, Christmas is not about us. It is not our birthday. And in honor of that, I invite all of us to focus on what we want for others, for our communities and for our world.
Give life-giving gifts
Give Empowerment
So that the gifts you give are blessed, we have provided some names of organizations to Google where you will find fair trade gifts:
www.kiva.org is a micro-loan site. Choose an entrepreneur; lend that person money; read about how they’re doing; receive payment on the loan, and lend the money again to someone else. Give a gift certificate for someone else to do the same. I saw the transformation such micro-loans can bring firsthand in Nicaragua in 2008: I met a woman, Berta, who received a $300 loan to buy a cow. She went on to establish her own brand and now has eight cows to supply cheese and milk for her family and to sell. Her husband and children have also started helping her with household chores so that she can travel to workshops. She described the experience by saying, “It was like before I was asleep, without courage.” That one $300 micro-loan and one cow changed her world.
General Gifts Global Exchange Fair Trade Federation Ten Thousand Villages Women Thrive Worldwide Global Stewards Baby & Kids Gifts Taraluna Tiny Birds Peapods
Food/Drink Gifts Women’s Bean Project Garudain Equal Exchange Alter Eco Clothing Avatar Market Place India Maggie’s Marigold Global Mamas
How are Our Gifts Bringing Hope and New Life? As Christians we must ask ourselves how the gifts we give bring about hope and new life. Below are some ways that you can give this Christmas!
Christmas Eve offerings to DC Central Kitchen This year the offerings taken at our three Christmas Eve services will go to the DC Central Kitchen. (See page 5 to read about this phenomenal non-profit!) MLK Jr. Day—Day of Service St. Luke’s Mission Center (3655 Calvert St. NW), January 17, 2:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. 2:30 p.m. - Service of Song and Prayer led by the Crossroads community. 3 p.m. - 8 p.m. - Make and deliver dinner with AU students to Regency House and eat with the residents there. (DC senior housing initiative near Chevy Chase circle.) 3 p.m. - 8 p.m. - Make sandwiches for St. Luke’s homeless and hypothermia shelter residents and engage in other assorted projects. It will be a chance to see the different ministries of the mission center and better connect with our community. For more information contact Rev. Kate Murphey, kmurphey@mmumc-dc.org or 202.363.4900, ext. 21.
Report on Congregational Conversations Thanks go to the 100-plus church members who participated during October in a series of small-group conversations around Metropolitan’s vision and priorities. Members of the Visioning Implementation Team, working with guidance from an Alban Institute consultant, organized and facilitated these meetings, and have worked to analyze the feedback provided. These conversations revealed a broad consensus around the statement of mission, vision, and call adopted by the Church Council in 2009. There was also wide agreement around the five pillars of Praising, Learning, Serving, Caring, and Sharing proposed as a framework for organizing our congregational life, and an appreciation of the need to give more attention to ministries of caring and sharing, which were underemphasized in the earlier Worship-Study-Service model. Ann Michel and Suzanne Forsyth lead a session of the congregational conversations
Key Learnings
•A number of important themes surfaced in these conversations suggesting areas for improvement in the implementation of the vision.
•More intentional ways of engaging people, particularly newcomers, are needed.
•Whether they prefer traditional or more contemporary expressions of worship, Metropolitan members place great importance on having high-quality, consistent, and distinctive services of worship.
•The program of learning opportunities for adults should be better-focused and more spiritually oriented.
•There is a need for greater clarity of purpose in ministries of service and more intentionality in selecting new initiatives and evaluating their success.
•The conversations surfaced a wide-spread felt need for a stronger ministry with senior adults, including but not limited to an effective network of pastoral care
Revised Strategic Objectives
•In light of these discussions, the Visioning Implementation Team has proposed modifying and augmenting the strategic objectives previously identified by the Church Council. These will guide the work of our staff and various ministries teams in implementing the vision.
•Create and provide diverse, distinctive, high-quality worship experiences to attract broader communities. •Nurture the next generation of disciples. a)Reclaim a sense of purpose around shaping the spirituality of young adults and college students. b)Create and sustain a thriving youth program that is a centerpiece for youth life and spiritual growth. c)Celebrate and expand our commitment to children’s spiritual growth.
•There is a need to nurture a stronger sense of community, forging connections across the generations and among the different worshiping communities. Developing a more effective system of small-group ministry is seen as a way of achieving this.
•Support and nurture spiritual growth with a deliberate pathway of Christian education and development for people of all ages.
•It was noted that Metropolitan does not have a strong tradition of evangelism. Training, encouragement and modeling of personal faith sharing is needed.
•Celebrate and expand our commitment to older adults. •Develop a clearly focused mission outreach program that engages
•There is a need to integrate and coordinate the outreach and communications of various groups, prioritizing the messages the congregation receives and providing simple, clearly designated ways for people to respond.
•Deepen our spiritual journeys through small group prayer, study, and accountability in the Wesleyan tradition.
the congregation and transforms communities.
•Invite others to come and share the transforming power of Jesus Christ. •Develop a culture of radical hospitality and fellowship that welcomes the stranger and expands our connections to one another. •Reexamine and strengthen our system for engaging newcomers and receiving and orienting new members.
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A Message from the Staff Parish Relations Committee At the November 30 meeting of the Church Council, the Staff Parish Relations Committee (SPRC) presented a recommendation for reorganizing the church staff to better support our church vision and strategic objectives. (See chart below and article by Ann Michel on pg. 2) The primary goal of the reorganization is to align our staff around the five pillars of the Discipleship Adventure that has been embraced by our congregation through our visioning process and our recent congregational conversations in October. Under the reorganization a staff member will be assigned responsibility for each pillar of the Discipleship Adventure – praising, learning, serving, caring and sharing. These staff members, together with lay leadership, will be responsible for promoting the growth of each of the pillars throughout our congregation. The SPRC and the Visioning Implementation Team believe this alignment is essential to ensure that we remain focused on each of these five dimensions of our church life which, in turn, will help us achieve our vision and strategic objectives. The planned reorganization will also consolidate existing administrative and operating functions of our church under a new position, Executive Director of Operations. SPRC recognizes that today our staff is stretched to provide administrative and operating support for our church activities, and anticipates that these demands will only grow with the expansion of church ministries as envisioned by the implementation of our vision and the Discipleship Adventure. The reorganization provides additional resources for these essential functions to better support our future needs. The proposed reorganization also reduces the number of direct reports to our senior pastor from ten to seven, reducing the amount of his time spent on administrative issues and allowing him to increase his focus on spiritual leadership of our congregation. The SPRC proposal revises the responsibilities of several existing staff members and proposes the addition of two new staff members. At its November meeting, the Church Council gave conceptual approval of the new organization structure, subject to the approval in January of a 2011 budget funding the proposed changes. Once there is budgetary approval, SPRC will move ahead to implement the reorganization during the first quarter of 2011.
John Long, Chair Staff Parish Relations Committee
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Life at Metropolitan Memorial Cooperative Parish Prayer Shawl Ministry Sunday, December 19, 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 21, 1:30 p.m. Join us for a time of knitting, crocheting, fellowship, ministry and fun! Questions? Contact Annette Fletchall at 301.216.5470. AARP Holiday Luncheon Monday, December 20, Noon Please join us in the Vestry for the annual AARP holiday luncheon for food and holiday musical entertainment. The cost of $10 is due by December 16. Please send a check payable to AARP Chapter 2183 to Eileen Reilley, 1 Scott Circle, NW, Washington, DC 20036. “Get Me Through December” December 21 at Wesley UMC, 7 p.m. This is a service that acknowledges how hard the Christmas season can be. Through blues music, prayer, reflection and communion we will have space to grieve and simply be. Wesley United Methodist Church (5312 Connecticut Ave. NW). Flower Committee Are you interested in joining the Flower Committe? This dedicated committee of people get together to shop for and design the altar arrangements each week. They work in pairs and would love to have more designers join them! You don’t have to know how to design- the current committee members will help you. You just have to have a desire to create! If you are interested contact Carol Tippett at 301.229.8944. Angel Tree Supports Reading Partners D.C. The UMW Circle 3 Angel Tree is conducting a book drive for the Reading Partners project at Brightwood Educational Campus, a D.C. public school. Level 1 easy-readers are especially needed for this location. Anne Bechdolt is collecting your contributions (monetary or unwrapped books) Sunday mornings in December. A book suggestion list is available by contacting Anne Bechdolt, abechdolt@msn.com. Learn more about Reading Partners at www.ReadingPartners.org. Grocery Gift Cards In this holiday season, there are a few among us in the congregation who are struggling financially. We wish to assist them by giving grocery gift cards to purchase food. If you can buy a gift card this year for someone, please contact Drema McAllister-Wilson, dwilson@mmumc-dc.org. If you would like to sponsor a card, checks can be made out to Metropolitan Memorial UMC and sent to the church office to Drema’s attention. We are accepting donations through December 19. Gift cards will be distributed the week before Christmas.
Your Words In the November issue of “The Messenger” we asked the question, “What does it mean to you to praise God?” Your responses are below: On January 20, 2007, I had my last drink. The next day, I was so hungover I couldn’t go to church; I was also terribly ashamed of myself. In my despair, I finally listened to a powerful message from God about my destructive lifestyle. He was tired of watching me kill myself one drink at a time; you see, I am a recovering alcoholic. From the time I cried out to him to help me stop drinking, I knew God would always be there with His love and forgiveness; it was a physical feeling of lightness. I praise God by staying sober. He is my Papa who cares what happens to me. I love Him. - Leigh Rollins
Your Words January’s Question What does it mean to you to share God’s love?
Wesley Member Turns 107! By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writer The following article was featured in the Washington Post on November 29, 2010.
Jahi Chikwendiu , Washington Post
Betsy Stanford turns 107 years young on Tuesday, and the spunky matriarch from the District has no shortage of longevity advice - from dietary to spiritual to downright racy.
What to eat? Anything and4everything. “Juicy steaks . . . pork chops - as much as you want!” Stanford exclaims. “Everything they say not to eat, I’ve been eating it since I was 45 years old.” These days, she admits to a particular fondness for a smoothie made of Guinness stout mixed with the nutritional supplement Ensure, a drop of vanilla flavoring and a sprinkle of nutmeg “if [the stout] is too bitter.” “I drink stout. It’s good for you, baby!” Stanford said as she held forth with a group of relatives and fellow worshipers at her 107th birthday celebration Sunday at the Wesley United Methodist Church in Northwest. To read more about Betsy go to our website, http://www.nationalchurch.org/b.stanford.pdf!
December 24 - Christmas Eve Services Metropolitan Memorial (3401 Nebraska Ave. NW) 5 p.m. Family Christmas Eve Service - Led by the children of our congregation. Includes live nativity. 7:30 p.m. Candlelight Communion Service 10:30 p.m. Musical Prelude/ 11 p.m. Candlelight Worship Wesley UMC (5312 Conn. Ave. NW) - 7:30 p.m. - Worship
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Life at the Metropolitan Cooperative Parish
Image, ABC Television
January Sermon Series: Found in Lost Based on the Theological Implications of Lost Embracing mystery: From the very beginning of the television series Lost, everything about the Island is a mystery. The survivors of Flight 815 don’t know where they are, and they are besieged by forces that they don’t understand: monsters, polar bears, the Others. All six seasons are a process of exploring: exploring the place in which they find themselves and exploring themselves. We are often uncomfortable with mystery. Even in areas like religion, where mystery is presumably at the core, we are most comfortable trying to eliminate the uncertainties and systematize our experience. Lost teaches us to live into the mystery, always knowing that anything worth knowing is always going to generate more questions than answers.
Christmas Eve Offerings to Benefit DC Central Kitchen Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. - Matthew 25:37-40
It is our tradition at Metropolitan Memorial to identify a beneficiary for the offerings taken at our Christmas Eve services. This year our beneficiary will be DC Central Kitchen. DC Central Kitchen is not a soup kitchen serving meals. Instead, every day DCCK recovers 3,000 pounds of leftover food and turns it into 4,500 meals. Its staff loads these meals onto a fleet of trucks and delivers them to 100 partner agencies in the Washington metropolitan
area, including homeless shelters, rehabilitation clinics, afterschool programs, and the Hypothermia Center at our St. Luke’s campus. In addition, DCCK provides healthy meals and snacks to approximately 40 agencies serving low-income children and at-risk youth throughout the Washington DC area. The program gives priority to agencies that focus on empowering life-skills including mentoring, apprenticeship, continuing education, counseling, nutrition and health education as well as job readiness skills. (continued on pg. 6)
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Order your 2010 Poinsettias and Christmas Greens Honor friends and family while helping to beautify our Sanctuary by purchasing poinsettias or seasonal greens this Christmas. During the Christmas season, our church altar is decorated with scores of beautiful poinsettias and the Sanctuary is adorned with wreaths and Christmas greens. All of these decorations are purchased by the congregation. Poinsettias and Christmas greens are $40 each. We ask that you submit your order by December 14. All names will be printed in the bulletin on Sunday, December 19. Poinsettias may be taken home after the 11pm worship service on December 24.
Remembering Others at Christmas Name: ________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________ Phone: ___________________ E-mail:__________________
I/We wish to support Metropolitan with a gift of: Poinsettias at $40 each x ____
Christmas greens at $40 each x ____ Total amount enclosed $_____
I wish to place this gift(s) in MEMORY of_____________________________________________ I wish to place this gift(s) in HONOR of _____________________________________________ _____ I will pick up my flowers after the 11 p.m. Christmas Eve Service _____ I will donate my flowers to the ministry of Visitors Corps Fill out this form and bring to the church or send by mail by December 14. No phone orders, please. Metropolitan Memorial UMC 3401 Nebraska Avenue NW Washington DC 20016
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Life at the Metropolitan Cooperative Parish Christmas Eve Offerings to (cont. from pg. 5) Meal and snack deliveries allow DCCK partners to focus their energy and resources on their unique missions. In 2009 alone, DCCK saved these agencies $4.5 million in food costs.
Benefit DC Central Kitchen with its Culinary Job Training program. The goal of the program is to prepare unemployed, underemployed, previously incarcerated persons, and homeless adults for careers in the foodservice industry.
DCCK also has a mobile outreach team that provides breakfast every morning at locations throughout the District. Outreach workers and volunteers serve over 180 meals each day and speak with more than 250 people who are homeless in the city. While serving breakfast, outreach specialists use the opportunity to build rapport, assess client’s needs, and make referrals for services. What begins as a few simple conversations over breakfast can lead to people accessing health care, insurance and other entitlements, employment, mental health support, addictions recovery, as well as affordable and supportive housing.
Thoughts to keep in mind during this Advent season:
Solving the immediate problem of hunger is only fighting half of the battle. That’s why, in addition to its food recovery and distribution programs, DCCK addresses the root causes of hunger
·We need to keep in mind whose birthday we celebrate. ·If it isn’t good news for the poor, it isn’t the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is exactly what we’re talking about in gifts that are life-giving the whole way through—for the environment (using what we already have to its fullest instead of taking more), for the workers (volunteers and job-training for the homeless to give them the skills they need to transition into employment and housing), for the receivers (good, quality food delivered right to them, so they can focus on other needs). It just doesn’t get much better than this!
Prayer Shawl Ministry Celebrates Four Years of Caring The Prayer Shawl Ministry combines knitting and crocheting with prayer and has been practiced in many dominations since its inception in the late 1990’s. In the summer of 2006 Metropolitan Memorial began our ministry, an active group of all ages. Our meetings include prayers for the shawl recipients known and unknown, and blessings of the shawls for members and their families, neighbors or co-workers who are in need of comfort after a loss, undergoing medical procedures, caring for a family member or friend, making a life style change or needing to be reminded of God’s love. Our prayers are that each shawl will carry our strength, love and energy to each who receive one and that they be reminded of God’s love as the shawl is wrapped around their shoulders. To date, we have given approximately 270 shawls to friends locally, and mailed to many states including Hawaii in addition to Palestine and Belgium. Others who have been touched by this ministry include Katrina flood victims, students at Virginia Tech, our ministers moving to other appointments, our shelter members, ASP families, the world-wide programs of the United Methodist Women through donations at General Assembly and a local project The Ignatian Spirituality Project sponsored by Holy Trinity Church. The Prayer Shawl Ministry also participated in creating a stole to be part of the Reconciling Church Project that circulates around the country in support of the Reconciling Ministry, and two years ago we added the gift of baby blankets to our ministry that are presented at baptism. Bind us together, Lord, bind us together with cords that cannot be broken. Bind us together, Lord, bind us together, bind us together with love. The Prayer Shawl Ministry meets the third Sunday and third Tuesday of each month and welcomes all ages, experienced or beginners. Members are always willing and happy to help anyone get started. Our joy is in sharing the talents that we have been given enriching the giver as well as the receiver. If there is someone in your life who needs to be enveloped in the loving care of a prayer shawl, please contact Metropolitan’s Minister of Congregational Care, Rev. Dreama McAllister-Wilson, 202.363.4900 or dwilson@mmumc-dc.org.
Youth Connection! Live Nativity Rehearsal - Sunday, December 19 Rehearsal for the Live Christmas Eve Service will take place on Sunday, December 19 from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Please plan to attend if you are participating in the service. Lunch will be provided. (No Youth Connection) Support Our Youth in Maryland Youth Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” - Saturday, December 18 If you would like to support several of the youth who are performing in the Maryland Youth Ballet’s, “The Nutcracker” please RSVP by December 15 at noon to Emily Bagwell, 202.363.4900 or ebagwell@mmumcf-dc.org. We will meet at the church at 11:30 a.m. and go to lunch and then attend the 1 p.m. performance. Tickets are $20/ students and $15/12 and under. Have A Wonderful Christmas! We will be taking December 26 and January 2 off from both Sunday School and Youth Connection, but will start back again with both on January 9. We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and we look forward to connecting with you in the new year!! Peace, Emily and Jimmy
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Children’s Ministry An Evening in Advent Our all-church family recently celebrated an Evening in Advent as we enjoyed preparing for the season and the coming of the Baby Jesus. We took in donations of canned food for the Capital Area Food Bank and raised nearly $60 to give to the organization this year. Kids and adults alike frosted ice cream cone Christmas trees, created gifts for loved ones, and packed Bags of Grace for the homeless. Here are some scenes from the evening, provided by Angela Gildner.
Members of the Chancel Choir (and our senior pastor) sing out their favorite Christmas carols.
Elena, Holly, Kaitlyn, and Ashley share good conversation over a craft project.
Eden assembles a bag of grace for the homeless.
Cameron decorates his edible Christmas tree with mini m&ms. Marisa ties knots for a pillow she will give this Christmas
UPCOMING DATES OF NOTE: Some Children’s Ministries dates of note for the coming half year. Mark your calendar now. March 8 – Pancake Supper March 27 – Children’s Art Show May 22 – Children’s Celebration Sunday Kristen helps young Justin frost his Christmas tree made from an ice cream cone.
June 12 – Pentecost Picnic Late June – Vacation Bible School @ Metropolitan
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Our Mission Building an inclusive, caring Christian community that invites others into a deepening relationship with God and challenges them to grow as disciples for the transformation of the world.
Our Vision Extending radical hospitality, transforming lives, and pursuing justice.
Reconciling Statement Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church affirms that all individuals are of sacred worth without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion, education, marital circumstances, economic status, physical and mental condition, or criminal history. We declare ourselves in support of the reconciling movement and welcome the full participation in the church of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered persons and their families, as a reflection of God’s unconditional love. At the same time, we recognize differences of opinion on issues of sexuality and seek to journey together in faith toward greater understanding and mutual respect.
PASTORAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF - 3401 Nebraska Avenue, NW, DC - 202.363.4900
www.nationalchurch.org Pastoral Emergency Number - 202.510.8555 Rev. Dr. Charles Parker –– Senior Pastor, ext. 11, cparker@mmumc-dc.org Rev. Drema McAllister-Wilson — Minister of Congregational Care, ext. 19, dwilson@mmumc-dc.org Rev. Jimmy Sherrod — Associate Pastor, ext. 24, jsherrod@mmumc-dc.org Rev. Kate Murphey — Associate Pastor, ext. 21, kmurphey@mmumc-dc.org Anita Seline — Director of Children’s Ministries, ext. 22, aseline@mmumc-dc.org Patrisha House — Director of Worship, Music and Arts, ext. 28, phouse@mmumc-dc.org Jeff Clouser — Director of Communications and Outreach, ext. 23, jclouser@mmumc-dc.org Rev. J. Cody Nielsen –– Associate for Campus Ministry, ext. 25, cnielsen@mmumc-dc.org Emily Bagwell -- Associate Director of Youth Ministries, emilybagwell@gmail.com Bruce Caviness — 11a.m. Organist-Choirmaster, ext. 15, bcaviness@mmumc-dc.org Casey Elliott — Dayspring Choir Director and 9 a.m. Worship Leader, ext. 12, celliott@mmumc-dc.org Dona Collary — Director of Church Administration, ext. 17, dcollary@mmumc-dc.org Helen Simon - Office Manager, ext. 10, hsimon@mmumc-dc.org Bob Weintraub -- Bookkeeper, 202.363.4900, ext. 18, bweintraub@mmumc-dc.org Rafael Reyes -- Director of Building and Grounds, ext. 20, rreyes@mmumc-dc.org Linda Smith -- Director of Nursery School, 202.362.8746, lsmith@mmumc-dc.org
THE MESSENGER is published by: The Metropolitan Memorial Cooperative Parish Metropolitan Memorial, St. Luke’s, and Wesley United Methodist Churches Metropolitan Memorial - 3401 Nebraska Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20016 Tel: 202.363.4900 Fax: 202.686.2056 E-Mail: jclouser@mmumc-dc.org website: http://www.nationalchurch.org St. Luke’s Campus - 3655 Calvert Street N.W., Washington, DC 20007 Wesley United Methodist Church - 5312 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20015 NEXT ISSUE: January 14, 2010
NEXT DEADLINE: Noon on January 11, 2010