March 2017

METROPOLITAN CHURCH

A MULTI-SITE UNITED METHODIST COMMUNITY

Maundy Thursday Worship at Metropolitan Memorial* 7:30pm Worship with Communion and Chancel Choir Good Friday Services Worship at Metropolitan Memorial* Noon – 3pm “Seven Last Words” Worship at Wesley* 7:30pm Tenebrae Service (5312 Conn. Ave. NW) Easter Vigil Worship at Metropolitan Memorial 7:30pm Easter Sunday– April 16 Worship at Metropolitan Memorial* 9am & 11am - Festival Choirs, Brass, Timpani, and Handbells Brunch after each service Rockin’ Gospel Worship at Wesley* 11am - 5312 Conn. Ave., NW *Free Childcare Available

March 13, 2017 Volume XXVII, No. 3 Nationalchurch.org

The Messenger

Serving at the Metropolitan Church Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) Group

Our team members have been busy! Jane Ward and Lois Weaver met with the legislative counsel for Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to voice our support for the Congresswoman’s efforts to prevent Sen. Marco Rubio’s legislation from repealing DC’s gun violence prevention laws.

Courtney Leatherman joined a phone bank of volunteers with the MOMs Demand Action for Gun Sense in America team connecting New Mexico voters with the voicemails of their representatives and senators urging them to vote against Senate Bill 446 Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.

Shelby Harrington was down on the Mall for a project titled “91 of Us,’ bringing attention to the 91 people who die every day from gun violence.

And Shelby Harrington and Lois Weaver were at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill to hear Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) address the climate in Congress for gun violence prevention efforts. He said 90% of the American people support universal background checks for all gun purchases and what 90% of the American people want will eventually happen.

And, if I understood Sen. Murphy correctly, MOMs Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has as any members as the NRA. It’s just that the NRA has the money, LOTS of it.

How can you get involved? Join us May 3-4 at the Grand Hyatt in Washington as Americans for Responsible Solutions (Gabby Giffords’ group) and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence present a summit to hear from leading experts in gun violence prevention efforts, to participate in message and advocacy training, to meet with members of Congress and key Congressional staff and to advocate for an end to gun violence. The event is free with promo code. Learn more here eventbrite.com/e/a-nation-united-for-asafer-future-tickets-32324334956.

Jane Ward and Lois Weaver met with the legislative counsel for Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

The GVP group at the Metropolitan Church is not anti-gun. We are pro-gun-safety. If you are interested in finding out more about the group go to nationalchurch.org/serving/GVP or contact pastorsoffice@nationalchurch.org.

Blessings, Lois Weaver

Grate Patrol - Opportunities to Serve!

March 26, 10:15am, Vestry March 27, 6:45pm, St. Luke’s Mission Center* On Sunday, help make sandwiches and prepare meal bags at Metropolitan Memorial. On Monday, volunteers are needed at the St. Luke’s Mission Center to load additional meals prepared by Campus Kitchen into the Salvation Army van and distribute them throughout downtown DC. To volunteer to put together meal bags on Sunday, come to the Vestry or, if a group, contact Anita Seline, amseline@ aol.com. If you can go out on the van Monday night, sign up at nationalchurch.org/servenow. *3655 Calvert St., NW.

April 2, 6pm, St. Luke’s Mission Center* Help assemble meals (provided by our Campus Kitchen Program) in to-go containers, load meals into the Salvation Army van and distribute them throughout the city. You can volunteer for one or all opportunities. No experience necessary. Volunteer at nationalchurch.org/volunteerhub! *3655 Calvert St., NW

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The Arts at the Metropolitan Church IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE! Art Exhibition Different Angles Watercolors by Karen Norman On Sunday, we enjoyed the opening of the exhibit “Different Angles” along with a concert by Millicent Scarlett, our favorite soprano!

If you missed the exhibition opening, you can still catch it!

There are a variety of subjects including a lakescape, a rustic cabin in the woods, and still lifes that are seen from different angles...several set up to be viewed from above. Sort of the way that God would see from Heaven!

The show is here until after Easter so you can see it several times!

Sermon Podcasts Were you unable to attend worship on Sunday? If you miss any of the sermons in our sermon series, you can listen to the audio version of the sermons on our website at nationalchurch.org/ Praising/Sermons_Podcasts.

Overflow parking is available on Sundays in the School of International Studies (SIS) parking garage across the street at American University or in the Mann School parking lot.

Musicians Wanted!

Do you play an instrument? The Dayspring service invites you to join our pick-up orchestra to lead the hymns and service music on the first Sunday of each month. Our next rehearsal will be Sunday, April 2 at 8am. Music can be acquired in advance by e-mailing Melissa, Dayspring Choir Director and 9am Worship Leader, mchavez@ nationalchurch.org.

Ring A Bell?

You’re invited to join a fun and forgiving group of dedicated ringers (high school age through retirement) who rehearse Sunday evenings and ring once a month in Sunday morning services. For more information, contact Susan Staines, staines@rcn.com.

Sing with the Dayspring Choir!

If you want to join in the fun of singing and serving together, Dayspring is open to all, regardless of ability or prior experience. Contact Melissa Chavez, Dayspring Choir Director, mchavez@nationalchurch.org for more information.

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Caring Ministries

Lunch and More Thursday, March 16 Noon, Great Hall JLunch and More Thursday, April 20, Noon, Great Hall Join the Lunch and More Crowd for lunch, a bridge game, a board game or the movie, “Big Eyes.” “Big Eyes” is a 2014 American biographical film about the life of artist Margaret Keane and her husband, Walter Keane, who took credit for Margaret’s phenomenally successful and popular paintings in the 1950s and 1960s. Come and enjoy friends and good food! If you committed to bringing a game or playing cards for bridge, please don’t forget!

Contacts: Phyllis Kokus, pkokus@aol.com or Mary Jo Marchant, mjmarchant@verizon.net.

Congratulations

Weekly Meditation Practice Wednesdays, 9am, Sanctuary New comers welcome! Nurture a sense of inner peace, calm and balance with guided and walking meditation.

Contact: Mary Jo Marchant, mjmarchant@verizon.net.

Gentle Yoga with Cathryn Ellen Pethick Thursdays 4pm, Great Hall Join our yoga practice of standing, seated and reclining yoga poses, breath awareness exercises, and meditative relaxation. Contact: Cathryn, cathryn@yogawell-being. com or 301-946-7045/301-642-3889. Sponsored by the Congregational Care Committee.

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Life at the Metropolitan Church Metropolitan Book Club Monday, April 17, 7:30pm, Parlor All readers are invited to our book club discussion of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

by J.D. Vance. For questions, contact Suzanne Clewell, reader1021@aol.com or Joan Topalian, topajoan62045@ gmail.com.

Covenant Bible Study: New Sessions - Sign-up today!

Begins Thursday, April 20, 7pm, Wesley Art Room* Join us for the next 8 week session of Covenant, an in-depth group Bible study. No previous Bible study or Covenant experience required! Please register in advance so we can order enough books at www.nationalchurch. org/covenant. For more information, contact Rev. Janet Craswell, jcraswell@nationalchurch.org. *5312 Connecticut Avenue NW.

The InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington Co-sponsored an amazing dialogue event at the Washington Cathedral on March 22nd, that drew more than 150 people into small discussion groups on the theme "Faith Over Fear." You are invited to participate in the next phase of discussions on the theme "Welcoming the Stranger." On two Sundays in May, these dialogues will be held in private homes throughout the metropolitan area. On these occasions you will meet persons on a oneto-one basis from any of the eleven faiths constituting the IFC. Each year these dialogue occasions have great transformative potential -- especially for young people.

Each session allows you more time -- in an intimate, safe setting -- to share thoughts with persons from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. Please join us and let others know about this important opportunity.

To learn more about Interfaith Dinner Dialogues and to register, click here.

Covenant Bible Study: New Session Starts after Easter.

Sign-up today! Join us for the next 8 week session of Covenant, an in-depth group Bible study. Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, beginning April 20, at our Wesley church site, 5312 Connecticut Avenue NW, in the Art Room. No previous Bible study or Covenant experience required!

Please register in advance at www.nationalchurch.org/ covenant so we can order enough books. For more information, contact Rev. Janet Craswell, jcraswell@ nationalchurch.org.

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The United Methodist Women Discussion Series: Women and Leadership Early Women’s Rights Movement May 7, Noon, Parlor On May 7, Circle Six will offer the third in a series of four on Women and Leadership. We will build on our discussion of Women of the Bible and Founding Mothers as we discuss the Early Women’s Rights Movement in America. We will look at the lives of some women who have made notable contributions and often had pivotal roles to change how women are seen in the world.

Please join us as we learn about the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the organizers of the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Assembly and author of the first Women’s Bible; Francis Willard, head of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, an advocate for women’s suffrage, and a voice for women’s leadership within the Methodist Church;Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to graduate from medical school in the US in 1849; Rebecca Lee Crumpler, first African American female physician in the Unites States awarded her MD in 1864; Ellen Swallow Richards, who in 1873. shortly after MIT opened in 1865, became MIT’s first woman graduate, first woman instructor and latter the first sanitary engineering laboratory in the US; and Susan B. Anthony, a social reformer and women’s rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement. Please join us for light refreshments and a lively discussion. The last topic in this series will be Women as Leaders on June 11.

Campus Ministries

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Youth Ministries Save the Date! ASP Auction Sunday, April 23, 12:30pm, Vestry Please note the Date Change!

Help us celebrate 43 years of service in Appalachia through ASP! Join us for our annual Youth in Mission Auction. We will have lunch (including both a gluten free and vegetarian option), an auction, and a talent show featuring our youth choir.

This year, we will be taking 30 youth with us to rural Appalachia. Funds Our 2015 ASP Team in Tennessee raised at the ASP auction will go to support our high school students on ASP and our middle school students on Youth 4 DC. Your generous support allows us to offer these experiences for no cost to our tweens and teens.

This is an auction and silent auction, and we welcome your donations. In the past, we have had restaurant gift cards, weekend stays at vacation homes, landscaping, dinners, physical trainers, and other services. To donate items, please contact Patrick Landau at plandau@nationalchurch.org or stop by the church office.

Youth Choir Sundays, 11am, Choir Room All Middle School and High School students are invited to join our Youth Choir. We’ll learn and perform music with a variety of styles and topics, traditional and current alike. All are encouraged to attend, and we welcome instrumentalists as well! Rehearsals are from 11am – 11:45am on Sundays.

Music is provided. For more information, contact Melissa Chavez, mchavez@nationalchurch.org.

Youth Blog Read up on what’s happening with our youth and our many activities at youthmetropolitan.wordpress.com.

Children’s Ministries Vacation Bible School 2017 - Register Now! July 10-14, 9am – 12pm Join us for an epic adventure alongside Biblical heroes and discover the qualities that make them truly heroes in God. Hero Central VBS uses music, science, crafts, games and Bible stories to help kids discover their strength in God! Metropolitan’s VBS is geared toward kids age 4 to rising 5th graders. Middle schoolers may serve as junior counselors. The program runs from 9am till Noon and costs $60 per child. Register at Nationalchurch.org/vbs!

Children & Youth Sunday School Sundays at 10:05am Children and youth Sunday school classes are held at Metropolitan Memorial, and are timed so that kids may participate and still worship at either of the Metropolitan Memorial services (9am or 11am) or the Wesley service (musical prelude 11am, Worship at 11:15am).

Children’s Ministry: Children ages 3 through 4th grade learn through Godly Play, a Montesorri-based technique emphasizing Bible stories, wonder, questions, and creative play. Contact: Rev. Janet Craswell, jcraswell@ nationalchurch.org or 202-363-4900, ext. 115.

Youth Ministry: Our Middle School youth follow the Bible-in-Life curriculum, walking them through important Biblical stories. Our High School youth participate in regular discussions shaped by their lives and current events. Contact: Patrick Landau, plandau@nationalchurch.org or 202-363-4900, ext. 112.

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Our Mission: Building an inclusive, caring Christian community that invites all into a deepening relationship with God and challenges all of us to grow as disciples, seeking justice and joy 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. 108, cparker@nationalchurch.org Rev. Drema McAllister-Wilson — Minister of Congregational Care, ext. 104, dwilson@nationalchurch.org Rev. Janet Craswell—Director of Christian Education, ext. 115, jcraswell@nationalchurch.org Bruce Caviness — 11a.m. Organist-Choirmaster, ext. 152, bcaviness@nationalchurch.org Melissa Chavez — Dayspring Choir Director/9am Worship Leader/Youth Choir Director, ext. 151, mchavez@nationalchurch.org Jeff Clouser — Director of IT and Communications, ext. 113, jclouser@nationalchurch.org Dona Collary — Pastoral Care Assistant/Wedding and Funeral Coordinator, ext. 106, dcollary@nationalchurch.org Patrisha House — Director of Worship, Music and Arts, ext. 114, phouse@nationalchurch.org Patrick Landau — Director of Youth Ministries/Sharing Pillar Coordinator, ext. 112, plandau@nationalchurch.org Pam Murdoch –– Finance Coordinator, ext. 103, finance@nationalchurch.org Stephanie Quammen — Serving Pillar Coordinator, ext. 111, squammen@nationalchurch.org Rafael Reyes — Director of Building and Grounds, ext. 116, rreyes@nationalchurch.org Helen Simon — Executive Assistant to Dr. Parker, ext. 109, hsimon@nationalchurch.org Linda Smith — Director of Nursery School, 202.362.8746, lsmith@nationalchurch.org Non-Staff Ministry Partners Rick Sullivan — AU Associate Chaplain for Community Engagement, rick@aumethodists.org

The Messenger is published by The Metropolitan Church - A Multi-site United Methodist Community Metropolitan Memorial - 3401 Nebraska Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20016 Tel: 202.363.4900 St. Luke’s Mission Center (3655 Calvert St., NW)/Wesley UMC (5312 Conn. Ave., NW) Fax: 202.686.2056 E-Mail: jclouser@nationalchurch.org website: nationalchurch.org

NEXT ISSUE: April 10, 2017

NEXT DEADLINE: Noon on April 4, 2017