NOVEMBER 2014
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Please send any stories, pictures and/or event information to: Sandy Huse Communications Director shuse@mcfarlinumc.org 405-321-3484 McFarlin UMC PO Box 6390 Norman, OK 73070 www.mcfarlinumc.org 22
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PLUS... DON’T MISS ALL THIS
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The Great Thanksgiving
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Thankful
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Care Ministry
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Welcoming Ministry
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Upcoming Events
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever Psalm 107:1
Dear Friends, Between the months of October and December, there is a Thursday holiday that is slowly becoming more minuscule in the minds of millions of Americans: Thanksgiving. If you search hard, you might find one small section of Thanksgiving cards, autumn decorations, and a turkey platter amid the aisles and miles of Halloween costumes, Christmas decorations, and toys. Personally, I love Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite times of the year. Spending time with loved ones, eating all the food you want and not feeling guilty about it, and watching football are just some of the highlights of the day. However, for some, it could be a time of preparation and shopping, for others it may be a painful time of remembrance, or for others it may just be a time of loneliness. Our Psalmist reminds us otherwise though: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his everlasting love endures forever.” Sometimes it’s hard to believe in the goodness of God. So many things can happen to us in the span of a year, whether good or bad. Friends, remember, for all that Thanksgiving brings with it, there is one fact that remains unchanged year in and year out, and that’s God’s goodness. God seeks to do good toward you and me. During times of joy and pain, know that God never leaves us nor forsakes us, and for that, we give thanks daily. This Thanksgiving, in the midst of turkey, pie, football, and parties, don’t forget to take some time treasuring God’s goodness to you. Thank him, praise him, and allow him to love you. As always, I give thanks for you echoing Paul’s words,
“I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers.
I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy.” With a grateful heart, Tino Herrera, Associate Pastor 3
Grateful for Generous Hearts “J
ust what makes that little old ant, think he can move a rubber tree plant…?” Well as the song goes, he could because he had high hopes! The same could be said about the McFarlin Fireflies, the people who walked in the Alzheimer’s Walk to stop this terrible disease. Why did they think they could raise more money than they had last year or even double the amount? This year the McFarlin Fireflies raised over $4,000! They united with about 5,000 other people in OKC for the walk to raise money to find a cure, find a preventive medicine, and to learn what causes this debilitating disease that robs the mind. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the USA and it is predicted to be the next big epidemic within the next few years. Every 68 seconds another person is diagnosed with this deadly disease. Thanks to the members of McFarlin who donated to this fund. The family members of those with the disease truly appreciate your help, your generosity, and your encouragement. McFarlin hosts a luncheon every third Wednesday in room 209 for the caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. It is open to anyone in our community who is caring for someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s. Keep Smiling, 44
Carol Dean Schreiner,
Senior Adult Director
Thankful
Thanksgiving
The Great Thanksgiving
Sometimes, when I hear “The Great Thanksgiving” my brain scampers off to a scene from the Charlie Brown television special where all my favorite characters are gathered around a table piled high with toast, popcorn and jellybeans instead of turkey and dressing, vegetables, pies, and steaming bread on their place settings. I can hear the adult, usually the teacher, “Wha, wa-wha wha whaaaaing,” in the background. Then I zip back to reality, where the Great Thanksgiving liturgy is being read and sung and prayed and fall in love with the Church all over again. I am thankful for the moments we gather around the table. It is in those moments that we remember who we are as disciples of Jesus, as brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the time we are reminded to forgive and be forgiven. My heart sort of swells and overflows with affection for the people who are there to taste the bread and grape juice and for those who can’t be in the same room with us. I worry sometimes that our minds wander off during the liturgy. The “Wha, wa-wha wha whaaaaing,” of the story falls to the background of our own thoughts about how we are going to pay the bills, or how we are going to deal with a struggling relationship. I wonder if the routine of the tradition, of bread and grape juice, lulls our senses and expectations of what the Holy Spirit is doing. Usually though, I look out into the congregation of McFarlin and see eyes bright with excitement, and lips uttering the mystery of our faith and feel the energy of a vibrant community. I am thankful for those moments.
I am thankful that when we depart from the altar rail, gifts are left behind to care for those in need. I’ve watched this money find its way to the electric company for a father of five whose job slowed down for the first time. Each time we kneel and pray for the Lord to transform our lives through the bread and grape juice, and then ask the Lord to bless others through our gifts, I am thankful for McFarlin. The table is open to all who will confess Jesus as their Lord and repent of their sin, seeking to live in peace with one another. During this season of thankfulness, I encourage you to seek to live in peace with one another. Share a meal with one another; be generous in your kindness. Even as I write this, I know it is in the very character of McFarlin to do so. May the peace of God inspire you to discipleship. Shyloe O’Neal, Associate Pastor
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George Frideric Handel's Messiah was originally an Easter offering It was premiered on the stage of Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. Today, of course, Messiah is standard repertoire in churches and concert halls during the Christmas season. At the end of this month, only three days after Thanksgiving, on Sunday, Nov. 30, at the 8:30am and 10:55am worship services, McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church will gather together for the first Sunday of Advent. Throughout this service the sanctuary will be filled with the inspirational sounds of Handel’s Messiah presented by our Chancel Choir and the Norman Philharmonic. Pastor Linda will reflect on the scripture passages from Handel’s masterpiece, and orchestrated hymns will unite our voices as we begin Advent, the first season of the Christian church year. The spiritual message in Handel’s Messiah tells the story of “the divine scheme of Christian redemption through the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection, emphasizing the intense aspiration of each human soul, the promise and accomplishment of God’s mercy, the apparent triumph of evil and destruction, and the final salvation of mankind through
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Christ’s victory over Sin and Death.” (Robert Myers, Handel’s Messiah: A Touchstone of Taste. New York: MacMillin. 1948.) Our congregation will worship as we witness four sections of Part I from Handel’s masterpiece: God’s promise/prophecy (Isaiah 40:1-3-5); Distance between God and man (Haggai 2:6-7, Malachi 3:2, Malachi 3:3); Christmas message of the Gospel (Luke 2:8-14); and Christ’s sojourn on earth (Zechariah 9:9-10, Isaiah 35:5-6, Isaiah 40:11). As we prepare for the beginning of the new Church year, take a moment to read the scripture that librettist Charles Jennens gave to Handel and inspired the composer to create this extraordinary masterpiece in fewer than 24 days. Studying the scripture passages found in Handel’s Messiah prior to our Nov. 30 service will help us all connect to the spiritual message in the music. After completing Messiah, Handel wrote the following letters in the music score "SDG"—Soli Deo Gloria, "To God alone the glory." Well said, Mr. Handel, well said. Dr. Z (Rick Zielinski), Director of Music Ministries
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“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 9:6 – 15. It is a great passage about how we, as Followers of Christ, should express our gratitude for who God is in Jesus Christ. It calls us to serve, love, and give generously. It calls us to do all of this out of thankfulness for what God has done for us. How do we describe the gifts that God has given us? We do that in the way we live our lives and the way we generously serve others in the name of Jesus! McFarlin does that pretty well! In the coming weeks and months I invite you to join with the middle school and high school students as we strive to generously give out of our sense of abundance from God. Operation Santa Claus and Giving Tree: Each year the Student Ministries coordinates Operation Santa Claus and the Lifeline Giving Tree. Through Operation Santa Claus, adult classes, families, and individuals provide gifts and food baskets for families in need in our community, in the hopes that their Christmas will be brighter. Through the Lifeline Giving Tree, which will be located near Fenn Hall, you are able to express the indescribable joy of God’s blessings in your life by purchasing gifts for children in our community who otherwise may go without during the holidays. Spring Break Mission: After Advent and Christmas you will hear about our 22nd Spring Break Mission. Once again we will head to the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas to help repair homes for those in need. By contributing to “Fund A Project” or by traveling with us, you will help change lives and change the world! This year we are adding a new component to the Spring Break Mission, as we will build two homes from the ground up. We are looking for a team of adults to travel to South Texas, March 8 - 13, 2015, to start the houses; our team of students and adults will finish these houses during spring break. If you are interested in volunteering to build during the week before spring break, or traveling with us during spring break, please let me know. With a thankful heart, 88
Scott Meier, Director of Student Ministries
We gather in thanksgiving of God’s many blessings.
THANKSGIVING DINNER You are Invited to the McFarlin UMC Thanksgiving Dinner
The dinner will take place Wed., Nov. 19, in Fenn Hall and the Atrium. NEW this year: we will provide the meal. Hosts will begin seating at 5:45 p.m., service runs from 6 p.m. until 7:15 p.m. The meal will be a sit-down three-course meal with salad and bread. The main course will be turkey, dressing, potatoes and gravy, and green beans. Desserts are sponsored by United Methodist Women and we will have tea and coffee service.
Remembering that table fellowship is Jesus’ way of encountering all people, you are invited to bring your family and enjoy an evening meal with our church family.9
TODAY I AM
Thankful FOR YOU
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Matt Oberdick
LOVE
in a Cookie
McFarlin has been involved in making cookies for Kairos (a women-behind-bars ministry at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in Oklahoma City) for over two years. Each year, we bake over 300 DOZEN cookies to take to the prison. They represent the care and love Mcfarlinites have for those incarcerated, as well as LOTS of sugar, peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate chips, but the cookies also represent something deeper. Your loving sacrifice provides “bread� to prisoners and shines the light of God’s grace into the darkest corners of a prison unit. A homemade cookie represents love from home, a memory of family, a prayer and a sadness that someone other than the prisoner is baking cookies for her child. Most of all, each bite reminds the women that they are children of God, created before the foundations of the earth and loved with an everlasting love. Each bite reminds them that they are NOT forgotten nor have they been tossed away like garbage. Each cookie tells women who have made bad choices that they are of value, great value, to God and to others. So, next time you think a cookie is just a cookie, remember Kairos cookies are something very special, indeed. Thank you, McFarlin, for all the prayers and bits of love you sent to Mabel Bassett Correctional Center. Harriette Leigh, Minister of Crisis and Recovery
374 Dozen Cookies
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THANKFUL
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here are many things that I am thankful for in this world, but one thing I am particularly thankful for is the “calling” God has put on my life and the people he has placed in my path. If you would have asked me three years ago what I was going to be doing for a career, I would have proudly told you mechanical engineering. But something unexpected happened almost exactly two years ago. I received a text from my dear friend Tino, who was also the middle school youth director at the time, checking up on me and asking me if I wanted to volunteer in some youth ministry stuff. Initially I thought nothing of it and agreed thinking this would be just an awesome thing to do for the church in my spare time. And that’s where God’s plan came in, even though I saw this as a shortterm extra-curricular activity, He saw it as something much more.
After I volunteered for a couple months, Tino asked me if I wanted to go as a leader on the Albuquerque mission trip with the middle schoolers. Needless to say, I went. Something miraculous happened on that trip, amidst all the hard work, tear-filled worship services, and heart-wrenching testimonies. I had an experience that was life-changing. A student wanted to talk about the experiences she had been having on the trip, she was heartbroken to see the hurt and poverty that these people were living in. I saw her heart breaking for what broke God’s heart. After some discussion and reading of scripture I realized God’s calling in my life was never to be an engineer, it was to be a youth director. Every day I wake up and I’m thankful for a God who loved me so much that he had masterfully crafted a plan for me, and I’m so blessed by the amazing students I get to be in fellowship with as we walk this faith together. Austin Leeviraphan, Associate Director of Student Ministries 12 12
for a calling
Sometimes it takes more than one person. Sometimes it takes a host. One person cannot possibly provide all the care to the many people needing a call, a meal, a shawl, a personal visit. At McFarlin, we rely on lay people to be extensions of Christ’s hands and feet in the care of members and constituents of this church. Care ministry starts with each individual member. You take the time to let the church know when someone is going through a tough time. Members of Sunday school classes and our small groups reach out to each other when needs arise. And then there are the various ministries that come under the domain of Congregational Care and the myriad of volunteers involved in these acts of caring. McFarlin is blessed to have a host of individuals who have heard the call and responded by caring for their brethren through various acts of love.
• Sixty-one ladies and one gentleman prepare food dishes to serve and give to those who have lost a loved one, are suffering with illness or an injury and those blessed with a new birth. Eleven ladies have taken the call to host bereavement meals and receptions served at the church. • Thirteen individuals serve as intercessors for prayer concerns on McFarlin’s Prayer Chain. • Twenty-eight ladies and a gentleman knit and crochet prayer shawls and scarves for those who need to feel God’s loving arms embracing them through times of trouble and times of joy. • Thirteen trained Stephen Ministers are available to care, listen, and share God’s love with those going through a time of confusion, stress, or loneliness due to one of life’s stumbling blocks such as death, divorce or other loss. • Seventeen people serve McFarlin as Congregational Care Ministers and another serves as an administrative assistant. These individuals are trained to provide caring, consistent contacts to members of our church who need care, for as long as the need exists.
Care Ministry Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting. Author Unknown
You see, one person cannot do it all. But it starts with one person, then another, and then another. We are surrounded by a host of caring people. McFarlin is extremely blessed by each of these individuals, and without their help our caring ministries would not exist. Serving with you,
Jane Cook, Congregational Care Coordinator
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Our Welcoming Ministry is Thankful for… On any given Sunday morning, McFarlin greeters and hosts can be seen welcoming people of all ages into and around our building. In a church the size of McFarlin, people can easily get “lost in the crowd.” McFarlin greeters and hosts do a wonderful job of extending a warm welcome, answering questions and escorting guests to their destinations. One of our newest greeters was a little nervous her first day greeting at the SW Apache St. entrance. At the end of her shift I received this text, “Hi Eve, I just wanted to say that I was blessed today by greeting people!” Welcoming Ministries blesses those to whom we minister, as well as those who do the ministering – and isn’t that the way it should be?! Eve Hawley, Director of Connection Ministries Dear McFarlin,
Over the past year Natalie and I have been in search for a church we could call home. We both grew up in very different denominations. I was raised in a traditional style of worship and Natalie, more contemporary. Since the first time we walked through the doors at McFarlin and attended the Lifeline service, we knew we were home. We were both met with welcoming faces and had individuals like Eve walk us through joining the church.
McFarlin has offered us more than just a church home. It has also offered a place where we have strengthened our relationship with God and with each other. We are now attending Sunday school, Alpha, and became a part of the Welcoming Ministry. Also, we would like to encourage anyone thinking of joining the church to attend Lunch with the Pastors, which answered a lot of questions we both had. Not only have we flourished as a couple, but our family has blossomed as well. Our four-year-old daughter has been attending the children’s ministry during Sunday school and worship. She now has an overwhelming excitement to come to church and a noticeably increasing level of knowledge about God. We are so thankful for the community that we have found here at McFarlin, and we hope to continue to grow closer to God and find new friends here to share in our journey. 14 Brandon 14
Wansick and Natalie Daab, McFarlin Members
UPCOMING EVENTS
Excerpts from Handel’s “Messiah”
will be interspersed with reflections by Pastor Linda Harker in the 8:30 and 10:55 Sanctuary worship services on Sunday, Nov. 30. Members of the Norman Philharmonic will accompany McFarlin’s Chancel Choir and soloists in both services for this first Sunday of Advent. Please make plans to join us for worship!
36th Annual Advent Festival
will be held on Sunday, Nov. 30 from 3 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Along with a program, music, and food, there will be crafts available for all ages. Look at the Advent Festival Board in the Atrium for the various crafts offered this year. Some samples also are on a table next to the board. Now also is the time for volunteers to sign up to help. We invite all men and women to consider volunteering for one of the shifts.
McFarlin’s 90th Anniversary
is Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014. Special music from our choirs and bell choirs in the Sanctuary worship service will reflect some of the elements of the first worship services held at McFarlin almost a century ago. Our archive team is preparing a display of memorabilia and photos, and we will celebrate with cake in the Atrium following the 10:55 services. We will dedicate our newly refurbished chimes which will ring again for the first time in years. Please join us as we celebrate 90 years of ministry at McFarlin!
Handbell Christmas Concert
is Sunday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. in the Sanctuary. Come join us for an evening of Christmas music with our youth and adult handbell choirs.
Candlelight Carol Service
is Sunday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. in the Sanctuary. Come join the McFarlin music department for a great McFarlin tradition. This exciting evening is filled with Christmas music from our children’s, youth and adult choirs, as well as our Carillon handbell choir. 15
McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church 419 S University at Apache, PO Box 6390 Norman, OK 73070 405.321.3484 www.mcfarlinumc.org Non-ProďŹ t US Postage PAID Norman, OK Permit #278
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SUNDAY WORSHIP Sanctuary Worship 8:30 & 10:55 AM Lifeline Worship in Fenn Hall 10:55 AM Sunday School for All Ages 9:40 AM