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Christ
United Methodist Sunday School
A church only grows when it has
an active Child and Youth Sunday School Department.
Each Sunday, teachers are at each grade level to help your
children learn more about Jesus and the scriptures. We
have a dedicated staff of caring people.
Fall Sunday School
classes are from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., with extended
child care available until 11:45 a.m. Children in
grades K-5 attend the first part of the 10:45 A.M. Worship
Service, then leave after Children’s Time to attend
Children’s Choir rehearsals each Sunday, beginning September
20th.
CHILDREN’S SABBATH
Sunday, October 11, 2009, 10:45 A.M.
is the Annual National Observance of Children’s
Sabbaths ® Celebration at Christ United Methodist
Church. Commit to help children throughout the
year, through prayers, raising awareness,
compassionate service, and justice-seeking advocacy.
Pray for children in need, especially children in
poverty, lacking health care, and trapped in the
pipeline to prison. Pray for the strength, courage,
persistence, and wisdom to do all you can do to help
children and work for justice. Pray for hope,
faith, and love.
Find out as much as you can about the problems
facing children and families in our nation,
especially poverty, lack of health coverage, and the
pipeline to prison crisis. Visit
www.childrensdefense.org for information,
downloadable sources, and links to other
organizations working on behalf of children and
families. Ask around and find out what
organizations are working in your community and what
kind of help they need.
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OCTOBER 2009
“Lord, teach us to
pray.” The Disciples who had spent a few years with Jesus eventually
asked the question. Jesus, of course, gave them the model prayer that we
all know as “The Lord’s Prayer”. For those of us who still have
difficulties from time to time getting our words and thoughts together,
there is a another well known model built in the acronym ACTS. We begin
the prayer by adoring God and fully acknowledging Him as the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We then confess our sins and ask
for forgiveness which He is so gracious to give to us. Thanksgiving
comes next as we acknowledge that God supplies our every need and,
finally, supplication is asking God for what we want and need.
Another
acronym for building a prayer model is BLESS. The B is for the
body as we pray for health, for healing and for the meeting of our daily
bread and our physical needs. As we pray for God’s help in our daily
work, in school and the tasks we do everyday, we recall the L for
our labors. E reminds of us of emotional needs as we pray for
comfort, reassurance, hope, joy and peace for ourselves and others. As
we consider social needs, we see the first S which reminds us of
the need to pray for healthy relationships with family, friends and
other acquaintances. The final S is for spiritual needs as we
pray for continually deepening relationship with God.
The next
time we think about the Book of Acts, we may also remember the acronym
ACTS as a model for prayer. And, the next time we hear someone say, “God
bless you (which is a prayer in and of itself), we just might recall the
BLESS model for our prayer lives. Prayer is indeed a privilege we can
all enjoy.
Dr. J.

I have just completed a
statistical report
for the Studio Go Vacation Bible School. I was
pleasantly
surprised not because of the numbers but because I actually
had fun. The Studio Go theme song is still ringing in my head and every
now and again I flashback to the game show host, Wade Winalot (really
Pastor Hoyt Wilhelm from Union Avenue, with his Studio Go tie. I can
still ‘see’ Coach Armstrong and his ‘muscles’ bulging (that would be our
own Chris Martin). The oh-so-brilliant Professor Wordsmart was totally
too smart for her own good (portrayed by Heather Brubaker, Christian Ed
Director at Trinity Episcopal Church).
Statistics are
necessary and can be good for evaluation and for planning for future
events but the spirit of cooperation and the engagement of our children
in real service were much more meaningful to me. The service projects
included the making of decorated pillow cases to be donated to the
Domestic Violence Center to help those in delicate, transitional
situations. Letters were written and mailed to our Police and Fire
Departments to thank them for serving us. Our shut-in members will
receive bags of snack mix prepared by our VBS kids who also walked in
the neighborhood around the Church for a trash pick-up.
Thank you, God, for
enabling us, thank you Holy Spirit for guiding us, thank you, Jesus, for
being a role model for us. Thanks to all who contributed in any way and
thanks to Union Avenue UMC and Trinity Episcopal Church for being so
pleasant to work with.
Go, go, go, Studio Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!
Go! Go! There goes that song again!
Peace, Dr. J.
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