december highlights and events -...

The Communiqué Santa Clara United Methodist Church1700 Lincoln Street • Santa Clara • California • 95050

Vol. 42– issue 8 August 2016

Dear Church,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that this newsletter reaches you in good spirits.

Throughout July, the sermon series have been about Paul, “The Transformer: The Life of Apostle Paul”. By looking at his life and mission, we hear God’s call for our lives and to know more about Jesus. As Christians, we want to know Jesus.

One passage that really touches me the most is from Colossians 1:15-28. I encourage you to pick up your bible and read this scripture. According to this scripture, who is Jesus?

Paul, the author of Colossians, proclaims who Jesus is. Jesus is supreme in both the created order and the church.the one who forgives • the image of the invisible God • the firstborn of all creation • the one who created all things• the one in whom all things hold

together • the head of the church • the firstborn from the dead the one who reconciles all things and

makes peace

Paul does a great job in explaining who Jesus is. My question to you is “Who is really Christ for us today?” Not who was Christ for the first century? But, rather,

who is Christ for us?

What does it mean when you say, “Jesus is God in human flesh”? Does it urge you to learn about his life and teachings? Maybe to try to follow him and share his love to others?

When we experience Jesus Christ as the head of the church, transformation happens. We realize that the church is of God; it’s not a social club—not a creation of humans. The church is meant to run on God’s agenda, not ours.

Think about this: What if we Christians totally surrender to Jesus Christ? Would we experience peace, hope, joy, and love? Would life be better?

So the questions are, who is Jesus Christ for you and me? Does he live in us? Is Jesus Christ the true Lord of our lives?

Friends, remember that our church service is designed for our Spiritual growth. I would like to invite you join our brothers and sisters to worship our living God.

Let me finish with a prayer:Loving God, we thank you for feeding us with your word, and encouraging us in our meetings together. Take us and use us to love and serve you, and all people, in the power of your Spirit and in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessings,Pastor Vathanak Heang

Santa Clara United Methodist Church August 2016

For more information, please check our church website: www.santaclaraumc.com

Prayer Path Walk August 7 th

Before Church Service at 9:30am

Have you taken a walk along our prayer path yet? The path project, spearheaded by Julia Borjeson and the Young Adult Group, is now complete. We invite you to join us on a walk down the path with time for prayer and reflection on Sunday August 7th at 9:30am before our church service. Please come early on 8/7 and join us.

Yard Sale August 13, 2016We are in the final stages of praparing for our Annual Church Yard Sale on Saturday August 13, 2016 at the parsonage at 795 Viader Ct. This will be in conjunction with

the city-wide Santa Clara yard sale and is our major fundraiser for 2016. We really need

helpers at all times during the day, so please sign up to help when you can on Friday 8/12 and Saturday 8/13. We need volunteers to organize and sort items on Friday August 12 at the Parsonage from 12 noon to 5pm, and we need help on 8/13 to setup, sell and cleanup afterwards. Start cleaning out your closets and garages to gather those treasures and gently used items to donate to the yard sale. If you have any large items, please contact Rich Hatchett to arrange for pickup.

Operation Christmas Child

Why are we being reminded in August for Operation Christmas Child, which

happens in November? Simple – back to school sales. This is

the time of year when school supplies

are on sale for deeply discounted prices. Please take advantage of these

great prices to stock up on school supplies and other toys and toiletries to

fill the shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child in November. Thank you for your awesome and generous support

for this worthy cause.

October Dinner FundraiserDue to a schedule conflict, we have changed the date of our fundraising dinner to a Saturday in early October. We plan to have a pasta dinner followed by karaoke, so get your voice in shape and be ready to wow the crowd. Stay tuned for more details over the summer.

Food Barrel ProjectMany thanks to everyone who has helped keep the food barrel project going. We want to do something a little different. Each month we will have a theme item and we are asking everyone to bring that item. We have chosen communion Sunday to do this. The barrel will be at the front of the church. As you come up for communion, you can place your item in the barrel. After communion, Pastor will bless all the food. Hopefully this will give us a focus to support this very needed project. Pastor will announce the specific item each month and it will also be in the Communique.

The barrel will still be kept


inside the front entrance the rest of the month, and we encourage you to donate any food you want to fill up the barrel. August's theme will be cereal, so we are asking everyone to bring cereal on August 9th and fill up that food barrel! If you have any other ideas to make this a fun project please contact Donna West. Thank you all and God Bless.

New Bishop Minerva Carcaño Bishop Minerva Carcaño has been

assigned to the California Nevada Conference (San Francisco Episcopal Area) to be the resident bishop beginning September 1. Bishop Carcaño has served the

California-Pacific Conference the past four years and is replacing Bishop Brown, who is retiring.

Why choose SCUMC?What is your response when someone

asks you: “Why do you choose SCUMC? What is the best thing about your

church?” Although many of us have attended this church for a long time,

there are usually a few key things that keep us coming back.

While many of us comment that the conpanionship, love and support of the members of the congregation keep us

coming back, it is the transformation that occurs in our spirit, our thinking and our

behavior that keeps us coming back every week and it is the key to what it

means to come to church.

What keeps YOU coming back to SCUMC? How have YOU

been transformed?

Volunteer of the Month:Emma Cruz

We all thank Emma for organizing and running the social time on Sundays after the service,

where she and Estella DeGuzman serve fruit, veggies and baked goods. She tirelessly cleans up after this, often staying after noon. Emma also helps Julia with the Community Storytime on

Tuesdays and Thursdays. She sings in the praise band, and is there for the UMW events. Emma babysits for her grandchildren Kaliana and Mariella, and takes care of her mother Mary Tuscano. Emma has been a member of our church since the late 1950’s, and we are so thankful for her tireless service to SCUMC. Thank you, Emma!

Outstanding Volunteer Would you like to nominate someone to be recognized in the Communique as being an outstanding volunteer? Please see Lisa Hatchett to nominate them.

United Methodist WomenOur next UMW meeting will be held on Saturday August 8 at 5:30pm. Our program for this meeting is still in the works. Look for more info during announcement time at Sunday services. UMW is very proud that we have mailed off 26 health kits. We will do this again in the future and look forward to your support.We are currently reading two books for our UMW reading program. The Andrew Paradigm, a book about being a "leading follower" of Christ, and Cured but not Healed, about developing a deeper


relationship with God. We will have a discussion session about these books soon. If you are interested in reading either of these books just ask us!Hope to see you at our next meeting! Maria Brillante

In Memoriam: Iona BauerIona Bauer went to be with the Lord on Monday July 25. She died of complications of an infection. She was a devoted church-goer and UMW member and we will miss her. She is survived by her husband Norm and her children. Services will be held Wednesday August 3 at 11am at the Lima Family Mortuary on Winchester Blvd. Prayers of Healing and Support

for the following people: Linda Eserini

Jack SchenakerIona Bauer

Christina BariniJulia Borjeson

and her motherCynthia’s parents

Angelita BarbadilloRuth Piazza

Angelita Barbadillo 8/2Ann Sebastian 8/3Barbara Shaw 8/17Rich Hatchett 8/18Cora Oliver 8/19Lisa Hatchett 8/20Jerry Brillante 8/21Vanna Len 8/24Russ Tanner 8/30

Happy Anniversary!Berta and Jack

Schenaker 8/16 8 years

Cora and Ernie Oliver 8/20 61 years

August Calendar

8/2 11am-1pm

Community Reading Pgm

8/3 6pm Bible Study


8/3 7:30pm SONRise Band Rehearsal

8/4 11am-2pm

Hearts and Hands

8/4 11am-1pm


8/6 5:30-7:30pm

UMW Meeting, Inman Hall

8/7 9:30am Prayer Path Walk8/7 9:55am Sunday Worship8/9 11am-

1pmCommunity Reading Pgm

8/10 6pm Bible Study8/10 7:30pm SONRise Band

Rehearsal8/11 11am-

2pmHearts and Hands

8/11 11am-1pm


8/14 9:55am Sunday Worship8/16 11am-



Rehearsal8/18 11am-

2pmHearts and Hands

8/18 11am-1pm





Rehearsal8/25 11am-

2pmHearts and Hands

8/25 11am-1pm





Rehearsal

Site Redevelopment Plan Status

A few months ago, we were in the preliminary phases of discussing a plan with the Santa Clara Methodist Retirement Foundation to build senior housing on a portion of our property and remodel the existing buildings. That plan has now been suspended. We will let you know if there is any change.Heating and air conditioning has been installed in Inman Hall which will be a welcome relief for activities there.

Western Jurisdiction ConferenceThe Western Jurisdictional (WJ) Conference takes place once every four years. This year the guiding theme was “Crossing Thresholds.” The WJ Conference was called to spend prayerful time together planning for the coming quadrennium and electing one bishop out of nine bishop candidates in our annual conferences because Bishop Brown will retire this year.WJ Conference also included many bright spots to report about the work of the annual conferences of our WJ Conference. So much work has happened in the past four years. The contributions to the work of Missions were recognized in the meetings. The WJ Conference was also called to spend prayerful time together examining the harm that has been inflicted on Native American and indigenous peoples, sometimes in the name of Christianity. The conversation was not an easy one, but was prayerful and important.During the Episcopal Address on Wednesday, Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr. of the San Francisco Episcopal Area reminded the body of the Jurisdiction’s vision to “be a home for all God’s people, gathered around a table of reconciliation and transformation.” The jurisdiction is multicultural and inclusive, engaged in the life of its communities with confident, effective, lay and clergy leadership in diverse ministry settings forming disciples who live out the Good News of Jesus Christ as global citizens.The Western Jurisdiction has traditionally been a place of historic first elections. Delegates to the Western Jurisdictional Conference have


consistently advocated for full inclusion of all in the life of the church.The Jurisdiction has elected: The first Asian-American to be elected bishop

was Wilbur Choy (Chinese-American) in 1972. He served in the Seattle and San Francisco Episcopal Areas before retirement;

The first African-American bishop to be elected in the Western Jurisdiction was Melvin G. Talbert in 1980;

The first African-American woman bishop was Leontine T.C. Kelly, elected in 1984;

The first Hispanic-American to be elected was Elias Galvan in 1984;

Bishop Elias Galvan was the first Hispanic ever to serve as president of the Council of Bishops (in 2001);

The first Japanese-American to be elected was Roy Sano in 1984; and,

The first Latina bishop was Minerva Carcaño, elected in 2004.

Regarding the election of a new bishop, Rev. Dr. Karen P. Oliveto, an openly gay clergy, was elected to the episcopacy on the 17th ballot by the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. Rev. Dr. Oliveto earned a Ph.D and a M.Phil. from Drew University, a M.Div. from Pacific School of Religion (PSR), and a BA from Drew University.

She has served as a General Conference delegate in 2004 and 2016, and a Jurisdictional Conference delegate in 2000, 2008, and 2012. Oliveto serves on the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA), the Western Jurisdiction Council of Finance and Administration, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) as a coach for the Lead Women Pastor Project.

Since 2008, Oliveto has served as the senior pastor of Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco. CA. Glide is the Western Jurisdiction’s largest membership congregation, and one of the top 100 largest membership congregations in the denomination. Prior to Glide, Oliveto served as the associate dean of academic affairs/director of contextual education at the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) in Berkeley. She has held pastorates at Bethany UMC in San Francisco and Bloomville UMC in Bloomville, New York, as well as being the campus minister at the Ecumenical House Campus Ministry at San Francisco State.


Pastor’s Office HoursPastor Heang’s office hours are:Wednesday: 9am-12noonThursday: 3pm-5pmFriday: 9am-12noonIf you would like to meet with him, please make an appointment with him directly or call the church office at 408-345-9300.

September CommuniqueSubmission deadline for the September Communique to Lisa is 8/21/2016

Contact UsDo you have an idea for a story for the

Communique? Want to sponsor an event? Please let us know! You can call

us at 408-345-9300 or email us at [email protected]. Want more

details on what is going on at church? Visit our Facebook page (Santa Clara

United Methodist Church) or our website (www.santaclaraumc.com).

On the last day of the WJ Conference, the new episcopal assignments were announced. The Resident Bishop of Los Angeles Area for the 2016-2020 quadrennium will be Bishop Grant Hagiya. The Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño will be assigned to the San Francisco Area. Episcopal assignments are determined by the Western Jurisdiction Episcopacy Committee. Each assignment begins on September 1 of the year. After the Episcopacy Committee met through much prayer and consideration, these are the assignments for the 2016-2020 quadrennium:

Alaska: Bishop Elaine Stanovsky California-Nevada: Bishop Minerva Carcaño California-Pacific: Bishop Grant Hagiya Desert Southwest: Bishop Robert Hoshibata Oregon-Idaho: Bishop Elaine Stanovsky Pacific Northwest: Bishop Elaine Stanovsky Rocky Mountain: Bishop Karen Oliveto Yellowstone: Bishop Karen Oliveto

Over all we were reminded of the good work that lies ahead in building the beloved community in our neighborhood. So many people hungry for the love and acceptance that Christ Jesus has to offer. There is much we can do as an individual church, and even more we can do in connection with the other congregations in our mission area and in our annual conference as well as in our Western Jurisdictional Conference and General Conference. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Next Sermon Series:The Grand Finale: Don’t be scared, be prepared What will happen in the end times? What happens after death? Is this the end? In a world of chaos and constant hurts and destruction it seems like things just couldn’t possibly get any worse. Deep down inside us all we have questions like “How much more can we handle?” or “Is the ‘Rapture’ true? What if I get ‘left behind’?” In this series we press into these questions.8/21 The Rapture: Keep God in the equation8/28 The Antichrist: God is true9/11 The Second Coming of Christ: The message of Hope9/18 The Heaven: The Final Frontier*Bring a friend to our worship service.

http://www.santaclaraumc.com/

mailto:[email protected]

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