holy covenant united methodist church carrollton, tx · web view2019/09/09 · called...
TRANSCRIPT
2
Holy Covenant UMC Newsletter
In This Issue
Music Notes
Children's Sunday School Change
Ladies In Fellowship Together (LIFT)
Community Mentors
Church Directory Photo Sessions
Dinner & Game Night
Annual Dinner & Auction
ECDP Preschool Update
Message from Your Lay Leader
Ad Council Update
Unity Dinner & Game Night Photos
A Year in the Bible
Haven't started reading yet? Got behind? No problem!
Join us as we finish the Old Testament, OR
prepare to join us as we begin the New Testament on Sept. 24!
Chronological Readings:
September 1 Ezekiel 32:17-33:20, Jeremiah 52:28-30, Psalm 137:1-9, 1 Chronicles 4:24-5:17
September 2 1 Chronicles 5:18-26, 6:3, 6:49, 6:4-15, 7:1-8:28
September 3 1 Chronicles 8:29-9:1, Daniel 4:1-37, Ezekiel 40:1-37
September 4 Ezekiel 40:38-43:27
September 5 Ezekiel 44:1-46:24
September 6 Ezekiel 47:1-48:35, 29:17-30:19, 2 Kings 25:27-30, Jeremiah 52:31-34
September 7 Daniel 7:1-8:27, 5:1-31
September 8 Daniel 6:1-28, 9:1-27, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23, Ezra 1:1-11, 1 Chronicles 3:17-19
September 9 Ezra 2:1-4:5, 1 Chronicles 3:19-24
September 10 Daniel 10:1-12:13, Ezra 4:24-5:1, Haggai 1:1-15
September 11 Haggai 2:1-9, Zechariah 1:1-6, Haggai 2:10-19, Ezra 5:2, Haggai 2:20-23, Zechariah 1:7-5:11
September 12 Zechariah 6:1-15, Ezra 5:3-6:14, Zechariah 7:1-8:23
September 13 Zechariah 9:1-14:21
September 14 Ezra 6:14-22, 4:6, Esther 1:1-4:17
September 15 Esther 5:1-10:3
September 16 Ezra 4:7-23, 7:1-8:36
September 17 Ezra 9:1-10:44, Nehemiah 1:1-
2:20
September 18 Nehemiah 3:1-5:13, 6:1-7:3
September 19 Nehemiah 7:4-8:12
September 20 Nehemiah 8:13-10:39
September 21 Nehemiah 11:1-12:26, 1 Chronicles 9:1-34
September 22 Nehemiah 12:27-13:6, 5:14-19, 13:7-31, Malachi 1:1-2:9
September 23 Malachi 2:10-4:6, Joel 1:1-3:21
NEW TESTAMENT READINGS BEGIN!
September 24 Mark 1:1, Luke 1:1-4, John 1:1-18, Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38, 1:5-38
September 25 Luke 1:39-80, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-40
September 26 Matthew 2:1-23, Luke 2:41-52, Mark 1:2-8, Matthew 3:1-12, Luke 3:1-18, Mark 1:9-11, Matthew 3:13-17, Luke 3:21-22
September 27 Mark 1:12-13, Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-15, John 1:19-2:25
September 28 John 3:1-4:45, Luke 3:19-20
September 29 Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:21-17, Luke 3:23, John 4:46-54, Luke 4:16-30, Mark 1:16-20, Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:21-28, Luke 4:31-37, Mark 1:29-34, Matthew 8:14-17, Luke 4:38-41, Mark 1:35-39, Luke 4:42-44, Matthew 4:23-25
September 30 Luke 5:1-11, Mark 1:40-45, Matthew 8:1-4, Luke 5:12-16, Mark 2:1-12, Matthew 9:1-8, Luke 5:17-26, Mark 2:13-17, Matthew 9:9-13, Luke
5:27-32, Mark 2:18-22, Matthew 9:14-17, Luke 5:33-39
Blood Drive
Sunday, September 8
8:30 to 11:30 am
in the HCUMC parking lot
Make a donation, save a life!
Children’s Formation
3rd Grade Bibles
Bibles will be given by the church to 3rd graders and other older children that
have not yet received a Bible on Sept 8th, during Children’s Time in worship. If your child
would like to receive a Bible, and you have not yet, please inform Rev. Bill.
Camp Bible
Camp Bible for children in 3rd-5th grade will be at Camp Bridgeport Sept 21-22. Please register your child on the Bridgeport website Bible Camp and inform Rev. Bill. We are looking for a female adult or older youth to attend so that our girls have a trusted person in the cabin with them. The boys will be in a cabin with Rev. Bill. This is a wonderful event on its own, but also a very helpful event for children who might attend Children’s Church Camp in the summer.
Youth Formation
Youth, parents, caregivers, and volunteers will have a meeting after worship on September 15th. We will discuss shifting UMY times at first of the year, mission trips with fundraising, confirmation and more. Please plan to attend.
Music Opportunities
Wesleyan Choir
Wesleyan Choir rehearsals are now ongoing, and everyone who enjoys singing is invited!
REHEARSALS ARE WEDNESDAYS from 7:30 – 9 pm!
Covenant Carillons
Covenant Carillons is our adult handbell choir. We need a few people to fill some open spots this season. Come and join in ringing! REHEARSALS ARE WEDNESDAYS from 6:30 – 7:15 pm
**For the children of Holy Covenant, music is provided for all within the Sunday School class time!
Human Trafficking Presentation
Sunday, September 29
9 am in the sanctuary
The Advocates for Justice & Peace invite you for the latest presentation in the “Who is Our Neighbor?” series. Guest speaker, Daniel Bueno, is himself a former trafficker.
Food Pantry Needs
Communion Sunday, October 6You are invited to bring canned meats, soups and canned fruit during communion. There will be bins available at the platform for your donations.
Save the Date!
CROP Hunger WalkSaturday, October 12at Mill Valley Fellowship in Farmers Branch
Sunday Morning
Schedule
9:00 am Sunday School for all ages
10:30 am Unity Worship
Staff
Rev. Carol Sparks
Senior Pastor
Rev. Bill Mauldin
Associate Pastor
of Family Ministries and Discipleship
Leanne Seabright
Worship and Music Minister
Beth McClure
ECDP Director
Christine Perry
Financial Administrator
Elise Webb Odell
Administrative Assistant
In Our Thoughts and Prayers
Shelly Martinez; Betty Morse; Sharyn Yetman; Cyndi Dermody; Scott Schmidt; Bill Franklin; Carlos Ponce; Travis Williams; Branda Mauldin; Roy Evans; Sheila Lunsford; Mary Harrison; Peggy Castenada; Tyler Ackerman; Elizabeth Krause; Linda Hinton; Dorliss Glass; Shelley and Paul Finckey; Randy Sutherland; Jan Reynolds; Jojo Sain; Marilyn Kimble; and Mike Gilbert.
Our Loved Ones in the Military
Levi Bayard, KeNi Gaines, Zach Glass, Jake Oliver,
Antonio Ramirez, Ashton Rudolf and Diana Rudolf.
Issue: #172
September 1, 2019
Music Notes
For those of you who were not able to be in church on August 25, I must announce to you that I have been offered and accepted a job as Director of Music at Northway Christian Church on northwest highway in Dallas. I have loved my time at Holy Covenant and am sad to leave, but I had to make this decision for reasons of financial security and career considerations.
My last Sunday will be September 15th when we will recognize the 45th anniversary of Holy Covenant and the Wesleyan Choir will be singing a new, commissioned anthem titled “Covenant Prayer” by Karen Marrolli. Here is a bit about Karen:
Karen Marrolli is the Director of Music Ministries at Central United Methodist Church in Albuquerque, NM. Marrolli holds the DMA degree in Choral Conducting from Louisiana State University (2010), where she studied Choral Conducting with Dr. Kenneth Fulton. She earned her BM in Music Theory and Composition (1997) and her MM in Choral Conducting and Sacred Music (2000) from Westminster Choir College before relocating to Charleston, SC, where she lived for seven years prior to pursuing doctoral studies. In addition to being a classically-trained composer and conductor, Karen is a prolific singer-songwriter who can be seen performing her own songs at various events in and around Albuquerque. Called “provocative” and “powerful” by listeners, her songwriting is autobiographical and stems from influences that range from piano-driven singer-songwriters such as Tori Amos and Regina Spektor to the acoustic folk sounds of Americana and Irish Traditional Music. Karen’s choral music is published independently as well as through Morningstar Music, Galaxy Music, and Colla Voce.
-Leanne Seabright
Children’s Sunday School Change
This year we are trying something different and combining the learning time for all children of Holy Covenant by including music as a part of their Sunday school class and in turn their spiritual development, while being respectful of Sunday family time and schedules. This will begin on September 8th; children will no longer begin in the sanctuary but will instead begin in their own classrooms at 9am.
Children’s Choirs will no longer meet after worship but will become Children’s music time and be an integrated part of the Sunday school time. The music will reflect the curriculum the children are learning and each Sunday school class will receive 20-30 minutes of music without leaving their classroom.
This is what it will look like:
Prek-K:9:00-9:30 Lesson time
9:30 – 10:00 Music time with Heather Mincieli
10:00-10:15 get ready to go time
1st-2nd:9:00 – 9:45 Lesson time
9:45 – 10:15 Music time with Melanie Luce & co-teacher
3rd-5th:9:00 – 9:30 Music time with Melanie Luce & co-teacher
9:30 – 10:15 = Lesson time
We will promote children to their new Sunday school classes on September 1st. We are shifting the class grouping to try to balance the size of classes. PreK&K will meet in Room 106 (first floor Educational Building). 1st and 2nd grades will meet in Room 110 (first floor Covenant Center). And 3rd to 5th will meet in Room 207 (second floor Education Building). Your child should go to the room where their current grade is meeting. All children should be picked up from their class by a parent or caregiver.
Ladies In Fellowship Together (LIFT)
Thursday, September 126:30 pm
The monthly LIFT (Ladies in Fellowship Together) meeting on Thursday, September 12, at 6:30 pm at the home of Joyce McCoy. Go to L.I.F.T. for more information. Bring a snack or covered dish to share. We will enjoy food, fellowship and a short devotional. If you do not have time to prepare a dish, please join us anyway – we want you with us! Come join us for this time of fellowship!
Community Mentors
Mentor Training Sunday, September 15Noon in the sanctuary
Looking for a meaningful volunteer opportunity? Give a child the gift of reading! Only 20 minutes a week gives a child the boost he or she needs to succeed. Holy Covenant’s Community Mentors’ program pairs adult mentors with children in our local elementary schools. If you are interested in participating this school year, please sign up in the narthex, or contact Andrea Allen [email protected].
Church Directory Photo Sessions
Lifetouch will be at Holy Covenant on Tuesday, September 17th and Wednesday, September 18th between 2 pm and 9 pm to take family photos for the church’s new directory. Sign up here or contact Erin Shepardson with any questions. If the available times do not work for you, you may submit a photo of your own for the directory for a fee of $10.
Dinner & Game Night
Friday, September 27
6 to 9 pm
in the Covenant Center
Bring your family, friends and your favorite games! We will have a love offering basket for any donations guests wish to give toward dinner. Contact [email protected] with any questions.
Annual Dinner & Auction
Mark Your Calendars!
Holy Covenant’s Annual dinner and auction is set for Saturday, October 5. Come for dinner between 5:45-6:30 pm- the auction starts at 7.
The event is Holy Covenant’s largest fund-raising event and our auction chair, Melissa Beard, guarantees that it will be the most fun you will have that night!
ECDP Preschool Update
The halls of ECDP are laughing again (and, admittedly, there is a little bit of crying too)! We have just finished our first week of school, and it has been a great one! Our sweet students are already having so much fun and learning too!
This year ECDP has turned Room 100 into a STEAM & Sensory Lab. From the outside it may look like a regular classroom, but every play activity is intentionally selected to help students strengthen their processing of sensory information. With the incidence of learning differences and amount of time on screens by young children on the rise, it is important for us to give our students time to participate in sensory play. Please look in to see the room, and check out our lesson plans on the ECDP bulletin board. We are especially grateful to Doug Abbott, a member of Christ United Methodist Church in Farmers Branch (and director Beth McClure’s father), for making our light table. It is excellent and saved us at least $200!
Hopefully you saw the Facebook post from Melinda Wester, a former ECDP Three’s teacher, who sponsored a fundraiser for ECDP’s library on the anniversary of her battle against breast cancer. She has raised money for us to buy some Usborne Books for the Sheryl Toney Library. Usborne publishes phenomenal
educational books for young children, and we are so grateful for her generous heart in wanting to gift Holy Covenant ECDP with such amazing educational materials. Our students will LOVE them!
We love being a part of the children’s ministry at Holy Covenant UMC. It is an honor to work with you in forming disciples in the community surrounding the church. It is ECDP’s mission to teach children to love God, themselves, and others. We are just beginning the work this year, but we are already getting our hands dirty, literally! We are so happy to be in partnership with you all.
Message from Your Lay Leader
Second Place
Mat Fraser became the Fittest Man on Earth in 2016 by winning the Crossfit games after coming in second place in 2014 & 2015. He also went on to claim the title of Fittest Man on Earth in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Let’s not focus on his four victories but on his second-place finishes. As a rookie to the Crossfit games in 2014, Mat’s second place left him feeling victorious. However, when he stood on top of the podium, in second place in 2015, Mat showed no signs of joy. He was not happy. He did not come to the Crossfit games to come in second. He felt like he had lost first place. He took his second-place rookie year for granted.
Mat knew he was good, but he knew that to win the games he needed laser focus to win first place and it took losing in 2015 for him to realize this. He realized he couldn’t just work hard. He had to do everything right. He couldn’t just go through the motions.
Are we going through the motions and showing up or are we arriving early and staying late, living in the moment and giving it everything we can? If we are going to show up, we might as well do the work and do our best. And when we don’t succeed, we learn from our mistakes and do it better the next time.
Here are the five things Mat Fraser did after his 2015 second place finish (taken from Men’s Journal):
1. Cut the junk.
2. Change up your training schedule.
3. Tap experts to beat your weakness.
4. Find the positives in injuries.
5. Embrace the suck.
Here is how I interpret Mat’s five things he did to come back to the games in 2016 and win:
1. Eliminate the things / obstacles in your life that are keeping you from being the best “you” that you can be.
2. Change up your routine so that you maximize your time and squeeze out every last drop of positive productivity that you can.
3. Lean on mentors. Hang out with the “right” crowd. Surround yourself with people who want the best for you and that lead you by being a good example to everyone around them.
4. Find the good in the bad.
5. Get used to hard to work. Nothing worth having is going to come easy.
Have a good September everyone.
Aaron
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11
Ad Council Update
Let’s lead off this month’s newsletter with a genuine Thank You and sincere gratitude to the many, many Holy Covenant members who serve on respective committees, are involved in small group activities and or otherwise contribute time, energy and effort into being disciples for Christ through our church’s numerous community points of contact. These men and women continue to push forward our goal of creating environments and relationships to not only transform the world, but grow other disciples for Christ.
Perhaps there are times that these “servant leaders” make themselves available to the Holy Covenant work when they are themselves tired, stressed, challenged with obstacles and could realistically take a time out, and NOT be present for the work. For their commitment and endurance, I am exponentially grateful. There is nothing more valuable than one’s time, and when you are on purpose about honoring the role of being a “servant leader” for Holy Covenant and are continually putting in the hours there do occur those moments where you may stop and ask yourself “am I
adding value” or “am I making a difference”. Without question, without hesitation and with the most sincere validity be
clear…...YOU are making a difference and your commitment is recognized as well as impactful.
My hope is that anyone reading this ultimately realizes that THEY have been, are or will be positively impacted by another’s servant leadership. In that respect, each and every one of us is supremely blessed. Our challenge is to continue the journey. Stay on the path, regardless of the incline or roughness of travel. There is no doubt your contributions are priceless and the many people who are richly rewarded by your service you may be surprised by, or may not even know or be aware of, and yet you are in fact changing their lives. While you are not seeking recognition, you fundamentally have earned it. May you be blessed as you have blessed the many, many others with your work and your presence.
Peace,
scott
2 Chronicles 15:7 “But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”
Unity Dinner & Game Night
We are welcoming and open to all people;
black or white or brown, you are welcome here;
rich or poor, young or old, you are welcome here,
gay or straight, citizen or sojourner, you are welcome here.
Holy Covenant United Methodist Church, 972-492-2432, 1901 E. Peters Colony Road, Carrollton, TX 75007