The Flame

The Owego United Methodist Church, 261 Main Street, Owego, NY 13827

Telephone: 607-687-2417 Email: owegounitedmethodist@verizon.net

Website: www.owegoumc.org

Flame Articles to: theflame@stny.rr.com

The Flame may be read on our website owegoumc.org if you are not receiving you newsletter by email and wish to do so, please let the church office know so we can add you to the list. Thank You!

Purpose Statement: Who We Are The people of the Owego United Methodist Church are being transformed by the biblical message and the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, so as to grow and flourish as children of a loving God.

What We Are Called to Do Our purpose is to use Gods empowering spirit through acts of faith, fellowship and service to share Christs love that we may be a blessing to the world for the glory of God.

Interim Pastor: Rev. Natalie W. Scholl Editor/Typist: Suzie Milligan/Sandy Berwald

Worship at Owego United Methodist Church

April 2015

Staff Parish Relations Committee

Announces Appointment of New Pastor

On behalf of the Staff Pastor Parish Relations committee, I would like to announce that Bishop Mark Webb of the upper New York Annual Conference intends to appoint Rev. Dr. James (Jamie) Stevens) as pastor of the Owego United Methodist Church, effective July 1, 2015.

Rev. Stevens and his wife Katherine come to us from Dansville, NY. They and our District Superintendent, Rev. Dave Kohfal, had a get acquainted meeting with the Staff Parish Relations Committee. They were given a tour of the parsonage and the church. They are multi-talented with both of them being singers, and he plays several instruments.

The Staff Parish Relations committee encourages all to pray for them and continue to pray for our interim pastor, Rev. Natalie Scholl

Jeff Dimick,

`Lay Member

Reflections on the Journey

Delicate flakes drifted gently from the sky, as if they considered themselves the first magical snowfall of the year, rather than potentially the last. They seemed completely unaware that months of constant cold and darkness had numbed their human spectators to a weary tolerance just short of despair. Yet somewhere in the midst of prayerful gazing, I forgot that it was the dreary month of March. I even forgot that the roads would be slushy and the car would need washing again. Those dancing flakes renewed a sense of winter wonder that I thought was lost.

It occurs to me that Easter offers an unparalleled opportunity to discover wonder anew! We are invited to set aside theological quandaries of challenges of the institutional church, and simply open our hearts to the incomparable love of God. God, who knows us in our strengths and weaknesses, exte3ndedtheultimate offering of love to show us hope in the midst of despair, life in the face of death. Millions have come before us, responding to this gift of the risen Christ by making a commitment to follow Jesus. And yet, we are invited to respond with the freshness of new life, as if we were the first and only for to God, we are each that precious.

Many of us are drawn to acquire new things, yet nothing we can purchase or attain is as precious as the gift of new life that God has already offered us. May we revel in all of the freshness, the hope and the possibility that is Easter!

Grace and Peace,

Morning Has Broken

Morning has broken like the first morning;

Blackbird is singing like the first bird.

Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning!

Praise for them springing fresh from the Word

Sweet the rains new fall sunlit from heaven;

Like the first dew fall on the first grass.

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden,

Sprung in completeness where his fee pass.

Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morning,

Born of the one light Eden saw play!

Praise with elation, praise every morning,

Gods recreation of the new day!

--- Eleanor Farjeon, 1931

2

Easter Sunday Combined Worship Service

10:30 am

NO Sunday School

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maundy Thursday

Lord, Is It I?

A Living Dramatization of Leonardo da Vincis Painting, The Last Supper

Thursday, April 2, 2015

At 7:00pm

Everyone Welcome!

On Thursday, April 2nd the Owego United Methodist Church will be presenting a very special drama entitled, Lord, Is It I? The play is set in the Upper Room as Leonardo daVinci portrayed it in his painting, The Last Supper. This will be the sixth year that the men of the church have presented this inspiring event.

This dramatic event is free and open to the public. You will see and hear what may have been going through the minds of the disciples during this Passover Meal. Please join us for this wonderful play. What a marvelous way to begin your preparations to celebrate Easter!

The Owego United Methodist Church is located at 261 Main Street in Owego, NY. It is handicap accessible through the Fellowship Hall. Worship services are on Sunday at 8:15a.m. and 10:30a.m. Children and adult Sunday School is at 9:00a.m. Come worship with us.

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Mark Your Calendars

OUMC Family Pancake Breakfast

Men, women & children - all are welcome!

Saturday, April 11, 2015

in OUMC Fellowship Hall

Open to the Public

8:00 am to 10:00 am

$5.00 - Adults - $3.00 ages 12 and under

Sponsored by OUMC Mens Group

Questions/directions call the Church Office at 687-2417

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dorthean Class Up-coming Events

The Spring Rummage sale will be held on Thursday, May 7, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm and Friday, May 8, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. While you are doing your spring cleaning, keep in mind what you can donate to the sale.

On Tuesday, May 26, we will again sponsor the American Red Cross Blood Drive. This is a wonderful opportunity to be of service to those who will be in need of life-saving blood. The Dortheans will serve refreshments.

The Strawberry Festival will be held on Saturday, June 20, and we will again have our Bake Sale outside in front of the church. This has become a big fund raiser for the church and we have a great reputation for all the great desserts that we sell.

We appreciate all your continuing support in our activities. All proceeds benefit our Church.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank You Notes

In Memory of Will Davis, Sr. Our heartfelt thanks for the many expressions of sympathy extended to me and my family during this difficult time.

Sincerely, Jan Davis & family

To the Owego United Methodist Church Thank you so much for the food donations. As times still remain tough, everything is very much appreciated.

Open Door Mission

4

Trustees Up-date

The Trustees have been very busy with several projects being worked on in the last several months.

Project 1 The Scout Lodge is having a new roof put on and the electric service up-graded.

Project 2 The connector building rooms are being renovated and painted.

Project 3 The parsonage is being completely repainted inside, the floors redone and are renovating the front

up-stairs bathroom. This is the first time in many years that the parsonage has been vacant long

enough to do all the necessary work.

Project 4 We have begun to refurbish the Wesley House after a long three and a half years since the flood. We

were able to secure $50,000 in grants and with the funds we have in our flood restoration account

and other funds, we hope to have enough to finish all these projects.

We wish to thank everyone for your help, support and donations to make this possible.

Ken Patterson, Chair of the Board of Trustees

For the May Flame is April 26

All committees/work areas are asked to email their articles to The Flame email at

theflame@stny.rr.com by 9:00 am Monday, April 27 or place your article

in the mailbox outside the Church Office by Sunday, April 26.

5

Missions Up-date

Thanks to everyone who filled grocery bags in support of our mission project to provide help to people in our local community. Twenty nine bags of non-perishable food items, personal care items, and paper goods were delivered to the Open Door Mission.

Thank you also to all who contributed to the special Blanket Sunday collection. Two hundred seventy five dollars was collected and that bought 55 blankets. We received a certificate and letter of appreciation and information regarding some of the places where blankets are sent by Church World Service. All of these are posted at the Missions Table in Fellowship Hall.

The calendar says that spring has arrived and we hope that soon we will begin to see and feel evidence of that when we go outside. Once we can start digging in our flower beds there will be plants which need to be divided in preparation for the new growing season. If you have some plants to share, please bring them to the Missions/Garden Share table. It will be very helpful if you will include the name of the plant as well as suggestions for planting and care. Watch for our Garden Share sign in the next few weeks. Please consider purchasing some of the plants to beautify your garden. We ask for a donation which will be used to help provide camperships to Sky Lake for our youth.

There are members of our church who have difficulty getting to their medical appointments due to the lack of transportation. The Missions Committee is seeking people who are willing to take people to local doctors and hospitals for appointments. If you feel that you could help with this, please complete the following form and place it in the offering plate on Sunday or mail it to the church office. Thank you!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Name: _____________________________________________ Phone Number: __________________________

Number of people you are able to transport to: ________ (i.e.,1 person, a couple, parent and child, etc.)

(Check all that apply:)

_____ Doctors offices in Owego only _____

Tioga County _____

Broome County _____

_____ Hospital appointments in Broome County _____

Sayre, PA _____

I am available on Mondays

Tuesdays _____

Wednesdays _____

Thursdays _____

Fridays _____

My availability varies, but I will help if I can_____

Comments/added information: _________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

**************************************************************************************************

We appreciate all the ways you support our committee in providing help for our community, country and people around the world. Our next meeting will be on Sunday, April 12, and you are welcome to join us.

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Haiti

Partnership

Personal Hygiene Kits

Formerly called Health Kits, Personal Hygiene Kits are a help to impoverished people throughout Haiti, supplying them items we take for granted that they otherwise could not afford. The Haiti Partnership delivers hundreds of kits each year.

The Missions/Health and Welfare Committees is again collecting these kits. Please bring your kits to the Garden Share Place by Sunday, April 26, 2015.

Kits should include: [contents of each kit are valued at about $12]

1 hand towel -15 inches by 25 inches (or up to 17 by 27 inches)

1 washcloth

1wide-toothed comb

1 fingernail clipper OR nail file (no emery boards or toenail clippers)

1 bath-size bar (3 oz.or larger) of soap

1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper)

6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages

All items included in kits must be NEW items.

Do NOT include any personal notes, money or additional materials in the kits especially political, religious or patriotic and avoid any emblems.

Do NOT include toothpaste, as per previous instructions UMCOR is now purchasing toothpaste in bulk.

Place all items in a one gallon plastic bag.

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LAY SERVANT CLASSES

May 5th, 7th, 12th & 14th 2015

Park Terrace Community UMC

Tuesday, May 5th 5:30 p.m. Registration, check-in and initial gathering

6:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. First session of the 10-Hour Classes begins:

United Methodist Heritage facilitated by Rev. John Goodell

Music in Worship by Diane Kofahl Synoptic Gospels by Rev. Mark Marino Come to the Table by certified lay servants, Melody Patterson & Hudda Aswad

Thursday, May 7th, Tuesday, May 12th - 6:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m. - Classes continue with 2nd and 3rd sessions.

Thursday, May 14th 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Final session for this round of classes followed by brief closing service

Pre-Registration is requested to help with preparations and to insure availability of participant books but, walk-ins will be accepted on the first night of the course.

To Pre-Register:

Send an e-mail with Registration written on the subject line to Binghamtonlayservant@gmail.com

Please include your first and last name, complete mailing address and the preferred telephone number for reaching you, the name of your church and the district its in.

Mail your completed form with payment or call the District Office at (607) 748-0662 and give Rosemary all the same information. (If pre-payment is made, you may also check with her on participant book availability, for pick up only, at the Binghamton District Office)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Friday, May 15th & Saturday, 16th 2015 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Windsor UMC

Friday, May 15th - 5:30 p.m. - Registration, check-in and initial gathering

6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. First session of the 10-Hour Classes begins:

United Methodist Heritage facilitated by certified lay servant, Carol Gallagher

United Methodist Polity by Pastor Mark Kimpland Music in Worship by Diane Kofahl

Synoptic Gospels by Rev. Mark Marino Come to the Table by certified lay

servants, Melody Patterson

& Deborah Arnold

Saturday, May 16th - 8:30 am - 4:00 pm Final session for this round of classes followed by closing service

To Register at Class:

Bring your completed registration form and fee to registration the first night of class, or mail it ahead of time to:Lay Servant Ministry Registration

Binghamton District Office, 53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott, New York 13760-5497

Registration Form - $20.00 Course Fee

Name:_______________________________________________________________________

Address: _________________________________________________________________________________

Preferred Phone Number and Second Alternative (in order of preference indicate, Home, Work, or Cell)

_______________________________________________________________________________________

E-Mail Address: ____________________________ Church & District: _______________________________

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Hello everyone,

I just wanted to give you an update on Hope and Grace as well as the rest of the family from Fox Street.

A little background: Joe and I volunteer at Family Life. Joe makes coffee and we get a carafe of coffee and a pitcher of water on every table at their dinner theater or concert theater events. There are usually 60 tables of 8, so we are making coffee for about 600 people (including guests, staff, volunteers, cast, crew, etc.). We are there for a very long day of work. We enjoy doing it and it is very tiring. But we are always blessed when we do this. And Family Life gives Joe and me vouchers to redeem for free tickets to future shows. (Woo hoo!)

Hope is now at Glove House (a group home) in Elmira, and we have permission to take her with us to Family Life. She works with us and she is a workhorse, and then she gets to have dinner and see the show with us. Last time, Family Life gave Hope her own voucher and thanked her for her work. She was thrilled to earn something for the work she did. My guess is thats the first time in her life that she did.

Grace is living in Montour Falls with her grandma Bonnie, who they call Mom. She looks GREAT!!!!!!! We know how angry she was when we saw her at church, but she is happy now. Shes cleaned up. She is wearing girl clothes and makeup. She is playing softball second base. We asked her to let us know her schedule so we can come see her games.

Joe and I worked the show on Saturday, and family friends of Hope and Grace came to the show on Saturday, so they brought Grace with them. The girls only see each other when Bonnie can visit Hope (so this was a happy surprise for them both). The picture of the two girls hugging was fabulous! Grace kept hugging Joe and me too. They giggled and were silly like little girls should be and had a very wonderful time. It was so great to watch. The sad thing was that at the end of the evening, they would not release each other and they cried like they might never see each other again. How heartbreaking that was. It took them about 20 minutes to say good-bye.

For all that it was a wonderful evening.

As for the rest of the family, we knew they had moved out of the house on Fox Street, as they had planned for several months. But we didnt know where they moved to. Hope told us Saturday that they are also in Elmira as Hope had talked to her aunt. We dont know a specific address.

As far as our committee goes, I think we should continue to pray for these families. There are still so many needs, and though we cannot have the same impact with them as when they came to church on Sunday, we can continue to cover them in prayer.

Hopes address is:

Miss Hope Edger

c/o Glove House

460 West Church Street

Elmira, NY 14901

Right now Im trying to work with someone out there to take her to church. Shes been asking to go and there are several within a few blocks. Pray for that too.

Any other ideas for our committee, Id like to hear them.

Thanks everyone for all your help with and love of these kids.

Your sister in our Jesus,

Deborah Borrelli

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April 15

April 7

10

Are we missing your birthday?

Please let the Church Office know!

687-2417

April Birthdays

__________________________________________

1.

2.

3.Brenda Conti

4.Laura Bishop

Robert Jensen

5.

6.Debra Pitcher

7.Donna Kuhns

Jackson Rhodes

8.Sam Barnhart

9.

10.Sandy Reese

Timothy Taft

11.Cheryl Bishop

Kyle Williams

12.John Darling

Shaylee Ford

Brandon Worzel

13.Carol Bell

Ann Corson

Joshua Peterson

Mary (Rogers) Flanagan

14.

15.Nicole (Hodge) Gordon

16.Nicole Arbes

John Wicklund

17.Julie Larcheveque

__________________________________________

18.Ryan Christ

Lynn Anne Jacobs

Nicklas Warfle

Ava Leonard

19.Tim Cronk

20.Stefanie Crist

Keith Morse

Anthony VanDeMark

21.Paul Boylan

22.Yancey Apgar

Shani Campbell

Lydia Corcoran

23.

24.Eric Crist

Bonnie Morlando

Mikayla Worzel

25.Melissa Worzel

26.Douglas Jensen

Gary King

27.

28.Meredith Bocek

Marji Simerson

29.Alexis Bidwell

Terry Lynn Welch

30.Debbie White

Michelle Hogancamp

11 4/15

1

8 am Mens Grp.

6 pm ACT Dinner

2

7 pm-Lord, Is It I?

9 pm 24-Hour

Prayer Vigil

begins

3

9 pm 24-Hour

Prayer Vigil Ends

4

5 Easter Sunday

10:30 am Worship

Service

NO Sunday School

6

7

10 am Craft Grp.

8

8 am Mens Grp.

9

6 pm ACT Dinner

7 pm Chancel

Choir

10

4:30 pm

Celebration Choir

11

10 am Mens Grp.

Pancake

Breakfast

12

8:15 am- Worship Serv

8:30 am-Cherub Choir

9 am Sunday Schoool

9:30 am-Mission Comm

10:30 am-Worship Serv

11:30 am Teen Choir

13

14

10 am Craft Grp.

15

8 am Mens Grp.

1 pm - Dortheans

16

6 pm ACT Dinner

7 pm Chancel

Choir

17

4:30 pm

Celebration Choir

18

19

8:15 am- Worship Serv

8:30 am-Cherub Choir

9 am Sunday School

10:30 am-Worship Serv

11:30 am Teen Choir

11:30 am BP

20

21

10 am Craft Grp.

22

8 am Mens Grp.

23

6 pm ACT Dinner

7 pm Chancel

Choir

24

4:30 pm

Celebration Choir

25

26

8:15 am- Worship Serv

8:30 am-Cherub Choir

9 am Sunday School

10:30 am-Worship Serv

11:30 am Teen Choir

27

28

10 am Craft Grp.

7 pm - Trustees

29

8 am Mens Grp.

30

6 pm ACT Dinner

7 pm Chancel

Choir

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

S

April 2015