An Update from your Pastor's Desk

An Update From your Pastor's Desk - 10.08.2020

Gordon Pettibone

Oct 8, 2020 • 5 min read

Hello there,

Greetings to you and your family. We hope that you are staying well and healthy. This email update includes important information of what's going on at Oberlin UMC. If you have any questions please feel free to contract us.

Thanks!

Update your Church Records Project

We are trying to update church records with up-to-date information and would appreciate your help in this matter. We would ask you to please complete the form, even if you believe your information is current. Many of our congregation, members and constituents, do not have internet and/or email. Some have had landline phones and have since have discontinued that service and only use their cell phone. We request this information for each person in your home.

Thank you for your cooperation with this project. Remember, if you would prefer to provide this information via telephone (785.475.3067) or email: hello@oberlinumc.org, Office hours are M‑F, 8:30 to 12:30.

Update your records here

Please be in Prayer for

Edwardo Ferrada; Loyd and Fern Moore; Greg Long; George Allen Hooker; Axton Porter (son of Allen and Ashley Porter) Daniel Black; Troy Haug (Shelby Hawkinson’s Father); Janel Haug (Shelby Hawkinson’s Mother); Marilyn Cantrel (sister of Bob Woolsey); Elijah Bearley; Brogan McCorkle; Chaylene, Drew and Haisley Buzard; Amira Barzak (Granddaughter of Donna Fortin); Violet Shaw; Jan Walters; Lila Keenan; Russ Stanley; Pam Scribner; Darlene Agan; Lowell Moxter; residents and staff of Good Samaritan Society – Decatur County; our schools, teachers, administration, staff and school board members; our County, City, State and National leaders.

Next Week's Lectionary Scripture

Exodus 33:12-23 Psalm 99
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22

Thoughts from Pastor Gordon

Giving thanks is a spiritual practice and a hallmark of Christianity: gratitude, giving thanks, showing appreciation for all that we have, and the wonderful world God gave us. Gratitude journals and lists are a popular culture, but how often do we plan thankfulness?

Have you ever shared your thankfulness for our custodian, our praise team, our youth sponsor, our secretary, our pianists, and organist, and the list goes on without end?

Children’s perspectives are honest and unique, and they can provide excellent food-for-thought for adults and children alike. Could you encourage a child to draw pictures of things (people or pets) for which they are thankful? They might bring photos or images cut from a magazine of things they appreciate and those “things” could be shared with our congregation and our community as their way of being grateful.

Sometimes when adults get together, we can focus on the problems, oops, challenges we have. It is easy to complain about what is not going well. What if we started meetings by asking everyone to share something that is going right?

What about "thank you notes." Just write, “What are you thankful for?” We might be amazed at the results we see and hear.

What about those members and constituents, even our neighbors who cannot be physically present in worship? Visits, phone calls and cards or notes are wonderful. Could you send a note expressing that you are thankful for them? Everyone needs to feel needed. Someone who is ill or not able to be there to lend a hand can know that their membership, prayers, and support are still needed and appreciated.

Gratitude is an amazing lens with which to view the world. When we focus on our blessings, we tend to be happier. When we realize how much we possess, we tend to be more thoughtful of those who have less. When we talk about the good together, we tend to appreciate each other more.

Being grateful is about being more mindful. Perhaps this mindfulness will help us all to focus on the abundance in our lives and how we can share it with others. Remember, it only takes about thirty days for a new practice to become a habit. Thanks be to God!

History of Hymns - Together We Serve

Together We Serve
The Faith We Sing No. 2175

Together we serve,
united by love,
inviting God’s world to the glorious feast.
We work and we pray
through sorrow and joy,
extending your love to the last and the least.

Words & Music: Daniel Charles Damon

CCLI Song # 3379644

In July of 2016, The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada bestowed its highest honor on the Rev. Daniel Charles Damon by naming him a Fellow. Dan has served as the pastor at First United Methodist Church of Point Richmond in Richmond, California, since 1995. Originally from Rapid City, South Dakota, Dan earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree at Greenville College, a Free Methodist institution in Greenville, Illinois, and he later earned a Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion, Berkley, California. In addition to pastoring a congregation, Dan serves as the Associate Editor of Hymnody for Hope Publishing Company, and sometimes you might catch him playing jazz in the San Francisco Bay area or teaching courses at the Center for the Arts, Religion, and Education in Berkley.

“Together We Serve” was commissioned for the 1997 centennial celebration of First Presbyterian Church in San Anselmo, California. Carl Daw notes that there is no mention of an actual church building in this hymn—for the church “is not the building but the people.” Daw further notes that many of the ideas in this hymn will seem familiar because “they have been true of congregations from the very earliest of days, as Ephesians 4:11-16 shows. They are both a celebration and a reminder of what the church is called to be.”

The first stanza is a celebration of congregational life and mission. Dan uses two short phrases followed by a long-phrase to establish the meter and uses three-syllable words (together, united, inviting, glorious, extending) to capture the flow of the waltzing tune. The second stanza is flooded with light imagery—“beacon of hope,” “lamp for the heart,” “light for the feet,” and “let love shine through.” The third stanza emphasizes Dan’s love of social justice and reminds us that the church welcomes all—wealthy and poor, busy and lonely, the scarred, and all those who need care. The final stanza is permeated again by togetherness as it enumerates for the church the “sources of energy”—grace, remembering Jesus, and service in Spirit and truth.

Rev. Don McAvoy, Jr.

Reprinted from: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-together-we-serve

For Your Calendar

Monday, October 12 thru Saturday, October 24 –

Pastor Gordon Course of Study

Wednesday, October 14 –

9:30 AM – Wednesday Women’s Bible Study – Basement

10:00 AM – Decatur County Ministerial Association

6:00 PM – Trustee Meeting

6:15 PM – UMYF – Basement

7:30 PM – Praise Team Practice

Sunday, October 18 –

9:30 AM Sunday School for Adults

10:45 AM Worship

Wednesday, October 21 –

9:30 AM –Wednesday Women’s Bible Study – Basement

6:00 PM – Ad Council Meeting

6:15 PM – UMYF – Basement

7:30 PM – Praise Team Practice

Thursday, October 22 – Pastor Gordon at Mentor Group

Friday and Saturday, October 23 and 24 –

Pastor Gordon Course of Study via Zoom

Future Dates – Looking Ahead

Sunday, November 22 – Thanksgiving Sunday – Christ the King Sunday

Sunday, November 29 – First Sunday in Advent

Worship Online

We have been streaming online and working out the issues we have been facing to make worship more enjoyable online. You can join us online by going to https://online.oberlinumc.org or going to our website (https://oberlinumc.org) and click on Watch Online.

We also have our sermon archive online so you can watch any previous worship service starting from March 22nd 2020. If you know someone who is unable to worship with us and has a DVD player, please let us know so we can provide a DVD for them.

Did you know that Oberlin UMC is now on Twitter, and Instagram, along with Facebook, and YouTube? Follow us on your favorite social media platform and stay connected with Oberlin UMC.

Facebook: @OberlinUMC

Twitter: @oberlinumc

Instagram: @oberlinumc

YouTube: Oberlin United Methodist Church

Please continue to take care of yourself and each other,

Pastor Gordon