The Grapevine

FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF NAPA

(707) 253-1411

January 15, 2008

Pastor’s Column

Here we are, once again, at a new beginning; it is the year of our Lord 2008! All around us people are making, or already breaking, New Year’s Resolutions. It is a time of renewed commitment toward self-improvement and personal transformation. The origins of the New Year’s Resolution go all the way back to 153 B.C. when January 1 was fixed as New Year’s Day on the Roman calendar. The Romans honored a god-king named Janus, who had two faces. He became the namesake for the first month of the New Year for obvious symbolic reasons: Janus could look back to reflect on the previous year’s events and look forward to the future year. Very quickly, Romans began to associate the New Year with resolutions, as they sought forgiveness from their enemies and exchanged gifts with loved ones.

Today our most popular resolutions are: weight loss/fitness, stick to a budget, debt reduction, enjoy more quality time with family and friends, find a spouse, quit smoking, get a better job, learn a new skill, volunteer to serve others, and get more organized. Most of us even succeed at keeping our resolutions – for a while….75% keep their resolution for a week, 64% stay committed for a month, but only 46% are able to stick with the life change after 6 months.

I wonder if God might really be behind our desires for self-improvement? We all want to live up to our full God-given potential, to rise above mediocrity, to fully enjoy the life we’ve been given – I think God must be behind all that desire! So, why not let God be part of the solution in our re-solutions? Why not let God’s love and grace guide us toward deeper fulfillment in the New Year?

This week I invite you to review the events of the past year and ask yourself: “Where did I catch glimpse of God’s presence in 2007?”. Imagine new possibilities for the coming year and ask: “How can I “put myself in a place” to notice God’s grace more often in 2008?”. What do I need to commit to, or let go of, in order to make room for a Holy encounter? With prayerful discernment and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the New Year can be an opportunity for more than self-improvement; it can be a gateway for divine life-transformation. May you know the wonder of God’s grace in 2008. May your life be transformed – from the inside-out – by Christ’s life-giving love.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Jennifer Edenborough


G.R.A.P.E. Express

Come and “Follow the Star” with the GRAPE Express for January.
Hear the story of the wise men who followed a star - a sign in the sky - to find and worship the young Jesus.
Discover the wonder expressed by the wise men when they found Jesus and experience moments of wonder as they learn about and remember the story.
How does God continue to offer signs that lead us to Jesus?



Know Ye This

Sounds of Christmas and New Year bells have faded away. Before you can snatch a gnat, it will be Tuesday, February 5th, the opening date for the Mini Thrift Shop’s year of 2008. Donations will be needed. How about some of those Christmas gifts that weren’t quite what you’d hoped for? It may be titled MINI but its impact is MAJOR. Receipts for the year of 2007 of over $19,000 speaks for itself, with an added $500 from the Creative Card Club! Thank you one and all!



Visit our website at www.napaumc.org.
It’s changing and it’s exciting!

If you are the chair of a committee or group and are interested in showcasing your group on the site and on the calendar for the year 2008, please submit an article to Dianne in the church office as soon as possible. A huge thank you to Peter Lutz for all his hard work as our Webmaster.



MARTIN LUTHER KING CONVOCATION FOR WORLD PEACE
JANUARY 21, 7:30 PM

An interfaith peace service with speakers
from Hindu, Muslim, Jewish,
Buddhist, and Christian traditions. 
Omega West Dancers and
San Ramon Valley United Methodist Choir singing the words of
Dr. King.  The public is invited.

Wesley Center at San Ramon Valley United Methodist Church,
902 Danville Blvd., Alamo



Calling All Volleyball Players

The time is here for Co-ed Church League to begin. Church League includes many other church volleyball players and an outreach to others who  play volleyball but don't come to church. It provides a supportive, yet competitive venue for improving volleyball skills, with a prayer and focus on fellowship. 

It begins on January 12th at Silverado Middle School Gym from 6 to 10 pm. Note the time difference this year. We will have one B team and one A team. Please call Joan or Dave Feury at 255-0494 for information, details and to sign up. The cost is $15.00 for the season. Ten people per team is the average we need to allow for absences throughout the season. Minimum age for B team is 14 years old. If we have more people we can develop alternate weeks to play, etc.  We look forward to Saturday night games through March which will include fun, fellowship and maybe a potluck or two.  Please call today to let us know that you’ll be there.



Heartfelt Condolences
to Jennifer Edenborough and
her family for the death of her
Aunt Tammy.
May your grief be short and may your memories be sweet



Our Deepest Sympathy

To Bud and Kay Stevens and their family we offer our heartfelt sympathy for the loss of their dear son, Jeff, who died on December 26th. May you all know the compassionate and loving presence of God in this time of great grief. Your church family holds you in our thoughts and prayers.



Lent 2008
Re-Imagine the World
An Introduction to the Parables of Jesus

How does your understanding of Jesus' parables help you re-imagine the world – personally, locally, and globally? Bernard Brandon Scott helps us rediscover the parables in this year's Lenten Book Study. Please join one of the six week small group discussions and share your insights and hopes for the “Re-Imagined World” as we read the parables of Jesus in a new way. Groups will be starting February 10th. Books are available in the church office and will cost $11.00. We will be taking sign ups and selling books after the service on January 27th and later. Contact Evelyn or Peter Lutz, 255-8593 or pelutz@sonic.net for more information.


Barbara Wendland, Editor of Connections to speak at Elk Grove & Sacramento St. Mark’s UMC’s in February.

Barbara Wendland is a lay United Methodist from Temple, Texas. She writes and publishes Connections (www.connectionsonline.org), a monthly letter urging mainline churchgoers to become informed about Christian history, the findings of recent biblical scholarship, and other religions. She also urges Connections readers to keep examining their beliefs and revising them when necessary, and to practice the compassion and justice to which Jesus gave top priority.

At the 8:30 and 11:00 worship services on Sunday, February 3, at Elk Grove United Methodist Church, 8986 Elk Grove Blvd. in Elk Grove, Barbara will focus on Romans 12:2 by speaking about her personal spiritual journey from quiet conformity to vocal nonconformity.

In a 2:00-4:30 workshop at St. Mark’s UMC, 2391 Saint Marks Way, Sacramento, Barbara will present what she sees as the church’s need to notice and listen to the “spiritually homeless,” the people who feel like misfits in the church or have left it or avoided it because their understanding of Christianity or the Bible didn’t seem to match the understanding of the majority of church members. She will include examples from her own experience and from what she hears from Connections readers, of how church members and church activities sometimes inadvertently keep them away. Suggestions from Barbara and discussion by workshop attendees will deal with how churches and their members can find, welcome, and be helpful to these thinking, questioning people.

 At Elk Grove UMC’s Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on Feb. 5, Barbara’s topic will be “Misfits—the church’s hidden strength.” Here she will further emphasize churches’ need to reach people who are in the minority in a congregation or its geographical setting because of their ideas, beliefs, or their interpretation of Christianity and the Bible, in addition to reaching the people who are in a minority because of more obvious characteristics such as race, ethnic background, sexual orientation, class, or age. Supper will be served from 6:30 – 7:30 PM in the Social Hall. Barbara will speak at 7:30 PM in the sanctuary. There will be a special activity for children during the lecture.  The cost of supper is $6.00 for adults; $3.00 for children and $15.00 maximum for families.

The public is invited to all these events. For details or for workshop or supper reservations, contact Elk Grove UMC member Bill Myers (wemyers@cal.net, 916-689-6943), who is coordinating Barbara’s visit.


CHEERIO

Former Napa FUMC pastor Ginnie Pearson and husband Larry will be off to England in August.   After a great deal of good old Methodist paperwork, Ginnie has been “Recognized and Regarded” to serve the Methodist Church of Great Britain and has received an assignment to the Bude Circuit on the north Devon coast.  She will have primary pastoral responsibility for three small churches, Woolsery, Bradworthy, and Hartland -- where they will live in the manse.  Near-by is Clovelly, probably the most picturesque fishing village in all of the British Isles.

We wish Ginnie and Larry well as they experience the intricacies of coffee mornings, bring and buy sales, welly tossing, and driving on the “wrong” side of the road.  The Methodists of north Devon are in for a treat -- and so are Ginnie and Larry as they begin their great adventure.



If you love kids and teaching,
take a Ride on the G.R.A.P.E. Express in February

The G.R.A.P.E. Express journey for February will be about “Living God’s Word---Respect”. Our passengers will hear what the Bible says about respect and how to treat God, other people and nature as we learn what Matthew 7:12 teaches us: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you”.

If you are interested in exploring this idea with our children, please consider being a part of the journey by teaching one of the stations along the way. There is art, storytelling, cooking/science that all teach the lesson. Please contact Vicki Poli if you are interested in teaching this unit. It only takes the first 3 Sundays, the last Sunday we all join together to enjoy the games suggested by the curriculum. Remember, it takes a whole church to teach the faith.



United Methodist Women Circles

Judith Newton - Thursday, Jan. 10 @ 1pm Ethel Adams’ home
Patricia Riddell -Thursday, Jan. 10 @ 10am Kagawa Room
Lillian Wallace - Thursday, Jan. 10 @ 1:30pm LaVonne Van Cleve’s home
Susanna Wesley- Tuesday, Jan. 8 @ 7:30pm Mary Herzog’s home

Unit Meeting

Thursday, Jan. 17 @ 10am
Kagawa Room

We welcome all of our church women. Join us for friendship and service.



BUILDERS NEWS

Please come to the Builders Potluck on Saturday, January 12th. Bring your own table service, a dish to share and an item to be auctioned off in our exciting annual auction. We will begin right at noon in the Kagawa Room. All new and potential members are welcome to come for fun and fellowship.



Put your Grapevine article here. The next deadline is January 17th and it will be mailed out on January 23rd.


You’re invited to the Installation Celebration for
Rev. Renae Extrum-Fernandez

Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Fairfield Community UMC
1875 Fairfield Ave.
Fairfield, CA 94533

Please RSVP to 510-548-4694



The Napa Interfaith Council Presents
A Service in Honor of

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

With Keynote Speaker
Dr. Jim McCoy
Union Baptist Church and
The Union Baptist Choir

6:30 pm on Sunday, January 20th at the
First United Methodist Church
625 Randolph Street, Napa

For more information call the Rev. Bonnie Dlott at
925-256-4334

All are welcome to celebrate with us


Mission Statement

The First United Methodist Church unconditionally welcomes all people in greater Napa wherever they are on their faith journey. As a congregation rooted in scripture, tradition, experience, and reason, we promise opportunities to grow in the Spirit and to become active followers of Jesus Christ.



Sunday Worship Service: 9:30 am -- All Sunday School Classes at 10:45 am
Adult Bible Study: Parlor
GRAPE Express for ages 3 years thru 5th grade: Kagawa Room
Junior High School Group: Beall Library
High School Youth Group: Sunday at 4:00pm - Youth Room



January 13 Scripture: Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17

Pastor Jennifer Edenborough Bonner Bells

January 20 Scripture: Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42

Pastor Jennifer Edenborough God’s House Band

January 27 Scripture: Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42

Pastor Douglas J. Monroe Cathedral Choir

February 3 Scripture: Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 99; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9

Pastor Douglas J. Monroe Cathedral Choir