The Grapevine
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF NAPA
(707) 253-1411
May 15, 2010
Open
Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors:
the People of The United Methodist
Church
…from Doug’s Deck:
We are in the midst of great changes happening in the church. Either we will embrace this newness, or the church – at least as we’ve come to know it – will cease to exist. On the eve, ironically, of Mothers’ Day, I was deeply moved to have read these words:
Wherever the willingness to rethink has been squelched, wherever that sense of quest has been buried under convention and complacency, the Christian faith in all its forms is in trouble. But even there, something is trying to be born. Even now, right here, among us, inside you, inside me. You may feel it as a curiosity, a desire for better answers than you inherited so far. You may experience it as frustration, knowing that there must be more to faith than you currently know. You may know it as hope, hope [for] humble people whose hearts and lives can be the womb of a better future…. In you, your family, your faith community, and circles of friends, among people of peace and faith everywhere, something is trying to be born.
These are the words of a colleague and pastor, Brian McLaren, who – in his book A New Kind of Christianity – is questioning the voices of authority that have long been represented by the traditions and leaders of the church.
With Roger’s moving on to a new appointment as pastor of the First UMC of Vallejo, and the anticipation of my own retirement as your pastor in June of 2011, change is already coming to the First UMC of Napa. What are we going to do next? The answer to that question will be something only you, who are the members here, will be shaping.
It’s been my experience that our differences over the nature of God and the interpretations of scripture are not nearly as important as being able to be identified with a particular community of people who are trying – individually and together – to follow Jesus. I agree with another colleague, Harvey Cox,W who’s said that there’s a movement in all world religions that is less hierarchical, less dogmatic, less patriarchal and more practical. In short church is going to be more about a dynamic life to be lived than it is a set of beliefs to be affirmed.
People want to see life reflect peace, compassion and justice, and they could be responding to our invitation to be part of such a world by following Jesus. Will you be counted among those who will help build such a community here at The First UMC of Napa?
Doug
W His book is entitled The Future of Faith.
Save the Date
Dreamweavers Theater
presents
Deathtrap
By Ira Levin
A thrilling comedy that will keep you enthralled until the final, startling moment of the play.
June 17th at 8:00 P.M.
Tickets are $25.00 which includes a
dessert reception beginning at 7:00 P.M..
All
proceeds benefit Sierra Service Project
Tickets on sale following
service 5/23, 5/30, 6/6, & 6/13
FUN AND FELLOWSHIP COMMITTEE WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO
CELEBRATE PENETECOST
WITH
A “FINGER FOOD” POTLUCK
AFTER CHURCH ON MAY 23, 2010
PLEASE
BRING NIBBLES TO SHARE
(LIKE TEA SANDWICHES, CUT UP FRUIT, CHEESE
BALLS, DELI PLATTERS WITH CRACKERS, CRUDITES….ETC.)
ANY QUESTIONS, CONTACT PATTY RENFROW AT 252-4763
Sierra Service Project
Gourmet Dinner
Dave and Lisa Doshier will be hosting the gourmet dinner in their lovely garden, surrounded by views of the eastern hills, horses and Milliken Creek. The teens will serve and entertain the guests.
"Tiger in a Pot"
Saturday, May 22nd
5:00 PM Appetizers
6:00 PM Dinner
Your $50.00 contribution to this fundraiser supports the eight campers attending SSP in Los Angeles where they will spend a week in service to the people of the Vermont Square neighborhood.
They will accept your reservation and payment in the Fellowship room each Sunday after worship service: May 2nd, 9th and 16th.
The Board of Trustees is organizing an All Church Workday on Saturday May 15th. Mark your calendars and think of ways we can do some spring cleaning and/or projects for our beautiful church. More info is available @ FUMC office or call John Thompson @ 695-7768 with your project ideas. We need many people of all skill levels to make this a success. Please bring your own tools, supplies and rags. We’d love to see you here!
When
politics became a prayer
Immigration
march, rally in Phoenix
By
Jim Perdue Burke
More than 25,000 people rallied in Phoenix to protest Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law. A highlight of the rally was its emphasis on prayer.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — People began to gather at the Arizona state capitol around noon on a beautiful May first day. It was partly cloudy and around 85 degrees. By 2 p.m., about 2,000 people were milling around various groups gathered on the front of the capitol lawn. It was more like the atmosphere of a state fair, only the overwhelming majority of the people were Latinos. A peaceful protest of Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law brought more than 25,000 people to the state’s capitol. By 4 p.m. more like 3,000 were there, the number bolstered by people beginning to arrive after work. Most Latinos in the United States do work on Saturday, too. By 6 p.m., when a lot of the national press had wrapped up and the counter demonstrators along with them, about 8,000 had arrived. Religious music was being played by a local Pentecostal band. By 6:30 p.m. approximately 15,000 had gathered. The music and prayers continued, punctuated by cheers and chants of “Sí se puede” (“Yes we can”), “un pueblo unido nunca será vencido” (“a people united will never be defeated”), and “Obama, escucha, estamos en la lucha” (“Listen, Obama, we have entered the struggle”).
By 7 p.m., the street along the east side of the capitol grounds and the sidewalks and grass farther on were covered by a sea of people: more than 20,000 were there. That’s when the prayer service and the prelude to a spiritual pilgrimage around the capitol grounds began. At 7:30 p.m., the pilgrimage itself began, led by the small group of youths, now leaders of this great sea of witnesses. These youths had begun a simple prayer vigil with sleeping bags and snacks more than two weeks ago: There were seven of them. Nobody paid any attention to them then, but things have a way of changing. They were among the reasons why many times during the day, we all sang “Si tuvieras fe como un grano de mostaza” (“If you had faith like a mustard seed”).
Most of those youth leaders will have a hard time going on to college. Ironically, that may be a blessing in disguise for this beleaguered Latino community: Fifty of them this week began intense training in organizing under the direction of Arizona Reform Immigration for America and local evangelical youth pastors. What a winning combination!
The spiritual procession began along the sidewalk, but it quickly spilled into one lane of the five-lane streets. A parade of cars accompanied the procession of pilgrims and honked their horns in cadence to “sí se puede.” By the time the pilgrims were halfway around the perimeter of the three city blocks of the capitol complex, police had barricaded all streets adjoining it. The people began to gather in the street for the home stretch of the pilgrimage, where they waded through another 5,000 people that had gathered. They processed together to the stage.
What may go down in history as the largest prayer meeting ever in Arizona.
The band was playing celebratory religious music. More than 25,000 people sang their hearts out. Afterwards, they entered into a closing time of prayer and blessing. Then, even more miraculously, they peacefully gathered up their children and loved ones, and they went home.
Two colleagues and I laughed and wished the local sheriff well on his most recent “crime spree” because he found no one at home to arrest or harass. They were all at the capitol singing, praying, and conducting a spiritual pilgrimage focused around faith, hope and the vote. How ironic: The people the Arizona legislature and governor were so afraid of chose to respond by conducting what may go down in history as the largest prayer meeting ever in Arizona. Talk about “heaping coals on the heads of your persecutors.”
The other special joy of the day was to listen to the cheers of religious excitement when this great congregation heard that they were not just 25,000 Arizonans gathered for the day. Over half a million people throughout the nation and around the world were in the streets with one single message, “Today, we are all Arizona.” Cheers went out again as they heard that over 6,500 United Methodist Women in St Louis had prayed, sung and marched with them this day. They, too, were Arizona this day. Cheers went up once more when they heard that U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., was arrested in Washington, D.C., in a protest outside the White House. He was reputed to have said to the crowd as he was taken away, “I am Arizona.” One more time they cheered wildly as they learned that six religious leaders, representing a broad cross-section of the Arizona faith community, would represent them on May 13 before the Arizona congressional and senate delegations and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.
How will the political world deal now with this strong and gentle people who, while being oppressed by new laws and administrative practices every day, had a golden chance to demonstrate, but instead choose to pray? How can Arizonans continue to call a people on its knees before God a bunch of rapists and murderers? One day, perhaps we will be mature enough to thank our creator for this people that on the first day of May in 2010 taught us once more what we never should have forgotten: Let us pray, Maranatha, even so come Lord.
Editor’s note:
Jim Perdue Burke is a General
Board of Global Ministries missionary also commissioned by the
National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministries of The United Methodist
Church. He serves as Missionary for Immigration & Border Issues
with the Desert Southwest Conference. He can be reached at
jimperdue@desertsw.org,
or (602) 266-6956, ext. 206.
Date: 5/4/2010
©2010
Volunteer Center of Napa Valley
Volunteer Fair!
May 22, 2010 from 10 am to 2 pm
Are you looking for a way to become more involved in your community? This is your opportunity to meet with some of the non-profits that help make the Napa Valley such a special place
Questions?
Call Katie
Meehan-Rubin at 252-6222 or send an email to
katier@volunteernapa.org
Help Wanted at FUMC, Napa
A person to share duties with Joellen Pope to provide flowers for Sunday morning worship services
An additional van driver
A person to be responsible for changing the paraments as needed
A person to be responsible for coming early on Sundays to make sure the Sanctuary heat is on, the mics are in place, etc.
A person to fill up the van with gasoline about once a month
Please call the church office if you are interested
If you or your child are graduating from
High School, Jr. College or College
please call the church office.
Women of UMW
Come to your favorite circle meeting this month. Enjoy the fellowship and learn about the world. See details in the directory. Please note that the June Unit meeting has been changed to June 10th, 2010 at 10 am in the Kagawa Room at Church. Please come and hear about the UMW Assembly Aletha, Carlena, Barb and I attended. The second annual "Honoring Your Mother Tea" was lovely. The afternoon was spent listening to Martha Monroe tell the history of the Wesleyean Teapot and how the innovative ideas that Josiah Wedgewood had, changed options for workers and changed attitudes to make this world a better place. We learned about the importance of buying fair trade tea, coffee, chocolate and sugar which allows the grower to get a decent wage for their product by eliminating the middle man when marketing and safeguarding their interests. We sampled these items (except the coffee). The hall was filled with warm, loving conversation. The generosity of the participants allowed us to donate to VOICES, Healthy Moms and Babies and UMCOR for (birthing kits). THANK YOU to all who came and to Sarah Crosby Circle who hosted, truly LOVE in ACTION.
Mark your calendars....Next Unit Meeting:
Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 10 am. The Program will be Call to Prayer and Self Denial and a report on the UMW Assembly called “Come Hear about Assembly”. The hosts will be the Lillian Wallace Circle. Call Joan Feury for a ride. 287-2024.
Upcoming Calendar Dates:
Church Women United - Saturday, June 19, 2010 - Church Women United will meet at Melanie Oberting’s home from 10:00-2:00 pm.
UMW Mission Event - July 23-25, 2010 - UMW Mission Event in Reno, Nevada. One of the programs will be about Sudan.
UMW Mission Event - August 6-8, 2010 - UMW Mission Event at UOP in Stockton, California( same programs as Reno).
Please consider going to the Mission Events. More details to follow.
Builders Under Construction With a New Addition.
In our church, we have a fellowship group called The Builders. It started many years ago as couples were building their families and needed the foundation to grow in faith, fellowship and financial aid to the church. As we look around the pews, these folks are the "Mothers and Fathers" that our Moms and Dads once hung out with in a very active and vital role of our church. This current Builders group is the foundation of our history and will continue to be a strong foundation! However, as age will do to a person, the foundation needs a little shoring up, a bit of a remodel and finally a new addition. I have met with the "Board" and we have a design that includes all you folks that are looking for that supporting beam to carry you into a new fellowship home where the activity will keep you nailed to your faith. In honor and recognition of the "Foundation Builders", you are invited to a patio luncheon June 12, Saturday at 12noon at Gary and Kay Neal's, 1057 Hardman Ave. If you are part of the new addition, please bring a salad to share. At this time I am serving as "head contractor" of the new addition (self- appointed) and there are bids out there that say we won't get off the ground. But I have done enough remodeling of my own life to know that the time is now for this "New Addition" group to pull out the glue guns and stick the Builders with a New Addition! We will continue to plaster and paint with fellowship and faith!
See you from
the roof top,
Kay
Neal
Fun Book Club News
For your May reading the Fun Book Club recommends the following book: Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert. If you've read this book and would like to join us for discussion, please feel welcome. We'll meet Tuesday, June 1, at Kay Stevens' home: 13 Highland Drive.
SAVE THE DATE *********SAVE THE DATE**************
*SUNDAY, JUNE 27th*
Potluck after Church to wish Roger and Veronica the best on their new assignment
There will be sign-up sheets in the Fellowship Room to bring food or to serve on a committee.
Stop by and sign up in the Fellowship Room for what you'd like to do for Roger and Veronica's Day! You may bring food or set up or clean up or serve on a committee.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
*SUNDAY, JUNE 27th at 10:45am*
Grapevine Schedule
The next deadline is May 20th and it will be mailed out on May 26th.
Please email your articles to secretary@napaumc.org
First United Methodist Church
625 Randolph St. Napa 94559
Office: (707) 253-1411 Fax#: (707) 253-1976
www.napaumc.org
Facebook: Napa First United Methodist Church
Pastors: Douglas J. Monroe
Roger Kimble, III
Sunday Worship - 9:30 a.m.
Child and Infant Nursery Care is available
Church Office Hours:
Monday—Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
The Grapevine is published bi-monthly.
Editor: Dianne Mahler
The SamAntics choir presents
"A Recital of British Music Hall Songs"
Saturday May 15, 7:00 PM
FUMC Fellowship Hall
A selection of rare old songs, this show is, by turns, dramatic, funny, silly and charming, in the tradition of British Music Hall, Vaudeville and TV variety shows. It features about 20 of the SamAntics singers accompanied on piano by Director Sam Schieber, performing solos, a quartet, ensemble pieces and sing-alongs to well-known old tunes.
Please join us for a fun show!
Tickets
are $10 at the door.
For more information, contact Bill Pramuk,
226-2884
Mission Statement
The First United Methodist Church of Napa unconditionally welcomes all people 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 to become active followers of Jesus Christ. We are affiliated with The Center for Progressive Christianity and a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network.
Sunday Worship Service: 9:30 am
Coffee, cookies, lemonade and friendship are served at 10:30 am
Adult Bible Study: 10:45 am Parlor
Sunday School for 3 years old through 5th grade—10:45 am—Kagawa Rm.
Middle School Group—10:45 am—Beall Library
Youth Group—11:00 am—Youth Room
Come and see what your church has to offer you this year
Visit us on Facebook—Napa First United Methodist Church
May 16 Scripture: Acts 16:16-34; Psalm 97; Revelations 22:12-21; John 17:20-26
Rev. Roger Kimble Cathedral Choir
May 23 Scripture: Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:24-35; Romans 8:14-17; John 14:8-17
Rev. Doug Monroe Bonner Bells
May 30 Scripture: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15
Michael Herzog, Lay Speaker Cathedral Choir
June 6 Scripture: 1 Kings 17:8-24; Psalm 146; Galatians 1:11-24; Luke 7:11-17
Rev. Roger Kimble