Thursday, April 4, 2024

Join worship this Sunday, April 7 for Holy Humor Sunday.  


Early Greek Christians began the custom of holding "Bright Sunday" or "Holy Humor Sunday" celebrations on the Sunday after Easter. For centuries, in all Christian faith traditions, the week following Easter Sunday was observed by the faithful as "days of joy and laughter" with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.  Charlotte and Dave Phelps will lead worship. Rev. Steve Wall-Smith will preside over Holy Communion. Dress in your comfy, happy clothes.  Hawaiian shirts would be just the thing to wear. Bring a friend, your sense of humor, and a joke to share for worship and then plan to stay for the Church and Community Potluck after worship.


Christ is Risen, Smile!

Community Unity Potluck this Sunday


Bring your favorite dish and share a meal together right after worship.

If you would like to be a part of the Children's Ministry team in their planning, join the Zoom meeting on Tuesday, April 9th at 6:30 p.m.

Contact Brittany (Brittany.l@maplewoodumc.org) for the Zoom link to join the meeting.

Blessed are you


The Beatitudes receive little attention, lamented novelist Kurt Vonnegut. “But, often with tears in their eyes, [Christians] demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And, of course, that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard [anyone] demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.”


Jesus’ Beatitudes have much to teach about selflessness, mourning, peacemaking and more. Jim Berger, author of Being Sermon on the Mount Christians, explains that those teachings were once “viewed as a mandate for the faithful.” Post-Reformation, they became less law-like and more of a “liberating directive.” Berger writes, “For Jesus, being and doing are inseparable. The Sermon is at once theory and practice. It is not enough to read it or hear it. Jesus intends it to be how we live.”

The Adult Conversations class will be reading and discussing the book Multiplying Love: A Vision of United Methodist Life Together, by Paul W. Chilcote. Among other things, the book imagines the opportunities open to us post-denominational split. Please join us for this eight-week discussion. Copies of the book are available in the Gathering Place downstairs.

 

Stephen Wall-Smith

314-379-7952

This Sunday, April 7, the children's Sunday School class will be helping to put together 100 Blessing Bags. If you would like to help with this project, be there at 9:45 a.m.

News about this month's Community Unity Dinner

This month’s dinner is featuring MapleGOOD and we will be serving a variety of appetizers. The Community Unity team is making some exotic appetizers and are asking church folks to bring more kid friendly appetizers You can sign up at the back of the church. Please list what appetizer you are planning to bring. 

 

The April dinner will also feature a local band “Lost on the Metro”. Because of the hard work of Diane Watkins, Laura Reinders, Denise Perry, Kate Moore and Bailey Schuchmann the band will be playing on the stage! Thanks to Barb Riney and David Vierse for their guidance. Thanks to Tim and Renee McDonough for hauling away all the donations! 

Larry Schmid and Amy Cordeal playing during the Prelude

The "Leftovers" singing during worship.

Steve Findley, liturgist during worship

Children's time with Pastor Kim

Easter Offering Update


A thank you to all who participated in the Easter Offering. So far we have collected $1,588.00 which will be divided between Mosaic Services and Kwasha Molya School. We will still be collecting for the Easter Offering the next two Sundays.


**NEW DATES TO THE CALENDAR ARE IN GREEN

**Thursday, April 4

9:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. Church office open

9:00 a.m. - 2 p.m. Second Time Around Shop Half Price Sale

4:30-5:30 p.m. Cub Scouts

6:00 p.m. Women's AA Group

6:00 p.m. Praise Band Practice

7:00 p.m. Choir Practice



** Saturday, April 6

10:30 a.m. - Women's AA Meeting



**Sunday,April 7

9:00 a.m. - Prayer time in Pastor Kim's office

9:45 a.m. - Children & Youth Sunday School

9:45 a.m. Adult Discussion Group

11:00 a.m - Worship - In-Person and

online Link: maplewoodumc.org

12:15 p.m. - All church Potluck

5:00 p.m. Scouts


***Monday, April 8

9:00 - 11:30 a.m. Community Unity Team Meeting




**Tuesday, April 9

9:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. Church office open

1:00 pm. Prayer time via Zoom.

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3745711178pwd=dktsaWkwNlNhVjRmOHpjTFNqR1dqQT09 Meeting ID: 374 571 1178

Passcode: 674257

6:30 p.m. Children's Ministry meeting via Zoom

6:30 p.m. Witnessing Whiteness Study

**Thursday, April 11

9:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. Church office open

9:00 a.m. - 2 p.m. Second Time Around Shop

6:00 p.m. Praise Band Practice

6:00 p.m. Women's AA Group

7:00 p.m. Choir Practice

To see the entire calendar - click below https://73855810.view-events.com

Prayers for...


... Madaleaze Cramer's friend, Cynthia, who is experiencing critical health issues.


...Linda Vawter’s sister, Shari, Continued healing for back, a path forward for help with headaches, appropriate work for nephew Allen


...Peg Chulick: Grateful grandson Brian back at teaching, continued prayers for Jer’s strengthening of his heart and vision.

 

...Barb Riney and her family upon the death of Barb’s brother-in-law,

 

...Steve Findley and his family upon the death of his mother, Joy Findley.

 

...Juanita O’Laughlin and her family upon the death of her sister-in-law, Bobbi Cain

 

From Nancy Thompson- Please pray for my son, Peter Munshaw, to find appropriate employment. 


...Karen Raborn healing of hip issues


...Zambian government to provide vaccinations for Kwasha School children so they can reopen school during cholera epidemic.


...All the strife in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine


Continuing prayers for ...


...Skip Reynolds's comfort and peace


...Shay Blackwell - for relief of nerve pain and dizziness


... Nina Berry - for Chad to be happy and healthy.

Today is the Big Sale!!

Children's Easter Egg Hunt

Winners of the Easter Egg Hunt

Youth spreading out several 100 Easter Eggs for the hunt

Picture Left: All the children before the Easter Egg Hunt began. Picture above: After all the eggs are collected they are put in the center of the group and divided up evenly. The eggs were filled with a variety of sweets.

What to Expect in Worship During April

Sunday, April 14:  Kyle Kranes-Rutz will be with us this day to share the message! This Sunday is also Native American Awareness Sunday.

 

Sunday, April 21: New Sermon Series begins.  “Make Good Choices!” Those are the words that would follow our kids out the door during their teenage years. Actually, they are words that are good for all of us to hear in all stages of life, whether we are heading out the door or staying home!  While we can’t know the future, the direction and quality of our lives are determined in large part by the decisions we make.  During this sermon series, we will lean into scripture to find wisdom for making decisions and identify some good questions to ask that will guide is in making large, small or in-between-sized decisions.

General Conference News

The General Conference for the United Methodist Church will be held from April 23 through May 3, 2024.  Our own Maplewood UMC member, Colette Cummings, is one of the General Conference delegates from Missouri!  One very important issue that will be dealt with by the General Conference is regionalization legislation. United Methodist leaders are bringing legislative proposals before the General Conference to create new regional conferences that will each have equal power to pass legislation within their prospective regions. If you want to know more about General Conference and this important decision about regionalization, click on this link: 2024 General Conference

 

Please be in prayer for all of the general conference delegates who are traveling to Charlotte, (especially Colette!) and the work that they will do that shapes the ministry of the UMC for years to come. A special prayer guide is available at this link: 

https://www.resourceumc.org/-/media/umc-media/2024/03/14/16/33/guidetoprayer_gc24_english-c.pdf  The suggested date for beginning with this prayer guide is Sunday, April 7.  

MUMC Kids

Last Sunday we celebrated Easter; we learned about all of the different gifts and talents God gives us and that we all receive the same amount of God's love! 



This Sunday we are celebrating Holy Humor Sunday, we will have lots laughs and jokes as we fill Blessing bags! On Sunday April 14th we will have an Easter party with lots of fun and games planned! I hope to see you there!  

DEADLINE for the church newsletter is MIDNIGHT EVERY TUESDAY: send articles via email only to jbrx10@yahoo.com.

The Sunday morning worship bulletin will be sent via email at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday

For more information about Maplewood United Methodist Church, go to our website    (maplewoodumc.org ) or Facebook page (facebook.com/mumcstl)

The church office is open Tuesday, & Thursday from 9 a.m. til 1 p.m.

Office Phone: 314-781-5902. Pastor Kim Shirar: 314-651-9999 Email: pastorkim@maplewoodumc.org

Facebook  
If you prefer not to receive this weekly newsletter please click unsubscribe below