Please know our church and facilities remain closed due to the attempt at physical distancing to curb COVID-19.
Thank you to all who helped us have A Time of Gathering and Prayer last Saturday. We had a beautiful evening with friends in our parking lot and were able to share this time with more friends via Zoom. We have missed you!
We give thanks to those of you that came and safely followed our guidelines, those that took the time to join us at home, and all of our volunteers that made it possible. We are grateful to have our CUMC family!
Important Information
Dear Friends,

I invite you to take part in our online worship experiences. We are hoping that you can send in one or more videos that can be filmed in a few seconds on your smart phone:
1) A video of you dropping a leaf, and saying what you'd like to let go of. For some this might be: worries, anxiety, resentment, sadness, old hurts, old failures, or even "the year 2020!" There is no wrong answer.

2)A video of wind chimes that you may have outside your home, or in your neighborhood. 

3) A video of you, and or your family looking in the camera and saying: "Peace be with you." We have found that people in our congregation love to see familiar faces in the online worship experiences.

Please take these videos holding your phone in a horizontal position so that it takes up the whole screen when edited. Please add one or two seconds before and after you speak so that it can be edited in with other videos in the online worship experience.

Please sent these videos to me at [email protected], or text the video to my cell phone: 973-769-5266.

Thanks for your part in making worship that much more complete by sending in one or more of these videos.

with gratitude,
Jeff
New Opportunities for Online Liturgists! We’re reaching out to all church members for pre-recorded Gospel readings through the Fall. (Please remember to film Sunday’s Gospel message by the previous Tuesday!)
Click Here to Sign Up for Your Slot Please note that dates are listed as Tuesdays on our Sign Up Genius because recordings are due on Tuesday.
If you have any questions, please contact Barbara Babbitt at [email protected] or Jeff Markay at [email protected]
We Need Your Help! CUMC member volunteers are needed to pick up excess bagels from Chatham Bagel at 260 Main Street each day at 2:00pm (their closing time). Chatham Bagel has been an important partner in supplying our Wednesday Food Distribution efforts with fresh bread. Please help us keep this effort supplied!

The job can be shared with a few volunteers/families. It's also a great service opportunity for a college student that is home and virtual learning. Volunteers need to pick up the bagels, pack the bagels in bags of four (4) in the church kitchen, and then put them in one of the freezers. Questions? Please contact Jeff Markay at [email protected]. Thank you!
This Week
Thursday, September 17th
Did you miss our Prayers Live @5 on Facebook last night, Wednesday, September 16th Don't worry. You can rewatch by clicking here. You don't need to be on Facebook to watch this link.

If you would like to participate this coming Wednesday, September 23rd on Facebook or you would like to submit a prayer request, email Pastor Jeff at [email protected].
Sunday, September 20th
 Our worship service will be posted on Facebook, YouTube,
and our Website by Saturday morning.
Follow us on Facebook or YouTube to be notified
when we post new videos!

We hope you will worship with us, and share the links with those who have no church or cannot worship at their church during this time.

Sunday Zoom “Virtual Coffee & Conversation”
Join Us at 10:00am by clicking image below:

Meeting ID: 680 233 812
Password: 015665

Looking for the full Zoom Information?
Wednesday, September 23rd
Prayers Live at Five on Facebook
All are invited to tune into a brief Facebook Live event each Wednesday at 5:00 pm. We will be lifting up some prayer practices that might be helpful as we navigate this new landscape. If you have prayer requests that you would like lifted up, you can type them into the comments section of the FB Live event or you can email them to Pastor Jeff at [email protected].
These Wednesday Prayers videos will be stored on our Chatham UMC Facebook page for those who are unable to participate on Wednesdays at 5PM.
United in Prayer
You are invited to participate in some contemplative practices and prayer by clicking on the link to our Chatham UMC Facebook page:
Prayers lifted on September 16, 2020
For those who want to join hundreds of others who have been praying for the following people and situations, keep reading, and thank you.

Intercessory Prayers emailed or shared with us this week:
A Time of Silence together...
  • For Susan and Tom P. as she recovers from a leg fracture
  • For family and friends on the West Coast as they deal with fires, and poor air quality
  • For Paul, and Eleanor’s nephew John who is dealing with throat cancer and a feeding tube. Bless him with your healing love.
  • For those who continue to grieve the losses of 9/11
  • For students, teachers, administrators, staff in schools of every level, as well as parents and grandparents who are worried about their family members.
  • Thanks for Your healing in Julie’s life
  • Thanks for Your healing in Ron’s life
  • Thanks for Your healing in Steve’s life after eye surgery.
  • For travel mercies for Brittany
  • For Chris’ cousin Doreen having surgery in a few weeks.
  • For a family member who wants to go in a new and healthy direction. May she learn and integrate new ways to practice self-care.
  • For Sue’s Sister Jane as she goes through a procedure
  • For those on the Board of Ministry, for the candidates and their families as they discern the ways of the Holy Spirit.
  • For those effected by Hurricane Sally
  • For those effected by the fire in the Moria Refugee Camp last week.

If you have people and situations that you would like lifted up in prayer, please email them to: [email protected] and indicate whether you want the prayers to be confidential, or shared with the greater Chatham UMC community.
The scriptures and prayers that are being shared this week for you and your communities are below:
Scripture:
God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing.
Psalm 23:1 (The Message)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psalm 23:1 (King James Version)

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Psalm 23:1 (New International Version)
Prayer:
God help us to trust that you have provided everything that we need.
You know that we trust You.
Help us to trust you even more.
Amen.
Music:
The Lord is my Shepherd (Theme music to the BBC/PBS show: The Vicar of Dibley. Have any of you seen this? It is a funny and poignant show about life in a rural parish in England.)
Contemplative Prayer Practice
When our minds wander during the silence, simply bring ourselves back to the prayers:
I have everything I need…
You provide everything we need…
You provide everything…
You provide…
You…
Youth, Kids, and Music Breaking News...
A new year of Sunday School starts this week! New friends are always welcome to join our active groups. Zoom log-in info for the following online classes will be emailed at the end of each week. If you would like to be added to the distribution group, please email Karen at [email protected].

PreK / Early Elementary Sundays at 9:30am on Zoom. In an interactive format, we'll continue our explorations of Bible stories with along with our friends, the Whirl Kids, who help us understand how these stories apply to our lives. Materials are reproduced digitally but if you would like the student leaflet/worksheets for your child/children email Karen.

Submerge (4th-8th grade) - Sundays at 10:30am on Zoom. We'll continue our deeper dive into some familiar Bible stories with “13 Very Bad Days, and how God fixed them.” Each week this fall we'll focus on a story of someone going through a rough time (anyone out there relate??) and see how God used the situation to do some powerful things. Along the way, the group will discover that the God of long ago watches over us today and with God even our bad days can hold some amazing surprises. We’ll also resume our social time on Thursday afternoon at 4:00 starting Sept. 24. This will be a time of fellowship with a brief devotion, games, and some unstructured conversation with peers.

Confirmation - Sundays at 11:45am on Zoom. As we wait for the time when we can return to the sanctuary for you to confirm your faith before the congregation in a Service of Confirmation and Membership, we will continue developing our ideas of faith together with the other high school youth of the CUMC community. We will also occasionally gather separately to work on individual faith statements and plan our eventual worship service.

High School Discussion - Sundays at 11:45am on Zoom. I am excited to bring back ASK? Because Your Questions Matter. With input from experts around the world in areas of Origin, Morality, Beauty, and Destiny, Ask? will challenge us to personally think about the grand questions of human existence, understand our own faith, evaluate different worldviews, develop skills to defend and articulate our beliefs, and get to know God more personally. If you'd like to preview the intro video, click below.  
The Chatham UMC Ukulele Orchestra will meet again for their second monthly sing and play-a-long on Saturday, September 19th at 11:00 a.m.! For ukulele music and/or more information please contact Peter Hill at [email protected].
The CUMC Music Program Season begins again for our 2020-21 season. Our music groups include the Youth Musicians, Praise Band, Covenant Choir, Wind Ensemble, Wesley Ringers, and Ukulele Orchestra. If you are not yet part of the music program but are interested in finding out more, please contact Peter Hill at [email protected]. All are invited: our online component of the music program welcomes musicians from New Jersey and the wider world.
 
The Covenant Choir is beginning their next virtual choir project, singing Let There Be Peace On Earth for October’s World Communion Sunday. If you are interested in joining the choir for this online piece, please contact Peter Hill at [email protected].
CUMC Outreach
Volunteers are always needed
Bread Ministry: If you would like to be involved in our Bread Ministry, please contact Edit Ostrom at: [email protected] or
Communities of Care do you wish to receive a call, a text or an email from someone at the Chatham UMC community? Please email the church office by clicking here.
Pop Up Outdoor Food Pantry
Take what you need or leave what you can at our two pantry shelves. The shelves are located behind the building at the doors of the Chatham Methodist Preschool. Please help keep our shelves filled.

We offer links to resources you may need to help you or your loved ones through this "storm" of Covid-19. Because CUMC has always been a loving community of dedicated ministry, we know you are also seeking ways to give back to those in need.
All submissions for next week's CUMC Weekly E-news are due by Tuesdays, 2:00 PM. Submissions may be emailed to Eileen Ruggiero. 
460 Main Street
Chatham, NJ 07928
(973) 635-7740
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