The Weekly Courier

April 17, 2025

"We seek to connect people to God, each other, and the wider community and to welcome and affirm all people"

Prepare Your Heart...

This Sunday, before you hear Kim lead our Song Team in singing "Praise" by Elevation Worship, check out this live performance from the original artists.

Click on the picture --> 

This Week's Calls to Action!

• Come celebrate Easter with us THIS Sunday, 4/20 @10am
• Check out the local Interfaith Earth Day Celebration next week
• Listen to this month's ARFC Podcast episode (and enjoy some Cheetos!)
• Read up on how to avoid email scams targeting our community

For more information about all of these events and opportunities, read on below...

Just last week I wrote to tell you that Rev. Denise Roberts was leaving St. Andrew’s, one of our South Sound Cooperative Churches, to take a pastoral appointment in Leavenworth. Sometimes, there are a few weeks between the announcement of one pastor leaving and the news of who is to come next. Not this time!

On Monday it was announced that Rev. Allison Mattocks will be appointed to St. Andrews beginning July 1. Rev. Mattocks is currently serving as pastor in the Three Rivers Circuit appointed to Castle Rock and Longview. Your South Sound Cooperative pastors are delighted to welcome Allison to our group and we look forward to opportunities for the laity to meet her sometime this summer! Please hold Rev. Allison, Rev. Denise, and the people of St. Andrews UMC in your prayers during this time of transition.

Lenten Affinity Nights

There are NO Affinity Nights this Wednesday, 4/23 (we're taking the week off in honor of Easter). Join us again next week for our normal 6pm potluck and 7pm activity hour.

Kaleidoscope Kids will also be resume alongside Affinity Nights activities—providing food and fellowship options for all ages. Childcare is available for those who need it during dinner/activity time.

Interfaith Earth Day Celebration

Join us for a free and family-friendly day of service and interfaith sharing focused on regenerative agriculture! Activities will include hands-on service to care for

the land, interfaith sharing over a meal (soup & bread provided), and special guest Earth Feather Sovereign, local Indigenous activist and advocate.

Sunday, April 27, 2025, 12pm - 2pm at the Lincoln Garden @ Lincoln Elementary School.

Please register at https://bit.ly/2025Earthday. RSVP encouraged. Help us ensure we have

enough food to go around! This event is Sponsored by: Interfaith Works, Restoring Earth Connection, Green Faith Alliance of Olympia

Thurston County Hunger Walk 2025!

Join us on May 4th at 3 PM at Huntamer Park (618 Woodland Square Loop SE) for our annual hunger-relief fundraiser! This Walk and celebration supports both the Thurston County Food Bank and The Community Kitchen.

Your participation helps provide warm meals to those in encampments, shelters, and other locations, while also ensuring that individuals and families facing food insecurity can access food at the food bank's pantries and satellites. As community needs grow, both organizations are providing more food than ever before. Join us in making a difference—donate today! Give online at the Thurston Hunger Walk 2025 99 Pledges website or mail a check (The First Methodist Church of Olympia already has a team started so be sure to note your team name in the memo for credit.)

Make checks payable to: Thurston Hunger Walk Mail to: Thurston County Food Bank, P.O. Box 11549, Olympia, WA 98508. Questions? Email AmandaM@tcfb.org.

March-April Upper Rooms

March-April issues of the Upper Room are ready for pick-up for $1.00!

You may get yours on a Sunday morning, before or after worship. Or swing by the church Monday-Thursday, 10am-2pm.

Come Join a Choir

Our Common Ground Choir meets on Thursdays @6:45pm in the Gathering Place.

And the Jeffords Memorial Handbell Choir 

meets on Wednesdays @5:30 in the Choir Room. Please come join us!

FAN Wellness Message

We all love our chips and pretzels but most of us eat too much salt, and doing so can lead to high blood pressure—which can lead to stroke, heart disease, and kidney disease.

Did you know that the average American eats between 4,200-9,000 mg (milligrams) of salt per day? This is too much! We need to keep track of the amount of salt in packaged foods and the amount we cook with. The USDA MyPlate Guidelines state that Americans should reduce their sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg a day, which is about 1 teaspoon of salt. Some groups are more sensitive to salt (i.e., people with hypertension or prehypertension). These groups are advised to eat less salt (about 1,500 mg or 1/2 tsp).

It’s easy to taste the salt on pretzels, potato chips, and french fries. However, some foods are saltier than we might think, even if we cannot taste it as easily. For example, 1/2 cup of cooked spaghetti sauce can have around 600 mg of salt—over 25% of what we should eat in one day! Ketchup, mustard, canned soups, and prepared salad dressings can also have high amounts of salt. But don’t feel discouraged! You can make healthful choices when you know where to look for hidden salt and how to fight it!

Click the following link, for more info on myths about salt intake, how to read food labels and a cornbread recipe: https://fumcoly.org/blog/2025/04/17/fan-wellness-message-april.

Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast

Did you miss the ARFC discussion? No problem!

In this episode of the Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with Pastor Kellen from Tumwater UMC to discuss Flamin' Hot, Cheetos, representation, problematic endorsement of capitalism, initiative, and how the flavors of a Mexican neighborhood changed the snack industry forever.

Subscribe and listen here:

https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/3goIwzSC5Rb.

New Book Study Group (w/ Erica Parsons)

CRINGE. You know the feeling. It comes out of nowhere when you hear a phrase or a song that is familiar and not in a pleasant way. The cringe comes first followed by a wave of memories—some good, a lot bad—and all the feelings and thoughts start swirling around in your mind and body. You're suddenly transported back to your childhood church experiences and the panic sets in—how do I get out? And then you take a deep breath, open your eyes and see that you are safe, you are welcome, you are seen, you are loved. You are an adult now and you've left your childhood church experiences behind you.

But every now and again those old fears come up to the surface and another layer of faith deconstruction happens. Yet something still feels like it's missing. Like you've opened an old wound that just won't heal. You've tried to fill the space with all kinds of things over the years, but your soul is longing for something... something familiar and yet new. Is it even possible, you wonder, to experience a relationship with the divine? To know the spiritual parts of ourselves? To find rest for our souls? If you've been wandering in the wilderness of deconstruction for a while, you may have felt alone, in the dark, aimless. You've heard reconstruction is possible but you have no idea where to start... or even if you want to.

Dear one, you are not alone.

Once a month for an hour, let us gather and share what we know, what we are questioning, our resources and knowledge, our griefs and our joys, our hopes and our worries. We have a book or two that we'll read along the way, to guide our paths. Though deconstruction of your faith may have happened alone, reconstruction can happen together. Please consider joining me on the 3rd Sunday of the month (starting May 18th) from 9-10am in Room 221. If you would like to purchase the books we'll be reading together (starting with Searching For Sunday by Rachel Held Evans) please inquire with the church office by April 23rd. I'm so looking forward to sitting with you, hearing your stories, and reading together!

Scam Alert!

We have seen an increase in phishing emails being sent out impersonating Pastor Heather. Often, the emails start by asking for some kind of favor. If you reply, the email author will eventually ask for money or gift cards. When receiving an email from First Olympia UMC, always double check the address. 

Our emails come from an @fumcoly address. Also, please verify the request with a staff member BEFORE sending money or purchasing fit cards. We will not approach you for monetary donations in this manner. No request from a staff member will ever be so urgent that it can't wait for a personal verification (phone call, in-person conversation, etc...)

Green Bag Update

This past weekend Thurston County Food Project (Green Bags) celebrated 15 years of service to Thurston County Food Bank. FUMCO joined the group in 2016 and has donated 1930 bags of groceries to the Food Bank through this nonprofit. On just April 12, we donated 44 bags which contributed to the 12,358 pounds that was collected throughout the county. Great job!

Before we get ready to collect again in June, we are missing some of our Green Bags. Check around your houses and cars and bring back those missing bags, full or empty!

Life of the Church

Our Friendship Hikers had a pretty spring hike at Lake Sylvia State Park. The sun shone on us, the Trillium's were in full bloom and we spied several interesting critters. The best part was enjoying the company of others out in nature! Our photo was taken by a friendly Boy Scout who was there with his troop at the lake, near where we had lunch.

And last Saturday's Car-Hop was a blast! Thank you to all our Volunteers who helped make such a special community event happen!



You can find more photos from this event (and many more) on our Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCOLY.

We Remember...

Jim Woods, husband of Velma Woods, passed on 4/8. There will be no service.

Our Welcoming Statement

First United Methodist Church of Olympia welcomes people of all ages, all abilities,

all sexual orientations and gender identities, all nationalities and ethnicities,

the poor and the rich, single people and the many forms of family.

See our Church Calendar.

Visit our webpage!

Watch our latest worship service

Read the latest Joys & Concerns

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Contact us ...

by phone: 360-943-2661 by email: fumco@fumcoly.org

OFFICE HOURS: Sunday 9am-noon | Monday-Thursday 10am-2pm

The Weekly Courier editor: Lauren Fontanilla