UMW Newsletter THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH
November 2015 Metropolitan Memorial, St. Luke’s & Wesley United Methodist Churches 202-363-4900 (MMUMC office) MetroUMW@gmail.com
Mark Your Calendar November
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16 M
AARP Meeting (noon, Vestry)
9
17 Tu
UMW Finance Mtg (78:30pm, Conference Rm)
18 W
Jewelry Group (7pm, Christie Rm
4
21 Sa
Health in Harmony Celebration
5
22-24
UN Seminar
23 M
UMW Board Mtg (7-8:30pm, Conference Rm)
26 Th
Thanksgiving
January 11 M
Tentative: UMW Board Mtg (7-8:30pm, Conference Rm)
February 5-7
UWM Women’s Retreat
F-Su
March 5 Sa
UMW Book Sale
December 5 Sa
GWD UMW local officers training (Hughes Mem. UMC, WDC)
6 Su
UMW Recognition Sunday (12:45pm, Great Hall)
14 M
UMW Board Mtg (7-8:30pm, Conference Rm)
16 W
Jewelry Group (7pm, Christie Rm
24 Th
Christmas Eve
25 F
Christmas
3
Metropolitan UMW Newsletter : November 2015
Highlights Diaper collection for Recognition Luncheon, p. 3 UMW benevolent giving recipient, Health & Harmony, p. 4-5 Red Tent Project update, p. 6 UMW Sunday Thank You, p. 7 2016 UMW Reading Program, p. 8
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UMW News
Reflections Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789 Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and— Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness: Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other trangressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Go. Washington Metropolitan UMW Newsletter : November 2015
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UMW News
UNITED METHODIST WOMEN RECOGNITION LUNCHEON Sunday, December 6, 12:45 pm, MMUMC Great Hall We are pleased to announce that four outstanding women have been selected for special recognition at our annual recognition event in December. As always, there are many women in our church who contribute in countless ways. The four women we will recognize this year are Alex McPherron, Mary Rollefson, Courtney Leatherman and Helene Lilly. Each one of these women has made significant contributions to our church, to our community and beyond. We look forward to hearing more about each of their achievements and contributions at the Recognition Luncheon on December 6, at 12:45 pm in the Great Hall. In addition, we will welcome new UMW members, recognize babies born in our church family this year, as well as honor the lives of women in our church family who passed away within the last year. A catered luncheon will be served. A donation of $10 is suggested for UMW members; guests are free. This annual event promises to be a special day of celebration for all women in the Metropolitan Memorial Church community.
For a second year, we will be collecting donations on behalf of the DC Diaper Bank at our Recognition Luncheon on Dec. 6th. We need…
Diapers of all sizes, but sizes 4 and up and pull-ups are most needed Opened packages of diapers are OK, but please label the size and # of diapers left Unopened, unexpired formula, diaper wipes, and diaper cream
Unopened baby shampoo, bubble bath, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other baby hygiene items New toddler underwear
New bottles/nipples/teethers New and gently used board books
New and gently used sleepsacks
Metropolitan UMW Newsletter : November 2015
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UMW News
Jewelry-Making Group Next meeting Wednesday, Nov 18 at 7pm The Jewelry-Making Group meets in the Christie Room once a month at 7pm during Food for Thought classes after the 6pm Community Dinner. We go over the unsold pieces of jewelry from the la Bazaar, revamp them, and get them ready for the next Bazaar. For questions, contact Kathy Portus.
An Update from Health in Harmony On September 22, Martha Mizroch of the Margaret Staats Fund Committee, and I met with two staff members from Health in Harmony: Trina Jones, Development and Communications Manager, and Bethany Kois, Grants Specialist. Health in Harmony (HIH) has been on the radar of our UMW unit in large part thanks to the interest and involvement of Debbie Sanders and the relationships nurtured between Staats Fund Committee and HIH. Health in Harmony works to prevent illegal logging and subsequent environmental damage while providing badly needed medical care to residents in Indonesia. HIH programs provide healthcare and economic incentives to families who do not conduct illegal logging and engage in sustainable practices that preserve their home in the rain forest. Their motto is “Saving the Rainforest with a Stethoscope”. I encourage you to check out HIH’s website and to signup for their newsletter, if only to draw inspiration from their innovative origin story. The website describes the organization much better than I can, but what has always struck me about HIH, founded by female physician Kinari Webb and run primarily by female staff (in Indonesia and stateside) and board members, is its respect for and humility among the community it serves. Their success is based on “Radical Listening: … trusting community members to be the best solvers of their problems; it means asking for individuals’ ideas and implementing their solutions.” [subscribe to HIH’s e-newsletter here: www.healthinharmony.org/news/newsletters/]
~ Jeanie Mah Some updates from Trina and Bethany:
Health in Harmony has been fundraising to build a hospital, which is scheduled to open in 2017.
Health in Harmony derives much of its human capital in the form of volunteers: both environmental conservation volunteers and medical volunteers who travel to Indonesia. While HIH only has the capacity to accommodate 3 medical volunteers at a time for 6 weeks terms, conservation volunteers often stay for months at a time.
Medical volunteers are recruited from partnerships HIH has developed with medical ………………………………………………………………………………………………...Continued pg. 5 Metropolitan UMW Newsletter : November 2015
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UMW News Continued from pg. 4
schools: Yale, Stanford and most recently, the University of Rochester. U of R has started sending veterinary residents to work with HIH’s “Goats for Widows” program. “Goats for Widows” trains widows to raise goat herds as a livelihood. Currently, about 200 widows participate in the program.
HIH trains women in organic farming, in order to feed their families healthier foods (as opposed to the typical community diet, which tends to be high in sugar and carbs) and generate income. An outgrowth of this effort has been a financial planning program for women.
HIH has started a “chainsaw buy back” program to further discourage the men in the community from illegally logging. Usually the men have some type of entrepreneurial trade, but engage in illegal logging to earn supplemental income. The incentive program contributes an initial $150 for a client to invest in his trade and tracks the results of the investment. If the business grows such that logging becomes less of a financial imperative, then another $150 is invested and the client is obligated to turn in his chainsaw. HIH requires men to bring their wives to all trainings and in this way, women learn about ways to care for the forest (which they pass on to their children) and can participate in other programs HIH provides.
An invitation from Health in Harmony Board Member Clare Wolfowitz Help us celebrate Health In Harmony's 10th Anniversary! For a decade, we have worked together to bring accessible health care, training in sustainable livelihoods, and incentives to protect the rain forest to communities living outside Gunung Palung National Park in Indonesian Borneo. I will host a live screening of the new TEDx talk by Health In Harmony Founder, Dr. Kinari Webb. Please make a special effort to join us! If you cannot attend but would still like to contribute to this important work, you can donate to help me reach my goal of $4,000 to celebrate Health In Harmony's 10th Anniversary! Any amount you can contribute will save lives and forests. Thank you!
Saturday, November 21st from 6:30-9:00pm Hosted by Clare Wolfowitz Chevy Chase, MD Refreshments and appetizers will be served. Please RSVP by email darya@healthinharmony.org.
Metropolitan UMW Newsletter : November 2015
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UMW News Red Tent Project Update The United Methodist Women's Red Tent Project has successfully concluded for the year with a great number of feminine protection products collected for the clients of the Mount Vernon UMC's meal program. We thank the greater community who were moved to donate pads and tampons to the cause. Vivian, the letter carrier for the church, dropped off three large bags of tampons and pads for The Red Tent Project earlier this month (photo, right). She had seen our red tent and the sign explaining the project in the church foyer and she started a collection up at her post office, 4000 Wisconsin Ave. Her colleagues responded and she dropped of their donation to the church earlier this month. Thank you postal workers! And they were not the only ones to take action. Nursery school parents and nannies contributed to the drive and even a member of the exercise class at Metropolitan gave a donation. Mount Vernon UMC, located on Minnesota Ave. in NE DC, has a large meal program that helps the poor and homeless. Anita & Vivian with donations They contacted Metropolitan, which supplies some of Mount Vernon's meals through our Campus Kitchen ministry, asking if the church could help provide feminine protection products, an overlooked need of impoverished women. Let me thank the UMW for this Metropolitan turned to the UMW, which took up amazing show of generosity and the cause. The UMW is so heartened by the love to our sisters east of the river. response that another drive will be planned for The red tent was brilliant. 2016, when the red tent will return. ~ Rev. Dottie Yunger ~ Anita Seline How it all came together:
Metropolitan UMW Newsletter : November 2015
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UMW News UMW Sunday Update Thank you to all who participated in UMW Sunday on September 27th at Wesley and at Metropolitan! Our cup runneth over with the abundance of spiritual gifts shared by the women in our unit, whether it was leading worship, hosting the luncheon (thank you, Circles 2 and 10!) or encouraging faces familiar and new to share in our celebration. Rev. Aundreia Alexander challenged those of us who call ourselves the Church to not be content and complacent with the status quo of racial injustice. Are we true repairers of the breach or do we perhaps believe that the breach – a certain distance -- actually protects us? Below is the pastoral prayer written by Elizabeth Landau:
God of creation, we thank you that you have made all people in your image whether they be male or female, transgender or none of these. On this UMW Sunday, open our eyes to see the ways in which we have allowed our society to develop systems of inequality along lines of gender and race. Give us insight and wisdom into how to address those systems and the courage to act. Remind us like the prophet Isaiah that our fasts and rituals, our worship services and ceremonies are not the fast that you desire. Remind us that you call us to break the chains of injustice. Remind us that you call us to feed the hungry and shelter those who wander. Hold us accountable to this calling today so that we might see your light shine in the world around us. Hold us to this commitment as we sing [The Lord’s Prayer]. Our luncheon speakers from Bright Beginnings, Maria Estefania, Tammy Perez, Whitney Faison and Ruth McKey Harmon, were prime examples of the healers and servants we all need to be for those who have the least, if we truly desire to see God’s kingdom on earth. ~Jeanie Mah
UMW Programs in Mission PRESS RELEASE: United Methodist Women Makes Advances in Global Maternal and Child Health Initiative In 2015 United Methodist Women granted more than $1 million to U.S. and international partners providing health programs for women and children. Read more at: http://www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/news/united-methodist-women-makesadvances-in-maternal-health Metropolitan UMW Newsletter : November 2015
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UMW News UMW Reading Program 2016 Do you know about the UMW Reading Program? The UMW Reading Program is a great way to commit to learning through reading in 2016. To participate in Reading Program Plan I, read one book from each of the five categories listed below and take a look at Response magazine regularly. In Reading Program Plans II, III, and IV, read at least two, three or four books, respectively, from each category as well as Response and New World Outlook magazines. The books listed below are in our church library as are both magazines. Response is now available online as well. A complete list of choices for the Reading Program can be found online at http://www.nationalchurch.org/Serving/United_Methodist_Women or e-mail Connie Sommers at sommersc@gmail.com. If you don’t want to commit to a Reading Program, please consider reading one of the books listed below. Happy reading! If you participate in the program, please report the names of the books you read and their categories to Connie Sommers, sommersc@gmail.com, no later than August 15, 2016. Those who complete a Reading Program Plan will be recognized at a District meeting in the fall of 2016.
Books in the church libraries (Metropolitan and Wesley): SPIRITUAL GROWTH - On God's Side – What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn't Learned about Serving the Common Good by Jim Wallis LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT – The Weight of Mercy – A Novice Pastor on the City Streets by Deb Richardson-Moore and I Am Malala – The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb SOCIAL ACTION - Just Mercy – A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson EDUCATION FOR MISSION - Twenty-Two Cents – Muhammad Yunus and the Village Bank by Paula Yoo and Jamel Akib NURTURING FOR COMMUNITY– I Love Growing Older but I’ll Never Grow Old by J. Ellsworth Kalas Metropolitan UMW Newsletter : November 2015
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UMW News UMW Response Magazine Patience: a fruit of the Spirit. United Methodist Women is happy to announce that response digital subscriptions are now available at: http://www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/response/subscribe response, the official magazine of United Methodist Women, now has a digital companion. The 48-page magazine published 11 times a year can now be read on your tablet, e-reader, phone or computer.
To view a paper copy, visit the MMUMC library. And for your patience during this launch, we are offering full download of the November 2015 issue for free. (November subscribers will receive a bonus December 2016 issue.) One-year digital subscriptions are available for $20—15 percent off the print price. And current and new print subscribers can access the digital version for free! Now is a great time to subscribe to response, or give response as a gift! To subscribe, visit: https://www.cambeywest.com/subscribe/?p=rsp&f=paid Help us share the story of women in mission as we continue to put faith, hope and love into action for women, children, youth and families around the world.
AARP Meeting Monday, November 16, 1pm Marti Brain:
Please join us on Monday, November 16 in the Vestry. Bailey, Director of the Sibley Hospital Senior Association, will give a program on brain health, “The What’s Normal? What’s Not?”
Social time is at 12:30 p.m., and the meeting starts at 1:00. Refreshments will be served.
Metropolitan UMW Newsletter : November 2015
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Circles
AU
The AU UMW Circle meets Fridays at 7:00 p.m. in the "AU Lounge" at Metropolitan. Contact Tori Lynn Gilkeson at VP@aumethodists.org
1
Contact Helene Lilly at j718hel@aol.com
2
Contact Jane Cunningham, jtc3rd@aol.com or Charlotte Carter, char.carter@cox.net
6
Thank you for helping make the bazaar a success! We will meet December 13 for our Christmas Cookie Exchange. Debbie Gustowski has offered her new home for the gathering. Please bring 2 dozen cookies, a container for collecting cookies to take home and meet at Debbie's home November 13 after the second service, Sunday December 13. Contact Mary Jo for address. Questions or suggestions, Mary Jo Marchant, mjmarchant@verizon.net or Ann Michel, amichel@wesleyseminary.edu
8
Contact Eugenia Evans, setevens@comcast.net
9
Circle 9 will have our Christmas luncheon on Wednesday, December 2 at noon at the home of Drema McAllister-Wilson. Please contact Bobby Turnbull bobbyturnbull@comcast.net.
10
Contact Caralee Adams caralee.adams@verizon.net or Suzanne Vieth msvieth@verizon.net
The next UMW Board Meeting will be held November 23. Newsletter prepared by Alexandra McPherron. To add items to the next newsletter, email alexmcph@gmail.com by Friday, November 27, 2015.
Metropolitan UMW Newsletter : November 2015
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