Grand Valley United Methodist Church
January 2024 Newsletter
In this newsletter:
1. From the Pastor
2. Soup Mondays
3. Birthdays
4. Calendar
5. Event Details
6. Church Reports
7. Just for Fun
From the Pastor….
When we lived in Oak Creek we burned a lot of fire wood in our fire place. I would spend weeks every fall cutting trees into firewood. I would cut a couple of cords and stack it close to the house. Well one winter I had a young couple who took up residence in the woodpile. They’ve built a nest under the pile of firewood with grass and pieces of paper it looked nice and warm. At the bottom of the woodpile their nest would be dry and warm in all but the wettest of storms, ready for the young ones that would surely be coming soon.
These are tiny mice and I must seem like a huge giant as I deconstruct their carefully built lives, one log at a time. I feel sorry for them – such cute little creatures, so hopeful for the future, yet so filled with terror at what is happening to them.
“What’s going on, dear?” the mouse bride cries.
“I don’t know,” her husband answers. “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
He’s wrong, of course. Change happens — constantly. But, thankfully, it’s not too often that our entire lives are altered forever by external events. Change came to our lives that winter I was informed that we would be moving in July to a new church. We all have had our lives disrupted by the death of someone very close to you or a divorce or a loss of a job or a business failure or a illness or injury. Suddenly, life is not the same and never will be again. Everything’s different. And we try to cope — sometimes in healthy ways, sometimes in self-destructive ways.
I keep taking the firewood into the house. I’m about to load more wood into my arms when I see one of the tiny mice clinging to a piece of firewood. Another few seconds and he would have been crushed. I pick him up by his long tail, set him on the ground, and go back to get more logs. When I return he is still at the same place on the ground where I put him — stunned by these events, barely able to get out of harm’s way.
We’re so mouse-like sometimes. Life goes on. The props change, sometimes all too often. We’re so tempted to cling to the props as they are being dragged off the set. And sometimes we’re hurt because of our inability to let go, so attached to the accouterments of the past that it’s impossible for us to welcome the future.
Change requires courage, great helpings of it. My mind goes to Joshua in the Bible. For nearly forty years he has been an understudy to the great leader Moses. Now Moses is dead and leadership is thrust fully upon Joshua. Ahead is the Jordan River running at flood stage, and beyond that the fortified cities of Canaan — the “Promised Land” that seems so elusive. Talk about change? Joshua has change swirling all around him. And God speaks to him a word: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
Our mouse couple looks up as their world is trembling. One by one the logs that comprise their shelter are disappearing, and soon only open sky is above. What do you do? Do you cling to the firewood and risked being crushed by it? Or do you cling to God’s promise to you?
God has promised to be with you wherever you go and has promised never to leave you or forsake you. What God asks of you is faith to overcome your terror, courage to meet your discouragement and confidence to draw on God’s strength.
Change is a constant. No part of our lives will endure unchanged for more than a few years, a few decades at most. But the LORD our God is unchangeable. You can put down your roots into God, knowing that in this way you will never be utterly uprooted again.
I think of Mr. and Mrs. Mouse. My heart goes out to them. I’ve been where they are, and so have you. I don’t know what happen to Mr. and Mrs. Mouse. I hope that they dragged their nest into another shelter in the woods to keep them dry and warm the rest of that winter. I hope that Mr. Mouse has finally gotten over his shock and got with the program. Older now and wiser they are. And if I could offer just one word of advice for them and for you — and for me — it would be this: Don’t cling to the firewood.
Soup Mondays are back!
Starting on January 15th, we will be having our Monday Soup Lunches from 12-1 every week. It has been quite a few years since we did this, so hopefully we will get a good turnout. If you are interested in being on a team (you don’t have to be a GVUMC congregation member to be on a team!), contact Bert Botkin – 970-216-8682. Please join us, and pass the word!
January Birthdays:
12 – Allison Jorgenson
22 – Anita Elliott-Hodgden
21 – Don Ives
Our Seekers Class(Adult Sunday School) meets every Sunday morning at 8:30. We invite all to attend.
Join us for Bible Study every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall or at 6:30 p.m. in the Faith House. We hope you can join us.
Choir and bell practices are back! Choir meets at 4:00 on Wednesday and bells meet when needed. We are always looking for participants, so if you would like to join either of these wonderful musical groups, please contact the office at (970)285-9892 or by email: [email protected]
Prayer Partners meet the 1st and 3rd Thursdays at 10:30. If you have anyone that you would like to add to the Prayer Partner list, please contact Bert Botkin at (970)216-8682.
Church Council Report
COUNCIL MUSINGS
The Council decided to use the balance in the Stain Glass Window Fund to cover the majority of the cost of the new chairs, which were ordered December 13th.
Ninety-eight individuals in twenty-five families were given gifts by the Church through the Resource Center at an average cost of just above $31 per person.
There will be a Christmas Eve potluck right after Church on the 24th but also a Christmas Dinner on the 25th at 1:00.
We will be starting to service a Soup Lunch beginning January 15th every Monday. Here is an opportunity for you to volunteer.
The blower was replaced in the furnace so hopefully we won’t have any more cold days in the Church.
Have you noticed that the ceiling was fixed in the serving area of the fellowship hall?
Lent starts February 14th. There will be an Ash Wednesday service that day – time to be determined.
Treasurer
$$$$$ What’s Up with the Money? $$$$$
During November, the Council gave the Finance Committee the okay to go ahead and sell off the Vanguard Investments which were invested in a combination of stocks and bonds. With the proceeds from that, $20,000 was invested in a Certificate of Participation with the Methodist Helping Methodist Foundation at an APY of 5.12% for 6 months. We kept the rest of the cash to have to pay for the chairs as the Stain Glass Window Fund cash is currently tied up in our long-term investments.
The month of November was heavy on the cash flow because the Church has to pay the balance of the new deck at the parsonage, $3,400, besides all of the regular operating expenditures. Income was not up to budget, so the Church ended up with a shortage for the month. For the eleven months, the Church would have had a shortage except a gain was realized when the Vanguard assets were sold. So, the Church is still in the black. The main reason for the shortage is because we have expensed the cost of the deck instead of capitalizing it. This may change in December which will change the picture considerably.
Please take a look at the financial statements and write-up on the bulletin board outside the fellowship hall to get the whole picture.
Until next month, financially speaking,
Penelope Olson
Things to Ponder
– If the No. 2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still No. 2?
– Why do we press harder on the remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
– Why are you “in” a movie, but “on” TV?
– What was the best things BEFORE sliced bread?
– Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?
– Why do “fat chance” and “slim chance” mean the same thing?
– Why do British people never sound British when they sing?
– At a movie theater, which arm rest is yours?
– When does it stop being partly cloudy and start being partly sunny?
– When French people swear, do they say “Pardon my English”?
– Why do people say “heads up” when you should duck?
Church Contact Information
PO Box 125
Parachute CO 81635
(970)285-9892
[email protected]
www.GrandValleyUMC.com
OFFICE HOURS:
Wednesday – Friday
9:00 – noon