Grand Valley United Methodist Church
June 2024 Newsletter
In this newsletter:
1. From the Pastor
2. VBS
3. Service on the Mesa
4. Birthdays
5. Calendar
6. Group Details
7. Church Reports
8. Just for Fun
From the Pastor….
From tourist to pilgrim
The material used and quoted in this article comes from the book Christianity For The Rest Of Us by Diana Butler Bass.
From Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989): to Indiana, while watching a Nazi parade and book burning:
Professor Henry Jones: My son, we’re pilgrims in an unholy land.
Not long ago there was a story about Trinity Church, Wall Street, one of the oldest churches in the United States, and the church that sits at the edge of the World Trade Center site. Since September 2001, more than two million visitors a year have passed through its historic doors. The clergy were talking about spiritual tourists, the throngs of people who journey to the church to understand the devastating events of September 11. “They are the unmoored, nomads in a fractured world trying to make spiritual and theological sense of the changes—the violence, suffering, and war—that have engulfed us.”
“I’ve got tourists galore,” sighed the Reverend Dr. Jim Cooper, Trinity’s senior clergyperson. “They come. They come in droves. But I don’t want them to leave as tourists. I want them to become pilgrims. I want them to connect, to know that there is something more.”
Although not many other churches have two million tourists a year, Trinity is not completely unique. In effect, Jim Cooper’s words speak to all religious communities. Every church, synagogue, mosque, and temple in the United States sits among a throng of tourists each is surrounded by people on a journey of self-discovery and meaning. However, simply being on a spiritual journey does not necessarily mean that people will find meaning. Rather, as Jim suggested, “they need to “connect,” to discover that journeys can become pilgrimages. Tourists can become pilgrims.”
Trips and journeys are wonderful things. Every year Roxann and I try to get away from the familiar everyday routine. This past January, February, and March we spent time in Nicaragua helping and teaching at the Veracruz English Academy. We are not trying to find a new way of life. Rather, we seek a change of scenery that gives us a perspective on our normal lives; rest and play that strengthen us for things back home. Being a tourist takes us outside of daily life, and when we are in a different country, we know that we experience the place in an entirely different way than do the locals.
But what if, instead of taking a vacation trip, we moved in? Becoming a pilgrim means becoming a local, a year-round person, who adopts a new place and new identity, by learning a new language, rhythms, and practices. Unlike being a tourist, we embark on a pilgrimage, not to escape life, but to embrace it more deeply, to be transformed wholly as a person with new ways of being in community and new hopes for the world. Being a tourist means experiencing something new; being a pilgrim means becoming someone new. Pilgrimages go somewhere—to a transformed life.
Throughout my own pilgrimage, I have met people whose lives had been transformed by embarking upon Christian pilgrimage. They testified to change—the transformation of the self, of their congregations, and of society by connecting to God, connecting to a story, a language, religious rhythms, and faith practices. By settling in, they had gone on a different kind of journey, one they would never have experienced had they remained tourists, one that became increasingly less self-directed and increasingly aimed toward God’s love and shalom.
This summer we will have tourists visiting our church. I wonder how many of them are on a pilgrimage of self-discovery? By our hospitality, this United Methodist Church in Parachute can becomes an oasis, a place that the pilgrim can experience the transforming love of God within our community of faith. In your journeys will you find such an oasis that you may refresh yourself in?
Blessing on your journey
Your Pastor: Michael
Our Vacation Bible School is coming! VBS will be held Monday, June 10 – Friday, June 14 from 9-noon. We are looking forward to experiencing the hustle and bustle of children all week!
Many thanks to everyone who has donated and/or volunteered to cover open positions! You always show wonderful support for VBS and we can’t thank you enough!
It looks like all positions are filled EXCEPT for one ‘guard” on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, to work with Ted to ensure there are no VBS escapees. (John may cover these days, but still op[en pending confirmation of that.)
We are still in need of:
>Old sheets {queen or king, if possible} for the marketplace shop “walls”. We need several as each shop requires at least two large sheets.
>Old towels, washcloths or whatever to be used for rags.
>Tall wicker or brown ceramic or plastic vases we can borrow for decorating purposes at Mary’s House and the marketplace shops.
>This is a long shot, but if you have large or life-sized stuffed animals, such as dogs or sheep or even a little cow, that would be awesome. Or if you know of someone who may have one or more, we sure would appreciate borrowing them for the week.
Monetary donations would be greatly appreciated as we still have quite a bit of supplies to purchase.
We don’t have a lot of time left to prepare. If you have any questions or would like to help out anywhere at VBS, please let us know, or you can call Dave Penrose (303-887-5432) or Bonnie Gana (720-917-4355).
Father’s Day Sunday/Sundae
Join us for our regular Worship on Sunday, June 16th – Father’s Day – and then stay for ice cream sundaes!
Wanting to know what took place at General Conference? Here’s a link for you to check things out!
https://westernjurisdictionumc.org
Click on “News” to find articles and a video you can watch.
Service on the Mesa
Our Annual Service on the Mesa, followed by a pot luck, will be held on Sunday, June 30th. This Service is held at the home of Bert Botkin on Morrisania Mesa, 2943 301 Road. Directions to her house will be available in the church office.
June Birthdays:
7 – Brenda Braspenninx
17 – Alice Alvord, Tom Haskill & Don Morton
20 – Susan Stoakes
21 – Tom Meader & Carol Morton
26 – Penelope Olson
28 – Beanie Branaman & June Zacharias
Our Seekers Class(Adult Sunday School) meets every Sunday morning at 8:30. We invite all to attend.
Please join us on Tuesdays at 10:30 for our Parables of the Bible study. All are welcome.
Join us for Bible Study every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. We hope you can join us.
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.
Our Ambassadors (Care Team) meet on the 2nd Friday at 11:00 in the Fellowship Hall.
Church Council Report
COUNCIL MUSINGS
The Soup Kitchen has closed due to lack of participation. The garden needs the fencing repaired and tomato cages need replaced.
We will meet for our Sunday Worship at Bert’s house on June 30th. It is a 5th Sunday and will be a potluck.
Dalice will play on Father’s Day and the choir will sing “The Prayer.” There will be sundaes after the service to celebrate the day.
Trustees will be working on replacing the bulbs in the sanctuary to increase the illumination. The irrigation system at the Faith House is installed and working. They will be contacting different businesses to get a lawn service. Our members are getting older and it is a hardship on them to mow weekly. Trustees still need to work on replacing the pan under the swamp cooler. Hopefully they can get that done before it gets too hot!
Our average attendance is thirty-seven, up from the last couple of years. And every Sunday there are some regulars missing.
VBS is coming together, but there is still time to volunteer to help. There will be no children’s Sunday school during the summer.
Mission & Outreach
The Mission and Outreach committee is focusing on two current projects…. The garden and the outdoor service at Bert Botkin’s residence.
The garden has been prepared for the planting of our small plants (the foster parenting’s babies). We will be planting tomatoes, peppers, zucchini squash, and cucumbers. We need not only new support for the caring of our garden, but help is seriously needed as the season goes along. If you can’t physically help, please consider contributing to our garden fund. This year was the first year that the garden fencing was terribly damaged. We are having to spend dollars on this when we need to use it elsewhere. If you would like to help, please make your donation clearly marked “Garden”. Thank you to all the have helped in the past few weeks. Your help is so appreciated.
On the last Sunday of June we will hold our Sunday worship service at Bert’s. It will be followed by a potluck dinner. Please bring an entree, a side dish or a dessert. Hope to see you there. Directions will be available closer to this date.
If anyone has a concern or need that the Mission and Outreach should consider, please feel free to contact any committee member. We will try to help and address those concerns.
Treasurer
THANKS TO ALL FOR THE SUPPORT YOU GIVE TO GVUMC
April was a good month financially. Giving was above budget in all categories and other income was up, too. Expenses were kept in check even though we had some large insurance bills to pay and we ended the month being in the black by $1,375. We also sent the Mefors $1,750 that was a real surprise to them and much appreciated. We designated it towards the mosquito program they are working on that should give it a boost.
Year-to-date, the Church has a surplus of $6,000. We are coming into a little slower giving time, which the summer months generally are as people are gone, so this surplus will help us through that time. Thanks to all who help to support this great little big Church.
More of Why We Love Children
– A little girl was watching her parents dress for a party. When she saw her dad donning his tuxedo, she warned, “Daddy, you shouldn’t wear that suit.” “And why not, darling?” asked her dad. She replied “You know that it always gives you a headache in the morning.”
– While walking along the pavement in front of his church, our minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they secured a small box and cotton wadding, then dug a hole and made it ready for the disposal of the deceased. The minister’s son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers, and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: “Glory be unto the Faaather, and unto the Sonnn, and into the hole he goooes.”
– A little girl had just finished her first week of school. “I’m just wasting my time,” she said to her mother. “I can’t read, I can’t write and they won’t let me talk!”
– A little boy opened the big family Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. “Mama, look what I found!” the boy called out.
“What have you got there, dear?”
With astonishment in the young boy’s voice, he answered, “I think it’s Adam’s underwear!”
Hope you’ve enjoyed these!
Church Contact Information
PO Box 125
Parachute CO 81635
(970)285-9892
[email protected]
www.grandvalleyumc.com
OFFICE HOURS:
Wednesday – Friday
9:00 – noon