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The Methodist Greeter APRIL 2020

OurmissionistodevelopandstrengthendisciplesofJesusChrist,buildingacommunitythattransformstheworld.”

Pastor’s Corner Pastor Terry B. Hall

Breathing Blessings, In And Out

For several weeks now, the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area has provided a weekly webinar via Zoom on Wednesday mornings, open to clergy and laity. This week, during a discussion on continuing ministry in this era of ‘stay at home,’ Bishop Elaine Stanovsky shared one of the practices she has found helpful. Realizing how much our lives are being defined by the pandemic, which has stretched out long enough now for impatience to be festering, she has been centering her morning prayer time and the days that follow around the question, “where, how and to whom can I be a blessing today?” She also reminded us that doing ministry in any context, and even more so in a time of ‘stand back’ and ‘stay away,’ requires us to keep our focus outward and on the essentials of what it means to be human.

Being forced out of our building has been hard, but it has given us an opportunity for self-reflection and letting necessity rise above preference in our priorities. I want to be clear that it is the highly contagious virus keeping us out of the building, not the president, governor or even our Bishop. I also see the opportunities available to us as evidence of what God consistently does with any and every event, understanding that God is not using the virus to punish or correct us, but making clear every circumstance is seeded with possibilities to practice the rhythm of blessing. As we continue to give thanks for all the ways people are stepping up and stepping in to ease the impact of COVID-19 on others, we can work on becoming more sensitive to spiritual nudges, trusting that when the Spirit calls us to action, the call always includes whatever equipping and sustaining will be necessary to complete our role in the plan. In every day there are moments to breathe in blessings, and others to breathe those

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The Methodist Greeter JUNE 2020

OurmissionistodevelopandstrengthendisciplesofJesusChrist,buildingacommunitythattransformstheworld.”

Bible Readings For the Month

June 7 Communion Sunday Acts 3:1-10 June 14 Acts 4:1-22 June 21 Father’s Day Acts 6:1-15 June 28 Acts 7:54-8:3

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(Pastor’s Corner Continued)

blessings out. They tend to take different forms for each person, but blessings are recommissioned and recharged with each passing, with benefits flowing in every direction. While right now we need to keep our literal breath to ourselves by wearing masks, blessings are intended to be ‘exhaled’ in both planned and spontaneous ways.

By starting the day with curiosity about who and how I will have an opportunity to bless today, I open the window of my heart and direct my attention toward others. Sometimes pausing with the question might produce an image or memory of a specific person, leading to a longing to hear their voice and discover how they are faring. Sometimes that can feel natural and rhythmic, like breathing or the movement of ocean tides, as we permit ourselves to intentionally accept blessings large and small - breathing them in – while fully expecting our paths will intersect with someone in need of a smile, interaction from a respectful distance, or maybe a listening ear or a phone call that allows us to breathe those blessings back out. Other times, blessing-producing circumstances fall upon us with the abruptness and power of a sudden squall, catching us off-guard, even threatening at times to wash us over instead of just washing over us. We need keep our feet under us and take care of ourselves, respecting the virus and what medical science is learning about how we can best avoid providing it a bodily home and transportation, reminding ourselves frequently that we can disagree about how to balance seemingly competing dangers and remember we are all experiencing stress, uncertainty and ‘separation and compliance fatigue,’ which we are managing as well as we can in the moment. Trust this - true kindness always aligns with God’s intentions for individuals, groups and all of Creation!

If we take away no other lesson from this time of ‘exile’ from our building and former routines, I hope we will be reawakened to an understanding of ‘church’ as the continually reimagined embodiment of Immanuel/God-with-us, set free in the world when the curtain enclosing the ‘Holy of Holies’ portion of the Temple was torn. I miss our physically-gathered worship, especially being able to look at your faces and drawing on your hope for a meaningful time together, but honestly am also finding new ways to feel your presence even while talking into my phone. Like prayer, worship can be a ‘non-local resource,’ a means of grace and connection as well as renewal that spans distance. I’ve often said that prayer has never been, nor could it be, banned from schools or government meetings; I have also learned that, likewise, worship cannot be eliminated by something so trivial in the Kingdom of God as lack of a shared space. We know this from our history and the witness of those who carry worship within them into prisons, under repressive regimes, and in spite of the false and harmful interpretations of Christ by some who claim to be his followers. And I believe we know in our hearts that apathy and rote participation in the rituals of worship pose a far greater danger to true faith, which inevitably includes both action and openness to seeing, accepting and engaging in God’s ‘new thing’ again and again.

Understanding the very real distress we feel when we are pushed so far outside our comfort zones (which can also be described as “preference zones”), I want to congratulate you on joining in the effort to rise above this virus and encourage you to stay the course, breathing deeply of the blessing even times such as these bring, and figuratively breathing them back out through your continuing cooperation with safety guidelines and care for self and others. Your prayers and behavior are, no exaggeration, saving lives! May we each grow in our faith in this extended moment of disruption and reorientation, doing good of all kinds, allowing each bump into a limitation to call us into prayer, always trusting God is too big, great and wondrous to be confined to a particular place! And may you discover each day at least some of the opportunities to be blessed and to bless others.

Blessings!

Pastor Terry

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FINANCIAL REPORT April 2020

Income Expense Regular Account $30,399.22 $27,788.08 Special Account $ 4,010.40 $ 2,459.84 Memorials $ -0- $ -0- As you can see we took in more than we spent this month mainly due to your continued support! We were able to pay all of our bills and apportionments this month. We also paid one third of our annual insurance premium in April which amounts to $4,600.00. During this time while we are not gathering together, there are a couple of ways that you can continue to support the ministry of our church. Our mailbox at the church will be checked each day so you can mail a check to the church or you can go on-line to our website www.mvfumc.org and click on the button “online Giving” at the top of our homepage. This will take you to a secure webpage hosted by Vanco Payments the company that handles all of our credit card and online giving. Thank you for your continued support!

Finance Update

Our church was approved for a loan through the federal government stimulus program. Thanks to our treasurer's quick application, (thanks, Lori) we were granted $23,400. This is strictly to be used for salaries to help keep people (our staff) employed. This loan is also a “Forgivable loan” in that if the money is used for salaries, we can fill out an application to get all or a portion of the loan forgiven. This money will be a great help as we work to get through this time of not being able to worship together. While many of you have continued to faithfully give according to your pattern before the corona virus hit, we are definitely seeing the loss of some of our loose plate offering. Thank you to all of you who have continued to financially support the church. Many of you have also supported so many community projects through the church, like Family Promise (homelessness), Hispanic Ministry (many of these folks have been especially hard it), Neighbors in Need (hunger), and our Samaritan fund (Pastor Terry uses this for a variety of needs). As Jesus said, “...I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40) Please continue your generous support!

Because of the risk of Zoom meetings being hacked, we chose to not hold a Finance meeting in May. We did not want to put our church's finances at risk. Be sure to check out our monthly report found elsewhere in this newsletter for additional information.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of the members of the Finance team: Pastor Terry Hall, Treasurer Lori Flores, Barbara del Bosque, Doreen Nystrom and Roger Mercer.

Blessings,

Barbara del Bosque, Chair

ZOOM Youth Group!

We have continued to meet this last month online using the Zoom application. We have been meeting at 4:00 pm on Thursday afternoons. We continue to learn new ways to have fun together… our newest game is an online Pictionary-type game where we draw simple pictures on-line for each other… lots of fun sharing our artistic stick people!! Thank you for continuing to pray for all of our students, teachers, and parents as they navigate the process of on-line learning.

If you have a youth ages 6th grade-12th grade that would like to join us in our Zoom meeting, please email Lori at lori@mvfumc.org and she will get them on the list. Take care!

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Church Council Special Meeting – Is Simple Governance the right model for us?

The UMC Book of Discipline (BoD) is our denominational “constitution” and rule book, establishing our polity, or organizational structure. It contains explicit instructions for how local church governance and administration is to be structured and carried out, many of which have been carried forward for generations. The main mandated committees are Trustees, Finance, Staff/Parish Relations, Nominations and a Board or Council, each of which has specified duties, terms, membership requirements, suggested makeup and interrelated areas of responsibility. However, with average worshipping attendance declines over the past half-century, an alternative process began to emerge. Here in the Greater Northwest Episcopal area, one model that has been approved by our leadership and attracted a number of congregations is “Simple Governance” (originally “Single Board Governance”). One reason to adopt the model is that far fewer people are needed to accomplish the discernment, visioning, implementation and administrative management functions. MVFUMC began the switch to this model in Pastor Dan Bresnau’s final year, so many of you have heard it mentioned periodically in the years since.

Under the BoD’s model, the Board or Council is both the policy setting and administrative management group for the congregation, coordinating (and generally overseeing) the work of all other committees and leadership groups, having the final word on how funds are used, staffing, etc. The relationship between the Pastor and Council is defined mainly in vague terms, leading to a wide variance in how authority and responsibilities are shared between the Council and Pastor (who is a member of the Council and all) committees. The chairpersons of each committee also served on/as the Council. But the Simple Governance model not only reduces the number of people needed to accomplish the planning, implementation and oversight of our work; it also intends to make the decision-making processes simpler and more nimble, clarifying responsibilities and granting the authority to carry them out. This has been a challenging transition that requires a sort of re-education process each time members retire and others come aboard.

The Council is no longer made up of committee Chairs, because it does not function as the “committee of committees,” focusing instead on ‘big picture’ work while leaving the management to staff, teams and committees. The process grants a lot of administrative authority and responsibility to the Pastor to align work teams and committees with the established goals and planned pathways to their fulfillment. We have returned a number of times to the book (and its author) as we’ve tried to truly understand and implement this process, and in this special meeting we reviewed the highlights of each chapter together. We have been working with a retired UMC pastor who used the process quite effectively over several years in a local church before his retirement, and with his help the Council has renewed its commitment to this form of ‘governance’ for our congregation. It will always be a work in progress as we plan and respond to changing circumstances simultaneously, adapting the generic model to our context.

If you have questions or want to know more, please contact Pastor Terry or Mary Downing, the Council Chair. Other members are: Clay Cook, Shauna Flores, Chris Satterlund, Lynnette Gerhard, Scott Thomas and Carolyn Gregg. Pastor Terry

Congratulations to Jon and Carol Turnbull! They have a new granddaughter, Annika Sue Turnbull born May 15 to Kevin and Michelle Turnbull. Annika Sue weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and joins an almost two-year-old brother. This makes grandchild number three for Jon and Carol. Jon and Carol drove their camper down to Arizona early this month to be there when Annika was born. Unfortunately they had to leave to get back to work the day before she was born.

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Dinners for Eight

FAITH IN ACTION UPDATE Debbie Grant - Debbie@mvfumc.org/360-770-9298

Family Promise Of Skagit Valley - Special Offering Through June 30th

While our building is closed due to COVID-19, we are unable to host the four families we were scheduled to have with us this week. These families have been sheltering-in-place at Bethlehem Lutheran church in Sedro Woolley since the STAY HOME/STAY SAFE order went into effect more than two months ago as this article is written. Family Promise staff and volunteers have done an outstanding job of keeping the families as comfortable as possible, and by providing for any needs that they may have. At this point, they are asking for our help. We are asking you to prayerfully consider donating in one of two ways: please visit our website (www.mvfumc.org) where there is an ONLINE GIVING link on the top right of the home page or mail a check to the church with "Family Promise" written in the memo field.

We have had the privilege of coming alongside and partnering with Family Promise for almost 6 years and have housed families for roughly 23 weeks during that time. This is an important ministry and one that we are committed to serving. In addition to the inability to rotate the current group of families to various churches, their primary fundraiser ("A Night at the Nursery") was also cancelled due to the pandemic. During this uncertain time, many groups have had to pull back on services offered, but Family Promise has actually added a Drive-Up service (by appointment) to provide toilet paper, diapers, diaper wipes, cleaning supplies and $15 Safeway gift cards to people in our community experiencing homelessness - with a priority given to families with children. In addition, Family Promise began an Eviction Protection Program - a program which began prior to the pandemic - but is even more important now with our economic situation, to assist those struggling to stay in their homes while out of work.

If you have any questions about Family Promise of Skagit Valley or about how to donate or support them, please contact Carolyn Gregg at cgregg@valleyint.com or Debbie Grant at debbie@mvfumc.org.

Hispanic Ministry Special Offering: Thank you to everyone who donated to support this ministry with a special offering. Roughly $1,400 in donations will go to support immediate needs and the needs of this ministry as we move forward. Please keep the families of Lorena, Cenorina, Lauraelina, Benita, DiOlivia, and Zulma in your prayers during this stressful time.

Weekly Care Calls - Our team of callers continue to reach out every week to members of our church family to stay connected. In the past couple of weeks, we've switched up our lists to give folks the opportunity to make connections with a different group of people, and as before, the feedback has been terrific. Please join me in expressing gratitude to each of the individuals committed to reaching out to others each week: Linda Allen, Mary Downing, Sue Erickson, Donna Freiman, and Linda and Dennis Jones. If you are interested in joining this loving group of folks making weekly phone calls, please contact me at debbie@mvfumc.org or 360/770-9298 and I can set you up with a call list.

“Reopening” Our Building We have received a 26 page document from Bishop Elaine Stanovsky that includes the process we’ll be using to develop plans for a phased reopening of our buildings throughout the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area, and will be using it as the starting point of what I expect will be weeks of planning for returning to our beloved building. As suggested by Bishop Stanovsky, our number one consideration - “Doing No Harm” - will continue to be our top priority as we plan our way forward. We will keep you updated as we begin to formulate a plan. In the meantime, I ask for your prayers and grace, and welcome your input as long as you are willing to ‘own’ that input by attaching your name to it and be willing to engage in a discussion about the issues.

Pastor Terry

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New Book on UMW Library Shelves

From the Spiritual Growth category of the 2020 UMW Reading Program, is the book, “We Pray with Her: encouragement for all women who lead” by Emily Peck-McClain, Danyelle Trexler, Jen Tyler, J. Paige Boyer, and Shannon Sullivan. “Leading while female can be incredibly life-giving and spiritually fulfilling---but also lonely and difficult. In a world of glass ceilings, harassment, and “boys clubs,” women---both established leaders and those just starting up the ladder---need support and encouragement. This inspiring devotional is a collection of 100 entries written by women faith leaders of a grassroots-movement – turned-online–collective. You’ll be emboldened to support one another as you strive to live God’s calling.” [from 2020 United Methodist Women Reading Program]

(faith in action update continued)

Birthday Parades: What an amazing time we had celebrating two very important birthdays this past month! On April 28th, 22 cars gathered in the church parking lot and headed over in spectacular fashion to Rita Newton's house, where Mary Downing had Rita situated in her garage and ready to be celebrated! We picked up three more cars during the parade and had 25 cars making our way into Rita's cul-de-sac to find her neighbors outside their homes waving (some with noise-makers!) and joining in the celebration. A very happy 90th Birthday to you, Rita! You are loved!

We had so much fun with our birthday parade for Rita that we did it again on May 4th to celebrate Sterling Johnson's 92nd birthday! 16 cars met at the church parking lot, this time to head to the Stanwood Park-n-Ride where others met us. We decorated our cars and headed to Sterling's, where, thanks to some wonderful planning by Dennis Jones, his caregiver had Sterling waiting at the bottom of his driveway, surrounded by an amazing array of neighbors. Sterling - it was an honor to celebrate you!

I can honestly say that I'm not sure who benefits more from these events - the birthday folks or those who help them celebrate. At a time where so many of us have felt disconnected or isolated, those participating in this outpouring of love very possibly received more than they gave! You just can't throw that much love around without getting some on yourself!

GRADUATE PARADE - June 14 We have two high school seniors we would like to celebrate on Sunday, June 14th: Shauna Flores (SWHS) and Megan Perez (MVHS). These gals, like all of the other high school graduates are missing out on their graduations and the opportunities for all of us to celebrate their achievements, in person. HOWEVER... because we've had so much fun with our birthday parades, we are planning a GRADUATE PARADE! This event will be slightly different - we'll have the girls here at the church and we will parade our cars past them in the parking lot!

Please meet on the SPRAGUE HALL side of the church and at 1:45pm on Sunday, 6/14. If you need to be out of your vehicle to decorate, we ask that you wear a mask, and practice social distancing. By the doors of Sprague Hall we will have a box for each graduate for any gifts/cards. At 2:00p.m, we will line up in our vehicles and drive around past the Rees Room to the main parking lot and make two large circles to pass in front of the church's main entrance, where Shauna & Megan will be positioned. The girls will be ready to show us their best parade waves! As with our previous parades, we ask that everyone respect the "no contact" rule (please, for their safety as well as everyone else's - no hopping out to hug the graduates) and be respectful of the social distancing guidelines.

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Congratulations to our Graduates!

This is the time of year when we get to say "Congratulations and Well Done" to the graduates in our church family. Here is our list for this year....

8th Grade Graduates -Isabel Neblett is graduating from the 8th grade at LaVenture Middle School and will be heading off to Mount Vernon High School in the fall. Proud parents are Chris Neblett and Susan Edwards. Have fun in high school Isabel! -Britania Lopez is also graduating from the 8th grade at LaVenture Middle School. Britania will be attending Mount Vernon High School in the fall. Her proud family includes aunt DiOlivia Lopez and cousins Jayce, Stacy, Marian, Gregorio and Aurelio. Have fun in high school Britannia!

High School Graduates

-Megan Perez is graduating from Mount Vernon High School. While in high school Megan has been active in Orchestra, National Honor Society and has challenged herself with the classes she has taken. She has received three senior department awards: Outstanding Heritage Spanish Student, Outstanding Social Studies Student, and Outstanding Orchestra student. She received four graduation cords: Biliteracy, Torch (top 75 students in class), Distinguished (GPA>4.0) and National Honor Society. Next fall she will be attending Western Washington University in Bellingham and plans to major in Political Science and Spanish in the Honors Program. Proud family members are her parents, Bill & Bridget Perez, brother and sister, Alex & Hannah and grandparents, Mario and Donna Perez. Congratulations Megan!!

-Shauna Flores is graduating from Sedro-Woolley High School. While in high school Shauna has been very active in FFA serving as Secretary and President in her Junior and Senior years respectively. She has competed all four years on the Nursery Landscape team winning many honors. She has been a part of the SWHS Tennis team all four years and the soccer team her senior year. Shauna has challenged herself by taking several AP classes the last two years. Shauna is excited to go to Washington State University in the Fall (Go Cougs!) where she will be studying Agricultural Biotechnology and has been accepted into the Honors College. Proud family members are her parents, Chris & Lori Flores, her sisters, Adriana and Amy and her proud dog Harley. Congratulations Shauna!!

College Graduate

-Matthew Repplier has graduated from Gonzaga University with a BS in Computer Engineering, magna cum laude, with minors in Computer Science and Entrepreneurial Leadership. They plan to have a graduation ceremony in Spokane in the fall. And Matthew already has a job! He will be working as a software engineer for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in Seattle helping to develop their cloud. Proud family includes his parents, Frank and Beth Repplier and brother Evan. Congratulations Matthew!! Needed for Kid’s Camp! Please donate empty water bottles, any size, with caps and dozen-sized egg carton for craft projects for Kid’s Camp which will be held by Zoom in July. There is a collection box at the back door of the church by the playground.

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June Anniversaries

June 5 Daniel & Barbara Christensen

June 9 Chuck & Edie Diver June 12 Floyd & Carolyn Gregg June 14 Yank & Janeie Belisle June 15 Frank & Beth Repplier June 26 Roger & Mary Ann Mercer June 28 Al & Linda Steiner

June Birthdays

June 1 Caron Monks

June 2 Lynnette Gerhard

June 3 Harlan Mayer

June 4 Dan Wall

June 5 Bev Collins Miriam Smith

June 7 Linda Cook

June 11 Lydia Bridge

June 15 Nancy McKeown Adriel Lopez

June 16 Naomi Foote Kip Bisagna

June 17 Hannah Perez

June 23 Linda Steiner

June 26 Daniel Christensen Raudel Lopez Vicente Martinez

June 27 Debbie Grant

June 29 Bill Perez

June 30 Arvita Bonner June 21

NEW BOOK ON UMW LIBRARY SHELVES

From the Spiritual Growth category of the 2020 UMW Reading Program, is the book, “We Pray with Her: encouragement for all women who lead” by Emily Peck-McClain, Danyelle Trexler, Jen Tyler, J. Paige Boyer, and Shannon Sullivan. “Leading while female can be incredibly life-giving and spiritually fulfilling---but also lonely and difficult. In a world of glass ceilings, harassment, and “boys clubs,” women---both established leaders and those just starting up the ladder---need support and encouragement. This inspiring devotional is a collection of 100 entries written by women faith leaders of a grassroots-movement – turned-online–collective. You’ll be emboldened to support one another as you strive to live God’s calling.” [from 2020 United Methodist Women Reading Program]