Message from Pastor Bob Message from Pastor Bob Message from Pastor Bob Message from Pastor Bob

BEACONBEACONBEACONBEACON

February 22, 2019 Volume 43 Issue 2—2019

“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, the one who called you into his eternal glory in

Christ Jesus, will himself restore, empower, strengthen, and establish you.” (I Peter 5:10, CEB)

Jalopy (jaläpē): an old car in a dilapidated condition

(Oxford Dictionary). I must admit, sometimes I feel ex-

actly like that definition; and I suspect many who are

reading this can relate. But I’m actually thinking about

literal jalopies, i.e., old worn out cars. They show the ac-

cumulated results of harsh weather, rough roads, and of-

ten neglected maintenance. That showroom shine was

gone a long time ago, only to usually be replaced with

splashes of textured finish rust. The engine and suspen-

sion show the tell-tale signs of many many miles, and it’s

anyone’s guess as to whether a key component will break

or stop working altogether.

But enter the restoration hobbyist (and I’ve known a few).

They search high and low for such jalopy opportunities

upon which to work their passion and craftsmanship, and

often such “opportunities” need to be trailered back to the

shop as they no longer run on their own power. But amaz-

ingly, through the application of skill, experience, time,

and a lot of dedication and commitment, all that rust is

patched and repainted to a better than original showroom

shine. Broken pieces are repaired or replaced, and the

working parts of the engine and suspension are carefully

rebuilt. The completed restoration miraculously yields an

“old” car that looks and runs sometimes better than new.

It is definitely not an overnight process, but one look at-

the joy and satisfaction on the face of the one doing the

restoration it’s clear that the eventual results are worth

every single bit of time and effort.

Actually, parallels between the restoration of old jalopies

and our human experience may not be so much of a

stretch. Life brings more rough patches and storms to

weather than we would like. As well, it’s so easy to push

off exercise and pass by healthy food. It’s so easy to let the

priorities of life procrastinate our efforts toward maintain-

ing our financial, emotional, even spiritual health. Next

thing you know, our shine and working parts are not

where they once were, and definitely not where we want

them to be.

But enter the Great Restoration Savior (and I know of only

One). For, “the God of all grace, the one who called you

into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself restore,

empower, strengthen, and establish you.” And if car re-

storers can work miracles on old jalopies, just imagine

what the God of all grace in Christ Jesus can do with us.

(For the sake of clarification, I am not calling any of you

reading this column the equivalent of a jalopy). But I am

suggesting that all of us can benefit from a little restora-

tion work, fueled by the love and grace of God.

And that is our Lenten focus this year, which begins with

Ash Wednesday on March 6, and continues to Holy Week

which begins April 14. In addition to our five-week ser-

mon series on Restoration, we are offering a number of

encounters and/or learning sessions aimed at bringing

restoration to current day real life struggles. Please find

the list of scheduled events later in this newsletter, and be

sure to invite someone in your life to join you in both our

worship experiences and these fun and informative special

events. It just might be the invitation they have been

looking for to restore the shine back into their life. May

you believe and receive the hope and promise of restora-

tion that is only possible through the amazing love and

grace of the Triune God.

Blessings … Pastor Bob

P a g e 2 B E A C O N

SPRC News . . . . . .

As a congregation, we are blessed to have an abundance of talent, and a willingness to share it. Starting in March, Brian Good, our outstanding Facilities Manager will be retiring (sort of). Actually, he and Phil Daigneau will be entering into a job sharing arrangement, with each assuming 50% of the responsibilities of the Facilities Manager position. On any given week, either Phil or Brian will be the “manager on duty”, switching off on a weekly ba-sis. The schedule will be posted in the office, and as has been the practice, a picture of the person on duty will be displayed in the office. Heartfelt thanks to both Brian and Phil for their service and their commitment to our church. I encourage you all to personally thank each of them for being willing to serve.

Do you get around town quite often? If so, please read on…….

Music @1st Fine Arts Academy is looking for volunteers to post posters on bulletin boards around the Plymouth/Canton community. We recently formed the “Plymouth Youth Chorus. The chorus is open to children in the 1st – 6th grades. When you notice a bulletin board in a local business we would re-ally appreciate it if you would ask permission to post an 8 ½ x 11 poster. If you can help, please contact Barbara Levengood in the church office or call 734-453-5280 ext 112.

P a g e 3 V o l u m e 4 3 I s s u e 2 — Mu

sic Notes

Mu

sic Notes

Mu

sic Notes

Mu

sic Notes

On Friday, March 8th, members of the

Chancel Choir will depart for San Fran-

cisco, where they will take part in the

Masterworks Series Choral Festival at

Grace Cathedral. Please pray for safe

travel and a wonderful learning experi-

ence for our singers.

NOTEworthy Concert Michigan Philharmonic Sunday, March 10 2 pm for tickets michiganphil.org

Complimentary tickets available for those unable to afford to purchase one—contact Marcia Van Oyen

for 1st-6th graders

Sundays 2:00—3:00 pm

singing, drumming, ringing chimes, drama, music skills

led by Dr. Darlene Kuperus

New students always welcome!

To register, contact Barb Levengood, Music@First Fine Arts Academy Coordi-nator 734-453-5280 x112

Help us spread the word!

Pick up a poster or some postcards in the church of-fice and share them!

Lately, with talk of transformation in the air, these words penned by T. S. Eliot often float into my mind: “And the Church must be forever building, and always decaying, and always being restored.” I recognize the potential for those words to be fright-ening, but it is my role as a church musician that helps them res-onate with me. Preparing music for worship each week on my own and with our ensembles requires constant re-working, pol-ishing, adjusting and adapting. These mini transformations are required in order to mesh our ministry with the scripture and themes in worship, the skills and character of the personnel in our ensembles, and the challenges of learning new repertoire. Certainly we strive to root out wrong notes, but in addition we seek to refresh and renew, to deepen our understanding and ex-pression. Sometimes we let go of music and practices which are no longer useful in our current context. This constant refining and re-working keeps our ministry vital, keeping the path clear to help us offer our best efforts. When I imagine in advance the spirit-filled sounds that will be created as a result of our polish-ing, pruning and perfecting, the effort feels far more than worth-while. The vision in our minds and hearts of what can come to fruition beckons us forth to continue our striving. And sweeter still is knowing we do it all to serve the One who blesses us with the gifts and abilities to glorify Him with our song. The myriad small steps we take on the continuum of transformation become the norm for how we engage in ministry. And that approach to ministry could help transform the world.

Grace and peace,

Marcia Van Oyen

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P a g e 4

In the book, Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism by Martha Grace Reese, she writes, “At its best, Christian life has two aspects that are inseparable. It must be real (honest/transparent) and it must be relational (be lived in relationships that are real/honest/transparent.)” It has been to the detriment of the church and to the detriment of the testimony of God’s power that Chris-tians have come to believe that they must pre-sent to the world and each other a veneered and nearly perfect façade. This desire to be dishonest about our foibles and shortcomings has led to a distrust between the church and the community. And it has led to a sense that people who are struggling are not welcome in churches. Thus, this façade of perfection has made it very difficult to fulfill our mission of making disciples.

She goes on to talk about a Trinity of Relationships that define Christian life. These three relationships are with God, between church members and with people outside the church. Picture it like a Venn diagram with the three circles intersecting. These three re-lationships are intimately related and de-pendent on each other. You cannot have ef-fective and healthy congregations where any one of these relationships is lacking. If you fail to love your fellow church members well, you are damaging your relationship with God and with the community outside the church. If you fail to love God well, you damage the relationship with the church and with the community. And if you fail to love the com-munity outside the church, you fail in your relationship with God and with the church.

In order to be a vibrant and thriving

Christian, in a vibrant and thriving church, all three relationships need to be healthy.

Once these relationships are vibrant, you no longer question the reason for evange-lism. It no longer feels like something you must do. The church becomes a place you love to go. You know that the church is a place for life transformation. And you know that your friends and kids and neighbors would be revitalized by participation there too.

This month, I ask you to pray that God will lead you to people who will see and hear the Good News of Jesus Christ through you. Ask God to let you be a part of what is to come next in the Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven.

Blessings – Pastor Suzy

P a g e 5

This month in our Children’s Rotation Sunday School we have been talking about love. We have been look-ing at John 15: 9—17 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13. We have been talking about loving God and loving peo-ple. This is not a suggestion, it is a requirement for those of us who follow Jesus.

Love takes different forms. In the book The Five Love

Languages by Gary Chapman, he gives us five differ-

ent ways we show and experience love. Those ways,

Chapman contends, are:

Words of Affirmation

Acts of Service

Receiving Gifts

Quality Time

Physical Touch

These five love languages remind me of the body of

Christ. Each member of the body is important, differ-

ent, and needed. So are each of the love languages.

We need all of them to fulfill the commandment of

Jesus, the commandment to love each other, because

the people we are called to love experience love dif-

ferently. Those who love with words of affirmation

meet the needs of others who experience love that

way. Those who love with physical touch meet the

needs of others who feel loved through physical

touch. Same with acts of service, receiving gifts, and

quality time. All five of the love languages meet the

needs someone around us has for love. Love is com-

plicated. It is not a cookie cutter emotion and there is

no one way or right way to love. No matter how you

do it, you have to do it. Love how you feel loved, love

in a way that pushes you out of your comfort zone, no

matter how you love just make sure you are doing it.

Simply love.

“This is my commandment: love each other just as I

have loved you.” John 15:12

Sarah Sutphin

There are still plenty of opportunities for you to make children,

youth, families, and faith development a priority in our church.

Here are a few ways you can help make that dream a reality:

Host an event for children and families

Provide lunch for Fusion

Help with Sunday School

Donate supplies for our children’s and youth ministries*

Prepare supplies for Sunday mornings and other events*

Join a small group*

Help with outreach events like the Easter Egg Hunt and

VBS (vacation bible school)

Help us with publicity*

Help at the Secure Check In/Check Out desk

These are just a start. Please note that the * denotes ways to

help that don’t require you to be hands on with children or

youth. Our mission as a church is to make disciples of Jesus

Christ for the transformation of the world. When you help our

church provide safe, fun programs and events for families,

children, and youth you help us fulfill our mission of helping

people know Jesus and deepen their relationships with Jesus

leading to personal and global transformation.

P a g e 6 B E A C O N

MARCH 2019Sunday 10:10 am Worship Ply Youth Chorus Young Adults

Monday BSF Leaders YMCA Fitness Monday Morning Women 4th Day Reunion AA/Alanon Plymouth Orat Soc

3 Christian Ed mtg

4

60+ Lunch

10

2p Mich Phil Harmonic

Day Light Savings

FUSION

11

17 Men’s Emmaus Walk AREA 456-off site

24 Women’s Emmaus Walk FUSION

31 ASP Brunch Heritage Dis. Cluster Youth Event

18

25

DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN DONATE YOUR IRA ASSETS TO THE CHURCH ?

IRS rules mandate that individuals age 70 1/2 and older take a required

minimum distribution from their IRA each year. (This doesn’t apply to

Roth IRAs which has tax-free withdrawals and no required distributions).

You can transfer up to $100,000 per year from your traditional IRA to the

Church or Charity. You can enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you are

contributing to a worthy cause while effectively lowering your tax bill.

Ask your IRA administrator or tax consultant what steps you need to take.

What happens at a membership class?

Learn about our UM History &

Heritage Ponder our Theology & Doctrine Discover how we are Organized,

The Connectional Church & our Mission

Understand our membership vows, Expectations & Stewardship.

Anyone is invited to attend to learn more about membership. Contact the church office to let us know you will be attending.

HELP! The Knit and Crochet group is in need

of yarn for their projects. If you have any yarn

that you will not be using, please put it in the

yarn bin in the Donation Station located by the

coat racks. Thank you

V o l u m e 4 3 I s s u e 2 — 2 0 1 9

MARCH 2019

Tuesday BSF Music lessons Festival Bells

Wednesday 6:00 am Prayer Breakfast YMCA Fitness Music Lessons Impact Band Practice Chancel Choir Faith Study w Pastor Men’s Bible Study Boy Scouts

Thursday Music Lessons NEW Bible Study

Friday

Saturday

1

2 Emmaus Training

5

6

ASH WEDNESDAY 7:30 pm

7

SPRC

Small Group

Membership Class

8

9

YMCA Camp Open

House

12

SJ5K Dinner

13

Evangelism

14

Men’s Emmaus Walk

Knit & Crochet

Trustee

Membership Class

15

Men’s

Emmaus Walk

16

Men’s

Emmaus Walk

19

26

20

Quilting

27

Finance

Poppy Circle

21

Women’s Emmaus Walk

Monthly Prayer mtg

Membership Class

28

MacQuarrie Wed Reh

Knit & Crochet

Pearls of Great Price

Lent event

Membership Class

22

Women’s

Emmaus Walk

29

23

Women’s

Emmaus Walk

30

MacQuarrie Wedd

Yes - the church library is open for business. It is under

some construction but you can still checkout items.

We have a few new items that were purchased at the

end of 2018 and they will be showing up on the shelves

in the next few weeks.

So please come in on Sunday or anytime you are in the church building. Look around and check out something to take home.

P a g e 8 B E A C O N

March 6 Ash Wednesday Service 7:30 pm PFUMC

Lenten Sermon Series: Restoration begins March 10th

March 15 Cardio Drumming—all ages and fitness levels offsite

details below

March 28 “Do One Thing Differently “ - financial 6:30 pm PFUMC

April 5 Chili and Pie Cook off/ game night 6:30 pm PFUMC

April 13 Easter Egg Hunt 10:00 am PFUMC

April 14 Palm/Passion Sunday 10:10 am Impact/Sanctuary

April 18 Maundy Thursday Service 7:30 pm PFUMC

April 19 Good Friday Service ** 7:30 pm PFUMC ** time change for this service April 21 Easter Son Rise Serv/Breakfast 8:00 am Impact Center

April 21 Easter Service 10:10 am Impact/Sanctuary

Special Lenten Events

This Lent we are offering a series of events that will help us on our journey of restoration. Save these dates

and plan to join us during Lent!

Friday, March 15th 6:30 pm @ CORE Nutrition and Fitness, 7341 Lilly Rd. in Canton; join us for Cardio

Drumming. All ages and fitness levels welcome. This is a free event.

Thursday, March 28th 6:30 pm @ Plymouth First UMC; join us for “Do One Thing Differently” presented by

Christine Schilling of Thrivent Financial. This is a free event.

Friday, April 5th 6:30 pm @ Plymouth First UMC; Chili and Pie Cook-off and Game Night – plan to come

out for a night of food and fun. Bring your best chili and/or pie and enter our cook-off. Prizes for winners.

Not a cook? Not a problem, we need taste testers to vote and help us crown this year’s winners. Vote for

your favorite chili and pie by putting a donation in the jar representing that dish. The chili and pie with the

most money in their jar wins. Proceeds go to the Fusion ASP trip.

P a g e 9 V o l u m e 4 3 I s s u e 2 —

Second and Fourth Sundays Noon—2 pm

March 1-3, 2019

7th -12th grade students welcome

Permission Slips due February 10th

$ 50 .00 *

See Sarah Sutphin for details

*Scholarships available

Adult chaperones are needed for this event. Please

see Sarah Sutphin if you are able to attend.

March 17, 2019

5pm-7pm

All 4th, 5th and 6th graders welcome!

Offsite event, permission slip required, details TBD.

See Sarah Sutphin for more info

Fusion is going to

April 13, 2019 @ 10 am is our Easter Egg Hunt

All ages are welcome, prizes for everyone. Free event

July 8-11 is Vacation Bible School

These are great opportunities to invite friends to our church.

P a g e 1 0 B E A C O N

The Salvation Army would like to thank our congregation for assisting in the

Adopt-An-Angel Program this past Christmas. The following letter comes from

Major Colette Bailey, Pastor and Corps Officer:

"Our 2018 Christmas Adopt-An-Angel program was truly a success! Between all

the individuals, families, businesses and churches that helped us, over

$61,602 worth of new toys, clothing, coats and winter accessories were do-

nated, allowing us to bring a brighter Christmas to many children in our

communities. Please allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for re-

membering the needs in these communities by donating to our program. With

your thoughtful donation, we were able to provide assistance to 504 children

from 230 families this past Christmas.

This letter cannot entirely express our gratitude, but please be assured we

use your donations to Do The Most Good through our programs and communities.

May God bless you and your family in the New Year!"

Let me add my thanks as well. The PFUMC family ALWAYS comes through for this

program and I am humbled by your love and generosity. 65-70 children and

teens are provided with toys, clothes and gift cards because you take to

heart Jesus' words in Matthew, "Whatever you did for one of the least of

these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Blessings, Debbie Single

60+ and Another Delightful and Educa-tional Year With Judge Ron Lowe

We can always depend on being entertained and educated at the same time on whatever subject Judge Lowe brings to us. This year happens to be the 50th anniversary of the 35th District Court. The court’s history was the subject of Judge Lowe’s presentation. The judge is very familiar with the court as he practically grew up in it with his dad being a prosecuting attorney and young Ron spending time with him in his office and in the courtroom, eventually becom-ing an attorney himself. At the time the court itself was still quite young, having only been legislated in 1963. Its first elected Judge was Dunbar Davis a very well-known figure in the Plymouth area serving with distinction until 1984. In fact Judge Davis was honored when the new courthouse was named the Dunbar Davis Hall of Justice.

A second judgeship was added in 1978. Ron was practicing law in Plymouth, with one of his clients being the City of Plymouth, when he was elected to the bench in 1994 re-placing Judge Garber.

The courthouse was destroyed by fire on July 2, 1997, and a beautiful new edifice was built and dedicated on September 13, 2000. Currently there are three judges, the third judge-ship having been legislated beginning in 2008. Ron gave us a lot of very interesting details about the court’s 50-year history as well as giving us some behind-the-scenes insight into how the 35th District Court came into being and its ad-ministration.

It seems the year has just begun and already we are looking forward to the windy ides of March, and a time when just about everybody has at least a wee bit o’ the Irish in their heart. That includes the 60+ folks as we celebrate an early St. Paddy’s Day with Chef Cheryl’s exemplary corned beef and cabbage dinner. Our guest will be Mr. Jim Person who will introduce us to well-known conservative intellectual, author, and lecturer, Plymouthite Russell Kirk , whose 100th birthday was celebrated in 2018. Hope you will join us to hear what promises to be a most fascinating presenta-tion.

Mark your calendars ~ Monday, March 4th, 11:30 am in Fellowship Hall. Make your reservation now on the sign-up sheet in the Great Hall or by calling Mary (734-927-7551) or Sandy (734-459-5471) and invite a friend.

P a g e 1 1 V o l u m e 4 3 I s s u e 2 —Prayer concerns

Margaret Brown

Pat Carne

Louise James

Sheila Johnson

Doris Kuhns

Carol Meszaros

Joan McNally

Cleo Pappin

Joan Barrett Gene Best Andrew Brown Betty Campbell Judy Carr Basil DeWitt Patricia Green Deborah Kay Carol Lewis Darlene Little Kim Little Lois Maiorana

Vince Maiorana Ava Marble Dennis Piggott Sandy Rummel Kathleen Salla Jan Seamonds Monte Shettler Peter Slazinski Karen Truan Ally Wiemken

Forneys—Czech Republic

Partner churches Russia & Poland

Justin Atkinson Kevin Clafton John Dickson Linda Erickson Suzanne Gyde-Hall Brandon Hill Bradley Jodoin

Doris Coyle Chrisman, Brad Coyle’s mother Sonia Culver, friend of Sharon Minning & Joanne Schlabach Evan Eliberto, John & Ruth Cook‘s grandson David Forbush, father of Sheri Schroeder Richard Hargraves, friend of Scottie Cracraft Dawn Harrison, George & Muriel Gyde’s daughter Amy Mielleir, Julie White’s niece John Mursch, Marsha Mursch-Nardone’s brother Mike Petri and family, friend of Dale Good Karley Primrose, friend of Ruth & John Cook Laura Quinn, daughter in law of Pat & Marilyn Quinn Cindy Rashid, Kathy Berliner’s cousin Shari Ward, Kathy Berliner’s sister

John & Sydnee

Paul

Tina Powell

Ned Stirton

Betty Tarpinian

Jim Walk

Paul Worley

Michael Pagan Andrew D. Piggott

Evan Ray (Ramsay) Tyler Smith Tom Uhl We extend our sympathy to the Brian Wallman

family. He passed away January 28th. He was the

son of Carol & Barry Wallman - former members.

THANK YOU—TO THOSE WHO TOOK THE TIME TO LAY NEW FLOOR IN THE GARDEN CAFÉ - - - Brian Good, Phil Daigneau, Bill & Ardelle Pickering, Bob Mason, Jeanne Martin, John Cook and Rich Anderson

FINANCIAL UP DATE January 2019

Income $64,243 Expenses $73,267 YTD 2019 Income $64,243 Expenses $73,267

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Plymouth First United Methodist Church 45201 N. Territorial Rd Plymouth, MI 48170-6528 (734) 453-5280 Fax: (734) 453-0375

Beacon & Calendar deadlines: E-mail articles by 5 pm on the 10th of the month to pat@pfumc.org

MARCH INFO AND CALENDAR

Placed out for pick up at church Once Monthly

PERIODICALS

3/1 Kai Hering Zoe Hetzel Janet Wilson 3/4 Arya LaBelle 3/5 Carole Brooks Mark Viergutz 3/6 Anna Fowler Deborah Kay 3/8 Brad Soash 3/9

Mary O’Shaughnessey 3/10 Melvin Bobcean 3/11 Jan Kavulich Richard Pushies 3/13 Liz Ramsay 3/14 Joan McNally Jeremy Muse Julia Rodriguez Leah Stevens Shawn Swales Janet Tercala

3/16 Bill Brooks Jennifer Hetzel Madie Kummer Richard Moore 3/17 Keith Erickson Jacob Underwood 3/19 Silas Buster Margie Olson 3/20 Jennifer Boebinger Harvey Rumpel 3/21 Jodi Johnson 3/22 Kylie Satterfield 3/25 John Leeper Florence Turner 3/26 Bev Forsyth Kathleen Salla 3/27

Jerilyn Bullock Dave Clark 3/28 Joy Coyle Barbara Kraft Geof Satterfield

3/29 Carol Massey Janet Robertson 3/30 Chris Cook Chuck Migyanka Paul Worley 3/31 Bonnie Iler Darlene Little Brenda Rice

MARCH BIRTHDAYS