LIVING
and LOVING IN LODI Sunday, November 22, 2020
From Pastor Pam:
Let
Your Light Shine!
During
these late autumn days many struggle with the decreased hours of sunlight.
Something in our spirit seeks the light: we love to bask in the
summer sun, gaze at the distant stars, follow the ever-changing moon. In the
cold months we illuminate jack-o-lanterns and string festive lights around our
homes and Christmas trees. While these lights bring smiles, the Light
that is Christ brings even more: the light that is Christ helps us see
and clean out the dusty corners of our hearts and shines in our
relationships so that they become more free of ego, more loving, and
wonderfully Joy-filled. Let us shine with the Light of Christ!
And although this may be not be the Thanksgiving we are used
to, it is still a very special day of the year to let our hearts feel
light with grace as we rejoice and give thanks grateful hearts ! I am so
grateful to be a part of the LUMC church family!
Weekly Scripture: Philippians 2: 1-13
Imitating Christ’s Humility 2 If
then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any
sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make
my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full
accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish
ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than
yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own
interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let
the same mind be in you that was[a] in Christ Jesus, 6 who,
though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something
to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form
of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human
form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to
the point of death—even death on a cross. 9 Therefore
God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Therefore,
my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but
much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you,
enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Hymns: #327 “Crown Him With Many Crowns”
(verses 1, 4)
#131 “We Gather Together”
(verses 1,2,3)
#102 “Now Thank We All Our God”
(verses 1,2)
****Advent Booklet – it’s ready for pick up! You can
pick it up at the church along with the $5 Challenge envelope. The
booklet and challenge envelope will be placed in gallon Ziplock bags, in a bin,
right inside the single door of the church, this Sunday after the service has
been recorded. (11ish) Many of you have a door code, for various reasons.
Those of you that do not have a code to the door, call me or text me, (Dottie
330-887-1471) and I will give you a code to get in the door. The booklet
is full of wonderful thought- provoking stories and thoughts. We will all
read it together, each day of Advent. ****
Noteworthy News and Needs: Do
you have News or Needs or Prayer Concerns? Please share them
with Dottie or Pastor Pam so we can include them in the weekly e-mail.
$5 Challenge – are you up for it?
Our $5 challenge this year will be to share the warmth of Christ’s love by
helping others, who are struggling to pay their utility bills and to help make
sure they have food on their tables. Due to the virus, there are so many things
we cannot do (our dinners, adopting families for Christmas, etc.) HOWEVER
there are still many things we CAN DO!
The $5 challenges you to:
1. Give back your $5 to the grocery/utility fund.
2. Grow your $5 then give to the grocery/utility
fund.
3. Challenge others to join you in sharing the warmth of
Christ’s love by group donating to the grocery/utility fund. (The
grocery gift cards will be for Miller Brothers. Keeping it local!)
The $5 Challenge envelopes will be given out with the Advent booklets
the week of Thanksgiving
Advent
Study: Join me for a
wonderful Advent bible study! In his most recent book Incarnation:
Rediscovering the Significance of Christmas renowned United
Methodist pastor and author, Adam Hamilton explores biblical names for Jesus:
King, Savior, Emmanuel, and Light in ways that refresh our minds and prepare
our hearts for the coming of our infant savior. As I read through the book, I
am especially impressed by how the author relates each image with issues that
are very contemporary, with historical concepts, and with timeless truths. We
can meet via Zoom or through e -mail conversations. The books are available for
$13.50 or whatever you can pay, for this five week study which will begin the
week of November 29. Please let Pastor Pam know if you would like to be a
part of this study. (216)-704-0307 pamelab23@hotmail.com
~We are SO SORRY that we had to close our Sunday worship
services in the building, yet again, due to the virus. Your safety is very
important to us! However, we are still live on Facebook at 10:00am AND
later, once the service has been uploaded, our private YouTube
channel!!!! The link will come Sunday afternoon, in an e-mail. You MUST
click the link to be able to watch the service as it is private on
YouTube. We are doing the best we can to keep people connected and
worshiping!
The
Trustees In Action: We may not be able to
gather in-person in our lovely building, but you should know things are
continuing behind the scenes. The large cross that used to hang on the parking
lot side of the building is in the process of being put back into place! It has
been in Ruth Anderson's basement and has made its way back to the church. Thank you
to Donnie Graves and his son, Alan, for replacing ballasts and
re-configuring the cross to hold LED bulbs. We will need to rent a high
lift to get it in place but hope to have it hanging in time for our Beacon
of Hope celebration (see below for the information) during the Christmas
season.
We
are also working on restoring our chime system. We disconnected it when the
elevator was installed and never put it back into place. Won't it be nice to
hear music or bells coming from our church, again? We need to reprogram
it and run new electrical wiring, but we hope to have this finished soon!
The
ramp is still moving forward as well. The walls are basically done, and
the larger door to the choir room has been purchased and painted (Thank
you Jim Baughman!). We are close to being able to pour concrete.
Safety railings will be added along the edge of the stairs to the boiler
room. (Thank you, Dave Anderson for research and
ordering) in the spring, we'll add the railings to the ramp as well. We
would like to add a few asphalt parking spaces at the end of the ramp but need
to evaluate finances first. Regardless, a project, many years in the making, is
reaching fruition.
We
will update the congregation soon concerning our Celebrate 100 fund…what was
proposed, pledged, received, and what expenses still remain. Thank you
for your continued support!
BEACON
OF HOPE PROJECT
Elva
Dunham recently shared an idea, since we cannot be meeting in the church, that
we should consider lighting up the outside of the church to serve as a Beacon
of Hope to all in our community. The project has gained instant support
and enthusiasm and the following are some of the ides we plan to accomplish.:
1.
Re-install the Cross that used to hang on our building facing the parking lot.
Elva has agreed to pick up any expenses involved, as a memorial to Bill Dunham.
Donny Graves and his son, who is a licensed electrician, are coordinating this
project.
2.
Carillons: Donny and his son are working on the electrical needs to get it
playing, again, through the bell tower speakers. Missy has agreed to select the
music. Larry Scott along with his two brothers with pay for this project.
3.
Place our wooden Nativity set out, with a spotlight, set on a timer.
4.
Place LED lights around the Fellowship Hall door and the door facing Medina
St. The lights will be on a timer and fastened to the church building. We
will use existing Christmas wreaths but will purchase some Christmas garland.
What
a wonderful gesture to reach out to our community with this Beacon of Hope
theme. If you would like to contribute any monies for the lights and Christmas
garland, we need about $150 to cover these expenses. Mail your checks to the
church and designate that the money is for our Beacon of Hope project. Any
additional monies will be placed in a fund to help us expand this theme next
year. Thank you in advance for supporting this project.
Sincerely,
Elva Dunham and Larry Scott. (Call Larry with any questions (330) 887-5224)
~Lodi
Tech Team: We
hope you're finding ways to share in Sunday worship as we, in turn, get better
at filming and uploading. We are averaging 34 people watching the
service via YouTube on a weekly basis. Facebook Live is being viewed on
average more than 70 times per week. Wow! (I think some of those are our own
congregation clicking in and out, but that's Ok.) If you have a chance, check
it out on Facebook. (Lodi United Methodist Church). There are new people
clicking on the page. Engaging them, inviting them to our church, and to our
events is a wonderful way to witness.
So glad we have these opportunities. In a year that has us distanced; we've
found a way to worship together. Once the Covid-19 numbers go down, we
will be training more people to be a part of our team (Travis and Nicholas
Bloom!). We're also starting to take a look at our website and see if we
can update and make it more available to those searching for a
church. Text Katrina if interested or with ideas. (330-819-6890)
The Celebrate
“100” group is laying the groundwork for celebrating our church
building turning 100 next year. If you have anything you would like to
contribute or help with contact Larry Scott 330-887-5224 or
You
can mail your offerings to: Lodi UMC, PO Box 3, Lodi, OH 44254
Rev. Pamela Buzalka
(216)-704-0307 pamelab23@hotmail.com
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