May 2018
Coming Up...
Tuesday, May 1
7:00 p.m. Knitting Group
Saturday, May 5
Young Lives Car Wash (see below)
Sunday, May 6
4:30 p.m. Arrive at Oak Lawn UMC to help at Oak Lawn Community Meal (see below)
Tuesday, May 8
6:30 p.m. UMW/Wesleyan Guild
Thursday, May 10
6:30 p.m. Church and Society Task Force meeting (see below)
Monday, May 21
6:00 p.m. Trustees
7:00 p.m. Administrative Council
Monday, May 28
Church office closed - Memorial Day
Pastor's Note
This month, we will celebrate Pentecost, which is the 50th day after Easter. We remember that first Pentecost during which the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and spurred them to start the Christian movement across the whole world (Acts 2).
This year we also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Methodist Church. On April 23, 1968, The Methodist Church joined the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form The United Methodist Church. This merger took place right in our own city of Dallas, TX! Though there were and are still many things to perfect in this new denomination, it brought about great progress, such as abolishing a racially discriminatory structure that had still been in place since the 1930s.
This newsletter comes out sandwiched between these two “50s,” Pentecost and the Anniversary of the UMC. And I believe both are cause for celebration of the ways God has worked throughout time to guide and support our efforts to be a holy, loving community of Jesus followers. But I also hope they push us to look forward to what the Spirit is moving our hearts to do anew today. Where is that Pentecost Spirit moving you personally and where is it moving us as a church?
50 days from now we will be hosting a Summer Music Camp for children in our church. 50 weeks from now The United Methodist Church will have recently held a special General Conference to vote on the church’s official statements about the inclusivity of LGBTQ persons in all aspects of church life. And 50 years from now…I hope that the Church around the world will still be a powerful witness to the love our God has for all people.
So, let us lift all these events up in prayer and be attentive to where the Holy Spirit is leading us in every marker of 50 - the next 50 seconds, minutes, days, weeks, years.
Young Lives Car Wash
Young Lives is having a car wash! They will be here at the church on Saturday, May 5 from 12:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Make a donation to this wonderful program that works with teenage moms and get your car washed!
May 6 Altar Rail Offering - Help Purchase Books for Kids at Rogers Elementary!
As you know, we take up an altar rail offering on the first Sunday of the month for our neighbors in need. This Sunday, May 6, we will collect funds to be used by Lakewood Firehouse After School Programs (our “Firehouse” ministry) to purchase books for students at Rogers Elementary. We plan to give a book to every fifth grader who will be moving on to middle school next year. If you won’t be here next Sunday, but still want to give, please let us know that your money should be used for Rogers students. Thank you for supporting our neighborhood students!
Summer Music Camp
Calling all campers! Lakewood is excited to host a music camp this summer. Over two weeks in June we will learn and produce a children’s musical, build the sets and make the costumes, and perform the musical on the last day of camp. Camp will take place Monday—Friday, June 18—29, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and is open to campers from ages 7-12. Cost is $200 per camper. We also need counselors, ages 13-17. Counselors may attend for free and will be credited for community service hours if desired. Contact the church office for more information.
Notes from the Choir Loft
“Crown Him With Many Crowns," number 327 in our United Methodist Hymnal, is a power hymn of the Resurrection often sung at Easter but used as a general hymn as well. The following gives us some information on how the hymn came to be written.
Matthew Bridges became a convert to Roman Catholicism at the age of forty-eight, and wrote the original six stanzas to this hymn three years later, in 1851. In 1874, an Anglican clergyman by the name of Godfrey Thring added additional stanzas. One of the aspects of Bridges’ original version that Rev. Thring felt was missing was a stanza on the Resurrection. Thus was added, “His glories now we sing, who died and rose on high, who died, eternal life to bring and lives that death may die.”
This stirring hymn to the ascended and reigning Christ is composed of portions and whole stanzas from both sources. The hymn first appeared in our United Methodist hymnals in 1905, with the version we now sing appearing in 1966.
John
Sources: Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal, and The One Year Book of Hymns
Serve with Us!
On the first Sunday of every month, a team from Lakewood participates in Oak Lawn Community Meal, a weekly homeless meal ministry at Oak Lawn UMC. If you would like to serve with us in the future, please sign up on the sheet in the narthex. If you want to serve with us today, meet in the Lakewood parking lot at 4:00 p.m. to carpool or at Oak Lawn UMC at 4:30 p.m. to serve. For more information, contact the church office.
Church and Society
Our Church and Society task force is moving forward in partnership with Refugee Services of Texas to provide conversation partners with a family of nine from the Congo. We will have a rotation of volunteers and send about 3 people a month to meet with the family. We are still confirming the day and time that works best for the family, but if you are interested in joining the rotation, please contact the church office. If you would like to know more about this partnership, you are welcome to come to the next Church and Society meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 10.
Patrick's Ordination
Patrick's ordination service will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, June 4, at First UMC Richardson, 503 N Central Expy, Richardson, TX 75080. This service is a part of Annual Conference and is always quite crowded - we recommend you carpool and arrive at least 30 minutes before the service begins. We hope you will join us as we celebrate our pastor!
Happy Birthday to...
Jean Bennett 5/2
Robin Robbins 5/4
Janet Larroca 5/10
Jon Morehouse 5/12
Christina Weaver 5/13
Wally Wilson 5/14
Janet DeLee 5/15
Erin Littlefield 5/23
Alice DeLaughter 5/25
Barbara Moeller 5/25
Mike Sheaner 5/25
George Freeman 5/29
This Month, We Pray for...
Gail Baldwin; Lynn Bruce; Linda Castor; Fred Dallas; Wilma Elrod; Buford Finley; Mary Ann Finley; Jean Fowler; Glenn Hastings; Olie Heflin; Aleen Johnson; Liljequist family; Harold Logan; Jan Logan; Rev. W.W. McNeill; Carolyn Miracle; Marie Miranda; Mike Miranda; Tim Miranda; Pat Norvell; Jorge Ortiz; Brandon Owen; Katy Price; Susan Price; Kathy Purvis; Elizabeth Robbins; Robin Robbins; Ginny Salinas; Beth Saxton; Jeanne Scroppo; Linda Simmons; Alan Smith; Kelly Smith; Travis Smith; Barbara Venable; Chris Venable; Betty Watson; Louise Williams