How is it With Your Soul?
Happy Tuesday, Gadsden Street UMC Friends!
This September, we are digging into the United Methodist ways of faith. We are taking part in pledge month. We are gathering on Sundays and during the week in fellowship together. I often consider the ways in which John Wesley, along with his brother Charles and their friends, would gather together weekly to support one another in their growing faith. Here at Gadsden Street UMC, I see similar work amongst those who gather together. In moving through United Methodist foundations this month, I encourage you to ask one another (truly ask) "How is it with your soul?" as John and Charles and their friends did, the societies and groups in the Methodist movement after them, and on to the next generations. I ask you today, how is it with your soul?
As we continue to move through this month of United Methodist learning and remembering, pledges, and fellowshipping together in old and new ways, let's look ahead to what we have going on the rest of this month.
Sunday Mornings at Gadsden Street UMC
Sunday School
9:00 am - 9:45 am | Admin. Building Conference Room
Gather with us on Sunday mornings before the service to dig just a little deeper into the scripture for Sunday morning. Ask any who attends, and you will find that discussion is encouraged while rabbit holes are inevitable. This Sunday our scripture will be Philippians 1:21-30.
Sunday Worship
10:00 am - 11:00 am | The Fellowship Hall
While our Sanctuary is being worked on, we are meeting in the Fellowship Hall on Sunday mornings for worship. This month we have taken to the lectionary with a United Methodist eye, seeing how the core of who we are as United Methodists can be found in scripture. This month is also pledge month at Gadsden Street United Methodist Church. Pledge cards can be dropped in the offering plate, left in the card box in the back of the Fellowship Hall, dropped off in the office during office hours, or mailed in at 901 E Gadsden Street.
UMC Class
11:15 am - 12:15 pm | Admin. Building Conference Room
This month we have also begun a class on learning and understanding United Methodist doctrine and theology, what it means to all be ministers, what we believe about what it means to be in community in our world, and how our denomination operates and is structured. This Sunday, Chaplain Fred Zobel USN(Ret.) will be leading us in learning, understanding, and discussing The Social Principles. Any "hot button" issue of our day, for the most part, can be found in our discipline with guidance on what the United Methodist Church’s stance is on these issues. If you would like to read them before coming, there are bound copies of the most current Social Principles in the office that you are welcome to take home and keep.
In the Coming Days and Weeks
Wednesday Morning Devotional
September 16 | 10:00 am | On Zoom
Join us tomorrow morning for our weekly Wednesday morning devotional! We are working through The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer, and we will be looking at Week 38: Justice, Day 3. Join us at the link below!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88998835335
Wednesday Coffee with the Pastor
September 16 | 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm | The Rex Cafe
Join me, Pastor Heather, for some coffee or a sweet treat tomorrow between 12:00 and 4:00 pm. On Wednesdays, my office is out in the community and while I will be working, you are more than welcome to stop by for a chat. If you would like to scope it out, the website is https://www.therexcafe.com/. They do have upstairs seating, so if there is not seating downstairs, you can find me up on the next floor (I'm 95% certain they have an elevator).
Wednesday Night Dinner - Taco Night!
September 16 | 5:30 pm | The Fellowship Hall
Wednesday Night Dinner will be taco night! Come on out and join us in the festivities while we hear about the Rev. Dr. Jim White's mission in Liberia. He will also be bringing a guest with him that assists in providing opportunity for girl's education in Liberia. See you there!
Singing Resistance
Sunday, September 20 | 4:00 pm | Seeker's Room
Join us on Sunday afternoon as we are led by Charles Sheppard in songs and contemplations of justice, peace, love, and hope. This is a time to remember how important it is to come together and grow in faith and hope as we live in a world that often feels uncertain, violent, and hopeless. You can find the flyer attached to this email. This is an event you can join us in every third Sunday of the month. You are also invited to see and share on social media. A link can be found at the bottom of this website or you can click here to visit our Facebook page. I look forward to singing with you on Sunday!
Ladies and Gents Dinner
Tuesday, September 22 | 5:30 pm | Nick's Boathouse
Come and join us for a fellowship dinner out! We will be gathering at Nick's Boathouse on September 22. There is a signup sheet that can be found in the back of the Fellowship Hall during Sunday worship or in the office during the week (office is closed on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday). If you would like to join us, please sign up beforehand so that we can have an accurate headcount.
Family Movie Night - The Prince of Egypt
Friday, September 25 | 6:30 pm | The Gathering Space
We are having a family movie night in the Gathering Space on Friday, September 25! We will be watching The Prince of Egypt. This is a free event, including the popcorn! Bring your family, friends, kids, and grandkids for the evening. You are welcome to bring bean bags, sleeping bags, or your comfiest chairs. The movie will start promptly at 7:00 pm and its run-time is just over 1 and a half hours and it will be done by 8:00 pm. This event has been posted on our social media and you are invited to share it! You can find a link at the bottom of our website or you can click here.
A Weekly Reflection
When I was in seminary, a friend invited me to go see Barbara Brown Taylor at Agnes Scott College. She was speaking on behalf of her newest book at the time, Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others. Since then, I have particularly enjoyed the perspectives I find in her books. Barbara Brown Taylor began ministry as an Episcopal Priest and later moved into teaching. Her book Holy Envy weaves in narratives and discoveries from her time teaching Religion 101 at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia. Toward the end of her book, there is a paragraph that I sit with when I consider how my faith has grown and changed and how it continues to do so and I work to follow Christ each and every day as a United Methodist Christian and minister. I hope that you will find it something to reflect on as well.
"I asked God for religious certainty, and God gave me relationships instead. I asked for solid ground, and God gave me human beings instead - strange, funny, compelling, complicated human beings - who keep puncturing my stereotypes, challenging my ideas, and upsetting my beliefs about God, so that they are always under construction. I may yet find the answer to all my questions in a church, a book, a theology, or a practice of prayer, but I hope not. I hope God is going to keep coming to me in authentically human beings who shake my foundations, freeing me to go deeper into the mystery of why we are all here."
With grace,
Heather Nysewander