The Stepping Stone

January 2017 Pastor Page

2017 has begun. It has been cause for us to reflect. It has been cause for us to celebrate.

Maybe for many, it has also been cause for resolutions to be made to change lives.

2017 is another year for us to serve our God.

It seems to me that there has been an interesting separation within our culture. Not only is

there the separation of people based on economics, but also in cultural identity. The

selfishness and the carelessness that was too often expressed in the presidential campaign

was too readily accepted or tolerated. This, as opposed to considering the world as one,

has caused separation as well.

For we, as the church, the message of Jesus Christ has often been assumed to be known in

the culture. We have simply maintained much of what common knowledge of scriptures

and theology have been thought of.

2017 may be a time when we, as people of the faith, begin to stop assuming that the cul-

ture knows about Jesus, what he taught, and how Jesus continues to work through those

who believe and offer their lives to be servants. This may be a time when understanding

our beliefs, and to articulate them, may be increasingly important.

This does not mean that we use old language, or try to return to the way things once were.

Instead, it may mean to help ourselves and others to create new ways of expressing how

God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit is seen by us to be working in the world.

This is one of the reasons that we will begin this month, and continue next month, focusing

our worship around United Methodist beliefs. Prevenient Grace, Justification, and Sanctifi-

cation are key words in our theology that are not common in our discussion of our faith.

These do not separate us from other beliefs, but provide a basis for us to understand and

work with others in their beliefs.

Seek Serve Share

We seek God’s presence in our

lives, to help others in their rela-

tionship with God, and to strive

to see God’s work through all

people.

We serve God through missions,

encourage everyone on their

spiritual journey, and follow the

teachings of Jesus Christ.

We create opportunities for all

to share their gifts and talents,

and demonstrate openness, ac-

ceptance, and hospitality.

God With Others

Worship Schedule:

9:30 Contemporary at Clay Campus

11:00 Traditional at Clay Campus

Sunday School:

9:00 Youth Group at Clay Campus

9:30 Pre-k –6 at Clay Campus

Later Worship:

At 106 Church Street :

4:00 Traditional in North Syracuse

Sunday School:

4:00 All Ages During Worship

Blood Drive :

When: January 24,2017

Where: At the Clay Campus in the Fellowship Hall

It may be like your belonging to your family. You understand your family the best you

can, understand its strengths and weaknesses, and claim it as your identity. The more

you understand and enjoy the particulars of your family, the more you can understand

and appreciate other families.

My hope and prayer is that in our worship together, we might grow in our faith, grow in

our relationship with God, enjoy it, and learn how to articulate well enough to help oth-

ers on their faith journey. Because we are all a part of a Faith Journey.

Rev. Bradford Hunt

Worship Schedule:

Jan. 8 The scripture for this day will be about the Wise Men, Matthew 2:1-12. This story

of the men traveling for a long time just to see the toddler Jesus is the basis for this wor-

ship. It will be about the times when we search for the most important things.

Jan. 15: We will consider Jesus entry into public ministry through his Baptism. Matthew

3:13-17 will be the scripture for the day. We will remember our baptism, and whose we

are. A special Human Relations Day offering will be received.

Jan 22: The Methodist Series will begin continue With distinctive Wesleyan Emphasis.

“Prevenient Grace” will be the focus of our worship. Scripture readings will be selected.

Jan 29: “Justification and Assurance” will be the basis of our worship. We will celebrate

communion. Scripture readings will be selected.

E-mail addresses!

The church office picked up a virus that made our email list vanish. We now have a new

computer. Please email the office with your email address so you can keep up with the

news as Faith Journey moves forward.

fjoffice@fjumc.org

Crossroads District Training

9:00 to 4:00 pm Crossroads District Training Day Hosted by The Lake Effect Cooperative

Ministries at Cicero United Methodist Church at 8416 Brewerton Road Cicero. Available

on Sundays, and at the church office.

Keynote Session—Rev. Dan LeClair

Sessions Available :

Broadcasting Live and the Benefits—Rev. Brandon Greco

Church Finance and More—Kevin Domanico

Great Ideas for Youth Ministry— Rev. Ted Anderson and Rev. Dee Finch

Incorporation of Art into Worship with Bonnie Bergan

Local Church as employer—Debi Marshall

Older Adult Ministries—Rev. Cathy Lee

Safe Sanctuary—Rev. Patti Walz

S/PPRC—Rev, Nola Anderson

Stewardship with Rev. Bradford Hunt

Strategies for invigorating discipleship on a shoestring budget—David Black

Tips for Engaging Children in Christian Faith Development—David Black

Telling your Church Story on Social Media—Steve Hustedt

Trustees- Scott DelConte

We are missing Piece: How the Church can make a difference—Rev. Dan LeClair

What your District Office can do for you—Anne Hutchins

We Don’t Have any youth - Rev. Tony Hipes

South Carolina Flood Recovery Team

Faith Journey is putting together a mission team to help the flood recovery in South Caroli-

na. We will be working with the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist

Church.

South Carolina was hit with major flooding from a stalled front that covered most of the

State. This was in October of 2015. IN October of 2016, South Carolina was hit again with

Hurricane Matthew. The UMCOR office for the SC Conference estimates another 2-3 years

of recovery. (see Youtube: South Carolina United Methodist Conference Flood Report for

their response to the 2015 flooding)

Details are still being considered, but it is expected that we will travel down on March 12

and return March 19. Watch for more details, or talk with Rev. Hunt or call the Church

Office.

More team members are welcomed and needed!

Southern Sudan Health Project:

Beginning on January 22, we will be collecting for the Southern Sudan Health Project in

supporting the Home Health Promoters, Mary and Rebecca, for the coming year.

It costs $1500 to support a Home Health Promoter for a year. We hope to raise the

$3000, or beat last year’s support of $5,000.

It has been a time since we have heard how the Home Health Supporters are doing.

Abraham needed to go back to Malek after attempting for a few months to come to

Syracuse.

The Southern Sudan Health Project is behind in paying the other Home Health Sup-

porters. South Sudan continues to struggle with tribal warfare, and the country is in a

dangerous situation. It is still difficult to communicate and it is difficult for the Home

Health Promoters to do their work.

We still hope Abraham will try again to come to Syracuse, but it costs much money.

We hope to support this project in one of the most troublesome parts of the world. To

have the opportunity to make a difference expressing the Love of God through support

of the project is an honor indeed.

Christmas Wrapping Total

Thank you to all those who organized and participated in the gift wrapping. In 16 days

we raised a net income of $4,930, which was shared with Pennellville United Methodist

Church($870), Cicero Can -Teen ($1,450) and Faith Journey United Methodist Church

($2,610). We met many friendly folks and had lots of fun conversation while earning

funds to help 3 organizations.

Cradle and Beyond:

Decisions are still in the process of being made as we consider the new building. Esti-

mates of Asbestos Abatement and roof repair have been very high, and unexpected. The

Cradle and Beyond Board and the Trustees have been carefully considering the next step.

In the meantime, Cradle and Beyond sorters work every week as donations continue to

arrive at both our church locations.

Furniture was donated recently, and was kept in the Fellowship Hall. A request came in

from the United Methodist Spanish congregation in Solvay for furniture. An agreement

was reached, and a small U-Haul truck was loaded full of furniture for the recent Cuban

immigrants to Syracuse.

We are patiently making progress in our decision making, and the funding needed to pro-

ceed.

Faith Journey continues to offer $1000 3 year notes paying 3%. If you are interested in

investing in the Cradle and Beyond ministry, contact the Church Office, Dorothy Ma-

honey, or Rev. Hunt.

Hopes for Faith Journey in 2017

In our January 1st worship , each person was asked to respond to the question: What are

your hopes for Faith Journey UMC in 2017? These are the responses:

Working together to move forward with changes to clay Building

Many more opportunities especially locally and involvement of many Faith Journey members

Worship service at Madison Village (never forget love ones)

Vibrant & full class of Little Steps & majority of work (renovations at 900 N. Main Street Done

More children will attend Faith Journey added members of the congregation

More folks to help with Druss Kususi

Dream of our chancel looking like a chancel again (appeal more attractive. Most of all for peace & polite-

ness in our world

That we have a place to worship earlier and able to keep Maryna & Choir

Bigger congregation

Druss Kususi

December was a month that was fun in Druss Kususi. We did a number of things related to

Christmas. We talked about giving to others for Christmas and the children were asked to

come up with someone they wanted to give something to like a card or ornament they

made and write about that one week. The next week we provided materials that allowed

them to make cards and ornaments. The card making was similar to what adults do in the

stamping classes where they learn to use stamps and cutouts and paper to produce a pro-

fessional looking card. The kids did a great job of designing and then writing to the person

they made the card for. They created envelopes and had a finished product they could feel

good about giving to the person they designed it for.

Debbie Riggall had the kids make and decorate Christmas cutout cookies. This was a fun

task and they were able to make enough not only for themselves but also for the Family

Christmas Program in Clay the next evening.

Each child in the program was given a gift bag containing an art set, construction paper,

drawing paper, books (including one book about the story of Jesus’ birth), a game or other

fun activity, a glue stick, pencil and eraser and socks. Many of the children do receive pre-

sents at home but they often don’t have materials they can create with, books and games

and activities which promote learning. So, these gifts are important for them as they devel-

op their skills. All donations from the congregation in support of these gifts and the ones

that were given to the Karenni Children were appreciated.

We are looking forward to January and getting back on track after two weeks off for the

holidays. If you are interested in tutoring, please contact Kathy LaDuca for more infor-

mation. We can always use monetary gifts or gift

cards to Price Chopper or Walmart which can be

used to help defray the expense of the snack and

meal we feed them.

Linda Raulli Debbie Riggall

January 2017

New Windows are ordered!

New windows for the Clay location have been ordered. The present windows are in poor

condition, and not energy efficient. The new windows will be triple panes from Comfort

Windows, through Larry Hamlin.

There are 16 window openings that need replacing. Thanks to the memorial funds received

in memory of Jerry Jordan, and gifts given from the Chicken Barbecue proceeds, there are

about 5 windows left to be paid for. Each window opening costs us $1065.

If you would like to contribute to the memory of Jerry, or contribute to this upgrade, please

designate your offering and send it to the church office, or place in the offering plate.

Little Steps is now 3 days a week!

Starting on January 9, we will have three full time students, and 1 part time student!

Little Steps will meet from 9:30 until 12:30 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The

cost per month is $110.

This is a great mission to our community to offer such a great programs for pre-

schoolers. The students will learn and grow in knowledge, social skills, and faith.

For more information, contact the Church Office, or Kiera Williams.

Open hearts & Minds. Hope for Andrews & Trinity to combine into one congregation

To get Cradle & Beyond problems straighten out more food from our garden

Congregation will grow- Sunday School will Grow

Peace understanding others

To grow in our faith and showing God’s love in many ways to others

Pew full- combined services (10:00) more Often

Work together more as one congregation of different locations – after school programs- looking outward

more

Growth of Little Steps & Cradle and Beyond Help/visitation of FJUMC/ community members in need – support

of food pantries, SSHP, One Hope, Brown UMCOR continued Blood Drives. Support Druss Kususi, New World

Ministries.

Sunday Schools

Our three Sunday Schools were very busy in December learning about the birth of Je-

sus. This is always an exciting and fun time for the children s many of them know the

story and enjoy the crafts and worksheets we use.

Karenni Sunday School

These children are the least familiar with the Bible stories and need to hear the story.

They enjoy working on the worksheets we give them, often working together or chal-

lenging each other to complete them. They take their time and often find it difficult to

complete them by the end of the class. We gave each of these students a Christmas

bag that contained some of the same things we gave the children in Druss Kususi.

Many of them don’t have a lot of toys and games at home so these gifts are very much

appreciated. We have been starting later with this class as the church service is

starting later than it used to. Those interested in helping should contact Kathy LaDuca.

Class runs from about 11:30 – 1:00.

Sudanese Sunday School

These children know some of the stories and especially the Christmas story. They also

enjoy the worksheets and the craft. They really work hard to complete worksheets and

often try to do ones that are typically more difficult. They also have been starting later

as they need to wait for the van that the Karennis use so that they have transportation.

Those interested in helping would need to be available from about 2:30-3:30.

Clay Sunday School

We have a number of children who attend church in Clay and come to Sunday School

and or nursery. We have been working on the same lessons that the other Sunday

School classes have. We always do a craft and sometimes do some of the worksheets as

well as hear the story. We usually don’t start until after the opening songs in church

and need to be done in time for children’s time with Pr. Brad. Children always get a

chance to play as well as work on the lesson.

Food Pantry

For the Month of January Faith Journey United Methodist Church is collecting canned

fruit for North Syracuse Christian Church Food Pantry.

Family Christmas Program

On the Sunday before Christmas we had a Family Christmas program at Clay. We had a great time doing

arts and crafts, decorating cookies, eating salad and pizza and some people attended the Cantata present-

ed by the choir following the program.

Decorating cards, making ornaments and making a crèche were all part of the program. We also read two

stories under the Christmas tree in church. The stories reminded us of the reason we celebrate Christmas.

It was a great evening with about eight families involved with total attendance close to 30.

Given the great response and the amount of fun everyone had we will be offering more Family programs.

Family programs are meant to be inclusive of everyone no matter what the age. We hope to offer activities

Chad & son

Grayson

Cindi ,Colin,

Chelsea & Claire