continued on page 3

@UMCMerced 899 Yosemite Parkway Merced, California 95340-5137

change service requested

Sunday Services

10:AM worship 11:30AM Sunday School

THIS

MONTH...

September 2019 Volume 19, Issue 8

@UMCMerced

Sharing

the liberating

love of Jesus

to empower and

mobilize all

in service

for God.

Inside this issue:

Pastor’s Musings

2

finance

3

UMW

4

September

calendar

7

You may have noticed the

children of the church leaving

the sanctuary after the chil-

dren's sermon! You may be

wondering where they are go-

ing or exactly what they are

doing. Let me fill you in! Kids

in the church (grades K-6) are

learning together in room 4 as

part of a "pull out" program

during church.

Page 2 @UMCMerced

Pastor’s Musings Rev. Ella Luna-Garza

From Luke 10… “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman

named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s

feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.

She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?

Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many

things, but few things are needed - or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not

be taken away from her.””

The story matters. It matters that the Bible is a narrative telling us the story of the faithful, the story

of our Savior, the story of creation and God and peoples before us. The sacred texts open up a realm

of life and lives, love and loves. With each word of the text, the Word is passed on. It tells us of be-

ginnings and ends and continuations of life and death and resurrection and life today. It tells us how

the life of Jesus the Christ mattered to those who came before, those who walked with, and those of

us who choose to live even today.

Just yesterday, I was at a table meeting with a community organizer here in Merced. She caught me off

guard as she stated, “Pastor, I really don’t know you. What’s your story? Why are you here?”

For a few brief moments, I pondered what it was I might want her to know. What is it she’s really ask-

ing? What part of my life and my presence might actually matter?

And I realized. Those are questions we ask ourselves and each other every day. And it all matters.

It matters that Angel is afraid he might come home after school to an empty house if his parents are

deported. It matters that Michael can’t find a job and struggles to feed his children. It matters that

Ruth is diagnosed with cancer and her body is deteriorating before our eyes. It matters that Penny

needs childcare so that she can work. It matters that Nick is a student who doesn’t have lunch money.

It matters that Josh is adding a day to his sobriety. It matters that Paul is feeling hopeless and worth-

less. It all matters. Each person and each story matters.

It also matters that as our stories are being lived out and that the living, loving Christ’s story is lived

out with us in this continuing narrative. It matters that His story is our story. We share a story of

faith and faithfulness. It’s our story of healing and hope. It’s our story of provision and peace. It’s our

story of comfort and challenge. It’s our story of forgiveness and favor. It’s our story of blessing and

boldness.

It’s important that we listen to each other’s story. It’s important that we know our own stories and

share them. It’s important that we know and share the life changing, life giving stories of Jesus. This is

how we build relationships with God and each other.

Take a moment to sit at Jesus’ feet and take in his story. Take a moment to hear another’s’ story.

Take a moment to consider your own story. It all matters. And you might see how Jesus’ story is

yours and the other’s story is Jesus’. In getting to know each other, we might meet Jesus in new ways.

May the Author of our lives keep us inquiring, move us to caring, and stir us to loving because it all

matters.

I can now report the

numbers that are con-

tained in the financial

reports for first seven

months of 2019 year-to-

date.

All income categories

c o m b i n e d t o t a l e d

$174,405 and, individual-

ly, most categories fell

short of their respective

budgeted amounts .

When compared to the

same month one year

ago, total income de-

creased by $11,298 or

6.1%. Pledged and Un-

pledged Income catego-

ries combined were

$24,260 or 15.3% less

than July 2018 year-

to-date! This year we

had $14,371 more in

grants and gifts, and en-

dowments compared to

the same period last

year.

Total expenses of

$173,407 were $3,427

below the amount budg-

eted for July year-to-

date. Included in total

expenses paid was

$14,371 in conference

tithing. Total income

exceeded total expens-

es by $998.

Remember, you can

always find the most

current financial report

in the Fireside Room.

For more detailed fi-

nancial data, please feel

free to contact me di-

rectly in person, by

phone, or by email -

larry@umcmerced.org.

In Christ’s service,

Larry Hall Treasurer, Church Administrator

Page 3 @UMCMerced

Money

Matter$

Many thanks for the

thoughts, prayers, food, and

other assistance given to us

after Nancy’s recent hospital

stay. We are so appreciative

of and blessed by our loving

and caring church family.

~ Nancy, Joel, and Grace

We pray, read scripture, and do fun activities that help

us understand God's message for the day. We coordi-

nate themes with Pastor Ella, hoping families will talk

together about what they learned that day! We have

made hurricanes in a jar which remind us that Jesus is

greater than our storm, prayer jars with purposeful

statements that help kids get into the habit of praying

at home, and beautiful tile art that teaches us that no

matter where the "ink" goes on the tile, our lives are

the same and the final piece is beautiful. Please spread

the word, encourage your kids to attend, and ASK

questions about what we are doing and learning. Let's

get the kids engaged! If all this sounds amazing to you

and you would like to help out on an occasional basis,

please contact Stephanie (stephiev@hotmail.com) and

we can work you into the schedule. These children are

our future and are a blessing!

Children’s Worship (continued from page 1)

Food Pantry

Page 4 @UMCMerced

Fellowships

Cindy & Gary Moon

Monday, September 8 @ 1:PM

@ Nancy Reding

3023 Sycamore Avenue

Marilyn Chan

Thursday, September 19 @ 10:AM

@ Charlene Smiley

1404 San Miguel Way

Jane Kies

Thursday, September 19 @ 1:30PM

@ Donna Hall

3551 Claro Court

Hearts & Hands

Monday, September 23 @ 6:30PM

@UMCMerced fireside room

Events

Human Rights Celebration

Friday, September 6 @ 9:30AM

@ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

2692 McKee Road, Merced

UMW Central Valley District Celebration

Saturday, October 5 @ 8:30AM

@ First UMC Reedley

1461 11th Street, Reedley

District Leadership Training Event

Friday, October 18 @ 2:30PM

@UMCMerced

UMW CA/NV October Celebration

Saturday, October 19 @ 8:30AM

@UMCMerced

Executive Board

Thursday, September 12 @ 9:30AM

@UMCMerced library

General Meeting

Thursday, September 12 @ 10:AM

@UMCMerced fireside room Lunch provided by Cindy & Gary Moon Fellowship

Meetings

Page 5

On your birthday, our prayer intercessors

thank God for your birth and life

and ask God to bless you in a special way.

9/20 Jeannette Barrientos

9/26 Dee Near

Trevor Pfeiff

9/28 Clarenz Buyao

9/29 Don Shaljean

9/30 Felicia Casanova-Gastelum

9/1 Victoria Schlintz

9/4 Sean Manilay

Brian Tassey

9/6 Jim Marshall

9/9 Tom Kilinsky

9/16 Kelly Bentz

9/18 Jimmy Buyao

Terry Kruest

Merilee Landis

9/19 Crystal Floyd

Jim Glidden

A.J. Luna

Congratulations!

Prison Project

Holiday Gift Packets

On your summer trips and travels, have you

collected any items for the holiday gift bag project?

We continue this program, now in its 14th year, on

behalf of the women at Central California Wom-

en’s Facility in Chowchilla. Sample size soap,

shampoo, conditioner, hand lotion, tissue, and

toothpaste are needed, as well as unused greeting

cards with envelopes, adult toothbrushes, combs,

and small note pads. A donation container is locat-

ed behind the counter in the Sunday School wing.

An estimated 2700 gift bags will be packed again

this year at Wesley UMC in Fresno on December

7th and delivered to the prison the week before

Christmas. For more information, please contact

Dave Hetland at 209.388.1608.

Leadership Council meets on the third Wednesday

of every month at 6:PM in the

fireside room. All are welcome

to attend! The nominations committee is

currently considering persons

to f i l l leadership roles

@UMCMerced. Available vol-

unteer positions include: SPRC,

lay representative, finance sec-

retary, trustee, and treasurer. If you feel called to serve your

faith community in one of these

roles, please contact Pastor Ella

or Cathie Boehm.

Page 6

Help Stock

our Shelves!

The Merced County Food

Bank is struggling to keep

food stocked to supply our

neighborhood food pantry.

Help stock our shelves by

bringing non-perishable

goods for @UMCMerced to

distribute to those in need.

Food may be dropped off be-

hind the counter in the Sun-

day School wing.

We appreciate

your support of

this community

ministry.

Annual Charge Conference Sunday, October 13 @ 5:PM

Once a year, our church officers, members, and

guests gather to vote on official administrative

items central to every United Methodist Church.

(Only official members @UMCMerced may

vote.) At the meeting, we ratify the Board of

Trustees, elect leadership officers, approve the

pastor's compensation, and recommend lay serv-

ants. This meeting demonstrates our shared con-

nection to the administrative ministries of our

United Methodist Annual Conference and the

global UMC. Everyone is invited to attend.

Women’s Prayer Fellowship to begin September 26th

A new fellowship will meet on the fourth Thursday

of every month from 1:PM to 3:PM in room 2 open

to any woman wanting to participate. Led by Linda

Glidden and Donna Hall, the group will offer sup-

portive prayers for members and other submitted

requests. Prayers will also be offered for our

church, its programs, our country, and our world

as we strive to put our Christianity into practice.

This story can fit 150-200

words.

One benefit of using your

newsletter as a promotional

tool is that you can reuse con-

tent from other marketing

materials, such as press releas-

es, market studies, and reports.

While your main goal of dis-

tributing a newsletter might be to sell your product or service,

the key to a successful newslet-

ter is making it useful to your

readers.

A great way to add useful con-

tent to your newsletter is to

develop and write your own

articles, or include a calendar

of upcoming events or a special

offer that promotes a new

product.

You can also research articles

or find “filler” articles by ac-

cessing the World Wide Web.

You can write about a variety

of topics but try to keep your

articles short.

Much of the content you put in

your newsletter can also be

used for your Web site. Mi-

crosoft Publisher offers a sim-

ple way to convert your news-

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when you’re finished writing

your newsletter, convert it to a

Web site and post it.

This story can fit 75-125 words.

Selecting pictures or graphics is an important part of adding content to your newsletter.

Think about your article and ask yourself if the picture supports or enhances the message you’re

trying to convey. Avoid selecting images that appear to be out of context.

Microsoft Publisher includes thousands of clip art images from which you can choose and import into

your newsletter. There are also several tools you can use to draw shapes and symbols.

Once you have chosen an image, place it close to the article. Be sure to place the caption of the im-

age near the image.

Inside Story Headline

Inside Story Headline

Food Pantry News

visited and served 50 meals at the D Street Shelter on the first Wednesday in June. To sign up to provide this meal, see the sheet in the Fireside Room. We are continuing the clothing ministry in con-junction with the food pantry distribution. Clean, usable items may be left in the box in the Sunday School hallway.

Gently worn children’s clothing is in high de-mand. If you would like to be a part of this mission in Merced by picking up the food, packing food bags, or distributing bags and clothing, call Terry Kru-est at 631.1057 or the church office at 722.5777.

Our Good Neighbor Food Pantry distributed 142 bags of food in June. Twenty volunteers helped to pack and distribute the food bags and offer cloth-ing. Please remember to give either a check (made out to the church with a ‘food bank’ nota-tion) or bring a sack of non-perishable groceries from home. The Van Dyken Family

The first Sunday of the month is Food

Pantry Sunday.

Next food distribution is June 18th.

Page 7 Volume 19, Issue 7

Caption describing

picture or graphic.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

Worship

10:AM

2

OFFICE

CLOSED

Bible Study

4:PM - FSR

3

Yoga

8:30AM - room 6

4

Pastoral Care

10:AM - FSR

5

Men’s Breakfast

7:AM - FSR

Journey 4 Justice

5:PM - FSR

6

OFFICE

CLOSED

7

Muslim Comm.

11:AM - rooms 5,7

8

Worship

10:AM

9

OFFICE

CLOSED

Bible Study

4:PM - FSR

10

Yoga

8:30AM - room 6

11

12

Men’s Breakfast

7:AM - FSR

UMW

10:AM - FSR

13

OFFICE

CLOSED

14

15

Worship

10:AM

16

OFFICE

CLOSED

Bible Study

4:PM - FSR

17

Yoga

8:30AM - room 6

18

Food Pantry

(prep)

5:PM - WH

Leadership

6:PM - FSR

19

Men’s Breakfast

7:AM - FSR

Food Pantry

5:PM - WH

20

OFFICE

CLOSED

Newsletter

Articles

DUE

21

Muslim Comm.

11:AM - rooms 5,7

22

Worship

10:AM

23

OFFICE

CLOSED

Bible Study

4:PM - FSR

24

Yoga

8:30AM - room 6

25

Leadership

6:PM - FSR

26

Men’s Breakfast

7:AM - FSR

27

OFFICE

CLOSED

28

29

Worship

10:AM

30

OFFICE

CLOSED

Bible Study

4:PM - FSR

September 2019

Hylond

Ray Adams Joanne Sasaki

Courtyard Health Care Center

(Davis)

Mary Maxfield

Park Merced

Phoebe Benjamin Hal Hambley Roy Harris Leone Sherwin

Rev. Ella Luna-Garza - Senior Pastor

Rev. Victoria Schlintz - Pastor in Residence

Minerva Carcaño - Bishop

California-Nevada Conference of the UMC

Debra Brady - District Superintendent

California-Nevada Conference of the UMC

We pray for those in hospital or care facilities

@UMCMerced

Prayers for the people

Phil Nelson Mildred Pitts

Connie Jones Guy Near

Jeane Hetland Jack Drouillard

Mary Ellen Wood Rene Garza

Tom Keene Bobbi Robinson Liz McCabe Helen Prien

Ray Ross Liz McCabe

Lorraine Morris Joan Stribling

Page 8 Volume 19, Issue 7

Office hours:

Tuesday - Thursday: 8:30AM - 4:30PM

209.722.5777

laura@umcmerced.org umcmerced.org

Transportation is available for Sunday wor-

ship. Contact Steve Landis (209.769.6626)

before noon on Friday.

We hold in our hearts and prayers...

...missionaries serving

throughout the world.

...United Methodists

standing for justice and

for immigration reform.

...families who have lost

their homes to fires,

floods, tsunamis and

other natural disasters.

...all those affected by

violence and war at

home and abroad.

...our military personnel

and their families at

home.

...the homeless.