From the Pastor’s Pen

Minerva United Methodist Church 204 N. Main St., Minerva, OH 44657

Church 330-868-4940, Fax 330-868-4825 e-mail: minervaunc@frontier.com, website: minervaumc.org

Minerva Messenger

National Day Of Prayer Come and Pray for Our Nation and Our Community Thursday, May 7

th, at 4:30pm, there will be a National Day of Prayer service for the Minerva community at

Mt. Zion UMC, 2048 Aurora Rd NE, in East Rochester. Pastor John Carpenter will host this service with the assistance of area ministers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, this will be a parking lot, drive-in service. Attendees may participate in the prayer and the music from their vehicles. For more infor-mation about the service, call Pastor John at 740-262-8103. The National Day of Prayer website has more resources at: https://www.nationaldayofprayer.org/

“Do Not Be Afraid’ “ . . Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will

be with you wherever you go.” As Joshua led people into the Promised Land, God knew there would be effort required, and so He

told Joshua to be strong. God knew there would be circumstances, problems and opposition, and so He told Joshua to be courageous.

How does this apply to us? This line from Joshua was instruction to someone who was in the midst of what God was doing. We as, Christians, are right now, in the center of what God is doing. The channel of God’s action is not the Holy Land or a Tabernacle, or one race of people. It is Christ engaging the world, working through His Church, bringing an image of God’s love to the whole world through our lives. So we are told that we must be strong, and we must be courageous.

Remember that if you feel fear, or your efforts are weak, this is simply a measure of how far in grace you have come. With this picture of what the person working with Christ is to be, we constantly must turn to Him for help. Wisdom is available. Opportunities will be opened up, and we will know His life being made real through us.

Lastly, the verse before Joshua 1:9 tells him this; “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night.” We should keep the word of Scripture and the lessons of Christ in our sights. Look each day to be led by the Bible verses you read, and also for the Holy Spirit to bring to mind His truth when you need it most.

Be as brave and strong as you are given grace to be during the continuing emergency. We will dis-cover many helps, and many surprising reservoirs of power and courage among us.

Yours in Christ’s Service, Pastor Harley

Worship in May As of this writing, it seems doubtful whether we will be together for In-person worship in early May. Call the church if you have questions. Check our email notices, the Church facebook page, and the church Youtube channel to see daily devotions, recordings of Sunday worship, and all the up-to-date news.

May Messages: May 3 “The Treasure You Have” 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 Holy Communion will be available to pick up from your vehicle. May 10 Mother’s Day “Song of Safety” Psalm 91 Communion May 17 “The Babylon Test” Isaiah 39:1-8 May 24 Memorial Day – Vacation lay Speaker May 31 “Touched and Strengthened” Daniel 10:18-19 Pentecost

PRAYER CHAIN If you wish to have someone put on the prayer chain, please contact the church office and/or Jennie McClellan or Barb Brown with your request. Your request will be handled with great

care and will be passed along the chains and referred to the church office for email purposes. Blessings to you all.

Recent Prayers: Marina Hart, Heather Jakacki, Isaac, Connie Morris, Carter Shopfer, Pam Farnsworth, Esther Al-bery, Jordan Heckert, Pauline Green, Jeff Mitzel, Nancy Cooper, Jim Smith, Jim Hazen, Dale Caster, Jen Jones, Bob & Janet Colloredo, Sandy Morgan, Jeff Herstine, Ron Rus-sell, Lois Hagge, Jonathan & Michelle Hill/Family, Jim

Kienzle, Steve & Family, Ruth/Jeanie/Heather Dominik, Alvin Kinsey, Annabelle Collins, Jeff Price, Den-nis & Linda’s granddaughter, Jean Bell, Mark & Jan Maurer/Family, Mike Tiffany, Gary Stoffer, Pastor Lee Iden, Mike & Sarah Russo/Family, Stella O’Brien, Ryan Rettig, Jamie Fankhauser, John Williams

Continued Prayer: Jackie Anderson, Patricia Ankeny, Ron Barton, David Baughman, Mark Bazzinotti, Sharon Bennett, Diane Binnig, Cathy Blitz, Dave Bondurant, Ruth Ann Cox, Charlotte Davies, Vernon Deininger, Joan Dietrich, Jeff Dine, Donna in Colorado, Vickie Eick, Marissa Essick, Gerald Fallot, Ruth Felger, Brian Geiser, Rachel Haas, Lee Hale, Barb Haun, Patricia Hoagland, Lea Hough, Cody Hying’s father-in-law, Jaileigh / Austin & Andrew, Jack & Sandy Jarvis, Jaden Jeffrey, Ken/Pam, George Keyser, Ellen Mary Kump, Tara Lawson, Irene LeMoine, Gary Leyda, Dolly Lowry, Linda, Madison, John Martin, Jim McCully, Carl Mentz, Richard Miller, Joni Mitzel, Lucas Murphy, Jimmy Neidig, Greg Peach, Vernice Pearson, Matthew Peters, Ronnie Phillips, Brandon Purvis, Jessica Ramsey, Travis Ramsey, Dan Richeson, Tyler Roach, Craig Rodgers, Jori Ruff, Corey Sells, Shirley, Chris Simms, Orin Slack, Roland Smith, Claire & Virgil Springer, Mary Staib, Sara Stillion, Susan, Rachel Tiffany, David Toth, Sandi Wag-ner, Steve Warth, Jerry Weber, Wayne/Judy Wilburn, Brody Williams, Dick Young

Loss of Loved One: Family/Jonathon Minard Jen Sander/Family, Amanda Johns /Family, Sandy Mong/Family, Pat Alexander/Family, Ray Davis/Family, Mikka Davis/Family, Greg Peach/Family, Family/John Morgan, Family/David Huber, Family/Candy, Family of Wilbur Cogan, Family of Dave Miller, Family of Marilyn Tarbet, Family of Gary Leyda, Family of Ray Haun, Family of Martin Hawkins, Family of Ronald Rocco, Donna Neidig/Family,

Our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen & Marines: Jesse Clark (Ft Campbell, KY), Lewis Gibson, Matthew Kaser (Air Force), Dan Lutz, Eli Maurer (Coast Guard), Josh Miller(Japan), Russell Nero (Air Force Re-serves), Mitch Soles (Navy), John Stehulak Regan Walton (Navy), Justin C. Zeedrich

Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear, an The upward glancing of an eye When none but God is near. James Montgomery

Condolences to Mark and Jan Maurer & Family Mark’s mother, Betty Maurer, passed away on April 8, 2020.

Mike & Sarah Russo & Family,

on the passing of Lawrence Park, He passed away on April 19, 2020.

Church Family, thank you so much for the exam care package! I love it! Also, thank you , Katie R. for dropping it off! Thank you and God Bless! Jenna Daulbaugh

Dear Friends, Thank you for the many greeting cards, both get well and East-er, sent to Bob and me recently. We appreciate your phone calls, also. Sincerely, Bob and Janet Colloredo

Thank You

Wedding Postponed Unfortunately, due to the pandemic emergency The wedding of Rachel Haas and Ben Horn, scheduled for May 16

th, has been postponed to a future date. Please be in prayer for this church couple and all

others who are dealing with the disappointments that are common to so many this spring. There will be a day when we can celebrate together again. Stay Strong!

Thank you to the individuals who gave monetary donations to our Emergency Food Pantry. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and your dollars enable us to continue in our work to fight hunger in our area. Blessings to you! Cheryl

The church nursery needs volunteers to take a turn watching our little ones

during worship. Contact Pastor Harley or

Shelly Ridzon 330-704-0458, if you would like to join our team!

Card-Making Group We will let you know when it is safe

for us to meet again. The group meets at Linde Klein’s house, 13086 Baywood SE, to cut, stamp, and decorate hand-made greeting cards. The benefit we all will get is the cards will be made available to the congregation for free. Participation in the group is at no cost, and it will be easy to work at your own skill level. Card-Making Group starts at 9am, each Wednesday. For more info, call Linde at 330-401-9868.

May Anniversaries May 4 Greg & Laurie Peach May 10 Richard & Barb Brown May 14 Mike & Molly Murphy May 14 Drew & Olivia MacIntosh May 18 Chris & Jayme Debo May 20 Tom & Cheryl Hart May 23 Dirk & Carrie Hollar May 27 Kade & Denae Kotheimer May 27 Jim & Gretchen Brothers May 28 Jared & Tiffany Fonner

May Birthdays 1 Susan Hawk, Bryan Sanor, Kaylen Kotheimer 2 Ashley Beaumarriage, Robert Kellogg 3 Quade Zeedrich, Aubrey Winters 4 Patti Gotschall, Tana Hall, Dakota Ellis 5 Tom Hart, Pat Malone, Sharlynn Milliken, Nathan Vaughan 6 Paul Binnig 7 Ben Albaugh, Ken Rogers, Lindsey Brust, Zoe Brust 8 LeNay Malaska 9 Rich Ridzon 11 Liam Hertel, Benson Hertel 12 Breyanne Hillyer, Merle Vandegrift, Victoria White 15 Tim Brust, Mary Jo Wyatt 16 Gregg Hellyer 17 Conor Freeland, Rick Stauffer 18 Michaela Bryan 19 Shanna Clemens, Nadia Wheeler 20 Darren Milliken, Benjamin Whitmer 21 Mallory Decker 23 Scott Miller, Donna Rickels 24 Bethany Newman 26 John Phillips, Laura Wickersham, Ronnie Miller 27 Teri Hollar, Chanz Essick, Ron Miller Jr., Emily Swope 29 Shannon Davis 31 Holly Binnig

Scholarship applications: If any students, that will be heading off to college are intending to apply for the Jay Reed Memorial Scholarship, you need to get those applications in to the church office soon.

Friendship / Social Hour Schedule 2nd Sunday of the month—unless a special event warrants hosting it on a different Sunday. The fol-lowing is the current schedule for groups to host the friendship/social hour after the worship ser-vice. If your group is listed and you are unable to continue in this spot please contact the church of-fice. If your group is not listed and you would like to host this once a month event, please contact the church office. Thank you January None February Advent Class / Cross Trainers Class March None April Youth Group May Worship Committee June Choir July None August None September Men’s Class October Searchers Class November Open December Kid’s Christmas Program

East Ohio Conference Summer Camps: The Summer Camp Season

Has Been Cancelled for This Year. The Camps still need financial support, so they can

continue to serve the East Ohio Methodist Conference Churches.

St. Luke’s is looking for individuals in-terested in volunteer work or paid tem-porary staff to assist with the following: Backup reserve for STNA’s, RN’s, LPN’s Feeding residents Serving meals, snack and drinks or helping in the kitchen Staffing the front desk (sorting mail, answering calls, making copies and other clerical support) Delivering items to residents rooms (activity sheets, mail, laundry, etc.) Cleaning and disinfecting rooms and equipment Video chats with family members Individuals unable to come into our facilities at this time, you can help with the following: Chatting with or reading to reesidents (requires ac cess to FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, Google

Hangouts or Zoom) Creating content for our in houseTV channel (requires access to a way to film content & send it to us) Making fabric masks—instructions available at: https://www.joann.com/make-to-give-response/

Minerva UMC’s Produce/Food Distribution on April 9th, served a total of 272 families with 618 family members.

Way to go Volunteers! It was an awesome morning! As weather in Ohio goes,

it gave us all the weather variations we could han-dle...pouring rain, sleet, snow, strong wind….and when

the morning ended, the sun came out bright and beautiful.

Due to COVID19, we didn’t see a lot of our regular volunteers, but thoughts and prayers were with them all.

Our distribution took on a new face in April. Instead of the food clients standing

in a line to sign in, cars lined up in the parking lot…..and down the street…..and around the corner. We ran the morning with volunteers inside the building (trying to limit their contact with each other), filling totes as the wagons came back in the big door, the carry out guys went out the wagon door and to the front of the car line and loaded like that. Sign-ins were in the parking lot and just tally marks on a paper to keep

track of the number of families and the number of family members who came for food. (The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank sent us the information from the USDA Dept of Food and Nutrition who approved a

request from the Dept of Job and Family Services to waive collecting eligibility information for the month of April due to COVID 19.) Thank you to those of you who were on hand to help get this amazing distribution accomplished. I am so grateful to you for donning those masks and gloves, to get food out to our neigh-bors and friends who came to the distribution. Even though I was stationed in the parking lot checking

folks in, I saw every wagon full of food that you packed. I know we had a lot of prayers surrounding us as we worked.

Thank you. Blessings, Cheryl Please mark your calendar for, Thurs, May 14, time TBA, for our next Produce Distribution.

Emergency Pantry: In March we ended the month having served 27 families with 88 family mem-bers. So far in April we have served 18 families with 53 family members. We have not seen the increase like we were anticipating. But you never know how these things are going to go. Thank you for your con-tinued support. Our Emergency Food Pantry is available most days by calling 330-868-4940 to schedule a pick up time.

Commodity Supplemental Food Program (Senior Commodity Boxes). We have our new list certified and in place for the next year. We will be working with a list of 30 senior clients once again and a few clients on our waiting list. Re-certifications were done as first come, first served ba-sis. So our list is not quite the same as the last round.

Monthly Food Help is available at these locations:

Tues & Thurs each week 12-3pm at the Salvation Army (old train depot on Valley St.) 2nd Thursday 9a-12p Free Produce Distribution at Minerva UMC Emergency Pantry at Minerva UMC … availa-ble by phone call or stop by, any day 330-868-4940 3rd Tuesday of the month Monthly Community Dinner at The Community Building 4th Friday 8am registration Food Distribution at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our busi-ness and, in fact, it is no-body's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will ren-der both ourselves and our neighbors worthy. Thomas Merton

CANCELLATION Due to the current pandemic emergency, we regret to announce that the Mother-Daughter Banquet for 2020 will not be put on the calendar. Due to the the social distancing that prudence demands, there is no date that we could schedule this event that we know would be safe for guests and their families. We love all our mothers, Daughters, and those that are just-like mothers and daughters, and we pray you are blessed with many good connections with each other in the coming weeks, and many wonderful celebrations in the years to come.

May 2020

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

3 10a Drive-By Communion Catch Pastor Harley’s sermon on Facebook or YouTube 5p Skyland Hills

4 5 6 7 8 9

10 Mother’sDay Catch Pastor Harley’s sermon on Facebook or YouTube

11 12 13 14 9a Produce/Food Distribution

15 16 Haas/Horn Wedding Postponed

17 Catch Pastor Harley’s sermon on Facebook or YouTube

18 19 ?6p Trustees ?7p Administra-tive Counmcl

20 21 22 23

24 Catch Pastor Harley’s sermon on Facebook or YouTube

25 Memorial Day

Building is

Closed

26 27 28 29 30

31 Catch Pastor Harley’s sermon on Facebook or YouTube

As of this printing we are still under the guidelines of watch Pastor

Harley’s sermon’s on Facebook or YouTube. As soon as this changes

we will get word out to everyone so we can all be together again.

Our Emergency Food Pantry is available most days by calling 330-868-4940 to schedule a pick up time.