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A MESSAGE FROM PASTOR JOEL FEBRUARY 15, 2018

Dear Friends in Christ,

Last night, when we gathered for worship on Ash Wednesday, I was both puzzled and moved, as I always am, by the words of Jesus appointed by the Lectionary to be read as Lent begins. If you weren’t in worship last night when the Gospel Lesson was read to the congregation, here’s what you missed:

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 5“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 16“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 NRSV, emphasis added).

I have read those words during worship on Ash Wednesday many times, of course, and each time I am puzzled by the Church’s ancient practice of wearing ashes on our foreheads soon after being warned by Jesus not to disfigure our faces when we fast. Frankly, I wonder how Jesus feels about that!

On the other hand I was also moved by Jesus’ insistence that the spiritual practices he names in his Sermon on the Mount – giving alms, praying, and fasting – are definitely not optional. After all, Jesus does not say, “If you give alms,” or “If you pray,” or “If you fast.” The word Jesus uses is “whenever.” He assumes there will be times “when” we give money to the needy, “when” we pray, and “when” we fast.

This year, may I remind you that giving alms to people in need, in particular, is not optional? Recent withdrawals from the Pastor’s Emergency Fund suggest that it is time for me to make you aware that some of our brothers and sisters labor under financial burdens they cannot bear alone. Since Sudbury is located in a relatively affluent part of Massachusetts, it’s easy to assume that our church’s friends and neighbors are “doing alright.” But something like half of Sudbury UMC’s members live in neighboring towns – and even Sudbury residents, from time to time, experience financial emergencies.

Sometime during Lent, please consider making a sacrificial gift to the Pastor’s Emergency Fund. If you write a check, make it out to “Sudbury UMC,” noting “Pastor’s Emergency Fund” on the memo line. “Whenever” you give alms in this way, you are also answering the prayers of dear friends we all love.

See you in church,

Pastor Joel

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CONCERNS AND CELEBRATIONS

DATES TO KEEP IN MIND

Feb. 18: Outreach Commission’s Assembly of Kid’s Bags Feb. 19: President’s Day –Office closed Feb. 21: Health Ministries Cancer Support Group Feb. 21: Lenten Soup Supper series begins and continues through March 21. Feb. 22: Office Closed - No Chronicle This Week!

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2018 Lenten Schedule

Daily Worship at Home - Thy Will Be Done – by Ted Schroeder

The Worship and Music Commission has purchased a booklet for each of our congregation’s households. Booklets are available now at Sudbury UMC – in the office, narthex, and Hawes Hall

Services of Worship – Sundays in Lent

Lent I – Feb. 18: “Moses: God’s Will and My Inadequacies” The Rev. Joel Guillemette

Lent II – Feb. 25: “David: God’s Will and My Dreams” The Rev. Dr. David Abbott

Lent III – March 4: “Mary: God’s Will and God’s Identity” The Rev. Joel Guillemette

Lent IV – March 11: “Saul: God’s Will and My Worldview” The Rev. Joel Guillemette

Lent V – March 18: “Lydia: God’s Will and My Response” The Rev. Dr. Gwen Purushotham Ms. Nisha Purushotham

Wednesday Soup Suppers – February 21, 28, March 7, 14, 21 at 6:00 p.m. (Hawes Hall)

Wednesday Evening Lenten Classes – February 21, 28, March 7, 14, 21 at 6:30 to - 7:15 p.m.

Acapella Singing: “Thy Will Be Done” — Kevin Murphy, Music Director and Organist (Chapel) Rob Hammerton, Choir Director

Adult Program: “Thy Will Be Done” — Joel Guillemette, Pastor (Choir Room)

Teen Program: “Discerning God’s Will” — Zack Moser, Youth Ministries Director (Youth Room)

Children’s Program: “Saying Yes to God” — Eric Magnuson, Director of Christian Education

Services of Worship – Holy Week

March 25 at 9:30 a.m.: Palm Sunday Worship (Sanctuary)

March 28 at 7:00 p.m.: Wednesday in Holy Week (Sanctuary) Acapella Service of Music and Reflection

March 29 at 7:00 p.m.: Maundy Thursday (Sanctuary) Service of Word and Table

March 30 at 7:00 p.m.: Good Friday (Chapel) Service of Scripture and Song

Services of Worship – Easter Sunday

April 1 at 8:00 a.m.: New Fire and Baptism (Chapel)

April 1 at 9:30 a.m.: Music and Proclamation (Sanctuary)

April 1 at 11:15 a.m.: Word and Table (Sanctuary)

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Request from Membership and Community Life

The Lenten Soup Suppers and programs will begin on the 21st of February and continue for the remaining four Wednesdays of the season, Feb. 28, and March 7, 14, and 21. The Trustees have very graciously volunteered to serve as the coordinators for the first Wednesday. We are hoping and praying that some other Commissions, Committees or individual(s) will follow such wonderful leadership. Please call or contact Oscar Harrell at 978-443-3821or email Owhtwo@msn.com or any of the members of the Commission. Thanks for your support and participation.

LEARN

The Magnuson Moment

Two important Christian celebrations are occurring this spring and also coincide with two other events. The first two are Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day. The other two, both my favorite, are Easter and April Fool’s Day.

The former two reference love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”—John 3:16-17

Celebrate God’s love for you. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Kid’s Bags for Open Table: Please join us right after the church service this Sunday, February 18th, in Hawes Hall as we decorate and fill 100 "Kids’ Bags" destined for Open Table's Food Pantry in Maynard. The filled bags will then be given out to children of Open Table patrons during school vacation week.

Prayer Pals. The key word for Week 23, Feb. 11-17 is: Patience, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” James 1:19

Greetings from the SUMC Youth!

The post-worship high school Bible studies will resume this Sunday! We took a 5-week break during the Vital Conversations series, but high scholars are once again invited to join Zack in the Sunny Hill teachers’ lounge (the last room before you get to the chapel) after worship every week to reflect upon the morning’s scripture and service, learn more about the background/context of that scripture, and eat donuts. The donuts taste especially sweet because anyone not in high school (or not named Zack) is not allowed to have them. That makes these donuts exclusive. You should

definitely attend this exclusive gathering. Two notes, however…

This Sunday, high school youth are encouraged to head to Hawes Hall before Bible study and assemble a kid’s bag to help the Outreach Commission with their outreach project.

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Members of the Confirmation Class should not plan to attend the Bible study until after Confirmation Class ends (we assume that the presence of pizza makes up for the absence of donuts).

If you are a church member/family who would like to support our youth ministry and actively engage our young people, you could volunteer to provide dinner at an upcoming Sunday night youth group meeting (what a great idea!); just click this link to sign up for an upcoming Sunday night meeting:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e49aea723a4f85-dinner

As always, parent should check their email for weekly youth updates.

Keep the Faith.

The Upper Room

The Upper Room booklets are available in the narthex. Help yourself to a free copy for your daily devotional readings. Or access it online by clicking here: https://www.upperroom.org/

CONNECT

Recap of Vital Conversations Session 5

After Worship on Sunday, Feb. 11th, we viewed a video by Cynthia Moore-KoiKoi titled Tearing Down Fences in Baltimore. She used her experience in racially torn Baltimore during the death of Freddie Gray to challenge us to reach out and build relationships across racial and socio-economic strata. If you were unable to attend, we encourage you to view the video at:

http://www.gcorr.org/video/building-bridges-to-community-with-the-rev-cynthia-moore-koikoi-2/

More than 40 people met to reflect on how Bishop Moore-KoiKoi’s experiences in urban ministry could be applied to Sudbury UMC and our communities. We discussed barriers to racial equality and things we can do to improve equality, some of the following ideas were expressed:

Barriers specific to Sudbury included the high cost of real estate, social cultural stigma based on color, the lack of public transportation for people needing to get to work, fear and suspicion, including the white fear of loss if blacks are successful.

We are hampered by self-segregation, false or slanted news from the media, misunderstanding of verbal and body language, and not creating opportunities to work with other churches. Particularly, the need to dialogue with members of black churches was emphasized.

It was noted that “cultural sensitivity” does not mean liking or cooperating with others and that no group can be defined by a culture. It is important to get to know individuals and not presume ability or character based on a person’s color. There was animated discussion of racial profiling by police, and a reminder that although whites may be mistreated by police, it is a regular and expected experience for blacks. Notecards were provided so that participants could offer suggestions for next steps in our journey toward racial equality.

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During the last session, notecards were distributed to gather suggestions of ways to continue Vital Conversations in order to understand and end systematic racism. Here are the responses:

Continue the conversation. Connect with other local diverse congregations for conversation, projects, and social activities. Work with local churches in Framingham, Marlboro, and Hudson that are diverse.

Work with Greenwood Memorial United Methodist Church to carry out programs in Dorchester that can serve as learning experiences for us. Outreach in poorer communities in/around Boston.

Use the Stephen Ministry training model to create scenarios to practice behavior that would help to “dismantle” systemic racism. The model is 2 people in a caring conversation with 1 person observing (3 people).

Teach children concepts of racial privilege and its unfairness. Youth connections with other churches, give them the opportunity to connect with

diverse groups of teens and get to know one another. Pay for urban ministry. Support quality education in disadvantaged area. Support school choice.

See people, whatever the culture, as individuals. Do not generalize characteristics of one, to the entire group. Be culturally sensitive.

Be open to talking with and listening to others. Make a personal commitment to resist injustice.

We all need to put what we have heard to use every day. If we continue to love and share with each other each day. Work within our United Methodist connection.

Projects will need a constant driving force. If left alone, they will die. We need to change. Please keep us aware of the need for change

Add education to weekly bulletin. Set a weekly idea for all to do. Build into service. A better understanding of how the media affects racism. Expect the Social Justice Commission to be pro-active in facilitating continuing efforts on

racism as part of the goals the Council has approved. As white people we didn’t earn our privilege and now that we know about the inequality-

we need to do something about it. Share training: information via links to podcasts or videos and encourage group

discussions. Come up with a way to get rid of guns, drugs, etc. so that police are not afraid for their

lives when approaching others.

Upcoming Opportunities to Engage in Vital Conversations on Race and Racism

Saturday, March 10, at Noon at First Parish of Sudbury and co-hosted by the Memorial Congregational Church; Debby Irving, antiracist educator and author of “Waking Up White” will discuss her journey from white oblivion to white awareness. This will be an informative program continuing our Vital Conversations on racism and white privilege.

Prayer Shawl Ministry

Last Sunday, February 11, yarn, needles and instructions were available in Hawes Hall to knit prayer shawls. Finished shawls will be presented for consecration on Health Ministry Sunday, April 29, 2018. For those of you who are new to the congregation, Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo designed the pattern adopted to knit the shawls while they were students at Hartford Seminary. Now we are adding a pocket

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prayer shawl. It is small enough that it can be put into your pocket and carried with you. The pocket prayer shawl is an excellent alternative for those of you who would like to participate in the prayer shawl ministry but would find it difficult to set aside time to knit larger shawls. The shawls are called prayer shawls because knitters offer prayers and blessings for potential unnamed recipients while they are knitting. This ministry reaches out to those in need of comforting. Many recipients of the larger shawls report feeling embraced by the love and caring that were lifted up by the knitters. We are just beginning to knit pocket prayer shawls and anticipate a similar response from recipients. Knitting prayer shawls can be a great way to spend a cold winter evening. Help is available for beginners or rusty knitters. If you

have questions contact Sophia Harrell at sbaileyharrell@msn.com or 978-443-3821. For more detailed

information on the larger prayer shawl go to http://www.shawlministry.com. For those of you in the process of completing shawls, thanks for your diligence and dedication.

Calling All Wind, Brass and Percussion Players!

The Wesley Winds will play at the upcoming Connexions concert, Connexions III, Sunday, March 18, at 3:00 p.m. To prepare for this event, we will rehearse after services, from 11:15 a.m. till noon, on the four Sundays from 25 February till 18 March. If you would like to join us, contact Rob Hammerton or Kevin Murphy ASAP and we will set aside parts for you! We welcome players of varying abilities; don’t deal yourself out because the music might be “too hard”. This Wesley Winds event is always a great time… come join us. If you are already on our Connexions Artists list, look out for your email invitation very soon and >RSVP<. Thanks in advance!

Sunday’s Service Recordings

If you see music director Kevin Murphy hustling up and down to and from the nursery, it’s probably because he is tending the computer in the audio room next door that captures the audio of our SUMC services. The laptop that was running our audio software expired at the end of last year, and we needed a replacement computer. He is happy to share the news that Bill and Jody Avery picked up on the church’s need, and Bill set about configuring a desktop computer that has taken the place of the laptop. If you see Jody or Bill in your travels, be sure to thank them for helping to spread the experience of worship with a larger audience. Their donation is much appreciated! If you yourself are interested in the process of recording SUMC services and events, be sure to speak with Kevin about how you might help. He can always use another pair of hands. Thanks!

Join the Thursday Bible Study

Sudbury UMC’s Thursday Bible study group always welcomes new participants. Meetings take place at 10:30 a.m. on Thursdays at the Panera Bread located at 21 Andrew Avenue in Wayland’s Town Center, just two miles from Sudbury UMC!

Each week’s focus text is the next Sunday’s preaching passage. Remember to bring your Bible and a few bucks for something warm or cool to sip.

We will look ahead to the passages being preached during worship on:

Feb. 18: Mark 1:9-15

Feb. 25: 2 Corinthians 8-9

Mar. 4: Exodus 20:1-17

Mar. 11:Numbers 21:4-9

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The Winter Season Is When Friends and Neighbors May Need Stephen Ministry

The darker days of winter and even the holidays can sometimes trigger loneliness, sadness, or anxiety. This is especially true if a loved one has suffered a loss, a sudden change, or a difficult life transition. Perhaps you have a family member, friend or neighbor who could benefit from a caring relationship.

Sudbury UMC has thirteen active Stephen Ministers (caregivers). Ten of our caregivers are currently available to offer their gentle support. They can walk with those who need kindness, a listening ear, and distinctively Christian care-

giving.

If you know a friend – including yourself – who might benefit from a caring relationship, you can speak to Pastor Joel, Lori Granger or Richard Smith. And every Sunday morning, one Stephen Minister is available after worship in the O’Reilly room. They are there to listen to your concerns and pray with you.

Feb. 18 Gail Smith Feb. 25 Richard Smith

COMMUNITY

Free Medical Program Seeking Volunteers

On Tuesdays, about 20 volunteers gather to provide healthcare services to people without insurance. The program serves an average of 35 patients, using the sanctuary at Congregation Beth El as the clinic site.

Volunteers are needed to help put the medical supplies and equipment away in the shed behind Beth El. Specifically, people are needed to help move the screens, exam tables, buckets of medical supplies, as well as tables and chairs. With enough volunteers, this can be done in 30 minutes.

This is a great job for high school students looking to finish up their community service hours or anyone who wants to get an extra 30 minutes of exercise! When? Tuesdays, 9:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Questions? Contact Kim Prendergast at kim.prendergast@gmail.com.

News for 2018 from Household Goods

At the end of every year, we update our donation guidelines based on the items our clients need most. We also review how to minimize incurring disposal expenses for items clients do not take.

Many well-meaning donors bring us things that "someone could use," and are surprised when we turn them away. Please understand that due to space and resource constraints, we must limit what we take to items clients will also take -- items they need to furnish very small apartments.

Outdated technology (VCR's etc.), office furniture, and oversized items are a few things we must refuse. All items should be clean and in good enough condition that you'd be proud to offer them to a friend.

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See our website's 2018 Donation Guidelines page, and a one-page printable pdf of the guidelines here.

A Great New Year to Volunteer - Come to an Orientation Soon

Our volunteers work hard and have a lot of fun along the way. Come join us for an upcoming Volunteer Open Orientation (see the schedule here) and learn about the possibilities - and how YOU can help people make a home!

Drivers Needed for FISH and Meals on Wheels

Meals on Wheels – Our drivers deliver 3,000 healthy meals, every weekday, to elders and adults living with disabilities. They may deliver the only meal of the day to our homebound clients in addition to providing critical social contact a safety check.

Today additional drivers are needed to meet the increasing demand for home delivered meals in our service are that includes 11 cities and towns. If you are interested in giving back to your community through this part-time job, apply today! Please call Sara at 781-324-7705 ext. 689 or visit our website www.mves.org/join-us/.

FISH - Deb Galloway, director of the Sudbury Senior Center, reports that FISH (a network of volunteers that provide transportation to medical appointments to anyone in need, regardless of age or ability level) needs volunteer drivers. Volunteers use their own vehicles to transport Sudbury residents to and from medical appointments. Interested in volunteering or learning more? Please dial 978-443-2145.

Multi-Faith Book Discussion Coming to Wayland March 4

YOU ARE INVITED TO A COMMUNITY INTERFAITH DISCUSSION

Recognizing the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week

THE INTERFAITH BOOK CLUB of the Islamic Center of Boston, Wayland

invites you to a discussion of

SACRED GROUND; Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America by Eboo Patel

Reading the book is not a requirement to join the discussion.

DATE: MARCH 4, 2018

TIME: 3:00PM-5:00 PM

LOCATION: ICB Wayland, 126 Boston Post Road, Wayland

WHAT: Discussion and fellowship with people of diverse faiths and backgrounds For questions and to RSVP: bookclub@icbwayland.org

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Sudbury United Methodist Church 251 Old Sudbury Road, Sudbury, MA 01776 Phones: (978) 443-4351 or (978) 443-6785 Fax: (978) 443-3052 Church Office: sumc@sudbury-umc.org Website: http://www.sudbury-umc.org

Church Staff Lead Pastor: The Rev. Joel Guillemette pastorjoel@sudbury-umc.org Christian Education Director: Eric Magnuson eric@sudbury-umc.org Youth Ministries Director: Zachary Moser zack@sudbury-umc.org Music Director/Organist: Kevin Murphy, AAGO kevin@sudbury-umc.org Sanctuary Choir Director: Rob Hammerton rob@sudbury-umc.org Business Manager: Michael Greb michael@sudbury-umc.org Office Administrator: Shetal Kaye sumc@sudbury-umc.org Sexton: Joe Picorelli joe@sudbury-umc.org

We are a Stephen Ministry Congregation

We are a Reconciling and Welcoming Congregation