United became Untied in St. Louis.

As in, un�ed from our Wesleyan roots. Untied from the 3 simple rules: Do no harm, do good, stay in love with God. Untied from our global connectionalism. Untied from the leadership of the Commission on the Way Forward and the recommenda�ons of the majority of our Bishops. Untied from Jesus who welcomed all. Untied from a Biblical sense of jus�ce, binding up the wounded, reaching out to those on the margins. Changing the word united to un�ed in church publica�ons has been a long-term typo …

By a narrow margin, the UMC has declared its inten�on to split with the vote for the Tradi�onalists Plan, which increases penal�es for LGBTQIA persons who are seeking ordina�on or marriage and forbids fully-inclusive ministries. And while much of the Tradi�onalist Plan will likely be ruled uncons�tu�onal by the UM judicial council, the die is cast. The global configura�on of United Methodists ins�tu�on is all but dead – with the Bishops mee�ng soon to figure out how to make this all happen.

The Western Jurisdic�on of the US has already invited reconciling folks to dream with them about a new movement of fully-inclusive Methodists. It may well be the most hopeful thing that has happened in a long �me – not pu�ng all our energy behind trying to change conserva�ve voters but rather working on the new thing to be resurrected.

Here’s a sampling of how others characterized the General Conference decisions.

Bishop Karen Oliveto, Mountain Sky Conference: It looks bleak, but we know something: the Holy Spirit always breaks into tombs of death to widen the circle. We will tell every LGBTQIA and heterosexual, you are beloved and in you is the face of God.

Traci West, Professor of Chris�an Ethics & African-American Studies at Drew University:

At a moment in our country when white nationalism and antisemitism and other forms of hate are resurfacing, I fear the United Methodist Church of 2019 is following the legacy of white Methodist slave owners and colonizers of our past.

Pamela Lightsey, womanist scholar: The conservatives did not outmaneuver us on the floor. The work was done decades before. Colonialism with its insertion of biblical literalism/fundamentalism and paternalism came

to GC2019, took a seat on the conference floor and spoke its mind. It told us what it has been telling us for years: "You will never have my vote." So, let us not dip into this kind of reframing reality. The votes were not there to get. Let's do something new. I don’t think we can get to the beauty that is available by a white-led, male-led top-down style. You may get a church, an ins�tu�on, but I think we are aiming for something bolder. I think what we really desire is a Beloved Community of Faith.

From Tex Sample, southerner, professor & pastor, whose stories we’ve told in studies and worship:

Today, I am thinking about "the church in the catacombs" where we do what is right even if it must be done in secret. I feel absolutely no moral or

March 2019 [on-line edition]

Con�nued on page 3

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Special health concerns: Hank & Bev Kalloch, Little Ford, Ellen Marcil, Jessie Grabowski & Phyllis Rathbun.

Theda & Laverne Cornbower

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Dona�ons of 1 lb. boxes of dried pasta (Zi�, Rigatoni, Penne pref.) are needed to help ELUMC provide

homemade meals each month for the homeless in neighboring downtown Springfield.

On the third Wednesday morning of most every month, a dedicated group of volunteers meets to prepare a hearty lunch (enough to feed as many as 200 people) to be served at an area soup kitchen. 20 lbs. of pasta is used each �me. Boxed pasta dona�ons can be le� in the church kitchen or in the labeled bin by the mailboxes near the sanctuary.

Checks may also be wri�en in support of this outreach program. Be sure to note "Loaves & Fishes" on the memo line.

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

Remember to set your clocks ahead 1 hour on March 10th

Dot Buzzelle - Redstone

Joan Kearns Wells Country Village, Vernon CT

Paul Willer - Reeds Landing

"Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud."--Maya Angelou.

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Dear members of my church family at ELUMC,

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord of Light and Love! Gree�ngs from Wild,

Wonderful, West Virginia! Hope all is well and you have thawed out from the recent storms.

On behalf of Open Hearts Ministries, we send sincere thanks for your recent financial gifts of $125. Your generosity makes it possible for Open Hearts Ministries to extend the love of Christ across the county we serve. During these winter months we receive a lot of requests for help with home heating bills. Your gift helped in assisting us to purchase a butane wall heater for a disabled man who was hea�ng one room in his u�lity shed with a 2-burner camp gas stove. The gas stove quit on him right at the �me of the severe weather hit and it was 8 degrees below zero. We talked to Larry today and he was so thrilled with his heater, he thanked us numerous �mes, and said “Thank God, now I won’t freeze to death.” Yes, thank God, indeed.

Open Hearts Ministries is also so thankful for the box full of hand kni�ed hats, mi�ens, scarves and other items. What a blessing they have been to so many. They have been distributed to our many homeless neighbors, who are living in tents or under the 4th Street bridge, by railroad tracks, etc. The homeless shelter in downtown Clarksburg is filled to capacity as is every other homeless shelter in the region.

On a more personal note, I want to express my sincere thanks and gra�tude to my home church for all the ways you have supported me as a Church and Community worker all these years of my ministry. As I look back on my 40 years plus I am so grateful for every prayer you prayed for me and the ministry, for every gree�ng card you sent, for every gi� I received from you. You all have been such a blessing to me there are no words now to express what I feel. Even as I re�re, the ministry goes on, the Board of Directors will be seeking a new Church and Community Worker to replace me. But in the mean�me I remain as the Interim Director of Open Heart Ministry and P/T CCW for the parish.

Please con�nue to keep the ministry here in your prayers as we con�nue to share the love of Christ our Lord in all that we do and say. May God grant you a sense of hope and joy as you con�nue your support for mission.

Your Servant in Christ,

Gayle E. Lesure

I hear the sound of breaking hearts. Tender, young hearts, open and hopeful, Facing betrayal from the church which formed them.

Scarred, resilient, older hearts, Once-healed wounds torn open by hatred & prejudice.

I know the pain of a breaking heart. The shock, the sadness, The emptiness that has no end.

Beloveds, You are held, You are loved.

Your wounds are tended By the One who knew you before you were imagined, The One who whispers, “I created you, And I love you, Just the way you are.”

—Beth Richardson,

whose book we used in last summer’s worship series:

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theological obliga�on to the "power take all" mentality and strategies of the radicalizing right in our churches. They got their way, now let them enforce it. They are losing this ba�le in the wider culture and doing great damage to the witness of the church. We struggle against the principali�es and powers in the church. RESIST!!!

Former RMN Board Member and co-worker on the Media team, Ben Roe:

“The ins�tu�on is not the church." I have had a different lived experience of the church than what was evident in some of the moments of General Conference.

From John Jeffords, a moderate colleague from Tennessee: The indelible impact le� by the GC will not be the pain and the tears. There is a new fire and convic�on that the ac�ons of the denomina�on will not prevail , and that a Methodist expression of a church for all people shall not be deterred.

I went to the Love Your Neighbor Coali�on closing worship service expec�ng rage and lament, but there was praise and holy boldness that this is our church and we aren’t leaving it– it may have le� us and the Wesleyan ideals but we will stand for the inclusive church we have always stood for.

The Rev. Jay Williams, an openly gay pastor at Union Methodist Church in the South End, delivered this blunt assessment: The United Methodist Church as we know it is dead.

The church has not sided with the God of jus�ce, of love, of inclusion, but with discrimina�on, with oppression, which is nothing short of evil.

What died is the hope that the UMC will change, so now we find ourselves in a tomb where it seems like we need to be s�ll for a while, un�l our eyes adjust. We need to wait for the spirit of new life to visit us here. We’re going to have to watch for the holy force that will roll away the stone, listen for Jesus to call us out of our places of death, and for the community to unbind us and set us free for new life....

But in the mean �me there’s going to be some stumbling around in the dark – join us for the Lenten

Series “learning to walk in the dark.”

Shalom, Pastor Kelly

Saturday, March 9, 2019 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Trinity UMC 361 Sumner Ave. Springfield, MA

Our Bishop invites us to join in “Courageous Conversations” to unpack the events of General Conference 2019 and to process our feelings and experiences together. For part of our �me, we will use a process similar to the circle pro-cess format we’ve used at Annual Conference. We think these gatherings will be vitally important for both clergy and laity as we seek to understand where we are headed - and hope you will plan to join us.

Con�nued from cover

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It’s cold and snowy. You don’t want to venture

outdoors, but you need something to do. Well, it’s a great time to look through your old jewelry and find some pieces you’re willing to donate.

Due to the success of our Annual Conference sales of new and gently used jewelry, we are con�nuing the tradi�on of using the proceeds from the sale to benefit youth programming in the New England Conference including:

Taizé scholarships

Mission of Peace scholarships

Explora�on conferences for youth/young adults sensing the call to ministry

Mission Trips

Crea�ng new youth programs within the New England boundaries

Bring your jewelry items to the church office and we'll mail our dona�ons to the Bishop’s office

before Easter.

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NEJFON represents our Annual Conference’s long-established compassion and longing for immigrant

justice. Before there was a New England Justice for Our Neighbors our local churches organized ministries with and for our immigrant neighbors including, but not limited to, food ministries, hosting ESL classes, resettlement work, and advocacy efforts. On the last day of our 2018 Annual Conference this tradition and commitment was made visible. Robert Parker, a lay delegate, made the motion that the Annual Conference collectively work towards a 2019 offering to NEJFON. The goal was set to raise $30,000 to advance NEJFON’s capacity to expand free, quality legal services for our immigrant neighbors who cannot afford attorneys. NEJFON is very blessed to have the Annual Conference and local churches as full partners in this critical time when the need for immigration justice is so great. Together we have already transformed hundreds of lives with free, quality legal counsel and services. Since our last Annual Conference NEJFON added two new clinics - one at Centralville UMC in Lowell and one at Christ UMC in Lawrence. These new clinics are staffed by a full-time attorney who will focus on the legal needs of unaccompanied minors. NEJFON will provide more detail on all our efforts when we gather at the Annual Conference. In Christian service,

Gary Richards On behalf of the NEJFON Board

This Lent ELUMC will be gathering dona�ons for this crucial ministry headed by one of our own, Gary Richards, (Pa�y’s son) who was sent into ministry from ELUMC. Special offering envelopes will be

available throughout Lent and even the Goat in the hallway is ge�ng involved receiving quarters.

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Saturday, March 9, 2019 7:00 pm

MassMutual Center Tickets only $16 (adults & children)

Springfield Thunderbirds versus Hartford Wolfpack.

Order deadline is March 3.

If interested, please contact Gary Conz at 413-525-2301 or e-mail at gconz@aol.com.

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P������� �������� �������� ���������� �������� Edited from a UMC.org Feature by the Rev. Angela Flanagan*

May 4, 2015

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but…”

most of us have realized that words can hurt too. While we as adults have matured and acquired to a greater or lesser degree an ability to weed out negative or hurtful language, we generally acknowledge that children are particularly susceptible to hurtful words. Language matters. We know that. Overall, we as a society and as people of faith rightly put value on protecting children from language we deem negative, hurtful, or inappropriate. We know our words matter, but our culture (and the Church with it) has a blind spot when it comes to adoption language. As a parent who has adopted children, I know that no one intentionally uses harmful language to talk about adoption, but the problem is that few of us have given much thought to the effects of the language we already use. Our language can send confusing and even hurtful messages to God’s children, those who have been adopted, and those who interact with those who have been adopted (so, everybody!) It is nearly impossible to improve our adoption language if we don’t know a) what to avoid, b) why this language is harmful, and c) what language would more accurately and positively communicate what we are trying to say. Will you commit to changing your language around adoption? Will you help others understand the importance of posi�ve adop�on language? Do it not just for my kids, but for the thousands of children who deserve to have their iden�ty, their story, and their family respected, valued, and protected. This is who we are as people of faith. We are people who care deeply about all God’s children. We are also people who respect the power language has to shape our self-esteem, our a�tudes, and our very lives.

*The Rev. Angela Flanagan is an adoptive parent and serves as Associate Pastor of Calvary United Methodist Church in Mount Airy, Maryland.

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It's almost spring in East Longmeadow and that can only mean one thing...the Carrington Scholarship applica�ons are now available!! Those who received a

scholarship last year and our church member graduates from this year will be sent e-mails with the applica�on and instruc�ons a�ached. If you are a member of ELUMC and a�ending college next year, we encourage you to send in an applica�on.

Applica�ons can be obtained by contac�ng the church office (info@elumc.org or 413-525-7416) and reques�ng one be e-mailed or snail-mailed to you.

Applica�ons can also be downloaded and printed from our “forms” web page (www.elumc.org/forms.htm) and are available for pick up on Sundays as well.

The deadline for submi�ng the Carrington Scholarship applica�on is Sunday April 28, 2019.

Scholarships will be delivered Sunday May 19,2019

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Hi everyone,

We hope you have enjoyed our guest singers and dancers. The young people get the chance to prac�ce their skills at the Wes�ield

Boys and Girls Club, and they have go�en to work with Mallory! It was also a great pleasure and honor for me to be able to play for Cantor Elise Barber.

By the �me you are reading this we will have begun the blessed journey of Lent, which has its share of beau�ful worship and musical moments. The worship series will focus on learning to walk together in the dark. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 9:2)

As always, if anyone would like to join our chancel choir, even for special occasions, please see me. We have begun planning the May 5th Joint service at St. Mark’s.

Grace and Peace,

Rick

Long before your father, your mother, your brother, your sister,

your school, your church touched you, loved you, and wounded you —

long before that you were held safe in an eternal embrace.

—Henri J. M. Nouwen, Our First Love

L�� S������ M��������� CWM District Advance Course

Opportunity March 2019

Planning Worship: This course is grounded in the principles and prac�ces of worship planning. The par�cipant text is The Worship Workshop: Crea�ve Ways to Design Worship Together by Marcia McFee.

Leader: Rev. Ralph Howe Loca�on: First United Methodist Church, Pi�sfield, MA Two Course Offerings:

Track One March 27th as well as April 3rd & 10th

9:30AM - 12:30PM

Track Two March 23rd & 30th

10:00AM – 3:30PM

Registra�on deadline: March 11, 2019(shipment of par�cipant text may be delayed past ini�al class ses-sion with late registra�on)

Here is the link for more information as well as the registra-tion form for both classes.

cwmregistrationformmarch2019pittsfield.pdf

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On March 14th, Putnam Voca�onal Technical High School in Springfield will be holding its annual "Say Yes to the Dress."

This city-wide event provides stu-dents who may not have the money

to afford prom a�re with free dresses and accessories

Please drop off your dona�ons of gently-used dresses and/or accessories that can be used for the prom at the church before March 3rd.

Vera Denyko will take the dona�ons to the school before the event.

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G����-N-F�� N����������� R������ 2019

Saturday, April 27, 2019 8:00 AM — 2:00 PM

ONE Block on ONE Street all on ONE Day!

At our 27th Annual #GreenNFit Neighborhood Rebuild, over 1,000 volunteers will perform cri�cal repairs, modi-fica�ons and curb appeal home improvements on Mar-shall Street in Springfield.

Volunteers, sponsors and donors are needed to make this event a true success for our community.

Registra�on at : www.RevitalizeCDC.com Or contact Tom McGowan at

tommcgowan26.2@gmail.com

Thursdays, March 14, 21, 28, April 4, 11 At Sinai Temple

1100 Dickinson St. Springfield 7:-00 - 8:30 p.m. with coffee, tea and desserts

Friends Next Door is a lecture series that explores the differences and similarities as we read and relate to sacred texts. We will talk about how our tradi�ons understand concepts such as a�erlife, sin and repentance, prayer and spirituality. We will also compare and contrast the various ways religious traditions incorporate ritual into the lifecycle. In each session there will be leaders from two religious traditions guiding the discussion.

March 14 - A�erlife

March 21 - Sin and Repentance

March 28 - Rights of Passage/Lifecycle

April 4 - Liturgy

April 11 - Spiritual Seeking in Modern Times

Planned and presented by:

Cantor Elise Barber, Temple Beth El

Rev. Marisa Brown Ludwig, First Church of Christ in Longmeadow, UCD

Rabbi James Greene, Springfield Jewish Community Center

Rabbi Devorah Jacobson, JGS Lifecare

Rabbi Amy Katz, Temple Beth El

Rabbi Jeremy Master, Sinai Temple

Rev. Pam McGrath, First Church of Christ in Longmeadow, UCC

Rev. Ute Schmidt, Baystate Health

Rev. Jason Seymour, Unitarian Universalist Society of Greater Springfield

Rabbi Mark Shapiro, Sinai Temple

Rev. Anne Strickert, St. Paul Lutheran Church

Rev. Peter Swarr, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church

Rev. Kelly Turney, East Longmeadow United Methodist Church

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is:

‘What are you doing for others?” — Martin Luther King Jr.

The Mission Shares market-place will be open in the fellowship hall a�er the worship service Sunday, March 17th.

SAFE SANCTUARIES

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Address Service Requested

East Longmeadow United Methodist Church 215 Somers Road, STE 2

East Longmeadow, MA 01028-2998

413-525-7416 • a reconciling congrega�on

www.elumc.org

THE SUNDAY EXPERIENCE

8:30 a.m. – Bible Study for Jr./Sr. High & Adults

10:00 a.m. – Worship & Church School (pre-schoolers through Grade 5) Professional child care is provided for “Cribs & Creepers”/“Toddlers & Twos.”

11:15 a.m. – Fellowship Time

The Methodist Messenger is a journal of the ministry of The East Longmeadow United Methodist Church. Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.

EASTER IS APRIL 21ST EASTER FLOWERS

Donating a flowering plant to beautify our sanctuary, is a wonderful way to honor or remember a loved one in celebration of Easter. The DEADLINE for ordering plants is Sunday, April 7, 2019 Please complete this order form; attach your check, payable to ELUMC, with “Easter flowers” on the memo line; and submit to the church office by the

deadline. Flowers may be picked up following the worship service on Easter Sunday. Name:______________________________________________________________________________ In Honor of: ______________________________________________________________________________

In Memory of: ____________________________________________________________________________

___ Tulips @ $10.00 ___ Easter Lilies @ $10.00 ___ Daffodils @ $10.00

For the on-line church calendar follow this link:

http://57650311.view-events.com/

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(ELUMC members are invited to join Trinity UMC members in this virtual mission experience.)

Have you always wanted to visit Nicaragua, as part of a mission

delega�on yet didn't have funding, a passport or a willingness to

travel aboard? Did you visit Nicaragua and wanted to return? Well

here is an opportunity for you.

Trinity UMC will be hos�ng a virtual Nicaragua mission experience in March. For one week, Sunday March

24th - Saturday, March 30th you will commit to spending every evening in community. From 6:00-8:00 p.m.

we will come together to share a simple meal, reflect on readings, journal our thoughts and listen to guest

speakers, some of which will join us via Skype.

In addi�on to coming together each night we will prac�ce acts of solidarity throughout the week, to walk

with our sisters and brothers in Nicaragua. Acts may include: walking to mee�ngs/appointments/events

within a five mile radius of your home, limi�ng shower use to two minutes, commit to removing five unused

items from your closet each day, commit to checking emails/FB/Instagram/etc., once per day.

This trip is offered free. The only requirement is that you fully commit to a�ending each night and commit to

readings, wri�ngs and acts of solidarity.

Sea�ng is limited to twenty so sign up now.

You can register by emailing Sandra Collins at nicaragua@trinityspringfield.org.

The deadline for registra�on is March 17th.