Please know our church and facilities remain closed due to the attempt at physical distancing to curb COVID-19. |
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In dark and uncertain times...
the Lord is our light.
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Help Us Celebrate Betty!!!
Betty Perkins is turning 100 on Tuesday, October 20, 2020!
Her family is trying to get 100 cards for her to open on her birthday. Please consider sending Betty a birthday card to help her celebrate!
If you wish to send a card address it to:
Betty Perkins
92 Cottage Place
Gillette, NJ 07933
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Final Request for Updates!
Our annual report for the Chatham UMC 2020 Church Conference Meeting is being finalized. If you or your ministry team has a report that you would like included in the Chatham UMC Church Conference Journal, please email it in Word Format to our church secretary, Zrinka Cvetkovic at churchsecretary@optonline.net.
Reports must be in ASAP! Reports will not be accepted after Wednesday, September 30th
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Outdoor Communion Service
Saturday, October 3, 2020, 5:00 PM
(Rain date Sunday, October 4, 2020 at 5PM)
in the Chatham UMC back parking lot.
Dress warm. Bring a chair. Wear a mask. Follow social distancing guidelines. Commune with God and one another.
We will enjoy some community, music, some scriptures, some prayer, and holy Communion. Communion will be served in individually, pre-wrapped and sealed packages of a small cup with juice, with wafer. Look for a Sign Up Genius and emails with more information.
If you would like to volunteer please contact the church office. We will need help with set-up, clean-up, welcoming, ushering, greeting, and encouragement in social distancing, etc.
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Join Us in creating our Online Worship |
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We are hoping that you can send in one or more videos that can be filmed in a few seconds on your smart phone:
1) A video of you dropping a leaf, and saying what you'd like to let go of. For some this might be: worries, anxiety, resentment, sadness, old hurts, old failures, or even "the year 2020!" There is no wrong answer.
2)A video of wind chimes that you may have outside your home, or in your neighborhood.
3) A video of you, and or your family looking in the camera and saying: "Peace be with you."
Please take these videos holding your phone in a horizontal position so that it takes up the whole screen when edited. Please add one or two seconds before and after you speak so that it can be edited in with other videos in the online worship experience.
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We Need Online Liturgists! We’re reaching out to all church members for pre-recorded Gospel readings through the Fall. (Please remember to film Sunday’s Gospel message by the previous Tuesday!)
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Wednesday Food Distribution Update... |
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We continue to host the Chatham Wednesday Food Distribution for our neighbors facing food insecurity during these uncertain times. Thank you to all who support our efforts through your time, contributions, and prayers. Our committee of volunteers and town partners continue to serve close to 40 cars on average each Wednesday and countless visitors daily to our pop up food pantry. With the seasons changing, we are looking to make some upgrades to our pantry. Stay tuned!
One way we still need help...
Volunteers are needed to pick up excess bagels from Chatham Bagel at 260 Main Street each day at 2:00pm (their closing time). Chatham Bagel has been an important partner in supplying our Wednesday Food Distribution efforts with fresh bread. Please help us keep this effort supplied!
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The job can be shared with a few volunteers/families. It's also a great service opportunity for a college student that is home and virtual learning. Volunteers need to pick up the bagels, pack the bagels in bags of four (4) in the church kitchen, and then put them in one of the freezers.
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Did you miss our Prayers Live @5 on Facebook last night, Wednesday, September 23rd Don't worry. You can rewatch by clicking here. You don't need to be on Facebook to watch this link.
If you would like to participate this coming Wednesday, September 30th on Facebook or you would like to submit a prayer request, email Pastor Jeff at revjmarkay@earthlink.net.
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Sunday, September 27th
Our worship service will be posted on Facebook, YouTube,
and our Website by Saturday morning.
when we post new videos!
We hope you will worship with us, and share the links with those who have no church or cannot worship at their church during this time.
Sunday Zoom “Virtual Coffee & Conversation”
Join Us at 10:00am by clicking image below:
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Meeting ID: 680 233 812
Password: 015665
Looking for the full Zoom Information?
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Wednesday, September 30th
Prayers Live at Five on Facebook
All are invited to tune into a brief Facebook Live event each Wednesday at 5:00 pm. We will be lifting up some prayer practices that might be helpful as we navigate this new landscape. If you have prayer requests that you would like lifted up, you can type them into the comments section of the FB Live event or you can email them to Pastor Jeff at revjmarkay@earthlink.net.
These Wednesday Prayers videos will be stored on our Chatham UMC Facebook page for those who are unable to participate on Wednesdays at 5PM.
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You are invited to participate in some contemplative practices and prayer by clicking on the link to our Chatham UMC Facebook page:
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Prayers lifted on September 23, 2020
For those who want to join hundreds of others who have been praying for the following people and situations, keep reading, and thank you.
Intercessory Prayers emailed or shared with us this week:
A Time of Silence together...
- For Juliana’s recovery from tendonitis.
- Travel blessings and doors that open for Hilary’s granddaughter and her friend as they travel back to NJ
- For Sue B as she cares for her sister and family.
- For Susan P. as she recovers from an accident
- For Joan P’s son in law in hospice care in Cleveland
- For Bobbie, as she is in hospice care in Maryland, and for Gil as he cares for her.
- For Chris’s sister in law Joan, as she continues to grieve. Bless her as she makes decisions and navigates this landscape without her husband.
- For Jimmie as he grieves the death of his friend.
- For the family and friends of the Rev. Jack Albright who entered Life Eternal on September 15, 2020 in Tyler, Texas. Bless O Lord the seeds of faith sown throughout Jack’s life, that by your grace will continue to grow.
- For Steve’s Uncle Joe as he recovers from a stroke.
- Prayers for our country as we go through tumultuous and trying times. May whatever is false and not of you, fade, and may whatever is true, and good, and just, hold our attention.
- For the family and friends of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as they grieve the loss of their loved one.
- For Elise for healing, and for her family as they care for her.
- For students, teachers and school staff at every age level.
- For those in harm’s way from the wild fires in the West.
If you have people and situations that you would like lifted up in prayer, please email them to: revjmarkay@earthlink.net and indicate whether you want the prayers to be confidential, or shared with the greater Chatham UMC community. |
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The scriptures and prayers that are being shared this week for you and your communities are below:
Scripture:
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 27:1
Prayer:
O Lord, illumine our path just enough so that, with trust, we can take the next step. Amen.
Music:
The Lord is my Light (Taize)
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Contemplative Prayer Practice
Be still.
Breathe deep.
Rest in God’s loving presence…
When our minds wander during the silence, simply bring ourselves back to the prayers:
You are my light…
You are my light…
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Youth, Kids, and Music News... |
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A new year of Sunday School has begun! New friends are always welcome to join our active groups. Zoom log-in info for the following online classes will be emailed at the end of each week. If you would like to be added to the distribution group or have questions about which class is right for your children, please email Karen at youthchatumc@optonline.net.
PreK / Early Elementary: Sundays at 9:30am on Zoom. It was an exciting week last week as we celebrated a birthday, started a new season of Bible stories with the Whirl Kids, and practiced fishing for people after making fishing poles. (One family said it even worked with the cat!) This week we will study The Beatitudes and learn what it means to be blessed and how God’s blessings are sometimes not what we expect.
Submerge (4th-8th grade): Sundays at 10:30am on Zoom. We had a great turnout for our first class of a deeper dive into some familiar Bible stories with “13 Very Bad Days, and how God fixed them.” Each week this fall we're focusing on a story of someone going through a rough time (anyone out there relate??) and see how God used the situation to do some powerful things. Along the way, the group will discover that the God of long ago watches over us today and with God even our bad days can hold some amazing surprises. This week we’ll look in Genesis 37 to see how God did something amazing with Joseph’s bad day.
Submerge / Tween Time: Thursdays at 4:00pm on Zoom. Time to hang out, play some games, connect and help each other thru this time of social distancing.
Confirmation: Sundays at 11:45am on Zoom. As we wait for the time when we can return to the sanctuary for you to confirm your faith before the congregation in a Service of Confirmation and Membership, we will continue developing our ideas of faith together with the other high school youth of the CUMC community. We will also occasionally gather separately to work on individual faith statements and plan our eventual worship service.
High School Discussion: Sundays at 11:45am on Zoom. Last week we spent time getting acquainted with new teachers and members in the group and talking about questions of faith that may come up in A?k Because Your Questions Matter. With input from experts around the world in areas of Origin, Morality, Beauty, and Destiny, A?k will challenge us to personally think about the grand questions of human existence, understand our own faith, evaluate different worldviews, develop skills to defend and articulate our beliefs, and get to know God more personally. This week’s topic: Something or Nothing - The question of why there is something rather than nothing requires more than a scientific answer.
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Take a listen to our next piece of online music from CUMC’s organist and accompanist, Mike Maguire performing his own composition: Prelude in F Major.
The Chatham UMC Ukulele Orchestra will meet again for their next online sing and play-a-long on Saturday, October 3rd at 11:00 a.m.! For ukulele music and/or more information please contact Peter Hill at petepiano@mac.com.
The CUMC Music Program Season begins again for our 2020-21 season. Our music groups include the Youth Musicians, Praise Band, Covenant Choir, Wind Ensemble, Wesley Ringers, and Ukulele Orchestra. If you are not yet part of the music program but are interested in finding out more, please contact Peter Hill at petepiano@mac.com. All are invited: our online component of the music program welcomes musicians from New Jersey and the wider world.
The Covenant Choir is beginning their next virtual choir project, singing Let There Be Peace On Earth for October’s World Communion Sunday. If you are interested in joining the choir for this online piece, please contact Peter Hill at petepiano@mac.com.
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CUMC Outreach
Volunteers are always needed
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Bread Ministry: If you would like to be involved in our Bread Ministry, please contact Edit Ostrom at: nyuszi@mac.com or
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Pop Up Outdoor Food Pantry
Take what you need or leave what you can at our two pantry shelves. The shelves are located behind the building at the doors of the Chatham Methodist Preschool. Please help keep our shelves filled.
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We offer links to resources you may need to help you or your loved ones through this "storm" of Covid-19. Because CUMC has always been a loving community of dedicated ministry, we know you are also seeking ways to give back to those in need. |
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All submissions for next week's CUMC Weekly E-news are due by Tuesdays, 2:00 PM. Submissions may be emailed to Eileen Ruggiero.
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460 Main Street
Chatham, NJ 07928
(973) 635-7740
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See what's happening on our social sites:
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