Monthly News from Washington Park United Methodist Church |
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Hindsight is 2020?
Happy 2021! There aren’t many that I know of that aren’t wholeheartedly welcoming this new year! We see on the horizon a hope that this year will begin to bring opportunities to gather with friends and loved ones again, to travel farther than the grocery store, to participate in activities that are currently prohibited, to worship in our sanctuary again.
At the same time, we reflect on a year that has offered unexpected blessings and gifts. During the past year, there was story after story of people that reached out to others to share food, supplies and care. I was delighted on walks in my neighborhood to see brightly painted rocks encouraging others with statements like “keep going! and “you are amazing!” If you kept your eyes open, signs of love and support and community were all around us.
At the beginning of 2020, I launched a “2020 Vision” – an effort to encourage our congregation to participate in at least 2,020 acts of service and kindness in our community. We just got started, it seemed, when the pandemic hit—and truthfully, my time got sucked into figuring out how to be the church when nobody could be AT church. As priorities shifted, a funny play on 20/20 vision didn’t seem fun anymore, the 2020 glasses that I bought for everyone started gathering dust, and the vision seemed to evaporate.
However, as a congregation, we continued with mission projects and service efforts, and as I started adding everything up at the end of the year, I realized something that brought me to a full stop.
With all the food drives, Thanksgiving and Christmas projects, dollars donated to Habitat and Fish of East Denver, with service hours of making lunches or serving meals, our acts of service and kindness topped seven thousand! 7,814 to be exact.
And that wasn’t with any special push to log numbers or and arbitrary (if not clever!) goal to reach. All of it was out of the generosity of your hearts. And if that is not the vision of God, to give of what you have for the good of others, I don’t know what is.
So, “keep going!” and “you’re amazing!” I cannot wait to see what we can do together this new year.
Peace and Love,
Rev. Sandi
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Join any or all of our Advent and Christmas Worship Services! Services can be viewed live on Facebook AND YouTube, or afterwards with the links found on the website and weekly emails.
January 3rd – COMMUNION SUNDAY & VIRTUAL PRAYER STATIONS
Home for the Holidays: A New Path- Matthew 2: 1-12
January 10th – A New Vision- Mark 1: 4-11
January 17th – Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend
Can Anything Good Come from Nazareth?- John 1: 43-51
Preaching to the Choir: Christianity for Beginners
Week 1
January 24th – Why Jesus?- Isiah 61: 1-2, Luke 4: 16-21
Week 2
January 31st – Doubt, Curiosity, and Faith- Micah 4: 1-5, 2 Cor. 10: 4-6
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A Year in Review: 2020
It is often said that tough times are a blessing in disguise, it always reveals the true colors of the people around us. 2020 had no shortages of challenges with WPUMC members and staff feeling the brunt of them. From on-line worship services to new preschool protocols, the church faced its fair share of hardships. It would have been easy to throw up our collective hands and just give in to all the pressure and uncertainty. On the contrary, our staff and members rallied behind one another to face 2020 head on and overcome all the adversity thrown our way.
Subject to final closeout of our books, it appears that WPUMC’s Total Income for 2020 will be around $1.42 million of which the preschool operation contributed around 64%, or $919,000, with the balance coming from pledged income and rental income. There was a small increase in overall income from 2019 which was primarily driven by a bump in pledge income. Pledges are anticipated to be right on par with the 2020 budget – members did an excellent job following through with your commitments! We can’t thank you enough for digging deep, especially in these challenging times, and delivering. Expenses will be roughly equivalent with 2019 numbers which was guided by a conscious effort to reduce costs given our pledged income was expected to down from 2019. On a combined basis, WPUMC was able to generate a slight profit. Additionally, WPUMC applied and received money from the PPP program which helped us retain all church and preschool staff throughout the year. However, more building upkeep is anticipated in 2021 with material projects like moving our HVAC system.
2021 is setting up to be another year of uncertainty for the church, yet I’m confident our congregation will rise up and address any issues head on given our response in 2020. We can feel good about our congregation’s commitment to the church by the outcome of our annual pledge drive this fall. Additionally, our staff and One Board are better equipped to manage through the starts and stops of inhouse worship and preschool learning. These learnings were invaluable and will only serve to strengthen our WPUMC community. Together, we can get through this and there is no other community I would rather navigate these unchartered waters with than WPUMC. My heart is full of gratitude because I’ve seen the true colors of our congregation. God Bless and here’s to 2021!
Best Regards
Mark Warren
Finance Chairman
303.335.6659
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Happy New Year God Squad!
We are so excited to be connected with you this year, as we hope to begin making our way towards in person meetings. This January we will be maintaining our safe distancing procedures and meeting on Zoom, but I hope to move towards some socially distant in person sessions again as soon as it is safe for us to do so. In the meantime, we’ll be focusing on personal growth and personal WINS with monthly game days. Join us for all the fun and a chance at some
entirely ridiculous prizes. We can’t wait to be with you again soon, in Zoom or in person!
-Rev. Jamielee
January 3rd —New Year, No Class!
January 10th —Character: Integrity. (Zoom 11am-12:30pm) Join us for the final class in our study on Character values and how we are called by our faith to live our everyday lives.
January 17th —Game Day! (Zoom 11 am-12:30pm ) Join us for a class full of games, fun and the potential for prizes!
January 24th —Relationships: Family. (Zoom 11am-12:30pm) Join us for our new study on relationships, designed to help us consider our relationships and make informed choices that can shape who they are in the short and long term.
January 31st —Relationships: Friends. (Zoom 11 am-12:30pm) This week we’ll be talking about the importance of who we choose to be our friends and how we are called to honor ourselves and others with our choices.
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January 01 Daniel Marutle
January 02 Matthew Haemer
January 03 Theodore Quick
January 05 Stella Moats
January 08 Hayes Griffin
January 10 John Drum
January 12 Catherine Poirier
January 14 Emerson Bromley
January 14 Sonya Clark
January 14 Jason DeYoung
January 14 Amy Drum
January 17 Michelle Hoskins
January 18 Tim Shaver
January 19 Anette Smith
January 21 Carol Nelson
January 25 Carla Dickson
January 26 Meredith Goertz
January 29 Lori Eronimous
January 30 Ireland Glennie
January 31 Luke Haemer
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We wanted to pass along the sad news shared with us of the passing of Mary Lloyd, age 97, on Dec. 20, 2020. She was a long time member of WPUMC and resident of Denver, CO. Her husband, John A. Lloyd preceded her in death in 1978. In 2017, she was moved to Chelsea Place Memory Care due to Alzheimer’s. On Dec. 7, she contracted COVID, which eventually led to her death. A memorial service will take place in late Spring 2021 in Denver. Sympathy concerns may be sent to:
Pamela Lloyd Comello
7333 Wellington Avenue
University City, MO. 63130
John Craig Lloyd
605 S. Alton Way #8A
Denver, CO. 80247
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