The News of Zion
"BE HAPPY IN THE MOMENT, THAT'S ENOUGH.
EACH MOMENT IS ALL WE NEED, NOT MORE."
~ MOTHER TERESA
Here are the latest opportunities to strengthen
your faith and connect within our community.
Musings~ Finding the Annus Mirabilis
 
T he world has faced many disease pandemics from the earliest civilizations to our present day. While most of these have brought chaos and uncertainty, something interesting happened during England’s last modern experience with plague. London’s plague of 1665-1666 was potentially shipped there on cotton barges from Amsterdam in the Netherlands sometime in 1665. As it had before, London once again faced the ravages of a bubonic plague outbreak. And while it would be the last major plague outbreak that London would face in modern times, it would cost the city a quarter of its population in less than 18 months.
 
Many people who had the means to escape the plague in London moved away to cities and towns in the countryside. One of these was Sir Issac Newton. He fled to his hometown of Woolsthorpe and settled into the relative safety of life in the English countryside. In that quiet, away from his laboratories and classrooms, Newton had time to stop and think, tons of it. With little to no responsibilities at hand, he began to muse on theories, ideas, and other things floating around in his head. According to a Washington Post article,

…Isaac Newton sat at a country estate with an apple tree. His reflections upon the forces between distant bodies, propelling them together and apart, gave us gravity and enfolded the moon and the apple in a shared system of invisible laws. He saw a spider’s web of formulas spinning across untold space, in which the stars hung like dewdrops, and from them beams of light pierced his own seclusion. All kinds of lofty things entered the brain of Isaac Newton, some of them traveling great distances, and when he emerged, science was permanently different. Such was the life of Isaac Newton during the plague year.
 
That year came to be called Annus Mirabilis , the Year of Wonders. Some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the modern era had their birth in the fields and the skies above a Woolsthorpe estate during a horrific time of pandemic.
 
While we are not to fighting off the bubonic plague, we are dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak and all the difficulty that it brings. And one of the things it brings is an unexpected side effect that it brought to Newton in 1665: time. With everyone home from school, sports, and work in some cases, our most common commodity is the time. Think of all the times you have said, “If I had the time, I would…” Now, you can fill in that blank with extra time you have. Paul wrote to the Ephesians about being careful how you lived, to live as wise people who made the most of the time they had.
 
What can you do with the time you have now? Will this be your own miniature version of Newton’s Year of Wonders? What doors of ministry and personal growth will God open to you and will you walk through them?
 
Pastor Michael
 
1.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/20/newton-formulated-his-theory-gravity-time-plague-we-need-miracle-too/
2.  Ephesians 5:15-16
The Church Office Will Be Closed: It is with a heavy heart that we announce that the church office will be closed for the next few weeks. If you have a need or know of a need, you may call Pastor Michael at 1-859-475-8800, call the church office at 285-3864 and leave a message, call Missy at 804-2434, or email lmjarrell@umcsc.org, lemon.1972@live.com, or zionumc@comporium.net; these emails are being monitored daily. The answering machine will also be checked daily. During this troubling and unprecedented time, we ask everyone to pray together for each other, our church family, our community, our country, and our world. May God 's healing presence be with us all!
Please remember these in prayer:
Nancy Ackerman
Angela Bailey
Francis Bell
Gene Blackmon
Marion Boswell
Carol Boyles
Randy Boyles
Caleb Catoe
Sue Catoe
Ann Chappell
Linda Coker
Sandra Cope
Brett Craig
Bill Dingler
Sophia Dixon
Angie Dobson
Heather Elder
John Elder
Ashley Fort
Betsy Gardner
Mike Gay
Steve Ghent
Judy Goodnight
Travis Gordon
T.R. Grier
Ovedia Griffin
Catherine Hammond
JoAnn Hinson
Rev. Shelly Holder
Julia Horne
Kevan Horton
Eric Hough
Libby Hunter
Melinda Hunter
Rick Joyner
Henry Ray Knight
Mary Jane McAteer
Kevin McCorkle
Tammy McMillian
Debbie McWaters
Marie Moree
Rusty Mosier
Bell Perry
Betty Jo Phillips
Ann Powers
Vicky Pickett
Ann Reed
Kathleen Robinson
Mayme Jo Robinson
Terry Robinson
James Rushing
Bonnie Sears
Dale Sherrin
Eva Small
Greg Smith
JoAnne Smith
Mike Smith
Freda Snipes
Billy Sowell
Robbie Stepp
Sue Stewart
Jim Thomas
Mike Vick
Pat Vick
Ellen Walters
Megan Wilson
David Woodruff
Kim Yost
Our President & Troops
Those affected by the COVID-19 virus
Those affected by recent tornadoes
Online Worship this Sunday!!!
Tune in to our Zion United Methodist Church FB LIVE service at 10:55AM this Sunday!!
Worship will begin
at 11:00AM.
JOIN US FOR WORSHIP!!
Being a House Church
As we deal with the expanding effects of COVID-19, we have come to a place where the safety of our people necessitates not having our weekly worship service. Following the advice of the CDC and our Bishop, we will not be having church activities or worship services on March 29 or April 5. Whether we are in a building or not, we are still the church and we will worship together though we are apart. To that end, Pastor Michael will be setting up a Facebook Live broadcast for the next two Sundays at 11AM. You will be able to log in to Facebook and go to our page and watch the service and hear the music. He is suggesting that people gather together in homes with family members who have access to Facebook or in small groups (less than 8) with those who can help them to have access. As with the regular service, please, PLEASE stay home if you are sick or feel you may be sick. Let us all be in prayer for all in our communities, our nation and our global communities. 
Salkehatchie 2020 Camps cancelled...
After careful consideration by the Salkehatchie Board of Directors, all Salkehatchie camps for 2020 have been cancelled. The plans are to begin again in 2021. While this is sad, it is understandable in the current situation with COVID-19. Please say a prayer for the campers that were already set to attend and the families that had already felt led to open their doors. This will be another loss or 'not normal' for them.
Zion's United Methodist Men are taking orders for 10 lb bags of Vidalia Onions through April 10.  Onions will be available for pick up on April 26.
The cost is $12.00 per 10 lb. bag. Please place your orders with Mike Vick, 246-2068 or Steve McDonald, 288-2892 by April 10. Thank you!!!
March is our month to support HOPE in Lancaster with donations of food for those less fortunate.  Particular needs are grits, cereal, spaghetti sauce, canned beef stew, and canned chicken. Even though we are not having church services, if you would like to drop off donations, arrangements can be made to accept your donations and your willingness to help those less fortunate is greatly appreciated!! Please place your donations in the collection box in the vestibule or if you are unable to access the building, you may drop donations off at the double doors under the covered porch where the buses are. They will be collected daily from that location as well. ** We will be extending this collection into April and donations will be taken to HOPE weekly**
March 27: Gayle Ghent
March 28: Cynthia Mackey, Pat Vick
March 29: Lou Bundy, Mashalle Bailes
March 31: Andy Plyler
April 1: Cassie Mathews
April 2: Nancy W. Knight
April 3: Mr. and Mrs. Hazel Robinson

How can you continue to support the ministry and outreach of Zion UMC?
The need to continue our ministry is evident. The ability to do so is made difficult by our current circumstances. To that end, we ask you to continue with your tithes and offerings that we may continue in ministry. We will do everything we can to continue managing our church finances well but we cannot do that without you. You can give online through the website by clicking on the donate tab. You do not need to have a PayPal account to use this option, simply click on the donate button and follow the prompts, you can text your giving to 803-525-1834 and follow the secure link, or you may give by mailing your tithes to the church at 1665 Zion Road. 
Also, Pastor Michael will be at the church in the lower parking lot from
2:00-3:00PM this Sunday afternoon, March 29, to receive your tithes and offerings if you have misgivings about online donations. We can come together in a limited capacity, have prayer together,
and know HE is with us!
Together we can move forward.
Together we can continue and make a difference!
WE ARE the CHURCH!!
Thank you to Ryan Griffin
and Mike Vick for all of
their hard work repairing
and painting the walls in
the restroom off of the Pastor's study. GREAT JOB!!!
The Record Speaks.....
March 22, 2020

Present for online worship: 49
Needed each week for the General Fund $4,360
Received for General Fund $883
Received for Building Fund $20

"...because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to."
Deuteronomy 15:10
285-3864 - www.zionumc.com