December 29, 2023

Josh's Jottings

Happy 2024 to all!

I wanted to extend an invitation to everyone to join us for next week’s Gather event here at St. John’s. Gather will be a weekend event with beautiful music from Ken Medema, insight and preaching from Rev. Charity Goodwin, and a new chapter for our church and the New Mexico Annual Conference!

We know several things are happening in our community. Many of you worship online, often from long distances. In the United Methodist Church, there are people looking for a new place of community after their church disaffiliated. At the same time we know younger generations are more oriented to online forms of community and are more skeptical of institutions, including the church. All of this can be a challenge for local congregations. And yet there are opportunities in such an environment, for churches to reimagine themselves and reach people they would never have been able to. For faithful believers, there are similar opportunities to grow their faith in new ways.

All of this will be explored at Gather. Register today be going to our website and clicking the “Gather Event” button. It’s the best way I can think of to start your new year!

LINK HERE

-Josh 

New Years Eve Services

Sunday

On New Years Eve, December 31, there will be a 9:30 a.m. Abide service, and an 11 a.m. Traditional service. There will not be an 8:15 a.m. Mosaic service.

9:30AM | Abide Service | Family Life Center

11:00PM | Traditional Service | Sanctuary

United Women in Faith

January 4

United Women in Faith's first meeting of the year on Thursday, January 4, will feature a tummy-warming, mouth-watering Chili Luncheon. Guests are welcome! If you're not a big fan of chili, there will be other soups to choose from, no reservations needed.

Executive Committee Meeting: Thursday, January 4, 9:00 a.m.

General Meeting: Thursday, January 4, 10:30 a.m., Room 241-243

Lunch: Our much-loved Chili Luncheon!

Program: Pastor Josh Kouri

Winter Men's Bible Study: Book of Psalms

The biblical book of Psalms contains songs of love and of hate; of forgiveness and vengeance; of praise and anger...in short, these amazing poems express every emotion of the human heart. They have been sung, cited, and recited for thousands of years.

And now we, the men of St. John's, are going to study them in some detail on Mondays starting January 8, for six weeks. There will be a morning class that will both in person (Room 245) and Zoomed from 10-11:30 a.m. as well as an evening ZOOM ONLY class from 7-8:30 p.m.

Contact teacher Jack Nuzum at jcnuzum@juno.com if you are interested.

Women's Bible Study

Sermon on the Mount by Jen Wilkin

• Tuesdays, January 16 – March 19 (10 weeks)
• 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., IN-PERSON, rooms 245/257
• Facilitator: Shanlii Payment
• To register, contact Susan at teachersusan@comcast.net



What if we navigated these three chapters in Matthew as they were originally heard? What if we read them as one cohesive, well-ordered message, intended to challenge us to think differently about what it means to be a follower of Jesus? This 9-session study will give you the opportunity to do just that. Come and learn from Jesus, just as His disciples did. First released in 2014, this study is now updated with new teaching videos from Jen Wilkin.

Greeters Needed for the Gather Event

January 6

The church is in need of two more greeters for the Gather Event on Saturday, January 6. One greeter for the morning and another greeter for the afternoon, meals are provided. If interested in volunteering, please contact Karen Hall at (505) 259-6797, and by email at klhall66@gmail.com.

Please Help Family Promise

Host Week in January

We need your help for Family Promise host week January 14-21.

Family Promise is a national program that supports homeless families in cities across the United States including Albuquerque. For six weeks during the year, St. John's is responsible for meals brought to the Montgomery site. In addition, we are asked to stay on site for two hours to give relief to the permanent staff. If you would like to pair up with someone to provide a meal and stay for two hours, please contact Jenn or Linn (see below.)

To volunteer, go to this link: Family Promise: January 2024 Family Promise Meals (signupgenius.com) or sign up at the Hospitality Center, at the Abide service, or contact: Jenn Shields jennshields200@yahoo.com 505-450-9978 or Linn Furnish swimsew@comcast.net. To see more information about Family Promise click here.

Thank you from

Mobile Food Pantry Recipients

Every third Saturday of the month St. John's hands out food boxes to those in need. All the families who receive a food box express their gratitude and appreciation. Special thanks received by two families are written below.

From the Chavez family, "Thank you to St. John's Methodist Church - My family is so appreciative of the work you do to provide our family with extra food! Good Bless You!"

From the Schroder family, "Thank you all for the food bank, prayers and love you share with so many lives are blessed because you care and follow what God teaches in his word."

Biblical Dad Jokes for the New Year

Do you seek out Rev. Dave Ring each Sunday? Are you thinking about New Year’s resolutions and trying to find an easy way to begin reading the Bible every day? If you answered yes to either question, this announcement is for you. St. John’s email Bible study will start the new year with 40 days of biblical dad jokes. Here’s a free sample: Which biblical character had no parents?  Not Adam, because he was the son of God (Luke 3:38). The correct answer is found in Exodus 33:7-11, which says that Joshua was the son of Nun. 

The email Bible study, “Reading Our Bibles Together,” originated at St. John’s in 2007 and is our largest and longest-running Bible study. A scripture passage and a brief study tip are distributed to most participants by email five days a week, and we each read at a time and place of our own choosing. Answers to reader questions and other supplements occasionally come out on Saturdays. To receive daily study tips by email, write or call Regina Hunter at drhunter@nmia.com or 294-2877.  If you prefer to read on paper, pick up a study guide in the Hospitality Center.  Biblical Dad Jokes will begin on Christmas day. 

Can you bless me, please?

By Dee Billops

I was finishing up another busy Tuesday, visiting 7 members of my church that day who live in nursing facilities. I have been given permission by my church for visitation and to take communion elements to the home bound. It was Christmas week, so there was anticipation of celebrating Christ's birth and fullness of life that we receive as believers. As I had done with my other residents, I asked about BH's past Christmases, sang Christmas hymns with her, and discussed the best way to make a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.

Then it came time to receive the Communion elements I had brought and recited the home liturgy. A nursing assistant had come into the room to take BH's lunch tray and stopped to listen. "Are you Catholic?" she asked. "I really need forgiveness today. I have been very rude to a coworker and need forgiveness." I opened the Home Table of grace liturgy and said "I am Methodist, but good news! Christ our Lord invites to His table all who love Him and seek to grow in His likeness. Draw near with faith, make your humble confession and prepare to receive the Holy Sacrament." By this time the nurse aid was on her knees by BH and myself. "Hear the good news! Christ died for us while we were yet sinners; that is proof of God's love toward us. In the name of Christ, you are forgiven! I then distributed the Communion elements, we took each others' hands and recited Our Father (The Lord's Prayer) and were dismissed with a blessing prayer. The nurse aide got up and left the room quietly; I never saw her again. BH thanks me for coming and for sharing communion with the unnamed aide, and we shared a hug.

The Holy Spirit works in ways we don't understand, but God knew the aide's heart and blessed her. I feel honored that God has opened this opportunity to share with those unable to come to the sanctuary to receive Communion and feel very fortunate that timing was right and I was open to allow the Holy Spirit to use me and BH in this healing way. I also felt very thankful for the Table of Grace home liturgy by the United Methodist Church to read those uplifting words to someone seeking Grace from the Almighty!

Happy New Year

The Youth Group will be taking the final Sunday of 2023 off as we celebrate the New Year. Normal programming will resume the following Sunday, January 7, with Sunday school offered that morning at 11 a.m. and our Spring Semester kick-off from 4 to 6 p.m. that afternoon. See you in 2024!

Lunch & Locker 505

Children & Youth Ministries are getting together next Thursday, January 4 for lunch and volunteer mission time at Locker 505. We'll meet at St. John's at 11:30 a.m. to enjoy some lunch together and then walk to Locker 505 to volunteer from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. If you would like to join us, please RSVP to Angela Lybarger at childrensdirector@stjohns-abq.org OR text (505) 250-3875 by Tuesday, January 2. Parents are welcome to join us, too!

Locker 505 is a nonprofit organization providing free clothing for children K-12 in Bernalillo, Sandoval, Valencia, and Torrance counties. Located at 6203 Menaul Blvd (literally over the wall from St. John's), Locker 505 has helped provide clothing for over 2,700 children since the 2023-24 began.

Romans 12:9-13

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

While there is no prayer quilt recipient this week, we ask that you pray for peace and love within our church congregation and community.

Snack Items

During the month of December, we will be collecting "snack items" for Tierra Adentro New Mexico (TANM) Arts Charter School, located in NW Albuquerque, and serving mid- and high-school students. The function of TANM is to ensure quality education in the arts and academics for children, while facilitating a deep understanding and practical application of New Mexico’s cultural roots and traditions.

We currently provide weekend meal bags each week for five of their students who are homeless/food insecure and will continue to do so. However, they have identified an additional 50 students who are food insecure and we would like to help out any way we can. This month we are collecting snack items which will be distributed by the counselor as needed at TANM. Suggested SINGLE-SERVE items are: cheese and crackers, beef jerky, applesauce, pudding, fruit cups, granola bars, power bars, cereal bars, ravioli, spaghetti-os, macaroni and cheese, soups (pull tab openings), ramen noodles, trail mix, fruit snacks, boxed drinks and juices, chips, pretzels, Goldfish, Vienna sausages, pop tarts, or oatmeal. Please place your donated items in the bins in the Hospitality Center.

THANK YOU, St. John's, for all you do for those who are food insecure!

Our worship services are livestreamed so you can watch them from home. To watch a worship service live, click on the service that you would like to watch on Sunday morning at its scheduled time.

St. John's United Methodist Church

2626 Arizona Street NE | Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110

Office Hours (call only): Monday - Thursday, 9a.m. - 4 p.m.

Friday, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Pastor 24-Hour Hotline | (505) 808-1624

Pastoral care is available for after-hours emergencies. Please send any congregational care needs to Pastor Josh at jkouri@stjohns-abq.org as we all work together to love one another well.