1085 E. Genesee Street
Office: 324 University Ave
Syracuse, NY 13210
|
|
Greetings!
Here is your weekly news from UUMC.
|
|
CDC Recommends Masks in Central New York
Again as Covid Levels Rise.
|
|
Front Office Report
The first time that I was called "Pastor Michelle," I had a very good laugh! Without a heavy foundation of Scripture, I could never be a Pastor. Yet, others noticed my nature and eagerness to help, and assured me otherwise.
Granted, that happened during my first month at UUMC and it was by a salesman, making a pitch.
I still had a lot to learn and Worship was only a part of it.
Fast forward to last week, I was in my ceramics class. As I was working on my starry night box, I received a text from one of our members and a personal friend.
She was at the ER again, after walking out of the ER after 3 hours the night before. I did not want that to happen again! She needed to stay until she was seen and diagnosed. I would wait with her.
I cleaned up my work station, got my stuff together, jumped in my car and headed strait to Community Hospital. Next was a call to Pastor Alicia to inform her that I would not be able to finish my work day as intended. She was already aware of the situation and encouraged me to stay by my friends side, calling it Pastoral Care.
Now that was an honor to hear! Something that seemed like such a small effort to me, made a large impact on my friend and Pastor Alicia.
Outreach
With Pastor Alicia, on her Continuing Ed trip and than out sick with COVID, I was able to focus much of my attention to Outreach. Galyn's new title of Executive Director @ 324 meant that much of our promotional material would need to be updated. I quickly got to work recreating our Outreach Brochure with a rainbow theme and lots of pictures to really emphasis God's Work @ 324. Unbeknown to me, I even created a new logo that further emphasized @ 324 as its own unique entity.
While you received a letter regarding our Thanksgiving boxes on UUMC letterhead, our interfaith and community partners received their own on @ 324 letterhead. The reason for this is to ensure that we acknowledge all who partner us in our mission.
@ 324 and UUMC would like to thank you for your contributions and please keep them coming. We would also like to thank Wegmans for donating the turkeys to our thanksgiving boxes. It was a great day when I opened an envelope to find not one but 2, $375 gift cards to Wegmans! That's a lot of turkey!
The Goodwill of the Fingerlakes also gave us a wonderful donation this month! 50 gently used, washed and dried warm coats! When the clothing closet opened the next chilly morning we had a line, 10 deep. All were excited to get a coat. In a combined effort from Outreach and Worship, there will be a blessing of the coats in Worship this Sunday.
Worship
With Pastor Alicia's return we embarked upon our Treasure sermon series in the sanctuary. Although treasure maps and gold coins in our display window may look like child's play, here in the office we are working feverishly to get our Stewardship Campaign for 2023 underway. Please check your mailboxes for this years Pledge card.
Here in the church office we are prepping for All Saints day. You may have noticed the All Saints Day card in the Announcement sheet and below in this newsletter. Please be sure to get them in so I can get the names of your loved ones compiled into an All Saints Day Booklet.
Social Media
Our highest reaching social media post this month has been a Narcan post. Between the original post and a number of shares, this post reached over 1150 people. Which is huge!
Our friends at the Onondaga Health Department gifted UUMC a public access Narcan Box. This is located on the Fayette side of our fenced in parking lot. The Onondaga Health Department also joins us on Friday's during our food distribution. They offer Narcan training as well as provide Narcan kits to all who get trained.
Michelle Grutman
Manager of Social Media, Finance and Office Operations
|
|
Stewardship Update
Galyn and I would like to thank the congregation for all your support for the Interfaith Food Center @ 324 and our different programs: Friday Food Distribution, Community Breakfast on Sundays at the church and Pomeroy Treatment Center, and the Thursday Clothing Closet. Together with our Interfaith and Community Partners, we have weathered the uncertainty of the summer and are moving forward with a clearer sense of our resources for our ongoing work.
Since it is the Stewardship season, we want to lift up the support our work receives from each of you. Every pledge contributes to this program What those pledges do, however, is the hard work that grants won't cover:
- space for storage, sorting and organizing, and program - all located in the lower level
- utilities and cleaning for the 14 refrigerators and freezers, warm and cooling for the volunteers and clean restrooms and space for our clients
- salary support for staff who direct and participate in these programs, this includes the entire staff, not simply the director and pastoral associate
In addition, several members contribute above their regular pledges and the congregation generously responds to special requests, such as school supplies and holiday baskets, coat drives and hands on volunteering.
This work can't happen without each of you! On behalf of our 1200 folks who are fed each week through your generosity, our 100 folks and their families who are clothed for school and winter, and our 250 volunteers.
Thank you!
Beth and Galyn
|
|
Christian Nationalism
For the last two weeks we provided information about Christian Nationalism: what it is, an investigative report, and the UMC response. This week, we want to offer some thoughts on responding to folks who support this ideology and are church members, family members and/or friends. In our class, we discussed our experiences and looked at some resources. Here are several:
From the Greater Good Science Center out of the University of California, Berkeley which looks at relational issues throughout society:
Specifically, on Christian Nationalism:
From the United Methodist Church, a Courageous Conversation program:
From Pamela Cooper-White, professor of psychology and religion at Union Theological Seminary, NY,
It is our hope that you will find these resources helpful
|
|
Sunday Worship | 10:30 a.m.
In-Person and on Facebook Live
Click Below to Join Worship on Sunday
|
|
Please note: Every worship service remains "live" on our Facebook page. You are able to watch every one that has been done since we began online worship. They never go away. If you are unable to begin at 10:30, you can watch it at your leisure another time.
|
|
Jesus understood that a conversation about money should include words about worry and anxiety. Finances, family, health, and other challenges make it hard not to worry. When Jesus—someone we can trust, someone who has more power than we do—speaks his simple words over us, we are reminded of some things we already know but often forget: We are not in control. The world is not spinning by our command. We cannot determine the future. We can only listen for that “still small voice” and follow our call as we understand it.
Worship Music
Prelude “Minuet Gothique” by Leon Boellmann
Offertory Offertory “Ode to Joy” Flash Mob video
Postlude Postlude “Postlude” by Alexandre Boely
|
|
Clothing Closet Volunteers Needed!
As the temperatures begin to drop and the days become shorter, we begin swapping out our shorts and t-shirts for long pants, hoodies and winter coats. To many of us, this is just another part of living in Syracuse. But to our less fortunate neighbors and guests, it is a luxury that they just do not have. So they pay a visit to our Clothing Closet in search of warm clothing.
With so many folks coming to our door and all the wonderful donations we receive we are eager to recruit new Volunteers. Aside from staffing during the Clothing Closet hours, there is a lot a prep work that goes into setting it up each week. Clothes must be sorted, hung, displayed and occasionally washed and dried. We need your help!
If you would like to volunteer, please contact Galyn at outreach@uumcsyracuse.org or Joyce at jhflynn56@gmail.com .
As always, keep those donations coming!
|
|
Do You have Friends or Family Heading to the Dome?
Please let your friends and family know that UUMC will be renting out our parking lot (the fenced in lot and spaces near the building) for game days and events! The cost is $20 per space and the proceeds go directly to support our Outreach efforts.
If you are a member and you usually park at UUMC, please contact the office so we know to expect you. You are always welcome to make a donation, but payment from members is not expected.
|
|
Thanksgiving Boxes: As Thanksgiving approaches, we would like to share our bounty with 250 families, who are our neighbors, by once again providing a Thanksgiving Box containing a turkey, plus all of the food items to have a wonderful holiday dinner.
We are asking for your help in any of the following ways to assist with this very ambitious endeavor:
1) A Monetary Donation in any amount that would allow us to purchase needed food items
2) A donation of grocery store gift cards
3) A donation of fresh winter produce such as winter squash, sweet potatoes or white potatoes
Our Thanksgiving Boxes are still in need of 150 Jiffy Cornbread mixes, 160 cake mixes and 160 cake frostings. Please bring your donation into the church Sundays or Monday through Friday. Please contact Galyn at outreach@uumcsyracuse.org with any questions.
|
|
Peanut Butter Packing Party
If you’ve never experienced the fun (and slight messiness) of packing condiment cups of peanut butter while having some great conversation and a few laughs with friends, you have the opportunity to find out!!! We are once again having our monthly Peanut Butter Packing Party this coming Thursday, November 3rd from 9:30 am - 11:30 am.
We provide Sunday Breakfast to 200 very appreciative folks in need each week, many of whom have told us that they stretch that bagged breakfast to last the entire day. That translates into 800 - 1,000 cups of peanut butter needed each month.
That’s A LOT of peanut butter!!!
You can sit while doing this job, and it does not require any special skills. Please consider joining in the fun and fellowship, while helping many of our neighbors.
Joyce Flynn, Bagel Breakfast Coordinator
|
|
Queer Spirituality
We are a biweekly group of folks who have lived queer experience and gather to explore ways that experience intersects with spirituality. Please contact Pastor Beth (pastoralaccomplice@uumcsyracuse.org) if you are interested in participating.
|
|
Spiritfilm
Spiritfilm selection is Driveways, Brian Dennehy’s last film before his death. It is a story of transitions and relationships, inter-generational and interracial.
Saturday, October 29, 8:00 pm at the home of Nelson Price, Masks required.
|
|
UUMC Cleanout!
The staff at UUMC have been working hard to clean out our storage spaces so that they can be put to better use! During this cleanout, we have come across many things that are no longer useful in the church. We would like to offer them to the congregation first. Our loss is your gain!
1st up is a professional deli meat slicer! This heavy piece of machinery will cut your cold cuts paper thin or to you preference. Next is a professional food scale. Which will help you make properly proportioned meals for your dinner parties large and small!
Please contact the church office if you are interested in these & stay tuned for more to come!
|
|
All Saints Sunday
Remembering Our Loved Ones
November 6, 2022
Our All Saints’ Sunday remembrance will be during worship on November 6th. We will print in the bulletin the names of loved ones who have passed on within the past year. (This includes those who have passed on since last All Saints’ Day, November 2021.) We will have a moment of reverence in the service when the names are read aloud.
Please be sure to let us know about your loved ones to be included in the service.
2 ways to let us know.
1) Complete this form and place in offering plate
Please have all names into the church office by Sunday, October 30th
Name: __________________________________________
Date of Death: ____________________________________
Relationship to you: _______________________________
Your name: ____________________________________
(Please print)
|
|
UUMC Announcements
Sunday, October 30: Adult Christian Education, Pastor Beth will be on Zoom.
Meeting ID: 881 4414 0415 | Passcode: 112507.
Sunday, October 30: Please continue to bring in gently used or new winter coats, hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, and boots. We will bless the coats on Sunday to distribute through our Clothing Closet and Community Breakfast.
The small Jubilee gatherings:
October 30 after worship - At UUMC hosted by Rosey Oaks-Lee
November 2 at 6:30pm - Home of Nelson Price & Barbara Fought
|
|
Save the Date! On Sunday, November 6, we will be hosting Jim McKeever after worship for Conversations from the Border. Jim worked for the Post Standard and Upstate Medical University, before working as an advocate for migrants along the US-Mexico border. Please plan on joining us for a thought provoking presentation and discussion.
Jim McKeever is a writer from Fayetteville who travels regularly to the US-Mexico border to assist migrants and asylum seekers fleeing violence, poverty, environmental degradation and government corruption. He volunteers with not-for-profit organizations and mutual aid groups in Tijuana, Mexico; San Diego, Calif., and Brownsville, Texas.
Photo credit Michelle Gabel
November 27: Sunday School returns to UUMC during worship!
Fellowship Time Returns: After worship November 27th!
|
|
Zimmerman's Missionary Trip to Nepal
|
|
Please note: Prayer requests and comments submitted in the chat during our online service are public knowledge, as the church’s Facebook page is open to all.
As a caring church, we hold one another in prayer. The names in the next sentence are selected each week from the church directory, generally in alphabetical order. This week, please pray for:
Marylene Fulton
The requests list below come from the previous Sunday’s worship and those received during the week.
|
|
Ann O.: Prayers for Dave H. with health issues.
Anonymous: Prayers for Ted, Margo, Mamie, Peg, Jeanne, Barb G. & Kathy.
Anonymous: Prayers for Mamie B. who is not well.
Augustine G.: Need God’s protection upon my family.
Barb: Prayers for my daughter Kristin as she deals with COVID.
Camden R.: Prayers for Cheyenne’s mom, struggling with her health and getting the support she needs.
Connie: Prayers for those who are grieving.
Connie: Prayers for those with marriage struggles.
Connie: Prayers for those who are lonely.
Connie: Prayers for those who have found love.
Connie: Prayers for Larry who is having knee replacement this week.
Diane: Please pray for my cousins' comfort with the passing of their father.
Erika: Prayers for Maria Aston family.
Gail: Prayers for my mother Barbara.
|
|
Gwen T-F.: My sister Marjie S. recovering at home after a fall. On the mend from a bone fracture.
Holly: Prayers for Jeanne and Ted who are dealing with health challenges.
Jeanne: Prayers for Ted who has an atrial flutter and is back in the hospital, after getting discharged yesterday without anyone actually solving the problem.
Maime: Sending love to all; not feeling well, please keep me and mine in prayer.
Mark L.: Prayers for the Sgro family, their mother passed away.
Peg: Prayers for her friend Jeff who is going in for heart bypass surgery on Tuesday.
Sandy: Happy birthday Nancy Hough! (#96)
Sharon: Prayers for those grieving.
Sherri: Prayers for Jayne, Heidi. Healing prayers for Tom and Marc, and Tom’s family.
Stephanie H.: Prayers for my close friend with cancer.
Stephanie H.: Prayers for my sister and her family in the midst of difficult issues.
Yamana: Prayers for my spiritual like, that I may be ever closer to God!
|
|
|
If you would like to join our prayer circle, please contact Carol Boll at cjlboll76@gmail.com. |
|
Annual Church/Charge Conference
Our charge conference is scheduled for November 9th at 6:30 at St. Paul's UMC.
Thanksgiving Service
Please join us for the SUMM (Syracuse United Methodist Ministries) Thanksgiving Service at UUMC on November 20 at 6 pm.
Holy Land Trip in 2023
The clergy team of Syracuse United Methodist Ministries and Pastor Alicia Wood invite you to join them on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, February 14 - February 24, 2023. Click here for additional information.
|
|
WCNY, in partnership with the Seward House Museum, invites you to attend the "Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom" screening and discussion event, Thursday, Nov. 3 at 5:30 p.m. at the Carriage House Theater in Auburn, NY!
Join us as we explore the inspiring woman who repeatedly risked her own life and freedom to liberate others from slavery. Watch clips from the new film, "Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom," and participate in a live Q&A panel discussion with local history experts.
The welcome reception begins at 5:30 p.m. with light refreshments, followed by the screening and discussion at 6 p.m. There is no fee to attend the event, but registration is required.
"Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom" Screening Event - Thursday, Nov. 3
Carriage House Theater
203 Genesee St. Auburn, NY 13021 (Behind the Cayuga Museum)
|
|
“Sister Citizen”
by Melissa V. Harris-Perry
Tuesday November 8 is Election Day! Who will win the various political contests is in the voters hands. The ACTS Race Matters Book Club will look at the role of Black Women in politics through the lens of “Sister Citizen” by Melissa V. Harris-Perry. Two subtitles for the timely analysis are “Shame, Stereotypes & Black Women in America” and “For Colored Girls who’ve Considered Politics When Being Strong Isn’t Enough.”
Did you know that Stacey Abrams was a crime novelist before seeking to be elected as Governor of Georgia? Clues to her political energies? Do we recognize the local struggles of Linda Ervin as County Legislator, Pam Hunter as Assemblywomen, Helen Hudson as Common Council President and other Sister Citizens elected as public officials. Come for the discussion on Monday October 31 at 7 PM on zoom and wear a Halloween costume if you want to be in the moment!
To make your registration for the October 31 gathering, email petersarverACTS@gmail.com Zoom link will be sent to regular members and those registered closer to the discussion date.
|
|
Save the Date, Sat. Nov. 19, Bishop Webb's Farewell Gathering
You are invited to Upper New York (UNY) Area Resident Bishop Mark J. Webb’s farewell/retirement gathering on Saturday Nov. 19 from 1-4 p.m. at the Upper New York Conference Center, 7481 Henry Clay Blvd. in Liverpool. Join others throughout the Conference to celebrate Bishop Webb’s 10 years of ministry as Bishop of the UNY Conference. More details will be released once they become available.
|
|
Is UMC Splitting?
Get a quick update on issues and news of the United Methodist Church with a video report – only seven minutes of your time. Check it out.
|
|
Daily Anti-Racism Prayers
Discipleship Ministries of the United Methodist Church offers anti-racism prayers emailed to you Monday through Friday. To sign up to receive them, click the link below.
|
|
|
|
Please click the link below to read United Methodist news from around the country and world on UM News Digest.
|
|
Contact Us
Alicia Wood, Pastor
Beth DuBois, Pastoral Accomplice
1085 E. Genesee Street, Syracuse, NY
315.475.7277
Email | office@uumcsyracuse.org
Facebook | uumcsyracuse
Twitter | @uumcsyr
Instagram | uumcsyr
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
