Good Shepherd United Methodist Church

1201 Leta Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80911 (719) 392-5782

Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019 Thoughts from Terilynn

2019 is the year United Methodists have been awaiting, anticipating and even dreading to receive direction relating to LGBTQ inclusion into the denomination. A special session of the General Conference which meets February 23-26 in St. Louis, Missouri has been called by the Council of Bishops to work out a solution that will maintain the word “united” in the denomination’s name.

Such a goal is untenable.

The issue of LGBTQ is volatile. There are more than 12-million United Methodists in the world, attending 45-thousand churches, represented by 131-Annual Conferences worldwide, 56 of which speak for the . At least two delegates (one clergy, one laity) vote for one Annual Conference. Larger Annual Conferences receive more delegates and representation.

Multiple nationalities and ethnic groups from all over the world will decide and vote. They bring their own cultures and diverse viewpoints and theological issues. One example: homosexual acts are criminalized in 38 of the 54 African countries where there are United Methodists living. And 30% of the delegates at General Conference are from African countries.

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Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019 The Bishops are recommending the One Church Plan. The proposal gives clergy, local churches and conferences more freedom with practices such as performing and hosting same-sex weddings and ordaining openly gay persons as clergy. Supporters say they believe this plan is the best way to protect freedom of conscience among United Methodists of varied theological views. The website, www.onechurchplan.org says “Pastors are not forced to but able to marry same-sex couples. Conferences are not forced to but able to ordain gay people. Congregations are not forced to but able to host same- sex weddings on church property.”

Other plans will be submitted for consideration: • Connectional Conference Plan would create three connectional conferences based on perspective on LGBTQ issues. The three connectional conferences would function throughout the worldwide church and the five existing U.S. jurisdictions would be abolished. • The Traditional Plan would affirm the current language about homosexuality in the Book of Discipline and seek to strengthen enforcement for violations. • The Modified Traditional Plan would add to the Traditional Plan a committee with authority to hold bishops accountable to the sexuality standards in the Book of Discipline. It would offer a $200,000 grant to annual conferences that want to leave the denomination because of disagreement over LGBTQ issues. • The Simple Plan would remove all language from the Book of Discipline that excludes LGBTQ people from full participation in the church.

As your pastor, it is my responsibility to keep you informed on what is happening in the denomination. If you desire more information, please let me know. I can direct you to websites and I will be keeping track of the proceedings.

PRAY! Pray for our denomination. Pray for the safety and wisdom of all delegates. In all circumstances, prayer is the answer. Leonard Ravenhill writes, "The true church lives and moves and has its being in prayer."

Serving Christ is an adventure!

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Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019

UMW January Meeting Our local unit of United Methodist Women will kick off 2019 with a meeting on January 5 at 9 a.m. The UMW theme for this year is “Sisterhood of Grace,” and our program will focus on this theme.

Bring your calendars with you, as we’ll be looking ahead and planning our meeting responsibilities for the year. See you January 5, at 9 a.m.! Mary Ann Tabor

UMW News

United Methodist Women will celebrate 150 years of service this year. Begun in response to needs in India, what became known as United Methodist Women has, from its inception, been an organization of women answering the call to bring loving justice to the world. In 1869, the handful of women on that dark and stormy night in Boston were moved to action and began a tidal wave of activity that still roars today. A glance at UMW materials now reveals advocacy topics ranging from climate justice to economic inequality. We are a busy group, and we accomplish much in our connection to each other. And it all begins with the local unit.

Our local unit has been a part of the global ministries of the United Methodist Church through our focus on ministries with women, children, and youth; and we have lived out that mission in our local community, too. In 2018, we supported the work of Trampled Rose and Sarah’s Home—both local organizations that aid women and girls, one through specific medical services and the other as a safe haven from human trafficking. We sponsored an information meeting, open to the community, about suicide prevention. Here at Good Shepherd, we assumed the responsibility of refurbishing our nursery to support our ministry with children.

Wouldn’t you like to be a part of this energetic group of women? Join us on January 5 at 9 a.m. or talk with President Sharon Clayton to find out how you can take part in our ministry, even when you can’t make it to the meetings. Submitted by Mary Ann Tabor

Fair Trade Coffee and Chocolates 4

Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019 Please continue to purchase our Fair Trade Coffee and Chocolates…This is one way we show WE CARE as we patronize farmers as they grow the coffee and receive fair return for their work. United Methodists and other faith partners have purchased, in one year, 3 million lbs. of coffee to help 1,614 family farms.

Coffee is available in Cooper Hall after church.

General Conference Special Session Briefing

As you know, a special session of General Conference has been called for February 23-26, in St. Louis, Missouri. The sole purpose of this General Conference is to receive and act on a report from the Commission on A Way Forward. Decisions made at this meeting will potentially change statements and protocols in the Book of Discipline, our policies and procedures document for the United Methodist Church.

Join in a conversational briefing about the special session, the three plans proposed by the Commission on A Way Forward, and actions that are likely to impact our denomination.

The Insights class is sponsoring this briefing and invites you to join in this conversation after worship on January 20, in the conference room. We’ll start at 10:50, which should give you time for coffee and cookies. And, yes, you may bring your coffee with you to the briefing, if you’d like. Mary Ann Tabor

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Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019

Are Disciples Perfect People?

Insights class is offering a winter study—6 Sundays before Lent begins—on Adam Hamilton’s new book, Simon Peter: Flawed and Faithful Disciple. Adam Hamilton is a popular Christian pastor and author. In his book about Simon Peter, we will learn more about this specific disciple himself and about ourselves as disciples of Jesus.

Join us at 10:50 for six Sundays beginning January 27. Coffee cups welcome. If you have questions or would like to order the book, see me. Mary Ann Tabor

January Birthday/Anniversaries Stephen Smith 4 Amanda Cribbett 6 Maria King 9 Vanda Skadden 10 Barbara Sterry 11 Mary Jean Ciemiewicz 13 Emery and Shirley Cihak 13 Dutch and Maj vanTuil 13 Russ and Irene Lambert 13 Jim DeRubis 20 Judy Hodges 21 A.J. Johnsen 21 Pat Smith 21 Ben Wentworth 21

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Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019 Tamara Garman 21 Beverly Weinert 23 Brenda Ledeboer 25 Irene Lambert 29 Judy Henke 30 Bob Rickard 31

History of Hymns: “ by C. Michael Hawn “Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling” Will Thompson UM Hymnal, No. 348 Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me; see, on the portals he’s waiting and watching, watching for you and for me. Come home, come home; you who are weary, come home; earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home! Undoubtedly, many readers of this column grew up in a revival tradition that included an extended invitation hymn—a congregational hymn at the conclusion of the service that focused on those attending who may be called by the Holy Spirit to make either a profession of faith or a recommitment of one’s life. In services of this nature, the direction of the entire liturgy points to the sermon and this time of commitment. Our hymn is a classic invitation hymn from the 19th-century revival tradition.

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Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019

Will Lamartine Thompson (1847-1909) was born in Pennsylvania and died in . He attended Mount Union College in Alliance, , and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, before continuing his musical studies in Leipzig, Germany. In addition to being a composer of secular, patriotic and gospel songs, Thompson was a music publisher. When his songs were rejected by publishers of his day, he formed his own enterprise, Will L. Thompson & Company, with offices in and East Liverpool, Ohio. By the 1880s the company expanded beyond publishing music and sold pianos, organs and other instruments and supplies. The words and music for “Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling” first appeared in Sparkling Gems, Nos. 1 and 2, a collection compiled for Thompson’s company in 1880 by singing-school teacher J. Calvin Bushey. Other well-known gospel songs by Thompson include “Jesus Is All the World to Me” (UM Hymnal, No. 469), and two with strong eschatological leanings, Lead Me Gently Home, Father” and “There’s a Great Day Coming.” UM Hymnal editor, the Rev. Carlton R. Young, notes: “This is a typical lullaby in the gospel hymn tradition that characterizes

Jesus as a mother, gently rocking and comforting a child. This attribute contributes to the continuing popularity of this genre of religious song that presents Jesus as waiting, caring, and forgiving in intimate—and for many, compelling—metaphors.” Will Thompson Perhaps Revelation 3:20 captures the spirit of the hymn: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (KJV) This patient Jesus stands “on the portals . . . waiting and watching . . . for you and for me.” The second stanza takes a different approach: How can we reject the “pleading” one who offers “pardon”? The third stanza increases in urgency: “Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing . . . shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming. . . .” The final stanza returns to the theme of Jesus who offers “mercy and pardon” for the sinner. The genius of a gospel song is usually found in the refrain and this one is no exception. The refrain extends the invitation to “come home” four times in the melody, and an additional two times in the accompanying lower voices. Interestingly, though “Softly and Tenderly” is the quintessential invitation hymn in the revival tradition, the invitation to “come home” may also be seen as the invitation to join Jesus in heaven. Indeed, two examples attest to this: The hymn was used during the memorial service for assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on April 8, 1968. It was also a recurring song in The Trip to Bountiful (1985), an Oscar-winning movie about an older woman in the 1940s who wants to return one last time to her girlhood hometown of Bountiful.

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Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019 Hymnologist Ernest Emurian told a story associated with this hymn: “When the world-renowned lay preacher, Dwight Lyman Moody, lay on his deathbed in his Northfield, Massachusetts, home, Will Thompson made a special visit to inquire as to his condition. The attending physician refused to admit him to the sickroom, and Moody heard them talking just outside the bedroom door. Recognizing Thompson’s voice, he called for him to come to his bedside. Taking the Ohio poet-composer by the hand, the dying evangelist said, ‘Will, I would rather have written “Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling” than anything I have been able to do in my whole life.’”

The United Methodist Men (UMM) Our purpose is to know Jesus Christ, to serve Him, to grow spiritually and seek daily to do His will. We meet the second Saturday of each month, either in Cooper Hall or offsite, at 7:30 a.m., for breakfast, devotions, meeting and a program and/or a project. We are proud sponsors and supporters of Boy Scout Troop 181. All male members of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church who show a desire, may join UMM. Our next meeting will be Saturday, January 12 at 7:30 a.m. here at the church.

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Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019

The office will be closed Tuesday, January 1, 2019

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Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019

The office will be closed Monday, January 21, 2019

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Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019 Long-Term Prayer Concerns The Sheri Bell Family, George Clayton, Frank Cribbett, Candy Hatton, Irene Lambert, The Riley Langdon Family, Lonnie and Tamara Garman, Conner Peck, Letha Phillips, Marketa Protzy, Carrington Seay, Vanda Skadden, John and Pat Smith, Barb Sterry, Ida Wade, Nancy Waller

Short Term Prayer Concerns Rick Fifield, Rod Ayres, Willa, Belinda, The Shalinski/Pendergast Families, Jenny, Larry and Evelyn Bowers, Ray Embry, The Vera Hinshaw Family, The Char Schmidt Family, Marj vanTuil, Julie, Minor and Robby Dale Nelson, Vicki and Jimbo Portman, Don Hinshaw, Cheryl Cox, Char-Tippe, Ben Hogan, Vicky vanTuil, Leonzo, Doris Hogue, Melody Ragains, Aunt Bonnie, Mrs. Febres, Bobby Hill, The Carl Thompson, Sr. Family, Lori Lang, Eden, Amanda Young, The Verla York Family, Sabine, Don Buntin, Havanah, Josh and Erika Stevens, The Hogan Family, Alisha and Kennedy, The Nielsen Family, The Keith Simpson Family, The Mary Greeley Family, Sonya Wentworth, George Komp, Seth Pickens, Mickey Tabor, Linda King, Rev. Sherri Ferriman, Melba Williams, John Hunt, Sheryl Pulling, Immigration Caravan, Sick Families, World Peace, Donna O’Donnell, Anyone Traveling, Jary Johnson, Shirley Greener, Dexter Greener, Kale O’Donnell, Kim O’Donnell, The Russ Lambert Family,The Miles Tuttle and Family, Bonnie, Josh Trent, Denny, Laurie and Lillian Weaver, Mark, Matt, CJ, Johnny, Gary Torres, Jana Buchholz, Cladine Roybah

Loved Ones The Terilynn Russ Family, The Rob Rohren Family, The Charlie Riley Family, The Bob Rickard Family

Staff Ministers……………...... Members of the Congregation Senior Pastor…………….….……………………..…..Pastor Terilynn Russ Office Manager…………………..………………………..Loraine Scoman Treasurer……………………….……..………..…….…...Lindsay Langdon Director of Music Ministries….…………….………Jennifer Montgomery Accompanist………………………………………………..….Owen Fahey Nursery Attendants……………...... Marjorie vanTuil

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Good Shepherd United Methodist Church – January 2019 Susanne Simpson Lay Leaders……………………………….….…………………Rob Rohren A.J. Johnsen Tami Godsey Head Usher…………………………………..……..…………..Rob Rohren

Address: 1201 Leta Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80911, Phone: (719) 392-5782, E-Mail: [email protected], Web Page: www.gsumc-cs.org.

OFFICE HOURS Monday – Friday ..... 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. In an Emergency, After Hours, please call Pastor Terilynn Russ at (719) 469-9929

SERVICE TIME Sunday Morning ..... 9:30 am

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