FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF WEST CHICAGO NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2020 www.firstumcucc.org ...we are on facebook! 5th. Stay-At-Home Issue L First United Methodist Church of West Chicago L page 2 DEAR I am still confident of this: encourage you to keep your confidence in the Lord as you navigate these uncertain times. Use these days to draw CHURCH I will see the goodness of close to the Lord, and I know He is clear in the Word that FAMILY the LORD in the land of the He will draw near to us! living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart I suppose one of the and wait for the LORD. reasons the Psalms -Psalm 27:13-14: (NIV) are so powerful is that there is such a desire What a summer we are experi- to “enter His gates by PASTOR AVANI encing! Every day is a new day. with thanksgiving I wanted to let you know how and praise” – So much I miss meeting together as a church family while bat- often, the Psalmist tling the Coronavirus. expresses his love for the place of While we know and realize the “church” is not a building, but meeting with God. the people who make up the body of Christ, there’s little doubt that this is not the way any of us envision what church will be Again, I realize going forward. we live in the New Testament, and Someone once said, “you don’t know what you have until it’s we know God gone.” Of course, the church is not “gone” in a literal sense, dwells in us, but but not meeting together sure does make me appreciate what the Word also makes it clear the ultimate we had! Yet, the thing that keeps me going is realizing this is design is that we meet together. not a situation that will last forever. We will meet again soon! But until then, we will wait on God in patience. I love you, and miss you! There is such an odd feeling walking through the various emp- If there is anything I can do to minister to you, please don’t ty rooms in the church, especially the big room that is often hesitate to reach out to me. filled with people worshiping God and hearing the Word, but it’s all very quiet now. Together for Justice, Many of the Psalms are quite encouraging, and my mind goes to a few verses in Psalm 27:13-14. While all of us might honestly say that our patience is wearing a bit thin, I would WEEDING? L First United Methodist Church of West Chicago L page 3 ACTIONS by LINDA STOYNOFF BIRTHDAYS & This month in our year ANNIVERSARIES TO of protecting water quali- PRESERVE ty, we focus on polluting chemicals: GOD’S AUGUST P Dandelions have lots PLANET? of vitamins, consider 1 ..... Bruce & Norene Treudt (1971) pulling them and putting 3 ..... David Kraus the flowers in a small 6 ..... Gigi Hendricks vase and use the washed ....... Carolyn Roberts greens in a salad. This 7 ..... James MacDonald can avoid weed killers 8 ..... Nina Chezem which wash into our ....... Matt Tracey waterways. 11 ... Linda Johnson 12 ... Erlaine & Howard Born (1973) P Try to never use 14 ... John & Leslie Singh (2004) Roundup(glyphosate) 15 ... Wayne & Sandy Woodward (1964) weed killer as it probably 16 ... Mel Wuest causes cancer and can 18 ... Burt & Dorothy Andrews (1962) end up in waterways. If ....... Dennis & Linda Johnson (1978) you must use it, closely follow all safety precautions listed on 19 ... Steve Scott the product. 20 ... Matt Moore 28 ... Bruce Petrie P Buy organic fruits and vegetables which don’t use 30 ... Kristina & Uwe Gsedl (1992) chemicals. If you can’t to do it for everything, start with a few things. Using your dollars to support organic farming is putting your money where your mouth is… GREEN DISCIPLES The Church will no longer accept batteries for recycling. Again, this year I am focusing on giving just a few sug- BATTERIES It has become impossible gestions each month hoping to make it easier for all of us NO to find outlets for recycling to make small steps to protect our planet for now and the single use, household batter- future.. P LONGER ies. Recycling these batteries ACCEPTED is tougher, because most places do not consider them a serious enough source of by MIKE HORSLEY pollution to require recycling and recommend that they be GREEN DISCIPLES A big thank-you to the Green put in the regular trash. You can still recycle rechargeable Disciples, Brian, Gigi, Judi, batteries. The reason for recycling rechargeable batteries is CLEAN-UP quite simple: They contain toxic heavy metals such as cad- WASHINGTON Lana and Mike, for picking up mium, mercury, and lithium. That’s why it’s illegal to throw trash along Washington Street them away in many states. For a listing of rechargeable STREET on Saturday, June 27, 2020 battery recycling locations, go to: as part of the Church’s com- mitment to the DuPage Coun- https://www.dupageco.org/OnlineRecyclingGuide/. by MIKE HORSLEY ty Adopt-a-Highway Program. It is unfortunate that we can no longer find easy drop loca- The Green Disciples encour- tions for single use batteries. Please find a location for recy- age all to join the Adopt-a-Highway program as a statement cling any rechargeable batteries. For powering your future, of serving the community and dedication to maintaining it is time to buy some rechargeable batteries! and sustaining God’s Earth. For more information contact: Mike Horsley at [email protected].. P Protecting and Sustaining God’s Earth! P L First United Methodist Church of West Chicago L page 4 FALL SERMON SERIES This summer is different. We all have many plans unrealized. What happens when our world falls apart? What does it look like to search for God in the gray area of our lives? How do we press onward when our tightly-knit plans unravel into loose threads? Our fall worship series explores stories of unraveled shame, identity, fear, grief, dreams, and expectations, where God meets us in the spiraling, unraveling our plans—and us— forming all into something new. We need YOUR participation in this series. Please cut a strip of fabric and write your prayers or prayer request on it. You can write, “Dear God, please weave_______ into my life.” Then mail it to us or drop it off at the office on Wednesday or During our worship service, we will weave the strips together as we pray. If you have questions or need more information, please contact the office. L First United Methodist Church of West Chicago L page 5 and cleaned the mud and blood off her. After the shower LIFE Chapter 8 Winky-2014 and as my wife and Zan treated her wounds, I tried to Winky wasn’t the same. find out what happened. “Mom, what happened?” She STORY She hasn’t been the same looked perplexed, “What do you mean, what happened?” for quite a while. She lived “Why are you bloody?” “I fell down”, “Ok, how did you fall with us for eight years and down?” She frowned a little as she tried to remember, “I everything went well, for think I fell into a bush” This made sense. We had a lot by LYNN HOUSNER of blackberry bushes around the property and they had in memory of the most part. She would EMMA HOUSNER do laundry, clean, and cook lots of thorns. “Did the bush have thorns” “Yes!” She said while my wife and I went somewhat emphatically. “And, I fell down on my shoulder. to work at West Virginia It hurts.” My wife and Zan took Winky to the hospital. University. We lived on 40 pristine acres in Kingwood, a Thankfully, we have a full-service hospital in Kingwood. town of 3500 in the Cheat River valley. Winky was large- The X-rays revealed a broken collar bone. Winky stayed ly independent and lived alone in Chicago until she was in Preston Memorial Hospital for three days and then 80. She would not have needed to move in with us except was transferred to Heartland Rehabilitation hospital. that she sold her house to help my brother with money he Mum stayed there for a month receiving physical and needed for his divorce. So, she sold all of her possessions occupational therapy for her physical injuries and to except for a few items that I transported from Chicago strengthen her legs for walking with stability. She also to Kingwood in a Ryder Truck and she moved in with received speech therapy and therapy for her cognitive us. At 80, Winky was a 5 ft 100 lb grey-haired dynamo. decline. Winky was never one to let grass grow under her She looked and behaved like Estelle Getty in the Golden feet and she always wanted to help people. So, by the time Girls. She would help around the farm and insisted on I visited her after two days, she was busy watching out being included on all projects including painting the metal for her roommate. By the time she left after a little over roof on the house and tearing down our dilapidated barn. a month she had a nice cohort of 5 or 6 “friends” who She never met a hammer, paint brush, mower, or wheel she visited and helped with whatever they needed.There barrow that she didn’t like. As the years went by, Winky was a time not long ago when my wife’s mother lived with slowed down.