May 2020 Newsletter

MOSCOW UNITED METHODIST CHURCH NEWSLETTER May 10, 2020 Pastor’s Letter I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. Luke 24:49-53 As we continue to walk through this trying time from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are undoubtedly experiencing long days that push our virtue of patience and test our faith in the midst of staying in, hearing of and watching stories of devastating sickness and tragedy, also of financial hardships, and unbelievable grief, we must hold fast to believing in the everlasting promises of God. We are still in the Easter Season when we actively are reminded in scripture to live by what we confess to believe in - the liberating love of Christ, the hope that no one nor nothing will ever take away from us. We shall overcome and conquer all through the Spirit of Jesus’ resurrection. As tiresome as some days may be, we are encouraged that healing is happening with every sunrise. The fire of courage resides within us shining the light to see us through this historic time to not only survive, but thrive. Instead of fixing our thoughts on the shadowed reports of uncertainty around us, as Christians, it is essential we choose to believe in God’s powerful, redeeming grace and focus on the accounts of God’s comforting, secure, inspiring testimonies persons are experiencing or the God moments which are being shared. Living by faith (belief in the unseen) brings strength to carry on when what we do see and hear may be too much to bear. May has arrived. Vibrant colors are beginning to appear, blanketing the earth with the presence of God. What a beautiful landscape of creation our Lord paints for us in the spring, filled with signs of new life! If you are ever having an especially challenging day, pause and pray, be still and simply look around to realize God is there, actively walking with us through all circumstances. The same could be said when we are having a joy-filled day, take notice of the goodness which surrounds us that affirms our holy environment and that all of life is truly a divinely crafted spacious gift allowing our joy to spread by sharing in faith. In all times and all places, we should always recognize that we must to give thanks to God for everything which is given to us. In the grand scheme of things, all the buds, blooms, and revelations of renewed living formed by God, it is a wonder to ponder that as much as God created the heavens and the earth with much purpose, so too did our Heavenly Father make each of us with much purpose. It is in honor and glory to God, that we live every minute breathing grateful praise for the meaning that is our being.

As the Easter season moves on AKA the Great 50 days between Resurrection Day and Pentecost, our faith will be enriched and grow by hearing Gospel accounts of the Risen Lord engaging in conversations of comfort, teaching, forgiveness, and assurance, also listening again to treasured truths of God. On May 24th, we will recall Ascension Sunday, when our Savior rises from the realm of the world into his place of reigning royalty in the glory of eternal paradise. In the message of Jesus’ ascension, much is made possible. We shall hear more about this in worship on that special day. In the ascension scripture above, all that has, is, and will unfold in the future began with Jesus’ words of security from his Father. Jesus instructed his disciples to go and wait for the promised arrival of the Holy Spirit. He then is lifted to heaven, raising his hands to continually bless his people. The disciples’ response in waiting for the Holy Spirit was one of constant, heartfelt, motivating worship. After all they had been through, they knew they could rely on Jesus’ words. In anticipation of more divine promises becoming reality, they couldn’t hold back their elation. We should strive to do the same, worship and rely on Jesus’ words. Although, we don’t have to wait as they did. We are already blessed by the Holy Spirit. We are urged again to live out the Good News of the resurrection, the ascension, and achieve the purpose for which we were sent into the world. Let us rejoice by living our faith out loud showing others the way to a brighter path in periods of clouded concern. By trusting in God, we WILL lead others to praise the Lord and journey in peace. Then we shall also on Sunday, May 31st celebrate the fulfillment of ALL God’s promises and the birthday of the Church on Pentecost. May is a holy month filled with spiritual opportunities. In this world we may have trouble, yet the ultimate victory is ours. So, enjoy the beauty of spring, by getting out in safe ways as much as possible for fresh air, spending time with and savoring moments of peace and praise with your Lord, lifting your fears to God and choosing to live with fearless faith. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can anyone by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:26, 27 (Matthew 6:25-34) VIRTUAL CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL LIVE STREAM OF ALL SERVICES AND MEETINGS As we deal with the social distance safety measures related to COVID-19, we are finding new ways to worship, hold meetings, and join in fellowship. Our live stream weekly worship service is held at 10:00 AM on Sunday Mornings and our weekly Sunday School lessons are livestreamed at 9:00, as well as, other scheduled times communicated on Facebook and through our email group. Links and directions to join are located on the church website. All worship services and Sunday School lessons are recorded and can also be viewed on YouTube.

DEVOTIONAL PODCASTS Pastor Lori is recording two audio podcasts during the week that have various spiritual themes. The podcasts are emailed to the member list (if you are not on the list please add your email address on the website) and posted on Facebook. People are able to subscribe to our podcasts by way of: WE WILL SOON BE ON: These virtual opportunities are allowing God’s Word and messages from the Moscow UMC to reach many people. We have heard from people in this region and throughout the country who are thankful to be spiritually nourished. Spread the word by inviting your family, friends, and neighbors to check out these new ways to unite with the Moscow UMC. Praise be to God for blessing our ministries! THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUSITY Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:7,8 Grateful hearts that give to aid others offer thanksgiving to God. Grateful hearts and thanksgiving to God abound at MUMC! When the Church, as the people, are unable to gather at church buildings, one major area that comes into question is receiving continuous offerings to keep the church ministries, missions, and operations progressively effective. We are blessed with faithful servants of the Lord who are devoted to ensuring our beloved church is in generous functioning order. Thank you to all who are currently able to give. It has and will continue to make a great difference in our capacity to reach out and keep procedures going. Prayers that uninterrupted offerings are maintained by mailing offerings in to the church office, through EFT, and the contribution option through PayPal. The PayPal DONATE button is found on the homepage of the church’s website.

SHELF STABLE MEAL KITS Greetings from our Administrative Council Chair - I work with Lackawanna County Area Agency on Aging as their Senior Citizen Outreach Representative. We recently had a program providing Shelf Stable Meal Kits to seniors who were having problems getting to grocery stores during the COVID-19 Pandemic. We gave away hundreds of these 6 packs of nutritional meals. As I stated, the meals are shelf stable so they will last for a long time. There is an assortment of different prepackaged meals such as beef stew, Lasagna etc. If you know of someone over 60 years of age that IS IN NEED, we have about 50 packs left. We will arrange to have them delivered to the recipient’s door. I will need name, address, date of birth, last 4 of SS #, telephone number. Please call me at 570-947-6796. One package per person over 60 yrs. old. Thank you, Howard McIntosh REALIGNMENT ANNOUNCEMENT It has been announced that as of July 1, 2020, the Moscow Gouldsboro Charge will be in a new alignment. Both churches will become station churches. The Moscow Church will return to full time with Pastor Lori staying on as the servant leader. The Gouldsboro Church will be a halftime church led by Certified Lay Minister Laurence Nelson. Prayers as we head into a time of transition that God’s grace flourishes with great transforming strength in each respective community where the church facilities are located. NORTH POCONO FOOD PANTRY In April, the food pantry served 268 families, 859 people, 248 children with the help of 249 volunteer hours. The pantry is in need of peanut butter and shampoo. PRAYER REQUEST A long time friend has recently lost her husband and is struggling. Her furnace has just failed and she doesn't have the $4,000 for a new one. She is surviving with a kerosene heater. If you

have a prayer group, I would appreciate the addition of her name, Maryann Rose. -Chet Drake SUNDAY SCHOOL Greetings from our Sunday School! We hope everyone is well and would like to give everyone an update. We have been mailing out weekly packets, if you would like to be added to our mailing list, please send an email to [email protected] or check out our Facebook group. Most projects can be made from things you have at home, but we do occasionally mail out extra items. We also do a virtual Sunday School lesson, there is a recorded session that gets posted to the Church website, and if you have a child that would like to participate in our lessons we have a live group Sunday mornings at 9am, we use the same system as the church sermon. Last week made signs for our windows to spread Jesus' message of love.

THE LEARNING TREE PRESCHOOL Hello All! I hope you are well! This is the May/June info for the newsletter with some pictures The MUMC Learning Tree has been providing parents of all three classes with distance learning packets including Scholastic Let’s Find Out Magazines, name practice sheets, number and/or letter practice worksheets, crafts, hands on manipulative, and access to any school materials by request. Our parents are contacted on a regular basis via email or Class Dojo and given links to YouTube songs, videos, read alouds, virtual field trips, science experiments, etc. that we normally would have watched in the classroom to enhance our Scholastic LFO weekly themes. We recently started biweekly video chats with our Pre-K and Preschool classes. These chats are centered around our Morning Meetings in which we say our greetings, sing our calendar songs, and the ‘Owl’ for the day tells us the weather. We have a “Boys Show and Tell Day” and a “Girls Show and Tell Day” as well as reviewing our weekly themes and playing letter or number games. May and early June our themes are: Taking Care of Baby, Super Sea Turtles, Busy, Busy Bees!, High Five for Summer Safety, Explore the Oceans, and Saying Goodbye. Our Pre-K class will be provided with packets to continue to practice writing their lower case letters and review writing and counting numbers 13-20. Preschool packets will include worksheets for letter writing practice of letters T, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z and also counting and practice writing numbers 1-10. All three classes will be provided with materials and written instructions and/or a video for their weekly themed craft and Pre-K and Preschool will also be provided with materials to make and sign their own Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards. Graduation and the Last Day of School Parties dates are TBD.