JOIN US FOR DINNER & A MOVIE TOMORROW:

Sat., March 15 - Sound of Hope (Dinner will be corned beef, cabbage and potatoes)

RSVP requested but not requiredEveryone welcome!










LENTEN DINNER & DEVOTIONAL STUDY:  
Please join us on Thursday, March 20^th at 6:30pm for Cavolis’s Pizza and snacks, and a Christ Centered Devotion! Sign-up sheet is posted on the bulletin board.




CHAT & CHEW! Lunch & Chat Adult Discussion Group!  
Come and join us! Bring your lunch and enjoy your food AND a great discussion! We will explore various topics in the church and Bible. 12 to 2 p.m.! 

Spring Dates: 
March 17th - We will see you at noon! 
April - NO MEETING (it is the day after Easter)
May 19th - We will see you at noon!

 Summer Dates:
June - NO MEETING
July 21st - We will see you at noon!
August 18th - We will see you at noon!



 

MILITARY BOXES:  
We will be packing Rockport military boxes AFTER WORSHIP ON MARCH 30TH.  Please stop in room 22/meeting room following worship to help with this very important ministry of Rockport.  Also, if anyone has names of family, friends, or loved ones serving our country, please let Jeff Zullo know.





BIBLE STUDY!  
Our Disciple short-term study on GENESIS is an 11-week study which meets every Wednesday, with a break during Holy Week, and will finish on May 28. Jim Spallino will be teaching. We will meet in Rm. 22/meeting room at 7pm.  A limited number of slightly used books are in the office for $5/each.  Sign-up sheet is posted on the bulletin board.





SAVE THE DATE:  PANCAKE BREAKFAST & EGG HUNT: 
April 13^th (Palm Sunday) after our 10am worship service, all are invited to a pancake breakfast with homemade buttermilk pancakes (Gluten free also available), sausage, eggs, and fruit in Wesley Hall. There is no charge but donations will be accepted. Please let Diana Leitch know if you are willing to help.






MEAGER MEAL AND MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICE:  
Please join us on Thursday, April 17^th at 5:30 for a soup and bread meal, served by our youth, followed by a 7:00pm worship service, with choir singing and communion.  Maundy Thursday commemorates Jesus Christ’s Last Supper with his disciples and reminds us of the importance of humility, selflessness, and service to others.





BOOK CLUB: 
Please join us April 16^th, 7:00pm in the church parlor for our next book club. We will be reading "The Berry Pickers" by Amanda Peters who tells the story of a Mi'kmaw family who travel from Nova Scotia to Maine each summer to pick blueberries, where their young daughter Ruthie mysteriously disappears, leaving her older brother Joe haunted by the loss; the narrative also follows Norma, a young woman growing up in a seemingly perfect Maine family who harbors unsettling memories and gradually uncovers a dark secret connected to Ruthie's disappearance, exploring themes of grief, family secrets, and the lingering impact of trauma across generations.” If you’d like to bring something to share, bring something with blueberries in it, to go with our book!  A book club Kit with 11 large print copies of this book are available in the church office. Hope to see everyone on April 16^th for food, fun, fellowship, and discussion. 




BOTTLE CAPS!  
The Youth Group are collecting bottle caps for a mission project. The plastic kind - for example, 2 liter and 16/20/24 oz bottles. 
  During these past weeks we have been asking you, the congregation, to collect bottle caps, and we are providing the boxes to collect them with to make it easier. (courtesy of Dave Stephan! THANK YOU!) You can grab one on your way out of the church on the Christian Ed table in the hallway…   We have been asking to collect these caps in order to create our own bench, fully from the caps we have collected. This bench will signify how recycling can be seen and the process. This bench will be placed in a chosen location on the church grounds.  Along with these recycled caps, we will also accept donations to use towards the processing of the caps to the bench. Through our collective efforts we will eventually have a product that can be enjoyed by everyone.
  You can find the acceptable caps and lids list posted on the table with the boxes, and also above. We will be collecting THROUGH EASTER/MAY! Thank you!

The link for information…
 https://www.greentreeplastics.com/abc-program/









COFFEE HOUR:  
Please consider hosting coffee hour and sign-up on the bulletin board.  Fellowship is so important to the life of the church and why not have a little snack at the same time!




GOOGLE DRIVE REMINDER:
Year-end 2024 Church financials can be found here.
Go to the Rockport All Church Information folder, Financial Reports folder, 2024 Financials folder, or get a hard copy in the church office.




REMINDER:
Office hours are Monday-Thursday 8:00 - 2:00pm and Fridays from 8:00 - 1:00pm.  
Rev. Don's office hours are Tuesday and Thursdays from 11:00 - 1:00pm




DISTRICT NEWS: www.eocumc.com/northernwaters



CONFERENCE NEWS: https://www.eocumc.com

A Lenten Invitation

“And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” – Mark 1:12-13 (NRSVA)

Each year we take a journey from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday called Lent. This is a time of introspection and devotional reflection. Many people make commitments to give up something they enjoy throughout this period, a symbolic gesture of sacrifice and self-denial. But beyond giving up chocolate or coffee or sweets or television, the Lenten period is a time for deep personal evaluation and reassessment. Lent can also be a time to think about what more we can give instead of what we can give up.

This year I invite us all to give more time and attention to what makes us faithful Christian disciples. Our challenge is to enter into a wilderness time with Jesus, to give Jesus our companionship throughout the weeks leading to Easter. Day-by-day, step-by-step we journey into wilderness – a place that is unfamiliar, dangerous, challenging, unknown, and filled with temptations. This is an invitation to make a conscious and intentional decision to go places that might be uncomfortable, threatening, frightening, or overwhelming for some, but we all enter in knowing that “angels wait on us,” and protect us.

This wilderness region stands between us, where we are now, and true and foundational beloved community, where God is calling us. Our current reality is that we tend to stay where we are most comfortable, where things are familiar, seem safe, secure, and normal. But one of the “beasts” we will encounter in our wilderness journey is normativity – the deceptive perspective that what is normal, comfortable, and beneficial for us is also normal for everyone else. In the glorious and divine creation of God, where the global community is one of widely diverse cultures, rituals, practices, values, moralities, preferences and tastes, there is simply no one-size-fits-all normal for everyone.

There are many significant challenges to such an audacious and ambitious goal, and we will encounter many of them in this Lenten season together. For many of us, we may feel threatened and discomforted by such phrases and concepts as racism, white privilege, white supremacy, colonialism, oppression, and racially based injustice. We may feel our defenses rise, we may even be offended and alarmed. This is what happens in the wilderness. Wilderness is never a safe place, but we must enter and cross the wilderness if we ever want to arrive at the Promised Land of Beloved Community.

It is true that humanity is seriously suffering from environmental and ecological problems and is suffering greatly. Of course, it is not easy for us, who live in a consumer culture, to talk about the preservation of the ecosystem and justice for all creatures. Our prayer for a green theology and our confession of faith that everyone is called to preserve God’s creation is a reality that demands urgent practice. It is precious that we pray for and care about justice for all creatures, along with the invitation to walk the actual path of the wilderness during this Lenten season. As vibrant church communities across Ohio stand as earth stewards for the preservation of creation, praying and learning together, this is one of the ways God wants us to preserve justice.

I am deeply moved to see our church open pantries for the homeless and the poor, regularly prepare and provide food, and extend God’s love to those who are left behind in the gaps of social injustice. The impactful mission of providing food, neatly organizing clothes, and providing free shelter for the poor neighbors is a proud practice of discipleship. I am grateful for this participation and prayer, and I am strengthened by meeting volunteers who are unconditionally committed and serving.

Our journey will be uncomfortable, offensive to some, and challenging to all. We openly and honestly admit this up front. But this is an important journey – an essential and inescapable journey – for The United Methodist Church to be faithful to its bedrock commitment to social justice through the unconditional love of God for all God’s people. Keep in mind that we make this journey with the angels, the emissaries of God who will keep us grounded in God’s Word and Will throughout our days.

“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” – Revelations 22:12-13 (NRSVA)

This Lenten season will be a prayerful time, a discerning time, a time for individual introspection as well as shared conversation. It is my prayer and desire that in this journey we will all feel God’s guiding hand and empowering Spirit, and that we will arrive together at a greater, deeper, and wider understanding of what it means to be a citizen in the Beloved Community of our Lord.
 

Storyboard Episode 54

By EOC News on March 10, 2025 https://open.spotify.com/episode/5u3RnJgUhGQmgvTGAsHdrK Storyboard: Faith Witness Transformation is a podcast highlighting ministries across the East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church that are transforming lives locally, nationally, and globally. Produced twice-a-month by EOC Communications, each podcast episode focuses on one of the core values of the #BeUMC campaign: Disciple Making; Belonging & Inclusion; Influence, Connection & Impact; and Experience of God through The United Methodist Church. Episode 54 “Experiencing Summer Camp” features a conversation with leaders of the three East Ohio Conference campsites: Aldersgate, Asbury and Wanake. “At Camp kids get the opportunity to be in creation and experience the beauty of creation which is another testimony and another way that they can get to know God the Creator,” said Rev. Gary Jones, Camps & Retreat Ministries director. “We have a whole summer staff full of people ready to lead kids spiritually from different countries from our country from different places in life,” said Meredith Mateer, Camp Aldersgate director. “The opportunity that kids have to see themselves reflected in someone that’s in a spiritual leadership position is really special.” Camp Asbury Director John Cruz says camp community is like no other. “It’s so impactful because of how close that small group setting is that they’re in.” Learn about and register for EOC Summer Camp. Listen to previous Storyboard podcast episodes. View clergy and laity sharing their #BeUMC stories.