Who will call religiosity fully to life in our men,
invigorate it, and nurture it?
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“We believe that healthy growing congregations have a balance of masculine and feminine spirit, reflecting our triune God. We envision female and male believers, lay and clergy, serving Christ as co-laborers and partners in Christ. This is a unity issue, not a gender issue. We must become ONE in Christ.”
“Women and men must stand side-by-side as co-laborers in Christ. The difficult challenges facing ministry to men must be enjoined by men and women in genuine partnership. We need each other, more than ever.”
~ from UMC Men’s Ministries Guidelines
“The alienation of many men from the femininity of Christian spirituality has created grounds for an enormous misunderstanding about men and religion that every pastoral caregiver must recognize and confront. The absence of so many men from so many churches, their lack of involvement, their diffidence and even hostility to Christian piety, has created a mostly unconscious assumption in our culture that men are not naturally religious. It is widely assumed that prayer and spirituality are basically female enterprises and that all but a few unusual men can relate to religion in only a peripheral way.
“A trip outside the bounds of American Christian culture, a journey into the temples, monasteries, and shrines of the world’s religions, would quickly shatter such a misandrist illusion”
“Our religion-alienated American men represent neither a wave of the future nor a rational advance over centuries of superstition. They are an anomaly, a quirk, an oddity in the community of all the men who ever lived, who ever wondered at the Unspeakable Mystery, sought alignment with the Eternal Tao, burned with affection for the Great Holy, or trembled before the Totally Other. And all of this ancient affinity for God – every bit of it – still lies buried deep in their unconscious, waiting to be called forth into a spiritual life that will make them a little less mad and a little more human. It waits there, this penchant for the Holy, drowned out by Muzak and numbed by the dreariness of shopping malls, paralyzed by stress and enervated by neglect, until something wakes it. Who will call religiosity fully to life in men, invigorate it, and nurture it in the face of the death-dealing boredom of modern secularity? That is the task of the church in its care of souls.”
~ from “The Crisis of Men and the Church” in Masculine Spirituality and the Bible, by Patrick M. Arnold
Dear Brothers in Christ,
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King Jr.
CALENDAR
Monday 6pm Guiding Eyes for the Blind – Fellowship Hall
7pm Gloria Ringers – Choir Room
Tuesday 9:45 a.m. Bible Study – Parlor
11am Angel Gang – Zoom
7pm Bible Study – Zoom
Wednesday 8am Men’s Breakfast – Rip’s Country Inn
6:15pm EEC Staff Meeting – Fellowship
7pm Simple Prayer Service – Sanctuary
7:30pm SPRC Meeting – Room 126
Thursday 7pm Chancel Choir – Choir Room
Saturday 10:30am Altar Guild Workday – Sanctuary
11am Bridal Shower for Hannah Vare – Fellowship Hall
6:30pm Belair Square Cats – Fellowship Hall
Sunday Consecration Sunday
10am Traditional Worship Service – Sanctuary and Online
11am Children’s Sunday School – Room 222
11am Adult Sunday School “Christians at the Movies” – Parlor
11am Coffee Fellowship – Fellowship Hall
12Noon God and Guinness – Location TBD
4pm Youth Group – Room 226
CONNECTING IN CHRIST
Revelation 21:1-6a
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them and be their God;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also, he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
Daily Scripture Readings
Monday: Ezekiel 36:22-32
Tuesday: Ephesians 5:1-20
Wednesday: John 9
Thursday: Luke 19:1-10
Friday: Acts 26:2-29
Saturday: Colossians 3:1-17
Opportunities to Study and Worship
- Tuesday Morning Bible Study meets Tuesdays at 9:45am in the Parlor. Currently studying the Gospel of Mark.
- Tuesday Evening Bible Study meets at 7pm on Zoom.
- Wednesday Evening Simple Prayer – Join us in the Sanctuary at 7pm.
- Children’s Sunday School meets at 11am in room 222.
- Christian Book Club will not meet in November,
- Adult Sunday School meets in the Parlor at 11am.
- Youth Group meets Sundays at 4pm in Room 226.
- God & Guinness – Meets on the second Sunday of each month at 12pm.
Morning Prayer Call: Monday-Saturday, 6:30-6:45am. Dial 267-807-9601 and enter access code: 111-576-270 #. Leader for November 4-9: Pastor JW Park
Book Clubs Resume in December. The Tuesday Morning Book Club will resume study of the Gospel of Mark on Tuesday, December 3, at 9:45 AM in the Church parlor. On Tuesday, December 17 beginning at 7:00 PM, the Christian Book Club will discuss the first 56 pages of Rachel Held Evan’s book Wholehearted Faith. As usual the meeting will be via ZOOM. All are welcome.
Advent Bible Study – Begins Tuesday, November 19th at 7pm – ZOOM Our Advent Bible Study will run for 4 weeks. We will study Rev. Rachel Billups’s book “An Unlikely Advent”, which is available in paperback or Kindle at Amazon.com. ZOOM links will be emailed. Please let the church office know your email if you think we do not have it.
Interfaith Thanksgiving Service – Sunday, November 24th at 4pm – CCPC
Christian Community Presbyterian Church (3120 Belair Drive, Bowie, MD)
will host the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving service. Potluck supper to follow. County Councilwoman Ingrid Watson will be the special guest speaker. Replies to the CCPC office are requested, but not required, at 301-262-6008 or office@ccpcbowie.org . Donations will go to the Bowie Food Pantry
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
You Can Help Mission Central with Disaster Relief. Mission Central continues to respond to relief efforts after Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Mission Central is the largest of seven warehouses within the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Disaster Relief Network. Mission Central is in dire need of UMCOR relief supplies and monetary donations, Recent relief efforts have nearly depleted their entire cleaning and hygiene bucket inventories. You can help replenish Mission Central supplies by:
- Donating through Mission Central’s secure site, Donate Money – Mission Central, designating funds for disaster relief (UMCOR Cleaning Buckets cost about $78 and UMCOR Hygiene Kits are about $14).
- Donate cleaning bucket supplies directly (see their Amazon Wish List for Cleaning Buckets, UMCOR Amazon Wish List) and send items to Mission Central, 5 Pleasant View Drive, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050.
- Volunteer to help St. Matthew’s (a Mission Central Hub) to pick-up supplies; organize supply drives; and assemble, check, inventory, and deliver buckets and kits to Mission Central. Contact missions@stmatthews-bowie.org to volunteer or learn more. Volunteer hours and duties are flexible, and service opportunities are ever-changing.
Your Church Needs You! The worship committee needs your help! We are looking for new volunteers to be ushers, greeters, acolytes, altar guild, Scripture readers, etc. To volunteer, email the worship committee at STMWorshipChair@gmail.com with the group(s) you’re interested in helping or you can complete the following electronic form at Worship Committee Volunteer Request (office.com) link in Midweek Messenger. Your information will then be relayed to the appropriate head of that sub-group, who will contact you.
Little Free Pantry Update. The needs for the LFP are pancake mix, syrup, cereal, canned fruit, soap, and toothpaste.
Bowie Food Pantry. The Pantry’s greatest needs at this time are for condiments (ketchup, spices, salad dressing, etc.), canned vegetables, and boxed mac & cheese. Please leave donations in the cart in the coat room.
Help a Church Member: If you know of any church member who has not attended worship services lately, or who may be sick and in need of prayers, please contact the church office at (301) 262-1408. You can make a difference in a person’s life by letting us know about anyone’s absence. Their absence could be due to illness.
Help a Church Member 2. If you know of a church member who needs a ride to church services, please offer to give them a ride.
INCLUSIVENESS
Bishop Easterling’s Message on Political Participation. On October 22, Bishop LaTrelle Easterling released a letter reminding all of us of the United Methodist principles, and thus the Christian principles, to which we all should adhere during the upcoming election. To read her full letter, follow this link: Bishop’s Message on Political Participation
Piano Recital Invitation. Jung-hoon Park, a first-generation Korean immigrant who has been part of the United Methodist Church ministry for nearly 10 years, will be giving a solo piano recital at Calvary United Methodist Church in Annapolis on November 17 at 3:00 PM. Through Pastor JW Park, he has extended a special invitation to the entire St. Matthew’s congregation to attend the recital. The program will feature works by Bach, Gershwin, Liszt, and Ravel.
Turkey Basket Giveaway. The Interfaith Coalition of Bowie is partnering with Prince George’s County Councilmember Ingrid Watson to host a Thanksgiving Basket Giveaway on Sunday, November 24, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM at the Bowie Community Center, 3209 Stonybrook Drive. ICB will be providing groceries and turkeys for 100 local families on a first-come, first-served basis. ICB announced Thanksgiving groceries may be reserved via this link: Thanksgiving Basket Giveaway — Interfaith Coalition of Bowie.
Midweek Messenger. To ensure that your item is included in the Midweek Messenger, please send it to enews@stmatthews-bowie.org by noon on Wednesday. Anything received after that may be held for the next week’s edition.
Bulletin Announcements. Email announcements to announcements@stmatthews-bowie.org no later than 12pm on the Wednesday before the Sunday service when it should appear. Thank you!
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St. Matthew’s UMC is an inclusive church, connected to our community, and committed to welcoming all persons in every phase of church life. We choose to live by Christ’s example, affirming that all people are created in the image of God.
We celebrate our diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, age, marital status, nationality, physical abilities, mental abilities, and economic position.
Through the Spirit we commit to live in the words of John Wesley to
“love alike though we may not always think alike.”
Wherever you are in your faith journey, you are welcome here.
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Ray Denmark
St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church
14900 Annapolis Road
Bowie, MD 20715
raydenmark@stmatthews-bowie.org
(301) 651-3643