Kept by the Holy Spirit

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. -- Acts 16:6-10

Similar to this Bible story, our mission team from Peoples was setting out for a trip to Baltimore. However, the organization through which we were arranging the trip has prayerfully decided to cancel all trips to Baltimore this year. Rather than our group being discouraged, I sensed a determination to seek God's will and move forward. After hearing about the dilemma and asking if folks were still interested in going on some kind of mission trip that week, all of the group, including our two youth members Isaac and Nathan Dunn, enthusiastically said, "Of course!" All were excited to pursue other options. "Where is our Macedonia?" we asked. The group will be meeting to continue our discernment process.

Most of us at some time will feel "kept by the Holy Spirit" in our call and mission field, wherever that may be. Let us follow the example of Paul and his companions to persist in seeking God and his loving will for our lives, and to be encouraged in the joy of the Lord.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Gwyneth

Baptism on May 16

If you are interested in being baptized, or having a child baptized, or are just interested in the theology of baptism in the United Methodist church, please contact the pastors. We will be baptizing any who are interested during worship on Sunday, May 16.

Before baptism there is a short class required for all parents (or others who will be taking vows during the baptism). There are three options. However, if none of these work please let the pastors know and we will schedule an individual session.

*Sunday, May 2 8:45am-9:15am (in the church nursery) or

*Wednesday, May 5 7:00pm-8:30pm (at the Whittemore's home in Portland) or

*Thursday, May 13 10:00am-11:30am (at the pastors' home next to the church)

For any children to be baptized who are 3 years or older we will also be meeting with them during Sunday School on May 9 (yes, they will have plenty of time to complete their Mother's Day crafts too!). If your older child will not be in Sunday School on Mother's Day please contact the pastors to set up a separate appointment.

The Perfect Mother's Day Gift!

What better Mother's Day present than giving her an hour of quiet to just connect with God?

The May meditation will be held Sunday, May 9 at 7pm. This month’s theme: "Empowerd by the Holy Spirit!” Join us for a short Scripture reading followed by about 45 minutes of reflection while listening to meditative instrumental music in the beautiful candlelit sanctuary.

Some of your unchurched friends or family may be uncomfortable with traditional Sunday morning church. This casual time of meditation is the perfect opportunity to invite someone to attend with you.

This will be the last monthly meditation until Fall. Come relax and connect with God.

Mother's Day at Peoples May 9

We hope all kids will attend for a fun Mother's Day celebration in Sunday School on May 9 led by the men and fathers! We hope this will be a meaningful time for all.

Plant Sale May 22

Peoples Church is holding its first plant sale on Saturday , May 22, 2010. Hours are 9:00 am until 12:00 noon, rain or shine.

Sponsored by Peoples Garden Club , this is a way to do something for Stewardship and to benefit world missions through Peoples mission shares.

We would like anyone who has perennials to share to pot them up, label them and bring them to the playground in back of the church on Friday the 21st. We can use shallow cardboard boxes to put plants in for the sale. It will be held in the driveway at the corner of Broadway and Mussey Street.

FMI please contact Carol Bruneau at 799-5995.

Audio/Visual Operator Opening

Submitted by Doug Greer:

Looking for people that have thought of wanting to be of the team to run the audio visual on Sunday Morning. You can watch one Sunday and I can spend a Sunday or two with you to guide you though the process and there is a "cheat" sheet.

There are two parts:
1) Audio

a) controlling the inputs levels of the microphones
b) volume control on the speaker
c) recording the service
2) Visual - running the PowerPoint Presentation on the computer
a) pressing mouse button or arrow key to forward slide
(The pastors put the Presentation together.)

And combination of each when depending on the complexity of the "wow factor" you want. Charlie and I with the pastors have been tweaking the iWorship video technical bumps. Simple? Yes, for the most part. Are there issues? Yes, at times. The real task is paying attention to the service. Scratch that, Be part of making the service flow. I like to review the presentation prior to the service and discuss with the pastor any timing of slide/photo - that is where the "oh wow-nice" integrates the visual with meaning in the service.

Let me know if you are interested.
Doug

Newcomer Gathering May 23

The pastors are hosting a gathering for newcomers. If you are relatively new to Peoples Church, or have recently joined as a member, the pastors would love the chance to get to know you better, and to help you meet some of the other newcomers. We expect to have lots of children attending since this is the last day of Sunday School ! We will have a deli meat platter and peanut butter & jelly available to make your own sandwiches, or feel free to bring your own if you have different food preferences. Weather-permitting, please dress for outdoor play.

Date: Sunday, May 23
Time: Noon (after worship)
Place: Pastors home (154 Mussey Street, next to the church)

RSVP to Gwyneth and Jamie
or 619-1509

High Tea and Bridal Show May 23

High Tea and Bridal Show May 23 at 3pm sponsored by the United Methodist Women. Admission $5.00 Children under 10 free.

There will be people you may recognize modeling wedding gowns, accompanied by some flower girls. All proceeds will go to UMC world missions through our Conference mission shares.

We will be putting a list out soon for things we need. FMI call Carol 799-5995 or Rosemary 799-2392.

Memorial Day Mission on May 31

Betty Splettstoesser is leading a mission to give out water and other items to people at the Memorial Day Parade on May 31. This was a wonderful mission last year as the parade route goes right by Peoples, and hope more Peoples people will participate this year! For ways to donate or help out, please contact Betty Splettstoesser at 799-5475.

Root Cellar Successful Mission!

On April 22, Peoples people fed over 80 children and adults at the Root Cellar , a big crowd, and the food did not run out! We had wonderful people serving and Ellen's music and message were awesome . Thanks to all who served , and those who made deserts .
Yours in Christian Service,
Carol

Note from Susan Angell: I completely agree. Ellen's was wonderful and she got children and adults participating in this joyful message and music like I have not seen before.

Pinwheels for Earth Day

Sunday School celebrated earth day on April 18! Many thanks to Jason and Mary House who brought some fun crafts and activities to help the kids learn about renewable enregy and the wind of the Spirit! Kids made pinwheels and Jason had a solar cell, windmill and some other experiments to model.

Bishop’s Day on the District

The Bishop’s Day on the District was held Saturday, April 17 at the Rochester UMC in NH. Bishop Peter Weaver led what is called a "missions walk!"

What is a mission walk? It is a chance to go out and walk 10 minutes in any direction from the church and 10 minutes back. In first 10 minutes take inventory of what is in neighborhood. What do you see? In 10 minutes walking back think about those places and how do we connect with the people who are in those places? How do we learn from them what they are experiencing, build friendship, build solidarity with folks who are different from us? After doing this, the group returns for conversation to connect the gifts we have with the needs we see represented. Those who prefer not to walk or drive can stay in prayer for those who are going out.

Unfortunately on our Bishop's Day it was raining! So we took a "virtual walk," trying to remember things we saw as we drove to the church from different directions. Here are some of the things we saw: Walgreens, another church, Friendly’s, pizza place, funeral parlor, fire department, park, salvation army, dunkin donuts, saw repair place, hospital, gas station, auto repair, apartments, library, homes, traffic, all-you-can-eat restaurant, graffiti, river, fair grounds.

We then discussed together the gifts in our church that could meet spiritual and physical needs in these areas. We came up with ideas such as hosting small group studies in the low income housing area, leading worship or Vacation Bible Camp in the local park, visiting people in the hospital, hosting worship in a retirement home, starting a tutoring group in the library, providing children's activities at a fair (or Art in the Park!), or helping a local business clean up graffiti.

Bishop Weaver challenged EVERY church to participate in the 2010 Mission Leap Forward. The challenge is for every United Methodist Church to engage every member of the congregation in some new hands on ministry and mission. What will you do?!

Upcoming Wedding

Pastor Gwyneth will be performing a wedding cermony for a couple in the community, Danielle and Devlan, on June 11. The pastors require 6 sessions of premarital counseling and use a curriculm called Prepare-Enrich. In addition to planning the actual wedding details, counseling includes an inventory taken by the couple which is then used to help lead the discussion on topics such as conflict resolution, personality and family profiles, finances, intimacy, parenting, marriage expectations and spirituality based on the couples strengths and growing edges from the inventory.

Please keep Danielle and Devlan in your prayers as they prepare for their wedding and marriage together!

Best of Broadway

Best of Broadway has continued rehearsing this Spring for their performance on Saturday, May 8 at the Merrill Auditorium. Peoples has provided space for this group for several years now as a ministry to Best of Broadway which raises funds for the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center.

Finance Meeting with Mike Davis

The Finance Committee and a few others met together with our District Superintendent, Rev. Mike Davis to discuss our financial situation at Peoples on April 7. Also attending was Pete Lanoue from Thornton Heights and member of CF&A (Conference Council on Finance and Administration). Pete volunteered his assistance since Thornton was in a similar position to Peoples a few years ago and has overcome!

Is there a doctor in the house?!

Overall this was a very positive meeting, emphasizing the Conference's desire to see Peoples succeed and grow, and help us in any way they can. Mike described initiating this conversation over our church's financial situation as similar to a doctor finding a patient with a fever. In the last two years, the church has dropped from paying 60-70% of mission shares to the Conference, to paying 6-8% of mission shares. Naturally the Conference is asking, "Is Peoples ok?" Mission shares helps support camps like Mechuwana, pay pensions for retired pastors, support overhead costs for the UMC mission organization UMCOR, and many other missional areas. Go to this link to find out more info about mission shares.

Our Culture is Not Churched!

We are not alone in our financial struggles. In generally, all mainline churches (Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, etc.) are struggling, shrinking and closing in every part of our country. Mike emphasized the church's need to adjust to the changing culture which no longer views the church with respect but rather suspicion and even contempt. We need to view our communities as a mission field where we need to reach out into the community to connect with people, rather than expecting folks to knock on our door. Most of church growth is coming from transfers from other congregations - we need to begin making disciples of Jesus Christ again!

Our NEED to Give

We also reviewed together the pledges and giving by category, which revealed that our budget is mostly being supported by about 9 families (those giving more than $50/week). This means that many families may be missing out on the joy of giving, and the joy of tithing (giving a percentage of income to the church). More important than meeting a budget is our spiritual need to give. Giving is about our relationship with God and reveals how much we trust God's provision for our needs.

Where to from here?

We have a few new folks who have volunteered to help out the Finance Committee in the area of stewardship and applying for mission share relief for 2011-2016 that includes a plan for paying 100% of the remainder owed to the conference each year. You may have noticed some stewardship information on the bulletin board at the entrance to the sanctuary put together by Rosemary Herd. We hope to have people witness in worship about the joy they have experienced in giving, to provide more education around mission shares as a wonderful opportunity to be in mission all around the world, and to stretch all of us in our concept of joyful and extravagant giving so that we might reap the wonderful joy that God has in store for us.

Please continue to be in prayer for Peoples as we seek God and trust in his provision!

Mission Trip to ???

The originally planned mission trip to Baltimore is in revision as Experience Mission is no longer leading trips to Baltimore. The mission team from Peoples is still excited to go on a mission trip July 11-17 and there are several good options, including Urban Promise in Wilmington, Delaware, Experience Mission in Appalachia, West Virginia, and some others as well. Both Urban Promise and Experience Mission provide opportunities for "program" mission working with children as well as light "project" mission such as painting, gardening and helping in a soup kitchen.

Mission Meetings: The mission team is meeting Sunday, May 2 after worship to prayerfully decide our itinerary for the July trip. We will be meeting several more times together to pray, discuss our detailed itinerary, learn more about the mission location, plan transportation and fundraising, etc.

Registration: Since the trip itinerary has been changed, we are extending the registration deadline to May 30. Please contact Pastor Gwyneth or Betsy Morrison if you have questions or for more information. We currently have 6 registered and may be able to take a few more.

Ways You Can Help!

Attend our Spaghetti Lunch Mission Trip Fundraiser. Lunch will be hosted by the Morrions after worship on June 13. All proceeds will go toward mission supplies and providing financial assistance for those going on the mission trip.

Pray for the Team. Pray on your own or join one of the prayer vigils we will be scheduling before and during the mission trip.

Sponsor someone to go on the mission trip. The cost is approximately $300 per person plus travel and food for the group.

Sign up to purchase or lend needed mission supplies. List will be published shortly!

New Pentecost Sunday School Unit!

The final unit for Sunday school this year began today, on Pentecost! For the kickoff in worship on April 11, Pastor Jamie spoke about the word for Holy Spirit meaning "breath" and gave out helium balloons to the kids! He talked to the kids about the difference between using our own breath to blow up a balloon, which sinks to the ground, versus the helium kind that floats up in the air which is what it feels like to be empowered by the Holy Spirit!

You can view the whole Pentecost Sunday School photo album here.

In Sunday School the kids began learning their song, "Pass It On" which they will sing in church soon. Then the kids continued to learn through centers, including cooking, games and crafts this unit. In the games center, the 3 and 4 year olds tried to pass various objects across the floor to one another using their breath! In the cooking center, kids made pinwheel sandwiches. You can't see the breath that makes a pinwheel spin, but you know that it's real. That's the way it is with God's Spirit! Kids decorated crosses and doves in the craft center, and also began decorating their Pentecost Banner to display in Ellis Hall.

The next Pentecost session will be May 2 and then finishing up on May 16. On April 18 the kids will celebrate earth day, on May 9 the kids will do special mother's day projects, and there is no Sunday School on April 25 during school vacation. The last day of Sunday School will be May 23, and Children's Sunday on June 6!

Spring Work Day May 8!

Submitted by Sue Angell

KEEP YOUR CALENDAR OPEN FOR SPRING WORK DAY MAY 8TH at PEOPLES CHURCH! DON'T FORGET MAY 8 ON YOUR CALENDAR-SPRING CLEANING DAY

Even better....Breakfast will be served ....blueberry pancakes !!! Brad just needs a count to who is coming so he can make enough batter and coffee and the like

This will be the day we work inside the church and outside doing housekeeping and spring tasks. There's plenty of to be done. You may feel drawn to straighten out a few cutlery drawers in the kitchen, dust and straighten the parlor, wash windows, take a few curtains home and wash them, fix a leaky faucet, rake the yard, paint here and there, work on the garden and just about anything that bugs you and you feel should be done for "Spring Cleaning". If you have special talents that you want to share, we can find something for you to do. We are not talking being there for the day but an hour here and an hour there makes a world of difference and it's usually lots of fun and good fellowship and some person always brings good snacks and perks delicious coffee. The church is our home away from home and this is a time we can smarten it up.

....Lots of stuff to do to spruce up the church inside and out. Cleaning windows. Washing tables. Raking. Gardening. Guy stuff like assisting Chuck in doing the parsonage roof over porch, taking down the fences, T 11 boards on Ellis Hall, etc. If you have seen something that has been bugging you and you want to tackle it....it is yours.

Please RSVP to Sue Angell!

Children on Easter Sunday

While the adults were upstairs celebrating the risen Savior, the children were downstairs doing Easter crafts and going on Easter Egg hunts! They had a lot of fun, and learned about the Savior's love at the same time. Many thanks to Karen Jennings and Betty Lane for organizing this time, and for all those who helped out downstairs. You can view the Easter Egg Hunt photo album here.

Easter Celebration!

The worship at Fisherman's Point for Easter sunrise over Casco Bay was a beautiful time. The weather was warm and clear out, making for a beautiful sunrise over the islands. Pastor Jamie led worship, and we had music led on bagpipe by Jason. A little over 60 folks attended this beautiful time of celebrating our risen Savior. You can view a photo album of Easter Sunrise here, photos by Art Tordoff.

This was followed by a wonderful Easter breakfast back at church. Many thanks to all who helped cooked, set up and clean up, and especially to those who came for food and fellowship.

Morning worship was also very uplifting, including music by the choir and bell choir, a narrated drama of the women finding the empty tomb, and the children singing the song they have been learning in Sunday School, "Mary Told the Good News." The Walk to Emmaus story was told as a dramatized Scripture, Pastor Gwyneth preached, followed by a moving experience of Holy Communion. Over 140 people were in attendance this year.

Overall it was a wonderful day celebrating that Christ is Risen ... Christ is Risen, Indeed!

Maundy Thursday and Good Friday

Maundy Thursday was a powerful Tenebrae service including moving music by the choir, Holy Communion and Scripture readings recounting the events leading up to the crucifixion. With each reading, a symbol was removed from the altar table and a candle was snuffed out, leaving the Sanctuary in complete darkness by the last reading followed by a disturbing bang. Those attending left in silence to reflect on the amazing sacrificial love of our Savior who died for us.

Worship on Good Friday was held at Elm Street UMC and led by the United Methodist clergy together. This included a series Scripture readings, moving music and prayer. The clergy then exited the Sanctuary and read a series of "reproaches of Christ" from outside the room. The folks at Elm Street hosted a simple lunch of soup and homemade bread afterwards.

Peoples UMC was open for a prayer vigil from 2pm through midnight. Some folks signed up for time slots, and others just showed up to pray. Many thanks to Betty Splettstoesser for organizing this prayer vigil.

It is always wonderful to attend worship on Easter Sunday with all of the joy knowing that He is risen. But Easter is always more joyful and full of the light of Christ for those who have experienced the darkness of betrayal and death in the passion of Christ. Don't miss it next year!

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday included a fun march with palms by all of the children as the adults waved theirs in the air singing, "Hail Lion of Judah!" The procession was a joyful one, and this was followed by the children going downstairs for a blessing of the Temple downstairs with Pastor Gwyneth. You can view the Palm Sunday photo album here.

Senior High Youth Rally

There's a Senior High Youth Rally at Mechuwana on May 7-9. Here's the info:

"We will be talking about who we are to ourselves, to each other, and how camp has affected who we are. We will have a senior banquet, senior share night, bring a story, song or memory to share.There will be a dance, games, wonderful live music during our services, and a lot of fun."

Camp Mechuwana
May 7-9
Cost: $30.00
FOR YOUTH IN GRADES 9-12
Please send in your registration before April 30th
You can down-load a full registration form at www.mechuwana.org
Email: mechuwana@fairpoint.net

Mechuwana Summer Camps

Summer camps at Mechuwana, which is Methodist camp in Winthrop, Maine, are filling up fast. There are camps for grades 2-12, plus some adult camps as well. There are brochures on the table in Ellis Hall or you can look online at http://www.mechuwana.org/

We don't have any current scholarships but can put out the word if you need financial assistance. There are also some scholarships through Mechuwana. Mechuwana will not turn away anyone for financial reasons.

Please speak to the pastors if you would like more information.