This week's note from Rev. Bill

WE WERE MADE TO LOVE, AND TO BE LOVED

               There are many phrases that the Church likes to quote, but rarely lives up to. Forgive your enemies? Pray for those who persecute you? Go the second mile? Trust in the Lord? 

               These are ideals that we want to live up to, but many times we fail. Instead of loving our enemies, we arm ourselves against them. Instead of praying for those persecuting us, we try to make laws to get rid of them. We lash out instead of going the second mile. We say that we trust in the Lord, but we spend more on security systems and weapons than we do on talking with our enemies. 

               One other phrase that we use often is “God loves you!” We like to say that, but we keep trying to put conditions on it. “God loves you…IF you behave yourself.” “God loves you…IF you obey Him.” 

               What we find in the Bible is that GOD LOVES YOU! You do not have to DO anything to make God love you; in fact, what you DO has absolutely no bearing on whether or not God finds joy in you! 

               That is so hard for humans to understand – we keep judging our worth by what we have, what we do, what we can accomplish. But God loves you whether you succeed or you fail! It’s like the Dennis the Menace cartoon, where Dennis and Joey are leaving the Wilson’s house with arms full of cookies – “Nah, Joey, Mrs. Wilson didn’t give us cookies because WE were good; she gave us cookies because SHE’S good!”

               God loves us, because that’s who God is. And when we try to make God’s love and welcome into the church conditional upon whether or not someone fits into some “proper” image, we are disavowing who God is.

               This past week the General Conference of the United Methodist Church decided that we need to truly live into the idea that “God loves you”. Over the past 20+ years there have been prayers and resolutions and discussions about whether or not we should allow same-sex, loving relationships to be recognized and honored in the church. There has been a lot of pain and turmoil over this issue, and close to 25% of our churches left the denomination over this disagreement. 

               At the General Conference in North Carolina, the United Methodist Church prayerfully removed the restrictive language that barred homosexual unions and clergy from our Book of Discipline. This was not done lightly; it was done after deep consultation with the scriptures, with tradition, and (we believe) with God’s guidance. We found out that many of the scriptures that have been used against gays in the past really weren’t talking about mutual, loving relationships at all. They were talking about abusive and lustful relationships, not committed lifelong relationships. 

               The process is still before us – the Annual Conferences will each get a chance to accept this, and with previous resolutions about allowing Regional Conferences flexibility in ordering their structure, we are not forcing any church or any pastor to perform marriages. But now pastors and churches that do want to honor a God-based, lifelong committed relationship are free to do so. 

               There will still be some residual pain about moving forward with this issue, but we believe that God is calling us to LOVE each other, not JUDGE each other. Any change of heart, life, or behavior is the work of the Holy Spirit, not legislation. Our goal is to love people into the Kingdom, and help them to find peace in Jesus. And I believe we will find more people wanting to come to Church, because they finally feel that they are wanted and welcome. 

               “Behold, I am doing a new thing…” – do we take that scripture seriously, also? What new things will God be showing us that move us into drawing more of the world to fall in love with Him? 

• Rev. Bill

Service for May 5, 2024

"Setting Up to Succeed""

1 Chronicles 29:1-9

On Wednesday Rev. Bill

will be

at the church office to guide our scripture study that we use to get a

"sneak peek" at the

sermon message for Sunday!



No Bible Study

This Week

Rev. Bill and Kim will be gone next week to spend some time in rest and sabbath, and they will also have a chance to visit their newly appointed congregation(s) in Lake Wales. There will not be Bible Study on Wednesday, but they will be back for Sunday morning to worship with us!

SIGNUP SHEETS AVAILABLE FOR 5K RUN!!!

               There are signup sheets in the rear of the sanctuary and over in the church office if you would like to sponsor Rev. Bill for the Annual Conference 5K run in June. And if you want to show up and walk/run it yourself, you are welcome! The online registration can be found at https://www.flumc.org/2024-5k

NEW MEMBER GROUP STARTING!

               Many of you have said that you would like to become members of our church here in Bonita, so we will be holding a New Member Orientation on Sunday, May 19, for those who are interested. This will give us a chance to get to know you better and to help you to find your place of joy and service here. Please call the church office (239.992.1312) so that we have your information ready!

Hablas Espanol?

Classes are on Tuesdays at 10:00 am in the

CHURCH OFFICE and on ZOOM!

United Women in Faith

Eleven women gathered at 3 p.m. for the April 15 meeting of the United Women in Faith in Fellowship Hall. We were delighted to have several new women join us.  The group’s monthly business meetings on the third Monday of each month focus on mission outreach and fellowship.

Our mission outreach at this time is gathering new shoes for the children at Bonita Springs Elementary School.  The request is for children’s  small sizes:  10-13 and 1-3. We invite the congregation to join us in purchasing a pair or two of shoes.  Please bring them to church by the end of April.  They will be sorted and displayed at church before being delivered to the school.  The Saturday before this meeting six members gathered for a morning of cleaning and organizing in the church kitchen.  

UWF members will also play a role in celebrating the ministry of Rev. Bill and Kim.  A special coffee hour event on June 16 will celebrate our love for them as we wish them only the best as they travel to Rev. Bill’s new church assignment.  In addition to lots of tasty food (all donations welcome), a basket for cards/gifts for the Fisackerlys will be available .

In addition to saying goodbye to our current pastoral team, the UWF has traditionally provided some basic food/household items for each new pastor.  After the busy moving process on June 25, most are not excited for a grocery store run.  We will confer with the new pastor in case there are any specific food preferences/concerns.  

The next meeting will be May 20 at 3 p.m. in Fellowship Hall.  The group holds regular business meetings September-May.  During the summer months, the group enjoys a monthly luncheon at a local restaurant.  In May after we select the dates and locations of our summer lunches, we will publish them in the newsletter.  All women of our church family are invited.

Book Club Selection for June

Eight members of the First UMC Book Club had a great conversation as they met Wednesday, May 1, at the Royal Scoop to discuss the book Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. We are delighted that more bibliophiles are joining us for our monthly discussions.

Please note that we will have a slight change in plans for the June meeting.   We will meet on Tuesday, June 4, at our regular 1 p.m. time (instead of on the first Wednesday for this month).  Our book for that session will be The Submission by Amy Waldman.  This book is described as “a wrenching panoramic novel about the politics of grief in the wake of 9/11.”  Others have said the author “has the emotional smarts to write a story about Islam in America”.  A major reviewer says the author “…brilliantly delineates the legacy of 9/11.” 

This is another book kit from the Bonita Springs Public Library.  The best part of any book club is good discussion.  While book club members don’t have to love all the same genres of literature (mystery, historical fiction, romance, etc.), it is always interesting to discuss what you have read with other careful readers.



The books will be available before and after church starting May 5.  See Susan Atkinson to get your copy or text her at 239-405-9078 with questions.  Remember that the books must be turned in by the meeting date (June 4) before another set of books may be checked out.

"TOM AND PRINCESS' CORNER!"

The places we go and the things we see!

Princess, I am exhausted after last weekend! The teddy bears looked like MOUNT OLYM-PUSS! Well, Tom, the clothes looked like

MEOWNT EVERHISS! So many furr-ends with smiles, it was purr-fect!

Next community breakfast, May 25, 2024!

The Upper Room

The Upper Room magazine's mission is to provide a practical way to listen to scripture, connect with believers around the world, and spend time with God each day.

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