It’s time to register for Columbia District Spring Lay Servant School, May 15, 9:00am-2:00pm. You will receive the Zoom link by email only AFTER you register for the class. Deadline to register is May 1. REGISTRATION LINK: https://forms.gle/ww424romMKV2U7iJ8
Prepare the Way for MLK Day
MLK Day can’t be a “one and done” experience. We need to open our hearts and minds in preparation for our District Virtual MLK Service, 12:00 Noon, January 18, 2021. We invite you to use one of the following resources, to prepare the way for MLK Day.
Books
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 256 pages (Martin Luther King Jr.)
Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman, 128 pages (Before MLK)
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, 128 pages (During and after MLK)
Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, 176 pages (Millennial)
Movie: Selma (2014) PG-13 | 2h 8min | Biography, Drama, History (Movie)
Internet: I Have a Dream Speech (YouTube) https://youtu.be/ARvrvJV4th4
Podcast: 1619: The 1619 Project is an ongoing project developed by The New York Times Magazine in 2019 which “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of [the United States’] national narrative”.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/podcasts/1619-podcast.html
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:1-5
As I’ve gotten older, I find it more difficult to drive at night. I wear mono-vision contacts, which means one contact is for distance and one for reading. In the dark, I need my progressive lens glasses, which give me distance and reading vision in both eyes. It’s also hard to do yoga in dim lighting. Balancing poses are impossible. Even in a brightly lit room, if the yoga instructor asks us to close our eyes in a balancing pose, I fall. It’s also impossible to read in the dark. I really don’t like those energy-saving light bulbs. Ever try walking in the dark without a flashlight? I meander like a drunk sailor. The bottom line is that without light, we are lost. This has been a very dark year, a global pandemic, political divisiveness, racial injustice, and economic crisis. Perhaps that’s why we all were excited about the merging of Jupiter and Saturn, revealing the Christmas Star on December 21, the longest night of the darkest year. We long for brighter days, free from brokenness and suffering. We hope that 2021 will be a better year, but I hate to tell you, there will always be brokenness and suffering in our lives and in the world. That’s what it means to be human, and to live in the imperfect world. Into the brokenness and suffering, Jesus shines His light, offering hope, love, grace, peace and joy. God chose to come to earth, to enter into our brokenness and suffering, and even use brokenness and suffering upon the cross, to bring us abundant and everlasting life. L.R. Knost wrote, “Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of this world. All things break. All things can be mended. Not with time as they say, but with intention. So go, love intentionally, extravagantly, and unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” May the light of the world, Jesus Christ, be born anew in you this Christmas. And may you reflect His light.
Namaste, the light in me honors the light in you.
Cathy
Excellence in Ministry Virtual Training, January 24, 2021, Sunday
Opening Session: 3:00pm Workshops: 3:30-4:30pm
This will be a Zoom training. You will receive an email with the Zoom link AFTER you register on-line (registration link at the bottom of this post). You will attend only one workshop.
NO MONTHLY PASTORS MEETING for December
Dec 1 Hunger Ministries and Belin requests due Due to Connectional Ministries
Dec 15 Church/Pastor Profiles due District Office
Dec 15 PPRC/Pastor Advisory forms due District Office
Dec 23-Jan 1 District Office Closed (Christmas)
YEAR 2021
Jan 1 District Office Closed (New Year’s)
Jan 14 Last day to pay Apportionments due by 4:00 Treasurer’s Office
Jan 18 District Office Closed (M.L. King Holiday)
Jan 18Noon MLK Virtual Service (on Facebook and Youtube)
Jan 19 11:30-1:00am Pastors Monthly Meeting Zoom
Jan 24 3:00-5:00pm Excellence in Ministry Training Zoom
Jan TBD Granville Hicks Lecture Series Claflin University
Jan 31 Trustee Nomination Form for Claflin, Columbia, Wofford Due to Connectional Ministries
Jan 31 Recommendation for Nomination to SC Boards/Agencies Due to Connectional Ministries
Feb 1 6:00 District Connectional Ministries Zoom
Feb 7 3:00-5:00pm SPRC Training (for Pastors & Committee) Mt. Horeb UMC, Lexington
Feb 8 9:30 District Committee on Ordained Ministry TBD
Feb 9-11 BOM, (Provisional Member Interviews) TBD
Feb 16 11:30 -1:00 Pastors Monthly Meeting TBD
Feb 22 District United Methodist Men’s Fish Fry Rehoboth UMC, Columbia
Feb 28 Tables I & II Statistical Reports due (instructions sent by Treasurer’s Office)To be completed online
NO MONTHLY PASTORS MEETING for March
Mar 11 9:30-2:00 Clergy Orders Gathering TBD
Mar 15 5:30 District Congregational Development
Mar 31 Annual Church Audit due District Office
Apr 2 District Office Closed (Good Friday)
Apr 4 Easter Sunday
Apr 5 6:00 Committee on Superintendent Methodist Center
Apr 6 11:30-1:00 District Pastors Meeting Epworth, Barnes Learning Ctr.
Apr 22 BOM (Provisional Member Interviews) TBD
Apr 23-24 School of Pastoral Ministry-Weekend I TBD
Apr 26-May 1 School of Pastoral Ministry-Week long school TBD
May 7-8 School of Pastoral Ministry-Weekend II TBD
May 1 District Congregational Development Grant deadline District Office
May 3 6:00 District Connectional Ministries Methodist Center
May 17 5:30 District Congregational Development Methodist Center
May 18 Pastor Send-off Luncheon Epworth Barnes Learning Ctr.
May 20-21 Ordinand’s Retreat TBD
May 31 District Office Closed (Memorial Day)
Jun 6-9 (Sun – Wed) SC Annual Conference Florence Civic Center
Jun 30 Moving Day
Aug 29-Sep 10 General Conference 2021
Date: January 18, 12:00noon – Virtual service, broadcast on Columbia District FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/ColumbiaDistrictUMCSC
and Journey UMC Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/JourneyChurchCOLUMBIASC/videos
Sponsor: “CFRE: Clergy for Racial Equality” (a group of Columbia District clergy dedicated to racial equality and justice)
Theme: “Truth, Accountability, Reconciliation”
The Wesley Foundations at Clemson and USC will be competing in our annual Clemson Carolina Challenge until November 29th. Although the two football teams will not be playing on the field, the spirit of the rivalry continues between our two ministries as we wait to see which campus ministry wins the highest donations and is declared the “winner.” Obviously there is no real loser as all the money goes to two great ministries!
We have a simple website that we would love to be potentially promoted on the SC website, UMCSC social media and in the Advocate. We are encouraging all our traffic to be directed to http://www.clemsoncarolinachallenge.weebly.com to learn more and to donate.
You can also donate through Venmo to @ClemsonWesley. Simply write in the note which school and campus ministry you are supporting.
This is only a week-long challenge and will primarily be promoted on our social media platforms due to COVID-19 impacting local church involvement.
Please let me know if I can provide any more information and thank you for the support!
Best,
Mackin Wall, Campus Ministry Associate
Methodist Student Network at USC
With the pandemic postponing May 2020 General Conference, many Methodists are wondering, “Will our denomination split? Will the pandemic inhibit the November 2021 General Conference from happening? What is going on with the potential Separation Protocol that was to be reviewed by General Conference?”
I don’t have all the answers to these questions, but I do encourage you to stay informed by signing up for United Methodist News, an email that comes each day with important updates on regional and global issues of our church.
The link below will take you to a recent article about the Judicial Council and it’s review of the Separation Protocol.
I’ve been practicing yoga since 2007, when the demands of a growing church were stressful. We were in a building planning process at Trinity UMC, Blythewood, and good minds were involved. But it was arduous. I needed something to help me not only in the pulpit, but also in the saddle, where my body wasn’t listening to my brain.
I did my first class, and the next morning woke up feeling like a million bucks. I was hooked. Eventually I learned that practicing yoga didn’t just transform my muscles, but it transformed my mind and spirit.
Yoga teaches strength. When you are in a one-legged, downward dog, with one leg high to the sky, you find strength. If you don’t, you fall on your face, literally and figuratively. These days, we all need more strength. Living in a divided country, with a pandemic, is sapping our strength, but God can strengthen us. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46
Yoga teaches flexibility. This one is hard for me. I like structure, plans, and routines. After all, I’m a Methodist, and we follow “The Book of Discipline.” Yet, when I’m in forward fold and lay my head all the way on the mat, there is a letting go, a release. In the documentary about famous horse trainer Buck Brannaman, there is a line, “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.” One of my yoga teachers says, “What doesn’t bend, breaks.” These days, we all need more flexibility, more letting go and letting God.
Yoga teaches balance. Standing on one leg, arms stretched to the sky, I was doing tree pose in an outdoor class at Lake Junaluska, and a bird pooped on my arm! I must have truly looked like a tree. Life can easily knock us off-balance. The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word “yoga” is yoke or unite. Yoga fosters unity and balance in mind, body, spirit, and promotes unity with God and others. These days, we all need more balance and unity. “…..lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:3
Yoga teaches stillness. I rarely sit still. Even at work, I have a stand-up desk with a yoga mat underneath. I swim, ride horses, and do yoga – about 6 days a week. At the end of yoga class is Shavasana, corpse pose. You lay completely still, arms and legs outstretched. The lights are dim and the room is silent. You melt into the mat and breathe. Finding stillness and silence on the mat helps me find stillness and silence in the noisy world. These days, we all need more stillness and silence. Turn off the news. Silence your phone. “Be still, and know that I am God!” Psalm 46:10
Namaste, the light in me honors the light in you,
Cathy
