May 26 - June 1, 2021 - First Mennonite Church

Table of Contents

What are you willing to change so that you and/or your church can better embody and share the love of Jesus? What are you not willing to change? How can we better disciple and invite others to join with us in orienting all of life toward the radical love of Jesus?

These are some of the questions posed in a Zoom conversation I helped host in April (along with other Church Planting Commission members) with a group of Western District Conference pastors and lay leaders. There is something about this post(or nearly/hopefully post)-COVID time that is stirring up an openness to change that is new. Perhaps it’s because we see now how we ARE capable of change in order to stay connected and alive, even in an institution like a church. Pre-COVID I really saw no reason to offer a livestream option for worship. Now I can’t imagine not having it. And the pace of change we had to implement in the months after March 2020 would have before seemed impossible to me. The question and invitations of change for the sake of better sharing Jesus’ love and orienting all of life toward that love is not only for institutions; it is also for each of our hearts/minds/souls/lives. We’ve experienced so much change since March 2020, perhaps its hard to contemplate more, but it seems to me the soil has been plowed and the ground is ready to allow the Holy Spirit to plant more of what looks like Jesus in our hearts and lives. Or, to return to the metaphors of Pentecost, to allow the Holy Spirit to blow into our lives and move us in the ways only God can. This is the prayer of the following hymn text written by Thomas Troeger (found in Hymnal Worship Book #31). And, here’s a YouTube link where you can listen to the hymn sung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPS8h4O4-NI

Wind who makes all winds that blow—
gusts that bend the saplings low,
gales that heave the sea in waves,
stirrings in the mind’s deep caves—
aim your breath with steady power
on your church, this day, this hour.
Raise, renew the life we’ve lost,
Spirit God of Pentecost.

Fire who fuels all fires that burn—
suns around which planets turn,
beacons marking reefs and shoals,
shining truth to guide our souls—
come to us as once you came;
burst in tongues of sacred flame!
Light and Power, Might and Strength,
fill your church, its breadth and length.

Holy Spirit, Wind and Flame,
move within our mortal frame.
Make our hearts an altar pyre.
Kindle them with your own fire.
Breathe and blow upon that blaze
till our lives, our deeds, and ways
speak that tongue which every land
by your grace shall understand.

-Pastor Tonya

SUNDAY MORNING Worship In Person & Live Stream @ 9:30am

The link for Sunday morning worship (as well as archives of past worship services) is found on our website: www.hutchfmc.org! Join at 9:25am to see the announcements!

CMT ANNOUNCEMENT LIMITING IN-PERSON GATHERINGS

The 2021 Congregational Ministry Team (Delon Martens-chair, Jennalee Boggs-chair-elect, Julie Esau, Kevin Martin Nisly, Carol Moore, and the pastors) and the RE-Opening Task Force – Carol Moore, Dohn Fast, Joretta Martens, Todd Esau, Pastor Tonya) are continuing to considering the recommendations from the CDC. Pending CMT’s approval, changes in the COVID protocols at FMC will be announced later this week. As of now, beginning Sunday June 6, we will no longer require masks or distancing in the church building for those who have been fully vaccinated and are 2 weeks past their last shot. In keeping with CDC guidelines, we ask that unvaccinated people continue to wear masks. In addition, we ask any adults working with children to also wear masks while in the building. Recognizing that not everyone is eligible to receive the vaccine, including children, we ask that we work together to be sensitive to the needs, decisions, and well-being of all.

SUNDAY, May 30: Cultivating Life with God for the World: St Francis Peace Prayer & Jesus’ Beatitudes – “O Lord and Divine Master” and “Blessed are the poor in spirit”

Summer theme begins

Preacher: Tonya Ramer Wenger
Worship Leader: Heidi Unruh
Children’s Time: DeAnna Goering
Scripture Reader: TBD
Organist: Pauline Buller
Ushers: Cheryl Warkentin & Sara Blodgett
Sound: TBD
Live Stream: Jonathan Wenger

SHARING JOYS & CONCERNS

During each worship service, you are invited to text your prayer joys and concerns – usually to Pastor Tonya, but sometimes it will be someone else, and we’ll give you that info at the time!! You are also welcome to send prayer joys & concerns during the week. Since our worship link is now public, when you submit prayer requests be sure to let us know if you’d prefer it NOT be shared on Sunday morning. We can keep requests more private by only sharing them in the weekly prayer email sent out on Tuesdays.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announcements are scrolled Sunday mornings before (beginning around 9:25) and after the worship service. There will be no spoken announcements unless there are pressing announcements that did not make it into the PowerPoint. Please send any announcements you’d like to have included by Thursday each week.

CALENDAR – LOOKING AHEAD

May 26 – church office closed 10am-1pm
May 26 – Faith Formation Coordination Team @ 4:00pm
June 2 – Service & Outreach Coordination Team @ 7:00pm
June 2 – Mentors & Mentees meet 6:45pm at the church
June 6 – Mennonite Friendship Communities Community Worship Service – 7:00pm
June 6 & 13 – “Guess Who’s Coming to the Yard!”
June 20 – FMC Retreat at Camp Mennoscah (no services @ 52 Rambler Rd & no livestream)
July 31-August 1 – Western District Conference Annual Assembly – hybrid event (virtual & in-person)

REMINDER: If you are last one out of the church building, be SURE the doors lock behind you when you leave. Go out, watch the doors latch, give both door handles a tug, and make sure they are locked! Thank you.

DEEPENING in Christ…

PRAYER GROUP

Meets Thursday mornings from 10-11am in the Prayer Room (with masks and distancing). All are welcome.

A small ecumenical Centering Prayer group meets on ZOOM Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30-1:30pm. If you’d like to learn more and receive the link to participate, contact Pastor Tonya.

FMC RETREAT WEEKEND ( JUNE 19-20) & RAISING FUNDS to Cover the Costs

After a year’s absence due to Covid, we will once again gather at Camp Mennoscah on June 19 & 20 for a weekend of visiting, game playing, worship, canoeing, swimming, and eating. Everyone is invited to come out either on Saturday for the night (cabins and tents only) or on Sunday morning for our worship service. The Sunday schedule has worship at 10:00; swimming at 11:00 and lunch at 12:15.

Your contributions are appreciated to help pay for our use of the camp and all the activities we will enjoy while there. Please designate your contributions for FMC Camp Mennoscah Retreat.

Expenses for the use of Main Camp include a day rate of $7.00 for adults and $4.00 for children and a rate of $17.50/night for adults in a cabin and $8.75/night for children in a cabin. Additional fees that we have paid to camp include use of the swimming pool–$50.00 for the first hour and $30.00 for each additional hour and popcorn–$25.00/kettle.

. . . . Signup for the June 20 Sunday lunch at Camp Mennoscah is requested on the sheet in the foyer or call the church office.) If you would be interested in coming out to camp Saturday evening and staying overnight in cabins (or you could bring a tent), please let the church office know, and then we’ll plan accordingly depending on how many are interested.

SUMMER WORSHIP SERIES – CULTIVATING LIFE WITH GOD FOR THE WORLD (MAY 30-AUG 1)

Guided by the Peace Prayer of St. Francis and Jesus’ Beatitudes we’ll dig deeper in our life with God, discovering how such a life is not just for us, but for the sake of this world God loves. We’ll explore what it might look like to allow God to make us into ‘instruments’ of God’s peace, love, pardon, faith, hope, light, and joy.

May 30: Cultivating Life with God for the World: “O, Divine Master” & “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”
June 6: Cultivating Life with God for the World: Instruments of Peace & “Blessed are the peacemakers…”
June 13: Cultivating Life with God for the World: Instruments of Love (instead of Hatred)& “Blessed are the persecuted…”
June 20: 10:00am Worship @ Camp Mennoscah (no worship at 52 Rambler Rd and no livestream)
June 27: Cultivating Life with God for the World: Instruments of Pardon (instead of Injury)& “Blessed are the merciful…”

UPPER ROOM and REJOICE! devotional magazines

UPPER ROOM and REJOICE! are available above the mailboxes. New issues of both are now available beginning with May devotionals. Please let us know if you would like a copy mailed to you.

SPRING SUNDAY SCHOOL SCHEDULE

Preschool: 10:45-11:30am
Kindergarten – 6^th grade: 10:45-11:30am
7^th-8^th grade: 10:45-11:30AM
High School youth: 11:45AM (in person at the church)

Adult Sunday School Bible Study @ 10:45AM (See summer schedule below)

You are invited to join this class on ZOOM or in person in the fellowship hall. Below is the schedule for this Adult Bible Study using the Salt and Light discussion guide. Copies of the summer study guide are available on the table in the foyer. Please call the office if you would like a copy sent to you. The summer theme is, Facing Life’s Challenges, written by Wilma Ann Bailey.

NO Adult class on May 30.
June 6 – “A Family’s Sibling Rivalry”
June 27 – “Forgiveness Has Depths”

Check your email for the ZOOM link or contact Pastor Tonya.

YOUNG(ER) ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS @ 10:45am

Gather with other young(er) adults in this newly formed class at FMC! The group will be discerning and deciding together the focus and content of their time together.

NO SUNDAY SCHOOL ON MAY 30!!!

SUMMER SUNDAY SCHOOL SCHEDULE

Over the summer, we’re planning to have Sunday School the 1^st and 3^rd Sundays of the month, with the exception of June which will be the 1^st and 4^th Sundays. Watch here for more details!

STRENGTHENING Community Connections…

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO THE YARD 2.0!

If you signed up as either a guest or a host for this event, you will be receiving information from the Faithful Community Coordination Team (Susan Combs, Joretta Martens, Mary Wade).

BEAUTIFUL SALT CITY PODCAST

A future story tells us what we want (vision), why we want it (values), and how we will create it (resources). Our own Pastor Jim Unruh talks with people in our community to learn their life stories and to dream together for a future story for our beautiful salt city. Find it here: https://hutchfmc.org/beautiful-salt-city-podcast/ and check back each Saturday/Sunday to listen to a new conversation.

CHURCH OFFICE HOURS – may vary from this schedule during June

Tuesday and Thursday 9:00am – 2:00
Wednesday 10am-1pm
Wed May 26 – church office closed

PASTOR TONYA’S HOURS

Monday: Sabbath Day
Tuesday-Friday: generally working 9am-5:30pm(ish)
Available evenings and weekends (cell phone is most reliable)

SUNDAY MORNING SCRIPTURE READERS NEEDED

Let the church office or Pastor Tonya know if you are willing. We’d especially like to have more male voices!

STRETCHING to Serve as Christ Served…

OUR SUNDAY MORNING DONATIONS FOR FIRST CALL FOR HELP

Personal care/hygiene items such as these are appreciated: toilet paper, laundry detergent, bath soap, Kleenex, deodorant, disposable razors, paper towels, shampoo, dish soap, hand/body lotion. Travel size – new & unopened – are desirable. Food bank donations may be brought to the Salvation Army. At this time the Food Bank is particularly in need of the following: tomato soup, cream of mushroom soup and green beans.

FIRST CALL FOR HELP

School supplies (new items only) needed . . . in order of most urgent:

LARGE-sized back packs appropriate for middle/high school students
Spiral notebooks
Notebook paper
Colored pencils
Colored markers
Crayons
Glue sticks
Erasers (large & toppers)
Paper face masks
Hand sanitizer
Facial tissues
#2 lead pencils

We have a basket in FMC’s foyer to collect school supplies, or you may drop them off at 12 West 2^nd Ave. (Tue or Thu 10am-3:30pm; or Wed 9am-noon).

Cash donations are appreciated and a philanthropic donor has offered to match all financial donations. Checks payable to First Call for Help (memo – School Supplies), mailed to PO Box 2203, Hutchinson KS 67504.

First Call was not able to meet the need last year and is beginning their campaign earlier this year.

MENNONITE FRIENDSHIP COMMUNITIES (mfc) annual community worship service

Mennonite Friendship Communities invites everyone to attend their community worship service on Sunday, June 6, at 7:00pm. Pastor Jim Unruh will be the speaker. This is an outdoor event, so bring your lawn chair or blanket to sit on.

KANSAS MENNONITE RELIEF SALE (KMRS)

Almonds have arrived and are for sale in the Etcetera stores in Hutchinson, Newton and Hillsboro and the MCC Center in North Newton. Selling price is $10/bag with donations welcomed. The money will all go to MCC.

KS MENNONITE RELIEF SALE GEAR is here! Get your gear online at https://wearatomic.com/product-category/mcc/ The proceeds from the sale of these products go to support MCC.

QUILTER’S CORNER – July 2-3, 2021. Quilter’s Corner welcomes your donated QUILT-RELATED ITEMS throughout the year. These used/unused/unfinished items no longer needed in your quilt/sewing/linen closets will be sold to generate funds for MCC relief work around the world. The Fall 2020 Quilter’s Corner brought in over $23,000 for MCC. SUGGESTED ITEMS: • finished/unfinished quilt tops • finished/unfinished quilt blocks • old and damaged quilts • quilt supplies and tools • linens • cloth sacks • quilt books • quilt magazines (2011 – current) • quilt patterns • notions • fabric – cotton. Items may be dropped off at the MCC Center in North Newton throughout the year. Boxes and bags should be labeled Quilter’s Corner. One of the baskets in the church foyer is designated for Quilter’s Corner donations. Questions?? Rose Wiebe Haury 316-288-0079, haury@juno.com

. . . . . . Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale will be held July 2 and 3, 2021, at the Kansas State Fair grounds. . . . . . .

CAMP MENNOSCAH announcements

Summer Youth Camp registration is open! Register online here! There are still openings!!!

FMC offers a camp scholarship to each child/youth associated with FMC. The scholarship covers part of the registration fee. Please email the church office to let us know when your child has registered to attend.

Volunteer opportunities at Camp

Tent assembly – May 28-29, 9:00am each day. Call camp at 620-297-3290 with questions.
Trail bridge (concrete work)
Kitchen staff needed for June 6-12 and July 18-24 (no professional cooking skills needed)
Mowing (weekly)
Cleaning/custodial (weekly)

WESTERN DISTRICT CONFERENCE announcements

Western District Conference Annual Assembly 2021, July 30-August 1, 2021 will be a hybrid event. Some parts of it will be only virtual, other parts will be only on-site at Faith Mennonite Church, Newton, KS. Much of it will be hybrid with people on-site and virtual sharing together. Michele Hershberger, Bible and Ministry Professor, Hesston College, will be our keynote speaker and storyteller. We look forward to other storytellers throughout the weekend, as well.

If you are interested in being a delegate representing FMC, please talk to Pastor Tonya or call the church office. Cost of attendance will be by donation. We invite you to give as you are able. More details will be posted at https://mennowdc.org/2021-wdc-annual-assembly/

The WDC Resource Library is now open to the public – Library capacity will be limited to one household in the library at a time. The self-checkout station & library catalog computer will remain off during this phase of reopening. Please see library staff or WDC staff for assistance in looking up items (or browse the catalog on your smartphone). Please plan to make your visit to the library quick and not linger (couches/chairs will be turned around for the time being). Please stop at the WDC front lobby to check whether there is anyone in the library. Questions? Contact the library at crlib@mennowdc.org As in the rest of the WDC offices, masks are required while you are in the library. The library continues to offer service to any individual or congregation in WDC via the United States Postal Service–check out the online catalog here.

WDC Women’s Retreat . . . September 11-12 (in-person)

Details are being discussed but please circle the dates of Saturday, September 11 and Sunday, September 12 and consider joining our fellowship and reconnecting. Of course, some things will look different including no programming for girls, only meeting on Saturday and Sunday, building use being limited, bodies being one year older, etc. We’ll send out more details and registration information later this summer; hope to see you there!

MENNONITE CENTRAL COMMITTEE announcements

MCC THRIFT SHOPS . . . Where every purchase is a gift to the world! Anyone can help reduce waste by choosing to shop thrift first whenever they can. Shopping second-hand isn’t a second choice. Help our planet . . . take the #ThriftFirst pledge https://thrift.mcc.org/us/choosethrift MCC Thrift is a network of not-for-profit Thrift Shops, supporting the local and global relief, development and peace projects of Mennonite Central Committee. MCC share God’s love and compassion for all in the name of Christ by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice. Shop . . . Donate . . . Volunteer.

MCC Webinars on Racism and Migration . . . Wednesday, May 26!

May 26, 12-1:30 p.m. CDT – The Color of Compromise series: Raymond Chang

By examining historical and present day examples, Chang will speak about how racism impacts Asian Americans in the church.

May 26, 7 p.m. CDT – The Right to Stay and the Right to Go: Migration for Human Dignity

Join Bonnie Klassen and Anna Vogt to learn how MCC understands the different faces and forms of migration in Latin America. Explore the role of advocacy and community organization for supporting human dignity and enabling people to stay rooted within their local communities.

MCC Central States COVID-19 update: We look forward to re-opening the MCC office in North Newton on July 6. Please keep us in your prayers as we consider our protocols, processes and capacity. Material resources donations continue to be accepted in the 24-hour donation room. Financial donations can be made at mcc.org, mailed to the office (MCC Central States PO BOX 235 North Newton, KS 67117) or dropped off by appointment. Please call the MCC office at 316-283-2720 with any questions. Thank you for continuing to support the work of Mennonite Central Committee.

MENNONITE CHURCH USA . . . WEBINARS

MCUSA offers excellent webinars. These are just three that are coming up soon.

Laboring Toward Wholeness: A Training on Dismantling Patriarchy – May 27, 6:00 – 7:15pm CDT. Register here: https://mcusa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9WQKnuR5StS-DsgWrC5JPA

Christian Faith & Anti-Asian Violence – May 28, 6:30pm CDT. Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc4D-Wcbgqq2udztZlNxv9o1VgAn3NrcmQ0AHi5-pmcIbyyUQ/viewform

The Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling The Doctrine of Discovery – June 3, 6:00pm CDT. Register here: https://mcusa.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwuf-GprD8uGtzk6lhCaOyqiO5C8WAUtOhF

EVERENCE webinar on BASICS OF INVESTING

Everence will host a free, online webinar, Basics of investing, on Tuesday, June 8 at 6:30 p.m. Register for this webinar to learn about:

The fundamentals of investing.
Different types of investments available.
How faith values can play a role in your investment decisions.

May 26 – June 1, 2021