Welcome!
8:30am Early Christians Worship
9:30am Children/Youth Sunday School
10:45am Worship Service
Experience God's Love in:
Great Music
Positive Preaching
Caring People
"God is always ready to meet you right where you are."
Message from
Pastor Mary Boyd
I've just returned from my Volunteers in Mission trip, filled with memories, having learned much more than I taught. It was a joy to work with the women of WEDAEC (Women's Economic Development and Adult Education Center) teaching ESL computers and sewing.
The people didn't let their own needs keep them from seeing the greater needs of their neighbors. The United Methodist Church in the Congo is doing amazing work. There are orphanages for boys and girls. There are feeding programs for street boys, and they are working to build a dormitory for them. There are schools for at-risk young women and unwed mothers. There is education and care for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. It was amazing to see all that was being done with little resources.
One thing that sustained them was the music. Music doesn't cost a thing. All it takes voices and willing spirits. We heard choirs sing, but we also heard people just break forth into singing to celebrate life's simple pleasures and to affirm God's presence with them.
Once again I learned the lesson of African time. You just can't plan on sticking to a schedule. Things happen when they happen. When we aren't so driven by the clock there is more time for deep conversation. It was so freeing to let go of a strict schedule and let things unfold in God's time. Often things didn't go as planned, but instead we had different delightful experiences. We were truly present with one another, rather than thinking ahead to the next engagement. I had more significant conversations with individuals than I have had in a long time, and part of that happened because I let go of time and enjoyed the moment. So let us enjoy this time of waiting for a decision about UDECC. Let us relax and know that we live in God's time. Let us be patient with each other, really taking time to talk and listen.
After the VIM trip to the Congo, we joined Meitamei and Mary Poole in Kenya for a time of rest and renewal. Around the campfire, Meitamei and I talked about community. I asked him how the Masaii make hard decisions.
They have a deep sense of community. All voices were respected and allowed to speak. They worked to find consensus. Faced with a problem or a disagreement they gathered together to discuss the issue. They came with open minds, willing to speak and listen to one another. Each person was allowed to speak. Negative emotions of strong anger that insists on its own way were not allowed, for they blocked the move towards consensus. Yet they listened to one another from the heart, trusting the process, knowing that eventually they would reach consensus. They knew that the community was more important than any individual for the community sustains all the individuals. It would be unthinkable for an individual to leave the community.
When the people gather, there are no facilitators. Instead they gather beneath a tree, and the tree, which has known more time than any of those gathered there, leads the meeting. I have to ask, how deeply are we committed to this community of faith? Will we trust one another to speak the truth and listen in love? Are we willing to give the time needed to hear each other and work toward consensus?
Love is patient, love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
(I Corinthians 13:4-7)
Those of you who were at church June 14 heard me tell how the elders of Erusiai asked University Temple to help start a school lunch program. Because of the drought the children didn't have food to eat. Test scores and attendance both dropped. They planned to plant a garden, but until then would University Temple pay for food for the school lunch program? I was honored to represent this congregation, which had helped them in the past. I told them we would provide the money for food. Meitamei did the math. We needed $3200. Members of my VIM team gave $250 to get things started. On Sunday, you wonderful people gave generously. John Poole told me that the amount now totals over $4400!! I am so grateful for what you have done. I emailed Mary Poole immediately. She wrote the following:
I wish that words could express the surge of hope that Meitamei and I shared yesterday after I read your email and reported to him! Life is ridiculously good. We had been to the east and saw so much drought, and I think that has a leveling affect on spirit even when we aren't fully aware - when we found out that children in Erusiai will be eating through December, we just sat and laughed together. Meitamei immediately started to plan how to use this opportunity to spread hope beyond the food and he's organizing a caravan with beans and maize, and a big community celebration to mark the moment, to remember to never give up. We will take pictures! People are going to cry when we share this news with them. I am humbled by the goodness in this world.
You are part of the goodness in the world. The needs in Africa are overwhelming, but by your generosity one village will have enough to feed its children.
In the words of David Persons, "May all your adventure needs be met!" Life is a wonderful adventure and we are blessed by God's love.
-Mary
A Brief History...
This congregation was first organized in 1901 when the present University "Ave" was little more than a muddy path. Our present beautiful gothic church was built in 1927. Noted Seattle architect John Graham designed the soaring neo-gothic sanctuary and tower to harmonize with the University of Washington campus across the street. The new church was named University Methodist temple and featured the now famous stained-glass windows in the sanctuary by artist Anton Geza Rez, that portray the life of Christ from birth to death to resurrection, and what was then the largest pipe organ in the Pacific Northwest.
