E-note

Church friends and family,

I pray that you and your loved ones are staying safe and indoors while the air quality outside is poor. Since today is the anniversary of 9/11/01, I also hope that you say a prayer for police officers, fire fighters and the many who put themselves in harms way to serve our community, just as so many did after 9/11/01.

I also want to give you a heads up that we'll be studying from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter, 18, starting at verse 21. We'll be exploring what Jesus meant when he talked to Peter and his disciples, about forgiveness. During the sermon, we will especially be focusing on the phrase we recite from the Lord's Prayer. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors...for many of us, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. 

In light of all that is happening in our world, our Country and our communities. Let’s spend some time thinking about what it means. What does it mean as a person of faith to forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors? In the last week, school has started for our local students.

Whether you have young ones or not, please pray for students, parents/guardians,  teachers, administrators, nurses and the many people doing their very best to help our students get a proper education.

You are welcome to join me in the month of September to write a card or send an email saying thank you to one of those persons I just mentioned.  Let's fill our community with gratitude. 

Even in the midst of what is happening in our life. 

May you be blessed this week. 

I look forward to worshiping with you on Sunday morning. 

Pastor DJ.

E-Note from Pastor DJ

Church family and friends, 

What a gift we have in one another and what a blessing it is to serve Jesus. It’s a joy to be able to worship with you online. If you want to watch our last service or any of our previous services, please check out fwumc.org and click online worship. There you can find all of our previous services. 

By my count, we are well past 100 days of Covid-19 quarantine in our area. It’s been a long time since we have been together as a whole body in person. Our church council leadership is in the early process of planning our phases of reopening. One of our primary objectives is to do no harm. We will be working hard to listen to King County’s guidance, Bishop Elaine’s communications and the leadership of our church council. Once we have a clear plan of reopening in incremental phases, we will communicate through our community groups, webpage, email and through social media.

This past Sunday, we had the gift of many different singers and worship leaders. At our church, we have a camera, microphone and tripod available if you are interested in reading scripture, leading worship or another way of participating in worship. Simply contact our church office admin Sharon Wisenburg (sharonatchurch@gmail.com) and she will connect you with the right person to record at our church. We ask that videos be recorded on our church camera and organized through Sharon so that we all may provide the best possible worship service we can. 

Something that has recently happened is Juneteenth. This is an important day in our Country’s history. To learn more about Juneteenth, I suggest you check out the United Methodist Church’s post here - https://www.umcjustice.org/news-and-stories/church-and-society-observes-juneteenth-as-a-holiday-1060.

"I hope you join me in celebrating our interim Music Director’s first month of leading worship Janine Dodd. She’s doing a fantastic job and we are so grateful for her leadership. As promised, at the 60 day mark of the interim music director position, we will be posting the job description and holding interviews for this position. Initially, our hope was to interview in person, I’ll be in communication with our Staff Parish team to decide how best to move forward on this important position. If you have any questions about this process, please contact Sandy Shinbo (Sandyshinbo@comcast.net) or myself. "

It’s a joy to worship with you church. It’s an honor to serve alongside you. Let’s continue to hold one another in grace. Practice generosity. Honor others and seek to be patient with one another and ourselves. 

Peace be with you, 

Pastor DJ

Weekly Email

Church family and friends, 

Grace and peace to you. I hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe in this pandemic season. This weekend is a special one for our church. It’s the Rutherford families last Sunday with us before they move for Eric’s new job. I hope you join us in celebrating their ministry and saying goodbye.

We will also begin a new sermon series called “Enough”. We will begin by celebrating Pentecost. Pentecost means “fifty.” Originally, Jewish people would have gathered fifty days after Passover to celebrate the wheat harvest. Today, Christians celebrate Pentecost fifty days after Easter to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early believers.

If you want to get a head start on the weekend, please read the first two chapters of Acts. Our time will specifically focus on Acts chapter 2. The start of the Church after Jesus Ressurection feels very appropriate for what’s happening in our world. In light of all that is happening, we are in uncharted territory and have an opportunity to deepen our discipleship as followers of Jesus. 

Please keep Minneapolis in your prayers as they continue to struggle in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. if you would like to learn more about Floyd’s death, please search for it online or you an check out my Facebook page for some responses from clergy I respect dearly.

I look forward to worshipping with you this weekend.

Grace and peace, 

Pastor DJ

Weekly email

Surely God is my salvation;

    I will trust, and will not be afraid,

for the Lord God is my strength and my might;

    he has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:

Give thanks to the Lord,  call on his name;

make known his deeds among the nations;

    proclaim that his name is exalted. 

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;

    let this be known in all the earth.

Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,

    for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 12:2-6)

Greetings Friends and Families of Federal Way UMC, 

This morning I was reading this Scripture passage in Isaiah. I thought about some of the ways we are called to give thanks to God and call on God’s name. We are all in a time of a transition together. There is so much happening in our world and one of the ways we can care for our neighbors and community is to stay home and stay healthy. 

As a people of faith, we have an opportunity to take the time we have to deepen our faith. We can draw water from the wells of salvation. If you don’t regularly read your Bible and spend at least 5 minutes in devotion with God, I highly encourage you to do so. One of my favorite books to use is an oldie but a goody, Oswald Chambers My utmost for His highest is a great devotional. If you have a devotional you use, please feel free to share it in the comments below. That way we can all learn from one another. 

I believe that spending time caring for our spiritual life with God does pour positivity into other aspects of our lives. Just as good nutrition cares for our body and caring for our mental and emotional well being affects our relationship with ourself and others. 

Please take the time to assess this week how you are doing spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically. Lord knows we can’t fix everything all at once. But, we can invest in small ways everyday to train our habits overall to become healthier and more in tune with God. I hope you know that I’m praying for you daily. I pray that you are holding our community and world in your prayers as well. 

Worship

I apologize for the poor video quality from our worship service last week. We believe we know why it happened and are working hard to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. We have many amazing servant leaders (volunteers) spending extra time each week to help put together our service with great care. 

This Sunday, Reverend Brian Wood will be teaching about Aldersgate Sunday, he’ll be using Romans 5:1-11 as the grounding Scripture. As you prepare for worship this Sunday, I suggest you read the first five chapters of Romans.

The Rutherford family

We have two weeks left where we can worship with the Rutherford family before they move. If you would like to send any cards or a monetary gift, please email our Staff Parish Relations chair SandyShinbo@comcast.net.

Grace and Peace to you all, 

Pastor DJ

Image 5-19-20 at 9.40 AM.jpeg