Volume 45, Issue 3

ContactFebruary 2016

Bravo! Bob Gawler!

Robert K. Gawler, a 9-time Master and charter SAFE

member, recently renewed his Master CFI accreditation

through https://MICEP.FluidReview.com/ Bob is an

independent flight and ground instructor at

Gaithersburg's Montgomery County Airpark (GAI.) He

also works with the Maryland Wing of the Civil Air Patrol

and serves as a FAASTeam representative as well as a

pilot examiner (DPE) in the FAA's Baltimore FSDO area.

Bob first earned this national professional accreditation

in 2000, has held it continuously since then, and is one

of only 11 worldwide to earn the credential

nine times. To help put these achievements in their

proper perspective, there are approximately 101,000

FAA-certificated CFIs in the United States. Fewer than

800 aviation educators worldwide have achieved one or more of the Master

accreditations thus far. Twenty-one (21) of the last National Flight Instructors of the

Year or National FAASTeam Representatives of the Year were Master CFIs, while Bob is

one of only 12 Maryland aviation educators to earn one or more of these prestigious

"Master" titles. In the words of former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, "The Master

Instructor accreditation singles out the best that the right seat has to offer."

The Master Instructor designation is a national accreditation recognized by the

FAA. Candidates must demonstrate an ongoing commitment to excellence, professional

growth, and service to the aviation community, and must pass a rigorous evaluation by

a peer Board of Review. The process parallels the continuing education regimen used

by other professionals to enhance their knowledge base while increasing their

professionalism. Designees are recognized as outstanding aviation educators for not

only their excellence in teaching, but for their engagement in the continuous process of

learning -- both their own, and their students'. The designation must be renewed

biennially and significantly surpasses the FAA requirements for renewal of the

candidate's flight instructor certificate.

submitted by Jack Enders

North Bethesda

United Methodist Church

Page 2 February 2016 Contact

North Bethesda United Methodist Church

10100 Old Georgetown Road

Bethesda MD 20814

Phone: (301) 530–4342

E–mail: nbumc.office@gmail.com

Website: www.NorthBethesdaUMC.org

Office Manager: Chris Lee

Office Hours: Tuesday -Thursday 8:30AM– 4:30PM

Pastor: Pastor Jeff Jones

Cell Phone: (240) 994-1505

Minister of Visitation: Linda Thompson

Music Director: Tony Ashur

Coordinator of Education: Vicki Morrison

Custodian: Ram Phuyal

Contact Newsletter Editor: Valerie Blane

Contact Newsletter Publisher: Chris Lee

1 Kyle Short

2 Jenny Bartholomot 6 Fannie Shelton

7 Eric McDaniel 7 Michael Haney

8 Brandon Kesselly

9 Emily Lamoreaux 11 Imogene Surrey

15 Joy Burt 24 Valerie Kendall

27 Helen Poole 27 Yuko Robinson

28 Amy Duroska 28 Jessie Blair

If you have changes or additions you can contact Diane Tabatabai

at 301-983-6878 or

diane@linktech.org

On Valentine’s Day, we

remember that God is the source

of all love in the world. His

perfect love for us has made all

human love possible.

February 7th

Exod. 34:29-35 Ps. 99

2 Cor. 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-36 (37-43) February 14th

Deut. 26:1-11 Ps. 91:1-2, 9-16 or

UMH 810 Rom. 10:8b-13 Luke 4:1-13

February 21st Gen. 15:1-12, 17-18

Ps. 27 or UMH 758 Phil. 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35

February 28th Isa. 55:1-9

Ps. 63:1-8 or UMH 788 1 Cor. 10:1-13

Luke 13:1-9

th

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ec

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Volume 45, Issue 3 Page 3

Preacher Feature

This year, February is Leap Year, a way to fix the calendar so

that it wouldn’t get too far out of whack. The same can be said for Lent, a time when we practice our faith in a way to keep

our souls from getting too far out of whack.

Please consider joining us for as many of our scheduled events

as you can to help your soul grow in faithfulness and in love of God and neighbor. We have devotions, a birthday party, an extra day of services, and a variety of ways

to help your faith grow.

One of the ways you can increase your service to North Bethesda is to help us with

the sound system, learning how to operate the lights and sound equipment. There will be times when we need someone to help us for special services or concerts and

having people available to make sure we can see and hear will be very helpful.

We also want to put our services on the internet. We will need someone to edit the flash drive recording to make it more accessible by defining the songs, anthems,

scripture, and message, all to make it podcast worthy. Please consider making this

your ministry!

Lent begins on the day after Mardi Gras, also known as Shrove Tuesday. Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, the day the forbidden foods of Lent need to be eaten

before Lenten fasting. Shrove Tuesday stood for Shrive, to try, to strive to be better by following the rituals and practices of a deeper faith. This Mardi Gras, we have a

pancake supper followed by a variety show. Please join us for a delicious and fun

time, as well as the Embrace your Neighbor compass point!

I’m always reading books to help me keep up with the world we live in and to benefit from the experience and wisdom of people who have much to share with us. I learn

a great deal from them. I’m currently reading Lasting Impact, a book about the changes our culture has made to our spiritual life. One of the components

encourages us to help others find a way to be more spiritual. This makes the church

like a spiritual library and source for ideas and resources to help people grow.

My mother was a librarian, and I understand the need for resources very well. I would like to be able to provide a way to find these resources that will engage and

increase faith through recommendations, our website, my messages, classes. I pray that your prayers for me will enable me to put those kinds of resources where

people can find them. I often use our Facebook page as a place to share ideas. May

there be more ways to share faith ideas coming in the future.

Another key to the book is that although people have connections on Facebook, they still need a real hug. We long for the personal contact. Let’s greet and love and

provide each other with the possibility for hugs, reassurance, and comfort as a part of our fellowship and love for one another.

Blessings on your Lenten Journey this year.

Pastor Jeff

Page 4 February 2016 Contact

Growing Support Lent is a time when we examine our faithfulness before God and make steps to

improve our walk with Jesus. This also means a time for us to evaluate our faithfulness in terms of our stewardship of our financial resources. As we approach the Easter

season, we would like everyone to consider the blessings and gifts that God gave us during the past year and make a decision to be faithful to God in showing our gratitude

through our tithes and offerings.

This is the season we often work on our 1040 forms to figure what Uncle Sam requires

of us. It can also be a time for our 1248 forms, too. Form 1248 stands for God’s form Luke 12:48, “Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is

required from those to whom much more is given.” (NLT)

You will be receiving invitations from our stewardship program to consider stepping up

one or two steps on our staircase of giving for the new fiscal year beginning on July 1. It’s a sign to God of our gratitude and a recognition that we have been given much.

Has your faith grown at all this past year? Have you discovered how much God loves

you and has given to you? God would love for us to respond in kind and share what we have so that the work of our church, to bring Good News to our neighbors, will

continue to grow as well.

Thank you for your previous generosity in so many ways. The latest example was that

we passed the request from our young adults to renew the look of our sanctuary with a new carpet. We can grow in so many ways! Come join us!

Pastor Jeff

February Worship Themes

February worship covers a variety of experiences in the life of Jesus. We begin with transfiguration, when Jesus simply glowed with his God-like nature. We also see him

in the wilderness wrestling with the challenges life would throw at him.

Ash Wednesday is in the middle of that week, too. Come either at noon or at 7 pm

and receive the sign of the cross in ashes from last year’s palms. Ashes are a way to say we are sorry that we haven’t been all right all the time, but that we do want to get

our spiritual life in a better place. Come join us for the beginning of the Lenten Journey to the Cross and to Resurrection beyond the Cross.

Beginning 2/17 we will have an AWE service every week, followed by a Lenten Study

on C.S. Lewis at 7 pm.

The list of themes and scriptures for the February Lenten Season:

2/7 Transfiguration of Jesus on the Mountain Luke 9:28-43 & Holy Communion.

2/10 Ash Wednesday Matt. 6:1-6 & 16-21 Jesus warns us about being hypocrites.

2/14 First Sunday in Lent. Luke 4: 1-13 Jesus is tempted in the Wilderness.

2/21 Second Sunday in Lent. Philippians 3: 17- 4:1 Imitate the Master. Pot luck lunch after worship for all our birthdays.

2/28 Third Sunday in Lent. I Corinthians 10: 1-13 God will supply a way out of Temptations.

Volume 45, Issue 3 Page 5

AWE Beginning with Ash Wednesday, we will have AWE (Alternative Worship

Experience) every Wednesday night at 7 pm in the Benedict Parlor, because many people have asked that we have a worship encounter

with God besides Sunday morning. We will follow up the experience with a Lenten Devotional conversation, based on CS Lewis’ Mercy Passion &

Joy. If you have to be away for the weekend, you can attend AWE and keep your weekly connection to God going. If you prefer a more

personal encounter, interaction, and involvement in worship, this is for you.

AWE follows the compass format. We begin with worship, often a meditated walk

through a Psalm for praise. Next comes Nourish the Soul through a conversation on a passage of scripture or from a video presentation like the Visual Bible. Embracing our

Neighbor comes through a time for prayer for one another. We end the time together with a conversation related to how we will Serve & Share with our neighbors the good

news of God’s presence with us.

We recognize that not every style of worship inspires every person. Come and see if

this might fit you better. Remember that sometimes Jesus spoke to thousands on a hill side, and other times he spoke to just one or two or to a small group of disciples.

You might appreciate the intimate style of the AWE.

Pastor Jeff

Lenten Devotions Lent is a time to get ready. In ancient days, it was used to get new members ready for

full participation in the life of the church family. It can mean a chance for us to get ready to deepen and increase our faith.

There are two choices for Lenten studies this year. One is Hope-Full

Living, a daily devotion to “inspire God’s seniors with the assurance that,

“This very day, I have a body, a mind, a spirit and a message – God’s rejuvenating Gospel message to and through me – to share with my

world, my friends, and my Lord.” This devotion will be on Wednesday mornings at 11 am as a part of the OAKS group. Anyone interested may

have the devotional for Lent, whether s/he comes to OAKS or not.

The second choice is C.S. Lewis’ Mercy Passion & Joy. “The daily

quotations, Scripture, reflections, and prayers will lead the reader from contemplations on the mercy of Christ, the Passion he suffered on our behalf to the astounding joy that

is ours because of his great sacrifice for us.” Available to everyone, the book will be the topic of weekly discussion classes, following the AWE, at 8 pm Wednesday nights. It

will also be discussed on Thursday afternoons at 1:30 pm in Benedict Parlor. Classes are open to anyone.

Lent is a time to practice our Christian faith at a more faithful level. It’s a time for more prayer, more worship, more devotions, more sharing our resources with the less

fortunate, and being more supportive of the church and its ministry of offering the love of God to all. There will be a bookmark Bible reading list provided on the first Sunday

of Lent for everyone to use as a guide during this season. Pastor Jeff

Page 6 February 2016 Contact

Compass Inspiration True North is a compass direction that we use for our ministry at

North Bethesda UMC. The W stands for Worship God. We offer two different celebrations of our gratitude during the week. Lent can be

a time for you to increase your number of times in worship with either Sunday morning or Wednesday evening.

N stands for Nourish your Soul. Lent can be a time when you try out one of our three Sunday continuing education offerings with either

the message class, the current events class, or the book reading class. We also invite you to join a Lenten Devotional class on Wednesday mornings at 11, Wednesday nights

at 8 or Thursday afternoons at 1:30 pm.

E stands for Embrace your Neighbor. Lent can be a time to get to know one another

better. Join us on February 21st for our next pot luck lunch to celebrate your Birthday. Bring a dish to share and sit at the table with others who share your birthday month.

S stands for Share & Serve. Lent is a perfect time to increase your support of the ministry of North Bethesda through your financial support or to find opportunities to

engage in making this a better world by volunteering in our community.

Decide now which of these areas will be a growth point for your faith journey. If you

have questions or need suggestions, please connect Pastor Jeff through email or talk with him after church anytime.

Pastor Jeff

Grammarian’s Corner: Relative pronouns

revisited

I recently read an article in “The Washington Post.” The author used the

relative pronoun “who” in connection with a plant. No, plants are not

people! One uses “who” with a subordinate clause that describes what a

person did. One uses “which” in connection with inanimate objects. One

uses “that” with either one.

I was happy that Natalie, who will appear in “The Laramie Project,”

could pick me up at the airport.

Jack sent me an article which explained some of Richard Halliburton’s

exploits.

Rose wrote about a restaurant that was in Alexandria.

The TSA agent that took away my pocket knife was in Omaha.

Valerie Blane

Volume 45, Issue 3 Page 7

President: Both C hands touch

corresponding temples, move out

to S hands. (Chief of State)

Day: Right hand D

shape, elbow

resting on palm

down left hand;

right forearm goes

down to rest on left

forearm.

Valentine: Both

hands V shape

inscribe a heart

over your heart.

Washington:

Right W circles

forward off right

shoulder.

Lincoln: Right L

taps right temple

twice.

Please contact the church office of any change of address, email, or phone

number. If you have a computer and want to be on the NBUMC flash, but are not on

the NBUMC flash, please contact the church office. Thank you for your cooperation.

Joy Burt, Chair of M&E

Sign Language Corner: February signs

February! So many signs, so little space

Page 8 February 2016 Contact

NBUMC Volunteers Help at Capital Area Foodbank

On Saturday, January 16, ten volunteers from NBUMC joined volunteers from Faith,

Jerusalem/Mount Pleasant, Miso/Burma, and Rockville UMCs as part of a UMC cluster

team of over 40 volunteers providing three hours of service, repackaging and labeling

some 6,000 bags of Cheerios at the huge Capital Area Foodbank (CAFB) warehouse on

Puerto Rico Avenue NE, Washington. Many thanks to Rich McManus for initiating and

coordinating this Volunteers in Mission project. The team returned to NBUMC at 5pm to

enjoy pizza and salad kindly provided by Rich. CAFB (https://

www.capitalareafoodbank.org/) partners with 444 community organizations in DC, MD,

and VA, to help 540,000 people each year have access to good, healthy food. That’s

12% of our region’s families. Gordon Cragg

We are planning for NBUMC’s 60th anniversary in September,

2016. Please send or bring into the church office any old pictures, bulletins, newsletters, and old memorabilia from past years

concerning the church as soon as possible, so we can organize and plan. We will use these to decorate the bulletin board. More

information will be coming soon. Thank you for your cooperation.

Joy Burt, Chair of M&E

Heartfelt Thanks I have been moved by the many warm memories of my mother, shared by all

who knew her at NBUMC, and by everyone’s sweet kindnesses to me. If ever I needed to really feel what a church family is, I do now. May God bless you

all and watch over me and my New Jersey family, Sue, Eric, and Nick, as we grieve for the sudden and shocking passing of Rob and Bobbie Grace. Carol Malmi

Volume 45, Issue 3 Page 9

Youth

The youth continue to meet once a month for a dinner. We hope to plan for

some outings and activities for 2016. We are going to try and merge with

another youth group from a nearby United Methodist Church within our

cluster for future activities.

Ms Rose

Many, many thanks to my wonderful

church family for the prayers, cards,

calls, and emails during my recovery

from a broken shoulder. Your prayers

and expressions of caring helped me

more than you know. May God

continue to answer our prayers.

Thanks be to God!

Betty Ball

THE LARAMIE PROJECT Natalie's back on stage! This time in Kensington, MD, at

the Kensington Arts Theatre (KAT.) She will be appearing as multiple characters in "The Laramie Project" - a play

about the ramifications of the Matthew Shephard murder in 1998. This story had a huge effect on the country at

the time. His murderers were two young men who killed Matthew because he was gay and tied him to a fence,

leaving him there to die. This play is the culmination of a

year's worth of interviews to the Tectonic Theatre Project in NYC which went to Laramie, Wyoming, and interviewed

people in the town and those who knew Matthew. It tells the story in small moments. It is guaranteed to move

you. Shows are the first three weekends in Feb. - Fridays and Saturdays, Feb. 5 & 6, 12 & 13, 19 & 20 at

8:15pm and Sundays Feb 7 and 14 at 2pm.

Tickets available at: www.katonline.org

Page 10 February 2016 Contact

A GodParent Festival

We thank the church for the wonderful blessing ceremony for

Amber King Henriques. The ceremony included Amber’s

mother Veronica, her Godparents, Mark and Patience Ball and Sonya Grier; her Godbrothers, Tayo and Tendai; as well

as her Godgrandmother, Betty Ball. Having Amber and Veronica in the United States for the Christmas holidays

presented a blessed opportunity to strengthen our bond in front of God and our church family. We truly appreciated

how Pastor Jeff was able to incorporate the celebration into the service at short notice. The service was filled with love and grace.

Amber and Veronica are safely back in South Africa. Amber

wanted us to include the following reflection, "The church service

really deepened my connection to my Godparents. It showed me that they will be there to support me and made me feel loved

and accepted."

Veronica wanted to share that she “feels full of gratitude to friends who are my Godfamily for walking alongside me as I raise

my daughter. The service affirmed and wrapped our relationship in love, warmth, care and generosity. Heartfelt appreciation to

pastor and the whole church family for their warm welcome.”

Abundant appreciation to the Nogues-Kaul family for sharing a

delicious cake with the church family in honor of Amber.

Patience and Mark Ball

The Story Behind “All Creatures of Our God and King” (My cat, Charlotte, picked this one.)

Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, nicknamed Francesco, was born in 1182 to a rich silk

merchant in central Italy. After serving time in the military, he came home and discovered

Christ. He renounced his wealth and adopted a life of poverty and service to others. He began

to travel, preaching to everyone in the countryside. He became known as St. Francis.

There is a story that he preached to a group of birds, telling the birds that God provides food

and air and feathers and that they don’t have to do anything. With thanks, they should praise

God!

In 1225, weak and partially blind, he journeyed towards his home. He stopped at the St.

Damien monastery where he wrote a poem, “The Canticle to the Sun,” based

on Psalm 148. The poem encourages all of God’s creatures to sing praises

to God.

In 1919, the Rev. William Draper paraphrased it to use in a children’s

Whitsun celebration. The tune is “Lasst uns erfreuen herzlich sehr"

by Friedrich Spee from his 1623 book Auserlesene, Catholische, Geistliche

Kirchengesäng.

In 1906, “All Creatures of our God and King” was first published in The

English Hymnal, with harmonies by Ralph Vaughn Williams.

Alleluia! Valerie Blane

New Year, New Church Project

Dear NBUMC,

It is with great joy that I write to share with you that we

have reached and surpassed our fundraising goal of

$11,000 to replace the carpet in the sanctuary and refinish

the hardwood on the pulpit platform.

For congregation members who have not heard about this

project, let me provide a brief description. The New Year,

New Church campaign is an initiative led by the Young

Adults at NBUMC to refresh the appearance of the sanctuary into the new year.

On Christmas Eve, all the young adults present during a post-service get-together

enthusiastically agreed to lend their support to the New Year, New Church project. This

church, after all, is where many of us spent the Sunday mornings of our early years

under the warm embrace of a welcoming congregation.

Little did we know when we launched the initiative three weeks ago, how quickly our

congregation would rise to the challenge and offer its support.

Donations poured in. Within three days, we raised over $2,000. More checks kept

coming in. Two weeks into the fundraiser, following an inspiring announcement by Dr.

Robinson, the Young Adults received notification of a pledged donation of $10,000 from

a congregation member. An absolute miracle!

I write with gratitude to all members who have offered such incredible support for the

young adults in this initiative. Thanks to Dr. Robinson who reminded us that

“we are the church,” and together we can truly do marvelous things for the glory of

God. Thanks to Ms. Rose Aehle for her suggestions and a

timeline for the project. Thanks to Ms. Patience Ball for her

guidance on fundraising.

And eternal gratitude to God for showing me again and again

that truly all things are possible when we put our trust in Him.

Karen-Alexandra Nogues

Page 12 February 2016 Contact

TWIGS ( Together We Initiate Great Service ) The TWIGS are busy making very unique Valentines to be

sold on Sunday, February 14th. Please take a moment to stop by their table on that day and purchase a beautifully

designed Valentine for a family or church member or your special someone. The TWIGS is a fellowship group for

4th to 6th graders. We meet once a month after the brown bag moment in church. Mr. Greg Davis and Ms

Rose Aehle lead this small but very energetic group.

College Corner

If you had asked me when I graduated high school where I thought I was going to be as a college sophomore, I am not quite sure what I

would have said. I never would have thought that I was going to make it as far as I have already, and I am only 19. I’m a regular

college student living in the shabby dorms at the University of Maryland with a Magic Mike poster on my wall and a

dinosaur pillow pet on my bed. I am a government and

politics major struggling through Economics courses and annoying online homework. But I am also a

contracted US Army cadet. I took my oath in front of the Constitution at the US Archives in our nation’s

capital. When I graduate after three and half years of college in 2018, I will be a Second Lieutenant in the Army. I am set to go to Burkina Faso in West Africa to train

with their military this June for a month. From there I will train at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, for

another month to close out the summer. I am learning to be an adult, but I am also learning

to lead adults. It’s only been a year and a half of college so far, but I’m sure I will have much

more to tell you all about at the end of this semester.

Sarah Duncan, Army ROTC Cadet University of Maryland

Volume 45, Issue 3 Page 13

Kudos to Jesse Jennings!

Each year at Glen Allen High School, seniors

select an individual that has played a key role in

their development as young men both on and off

the basketball court. Jesse’s grandson, James

“JP” Pemberton selected Jesse. JP writes, “When

deciding whom I would select as my ‘Guest

Coach,’ I did not have to think long or hard. My

grandfather, Mr. Jesse E. Jennings, is a major

part of my life and has been since I entered the

world. The bond that my grandfather and I have

is very special to me. He is one of my number

one supporters, no matter what! He has a strong

influence in the decisions that I make, and I am

so grateful to have him in my life. The support

he has given and continues to give me from

school activities, sports, work, and home means

everything to me! He is a well-respected man in

his community, and I aspire to continue the

legacy that he has established with his hard work

and dedication. Jesse Jennings is a wonderful

man who means the world to me, and I thank

him for helping to shape me into the young man

that I am today.”

Submitted by Vera Jennings

Shrove Tuesday Pancakes and

Performance!

Come One! Come All! Show off your talents at our Shrove

Tuesday Pancake Supper, Feb. 9, 6:00PM.

Start thinking and preparing now. Read or recite a poem, sing a song, play an

instrument, tell a few jokes, tell a story, act a scene/monologue, individually or in

groups.

For those who don't want to take the stage, bring some of your crafts: art work,

jewelry, knitting, quilting, and other crafts to show (and/or sell) at tables around the

room during the evening.

We'll have a pancake supper with pancakes, eggs, sausages, and applesauce, and

then take turns entertaining one another (kind of a "sing" for your supper deal.) A

great way to start off the Lenten season! Please contact Natalie McManus or Valerie

Blane for more information or to delight us by telling us that you are participating!

Thank you very much for your Christmas gift. I greatly appreciate your generosity

and kindness. Tony Ashur