1224 Legion Way S.E. , Olympia, WA 98501-1655

360-943-2661 * fumco@fumcoly.org * www.fumcoly.org

www.facebook.com/FirstUnitedMethodistChurchofOlympia

THE

IN THIS

Issue 2 Ruth’s Reflections

3 Scrapbook / Thank You!

4 Ministry

5 Ministry

6 Discipleship Opportunities

7 Discipleship Opportunities / Youth

8 Ministry / Mission

9 Mission

10 What’s Happening at First Church?

11 At a Glance

12 Discipleship Fair

The Work of the People

Fall Schedule In the Gospel of Matthew, as Jesus continues his journey toward the crucifixion and resurrection, his message to his people increases in love, commitment, and intensity. We continue to explore how we, the people in our 21st century, follow the call to Christ.

September 10 For Homecoming Sunday, Pastor Ruth reflects on the call to compassion of Jesus found in Matthew 25:31-46.

September 17 Pastor Peter concludes the Matthew sermon series exploring Acts of Worship, in the church and the world with Matthew 26:1-13.

September 24 Paul Benz, executive director of Faith Action Network will share a sermon celebrating how faith and love can change our community and state.

October 1 Pastor Peter will lead us in the celebration communion alongside the rest of the world for World Communion Sunday.

October 8 Pastor Ruth and Pastor Peter will enjoy an Ask the Pastor Sermon Sunday! We celebrate the faith journey through asking questions together. Please bring one of your questions about God, Community, and Church and hear the Pastors’ on the spot answers!

Volume 66 | Issue 7

Homecoming | 2017

COURIER

Return of the Mission Pigs!

Our pigs on a mission are coming home! Keep feeding your pigs and then bring them to church on September 17. All of your coins and bills will be donated to CIELO, a local non-profit organization that provides educational, mental health, and counseling services, information/referrals, and social/cultural activities for the Spanish-speaking community of South Puget Sound.

Nuestros cerdos en una misión están regresando a casa! Siga alimentando a sus cerdos y luego llevarlos a la iglesia el 17 de septiembre. Todas sus monedas y billetes serán donados a CIELO, una organización local sin fines de lucro que proporciona servicios de educación, salud mental, y asistencia social, y información/referidos, y

actividades sociales/culturales para la comunidad Hispana de South Puget Sound.

Ruth’s Reflections 2

Perhaps the most famous rule for improvisational comedy is “yes/and.” When working with another person to create the imaginary scene for humor, you don’t correct them and say, “No, we are not on a cruise to Alaska, but a trip to the Amazon jungle!” It leads to confusion, not humor. With yes/and it’s, “Yes, we are on a cruise to Alaska and we only packed swimsuits! What are we going to do!” By working together, hilarity ensues.

I’ve found that the ministry of the church and comedy have a great many things in common. Yes, we believe that God’s grace and constant love is not contingent upon anything we do, and we believe that it’s a sign of a disciple of Christ to help others as long as ever we can. Yes, we worship God with an organ, a rock n’ roll band, and skits. Yes, we believe that one of the most important forms of Christian expression is worship, and we know that the discipleship of each individual must be taken more seriously than just Sunday. Yes, we can love the people in our congregation, and work hard to reach new people by creating new things.

We learned this way of being from Jesus. His ministry was yes/and to the core. “Yes, I will heal the dead girl and I will heal the woman with the hemorrhage.” “Yes, I will have a zealot and a Roman sympathizer as part of my inner circle.” “Yes, I will hold people to high standards of compassion and offer compassion and grace whenever asked.”

Yes/and thinking helps us avoid false dichotomies. Yes, we can love refugees and Americans who have been in poverty for generations. Yes, we can love children, boomers, and 90 year-olds. Yes, we can love our neighbors and love ourselves.

We aren’t confused by those people who would pit groups against each other. We don’t say, “We love our homed neighbor, but not our homeless one,” or “We love people who speak English, but not those who don’t.” We trust that God’s love is overflowing and the world is full of abundance. Yes there is enough for us, and enough for every one else.

At the core of this rule is a sense of trust and teamwork. Instead of seeing the person across from us as competition or opposition, we see them as our collaborator, someone who can make us hilarious, and a person from whom we can learn. Yes, we are a people loved by God, and we are people who love God’s world. Yes, we know God loves me, and that God loves everybody. Yes, we live in a world with lots of conflict, pain, and suffering, and we believe that life and love will win in the end.

First UMC, Olympia Office Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Sunday

Lead Pastor: Rev. Peter Perry Pastor: Rev. Ruth Marston Dir. of Religious Education: Angelina Goldwell Church Administrator: Chris Knight Visitation Pastor: Bonnie Chandler-Warren

PLEASE NOTE: Articles for the next Courier must be deliv-ered to the office or emailed to fumconews@fumcoly.org by the 15th of the month.

Courier Editor: Sue Sugarbaker

And now these three remain:

faith, hope and love. But the

greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

Picture, courtesy of #UnitedMethodist

Summer Scrapbook 3

Our thanks to all the volunteers who have made Messy Church a reality! We value your service. Many thanks to Bruce Keough, Larry Sugarbaker, and all those who worked to bring our chancel expansion to fruition.

Vacation Bible Camp was an heroic week, thanks to the efforts of over 40 volunteers!

We thank all those who participated in the July 30 Hands on Mission project, bagging over 600 lbs. of staple foods for the Thurston County Food Bank.

Ministry - Within Our Walls and Beyond 4

Did you know... ? We have the 16th century to thank for Starbucks, great music, and our busy calendar? Read the current issue of Christian History to learn more.

Girls Lead: Extraordinary Girls Share How You Can Stand Up, Step Out and Lead in All Areas of Your Life (youth) What happens when amazing girls from around the country team together with Julie Carrier, America’s #1 Speaker for Girls and Young Women, to share their stories to inspire other girls worldwide? Featuring girls and young women authors from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and ages from around the world, Girls Lead shows

that every girl, regardless of challenges and setbacks, can bounce back—and lead, achieve, and succeed—while she is having her own unique impact on the world.

The Hate U Give (youth) is a groundbreaking, thought-provoking debut novel, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, about a teen girl who is the only witness to her friend's fatal shooting by a police officer. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor black neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil.

This Changes Everything (youth) “My name is Jaquelle, and I'm a teenager. I like football, movies, sushi, and dark chocolate. But the biggest, most crucial, most significant thing about me is that my life’s task is to follow Jesus. He is the One who changed my life.” That’s what this book is about. It’s for teenagers eager to reject the status quo our culture sets for us. It’s for those who don’t want to spend the adolescent years slacking off, but rather standing out and digging deep into what Jesus says about following him. This book will help see how the truth about God changes everything—our relationships, our time, our sin, our habits, and more—freeing us to live joyful, obedient, and Christ-exalting lives.

Sun Protection Sun protection is essential to skin cancer prevention – about 90% of non-melanoma skin cancers and about 86% of melanomas are associated with exposure to UV radia-tion from the sun. Learn how to protect yourself to stay safe.

For Your Eyes Over time, the sun’s rays can seriously damage the eyes and surrounding skin. Wear sunglasses.

Children Babies & children are extra sensitive to the sun. Protecting their skin is paramount. Children should not be getting sunburned at any age.

Sunscreen Applying sunscreen daily is one simple step you can take towards being sun safe.

Clothing Clothing is our first line of defense against the sun’s harmful rays. The more skin you cover the better.

Prevention Guidelines Using a sunscreen with an SPF 15 or higher is recommended. Seek the shade. Do not burn. Avoid tanning & UV tanning beds.

Source – skincancer.org

Ministry - Within Our Walls and Beyond 5

UMW Lunch & Learn Program: September 13 We will work on the Days for Girls project. The vision of this project is to provide lasting feminine hygiene kits and health education for girls and women in Africa. The kits allow them to continue their education without interruption.

We will cut out the fabric components to prepare for sewing. There will be tasks for all; no sewing skills needed!

In honor of September and the new school year, bring a brown bag lunch that you can share. I'll trade a PB&J for tuna! Fellowship at 11:30 a.m. Lunch and program at 12:00 noon. Questions? Contact Nancy Adams at 360-358-3032 or nancyladams@hotmail.com.

Save a spot on your calendar for the October 11 dinner and guest speaker. Sarah Eltantawi, TESC professor and Humanities Washington Speaker, will present "State of Civilization: Islam and Muslims in the 21st Century."

Women and Finance: October Meeting The Women and Finance Group’s first meeting of the new season will be a breakfast meeting held at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, October 2, at River’s Edge Restaurant at the Tumwater Golf Course in Tumwater. The speaker will be Richard Vertz, a pharmacist at the Costco Pharmacy. He will give a program on “All About Prescription Drugs.”

All are welcome to attend. Questions? Call Bobbie Hubbard at 360-943-3876

Sunday School Teachers Needed: Paid Positions

Families today come in all forms. Parents, grandparents, and caregivers look to a church family to walk alongside them as they grow to love Jesus, love neighbor, and love self. First Olympia is seeking two energetic, loving, faith-filled people to journey with our families as Sunday School teachers.

Our children are kind, helpful, and eager to recognize the presence of God in their lives. Sunday School at First Olympia is hands-on, engages multiple learning styles, and is built on a foundation of kindness and generosity of spirit. In our classrooms children dig into the Bible, pray together and learn together through arts, crafts, science, games, worship, and more. As one of our Sunday School teachers these people would lead One Room Sunday school during our 8:45 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. services and lead an age specific group (Pre-K/K or 1st-4th) during our Discipleship Hour.

If you know someone who would be ideal for this paid position please encourage them to contact Angelina Goldwell.

Sunday Afternoons at First Olympia Beginning on September 17, First Olympia is expanding its discipleship offerings on Sundays. The Discipleship Hour (10:00 -11:00 a.m.) will continue to have a robust catalog of opportunities but now there will also be classes offered on Sunday afternoons. From 12:30 -1:30 p.m. a light lunch will be served in the Great Hall (ably prepared by Tim Monahan) and classes will begin at 1:30 p.m. Visit the Discipleship Fair on September 10 or visit fumcoly.org in mid-September to discover all the fantastic ways you can sculpt your spirituality this fall!

Discipleship Opportunities 6

Vacation Bible Camp This summer we welcomed over 50 children into our church for VBC! Our 40 volunteers did an excellent job leading these children closer to Christ through Bible stories, songs, dance, games, crafts, science experiments, and mission projects. The children collected over 250lbs of staple foods that were broken down during our Hands-on Mission project on Sunday, July 30. The children also made Blessing Bags, gallon bags filled with needed supplies, for our siblings living on the street. Many of the VBC families participated in a closing day barbeque and the children thoroughly enjoyed the bouncy castle. We also had VBC families participate in our preview event for Messy Church (see article on page 10) where they had a wonderful time. If you would like to be part of the planning team for next year’s Vacation Bible Camp, please contact Angelina Goldwell.

Living the Questions is Coming to First Olympia Living the Questions is a small group study experience in which participants are encouraged to embrace the questions of faith with a broad diversity of responses. It is an open-minded alternative to studies that attempt to provide overly simplistic answers to all of our faith questions. Based on recorded interviews with prominent progressive theologians, Pastor Peter will be leading the class which will be divided into 3 “flights” of seven weeks each over the next year. The first flight will be offered in two sessions (minimum enrollment of 8 persons is required for each session with a maximum of 16 persons): seven consecutive Sunday afternoons at 1:30 p.m. beginning on September 17, and seven consecutive Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m., beginning on September 21.

There is a sign-up sheet in the church office. Please reserve your space today!

Youth News Rule 9: Show Up, Change the World Youthens! You are brilliant, powerful, and compassionate. Yet I’ve learned over the course of my many centuries that showing up changes things and that your presence makes an enormous difference. You have the capacity for making the world a good place.

Youth Group begins again on September 10! Our kickoff celebration is a potluck with you and your grown-ups as we plan the rest of the Fall Semester.

We’re excited for this coming year that has an Exciting, Big Project ahead! Join us on September 10 to help us discover just what that project is.

Pastor Ruth

P.S. Every Second Sunday will continue to be a Big Sunday, which will host Youth, Mini-Methodists, and Adult Tavern Theology all at the same time!

Mission Trip 2017: Recap There’s a term for the feeling you get when you come back from a mission trip and you feel closer to your fellow missionaries and God. We’re sure there’s a word for it; so if you happen to remember, could you fill us in?

Our names are Kai, Lauren, Colby, Aynsleigh, Zach, Lisa, and Angelina and we recently went and served with the Idaho Mission Project. You might have recognized us with our cool “IMP” t-shirts. No?

During our mission trip, we stayed at Twinlow Camp located on the Twin Lakes in Idaho. Three other churches stayed and worked with us throughout the week and we made some pretty cool friends.

We helped at food banks, gardens, wood yards, a St. Vincent de Paul chapter, and even some local people’s houses. We did weeding (lots of weeding), repackaging food, painting, sorting onions, and some wood chopping as well.

On our trip we learned a lot about what it means to be servant leaders in our community. We saw God in our work, Jesus in each other, and the Holy Spirit in a wandering dog named Zeffyer.

Thank you for supporting our mission because we couldn’t have done it without you.

Discipleship Opportunities, continued 7

Mark your calendars! There will be a planning meeting for all Sunday School teachers on Sunday, September 10 from 1:00-2:30 p.m.

All those who would like to help plan this year’s Fall Festival are invited to meet on Sunday, September 17 from 10:00-11:00 a.m. OR from 1:00-2:00 p.m.

8 Ministry - Within Our Walls and Beyond Circuit Ministry: 5800 For the past several months, pastors and professional staff from the Evergreen UMC, Tumwater UMC, and our church have been getting together for breakfast at Pastor Peter’s house every Wednesday. We’re intentionally collaborating to strengthen our congregations and the presence of the UMC in the South Sound region. We want each church to be the best possible unique expression of Christian community it can be, and we know that there will soon be a time when we get to start new things.

One key number is guiding our work: 5800. According to the US Census, there are 5800 individuals within a 25-mile radius of First Olympia that specifically identify as United Methodist. If we add up the membership of all the UMC churches in that area, we serve approximately 1500 people. There are 4300 more people that identify UMC that we can reach in our area by strengthening our UMC ministries here.

Our circuit ministry has already provided fruit. Pastor Meredith and Evergreen’s cheering and coaching our Messy Church worship experience launch, a few of our young people have taken up the invitation from Tumwater and Evergreen’s Help Our Community Week local mission trip, and First Olympia’s bouncy house helped advertise for Tumwater’s Vacation Bible Camp on National Nite Out.

We are excited about all the ministry that we can do together. You’ll hear about more opportunities to collaborate with our congregations, so that our congregations can support the discipleship of the 5800 United Methodists in our region.

Nicaragua Mission Trip , 2018 We will be having our kickoff meeting between church services on September 10 for our mission trip to Nicaragua that we are planning for January - March 2018. Since we already started planning and needed to postpone the trip, we will be picking up where we left off. We will be focused on identifying potential dates and people who are interested, as well as starting our planning for the auction. We can also answer questions about the trip. We are capping the number of people on our team at 12, so if you are interested it is important that you attend this meeting.

Please contact John Grettenberger at grettenbergerj@gmail.com or 360-923-1424 if you have any questions.

Mission - Outside Our Walls

Okanogan Mission Trip, 2018 Let's go to Okanogan County to assist in rebuilding efforts after the rec-ord setting Carlton Complex fire of 2014. Help us rebuild a house.

Interested? Contact Matthew Allen at matthew.allen.17.ma@gmail.com

9 Mission - Outside Our Walls

Day 1

Good Gleaning We had a great turnout for the June 22 gleaning by First Olympia members at the Kiwanis Westside Food Bank Garden. The group harvested 327 pounds of cabbage for the Food Bank and weeded cabbage beds to allow for a second planting. Four of the 10 gleaners were participating for the first time in the program. First Olympia participants were Randy and Roxanne Wade, Ken Raupp, Jerry Ayers, Dorothy Collard, Diana Hanson, Violet Crase, Elizabeth Raybould, Diane Walker, and Rob Harper.

Call me at 866-1106 or email at rbh25@comcast.net if there are questions.

Help Us Move In: Exciting News In 2000, we at First Olympia started a mission to help local children who were experiencing homelessness. We anticipated helping 10 to 20 children. This was to be a short demonstration program for the stewardship drive. Seventeen years later, our short program has helped over 1,600 children in our area, by raising over $200,000.

With this experience and outside financial backing from the HUMI Board we successfully expanded into four other Washington communities. These communities have helped over 200 children to be Homeless No More.

With the success we have experienced in Washington, HUMI is joining with Family Promise, a national organization, in a pilot project to expand into ten communities across the country, from Florida to Virginia to Oregon. We will look forward to expanding to many other communities. Our goal is to help 5000 children escape homelessness every year.

Our goal in 2000, was to help 10 to 20 children. We are now looking to helping thousands of children across the country! While we expand our focus to helping children in other communities, we mustn’t lose sight of the challenges facing our local children. Your donations allow us to help over 30 children per month. After the “Phantom of the Opera” concert in 2016, an attendee of First Olympia donated $100,000 to HUMI to

help local children. This gift allows us to continue to match your contributions. Your contribution of $153 to FUMCO for Help Us Move In, when matched, will provide a home for 2 children.

Please visit Help Us Move In’s web site at www.helpusmovein.org. for more information.

Burt Sarver

Everything Alive Changes! Over the past two years, we’ve had a ministry particularly aimed at our 20- and 30-somethings called “Tavern Theology.” It is now evolving into “Methodorks!”

Methodorks! will continue to meet twice a month, now on the 2nd and 4th Mondays. We will meet at individual’s homes for fellowship,

board games, and discussion. If you’re interested in joining us and want to know where we’re meeting, contact Susan Freese at susan.freese@gmail.com.

What’s Happening at First Church? 10

Messy Church Begins On Wednesday July 26, we welcomed five families to our Messy Church preview! Messy Church is the new worshipping community at First Olympia. Messy Church is a model of worship that is intentionally geared towards all ages and is centered in hospitality, celebration, and Christ. A Messy Church worship experience includes hands on activities, scripture stories, prayer, song, and a communal meal. Going forward, Messy Church will meet on the 3rd Sunday of the month from 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. We would love to have church members attend these worship experiences to welcome new families into the life of our church! If you would like to be a table host (leading one of the activity stations) or assist in preparing the meal, please contact Angelina Goldwell.

Welcome to the Family!

We welcome Joe Soel and Amanda Copeland, who each took membership vows in July. We also welcome Lilianna Paisley Rose Cramer, who was baptized on August 13. Welcome to the First Olympia family!

At a Glance 11

! Hello First Church Hikers!

July was a great month for enjoying the outdoors, and it looks like August is off to a good start too. We love the wonderful mix of people who have joined us for our July hikes: Harry's Ridge at Mt. St. Helens National Monument and the family hike at Millersylvania State Park. This is a reminder that our next hike will be Saturday, August 26 and we are planning to head up to Mt Rainier for that one. Knowing how busy the park gets on summer weekends, we will be meeting earlier than usual so we can hopefully get ahead of the crowds. Contact Ginger Sarver or Mae Wharton for the details.

! Pie Potluck Reception!

Celebrate with Pastor Ruth and Skylar at an open house reception in the Great Hall on October 8 from 1:00-3:00 p.m.

! Bloodworks Northwest Blood/Scholarship Drive

Where: Blood Mobile - FUMCO Lower Parking Lot Date: September 2, 2017 Time: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

If we have 36 donors, Bloodworks Northwest will provide a college scholarship to Nick Bunda, Mark Bunda's nephew.

If you would like to donate, please

call Kristi Bunda at (360)870-6899 or

email her at kbunda@comcast.net

to set up a donation time.

We’re a Busy Church! … and there are three ways to access our complete church calendar:

1. Go online to www.fumcoly.org 2. Check the weekly Sunday bulletin 3. Call the church office at 360-943-2661

Some Courier Changes Afoot… A few changes have come to The Courier. Our previous issue covered summer events and worship from July 1 to mid-August. This issue will cover the remainder of this month through September.

Beginning in September, the new due date for all Courier articles will be the 15th of each month. This earlier date allows us ample time for layout, editing, and timely publishing.

And, as we did last year, look for some more consolidated issues over the holidays and as we move toward Lent. If you miss the more frequent newsletters, be sure to sign up for the weekly email blasts, and check Facebook, our web site, and the Sunday morning slide show and announcements to be completely up-to-date.

Thank you for adjusting to these changes!

See page 10 for more information.

We are making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world by gratefully worshipping God, joyfully learning discipleship, gracefully cherishing one another, and faithfully serving the world under the guidance and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Discipleship Fair is a twice-yearly event where

First Olympia celebrates all the ways you can grow in

your faith and connect to the church family!

At this event we showcase all the classes, fellowship

groups, choirs, service opportunities and

more that First Olympia has to offer.

Invite your friends!