The Journey

Colossians 3:12-17

What’s your favorite clothing style? Do you like pants, jeans or shorts, dresses or skirts (ok, woman do have more choices than men!) Do you like to dress up? Do you have a favorite shirt or pants that you just love but your family wishes you would give it away? Do you have clothing that is just for “home” and you don’t want anyone to see you in it? (I call these home clothes!) Clothing is something that is just part of our lives. We go to the closet or dresser each day and choose what we will wear. But are there other ways we can “clothe” ourselves? See what our Scripture talks about and think about how you clothe yourself for God every day.

Prayer
Yes, God, we put clothes on every day and show us how to clothe ourselves to become more like You. Teach us Your ways, O God, teach us Your ways. Amen.

URGENT NEED

The Bloomfield Meals on Wheels Program needs someone to deliver meals on the last Wednesday of each month. If you would be willing to do this please contact the Dexter Nutrition Center or call me at 568-3338. This involves approx 2 hours each month.

Some of the Trinity folks who have delivered meals during the past year are:
Larry & Sandra Massey, Grant & Mary Thorn, Pat Snider, Barb Rice, Rachel Ward, Laura Meyer, Lina Gibbs, Annette Lumsden, Stan Lumsden, Lara Thorn, Ann Aycock, Sarah Dumey, Jim & Helen Giffin, & Cathy & William Chasteen.

Come join us if you can!

Youth Attend Mud Olympics!!

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A Vision of 10,000

A Light in the Window
Susan Hoyle, pastor Trinity United Methodist Church

Will you join us on September 26 for Mission Blitz ’09, God is in this City? I told you about the upcoming Blitz last month and I hope you’ve been thinking about joining us. You might be wondering, “ok, what’s this Blitz thing all about?” Well, it’s an amazing time of sharing God’s love in our corner of the world. We become the hands, feet and heart of Christ Jesus showing others God’s grace-filled love. It’s grace-filled because no one has to earn that love, God showers it on us and we want to share it with everyone we meet.

God has given us a vision of 10,000 people reaching out to others on Sept. 26. Just think about that. Over 10,000 people in the United States surprising folks with random acts of kindness. That makes a powerful statement to the world. We come together on Saturday morning just to show others that Christ’s love is real in the world. So, far we have over 200 churches and organizations like Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and 4-H joining us. Won’t you, your church family or organization join us, too?

You may wonder, “well, what could we do?” Begin by brainstorming with others in your family, church or organization. What are some outreach opportunities that you would like to do in your community? As you brainstorm, don’t think about how much something will cost, just put anything out there. (You can figure out the details later.) What we’ve found out at Trinity is that when I have an idea and share it, then that gives someone else an idea and then the idea gets bigger and bigger and we get even more excited! You see, the Blitz helps us get excited about serving in our corner of the world. You might want to do something with the kids in your community or visit folks who are homebound or in the nursing home. It might be making cards for folks in the hospital (you don’t have to know someone to make a card or receive it!). One church group gave out 4 free postage stamps at the post office. Folks who can’t get out too much can make cookies and cupcakes for treat trays. We come together the day before the Blitz and put the trays together and then another team delivers them on Blitz day. And those are just a few of the ideas, we have lots more. You don’t have to create this on your own, we have lots of information to share with you on what’s worked for us.

You know what would be great? How about everyone who wants to participate in one town comes together at one host site on the morning of the Blitz? Maybe after your church or organization has thought of outreach opportunities, we can have a meeting and share our outreach ideas. Then we can take those ideas and sign up sheets back to our churches or organizations. That way, folks have lots of choices in how they want to serve. It becomes a community Blitz because we are better together, right?

Please call me at 573/568-3188 or 573/421-3706 for more information. You can also check out our website at trinitybloomfield.org. We also have a blog at tumcdiscussion.blogspot.com. There’s also a facebook group. Just put mission blitz in the facebook search engine. There were 11 members on Wednesday and on today (Monday) there are 98 members. WOW! It’s a great place to share ideas with folks all over the country. The excitement is growing. Won’t you join us with your prayers every day and your participation on Sept. 26?

The Journey

Scripture for August 23 Philippians 3:12-16

Goals are important for our lives. We have personal goals such as attending college, finding a new job, buying a new home or car or taking a dream vacation. We might have short-term goals, too, like a day trip with the family or a day just by ourselves. We can have goals for our physical health, like eating fewer carbs or fats. Perhaps we have a goal of losing weight and daily exercise. We might have goals of working through anger or hurt that burden us. We can have all kinds of goals in our lives. So what spiritual goals do you have? What long and short-term goals do you have for getting closer to God? Setting goals in all areas of our lives can help us be motivated and give us direction. We need direction sometimes, because we can get so caught up in the busyness of life, we do what we have to for today and that’s all. Then we feel we’re in a rut and we are!

Even though we might not think about it often, it’s important for us to have goals in our spiritual life, too. So, what goals do you have in your spiritual life? Perhaps you can take some time and think about how you would like to go deeper in your spiritual journey. Then would you share them with me? I have a goal this fall of creating new opportunities for us to become closer to God through Bible studies, prayer groups and other small groups. I would like to know the small groups that would help you on your faith journey.

Prayer

Well, God, I can’t say I ever thought about my goals to get closer to You. Will you help me? This isn’t easy for me, but I know it’s important. Amen.

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