Rusty's Reflections I know many of you have been disturbed and disgusted by the cruel death of George Floyd in Minneapolis this week, as I have. That, on top of the video of the woman calling 911 and saying she was being attacked by a black man as he videotaped her from a dis- tance away showing that he obviously wasn't threatening her has brought one of the sad truths of our society to the forefront of our con- sciousness yet again. I don't know how our country can change. All I know is that it must. In my own family, I saw the difference that happened with regard to prejudice in the course of a generation between my grandparents and my parents. What changed? What happened to my parents that positioned them in such a different way than my grandparents? I can't help but believe it was the result of education and an openness to question the beliefs/stances of the generation that came before. And so I hold on to hope with regard to whether or not our country can change. I will not despair even though my heart breaks when it sees instances of racism and violence and injus- tice arise again and again. I know it can change. I've seen it. And so our work is not done. When we have opportunities to speak about and against racism and how we as Christians are to treat others with the respect and kindness that we expect for ourselves, we cannot fail to do so. I may be preaching to the choir here. I suspect I am. But know that to be silent is not possible not today, not tomorrow. We can change. Rev. Rusty The June 2020 Connection New Sunday Evening Class - How My Mind Has Changed Starting Sunday, June 7th at 7:00 p.m., via Zoom, Rev. Rusty will be inviting former pastors at CUMC to address the topic, "How my mind has changed," in a series of classes. It will be a time when you can interact with some of your favorite former pastors and I will put them on the spot with different questions. I hope you will join me in the classes. The Zoom invite will come out with the invitation each Friday and Sunday. It should be interesting and fun!
Transcript
Rusty's Reflections
I know many of you have been disturbed and disgusted by the cruel death of George Floyd in Minneapolis this week, as I have.
That, on top of the video of the woman calling 911 and saying she was being attacked by a black man as he videotaped her from a dis-tance away showing that he obviously wasn't threatening her has brought one of the sad truths of our society to the forefront of our con-sciousness yet again. I don't know how our country can change. All I know is that it must.
In my own family, I saw the difference that happened with regard to prejudice in the course of a generation between my grandparents and my parents. What changed? What happened to my parents that positioned them in such a different way than my grandparents? I can't help but believe it was the result of education and an openness to question the beliefs/stances of the generation that came before. And so I hold on to hope with regard to whether or not our country can change. I will not despair even though my heart breaks when it sees instances of racism and violence and injus-tice arise again and again. I know it can change. I've seen it.
And so our work is not done. When we have opportunities to speak about and against racism and how we as Christians are to treat others with the respect and kindness that we expect for ourselves, we cannot fail to do so. I may be preaching to the choir here. I suspect I am. But know that to be silent is not possible not today, not tomorrow. We can change.
Rev. Rusty
The June 2020 Connection
New Sunday Evening Class - How My Mind Has Changed
Starting Sunday, June 7th at 7:00 p.m., via Zoom, Rev. Rusty will be inviting former pastors at CUMC to address the topic, "How my mind has changed," in a series of classes. It will be a time when you can interact with some of your favorite former pastors and I will put them on the spot with different questions. I hope you will join me in the classes. The Zoom invite will come out with the invitation each Friday and Sunday. It should be interesting and fun!
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Deepest condolences to the family and friends of previous CUMC member Bob Tiemens , who passed away in Colorado in April.
Deepest condolences to the family and friends of Marilyn Adler, who passed away May 17th.
May and June are two of my most favorite months of the year. Days are long-er. Temperatures are warmer. Flowers and trees are beautiful. Everything around us speaks of hope and new life. Even the birds are cheerful! Except this year is different. We may not want to deal with that, but it is reality.
With June we are entering our third month of life with a pandemic. COVID-19 certainly does not define us, but it has certainly changed our world. Physical distancing, masks, washing our hands, sanitizing surfaces, ordering out in-stead of eating in—all these are things we have come to deal with in the past couple of months.
Two things seem to be affecting how we look at the issue of how and when to attempt to return to “normal.” One is the ongoing current reality of the virus. It is still with us. The risk—even in Utah—is still here. The second is what might be called quarantine fatigue. We are already weary of being isolat-ed and, in a sense, confined and defined by this virus.
Every day more Utahns are infected and impacted by COVID-19. We are “not New York” but the coro-navirus has changed how we live and connect. Confined we may be. Don’t, however, let it define you. You are still a child of God, loved and cared for by God and by all of us. You can still see hope and good news. There are good things happening all around us. As Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers’ Neighbor-hood) quoted his mother, when bad things happen, look for the heroes. We are surrounded by heroes. We are heroes—heroes every time we choose to see the good and do the good. Every time we hold back on our impatience and irritation, yielding rather to grace and mercy in caring for ourselves and those around us.
So, hang in there dear loved one! Keep your perspective. Keep loving. Keep trusting. Keep your focus on the Author of our salvation, and on our ability to share Jesus’ love and grace in innovative and crea-tive ways.
We will get through this!
Pastor Bruce Kolasch
Pastor of congregational care
Thank you to those of you who have given part or all of your government stimulus check to the church. That is a great gift to the church during this time and helps the church to meet its financial obligations...and helps to provide a way that we can help others who are going through a difficult time.
Thank you as always for your continued support of the church. You may mail a check to the church, give through the CUMC website, or text to give at 801-317-8833.
The Navajo Nation in the four corners region has been hit especially hard by the Covid19 Virus. Pastor Jean Schwien, from First UMC in Cortez, is working with citi-zens of the Navajo Nation to get much needed supplies out to those in need and has requested help from us and the rest of the Mountain Sky Conference to pur-chase and deliver supplies as soon as possible. Cash donations are also welcome. Checks should be sent to First UMC of Cortez, PO Box 1016, Cortez, Co 81321.
Kim and Andi loading their truck for the trip to take sup-plies to Pastor Jean.
Pictured are supplies collected at the end of May for the Nava-jo Nation. Thank you to everyone who contributed!
A special thanks to Jen Tanner who started a FaceBook effort to raise funds, and was able to do-nate over $1,000 worth of hand sani-tizer, baby wipes and Spam.
Thank you to Kim Mitchell, Andi Strong and Jon and Barb Jolley for taking this load of supplies to Pastor Jean!
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Knights of North Castle
Vacation Bible School
July 6 – 9, 2020 Register by JUNE 1st!
CUMC is offering our online VBS for FREE from July 6th – 9th. Please register by June 1st so we have enough time to order supplies. Grandchildren are also welcome to attend. You can watch the videos anytime during the day that works best in your schedule. All families have the option of receiving a free music CD of this year’s songs. Register or for updates and more information, go to the VBS website at www.christumcutah.org/vbs . Please contact Kelly Carpenter at [email protected] or 801-486-5473 ext 113 with any questions.
Summer Mom Zoom Nights All Moms are invited to join us for our Summer Zoom meetings on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month at 8:00 pm. We would love to “see” you, even for a few moments. Our next meetings will be June 2nd and June 16th. Log in at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84632283177 . Need a Bible? If your family would like to follow along with the Deep Blue Bibles for Kids that we are using during this time and you do not have one, contact Kelly at [email protected] and we will get a copy to you. Father’s Day Wishing all the men at CUMC a Happy Father’s Day on Sunday, June 21st!
Children, Youth and Families Corner
Thank you to everyone who helped with the Palmer Court Pet Food and Pet Supplies May Service Project. Thanks to those who donated, re-bagged pet food, and/ or delivered pet food and supplies. This project is possible through your generous donations and time. Again this month Youth families picked up pet food and rebagging supplies at Patsy's house and rebagged the pet food and treats at their own homes. and dropped them off at Patsy's house. Mike Hampton, Scott Carpenter, and Patsy delivered the pet food, treats, and cat litter. Look for the May stats in the July Connection.
Our next date for the delivery of pet food and supplies will be August 14th. Your donations are greatly appreciated and may be placed in the first bin by the kitchen. Please contact Patsy 801-808-6641 or [email protected] with any questions.
Utah Valley University then Savannah College of Art and Design
Charlie Morrell – Innovations High School
Career working with pets
COLLEGE GRADUATES
Isabelle Falzone – University of Utah with a BS and MS in Biomedical Engineering
Hannah Hartzell – Utah State University with a BS in Childhood Development, minor in Psy-chology
Shannon Loveday – Westminster with a BS in Nursing
Bryce Pulver – Colorado State University with a MS in Watershed Science
Taren Rohovit – University of Utah with a BS in Psychology, minors in Computer Science and Philosphy
Kelly Williams – University of North Carolina Wilmington with a BS in Anthropology, minors in Forensic Science and Biology
Becca Wood – Long Island University with a MS in Library and Information Science and New York University with a MA in Media, Culture and Communications
Congratulations CUMC High School and College Graduates!
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Church Council Meeting on Opening the Church
On Wednesday, May 28th, the Church Council and several other mem-bers had a Zoom meeting to discuss the 31 page Mountain Sky Confer-ence Study Guidebook, which details the guidelines which will allow us to reopen the church. Those guidelines and state and local information to-gether will help to move us toward some kind of reopening of the church. It will not be easy. There are a lot of factors that are brought into play as we think about what it will require.
We discussed a number of different options about how to proceed in the next few weeks/months. Among the options discussed were inviting the non vulnerable families/individuals to the church and then live streaming that to those who are still at home. Another option is having a service out-side at a park or across the street from the church (although at this point we can not have more than 50 people attend according to SLC Rules.) Another option was to have people meet in small groups at each other's houses and then watch a live stream or a recorded service together. Still another option was to have people meet in both the sanctuary and the gym simultaneously and show the service on a big screen in the gym.
As you might imagine, nothing has been decided as of yet, however we will be forming a group consisting of the Worship Committee, along with others, to try and develop something that can work for all of us.
The Guidebook can be viewed on our website (www.christumcutah.org) in the Announcement section of the home page.
We are hosting Family Promise for the rest of the year. We would appreciate donations of Children's DVD's. You may leave your donations in the office.
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Adult Children of Alcoholics & Dysfunctional Families (ACA)
This Meeting is a 12-Step Discussion Format and Open to All. The program is about healing from the effects of having been raised in a dysfunctional family en-vironment and how that has manifested into problems in adulthood (addictions, relationship problems, mood disorders, anger issues, physical illness, etc.)
Meetings are currently taken place via Zoom on Tuesdays. The meeting room opens at 6:00pm, with the actual meeting beginning at 6:30.
The Zoom link is https://zoom.us/meeting/register/vJUpf-2trD4oStYMtbnn6YW6fYfPadjuDQ
YOUTH RESOURCE CENTER FOR HOMELESS AND AT-RISK YOUTH AGES 15 – 22
**Please note: CLOTHING ITEMS ARE FOR TEENS/YOUNG ADULTS (ages 15 -22) ONLY. Pre-teen sizes cannot be used at the Youth Center. Clothing, etc. can be gently used, but no holes or stains please. Teen male boxer briefs (must be new) sizes S, M, LG, XL (32 – 38) Teen female underwear (must be new) sizes 5/small – 9/large Teen female leggings sizes S- XL Teen male jeans sizes 30 -38 Teen female jeans sizes 5 – 16 Gym/Basketball shorts S - XL Belts Teen male short sleeved t-shirts sizes M - XL Teen male hoodies sizes M - XL Teen female hoodies sizes S – XL Teen male shoes/flip-flops, sizes 9 – 13 Teen female shoes/flip-flops, sizes 7 – 10 Beanies (hats) that a teenager would wear Hotel sized soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion; chapstick Hair brushes and hair ties Kleenex packets (purse size) Hand and Foot Warmers Umbrellas Tarps Rain Ponchos Blankets Sleeping Bags Towels Flat sheets, twin size; new or used if in good condition $5 & $10 gift cards to Smith’s, Walmart, or Target for miscella-neous items and medication co-pays VOLUNTEERS are needed!
2375 East 3300 South Salt Lake City, Utah 84109 801-486-5473
www.christumcutah.org
CUMC HELPS
If you need help during this time of isolation, or are available to help, go to
christumcutah.org/cumchelps
or call the office at 801-486-5473 ext 113 and leave a voicemail on Kelly's phone.
If you need to visit the church at this time, please enter through the West door, even if you have a key. There are masks, sanitizing wipes and gloves available on a table by the door, which is open from 9am to 1pm Monday-Friday.
Please wear a face covering in the building, and observe social distancing guide-lines. And please use the sanitizing wipes to clean the surfaces you touch, to pro-tect others that may come in the building after you, as well as our Family Promise Guests.
Please do not bring any rummage until after the church is re-opened for meet-ings. The Ringers are unable to move items from the donation closet to the base-ment at this time. Anything left outside the building will have to be thrown away
