Author Archives: ECRD DistrictUWF

From the President: “Become!”

by K Stone, President, El Camino Real District, United Methodist Women

BECOME!

I recently found this “conversation” on a Facebook page that I follow, “Hey God. Hey John.” This page is described as transcripts of personal conversations between author John Roedel and God. This particular post struck me as being especially pertinent at this time, when we need to understand how to move forward from the uncertainty of the pandemic.

Me: Hey God.

God: Hello, my love.

Me: I’m falling apart. Can you put me back together?

God: I would rather not.

Me: Why?

God: Because you are not a puzzle.

Me: What about all of the pieces of my life that are falling down onto the ground?

God: Let them stay there for a while. They fell off for a reason. Take some time and decide if you need any of those pieces back.

Me: You don’t understand! I’m breaking down!

God: No – you don’t understand. You are breaking through. What you are feeling is just growing pains. You are shedding the things and the people in your life that are holding you back. You are not falling apart. You are falling into place. Relax. Take some deep breaths and allow those things you don’t need anymore to fall off of you. Quit holding onto the pieces that don’t fit you anymore. Let them fall off.  Let them go.

Me: Once I start doing that, what will be left of me?

God: Only the very best pieces of you.

Me: I’m scared of changing.

God: I keep telling you – YOU ARE NOT CHANGING!! YOU ARE BECOMING!

Me: Becoming who?

God: Becoming who I created you to be!  A person of light and love and charity and hope and courage and joy and mercy and grace and compassion. I made you for more than the shallow pieces that you have decided to adorn yourself with and that you cling to with such greed and fear. Let those things fall off of you. I love you! Don’t change! Become! Become! Become!  Become who I made you to be. I’m going to keep telling you this until you remember it.

Me: There goes another piece.

God: Yep. Let it be.

Me: So…I’m not broken?

God: No – but you are breaking like the dawn. It’s a new day. Become!!

By John Roedel, published at https://www.facebook.com/Godandjohn, 7/25/2021. 

Book Review: “Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion” by Gregory Boyle


BOOK REVIEW
by Carolyn Bircher, Secretary of Program Resources

No matter where people live or what their circumstances may be, everyone needs boundless, restorative love.  Tattoos on the Heart amply demonstrates the impact unconditional love can have on a life.  As a pastor working in a neighborhood with the highest concentration of murderous gang activity in Los Angeles, Gregory Boyle created an organization to provide jobs, job training, and encouragement so that young people could work together and learn the mutual respect that comes from collaboration.

Tattoos on the Heart includes stories distilled from Boyle’s 20 years of ministry.  In each chapter, we benefit from Boyle’s wonderful, hard-earned wisdom. Inspired by faith, these personal, unflinching stories are full of surprising revelations and observations of the community in which Boyle works and of the many lives he has helped save.  With Gregory Boyle’s guidance, we can recognize our own wounds in the broken lives and daunting struggles of the men and women in these parables and learn to find joy in all of the people around us.

This book is included in the “Nurturing for Community” category in the recently-expanded 2021-22 UMW Reading Program list.  It is available from most public libraries.

Opportunity: Children’s Study on Managing Emotions (Pilot Group)

Hello sisters,

I am writing to see if you can help encourage one to three families in your congregation to join a 6-week Zoom group to learn about emotions using the UMW Mission u 2020 children’s study called Managing Our Emotions. 

The conference committee on Children’s Ministries chaired by Pastor Cathy Morris contacted UMW to see if we would help recruit a diverse group of families for this pilot study. It is a 6-week program, one hour each week beginning in September and it will be on Zoom.

The goal of the program is to help parents and their children learn about the different emotions and how to manage them using Biblical resources and recent knowledge about our brains and emotions. Get more info in the full description. 

Get more info

Would you pray about this and see which families in your congregations may find this helpful and personally talk to them?  The vision of the Children’s Ministries Committee is to create more opportunities to reach the children of the CANV conference. I am grateful that they are using the Mission u children’s curriculum.  This is another step to bring our children and parents closer to Christ. UMW can partner in this effort to bring Mission u children’s studies into the conference.

Interested persons will need to contact the facilitator, Joni Cisowski at joni@firstumcmodesto.org by July 31.  Would you help with this recruitment?  Thank you so much!  Please also help pass the word along. 

Blessings,
Mary W. Cheng
Graduate Theological Union