Author Archives: ECRD DistrictUWF

Prayer Shawl Ministry at Campbell UMC

by Katherine Kim

I joined this knitting group from Campbell United Methodist Church just before the COVID pandemic started. Unfortunately, we were not able to meet in person for over a year. Now we meet at the church once a month, on the 4th Monday of the month. It is a blessing to be able to be part of this group!

One of the members, Laura Smith, told me about this wonderful ministry:

The Prayer Shawl Ministry at Campbell UMC was started by Cheryl Olsen as something fun to do during the summer, back at least 12-13 years ago.  She offered to teach non-knitters how to knit so I was on board.

We had a specific pattern so all Prayer Shawls were about the same shape and size. The yarn was washable Lions Brand because that made the shawls easy to care for and the yarn was readily available.

We had a small but enthusiastic group of knitters and beginners.  We met twice a month and were supposed to wrap things up the end of August that year.  That did not happen.  We overwhelmingly wanted to continue.

Our Prayer Shawls still today are blessed by the group, and are given to those in our congregation and beyond who need to feel God’s warmth surrounding them as they grieve, recover or just struggle with some of life’s hard times.  The recipients enjoyed getting them and we loved making them.

As a group, we have shared a lot and welcomed new members.  And like all close groups, we have mourned our losses as well.  We are back to monthly gatherings now that Covid restrictions have eased and I’m hopeful we’ll continue making Prayer Shawls for a long time.

Code Red for Humanity

Oil Refinery
International panel of climate scientists says temperatures will rise for decades, even in a best-case scenario

by Betty Spencer Dickey

There was a time when it was convenient to think about global warming and the destructive consequences it poses for life on Earth as a possible, but not necessarily probable, event happening in a distant future—a theoretical crisis that individuals could solve with simple measures, such as the change of a lightbulb. Those days are over according to Jonathan Hahn, the managing editor of Sierra Magazine*.

He says that “Governments’ stalled efforts to draw down greenhouse gas emissions—either because of a kind of muted trafficking in toothless pledges or due to right-wing political movements forcing delay, led by strident climate deniers like our former President and Jair Bolsonaro—now mean that an intensifying climate crisis is locked in for at least the next 30 years. That is the frightening takeaway from a major new United Nations report released on Monday Aug. 9, 2021.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, the most authoritative summary of climate science in the world, shows that for the next generation, increasing heat waves and wildfires, hurricanes and floods, drought and sea level rise are now inevitable. And the consequences could be dire—potentially leading to millions of people displaced, thousands of lives lost, and billions in economic damage.

While the IPCC does not prescribe specific policies, the report makes clear that whatever measures governments decide to take, they must involve the rapid and immediate cessation of the burning of fossil fuels for energy. “This report must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels before they destroy our planet,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement released with the report, calling it a “code red for humanity. “There must be no new coal plants built after 2021. OECD countries must phase out existing coal by 2030, with all others following suit by 2040. Countries should also end all new fossil fuel exploration and production and shift fossil fuel subsidies into renewable energy. By 2030, solar and wind capacity should quadruple and renewable energy investments should triple to maintain a net zero trajectory by mid-century.”

For all of us that means that we need to write and call our congress people over and over and insist that they do the work that we need on the Infrastructure Bill and the other bills that will begin to ease the Climate Crisis. We have no choice. This earth depends on it.

*See article from Sierra Club here.

Treasurer’s Report, Q2 2021

Debbie Ow, Treasurer

Thanks to all the units who steadfastly support United Methodist Women through their pledges. This last quarter, we forwarded $7,916.50 in pledge money to our Conference UMW.

Our administrative account current has about $4,800, to be used for expenses for upcoming events such as Safe Havens 2.0 and Annual Celebration. These funds are planned in our annual budget, and are provided by Conference UMW when needed.

Watch for information about our 2022 administrative budget, which will be made available at least 6 weeks in advance of the Annual Celebration.

We also give thanks to Carolyn Bircher, who completed the audit of our treasury records for 2020. Two small corrections were required, to be incorporated in Q3.

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.