Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times by Bishop Michael Curry

Author Michael B. Curry was elected the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in 2015 and is best known to many for officiating at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. In this book Bishop Curry makes the case for “love as a way to a liberating and life-giving relationship with God, with others, with all God’s creation on this planet.”

He started by telling how he learned to meet the needs of two very distinct congregations that he was called to pastor.  When he was elected as bishop, he overcame the hurdles of being the first African-American bishop in the Episcopal Church. Just after that, the denomination was threatening to split over the issue of how fully to welcome LBGTQ members into the life of the church. Under his leadership, the denomination came to an agreement that held them together. Finally, he gave pointers for navigating the political divides that we face today without alienating those with views very different from ours.

The warmth and care of Michael Curry could be felt through all of the stories that he told and the advice was practical and written to be understood by laity.  After reading this book, I wanted to go find someone that I disagreed with so I could try out the skills that I learned for defusing the ideas that divide us.

This book is in the Spiritual Growth category of the 2022 UMW Reading Program list and is very applicable for these times.

— Carolyn Bircher

Our Spiritual Retreat is scheduled for March 26, 2022 from 9:30a.m. to 12:00p.m.  This year we are focused on healing, which seems so appropriate as we begin to exit the pandemic and all of the social and political challenges that have plagued us during this time.

We are blessed to have Board-Certified Health Coach Beth Carter as our speaker at this event.  This will be a virtual event on Zoom.  Please register in advance.

Beth Carter began her ministry through singing with her church choir from at age 10. She was active in several churches as Administrative Secretary, Youth Choir and Bell Choir Director, and Music Director.  Her desire to minister through music never waned, but the tug at her heart to go beyond that ministry persisted. In February 2020, she and her husband attended a Lay Servant Basic course. With the support from her local congregation and District Superintendent, she is fulfilling the requirements of both Certified Lay Servant and Certified Lay Ministry with anticipated completion of both this fall.

Beth and her husband Eliot, a chiropractor, have two daughters, a great dog, and own and operate Carter Wellness Clinic  in Sonoma, California where their philosophy is the health and wellness of the whole individual Body, Mind, and Spirit.

For our retreat, Beth will use a “wellness triad” as a pathway to health and healing.  She will discuss the impact of emotions on health and the need for healing when there is a physical imbalance.  She will also discuss the health of our souls.

We look forward to an exciting and innovative presentation with lively discussion in the break-out sessions.

— Sandra Nesheim

By Lisa Hatchett, Santa Clara United Methodist  Women

In 2020-2021, our UMW members felt a strong need to stay connected.  Since we were worshiping on Zoom on Sundays, and our members were familiar with the technology, we decided to have UMW meetings monthly on Zoom. 

We tried to keep the meetings similar to our in-person meetings, with a program as well as a Response moment, prayers, and lifting each other up.  We averaged about eight attendees at each meeting.

Several times we played a game as part of the meeting, just to have a little fun.  Our favorite game was Scattergories, where you try to name items in various categories that start with a given letter.  We also played Yahtzee.  Several of our members took advantage of the Spiritual Retreat and Faith Talks that were offered online.

Our programs included:

• Group study of “Finding Peace in an Anxious World”
• Living Wage and the Legacy Fund
• Climate Challenges Featuring David Attenborough’s “A Life On Our Planet”
• Favorite Bible verse
• Review of reading program books
• Recipe exchange

We transitioned to a hybrid in-person and Zoom meeting in June 2021.  Throughout this time we have had some deep discussions and gotten to know each other better.  The Zoom format has enabled some out-of-town members to join our meetings which has been wonderful to stay in touch.