Are you, or is there, a member of your unit “Bold” enough to come and join UMW women from around the US and outlying areas to join us in Columbus, Ohio. May 18 - 20, 2018? The biblical foundation for Assembly 2018 is the story of Mary, Mother of Jesus. Assembly officially begins at 9am on Friday, May 18. Early Registration is 9/1/17 - 11/30/17 Cost = $ 295.00. ++Cost increases to $330.00 from 12/1/17 - 4/9/18.
Scholarships are available at the District, Conference, and National Level. These are not full scholarships. Allotted amount will be given to applicants. PNW UMW and Seven Rivers District requirements for scholarships are that you ask for some funds from your local UMW, then send the application to the District Treasurer. If you want to seek funds from the PNW UMW conference please note that on the application and it will be sent onto the Conference treasurer.
You must Register and PAY for yourself. Hotels have been reserved in Blocks. If you are planning to attend, Please let Tressa (7 Rivers District President) or Yvonne Gowell (Vice President) know. We will try to get a group of rooms for those who want to attend from the 7 Rivers District. Your travel to & from will be your responsibility. You will NOT receive funds until after you attend - Partial Reimbursement. Get creative on how to raise fund to go to assembly. Get help from your church. This will be a life changing experience.
Tressa Cummings - Seven Rivers District UMW President
Greetings from the UMW National Office
I’m writing with an update on our National Mission Institutions that are in areas impacted by the late-summer hurricanes. The following National Mission Institutions are affected:
Cornerstone Family Ministries, Tampa, Florida
Wesley House Family Services, Key West, Florida
New Bethlehem Community Center, Augusta, Georgia
Rural Mission, Johns Island, South Carolina
Wesley Community Center, Houston, Texas
Wesley Community Centers of Nueces County, Robstown and Corpus Christi, Texas
Robinson School, San Juan, Puerto Rico
I am pleased to report that all the staff are accounted for and safe. Emergency grants are being provided to the above Centers to support the immediate emergency needs of residents in their service area. To date, a total of $27,500 has already been sent to Cornerstone Family Ministries, Wesley Community Center, Houston and Wesley Community Centers, Robstown/Corpus Christi.
“The Rosa Valdez Early Learning Center and Lab School was without power for over a week creating a hardship for families needing care for their children, many also without power,” reported Cathy Capo Stone, executive director of Cornerstone. “Thanks to United Methodist Women, we were able to meet with each family very quickly to distribute gift cards to provide replacement food and gas. Each family received $100–$140 for food and $40 for gas.”
Many of you have inquired how United Methodist Women members can assist these National Mission Institutions and the communities they serve. United Methodist Women, national office is setting up a supplementary number for donations designated for hurricane relief. These funds will be earmarked to support grants that assist in direct service to the communities, as well as property grants to repair the buildings as needed. To direct gifts to hurricane relief please use number 3019250. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Amanda Choi at achoi@unitedmethodistwomen.org.
I appreciate your concern for and support of the National Mission Institutions.
On October 14, 2017, at our Pacific Northwest UMW Annual Meeting selected their social action priorities for 2018. A total of 86 women voted. Immigration Justice was the top choice with 22 votes, Economic Justice/Wealth Inequality received 21 votes, Climate Justice received 15 votes, Maternal and Child Health received 14 votes, Mass Incarceration of Communities of Color received 13 votes and 1 vote for Other- Domestic Violence. For more information on these six issues go online to https://www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/service-advocacy
Other resources to utilize would be our Social Principles of The United Methodist Church 2017-2020, Racial Justice Time Line (Important Moments of Racial Justice History in the United States and United Methodist Women), Social Action Alerts and Charter for Racial Justice is also on the national UMW website listed above. These choices will shape our interaction with elected officials in Washington D.C. and our state capitols. You will have an opportunity to promote these priorities when you meet with your state legislators. Mark February 20, 2018 on your
calendar for Interfaith Advocacy Day in Olympia, Washington, and mark February 14, 2018 on your calendar for Idaho Legislature Event in Boise, Idaho.
Continued Commitment to Social JusticeIn 1942 when the UMW met to plan for Assembly at a hotel in St. Louis. Missouri, blacks on the board were sent to a staff elevator. All members of the board rode with them and at their meeting voted to move this event to Columbus, Ohio, allowing black and white members to stay in the same hotel. The message sent to hotels and convention centers was “racial discrimination costs.”
To continue the conversation of any of the priorities listed above please feel free to email me atlibbymariehall@hotmail.com.
LEGACY of our foremothers, a testimony by Dana L. Robert
In 1862, Mary Clarke Nind of St. Charles Illinois was left with sole responsibility for five children when her husband James enlisted in the Union Army. The immigrant Nind family was already poor because their hardware business had recently failed. As Mary turned to God for support, she overflowed with a deepened faith and felt an irresistible urge to testify. Even though her soldier husband was a deacon in their Congregational Church, Mary Nind was silenced and threatened with expulsion for speaking aloud about her deepening experiences of God’s grace. When the congregation disciplined her for holding “Methodist doctrines in a Congregational church,” she was advised by a friend to join the Methodists because “there are more liberties for women to exercise their gifts.” Despite receiving a negative transfer letter from her Congregational pastor, Mary Nind was welcomed into Methodism.
The opposition of the Congregationalists to Mary Nind’s call to testify had a profound implication for the next century of Methodism. The assurance that God accepted her gifts liberated her to become one of the great preachers of the late nineteenth century, known as “Mother Nind” or “little bishop.” A tiny working-class woman in a plain brown dress, her testimony was so impressive and “so powerfully accompanied by the Holy Spirit” that Nind left her large family responsibilities and became an organizer of women’s mission societies throughout the West. Traveling everywhere by train, stagecoach, or foot, often arriving late at night with nobody to meet her at the station, Mother Nind spoke in camp meetings, revival meetings, and even in churches where the male pastor opposed the idea of women’s societies. In 1877 alone, she traveled 7,000 miles and was only home for 15 weeks. As her family noted, “Having been called into the work of the WFMS, it proved to be the open door for the preaching of the gospel.”
In 1888, Mary Nind received the highest number of votes from the Minnesota Conference to attend General Conference. But the General Conference refused to seat any woman, thereby beginning a sixteen-year struggle for lay women’s rights. Afterward, Mary Nind steamed to London as a delegate to the first large ecumenical gathering of Protestant mission societies. There, the tiny grandmother read a set of social justice resolutions into the minutes. Through this radical act, she opposed liquor traffic and supported women’s legal and civil rights. In 1894, Mother Nind visited her married missionary daughter in China and preached at women’s meetings against foot-binding and other social customs that hurt women. She toured the world as an evangelist, preaching in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Not only was Mother Nind the most important organizer of women’s societies in the West, but she was biological foremother to three generations of China missionaries and clergy. Her grandson, George Lacy, was the last Methodist bishop in communist China; he died there after the government refused to let him leave, and his bones were later paraded through the streets during anti-western demonstrations.
The roots of United Methodist Women’s history lie n Mother Nind’s insistence on giving her testimony. Her testimony to God’s grace led her to seek the fellowship of like-minded Methodists. The spiritual and social fellowship led to the founding of the most important women’s networks in American history. The network of women’s organizations prayed together, studied together, and pooled their resources to support missions, schools, health care, and work for women and children around the world. The logic of testimony demanded that women have a voice across the connection, including the right to vote, preach, and be ordained in the Methodist Church. Nind lived out her commitment to global issues of social justice. Her motherhood was organizational, physical, and spiritual – and shows why women’s history cannot be separated from the United Methodist tradition. What later became the United Methodist Women was built on the multiple foundations laid in part by a tiny, overworked emigrant woman who answered God’s call to testify.
From the special double issue of United Methodist Women’s History: Lost and Found October 2016 & January 2017
Where did September and October go? I was enjoying the fall colors and woke up this morning to snow. We had a great District Annual meeting at West Highlands UMC in Kennewick. Thank you for the great hospitality. Thank you to the men in the kitchen for preparing our meals! Our program on Mass Incarceration was very informative and Nanette Borders ,our speaker, sent a note to me saying that we have renewed her faith in communities helping communities.
Conference Annual meeting in Spokane at the Spokane Valley UMC was fun and informative as well. Shannon Priddy, National UMW President, spoke to us about reaching out to women in fellowship. Shannon is a younger UMW woman in her early 40s. She has great passion for UMW and is very personable. Our entertainment for Friday evening was the Marimba band from the Covenant UMC in Spokane. This is a mixed age group of marimba players from 8 years old to adults. You just wanted to get up and dance to the music. I attended a breakout session on Criminalization of People of Color presented by Sandy Williams. Sandy is the publisher of the Black Lens newspaper in Spokane. We looked at the Cycle of Oppression. One comment that she brought up to us in class was related to “Differences”. She stated, "We all notice Differences; what we do with the recognition is important." I think this goes back to acceptance and figuring out how to have some common ground with people we may not always agree with. If you want to look at the newspaper, go to www.blacklensnews.com.
Thank You! Seven Rivers District UMW Units. Thank you for the work you are doing for your outreach in your communities and for your yearly missions. Not all organizations have lasted close to 150 years. It started with our foremothers. Shannon Priddy referred to them as the “great eight” women who saw a need and took action. Your yearly pledge helps keep not only our national UMW mission institutions running, but our global ones as well.
I do not give up the Treasurer duties to Carol Sprague until Jan. 2018. We pledged $25,150.00 for 2017. As of 10/31/17 we are at $18,073.00 for the Pledge to Mission and including the other 6 Giving Categories we have given: $20,934.98. If all of us prayerfully consider giving a little extra, this may help us to get closer to our pledge. I thank you for this.
Those of you planning to give during Fourth Quarter, Please mail the funds to me by Monday Dec. 11. I need to close the books and mail to Marilyn S. Reid, PNW Treasurer, by Dec.15. Again, many thanks.
Vice President Report
Click on 'Just Breathe' above to hear the Spiritual Event theme song by Jonny Diaz
Have a great Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas, Yvonne Gowell
I hope all my sisters get out to see this beautiful fall. It has been terrible this year with all the fires and trying to breathe. I hope your units are getting ready for the coming year with the new program books. I know you will enjoy the content and the coloring pages added for meditation times. Don’t forget to set aside the important dates on your calendars. I look forward to hearing about what has been happening in your unit when we meet again. Set aside March 17th for the Leadership day and afternoon Spiritual Retreat session at Kennewick First UMC.
Some of you may have heard the term “woke,” meaning to being aware of racial and gender biases and cultural appropriation. Well, I was asleep for a very long time. I grew up in a small town, largely populated by whites and Hispanics. We only had one black family in my high school, and both students were identified more as athletes than anything else. My exposure to other cultures was rap music and MTV. Not the most accurate of representations.
College brought the chance to meet new and interesting people. But they were still mostly cis (i.e. short for cis-gendered, meaning someone who identifies with the gender they were born as.) white people. People I could identify with. People who didn’t challenge me to examine my internal prejudices. I joined the gay rights club on campus, again mostly white. I know several people who don’t identify as straight, some of them don’t even identify as cis white people. Nearly all of them identify as Caucasian or Hispanic. I took an excellent class on Gay and Lesbian Literature. None of the readings covered race. None of my Literature or English classes had stories talking about non-white culture. The closest I got to awareness was Native American Studies.
Then I started gaming. At first it was in person, with people I knew. No computers needed. These were thoughtful, intelligent people. They challenged me; to be more creative, to use my logic and critical thinking skills, and to do some serious self-reflection. We have had heated debates over chips and soda, and deep discussions in the middle of fighting off enemy hoards. I love playing with these people.
Then I started playing other games. Online MMO (massive multi-player online) games. And I watched my husband and his friends play the shooting, car chasing kind of games. There is a lot of white washing going on. While women are typically portrayed as overly sexual in video games, with skimpy outfits or simpering voices, it took me years to notice a very common trend in terms of race. The most common representations of black characters are thugs and promiscuous women.
I’m not fully “woke.” There are still things that I either don’t see or internalize as normal. But I’m waking up. And I’m challenging you: Find the people that will wake you. The one’s that shake your world view, and that will make you examine yourself... the ones with big cups of coffee.
Note - this was Melissa’s final article as Social Action Coordinator. Let’s keep her in our prayers as she prepares for her baby to arrive (luckily she will have more than a stable and manger for the delivery room!), and have an attitude of prayerful anticipation for a new arrival into this role moving forward.
Have you had a chance to look through the 2018 Reading Program Catalog? I personally have a list of books I would like to read. In Leadership Development I have chosen the book 50 Women Every Christian Should Know.
Do you have a book you would like to share in our next Flame? I would love to hear from you. Send me an email at RLCHADEK@gmail.com and I will put it in our next Flame Newsletter.
Education and Interpretation
Crossroads' downtown building, originally built as a private home in 1903, was purchased and dedicated by the Women's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the spring of 1905 for use as Davis Deaconess Home. The home was named for Mrs. Eliza Given Davis, the second president of the Society, and served as a residence for women serving local Methodist parishes and surrounding local neighborhoods. The original site for the work of the Society was Davis Hall, which was built at 41 East 300 South in 1883 and officially organized as the Davis Deaconess Home in 1896.
Davis Esther Hall was established here in 1937 after the Deaconess Home was closed the previous year. Esther Hall was a home for young women working or attending school in Salt Lake City, and part of a network of boarding homes
operated by the Methodist Women. Davis Esther Hall closed in 1965.
On February 8, 1966, Crossroads Urban Center was officially organized and housed at this facility. The building is owned by the United Methodist Women. It is maintained by the Board of Directors of Crossroads Urban Center.
Mission Statement: Crossroads Urban Center is a nonprofit, grassroots organization that assists and organizes Utahns with low incomes, those with disabilities, and people of color to meet basic survival needs and to address essential issues affecting quality of life. Established in 1966, Crossroads is a multi-faith, community based project that is in a covenant relationship with the United Methodist Women national office.
Crossroads has broad support from many religious communities as well as businesses, individuals and foundations. Among Crossroads' activities: running Utah's busiest emergency food pantry & a thrift store, supporting community organizing, connecting low-income people with other service agencies, and facilitating holiday food programs. Crossroads has also initiated and developed new community organizations to provide services not otherwise available in our community. These include: Utahns Against Hunger (70's), Wasatch Community Gardens (80's), the Disabled Rights Action Center (1993), the Children's Literacy Project (1994), Justice, Economic Dignity, & Independence (J.E.D.I.) for Women (1995), two drug abuse rehab centers, and numerous neighborhood organizations. Crossroads was also instrumental in establishing the homeless shelters in Salt Lake and Utah's alternative payroll deduction giving program.
Crossroads Urban Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
I recently visited Crossroads when I went to UMCOR West Depot. My husband and I spent time speaking with the Director about the services they provide and received a tour of the home. Most of the building is in its original state.
They have a food pantry which serves over 40,000 people each year. And they have a Thrift Store (with a second store opening soon, both on different locations) to serve the community with. There was a lot of information shared that I felt a bit overwhelmed. Below is more information about this National Mission Institute. I hope you will want to visit as much as I enjoyed my visit.
“We haven’t received the world’s spirit but God’s Spirit
so that we can know the things given to us by God.”
1 Corinthians 2:12 (CEB)
Short and simple high-tech communications are commonplace today. Texting, Tweeting, SnapChat and Messaging have replaced longer methods for quick communication, with links for further info for those who want to know more. Facebook, FaceTime, and Instagram have replaced phone calls. UMW communications around the country and the world are taking place in a variety of formats. Ask a 5th grader what a stamp is, and they just may give you a blank stare. However we communicate among each other, there is nothing more eternally current than the direct line of communication we have through reading God’s Word and spending time in prayer and meditation.
God is always communicating with us. A song on the radio. A perfectly timed message from the pulpit. A conversation with a friend. A comment from a stranger. A billboard you pass everyday but just now happened to read. A hawk circling on the breeze. The laughter of a child. An art piece that draws your gaze and won't let go. God is saying “Here I AM” to all who will listen.
No matter how high-tech this world gets, it is amazing to remember the ultimate technology of connecting is always available! We are hard-wired with the Holy Spirit to receive divine message directly from the Creator of the universe telling us exactly what we need at exactly the right time. Talk about a Direct-Connect! God is always in communication with us - and we can always be in communication with God. Nov 26- Dec 2 is the PNWUMC ‘Praying Our Way Forward Initiative’. Click here for daily devotionals and more info about this way of intentional prayer with others in the Conference during this time.
Thank you Mother~Father~Creator~God for hardwiring me to be attuned to Your voice in all of the ways you communicate with me. Forgive me for the times I ignore your gentle voice and instead tune in to the loud noises from the world. Help me to listen, to see, and to understand. Embolden me to accomplish the work you have for me to do. In Jesus name, amen.
Wishing you all a glorious fall from the Nominations team (Linda Hay and Barb Stout from Goldendale, and Carol Gaston from Methow Valley).
It is a beautiful day here in sunny (not smoky, not 100 degrees, not windy) Goldendale! The colors of our oak leaves remind me of all the natural beauty that our Creator provides those of us who reside in Seven Rivers District and I hope you are enjoying all that this cooler weather brings in your areas as well.
If you were able to attend our District Annual Meeting at West Highlands UMC, you know that we are fortunate to have a nearly complete team of dedicated, inspired, and spirited women to lead our district over the next 10 months. We have an opening for a Coordinator, Social Action and this is a key position. The major responsibilities are that she attend each of the executive meetings (four per year), write an article for The Flame each quarter, attend Legislative Day in Yakima or Olympia, and mentor her local unit counterparts. A passion for justice and a willingness to learn (none of us come to the team knowing everything about our positions or what is required). Some of the “perks” of the position are that she is able to attend Mission u and PNW UMW Annual meeting at no charge, her expenses (mileage, lodging, meals) to district meetings is paid, and her costs to do her job (printing, postage, etc) are also reimbursed. Even more important, she will be a part of an amazing sisterhood of women who support one another through the good and bad, work together, and form lifelong relationships.
Please consider stepping outside your comfort zone, give me a call (509/773-6691) or anyone on the nominations committee, and say YES!!
Blessings on all that you do for women, children, and youth,
Linda Hay
PLEASE SHARE:
We encourage you to print this newsletter for members of your church who may not have access to email.
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION:
You may e-mail electronic subscription requests to: 7RiversUMW@gmail.com
For paper subscriptions to The Flame, please submit $2 for mailing costs to the return address listed below.
Ingrid Fortmeyer Communications - Seven Rivers UMW c/o Wesley United Methodist Church
14 N. 48th Ave.
Yakima, WA 98942
