Community UMC continues to provide online worship opportunities at our Facebook and YouTube pages:
Traditional Sunday Worship at 9:00 AM Modern Worship at 11:15 AM
Your financial gifts also matter. You can give online cumcvb.org
Exciting news is coming for Community UMC!
Just as on that first Easter Sunday the disciples came to where Jesus had been buried and found the tomb open…we are going to be OPEN this Easter as well, April 4th!
More details will be forthcoming, but with the Governor lifting some restrictions, the Bishop and Annual Conference easing “some” restrictions we are beginning to see the opportunities for a slow and deliberate re-opening of CUMC.
In addition, we are planning some exciting opportunities for connecting with God and each other throughout Holy Week, March 28th through April 3rd.
There are still many precautionary guidelines that we must implement and in the next couple weeks we should see a cautious return to some in-person opportunities for worship and small groups.
Easter Sunday – April 4th we will have an in-person Sunrise Service at 6:30am in the outside garden area. Come and worship in a socially distant fashion.
Then at 9:00am we will live-stream a blended service followed by an 11:00am in-person blended outdoor service. Details forthcoming, but you can choose to bring a chair and sit outside your vehicle or remain in your vehicle. We are making arrangements for all to be able to celebrate a safe Easter.
We will be following the guidance of the reopening plan from the Healthy Church Team and the Technical Assistance Manual provided by the conference.
Please be looking for additional information on the churches Facebook page, website and in the weekly emails.
May God continue to guide us forward in discipleship.
+ Grace and Peace +
Pastor Jim
Pastor Jim live-streaming a devotional service Wednesdays at noon
Each Wednesday at Noon, Pastor Jim will be live-streaming on Facebook, a brief devotional service, including a virtual Holy Communion. You are invited to share in this devotional moment. If you are planning on participating in Holy Communion, Pastor Jim invites you to have bread and cup with you as you watch. Please feel free to share the post on your social media page.
Calling all Children!!
We are hoping to feature all our children in our Palm Sunday celebration! If you are able, please send a 20 second clip of your child(ren) waving any type of branch/leaf/flower to liz.griffin12@gmail.com by March 20th.
Easter Lilies
We are taking orders for Easter Lilies - $10.00 for a six inch pot orders can be sent to Cumc@cumcvb.org
Payment would be online, click the lilies option.
Deadline: March 21
This year - All lilies will be given in remembrance of Christ's Resurrection!
Lily pick up will be at the side ramp (Alton) after the services and until 1:30.
Growing in Faith
Are you looking for Christian resources for learning at home? Did you know there are features for children on our website? On the Home page (cumcvb.org), scroll down to the section called “Growing in Faith.” The link will take you to a page listing a variety of online and print resources for Bible study and for learning at home about the Christian faith.
The “Growing in Faith” page is in the beginning stages of development and will continue to grow as resources are discovered or recommended for inclusion. If you have a recommendation for an excellent resource for the Growing in Faith page, send the link or title/author to website@cumcvb.org. Recommendations will be reviewed and included as appropriate for our church community.
Scout Mulch Sales CUMC - Serving youth thru Scouting for 64 years.
Boy Scout Troop 362 is offering bagged mulch for sale. Hardwood mulch, brown colored mulch, and red colored mulch is available at $5.00 per bag, and delivery is free. To order, download the order form here. For questions or assistance, contact Kurt Wentzell at 757-373-2862, e-mail: kweasell@aol.com or David Timmerman at 757-513-1537, e-mail: d.timmerman@verizon.net.
A Message from Conference Lay Leader Martha Stokes
As we anticipate longer days and the coming of spring, I encourage you to spend time in reflection of all that has happened in what seems to have been two very short months at the start of 2021.
While the COVID-19 pandemic continues, but there is renewed hope for a different future as the most vulnerable in our communities and the essential workers who have kept our society going over the last year have received vaccinations. What wonderful news that the majority of adults in our country may be vaccinated by early summer.
The pandemic of institutional and systemic racism continues, but there is restored hope for a different future as we focus on intentional work in the Virginia Conference to address our history and strive for greater understanding and advocacy.
The political division that grips our country continues, but there is rekindled hope as our first ever National Youth Poet Laureate challenged us as she delivered her inauguration poem:
“We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another.” Renewed hope emerges when together we stand with those who struggle, whether that struggle is with health, employment or injustice of any type. Listening to one another, understanding one another’s needs and dreams, and working side-by-side to address concerns are required of all of us. Creativity, innovation, and nimbleness are needed more than ever from the laity and clergy in our congregations. Our lives are filled with constant change. All of this requires that we live into our call to be lifelong learners, disciples who continue to study and question as we grow in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Restored hope intensifies when we realize that before we can transform the world, we must first do the hard work of recognizing where transformation needs to happen in our own lives. Are we really listening to one another and doing all that we can to understand one another’s personal stories? Are we willing to talk about our past and learn from it to create a different future? Relationships built with understanding and mutual respect come from shared stories and experiences. Serving together creates the space and connection for trust to be formed, for reconciliation to occur, for lives to be changed, for communities to be transformed. Rekindled hope ignites when we use our shared influence as partners in ministry, laity and clergy together, to take the gospel message into the world through our words and actions. To become what we need to be in this time, we must be willing to take risks, to ask hard questions, to offer steadfast leadership when there are many more questions than answers. We must remember that as the people of God called United Methodists, our call is to “convince the world of the reality of the gospel or leave it unconvinced.” (Section 2: The Ministry of All Christians, ¶130. Faithful Ministry, The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2016)
The challenges of our time call us to a revitalized commitment to partnership in ministry. Differences in how we understand our faith and how we experience events of the world will always be part of our life together in the church. However, our united mission as disciples of Jesus Christ should always be the central focus. 20 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:20-23 (NRSV)
I ask you again to enter into a time of reflection as winter closes end and the signs of new life that come with spring begin to emerge. Join me in prayer that, united as one, the United Methodists of the Virginia Conference will demonstrate the kind of holy living that our founder, John Wesley, understood as our primary task: loving God and caring for one another with Christ-like love.
Peace and Blessings, Martha E. Stokes, Conference Lay Leader
Contact information
Email–ministryofthelaity@gmail.com
Cell Phone – (804) 366-7162 View this message on the Virginia Conference website
Lent at CUMC
Lent in a bag equips you with symbols of the season of Lent and instructions to help you have prayer or conversation at home. They will be available for pick up, from a plastic tub, at the tower door Monday afternoon, Feb. 12. There will be a separate sheet for families with young children. Please take a bag to share with a neighbor.
What about children?
There is a daily activity for children called Upon this Tree, it comes with a booklet and large sheet with a punch out of a tree, please take one of each.
There are Sunday night zoom meetings throughout Lent: Sunday Night Devotions and Sharing of Reflections 7:00p.m. Email cumc@cumcvb.org for more information.
Charles Wesley SS Class Study
Please join the Charles Wesley Class for a four-week study, starting on Sunday, March 14 at 10:00am, by Lee Strobel, The Case for Easter. Join our class as we look at the story of Jesus’ resurrection and reveal how we can know that it actually took place. Please contact Terry Buzzard < tbuzz42091@yahoo.com> or Gary Lupton <GLuptonSR@gmail.com> for Zoom information.
Bishop issues changes to in-person worship policies
The workgroup created by Bishop Sharma D. Lewis to help move back to in-person worship safely has issued its first update to its Technical Assistance Manual (TAM) since December 11. The new update from the Return to In-Person Worship Work Group takes into account new research and best practices and provides new guidance in the following areas. Specific requirements are in the latest TAM found on the conference webpage at www.vaumc.org/return.
At Community, the church staff, Leadership Team, and Healthy Church Team (HCT) will review these policy changes. Expect updates to our in-person worship policies soon.
Military/Deployed/College Students Updates
We are updating our military/deployed/college student's portion of the United Methodist Women's Prayer List and could use your help! Do you know other members who are college students or in the military and/or deployed? We would love to add them to the Prayer List so we can actively pray for them. Please send updates to Stephanie Denmyer at sdenmyer@gmail.com.
United Methodist General Conference News
This week it was announced that the United Methodist Commission on General Conference, which helps coordinate meetings for our global decision-making body, has postponed a full General Conference gathering until 2022. Read more here- Update on General Conference
A special virtual General Conference has been called to consider several pieces of legislation to support the ongoing United Methodist mission and ministry in the interim. For more information, including dates and legislation, click here.
Memorial Bricks now available
Do you have someone dear to you in your life whom you would like to honor? Or perhaps a loved one who has already passed on? Why not show your love by honoring them with a beautiful imprinted memorial brick? These bricks will be installed in the newly designed Percy Patterson Garden behind the sanctuary under the lovely stained glass window. Click HERE to print out and complete the form for the size you'd like. There are 3 sizes and prices: 4x8 - $125; 8x16 - $250; and 16x16 - $500. Let's start ordering and we'll get this garden growing!
Mail the completed form with your check to 1072 Old Kempsville Rd., Virginia Beach, VA 23464.
Wanted: Facilities Manager
Community United Methodist Church, Virginia Beach, is seeking someone to fill the position of Facilities Manager. The position requires extensive knowledge and skills with electrical and plumbing systems and other knowledge associated with building operation and maintenance. Good interpersonal and communications skills are necessary. Some computer capabilities will be needed. Certification in plumbing or electricity a plus. This is a full-time, salaried position. Please email leadership@cumcvb.org with a resume or with any questions you may have.
New roof needed on children’s wing
The children’s wing of our building is in need of a new roof. We would like to begin this work in the spring and need your help. The current estimate is close to $180,000. You can give online at Cumcvb.org and designate your gift to the “roof fund,” or you can send in a check with that designated on the memo line. Please prayerfully consider donating to this most important cause.
UMM and UMW have masks available
Virginia Conference UMM face masks. $10 each. They are not embroidered, but are screen printed with a solid, good quality burgundy colored ink. Limited supply, limited offer. Contact Andrew Kissell if interested - andrew.kissell@aecom.com
Support UMW missions by buying a mask.
Go to https://www.facebook.com/CUMCVBUMW/photos/3433955436696066 - to see more available masks. $5 for 3-pleat, $7 for beak-style. We are also now accepting Square for credit/debit! Contact Julie Kissell (2sing4you@gmail.com or 757-404-1783) to purchase. 100% of donations made for masks will go to UMW missions.
Upper Rooms
Upper Rooms will be available outside the tower doors. The box is clear with a blue lid.
Meals on Wheels Update
King’s Grant Presbyterian Church on Little Neck Road is now the new location for Meals on Wheels. Volunteers need to know that the new pickup time is 10:30 AM. They have been extremely accommodating and even provide an office. Chef by Design prepares the meals and they presently serve 140 people. Volunteers are always needed so if you are interested, contact Lou Schroeder at 757-495-1809.
Missions & Service Update
JCOC needs your help. The volunteer Coordinator at JCOC, Krishna Loya, put a request on Charity Tracker that they need underwear and toiletries for the homeless. Since there are various sizes needed, they would greatly appreciate a monetary donation in order to fill individual needs. You may do that using their web site (jcoc.org) or mailing a check to the JCOC, 1053 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, VA 23451.
To make a donation online go to jcoc.org and find Donation Information: select the amount you want to give, then select one time or recurring donation, and finally on the drop-down menu find Toiletries and Underwear. Your money will be put to good use!
Thank you for helping to serve those in need. Mary McConathy, Missions & Service
Community UMC has an active prayer chain -
With over 100 members. To send a prayer request to be shared with the prayer chain, click on the link on the Home page (see 3rd feature box under the main photo). You may choose to share your prayer concern to the entire prayer chain, or you may opt to send a private request to our Congregational Care Minister. Prayer requests will be published to the prayer chain on Sundays and Thursdays. For emergency submissions, contact Janette Clavez, Minister of Congregational Care.
If you would like to join the prayer chain to receive notification of prayer requests from church members, here are the steps:
How to join and receive the CUMC email prayer chain.
1. Please log into your Shelby Next Membership account, at this link: https://cumcvb.shelbynextchms.com/user/login
2. Once you are logged on, from the vertical dark grey bar click on “groups.”
3. Then under Find a group, you will see “Prayer mail list, email” with a blue button on the right, click “join.”
You will then be on the list to receive the prayer emails as they are sent. Please be sure to check your “My Info” page to ensure you have your most used email listed. The prayer mail will be sent to this email. Prayer chain emails are automated, so please check your spam folder if you are not receiving them.
Current CUMC Contact information
To help keep everyone safe, the church is now working with minimal staff, uncertain office hours, and limited operations. If you have a need during this time, please note the following contact info: Pastor: Jim Ullian: 757-650-4266 Minister Jannette: 757-633-1843 Leadership Team Rep. Liz Griffin: 757-621-9795
If you need to reach the leadership team, please email them at leadership@cumcvb.org
