Pilgrimage

I think, if pressed, I would say that I am most-looking forward to visiting Columba’s Bay.  

Columba’s Bay is 3,745 miles from Sylva. And I will be going there next week. 

The pebble beach is located on the Scottish island of Iona where St. Columba and his followers landed in the year 563. These intrepid Christians had traveled from Ireland to Iona in a leather-bound boat. It is said that after landing there, Columba climbed to the top of a nearby hill—the Hill of the Back to the Ireland—to make sure that he could no longer see Ireland. To do so would have been too much of a temptation to return to his homeland. Since the place from which he had traveled was no longer in view, Columba decided that it would be an appropriate location to establish his missionary work to the rest of Europe. 

The beach is not sandy, but rocky. It is littered with round pebbles and flecks of emerald-colored marble. It has been a destination for thousands of pilgrims through the ages who wish to commemorate Columba’s work and to acknowledge the sacred quality of the small island. Once an ancient monastic community, Iona is now the site of an intentional Christian community that seeks to be a people who prizes common worship, justice, and peace.  

For Columba, and for countless travelers to this ‘thin place,’ Iona represents a turning point. It was certainly a turning point for the faithful Christian monks alongside Columba who struck out to spread the Good News to people who had never heard of Jesus. It was not only a turning point in the history of the Church in the British Isles, but also in Christendom during the Dark Ages. And it has been a turning point for those who have found themselves on its sacred and rocky shores some 15 centuries hence.  

Yes, my visit to Iona will serve as a turning point for me, as well.  

My pilgrimage to Iona will serve as the beginning of the final stretch of my Doctorate of Ministry work. When I return, I will be beginning the project phase of my program.  

My walk along the shores and in the grassy fields of Iona will also represent a turning point for me spiritually as I consider how sacred places can be a place of communion and transformation with God.  

And yes, I anticipate that my trip to Iona will be an emotional turning point for me as I begin unencumbered the good but hard work of reflecting on my father’s death.  

So, I will walk, pray, journal, think, consider, study, admire, pause, worship, cry, rest, and meditate while I wander the ruins of an ancient Celtic Christian site. You will be with me. And as such, I ask for your prayers that God might make good work of my time in Scotland next week.  

Unlike Columba, I do not wish for my past—that is, the place from where I’ve come—to be lost from sight. If anything, I would hope that I would be able to see both the past and the future more clearly.   

Thank you for your blessing as I seek to experience God in fresh ways and to learn and to grow. I am already looking forward to returning to you and telling you about what my journey was like. 

Who knows? Perhaps you might want to make a similar pilgrimage yourself.  

YOUTH AND CHILDREN'S MINISTRY PASSPORT!

On Wednesday May 1, the youth and children who are attending Passport will be serving supper.  All proceeds from this evening will go toward helping defray the cost of these groups attending Passport this summer. 

The children will be attending Passport kids in Montreat, NC from June 30 - July 3.  The youth will be attending Passport Missions in Averett, VA from June 23 - 28. Passport is a way for our youth and children to grow in their faith.  The children’s program includes activities, Bible study and worship designed specifically for children to build their faith and strengthen their walk with Christ. Passport Missions, for youth, takes them a step beyond into a week of service through mission projects planned and supervised by the Passport staff. In addition to their own times of Bible study and worship, they will be serving in the community through leading children’s activities and day camps, cleaning the yards of the elderly, doing painting and light construction, working in food banks and shelters and many other hands on ministry projects. 

Please come to dinner on Wednesday night, May 1, as we focus on After School and the ministry we are engaged in here at home and plan to join us in time for supper as well, and contribute to the spiritual growth of our youth and children by donating to the Passport fund.

Church Partner Spotlight!

This spring, our church has adopted the Smoky Mountain High School Track and Field Team. In partnership with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Pastor Jeff has been giving a devotion to the students at the track each week. If you would like to support the WNC FCA, and their goal of sending athletes to FCA Camp this summer, you may give at the following website: https://my.fca.org/dolphusbrown

Offering Envelopes

Please make sure when you are filling out Offering Envelopes to provide your full name (First and Last Name) on the envelope, as well as the designation or fund that it should go toward.

Greening Up the Mountains Fundraiser

April 27th is the Greening Up the Mountains Festival. Please bring your baked goodies, homemade items, and plants to sell to the church office or in the Gathering Place kitchenette on Friday, April 26. Proceeds will go to the Raise the Roof campaign.

Rise Against Hunger

May 11th starting at 9 a.m. is a Rise Against Hunger event at Sylva United Methodist Church. Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief organization that distributes food and life-changing aide to the world's most vulnerable, mobilizing the necessary resources to end hunger by 2030. It was started as Stop Hunger Now in 1998 by a United Methodist minister. We'll be trying to pack 10,000 meals which if we have 30 to 40 volunteers should take about two hours. More on Rise Against Hunger - https://www.riseagainsthunger.org The Sylva Rotary Club along with Rotary Clubs from Highlands and Haywood County along with church groups will be participating. It is open to volunteers age 5 and up.

BALL Club Kick-Off Luncheon

Inviting all men and women 50 and over to the
B.A.L.L. Club Kick-Off Luncheon
on Thursday, April 25
from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
at the 
Mission Fellowship Center 
First Baptist Church of Sylva

The meal will be catered.
A donation basket will be available to help cover expenses.

The menu will be baked chicken, roasted potatoes, green beans, carrots and a variety of desserts.

We still need some volunteers to help serve, clean up and make a dessert. 

Please RSVP by Tuesday, April 23, 
by calling Tia at the church office at 828.586.2095
or Linda Phelps at 270.784.2547

Did You Know?

DID YOU KNOW????

In 2018 United Christian Ministries had 10,423 client contacts; THAT IS 40 LESS CLIENTS THAN THE PREVIOUS YEAR.  We are pleased that 40 clients from the previous year did not need our services again in 2018.    One of our goals is to help our clients have sufficient resources and the ability to care for themselves.

Seventy-one percent were over the age of 18.  Twenty nine percent were children in the household.

United Christian Ministries gave out more than 271,670 pounds of food.  Four hundred fifty school break bags were delivered to our elementary schools in December.  Our ministry also furnished 130 households with a turkey for their thanksgiving meal. 

 Food donations were abundant during the year.

Our ministry helped with electric bills for 243 families in the amount of $33,448.78.
Thirty- four families received $4966.29 in heating assistance.
Fifty- three families received help in the amount of $9918.50 to pay rent and prevent eviction.
Forty- eight families received $1266.78 for medical assistance.
Diapers/depends were given 186 times.
Household items and personal items were given 2799 times; our ministry spent $2522.38 purchasing these items during the year.  Many donations were also received during the year.
One thousand five hundred forty-eight dollars and forty cents helped 28 families with their water bills.
In addition to all the food donations, $19,046.86 was spent for food.
Transportation assistance was given to 6 families in the amount of $230.00
Donated linens, bed covers, furniture, and kitchen items were also given to our clients.
Six hundred twenty- six families were assisted with clothing.
Two hundred eight individuals were first time clients to our ministry in 2018.

THE LITTLE HOUSE AT 191 SKYLAND DRIVE HAS A BIG HEART THANKS TO THE MANY DONATIONS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTY!

Spring Church Conference

Our annual Spring Church Conference is scheduled for after our meal on Wed., April 24th at 6:00 in MFC. During our meeting we will hear church and organization reports. Our new slate of church officers, committee members, deacons, and trustee will be presented.  Looking forward to seeing you on the 24th.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

“It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,  
A beautiful day for a neighbor,  
Would you be mine?  
Could you be mine? 
Won’t you be my neighbor?” 
-Fred Rogers- 

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 
-Jesus-  

The invitation that Fred Rogers offered to us was simple. It was sweet. It was clothed in humility and a bright red sweater. Disarming in his delivery and benevolent in spirit, Fred Rogers came in to our homes and taught us what it looked like to “let the little children come unto me (Matthew 19:14).”  

Beginning this evening, April 17th, in the Mission and Fellowship Center during our Adult Bible Study Hour, we will be watching the documentary about the life and work of Fred Rogers and the neighborhood that he built and pastored. The movie, ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’ tells the story of a Presbyterian Minister who sought to create space for children to be loved, and for their curiosity to be sparked. In addition to achieving global notoriety for his award-winning children’s program, ‘Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,’ Fred Rogers would teach us what Jesus insisted his followers become; namely “meek, merciful and pure in heart (Jesus, in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount).” 

I have very strong memories of Fred Rogers’ show. Each weekday afternoon, as a 4-year old, I would watch Sesame Street followed by ‘Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood’ while sprawled out on the shag carpet in our living room. My mother would be preparing supper as I tuned in, and my father—as though on cue—would walk in from work and pick up where Mr. Rogers’ had left off. In similar fashion, my father would take off his sportscoat and change his shoes as he transitioned from his workday to being at home. Mr. Rogers sang as he swept across his living room on our television sets. My father, in contrast, seemed weary from the world and rarely in the mood for a song.  

Mr. Rogers’ became for my generation a co-parent and a guide, as it were. Like a good teacher or an effective pastor, Fred Rogers modeled for us civility and friendliness as we came of age.  

Fred Rogers was faithful to Christ’s commandment to love his neighbor as himself. He did so by choosing to be a good neighbor to everyone he could encounter. Mr. Rogers showed us a lifestyle of grace and quiet humility. He invited us in to his home and provided us hospitality each afternoon. His home was a place of welcome for everyone, and he allowed it be a place to ask questions and to consider weighty subjects. When needed, he would tell stories in parables and would speak truth with authenticity and gentleness.  

Fred Rogers didn’t simply “love kindness or have mercy.”  

He embodied it.  

As such, he can walk through our doors anytime. Perhaps by hearing his story in full, we’ll have energy to be the kind of neighbor that he invited us to become.