From the Pastor

Dear Oakdale family,

Lent is upon us! During this precious church season, I encourage you to set aside a few moments each day to contemplate the fact that you are God’s beloved. Lent is also a season when we remember that we came from dust and to dust we shall return. While our lives are temporary, life in divine love is eternal. As we age and as the church ages, God still calls us to live into our full potential, to be amazing! For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

David Abbott, Director of the United Methodist Foundation of New England recently wrote the following article that I commend to you.

“GIVING UP NORMAL FOR LENT

The reality is that many churches are striving to survive as we face shrinking attendance, older congregations, and fewer resources.

Part of the challenge is that we want to be like the "normal" churches we remember from our past.

What if we strove to be amazing churches until our resources ran out?

What if we decided that we'd live our faith lives to the fullest and then followed the great churches of the New Testament who lived for a moment and then rested so other faith communities could be born and bear amazing fruit?

Let's find a way to give up normal for Lent and see what amazing things the Spirit can do in, through, and with us!”

Strategic Plan. At our February Church Council meeting, we continued to talk about the Strategic Plan that will guide us for the next five years enabling Oakdale UMC and each of its members to flourish. This time, we examined our core values. Core values are the fundamental beliefs and highest priorities that drive our behavior and decisions, our ministry and plans. We identified Oakdale UMC’s core values as:

Friendly!

Compassionate

Welcoming, Loving Hospitality

Openness – Accepting

Reaching out to people to share Christ

Christ-centered

We are a church. We spread the love of Jesus. We firmly believe in the power of prayer.

At March’s Council meeting we will work together to assess our capacity to do existing and proposed ministries by discerning our own and each others’ gifts and resources. In April we will assemble a five-year schedule with benchmarks and goals to measure our progress and growth. Committee chairs are asked to begin working with their committees to develop goals for their ministry areas.

Lent.

Our Lenten series is called Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places and in our worship services we will explore all of the places throughout the world where God’s love IS abundant! Here is what we’ll be looking for:

3/5 Look for the Helper

3/12 Look for the Thirst-Quencher

3/19 Look for the Shepherd

3/26 Look for the Liberator

4/2 Look for the Unexpected – Palm Sunday

4/6 Love Looks for Us – Maundy Thursday (more to come for this special event! Save the date.)

4/9 Love Wins! – Easter (sunrise at 6:00 am at the Stone Church, continental breakfast and 10:30 service here.)

Our Lenten study is Seven Words: Listening to Christ from the Cross by Susan Robb. The Kindle version is available at this link on Amazon. Our group meets on Tuesdays at 10:30 am in the Ladies’ Parlor. All are welcome.

Here for you. I encourage you to touch base directly with me or any of our leaders whenever you have questions or concerns. I hold office hours at the church each Monday and Tuesday from 9:00 to 1:00 pm or would be happy to visit you in your home at your invitation. My personal cell phone number is available in your church directory, as well as on business cards that can be found at either entrance to the sanctuary. You are welcome to text or call me any time for pastoral care but my preferred method of communication for administrative matters is by email at this link.

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Cheryl