MARCH 17TH TO MARCH 23RD - 2013
REMINDERS —
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MARCH IS WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH.
• MARCH 10, 1862 —
Jane Delano, nurse, and teacher, founded the
Red Cross.
Harriet Tubman died. One hundred years since
her passing. The underground railroad was a
lifeline for slaves escaping to freedom, and
Harriet Tubman was undoubtedly one of its most
• March 12, 1884 —
The State of Mississippi authorized the first state
supported college for women. It was called the
Mississippi Industrial Institute and College.
• March 12, 1912 —
Juliet Low founded the Girl Scouts in Savannah,
Georgia. The original name was Girl Guides. • March 12, 1945 —
Anne Frank, author of "The Diary of Anne Frank,"
died at Bergen-Belse concentration camp in
Germany from Typhus during a typhus epidemic
that spread through the concentration camp.
Janet Reno was sworn in as the first female U.S.
attorney general.
• March 12, 1994 —
The Church of England ordained its first woman
priest.
• March 13, 1942 —
Julia Flikke of the Nurse Corps became the first
woman colonel in the U.S. Army.
• March 14, 1968 —
Megan Elizabeth Follows was born. A Canadian
actress, she is most known to international
audiences for her role as Anne Shirley in the
acclaimed 1985 Canadian television miniseries
Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court was born today.
• March 15, 1956 —
The musical "My Fair Lady" opened on
Broadway with Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle.
Susan Hayhurst becomes first U.S. woman
graduate of a pharmacy college.
After graduating from the Woman's Medical
College of Philadelphia in 1857, Susan Hayhurst
served on the College's staff and ran its
pharmaceutical department for many years. In
1883, at the age of 63, Hayhurst became the first
woman to graduate from the Philadelphia College
of Pharmacy.
• March 16, 1912 - Mrs. William Howard Taft
(Nellie) planted the first cherry tree in
Washington DC.
• March 16, 1991 - Worlds Ladies Figure Skating
Championship in Munich was won by
Kristi Yamaguchi.
Wellesley College was incorporated by the
Massachusetts legislature under its first name,
Wellesley Female Seminary.
• March 17, 1910 - The Camp Fire Girls
organization was founded by Luther and
Charlotte Gulick. It was formally presented to
the public exactly 2 years later.
• March 17, 1969 - Golda Meir was sworn in as
the fourth premier of Israel.
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13TH —
• LENTEN STUDY WILL MEET IN CASEY U.M.C.
TO STUDY —
THE TORTURE AND HUMILIATION OF THE KING
. . . . . AT 7 P.M.
SATURDAY, MARCH 16TH —
CASEY COMMUNITY BUILDING AT 10 A.M.
THEY WILL SERVE THE COMMUNITY UNTIL 12
NOON. Tell everyone to bring their own boxes
and sacks to transport their food.
• • • HUNGRY IN AMERICA • • •
———————————————————————
CHILD HUNGER IN THE UNITED STATES —
16.7 million children are living in 'food insecure'
households. Arizona, Oregon, Florida, New
Mexico and District of Columbia seem to be
worst affected. Many other states are in great
need, however.
———————————————————————
CHILDREN GOING HUNGRY IN AMERICA
BY DUNCAN WALKER MARCH 6, 2013
• FROM BBC NEWS •
MARCH 6, 2013
DATELINE — STOCKTON, IOWA
(Near Davenport)
Child poverty in the United States has reached
record levels, with nearly 17 million now
affected. A growing number are also going
hungry on a daily basis.
Kaylie and Tyler talk about what it is like to
be poor in America - and to sometimes go
hungry . . .
Food is never very far from the thoughts of
10-year-old Kaylie Haywood and her older
brother Tyler, 12.
At a food bank in Stockton, Iowa, they are
arguing with their mother over the 15 items they
are allowed to take with them. There is little
money to go shopping for extras.
Applesauce is in, canned vegetables are in,
canned spaghetti and meatballs and ravioli - in.
But when Kaylie asks for ground beef, she is
overruled as their motel room does not have a
refrigerator to keep things fresh - just a sink
filled with crushed ice. There is nowhere to cook,
either.
It's not the first time they have struggled to get
hold of the food they would like - or enough of it.
"We don't get three meals a day - like breakfast,
lunch and then dinner," says Kaylie. "When I feel
hungry I feel sad and droopy."
Kaylie and Tyler live with their mother Barbara,
who used to work in a factory. After losing her
job, she was entitled to unemployment benefits
and food stamps - this comes to $1,480 a month.
They were no longer able afford to live in their
home, which along with bills cost $1326 a month.
The recent inflation of both food and gasoline
leaves very little for food or fuel.
Kaylie supplemented their income by collecting
cans along the railway track near their old house
earning between two and five cents per can.
Tyler also helped out: "Mowing other people's
lawns, I got $10 but I put in six of it for the gas,
and gave the rest to my mom for some food."
Instead of shopping at the mall now, Kaylie's
clothes come from the Salvation Army shop
where, to her embarrassment, 60-cent shirts are
allowed, but those costing $2 are "too much".
Their dog, Nala, had to be taken to the pound to
cut the costs further.
Rent on the motel room is around $700 a month,
but balancing the budget has meant many
sacrifices.
Tyler says there are good days and bad days:
"Sometimes when we have cereal we don't have
any milk so we have to eat it dry."
"Sometimes we don't have cereal but we do have
milk. Sometimes when there's a cooking show on
I get so hungry - I want to vanish into the TV
screen and start eating the food."
The River Bend Foodbank has seen a sharp rise
in the number of people asking for help.
This family is among 47 million Americans now
depending on food banks. One in five children
receives food aid. In the area where Kaylie and
Tyler live, one provider, River Bend Foodbank
has seen the numbers needing help rise 40%.
"It's changed dramatically since the recession."
says Caren Laughlin, who has worked with food
banks for 30 years.
"That's not only because so many people have
lost their jobs, it's also because the new jobs
the people find are quite low paying. You just
cannot feed a family on this low pay."
Although Kaylie, Tyler and Barbara's motel room
is away from the children's friends and very
cramped for three people, the move has made
their lives easier in some ways.
The grandmother lives nearby and helps out
when she can, but the mother has found it very
difficult to cope.
"I've never seen it this bad. To get a decent job
is very hard," says Barbara.
She is training to become a hairdresser, but
does not hold much hope for the future.
"I saw a doctor . . . for depression. She put me
on some anti-depressants and Xanax for my
panic attacks.
I don't even know if I will find a job when I get
out of school."
In February, President Barack Obama used his
State of the Union address to promise a raise
in the minimum wage, to $9 an hour.
"This single step would raise the incomes of
millions of working families. It could mean the
difference between going to the grocery store
or the food bank; rent or eviction; scraping by
or finally getting even," he said.
“But families like Barbara's, where parents have
suddenly lost their jobs and children are going
hungry, now continue to concern our food banks.
When things are spiraling downward, life goes
into a crisis mode.”
The problems are reflected across America,
says a nationwide charity “Feeding America”,
which operates 200 food banks and feeds 37
million people each year, including 14 million
children.
Many area's schools take part in a “Backpack”
Program, set up to deliver food parcels to the
most vulnerable on Fridays - so that they have
something to eat over the weekend.
In eastern Iowa and western Illinois, the River
Bend Foodbank now helps 1,500 children in 30
schools through one such program.
"Kids can focus better and pay attention better,"
says Mrs. Laughlin. "If you're worried about what
you'll have to eat when you get home that's what
you're going to be thinking about - not what's on
the blackboard."
Studying is also playing on the mind of Kaylie
who, after a series of moves, is not attending
school amid uncertainty about where the family
will end up living.
They have stayed in three other motels, making
it impossible for Kaylie to be enrolled in school.
Barbara hopes that will change when and if she
manages to secure a trailer, which comes with
a two-year lease and the chance to settle down.
For Kaylie, the chance to return to class is now
something she sees as vital.
"I really want to be in school. If I don't get a
good education then I won't get a good job, and
I will end up staying at my mom's.
— by BBC News
• Households headed by single women are most
likely to be impacted. • Source: Feeding America
———————————————————————
COMBINED WORSHIP SERVICE IN ADAIR U.M.C.
AT 5:30PM • FOLLOWED BY SETTING UP TABLES AND
CHAIRS AT ADAIR COMMUNITY CENTRE IN
PREPARATION FOR —
— — — SPRING CHICKEN DINNER — — —
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SUNDAY, MARCH 17TH —
When St Patrick came to Ireland in 432 he meant
to sail up the coast to county Antrim where, as a
young slave, he had tended flocks for six years
on Slemish mountain. But strong currents swept
his boat through Strangford's tidal narrows and
he landed where the Slaney river flows into the
lough.
Nothing daunted by this change of plan, Patrick
set about his missionary business, starting with
Dichu, the local chieftain. Dichu was quickly
converted and gave Patrick a barn (sabhal
pronounced 'saul' in Gaelic) for holding
services.
Over the next 30 years Patrick converted the
Irish to Christianity. He died at Saul in 461 and
was buried in Downpatrick.
Patrick received his last communion from St.
Tassach. You can see the ruins of St. Tassach's
church, one of Ireland's earliest Christian
buildings, at Raholp near Saul.
with a round tower marks the place where
Patrick preached his first sermon to the Irish.
THIS IS THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT
COLOR: PURPLE
———————————————————————
SCRIPTURE READINGS
ISAIAH 43:16-21
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
The voice of God cries out to exiles in Babylon
for whom exile has become "normal." That
means by now, nothing in their expectations
about the world or their place in it could prepare
them for what God was about to do. In their
framework, things such as "highways in the
wilderness" and "rivers in the desert" were
impossibilities, if not complete wastes of time
and effort. No one in their right mind would
build a road from nowhere to nowhere! And why
would anyone divert a river through a desert,
since it would just dry out, right? Yet, God says
these very things that are about to happen - -
highways and rivers across a desert!God does
a new thing. Springs burst forth in the desert,
and the world's strongest military power is
paralyzed.
16-21 This is what God says,
the God who builds a road right through the
ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots
and armies—
they lie down and then can't get up;
they're snuffed out like so many candles:
"Forget about what's happened;
don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something
brand-new.
It's bursting out! Don't you see it?
There it is! I'm making a road through the
desert, rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say 'Thank you!'
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.
———————————————————————
PSALM 126 (UMH 847)
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
A PILGRIM SONG
1-3 It seemed like a dream, too good to be true,
when God returned Zion's exiles.
We laughed, we sang,
we couldn't believe our good fortune.
We were the talk of the nations—
"God was wonderful to them!"
God was wonderful to us;
we are one happy people.
4-6 And now, God, do it again—
bring rains to our drought-stricken lives
So those who planted their crops in despair
will shout hurrahs at the harvest,
So those who went off with heavy hearts
will come home laughing, with armloads of
blessing.
———————————————————————
PHILIPPIANS 3:4-14
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Paul reminds the congregation of what really
binds them together and relativizes all conflicts
they may experience inside the congregation or
in their life out in the world.
religious busybodies, all bark and no bite. All
they're interested in is appearances - knife
happy circumcisers, I call them. The real
believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads
to work away at this ministry, filling the air with
Christ's praise as we do it. We couldn't carry
this off by our own efforts, and we know it even
though we can list what many might think are
impressive credentials. You know my pedigree:
a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth
day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin;
a strict and devout adherent to God's law; a
fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even
to the point of persecuting the church; a
meticulous observer of everything set down in
God's law Book.
7-9 The very credentials these people are
waving around as something special, I'm tearing
up and throwing out with the trash—along with
everything else I used to take credit for. And
why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once
thought were so important are gone from my life.
Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ
Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once
thought I had going for me is insignificant - dog
dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could
embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't
want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness
that comes from keeping a list of rules when I
could get the robust kind that comes from trusting
Christ — God's righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could
know Christ personally, experience his resur-
rection power, be a partner in his suffering, and
go all the way with him to death itself. If there
was any way to get in on the resurrection from
the dead, I wanted to do it.
FOCUSED ON THE GOAL
12-14 I'm not saying that I have this all together,
that I have it made. But I am well on my way,
reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously
reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong:
By no means do I count myself an expert in all of
this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God
is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and
running, and I'm not turning back.
———————————————————————
JOHN 12:1-8
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
ANOINTING HIS FEET
Mary, a close friend of Jesus, anointed Jesus
with the contents of a large alabaster jar of
perfume. Did Mary know that Jesus was about
to be killed? Is that why she anointed him? We
are not told. This may simply have been more
of a spontaneous expression of love for Jesus
in gratitude for him raising Lazarus from the
dead. How could she do something like this?
And how could Jesus have allowed it?
Judas not only criticized it, he condemned it.
Jesus rebuked Judas's condemnation with a
more important principle. "You do not always
have me with you, but you always have the poor.
1-3 Six days before Passover, Jesus entered
Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from
the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters
invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha
served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the
table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very
expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged
Jesus' feet, and then wiped them with her hair.
The fragrance of the oils filled the house.
4-6 Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then
getting ready to betray him, said, "Why wasn't this
oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would
have easily brought three hundred silver pieces."
He said this not because he cared two cents about
the poor but because he was a thief. He was in
charge of their common funds, but also embezzled
them.
7-8 Jesus said, "Let her alone. She's anticipating
and honoring the day of my burial. You always
have the poor with you. You don't always
have me."
MONDAY, MARCH 18TH —
The office is closed today.
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20TH —
DORCAS-RUTH CIRCLE WILL MEET AT 1:30 P.M.
IN ADAIR U.M.C. PAT HOEGH IS HOSTESS
“THE CRUCIFIXION”
THURSDAY, MARCH 21ST —
DEBORAH-MARY CIRCLE WILL MEET AT 2 P.M.
IN CASEY U.M.C. JOYCE WRIGHT IS HOSTESS
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SUNDAY MARCH 24TH IS PALM SUNDAY
THURSDAY, MARCH 28TH —
MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICE IN ADAIR U.M.C.
AT 7 P.M.
SUNDAY, MARCH 31ST —
EASTER SUNDAY + LOOSE CHANGE OFFERING≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
Thank you for your many contributions to our
church life this week.
God Bless and Keep You,
Pastor Melodee
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