Sudlersville United Methodist Charge

Plowshares
February 2019

PRAY FOR THE CHURCH

Colossians 3:13-14
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against
someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which
binds them all together in perfect unity.
The United Methodist Church will be meeting for a special conference from
February 23-26. At this special meeting the entire Church will be seeking to find a path
for unity in the midst of great theological differences about our views on human
sexuality. The conference will address questions about whether or not practicing
homosexuals should be able to be ordained and whether or not clergy should be able to
perform marriages for same-sex couples. Understandably, these questions cause great
divides among us and make it very challenging to remain united in ministry.
I seek your prayers this month for the United Methodist Church and for God’s will
to be accomplished. I believe that if God’s will is accomplished and the decisions that are
made are faithful, the Church will be strengthened. I also ask you to pray for those who
do not believe as you believe. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus says, “But I say to you, Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your
Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on
the righteous and on the unrighteous.” Paul says in Romans 12:19-20,
“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written:
’It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is
hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will
heap burning coals on his head.’”
 PRAY FOR THE CHURCH~ CONTINUED
The scriptures that call us to love our enemies are a real
challenge for us because we have deeply held Christian beliefs. An
attack on our deeply held Christian beliefs is seemingly an attack on
God. But I ask you to pray that the Holy Spirit will soften our hearts
towards those whom we believe are enemies of the Christian faith.
“May our
The scriptures say that by loving our enemies our enemies are
spirits be
converted; by loving our enemies we are witnesses to the truth of the
sharpened
Gospel of Jesus Christ. John Wesley applied this to his own thinking
when he said, “I met those of our society who had votes in the with love in
ensuing election, and advised them to vote, without fee or reward, for these times of
the person they judged most worthy, to speak no evil of the person great division.”
they voted against, and to take care their spirits were not sharpened
Pastor Eric
against those that voted on the other side.”
May our spirits be sharpened with love in these times of Warner
great division.
~Pastor Eric

NEW! BIBLE STUDIES

St. Paul’s will host both SUMC Bible Studies

February Bible Study

Important Christian Beliefs
February 6, 2019 - February 27, 2019
Wednesdays at 7:00 pm

Lenten Bible Study

March 13,2019 -April 17, 2019
Wednesdays at 7:00 pm
and Thursdays at Noon

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MISSION UPDATE FROM SARAH BROWN
I've shared photos from several Nagar Kirtans over the past
couple years. They happen twice a year and different gurdwaras take
turns hosting. This fall I attended both that were hosted in Bakersfield
two weekends apart. In the fall, Sikhs come together to celebrate the
birthday of the first Guru. In the spring, they do the same thing to
celebrate the foundation of the Sikh community, the Khalsa.
As Christmas draws near and Christians put up lights to be
festive, the Indian world lights up for Diwali, which is the Hindu
festival of lights. On one Diwali years ago, a Sikh man freed 52 Sikh
prisoners. Now Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chorr Divas on Diwali to
commemorate his bravery by coming to the gurdwaras to light candles
and pray for fellow Sikhs facing persecution and remember their
hero.
I had the pleasure of attending a wedding in November. My
friend's niece got married and I was lucky enough to take a family
role. I cooked and prepared for hours and partied for even longer.
Over four days I spent over 40 hours celebrating. It consisted of a day
of preparation where the women got henna and favors were put
together, then a bridal shower (a literal shower) to cleanse, a jago to
celebrate the final night before the wedding ceremony, the ceremony
itself the next morning, and finally the couple coming to say goodbye
to the new wife's family to go live with the husband's family.
I can hardly write all the things I learned about in a short
paragraph, but every moment was filled with something new and
fascinating and 100 questions about why and how.

With that Punjabi wedding in mind, I can't help but think of

my wedding that's coming up! While ministry has been going on
and we've been figuring things out, I have been blessed to get to add
to my family. For Thanksgiving, my parents flew out from the East
Coast to meet Andrew and his family. I am very excited to say that
Andrew and I are now engaged and planning to get married in May!
We are thrilled and thankful for God's sweetness and provision for
us. One of the most exciting things happening is that my friends are
throwing us our very own jago before the wedding. I am loving
getting to involve all of my friends in our American wedding
traditions as they have involved me in theirs.
My teammates are mid-arrival! Nate Culver arrived with his
pastor earlier this week with everything in a moving truck. Now he is
traveling with his wife Olivia and their kids with the rest of the their
things and will be settling in and getting to know their neighbors.
Living Grace showed up to help unpack and we're all so glad to finally
have them here!
~Sarah Brown

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 SPLASH NEWS!

SPLASH will host an annual Valentine’s Day

breakfast at St. Paul’s on February 10th
following the church service.

SHROVE TUESDAY

Calvary– Asbury UMC

Tuesday, March 5, 2019 – 4:30 pm-6:30 pm

Menu:
Pancakes, Sausage, Sausage Gravy,
Biscuits, Eggs, Fried Potatoes, Orange Juice, & Coffee

*Free Will Offering*

NEW SCOUTING OPPORTUNITY

Calvary-Asbury is starting a Scouts BSA Troop for
girls early in 2019.

We are looking for young women ages 11-18 or

completed the 5th grade.

We also need adults for the committee and direct leadership.

If you know of a young woman or an adult interested in this

great outreach program contact Chris Tarr
410-490-1552 / christarr205@gmail.com
4 #scoutmein #seeallthepeople
 ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE “Each of us is an innkeeper
Wednesday, March 6, 2019 who decides if there is
room for Jesus”
Ash Wednesday Service will be
held at Calvary-Asbury. Neal Maxwell

The service will begin at 7:00 pm

ST. PAUL’S WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS!

January 27, 2019
Rob & Stacey Mansfield

ST. PAUL’S CHRISTMAS SERVICE PICTURES

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WORSHIP SUDLERSVILLE UNITED METHODIST CHARGE
WITH
PASTOR ERIC WARNER
US! Email: pastoreric@sudlersvilleumc.org
Phone: 937-681-1131

Calvary-Asbury United Methodist Church

103 North Church Street, Sudlersville, MD. 21668
Sunday School: 10:00 am
Worship Service: 11:00 am

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church

251 St. Paul’s Rd., Ingleside, MD. 21644
Worship Service: 9:00 am
Sunday School: 10:00 am

Church Office:
PO Box 202
103 North Church Street
Sudlersville, MD 21668
Office Phone: 410-438-3816
PLOWSHARES
~A Journal for Office Hours:
Christian Living Monday-Thursday 9:00 am– 1:00 pm
in Maryland’s Email: office@sudlersvilleumc.org
Upper Queen Facebook.com/sudlersvilleumc
Anne’s County Website: www.sudlersvilleUMC.org

Sign up for Text Message Reminders:

For Calvary Asbury:

Text the message: @4cal To the number: 81010

For St. Paul’s:

Text the message: @4stp To the number: 81010