foundryFORGE
Foundry: Who Are Our Neighbors?
Nicaraguan Pastor Visits Foundry The Volunteers in Mission (VIM) team that traveled to Nicaragua in 2004 met Pastor Elmer Zavala, a friend of Trip Leader Randy Moorman, when we worshipped at Iglesia Metodista de Hialeah in Managua. Since then, Foundry, through VIM, has provided some financial support to this fledgling congregation in one of the poorest sections of the capital city. This October we had the opportunity to host Pastor Elmer for a week-end visit to Foundry. During that time, we shared several meals, did some sightseeing and talked at length about our hopes for building a strong, interactive and personal relationship. Pastor Zavala is himself from Honduras, his wife is from the United States (from Michigan) and their two small children were born in Nicaragua. Like other Methodist pastors in Nicaragua, he is designated a “Person in Mission” (but not a missionary) by the General Board of Global Ministries. In addition to his duties at the Hialeah Church, Pastor Elmer is currently the President of the National Methodist Church in Nicaragua. Iglesia Metodista de Hialeah’s ministry focuses on both spiritual practices and social ministry. The church has organized Bible study groups that meet in church members’ homes. Three days a week, the sanctuary serves as a preschool for 30 children who also get soy milk. The church would like to offer a hot lunch program but lacks the required funds. Public education is a right under the Nicaragua Constitution, but in fact, public schools charge fees to help cover the costs of teacher’s salaries and books – a cost that is not affordable for many Nicaraguans. The children who attend the church’s preschool probably could not afford to pay the public school fees, but are able to send their kids to the Hialeah preschool because of the affordable tuition (about 60 cents per month). Weekday afternoons, the church functions as a library staffed by a scholarship student who is studying business administration. Hialeah’s sports program involves elementary through high school kids in soccer and receives some support from the city government, which provides the trophies given out at tournaments. There is also a music program called “Music in Neighborhoods” and the students learn to play the recorder (a plastic flute). There are also plans to acquire a piece of property next door to the church for another building that would provide a permanent home for the preschool and make it possible to serve more children. The Methodist Church consists of 7 congregations in Nicaragua. At the most recent annual conference, the national church supported Hialeah’s plans for expansion, but construction of church buildings for 3 of the 7 congregations obviously has a higher priority. The national church is also working to raise funds for Master’s of Theology scholarships. Clearly, the need is great! The VIM group has included support for the Hialeah Church in its 2007 Foundry mission budget. However, as Pastor Elmer said several times during his visit, the most important aspect of our relationship is making and maintaining personal connections. He urged us to consider visiting Nicaragua again soon! In the meantime, members of the VIM group will connect with members of the Hialeah congregation through regular exchange of emails. We’re also planning to exchange pictures and cards during the Christmas season and Pastor Elmer will send us additional photos when he returns to Nicaragua. Foundry has initiated a new service for our members and constituents called Shelby WEBVIEW. This website allows you to update your information for the Foundry database (e.g. new telephone number, email, employer, etc.) to keep your information current and accurate. You may add your name to an online directory that can be viewed by other Foundry members. You will also be asked to complete a short and simple survey regarding your gifts and interests. Early in November, a letter explaining this was sent out that included your specific Login ID Number and Password along with a quick reference guide to assist you. Information about this can also be found on our website’s home page where you will find the access link to WEBVIEW. If you have misplaced your Login ID Number and Password, you may contact Robert McDonald at rmcdonald@foundryumc.org. If you do not have access to the internet, but would like to have you information included in the online Directory, please call Robert at (202) 332-4010. Stewardship Sunday: November 19th This year we are celebrating Stewardship Sunday on November 19th. At both services, pledge cards will be distributed after the sermon. All will be asked to take some time in prayerful reflection to complete their pledge card during the service. The service will be followed with a special celebration in Fellowship Hall. Our financial goal for the 2007 Stewardship Campaign is $1,500,000. While contributions to Foundry Church have grown over the years, we must continue to keep pace with the needs of our church community and our increased efforts to help meet these needs. As a church, we are strengthening our commitment to accomplish the important work at hand. We expect our ministry and mission costs to increase by about 5 percent next year. Because some of our members have experienced a reduction in income, we are asking those of you who are able to do so to consider increasing your pledge by 10 percent this year. Of course, gifts in every amount will be valued as important investments in the life of our vital church community. Looking Back at Recent Foundry Women’s Retreats It’s not too early to be thinking about the Foundry Women’s Retreat in February. The retreat weekend will be filled with meeting new friends, renewing golden friendships and engaging in stimulating discussion, guided meditation, yoga, massage, and evening group singing. “I never imagined what a terrific opportunity the Women’s Retreat would provide in terms of fellowship with other women at Foundry,” said Whitney Warren, who participated in the retreat two years ago. “I made new friendships and strengthened others, which continue to be important to me – both personally and in my life at Foundry.” The retreat will be held at the PriestField Pastoral Center in Kearneysville, West Virginia, a peaceful countryside setting perfect for settling into comfortable quarters after the Friday bus ride from Foundry. A delicious welcome dinner, especially prepared by a chef, awaits retreat participants. Evening vespers will include music, Bible verses and a homily. Saturday dawns early with a chef’s tempting breakfast in the common room and stimulating discussion groups throughout the morning. “Appreciating Who We Are,” the theme of last year’s retreat, was framed around Max Lucado’s book “You Are Special.” Leaders Tammy Reilly and Margaret Yao led a discussion on how children can get labeled as ‘pretty’ or not pretty - translating well into our adult life. The story’s moral: God loves each one of us exactly as we are. Saturday afternoon will offer a variety of choices for participants: massages, yoga, hiking the bountiful nature trails, reading and focusing on inner spirituality. On Saturday afternoon last year, Gwen Johnson chose to meditate on vividly detailed stone sculptures describing Jesus’ life, including Jesus talking with the priests at the Temple, working with his father Joseph in the carpenter shop, gathering in the Upper Room and praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. She felt uplifted by the end of her journey. Yoga classes, taught by Foundry’s Joanne Steller and Korean-style by Don Hok, also were popular last year. Sarah Stiles led group meditation through Lectio deVina, or devine reading. Musically inclined participants worked on Sunday morning songs. Some women learned to knit; others shared stories with new friends, read or tried to solve puzzles. Past retreats have included women from a wide range of ages – from 20 through 70. The variety of life experience produced new ideas and enriched everyone’s perspective. “It was my first retreat,” said Johnson. “I went up not knowing anyone but by the end I knew everyone.” The evening festivities last year were memorable. Ella Cleveland played the piano and everyone joyfully sang hymns and Broadway tunes – and even danced. At dawn, Ella and friends rose to sing lively songs to “wake up the sun!” On Sunday morning, a communion service concluded with warm hugs, tears and smiles. After enjoying lunch, the women reluctantly boarded the bus and returned to Foundry. Conferences May Disagree with Rulings: Judicial Council The United Methodist Judicial Council met in late October in Cincinnati and considered several petitions regarding Decision 1032, a ruling that the Council issued last year. The controversial ruling involved a Virginia pastor who had denied membership to an openly gay man. The Council had ruled that the pastor had the right to determine who is ready for church membership. Following that ruling, Foundry members active in Baltimore-Washington Area Reconciling United Methodists (B-WARM) were responsible for introducing a resolution at the 2006 annual meeting of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference to prohibit discrimination in receiving members into United Methodist congregations. Bishop John Schol ruled the petition to be in order because it “represented the hope of the annual conference.” At their October meeting, the United Methodist Church’s top court said that the denomination’s regional conferences may pass petitions that disagree with court decisions as long as they do not mandate any violation of the Book of Discipline or ignore directives included in those decisions. The Baltimore-Washington's petition "expects and encourages its congregations and clergy" to be inclusive, the Judicial Council said. Because it is "aspirational in nature" it does not violate Paragraph 16.1 of the church's Constitution, the court said in Decision 1044. New Year’s Eve Watchnight Service We gather in the front of our sanctuary near the altar at 11:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve for an hour of prayer, music, meditation, and Holy Communion. Watchnight services are a Methodist practice that goes to the time of the Wesleys, Methodism's founders, in the 18th Century. Originally it was a three hour service in which Methodists examined their lives during the past year and renewed their covenant with God. We will reflect together on Scripture, Matthew 2: 7-23, sing hymns, pray the Wesleyan Covenant prayer, and share Holy Communion. The youngest person present will push the button to ring our church bells at midnight. You are invited to bring friends and neighbors who may want to start the New Year in prayer. To volunteer to serve as an usher, greeter, or communion server, please contact: dsnyder@foundryumc.org. The Pastoral Corner:
My Reflections on the International Clergywomen’s Consultation I felt a sense of power or energy as I walked into the McCormick Conference Center at the start of the Consultation. My friend and colleague Michelle and I walked around looking for other clergywomen we hoped would be there to share in this celebration. We knew this was an important time for all of us – for at this event we would be remembering the struggles of so many women (and men, on behalf of women) that had gone before us. For at this gathering, we would be recalling the events of the 1956 General Conference when women were given – at least on paper – full clergy rights within the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their struggle and their work opened doors that as little girls Michelle and I were unaware had ever been closed. We immediately spotted one of the very few men in attendance – David Argo, my district superintendent. As I opened the door for him (he was temporarily using crutches for a foot injury), the gravity of this gathering began to sink in. Since my ordination, there have been a few times when I sensed I was an unwelcome sight because I am a woman and I am clergy. But I always had the support and muscle of the “rules of the game” in my favor. I never had to fight for my ordination simply because I was female. While at the conference, I saw someone wearing a tee-shirt with these words: Closed Doors, Broken Hearts, We Mind. A not-so-subtle reference to the UMC media campaign of Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors, the shirt captured the pain felt by so many that the doors of many churches and the doors to full inclusion denominationally are not only closed, they are nailed shut. Our United Methodist GLBT sisters and brothers still knock on the doors of ordination within annual conferences and even lay membership in local churches, wanting to be a part of a church with so rich a spiritual and biblical heritage. What is my role – as one who has had doors opened for me – in helping to open doors and keeping them open until all are truly welcomed? What responsibility do I have in ensuring that those who come behind me – the children of this century – shouldn’t have to think about their God-blessed sexuality when they sense a call to ministry and grow into their giftedness? In her sermon at the conference, Bishop Judith Craig encouraged us all to continue to knock on these closed doors, prying them open if necessary. That is our role and that is our responsibility. That is how we honor those who held the door for us. My take-away from the consultation: I was enlivened to continue to work for full inclusion of all those who are called and gifted for ordained ministry. The Adventure Called Foundry:
The People of Foundry During the past couple of years, Foundry has lost some of its prominent members and it seems appropriate to remember them in this season of the year. We lost the Cross sisters in just over a year – Sally in early 2005 and Elma on March 30, 2006. They came from Gatesville, North Carolina, in the mid-1930’s. They attended nursing school from 1951 to 1952. Sally and Elma joined Foundry on March 28, 1948 and were active members of the Sunday school from then on. Sally was a member of the women’s societies, later the United Methodist Women (UMW). Elma served as a greeter, helped with altar duties, and sewed stuffed animals for Children’s Hospital; she also worked with Emmaus for 25 years. The two of them shared homes, most recently in Arlington, Virginia, where they hosted bible study groups for many years – their graciousness and hospitable ways making the experience most rewarding. On July 16, 2005, Audree Bauman died in Cape Porpoise, Maine. A memorial service was held at Foundry so that her many friends could say goodbye. Audree Miller was born in Marion, Ohio, and came to Washington during World War II. She joined the Foundry choir in 1943 and was a member for more than 30 years. While in the choir, she caught the eye of a young sailor named Edward Bauman - they were married on Christmas Eve in 1946 by Dr. Frederick Brown Harris and, in 1964, they came to Foundry as the Minister and Minister’s wife. They had three children, Deborah, Kathleen, and Mark, all of whom grew up in Foundry. Beginning in 1958, she was administrator for the weekly television program presented by Dr. Bauman, and in 1967, helped Bauman Bible Telecasts, Inc., grow throughout the country and internationally. She was president from 1980 to 1989. On November 10, 2005, we lost Odelle Phillips who joined Foundry in December 1966. Odelle Greene was born in 1911 in Appomattox County, Virginia. She moved to Washington in 1940 and graduated from the National Institute of Practical Nursing. She spent her entire life helping others. She often spent long days with persons in need of her help, weary but always ready to volunteer for some task. At Foundry she was a member of the UMW, and many bible study and adult education programs. For many years she was a volunteer at SOME and the N Street Village; she was one of the founders of Susanna Wesley House. In her last years she lived at the Methodist Home on Connecticut Avenue. Marjorie Wise passed away January 10, 2006. She was born in 1921 in Dadeville, Alabama; she came to Washington in 1944 and worked for the federal government for 61 years, to the day of her death. She was with the Office of Personnel Management and was a specialist in the federal retirement system. She lived at Scott Circle and usually was rushing for the early morning bus – most of the drivers on the route, as well as fellow passengers, would look out for her and hold the bus for her. When she joined Foundry is not clear, but she was long a regular attendant at Sunday services. While she was quiet and reclusive, she was highly respected by many of the much younger employees of OPM who had much regard for “Miss Wise.” Ann Tonjes died February 13, 2006. An active member of Foundry – involved with the Community Mission, Emmaus, Prison Ministry, Hunger Mission, Christ House, WIN, the Housing Mission and a past associate chair of the Mission Council – she also was a member of the Religion and Race Committe, BWARM, the Finance Committee and Church Council. She is gone but her influence is lasting and she is with us in many ways still. Julie Bryan, mother of Kathleen Bryan, died April 9 after a long illness. She joined Foundry as an associate member in 1972 at the time of her daughter’s confirmation. She was a native of Puerto Rico and worshiped at Foundry for many years, participating in many of the study classes and bible study activities. One of our oldest members, Margaret “Peggy” Fisher, passed away on June 5. She came to Foundry in 1937 after marrying Henry W. Fisher, a long time member of Foundry. Active in the Sunday school as a teacher and leader for many years – she taught sixth grade and junior high classes, among others, and she was active in the women’s organizations of the church. Her sons John and Christopher grew up in Foundry. Florence Larson passed away in California on July 30, first joined Foundry in 1937 and was an active member through 1944. She served overseas for some time, and returned to Foundry as a member in 1955. In recent years she baked regularly for the sales of the Hunger Mission and was renowned for her molasses cookies. On November 4, Luise Gray, a long-time member and leader of Foundry died in New Jersey, with her husband Bryan and daughters Katherine and Luise at her side. The family joined Foundry in the early 1970’s. For over 30 years, Luise and Bryan held almost every major office at Foundry – Luise was active with the pre-school, education council, and was chair of the Council of Ministries and of the Administrative Board. She was Foundry’s representative and a board member for many years at Bread for the City. She had a quiet authority and organization that made her truly a leader of the groups she worked with, and she remained one of the best loved members of our congregation. And last, a memory of Raymond Harwell, who died on June 14 after a long illness. While never a member of Foundry, he participated actively for more than 20 years: he was twice president of the choir, in 1956 and 57, and was a member of Forge, the young people’s group of the 50s and 60s, when they were very active in civil rights and social action concerns. He was also an assistant Boy Scout leader at Foundry for many years. May they all be remembered for their place in our hearts and our church. Fair Trade Coffee, Cocoa and Chocolate Bars The Peace with Justice Mission will once again be selling coffee, cocoa, and chocolate on Sundays November 19 through December 17 in Fellowship Hall. This will include coffee from Africa and Latin America, whole beans, organic products, teas, unsweetened cocoa, and chocolate bars. All sold to you at cost (cheaper than local stores) - not a fundraiser. Most likely the bulk of the price you paid for your morning coffee went for marketing costs and the large corporation who pays the farmer less than a living wage. This UMCOR-sponsored program seeks to educate us about coffee and cocoa growers, most of whom are forced to sell their harvests to middlemen almost at a loss. In addition, growing practices demanded by large corporations are damaging to the environment. The Peace with Justice mission is proud that Foundry now serves fair trade coffee EVERY SUNDAY in Fellowship Hall. Material is provided at the Peace with Justice table to learn about how your buying habits can encourage more responsible consumerism. Makes for meaningful Christmas presents! Mission Council Gift Catalogue. This year, consider giving your family and friends a gift from Foundry’s Mission Council Gift Catalog, which enables our mission groups and partner organizations to carry out ministries of compassion and justice. There is a gift catalogue included in this edition of Forge. Prison Ministry Angel Tree Project. Celebrate Christmas by giving a gift to a D.C. child who has a parent in prison. This annual project is on Sundays in Fellowship Hall from Nov. 29 through Dec. 24. Sign up to buy a gift, and return the wrapped gift to Fellowship Hall by Sunday, Dec. 17 (or Sunday, Dec. 24, if needed). Clothing sizes and gift suggestions are available when you sign up. For more information, call Michael Thompson at (202) 302-1033. Foundry’s Mitten Tree. All are invited to donate mittens, scarves and warm hats, and place them on the mitten tree in Fellowship Hall during the Advent season. These items will be distributed to the children of prisoners. |
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Foundry United Methodist Church
1500 16th Street, NW * Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 332-4010 * Fax: (202) 332-4035
Email: foundryumc@foundryumc.org
Web: www.foundryumc.org
Pastoral Care Emergency Phone
(after normal office hours): (202) 306-2659