Just.Keep.Going.

“Let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll have a harvest if we don’t give up.” - Galatians 6:9 Common English Bible (CEB)

For over a decade, I have set aside a few hours at the beginning of the week to sit down at my computer and copy/paste announcements, download/upload photos of our children's ministries, and hope and pray for divine inspiration to share a word of encouragement, inspiration, or challenge for parents in our Glenn Church community.  Some of you will remember the old days of my Microsoft Outlook BCC list before MailChimp came along and even with improved newsletter platforms, there have been technical difficulties of font size, date errors, and the like.  I am grateful for each of you who actually open the e-mail most weeks when I know all too well the reality of overflowing inboxes and information overload.

Longtime subscribers may have noticed the trend for me to use song lyrics or quotes from other authors when I'm not feeling particularly insightful.  I enjoy the easy expression of a few haikus or a Top Ten list.  Usually I only encounter a writing slump or writer's block for a week or so.  Thanks to Google search, I can easily share from the "Kids @ Glenn" archives and it's been fun to look back at my own parenting journey.  I have been honored to host guest writers and amplify the voices of those that inspire me through the years.

Enter the COVID19 pandemic and each time I finally sit down and open my computer on my dining room table with either the sounds of arguing or giggling children distracting me, all I seem to find as I stare at the screen is confusing chaos that the uncertainty, fear, frustration, worry, guilt, and exhaustion of living through a pandemic brings in unique ways to each of our lives.  It feels offensive to give a word of encouragement.  A reminder to myself or to you to find joy in the moment and give thanks for the family time quarantining brings to many of us seems grossly dripping with privilege.  Talking more about anti-racism resources runs the risk of performative allyship or too little too late.  Moving on from focusing on anti-racism seems like yet another offense of white privilege to compartmentalize systemic injustice.  Local Mom boards are full of debates of virtual school, in-person school, hybrid models, and the inequality of each option - that for some parents, teachers, and especially children are not viable choices at all.  It feels as though every.single.choice we make - from ordering take-out to going to the beach to screentime for the kids to childcare options to what kind of mask we wear is loaded with layers of politics, privilege, and parenting-guilt.  

And here I am again staring at the computer with no profound thoughts on how to frame all of this nor how to wrap it up with a proverbial pretty bow.  So like so many of us - whether you are a frontline worker for your job or you are in the trenches of parenting 24/7 with no end in sight, I am going to remind myself and you to just.keep.going.  Whatever ways you are continuing in or just joining anti-racism work - just.keep.going.  For hard relationships that need lots of boundaries  - just.keep.going.  For the day in/day out parenting of tiny ones to teenagers who need our full attention to help shape their experiences of this wild time in history that is changing all of our lives - just.keep.going. 

For our spiritual lives and faith journeys that feel so different than ever before as we no longer have the tradition of showing up to a worship service each week with the solidarity of support from a church family of all ages & stages of life but instead have pivoted to virtual and different expressions of church life - just.keep.going. 

It's okay to not be okay.  It's okay if this is a wonderful reset of your life from the grinding and brutal packed schedules many of us lived pre-COVID.  If you have joys and thanksgivings to celebrate - please reach out - as we'd love to celebrate together!   If you're lonely, overwhelmed, or paralyzed with guilt or fear - please reach out, as we'd be honored to listen, pray, or curse together. 

It's amazing to look back and see the ups & downs of my own life and ministry - and yours - chronicled through 12 years of Kids @ Glenn e-mails.  Starting "lucky" year 13 takes the cake on the most unique yet; and even if COVID culture has created a longterm writer's block for me, I commit to being here each week for love, prayers, and community even when words fail me.

Grace and Peace,
Susan

Green Notes: Help Your Community and the World with Low-Cost Solar

By LYNN SPENO, Glenn’s Environmental Committee Chair

Still stuck at home and wanting to find ways to help with environmental issues? Have you been curious about solar power and want to see if solar would work for your home? A citizen-led Solarize program offers you a free assessment if you request it before September 30. Glenn’s Environmental Committee encourages you to take a look at the offering. Solarize Decatur-DeKalb provides homes, churches, and businesses within DeKalb County the opportunity to leverage the power of group purchasing to save on the cost of new solar technologies and clean energy products, including modern, high-efficiency solar panels, battery storage systems such as the Tesla Powerwall, and EV charging stations for homes and businesses. The assessment can be done completely online using aerial photos of your roof from databases like Google Maps and the system can be sized to your needs based on your electric bill, so that the system can pay for itself in your electric savings.

Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, Decatur Environmental Sustainability Board, Environment Georgia, Sierra Club of Georgia, Solar Crowdsource, and several local volunteers have come together to make Solarize possible. The more homes and businesses that sign up for solar, the less the solar costs for all who participate. Financing is available, and you can sign up for the community solar discount and still claim the federal tax credit for the solar installation. For more details and a free solar assessment with no obligation visit: www.solarcrowdsource.com/campaign/decatur-dekalb-2-0/

What is Juneteenth?

By KAREN LEARY, Glenn Church’s Racial Justice Caucus Member

“Hold those things that tell your history and protect them.” –Maya Angelou

If you have heard anything about Juneteenth, you may know that it falls on June 19 (today) and that it has sometimes been called Black Independence Day.

That’s a start. Here’s a video introduction. The short story is that on June 19, 1865 word finally reached enslaved people in the most remote corners of the Confederacy (Galveston, Texas) that they had actually been freed 2 ½ years earlier by the Emancipation Proclamation. The celebration of that announcement became an annual event, even through the oppressive times of Jim Crow and segregation, gaining momentum after the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, and eventually becoming a holiday in more than 40 states, including Georgia.

Juneteenth is a time for families to gather and tell their stories, play games, sing, dance, have parades, and, of course, eat together. Try some of these Juneteenth recipes; barbecue and red food and drinks, symbolizing the perseverance of enslaved and oppressed people, are central to a Juneteenth menu.

Juneteenth is also a time for reflection about the contributions of ancestors who built families, communities, and a culture in a racist society. KLRU in Austin, Texas produces a "Juneteenth Jamboree" program every year to celebrate some of those achievements. You can also  participate in Sweet Honey in the Rock’s Day of Remembrance at 8 pm on Friday.

You may have heard about a push to make Juneteenth a national holiday. This is where we come in, white people. Juneteenth should not be a Black holiday. The emancipation of enslaved people and the contributions of Black patriots to American culture and economy are not Black history. It’s American history, and all Americans should learn it, celebrate it, and work to fulfill the promise in the Declaration of Independence of equality for all. An easy way to start is to  sign this petition to Congress to make Juneteenth a national holiday. The harder next step is to realize the ways in which we still do not have equality for all, and we need to talk about that.

A Glenn Memorial Newcomer’s Perspective: Reaching Forward to What Lies Ahead

This isn’t what 2020 was supposed to look like.

When the year began, my wife and I were looking forward to connecting with the Glenn Memorial community-- going to church events, meeting people for lunch or coffee, and beginning to get involved. In the sports world, my alma mater was poised to make a deep run in the March Madness NCAA men’s basketball tournament. “Finally,” I hoped, “this will be our year!” Memorial Day weekend would mean kicking off the summer season with the live music, delicious food, and creative atmosphere of the Decatur Arts Festival. At least, that’s how I thought 2020 was going to go. Of course, none of these things actually happened.

Although 2020 has been unusual, every year people’s plans are disrupted in substantial ways. Sometimes it’s because a relationship didn’t work out. Other times, a person struggles with school or is laid off from his or her job. Tragically, people’s lives can be cut short by accidents, surprise illnesses, or other unexpected calamities.

We all have preconceived notions of how we think our lives are supposed to work. But life is messy, and circumstances seldom go exactly as we planned. How we respond to unfulfilled dreams is an important part of what makes us human. Sometimes we need to let go of rigid ideas about how life is supposed to go. It doesn’t mean that we necessarily have to abandon everything that we thought we knew. We can take some aspects of our past, integrate them into our life experience, and use them to inform our future paths.

Paul was a man with great ambition. In Philippians 3, he wrote of how he was: “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (vv. 5-6). But Paul’s unexpected encounter with Jesus threw his lifelong plans into disarray. Rather than dwelling on his past goals and harboring bitterness and resentment about what might have been, Paul humbled himself and allowed God to use his vast knowledge of the law and scriptures in a new, transformed way. “Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,” the apostle wrote, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (vv. 13-14).

We are living through a period of history that is both extraordinary and deeply troubling. While the times in which we live are challenging, they provide us with an opportunity to rethink old assumptions about how life is supposed to work. Like Paul, we can learn from our past without being constrained by it. Let us pray and reflect on areas where we might need God’s help to see beyond old ways of thinking. We can ask God to give us a renewed perspective and look for past disappointments to be reborn in new ways. When we do, we can begin to grasp the future—full of hope and possibilities-- that God intends for us.  

Scott Santibañez DMin

Regular Attendee, Glenn Memorial UMC

Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19 (NASB)

Emma Grace and the Mashed Potato Mountain

The News from Doolittle Creek | 05.19.2020 22:53 | Emma Grace and the Mashed Potato Mountain | Written by Anne Lynch | First Line Written by Emma Grace Reece

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Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Emma Grace, and she was so brave. She didn’t shy away from anything or anyone and took on new adventures daily. Today was no different.

Emma Grace hailed from the Glenn Memorial tribe of the “Kingdom of Unitedmethodista.” She had been marked by their holy waters at a young age and was a leader among her people. However, due to the unwelcome reign of Sir Coronavirus, which barred her from meeting her followers in person, she devised a new way of communicating with her people.

She called her plan, “Operation 6.” On the onset of shelter-in-place orders, Emma Grace established a satellite outpost. Not only is it command central, but it takes on many forms such as Velma’s ice cream stand to keep under the radar. Emma Grace can safely connect with her people and keep them guessing at the same time. Bravery and brains go hand in hand, and Emma Grace knows the perfect balance.

This afternoon, while outside inspecting green berries in her purple butterfly twirly skirt, Emma Grace got a secret message from Ariel. A mysterious woman, one that hasn’t been seen in these parts of town, delivered something to her mailbox. She was wearing a silver ring with a purple jewel, but that’s all Ariel could see. Ariel had been swimming in the pool and popped her head over the edge just as the woman was leaving and felt sad that she didn’t have any more details.

“Don’t worry, Ariel,” said Emma Grace, “I’ll check the mail. Maybe I’ll find a clue!”

And find a clue, she did. It was a AAA
magazine sent to an Anne Lynch at a P.O. Box in Decatur. The cover featured a majestic mountain made of mashed potatoes. With flights grounded across the globe, travel guides were creating new locales that wanderlust roamers could find in the comfort of their own home.

But who was Anne Lynch? Glenn Memorial folklore often spoke of a woman named Anne who counted the membership some 18 years ago. She was a writer they said and wrote the weekly bulletins announcing what songs to sing and what prayers to pray. She collected Beanie Babies that sat in rows along her bookshelves and watched her while she worked. She came from the era of Betty Jo, Amy, Lester, and Cynthia, among others. And shared the building with Queen Joan and Queen Katy, who ruled over all of the children.

Emma Grace took one look at the magazine cover, and she knew she must transform like a butterfly. She went into her headquarters and emerged in a red dress with a white collar.

“EG to the rescue!” she called out as she threw her hands into the air.

“Activate shrinkage!” she commanded.

EG, the superhero mini version of Emma Grace, scurried up the front stairs and into her kitchen. Within seconds she had created a stairway to the counter by opening drawers one at a time. Once up, she twirled over to the stove where she saw it in all of its glory.

Mashed Potato Mountain. At first glance, it looked like a huge pile of lumpy ice cream, but the scoop-shaped terrain didn’t fool EG. She was going to claim the mountain for America, and she was going to claim it today.

Step by step, EG, climbed the mountain with flag in hand. When she reached the summit, she planted the flag firmly at the peak and smiled down upon the lands below. It was a glorious day to be at the top!

Later that evening, when she had transformed back into Emma Grace, she told her mom and dad all about her adventures. About how you can touch the berries, but not eat them. About Ariel’s message and the magazine from Anne. She threw her hands up in the air and explained how she was able to shrink, but she kept one secret for herself.

“Only I know how to unshrink myself,” Emma Grace said with a smile.

In closing, Emma Grace and her counterpart EG both await new clues in her headquarters’ mailbox. She’s ready for adventure, are you?

* * *

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About the Author:

Anne Lynch worked at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church from 2002-2005 as the Membership Administrative Assistant under Betty Jo Copelan. Her favorite part of the week was collating bulletins in the library with Lillian Kelly, whose fingers moved so quickly your jaw would drop in sheer awe. During her time at Glenn, Anne became friends with Laura Reece, who would park in the Youth and Activities Building parking lot and cross through the Church School Building to get to Emory’s main campus for classes at Candler. Anne left Glenn to earn her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She currently resides in Decatur, Georgia, and works at Georgia Tech. This story, inspired by Emma Grace, is a part of a larger collection called, “The News from Doolittle Creek.”

The Good News According to Roger … or Facebook … or Instagram … or Zoom … or You

          This is how long ago it was: My friends and I were waiting to eat dinner in a Western Sizzlin’.  It was a larger-than-usual Friday night crowd at the Sizzlin’—and the truth is even an average Friday night at Western Sizzlin’ was pretty big—so I wouldn’t have noticed Roger’s arrival at all if he hadn’t yelled.  Nor would I have known his name was Roger had he not told us.  “HELLO!” he shouted.  “MY NAME IS ROGER.  ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR AND BE SAVED TONIGHT!”  And with that, Roger left the way he had arrived, leaving my friends and me to return to our talk of movies and sirloins and to ponder privately the state of our souls.
          So, I’ve been thinking.  With the reopening of more restaurants, maybe it’s time for Glenn Church to make a splash.  It only takes one person per restaurant, after all, so imagine the impact we can have in just one night.
          OK, maybe not.  But if not Roger’s style of evangelism, then what?  At the root of the word is evangel, which means “good news.”  Do you have any?  Have you found in your Christian faith some hope or comfort or purpose or strength or love or wholeness or connection?  Can you share that good news?
          Have you stopped and thought about your story lately?  You have a good one, you know.  And moving through it is the grace of God and the Holy Spirit.  Do you see?  Yours is a holy story, and in that story someone else might just find a word they need to hear—a good word, some good news, even.  Give your story some thought; maybe even put it on paper.  In fact, I invite you to do just that, then share the story with me; it might make a great church blog entry.
          And if you’re not up to shouting an invitation to salvation in a Western Sizzlin’ (Are any still around?), then invite someone to try the church you love.  These days, that’s pretty simple.  Share the social-media announcements about our virtual VBS, or invite someone specifically.  Let folks know about your Sunday School or Bible Study Zoom sessions.
          And Worship?  Now is a great time to invite folks.  Many people are uneasy about visiting a church for the first time (I know I was).  But now?  If someone is looking for a low-stress, low-pressure chance to give church a try, well, it doesn’t get any better than this.  Online worship is perfect for us introverts.  So, share the links to our Sunday and Wednesday services.  Maybe even tag someone.  There’s a person like me out there just waiting.
          Share, tag, link—had Roger known about those options, he could have saved his voice.  Share an invitation by sharing a post.  Who knows?  Maybe 2020 will be remembered as more than a tragic year of pandemic or as the year the economy tanked or as the strangest school year in modern history.
          Someday we might just refer to 2020 as the Great Introvert Awakening.


In Christ,
Rev. Mark Westmoreland

Requiem for a Mountain Divine

          This is not a typical column for me, not very pastoral or even preachy.  Instead, I want to invite you to consider a small newspaper clipping, two double headstones in a country cemetery, and four people you’ve probably never heard of.  If you’re looking for high drama, this isn’t the tale for you, but if you want to ponder for a moment a moment in time and how our stories unfold through generations, then take a few minutes as you shelter in place, and join me.
          First, the clipping.  I found it among the many historical tidbits gathered by my father through the years.  There was no date, just a photo of a young man whose pose was almost as stiff as his collar, accompanied by the short caption, “Rev. J. L. Anderson: The Methodist Minister of Ellijay Who Was Recently Drowned and Whose Body Is Still Missing.”

They had me at “Methodist Minister of ElIijay.”  So, I did a little hunting and learned at least part of the story of the mountain preacher who died too young.
          In February 1905, 25-year-old John L. Anderson was a Methodist preacher serving four small mountain churches in Gilmer County (Interestingly, the churches were affiliated with the northern Methodist Episcopal Church, not, as were most Georgia churches, the M.E. Church, South).  During the week, Anderson also taught and served as principal of the Oakland Academy in rural Gilmer County.  His wife of less than a year, Adella Brown Anderson, was a teacher there, too, but she was home now, awaiting the birth of their first child.
          Early on a Monday morning, February 20, Anderson left his home and headed on horseback toward the school.  He never arrived.
          In a story headlined “Divine Drowns in the Cartecay,” The Atlanta Constitution reported that Anderson’s horse was found later that morning riderless near the ford of the rain-swollen Owltown Creek, “snagged on the shoulder, very wet [with] sand in his mane and ears.”  One of Anderson’s gloves was in the creek, and an overcoat was found farther downstream where the creek meets with the larger Cartecay River, but there was nothing more.  Despite the efforts of a 100-man search party, Anderson’s body remained lost.  Did the horse lose its footing in the swift water?  Did it bolt?  Did Anderson fall from his mount in the dim light of early morning?  There were no answers for Adella, who, 10 days later, gave birth to a son.
          In late April, a young boy checking his trout line in Shippen’s millpond was shocked to find a corpse lodged against a log.  According to the local Ellijay Courier, the clothing and items found on the body identified the deceased as John.  There was a bruise on the side of his head, probably caused by his horse’s hoof, and the watch in his pocket had stopped at 6:55.
          After an inquest, the Courier continued, “a nice coffin was procured and the remains were given a decent, Christian burial at the Jarrett cemetery.”  The writer didn’t stop there, however, adding, with righteous flourish, that “the positive identification by a legal inquiry will forever set at rest the surmise and false, calumnious reports that were crawling from mouth in certain quarters like slimy snakes in a pond of filth.”  You and I can only guess the kinds of rumors that circulated after the young preacher’s disappearance, but I imagine the writer nodded with satisfaction upon penning that comment, and I’d like to think some folks in town nodded in embarrassment upon reading it.
          So far, I have found little about Adella Anderson’s life beyond John’s death.  I do know she lived many years as a widow, dying at age 90 in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.  Why she was in New Jersey, I don’t know—extended family?—but her body was returned to Ellijay and buried beside John in the Jarrett Cemetery.
          We know more about Adella’s son, John Lonzo Anderson, the child born 10 days after his father’s death, and in his story I believe we see the influence of his mother the teacher.  John Lonzo graduated from Harvard University in 1928 and wrote several children’s books, as well as a 1975 novel, Night of the Silent Drums.  Born of his lifelong fascination with the Virgin Islands, Night is a fictional account of an actual slave rebellion in 1733.  In researching the book, Lonzo learned to read nine languages.
          In 1953, to mark the 25th anniversary of their graduation, Lonzo’s Harvard class published a 1000-page (!) book of remembrances and updates.  Lonzo kept his submission simple, describing his post-Harvard life as “nothing that would be of interest to the Class.  I belong to no organizations and hold no offices, titles, or honorary degrees.  I have remained, as nearly as I could manage it, a complete free-lance, and I have had a wonderful time.”  You’ve got to like the guy.  Lonzo went on to describe his wife, Dean, as “my twin … an artist” and a fellow free-lancer. 
          Adrienne “Dean” Adams was a fine artist indeed, enjoying considerable success as an illustrator, mainly of children’s books (You can find some fine examples of her work online).  She was twice a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal.  Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, a year after Lonzo, Dean studied at the University of Missouri and the New York School of Design.  She and Lonzo married in 1935.  I picture them as two kindred bohemian spirits, enjoying life and creating beauty.  The Halloween Party, one of the children’s books they produced together, begins this way:
          Faraday Folsom was on his way to the Halloween party at  the artichoke farm.  It felt funny being
inside a costume.
          Suddenly two figures flew between him and the moon.  Two witches!
          Faraday Folsom was afraid to leave the road and follow the witches—so he did.
          Dean and Lonzo had no children but the children touched by their work, and those were many.  Lonzo died in 1993 in San Marcos, Texas, and Dean lived on to see a new millennium, passing from this world in Rolla, Missouri in 2002 at age 96.  Lonzo and Dean now rest with John and Adella in the Jarrett Cemetery.
          And so a family ends with two double headstones in a country cemetery.  But now, holding a few pieces of their stories, we remember.  “Let us now praise famous folks, our ancestors in their generations.”
          The air we breathe is thick with stories.

In Christ,
Rev. Mark Westmoreland

Green Notes from the Environmental Committee

By LYNN SPENO, Glenn Environmental Committee

Fifty years ago this month, the first Earth Day was celebrated.  The day was a response to an environment in crisis.  There was smog, oil spills, and polluted rivers catching fire. On that Earth Day on April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans protested in the streets, on college campuses, and in cities to demand a path forward for this planet, and from that event, the modern environmental movement was launched.

During our current coronavirus crisis, with millions of people staying at home, the air is clearer, the skies bluer than in decades. Comments from places such as India have been heard that people did not realize that the sky was blue.  Pollution has been enormously reduced in many parts of the world.  What will happen when we return to a new normal remains to be seen.  Hopefully lessons will have been learned about the impact of so much fossil-fuel pollution.

So what followed from that first day?  Landmark environmental laws were passed in this country, including the current Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Where are we today?  Currently environmental protections are being rolled back at an astonishing rate.  We need to hold businesses and governments accountable for their role in our current environmental crisis.  We need to speak up and call for bold, creative, and innovative solutions. We each have power and influence as a consumer, a voter, and a member of our church and community. Contact your government representatives and contact businesses that you frequent and make your thoughts known. Think of the enormous impact that one teenager, Greta Thunberg, has recently had to engage and embolden people around the world in a call for new plans of action and global collaboration. 

What has been the response of the United Methodist Church to the environmental crisis?  There are many ways that the church has engaged in this issue.

1. The 2016 United Methodist Book of Discipline-Part V Social Principles: The Natural World defines the many ways we are called to care for the earth. “All creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways we use and abuse it.” https://www.ctcumc.org/files/fileshare/2016-book-of-discipline.pdf

2. The 2009 letter, God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action, from the Council of Bishops reminds us that we are one interconnected system that is “groaning in travail” (Romans 8:22) and we must work together to overcome the issues that face us today.  https://www.umnews.org/en/news/council-of-bishops-adopt-gods-renewed-creation-call-to-hope-and-action

3. The UMW has made climate issues a focus of their mission “Just Energy 4All”. Look at the many resources available on their webpage. https://www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/climate-justice

4. As the humanitarian relief and development arm of The United Methodist Church, the General Board of Global Ministries is engaged in creation care throughout the world with missionaries, volunteers, and staff partnering to address some of the most critical issues that we face today. https://www.umcmission.org/learn-about-us/our-work/creation-care

5. Closer to home, the North Georgia Creation Care Network launched online this past February providing tips, links, and ways for churches to engage their membership in this important issue.  https://www.ngumc.org/creationcare

6. Glenn formed an Environmental Task Force (later Committee) in 2007 to explore how our church could be a part of the solution to environmental issues.  Working in partnership with Emory and their sustainability initiatives, https://sustainability.emory.edu/, we have made important strides in recycling and composting initiatives on our campus, as well as raising awareness of the connection between our faith and our responsibility to care for creation.

Here at Glenn this summer, we have plans to host a Sunday morning lecture series focused on climate action. As of today, it is unclear whether the current health crisis will allow us to meet. So stay tuned! The series, Earth Justice: Be the Change!, is set to begin June 7 with Rev. Kate Mosely from Georgia Interfaith Power & Light and end on August 2 with Glenn’s Rev. Jenny Phillips.  We will hear from a diverse group of speakers about what the current issues are and ways we can engage at home and with others, both within the church and within the community.  We hope you will join Glenn’s Environmental Committee each Sunday at 9:45 am in the Ward Fellowship Hall as we learn about ways to grow our faith in caring for our planet.

A Letter from Rev. Blair Setnor

Dear Glenn Congregation,

Goodbyes are never easy, but they seem especially strange and hard in this time of covid-19.  I wish I could see your faces and hug, shake hands, fist bump, or high five you. But I can't, so I share this news with a full and heavy heart.  I am honored that the cabinet of the North Georgia Conference contacted me to consider the associate pastor appointment at Decatur First UMC. I have accepted this call and believe this is my next faithful step in ministry. I will be challenged in new and exciting ways and I look forward to the challenge. Glenn has been my village, my home, my community, and my family for 11 years...11 YEARS.

5,781,600 minutes.  

5,781,600 moments so dear.

5,781,600 minutes. 

How do you measure, measure 11 years!?

While thinking about my time at Glenn, I am reminded of the musical Rent’s song, “Seasons of Love.”  How can I begin to capture this season of life and ministry? 

In sunsets on youth mission trips?  In cups of coffee?

How about love?  Measure in love...and maybe lessons and laughter, too.

While I can’t recount all of these moments so dear, I’ll mention just a few of the spaces where I’ve gathered these lessons, laughs, and loves: Glenn youth retreats and trips, the youth musicals and dramas, womens retreats, baby showers, Wednesday night suppers, preaching and proclaiming God’s love from the pulpit, Glenn Hoops, Twain’s, hospital visits, holy communion in church and at the bedside, singing in the choir, fully participating as a leader in worship services, praying and worshipping together.  

It’s that holy space where we share and hold one another’s hearts and stories; where we share the love of Christ.  The place where deep relationships have been forged with deliberate care. The spaces where pain and sorrow and questions have been met with tenderness and love.

And nothing bonds people quicker than sharing the experience of “sleeping” on thin mattress pads, drinking copious amounts of coffee to compensate for “sleep,” and then witnessing our Glenn youth love and serve and grow together.  

A year ago, I was given the opportunity to start Atlanta Wesley Fellowship, an Emory graduate student AND young professional ministry.  It has been nothing short of amazing and life-giving. I am so grateful that my colleague and dear friend, Rev. Brent Huckaby and my most fashionable and sweet friend, and part-time Glenn staffer, Jordan Grassi will take the helm of this incredible group.  I have absolutely loved the creativity and fun that this new ministry has afforded me. It has been the cherry on top of my ministry at Glenn.

THANK YOU, Glenn Memorial, for sharing your beautiful, brutal, joy-filled and painful lives with me.  It has been an honor and a privilege to be with you in these holy moments. THANK YOU, dear friends, for being fertile soil to test my gifts and call.  For allowing me room and grace to stretch my skills and find my voice. For supporting and loving me and my family through the many changes, heart aches, joys, and accomplishments of life.  

So, 5,781,600 minutes.  5,781,600 moments so dear.  I cherish all of them and take them with me, knowing that you’ve shaped every part of me, my life, and my call.  I love you all.

With so much love and gratitude,

Blair

The Easter Curve Flattened

Recently (that’s as specific as I can get), I ran across an interesting article online about the unusually vivid dreams people are having during these shelter-in-place days (Read the article from National Geographic HERE).  I was glad to learn I was not alone in my strange dreamlife.  I’ll leave it to you to read the article, and I will spare you descriptions of my dreams, except for the close of one from a couple of nights ago.  The dream ended with metal doors clanging shut and the announcement, “There will be no parole!”
          OK.  In other times, I might have wrestled with varied and subtle interpretations of that dream, but right now the meaning seems clear.  Our confinement continues, and the parole board keeps voting no.
          Now, I’m certainly not comparing sheltering in place to prison.  I’ve seen the inside of prisons, and this isn’t prison.  Nor do I want to imply that being home alone with my wife feels in any way punitive (though I cannot assume how she might answer).  No, this isn’t prison, but it’s definitely different, strange, open-ended, and a little maddening.
          Maybe we can say that life has been pared down—not simplified, just condensed.  The many elements of life are all at the same table.  Work, school, family time, recreation, even worship, long compartmentalized, now are roommates, each vying for attention.  Life’s pieces blur and combine in their impact.  Shuffle the deck all you like, but the cards all have to be played.
          Wake up.  Eat.  Work.  Eat.  Shop or pay bills.  Eat.  Work some more.  Eat.  Go for a walk.  Hydrate.  Attend a Zoom meeting.  Snack.  What time is it?  Binge-watch a British mystery.  Snack.  Think about the things that didn’t get done.  Sleep.  Have weird dreams.  Rinse.  Repeat.  Hours pass, days blur, and the scenery remains consistent.
          And … so what, Preacher?  Well, I think there might be some advantage in the blurring of lines, at least for our spiritual lives.  Faith has come home from (Sunday) school.  Church is no longer the place down the street.  Pass the mashed potatoes and the big questions, would you?  We have a life to figure out and so many pieces to fit together.  I would like to think that when I emerge from sheltering, something will have changed besides my weight.
          So, I hereby resolve to take better advantage of Easter.  Not the day, which is done, but the season just begun.  Normally, Easter Sunday is huge, of course, with massive crowds packing pews, but this year … Pews?  What pews?  We celebrated with joy, and it was beautiful, and I am thankful for the time we spent “together.”  But I suspect, and hope, that this Easter will not be the huge Sunday wave that crashes into the beach of “Sunday after.”  The Easter “curve” this year might be less dramatic, but it can also be longer-lived.
          We know how to make a great day of Easter; this year let’s make a great season of it.  This Sunday we’ll look at John’s telling of Easter evening, then the next Sunday we’ll walk the road to Emmaus (with a sermon in three parts by three preachers).  And we will continue to explore the joy of Easter even in our blurry days.  Wednesday evenings offer a time of prayer and worship with Brent Huckaby and Jordan Grassi; children are zooming with Susan Pinson, the youth with Connor Bell, and young adults with Blair Setnor; we are offering some Bible study times during the week; and daily video check-ins will feature a variety of voices from around our church.
          So, the day is over, but the season goes on.  Easter is a Sunday, and Easter is the good news—the grace, life, and world-changing hope of Jesus Christ—that can transform every day with love, even if we don’t know exactly what day it is.  And just like work and school, Easter is here to make itself at home with you.

In Christ,
Rev. Mark Westmoreland

Racial Justice in the time of the Coronavirus

“Just to be clear, if it took a global pandemic to make you realize our systems are broken, that is a privilege”. @grayson_stevens

The Summer Lecture Series at Glenn this past summer focused on Racial Healing and Justice.  Through speakers and bulletin inserts, we learned about the history and current realities of systemic racism and white privilege. We began to understand more fully the ways in which our history, systems and structures result in disparities in housing, employment, health care, wealth, education, voting rights and the criminal justice system.

Today, we find ourselves in a very different landscape than we were in this past summer. The advent of the coronavirus seems to have turned our world upside down in so many ways. But one thing that has not changed is that BIPOC* are once again finding themselves bearing an unfairly heavy burden. So many of the disparities we discussed this summer are being exacerbated by the pandemic and by our country’s response to it.

Physical distancing is being practiced throughout our country in an effort to slow down the transmission of the coronavirus. While clearly the right thing for all of us to be doing, physical distancing comes at a cost beyond the loss of socialization.

The latest numbers of people filing unemployment claims are simply staggering. While job loss is a frightening prospect for anyone, the impact on BIPOC is made even worse by the large racial wealth gap in our country. The typical white family has 10 times the wealth of the typical Black family and 7 times the wealth of the typical Latinx family. People with less wealth are less able to afford weeks, or even days, without income. BIPOC are heavily employed in restaurants and hotels, which are two industries being particularly hard hit by the pandemic.

As we learned this summer, BIPOC frequently have more limited job opportunities, and so are more likely to be employed in lower paying jobs without access to paid sick leave. And BIPOC have greater rates of unemployment, so in a country where health care is typically tied to a job, this means a disproportionate number of BIPOC will be without health insurance in the middle of a pandemic.

Those who do not have health insurance but need healthcare during this pandemic will find themselves facing large medical bills. Almost 30% of Black college-educated households and 60% of Black non-college educated households will not be able to afford to pay their bills after a $400 emergency expense, and the cost of treatment for COVID-19 for those who are hospitalized will far exceed $400. An additional risk is that people without insurance will not seek testing or medical care, which may lead to greater exposure to the virus by others.

Another place where we can see the virus having a greater impact on BIPOC is in our criminal justice system. We talked this summer about the school to prison pipeline and saw how our prison populations are disproportionality comprised of BIPOC, a large number of whom are incarcerated without having been convicted of a crime, but because they are unable to pay bail. We are now starting to see reports of COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons, where inmates are kept in tight quarters, often with inadequate sanitation and health care.

All of these structural factors, and others, including environmental racism, homelessness, immigration status, appear to be causing BIPOC to be much more likely to get and die from COVID-19. The numbers look to be particularly alarming for Black Americans.

Many of these issues, like the ones we talked about this summer, are rooted in the structures and systems of our society. Our country’s policies have been too often built on the concept of individuals pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. But as Martin Luther King, Jr. noted, it can be difficult to pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you have no boots.  And even when a safety net has been created for some in our country, it has often not been made available to BIPOC.

 It can seem impossible for us as individuals to have an impact on the systems and structures that are causing even greater suffering during the pandemic. But there are things we can do, now and going forward. Here are 6 antiracist actions we can all take (adapted and expanded from a list compiled by SURJ (Standing Up For Racial Justice)), along with names of organizations working in those areas:

1)     Join a group that works for systemic change to protect and care for the most vulnerable (Faith in Public Life; Poor People’s Campaign)

2)     Support efforts to get people out of jails and detention centers (Southern Center for Human Rights)

3)     Interrupt racist stories about who is to blame by correcting people who refer to the Coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus”**

4)     Fight to protect our elections (Fair Fight) - Georgia will be mailing out absentee ballot applications to all registered voters for the May primary and this is a significant step forward, but we need to unsure that easier access to the voting booth continues

5)     Support organizations that provide resources to those in need – the Glenn web site lists organizations that our church already supports who are doing important work in providing food to the most vulnerable

6)     As we expand our concept of essential workers to include - in addition to healthcare workers - teachers, grocery store workers, sanitation workers, delivery people and more, find ways to support those workers: in the short term by tipping generously and providing needed resources, and in the long term by advocating for better compensation and benefits

“We are releasing people from jail who are there for misdemeanors, we are preventing families from being evicted, we are sending people checks for food, we are giving the homeless places to live. We don’t have to wait for a pandemic to do these things, we should always do them.” @ClintSmithIII

Prayer for a Pandemic

Cameron Bellm

May we who are merely inconvenienced

Remember those whose lives are at stake.

May we who have no risk factors

Remember those most vulnerable.

May we who have the luxury of working from home

Remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.

May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close

Remember those who have no options.

May we who have to cancel our trips

Remember those that have no safe place to go.

May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market

Remember those who have no margin at all.

May we who settle in for a quarantine at home

Remember those who have no home.

As fear grips our country,

let us choose love.

During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other,

Let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbors.

Amen.

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*BIPOC – Blacks, Indigenous Persons and Persons of Color

**A recent report on NPR discussed the increase in attacks on Asian Americans. Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, has been tracking these attacks using a website  called Stop AAPI Hate. More than 650 reports of discrimination — largely against the Asian American community – were reported in the first 8 days after the website was launched. Mr. Jeung said in discussing the reported attacks “[n]ame-calling and verbal harassment — microaggressions are the most common. It moves up to people having bottles and cans thrown at them, their homes being vandalized, and then ... maybe three times a day, we have people actually being physically attacked, assaulted, being hit or punched, pushed on subways.

Resources:

The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Racial Wealth Gap, Danyelle Solomon and Darrick Hamilton, Center for American Progress, March 19, 2020

Race/Related; Covid-19 and the Collapse of America’s Welfare State, Eduardo Porter, The New York Times, March 28, 2020

What the Racial Data Show, Ibram X. Kendi, The Atlantic, April 6, 2020

4 Ways to Give to Your Church During COVID-19

We pray this update finds you and yours safe and well as you shelter in place.  Despite our physical distancing, we continue to be the church together in prayer, worship, and service.  Thank you for your faithfulness to Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church.

Through these days of uncertainty and physical isolation, Glenn Memorial’s Finance Committee, Trustees, and staff are closely monitoring our church’s cash flow and reserves.  Strong giving at the close of 2019 and a solid start to this year put us in a healthy position as the COVID-19 crisis struck, but, as you can imagine, giving has been disrupted since we ended our in-person worship services.  Our giving to the operating budget for March 2020 was down $41,000 from the same month in 2019.

Please know we are committed to maintaining our church’s ministries to members, community, and world with our current clergy and staff, while being faithful stewards of the dollars you give.  That means streamlining and simplifying programs and seeking creative and meaningful ways to share Christ’s love and compassion with our congregation and neighbors. We hope you are “attending” our online services (including replays), or perhaps your children or youth have participated in other online events.  Know that we are experimenting with technology as we continue to bring our church together.  These are days that call for faith, faithfulness, and flexibility, and we welcome your feedback and support.

As we all shelter in place and gather for worship online, here are four easy ways you can continue to support the church financially:

Online

• Go to www.glennumc.org/give

• Click the “Give Now” box

• You can then make a one-time donation or set up a recurring donation.

Text to Give  

• Simply send a text to the number (833)795-0325 with the amount you wish to donate to the operating fund typed into the message space, then press Send.

• You will receive a text reply with a link. Click the link, which will take you to a giving screen (processed via Vanco) with our church name and a giving template.

• Enter your name, address, email address, method of payment details, and confirm the gift amount in that template.

• You will receive a receipt by return text to your phone stating the amount donated to Glenn Memorial UMC.

• A receipt also will be emailed to you if you complete the email address line.

Bank Draft

• Log in directly to your personal banking institution and create a bill-pay payment to Glenn Memorial UMC.

• Use the church address:

  • 1660 N. Decatur Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30307. Your bank will send payment directly to the church.

• Please indicate in the memo field of the bill payment where to post the donation.

By Mail

• You can mail your offering to:

  • Glenn Memorial UMC – Finance Office
    1660 N. Decatur Road, NE
    Atlanta, GA  30307

In the current economic environment, we also know there might be financial uncertainty for you and your household, so we understand if commitments made during our stewardship campaign need to be adjusted.  Please contact our Church Administrator, Pam Gwinner, at (404)634-3936, ext. 102, should you need to revise the amount or timing of your estimate of giving.  Please remember also that your pastors are available should you need their help or the help of the church.

Little did we know when we celebrated our centennial in January that such troublesome days were around the corner.  Yet, we know that those 100 years have held other great challenges, and the congregation of Glenn Memorial has persisted in doing good all along the way.  And so we will continue to serve God and share the love of Christ.  These are our days and our time to let the light of Christ shine through us.  Thank you for your faithfulness to Glenn and the care you show for each other and the world.

Together. Alone.

I wasn’t at all surprised by the extension of the physical distancing restrictions or the Bishop’s statement barring public worship through April.  The handwriting was surely on the wall.  But I have to say the announcements hit me hard, nevertheless.  A month suddenly seems like a long time, and I’m not even homeschooling.  New headlines and images arrive every day.  But no gatherings.  No worship together.  And Easter in the midst of it.  What will that be like?

I want you to know I think of you all every day.  You are such a huge part of my world, and I really do feel connected to, even responsible for, all of you.  I try to picture you out there in your homes.  And I imagine you all in the sanctuary.  And I pray for you.

As a pastor, I can repeat here the truths you’ve heard and know already—that the church is not the building and that we are the church even when scattered.  Important truths.  But experience speaks another truth right now, too.  We ARE scattered, and each of us faces this crisis alone and as households.  Each of us is coping as best we can, strangers in a strange land.  Alone.

Here is our truth.  We are one in the church, a glorious and beautiful mystery, and we are ones, solitary pilgrims, every journey unique.  Each of us has our own questions; each of us prays or doesn’t; each of us is alone with our own thoughts in these days of COVID-19. 

Human life is duality—a life shared in the world and an inward life that can be shared with no one.  These days awaken our minds and spirits to both truths.  So, you in your home, I in mine, we think alone together.  What is important?  What brings me joy?  What frightens me?  What do I really believe?  As for me and my household … what?

This I will profess: The Holy Spirit is with you and with me, and I believe that every one of us solitary pilgrims is embraced in the grace of Jesus Christ and the love of God.  Each of us is working through this crisis on our own, because that’s how it has to be.  YET, I know we can find help and comfort in God AND each other, if we so choose.

We are all facing the same enemy, real but unseen, and its power is frightening.  But in the midst of it all, Easter.  There is no power that can overcome the love God has for you, for me, for us, or the love we have for each other.

And so, in my thoughts I will picture you, and when you think of church, please include me, too, because in all my quirky individuality, I am welcomed at Glenn Memorial, as are you, my fellow quirky soul.  And when the Holy Spirit is added to you and me, we become gloriously, beautifully, us, the church of Jesus Christ.  And, for that, I thank God, ESPECIALLY in these days of shared isolation.

In Christ,

Rev. Mark Westmoreland

Bridges and Other Wonders

“I would have loved this bridge when I was a kid,” I wanted to tell someone that day, but knowing none of the folks walking beside me, I thought it best to keep the thought to myself. I was on my way from new tower to old building at Emory Hospital, a trek I’ve made many times, when the obvious suddenly dawned on me. The walls of the bridge are glass! As a child, I’m sure I would have pressed my face to that cool (in every way) wall to marvel at the cars and buses and action-figure pedestrians on Clifton Road below. Knowing that such actions are frowned upon among adults, I didn’t do that, of course, but I’ll admit the thought crossed my mind.
Just let me count cars for a little bit; let me imagine I’m floating above them.
I don’t know why it hit me that day, the transparency of the bridge. It was just a normal afternoon and a normal hospital visit, back in the old normal when we could still visit the hospital. But it occurred to me that whoever designed that bridge was a genius.
Imagine the discussion between the hospital board and architect:

“We need a bridge across Clifton Road.”
“OK. Simple enough. A bridge,” the architect said, sketching idly on his pad. But then something came over him (Who knows from whence inspiration springs?); his pencil raced across the paper; and he shouted, “What if … Hear me out now. What if we put ‘EMORY’ on that bridge in really big letters so people passing below can read it and news crews can use it as a backdrop when they’re doing a news story on, you know, whatever?”
“Genius!”
“And … get this. Call me crazy, but we could make the walls of the bridge [pausing for effect and scanning the crowd] GLASS!”
Gasps. “You mean sunlight-in-your-face, count-the-cars-below glass?”
“Yes. Clear. Transparent. Translucent. Permeable to light and sight.”
[the sound of hospital executives hyperventilating]

The great thing about a bridge with glass walls is that you get the safety of impenetrability and the joy of suspended sightseeing. Clearly (yes, that was intentional), I didn’t fully appreciate that glass bridge in pre-COVID-19 days. Now I’m allowed to experience it only from the EMORY side or as backdrop on the aforementioned news. I miss those crossings. And so, when the day comes that we’re allowed to traverse that bridge again, I vow to you, the first day I cross it I will pause mid-bridge, press my face to the glass, and enjoy the scenery below, no matter how my fellow travelers judge me.

OK, I admit isolation is getting to me a little, but I really do think there’s a point here somewhere. Maybe we will be the better for this time of social distancing. Maybe we will relish a bit more fully the stuff we once took for granted—things like office copiers, shared pews, dining in at restaurants, and glass bridges. Maybe we will even appreciate a little more the people closest to us and the folks afar for whom we have fretted and prayed.
And this concern we’re feeling for our neighbors? The sense of community right now that outweighs political and theological differences? Maybe, just maybe, we can hold onto that strange and gracious perspective, at least for a while.

One other thought on the glass bridge: Replace the glass with sheetrock, and what you have is a long rectangular room. Remove the walls altogether, and what you have is Now.
Somebody took the walls; the wind is blowing; and the best thing we can do is hang onto each other in the crossing, even if we can’t touch.

In Christ,
Rev. Mark Westmoreland

Thank you Marilyn Chan

By SALLY SEARS

We’ve been praying for her in the church so long I thought her first name was ‘Missionary.’

Now I learn she’s retiring.  I’m feeling a little guilty at knowing so little about the people on Glenn’s prayer list. When someone comes OFF the list, it’s worth asking about.

So I asked a few questions. Lots of Glenn members know her story, but many of us, like me, could use a good reminder.

Turns out her mission is a glory for all of us who have prayed even if I wasn’t paying close enough attention.

Here’s a photo from her recent retirement with her husband Joseph.

From Deborah Marlowe, I hear of the dramatic, powerful life she’s led. A child refugee from the murderous Khmer Rouge, she found Christ in a refugee camp.

During missionary training at Candler School of Theology, she found Glenn Memorial.

Or did we find her?

When she came back to America on missionary leave, she worked the Methodist lecture circuit, raising money for projects in Cambodia. Glenn was a frequent stop, most recently three years ago.  The dollars she collected helped build a dormitory for Cambodian women to continue education after high school. Deborah Marlowe and Jane Thorpe helped inaugurate the dormitory in Siem Reap.

In Cambodia, Marilyn led Bible studies.  She managed microloans for women. 

We at Glenn Church pay about $2500 a year out of our mission budget to help Marilyn Chan and her mission to women and children in Cambodia.  Nobody could easily remember how long Glenn’s backed her. So, I checked with the church finance whiz, Pam Gwinner. The answer stunned me. Two decades. Our easy to reach records go back to 2000. Since then Glenn has raised and sent $44,500 for Marilyn Chan’s mission.

Of course, it is more than money. All these years of prayer from Glenn supported her work. And now she’s retiring. I hope she’s hearing the joyous gospel words “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

We may support other missionaries in other countries. But for this moment, I’m pausing to appreciate the lives she’s changed with our dollars and prayers.

An Open Letter to the Ladies of Glenn

By JESSICA BRADFORD, Communications Director

When I began working at Glenn over a year ago, I had no idea the impact this church would have on my life. For those that don’t know, I grew up in the United Methodist Church. My father is an Ordained Elder of the North Georgia Conference and a Candler School of Theology graduate at that. I had no idea when I attended my dad’s graduation in the Glenn Memorial Auditorium back in 2002 that a mere 16 years later I would find myself employed there, let alone an active member that’s grown to love this congregation. There are so many wonderful qualities about Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church, and one of the very best it has to offer a single, young adult female is the God-fearing, strong, courageous women in attendance.

I’ve had the privilege of meeting, working and worshipping with the ladies of Glenn and each one has shaped who I am. Starting with Mary Lou Boice (and her wonderful daughter, Katie). Mary Lou is the woman responsible for getting me here. In the summer of 2018, I got a call from Mary Lou saying that she would love for me to come in and interview for the position of Communications Director at Glenn. Upon meeting her, we discovered that in the summer of 2010 her daughter Katie and I were both Youth Delegates at Annual Conference in Athens (talk about those cords Rev. Mark Westmoreland mentioned in his Centennial Sunday sermon). Mary Lou swears we were even roommates, although neither of us particularly remember that detail. If it wasn’t for Mary Lou, I don’t know what I’d be doing or what church I would be attending.

Next, of course, Rev. Susan Pinson and Rev. Blair Setnor. These remarkable women have helped shape me into the Christian woman I am becoming. From supporting me, reassuring me, pushing me to be my best, and walking alongside me on my faith journey; both of these incredible mothers, pastors, and friends have been instrumental in my growth as a professional, a woman of faith, and a person.

I could go on and on about the astonishing women I’ve met at Glenn Memorial UMC. From Carolyn Roper and Dorothy Chitwood being the epitome of hospitality. To Claire Asbury Lennox and Amy Bugg Burke emulating what a legacy in the church looks like. To Carol Allums and Cheryl Griffin displaying a faithful commitment to their congregation. To Lynn Speno and Jan Lictenwalter passionately fighting for the cause that sets their heart on fire. To Gatra Mallard exemplifying what it means to be a true matriarch in the church. And all the remarkable young ladies I’ve met through the Young Adult Ministry. All of these amazing women, and the ones I have yet to meet or failed to mention, have impacted the life of this preacher’s kid beyond measure.

Growing up in the church I have always heard how important it is to surround yourself with the best people. Iron sharpens iron, right? But it wasn’t until I was “grown”, post-graduation, in the world on my own for the first time, that I realized just how important it is to have a faith-based group of ladies on your side. God blesses us with the gift of friendship not only because it brings us joy, but because it enlightens us, it builds us up and helps us grow. 

God knew I needed Glenn Memorial in my life. He knew long before I did, that I would need to meet every single one of you ladies to grow. He was planting the seeds and laying the groundwork before I had a clue. He knew my dad would graduate from Candler and become a pastor in the North Georgia Conference, He planned for me to meet Katie Boice years before I even knew what I wanted to go as a career, and He knew that each of the fabulous women at Glenn would be here to guide and mold me.

So to the ladies of Glenn Memorial UMC, THANK YOU. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your ministries. Thank you for leading your families. Thank you for guiding the way for young women like myself. Thank you for faithfully serving your church. Thank you, for being YOU.

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If you’re looking for your group of ladies, chances are they are here at Glenn Memorial. There are so many opportunities to join a group. From UMW Circles to the Young Adult Ministry, the annual Glenn Women’s Retreat, Moms’ Morning In, and more. There’s a place for each woman of faith, no matter where you are in your faith journey.

Spring Cleaning

Some of you have been a part of our short Children’s Ash Wednesday Services in the past and of course, I invite you to join us this Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Little Chapel.  We all know that Children’s Sermons are made with adults in mind, too, so here's a sneak peek of some of what I'll share with the kids on Ash Wednesday:

One of the dreaded announcements in my house when I was a little girl was “Today we are starting SPRING CLEANING!”  Spring Cleaning in my family meant that for several Saturdays in a row, we had lots of chores to do – to help clean the house and all the mounds of stuff that had piled up during all these cold months where we played indoors and used every blanket and jacket in the house.  During Spring Cleaning, my parents did things like wash windows and clean blinds and curtains and baseboards.  You can ask your parents about how NOT fun that can be.  Spring Cleaning for my brothers and me meant that we had the dreaded chore of ….dun, dun, dun….cleaning out from under our beds.  Oh man…it was bad.  We found clothes, missing socks, toys that we’d forgotten about from Christmas, and the worst part, little pieces of cereal or candy covered in dust and dirt.  You had to stretch and reach all the way back to get everything out…sometimes even using a coat hanger or baseball bat to help you reach into the farthest, dirtiest corners.  By the end of Spring Cleaning day, we were covered in cereal pieces, colored markers from all the capless markers we discovered, and lots and lots of dirt and dust. 

Well, in a way, Lent is a time of Spring Cleaning in our lives.  It is during these 40 days before Easter that we do our best to pray, say we’re sorry for things we’ve done wrong, and ask for forgiveness and patience and self-control to do better.  And so Lent is like Spring Cleaning of our lives because we clean out our thoughts, words, and actions of all the things that don’t belong. 

The neat thing about Spring Cleaning when I was a child was that once I had all the piles of stuff out from under the bed, my Mom and Dad helped me sort through the piles and decide which things to recycle or trash, which things to donate, and which things we could clean and put away in the places they actually belonged.  I didn’t have to do any of it alone.  My parents were there all along.  And for the Lenten Spring Cleaning of our lives, we are not alone, either – God is with us all along! 

That’s what Lent is all about...looking deep within ourselves – our thoughts and habits and the way we treat people – and deciding what we ought to throw away – things like disrespect or dishonesty – and deciding what we need to brush the dust off of and return to the places they belong – whether something we can actually dust off like our Bible that we can start reading each day or remembering to be kind to others and help those in need in special ways.  Remembering what giving to others is all about.  And just like my parents helped me with actual Spring Cleaning, we can all help one another with prayers and forgiveness and sharing God’s love during Lent.  And we know that the Holy Spirit will help us in everything that we do.

The very old special tradition of taking ashes from burnt palm branches and placing them on our foreheads or hands in the sign of a cross reminds us that we belong to Jesus and that during the next 40 days of Lent, we will do our best to remember to repent, to pray, to forgive, and to do special things to share God’s love with others as we get ready to celebrate Easter. 

For the grown-ups reading this reflection today, I want you to take time to remember that odd, mysterious feeling – physical, emotional, and spiritual when someone has made the sign of the cross in ashes on your head.  Remember that feeling?  It’s so strange and vulnerable...and I can tell you, it’s a humbling and mysterious experience to make the sign of the cross over and over on heads of all ages, children, and adults.  Each Ash Wednesday I find myself thinking, “Who am I to remind someone that they are dust!?”  But as my hands get dirtier and dirtier with the ashes, I am reminded that our dustiness—our sins—mark us all, and together we remember and repent as a Body of Christ.  That’s why we gather.  That’s why we do these strange rituals.

Having a cross on our forehead reminds us that we are a child of God, as this is where the water was placed on our heads when we were baptized and became a part of the church family.  The ashes help remind us that sometimes it gets quite dirty to be a Christian and to do the right things and share God’s love with all people.  Just like how I used to dread Spring Cleaning and how hard and dirty work it was to clean out from under my bed.  Like we teach the children, the ashes also remind us that God created us out of dust and that after we die, all of the things of this world – even everything hidden under our beds – will return to dust.  But having the ashes in the shape of a cross reminds us that this is not sad, but happy because Jesus lived, died, and then rose from the dead and promises us eternal life in heaven.  

It’s as simple as that for a Children’s sermon, and it’s as simple as that for us today!  And that’s what we’ll celebrate at the end of these 40 days of Lent–when we come together and celebrate Easter….Just like how good it felt and how proud I would be with a clean room at the end of Spring Cleaning, that’s how we will feel as we celebrate Easter together soon...we will give thanks to God for cleaning out our lives with love and grace – and making our hearts sparkling clean to share love with everyone. 

Hope to see you and your family at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday!

Grace and Peace,
Rev. Susan Pinson

Finding Community and Renewed Hope at Glenn Memorial UMC: A Newcomer’s Account

            Another mass shooting. A family devastated by opioid addiction. A mother pleading for help after a natural disaster. The world’s climate and environment in crisis. The problems facing our nation and world can sometimes feel overwhelming. And yet, I’ve always believed that Christians— equipped with inner joy, optimism, and hope for the future—can do good, even when surrounded by troubles. In recent years, however, I’ve struggled to know how I can make a positive contribution, where I fit in with what God is doing in the world, and importantly, how to maintain optimism and hope. Perhaps you have wrestled with some of the same questions.

            In the summer of 2019, I slipped quietly into the back of the Sunday morning chapel service at Glenn Memorial to pray and seek a sense of peace. I tried to sneak out unnoticed after the service before Pastors Mark and Susan had a chance to welcome me. The following weeks, however, something kept beckoning to me, drawing me back to the little chapel service. Like the Psalmist I wondered, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7)

            My wife and I started attending The Gathering on Sunday evenings and other church events over the next few months. We were blessed by the teaching, amazing music from The Gathering band, and kindness from various church members. We and our visiting family members were deeply moved by Glenn Memorial’s Christmas Eve Service.  

            Over time, I noticed God refreshing my spirit and renewing my sense of hope. I began to discover the Glenn community as a place where I could grow in my walk with God and find nourishment and rest for my soul. It is a work in progress. There are still days when I become frustrated to know what to do about the problems on the evening news. And yet, I also hear Christ’s words, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

             As people of faith, we have an opportunity to share Christ’s message of peace with a world that is hurting. “(Love) continually incites us to do good,” John Wesley wrote, “in every possible kind, and in every possible degree to all men.” We can start with the “little” opportunities that God sets before us-- sharing an encouraging word with an overworked cashier, listening to a co-worker who is going through a difficult time, or showing compassion and hospitality to immigrants and strangers. Over the long-term, we might consider three positive habits that, as a former Rollins professor and Emory campus minister, I tried to model for and encourage in my students:

1. We can volunteer our time and talent by serving others a few hours each week. Volunteering can help us to put life’s challenges into perspective, and show our children and future generations the value that we place on serving others. Here are a few ideas: https://www.glennumc.org/volunteer-at-glenn

2. We can give regularly to humanitarian and social justice causes, to a local congregation’s community service efforts, or directly by helping friends, neighbors or family members who struggle financially. Choosing a percentage of our income to donate can help ensure that charitable contributions grow in proportion to the financial blessings we receive. For some charitable giving ideas, see: https://www.glennumc.org/alternative-giving-catalog and https://advance.umcor.org/    

3. We can commit part of our career and life’s work to help those who are oppressed or in need. It is important to remember that career success is not measured merely by our job’s prestige, the number of degrees we have, or the amount that we earn, but on the impact that our lives have on others.

            As Christ’s witnesses— we have an opportunity to demonstrate faith over despair, light over darkness, love over hate— to a world that is hurting and in need of hope. This is how God’s kingdom will overcome the daunting challenges and malevolent forces that face us. As Dr. Martin Luther King put it, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Scott Santibañez MD, DMin MPHTM

The Good Samaritan Institute

Regular Attendee, Glenn Memorial UMC

Member Spotlight: Chuck Horton

Question 1) How did you first come to know Glenn? How long have you been a member?

Suzanne and I moved from midtown to Decatur in’93 and started visiting churches in the area. I grew up at University Methodist Church in Baton Rouge, LA and when we walked into Glenn that feeling of homesickness was suddenly lifted. We transferred our memberships from our home churches in Baton Rouge and Irmo, SC in 1997 a year or so before our oldest Duncan was born.

Question 2) You are proudly involved with the Glenn Scouts; how did you get into that?

We got Duncan involved in Pack 6 as a webelo scout as a way to enjoy friends, the outdoors, and the confidence that achieving goals can bring. Our family loves camping and hiking and so it wasn’t long after we joined troop 18 that some amazing adults like Dave Speno and Otto Froelich inspired me to take on a succession of leadership roles to help out the troop. Duncan rose rapidly through the ranks and earned the Eagle rank in 2016 but the highlight of our time together in the troop was our 10-day backpacking trek to Philmont in the mountains of New Mexico. Currently, I am the Chartered Organization representative for troop 18 and as a Glenn member, I serve to strengthen the bond between the church and the troop.

Question 3) Your son Thomas is now in Scouts, is this a legacy you hope he passes down to his children someday?

Thomas (our 16 year old) has had some awesome scout experiences as well including National Youth Leader Training and the opportunity to practice what he learned there. I would be thrilled to see him involve his children in scouting because I believe so much that the scouting program is a beautiful way for youth to learn how special they are, how precious our world is and how they can find joy in serving others.

Question 4) What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned through your time in Scouts?

Every scout has their own challenges and their own pace. If we as adults can help them find their stride, that’s our best most blessed role.

Question 5) When you’re not over at the Scout Hut, you can be found helping with the Glenn Youth Play. Why is that so important to you?

Time, talents, gifts, service. I started performing on stage as a child in church group productions and school plays. The directors I worked with kindled in me my passion for acting and taught me that I could be an artist. I love working in the theatre, so much so that, like a good Methodist  I went on to study it and earned an MFA in acting from Brandeis University. If you ever have a chance to contribute or be involved in the great tradition of a Glenn youth production you should take it. It is transformative and inspirational.

Question 6)  What’s something everyone can expect with this year’s youth play?

Fun! Great songs, dancing youth!

Question 7) What’s next for you? Career-wise or in your personal life?

I hope to be where my family needs me to be, where my spirit compels me to be, and where my Lord has planned for me to be.

From the Archives: The Tiniest Bit of Something Good

On the last Sunday in June [2018] I dropped my son off at Camp Glisson. Leaving Atlanta, I’d hoped for cooler, drier air in the mountains, but it was stubbornly hot and muggy, even north of Dahlonega. The thick woods did little to cool things off, and James and I sweated even after just one trip from the car to his cabin.

It was his first sleep-away camp experience, which concerned me a little. But what bothered me more was that I had registered him for the wrong program, the one his friend Sam was not registered for. I didn’t let on that I felt worried for him going into a cabin of 12 boys, many of whom were already paired up with buddies they’d known since they were little. But in so many ways, James is more mature than I am. Where did his social confidence come from? Certainly he didn’t inherit it from me or my husband.

I helped him make his bed, a top bunk over the counselor’s desk. He was wearing his "Free Hugs" t-shirt and what looked to me like some kind of 10-year-old’s game face. It's the face you put on when you’re girding yourself, when you don’t want to reveal any vulnerability. He sternly tucked in the corners of the fitted sheet and placed his pillow at one end. A kid across the cabin called over to James that he wanted a hug in a tone that sounded a bit derisive. James’s words were “Yeah, OK,” but his attitude was “you wanna piece of me?” I noticed another kid who also appeared to be alone and was taking solace in a book. I asked James if he wanted one of his books out of the car. “OK,” he said, “72-Story Tree House.”

After another sweaty walk out to the car, I returned with the book. James was sitting on a lower bunk with three other boys, including the hug requester, playing a game of cards. In minutes the boys had gone from being mildly contentious strangers to new friends. My heart swelled, but I kept my cool, trying not to embarrass anyone. I left the book on James’s bed and told him to have a good week without too much fanfare.

The whole drive home, Barbara Day Miller’s words played themselves in my mind. She had kicked off Glenn’s Summer Lecture Series a few weeks earlier with her talk "Prayers as a Part of Worship." There was a phrase she used that struck me as relevant to the way the boys had made friends: “the tiniest bit of something good.” She had had us close our eyes as she read Mark 4:26-34, the Parable of the Mustard Seed. Before beginning she had asked us to “see what you see, without question, without analysis, without trying to figure out what this means. Just see what you see and how that feels.”

Jesus also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once the sower goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come." Jesus also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds in the earth; and yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

It was a different experience –- hearing the verse read versus reading it myself. Barbara’s reading was lovely, her voice swaying with the language and pausing now and again to let our mental images form more fully. She asked what we saw as she read and showed us how the images and feelings hinted at more. An audience member said that the place was “sunny and cool.”

“Isn’t this like the kingdom of God?” she asked in response. “Haven’t you encountered God’s kingdom like this? It doesn’t feel dry or hungry or wounded, but just takes the tiniest bit of something good and pretty soon it feels like this (spreading her arms). The sower in the verse doesn’t know how it happened, no clue, just a glimpse.”

She related the idea to her own experience of singing Psalm 23 and riding the soaring crescendo that peaks with “…and I will dwell in the house of the Lord…” …how the music and the meaning combine with something else to bring us to a place of fullness. But “just like that and then it’s gone,” she said. “You’ve seen the kingdom of the Lord like this.”

I definitely have: towering, joyous, ineffable and ephemeral, but somehow more real than anything else. “The tiniest bit of something good,” is the phrase, the words that came to me over and over on the drive home from Glisson. Barbara broke character to deliver the description with a southern intonation, an emphasis on the word “good” that somehow evoked intimacy and familiarity.

Why should such a small episode as my son making friends at camp make me so happy? I could explain it as just one of life’s opportune moments, the lucky coincidence of my having had this son and that he should be fortunate enough to go to this camp with these kids. Instead, I had the idea Barbara had given me -- that of the kingdom being the tiniest bit of something good, and that that bit can grow to become even bigger. Cruising down 400, it also occurred to me that I can help it grow, that I can shower my small bit of hopeful water and help sprout the seed.

Irene Hatchett

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Register now for Camp Glisson!  Summer camp registration is now open to United Methodists!  Many Glenn kids (and yours truly!) can share more about the wonders of Camp Glisson. Camperships available for all Glenn Church members - contact me for the form and Glenn Church helps cover up to $100 per camper. glisson.org (note that Glenn Vacation Bible School is June 8-12, 2020!)