Old Hickory United Methodist Church

This morning I mentioned a video from researcher Brene' Brown in my sermon. Here is a copy of her TED Talk if you want to know more:

Lent, the traditional season of reflection and repentance in preparation for Easter, begins next week on Ash Wednesday, and I want invite all who are wanting to grow deeper in their love of God to join me in a great experiment. Beginning Thursday, February 23, a small group will be gathering every Tuesday and Thursday morning to join together for morning prayer, utilizing a wonderful new book by Father Steve Wolf called “The Hinge Hours Experiment.” The “hinge hours” refers to the two times of day (morning and evening) upon which the life of prayer (turns,) and Father Wolf’s book is an order of prayers for morning and night based on a four week cycle (they repeat every four weeks). We are inviting folks to experiment with praying twice daily using this book during the season of Lent, and every Tuesday and Thursday we will gather together for morning prayer in community.

We will have some books available for purchase here at the church (they cost $17) or you can order yours at Hinge Hours Experiment.

We think that this will be an important part of your devotional life this Lenten season, and we hope you will join us in the grand experiment.

If you have questions about our morning prayer times, or the Hinge Hours Experiment, feel free to email Jay Voorhees at jay@oldhickoryumc.org.

Starting this month our Outreach and Mission team (led by Jerry and Sandra Pigue) will be identifying a different mission project for our church each month Our project for February is collecting resources for Community Care Fellowship in East Nashville. Community Care is a program of the United Methodist Church (affiliated with the Nancy Webb Kelly UMC) which provide services for homeless and poor. Some of their services include: meals (6 days a week), showers and laundry facilities (5 days a week), and tutoring for kids in the neighborhood. In 2011 40,619 meals were served, 4,019 loads of laundry and 7,758 showers.

They are in need of the following items: bleach, detergent, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and over the counter cold medicine. Please bring your donations to the church, or if you would like to make a cash donation, we would be glad to shop for you. Come join in the excitement of making mission possible here at OHUMC.

You have been faithful in our call to offer hospitality to the homeless, and we’ve almost reached the half way point in paying for our new wheelchair lift. We continue to need your help in paying off this expense, which allows us the ability to welcome handicapped folks into our Fellowship Hall. While we have used some of our reserve funds to allow us to order the lift (which should be installed in the next few weeks), we really want to pay those funds back, so PLEASE make a donation to help with this important project. For more information on the installation, see Carnes Flatt.