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VOL. 15, NO. 2

Hospitality shared in Gods family

ASHTON When the congregation of Ashton UMC had to vacate its church building during a year-long renovation that began in November, they received the hospitality of several nearby churches, reported Delores Kight, the church communicator.

The Olney Seventh Day Adventist Church, which worships on Saturday, provided the space for Sunday worship, and the congregation meets there each week.

Wednesday and Sunday evening services, a tradition at Ashton UMC, are held jointly with Spencerville Free Methodist Church, which also provides space for committee meetings.

A challenge was to find a location for the annual church bazaar. After several site visits, the United Methodist Women settled on Oak Chapel UMC, and held a successful event in November.

The congregation of Ashton is grateful to God for his provision through the congregations of these churches, Kight said. Truly, we are all one in Gods family.

INDIAN HEAD The United Methodist Men at Metropolitan UMC, spent their Christmas Eve making life easier for others, while raising funds to retire the churchs debt. Girard Myers, left, and Jacques Banks, with Merton Myers, spent the day frying turkeys for other peoples dinners. They fried 18 turkeys, ranging in size from 12 pounds to 18 pounds, and made $800 on the project, according to Sheila Washington, the churchs administrative assistant.

Woman finds lost wallet and more

ANNAPOLIS When Eastport UMC church member Andrea Thew lost $500 in cash at a convenience store a few weeks before Christmas, she despaired of being able to pay the rent and buy Christmas presents for her children, Deanna,10, and Everett, 14.

She called the church and the county Department of Social Services for help.

The Annapolis Sunday Capital ran the story.

The anonymous Bethesda man who found the lost cash contacted the convenience store, obtained Thews phone number and made arrangements to return it.

By the time Thew received her $500 back, she had also received hundreds of dollars in donations that poured in from generous people with the Christmas spirit.

Interfaith Housing receives grant

FREDERICK Interfaith Housing of Western Maryland, an ecumenical nonprofit group striving to meet housing needs in the five westernmost counties of Maryland, recently received a grant of $10,000 from the Bank of America Foundation.

The Rev. Mark Mooney, pastor of St. Pauls UMC in Smithsburg, and a trustee, was on hand to receive the check. It was presented at one of the organizations Allegany County projects, the Washington Ridge Apartments in Frostburg. Interfaith Housing has 39 projects in the area.

According to Jim Upchurch, the groups executive director, a full-time worker must earn $16.82 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Maryland.

Interfaith Housing is an outward and visible sign that faith and good works go together, Mooney said.

Church Newsletter notes

• On the first Sunday of the month, Ayres Chapel in Norrisville continues to celebrate Undie Sunday, collecting new, white underwear for inmates at the Harford County Detention Center.

• Twenty new members joined the United Church in Washington in 2003. Among them were a retired college history professor, a translator of documents captured from the German Foreign Ministry, an oil painter from Lebanon, a devout enthusiast of Wagner operas and a well-known writer from Bulgaria.

• Ed Fishel of Epworth UMC in Cockeysville spent the last several months videotaping members of the church as they completed the sentence, Epworth is

• Towson UMC recently received a thank you note from an Air Force officer thanking the congregation for the gifts they sent to military personnel serving in Iraq saying, Your contributions have benefited the military community in ways that I have never dreamed were possible.