| Unexpected guests arrive at church  WASHINGTON, D.C. During the Jan. 18 peace march, some participants diverged slightly from the planned route and crossed a small park to Capitol Hill UMC with a pressing need. Can we use your bathroom? they asked. They were part of thousands of marchers protesting the possible war in Iraq. It took the march a full two- to two-and-a-half hours to go by the church, and in that time we had more than 600 people, said Kevin Anderson, a member who welcomed the unexpected guests. They came in; they got warmed up. Some of them sat in the sanctuary. ... Some folks knelt and prayed; others just put down their signs and rested. There was not an age or a race or a human condition that was not represented in that group, Anderson said. It was just the most wonderful, diverse, happy, cold, friendly, grateful bunch of people. Space tight at local shelters PASADENA Each winter from November to March, the Arundel House of Hopes rotating shelter spends a week at a local church where cots are provided for sleeping and volunteers serve three meals each day. At the end of the week, the guests and their belongings are moved to the next church that is hosting them. Perhaps its the bitter cold weather this winter or the poor economy, but resources at Pasadena UMC were stretched when 29 people came to what was originally planned for around 20, said the Rev. Don Stone, pastor at Delmont UMC, who helps with the program. And there were more waiting. I got two more guys out of a parking garage where their only heat was the radiators of recently parked cars and a single blanket between them, he said. He found space in another shelter for them. Other United Methodist churches involved with the Arundel House of Hope program are John Wesley UMC in Glen Burnie, and Calvary UMC in Annapolis. Mens retreat hears congressman  MT. AIRY Congressman Elijah D. Cummings (D) spoke to the congregation at Simpson UMC on Sunday morning during a three-day Mens Winter Retreat, Jan. 10-12. He preached at the Sunday morning service on the role of African-American men in the church and community. The Rev. Gregory J. McNeil presented Cummings with a plaque inscribed with: When I think about where I could have been, words that Cummings spoke when he was sworn in as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. That afternoon Patricia C. Jessamy, states attorney for Baltimore City, spoke at the final event of the weekend. She exhorted the men to focus their lives on the work that God has given them to do. The weekend also included a full day of workshops on such issues as African-American male role models in the church and tithing and almsgiving, said the Rev. Elaine Sykes. | 
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