August 2015 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu

Fri

Sat

2 3

Backyard Devotion 7:00-8:30

4

Nominations 6:00pm

5 6 Christmas Tree 6:00pm

Library Kids Day 2:00pm

7

Coffee Oasis Barbeque 12:00-5:00pm

8 Food Drive

UMW Unit Meeting 10:00am

9 10 11

Finance 5:30pm Church Council 6:30pm

12 13

Bazaar Committee 4:00pm

14 15

16

Charity Knitting 2:00-4:00

17

18

SPRC 6:00pm

19

Crafts Group 6:30pm

20 21 22

23 24

Backyard Devotion 7:00-8:30

25

Trustees 5:30pm

26 27 28 29

30 31

Backyard Devotion 7:00-8:30

T r a c y t o n T i d i n g s

Tracyton United Methodist Church

PO Box 127 5153 Naomi St

Tracyton, WA 98393 Bremerton, WA 98311

Phone# 360-373-6425

Like us on Facebook Tracyton United Methodist Church

visit us on the web www.tracytonumc.org

E-mail us at Church@tracytonumc.org

P a g e 1

Inside this issue:

Letter from Pastor 2/3

Backyard Devotion 3

WMTRBW 4

Sunday School 4

Liturgists 4

Change for Life 4

Prayer Tree/vigil/shawl 4

TUMW Page 5

Bazaar 6

Inside this issue:

Picnic 6

Church Conference 6

Food Drive 6

Food Bank 6

Coffee Oasis 6

Walk & Talk 7

Community Info 7

Money Matters 8

Backpack/Foster Care 9

Tuesdays Prayer Vigil at 8:15am Walk and Talk at 9:30am

1st

P a g e 2

Outwitted

A couple weeks back, one of you quoted Edwin Markham’s great little poem, “Outwitted:” He drew a circle that shut me out — Heretic , rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle and took him in!

We all tend to draw circles of exclusion. In the church, some of the circles fall along the distinctions between liturgical and contemporary, denominational and non-denominational, fundamentalist and modernist. My all-too-normal tendency is to exclude those who differ from me. In case you had any doubt, this is proof that I am not God.

We draw circles, we build fences, we build containers. God refuses to cooperate with our fence-building agenda. I’m reading Nadia Bolz-Weber’s book, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint, about her journey from a fundamentalist upbringing to her current ministry as pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). You might just be surprised by her. She says, “I swear like a truck driver, I’m covered in tattoos, and I’m kind of selfish. Nothing about me says “Lutheran pastor.” (p. 16) She writes about our tendency to build circles of exclusion:

... I didn’t know that it would take more to escape black-and-white thinking than just no longer attending your parents’ church. The church had provided me a sorting system, which was now ingrained. It had containers into which every person and idea and event was to be placed. These were sometimes labeled “saved” and “not saved” (those who will join us in the glory land and those who will not) or perhaps “us” and “not us” (same thing) or simply just “good” and “bad” (again, same thing). As a teenager, I began to question the Great Christian Sorting System. ... I had been lied to, and in my an-ger at being lied to about the containers, I left the church. But it turns out, I hadn’t actually escaped the sorting system. I had just changed the labels. (p. 43)

... My own fundamentalist wiring will always lead me to want two sets of labeled containers. ... I might always put people and things in those containers, but the problem comes when I start believing that God uses the same sorting system. (p. 57)

Although some Christians are fundamentalists, Christianity itself is not. Although some Christians are modernists, Christianity is not. (Both of these mental “containers” arose in the late 1800s, as people’s world-view began to be influenced greatly by the sciences. People came to think that the value of an idea depended on whether it was a “fact” or not, rather than whether it conveyed a truth. Modernism concluded that some biblical claims weren’t factual: Creation in seven days, some 4004 years BC? Nope. Geology & evolutionary biology, & then astrophysics, put the age of the cosmos at billions of years. Miracles? Nope. There must be rational explana-tions. Jesus walking on water? Maybe a pious exaggeration. Virgin birth? Bodily resurrection? Eternal life? Well, you see where this is going.)

When modernist Christians said that much of the Bible isn’t historically factual, other Christians kind of freaked out, and said yes it is historically factual, every word of it divinely

Continued on page 3

P a g e 3

Backyard Devotion

Your Hostess: Susie White

Bible Study Guide and Song Leader:

Guitarist, Sheila Dean

F O R M O R E I N F O R M A T I O N

C A L L : 3 6 0 - 6 6 2 - 0 2 6 0

Come and join in with

a group of folks who enjoy singing

songs of praise to God, seeing the

sun set over the Olympic Mountains

and talking about what is written in

His word to us, the Bible.

You are invited to join the “Summer Sustaining Study” and enjoy summer evenings in the

church backyard with family, friends and neighbors.

Mondays 7:00-8:30pm, August 3rd, 24th and 31st

inspired and precisely, literally true. In the early 1900s, a work called “The Fundamentals” was published, claiming precisely that, about the issues listed above, and several others. The label, “fundamentalism,” comes from this work.

The thing is, being “factual” had never been so important, until recently. Until the blos-soming of the scientific mindset. Until the Modern age – which, some say, began in the 1700s and ended in the late 1980s – we lived in a poetic world. As moderns, it was “Just the facts, ma’am.” And now? We’re coming to be more able to live with ambiguity, with respect for multi-ple viewpoints, expecting and cherishing a broader perspective.

Both modernism and fundamentalism are (were?) modern ways of thinking – they both depend on factual statements and have little use for truth that is expressed outside of fact. The viewpoints served their purposes in the 19th and part of the 20th centuries, and they still work for some people today. But their kind of black-and-white thinking belongs to the previous couple centuries more than to this one. Our kids and our grandkids, don’t relate very well to fundamen-talist or modernist mindsets. And if we want to reach them, we need to respect that difference.

But if Christianity isn’t about believing that the Bible is fully factual, what is it about? It’s about knowing God, loving God, serving God, developing disciples, and changing the world. (That’s the outline of TUMC’s mission statement.) In order to live that mission to the full, we listen to scripture – a lot. We listen also to reason, and to our own experience, and to tradition (which is the scripture-informed experience and reason of the community of faith over the centuries). In order to live the mission to the full, we practice a balanced life of disciple-ship: compassion and justice, devotion and worship, in the context of a community of growth and accountability.

It’s complicated, being a Christian community of moderns and postmoderns – and pre-moderns too, some would say. It’s complicated, not being able to simply say, “Because you do not see things as I do, you are not a part of the body.” Nobody said being the Church was going to be easy. It’s not easy. But it’s beautiful. And it’s holy.

Love,

Wes

Continued from page 2 Outwitted

P a g e 4

S c r i p t u r e T h e m e s f o r A u g u s t

T r a c y t o n T i d i n g s

August 3-9 Chapter 52 “God in the End”

Luke 15:11-32 Romans 8:31-39

1 Corinthians 15:50-58

July 27-Aug.2 Chapter 51 “Spirit of Hope”

Psalm 126 Revelation 1:9-19; 19:11-16; 21:1-8;

22:16-21

“ W E M A K E T H E R O A D B Y W A L K I N G ”

The Adult Sunday School Class is following the study of

“We Make the Road by Walking”

Adult Sunday School is open to everyone. The class meets between

Services at 9:45 and lasts approximately an hour. Do join us!

Join us for our study of

“We Make the Road

by Walking”

P r a y e r V i g i l

Tuesday mornings from

8:15-9:15

there is time for conversation then

sitting quietly practicing “Centering Prayers”

If you can not be here in person then do join us

spiritually from home. We wish to bow our

heads and ask for strength and guidance to

carry out our mission for our church in thanks

and praise, for beauty and love surrounding us,

in the silence of contemplation of Gods mercy.

Would

you like to be a member

of the prayer tree?

Would you be able to

make a call to one or

two people whenever

the prayer tree is acti-

vated? Or would you

just like to receive a

call?

Would you like to re-

ceive an e-mail when

the prayer tree is acti-

vated?

If you answered yes to

any of these questions

please leave your name

and number with the

office 360-373-6425

or drop us an e-mail.

P r a y e r T r e e

Change For Life Please consider taking a donation

cup home and collecting that pocket change each evening. Help

us make a change for life. All proceeds will go to Imagine No

Malaria. Your donation matters, we can make a difference.

Prayer Shawl Ministry

needs you! If anyone would like

to join in this rewarding Ministry

all are welcome. If you don't know

how to Knit or Crochet we will teach you.

Please give me a call at 613-0488

Debbie Atkinson.

8:30 August Liturgists 11:00

2nd Katherine Janssen Bruce Hecke

9th Kathy Bogue Kathy Bogue

16th Jim Klein Kris Aleman

23rd (J or J) Scholfield Lyla Begor

30th (10:00) Roger Correll

P a g e 5 N e w s l e t t e r T i t l e

TUMW Unit Meeting Our next Unit Meeting will be

August 8th at 10:00am.

Consider becoming an active

member of the Tracyton United

Methodist Women. There are

all kinds of projects in develop-

ment and your input and support are greatly

needed. Please take and fill out a pledge form

from the Information Wall and put your

pledge to work!

Check out the TUMW INFORMATION WALL for

any upcoming events and new program

information.

Will meet Sunday August 16th

at 2:00pm. See Sally Klein for

further details.

TUMW Charity Knitting

Please feel free to contribute when you are

gardening, or cutting flowers from your gar-

den, or even making that homemade bread

you make each week or so - bring in some to

share with others!

There is be a donation

box for any donations

you feel moved to give,

but the object is to of-

fer to each other, and

any who pass through

our church, the oppor-

tunity to take some of TUMC's "harvest" with

them as they go about their daily lives.

Tracyton UMW Gleaning Table

Thank You for a Successful Auction!

With your help and support

the pie sale & auction brought in

$344.

It was a beautiful day to kick back and enjoy the humor of our auctioneer Jim Klein, the fellowship of friends, the

talents of our bakers and the generosity of all who bid on and bought all those pies!

Thank you to everyone who helped with the set up. Pictured above is Susie White. Kathy Bogue, Joan Piersall, Elaine Cook,

and Norma Beard.

Save The Date

Sunday, Sept 20th

4:00pm

Mary and Martha View this powerful film and

support the fight against

Malaria

United Methodists

around the world are

uniting to #BringChange

and Imagine No Malaria!

P a g e 6

The food bank totals for June are

$65 and 200 pounds of food.

That brings the yearly total to

$1123 and 552 pounds of food.

Thank you for helping to feed the

families of Kitsap County.

Tracyton’s Bazaar by the Bay 2015

The next planning meeting for the bazaar will be Thursday, August 13th

at 4:00pm here at TUMC If you are interested in helping out please

contact one of the following people:

Vendor Team: Shirley Siegel Publicity Team: Lyla Begor Food Team: Carol Wnek

And we could really use someone to step up and lead the Building Team!

If you know anyone who would like to be a vendor or if you know of someone who

would like to add an item or two to the Arts and Crafts Table please let us know!

The 13th Annual Tracyton Community Picnic Date: September 12, 2015 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

Serving Hamburgers and Hot Dogs with all the fixings, Baked Beans,

grapes, chips, potato salad, and cookies. Games for the kids, a craft table and Cake Walk Please bring your family and friends to the picnic. Sign up sheets will be available shortly.

If you have any questions, please call Debbie Atkinson (360)613-0488

Friday (August 7th) our Coffee Oasis team

invites you to join us as we gather here at TUMC

to enjoy a combined mission with the team from

Family of God Lutheran. We will be cooking for

the teens at Coffee Oasis. We will be serving roast

chicken and veggies with biscuits and fruit salad

and cupcakes for dessert. There is no need to bring

anything but yourselves. We will begin around

3:00pm and send out our delivery people to

Coffee Oasis around 5:00pm.

“First Friday Fest” At

Food Bank

Bremerton Backpack

Brigade Food Drive

at Fred Meyers The BBB will be holding a food

drive at the

Wheaton Way, Fred Meyers

Saturday August 8th

10:00am-4:00pm

This food drive is critical to the

Brigades' ability to start filling back-

packs for the kids early this school year,

as we have absolutely depleted our pan-

try, sending out over 1000lbs of food on

the last day of school. The pantry

cupboards are truly bare right now!

If you would like to help at the food drive

please contact Libby Correll.

Sunday, October 4th will be a big day for Tracyton UMC!! After the 11:00 service, our congregation’s Church Conference will be held around 12:15 p.m.,

with Rev. Cara Scriven presiding. All professing members of TUMC are voting members of the Church Conference, and all people are welcome to attend.

You can help your church earn donations just by shop-ping with your Fred Meyer

Rewards Card

If you have a Fred Meyer Rewards card please remember to

use it and link it to:

Tracyton United Methodist Church

You can call 1-866-518-2686 or go to www.fredmeyer.com/

communityrewards

Spread the word!

Our supporters (21 households) who shopped at Fred Meyer

between 04/01/2015 and 06/30/2015 have contributed to

our $80.45 total donation. Tracyton UMC will be receiving a

Kroger check in this amount.

P a g e 7

Thursday August 6th Starting promptly at

2:00pm For children of all ages.

We'll be doing some make and take arts and crafts and of course there

will be yummy treats and maybe even a story. Our summer reading

program is under way and we hope you will participate. Be sure to

come join in the fun! For info you can call the library at 377-3571. Help Tracyton UMC By

Doing Your Online

Shopping Thru

iGive.com

It’s Easy and It’s Free

Every Little Bit Counts

For Each Purchase

TUMC Will Get A

Donation!

The early morning prayer group will meet on Tuesdays this summer from 8:15 to

9:15, before setting out for a time to walk and talk in our church neighborhood...all are

welcome to come for one or the other or both.

The walk and talk group plans to set out walking in the church neighborhood at

9:30 for at least an hour but not more than 2 hours, depending upon who is walking

with us. We are a fair weather group---time for a rain warning---and usually we think

of weather restricting us sometimes in this way. RAIN !! Most folks don't like to walk

in the rain. This year a new problem, too HOT to walk in the

late morning some days---if the temperature is to be over

80 degrees by 10:00am---too hot to walk. Big problem this

year.

This is a weekday time to connect with each other and

our Great Creator God, speaking, or being still, in reverent

aliveness, to listen for His still small voice speaking to us,

quite directly. Look, see, listen, hear...the Kingdom of

Heaven is near...The Lord Jesus ever revealing Himself to

those who seek Him. We listen in wonder and walk in awe.

Prayer Vigil, Walk & Talk or Both

It’s Party Time!

The Tracyton Library

will conclude it’s

Summer Reading

Program

with an Ice Cream Party

August 13th at 2:00pm

Did you read ten books?

There’s still time before

the party!

Make sure you bring

your reading log.

Read 10 Get 1 Free!

The Church Council passed our 2015 budget at our June meeting. Our budget calls for total income

of $139,300 to meet overall expenses. During the first 6 months of 2015, we have brought in

$66,900 in non-designated gifts and rent. If this level of income remains the same for the rest of

the year, we will have income of $133,800, leaving a shortfall of $5,500. That’s really not too bad!

At our July Finance Meeting we talked about two ways we can narrow our budget gap: increased

giving, and increased membership/attendance (which presumably would increase the number of

givers). We are committed to working on both of those goals, while never losing sight of our one

primary goal: to know God, love God, and serve God as we make disciples of Jesus Christ for the

transformation of the world.

In that spirit, I wanted to talk about a thing called Sacrificial giving.

Sacrificial giving is what results when we make a deliberate choice to

dedicate our time, resources or life to something or someone.

Sacrificial Giving is five things:

Planned: The degree of planning that goes into our giving reflects the importance of our com-

mitment to give. For most of us, unless we plan something, it doesn’t happen. Unless we con-

sciously incorporate the amount of our giving into our regular budget, it becomes an optional

expense and may be lost in the financial shuffle. Planning our giving enables us to give the

first fruits rather than some amount left over after “more important” obligations have been

satisfied.

Proportionate: How much should you give? Start by looking at the amount you give now.

Does that amount adequately reflect your gratitude for God’s generosity? There is no “right”

amount. It’s easy to get caught up in playing games with net versus gross income or looking

for loopholes that will exempt that unexpected windfall. Your pledge is your return to God of

a proportion of the gifts God has given you, which you share with your church and other

ministries. It should reflect your gratefulness to God for the gifts you have received.

Sacrificial: One of the most important aspects of giving is the impact it has on the giver. If you

can give your gift and not notice, it isn’t a sacrificial gift. The element of sacrifice is present

when something about your life has to change in order for you to be able to give the gift. You

re-order your priorities, you reconsider your values.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving: We like to separate our giving from other more “spiritual” aspects

of our lives. The commitment to giving is one of the most important expressions of what our

faith means to us.

A Gift: The motive for giving is not the expectation of getting something back. A sacrificial gift

has no strings. It is a response to the generosity of God.

As you pray for your church this month, please give some thought to how you give, why you give,

and what God has meant to you in your life. May you be blessed in your ministry at Tracyton UMC.

M o n e y M a t t e r s

P a g e 8 N e w s l e t t e r T i t l e

Kathy Bogue, Finance Chair

Foster

Children’s

Clothes

Closet Providing clothing for

children placed in homes by

Child Protective Services. The

items in the closet are chosen

especially for foster children.

There is a special need for

socks and underclothes, as

well as clothing and pajamas

(Sizes 5-10)

Save the Date!

Fostering the Kitsap

Family Luncheon

Thursday, September 17, 2015 * 11:30am - 1pm

Kitsap Conference Center at Bremerton Harborside

100 Washington Avenue * Bremerton • Washington

Please join us for this fun and informative event and learn how

you can help kids in your neighborhood. Want to bring friends?

Talk with us about hosting a table of ten! Please contact

Naomi Nichols for more information. 206-228-3885

Kitsap Foster Care Association (KFCA)

Annual Back-To-School Bash Needs Our Help!!

They need pencil pouches and 3 ring

binders.

Together with other churches and

organizations we can make sure that

every foster child in Kitsap County will have the

supplies they need to start school.

Please bring your donations by August 9th.

For the last few months, I have

researched the Backpack Pro-

gram in Central Kitsap School

District and found very little in-

formation. It seems each school

has its own program run by the

PTA. Most are doing okay.

So, in the upcoming school year

we will again be working

with the program Myra Battin set

up in Bremerton. This year the

program will be expanded to all

schools in the district. Many of

these schools have a free/reduced

lunch rate of 60% or more. At

B a c k p a c k B r i g a d e

P a g e 9 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1

Receptacle locations for

disposal of medications:

Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office:

3951 NW Randall Way, Silverdale

98383

Lobby hours: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. &

1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. weekdays

614 Division Street, Port Orchard

98366

Lobby hours: 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

weekdays

See Bulletin Board for more Info.

lowing list.) or make a cash dona-

tion by making out a check to the

church or putting cash in an enve-

lope marking both for the Backpack

Program.

Wish List of Food Items for

Backpack Program

Cup of fruit, Instant oatmeal, Capri

Sun or juice pouches, Granola bars,

Macaroni and cheese, Spaghetti

noodles and sauce, Chili, Crackers,

Tuna, Canned Meats, Vegetables,

Peanut Butter, Jelly, Bread, Hot

Chocolate would be a special treat.

Please no glass containers!

one school 80% of their students

qualify for free food at school.

The purpose of the Backpack pro-

gram is to provide food to chil-

dren and families living in pov-

erty. Backpacks are sent home on

Fridays. They contain food for the

weekend. Children in these fami-

lies receive breakfast and lunch at

school, but often have very little

to eat on the weekends. This pro-

gram strives to help fill that void.

If you would like to help, you can

either bring in food (See the fol-

Worship Times 8:30am Early Service

9:45am Adult Sunday School 10:00am Children’s Sunday School

11:00am Late Service

PO Box 127

5153 Naomi St

Tracyton, WA 98393

360-373-6425

church@tracytonumc.org

T R A C Y T O N U N I T E D

M E T H O D I S T C H U R C H

T r a c y t o n U n i t e d M e t h o d i s t C h u r c h

A u g u s t 2 0 1 5 T r a c y t o n T i d i n g s

A u g u s t 2 0 1 5 T r a c y t o n T i d i n g s

Like us on Facebook “Tracyton United Methodist Church” Visit us on the Web at www.tracytonumc.org

We are a multi-generational community growing together in the grace,

love and service of God. Children are welcome at all services. Should you desire, a

nursery is available for children 5 years and under at the 11:00am service.

On the Fifth Sunday of any month,

One Worship Service only at 10:00am

followed by a potluck lunch.

Our Mission