Vermont Hills UMC

It’s Auction time!  Come on Saturday, bring your checkbook, please help us support our largest fundraising event. Unable to attend the Auction?  Find a buddy to bid for you! Silent Auction begins at 5:30pm and the dinner begins at 6pm.  At 6:45pm the Silent Auction ends and the Oral Auction begins. You may pay either on Saturday at the conclusion of the Auction or on Sunday. As was done last year, there will be a 10-15 minute...

I have a small tattoo on the inside of my left wrist. It is a word, inked in white letters written by the hand of a friend, that reads, “worship.” I chose that word because of a poem crafted by a brilliant artist named Anis Mojgani. The line from the poem says, Walk through this with me, into this house of bone and blood. It is a church, and every movement we make is worship. I have had a tough time living into the sentiment of that...

In this week’s chapter of the Liturgy of the Ordinary, Tish Warren talks about the quotidian tasks that make up our every day.  When we fight back against our daily decline — be it vanity, or health, or just habit much of our daily life is spent just attempting to reverse the entropy of existence.   She starts with the act of brushing teeth.  How that simple task is so menial and far removed from the call of the spirit....

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” – Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maude Montgomery   In chapter two of Liturgy of the Ordinary, Tish Harrison Warren writes, “The crucible of our formation is the monotony of our daily routines.” In chapter one, she quotes Annie Dillard: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” Does the truth of these ideas make anyone else...

A couple of weeks ago I misplaced my Fitbit. I was in a bit of a panic — how would I know how many steps I’d taken?  How would I know the quality of my sleep? How would I monitor my heart rate? It took me a couple of days to recall that I’d taken it off in a pub after Wednesday Bible Study(!). With a sigh of relief, I got it back. Last week Pastor Bo challenged us to not use any electronics for an hour or two after we get up in the...

I do not make my bed. Most mornings I’m out of bed at 5am and getting ready for work. This is a full hour or more before my wife needs to wake for her work. It would make very little sense for me to attempt to make the bed with her still dead asleep in it. But making the bed is not Tish Warren’s point in chapter two of Liturgy of the Ordinary. Rather she puts forward a challenge, one that I have been growing more and more familiar...

Staying Connected   Change is in the Air!  This Sunday is the deadline to let Janet and Mark know what you are donating to the auction.  They can be reached at mzimmerdahl@comcast.net or 503.244.8670.  Your items must be brought to church this week (except fresh edibles).  Our office will be open Monday through Thursday, 9am to 2pm. If you would like to donate gift cards, you may order them through our scrip program today and they...

The church is always changing. It adjusts and adapts to cultural shifts and needs. Change is often initiated when new technology meets evolving theology. I talked about it in Why Do Church This Way? [link] or listen to the podcast audio There are two interesting notes about these changes: 1) When new developments arise, the previous form does not go away, it continues on but without its former prominence or influence. Phyllis Tickle...

My bed is a low profile twin from Ikea that I bought when I gladly downsized to make room for my Aunt who was my housemate and companion for the last five years of her life. Every morning when I get out of bed I think about how, after two years, it is high time I return to my real bedroom and set up my real bed where I can stretch out fully without hitting up against a wall. I will retrieve the down quilt from storage and go back to...