One Great Hour of Sharing—A Response to God’s Love

NEW YORK, NY, Feb. 20, 2007—Goharik Gevorgyan lives in rural Yerevan, a marze or province of Armenia. Interlacing mountain ranges surround her home. Through haze she can see distant, snow-covered Mt. Ararat.

Goharik attends school regularly now, because her mother can afford her school fees, once a constant worry. But today, thanks to a small-business loan from aregak, Mrs. Gevorgyan operates a fish-smoking business that provides a decent living for her family.

Transforming Hopelessness to Hope
The word aregak means sunshine in Armenian. And it is also an acronym for an UMCOR micro-credit program for women. Established in 1997, aregak aims to raise the living standards of poor women throughout Armenia.

Aregak provides small loans that are backed by groups of guarantors selected by the applicants themselves. Before a loan is granted, the applicant and her financial support group attend training sessions to ensure success.

More than 15,000 clients have built home businesses, expanded existing enterprises, and most importantly transformed hopelessness to hope.

UMCOR has worked in Armenia since 1994 in response to chronic war, extreme poverty and devastating natural disasters. Through UMCOR’s programs Goharik and children like her now live with hope.

Uniting in Special Lenten Offering
Once a year, during One Great Hour of Sharing, you and your congregation can join other United Methodists worldwide by making a special offering to support humanitarian aid from UMCOR. You can assure that when catastrophes cause suffering, your church, impelled by Jesus’ love and compassion, will be in the lead to ease the pain.

The 2007 Offering Essential to UMCOR
Gifts to this offering underwrite UMCOR’s “costs of doing business.” That helps us keep our promise that 100 percent of designated donations go entirely to specific projects, said the Rev. R. Randy Day, General Secretary, UMCOR. “The One Great Hour of Sharing offering on March 18, 2007, is a gift of stability to UMCOR,” said Rev. Day. “Our ability to respond and remain until the job is done is in direct proportion to the generosity of United Methodists at this time of offering.”

UMCOR is a good steward of God’s gifts, he said. Offering gifts over and above those used to cover administrative costs are channeled where they’re most needed. UMCOR’s specialized ministries—responding in disaster, fighting hunger, alleviating poverty, providing relief supplies around the world, and offering hospitality to immigrants and refugees—all assist the most vulnerable people whose need is greatest.

No World Service Funds to UMCOR
UMCOR receives no World Service funds or any other apportionments. Offering gifts mean United Methodists are right there with hardworking families, people who are affected by storms or war, disaster or disease.

Worship Resources

See, everything has become new!—2 Corinthians 5:17b

CALL TO AWARENESS

Leader
Why are we here?
People
We gather to bear witness to the love and mercy of God.
Leader
Why are we here?
People
We gather to celebrate the healing power of God, to worship the God who makes all things new.
Leader
How do we worship?
People
We thank God for promises of hope. And as we have been loved, we act to serve others in love.
Leader
How do we serve?
People
With God’s help we are there for others, not only in this special hour but in all our hours.
Leader
With God’s help we can respond, especially to the most vulnerable.
All
We show our love for God in our responses to all who are hurting. Let us now praise the God of love, mercy, healing, and hope.

LITANY OF NEW LIFE
(Suggested use: Dedication for the gifts received in the One Great Hour of Sharing special offering)

Leader
Gracious God, you created us to love one another as we love you. We offer these gifts of money in this One Great Hour of Sharing not only as symbols of our love for others but also as concrete expressions of the humanitarian work they support. You have promised to make all things new. We thank you for the United Methodist Committee on Relief, whose workers use these gifts to be there for us and to bring hope.
People
We hear God’s call as our own: to be there with UMCOR, to take the hearts and the hands of the church wherever people are suffering.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR in silent disasters—like cholera in Cameroon, where our gifts teach communities to avert cholera breakouts.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR in Sudan, where shelter and seeds, fresh water and schools, are signs of new beginnings in South Darfur.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, where families who suffered heavy losses of life and livelihood in the tsunami are able to move into their rebuilt homes and return to their farming and fishing.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR with small farmers in Mexico who can earn a fair price for their coffee beans and provide for their families.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR with United Methodist congregations that resettle refugees like Harrison and Onita, who celebrate the grace of God in their new home in the United States.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR when workers and volunteers distribute emergency supplies to locations in the United States and around the globe—and supply hope to some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
God, we thank you for the work of UMCOR with its partners the United Methodist annual conferences so that when the worst hurricanes ever devastated the Gulf Coast, trained workers could mobilize to respond.
People
We hear the call of Jesus to be there.
Leader
To all these works, gracious and loving God, we dedicate our One Great Hour of Sharing offering. Thank you for your compassion that impels us to say Yes when you call us to be there with all who need our humanitarian ministry.
All
Thanks be to God! Amen!

PRAYER
Gracious and loving God, thank you for the blessings of your eternal presence. Remind us to pray through our actions toward others: to offer the cup of kindness, the responding hand when a community is overwhelmed by disaster or war, the spirit of justice and peace, and the open heart to all who are hurting. We know that in these ways we extend your love to the world. Amen.

SUGGESTED HYMNS
The One Great Hour of Sharing offering supports works of justice and peace, restoration of self-sufficiency, and alleviation of hunger and disease. These hymns remind us how our calling as Christian disciples engages us with a hurting world. Selections are from The Faith We Sing (FWS) and The United Methodist Hymnal (UMH).

· As a Fire Is Meant for Burning, 2237 FWH
· Canto de Esperanza (Song of Hope), 2186 FWH
· Enviado Soy de Dios (Sent Out in Jesus’ Name), 2184 FWH
· For the Healing of the Nations, 428 UMH
· Ubi Caritas (Live in Charity), 2179 FWH
· Sois la Semilla (You Are the Seed), 583 UMH

LECTIONARY READINGS
· 2007 Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
· 2008 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41



BENEDICTION
Now to the God who created us to build bridges of care, we offer all these prayers and praise. Go out and act, in the spirit of a burning fire, giving glory to God’s name, to find and to be there with neighbors everywhere.



The writer of these resources, Linda Beher, serves on the staff of UMCOR.


(Also linking from Related Information)

Bishops distribute $2 million to Gulf Coast

United Methodist bishops are distributing $2 million in February to assist Gulf Coast churches and pastors affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The allocations include $1 million to the denomination's Louisiana Conference, $900,000 to the Mississippi Conference and $100,000 to the Alabama-West Florida Conference.

Approved by the executive committee of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, the distributions come from the council's Katrina Church Recovery Appeal.

The executive committee also voted unanimously to ask local churches to continue designating special offerings for the appeal over the next two years, according to Bishop William Oden of Dallas, who leads the appeal task force. The offerings occur on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in August.

The specific allocations "were the amounts requested by the distribution committee, which includes the three Gulf Coast bishops," Oden said. "We are still receiving funds from annual conferences and local churches and there will be another distribution when the funds merit it."

Established in 2005, the Katrina Church Recovery Appeal will help restore hurricane-damaged United Methodist facilities; pay salaries for clergy while their congregations cannot do so; establish new congregations or consolidate existing ones; renew church-based community ministries such as day-care centers; and provide needy churches with worship necessities such as Bibles and hymnals.

In addition, the denomination raised more than $60 million after Hurricane Katrina for general humanitarian relief through the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Oden noted that more than 40 United Methodist church buildings along the Gulf Coast were destroyed or severely damaged. With the members of some congregations scattered around the country, it has been difficult to pay salaries to pastors who remained in the region.

"The bishops' appeal is continuing even in the midst of Katrina fatigue, which means that there are a lot of other concerns as we move on," the bishop said. "This disaster affected The United Methodist Church along the Gulf Coast so significantly that the bishops want the appeal to continue."

He added that the bishops have been pleased with the appeal response so far and hope to improve communications regarding the fund with congregations. "We're hoping that even more local churches will receive offerings next August," Oden said.

Donations to the Katrina Church Recovery Appeal, No. 818-001, can be made online at www.umc.org/churchrecovery or placed in offering plates in local churches.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

United Methodist Men promote hunger awareness

By J. Richard Peck*

Members of United Methodist Men gather and sort through 38,000 pounds of potatoes for distribution to Indiana food banks. A UMNS photo by Matt Oates.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- United Methodist Men are asking families to fast one meal during the first week of June and donate the cost of the meal to feed the hungry.

The denominational men's organization also encourages all churches to use June 3 or June 10 as Hunger Awareness Sunday and to send donations to its hunger relief office in Nashville.

The activities are part of an initiative called "FAM1LY," which stands for "fast a meal in 1 year." The drive is sponsored jointly by the National Association of Conference Presidents of United Methodist Men and the Virginia-based Society of St. Andrew, an ecumenical hunger relief organization.

The presidents voted unanimously last year to sponsor the initiative this June and invite other United Methodist agencies and other faith communities to join in.

For Hunger Awareness Sunday, church leaders can find Sunday school lessons and worship materials at www.endhunger.org/nhad, and individuals may download a Fami1y brochure at nacpumm.org. Printed brochures are available through the denomination's Commission on United Methodist Men or through the annual conference hunger relief advocates.

National Hunger Awareness Day, designated for June 5, was created in 2002 when hunger relief organizations faced increased demand from Americans unable to feed their families at the same time that less surplus food and fewer charitable dollars were available.

The need to increase Americans' awareness of hunger issues is just as critical today. Six million children are expected to die in 2007 as the result of hunger and malnutrition, according to hunger relief advocates.

"Hunger is one of the most long-lived social problems facing the United States today," said the Rev. Kenneth Horne, executive director of the Society of St. Andrew. "It is also the greatest opportunity we will have to transform our world into the kind of place God wants it to be.

"Contrary to conventional wisdom, of all our social problems, hunger is the most easily remedied."

The Society of St. Andrew is an Advance special (#801600) of the United Methodist Church's second-mile giving program. It has distributed more than 500 million pounds of food since its founding in 1979. Last year, United Methodist men's organizations gave $211,000 to the cause - not counting a large number of gleaning projects and "potato drops" also sponsored by the men's groups. Each year, the society saves 25-40 million pounds of fresh produce that provides 75-120 million servings of nourishing food delivered to hungry people in the 48 contiguous states.

Donations for Hunger Awareness Sunday can be sent to the Hunger Relief Advocate, General Commission on United Methodist Men, P.O. Box 340006, Nashville, TN 37203-0006. Write "Fami1y" in the memo section of the check.

*Peck is the communications coordinator for the General Commission on United Methodist Men.

Teen's songs offer hope after Katrina

A UMNS Report By Woody Woodrick*

Elizabeth Cumbest performs one of her songs during a 2006 Hurricane Katrina service of remembrance at Seashore United Methodist Assembly in Biloxi, Miss. A UMNS photo by Woody Woodrick.

Elizabeth Cumbest says the seven songs she has written about Hurricane Katrina are prayers set to music.

Supporters of the Seashore Mission Church in Biloxi, Miss., hope the songs are an answer to their prayers.

A 15-year-old United Methodist, Elizabeth released an eight-song compact disc at a special service on Jan. 14 at Heritage United Methodist Church in D'Iberville, Miss. Within three weeks, "All Things New - Songs of Hope after Hurricane Katrina" had raised about $6,000, with proceeds going to help Seashore Mission Church recover from the storms.

When Katrina roared ashore on Aug. 29, 2005, a dozen people sought shelter in Seashore Mission, which serves the poor and homeless in Biloxi. Only six of those people survived, and all that's left of the building today is a concrete slab.

The story left an indelible impression on Elizabeth, who became involved with the mission as a child working with her parents, the Rev. Chris Cumbest and the Rev. Sheila Cumbest, both of whom work with the denomination's Mississippi Conference.

On and off for almost two years after Katrina hit, the teenager wrote songs praising God for grace in the midst of tragedy but also expressing fears and heartaches for so many losses. Her song "I Need You" says:

"I'm broken inside

"And this pain in my heart I can't hide.

"When it seems that everything I love is gone,

"And everything that could went wrong

"When there's nothing else, I need you."

"Cause I'm crying and I'm torn

"My spirit is broken, my heart is worn

"And when it seems there's nothing left to do

"That's when I need you."

Elizabeth hadn't planned to do much with her songs. However, while traveling with her parents last summer to the denomination's California-Pacific Conference, someone suggested she put her song "The Storm" on a CD.

"I started thinking that I had written several songs and wondered how I could use them to help the ministry of the Gulf Coast," she said. "The Seashore Mission Church came to mind when thinking about all of that.

"I think it was a God thing that he told me to do this."

She didn't rush into the recording studio, though. Elizabeth discussed the possibilities with her parents and then with members of the Mission Church council. The teen says the meeting was emotional. "We were all in tears together. They laid hands on me and prayed for their mission as I do my mission for their mission," she said.

"I think it's a great idea that will help the church," said the Rev. Elijah Mitchell, pastor at the Seashore Mission Church. "I attended a council meeting when she presented her plan and we're excited about it. She's been telling the story of what happened at the Mission Church in several different locations."

Jim Barnes of Hattiesburg, Miss., agreed to produce the recording. Work began last August, and the CD was completed in December.

Elizabeth called the recording process "really cool."

"It was very neat to have to learn how to do all that," she said. "I had to play the guitar and sing about 20 times for each song, it felt like. I think I did each song about five times.

"We had to record the guitar, vocals and mix it, then go back and put in all the other instruments I wanted to put in."

Elizabeth doesn't see herself pursuing a music career, however. "I really want to go to law school first. My dream is to be in politics and law. This is the kind of thing where if God leads you go," she said.

Besides helping provide needed funds for the Seashore Mission, Elizabeth hopes the songs offer encouragement and comfort to Katrina survivors and helpers. "I hope those who live on the Gulf Coast will get hope to rebuild their lives, homes and communities," she said. "I hope these songs help people not associated with Katrina to keep the Mississippi Gulf Coast in their prayers."

To order "All Things New - Songs of Hope after Hurricane Katrina" CD for $10 each, call 228-588-9222 or send $12.50 ($10 plus $2.50 shipping and handling) to P.O. Box 849, Hurley, MS 39555. Make checks payable to Seashore District UMC/Mission Church.

*Woodrick is editor for the Mississippi United Methodist Advocate.

National hunger relief organization opens office in South Georgia: Society of St. Andrew names Lauren A. King as program coordinator

Big Island, VA – Food going to waste in Georgia has been used for the past several years to feed the hungry throughout the state thanks to the efforts of the Society of St. Andrew (SoSA). Now this national faith-based nonprofit hunger relief organization has opened a regional gleaning office in Tifton thanks to a grant from the St. Marys United Methodist Church Foundation, Inc.

The Society of St. Andrew has announced the appointment of Lauren A. King as program coordinator of its newest office, which opened in January 2007. The office is located in the Activities Center at the First United Methodist Church of Tifton. SoSA, founded in 1979 and headquartered in Virginia, also has regional offices in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and North Carolina, and gleaning operations in 14 other states.

“Hunger is a reality in Georgia and the Society of St. Andrew plans to do something about it by bridging the gap between salvaged fresh produce and hunger relief agencies serving those in need in Georgia as well as throughout the nation,” said Mike Waldmann, SoSA’s Director of Operations.

“12.4 percent of Georgia’s population lives with food insecurity and we are helping to alleviate some of that hunger,” said Rachel Radeline Gonia, regional director of SoSA’s Alabama and Georgia operations. According to an Economic Research Service, USDA 2005 report, Georgia is ranked 14th in the list of states with the highest food insecurity among its residents. “Through the efforts of Art Shoemaker, a part-time SoSA worker located in Albany, over 600,000 pounds of food was saved and distributed across Georgia in 2006,” Gonia continued.

“SoSA is thrilled to have Lauren come aboard as the south Georgia coordinator for SoSA’s Georgia Gleaning Network,” said Gonia. “Lauren has a passion for this ministry. Her leadership will help us build on the success of last year as we have a huge impact on the problem of hunger in Georgia.”

“I hope to be a helpful link in connecting salvaged food to hungry people in Georgia and the United States,” said King. “Bridging that hunger gap requires the help of farmers, volunteers, churches, food pantries, and organizations that want to be an active entity in ending hunger. I believe that once they see how this can be accomplished by focusing on their strengths and resources they will become strong supporters and believers in the SoSA effort. When this is accomplished, I feel that Georgia can become a major supplier of salvaged food to the hungry.”

The Society of St. Andrew (Advance #801600) is a nonprofit organization that saves fresh produce that is not commercially marketable and distributes it to agencies that feed the hungry. Their volunteers glean (picks) fruits and vegetables left after the harvest, and growers and brokers donate tractor-trailer loads of potatoes and other produce that otherwise would go to waste. Each year SoSA saves 25-40 million pounds of fresh produce that provides 75-120 million servings of nourishing food delivered to hungry people in the 48 contiguous states. “SoSA will now begin organizing thousands of volunteers to glean millions of pounds of food from Georgia farms to feed the state’s hungry families,” said Waldmann.

“I will be connecting with the growers as well as building the volunteer base of hands-on people to glean fields and host potato drops,” King explained. “Establishing each of these links is vital to the success of the program.”

A native of Zebulon, Georgia, King was raised on a family-owned farm and appreciates all of the work that goes into producing food and fiber for the sustenance of humankind. King is a graduate of The University Of Georgia Terry College Of Business.

More information about the Society of St. Andrew and its hunger-relief programs is available online at www.endhunger.org, by email at sosausa@endhunger.org, or by calling 800-333-4597.

UMCOR Bulletin on Tornado Damage in Central Florida

NEW YORK, Feb. 2, 2007—Central Florida was struck early this morning by violent thunderstorms that spawned tornadoes causing sufficient damage for a state of emergency to be declared in four counties. The storms killed at least 14 and sent many more to hospitals seeking treatment. UMCOR is in contact with the Storm Recovery Center for the Florida Annual (regional) Conference as they assess the situation. UMCOR is sending emergency grants to the area to help with recovery efforts.

The Florida Annual Conference website notes that offers of assistance for survivors are already pouring in from areas surrounding those affected. Cash gifts will help provide for recovery. Checks can be mailed to UMCOR PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Write “UMCOR Advance #901670, Domestic Disaster Response – Florida Tornadoes,” on the memo line of your check. One hundred percent of every donation to any appeal, including appeals for Florida recovery, goes to support the designated program.