ELC Sunday was a great day to learn about our primary mission.  ELC directors Amanda Webber and Tanalee Scott shared about the ELC in order to better understand the mission and how we as a congregation can better serve the children, families and staff. 

• Be a Match Maker.  If you know a business in town or your place of employment that would like to sponsor the ELC for food costs, we have a formal letter for you to share with that business. More can be found online.
• Grant writing.  Anyone willing to research grant opportunities and work with us on the grant writing process.
• Prayers.  For needs, staffing, funding, and the families.

For more information, Contact Amanda Webber or Tanalee Scott at the church office at 260-244-7671, or through email at tanalee.scott@columbiacityumc.org.

ELC Summer Program

Did you know the ELC has a summer program 

for children in 1^st through 5^th grade?  Did you know YOU can be a part of the summer experience?

Here is HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED:

PRAY for volunteers to give a morning or afternoon, once or twice during the summer, to share an experience with kids. 

SHARE your expertise.  From gardening to baking to taking care of the environment and doing art, this summer plans to bring something new to these children.  If you have a specific passion, please share it.

PRAY for the children and their teachers as they spend time together.

VOLUNTEER to gather supplies into bins for the different themes.

Contact the office (260-244-7672) or Tanalee Scott (tanalee.scott@columbiacityumc.org) to volunteer.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; don’t rely on your own intelligence.
Know him in all your paths, and he will keep your ways straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6, CEB

You know what my favorite part of this Proverb is?  “God will keep your ways straight.”  Of course, I like to make this leap:   if our ways are straight then the path will be clear and known!   But that’s not what it says. The proverb calls us know God, not the path.  

Last month I took this picture in the Enid A. Haupt Garden behind the Smithsonian Institution Building while visiting my daughter, Leah.  This sculpture and path captured my attention while we were busy photographing spring flowers.  Since then, my mind keeps going back to it as we continue to ask the Holy Spirit to help us discern God’s will for us and for God’s church.  If you’re like me, there is a hope that the Holy Spirit will show us the whole path -- mark it out, clear and straight, so that we can know it (maybe even by our own intelligence.)  It would be easier that way – but then again, we wouldn’t really need to trust in the Lord with all our hearts if we could see the whole path marked out clearly before us, would we? 

This intriguing sculpture draws the eye forward, allows a glimpse of what is ahead but doesn’t give it all away.  It invites the admirer to move forward and trust that more will be revealed with each step forward.  Of course, I don’t think it is any coincidence that God showed me this in a garden as we continue to wonder how, or even if, God intends us to be in partnership with the Giving Gardens.  While that path is not yet clear,

what is clear is that the Holy Spirit is leading.  The same is true as our vision task force begins their work.  

This month we will celebrate Pentecost and begin to track the ways the Holy Spirit moves, breathes, leads, and makes God known to us along the path of faith and life.  The Holy Spirit is mysterious and unpredictable – a bit like the obscured path beyond the sculpture.  But the Holy Spirit is also like the sculpture itself – revealing and inviting us to trust that there IS a path and the One who invites us upon it can be trusted to make the way straight.  

This sculpture and scripture both remind me to keep praying, keep trusting, keep moving, keep breathing -- grace in, praise out – for all God has done, is doing, and will do as we trust the Spirit to guide and lead us forward.

I hope they will do the same for you.

Breathing and praying with you,

Pastor Christi

Birthdays

John Marty - May 1

April Snyder - May 4

Doug Mosher - May 7

Evan Fudge - May 8

Mary Fay Nichols - May 10

Richard Kyler - May 11

Lesley Keirn - May 12

June Niccum - May 13

Stephanie Lanebert - May 17

Mark Waterfall - May 18

Bill Rea - May 27

Gloria Phegley - May 27

Lauren Webber - May 27

Evelyn Fisher - May 31

Anniversaries 

Judy & Danny Boggs - May 5

Denise & David Esterline - May 13

Carolyn & Bob Haisley - May 15

Carol & Bill Schaeffer - May 16

Oak Pointe: 
Francis, Dee, Harrison, Natalie, June, Nancy   

The Oaks:  
Bette, Art, Joyce, Elaine

Byron Health Center: 
April

Peabody Retirement Community: 
Julia, Marilyn, Phil

Homebound: 
Betty, Barb, Ron, Ruth, Louise, John, Donn

Autumn Trace: 
Evelyn (resident), Kay

As working parents, picking up the kids, shuttling to another activity, getting homework done, and then getting them to bed at a decent hour, dinner is usually an afterthought.  Many working families experience this same time crunch. 

1. What if one day a month we could love families by taking care of dinner for them?  
2. What if they could drive thru and pick up a complete, nutrition packed meal to feed their family?
3. What if we did this on a Thursday evening and were able to serve BABE and ELC families and staff?

This ministry is just getting started and we are excited about the families we will serve.  More information will be available soon.  For now, please pray for this exciting opportunity to serve, for the team ironing out details, that families will be blessed, and that others will want to serve in this ministry as well. 

Contact Tammy at tammy.Taylor@columbiacityumc.org for more information. 

Theme: Nature and work of the Holy Spirit (pneuma, Ruach, Wind, Breath).

Description: God is... Father, revealed in a parenting relationship with Abraham, Jacob, and ultimately in Jesus. God is... Son, Jesus Christ, revealed in flesh and dwelled among us. God is ... Holy Spirit, the divine presence and promised One who came in power and authority at Pentecost, and still lives and works within us today. In this series, we will explore the ways in which our lives and faith are shaped by the Holy Spirit.

Key Verse: 

The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you. 

John 14:26, CEB

(260) 244-7671 • www.columbiacityumc.org
605 Forest Parkway Columbia City, IN 46725

Christi Murray, Pastor — christi.murray@columbiacityumc.org

Tammy Taylor, Director of Administration and Discipleship — tammy.taylor@columbiacityumc.org

Ashley Bailey, Communications Specialist — ashley.bailey@columbiacityumc.org