Messenger | May 14, 2025

 This week's release at a glance:

• Pastor’s Message
• New Members Class
• Pray in May
• Deacons’ Senior Spring Fellowship Dinner
• Songs of Hope Spring Concert
• Adult Class on the Life of the Apostle Paul
• Pastors’ Bible Study
• Holy Spirit Trading Cards
• Get Ready for VBS
• Ministry of Hope-Malawi Team has a Wonderful Problem!
• Open Dance Classes
• Softball vs. Saint John’s
• Langton Green Produce Baskets
  

Pastor's Message

God has said, “Behold, I am doing a new thing.” And God claims to make all things new. The prophet Isaiah urges us to perceive and believe it. These promises are especially apparent in the spring as the many parts of Creation emerge from dormant, potential and “yet-to-be” circumstances. Their appearance is often colorful (flora particularly), and joyfully noisy and endearing as creatures cry out in chirps, yips and even eccentric buzzing and squwaks.

This Sunday, we will celebrate the emergence of one of God’s most special new things at Woods Church: our newest Confirmands. Welcoming them into membership in our community of faith recognizes the significant dedication and preparation they have given under the leadership of our Youth Director, Oliver Page. We will witness the growth in their faith journeys as they lead us in worship on Sunday, testifying to the new thing God is doing at Woods.

Our Stewardship theme this year invites us to perceive and believe the new thing that God is doing here. Understanding what that is depends much on our perceptions of what is new and how that influences our faith in and understanding of God. The belief that results offers us direction in who we become and how we share that faithful perception with others. God speaks uniquely to each one of us in this way, and we would welcome your sharing your experiences of God’s speaking to you so that we might be enriched. Beginning next week, as part of our Stewardship season, we will be offering you opportunities to share your own experiences of God online and/or in written forms submitted in specified places around the building. You may also just email Pastor J.C. or me directly.

As the rain pours down upon us this week, let us receive it as God’s grace, blessing, and promise to nurture and sustain all new things today and always!

Peace and blessings,

—Pastor Nancy

Church News

Find a New Home at Woods

Spring represents new life, renewed hope, and—for anyone wanting a place to belong—a new church home! If this describes you, join us for our next New Member’s Class on Sunday, June 1, 10:45AM, in Founders Room. If you are already a member of Woods, reach out and invite someone!

If you would like more information, please email Kathie Hamlett at khamlett@woodschurch.org.

Pray in May

Prayers were submitted by many of the ministries of Woods Church for our Pray in May initiative. These include the Property Ministry that maintains the facility, the HR Ministry that supports the staff and staffing of the church, the Nominating Ministry that invites members to participate in leadership roles, the Child Development Center that cares for and serves young children, the Mission Ministry that extends the love of God to others, the Youth Ministry that serves middle and high school students who play-pray-serve in the name of Jesus Christ, the Children's Ministry that serves children and their families by offering resources for faith and helping them participate in the life of Woods Church.

Download a copy of the poster or pick one up at the Welcome Desk. Heart stickers are available to help you mark a path of love through the month.

You’re Invited to the Deacons’ Spring Fellowship Dinner

All seniors aged 65+ and guest are invited to join us! Please email madams@woodschurch.org to RSVP or call the church office at 410.647.2550.

Songs of Hope Spring Concert

On Saturday, June 7, 7PM, the Woods Adult Choir with a full orchestra will join forces with the choirs of Ark and Dove Presbyterian Church and Covenant United Methodist Church. We will present two beautiful works. The first is “These Ancient Words” by Heather Sorenson. This work is built on the foundational scripture passages that teach us and guide us in life: Light, Humility, Refuge, Rest, Worship, and Wisdom. The second is “A Journey To Hope” by Joseph Martin. This work is musically inspired by traditional spirituals and tells of the ministry, passion, and resurrection of Jesus.

This concert is free but registration is required. Register online. For questions, email David Merrill at dmerrill@woodschurch.org

Children's News

Holy Spirit Trading Cards

Pentecost is coming! What are your gifts and how can you use them to the glory of God?

On Sunday, May 18, our K–2 children are learning about gratitude for the gifts that God has given them, creating their own Holy Spirit Trading Cards!

If you would like to have your child's picture on their card, email it to children@woodschurch.org.

And on Sunday, May 25, our children are learning about the ways they can use their gifts by participating in the mission and outreach and life of Woods Church using our Matthew 25 workbook.

Then on Pentecost Sunday, June 8, our children are learning about how they want to use their gifts to the glory of God in the future with a New Thing Bingo! (Pick up Pentecost Holy Spirit Trading Cards!

Get Ready for VBS!

Register today for Vacation Bible Study! This year’s program will be held July 14–17, 4–7PM, with dinner at 6:30PM.

Education & Small Groups

Adult Class on the Life of the Apostle Paul

Adult Education will be offering a study on Sundays through June 8, 11AM, featuring The Call: The Life of the Apostle Paul by Adam Hamilton.

Follow the journeys of Paul, beginning with his dramatic conversion, as he spread the Gospel through modern-day Greece and Turkey. Travel to the early church sites and explore Paul’s conversations with the new believers. In this six-week study, you are invited to experience faith through Christ’s greatest teacher and missionary.

Join us in the Office Conference Room and on Zoom. Books are available in the office.

New Adult Education Class: The Reformation & the Republic

Pastor J.C. will be teaching an exciting new class, titled “The Reformation and the Republic,” on Sundays, June 15–29, 11AM.

Presbyterians made up a significant percentage of delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 which laid the foundation for the United States as a republic and Presbyterian values and processes from John Calvin and the Genevan Reformation were many of the key building blocks of that foundation. This class will explore the theology behind those principles and give us a chance to reflect on how they shape and guide us today.

Pastors’ Bible Study

Lead Pastor J.C. Austin and Associate Pastor Nancy Lincoln Reynolds offer a weekly Bible Study on Wednesdays, 12PM, to examine the upcoming Sunday’s scripture readings before they are presented in worship.

Join us on Zoom and gain a new understanding of scripture and enhance your worship experience.

Mission News

Mother’s Day Food Drive to Support SPAN

We need your help! If you haven't had a chance, our Mother's Day SPAN Food Drive has been extended by one week. Today through next Sunday, May 18, feel free to bring those extra grocery items you nabbed while shopping and place them in the SPAN bin out in the foyer. These items are critical for families who depend on supplementation through the school. In the summertime, these families could go without. We are breaching that gap in time enough for those families to have what they need when summer arrives. Thanks for your help!

Please help by donating the following items that SPAN needs most during the summer:

• Canned meat and fish
• Peanut butter and jelly
• Tuna and Hamburger Helper
• Instant and canned white and sweet potatoes
• Pancake mix and syrup
• Oatmeal
• Cereal
• Coffee and tea
• Pasta
• Pasta sauce and other canned tomato products
• Canned vegetables and beans
• Soap and shampoo
• Deodorant
• Toothpaste
• Paper towels
• Laundry detergent
• Dish soap
• All-purpose cleaner
  

Ministry of Hope-Malawi Team has a Wonderful Problem!

We have already had donations totaling eight Medical MAP Packs and more than 100 pairs of shoes for vulnerable children and adults of Ministry of Hope (MOH). A huge THANK YOU to Woods CDC families who donated 88 pairs of shoes!

Now we need suitcases to transport these items. Thanks to Ethiopian Airlines, each mission traveler is allowed three bags, so the team can take 21 suitcases. International bags can total 62 linear inches—length (including wheels) + width + depth. Suitcases as close to the maximum size as allowed are much appreciated.

If you have a large suitcase you no longer use that we could take to transport supplies and then donate to secondary or college students at MOH for their use, we would love to have them. If you prefer that one of your large bags travels to Africa and returns, we will be grateful for a loan. Please contact Pat Johnson at paj10041949@gmail.com or 410.544.3718.

Zikomo Kwambiri (Thank you very much).

Music Notes

Open Dance Classes

Join our Worship Ministry for a series of free dance classes on Sundays through June 1, 2–3:15PM, in Fellowship Hall! Professional teachers will offer a variety of dance styles—including jazz, musical theater, contemporary, tap, yoga, and more! Open to anyone ages 12 and over in and outside the Woods community.

All experience levels are welcome, though classes will be taught at an intermediate level with options for beginners and advanced students.

For more information please email Alyssa Barlis at alyssabarlis@gmail.com.

In Our Community

Game Day vs. Saint John’s

Game On! This Sunday, May 18, 2PM, we’re taking the field against Saint John’s at Elvaton #1.

No experience required and you already made the team! Qualifications include: you must bring a smile, and be at least 16 years of age by December 31. No full-time commitment is necessary.

If you are interested, contact Andrew Wiley at 443.867.8803 or wileyas1@gmail.com.

Langton Green Produce Baskets

Langton Green, one of our mission partners, is an Anne Arundel County–based residential community that supports neurodivergent adults. They are offering produce baskets from June–October. For more information, see the attached flyer.

A Moment of Prayer

Loving and Creating God, we thank you for persistently calling us into fellowship with you. We anticipate perceiving the new things you are doing in our lives and ask only that we have good discernment and believing hearts that we may participate in your design for all of us. Enable us to be a church with compassion and love for all. Let our response to your newness of life be a blessing to others.

In Christ’s name, Amen.