Rev. Jimmy Sherrod Bids Farewell

On Sunday, May 26 (Metropolitan) and Sunday, June 2 (Wesley and Crossroads), Lesli, Henry and I will say goodbye to the Metropolitan community. It has been wonderful to serve this faithful church for five years. You have continued to embrace and love us throughout our time here in DC. You welcomed Henry with open arms, and you showered him not only with gifts, but with your love and prayers as well. Along the way, you have helped me to grow as a pastor and spiritual leader.Your passion for serving others has inspired me, and will invariably inform how I pastor in my new projected role at Powell United Methodist Church in Knoxville, TN. We will carry the people of this community in our hearts wherever we go, and along the way will pray that you will continue to be a blessing and that you will always pursue justice in this city. I am hopeful that God's will is done here at it is in heaven. We've seen great things happen, but I know that "greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done here." As we move forward on our journeys, let us remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

I will no longer be your pastor, but we remain brothers and sisters in Christ.

Joy and Peace,

Boy Scouts and the Gay Ban

Watch as Rev. Dr. Charles Parker is featured in the PBS Religion & Ethics segment "Boy Scouts and Gay Ban."

Watch Boy Scouts and Gay Ban on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Join Us for Pentecost!

Pentecost Sunday - One Worship Service at 11:15am

Sunday, May 19, 11:15 am - Worship, 12:30pm - Pentecost on the Plaza

Join us on Pentecost Sunday as we celebrate the birth of the Church! Our "Pentecost on the Plaza" will take place after our single worship at 11:15am with a picnic of sandwiches, salads and lots of ice cream. And we need your help! We ask congregation members to bring their favorite salad including pasta, green, potato, etc., enough for 10 to 12 people. We will also have live music from the Wesley combo, and a moon bounce and games for the kids. Plus we’re bringing back the origami Pentecost doves to support Brighter Day. Come and celebrate and don't forget to wear red!

WIN - Act Today!

Metropolitan Memorial is a founding member of  WIN, the Washington Interfaith Network, a non-profit,  non-partisan organization that works on social justice issues in the city, as part of our Service Ministry. 

Most of WIN’s 50 members are other churches, synagogues and mosques across the city.

WIN has developed the following platform for the FY 2014 DC Budget after listening to thousands of residents face to face, in congregation pews, and in community centers.

We are asking you, as a DC resident to take action on a single day,  today,  May 1^st, to let council members know that voters support these budget items:  

 ●      REACHING ALL HOMELESS YOUTH BY 2018 - Invest $6.1 million in year one to provide housing, intensive counseling, educational, and career services for 150 youth. This money would also fund, for the first time,  a coordinated and mobile intake system for the estimated 3,000 youth ages 13-24 who experience homelessness every year in DC.

●      END HOMELESSNESS FOR 800+ HOUSEHOLDS - Invest $10 million in local rent supplements

●      ENDING CHRONIC HOMELESSNESS IN 5 YEARS - Invest $13.5 million in the Department of Human Services’ Housing First Program to serve 540 additional chronically homeless individuals and families.

●      CONNECTING DISCONNECTED YOUTH - Invest $5 million to serve 1,000 disconnected youth. There are 9,910 youth in DC who are neither in school nor employed.  This funding would connect 1,000 youth 16-24 with high quality and outcome driven programs to reconnect them with school and / or training and employment.

●      $100 MILLION FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING - WIN supports the mayor’s proposal to dedicate an additional $100 million to affordable housing through the FY13 Supplemental budget. 

ACT TODAY!! 

 1. Send an email to councilmembers   yourself to let them know you support the WIN budget priorities and so should they! Go to www.windc-iaf.org/may1. You will find a form to fill out and a formatted email that you can use as is or customize.  When you press “send” the email will automatically be sent to all of the 13 councilmembers. 

2.  Get your neighbors, friends, family, & congregation members to send an email. Send an email to people you know are DC voters or  input the email addresses of others  you know who live in DC to invite them to take action or forward the WIN Action Alert. Post a link to http://www.windc-iaf.org/may1 on your facebook page/ twitter, etc.   

PHONE ACTION

 In addition to emailing, you can also call councilmembers.  When you call the councilmembers we urge you to use leave a message with the person who answers the phone or on the councilmembers’ voice mail and say:

“I would like to leave a message for the councilmember.   My name is __________ (your name) I am a DC voter who lives at ____________________________________ (your address).  I support the WIN budget, and so should you.  Thank you!”

Chairman Mendelson 202-724-8032     

Councilmember Cheh (Ward 3) 202-724-8062

Councilmember Bonds 202-724-8064

Councilmember Bowser (Ward 4) 202-724-8052

Councilmember Catania 202-724-7772 

Councilmember McDuffie (Ward 5) 202-724-8028

Councilmember Grosso 202-724-8105                

Councilmember Wells (Ward 6) 202-724-8072

Councilmember Orange 202-724-8174                

Councilmember Alexander (Ward 7) 202-724-8068

Councilmember Graham (Ward 1) 202-724-8181   

Councilmember Barry (Ward 8) 202-724-8045

Councilmember Evans (Ward 2) 202-724-8058

Linda Davenport

MMUMC – WIN Team Leader

New Sermon Series: First Persons

New Sermon Series: First Persons

May and June are filled with significant annual celebrations in the life of our church. As we celebrate our Senior High recognition Sunday on May 5, and our joint worship for Pentecost on May 19, through our Children's Celebration Sunday on June 2 and Reconciling Sunday on June 9, we will be looking at a series of stories based on events in the lives of some key Biblical characters.

Throughout these first person narratives: Samuel, Rebecca, Peter, Gideon, Cornelius and Isaac, we will explore the stories in some new and creative ways. With international voices and customs as we celebrate Pentecost with drama, dance and music, through the lens of our 5th graders as they preach on Children's Celebration Sunday, to a celebration of Reconciling Ministries Sunday and our participation in the DC Pride Parade, we explore the stories of the Bible.

Hope of Summer and Serving

Butterfly Garden Brings Hope of Summer and Serving 

The budding of spring, brings the hope for new life and a promise of lazy summer days ahead. Metropolitan’s own butterfly garden this week burst forth with beautiful colors of spring. Pausing to take in the colors of the garden is a wonderful reminder of summer and the Sunday mornings that our children spend in service work here. Last summer, our children took a break from their usual Sunday School routine to complete service work for others. One of their projects was making beautiful stepping stones for the garden, located next to the playground.

We are planning for another set of Summer Sundays of Service throughout June and July. Each Sunday the children will tackle a different service project such as building bags of grace for the homeless, making sandwiches for Grate Patrol, planting the St. Luke’s community garden, and creating school bags for the Brighter Day Ministries summer day camp. We are looking for volunteers to lead the work one Sunday for one hour during this season.

Pick a Sunday that fits into your summer calendar and think of a service project (or one can be provided, as long as you’re willing to lead it). Three volunteers have already stepped forward, so we only need five more! Won’t you please help out? 

The Sundays we are looking for volunteers are June 16, 23, 30 and July 7 and 21.  June 9, July 14 & 28 have been spoken for!  If you can step forward to help, please contact Anita Seline.

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you,

Anita

Chow Down for Charity