Forestville United Methodist Church

August 11, 2013... Pastor Jim and Andra coming to our church to serve the 1st time. They haven't changed a bit!!!

1993 Forestville United Methodist Church Directory

Today we are featuring the bell in our steeple. Although I have not seen it myself, I understand it is huge. It was purchased in 1864 for $700 which is equivalent to $12,000 in today’s dollar value. Church bells were especially significant as people did not have watches and clocks as readily available as we do now. Bells were and are rung as a signal to the people that it is time to make their way to the church. Our church bell can easily be heard from quite a distance away. To ring the bell, you need to partially ascend the circular staircase to the second floor. When half way up, if you turn around, you can see a rope tucked out of the way, when you pull the rope, a beautiful thing happens...

In this strange time of COVID in our world, we are not allowed to have singing from the pews and for infection control, the hymnals have been set aside for now. The way we have been having music is by Linda Bradigan playing the organ and Martha Woolley playing the piano. Karen stands at the front of the church and sings more than 12 feet away from anyone so that we are still able to remember the beautiful words of our hymns and have some worship time.

We were so happy to have Bill Moss in church today as he is recovering, you and Joanne continue to be in our prayers. Please also add Emily Merrill to our prayer list who broke her leg last week. She is seeing a surgeon on Tuesday. We pray that God puts just the right people in their path for perfect healing.

Remember to pray for Bill Moss who is home but being treated for an infection in his leg. Also, Joanne’s dad Harold is in the hospital. Joanne could also use our prayers as she is taking care of him. Jo Anne Holdridge and Fred are going through some difficult times. Remember Vera Allen who is in Indiana with her brother who just turned 90.

Some of my favorite musical moments in our church have occurred when the organ and piano are played together. Thank you to Martha Woolley on piano and Linda Bradigan on organ for this beautiful worship music this morning.

Today, we will take a look at some of the important items on our communion table. This morning as the light of Christ came into our sanctuary ( when the altar candles were lit,) I was looking at the green parament on the communion table. I'm sure you have all noticed the different colors present in churches during different times of the year. The green showing now represents ordinal time. Ordinary Time means a time for counting (as in ordinal numbers, it does not mean ordina...ry in the way we generally think of it.) The following information comes directly from umc.org and explains the purpose and symbolism of paraments. The Christian year has two cycles: the Christmas Cycle (Advent-Christmas-Epiphany) and the Easter Cycle (Lent-Easter-Pentecost). Within each cycle are a preparatory season symbolized by the color purple and a festival season symbolized by the color white. After each cycle there is an ordinary time of growth symbolized the color green. Thus there is a sequence of seasons using purple, white, and green in that order twice each year. (The United Methodist Book of Worship) Purple, representing both royalty and penitence, is traditionally used during Advent and Lent. Blue symbolizes hope and may also be used during Advent. White and gold are used at Christmas and Easter to symbolize joy and festivities. Red symbolizes the color of fire to represent the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and times when the work of the Holy Spirit is emphasized. During Holy Week it represents the blood of Christ. Red is also used for ordinations, church anniversaries and civil observances such as Memorial Day and Thanksgiving. Green represents growth and is used during Ordinary Time (the season after Epiphany and the season after Pentecost.) IHS is a monogram or symbol for the Greek word for Jesus. Our altar bible is displayed lovingly on a stand made by Jerry LaCross. The bible is always turned to Psalm 100:1-5 , a psalm of praise. 1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

We are featuring two sets of doors today... The first are our entryway doors. These were installed in the 90s and feature stained glass windows... Denis R McNamara, expert in church architecture says more than a mere opening in a wall, a portal is a door that is architecturally enriched to express the importance of entering. A church portal historically represents Christ who said ‘I am the door’ therefore signifies not merely entry to a building, but entrance into the chur...ch community and all it represents. The second doors are the ones leading to our sanctuary. Their style is the cross and bible pattern. The doors feature the cross with the top panels and the Bible on the lower panels (see reference.) All of the doors in the narthex of our church feature this pattern. These two sets of doors add to the beauty of our very special church building. See more

World Communion Sunday

In 1861 our present church building was completed. For a cost of $4400. A.W. Hall was the builder and architect . The dark brick was made at a kiln at the corner of Walnut and King Roads owned by J.S. Pattison. They cost $4.00/1000 bricks. The light bricks were made at Gold Spring(near Buffalo) for $9.00/1000 bricks. The contrast between the light and dark adds to the beauty of our church.