ROCKPORT HAPPENINGS!

PLEASE JOIN US:
Lenten Soup Dinner and Devotions - Wednesdays from 6 - 7:30 pm on February 28, and March 6 & 13. Soup, Prayer, Scriptures, and Devotions will be provided. Sign-up sheet is posted or email the church if you plan to attend. ALL ARE WELCOME - JESUS CAME FOR EVERYONE! Transportation can be provided, please email the church office. This will be a great time of fellowship and preparation for Easter Celebration!!

THANK YOU:
A thank you is extended to our family and church family for the dedicated and enthusiastic work in putting up and taking down the seasonal decorations in our church. Your help makes the projects a true labor-of-love. A very special thank you note goes to Diamond Economy for his continued financial support with these projects. Thank you all again. Dave & Gail Stephan

THE ROCKPORT MEN’S GROUP
will meet on Thursday, February 8^th at 6:30 pm at the church for a potluck dinner. There will be a great meal and time for fellowship.   We will also have a presentation by Ohio Guidestone on their Residential Treatment program for children. Ohio Guidestone’s youth residential campus in Berea, Ohio is “home” to children and adolescents ages 6-15 years old. The residential treatment provides out-of-home care for boys and girls with complex trauma, mental health needs, academic struggles, developmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities and severe emotional and behavioral concerns that negatively impact their ability to control their impulses, maintain their personal safety, and recognize the impact of their behaviors which prevent them from living safely in their homes.  For many years Rockport Church has brightened the lives of the children in the residential treatment program through the David Rice Valentine Party (this year it is on Saturday, February 10^th) and the Rockport Annual Picnic. This is a great opportunity to learn about the services the children receive while they are in the residential treatment program. Everyone is invited to come and hear this informative presentation about Guidestone’s programs and services. Come and enjoy this special time together!

PLEASE JOIN US
for the David Rice-Ohio Guidestone Valentine Luncheon, Sat. Feb. 10th. Sign-up sheet is posted. Volunteers and bakers are needed. The address is 202 Eastland Road, Berea. We will meet there at 11 a.m. to set up the room and help Nick Berardi prepare a spaghetti lunch. We will treat the kids to face painting, crafts, basketball, bingo, & costumes to try on with a photo op option. Activities will end at approximately 2pm. Homemade desserts are appreciated, but please note that the dessert items cannot contain nuts or peanut butter. A sign-up sheet is posted for Volunteers and Bakers. Please drop off bakery items at the church on Friday the 9th. You must be 18 yrs. old to attend. Questions, contact the church office.

YEAR-END GIVING STATEMENTS:
If you would like a 2023 year-end giving statement, please call, 440-331-9433 or email, office@rockportumc.org, the church office.  Thanks, Sara Chapman, Financial Secretary

BOXED OFFERING ENVELOPES:
Boxed offering envelopes are available in the narthex.  These boxed sets are ideal for those folks who contribute weekly.

COFFEE HOUR: Please sign-up on the bulletin board to host coffee hour!

CHAT AND CHEW ADULT DISCUSSION GROUP! CHAT AND CHEW ADULT DISCUSSION GROUP!
Come and join us, bring your lunch and enjoy your food AND a great discussion! We will explore various topics in the church and Bible.
SPRING DATES: We begin back-up in MARCH
March 18^th
April 15^th
May 20th
June 17^th

BOOK CLUB:
Our next book discussion will be on Monday, Feb. 26th @ 7:00pm in the church parlor The book we will be reading is Tom Lake by Ann Patchett “Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart.” A book club bag has been picked up from Rocky River Public Library with 8 books in it and discussion questions.  Feel free to pick up a book in the church office. Hope to see everyone on Jan 15^th for food, fun, fellowship and discussion.

ROCKPORT RENOVATORS
were hard at work again this week.  They patched the laundry room ceiling, kitchen was cleaned (see photos above), new parlor lamp plug was installed, junk was removed and a board was placed outside to cover AC vent.  Thanks, men, for all your hard work.  Keep up the great work here and around town!

MISSION POSSIBLE! Through the end of January
THE YOUTH & Children will be collecting winter items for the Cabinet and also for different homeless groups this year. Hats, Scarves, Gloves, cans of SOUP or ready to eat canned goods with the pull tops (for example: ravioli or hearty soups) hand warmers - the small kind you squeeze with your hands to activate, inexpensive blankets that can be worn easily (may be gently used, they do not have to be brand new) and small sized toiletries (the youth group make homeless kits to put into the cabinet and also distribute) We will still be collecting our “normal” items for the cabinet as well! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

GOOGLE DRIVE REMINDER:
Church financials can be found here.
Go to the Rockport All Church Information folder, Financial Reports folder, 2023 Financials folder, or get a hard copy in the church office.

REMINDER:
Office hours are Monday-Thursday 8:00 - 2:00pm and Fridays from 8:00 - 1:00pm.
Rev. Don's office hours are Tuesday and Thursdays from 11:00 - 1:00pm

DISTRICT NEWS: http://www.eocumc.com/northcoast/

CONFERENCE NEWS:  https://www.eocumc.com/

Beloved, I encourage us to join other Christians all over the world in prayer during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 18-25. In the Gospel of John (17:21), Jesus prayed for his disciples that “they may be one so that the world may believe.” As Christians we are called to pray and work together for peace, reconciliation, and healing, even more especially in these turbulent times of racial, cultural, and political violence, and unending wars.

The World Council of Churches has named the theme for the Week of Prayer from Luke 10:27: “You shall love the Lord your God … and your neighbour as yourself.” I encourage us to read Luke 10:25-37 as we reflect on how God is calling us to pray, to love and serve our neighbors, and to do the work of peace and unity.

To focus our prayers, I share the following prayers I excerpted from the Ecumenical Order of Worship that was designed by the international team appointed jointly by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. You can find the entire order of worship on The World Council of Churches website, www.oikoumene.org.

I invite us to pray these prayers throughout the week and utilize them in our worship and bible studies. I also encourage you to connect with your ecumenical faith partners in your community and invite them to a time of prayer and conversation as you discern how you can work together, now and in the future, for peace, reconciliation, and unity.

Prayers of Intercession – Read as One Voice or Responsively
We have been invited to live the divine call to love God and our neighbour as ourselves. As we renew our commitment to this call, may this love strengthen our unity as Christians.

With all our hearts, we desire to dwell in God's love and to have the grace to love our neighbours as ourselves. God of boundless love, we pray that all people may come to know your unlimited mercy and believe in your desire to fill us with your infinite love.