Peggy’s Ponderings
Have you ever seen a tapestry?
A tapestry, according to the dictionary,
is a woven cloth with rich, varicolored
designs and scenes.
A tapestry
presents a picture. Our lives present a
picture too. What does the tapestry of
your life look like?
Now, our lives are not made of
cloth, but our lives are certainly rich
designs and scenes. I think of the
colors we might use in our life’s
tapestry – yellows and blues for the joy
in our lives – blacks and browns and
even reds for the difficult times in our
lives. Perhaps lavender for a time of
peace. You can think of the colors
that make up your life.
But you know life is not just one
color. Life is many colors. Life is
made up of mountains and valleys.
You know that. That’s just the way life
is. In fact, you can expect those hills
and valleys. Our life is filled with so
many different things – together
making a unique pattern for our life. In
our
Old
Testament
Scripture,
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 speaks abut life
and the many experiences in it – a
time to be born and a time to die – a
time to weep and a time to laugh – a
time to seek and a time to lose – a
time to keep and a time to throw away
– a time to keep silence and a time to
speak – a time for war and a time for
peace. You see, our lives are a rich
experience of all life has to offer,
woven together. But, I think that it is
only in looking back that we can see
the pattern of our lives – but I also
think that there is always a common
thread in all of our tapestries. That
common thread is God – woven into
all the events of our lives.
There is a poem called “the
Weaver” by Fanny Forrester. It tells of
a weaver who was weaving beautiful
flowers and gold threads into his
tapestry and then as his days became
troubled, his tapestry also reflected
that. It seemed as if the fabric became
gray and the gold threads tarnished.
All things in his life were woven in and
the weaver continued to weave – until
it was done. And at his death, the
tapestry was drawn around his
shoulders.
But, God made that
tapestry into a robe of light, and
among all the folds were the flowers
woven in, and wherever a tear had
fallen, a diamond appeared. The last
verses of that poem said this:
“And wherever a tear had fallen
down,
Gleamed out a diamond rare,
And jewels befitting a monarch’s
crown
Were footprints left by care.
And wherever had swept the breath
of a sigh
Was left a rich perfume,
And with light from the fountain of
bliss in the sky
Shone the labor of sorrow and
gloom.
You see, our lives may be
woven with threads of sadness as well
as threads of joy. But God takes our
life here on earth and turns it into
everlasting life and joy in his presence
forevermore. Thanks be to God!
Hope to see you at church on
Sunday. Make Commonwealth a part
of your life.
Peggy
++++
WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY
May 13, 2012
The Sixth Sunday of Easter
Mother’s Day
Scripture: John 15: 9-17
Sermon: “Love One Another”
“This is my commandment, that you
love one anther as I have loved you.”
(John 15: 12)
May 13 Worship Assistants:
Steward: Bob Samuels
Ushers:
Phyllis Batts and
Donna Pruitt
Acolyte: Mackenzie Garlick
Nursery: Kay Little
Counters: Perry Beaver and
Jackie Samuels
PLEASE JOIN US FOR
SUNDAY SCHOOL AND WORSHIP
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Worship 11:00 a.m.
MOTHER’S DAY BREAKFAST
THIS SUNDAY, MAY 13
8:00 A.M.
FELLOWSHIP HALL
This Sunday May 13, our
United Methodist Men will sponsor
their traditional Mother’s Day
Breakfast. It is a day to honor the
mothers – grandmothers – and all
women of the church.
The
breakfast is free. It’s always great
– with sausage or ham, eggs, grits,
and fruit. There will be a short
program with music and a devotional.
Please join us.
If you haven’t signed up,
please call the church office as soon
as possible to make your reservation.
Hope to see you there.
+++++
Happy Mother’s Day
ALDERSGATE OFFERING
Next Sunday, on Mother’s
Day, we will take up a special
offering for Aldersgate. There will
be envelopes in your bulletins.
These
gifts
assist
United
Methodists at Aldersgate who may
be facing unexpected financial
difficulties. Thank you for helping.
+++++
LETTER CARRIER FOOD DRIVE
THIS SATURDAY, MAY 12
If you are unable to bring
your canned goods or non-perishable
food items to church, just place
them at your mailbox on Saturday,
May 12. Your letter carrier will pick
up the food and it will be donated to
Loaves and Fishes and Second
Harvest Food Bank. Thank you for
your support.
+++++
BOOK CLUB
THIS THURSDAY, MAY 10
6:00 P.M.
PARLOR
Our Book Club will start this
Thursday, May 10 at 6:00 p.m. in the
Parlor. At our first meeting we will
discuss how we would like to
structure our book club – how often
to meet – reading 1 book per month,
etc. The first book is “We Wait
You”. At this time we’ll decide how
much we’d like to read for the next
meeting, and set a firm schedule –
perhaps the 2nd Thursday of each
month.
Congratulations Toni Batts
Toni Batts graduated from
the University of North Carolina at
Charlotte on May 12, 2012 with a
Master’s degree in English as a
Second Language (ESL) and a grade
point average of 4.0. She is now a
full-fledged school teacher as the
Charlotte – Mecklenburg School
System has hired her beginning this
fall as an ESL teacher at Merry
Oaks Elementary School for 4 and 5
graders. Her mother, Phyllis, is very
proud of her.
Congratulations Toni!
OUR STEWARDSHIP
SUNDAY SCHOOL
CHURCH ATTENDANCE
MAY 6, 2012
Sunday School 17
Church 41
CHURCH GIVING
MAY 6, 2012
Budget $3267.00
Mother’s Day $44.00
+++++
COOPERATIVE MISSION PARISH
WORSHIP
SUNDAY, JUNE 10
11:00 A.M.
AT KILGO UMC
Don’t forget that on Sunday,
June 10, we will worship at Kilgo.
Sunday
School
will
be
at
Commonwealth as it normally is – but
then we will go to Kilgo for the 11:00
woship.
Peggy will be preaching
there. Please let your friends and
neighbors know that we will worship
with Kilgo on that Sunday. Let’s fill
up their pews!
Neighborhood Sustainable Vision
Planning Workshop
Wednesday, May 16th
6:30 p.m.
Commonwealth UMC
The City staff and community
partners will facilitate the creation of a
Neighborhood
Sustainable
Vision
Plan. The SVP will occur in two (2)
parts, the first meeting will be a
visioning workshop with residents to
learn
about
neighborhood
sustainability initiatives, collect ideas,
and
brainstorm
about
desired
outcomes. The SVP must have a
minimum of 10 participants.
Following
the
visioning
workshop staff will compile the ideas
and organize them into categories. In
the second meeting the categories and
ideas will be presented to the
neighbors and actionable items will be
identified as well as available
resources
to
assist
with
implementation.
The neighborhood
will prioritize the actionable items.
The second meeting will be
held on Wednesday, June 13th at 6:30
p.m. with a presentation by the city to
us – again held at Commonwealth.
We care about our community – so
please plan to attend these meetings.
Jackie Samuels’ Recipe For
Caramel-Glazed Pear Cake
4
Ripe Barlett pears,
peeled & diced (about 3 cups)
1
Tablespoon sugar
3
Large eggs
2
Cups sugar
1 ¼ Cups Crisco Oil
3
Cups all-purpose flour
1
Teaspoon salt
1
Teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ Cups pecans (chopped)
2
Teaspoons vanilla flavoring
Toss together pears and 1
tablespoon sugar. (Let stand 5
minutes)
Beat eggs, 2 cups sugar, and oil at
medium speed with an electric
mixer until blended.
Combine
flour, salt, and baking soda and
add to egg mixture, beating at low
speed until blended. Fold in pears,
nuts, and vanilla flavoring, pour
batter into greased and floured 10inch Bundt pan.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Remove
from pan while warm and drizzle
Caramel Glaze over cake.
CARAMEL GLAZE: 1 Cup brown
sugar, ½ cup butter, ¼ cup
evaporated milk. In sauce pan,
melt butter, add sugar and milk.
Cook over medium heat, bring to a
boil, stirring constantly, for 2 ½
minutes.
5th SUNDAY OF WORSHIP
OUR PRAYER LIST
COMMONWEALTH CHURCH
Don’t forget the dates for our
Music Sundays!
June 24th (a 4th Sunday –
Annual Conference Sunday)
July 29th
September 30th
December 30th
Invite your friends.
Phyllis Baker, Emma Grace Barnes,
Milton Burgess, Bobbie Denny, Joann
Fitzsimmons, Logan, Brian, and
Kathleen Forbis (friend of Kristin
Jordan),
Nancy Godfrey, The
Gulledge Family, Bobbie Hagler, The
Hardy Family, Sandy Hirsch, Michael
Johnson, Scott Keever, Jennie
Kehoe, Louise and Horace Lee,
Martha Lee, Anne and Sarah Lever,
Lucille McConnell, Candy McKinnon
(daughter of Edna Ormond), Evelyn
McRae, Stephen Mims, Jackie Nolan,
Edna Ormand, Charles Page, The
Pridgen Family, Fred and Sandra
Rich, Bill Richardson, LaVerne
Roberts, Caroline Ross, Hannah
Rushing, Larry Shepherd, Edith
Simmons, Lynne Skelton, Lawrence
Skidmore, Jr., Gerald Smith, Tara
Snider,
Jim
Trollinger,
Cathy
Weaver, Margery Weaver, O.J.
Weaver, Jerry Wood
Nursing/Assisted Living Care:
Mable Davis, Dorothy Fitzpatrick,
Maxine Kincaid, Hazel Lands, Judy
Ledwell, Ann Pike, Ralph Stephenson,
Jean Stoneman, Ellen Williams,
Mabel Winn
How much do you value our
church? Haven’t you been blessed?
A new generation is coming. Help us
secure our future with a gift to our
Legacy Fund in honor of or in
memory of someone. Also, perhaps
you
could
consider
including
Commonwealth in your will.
It
doesn’t have to be a large amount –
but it is a way to say “I care about
Commonwealth.”
Commonwealth is a dedicated,
faithful church. It is an important
part of our community. It makes a
difference. Won’t you be a partner
with us?
+++++
PRAYER LIST
We want our prayer list to be
current and accurate. Please review
our list to see if there are names
that need to be removed. As usual,
if you want to add a name, please call
the church office. We’d like to also
indicate by each name their
relationship to the person who
submitted their name – friend of –
cousin of, etc. Thank you for your
help.
+++++
Loaves and Fishes Thank You
Last week we received a thank
you for our donation of 355 pounds
of food.
What a generous
congregation you are! Keep it up!
PLEASE NOTE !
NEW DIRECTORIES
Shawn
Henderson
is
a
representative
for
Biltmore
Inspirations products. She held a
party for us back in the fall as a
fundraiser for Commonwealth. We
had such a great time and the food
she prepared for taste testing was
excellent. She would like to hold
another party. If anyone would like
to host a party in their home let
Donna know. Shawn will do all the
work: prepare the food, organize,
demonstrate and share recipes. Her
parties are always so much fun.
If a party is out of the
question, you can still place an order
by seeing the catalog in the office
and filling out an order form right
there. Donna will collect the order
forms before the end of May and
send them off to Shawn.
Shawn sends her regards and
misses us from the last party.
Our new directories are out.
They are available in the narthex,
Sunday School rooms, and church
office. If you’d like one mailed to
you, please contact the church
office. We’ll be glad to do so.
+++++
CHURCH-WIDE WORK DAY
The trustees will schedule a
church-wide work day in the fall
when it’s cooler. In the meantime, if
you want to work, pick a project and
work at a time convenient to you.
Some suggestions:
Bamboo behind garage.
Trim bushes.
Trim azaleas in front of
Fellowship Hall.
+++++
MEMORIALS
In Memory of R. C. Pridgen
By: Jack and Nancy Wright