ESUMC. The Welcoming News

APRIL 2016
MEET OUR NEW
PASTORAL TEAM!
On Palm Sunday the District Superintendent, Rev. Dr
Easterling, accompanied us for Wo rship and Holy
Communion. After the service, we celebrated our Church
Conference, where we presented reports on the ministry of
the church during the year 2015. Among many things
discussed, Rev. Easterling announced that Pastors, Jonathan
Rodríguez and Dorlimar Lebrón, whom have been serving
as interim Pastors, will be officially appointed to East
Saugus United Methodist Church beginning July 1st.
Both Pastor Dorlimar and
Pastor Jonathan, are fulltime
students pursuing a
Masters of Divinity at
Boston University School of
Theology. We rejoice greatly
with the news to have them
with us for another year.
LOOK INSIDE…
We are grateful for the servant
leadership of Rev. Easterling,
for her continuous support of
our ministry here at East
Saugus and for having
entrusted our church with
these two young pastors We
know they will be a blessing
to this community!
ON FACEBOOK:
East Saugus United Methodist Church
ON TWITTER:
@EastSaugusUMC
ON YOUTUBE:
EastSaugus UMC
ON INSTAGRAM:
eastsaugusumc
Pastoral Word… A message from our
pastoral team.
Sunday Morning Bible
Study… We have Bible Study.
Every Sunday at 9:15am –
10:00am
201 YEARS AND
COUNTING… We are
getting ready to celebrate our
201 st Anniversary!

A WORD
FROM THE
PASTORS
“GOD HAS WORK FOR
US TO DO”
The Argentinian singer Mercedes
Sosa wrote a song during her
political exile in the City of Paris
titled, “Everything Changes” and it
says 'That which is superficial
changes, also that which is profound,
the way of thinking changes,
everything in this world changes.
Changes, everything changes. But
my love doesn't change no matter
how far away I find myself neither
the memory nor the pain of my
country and my people". (Mercedes
Sosa, Changes Everything changes)
Changes are important, are
necessary and are healthy. Changes
everything changes. However for
the church of the Lord there is
something that does not change,
something that has remained for
more than two thousand years of
history. That is our mission. In the
Gospel of Luke 4:18, we find what
Jesus adopted as his mission. Taking
the words of the Prophet Isaiah,
Jesus says: "The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me because it has anointed
me. He has sent me to preach the
Good News to poor, to proclaim
release to the prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind will
and He wants me to set free those
who are treated badly.”
To announce the Good News to the
poor, to proclaim liberty to the
prisoners, to recovered the sight of a
world blinded by selfishness,
fanaticism, homophobia, racism,
hatred and to set free those who are
treated badly. That is the mission of
the church.
As a church when can we say this
mission is accomplished?
The will of God is for us to live in
a world free of injustice, with hope
and peace ever growing. That is the
kingdom of God, which is being
built right now in the
present. Until we live in a world
free of injustice, where peace and
the unconditional love of God
reigns among us, God has and will
continue tohave work for us to do.
We are a congregation with more
than 200 years of history, but that
does not mean that we have
reached the goal. Much has
changed but our mission remains
the same from day one: to make
disciples of Christ for the
transformation of the world;
building the kingdom of God in our
present day. God indeed has work
for us todo!
As pastors, we have responded to
God’s call to continue to build the
Kingdom of God in this present
moment. However it is a task that
we cannot do alone. As a Pastoral
Team our mission is to create
spaces where peace and justice are
cultivated and love is sustained. To
fulfill the mission we are counting
on you! Will you journey with us?
God has work forus to do!
UP COMING
Film Screening
An Act of Love
Fri. | Apr. 29
6:30 pm
National Day of Prayer
Vineyard Community
Thu. | May. 5
7:00 pm
EAST SAUGUS UMC
WELCOMING AND
AFFIRMING COMMUNITY
“For a nation that has long prided
itself as the home of the American
Dream—a place where each person
has a chance to live full and
meaningful. We can, lean more
forcefully into our religious
convictions that teach us to
welcome the stranger, love one
another, live in hope, and work to
create a more just and peaceful
world.”
-Rev. Dr. EmilieM. Townes-
Dean of Vanderbilt DivinitySchool

SUNDAY MORNING
B I B L E S T U D Y
"We want a religion founded on reason and according to the reason; this is, in harmony with
the nature of God and of man and their mutual relations. We strongly urge all those who seek
a true religion, to make use of all the reason that God has given, investigating the things of
God. It is reasonable to love God, it is reasonable to love our neighbor and do good to all
people. The religion that we preach and live is in agreement with the highest reason" (J. Wesley,
defense of Methodism)
In the 19th century the Methodist
movement in England was one of
the pioneers of what is known as
Bible Study. Although initially it was
not a purely theological study, since
lay people offered courses in other
subjects with the purpose of
educating the children of workers,
Bible study has become a tradition
we pride ourselves in.
Theol ogical Study for United
Methodists is fundamental to our
Christian faith. According to
Wesley, there are four major sources
of help in understanding Christian
knowledge : the Scriptures, reason,
tradition and experience. Today they
are known as the Wesleyan
Quadrilateral. The scriptures are an
essential part of our Christian faith.
Wesley called
the Bible his only rule of faith.
However, it is important that as a
community of faith, we separate
spaces for study and analysis of the
text.
Wesley claimed that this principle of
rationality was fundamental to all
Methodists, to renounce reason,
according to Wesley, is to renounce
religion, because religion and reason
wor k together, and all irrational
religion is false. In times like the one s
we are living, it is important to
cultivate spaces of rational study of
the Sacred Text.
Taking this into consideration
Pastors, Dorlimar and Jonathan,
presented to the Leadership Team of
our church
last month, their intention to start the
Sunday Morning Bible study, in
addition to our current Tuesday
evening Bible Study. "The theological
education of the congregation is a
fundamental part of the growth of our
faith", added the Pastor Jonathan
when submitting the proposal of the
Pastoral Team. Karen Zenteno, MDiv,
second year student of Boston
University School of Theology,
volunteers her time each Sunday to
facilitate classes for adults, a decision
welcomed by the Leadership Team.
As a result, the worship service was
moved back to its original time of
10:00 am, so that Sunday Bible study,
could begin at 9:15 am. We are
grateful to Karen Zenteno for her
efforts and to the whole Church for
their support. God is up to
something!
LENT 2016
This lent season, we were blessed to have the opportunity to participate
in Wednesday Mid Week worship services with members of the Good
Shepherd United Methodist Church in Malden and Glendale United
Methodist church in Everett. We were immensely blessed by the
leadership of Rev. Nizzi Dagan, Pastor Dave Jackson, the youth and
children who helped with the music and everyone else who brought their
gifts to share with our extended community. Although the lent season is
over, we hope to be able to get together again soon!

OVER TWO CENTURIES
SERVING IN SAUGUS
It was in the month of February 1815,
when our community of faith was
founded. Two centuries of history have
passed since then and we are grateful
that God has brought us to this point.
Much has changed since then, not only
our name, time has changed, the
demographics around us have changed,
the worship, and the pastors. Many
people have passed through our
church, many lives have been touched
and transformed by the Holy Spirit at
our altar. As a community of faith the
Church has faced different changes,
and through it all God has been with
us. This year we will celebrate over two
centuries of history, and we will also
celebrate what is to come in this
community. God has not abandoned
us, God’s Spirit is upon us, and we are
still called to make disciples for the
transformation of all creation, to
continue to be a prophetic voice in
society and this community, that
proclaims justice and peace. We have
many reasons to give thanks to God.
Indeed God is up to something!
open Hearts
to love you
Unconditionally
open Minds
to affirmwho you are
open Doors
to Welcome you and
and make you feel at
Home
CONTACT US
PASTOR DORLIMAR LEBRÓN
516.983.3895
PASTOR JONATHAN RODRÍGUEZ
787.479.7730
EMAIL
eastsaugusumc@gmail.com
ADDRESS
83 Chestnut St. Saugus MA 01906