1. family and parenting
2. children

April 2015
Avenue United Methodist Church
302-422-8111
Fax: 302-422-4078
Email: avechurchoffice@verizon.net
Wed site: www.avenue-umc.org
“Our firm decision is to work from this focused
center: One man died for everyone. That puts
everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in
his death so that everyone could also be included in
his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than
people ever lived on their own. Because of this
decision we don’t evaluate people by what they
have or how they look. We looked at the messiah
that way once and got it all wrong, as you know.
We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore.
Now we look inside, and what we see is that
anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start,
is created new. The old life is gone; a new life
burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God
who settled the relationship between us and him,
and then called us to settle our relationships with
each other.”
-Second Corinthians 5:14-18
Worship:
8:00 Traditional
9:30 Contemporary
11:00 Traditional
Sunday School: 9:30 September – May
Pastors: Tom A. Pasmore, Lead Pastor
Wendy A. Owen, Assc. Pastor
Kevin B. Chamberlain, Music Ministries
Cliff K. McCall, Student Ministries
Staff:
Cheryl Walden, Preschool Director
Barbara S. Fleetwood, Secretary
Curtis S. Griffith, Custodian
Erica Bauer, Nursery Coordinator
Inside this issue
Note from the Pastor…………..1 & 2
Devotion for today……………...2
(the message)
By the time you receive this, it will be Easter. This
time of year, as wonderful as it is, causes me some
real angst times. The annual struggle that Sarah and
I always face is helping our kids experience the holy
mystery of Easter. So, how do I connect my kids to
the majesty of the wonder of the Easter story?
To them it is the esoteric story of this great guy,
Jesus, who gets hurt badly on Friday, dies, and then
shows up again on Sunday alive and well.
Unfortunately, in the retelling it almost comes
across as a fairy tale because of the incongruities
between the way life seems to work and the work
that God did through Christ in the last week of his
life.
Great Advice………………………..3
What If…………………………………4 - 6
Announcements…………………..7
Church schedule…………………..8
Editor: McKenzie Betts
April 2015
People usually don’t get themselves killed by being nice to others. People are not literally crucified for what
they believe. People who die do not get up and have breakfast with their friends. So, how do I connect my
kids to the majesty of the Easter story?
In addition, my kids have not experienced loss and grief the same way that we adults have. Without
understanding of the real pain of death, and particularly crucifixion, they cannot connect to the emotions
and feelings the disciples are experiencing on Saturday, the Sabbath in Jesus’ passing is not seen as real,
bona fide death. Kid language falls far short of having the impact that this story is able to invoke amongst
people who have truly suffered. The truth is that my kids have not suffered in any meaningful way, and I
praise God for that. Being a parent is about shielding them from suffering and shielding them from horrors
that take place on Good Friday. So, how do I connect my kids to power of the Easter story?
I have no ready answers for these questions, but I think I know what Sarah and I need to do for the
connection to take place on its own. Let Jesus tell his own story. Let the mystery and that surround Holy
Week capture their imagination without me trying to force it upon them. The powerful experience of God
often comes when we let go and invite Holy Spirit to move in our lives. And the spirit moves as the wind
blows with no planning or forethought on within you and create a new space for mystery in your heart, and
for my kids to grow in love through a Savior who lived, died, and rose again for them and for all of us.
May the joy and love and hope of Easter fill all of your being,
Pastor Tom
DEVOTION FOR TODAY
Read: 1st Timothy 6:11-19
Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
- James 1:22
Our family received a Nintendo Wii for Christmas this year from my parents. I am amazed at the
sophisticated technology that allows the system to track the motion of the remote and translate that
into action on the screen. The kids have been really getting into the sports games, like golf, tennis,
and baseball, which came with the system. It’s wonderful for me as a parent to watch them learn the
real basics of the sport in the comfort of our home, knowing that they can use these very simple
lessons in the future. For me as someone who loves sports, the Wii is an easy alternative to going out
and playing these games myself. It’s so much nicer to sit at home and pretend to play these sports
than it is to actually suit up, go out, and “just do it.” I wonder how many of us are fans of Christian
Wii? In other words, it’s the opportunity to be a part of the Jesus movement without actually
changing anything about ourselves or going out and doing anything to change the world. We receive
all of the good things from Christ but don’t take time to respond to God’s call upon our lives. Simply
put, It’s what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace. Are we just pretending to be in the game or are
we seeking to live out the realities of what God would want from us?
Pastor Tom
Prayer: Lord, we ask you to help us reach out to the lost sheep in this world. Give us the strength to
get out of our houses, out of our church and even of our comfort zone. Amen.
April 2015
GREAT ADVICE
The choir director of the small town, Wyoming United Methodist-Episcopal Church suggested
all choir members join the larger, next town Dover Choral Society. Recently formed, it would
be sharing Handel’s, “The Messiah” and practices were beginning. At the time, I was in high
school and many of those singing were older than I – much more talented and with vast
musical experience. However, I heeded his great advice.
I learned that God inspired Handel with such fervor that he composed that huge oratorio in
days, hardly able to eat or sleep. The biblical words of Prophet Isaiah promising the coming of
“The Messiah” leapt from the pages in compelling storytelling music. Chapter 9, Verse 6 – For
unto us is born a son, and he shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Might God, The
Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Chapter 35 – from the wilderness desert shall come
The One who will open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf and God’s new
highway is under construction. Chapter 40 – God will transform and modify every valley,
mountain or crooked, rough place so they will become the avenue for the coming Messiah.
Good tidings, Rejoice. Chapter 53 – The Lord God is coming in the flesh and he will teach, feed
his sheep, even when we go astray and tenderly lift and carry his lambs, throughout their lives
into His everlasting arms and The Messiah will bear our sins, griefs and God will reign forever.
The King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Hallelujah.
Following a choir director’s advice, meant that as we practiced, God opened the eyes of my
heart to see meaning in the words and singing the music merged, sealed, both forever in my
person. During the last 50 years the words and music have grown louder – a roar in me. As a
human walking though valleys of loss, despair, fear, He carried me, a lamb, in His everlasting
arms on to the mountain top experiences of His love and joy. I know my Redeemer lives now, I
experience Him.
Your eyes see and your ears hear the next generations experiencing Jesus Christ, The Messiah,
in contemporary music and worship – His Kingdom everlasting passing from generation to
generation at Avenue Methodist Church in Milford, Delaware. Hallelujah.
Joanne Burbage
April 2015
WHAT IF
BY: Joanne Burbage
It was an honor and privilege to serve on jury duty for Sussex County Superior Court. About 120 people
were summoned to possibly serve. After lengthy instructions on being unbiased and those
circumstances that might be stumbling blocks to justice – each was offered a moment to be clear and
present, privately, before the judge. I disclosed a nephew with the Delaware State Police and that
sharing my married surname with the defendant, stated there was no direct familial lineage. Through
random selection, names were chosen for 12 jurors and 2 alternates and I became first alternate,
should a juror be unable to finish the trial. Weighty is a true description of the realization of the gravity
of your responsibility. Zealous is an accurate description for the process of selecting jurors and
constructing a place for utmost justice. Sequestered security and admonished that communications
with fellow jurors or any person or media, until the trial was over and the deliberations began, was
strictly enforced. Justice has center stage in the court room.
What unfolded was a family tragedy tale – husband, wife, boys ages 7, 6, 2 years. The father, separated
for a time from the family home, was living with his parents. But this night, finished his day’s work was
waiting in the dark, at home he previously shared with wife and children, expecting them to return at
the end of their day. The wife had been to work, the children to school and daycare, and then
presumably a meal and visit to her sister’s home. Late, it was perhaps 10:00 PM, when the wife opened
the door, running water greeted her and turning on the lights, saw cupboards destroyed, water lines
cut on a clothes washer, sink, bathtub overflowing and other debris strewn about and then she saw her
husband. Let’s take a ride, the mother said to the children. Driving from the house, leaving the
driveway, they heard the husband jump onto the back of the van and continued until he fell off onto
the road. Their other car was parked in front of the dwelling and soon those car headlights were rapidly
approaching the van. Less than one quarter of a football field, the first impact of the car hitting the van
was heard and felt, second impact, and the third impact hurled the van air born across a small culvert,
digging into the asphalt driveway, lawn, missing a huge tree on one side and parked car on the other,
and the fourth impact was into the side of the home, rolling the van and leaving it driver’s side down
on the grass, with a perfectly formed, shattered glass of the passenger side, lying near it on the grass as
though it had been expertly removed, reassembled. Quickly, the residents of the hit house came out to
help the screaming children and mother. Neighbors in the next house came out offering help to the
mother in the van who was asking – here take my children as she passed them out to all neighbors who
comforted and cared for them. The mother was last, helped by neighbors – limping, sprained ankle,
caught between brake and accelerator peddles. The house hit was heavily damaged: foundation, doors,
windows, walls cracked, and electrical wires cut but no one was injured inside the house or in the room
where a 20 year old college student was in her bed a couple feet from the crushed wall. Furniture was
knocked in her direction from the impact but, it too, remained a couple feet from her body.
The man from the hit house saw a tall male standing beside driver’s door of the wrecked – front end
crashed car. He expected him to come ask for help, to call 911 – instead he saw the man disappearing
into the night in the opposite direction of the disaster.
April 2015
911 was called, responding with ambulances, fireman, Delaware State Police. The family was carried to the
hospital, carefully treated, released with scrapes, bruises, one sprained ankle and stitches to one child above
and below the eye. The wife called her father-in-law and mother-in-law who came immediately to the
hospital but were unable to be with her or their grandchildren. The father called his son’s cell phone and
found that he was present in his work vehicle at the residence of his father and mother. The father returned
to his home and drove his son to the State Police Troop investigating the accident. Through graphic
photographs and participants testimonies, the scenario just described surfaced.
A noteworthy element to this tale is, that to be able to testify at courts law, you have two choices: to lift
your hand into the air and swear to tell the truth or you can place your right hand firmly, flatly, onto the Holy
Bible and swear to tell the truth. At this trial, Children, Mother, State Police, neighbors, all others, chose to
take an oath on the Bible.
Crossed hands holding each elbow, the wife entered the courtroom, dragging her feet, a reluctant witness
on the first day. Neatly groomed and dressed she said she was being made to testify and we didn’t know
how hard this is for her to talk about what happened. Gently, clearly, a State lawyer explained: If you are
involved in an incident, you have the responsibility to share your witness or be found in contempt of the
ability for the Court to offer all views. Questions from attorneys or judge brought a slow, often annoyed
response that she was thinking, as she sat in the wheeled witness chair swinging slightly to the right and left
reminiscent of a child in a low hanging swing. At times, the wife was in tears or hands covering her face,
implying an attempt, to make everything before her disappear. On the second day of testimony the wife
responded more willingly and stated she still loved her husband and often looked in his direction – but he
made no contact with her eyes. Again, the wife was well groomed, dressed in a contemporary style top with
the words, “Forever Young” on the front. Motherhood came early to a 24 year old with children 7, 6 & 2.
At separate times, both children were asked, by the judge, if they understood the difference between a truth
and a lie by using the color of their shirts as a definition. They did and chose to place a hand on the Bible and
spoke without reticence, information freely poured from them; liking school and pointing to their “daddy”
and calmly, without rancor, telling their truths of the evening’s account – confirming the same story of
others who testified.
The husband looked straight ahead at the judge, the monitor in front of him or paper on the table,
sometimes his eyes appeared as slits, barely open. The one time I saw him look in a different direction was
after one child passed through the courtroom to exit and the father followed him with his eyes. The defense
called one witness, the husband’s father, who said his daughter-in-law called; he went to her at the hospital
and then located his son and drove him to the investigating State Police Troop. The defense counsel
appeared to give the husband a chance to testify; a sideways motion indicted a no. A stark contrast. The
husband: motionless in court, super motion wrecking their home; crashing his car to the rear of the van
driven by his wife with his children, propelling them into a home, rollover crash.
The State presented their closing arguments based on the pictures and testimonies and again reconstructed
the repeated story. Asking for the fullest indictment, the greatest of possible charges, against the father,
they posed the question of: What if the van had hit the tree and exploded? What if there were catastrophic
injuries and death instead of minor injuries? What if the van had hit two feet further and killed the girl in
bed?
The Defense could not refute the story – a preponderance of evidence existed. The Defense offered: the
WORSE What ifs did not happen and asked for the lightest charges. A huge WHAT IF the BEST had happened
resounded in my jurist, Christian heart filter?
Cont.
April 2015
When they were having problems, husband and wife had asked for help from a pastor, a friend, and actively listened
for wisdom? Looking for answers to their anxiety, they actually opened and read the Bible they chose to lay hands
on and promise to tell the truth? The Ten Commandments were family pillars of their home? We are close to being
in their shoes? We encounter someone in their shoes?
MARK 12:30, 31 – The first greatest commandment is to love God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength
and the second greatest commandment is to love, care for, help a spouse, a stranger, a neighbor more than yourself,
passing on God’s love for them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
10 COMMANDMENTS
10 INTERPRETATIONS
10 CONSEQUENCES
Do not worship other gods
Believe, God is, Real, Core
Without “The Core” you will collapse
Do not worship idols
Power, money, drugs, a child,
Anything (s)
They obscure God and possess you
Do not us God’s name
Other than reverence, respect
It will be hard to hear God call your
Name
Keep the Sabbath
Worship God, Know Jesus Christ
God connects to your inner soul,
eyes, ears, heart, or miss-connect
Honor father/mother
Respect people/wisdom
Rewards or Costly mistakes for
Ignoring wisdom
Do not murder
Lose self-control to hurt someone
Innocents and you will be
Punished
Do not commit adultery
Love families more than yourself
Good or bad Seeds you spread
Horizontally or vertically
To generations
Do not steal
Anything
Work, earn, give – all you need
Will be given to you
Do not lie
Gossip, judge without God’s mercy
Do not covet
Anything
Truth will be revealed
Practice extreme gratitude –
You will not want
April 2015
AVE-NEWS DEADLINE
The deadline for the May edition of the Ave-News is April 20. Please try to have your articles in by
this date. They can be dropped off at the church office or emailed to our editor, Dianne Betts, at
avenews@avenueumc.com
SCHOLARSHIPS
High School seniors are encouraged to apply for one of more scholarship awarded by Avenue
Church. Applications can be obtained by emailing Barbara Fleetwood, Church Secretary, at
churchoffice@avenueumc.com
GRADUATES
Please help us identify students who will be graduating from HIGH School and College this spring.
We want to insure that we recognize all of our graduates for their hard work and perseverance.
Please send your information to Barbara Fleetwood at churchoffice@avenueumc.com
SAVE THE DATE!!!
April 18- Movie Night in Fellowship Hall hosted by Family Ministries; Doors open at 6:30pm
May 2- Confirmation Retreat at Camp Arrowhead, 9:00 am
May 3- Mother/Daughter Banquet 1pm in Fellowship Hall, hosted by Family Ministries
May 31- Recognition of Graduates and Scholarship Awards
June 7- Summer Kick Off Picnic
June 21-25- Vacation Bible School
April Birthdays
Anita Van Horn will celebrate her 92nd birthday on April 20th
Bob Mercer will celebrate his 102nd birthday on April 20th
Marian Dickerson will celebrate her 94th birthday on April
22nd
April Anniversaries
Bill and Joan Dudley will celebrate their 64th anniversary
on April 20th
Parker and Maxine Turner will celebrate their 52nd
anniversary on April 28th
Transition March
Births:
Teagan James Bennett, son of Brian Bennett and Heather Jester, grandson of Rick and Rita
Bennett and George and Cindy Jester. Teagan was born on February 26, 2015 at Christiana
Care, Wilmington.
Baptism:
Teagan Killen Grier, daughter of Garrett and Rebecca Grier and the granddaughter of Garry
and Judy Grier and Robert and Sue Killen. Teagan was born on September 6, 2014 at Bay
health, Dover.
April 2015
April 2015
Save the date:
Family Ministries Movie Night in
Fellowship Hall on April 18th 6:30 p.m.
Sunday
8:00 a.m. Traditional Worship
9:30 a.m. Contemporary Worship
9:30 a.m. Sunday School
11:00 a.m. Traditional Worship
12:15 p.m. Book Group, Grier Room, 3rd Sunday of each month
4:00 p.m. Youth Bible Study, Grier Room
6:00 p.m. Fusion, Wesley Room
Monday
11:00 a.m. A.A, Wesley Room
Noon Ave-News Deadline, third Monday of each month except
June and December
1:00 p.m. Staff Meeting, Conference Room
4:30 p.m. Alzhemimer’s Support Group, Grier Room, 2nd Monday
of each month
6:00 p.m. Bear Cub Scouts, 2nd & 3rd Monday of each month,
Conference Room
6:30 p.m. Webleblos 2, Cub Scouts, 2nd & 3rd Monday of every
month, Heritage Room
6:30 p.m. Handbell Choir Rehearsal, Music Room
7:00 p.m. Disciple 1, Holzmueller Room
7:00 p.m. 1st Stare Harmonizers, Fellowship Hall
7:00 p.m. Trustees, Grier Room 3rd Monday of each month
7:00 p.m. Boy Scout, Wesley Room
8:00 p.m. AA, Room 205
Wednesday
10:00 p.m. Writing Group, Grier Room
1:30 p.m. Knitting Group, Grier Room
6:00 p.m. Momentum Praise Team, Rehearsal, Wesley Room
7:00 p.m. Praise Team Rehearsal, Sanctuary
7:00 p.m. AA, Heritage Room
Thursday
6:30 p.m. Grief Share, Grier Room
nd
th
6:30 p.m. Wolf Cub, 2 & 4 Thursday, Fellowship Hall
st
rd
6:30 p.m. Webelos 1, 1 & 3 Cub Scouts, Fellowship Hall
nd
6:30 p.m. Avenue Committee, 2 Thursday of each month Grier room
nd
7:00 p.m. Staff Parish Relations Committee, 2 Thursday of each
month Grier Room
7:00 p.m. Sanctuary Choir Rehearsal, Music Room
8:00 p.m. AA, Wesley Room
Church Council will meet on May 20th
in Fellowship Hall at 7:00 p.m.
Mother/Daughter Luncheon in
Fellowship Hall, May 3rd 1:00-3:00
p.m.
Scholarship will be awarded on
Sunday, May 31st
Tuesday
9:30 a.m. Sister’s Bible Study, Grier Room
10:00 a.m. Committee on Archives and
History, Archives room, meets the 1st Tuesday
of each month
11:30 a.m. Card Ministry, Grier room 1st
Tuesday of each month
1:00 p.m. Mary & Martha Circles, Grier Room,
3rd Tuesday, September to May
2:00 p.m. 4H, Wesley Room, 2nd Tuesday of
each month
6:00 p.m. Astronomy Club, Fellowship Hall 2nd
Tuesday of the month, November-May
6:30 p.m. Tiger Cub Scouts, 1st & 3rd
Fellowship Hall Tuesday of each month,
September-May
6:30 p.m. Cub Scout Pack Meetings,
Fellowship Hall 4th Tuesday of each month,
September-May
7:00 p.m. Disciple V, Holzmueller Room
7:00 p.m. Central Delaware Chess Club, Room
205
7:00 p.m. Finance Committee, Grier Room 2nd
Tuesday of each month
7:00 p.m. UMW Executive Board Meeting,
Grier Room, 1st Tuesday, September-May
Friday
8:00 p.m. AA, Wesley Room
Saturday
7:00 p.m. AA, Wesley Room