Special Announcements
Limited In-Person Service Starts Sun., Mar. 14
Everyone is welcome to watch our service online on Sundays at 10 a.m. Children and youth will lead worship on Sun., Mar. 7.
In-person service for up to 50 people will start on Sun., Mar. 14. Masking, social distancing and pre-registration will be required. Sign up here. Be seated and ready to worship by 9:50 a.m. There will be no Children's Learning or childcare.
The sermon series for the Lenten season started on Feb. 21. We are rediscovering Jesus’s seven last words through Susan Robb’s book, Seven Words: Listening to Christ from the Cross. This is not a church-wide study, but please feel free to share the information about the sermon series with your Growth Group members (and anyone else who might be interested) in case they would like to read the book on their own to deepen their understanding of the sermon series.
More information on the book is available at www.amazon.com/Seven-Words-Listening-Christ-Cross/dp/1791007813" .
Glen Mar has special services planned for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.
Glen Mar is currently registering children and youth for learning. Visit this website page for more information.
Other youth programs, including confirmation, are available. Visit this website page for more information.
While the building is closed, programs for children and youth continue online. Youth are gathering by Zoom and through Bible study apps for high school Rooted, Confirmation Class, and small groups. Sunday school teachers are sharing videos and do-at-home lessons for preschool and elementary-aged kids.
Don't miss out. Sign up for the Family Vine or sign up for one of the Youth Newsletters or contact Margaret Lang for children's learning, Jen Rowell for middle school programs or Sean Danaher for high school programs.
The Glen Mar Task Force For Re-Entry is meeting and continuing to monitor conditions, recommendations and guidelines from our Bishop, LaTrelle Easterling, and authorities. We want to prioritize safety, care, connection and love for God and neighbor. We are committed to continuing to provide meaningful online ministry, as we continue to prepare and pray for the best ways to safely gather. Questions? Email Mandy.Sayers@glenmarumc.org.
Glen Mar is currently accepting requests for outdoor gatherings at the church, with social distancing. All requests have to be approved by our Task Force for Re-Entry committee. If you want to gather, email Mandy.Sayers@glenmarumc.org who will take your request to the team and get back to you.
Registration for full and half-day programs for the Glen Mar Early Learning Center for 2021-2022 is available. The ELC believes that young children learn best through creative exploration, discovery and play in a setting that stimulates their natural curiosity and encourages their love of learning.
The current school year also has openings.
Follow the Glen Mar Early Learning Center on Facebook or visit the website page www.glenmarelc.org.
For more information email elc@glenmarumc.org or call 410-461-2859.
Glen Mar's Early Learning Center has a new offering that assists families dealing with virtual learning. The ELC is enrolling school-age children in kindergarten through fourth grade in its In-Person Support for Virtual Learning program.
Teacher will assist students with technology, provide schoolwork support and offer activities during free time, including games, arts and crafts, outdoor play opportunities and more. This support will be held at the ELC with strict health and safety protocols in effect.
For more information about this program, visit the website page www.glenmarelc.org/school-age-virtual-learning-classroom/ or call 410-461-2859.
Events Currently Scheduled
Glen Mar Church has partnered with the Maryland Food Bank to provide families in need with free produce at a Pantry on the Go event. The distribution will be held at Glen Mar Church’s parking lot (4701 New Cut Road in Ellicott City) on Fri., Mar. 19, 2 - 5 p.m. Boxes of free produce will be distributed to 300 families. Free children’s books will also be distributed and cloth face covers will be given if needed.
Click here for more information.
Click here to learn about Glen Mar's Lenten activities.
Glen Mar's singles group will hold a monthly virtual brunch on Sun., Mar. 7.
Monthly virtual potlucks will be held on Saturdays, Mar. 27 and Apr. 24.
A hike is scheduled for Saturday, Mar. 20.
For more information, email singles@glenmarumc.org.
Can We Help You?
Mask-making videos are available at on Glen Mar's COVID-19 Crisis webpage.
Opportunities to Get Involved
In partnership with the Maryland Food Bank, a Pantry on the Go event will be held Fri., Mar. 19 in Glen Mar's parking lot. This event will provide families in need with free produce. Volunteers are needed. The first volunteer shift will be 1:30- 3:30 p.m. and the second volunteer shift will work 3:15 to 5:15 p.m.
To volunteer, email pantryonthego@glenmarumc.org.
The event will run 2 - 5 p.m. each day.
Glen Mar is planning a Holy Week Prayer Walk for families and individuals and would like to include artwork at each station. Artists of all ages are invited to draw, paint, or design a piece of art based on a designated scripture passage. Email jen.rowell@glenmarumc.org to volunteer or learn more.
The sermon series for the Lenten season started on Feb. 21. In this series, we will rediscover Jesus’s seven last words through Susan Robb’s book, Seven Words: Listening to Christ from the Cross. This is not a church-wide study, but please feel free to share the information about the sermon series with your Growth Group members (and anyone else who might be interested) in case they would like to read the book on their own to deepen their understanding of the sermon series.
More information on the book is available at www.amazon.com/Seven-Words-Listening-Christ-Cross/dp/1791007813" .
Glen Mar will need volunteers to move furniture for Help End Homelessness Howard County on a weekend late in February or early in March. If interested, email hehhc@glenmarumc.org.
Join Glen Mar's virtual choir for Holy Week and Easter. The choir will sing familiar songs, including Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" and Stainer's "God So Loved the World." No experience is necessary. Email Sophie.Hong@glenmarumc.org.
On the fourth Tuesday of the month Glen Mar volunteers prepare and deliver the dinner entree and milk for all the clientele (about 50 people) at the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, 6700 Freetown Road in Columbia. Each volunteer prepares or purchases a portion of the dinner (two cooked meat loaves in his or her home or five gallons of 2% milk) and drops off the items at the shelter before 3 p.m. on the assigned day. Six volunteers are needed each month.
Email Linda Hunt at grassroots@glenmarumc.org to be added to the volunteer email list. At the beginning of each month an email is sent to all volunteers soliciting help. Those who are interested reply to the email.
Stephen Ministries is an organization that equips lay volunteers to provide Christian care for individuals in crisis. Stephen Ministers partner with ordained staff to identify and minister to those who are struggling with a wide range of life difficulties.
Stephen Ministers get 50 hours of training to develop their skills in listening, compassion, empathy and setting healthy boundaries. They are equipped to be caregivers to those most in need of a non-judgmental listening ear and to rely on God to bring about healing.
More information is available here.
If you are interested in becoming a Stephen Minister, stephenministry@glenmarumc.org will put you in touch with the Stephen Leader who can tell you more about the ministry and training.
Glen Mar is still making masks to supply them to people who cannot afford them. Jobs include sewing and ironing. Materials can be provided. For more information, contact mask@glenmarumc.org or visit this webpage.
Glen Mar's Gift Card Program provides money for ministries so support is appreciated.
To buy and pick up gift cards at the church, email bob.henry@glenmarumc.org.
A second option is to print gift cards at home. This is done from the ShopWithScrip website. If you are not yet registered as a Glen Mar supporter or did not know about this option, contact Van Beall at fundraising@glenmarumc.org.
Also contact Van if you have questions about how your profits are allocated (to a Family Account, the Building Fund, the Pastor's Emergency Fund, Early Learning Center, Music Ministries, Children's Ministries, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Walk/Journey to Bethlehem, etc.,), your family account balance, or if you wish to allocate any/all your family account balance to another ministry.
If you shop at Amazon and are not yet registered with Amazon Smile, please visit www.smile.amazon.com and register as a Glen Mar supporter. That will add half a percent to the 2.25% earned when you shop at Amazon with Amazon gift cards purchased through the Glen Mar gift card program.
Collections, Donations, and Loaned Items
Glen Mar’s volunteer mask makers, who now total about 40, continue working even though masks are readily available for purchase because they want to supply free masks to people who cannot afford them.
The volunteers need the following supplies:
- Elastic – Up to ½ inch through ¼ inch or narrower
- Grosgrain ribbon (1/4-, 3/8-, ½-, or 5/8-inch wide)
- Thread, any color
- Pipe cleaners or chenille stems
If you are interested in donating food, household supplies, or grocery gift cards to these families, Adrienne is willing to deliver them to the families we serve. Limited pick-up is available or you may order online and have the items delivered to Adrienne's house. Please email Adrienne hehhc@glenmarumc.org to make arrangements.
Ministry Updates
Sixteen youth from Glen Mar's Confirmation Class fasted for 30 hours in early February during a 30-Hour Famine. The group raised over $5,500 for World Vision, a Christian organization that works to help lift people out of poverty around the world. The youth also learned about the challenges of poverty.
Donations to the bake sale held at Glen Mar on Feb. 6 raised an additional $780 and a car-load of canned goods for the Howard County Food Bank.
The 2021 Day of Service was a virtual event due to the global pandemic. The purpose was the same as in previous years – to show gratitude and love to a wide range of community members. This year there was an emphasis on thanking essential workers. More than 290 people/families pre-registered online to pick up free craft kits, prepare them and return the completed crafts.
There was also a free community-wide flu shot clinic and off-site virtual health screenings through Howard County General Hospital.
Among our partners were Ames Memorial United Methodist Church in Baltimore, St John Baptist Church in Columbia and the Howard County Health Department.
Among the projects completed were 550 no-sew fleece hats, 100 jump ropes made out of T-shirts and 1,700 thank-you or encouragement cards were written.
Other accomplishments were collecting over 1,000 pounds of non-perishable food and 100 items of winter clothing as well as removing bushes and trash from Ames Memorial United Methodist Church in Baltimore.
Almost 3,000 guests in more than 700 cars attended Glen Mar Church’s outdoor, drive-through Journey to Bethlehem held at six different presentations during the first two weekends in December.
Journey to Bethlehem presented the Biblical story of Mary and Joseph’s trip to Bethlehem and the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. The event featured eight scenes, costumed performers and animals.
Though this is Glen Mar’s 13th year presenting the story of Jesus’s birth, it was the first time it was staged as a drive-through, which was necessitated by the coronavirus. The event was previously called Walk to Bethlehem where guests walked from scene to scene outside followed by indoor activities that included watching Simeon bless the baby Jesus in the temple and a thriving first-century marketplace.
Because the Simeon scene was not part of this year’s presentation, Glen Mar created a video of that story based on Luke 2:22-39. The video can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBf-COSVqDw&feature=youtu.be.
Glen Mar blessed 29 families and an additional 10 youth during the 2020 holiday season through its Wish Upon a Star ministry by providing them $8,000 in clothing and toy requests and more than $12,000 in gift cards, including ones to grocery stores.
These families and youth were identified by Ames Memorial United Methodist Church, the Eva Johnson Foundation, the Howard County Public School System, the Judy Center of Howard County, HopeWorks, and the Baltimore Campus of the Board of Child Care of the United Methodist Church.
In addition, Glen Mar provided gift cards worth $2,000 to assist families in need that are served by the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center.
Glen Mar has been conducting this ministry for more than three decades but ran into challenges in 2020. Paper stars designating various needs for donors to fulfill were not available to the Glen Mar congregation in 2020 as they had been in the past because few people could pick up the stars after in-person worship services due to coronavirus pandemic attendance restrictions.
Instead, people signed up online to donate items and checks and delivered the items in the church’s parking lot during designated times on or prior to Dec. 6. A Glen Mar committee distributed the gifts to the organizations that identified the needs, and those organizations delivered the gifts to families and youth.
