Special Announcements
A service is held online each Sunday at 10 a.m. Click here to access the online service.
In August we are featuring a family-oriented worship series called "A Playdate with Jesus." This participatory, energetic, and interactive series invites people of all ages to have fun as we worship our Lord together. In addition to Bible stories, prayer, and preaching we'll have family-friendly crafts, games, and songs as we worship our God, who invites all of us to the party.
Send pictures of you and your family playing and/or having play date fun starting now and throughout August to melaina.trice@glenmarumc.org to be in Sunday's services.
Click here to view previous services.
Weekly vespers services called "Saturday Night Live" started on Sat., Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. in the Glen Mar parking lot. If you will be joining us, please help us ensure we have enough room to safely space everyone by letting us know you’re coming. Click here to RSVP via SignUpGenius. These services will not be held if it rains. Folks who have RSVP'd will be notified if the event is cancelled.
Folks can set up lawn chairs in every other space in the lower lot or sit in their cars and listen to the service on FM radio (station 101.5).
Masks will be required and we'll need to maintain six feet of distance between households. If you are experiencing any symptoms of illness, we love you, but please stay at home.
For more information, visit this webpage.
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.
Although gift cards are not currently available at Glen Mar, there are other ways you can obtain them and still benefit Glen Mar. Participating in the gift card program and other Extreme Fundraising programs supports Glen Mar ministries and ministry partners but costs the buyer nothing extra.
To Place an Online Order
First, enroll at https://shop.shopwithscrip.com/Login/Enroll using Glen Mar's enrollment code AF17656D14184.
Once you have enrolled, you can sign in any time at https://shop.shopwithscrip.com/Login and place an on-line order. You can also print cards at home, send by email or reload existing cards.
To pay for your on-line orders you may have a direct debit from your checking account (15 cent fee) or pay by credit card (2.6% fee). For additional information visit https://shop.shopwithscrip.com/Support/faq/online-payments
or call ShopWithScrip Customer Service at 1-800-727-4715.
Click here for more information about Extreme Fundraising programs. Questions? Contact fundraising@glenmarumc.org.
Registration is open.
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.
Events Currently Scheduled
This journey invariably produces changed lives, renewals of faith, and joyful Christian leaders. Current plans are for groups to start in mid-September, and we'll be providing more details in the coming weeks. Given the current pandemic, it is likely that we will start Disciple online. But we hope that we may be able to move to an in-person format as time progresses. If you'd like to learn more about this exciting opportunity, please fill out the following survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5B8L3HY.
Members from all PATH (People Acting Together Howard County) organizations and congregations are invited to attend a housing action team meeting on Thu., Aug. 13, 5 p.m. Glen Mar is a PATH congregation.
This team will be organizing the campaign to "Keep the Deal" in Downtown, following the Aug. 6 meeting on affordable housing in Downtown Columbia. Sign up here.
Click here for a summary of the Aug. 6 meeting and more ways to get involved in the affordable housing effort.
PATH is a multi-racial, multi-faith, non-partisan residents' organization rooted in local congregations and organizations.
Click here for to access our program.
Kits are available but are optional. Each one contains a VBS T-Shirt, craft supplies and a CD to go with the curriculum. They cost $25 each. Contact Margaret at margaret.lang@glenmarumc.org to make arrangements to get them.
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, Jen Rowell or Sean Danaher to get all the details.
RSVP to Kyara Kelley kyara.kelley@glenmarumc.org for details on the next meeting (most likely on Zoom).
Anyone who works with or comes into contact with children, youth or vulnerable adults in Glen Mar's ministry settings is required to complete Safe Sanctuaries training prior to serving. Training takes about one hour. Participants in this training are asked to provide references and information for a background check. Click here for more information.
Canceled or Postponed Activities
Tarboro, NC (May 31-June 6)
Hurley 1 (June 28-July 4)
Hurley 2 (July 5-11)
Baltimore (July 23-31)
For those who have already made deposits toward mission trips, the following options are available:
1) You may donate a portion of your mission trip deposit to the Mission Board to be distributed to host organizations and local needs.
2) You may request a refund.
To move forward with any of these actions, email Sean Danaher Sean.Danaher@glenmarumc.org.
Although we may not be able to be present in Tarboro, NC, Hurley, VA, or Baltimore this summer, Glen Mar is committed to ministering to our friends and neighbors in these communities. As we communicate with our contacts in Tarboro, Hurley and Baltimore we are discerning how we might be able to serve them. We will be keeping you up to date with every opportunity to serve these communities that we love.
In the meantime, however, there is great need all around us. Glen Mar's Mission Board is working together with our partner organizations to extend the love of Christ through service even at this time. As needs arise in our community, we want to mobilize volunteers swiftly and safely. In order to do that, we're making Mission Ministry Participation forms available on Glen Mar's website. As we await the go-ahead to do the in-person work of mission ministry, you can do your part by completing the forms found on this website page.
"In person" Safe Sanctuaries trainings will also be taking place via ZOOM in the following months. Look for updates on this website page.
Throughout the history of the Church, Jesus followers have endured many hardships to love and serve the least, the last, and the lost. In fact, many New Testament writers describe hardship as a unique opportunity to know and love God more deeply. As we endure this present hardship, we join the saints who have gone before us, rising to the call of living faithfully in this moment... for Our Growth, Others' Good, and God's Glory. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, Jesus has overcome the world!
Can We Help You?
Mask-making videos are available at on Glen Mar's COVID-19 Crisis webpage.
Help Wanted
For more information, click here or contact Kelly Rogers at socialjustice@glenmarumc.org.
In August we will feature a family-oriented worship series called "A Playdate with Jesus." This participatory, energetic, and interactive series invites people of all ages to have fun as we worship our Lord together. In addition to Bible stories, prayer, and preaching we'll have family-friendly crafts, games, and songs as we worship our God, who invites all of us to the party.
Send pictures of you and your family playing and/or having play date fun starting now and throughout August to melaina.trice@glenmarumc.org to be in Sunday's services.
All creation is the Lord's, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it. (UM Social Principles, paragraph 160).
Do you care about stewarding God's creation? Glen Mar is forming a Creation Care Team. Help us watch over the rain garden at Glen Mar and plan ways for Glen Mar to better steward God's creation. We'll study resources and watch films on creation care, plastics, climate change, and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Contact John Barnes creationcare@glenmarumc.org if you are interested in getting involved.
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 Dancing Needles are knitting prayer shawls (shawls that are prayed over) and baby blankets from home. These items are given to people who are convalescing from illness or surgery or who have newborns. If you would like to knit from home with the Dancing Needles, email dancingneedles@glenmarumc.org.
As it has been doing for many years, a small team of Glen Mar members provide meat loaves and milk on the 4th Tuesday of each month. Many of Glen Mar’s team are in the 60+ age category which is considered an “at risk” group. While they want to continue to help, they are limited in their ability to shop.
Glen Mar needs volunteers under age 60 to help with this ministry by shopping for supplies prior to the 4th Tuesday of each month. Contact Linda Hunt grassroots@glenmarumc.org.
As needs arise in our community related to the effects of COVID-19, Glen Mar's Mission Board would like to mobilize mission-minded people as quickly as possible, all while adhering to the recommended CDC guidelines and state requirements. While we await the opportunity to be physically present to the needs of our neighbors, you can do your part by completing the following forms ahead of time:
All participants: Mission Trip Permission Form 2020
Youth Participants (under 18): Code of Conduct, Power Tool Agreement
Completed forms can be submitted via email to: sean.danaher@glenmarumc.org
Or submit by mail to:
Glen Mar UMC
Attn: Sean Danaher
4701 New Cut Rd.
Ellicott City, MD 21043
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
- 100% cotton fabric
- Cotton blend fabric
- Grosgrain ribbon (1/4-, 3/8-, ½-, or 5/8-inch wide)
- Thread, any color
- Pipe cleaners or chenille stems
Glen Mar is accepting donations for personal care kits to give to My Sister’s Place Women’s Center in Baltimore. My Sister’s Place is a day shelter and resource center that serves women and children experiencing homelessness and poverty.
Donations needed include toiletry items (travel size shampoo/conditioner, body wash and lotion, individual toothbrush/toothpaste, deodorant, hair comb/brush), feminine hygiene products, and creative care items (adult coloring books/colored pencils, small day planner/notebook, face masks, nail polish). Notes of encouragement can also be written and will be included in each kit.
Arrangements can be made to drop off the donations or have donations picked up. Email personalcarepackages@glenmarumc.org.
This summer marks the first time in 21 years that Glen Mar has not sent a group of missioners to Hurley, VA for a week of relational ministry with construction on the side. Each summer, Glen Mar's youth and adult volunteers repair homes through Hurley Community Development whose efforts have helped many residents of Hurley stay warmer, safer, and dryer throughout the year. Although the pandemic has kept us from traveling to Hurley, we still would like to send our support. If you would like to contribute to the work of Hurley Community Development, consider sending a donation by mail in the form of a check to the following:
HURLEY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, INC.
P.O. Box 693
Hurley, VA 24620-0693
For more information, visit www.hurleycommunitydevelopment.org/.
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
Countless other students from all corners of the earth also embarked on the excursion using a more flexible timetable – they could finish any time before Aug. 13 when the curriculum is due to be taken off of Glen Mar’s website.
Group Publishing Co. supplied the curriculum, which included entertaining, instructional videos featuring Bible explorations, music, craft imagination stations, games and more. Glen Mar used some of the company’s videos but also aired some rewritten scripts showcasing Glen Mar staff and volunteers. VBS Director Margaret Lang, who is also Glen Mar’s minister for children and families, spoke in an introductory video each day that provided information and displayed pictures of registrants and their work.
A 10-member VBS Lead Team started to plan the multi-day event in January. The original plan was to hold a traditional one-week VBS with onsite teachers at Glen Mar, but the coronavirus derailed that idea. Margaret, who serves as the staff person for this team, said that when members realized online VBS could promote Glen Mar’s mission of praising God, growing disciples and serving the world, it became obvious they were on the right track and that cancelling VBS this year was not an option.
Glen Mar’s Extended Day VBS Program that would have provided camplike activities after VBS was done each morning had to be cancelled because use of Glen Mar’s building was limited.
Registered students paid $25 each for kits containing T-Shirts, craft supplies, and a CD that they picked up before VBS started. They also enjoyed an outdoor picnic on July 15 where social distancing was observed, picture sharing via a closed Facebook group and a slideshow email of children executing the provided activities and games. In addition, Jen Rowell, Glen Mar’s minister for middle school youth, held zoom meetings during VBS with 29 registered incoming sixth and seventh graders divided into four groups.
The tradition of holding an outreach project during VBS continued. Children’s books were collected in a large plastic bin outside of Glen Mar’s main doors during the week VBS was held, and the response filled Margaret’s vehicle. The donated books will be given to Better World Books. They will be sold online and the proceeds will support the Friends and Foundation of Howard County Library System.
Unlike some companies, Group Publishing extended its rules and regulations to allow its products to remain online for one month, enabling Glen Mar to publicize its offerings after they were online and extending the deadline to access the self-paced faith lessons.
“I’m so glad we did VBS,” extolled Margaret. “We reached a lot of families and are continuing to do so.”
To access the program, click here. Kits are still available for $25 each. Contact Margaret at margaret.lang@glenmarumc.org to make arrangements to get them.
Children enjoy showing their online Vacation Bible School craft work.
Gleaming cabinets, freshly painted walls, beautiful floors – they’re all in the video tour that Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake made of one of its renovated housing projects in East Baltimore.
But anyone eyeing that neighborhood last November saw something vastly different – windowless structures, collapsed interiors and dilapidated exteriors.
How did this dramatic change take place? Work crews from Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake swooped in to frame new house structures, hang drywall, install floors and whatever else it took to make the homes look like they could be featured in Better Homes and Gardens.
Almost all of the video tour showcases the rowhome at 2528 E Eager Street in East Baltimore. The tour can be seen at m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=PgG083elX4k.
A Glen Mar crew worked on that rowhome on the second Saturday of the months between November 2019 and February 2020. “I am bursting with pride and joy and gratitude. Our crew started these houses when they were a mess,” said Adrienne Taylor after seeing the video. Adrienne and Don Wecker are leaders of Glen Mar Habitat volunteers.
About 17 volunteers worked the group’s regular Saturday schedule and three of them have a special name – Red Hats – because they are skilled builders who volunteer on non-scheduled workdays. Glen Mar volunteers also worked on some of the other nine renovated houses on Eager Street. The group’s Habitat work was discontinued in mid-March due to the coronavirus, and it is not clear when work will pick up again.
After being chosen as Faith Partner of the Year by Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake for its outstanding commitment to building homes, communities and hope in Central Maryland, Glen Mar’s crew was scheduled to be honored at a special reception on June 25, but the event had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus. The organization also planned to honor 13 other individuals or organizations at the reception.
Habitat for Humanity is a global nonprofit housing organization that works in local communities across all 50 states and in more than 70 countries. According to its website, “Habitat for Humanity extends the dream of homeownership to low- and moderate-income families.” Habitat homeowners are selected on their ability to pay, need for better housing and willingness to volunteer and complete homebuyer education.
This picture shows rowhomes in Baltimore in November 2019 before Glen Mar volunteers worked on them for Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake. The renovated homes can be seen at m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=PgG083elX4k.
Glen Mar Church partnered with the Maryland Food Bank and local farmers to distribute 200 boxes of free fresh produce on July 10 and another 200 boxes on July 24 to families in need at Glen Mar Church’s “Pantry on the Go.”
Youth, young adults and adult volunteers set-up stations, distributed free fresh produce boxes, handed out face covers and children’s books, and cleaned up after the events that were held in Glen Mar’s parking lot.
The youth and young adults took on leadership roles at several of the stations and showed radical hospitality to our guests. They distributed almost 100 boxes on July 10 and about 130 boxes on July 24 to members of our community. Some volunteers held signs that guided our guests through the parking lot. At the end of both events, Pastor Rodney Hudson of Ames Memorial United Methodist Church delivered the remaining boxes to folks in Baltimore.
The hundreds of face covers given to our guests and their families to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 were supplied by COAD (Howard County Community Organizations Active in Disaster) and by Glen Mar’s mask-making volunteers. The children’s books that were distributed to smiling children were obtained at book collections held in Glen Mar’s parking lot. Many of the children were seen skipping back to their parents’ cars.
Dancing Needles, a Glen Mar group that knits prayer shawls and baby blankets to give to people who are convalescing from illness or surgery or who have been blessed with newborns, found another way to spread warmth and love - knitting about 100 hats for children in Hanwa, Zimbabwe. These gifts are especially welcome because the villages in that area are experiencing famine, malaria and COVID-19.
Barbara Julian, Glen Mar’s minister for operations who will soon retire, had planned to take the hats during her July mission trip, but that trip was canceled due to COVID-19. Barbara will still see that the hats reach their destination.
