Rev. Dr. Michelle Morris
2 Samuel 7:1-29; 11:1-27
How tempting is leadership and power, especially when forming a new national identity? Hamilton and David will be in conversation with each other here.
DATES AT A GLANCE
OneTogether Lunch and Movie - Saturday, August 30, 12:30PM
Kids Meet Up - Sunday, August 31, 3PM
Youth Programming Returns - Wednesday, September 3
Youth Sacred Threads Starts - Wednesday, September 3, 6-7PM
SSPM Rummage Sale - Saturday, September 6, 8AM-2PM
Lunch & Learn with Braelyn Smith - Sunday, September 7, 12:20PM
Littles Meet Up - Saturday, September 13, 9AM
Urgent Announcements
Church Office Closed Monday for Labor Day
Be safe! Take care! And remember all those who will have to work on this day, created to remember the value of organizing for safe and responsible labor practices for all.
community Events
Groundwork CHATS Community Sessions Continue
CHATS stands for Connecting Housing and Transformative Solutions. This grassroots initiative is designed to foster meaningful discussions around local housing issues. Through a toolkit, hosts guide conversations using Impact Cards that highlight real-life stories from people affected by the housing crisis, and Solution Cards to explore potential paths forward.
Register HERE for upcoming events:
Sept. 24th from 9 - 11 a.m. in Bentonville
Oct. 1 from 9 - 11 a.m. in Springdale
Oct. 16 11 - 1 p.m. in Bentonville
announcements
Kids Meet Up
Families with children in elementary and middle school are welcome to join us at the Railyard Park in Rogers on Sunday, August 31st at 3pm. Will be be having fun and handing out popsicles to our neighbors.
Littles Meet Up
Littles and their families are invited to join Ms. Allison on the church playground on Saturday, September 13th at 9 a.m. to play, connect and enjoy a snack!
Youth Sunday Night SALT Returns September 7th
Sunday Night S.A.L.T. starts back September 7th for Youth grades 7th-12th!
Sacred Threads
Starting Wednesday, September 3rd, at 6pm, 7-12th grade youth are invited to join us for Sacred Threads. Here we will explore how God shows up in everyday culture—through a movie scene, a spoken word poem, a viral video, or a chart-topping song. Using the lenses of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience, we’ll view a short piece of media, reflect together, and dive into small group conversations that help us see God’s story woven into ours.
7-9th Grade Refuge Retreat
Refuge sign up is open! 7th-9th grade students are invited to a weekend of connection, worship and fellowship at Shepherd of the Ozarks November 7th-9th. Click HERE for more details and to sign up!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Reach Your Full Ally Potential – Lunch & Learn with Braelyn Smith
After Traditional Worship on Sunday, September 7, 2025, at 12:20 p.m. in Hines Hall, we’ll share a light lunch and hear from Braelyn Smith in an open, judgment-free conversation about what it means to be queer and how we can be better allies.
Designed for family members, friends, coworkers—anyone who wants to support the queer community more thoughtful opportunity. Topics include key terminology, basic etiquette, pronouns, and answers to those questions you’ve always wanted to ask. All are welcome! To register for lunch or for more information contact Pastor Ray at 513-305-1571 (call or text) or email
It's Mission Trip Time
We’re going to UMCOR Sager Brown and you are invited! We will travel to Baldwin LA on Sunday, Feb. 1 and return home on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. If you have ever considered going on a mission trip, this is your chance. While there, we serve in several capacities, from working in the depot assembling flood or health kits, helping in the community, to helping around the campus of Sager Brown. You choose what you’d like to do. Everything is important and needed. Cost for room and board starts $350. A non refundable deposit of $50 is due by Friday, Sept. 19. Questions? Contact Connie Anderson (
) or Johnna Kosnoff (
). The food is great, the fellowship even better, but knowing you are helping others in their time of crisis-priceless! Please consider joining us!
Let's Show Teachers Some Appreciation
Help Stuff Teacher Bags!
Show your appreciation for our dedicated teachers in our 3 schools we support. The International School at Mary Mae Jones, RE Baker and Gateway.
We will be stuffing bags with treats to support our amazing teachers as they begin a new school year. Your help and support makes a difference
Join us: Tuesday, September 9th at 9:00 am in the Gathering Room here at FUMC.
Whether you can help stuff bags, donate items, or both, your contribution will be greatly valued.
Want to know more on how to serve and/or support our teacher appreciation mission, please contact Rita Seckington at 479-426-2418 or
Season of Creation
The Season of Creation starts 1 September (the Day of Prayer for Creation) and ends 4 October (the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology). This season is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration, prayer, and commitment together. Throughout the month-long celebration, the world’s 2.2 billion Christians come together to engage in prayer and worship, empowering us to act for the well-being of our common home.
This year, the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement is recommending the book The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The book is a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world. As Indigenous scientist and author harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”
If you’d like to read this book as a group, contact Johnna Kosnoff ( )
Second Street Pantry Missions (SSPM) Rummage Sale
The Pantry will once again host a rummage sale
Saturday, September 6th, from 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Proceeds from the sale will be used by SSPM to help with the costs associated with both Thanksgiving and Christmas groceries for our food-insecure neighbors.
Help declutter your home by giving your unwanted items a new life with someone else! We will begin collecting merchandise at the church, Hines Hall Wednesday, September 3rd. Like last year, if you can pre-price your treasurers, that would be a great help! We are requesting no adult clothing this year.
So please mark your calendars, check your closets, and start setting aside items you might want to donate to the SSPM rummage sale.
Spread the word for a good cause!
We sincerely appreciate your continued support and generosity as we strive to give our neighbors some stability, some compassion, and of course… food.
Thank you from Second Street Pantry volunteers.
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