SUMC Monthly Newsletter - June 2026

 

 

From Rev. Kevin Campbell,

 

For three of the next four weeks, we will journey with Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah in all their earnest, imperfect, and all-too-human attempts to believe God’s promises and live accordingly. It’s a story many of us have heard many times over. But let’s get one thing straight—Abram and Sarai are not the heroes in this story. God is the hero in this story. We are joining Abram and Sarai as earnest, imperfect, and all-too-human followers, not because they are experts but because they—like us—are learning to trust and cooperate with God as God does the work to form a family and prepare a people who will be a blessing to all of God’s creation.  

 

So, as we travel with Abram and Sarai, what are the call stories we might want to recall? It could be an individual, but it could also be a time that your whole congregation felt nudged by the Spirit to step out in faith to follow God’s call to be a blessing to our neighborhood. What are the songs that speak to our congregation about the call to love and serve their neighbors? What are the prayers that accompany the work our congregation does in the world? It will be a time to ponder how we serve the community. It could lead us to talk about how Beans and Rice came about, how that ministry has adapted over the years, how you listened to your neighbors, and found ways to share the church’s gifts with our community. I hope we will find ways to emphasize that all these acts, big and small, are ways that we respond to God’s call to be a blessing, not because we are great, but because God abundantly and faithfully blesses all creation, and we are called to cooperate with God by blessing others.

 

The Sunday we will not spend in Genesis is certainly about God’s call to be a blessing as well. We know Janice answered the call to care for Jeremiah and preached both here and in Coulterville. We have supported Janice Samuels Johnson as she became a Lay Servant. We are cheering her on as she answers the call to become a Lay Speaker, knowing God has put it upon her heart to be available to fill the pulpits of other churches. On the 14th Janice’s sermon will be video taped as part of the process of training to be a Lay Speaker.

 

Are you excited to listen to God’s calling? I know you are a blessing to those we touch in our community. What might the next steps look like for Sonora UMC?

Here are the scripture readings and sermon titles for June:

 

June 7: "No Maps, Just God"

             Genesis 12: 1-9

 

June 14: Janice Samuels Johnson preaching

               Romans 5: 1-8

 

June 21: "Hearing the Voice"

               Genesis 21: 8-21

 

June 28: "God Will Provide"

               Genesis 22: 1-14

 

Shalom,

Pastor Kevin

 

Women’s Fellowship

 

Greetings All. Happy almost summer. My main focus this month is gratitude. A huge thank you to all who generously donated items, time and energy to make our spring rummage sale such a success! Our total so far is $1,185.72!! This will help support our church, Beans, Rice and Jesus Christ, Interfaith, WATCH, Foothill Pregnancy Center, Center for a Non-violent Community and Heifer Project as well as providing the Upper Room devotional. Thank you all so much! Special thanks to Lynn Whitlach for the extra publicity on Next Door and Facebook,  I'm sure that helped to bring a steady stream of shoppers.

 

Looking ahead, we will be cooking for Beans and Rice on Saturday,  June 13th at 9:30 am. July's cooking day will be on the 11th and our quarterly meeting on Saturday, the 25th. More information will be posted as we get closer.

 

Thank you all for your generosity, your time and your talents.

Blessings, 

Karla Wasson 

Beans Rice & Jesus Christ

 

Dear church Family

I hope this letter finds you in good health and enjoying this beautiful weather.  May has been a good month for BRJC.  We served an average of 55 meals a week, which means our numbers of meals are increasing.  Last week we actually served 83 meals.  The climax of the month was last week when we served our Memorial Day dinner.  Lonny, one of our newer volunteers donated 40 pounds of pork shoulder that he had smoked for 14 hours.  You should have seen the faces of the people as they were served.  They were completely amazed and delighted as a big mound of meat over a slider bun was placed on their plates.   They were overcome with gratitude and commented on how much it must have cost and how delicious it was.  We also had Lynn’s pork and beans, the best I’ve ever tasted and Janice’s delicious coleslaw.  An excellent meal!  Everyone was in a great, upbeat mood.  People seemed to be almost stunned that we cared about them enough to prepare such a good dinner.  Another example of the the amazing generosity of the God that we serve.  (By the way, this meal was an exception.  We usually serve 5 -10 pounds of meat in a casserole).

 

Thank you for your prayers and donations.  You truly make it possible for us to love on the homeless and hungry, and to demonstrate God’s abundant love.

God bless you all.

 

Alice Mansfield

BRJC Coordinator

Church Council Chairperson

Lorraine Vogt

 

I just wanted to add to Karla’s report about the Rummage Sale.  I think it is such an amazing process.  Lynn advertises in Next Door, asking for donations.  She has had boxes of things  appear at her apartment, at her Mom’s and of course, at the church.  The Women’s Fellowship spends several Saturdays sorting the donations and boxing then up.  On the Friday before the Sale, we must move all these things stored on the top floor of the church to the basement.  This year, Zach, Jeremy and Sara, 3 of our Beans and Rice guests, showed  up to help transfer all the boxes down to the basement. Then all these things must be hung and otherwise displayed.

 

On Saturday morning there were people lined up at the door and by 8 am there were 20 people waiting to come in.  There are no prices marked which saves us hours of work.  People donate what they think it is worth to them or what they can afford.  It all seems to even out and we made more than when we priced each item. WF members come in at scheduled times to take the money and tidy up and display more things as there is room.

 

At 2 pm we closed the doors, packed up things that might sell next Fall,  and moved items to the sides of the room and off the tables that BRJC will need to have for their dinner.  For the next month, our  BRJC guests will be able to take the remaining things that they need for free.

 

So, our closets are cleaned, we saved a bunch of things from going to the dump, we served many happy people that feel that they have received a bargain.  And Women’s Fellowship have earned money to help our community and we enjoyed each other’s company as we did it.

 

 

Weekly Activities

 

Beans, Rice and Jesus Christ:  Thursdays: Free Community Dinner every Thursday, 3:30 to 4:30 pm.  Main dish, salad, dessert and drink for anyone who wants to come.

 

Chair Yoga: Fridays, 1:30 in the Fireside room, using Yoga DVDs

 

Bible Study: Fridays, 2 pm  Using the Upper Room devotional booklets, learning how to be Christians from the Bible and one another. For more information contact Janice Samuels Johnson at 209-352-1354

 

Women’s Fellowship cooking for BR&JC:  Saturday, June 13th, 9:30 am 

 

 

 

June Birthdays within our congregation

 

June 4   Alice Townsend

June 5   Iain Williams

June 6   Wendy Buckman

June 21  Lynn Whitlach

 

Anniversaries

 

June 2  Rev. Kevin and Tammy Campbell

June 29  Wendy and David Buckman

 

If you need a directory of the contact information for our congregation, please email Lorraine at lorrainev63@comcast.net