Did you know you can share your retirement assets with Hyde Park United Methodist and distribute funds without paying ordinary income tax? Savers who have accumulated investments in tax-deferred IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) must begin distribution of these assets by the time they reach 70 1/2 years old. If those assets are not needed to support your retirement, you can distribute them directly to Hyde Park United Methodist. This strategy saves the payment of ordinary income tax on the amount of the distribution.
More information can be found on the Florida United Methodist Foundation website. You may want to consult your tax advisor. Questions? Email Lynn Osborne, Comptroller.
As you consider the level of generosity you are called to in your support of Hyde Park’s ministries and missions, here are some examples of a small incremental increase in your giving.
What can $100 fund at Hyde Park?
- Two scholarships for children to experience God’s love at Vacation Bible School
- 25 teddy bears used to share God’s comfort through our pew bear ministry
- One Financial Peace scholarship to start someone on the path to financial freedom
- Printed worship bulletins needed to engage worshipers for one service on one Sunday
- Five Third Grade Bibles to start children on the path of lifelong discipleship
- One day of electricity at the Portico campus to maintain a welcoming place for connection
- One day of a summer Youth intern who will form connections with our teens
- Two Sundays of live streaming worship services to multiple platforms to widen our reach
- Four background checks to ensure our volunteers and staff are safe for our kids
- One piano tuning, helping us make a joyful noise in worship
- One Wednesday night of Nursery care, allowing young parents to grow closer to God
- 16 Love Meals that will be delivered to a family in a time of need
- A nourishing hot breakfast for 39 homeless guests
- One month of Wednesday night preschool children’s curriculum to teach our youngest disciples
- 16 new bulbs for stage lighting in a worship space
- Communion supplies for two Sundays
What can $500 fund at Hyde Park?
- Confirmation materials to help a class of youth claim their faith for themselves
- Leader materials for adult small groups, helping them grow together in community
- A week of Warren Willis Camp where a teenager can encounter the living God
- Two Sundays of police security on the Hyde Park campus, giving us peace of mind to focus on worship, community and discipleship
- One scholarship for a transformational domestic mission trip
- A funeral with organ music, bulletins, tech support and a reception space for a grieving family
- Five days of support for Metropolitan Ministries outreach program
The Sparrow Fund is a discretionary fund established by Hyde Park United Methodist to meet emergency needs of individuals and families. The name of the Sparrow Fund comes from Matthew 10:29-31. The fund receives all offerings from our Christmas Eve services plus special contributions from church members and friends throughout the year. This fund is administered through the Outreach Department of our church and Outreach and Prevention Services at Metropolitan Ministries.
An Advent Prayer for Peace
by the Rev. Magrey deVega
O God, you made us in your image to be in relationship with you and others, yet we acknowledge the frailty of those relationships. We are imperfect. We have not always been kind. At times we have been more prone to anger and bitterness, than love and forgiveness. We are an imperfect reflection of your perfect love. We know you hear us as we pray for peace. That you might fill us with peace, and use these prayers to create peace in the world.
We pray for peace for every marriage. We pray for homes filled with chronic miscommunication, endless disputes and unfulfilled expectations. Offer new ways to see and hear, with empathy and new understanding. Bring light to each person’s faults and lead them to confession and repentance. Rekindle an awakening to boundless, unconditional love.
For peace in every marriage, Lord in your mercy, you hear our prayer.
We pray for peace in the relationship between parent and child. For young families, in a constant state of adjustment and transition. Grant them endurance and creativity. For parents and children who are struggling with miscommunication, or shared expectations, or wounded by past scars and ongoing resentment, grant them new insight and the power of reconciliation. For families in transition, with grown children charting their own paths and discovering their own freedoms, bring them together across their distances, through joy and laughter and love.
For peace in every relationship between parent and child, Lord in your mercy, you hear our prayer.
We pray for peace for the dysfunction that is in every family. For families dealing with the haunting influences of addiction, or the long shadow of mental illness, grant a new spirit of courage and compassion, a boldness of truth, and generosity of love. For families that are marked by deep fault lines of past hurts and misunderstandings, pour out your spirit of confession and forgiveness.
For peace in all our families, Lord in your mercy, you hear our prayer.
We pray for peace for couples who are struggling with infertility, especially during a season marked by the birth of a holy child. Comfort them, weep with them, and grant them hope and fulfillment in surprising and creative ways. For those who face this season alone – widows and widowers, single adults and divorced, the elderly and homebound – help them discover their completeness, their uniqueness and their joy.
For peace in the midst of loneliness, Lord in your mercy, you hear our prayer.
We pray for peace for those who are grieving. For those who remember loved ones who have died, whose grief skews this season of peace into a time of sorrow, comfort them with your presence, and remind them that in you, the bonds of love will never end. And for those facing their own mortality, living in the shadow of their own death and disease, help them to embrace eternal life now. To live with an embrace of each moment and the gift of each breath, and the courage to receive both joy and the pain, sickness and health. May your love be made real in our care for others.
For peace in the face of grief and fear, Lord in your mercy, you hear our prayer.
O God, you are Immanuel. You are the presence among us in every moment. Through these prayers, open us up to that presence, fill the broken and empty parts of our lives, that in your grace, life might begin to fit together again. And use these prayers to create peace, in a way that only your transforming love can do.
May this season of Advent truly be one of preparation, that our hearts, minds and souls may be awakened to peace.
In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
We have some Manna Bags that are for sale if any family would like to pick some up. Please contact Emily, email, if you’d like to purchase and pick them up for $5 each.
If you would like to make your own Manna Bags at home, these are the items that we use to make them:
- Fruit Gummy Pack (small): Kellogg’s Fruity Snacks Variety Pack (2.5 oz., 36 ct.)
- Beef Jerky/Slim Jims: Slim Jim Original (120 ct.)
- GO GO Apple Sauce: GoGo SqueeZ Applesauce, Apple Apple (3.2 oz., 28 ct.)
- Salted peanuts or mixed nuts (2 oz pkg): Planters Snack Nuts Variety Pack (1.75 oz. Pouches, 24 ct.)
- Small waters: Member’s Mark Purified Bottled Water (8oz / 80pk
- Cheese and peanut butter crackers: Lance Sandwich Crackers, Variety Pack (1.41 oz., 40 ct.)
- Vienna Sausage: Armour Vienna Sausage (4.6 oz. can, 18 ct.)
- Breakfast bar: Nature Valley Oats ‘n Honey Crunchy Granola Bars (49 pk.)
- Plastic fork and spoon w/napkin: Member’s Mark White Plastic Cutlery Packets (200 ct.)
- Gallon Freeze Ziplocs: Ziploc Storage Slider Gallon Bags (120 ct.)
- Hillsborough Homeless Coalition Street Survival Guide (.pdf)
- Jesus Loves Me card
- Sanitary Wipes
- Socks
How is everyone doing in your house? No, really! How is the worry and anxiety level in your home this week?
Do you know what the most common mental concern is in the United States is? It is Anxiety Disorder. It effects 40 million adults. It also is the most common mental struggle for children and teens. Nearly 32% of adolescents have suffered from serious anxiety at some point.
According to statistics and studies, if you have a child or teen in your home, there is a 1 in 3 chance they are struggling with some form of anxiety. Thanks to phones and social media, teen anxiety disorder is on the rise. It is not surprising, but that does not mean we as Christians need to brush it off as lack of faith or spiritual weakness either.
We want to offer you some helpful, loving advice and guidance. We do not want to ignore this growing problem that may be also impacting your family. We want to encourage you to take the time with our child to talk about how they are feeling. Find out what is stressing them or what might be bringing on worry before it turns into something more.
Not every feeling of anxiety and worry is sin or evil. We know that there are many things that can affect your children and their feelings of anxiety. We do have a powerful God with powerful promises. As you pray over your child this week, whether they are struggling with anxiety or not, consider a few of these verses.
- Luke 12:22-26: May my child not be worried or anxious about the superficial things of this world.
- Psalm 27:1: God, allow my child to realize that they can run to you in moments of anxiety and you will protect them.
- Psalm 118:6-7: Guide my child as they go through their day today. Allow them to not worry about what other people say, think, or do.
- Philippians 4:6-7: Lord, give my child peace in their heart and their mind.
Watch this great video resource as soon as you can. We hope this helps you and gives you a bit of time to reflect on your child/children’s mental, emotional and spiritual health. Take the time today or this week to sit down face-to-face as a family and check in on each other’s worries and anxiety levels.
We are available to talk, pray, or just listen to you and/or your child. Helping a child or teen with anxiety is a challenge Click here for age-appropriate resource for your child or teen for tips and practical ways you can help. If you are seeking professional advice or help, please also let us know. We would love to suggest some local adolescent professionals in our area. We are praying for you! Let us know how we can pray specifically for you and your family.
