{"id":24,"date":"2019-07-12T05:35:37","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T00:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/matawanumc.org\/?page_id=24"},"modified":"2026-10-23T17:06:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:06:05","slug":"welcome","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Matawan United Methodist Church!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"389\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Famiiy-Fun.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4433\" style=\"width:530px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Famiiy-Fun.png 300w, https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Famiiy-Fun-231x300.png 231w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;God\u2019s Claim on You&quot; -Sermon on October 18, 2026\" width=\"740\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oHetQUO6hW0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The entire universe comes alive because of our surrender to the mystery of the Resurrection of Jesus. The universe is 93 million light years in diameter\u2014 incomprehensible to us. The universe bears the fullness of God with the fullness of Jesus in the Holy Spirit down to the very depths of our souls. God in fullness is always with us. We surrender to this gift as we praise our God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are faced in life with strange inconsistencies\u2013different ways of seeing things. These are called paradoxes. It&#8217;s when two opposing things are embraced and held together that retain the truth of both even they don&#8217;t seem to jive together. I hope you find this sermon helpful for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aramaic rendition of the Lord&#8217;s Prayer by Neil Douglas-Klotz in &#8220;Prayers of the Cosmos&#8221; Free sample of Kindle version https:\/\/a.co\/dEM57CA <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos, Focus your light within us\u2014make it useful: Create your reign of unity now- Your one desire then acts with ours, as in all light, so in all forms. Grant what we need each day in bread and insight. Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as we release the strands we hold of others\u2019 guilt. Don\u2019t let surface things delude us, But free us from what holds us back. From you is born all ruling will, the power and the life to do, the song that beautifies all, from age to age it renews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-background has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#0792e387;font-size:21px\"><strong>We worship at 10 am each Sunday.<\/strong> <strong><br>Visit<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/sermons-services-and-special-moments\/\">&#8220;Sermons, Services and Special Moments&#8221;<\/a><br>This page contains all updates.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"792\" height=\"612\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/New-Church-Card.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2701\" srcset=\"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/New-Church-Card.jpg 792w, https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/New-Church-Card-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/New-Church-Card-768x593.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-pale-cyan-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Facebook page for the church. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/710013046642289\"><em>Tap here<\/em>.<\/a><br>Check out the Church&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCe6XQH1ZzDORhGA5auFaHGw\">YouTube Channel<\/a>.<br><a href=\"http:\/\/biblethroughseasons.com\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"http:\/\/biblethroughseasons.com\">The Bible Through the Seasons:<\/a> Reading the whole Bible in three years!<br><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\"><strong>Pastor Nick records the daily Firestarters and at least a portion of the day&#8217;s reading.<\/strong><\/mark><strong><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLXiEwK6mntEMiiSoPgx-Q9jROkczvDwci\">&#8220;Psalms at Mid-Week&#8221; Video Meditations<\/a><\/strong><br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLXiEwK6mntENDAfaeSDpEVJ-zwHWuGgwQ\">&#8220;Alphabytes&#8221; <\/a>&#8211; Object meditations in alphabetical order through the year.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-pale-cyan-blue-background-color has-background has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:25px\"><strong>The Thrift Store<br>Hours: Tues 6 pm-8 pm; Thur 10 am-2 PM; Sat 10 am-2 PM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:22px\"><strong>Food Pantry<\/strong>  <strong>At the Church off the Parking Lot <\/strong><br><strong>2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Thursdays, 10 am \u2013 11:30 am<\/strong> <br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/food-pantry\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/food-pantry\/\">Visit the Food Pantry page<br>for further notices.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">For prayer requests, please email me, Pastor Nick, by Saturday evening, <br>to be part of the Pastoral Prayer each Sunday. njconnolly7@gmail.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-background-color has-background has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:23px\"><em>If you find that you are being blessed by this ministry, <br>please support it with your offerings. <br>You can mail them to the church: 478 Atlantic Ave., Aberdeen NJ 07747.<\/em><br><br>I hope that what I offer &#8220;out there&#8221; can help you to &#8220;come here&#8221; to the wonderful community <br>which is Matawan UMC!<br>Blessings to everyone and health, during these challenging times.<br>The Church family and its pastor, <br>Nick<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/Matawan+United+Methodist+Church\/@40.4069252,-74.2266144,17z\/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x89c3ccce60a3215b:0x7ff8c7459f6513f1!2s478+S+Atlantic+Ave,+Aberdeen+Township,+NJ+07747!3b1!8m2!3d40.4069252!4d-74.2244257!3m4!1s0x89c3cccbe947cc33:0x5f94162b28145b8c!8m2!3d40.4073645!4d-74.2236308\"><em>Location of the Church<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-MAC-Award-Dinner-62322-3-3-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-MAC-Award-Dinner-62322-3-3-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-MAC-Award-Dinner-62322-3-3-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-MAC-Award-Dinner-62322-3-3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-MAC-Award-Dinner-62322-3-3-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-MAC-Award-Dinner-62322-3-3-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The entire universe comes alive because of our surrender to the mystery of the Resurrection of Jesus. The universe is 93 million light years in diameter\u2014 incomprehensible to us. The universe bears the fullness of God with the fullness of Jesus in the Holy Spirit down to the very depths of our souls. God in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3461,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-24","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4430,"href":"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions\/4430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matawanumc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}