Ash Wednesday Opportunities
Calvary UMC will mark the beginning of the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday on February 18. Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter), a season that is traditionally seen as a time to prepare for Easter through repentance and devotion. On Ash Wednesday, we confront our own mortality and confess our sin before God within the community of faith. The use of ashes as a sign of mortality and repentance has a long history in Jewish and Christian worship, and the Imposition of Ashes can be a powerful way of participating in the call to repentance and reconciliation that characterizes the Lenten Season. Calvary will offer two ways to observe Ash Wednesday:
Drive Through Ash Wednesday, 7-9AM: Pastor Vince Rohn will be available in the Calvary UMC parking lot to offer the imposition of ashes for anyone who would like to stop by in the morning. This will be available for anyone in the community who would like to stop in.
Ash Wednesday Worship, 6:30PM: Calvary will offer a traditional time of worship with hymns and the imposition of ashes. We invite you to join us for this special time of worship recognizing the beginning of one of our holiest seasons.

During the season of Lent this year, Calvary UMC will be joining in an All-Church Study of the book "Why Did Jesus Have to Die" by author and pastor Adam Hamilton. This book, and its connecting study, asks us to consider some of the spiritual practices that we can include in our lives to help us draw closer to God.
Our Sunday morning worship services will be focusing on themes connected to the book from March 1 to April 5. We will also be offering a variety of Small Group and Sunday School classes offering a group study connected to this worship series, and we are encouraging everyone to find a class or group to connect with during the season of Lent (either one you already are part of or one you might join). We will have copies of the book for sale at the Welcome Center on Sunday mornings (beginning February 8) for $17. Everyone is encouraged to pick up a copy and read a chapter a week through Lent.

From Pastor Vince

The end of 2025 brought a couple of reminders of the generosity of those who call Calvary UMC our church home. In early December, I shared an email that the church was running behind our expected financial goals and was likely to end 2025 with a significant financial deficit. Many people responded to that call, the spirit of generosity that is common at the holidays, and traditional end of the year giving; and I am pleased to say that we ended the 2025 at a virtual breakeven point from a financial perspective. Our year-end financial report shows a loss of $2,132 for 2025, but given the size of our budget and expenses that loss is less than .02% of our expenses. Thank you to all who responded so faithfully, and as we move into 2026 please remember that Calvary UMC continues to have financial needs if we are going to fully live into the call of God and live out all of the ministries that we can in Jesus's name. I remain convinced that there is no better place to invest our giving than in the life changing work of God through Calvary UMC.

I also want to share that our Christmas Eve offering at our three services totaled $11,883. We had pledged half of that offering to go to Home Sweet Home Ministries to support their Bridge project to help provide shelter to our unhoused neighbors. We have sent that check, and the Bridge will be welcoming its first residents anytime now.

Volunteers are needed for our next event with our neighbors at Evergreen (1701 Evergreen Boulevard, Normal). We will be celebrating the Lunar New Year, playing games from different countries who celebrate this holiday and learning about the culture behind it. Wearing red is a symbol of good luck in the New Year. We look forward to spending time with the residents on Tuesday, February 10 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. If you have questions or are interested in volunteering, please contact Erin Scott.

Everyone is welcome to complete a survey about the global United Methodist Church and our possible future in preparation for a global meeting of our denominational leadership later in 2026. The survey can be found here.

We need you! We have several dates available to prepare and serve meals to our neighbors at Safe Harbor for 2026:
February 6 & 20
March 6 & 20
April 3 & 17
May 1 & 15
June 5 & 19
July 17
August 1 & 14
September 4
October 2 & 16
November 6 & 20
December 4 & 18
Please contact Tammy Carlson (309) 533-6663 or tk.carlson@yahoo.com

Have you been attending Calvary for some time and feel ready to take a next step in your faith or your connection here? Have you recently joined Calvary and find that you would like to explore ways to go deeper in that connection? Pastor Vince Rohn will be leading a New Members Class on Sunday, February 1 from 5-7:30 p.m., with a light meal provided. Pastor Vince will share about the Christian faith, United Methodism, life at Calvary UMC, and what the expectations are of church members as compared to attenders and others. Feel free to contact Pastor Vince for more information at vince.rohn@connectwithcalvary.org or sign up.

Pastor Vince Rohn and staff of Calvary visited The Bridge and prayed over the buildings and grounds along with other local churches. We learned about the ways Home Sweet Home Ministries will be breaking barriers to help those who are experiencing homelessness in ways other shelters haven’t been able to do so before. Please continue to pray over the 56 individuals who will be getting ready to move in, as well as the staff working there. Calvary is blessed to be able to support this ministry and those in our community. If you are interested in learning more about Home Sweet Home Ministries or their needs, please check out their website.

The Seekers adult class will start a new seven week series on January 4 entitled “The Way.” We will view & discuss videos with Rev. Don Long, Jr. (Larry & Carroll Bross’ son-in-law) reflecting on his 500 mile pilgrimage on Spain’s Camino de Santiago three years ago. Anyone is welcome to join us. We meet in the parlor or on Zoom Sundays at 10:30 a.m.

As Home Sweet Home Ministries expands its work with people in need in Bloomington-Normal (including their new shelter village), Calvary UMC is blessing Home Sweet Home with a gift of $50,000! Calvary has an endowment fund that was established to help fund our Good Samaritan Fund, and the requests that we receive for assistance through that fund have not kept up with the income in that endowment fund. These funds can only be used to care for those experiencing temporary hardship and not for any of the church’s ongoing expenses, and so continue to grow beyond our ability to effectively use them for direct grants. The decision has been made then to give this gift of $50,000 to Home Sweet Home as their work also cares for people experiencing a variety of temporary hardships. More information will be shared in the near future concerning how this gift was used to care for others in the name of Jesus. Please know that in this winter season, Calvary is going above and beyond to help care for those in need in our community.