North Scottsdale United Methodist Church invites children to “FOOD TRUCK PARTY Day Camp.”  This camp adventure will be held Monday, June 13 through Friday, June 17, 9:00 a.m. until 11:30AM at NSUMC.  It is open to all children ages three through twelve.  Because of the generous donations from our NSUMC members, this year our VBS/DAY CAMP is     FREE   for the full week program.
 
Food Truck Party Day Camp teaches us that everything we have comes from God!  It’s by turning to God at our meal time prayer, we can find grace, compassion and support on our daily journey.  This day camp offers energizing dance videos, interactive bible puppetry, super science experiments, creative crafts, and active games that are out-of-this-world!
 
Contact the church office at 480-948-0529 or office@nsumc.com to request a registration form that can be returned to the church office (11735 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85254) or register <<<HERE>>>.
 
Every summer during NSUMC’s Summer Day Camp, camper families and the congregation are asked to help us help other children.  This year the request is a donation of Walmart Gift Cards for the PIMA TRADITIONAL SCHOOL community aide office.  These gift cards will support children and families by helping them afford school supplies, clothing and the bare necessities to make their school life more comfortable.  Pima Traditional School is a Title One school in south Scottsdale.  To donate to this mission project click <<<HERE>>>.
 
Come enjoy the FOOD TRUCK PARTY Evening Event hosted on Friday, June 17th from 5:30pm to 7:30pm in the parking lot of North Scottsdale United Methodist Church, 11735 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85254.

North Scottsdale United Methodist Church INVITES ALL FAMIIES to celebrate the best of food truck cuisine and dine at our FOOD TRUCK PARTY EVENING celebration!  Multiple food trucks will be attending to help create an awesome foodie celebration!  The food delicacies will include:
 
Diner on Wheels FOOD TRUCK  They offer all the diner specialties that you can think of including an assortment of hamburgers, hot dogs, chili dogs, corn dogs, grilled cheese, fries, onion rings and even a Root Beer float!

Copper State Pizza FOOD TRUCK    Their menu includes 10” pizzas and calzones!  They offer ten different combinations for the pizza lover!

El Taco Santo Gilbert FOOD TRUCK This food truck will satisfy your taco pallet with quesadillas, tacos, keto bowls, Horchata and beverages!
 
The food trucks will be conveniently located in our parking lot.  The fellowship hall will be open for your dining pleasure, so families will not need to eat outside.  Families are also invited to pick-up dinner on their way home from work.
 
As always, we invite the campers to join our worship service on Sunday, June 19th at 10am to celebrate their fun week as well as to share photos and songs with our congregation.

NSUMC would like to invite the community children to a FREE Easter Sunday Bubble Blessings Event hosted on Sunday, April 17th from 10:00 to 11:00 am @ North Scottsdale United Methodist church, 11735 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85254.

North Scottsdale United Methodist Church INVITES children to celebrate Easter Sunday (April 17th, 2022 @ 10AM) with us and receive BUBBLE BLESSINGS!  We will have bubble stations set-up to experience bubbles as 3D shapes, snakes, giant bubbles and celebrate with the children as the bubbles they create sail to heaven!  

We will begin at 10AM in the sanctuary. Children will be excused to the NSUMC Fellowship hall where they will hear a short scripture story of the resurrection.  Then they will proceed to the playground to participate in a bubble extravaganza!  Children will learn to LOOK IN, LOOK OUT and LOOK UP, to experience Jesus! As the celebration ends each child will receive a FREE Easter goodie bag filled with eggs and candy!

And while we invite kids to this party on Easter Sunday, we also invite them to begin preparing for Easter  throughout Holy week.   Check out the online lessons.

​Stuck?

The story of Zacchaeus can be found in the Gospel of Luke (19:1-10).  This story begins as a short little man, a tax collector as well, climbs a tree to hear Jesus speak.  Was he stuck in his ways and possibly in the canopy of that tree?  It is likely that people were jeering at Zacchaeus as he was climbing that tree and perhaps thinking that he was stuck at the top. They surely didn’t want this type of man interrupting their chance to see Jesus and were likely frustrated that he was even there. After all, Jesus had come to save them from people like Zacchaeus. Hadn’t he?

Just like Zacchaeus, if Jesus would visit our house today, we might be asking how we can detach from our unhealthy circumstances.  He already knows who we are and He is ready to help us move onto a higher branch. All we have to do is ask.
 
His presence alone and his love for us will lead us to do things we never thought we could do. We can easily assume that Zacchaeus life became unstuck from the unhealthy choices and he experienced a fuller life after his encounter with Jesus.  I pray that each of us can have that important conversation with Jesus to help us get UNSTUCK!

KIDS, you are invited to Sunday School to learn more about Zacchaeus and Jesus’ journey through Lent SUNDAY @ 10AM!

North Scottsdale United Methodist church would like to INVITE the community  to “Journey to Easter” hosted on three Sundays in April (April 3, 10 and 17, 2022) from 10:00 to 11:00 am at North Scottsdale United Methodist church, 11735 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85254. All are welcome to stroll to Easter through scripture and art! Free to the public.

NSUMC will host nine stations, each with a mural and artwork. We will add artistic touches to represent each Bible story. Visitors are invited to stroll through the patio and open doors of the fellowship hall to view the stations and read the posted scripture stories.
The nine stations will include:

Jesus Enters Jerusalem -Luke 19:29-42
The Last Supper -Mark 14:12-31, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Jesus Prays in the Garden -Mark 14:32-42
Betrayal by Judas and the Arrest -Luke 22:47-53
Jesus if Denied by Peter -Luke 22:54-62
The Crown and the Cross -Matthew 27:27-37
Jesus is Crucified -Matthew 27:38-56
Jesus Is Placed in the Tomb -Matthew 27:57-61
Jesus Is Risen -Luke 24:1-11 

Jesus’ resurrection into heaven and His visits to the apostles, sparked amazing dedication to faith! Those moments are the ones that still make the Bible come alive today!

We invite the community to enjoy these scenes and also help us support Vista del Camino   Recreation Center.  VdC is a fundamental cornerstone of south Scottsdale.  They strive to prevent homelessness and to assist residents in maintaining self-sufficiency during times of great need. Their Emergency Support Services may include, but are not limited to, assistance with rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, transportation needs, prescription costs, and other emergency expenses.

If you can help support these local Scottsdale Families, please help us help them by donating at: Text GIVE @ 480-690-2442 then select the CHILDREN”S MISSION PROJECT (drop down button). The link can also be found HERE.

 The Journey to Easter Art-Walk was created to help all of us garner a new prospective on how Jesus' journey and our personal faith journeys may meet at the crossroads.   We are all on a journey; some paths are easier than others yet together we should strive to support each other  and make each other's load a little lighter. 

The Godly Play lesson about Bartimaeus presents just one moment in Jesus’ faith journey.  A moment of grace and compassion.
​
Bartimaeus was a blind beggar sitting on the side of the road that led to Jerusalem.  Jesus was traveling from Jericho to Jerusalem when he came across him.  Bartimaeus called out in very loud voice, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Jesus went to the beggar and put mud on his eyes to heel his sight.  This was the last miracle that Jesus performed before His death. Bartimaeus received mercy from Jesus. Jesus last act was one of mercy.  Mercy is an act of grace and compassion. 

Jesus offers all of us the same mercy and He also wants us to remember that it is okay for each of us to call out to let Jesus know when we are struggling.   He already can feel us wrestling with  our difficulties but He wants each of us to know that He's open to having that tough conversation.  Even if it requires one or all of these:  shriek, scream, howl, shout, bellow or bawl!  He's open to it, just have faith!
 
This week our Sunday School lesson includes Bartimaeus crafts to help us see the mercy given to us and to remind us to always be humble and kind.  Mercy is love that responds to human need in an unexpected or unmerited way.  We are beyond grateful for the mercy that our heavenly Father shares with us!

​Kids are invited to participate in Lent through Sunday School by learning about Jesus’ Journey tomorrow (3/6) @ 10AM.
​
"Faces of Easter" is a Godly Play story from volume four.  Lent is the season in which we prepare for Easter. This lesson helps children prepare for the Mystery of Easter. The mystery of Easter is so big it takes six weeks to get ready.  We move toward the Mystery by selecting and retelling six stories of Christ’s journey toward the cross and resurrection.  

There are seven plaques to help us tell the following stories about Jesus:  His birth, visiting Jerusalem on Passover with His family, His baptism, His travels in the wilderness, meeting Bartimaeus, His parable of the coin, the last supper, His crucifixion and His resurrection.    When we remember that Jesus died on the cross for us, we also remember that he is still with us. That is the Mystery of Easter. It includes all the sadness and happiness that could ever be. That is why the mystery is so huge, yet it ends with a new beginning!
nsumckids.info

​A Lenten Cross Puzzle

Godly Play’s cross puzzle lesson gives us a wonderful way to help children remember that “Easter turns everything inside out and upside down!"
 
Lent is such an important part of the church year so important that it takes six weeks to get ready. The season of Advent is only four weeks long yet it takes us six weeks to get ready for Easter. As we struggle to put the pieces of the puzzle cross together, we reflect on the importance of the cross, Jesus’ life on earth and his resurrection. The cross puzzle transforms from royal purple to the purest of white.
 
As we continue through Lent our Godly Play stories will teach about Jesus’ life. Lent will also show us how to be on the lookout for God to show us unexpected things. The Mystery of Easter reminds us that Easter, our faith's biggest celebration, is full of God's mystery and joyful surprise.
 
JOIN US on Sunday (2/27) for a Sunday School lesson that helps us prepare for Lent. We will offer children different ways to make a cross or two! One to keep and one to share!
 

Being planted among a patch of thorns and weeds would be a real problem. Being planted in good fertile soil would be a much more desirable situation. This is very true for the gardening world but the parable of the sower tells us that the same is true for people.  The problem is we can’t always choose where we are planted but we can choose how we approach the terrain.
 
It is kind of how people view a dandelion.  Many folks believe dandelions to be weeds; weeds that have a monstrous bloom of thousands of seeds that can be carried by the wind to create a mammoth problem in every inch of their garden or lawn.   Then there is another perspective.  The perspective of a child who picks that same dandelion that has now gone to seed and the child chooses to blow the seeds.  But to them each seed represents a wish.  The greater number of seeds equates to a greater number of wishes that could come true. 
 
Sometimes our journey takes us through weeds and some pretty lousy soil.  We can choose to approach those seasons with optimism, hope in the promise of God and prayer.  Will it make the ground instantly fertile?  Probably not but will our perspective be healthier and make it easier for us to navigate the terrain.  YES and YES!

Next time you see a dandelion, choose to close your eyes and make a wish!

Check out our Sunday School lesson HERE.

​Have you ever seen a mustard seed? The mustard seed is one of the tiniest of all seeds. The mustard seed is so small that you can hardly even see it. Some people have charms that have one of these tiny mustard seeds inside of a piece of glass. They wear it as a symbol of their faith in God. Do you know why the mustard seed is considered a symbol of faith?
One day, Jesus was talking to his disciples when one of them turned to him and said, "Lord, increase our faith." Jesus answered and said, "I tell you the truth if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you." Can you imagine what it would be like to have that kind of faith?
The seed is 20 times smaller than the grown plant.  Can you imagine multiplying your faith by 20 times, or multiplying His ministry by 20 times?  What an amazing multiplier!  Increasing our faith and gratitude would be a wonderful gift to our self and imagine what it would do to expand the kingdom of God!
 
Hold on to your faith!  Hold on to His ministry.  Continue blessing others and in turn you will find blessings!
 
This week’s Sunday School Lesson is about stepping out in faith.  Faith that can begin as a tiny mustard seed yet can grow exponentially.  Let the mustard seed remind us to never doubt the mighty power of God.