Sullivan UMC—J. Michael Smith

News Around the Church

• Last night’s Ash Wednesday service included about 30 people.  Unfortunately, our musicians were out sick and we had to improvise with music from Spotify.  But everyone was gracious and we are off to a good start as we observe the Lenten season—2026.
• Mary White did make it home from the hospital yesterday.
• If you come by the church during the day, you will notice some children in our child/nursery area.  We are happy to host Melissa Krieger’s day care for a few weeks until she is able to get her other facility ready.

Personal Note

Jie and I will be spending the day in Lisle, Illinois celebrating the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Horse with part of our family.

As I noted earlier, I was born in the year of the horse.  Anyone else?  If you born in 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, or this year—you also are year of the horse.  

Supposedly (and this is more aspirational for me than descriptive) we have the following traits:

Wood horse: 1954, 2014—sociable, outgoing, generous, thoughtful, full of life, skillful communicators, often take the lead in social situations, energetic, free-spirited, intelligent

Fire horse: 1966—passion, independence, strong will, impulsive, adventurous, charismatic, energetic, free-spirited, intelligent

Earth horse: 1978—grounded, practicable, reliant, patient, good at managing responsibilities, energetic, free-spirited, intelligent 

Metal horse: 1930, 1990—strong willed, ambitious, stubborn, sharp mind, resilient, energetic, free-spirited, intelligent

Water horse: 1942, 2002—adaptable, communicative, intuitive, sensitive, diplomatic, energetic, free-spirited, intelligent