Second Sunday of Advent!

Kraig K. clears a path to worship

Sandy D. and Shelley G. light the Advent candles

Communion Sunday

Bob S. is today's reader

Tending to church business

JOYS
+Belinda A. thanks God for church family members who are willing to share their gifts with others.
+Kraig S. celebrates that this is the last Sunday we expect to use prepackaged Communion kits; next month, we will use juice and bread (intinction).
+Gloria S. thanks God for the gift of awareness when we celebrate good/better health, after a time of illness.
+Belinda A. thanks God for a husband who works to improve their home; the surprise gift of a new light in the garage will be a great help.
+Church family celebrates the wedding anniversary of Tim and Dawn Kaasa.
+Church family celebrates that Sid T. was the honored veteran at a recent hockey game.
+Sid T. celebrates the recent successful church conference that he attended, representing the Glenville United Methodist Church.
+Bob S. thanks God for his daughter’s improved health, after a year of struggling with serious medical challenges.
+The church family thanks God for Pastor Charles’ mother’s creation of the lovely hand-sewn Christmas trees that everyone received today.
+The congregation is thankful for Bob S.’s service as Scripture reader this morning.
+The congregation is thankful for the music ministry of our beloved organist, Renae H.!

CONCERNS
+Mike R. invites the church family to acknowledge and appreciate the sacrifice of those who perished and who were injured on December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed.
+Kraig S. asks the church family to join him in praying for her daughter-in-law’s friend (Linneah) who is very ill. She had to leave college before the end of the semester because of her medical challenges.
+Sandy D. asks for prayers for her friend Darla who has pneumonia.
+Sid T. asks for prayers for his friend Dave S. who is in the hospital in Austin, dealing with medical challenges.
+Nancy B. invites the congregation to pray for those who struggle with food insecurity and other challenges.
+Sandy D. invites the church family to join her in praying for her nephew Jay who is in the hospital with an infection.

+Shelley G. is praying for the family and friends of her long-time neighbor, Annie S.  Her memorial will be next August, when she would have celebrated her 100^th birthday.

Delightful Surprise Today at Church!

 

L-R: Belinda and Roy

Roy B. surprised the Alkulas with a very special handcrafted wooden plaque with "28' on top -- to celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary! Praise God for folks who use their gift to bless others! 💓

The advantage of a small church

 

A faith that welcomes the stranger and cares for migrants

"When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God."              

Leviticus 19:33-34 (NIV)

Hospitality is a central tenet of the Judeo-Christian faith. In Old Testament stories, God offers protection to wanderers through God’s own people, who open their doors to share compassion, food, drink and shelter.

Jesus was well aware of and practiced in these stories of his faith, and he interpreted them in new ways, giving his disciples and" followers further guidance about whom they should count as their neighbor, like the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), and what they should do to welcome the strangers they meet (Matthew 25:35-46).

In 1940, the Methodist Committee for Overseas Relief (MCOR) was founded to mobilize Methodists to care for the growing number of refugees and displaced populations in Asia during World War II (MCOR would become the United Methodist Committee on Relief, or UMCOR, in 1968). After the war, the agency joined with other faith communities and global partners to provide humanitarian aid for Europe’s displaced and suffering war survivors.

Read more at this link.

Wednesday with the Wesleys

Let love not visit you as a transient guest but be the constant ruling temper of your soul. See that your heart be filled at all times and on all occasions with real, undissembled benevolence; not to those only that love you, but to every soul of man. Let it pant in your heart; let it sparkle in your eyes; let it shine on all your actions. Whenever you open your lips, let it be with love; and let there be in your tongue the law of kindness. Your word will then distill as the rain, and as the dew upon the tender herb. Be not straitened or limited in your affection but
let it embrace every child of man. Everyone that is born of a woman has a claim to your good-will. You owe this, not to some, but to all. And let all men know that you desire both their temporal and eternal happiness, as sincerely as you do your own.

~ John Wesley (On Pleasing All Men)

A new tradition

 

Scripture lessons for the Second Sunday of Advent

We reach the half-way point of Advent next Sunday with lessons from Matthew 3:1-12 and Isaiah 11:1-10.