From the Pastor’s Desk Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends and have now recovered from all the good food and fesvies. And now, like every year since we began “adulng” (my new favorite word for the joys and challenges of being an adult), the rest of the year is going to be gone before we know it. As we prepare our homes for the Christmas celebraon, buy all our giſts, aend holiday pares, listen to and sing Christmas music, bake cookies, pies and cakes, and all the other “things” we feel we must do for this holiday, let us not forget to prepare our hearts. During this Advent season, our hearts and our lives should be ancipang the celebraon of the birth of our Savior over 2000 years ago. Remember that Jesus’ birth was not a one-me event. The possibility of Jesus being born again in our hearts, our lives, and our world is something to ancipate as well. In the busy-ness of the season, take a few minutes to remember why we decorate our homes and buy giſts for others. Everyone is welcome to join in our Advent study that started this week. We have a few extra books that you can use. We meet Monday mornings at 10 at the Comer parsonage and Monday evenings at 7 at Colbert FLC. It’s only an hour but I hope it will make your Advent more meaningful. I ask you to remember those in our church and community who have experienced a loss this past year. The holidays are a difficult me for those who have recently lost a loved one, so please consider dropping them a card, giving them a call, or saying a special prayer for them. I look forward to celebrang the birth of our Savior with you during this season. On December 24, we will have a Christmas Eve service at 5 pm that will include communion. Please make me to aend and bring your family members with you. Wishing you peace, love and joy at this most wonderful me of the year, Messenger THE COLBERT UNITED METHODIST CHURCH DECEMBER 2015 • VOLUME 1, ISSUE 27 Advent Study Every Monday Comer Parsonage 10am Colbert UMC 7pm Join an Advent study of the book, Sent: Delivering the Giſt of Hope at Christmas, wrien by Jorge Acevedo. We will meet Monday mornings beginning November 30 at 10 am in Comer at the parsonage. For those who need or prefer evening studies, we meet Mondays at 7 pm at Colbert UMC. You can order the book through Amazon or Cokesbury or let Pastor Kathy know, and she will order for you (no charge for shipping). If you have quesons, contact Kathy at 678-641-5436 or [email protected].
Transcript
From the Pastor’s DeskDear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends and have now recovered from all the good food and festivities. And now, like every year since we began “adulting” (my new favorite word for the joys and challenges of being an adult), the rest of the year is going to be gone before we know it. As we prepare our homes for the Christmas celebration, buy all our gifts, attend holiday parties, listen to and sing Christmas music, bake cookies, pies and cakes, and all the other “things” we feel we must do for this holiday, let us not forget to prepare our hearts.
During this Advent season, our hearts and our lives should be anticipating the celebration of the birth of our Savior over 2000 years ago. Remember that Jesus’ birth was not a one-time event. The possibility of Jesus being born again in our hearts, our lives, and our world is something to anticipate as well. In the busy-ness of the season, take a few minutes to remember why we decorate our homes and buy gifts for others.
Everyone is welcome to join in our Advent study that started this week. We have a few extra books that you can use. We meet Monday mornings at 10 at the Comer parsonage and Monday evenings at 7 at Colbert FLC. It’s only an hour but I hope it will make your Advent more meaningful.
I ask you to remember those in our church and community who have experienced a loss this past year. The holidays are a difficult time for those who have recently lost a loved one, so please consider dropping them a card, giving them a call, or saying a special prayer for them.
I look forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior with you during this season. On December 24, we will have a Christmas Eve service at 5 pm that will include communion. Please make time to attend and bring your family members with you.
Wishing you peace, love and joy at this most wonderful time of the year,
MessengerTHEC O L B E R T U N I T E DM E T H O D I S T C H U R C H
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5 • V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2 7
Join an Advent study of the book, Sent: Delivering the Gift of Hope at Christmas, written by Jorge Acevedo. We will meet Monday mornings beginning November 30 at 10 am in Comer at the parsonage.
For those who need or prefer evening studies, we meet Mondays at 7 pm at Colbert UMC. You can order the book through Amazon or Cokesbury or let Pastor Kathy know, and she will order for you (no charge for shipping).
If you have questions, contact Kathy at 678-641-5436 or [email protected].
Christmas Eve Candlelight and Communion Service
Thursday, December 24, 2015 @ 5:00 pmBring family and friends
TrusteesWe need your help to resupply items for our church and family life center. Please select an item needed from the cards on the Christmas tree in the FLC and bring to the Christmas pot luck dinner on December 13th. Your gift will be greatly appreciated as we come to the many activities in celebration of the birth of Christ.
G E N E R A L N E W S
PPRWe will have our last PPR Meeting of the year December 8th @ 6pm in FLC.
Financial UpdateWe continue to receive enough money to pay our bills. Thank you for your faithfulness in giving. We are very thankful for your pledges to Colbert UMC for the 2016 budget. I believe that your commitments for 2016 are the largest that have ever been pledged. Some great news: Our Family Life Center debt has been reduced by $26,032 this year. The balance on our loan is less than $34,688. Anytime that you give a gift to the church to honor or remember someone, that amount goes directly to pay on the principal balance. You may wish to honor your family or friends this Christmas by a donation in their honor to the FLC building debt. I want to give a “shout out” to Chuck Branson, church treasurer, for an outstanding job in keeping our finances in order in 2015. Brenda Abdel-Hafez, Finance Chair
Hampton House Weekly DevotionsEach Tuesday at 1:00 pm, a small group of Colbert UMC members joins the residents at Hampton House for singing and a short devotional. If you play an instrument, can carry a tune, or just enjoy being around older adults, consider joining us when you can. We sing the favorite old hymns and visit with the residents. It takes only 30 -45 minutes of your day. Hope to see you there.
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We enjoyed our World Love Offering by Christine Haralson and a wonderful meal provided by Crystal Holcomb at our November meeting. We’d like to invite all women of Colbert UMC to our next meeting on Tuesday, December 8 at 6pm for a covered dish holiday dinner. We’ll be revealing our secret pals and selecting pals for 2016. We appreciate the members helping put up the Christmas decorations in the sanctuary and the FLC on Nov. 28. We are preparing our holiday fruitbasket outreach ministry on Dec. 19. And we invite everyone out on Dec. 12 for our Advent Market (see the ad on pg. 2 for more info).
Thank you very much for a very successful peanut fundraiser to support the ministries of our church. We have just a few bags left. I would like to recognize a few people who have worked hard in promoting the peanut sales: Wayne and Judy Craig, Ben Tuggle, Nancy Goss, Ruth Johnson, and Jack Scaffe.
The November Supper Club was small but tons of fun. We enjoyed eating at the Golden Sun Chinese restaurant in Athens. We’re taking December off to spend time with our families, but we’ll pick it up again in January. Please join us! Until we eat again...
United Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF)
Our youth have been having some fun lately! Our Day of Service on Nov. 7th was a rainy day, so we took things inside, cleaning and organzing in the Family Life Center, creating gift tags for the church Christmas tree, and putting the message on the church sign. Afterwards we took a spontaneous trip to Rush Athens, an indoor trampoline park. We had loads of fun and lots of good exercise! We took another trip to Athens to shop for supplies to make crafts for our table at the Advent Market. Then we spent the Friday afternoon following Thanksgiving putting our craft items together. Wait until you see what we made! On Dec. 6th we’ll travel to Athens again, this time to celebrate Christmas, eat at CiCi’s Pizza and go ice skating at the Classic Center. We want to extend a huge thank you to Emily Parham and Yulanda Whitehead, our adult volunteers this month who graciously donated their time, energy and talents to our youth. In His service, Tracy
S M A L L G R O U P N E W S
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Brookshire ClassThe season of Advent is so special as we
prepare for the birthday of Jesus. Mike Kennedy had his hip surgery and he
is doing well. We pray for Jessie and Nathan Bohannon as they wait for tests about their un-born baby Daniel. Rachel Drake suffered another stroke, but is on the mend. Joy Dove has kidney stones and we pray for relief very soon.
Our class is sponsoring two special families to help with Christmas gifts for the children, as well as, several children that we do not know. It is the season to give joyfully.
It is a season to have fun and fellowship. Our Christmas party will be over by the time that most of you read this. We will celebrate December 5 at 5pm in the FLC.
We invite you to be a part of our Sunday School Class. We love new faces and new ideas. God bless you all.Just for fun: Random Thoughts as We AgeThe biggest lie I tell myself is ...“I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember it.”Wouldn’t it be great if we could put ourselves in the dryer for ten minutes; come out wrinkle-free and three sizes smaller!Last year I joined a support group for procrastinators. We haven’t met yet!
—Brenda Abdel-Hafez
Hampton ClassAnother month has passed and before we know it, Christmas will be here. They say the Hampton
Class does have fun from time to time, but we do take each day as another blessing from our Father. We probably have more aches and pains than the other classes, but we look forward to them and what they mean to us.
Rachel is showing progress with her rehab, Melvin has good days and bad days, and the rest of us are thankful for all the blessings we receive each day. Speaking of blessings, I want to ask those who visit the Hampton House each week to pay a visit to joe and sing a few songs for him. I am sure it will mean so much to him.
Our Sunday school lessons this month takes us on a field trip to so many places in history. Peter, Paul, Barnabus, Silas and Timothy are those who guide us from place to place. What a wonderful Christian learning experience this has been. What will next month bring?
Now on the lighter side…A six-year-old Angie, and her four-year-old brother Joel were sitting together in church. Joel gig-
gled, sang and talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had enough. “You’re not supposed to talk out loud in church.”
“Why? Who’s going to stop me?” Joel asked.Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, “See those two men standing at the door?
They’re hushers!” Until next month, Bennie Tuggle
S U N D AY S C H O O L N E W S
We are beginning a new Adult Bible study titled “Sacred Gifts and Holy Gatherings” with scripture from both the Old and New Testa-ment. “We will be challenged to embrace and practice more intentionally the acts of wor-ship, giving, and service that mark us as God’s people.” Ready to grow in your faith? Please join us.
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G E N E R A L N E W S
Dear Church Family,Thank you for prayers, calls and cards since I’ve been sick again. I hope I get back to church before too much longer. See you soon. Love, Rachel Drake
Thank you all for the gifts, cards, and meal that you gave to me for Pastor Appreciation Month. I was truly overwhelmed by your generosity. It is my pleasure and honor to be in ministry with each of you at Colbert. With great appreciation, Kathy
A huge thank you to my church family for all of the prayers, cards, messages, condolences and hugs after the sudden death of my brother while I was visiting family in Minnesota. Tracy and I both appreciate the concerns of everyone at that time and for your continued support as my sister continues her fight against cancer. Wanda Coley
Jumpin’ Jimminy!It was a great day of service and then off for some fun for our youth in November.
Dear Members of CUMC,Thank you so much for all your kindness in pre-paring the dinner after my mom’s (Anne Gill) fu-neral. All of the food was delicious and everyone enjoyed it. Also, thanks for bringing it our house so my dad could rest at home. Thank you for thinking of us during this time. We appreciate all the calls, prayers, food and kindness. Joe Gill and Magrum family
God bless your church for the donation of shoe-boxes for Operation Christmas Child. It is people like you who make a difference in the world. Greg Fortner, Oglethorpe County Relay Center Coordinator
Thank you for your prayers, calls, cards and well wishes. Radiation is over and now healing has begun. Please continue prayers. Wayne
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G O D ’ S S U N D AY S E R V A N T S
DEC. 6 DEC. 13 DEC. 20 DEC. 27USHERS Larry Goss Barbara Clack Cindy Rhodes Suzanne Sack
Mitchell Goss Barry Clack Mike Rhodes Rita WhiteheadACOLYTE Kaylee Phelps Danielle Wooten Clay Saxon Kaylee PhelpsLITURGIST Tracy Coley Dave English Nancy Goss Gina WardCOMMUNION ASST. Suzanne SackNURSERY Patty Hughes Mariann Branson Brenda Abdel-‐Hafez Katherine Phelps
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