Wesley UMC 1322 W. Broadway Blvd.

Sedalia, Missouri, 65301-5302

Sunday Services 8:30 & 10:45

THE WE SL E Y I N QU IRER

We Wan t To Know

Non Profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid

PERMIT NO 232 Sedalia, MO

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Leading People to an Active Faith in Christ

The Rev. Dennis Harper, Pastor Telephone Number: 660.826.4502 dharper@wesleyofsedalia.com Fax Number: 660.826.7604 office@wesleyofsedalia.com

Sarah Myers, Youth Ministry Intern

wesleyofsedalia.com Vicki Herrick, Office Manager December 23, 2018 Grant Maledy, Choir Director, Anne Tempel, Pianist, Organist, Bell Choir, Wesley Angels Director

John Knox, Custodian

Prayers: George Scholl (Debi Langdon’s brother-in-law), Don Steen, Eileen Brandes, Jim Lawley, Marjorie Snyder, Catherine Foote, Lisa Walker , Dean Vannoy, Frances Johnston, Jenny Foote, Christine Levine & Family and Anne Tempel at the loss of her grandmother.

OUR CALENDAR AND PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION Sunday, December 23 Carissa Bauer

8:30 & 10:45. a.m. — Worship Services 8:30 & 10:45. a.m. — Chancel Choir Performs 8:30 & 10:45. a.m. — Wesley Bell Choir Performs 9:30 a.m. — Sunday School

Monday, December 24 Grace Smith Christmas Eve-Office Closed

6:00 & 11:00 p.m. — Worship Services

Tuesday, December 25 Brandon Mahalovich Merry Christmas-Office Closed

Wednesday, December 26 Alex Foote Office Closed

Thursday, December 27 Joseph Waddle 2:00 p.m. — Prayer Shawl/Library 6:00 p.m. – Agape Class Gathering/FH

Friday, December 28 Grant Maledy

Saturday, December 29 Stan Taylor

Sunday, December 30 Will Bolds 8:30 & 10:45. a.m. — Worship Services

9:30 a.m. — Sunday School

Monday, December 31 Sue Cromley New Year’s Eve-Office Closed

Tuesday, January 1 Karen Parker New Year’s Day -Office Closed 12:00 p.m. — Communal Prayer

Wednesday, January 2 Susan Anderson 5:45 p.m. – Bell Choir Practice/Sanc 6:00 p.m. – Wesley Faithful Men Practice/Room 206 7:00 p.m. – Chancel Choir Practice/Sanc

Thursday, January 3 Alene Murphy 2:00 p.m. — Prayer Shawl/Library

Friday, January 4 Ron Yates 6:00 p.m. – Game Night

Saturday, January 5 Don Cable

Faithfulness Affirmed Worship

December 9 174

December 16 118

Church School

December 9 95

December 16 76

Tithing Commitment

December 9 $15,132.85

December 16 $3,298.51

Emergency Overnight

Cold Weather Shelter We are still looking for volunteers to help at the

Cold Weather Shelter. It is at the Salvation Army

on 1200 E. Broadway. In the event of harsh,

inclement temperatures (forecast of 15 degrees or

lower) the shelter will be open from 6:00 p.m. to

8:00 a.m. Please contact the office to serve.

PRAISE GOD FROM WHO ALL BLESSINGS FLOW: -

My wonderful Wesley Church and its congregates

who have been there for me through trials and

tribulations with visits, prayers, food, flowers, calls,

cards, and many expressions of loving care, Stephen

Ministries, and the ever presence of our wonderful

pastor, Dennis, who has been my comfort and

assurance.

May God's blessings be with and abide with each and

every one both now and forever more.

DeWayne Duncan

Happy Holidays I hope you know how much I am using my prayer shawl and think of my church family often. Your cards are appreciated so much! Merry Christmas Alene Murphy Dear Wesley family,

Words can’t capture the joy the new bibles

have brought to our elementary Sunday school

class. Although your generous noisy offering

also provided an ample number of classroom

bibles, half of the thirteen kids who arrived

for class this past week even brought their new

bibles with them.

Our old bibles had become a bit dog-eared

and tired from years of use, but the new bibles

are full of color and kid-friendly learning

guides. It was quite inspiring to hear the many

happy comments about the pictures and

features as the kids found their way to the

third chapter of Luke this week.

Thank you, again. Your spare change will be

engaging our kids in the mindful learning of

God’s word in the years to come.

Sincerely,

The Elementary Sunday School Teachers

Omission from Christmas Pageant Program In the preparation of the Christmas pageant on

December 9, we inadvertently neglected to give musician Kevin MacLeod credit for using excerpts

from two of his musical compositions. Mr.

MacLeod generously shares his work with all music lovers under the terms of a creative license,

but requests that he receive credit.

A big thank you to Mr. MacLeod for the use of

passages from the following works:

"Ibn al Nor." Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution

"Tabuk." Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By

Attribution

Thank you, -- Anneliese Homan

Photo courtesy of Ashleigh Noland

Over 30 kids participated in our

annual Christmas pageant! All the

kids did a great job telling the

Christmas story. Thank you to all the

adults who helped to make it such a

great success, especially Anne

Homan, who wrote and took care of all

the details that comes with a

program like this.

From the Pastor’s Desk….

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness—

on them light has shined. Isaiah 9:2

The celebration of the coming of Jesus Christ is

here. I am looking forward to the last Sunday in

Advent and gathering for worship on Christmas

Eve. The story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem

brings comfort and peace. The joy of the

Incarnation of Christ is that God is always with

us. God is with us through all of our joys, sorrows,

and challenges. Through Christ, God has

experienced the highs and lows of human

existence. Jesus shines the light of hope and

love that overcomes all the darkness. We have

faith that in time, pain and death will be no more.

It is with that hope that we live our lives. We

reflect the love of Christ, so that others can

experience the light. During this holy time, find

ways to reflect God’s light. Be mindful of how you

can be kind. Take a moment, to notice the light of

Christ in others. The light of Christ is shining on

us. We can bring that light to the world.

Thank you for all the ways in this last year that

you have shared the light of Christ. The tiny

pantry on Carr helps people that need something

to eat. Helping to run the food pantry on third

Monday of the month at Open Door helps our

neighbors who need it. Remember the ways that

our musicians have shared the love of Christ.

The Wesley Bell Choir and the Wesley Faithful

Men have been actively out in the community

during Advent. The Classical Christmas Concert

filled the church to overflowing. The Christmas

Pageant this year, was wonderful. You cannot

help but see the light of Christ when a group of

children are retelling the Christmas story.

We are sharing the light of Christ with the world.

Thank you for all the ways you do it. Lastly, I

want to thank you for helping us reach our goal of

paying all of our 2018 Apportionments. The

Apportioned giving throughout The United

Methodist Church is a covenant of support and

mission for the United Methodist witness to the

light of Christ throughout the world. Continue

sharing the light of Christ!

In Christ,

Dennis

5th Peggy Blatterman

10th Grace Smith

13th Jerry Young II

14th Elizabeth Young

15th Ron Yates

16th Robert Burke

Lisa Lindstrom

18th Carolyn Thomas

19th Barbara Leftwich

Judy Oehrke

21st Jennifer Templeton

22nd

Jake Bales

26th Katy Holbert

27th Kathryn Leftwich

David Plowman

31st Brenda Cromley

Kids Donation to Community Santa

Our kids and congregation donated over 100 activity books, that will go to kids in our community! Thank you very much.

December 23rd 8:30 & 10:45 a.m. worship

December 24th 6:00 & 11:00 p.m. worship

December 25th Merry Christmas

December 27th Office Reopens

December 31st New Year’s Eve Office Closed

January 1st Happy New Year’s

Office Closed

January 2nd Regular Office

Hours Resume

23rd Don & Sue Plowman

Words of Inspiration Pastor Dennis,

Hello, I just wanted to share a story from Rich.

When he was home, he talked a little about his

deployment. He doesn’t talk of it often and he didn’t

talk a lot about it, this time because it's not all

good. But he did share a story with me that brought

peace and home to him and others while they were

deployed and helped cover a wall that was in his

office, and Wesley started it.

Soldiers would go to Rich's office to talk for

counseling about what they we're going thru over

there, missing home and family, etc. Someone saw

the church newsletter on his desk and asked what it

was. He explained that his church from his

hometown was sending him the newsletter, and that

it had a message from the pastor, church events,

prayer concerns, and a calendar with the

congregation names on it to prayer for that day. So,

Rich hung it up on his wall to share with everyone.

Rich said the soldiers liked that because it was

something uplifting and encouraging for them to

read and that they had names and could pray for

the people that were praying for them. Some of the

other soldiers asked if they could get newsletters

from their home churches if Rich would hang them

too. He said he would. That is how Wesley started

his wall of church newsletters, while they were

deployed.

He wanted me to let you know how much he

appreciated getting those newsletters. He also said

that him and the other soldiers appreciated

comfort, peace, joy the newsletters gave them.

Thank you very much,

Jennifer Barnier

Caroling!

Picture by Sarah Harper

Over 30 church members caroling at the home of Betty and Harry Burford.