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Sunday School: 9:30 a.m. Worship: 10:45 a.m.

JOIN US DURING ALL OUR ADVENT SERVICES!!!

Newsletter Deadline

Men’s Breakfast 6:30 am

Shad Mehl

Men’s Breakfast 6:30 am

Mike Nickelson

THE PARISH POST

LEOTI UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Men’s Breakfast 6:30 am

Craig Sheppard

Awana 5:15-7 pm

Awana-Christmas Party - Wear your pjs & slippers 5:15-7 pm

Community Christmas Program @ Pres. Church 3:00 pm

Christmas Eve Service 7:00 pm

Communion Sunday

Men’s Breakfast 6:30 am

Greg Fletcher

Office Closed Office Closed

“Christmas Traditions” Children’s Christmas Program 7:00 pm Refreshments After

The Kirk’s Open House Come & Go 1:00-3:00 pm

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Men’s Group Breakfast Bible Study meets every

Friday morning at 6:30. All men are invited to come and

join with us.

Prayer Requests • Blaze Fisher

• Duane VanDolah (cousin to Glenda Harkness)

• Ken Breitkreutz

Continued Concerns • August Baker • Willis Crowley • Gary Graham (uncle to Dee

Eder) • Lyle Crouch • Lori Christensen • Military • Government Leaders

Christmas

Traditions

Join us Sunday, December 21st at 7:00 p.m. for our

Children’s Christmas Program. Discover the reasons behind many Christmas traditions.

Refreshments following program.

Financial Facts Through November 2014

YTD Budget $ 153,209.87

YTD General Fund Contributions $137,032.56

YTD General Fund Expenses $ 143,200.49

Upper Rooms, newspapers, newsletters,

directories, and more available in the holders

along main hallway by the parlor.

Shakin' It Up!

I try to pick large group time talks that will speak to the kids. I want them to take at least one small thing with them when they leave the sanctuary. I didn’t expect that something would stick with me so much… The week before Thanksgiving, I gave a talk about being thankful for the doughnut, not the hole. You see, all doughnuts have holes. We shouldn’t focus on what’s not there, but what IS there. It tied in with a verse from 1 Thessalonians 8:15 “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” We cannot spend our time bemoaning what we don’t have, instead, we should be giving thanks and praising God for what we do have! Awana numbers have declined. The number of kids attending each week has dropped considerably since last year. However, we seemed to have settled at about 30 to 40 kids a week now. The num-ber of volunteers has declined as well. It’s frustrating. I have to remind myself that I am looking at the hole. So I look to the dough-

nut for hope. The 30 to 40 kids we have each week are con-sistent. They are getting God’s word. They are in a safe place where they are cared for and loved. Each Wednesday, they know they will be in a place for an hour and a half where they can sing, laugh, learn and have fun. The volunteers who participate do so whole-heartedly. They give their time and patience to noisy boister-ous kids who might not be getting “God” any other time. They care for the kids and are genuinely concerned about them. As Christmas nears, it’s easy to look at the hole, instead of the whole. We can choose where we want to put our focus. This is not to say that we should ig-nore our problems. God tells us, “Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything.” Philippians 4:6 How often do we think about what we want or what we don’t have? In-stead, we should give thanks for what we do have. We don’t have to worry about anything, but instead, give it to God. I don’t have the answers. God does. Will you join me in pray-ing for our children’s ministry?

God Bless, Diana Kirk

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Unwrapping Christ

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samar-ia?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living wa-ter.’ John 4:7-10 Christmas is associated with Jesus in a manger. He is very innocuous. He will not offend anyone as a baby. I have not yet met a newborn that challenged my way of life, judged my heart, or convicted my actions. Jesus in a manger is easy. He isn’t hard to get along with and he is always eas-ier to handle than this adult who preaches, heals, and con-victs. There are many days I know it would be much easier to live my way if Jesus had al-ways stayed a baby. For those who have chil-dren, you know very well that babies never stay babies. They grow up. They mature. They discover. Jesus, being fully God and fully human, must have had much the same path we all had as we grew. As he aged, though, the inoffensive child became bolder, stronger, and far more equipped to go and share this message he had. He was 30 years old when he began his ministry. For 30 years he prepared himself for the Kingdom work he was to begin. What began as simple as

a baby became the risen Savior of the world. Christmas is easy for us when we keep Jesus in the manger. We bring him out of the box and put him in our na-tivity for a month. When Christmas is done we box him up and go back to our busy lives. Yet we know that Jesus did not stay in a manger. In fact, the bulk of the New Testa-ment is about Jesus’ adult min-istry, not his birth or child-hood. We know very little about how he grew up. Yet, the

only time most people speak of Jesus is at Christmas. Even Easter has fallen to the side for many people. How did the life and ministry of God-come-down-to-earth become so triv-ialized that we only focus on his birth and forget about the rest of his life, especially the challenging part when he tells us to die to sin and to follow him, no matter the cost? We must not let our God be kept in a manger. What gives Christmas signifi-cance is that Jesus became our salvation. Jesus, when talking with a Samaritan woman (a scandalous and culturally taboo idea) at the well told her that if

she knew the gift of God she would have asked him and Je-sus would have given her living water. We often focus on the living water in this scripture as the gift. I suggest the gift is far greater. I suggest that this is the gift God gave us on Christ-mas, a gift that has been un-wrapped and then unleashed upon the world to give it hope, peace, joy, and love. This gift is living water from Jesus which is eternal life through the cross. As we look at Christmas, look to find the gift of God. We need not keep him in the wrapping that he came at Christmas. The body of a baby is not a dangerous thing, but God’s Son, at age 30 grown and ready, is a dangerous thing to a world broken with sin and in need of a savior. God gives us the gift of his Son. We must unwrap it to have any meaning. We must discover (or rediscov-er) what it means for this babe to come to the cross. We must reckon our own relationship with him. We must be honest, convicted, and willing to fol-low. Jesus is God’s gift to us. Come to the well or the man-ger and receive this gift. You will find the joy of Christmas lasts the entire year long!

Joyfully yours,

Pastor Brad

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Happy Birthday!!!

Note: Please let the office know if we have missed your birthday or anniversary.

December 1 Ramona Patten December 3 Darla Lewis December 5 Anthony Bocanegra December 8 Tiffany Fletcher December 11 Joshua Mehl December 13 Colton Harbin December 15 Larry Loflin

Anniversaries

December 2014 Greeters & Ushers Date Greeters Ushers

December 7 Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Harkness Mark Fairchild

Mark Fairchild Kevin Clark

December 14 Mr. & Mrs. Ellis Rewerts Joshua Clark

Mr. & Mrs. Stacy Seaton Tayler Seaton

December 21 Mr. & Mrs. Kelley Burch Blake Nickelson

Twilla Nickelson Craig Sheppard

December 28 Mr. & Mrs. Russell Lewis Kevin Clark

Noreen Walk & Rosetta Hayes Jim Hayes

December 22 Brad & Diana Kirk

December 28 Nevada Parker December 29 Janice Rewerts December 31 Jerry Harkness

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Take Up Your Cross…. Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my

followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow

me.” Recently someone was telling me of a difficult stretch that was coming up that would re-quire patience and love in or-der for the situation to be man-ageable. My response…. “That’s your cross today and tomorrow.” Then I was talking to another person regarding working with another person that would challenge and po-tentially frustrate this person. “PICK UP YOUR CROSS!” In true “what would Jesus do?” fashion the answer to ALL po-tential conflicts between 2 or more persons is simple: be a Christian (a follower of Christ) and do not make what you want be the answer. IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!! Deny Yourself! I will go out on a limb and say….. oh, I don’t know…… maybe 100% of all disagree-ments would be shut down, brought to a screeching halt, if

you denied yourself of needing to have your way, and go the way of the other person. As an over-simplified example: what if instead of throwing your clothes in the corner of the room, you actually put them in the hamper when they’re dirty? Wouldn’t that make your spouse’s, or moth-

er’s, life easier? You’d NEV-ER again discuss just why ex-actly you don’t simply put your clothes in the hamper when they’re dirty. Maybe instead of complaining about why the clothes are never put up you choose not to go to war on this issue knowing there will be much greater issues to battle later. That’s not going to happen un-til you “pick up your cross” on issues between you and Je-sus. Jesus is most likely

wanting to yell at us, “Why aren’t you reading the Bible regularly?” Or, “C’mon man, prayer is communication, stop falling asleep after 30 sec-onds.” What about, “Really, I’m only worth a couple hours of one day each week?” My life in Christ deserves better, but……… my schedule, my family, my friends, movies, Sportscenter…….. soooo many things! Come to think of it the New Creation of ME in Christ doesn’t look a whole lot different than the old caterpil-lar of pre-transformation. Shouldn’t my Christ relation-ship be stronger and in greater depth after accepting God’s grace and mercy? ABSO-LUTELY YES! It’s time to de-ny myself of the stuff that is interfering with my God rela-tionship and re-dedicate, to PICK UP MY CROSS, follow Christ, to let go of my way, and be led by the Holy Spirit. Only then will I be able to Pick Up My Cross as I deal with my family, friends and neighbors.

Trust, Faith and Peace!!

Shad

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service Wednesday, December 24

7:00 p.m. This year we will have a special gift for all children. Everyone is invited! Bring

your friends, family, and neighbors!

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Leoti United Methodist Church

P. O. Box 430

111 S. Wyoming

Leoti, KS 67861

620-375-4554

Return Service Requested

Please remember to save your aluminum cans for the National Day of Prayer.

They can be left in the stock tank in the Church Parking lot! Thank you!

Missions Weekend

Dinner on Saturday, January 17th Worship & Sharing on Sunday, January 18th

We are honored to host Dr. Alfred Kalembo here at Leoti UMC for a Missions Weekend on January 17-18. Rev. Dr. Kalembo has been Na-tional Superintendent of the Pilgrim Wesleyan Church of Zambia for

more than two decades. He is also the president of the Council of Churches in Zambia. He will join us for a dinner on January 17 and will preach on Sunday morning and share about his ministry. He at-tended seminary at Asbury Theological Seminary. His son, Chipo, is

graduating soon from Fort Hays University. Dr. Kalembo and his wife, Muumbe, hosted Pastor Brad and Diana in their home when

they went to Zambia.