December 2007 Newsletter
December 1st, 2007 at 10:02 am (Newsletter)
December 2007 Newsletter
Thoughts From Kim…
When Less Creates Spaces for More
“Tis the season to be jolly” – no, scratch that – the reality for most of us is: “Tis the season to be frantic!” This is absolutely the busiest time of the year. There are parties and special activities to enjoy (concerts, plays, etc. etc. etc.). Family gatherings to plan and attend (and sometimes referee)…the Christmas cards to write…the presents to buy and wrap… food to prepare…and services to attend at church and in the community. All these things can be very enjoyable.
So why is it that so many of us enter the month of December feeling overwhelmed and exhausted just thinking about what awaits us? Why does something that is meant to bring us peace and joy leave us feeling so frantic and overextended? Perhaps the reason is that we are so busy celebrating Christmas from one end of December ‘til the other that we miss the opportunity to observe the special season that takes place before December 25th – Advent.
Advent provides a remarkable opportunity for people to do what we really need to do – dial down the drama, slow down and wake up to what really matters – to step back from the hustle and bustle of life and quietly prepare a place in our hearts and lives for the Christ Child. It is a time to engage in things that have true and lasting meaning, not just things that glitter because of tinsel and blinking lights. It is the heart and soul of our journey as Christians – God loving us so much that God chooses a human birth into poverty so that Jesus would be Lord of all, not just Lord of a privileged few. This kind of awesome good news requires peace and time to soak deeply into our souls. Unless we stop and allow our hearts to pay attention to this joyous good news, we can miss the true blessings of this special time by being distracted by the lovely, lesser joys the holiday brings – tinsel instead of true treasure.
This good news also requires a response, and until we slow down enough to fully grasp the gift God offers each one of us at Christmas, our hearts will not be truly touched, and our response will be superficial. The miracle of Christmas is its capacity to change and transform us- if we allow that to happen. From that place of transformation we can then respond to the world around us with hearts on fire with love, compassion and mercy.My challenge to us all this December is to do less of what we normally do, so there is space and time to do more of what really matters. Spend less time racing around attending many activities, and instead pick just a few that are meaningful and truly enjoy them. Send fewer cards (giving the environment a break), and instead, have meaningful contact with people. Spend less money on gifts that people do not need, and instead, give gifts that can make a difference in the lives of those who truly are in need. For example, instead of getting your favorite Uncle yet another tie, go to resources like http://www.churchworldservice.org/ or http://www.seva.org/ or http://www.worldvisiongifts.org/ and give a gift of compassion in honor of the people you love- like safe drinking water, or a school kit for children, or sight-saving surgery for someone who is blind. This type of gift would make the Christ child smile. And as you live out Christ’s call to be loving and compassionate, pay attention to those around you who may be experiencing isolation, loneliness and depression during the long nights of December and January, and remember to include them in your circle of care.
By taking steps this Advent to do less, you will have the opportunity to have and do so much more this holiday season – more time to spend in meaningful activities with those you love, a more compassionate response to those who are in need (and to the environment), and more opportunities to prepare your heart to receive the Christ child and to be transformed by the miracle of Christmas…which is what this season is all about.
May you and your loved ones have a blessed, miraculous Advent and Christmastide.
With love and prayers,
Kim
Pastor’s Study Group – “Unplug The Xmas Machine”- The Pastor’s Study Group will meet on Thursday Dec 6th at 7 pm to look at the material in the book “Unplug The Xmas Machine.” Please join us for an important discussion about how to simplify and open our hearts and lives to a meaningful holiday season.
- Pastor Kim takes Friday and Saturday as her days off each week, unless there is an emergency or important church activity scheduled for those days. In case of an emergency, please call her at the manse: 786-5687.
Community/Church Announcements:
- Come help get our church building ready for the beautiful season of Advent and Christmas! We will be having a workday on Saturday, December 1st beginning at 9:00 a.m. All are welcome to come and enjoy working together to prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth!
- We have purchased a special selection of Care Notes that deal with issues specific to the holiday season, including such topics as “Living With Loss While Others Are Celebrating”, “Feeling Depressed At Christmastime,” “Facing The Holidays When A Family Member Is Seriously Ill, ” Celebrating the Holidays Despite Being in a Healthcare Facility,” and “Your First Christmas After a Loved One Dies.” You will find the Holiday Care Notes in the Care Note Display across from the main entrance to the connection (near the East Room). Please feel free to take the Care Notes for yourself or for someone who may benefit from them. If you like the Care Note ministry and would like to make a donation towards the purchase of future Care Notes, your generosity is greatly appreciated.
- The dark days of winter and the holiday season can be a difficult time for people, especially those who are dealing with loss, isolation, or health concerns. Please pay attention to those in your circle of care who may struggle during this time of year – especially neighbors and friends – and make sure that all who are facing difficulties have the support they need. Contact Pastor Kim at 786-3868 if you know of anyone who is in need of pastoral support.
- Our church will host the Community World AIDS Day Service on Saturday, December 1st. Prior to the service at 5:30 pm we will have the opportunity to watch the award-winning DVD – “A Closer Walk”. Please join us for this important event
- The Personnel Committee and Session are pleased to introduce Addie Silbert as the new Administrative Assistant for our busy church family. Addie began work on November 12th, and is already finding her way around and helping to see that all forms of communication flow efficiently and effectively through our church office. You will read more about Addie later in the Newsletter – please take the time to welcome her to the United Church family.
- College Students: We are anxious to update the records we have for our college students and our military personnel. If you know of anyone who is related to our church who is either in college (at home or away from home) or serving in the military, please provide the church office with their contact details. We want to make sure we can keep them in our prayers, and keep in touch with them.
- Assisted Living: Rev Kim is compiling a master list of all those who require regular pastoral care, especially those who are currently home-bound, in nursing homes, hospice, hospitals, or assisted living facilities. If your or your loved one has not yet received a visit from Rev Kim, it may be because she does not know you are in need of a visit. Please contact the church office (786-3868) to let her know of any people who are in need of a pastoral visit.
- Food Pantry: Each month on Communion Sunday we will celebrate the ministry of the Food Pantry by having a special collection. The week prior to the collection we will list in the Bulletin any specific needs the pantry has. Of course you are welcome to bring your contributions at any time, but we will take a special collection on Food Pantry Sunday. There will be a box to collect your donations at the doors when you enter the sanctuary. During the first hymn, the children and youth of the church will bring the gifts forward and put them before the communion table. In this way we hope to make the contributions visible, and help our children to learn about this important ministry of our church and community.
- Publicity Policy: In order to insure the best communication and coordination possible, all publicity related to church sponsored activities must go through the church office prior to publication. This applies even when other parties are donating the publicity. In this way, we will have the best possible coordination of all publicity. If you have any questions, please speak with the Clerk of Session, Jim Carter (786-2169) or Pastor Kim.
- Presbytery Commissioner: Our church is in need of a Commissioner to attend the Presbytery meetings (5 scheduled meetings each year plus extra meetings scheduled). If one person is unable to do this, we could have a small team of commissioners who share the responsibility. If you are interested in this type of ministry, please speak with Jim Carter (786-2169).
- Family Services: The fourth Sunday of every month (12/23 in December) is Family Service Sunday. On these Sundays the entire church family will worship together – there will be no Sunday School. The service will be shorter in length and be designed in such a way as to allow participation of all age groups. We hope that our children and youth will learn that they are not only part of the Sunday School and Youth Group, but are also an important part of the worshipping community that gathers on Sunday morning – and thus build a worship habit that will hopefully carry over into adulthood! We also honor the example and spirit of Jesus, who said: “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” Thank goodness for our children, who are here to teach us what it means to enter the kingdom!
-
On behalf of our church family, we thank all those who faithfully volunteered to staff the church office during the recent vacancy:
Mike Murdie (who was here almost every day!)
Sandy Corey
Jean White
Hope Rase
and Jim Carter
Season’s Greeting’s From Starburst:
Operation Christmas Child Update:Many, many thanks to all who generously gave Christmas shoeboxes for the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox ministry. We can only imagine the power of these simple gifts when placed in the hands of a loving God.
Whether they are refugees of civil war, survivors of a natural disaster, or victims of extreme poverty, these little ones need to know that they are precious to God. That’s the motivation behind Operation Christmas Child, the unique project of Samaritan’s Purse that enables caring people to share God’s love with hurting girls and boys in the far corners of the globe.
As you may know our church serves as a relay center, collecting shoeboxes from our community. Last year we were able to transport 491 boxes to the collection center in Batavia. This year, hoping to exceed that number by just 9 boxes – we were blessed to collect 616 boxes!!! What a thrill to be in His service! Thanks so much!
What a very busy and joyful time of year at preschool! We happily served about 170 people at our Starburst Feast of Thanksgiving. A most wonderful group of parents donated and helped to prepare the food and clean up afterwards. And what fun they had in the kitchen. (Except one who was overheard saying, “I vote we all donate $10.00 and have this catered next year!”:-) )
Special thanks to Jim and George-Ann Carter who just happened to be at the right place at the right time! Their help was very appreciated. We truly have so much for which to be thankful! December will be a delight as well, as we herald the birth of Jesus with a Christmas program on Wednesday, December 19th at 10:30 A.M. You are all invited. Prior to that day we will sing at Wal-Mart and the Cloisters on Dec. 12th.So, if you would like to add a very special touch to your own celebration of Christmas come to any of our caroling events and hear the voices of our Starburst “stars” as we give our birthday gift to our Lord. May you all be blessed by the gift of our Savior.
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
~Larene
A little from Addie:
I just want to take a minute to tell you a little bit about myself. I am a graduate from Houghton College, and I was recently married this past August to a wonderful man named Andrew. I grew up right between Jamestown NY and Erie PA, in a town called Clymer. I have been blessed with a wonderful family, which I am truly grateful for, and now a new and wonderful opportunity. Please don’t hesitate to stop in and say hello, I look forward to meeting all of you!
Music at U.C.W.
- The Chancel Hand-bell Choir will be meeting every Sunday in December except for the 31st from 11:30-12:30 in the Sanctuary. They will play on the 2nd and the 30th.
- The Ensemble will sing on December 9th, 23rd and at the Christmas Eve Service at 11p.m.
Youth Ministry Updates:
Youth Group Meets
Sunday Nights from 6:30-7:30
Come join us, bring a friend!
- Youth Group will meet on Dec 2nd, 9th, and 16th, then take a break for the holidays.
- The Youth Group continues to meet each Sunday for fellowship, inspiration, and opportunities for service. Attendance ranges between 6 and 20, depending on the night, and volunteer advisors are working together to see that the youth have the best possible experience here at their church. Discussions about the focus and future of the youth ministry program are ongoing, but the commitment to provide the best possible experience for our youth is clearly present.
- At the youth group meeting on November 25th, our young people began training as Assistant Sound Technicians. They can now assist with the sound ministry for Sunday worship, working as apprentices with our Sound Technicians. Any youth who would like to participate in this ministry but missed the orientation should let Addie in the church office know that they want to be included as an Assistant Sound Technician.
Church Meetings:
- Committee formed to explore feasibility of hiring youth pastor:
For many years leaders in our church have wondered if the best way to minister to our youth would be to hire a youth pastor. In response to this question, Session has formed an exploratory committee that will look at all aspects of this issue, and report back to Session as soon as they are able. The committee convener is Gary Burley, and they will have their first organizational meeting in December. Please keep them in your prayers as they gather important information on behalf of the church. Should the church decide to proceed with hiring a youth pastor, a member of the congregation has pledged $ 1,000 towards the salary of the pastor – with the understanding that the $ 1,000 needs to be matched by the congregation for the pledge to be received. Thank you to all who support the youth ministry in any way.
- Meeting Nights at the Church:
In order to keep meeting nights consistent and allow all of us to have more time with our families, Monday and Thursday nights have been designated as church meeting nights. The Boards will meet as follows throughout the month:
- First Monday-Benevolence
- Third Monday- Trustees
- Fourth Monday-Session
This allows the boards of the church to report to Session.
- The Pastor’s Study Group will meet the first and third Thursdays of the month. This allows committee meetings to take place on the other Thursday evenings, or, in the case of an emergence, after church on Sunday.
Warsaw Food Pantry Report:
During October, we had 92 families consisting of 157 adults, 92 children and 35 seniors for a total of 284 people.
There were 13 new families.
We had the following donations:
Full Gospel Church- $25.00
Wyoming Co. Vets-Ladies Auxilary-$100.00
Randy Sitarek-10 bushels of apples
Marge Yarrington-food
Ed & Marion Fisher-Veggies
U.S. Post Office-Samples
Warsaw Junior Tigers-large amount of food
U.C.W. congregation-food
St. Michael’s Church-food
WCS-Elementary Student Council-food
WCS-Homecoming Football game-food
Bill & Diane Santora-food
Trisha Morris-Kopinski & Welches-Veggies
Virginia Warren-$30.00
Wyoming Co. Comm. Hospital-food
United Methodist Church-food
Immanuel Methodist Church-food
Silver Lake Sportsmen’s Club-$1,000.00
There were other items left anonymously in connection.
Respectfully submitted,
Joyce Neeley
Board Of Benevolence News Update:
Updates:- The Spaghetti Dinner netted $528.49 which was split between Wyoming County Habitat for Humanity and the Youth Group. Although the Chicken BBQ lost $63.70, some food was used at Reverend Cran’s Installation dinner, and some will be used at future events because we were able to freeze it.
- Thank you to all who donated to make the “Buy a Table or Seat” campaign successful! With the extra money received, we were able to purchase plastic pitchers, which went into use for our Thanksgiving Dinner. Did you notice them?
- $440 was contributed to our blanket fund, which means 88 blankets will be distributed around the world to people in distress because of the generosity of the United Church of Warsaw.
- About 60 Christmas boxes were donated to Samaritan’s Purse by our congregation. Imagine how pleased many children will be because of these gifts! Thanks to Larene McCabe for her dedication to this annual project!
- Our annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner, which fed approximately 170 people, was a delicious event! It was gratifying to see our congregation mingling with so many Warsaw area residents.
- Proceeds from donations for this event will go into the campership fund. Special thanks go to cooks Bob Blake, Bill Cran, Steve Meyer, and Steve Perkins. All those who donated/prepared food, and all those who worked at a variety of tasks, we say thank you! Clean up was accomplished by many willing hands. The “bitter-end” award goes to Linda and Jeff Thomas who mopped the kitchen floor (along with the many other jobs they did) and turned out the lights.
- The Board of Benevolence purchased the lighted sign, which has begun to announce church activities. Donations will gladly be accepted.
All You Can Eat Brunch
Sunday, December 2, 2007
11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
All you can eat-$8 (adult), $4.50 (child 10/under)
Please sign up to work or to provide certain food items,including sweet breads and muffins.(Money earned from this fundraiser will go into the fund for the purchase of a new kitchen hood which the church will be required to install.)
- For kids of all ages who want to see and feel the Spirit in action:Christmas cookie baking in the church kitchen: Friday, December 14 at 7 p.m. If you are unable to join in the baking at church, you may still want to donate some of your Christmas sweets for our cookie platters which will be delivered to shut-ins. Please bring your cookies to the church on Friday during the day or after 7 p.m. Platters will be assembled on Saturday at 1 p.m.
- Christmas caroling: Saturday, December 15 at 2 p.m. Join us to surprise shut-ins and others with beautiful Christmas hymns and songs as platters of yummy cookies are delivered to them. Needed for this event are people willing to sing Christmas music around the Warsaw area and drivers to transport them. A sign up sheet will found in the East Room to help Benevolence coordinate this activity.If you know anyone who would appreciate cookies and caroling or a Christmas card, please call the church office (786-3868) with names and addresses.
- White Gift Service Sunday, December 16, 2007 Head Start has again requested that we donate books for the children. Benevolence is also asking for hats and mittens or gloves be provided for these youngsters. Please wrap the books in white paper and lay them at the manger during the Christmas pageant. A tree will be set up in the East Room for the hats, gloves/mittens.
- Money donated to our annual White Gift will again be sent to Heifer International in order to purchase animals which help families around the world become self-reliant. Last year our congregation purchased a heifer, two goats, a water buffalo, 2 sheep, and 2 llamas-a bargain at $1500! What can we do this year?
- Surprise! No one volunteered to help clean and inventory the kitchen, so our clean-up campaign will have to become more personal-a tap on the shoulder perhaps. If you are able to help, please contact George Ann Carter (786-2169), or call the church office (786-3868). This not-so-desired job is in real need of being accomplished. We’re looking at January.
- Alzheimer’s Association-The compassion to care, the leadership to conquer Caregiver Support Group-Wyoming County. For caregivers of persons with dementia: The group meets to discuss care giving, exchange resources, and provide support and encouragement to others who are faced with the challenge of dementia. DATE: The last Thursday of every month. TIME: 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. LOCATION: Wyoming County Office for the Aging. 8 Perry Avenue, Warsaw. For more information, please call Leilani Pelletier at the Alzheimer’s Association of Western New York at (800) 272-3900 or visit our website at www.alzwny.org
December Birthdays & Anniversaries
7 Steve & Donna Perkins – 1996
15 Deb & Bill Mammosser – 2001
16 Thomas & Cindy Flint – 1977
20 Lynn & Richard Saxton – 2003
23 Jeff & Sandy Bush – 1990
27 Ralph & Verna Schneckenburger – 1986
Michael & Pat Griffith – 1986
28 Steve & Barbara Meyer – 1985
6th William Cummins, William Hulme & Lester Bush
7th Michael Cummins, Jamie Montgomery
10th Arlene Baker & Kate Sheer
12th Colin Almay, Ellen Chandler & Cheryl Daniel
13th Robert Chandler, Eunice Dills & Karl Kunze
14th Agnes Wilcox
15th Betty Burley
16th Sharyn Vandegenachte, Haley Bleyle, Robert Bleyle,
17th Patrick Chandler & Allison Packard
18th-Anna Marie Flint & Holly Mager
20thDebbie Mammosser
22nd-Mary Crist & Meghan Coogan
23rd Barbara Humphrey
24th Dennis Grove & Nancy Stout
Milestones In Our Church Family
New Members:- Timothy Logsdon and Carolyn Sprague – Joined the church on Nov 18
- Elizabeth Grace Wood, daughter of Jared and Christine Wood, was baptized on October 21st.
Our prayerful sympathy is extended to the family of Mrs. Elsie James, who died on November 7th, after a long illness bravely fought. “May the souls of the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”
A time to Reflect
….if the Christ is born in Bethlehem a million times, and trudges the dusty roads of Palestine, preaching for a million years, but is not born in your heart and life- and in my heart and life- then what difference does the Gospel make? But if you and I are crucified with the Christ and yet we live because he lives in us, then the good news is true: God is for us. God is with us. God is in us. God is among us. And we are thankful.
-Lowell D. Streiker, Pastor’s Complete Handbook of Model Sermons