FIRST UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
Youth Council, Advent Decorating
FUMC Newsletter 11/20/24
WORSHIP
Topic: Wait & Watch
Speaker: Rev. Laura McMasters
Time: 10:00am
Also available on WKSR Radio 100.9 at 10am, YouTube & Facebook Live!
Verse of the Week:
Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Youth Council meets tonight.
Nativity Organizational Meeting is tonight at 5:30pm next to the nursery.
The church will be decorated for Advent on Sunday.
UT Southern is hosting a choir concert in the Sanctuary on Sunday, December 8th.
Framing is up in The Table building!
Poinsettia orders are due on December 4th.
EVENTS
Today, 11/20
5:30pm Youth Council Meeting
5:30pm Nativity Play Organizational Meeting
6:30pm Chancel Choir Practice
Tomorrow, 11/21
@9:00am Matthew 25 Bag Day
@5:30pm Disciple Bible Study
Friday, 11/22
No Events
Saturday, 11/23
No Events
Sunday 11/24
@9:00am Sunday School
@10:00am Worship
@12:00pm Bible Beans
@1:00pm Advent Decorating
@5:00pm Youth Group Thanksgiving
@7:00pm Theology on Tap
Monday 11/25
@8:15am Monday Morning Prayers
@3:00pm Social Talks
Tuesday 11/26
@5:00pm Wesley Gathering
@5:30pm Girl Talk
Wednesday, 11/27
@6:30 Chancel Choir Practice
Church Office Closed
The Growing Tree Closed
Interested?
Interested in being a part of a nativity play on December 14th and 15th? Come to an interest meeting tonight at 5:30pm next to the Nursery.
What's Growing On?
The garden is being prepped for winter. We got a free load of leaves from the city to cover the garden and fertilize it. The garden team will be covering the leaves with cardboard for weed prevention.
We will have mustard and turnip greens soon!
What's Up With Wesley?
The Young Adult Team will be serving brunch to students for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 27th at the Student Life House. Contact Callie Murrey if you are interested in helping out.
Wesley’s Christmas Party will be December 3rd. Young Adult Team is working to gather some gifts to bless them with.
Thanks to everyone who came and who cooked for Friendsgiving!
On the Ho-ho-horizon
Advent Decorating - November 24th
Youth Wrap Gifts for MADE - December 1st
Courageous Girls Christmas Party - December 1st
Wesley Christmas Party - December 3rd
Poinsettia Orders Due - December 4th
Mingle Jingle - December 7th
Children’s Christmas Caroling - December 11th
Pulaski Christmas Parade - December 14th
Nativity Play Performance - December 14th/15th
Christmas Cantata - December 15th
Youth Ice Skate on the Square - December 17th
Games & Casual Worship - December 22nd
Youth Christmas Party - December 22nd
Theologian of the Month
Our Theologian of the Month for November is Father Gustavo Gutierrez, a Roman Catholic priest from Peru. (June 8th, 1928-October 22nd, 2024). Through his life experience of having Polio as a child to experiencing political and economic turmoil in Peru, Father Gutierrez was always sensitive to human suffering and the role of religion as it seeks to be present with those who suffer—either by the hands of others or because of life in general. Known as the father of Liberation Theology, Father Gutierrez’s theology did not emerge from the halls of academia, but as a response to the questions and concerns he heard from his parishioners and the poor in Lima. Upon engaging with the people whose lives have been dominated by violence and poverty, Father Gutierrez concluded that the a notion of salvation as an exclusively other worldly hope was inadequate. Although the fullness of salvation is a future of hope, it must begin here and now. Therefore, Father Gutierrez writes that full salvation from God begins with liberation here and now. This brings with it profound implications for how followers of Jesus are to live, believe, pray, and act as we live on this side of eternity. Father Gutierrez says that to reflect on Jesus and God as the great liberator leads us to consider sin not only on a personal level, but in its societal and structural dimensions too. Therefore, we are called, as the Church, to do as Jesus did in Luke 4: “To proclaim good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Father Gutierrez concluded that the Church must not comfortably proclaim a gospel of soft love that allows us to remain comfortable in our bubbles. Rather, the gospel of Jesus leads us meet with others, stand in solidarity with the hurting, and become uncomfortable as we seek to build relationships with those who are different than us. In his pivotal text, A Theology of Liberation, Father Gutierrez writes, “My neighbor, as has been said, is not the one whom I find in my path, but rather the one in whose path I place myself, the one whom I approach and actively seek. The other aspects of the Christian life become meaningful if they are animated by charity; otherwise, in Paul’s words, they simply are empty actions (1 Corinthians 13).”
Book of the Month
Our Book of the Month for November is The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More than Our “Correct” Beliefs by Dr. Peter Enns. In this book, Dr. Enns, with compelling and humorous stories from his own life, explains how Christians often mistake “certainty” and “correct belief” for faith when what God really desires is trust and intimacy. Enns offers a model of vibrant faith that views skepticism and questions not as a loss of belief, but as an
opportunity to deepen one’s religious conviction with courage and confidence. Faith, according to Enns, is not an absolute certain understanding of doctrinal stances, but an orientation where one’s life is open to more questions, more learning, more seeking, and more trust as we deepen our relationship with God, who is the infinite mystery.
Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1: “When trusting God is central—even just the simply act of trying to trust when we might not feel like it—we are walking a holy path. When we learn that it is okay to let go of the need to be right—that God is not going to pounce on us from behind the corner and give us a whipping but actually welcomes this step of faith—only then will the debilitating stress of holding on to correct thinking begin to fade. Then we are giving control over to God, which is amore secure place for faith to rest than on the whims and moods of our own thinking.”
Opportunities to Serve
Matthew 25 Thrift Shoppe
Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday 9am-3:15pm
Community RFD
RFD meets every 3rd Wednesday at 5:30pm to pack boxes and the following Saturday at 8am at the Giles County Ag Park to distribute them.
There are so many ways to get involved! Ask us about The Table Praise Band, the Young Adult Team, Youth Events, and more...
RFD Food Collection
RFD (Rural Food Delivery) is collecting donations in The Fellowship Hall. The item of the month is canned soup & chili. Please drop off these & other non-perishable food items on the shelf in The Fellowship Hall.
Community RFD is a non-profit organization that provides boxes of food at no cost to struggling families in Giles County. Some of our congregants regularly volunteer with RFD