Northbrook United Methodist Church
Start Thinking about Celebrating
Christmas Differently
Soon stores will start with the Christmas songs,
decorations and sales (if they haven’t already).
Soon we will start our Christmas present shopping (if we haven’t already). Soon we will fill
our calendars with parties, events, and to-do’s
(if we haven’t already).
This year, I want to invite you to join me and
others in thinking about how we can do Christmas differently. Join the Advent Conspiracy– a
plot to refocus our Christmas celebration on
who Jesus is and who we are as those who follow him. In the following pages of this newsletter you will see the opportunity to attend a one
night potluck or a four week study to explore
themes of the Advent Conspiracy:
Worship Fully
Spend Less
Give More
Love All
I hope you will decide to make room for your
own soul this Christmas and let go of a few activities or purchases or expectations that keep you
from following Jesus more fully this season.
Some ideas from recent conversations with people:
 Instead of buying gifts for friends, set dates
to spend time together once the holidays are
over.
 Do an activity with people you love as your
gift instead of purchasing something they
don’t need.
Messenger
November 2014
Worship in November
Nov. 2
All Saints Sunday
Pie Palooza (following worship)
Nov. 9
Marching to the Beat of God
Deacon Shannon LeMaster-Smith
Nov. 16 Joint Sermon with Samaritan Center
Topic: Mental Health
Nov. 23 10am Bishop Sally Dyck preaches
11am Potluck with Glenbrook UMC
See more details on page 2
 Write a thoughtful card to the people
you love, telling them what you would
give them if it were yours to give
(peace of mind, renewed hope, a more
balanced life).
 Ask your children to choose one gift
that doesn’t cost anything.
 Announce to your family (and yourself)
that you don’t have to have a perfect
Christmas celebration.
 Instead of spending lot’s of money on
stuff, you might instead decide to do an
activity with your friends and family.
Rev. Melissa Earley
Worship in November
Advent Conspiracy – Can Christmas
Still Change the World?
All Saints Sunday
November 2 is All Saints Sunday. We will also receive our
Is the Christmas season a time of year when it is
pledges of financial giving for the year. Following worship we easier to stay connected to God or harder? For
will have our “Pie Palooza.”
many of us, the time of year when worshiping God,
During worship we will honor and remember those who have following Jesus, and reflecting on what matters
died in this past year. We name persons from our congrega- should be the easiest is often the hardest. We are
tion and loved ones of members of our congregation who
inviting you to join the Advent Conspiracy- a call to
have died in the past year. We also carry in photos of those
remain in the gospel of Jesus- no matter how
who have been named during the processional hymn. If you
strongly the cultural demands of Christmas pull at
would like to have a loved one named during our worship serus. We will spend time on the themes of Worship
vice please contact the church office with the name of the
Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All.
person you are honoring, their relationship to you and the
date of their death. Please also drop off a framed photo that
can stand on a table top.
November 9 and 16
Deacon Shannon LeMaster-Smith will preach on November 9
“Marching to the Beat of God.” On November 16, Pastor
Melissa Earley will do a joint sermon with a pastoral psychotherapist from the Samaritan Center. They will address the
issue of mental health.
The Bishop is Coming!
Ways to participate:
4-week Sunday Evening Small Group – November
16, 23, 30 and December 7 from 5:30–6:30pm at
NUMC (during the Christmas pageant rehearsal)
[click to sign up]. Join with a small group over four
weeks to explore the themes of the Advent Conspiracy in depth and begin to think about how you
might shift your personal celebration of Christmas.
November 23 Bishop Sally Dyck will preach at joint worship
service of Northbrook UMC and Glenbrook Korean UMC. Following the 10:00 AM worship service we will have a joint pot- Choose a 1-Evening Small Group –
Tuesday, November 18, 6:30pm [click to sign up]
luck.
at Greg & Nancy Metzler’s
Joint Potluck with Glenbrook Korean UMC on November 23
Wednesday, November 19, 6:30pm [click to sign up]
Bring your favorite dish to share at our Potluck fellowship
at Gretchen & Brian Boyer’s
with the Glenbrook Korean UMC church on Sunday, NovemEnjoy a potluck dinner in the home of fellow
ber 23, 2014. You can sign up here or in Penberthy Hall to let
church members and be introduced to themes
us know what you will bring and/or to help with the clean-up.
of the Advent Conspiracy. Share together ideas
of how you might realign your celebration of
Christmas with what matters most to you.
Pie Palooza!
November 2
11:00am
TIME CHANGE! It’s time to FALL BACK!
Put your clocks back one hour this Saturday
evening as we return to Central Standard Time.
Please also join us at 10:00am for worship on the
Sundays of Advent:
November 30, December 7, 14, 21 and 28.
NUMC Staff Have a Favor to Ask: When
you have something that you would like to
give to the church, please ask the person
for whom you are leaving it if they can use
it. We appreciate the generosity of our
members, but sometimes are baffled by
the items that get left on our desks or in
church hallways.
Book Group Reading
MISSIONS NEWS
The Housekeeper
and The Professor
Youth Services Holiday Gift Program
We will be supporting needy children in our
local community through Youth Services’ Holiday Gift Program. Our Christmas Angel will be
up in November with all the details. Hope
you’ll select a name or two to brighten a child’s
Christmas. Please see Sharon Noha if you’d
like to help with this project.
Feed My Starving Children
Hope you’ll consider joining us on Saturday,
November 22 from 2:00-4:00pm in Libertyville
to pack meals for malnourished children in
third world countries. Everyone 5 and older is
welcome; this is a great family outing! Let
Sharon Noha know if you’d like to participate
and she’ll get you registered.
Holiday Fair
During the month of December you’ll have a
chance to support one of our local missions
and share your donation as a gift for a family
member, friend or co-worker. The minimum
donation is $10.
MLK Day 2015
Plans are underway for a great MLK Service
Day on Jan. 19, 2015. We have many great
projects and organizations we will be serving
that day. Please let Sharon Noha know if
you’d be willing to spearhead a service site
and/ or help with registration.
by Yoko Ogawa –
December 3rd Discussion
This highly praised short novel has
been described as charming, beautiful
and with nuances of whimsy, hope
and friendship. The author Ogawa
has won Japan’s most prestigious literary awards.
In The Housekeeper and The Professor, the narrator—the
housekeeper—keeps house for an invalid genius. These two
form a non-traditional family with the housekeeper’s 10 year old
son, Root, in modern day Japan. The housekeeper and Root
build a bond with the professor based on loyalty and his love of
teaching. The professor’s severe brain injury (from a car accident) limits his memory, at any given time, to the past 80
minutes. This is an engaging read from many perspectives!
The discussion will be on December 3rd, 7:00 to 8:30pm, hosted
at the home of Chris Greulich. This book is available in paperback, on Kindle and through our local library. Please RSVP to
Chris Greulich.
Financial Update
3rd Quarter
The Finance committee is happy to report that the church is basically on budget as of September 30. Pledged
income is actually a bit ahead, which helps balance out the increased expenses from last winter.
Parking Lot Update: The Parking Lot repair work has been completed! We received $9,648.29 in contributions towards the total cost of $40,245.15 for the parking lot repair. $30,183.86 of land sale money was
used, and $413 of 50th anniversary funds were used to make up the balance of the required 25% contribution from the congregation.
Our Stewardship Campaign has begun, and November 2nd is Consecration Sunday when we will receive financial pledges from our congregation for 2015. We look forward to eating pie and celebrating the work our
church is able to do.
The
Spiritual
Side
Martha Circle
Thursday
“Before you speak to me about your religion,
first show it to me in how you treat other people.
November 13th
10:00-11:30 am at NUMC
All are welcome!
Before you tell me how much you love your God,
show me how much you love all his children.
Before you preach to me of your passion for your faith,
teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors.
In the end,
I’m not as invested in what you have to tell or sell
as in how you choose to live and give."
Corry Booker
U.S. Senator
New Jersey
The-ol-o-gy: noun: the study of the nature of God
and religious beliefs.
Enjoy talking about God? Hearing fresh perspectives from friends and neighbors? Join
us for Theology on Tap!, a once a month discussion group that meets at the Landmark Inn.
For more information, contact Jonathan LeMaster-Smith or Pastor Melissa Earley.
November 12th at 8:00pm
Topic: The Purpose of Church Life
Submitted by Dan Lloyd
A paragraph, a poem, a photograph or a work of art:
if you come across something that inspires you in your readings,
share it with others. The goal of this column is to share
those things that move you or make you feel the presence of God.
Send submissions to “The Spiritual Side”, <[email protected]>
TABLES FOR 8
Those who have signed up for Tables for 8
have been enjoying getting to know others at
NUMC.
If you have not yet had this experience, there
is room at the table! The Glazers have 2-3
seats open for their Nov. 1 dinner and Donna
Gulley has 2-3 seats open for her Nov. 17 dinner.
December 7th– Sunday, 10am– Choir Cantata
December 14th– Sunday, 10am– Children’s Christmas Pageant
December 21st– Sunday, 7pm– Longest Night Worship Service
December 24th– Wednesday, 4pm & 11pm– Christmas Eve Service
You can have your name added now or for
the upcoming winter round of Tables for 8 by
contacting Karen Glazer.
way: E
.
NORTHBROOK UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
1190 Western Avenue
Northbrook, IL 60062
Phone: 847-272-2442
Fax: 847-272-8091
Email: [email protected]
Mailing Label
Youth and Adult Canoe Trip 2015
Have you ever had a desire
to: test your paddling skills
while gliding along the
banks of a pine
forested
shoreline? Sleep under a
night sky overflowing with
billions of twinkling stars?
Hear loon calls through the
early morning haze over
the pristine waters of a Canadian lake? See other exotic wildlife outside the
confines of a zoo?
youth and adults are planning to spend a week
from Saturday, July 25 to
Saturday, August 1, 2015
canoeing in the north
woods
of
Minnesota/
Canada.
If yes, then you might want
to consider joining next
year's NUMC canoe trip to
the Boundary Waters/
Quetico Provincal Park. A
number of our senior high
If this sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime to
you, then please see Brian
Boyer in church, call or email and he can provide
you more information.
If enough additional adults
have an interest, we might
run a separate adults-only
group alongside our youth
group.
Monday, November 3,
SOPHIA
CIRCLE
7:00-9:00pm
at the NUMC Kitchen
We will be making 3
kinds of soup for our
“Soup for the Soul”
fundraiser.
Northfield Food Pantry
is looking for
Mashed Potatoes
this November.
All donations are appreciated and
collected in Penberthy Hall.