DECEMBER 2014 ECHOES From the Heights A monthly newsletter from Shawnee Heights United Methodist Church Love Came Down at Christmas Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love divine; Love was born at Christmas; star and angels gave the sign. Love shall be our token; love be yours and love be mine; Love to God and neighbor, love for plea and gift and sign. (Hymnal 242) December Highlights ... Dec 13th Breakfast with Santa (p. 3 ) Dec 14th Carols and Cocoa (p. 2) Dec 21st Night In Bethlehem (p. 4) Dec 24th Christmas Eve Candlelight Services (p. 12) Christmas Store for Mom & Dad (p. 3) Have a Blessed Christmas Day! Angel Tree (p. 2) Shawnee Heights UMC Rev. Judy Long O’Neal 6020 SE 44TH STREET Church Staff information (page 12 ) Tecumseh, KS 66542 Calendar of events (page 12) Full Sunday Schedule (page 12) Sunday Worship Service 10 a.m. Office Hours: Closed Monday Tues & Wed 9 a.m. –1 p.m. Thurs & Fri 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. (785)-379-5492 • [email protected] Angel Tree Page 2 Angel Tree Gifts The Missions and Outreach Committee selected the YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment (CSE) as the recipient of this year’s Christmas Angel Tree gifts. Your donated gifts will be placed in the CSE Holiday Store for female CSE clients to shop for themselves and their families for Christmas. The Angels are hung on the tree in the Narthex with an item written on it to be purchased for the CSE’s Holiday Store. The congregation is invited to choose one or more angels, purchase the gift(s), and place the unwrapped item(s) under the Angel tree by Wednesday, December 10th to help the greatest number of families. The YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment clients thank you for making their Christmas very special. Cocoa and Carols Fifth Annual Carols and Cocoa Sunday, December 14 Concert begins in the sanctuary at 4:00 p.m. followed by carol singing and refreshments in the Aldersgate Room. (A freewill offering will be taken.) Heights of Learning Christmas Programs Christmas Store for Mom and Dad Page 3 Page 3 The HOL Board Members have a new Christmas program for the children of Heights of Learning, which gives the kids an opportunity to select two small gifts for their parents or guardian. This gives the kids a chance do their own shopping to surprise their parents on Christmas morning! Donations of items for men and women will be appreciated. Gift ideas are picture frames, earrings, candles, nuts and candy. They’ll also need wrapping paper, tags, ribbon, tissue paper and gift bags. Please bring your donations to the church by December 7th. See Nancy Ames, Mae Jean Shandy, Mina Haywood or Barb Hoskinson with questions about this exciting new Christmas program for the HOL children! BREAKFAST WITH SANTA! Heights of Learning is hosting its annual Breakfast with Santa Saturday, Dec.13th, 8 to 10 a.m. featuring Cris Cakes for breakfast! Your freewill offering will benefit Heights of Learning Pre-school & Childcare (A ministry of Shawnee Heights United Methodist Church) Volunteers are needed to help with this event: 2-3 people 7:45-9 a.m. 2-3 people 9-10:30 a.m. Cleanup is also needed. ICare Canned Food Drive Heights of Learning Day of Giving includes an ICare Canned Food Drive on Dec. 12th. Please join HOL in this mission by bringing a can of food to church by Thursday Dec. 11th. There is a gold wrapped box just inside the front door in the narthex for your donations. Thank you! Page 4 Shawnee Heights United Methodist Church invites you to join us for a hands-on Holy Land experience! A Night In Bethlehem Sunday, December 21, 2014 6:00 pm ~ Fellowship Hall Come, visit Bethlehem on this very special night and experience what it might have been like the night Jesus was born. Travel back to ancient Bethlehem and visit the Marketplace with a Bakery, Butcher, Scribe and other merchants. Experience paying the tax collector, talking to Roman Soldiers and visiting biblical animals. Bring your friends and family, all are welcome to this free event! Light refreshments served. Shawnee Heights UMC, 6020 SE 44th, Tecumseh, KS (785)379-5492 Men’s and Women’s Ministries Page 5 United Methodist Men The next SHUMC UMM breakfast meeting is on Sunday, January 12, 2015, at 7:45 a.m. We look forward to seeing you in the New Year for a fun and interesting program along with prayer, and fellowship. Robert Gonzales, President of SHUMC UMM. United Methodist Women December Circle Meetings: Sarah Circle – Dec. 9, 7:00 pm, Ladonna Grindol’s home Vicky Moore – Hostess (Annual Christmas ornament exchange) Susanna Circle – Dec. 6, 8:00 a.m. at the church Barb Hoskinson- Hostess (Assemble College Finals Care Packages) This year the UMW provided to Bishop’s Roundup (with the donations and support of many in our congregation) the following: 35 health kits, 40 school kits and 56 birthing kits, with a total estimated value of $1,748. The first Joint Meeting of 2015 will be held at the church on Tuesday, January 6, 2015, at 6:30 p.m. This is our annual meeting where the new books for the 2015 reading program are going to be previewed and will be available for check-out. It’s always an interesting meeting and a good chance to see the variety of new reading material. All women are invited to attend. It has been noticed that the UMW kitchen towels, tea towels and dish cloths are getting pretty shabby. We are asking each member to please bring a new towel or dish cloth to the January joint meeting. Thanks! Barb Hoskinson, SHUMC UMW Thanksgiving Day Breakthrough House Volunteers from SHUMC served 60 members of Breakthrough House on Thanksgiving Day. Thirty volunteers prepared the meal on Wednesday night and served it on Thanksgiving Day. Coordinators Jeff and Barb Brown and Tom and Natalie Copeland appreciated everyone’s help with the meal in the planning, purchasing, preparing, serving and cleaning up. The members of Breakthrough House look forward to the event each year and are very appreciative of the opportunity to share this special meal with others. Page 6 SHUMC Youth News November 2014 has been a busy month for the youth! We packed items for the Bishop's Round-Up. We will listen to a very enlightening conversation with Carrie Rutherford on bullying and other teen issues. We will assist in the preparation and serving of Thanksgiving Dinner at Break-Through House!!! Thank you for all who have participated and plan to participate!! MARK YOUR CALENDARS: DECEMBER YOUTH COUNCIL: Sunday December 7th 5:00 pm in the Youth Room After the Youth Council meeting, all youth are invited to stay for an evening of worship and study. We will be doing a one evening study on the importance of advent and challenging ourselves to remember Christ during the busy season of Christmas and New Year's. I hope you will join me for this time of learning and growth. YOUTH CHRISTMAS PARTY!! The youth will be celebrating Christmas a little early this year. We will be having a Christmas party on Sunday, December 14, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm in the youth room. The evening will include games, Christmas treats and a gift exchange!! Please come!!! FAMILY AND FRIENDS ARE WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED TO JOIN US FOR THIS EVENT!!!! Page 7 Spending a Night In Bethlehem The children's committee will be hosting an exciting event Sunday, December 21st, called A Night in Bethlehem!! This event will give the children and youth a chance to experience what life was like in biblical times. It was decided at the November youth council meeting that the youth would be running a "gaming" booth, with children's games that would have been played during Jesus' time! Please come out on that day and help us run the booth!! DECEMBER 2014 YOUTH CALENDAR December 7th: 5:00 pm - Youth Council Meeting, Youth Room 6:00 pm to 7:15 pm - Youth Advent Bible Study December 14th: 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the gym and Youth Room: Youth Christmas Party December 21st: "Night In Bethlehem" Event NO YOUTH GROUP December 28th: Christmas Break NO YOUTH GROUP Shop in Support of SHUMC Page 8 Low Denomination Gift Cards! Starting Saturday, November 1, we will have a limited number of special small denomination gift cards available, just in time for the holidays! These cards are only available while supplies last, so don't wait to place your orders. Amazon.com Gift Cards $10 AMC Theatres® $10 Barnes & Noble $5 CVS/pharmacy $10 Groupon $10 Meijer $10 Outback $10 Panera Bread® $5 Pizza Hut $5 Regal Entertainment Group $10 Target $10 Starbucks $5 Walmart $10 These low denomination gift cards make great gifts for the special people in your life. Place your order this Sunday for these gift cards, or others, and get your Christmas shopping done early this year! ’tis the time to shop—and as a reminder about the “Shop ’n Support of SHUMC” program, please see page 8 for a refresher course! Information about the program can be found on the narthex counter. Community Blood Drive Shawnee Heights United Methodist Church Community Blood Drive Register online: go to Monday, January 12th, 2015 3:00 - 6:00 p.m. 6020 SE 44th Street Tecumseh, KS 66542 Aldersgate Room savealifenow.org and click on "schedule an appointment” Sponsor code: snhgtsumc or contact SHUMC at 785-379-5492 or email: [email protected] Walk-ins Welcome! Heights of Learning Page 9 December 2014 Newsletter December already! We have a lot of fun activities planed this month! The church is putting together a holiday gift shop for the children to “shop” and get gifts for moms and dads! Our day of giving and Christmas program will be Dec. 12th. We will start by Caroling at Atria Hearthstone ,and dropping off food to Highland Park United Methodist Church for the food drive. We will also make cupcakes for Jesus’ birthday! At 3:00, we will have our singing program in the church and we will celebrate Jesus together in the gym while enjoying our cupcakes! Saturday, Dec. 13th we will host breakfast with Santa! He will be here 8:00-10:00 a.m., so come and enjoy pancakes and sausage with Ole St. Nick! Santa will also visit the center Friday, Dec. 19th! We will have classroom celebrations, please see your child’s teacher for details. We will have a “wish list tree” with items each classroom wishes to have. If you would like to pick one, please attach it to the gift when you return it. The tree will be across from the office. School age families, we have school day out on Monday, Dec.1st , and holiday break is Monday, Dec. 22nd - Monday, Jan.5th. School is back in session Tuesday, Jan. 6th. Payment for the break is as follows: Dec. 22nd-26th is a paid holiday week for all school age families, fees will not change. If your child is signed up to be here, it is an extra school day out charge as well. The week of Dec. 29th-Jan. 2nd is only pay by the day. No weekly fee is charged to any school age family. We will have a sign-up sheet posted by the signin/out sheet . This is a first-come-first serve basis. We only have room for 28 children so please do not write your child’s name at the bottom if all the lines are filled. If your child’s name is not in our count, you will need to find other care. If you have any questions, please let us know. Merry Christmas and happy new year to all! Dates to remember: School days out– Monday, Dec. 1st, Monday, Dec.22nd— Monday, Jan.5th Center closed– Wednesday, Dec. 24th & Thursday, Dec. 25th & Thursday, Jan. 1st. Fieldtrips are subject to change Field trips 3’s & 4’s Presbyterian Manor 3rd 9:15 Pre-k A&B Presbyterian Manor 10h 9:15 2’s-P-K Day of giving Dec. 12th Happy birthday Ms. Michelle 4th Ms. Melissa 5th Ms. Debbie 18th Ms. Courtney L. 27th. Joys and Concerns Page 10 December Birthdays 1st Carolee Dahl 3rd Jon Hardesty 4th Ray Haywood 5th Scarlett Ford 6th Ben Taliaferro 6th Sharon Wilt 8th Melissa Lewis 8th Alicia Nelson 9th Nita Roseberry 9th Diana Warta 10th Naida Swallow 11th Mina Haywood 15th Staci Fleischer 16th 16th 21st 21st 23rd 23rd 29th 29th 29th 31st Kay Hurford Brandon Lambrecht Karen Mace Phyllis Worthington Lorene Cranwell Elizabeth Lane Leah Everhart Dani Harris Ozzie Lane Colleen Brennan December Anniversaries 18th 22nd 23th 31st Bob & Jane Clelland Bill & Virginia Robinett Robert & Kelly Badenoch David & Toni Boyles Notes of Thanks Dear Church Family, Thank you so very much for your thoughts and prayers for Larry and me during his battle with cancer. He had an exceptionally good attitude through it all, and I'm sure your prayers were largely responsible for his good spirits and mine. Love is the greatest, and I am very thankful for belonging to this loving and caring church family. Thank you for the many cards and kind words. The sanctuary was full at his service, and the kids and I appreciate those of you who could come. Many joined us at Reynolds Lodge afterwards, and UMW was awesome in bringing desserts and helping set up and serve. Thank you for all your kindnesses. Shawnee Heights United Methodist, We would like to thank our Church Family for your prayers, cards, letters and donations to the memorial for Robert. Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated. In Christian Love, Jean Ragan and family In Christian Love, Cindy Schlink and family We are in prayer As A Church Family: We pray for one another, especially for those who will experience this season for the first time without their loved ones. Our prayers extend beyond our church to the members of our extended families and our circles of friends, neighbors and co-workers. We pray for specific situations in our community and the needs of people far away whose faces we know only through the media. We pray for those personally impacted by violence, whether in their homes or in war-torn countries. As we anticipate the celebration of God with us in the Christ Child, we recognize God's call for peace – in our hearts, in our lives, and in our world. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we strive to transform the world and pray for the courage to truly live as agents of God's peace. December 2014 Sunday Mon 1 2 Wed Thu 3 4 6:30 pm Annual Church Conference 6:30 pm Chancel Choir 8 9 10 2nd Sunday of Advent 7 pm Trustees 2:15-7:30 pm Bookmobile 11:15 am Bell Choir 7 pm Boy Scouts 7 Communion 5 pm Youth Council 6 pm Youth Group 14 3rd Sunday of Advent 4 pm Cocoa & Carols 21 4th Sunday of Advent 6 pm Night in Bethlehem 6:30 pm Finance 7 pm Sarah Circle 6:30 pm Chancel Choir 6 pm Church Council 18 19 7 pm Boy Scouts 2:15-7:30 pm Bookmobile 6:30 pm Chancel Choir 6 pm Missions & Outreach 7 pm Boy Scouts 29 6:30 pm Quilters 30 2:15-7:30 pm Bookmobile SUNDAY SCHEDULE: 9:15 am Adult Contemporary Issues Class 10:00 am SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP SERVICE 11:00 am Children’s Sunday School 11:00 a.m. All Church Fellowship Time 6:00 p.m. Youth Group 7 pm Discipleship 24 25 7 pm & 10 pm Candle Light Services Sat 6 8 am Susanna Circle HOL Day of Giving and Children’s Christmas Program 17 23 5 12 16 22 Fri 11 15 6 pm Youth Christmas Party 28 Tues Page 11 13 8-10 am Breakfast with Santa 20 5 pm Echoes articles due 26 27 Christmas Day 31 6:30 pm Chancel Choir CHURCH STAFF: Rev. Judy Long O’Neal Admn. Asst., Janice Cordry • Treasurer, Jo Scott Music Director, Chris Hubbard • Youth Director, Katie Vesely Custodian, Ralph Nelson SHUMC (785) 379-5492 • [email protected] Christmas Eve Shawnee Heights United Methodist Church Wednesday, December 24 7:00 p.m. Traditional Family Candlelight Service 10:00 p.m. Candlelight Service of Communion
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