La Tijera United Methodist Church & Child Development Center Newsletter

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Trevor Blair
5 years ago
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It s a strange time. Amidst dressed up storefronts and winter wonderlands, we find ourselves living in a reality filled with poverty, war, destruction, racism.

As we wait for hope, are there ways we can also be hope in our communities? We wait, we exercise patience, we are expectant as we count the days to Christmas Day, and we hope.

1 La Tijera United Methodist Church & Child Development Center Newsletter V O L U M E V I, I S S U E 1 2 D E C E M B E R Engaging Advent by Sophia Agtarap I W I L L H O N O R C H R I S T M A S I N M Y H E A R T, A N D T R Y T O K E E P I T A L L T H E Y E A R. - C H A R L E S D I C K E N S Advent: the time Christians set aside for spiritual preparation for the birth of Christ. It s a strange time. Amidst dressed up storefronts and winter wonderlands, we find ourselves living in a reality filled with poverty, war, destruction, racism. Though this season leading up to Christmas is characterized by waiting expectantly for the hope that arrives in the form of a baby born in a manger, what if we saw it as a time to engage? As we wait for hope, are there ways we can also be hope in our communities? We wait, we exercise patience, we are expectant as we count the days to Christmas Day, and we hope. For many, waiting conjures up images of a docile, passive condition, twiddling our thumbs and fidgeting while we wait for something to happen. But Advent calls us to task. Amidst dressed-up storefronts and winter wonderlands, we find ourselves living in a reality filled with poverty, war, destruction, racism. Though this season leading up to Christmas is characterized by waiting expectantly for the hope that arrives in the form of a baby born in a manger the Prince of Peace we instead are flooded with the sense that the world is upside down, far away from peace. Families are living in fear of deportation. Refugees in the thousands are risking their lives for the chance at a better life. Young black men are unsure if a routine traffic stop will end their life. How do we practice Advent in such a time as this? How can we wait patiently when there is so much urgency? How do we see past the tinsel, the shiny wrapping, the Christmas songs that have been playing since October and the Black Friday specials that were announced well before Thanksgiving, to see where Light is already breaking through? Advent is just as much a season of active waiting as it is a season of surprise. As people of faith, we live in this interesting already-butnot-yet space. Already, because we know Christ has come, and not yet, because we are still awaiting the arrival of the Kingdom of God, when peace and justice Shalom will reign. And yet we sometimes live as people who have forgotten about this gift of hope that came to us in the form of a baby, born to immigrants in a lowly stable. Continued on Page 3 Dates to Remember... 12/04 2nd Sunday in Advent worship at 9:30 a.m. Worship series, The Redemption of Scrooge, continues. Bag It Up meals due at church by 9:30 a.m.! 12/04 The Gathering at 6:30 pm, an hour of meditation, prayer, scripture and music 12/06 The Redemption of Scrooge at 7:00 p.m. 12/11 Worship at 9:30 a.m., Redemption of Scrooge, 3rd Sunday in Advent 12/12 Advent Study, Redemption of Scrooge, 7 p.m. 12/15 Ad Council meets at 6:30 p.m. 12/16 Center s Winter Concert & Santa Visit, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. 12/18 Worship at 9:30 am, Redemption of Scrooge, 4th Sunday in Advent 12/19 Advent Study, Redemption of Scrooge, 7 p.m. 12/22 Center Closed through 01/02/17! 12/24 at 7:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Worship Service! 12/25 Christmas Day! Serving lunch at PATH West LA at 12 noon no worship service 01/01 Worship at 9:30 a.m. Potluck following worship 01/01 The Gathering at 6:30 p.m.

P A G E 2 Journey to Christmas at La Tijera UMC Advent is a journey that moves us towards the miracle of Christmas the joy of a tiny child bringing peace on earth and maybe a bit of peace and hope

2 P A G E 2 Journey to Christmas at La Tijera UMC Advent is a journey that moves us towards the miracle of Christmas the joy of a tiny child bringing peace on earth and maybe a bit of peace and hope into all of our lives. La Tijera United Methodist Church, a place where ALL means ALL, and ALL are welcome, invites you to be a part of that journey this year. We will hear the story of Mary and Joseph, the Baby Jesus, the angels, the shepherds, and the magi. Wonder with us at their insight, their willingness to listen for God s voice, their love, and their fear as their journey brings to us the One who brings light and revolution to the world. Each Sunday in Advent, we will experience Scrooge s journey to redemption! On Saturday, December 24th at 7:00 p.m., our family-friendly candlelight service will be held in the sanctuary. Our approximately hour long service will be filled with music, mystery and joyous wonder as we hear the Christmas story told in scripture and song. We will also finish up our exploration of the journey of Past, Present & Future in the life of Ebenezer Scrooge! On Christmas Eve, 100% of our Christmas Eve Offering will be donated to Suicide Prevention and Awareness Programs at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services. This year, Christmas Day is on a Sunday but La Tijera UMC will not be found in the sanctuary on Christmas morning! We will be hosting a Christmas Day lunch and party at the PATH (People Assisting the Homeless) West Los Angeles facility. The lunch will start at 12 noon if you are interested in being an on-site host/server, or if you would like to make a monetary donation towards food and gifts for the 25 residents of PATH West Los Angeles, please let Pastor Lyda know at info@latijeraumc.org. Love is what s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. - Bobby, seven years old Bag It Up for Families in Need in December! LAX FOOD PANTRY The LAX Food Pantry is an emergency food resource for low-incoming clients in Inglewood, Westchester, El Segundo, Hawthorne, and portions of Los Angeles. We are once again participating in their annual Bag It Up program and have provided the suggested menu for a family of 4: Canned meat (chicken, roast beef or ham 1 large can or 2 small cans needs to feed 4 people) 1 package of instant potatoes 2 cans of vegetables 1 can of fruit 1 family sized can of soup (no broth please) 1 large package of pudding or jello 1 jar of peanut butter (18 oz) 1 package pie crust & filling or cake mix & frosting 1 box dry cereal 1 large package Bisquick All Purpose Mix 1-2 boxes of macaroni & cheese Please no perishables, glass containers or oversized cans. We request that additional items not on the suggested menu not be included in the Bag It Up bags. The addition of a reusable bag in the Bag It Up meals would be greatly appreciated. We request that each person wishing to donate fills up a bag with a complete meal of the listed items you are invited to find a friend to help complete a bag! The Bag It Up meals need to be dropped off at the church by December 4th during worship. The Bag It Up meals will be prepared during November and donated on Sunday, December 6th. These meals will be used to provide Christmas dinners to families in need. Thank you for all your help in making the world a bit brighter during the holidays! L A T I J E R A U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T

V O L U M E V I, I S S U E 1 2 The Redemption of Scrooge Ebenezer Scrooge is a man in dire need of a second chance. Is redemption possible for such a greedy, dark and sad character?

3 V O L U M E V I, I S S U E 1 2 The Redemption of Scrooge Ebenezer Scrooge is a man in dire need of a second chance. Is redemption possible for such a greedy, dark and sad character? The Redemption of Scrooge, from Matt Rawle s The Pop in Culture Series, shows us how the teachings of Jesus can be found in Dickens Christmas classic. From the ghosts of Christmas past, to the Life of the present, and the resurrection of Christmas future, this Advent study will bless us every one and reinvigorate our spiritual journeys as we look at this familiar story. Topics include Bah! Humbug!; The Redemption of Christmas Past; The Life of Christmas Present; and The Hope of Christmas Future. Our small group study exploring The Redemption of Scrooge will begin on Monday, November 28th at 7:00 p.m., and will end on Monday, December 19th. ALL are welcome! If you are interested in attending and would like to reserve a book, please notify the church office at: info@latijeraumc.org. Books are $ P A G E 3 Engaging Advent (cont. from page 1) As we engage this season of Advent, where is God showing up? It may be where you least expect it: in the unhoused person you pass by every morning asking for help, in a refugee resettled in your neighborhood, in the angry coworker, in the family member with whom you ve disagreed this entire election season, in the headlines you read weekly about violence against our brothers and sisters who are labeled as other. As you sit in this tension of a world shrouded in darkness, waiting for the light to come, stay woke. Tune your senses to the ways God is already at work. Listen with your entire being to where God s spirit is nudging you. Channel the Jesus who overturned tables and who fought the establishment on behalf of the marginalized. Allow yourself to experience both joy and despair for what you see and hear and feel around you. Above all, don t be afraid to look for and engage in the ways God is showing up. Written by Sophia Agtarap for Rethink Church articles/spirituality/engaging-advent 3 Ways to Stop Stressing from rethinkchurch.org We are a stressed out bunch. Even if unemployment rates have dropped, work stress is on the rise, according to a recent survey. If 83% of Americans are stressed by at least one thing at work, what do we do to chill out? Here are a few ideas. ies. Even the Bible talks about the breath of God giving us life. So breathe deeply. Your body has a built in stress reliever. 2. Take a hike. Or a walk. The Mayo Clinic says that exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever. So go find a park or take a few laps around your building and boost those endorphins. You may actually find yourself meditating on the path right in front of you, lead- 1. Breathe. Seems simple, right? But anyone who has done yoga knows that breath plays an important role in nourishing our boding you to a more peaceful state. 3. Put your phone away. You've been there: you find yourself checking your phone every few minutes waiting for a text, tweet or to see what everyone else is doing on Facebook. What's with our compulsive need not just to read every message that comes, but to reply immediately? It's a great thing to stay connected, but check your phone use and give yourself a break. You'll survive. Promise. So breath, walk, put your phone away and start the holidays a bit less stressed!

P A G E 4 Mayola s Corner The Center s Winter Concert & Santa Visit will be on December 16th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.! The holiday season is here!

I hope you will take a moment to stop and reflect on accomplishments that were put in place and the joy our little ones provide us over this holiday break.

Mark your calendars and plan on attending the Center s Winter Concert & Santa Visit on December 16th from 6 :00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. As always, we know it will be outstanding.

Shriya and Sydney are transitioning to the Caterpillar room way to go girls! Fin and Spencer are pulling themselves up on all the furniture and making it look easy!

4 P A G E 4 Mayola s Corner The Center s Winter Concert & Santa Visit will be on December 16th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.! The holiday season is here! As the year comes to a close and we venture into Advent, I d like to stop and look back at the year in review. We have been so blessed at the Center. So many goals were accomplished. I hope you will take a moment to stop and reflect on accomplishments that were put in place and the joy our little ones provide us over this holiday break. A special thank you goes to my entire staff for coming together and making learning fun and successful for the children. Hats off to each and every one this year has been a triumph! Mark your calendars and plan on attending the Center s Winter Concert & Santa Visit on December 16th from 6 :00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. As always, we know it will be outstanding. Come and support the children as they dazzle you with their caroling, dancing and holiday Bumblebees There are lots of exciting things happening with the Bumblebees! Shriya and Sydney are transitioning to the Caterpillar room way to go girls! Fin and Spencer are pulling themselves up on all the furniture and making it look easy! Madeline has been walking already for weeks. Wesley stands up and lets go and Isabella is doing lots of rolling over. We love working with the children on their skills. Everyday they surprise us with their amazing talents and we are loving it! We welcome Clara and Aveer and their families welcome friends! We wish you a Peaceful Christmas and a Blessed New Year! - Teachers Kris, Melanie & Suzy treats. All are welcome to join in on the festivities. The Center will be closed December 22nd through January 2nd for the holiday break. We will offer care to our Extended Care children for the week of January 2nd. We know you have many choices for childcare, and we sincerely thank you for choosing the La Tijera Center for Children. We look forward to seeing all of our friends in the New Year, and to meeting new friends who have enrolled in one of our fine programs starting on January 3rd. Thank you for continuing to make La Tijera Center for Children your choice for childcare. The staff and I wish you a safe and joyous holiday season and we look forward to seeing all of you in 2017! Happy Holidays! L A T I J E R A U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T

V O L U M E V I, I S S U E 1 2 Transition I Greetings families, parents and friends! The excitement of the season is in the air as we embrace the coming holidays.

There will be book reading and songs related to the holidays. We hope our families enjoy their holidays and stay safe. We wish you an abundance of joy and peace throughout the New Year.

- Teacher Chestina Transitional Preschool We welcome Saanvi and Mihir to our room and wish a happy birthday to Saanvi and Harshini. Christmas is the most exciting and wonderful time for children.

5 V O L U M E V I, I S S U E 1 2 Transition I Greetings families, parents and friends! The excitement of the season is in the air as we embrace the coming holidays. We are looking forward to seeing you at our festivities. The children will be making holiday decorations and working on their language and listening skills. There will be book reading and songs related to the holidays. We hope our families enjoy their holidays and stay safe. We wish you an abundance of joy and peace throughout the New Year. We hope Maurice had a happy birthday on November 17th and we wish Obioya a happy birthday on December 24th. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! - Teacher Chestina Transitional Preschool We welcome Saanvi and Mihir to our room and wish a happy birthday to Saanvi and Harshini. Christmas is the most exciting and wonderful time for children. During this cheerful month, we will talk about families, friends, love, giving, and sharing. Children will explore and enjoy by creating Christmas art projects and practicing Christmas and New Year s songs. We are lucky to have families from a variety of different cultures and religions who celebrate different holidays. We are continuing to learn to build one day at a time and strengthen our friendships, increase our learning and thinking skills. Special thanks to all the parents and families who attended and celebrated the Thanksgiving dinner and made it so colorful. Wishing you Happy Holidays! - Teacher Mary P A G E 5 Don t forget the Center will be closed December 22nd through January 2nd. Classes will resume January 3rd. Room 3 The holidays are here! The children are so excited, they can t wait until Christmas. We would like to congratulate Maya Saif-Feisal from being our December student of the month. We will be enjoying a lot of holiday activities this month. Look out for our flier on our special guest (Santa Claus!) A special thanks to all our parents thank you for your cooperation in making our International Dinner a success. Have a safe and happy holidays! - Mrs. Sharon

6 La Tijera United Methodist Church & Child Development Center Osage Avenue Los Angeles, CA Church: (3 10) Center: (310) Lyda Mayola Join us on Christmas Eve at 7:00 p.m. for a family-inclusive magical evening with carols, candlelight & Ebenezer Scrooge! 100% of our Christmas Eve Offering will be donated to Suicide Prevention and Awareness programs! We re on the web Latijeraumc.org We are a Reconciling church! ALL are welcome here. From Lyda... This Advent and Christmas, we are invited to explore how living in God s economy of grace and justice is the opposite of life-threatening addition to money, success, exclusion and looking out for ourselves. Each Sunday, we enter the world of Dickens A Christmas Carol and Scrooge s journey towards redemption. After all, if Ebenezer Scrooge can find redemption there is hope for us! Scrooge is described as being a tightfisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! When reminded that it was Christmas time, Scrooge responded Bah! Humbug! Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer? Bah humbug! Scrooge - a person who represents stinginess, greed and someone who is in a very bad mood all of the time. Scrooge is miserable in his life. He loves nothing but money. Kind of like people we see in the news and on social media. Folks who raise the cost of life-saving medicine regardless of the cost of human suffering, the 1% getting richer while children go hungry. Like many people, I am concerned about where the world is heading. I am concerned that hate crimes have risen and that people considered for political posts have histories of initiating and supporting policies and legislation that are harmful to the LGBTQ population, women, people of color, immigrants, and the marginalized. I have concerns that peace and justice for all people is getting harder to find. I am concerned about the fact that by 2020, two-thirds of the earth s wild animals will be extinct. I am concerned about the environment and global warming. But the scriptures that tell us the story of Jesus coming to earth as a child a child given to all of us gives us hope and reminds us that the promise of God s kin-dom transcends the brokenness of our world. The story of Advent and the birth of Jesus Christ the story of redemption of a very broken man in A Christmas Carol remind us that there is something bigger and better and truer beyond the chaos of the world. The word of God, the promises of God, and the grace of God point us to a different reality beyond the challenges we face in our lives. God s economy doesn t follow the same rules as the economy of our culture. God s economy challenges us to see all people - regardless of wealth, race, gender, gender orientation, sexual orientation, or legal status - as children of God. The Christmas miracle has begun in all of us for the sake of the world - God bless us everyone!

Advent. Communicator. The. Winter Collegiate United Methodist Church and Wesley Foundation

Advent. Communicator. The. Winter Collegiate United Methodist Church and Wesley Foundation The Advent Communicator Winter 2018 Collegiate United Methodist Church and Wesley Foundation 2018 Advent at Collegiate/Wesley "Do not be afraid." - The Angels Advent 2018 Sermon Series Angels Among Us