The Newsletter of the First United Methodist Church of Decatur, Alabama December 20, 2017

Transcription

1 The Newsletter of the First United Methodist Church of Decatur, Alabama December 20, 2017 The Nativity of Jesus Christ Most of us sing two Charles Wesley hymns every Advent and Christmas: Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus and Hark! the Herald Angels Sing. In 1745, Charles Wesley published Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord that contained 26 more hymns he wrote about the birth of Jesus. Not all of them caught on and many have fallen into disuse. Each one, however, is characterized by Wesley s rich and imaginative use of scriptural language and his emphasis on the personal significance for every reader or singer of the events he describes. Here are two of the nativity hymns you may never have seen or heard that demonstrate Charles Wesley s profound understanding and deep adoration of the nativity of Christ. All glory to God in the sky, And peace upon earth be restored! O Jesus, exalted on high, Appear our omnipotent Lord! Who meanly in Bethlehem born, Didst stoop to redeem a lost race, Once more to Thy creatures return, And reign in Thy kingdom of grace. When Thou in our flesh didst appear, All nature acknowledged Thy birth; Arrived the acceptable year, And Heaven was opened on earth; Receiving its Lord from above The world was united to bless The Giver of mercy and love, The Prince and the Author of peace. O come, and to us be made known! Again, in the Spirit, descend. Set up in the hearts of Thine own A kingdom that never shall end. Thou only art able to bless, And make rebel sinners obey; Now bid human enmity cease, And bow countless souls to Thy sway. Let earth and heaven combine, Angels and men agree To praise in songs divine Th incarnate deity, Our God contracted to a span, Incomprehensibly made man. He laid his glory by, He wrap d him in our clay, Unmark d by human eye The latent Godhead lay; Infant of days he here became, And bore the lov d Immanuel s name. See in that infant s face The depths of deity, And labour while ye gaze To sound the mystery: In vain; ye angels gaze no more, But fall, and silently adore. Made perfect first in love, And sanctified by grace, We shall from earth remove, And see his glorious face; His love shall then be fully shew d, And man shall all be lost in God. There s nothing light and fluffy about Wesley s Christmas hymns but also nothing irrelevant to our life in the world God has entered in Jesus. Stay true to the biblical teachings in Charles Wesley s nativity hymns and you will live and pass on orthodox Christian faith in the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Life on earth would be more an answer to Jesus prayer that God s will be done on earth as it is in heaven if we stuck to the script Wesley gives us in his hymns. So whether you consider yourself a singer or not, lift up your voice and sing this Christmas of our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man See in that infant s face the depths of deity, and labour while ye gaze to sound the mystery. Lean toward that time when made perfect first in love and sanctified by grace, we shall from earth remove and see his glorious face. May our God who is incarnate in Jesus Christ again in the Spirit descend (and) set up in the hearts of His own a kingdom that never shall end. That s the kind of Christmas our forebears prayed we would have. Merry Christmas,

2 Important First Church Finance Milestone With a generous bounce from the recent "First Fruits" offering, your church made an $86,823 principal payment in December, reducing our loan to $971,170 and meeting our 2017 goal of being under $1 million of debt by the end of the year. With this payment, our new "Building Believers" five year campaign is off to an encouraging start. So far, 104 members or friends have pledged $875,475 to "Building Believers." Our long term goal is to steadily reduce, then eliminate this debt by We welcome and appreciate all pledged and unpledged gifts to this goal. Our $4.4 million, building and renovation program has allowed us to enjoy an expanded, attractive, and comfortable church campus which is used everyday in the work of the Lord. We thank all members and friends who have helped your church reduce our remaining debt. Being debt free will enable First Church to move on to other priorities in our beloved church's mission. We thank God for the opportunity to be in this place at this time and for the many Christian servants who make Decatur First a special place to worship, study, serve, and enjoy Christian fellowship. Respectfully, Charles Taylor and Ronnie Dukes, "Building Believers" Chairs Your Finance Committee, Drew Ward, Chair Our Wednesday Night First Fellowship Meal and Classes will resume on January 10, Please be sure to read the next issue of this newsletter for the details on all of the class offerings! New Member We welcome Cindy Upton into the membership of First Church by Profession of Faith. She joined the church on December 10. She resides at 1219 Jackson St. SE, Decatur and her phone number is Welcome! The Christmas Eve Communion Services will be Sunday, December 24 at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (Nursery Available) Coming in January Membership Class on Wednesday Evenings Our pastor will lead a five session class titled Following Jesus as a United Methodist Christian as one of the Wednesday evening class offerings beginning January 10. The class will conclude February 7. The class is designed as an orientation for anyone who is new to the United Methodist Church or Decatur First and as a refresher course for longtime members. It will cover our Biblical story, what we share in common with and how we differ from other denominations, our beliefs and commitment to service, worship, and holy living as well as the five year ministry plan of Decatur First UMC. If you have not yet joined or have recently joined our church, please consider attending this class. Staff News The Board of Trustees and the Staff Parish Relations Committee announce the retirement of Charles Elliott, our Church Maintenance staff person, after nineteen years of service, effective January 1, Our method of Church maintenance and repairs has evolved over the years requiring the Board of Trustees to examine how best to render those services in an efficient and cost effective manner. After careful study and consideration, going forward all major maintenance and repairs of the HVAC, electric, plumbing, roof, and general building systems will be performed by licensed specific contractors. All custodial services including set ups for the Fellowship Hall and Sanctuary for special events will be performed by a contract service. Minor church maintenance and repairs will be performed by outside vendors or volunteer church members where appropriate. The Board of Trustees wishes to thank Mr. Elliott for his years of service to our Church and its members. We wish him a happy retirement that is well deserved. A retirement reception for Charlie is planned for January. The date and time will be announced soon.

3 Chancel Choir Christmas Cantata Dec. 17,

4 Church Prayer List December 20 Edition Marian Sittason, Summerford Rehab Sympathy to Marguerite Stone, Jo Anne Schooley, and Loretta Bonner on the death of their sister Elaine Livingston Libby Sims Patrick, daughter of Bill and Betty Sims Justin Kirk, grandson-in-law of Marguerite & Scott Stone Clyde Sasser Judy Coon LaVerne Dollahite Dot Oliver Deborah Stewart Ronald Matthews Barbara Agee Alice Ackley Jean Elliott Unspoken Katherine Johnson Jerry Daniels Ann McClure, grandmother to Daryenne Eads Festive Treats and Hearty Eats Dear Church Family, Thank you for the tremendous support you gave to our Festive Treats and Holiday Eats Sale! We really appreciated all of those workers behind the scenes who organized the sale, the fabulous cooks who made their delicious contributions, and those of you who came to purchase. Also, Pete s beautifully handcrafted ornaments were a great addition. We ended up with $2, collected. We were very pleased with the money that was raised, and it will be put to good use in replacing items in the kitchen. The Hospitality Committee thanks you again for your generosity! Volunteers Needed The Board of Trustees would like to ask for volunteers to open the church on Sunday mornings before Sunday School and Worship. We need two volunteers each Sunday requiring 20 minutes of your time. If you are interested, please contact Ronnie Dukes via at rdukes@pepsicoladecatur.com or text at There will be an orientation meeting in January, date to be announced, to prepare you for this service. Thank you, Board of Trustees Women s Bible Study Ladies, Interested in growing in your faith and understanding of God s relationship to us? Want to build friendships with an awesome group of women? We welcome all ladies to our Tuesday morning studies and discussions of books written by outstanding Christian writers. We begin our first class Tuesday, January 9th at 10:00 in the Conference Conf. room off the welcome center. We will be studying Phillip Yancey s book Disappointment with God. If you have questions, or call. Peggy Black peggy.black@hotmail.com Christmas Tree Extravaganza Thank you to all the Sunday School Classes and the Choir for participating in the Christmas Tree Extravaganza! Thanks, too, to all of you who bought tickets to vote for your favorite tree. The winning tree belongs to The New Dimensions Class! Our first WinGS fundraiser for Women's Ministry Activities and Projects raised $ Note of Appreciation Words are inadequate to express our deep appreciation for the wonderful day we had last Sunday. We were deeply touched by the worship service, choir s musical program and participation for the lunch. Thanks to all of you who brought food and especially those who planned and worked to make it a beautiful occasion. We were totally surprised by the money tree, cards, notes and comments. We don t know who to thank for all of this, so we just thank you all! Merry Christmas, and God bless you all! Charles and Loena Boling December Mission Emphasis Refuge of Grace is our December Mission Emphasis. They have given us a list of items that they need. Place these items in the blue barrels in the hallway to the Fellowship Hall. Deodorant Feminine Hygiene Products Shampoo Hair Conditioner Body Wash Grocery Gift Cards LED Light Bulbs Drano Mr. Clean Magic Erasers Dark and light kidney beans Vanilla Creamer Salsa Reams of white copy paper Postage Stamps

5 Alexia Claborn, Director of Children s Ministry Children s Choir Please enjoy these photos of the Children s Choir during the Dec. 10th worship service. Sunday Morning Volunteers Volunteers for Sunday, Dec. 24 th There will be no Sunday School and no Children s Church on Dec. 24 Volunteers for Sunday, Dec. 31 st Sunday School 9:00 a.m. No Sunday School Children s Church 10:00 a.m. Service Teachers- Lise Greene & Carrie Hart Acolyte Schedule Dec. 24 th 10:00 a.m. Acolyte- Mary Emma Harper 5:00 p.m. Acolyte- LuLu Underwood Dec. 31 st 10:00 a.m. Acolyte- LuLu Underwood & Bristol Rayne Teal

6 Upcoming Events The Christmas Eve Communion Services will be Sunday, December 24 at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (Nursery Available) There will be candlelight at the 5:00 service. U.S. Postage Paid Non-Profit Org. Decatur, AL Permit No. 226 Choir Practice Wednesday, Dec. 27 at 6:00 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 31 Only one service at 10:00 Wednesday, January 3, 2018 Trowler's Garden Club, 10:00 a.m. Fellowship Hall 805 CANAL STREET N.E. DECATUR ECATUR,, AL PHONE (256) FAX (256) Please place label here Hughey Reynolds, Senior Minister, Charlie Elliott, Maintenance Tommy Davis, Music Director Daryenne Eads, First Grace Director, Cindy McCulloch, Finance Secretary, Wayne Keller, Accompanist Alyson Quinn, Church Secretary, Melissa Wiley, Housekeeper Alexia Claborn, Director of Children s Ministry, aclaborn@decaturfumc.org Ruth Moyers, Organist Upcoming Worship Services PURPOSE STATEMENT: Discipling our church to cultivate a legacy of Gospel-inspired servant leadership MISSION STATEMENT: Making Disciples of Jesus Christ who become servant leaders for the transformation of our church, our homes, our city, state, nation, and world. Christmas Eve Sunday, Dec :00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Time for a Savior Luke 2: 1-20 Rev. Hughey Reynolds Sunday, Dec. 31 Only one service at 10:00 a.m. The Day We ve Been Living For Luke 2: Rev. Hughey Reynolds Scheduled To Serve Dec. 24 Acolyte: 10:00 a.m. - Mary Emma Harper 5:00 p.m. - LuLu Underwood Ushers: 10:00 a.m. service: Ronnie Dukes, Gerald New, Keith Earwood, Steve Haddock, Mike Boozer 5:00 p.m. service: Bert Pippen, Billy Hudson, Tom Earley, Keith Skelton, Jud Davis The Christmas Eve Communion Services will be Sunday, December 24 at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (Nursery Available)