The ARK. Wayland United Methodist Church. Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors

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1 November/December Wayland United Methodist Church 200 Church Street Wayland, MI NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE P A I D PERMIT NO. 2 WAYLAND, MI Address Service Requested TO: The ARK Wayland United Methodist Church Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors WORSHIP WITH US AT: 10:00 AM Join us for coffee fellowship following worship! For Up-To-Date information visit our website: CHURCH OFFICE HOURS: MONDAY-THURSDAY 9:00 AM-1:00 PM PASTOR OFFICE HOURS: MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 10:00 AM-1:00 PM Office: ~ Pastor Jeff: Office office@waylandumc.org Pastor Jeff jeffwrev@gmail.com

2 2 November/December 2015 Good morning and God bless you! I am inspired each year entering the November-December corridor. It has been preceded by October which is my favorite month. And it opens a season of spiritual significance and emphasis on Remembrance (All Saints Day), Thanksgiving, Preparation (Advent) and Celebration (Christmas). These are qualities, and more importantly, practices of a healthy spiritual life. In each of them we acknowledge a dependence on others and God, and that we are meant to live in community not isolation. Our worship series for November (Stewardship: Caring for Life) and December (Sacred) lift up these values. Our Henderson Settlement Mission Team witnessed to the power of community in their report in worship last Sunday. As they served along side each other, God deepened their relationships. I am excited to how else our congregation will be blessed through their leadership. Our Harvest Dinner is another experience of community in the midst of service. We will find that again on November 7. There is basic joy in participation. Having a role or playing a part in God s story gives us meaning and identity. Contributing to a cause bigger than ourselves releases energy that God uses to heal us and the world. In such efforts we find that God has invited us into God s life and being. After conversion, you don't look out at reality; you look out from reality. In other words, God is not "out there"; you are in God and God is in you. You are in the middle of Reality! You're a part of it. It's a mystery of participation (Richard Rohr, Life as Participation, Center for Action and Contemplation, 4/1/15). Another opportunity for participation comes on November 22 with Commitment Sunday in worship. This Sunday concludes our Stewardship: Caring for Life series. On that day you are invited to make a written commitment of your financial gifts to God through the Church for In the emergency assistance situations I have encountered through the years, and especially in the last six months, there has been a fundamental break, loss, or injury in the closest relationships in a person s life that brings him or her through the doors of the Church. We are often a last resort for assistance, listening, and understanding. But what I also have found is that we become a first re-connection to community for people who have lost so much. That value also is evident in our Blue Christmas service which will be Sunday, December 20, at 5 pm. Grief can lead to isolation. Affirming grief in this worship service and in our faith can re-connect us to God and each other. The hope of Christmas is that God comes into the middle of our reality as a child. God participates in our existence and invites us to be part of God s Reality. May we together seek and find the joy and blessing of this life with God. Peace, Pastor Jeff ; jeffwrev@gmail.com

3 November/December November All Saints Day 10 am Daylight Savings Time Ends: FALL BACK Harold & Norma Lenz 63 rd Anniversary 2 Emma VandeZande Birthday 3 Melissa Harding Birthday Harvest Dinner Set-up 6:30 pm Alex Ash Birthday 7 Harvest Dinner 4:30-7 pm Communion 10 am Janel Hott Birthday Women s Fellowship 7 pm Sue Jensen s Home Jay & Rebecca Villarreal 14 th Anniversary 11 Veterans Day Paul & Robin Nyenhuis 39 th Anniversary 14 Pete Phillips Birthday 15 Curt & Melissa Harding 18 th Anniversary Paul Schloop Birthday 16 Pete & Julie Phillips 30 th Anniversary Vanessa Brower & Gloria Button Birthday Rod Mauchmar & Dennis Sherman Birthday SPPRC Meeting 4:30 pm Church Conference 5:30 pm 24 Jan Woods Birthday 25 Marcia Phelps Birthday 26 Thanksgiving Day World Aids Day Michael Pasma Birthday December 3 Kim Anderson & Tammy Kohtz Birthday 4 Landon Kohtz Birthday 5 Tim Sherman & Wade Greenawalt Birthday Communion 10 am Ken & Barb Josey 63 rd Anniversary 10 Ad Council/Finance Team meeting 7 pm Women s Fellowship 7 pm Beverly Williams home Children s Christmas Pageant in 10 am worship Blue Christmas Service 5 pm 21 Neal Phillips Birthday Christmas Eve Service 7 pm JoAnn Sherman Birthday 25 Christmas Day Curt Brower Birthday New Year s Eve Kelvin Lapham Birthday

4 4 November/December 2015 Children s Sunday School We are exploring and enjoying a new intergenerational format for our Children s Sunday School. This time includes a story, craft, and light meal. We resume meeting Sunday, November 29, when we will prepare for Advent and the Children s Christmas Pageant Sunday, December 20. Adult Sunday School meets 11:15 - Noon We are finishing the study, The God We Can Know, which explores the I Am sayings of Jesus and will be choosing our next topic. Join us in this informal time of fellowship and learning. Tuesday, November 10 th at 7:00 Sue Jensen s home & Monday, December 14 th at 7:00 Beverly Williams home Do you knit, crochet, or have other interests? Call Sue Jensen ( ) or Margaret Smith ( ) with questions. Please come even if you don t have a hobby and just like to visit. Search and Like Wayland UMC on Facebook. We use Facebook as a communication source for daily Scripture passages; ministry team meeting reminders; and upcoming Church events. We want to increase the number of people reached in this way. Annual Church Conference Sunday, November 22, 5:30 pm This annual meeting of our congregation is with our District Superintendent, Rev. Bill Haggard. The primary responsibility of the Charge/Church Conference in the annual meeting shall be to review and evaluate the total mission and ministry of the church (The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church ), receive reports, and adopt objectives and goals recommended by the church council that are in keeping with the objectives of The United Methodist Church

5 November/December Congregational Goals for 2015 Our objective is to create a balance among our inward focus and outward focus. 1. Worship participation: Grow average church attendance with regular attendees to a goal of 100 in worship and sustain the goal. As of Sunday, October 25 th, average worship attendance is Spiritual Growth: Increase the number of leaders and committee/team members by 10%. We elected 28 Church Officers for 2015, so this goal is 3 new leaders. We recognize Doug (Trustees) and Donna Cole (Care Team), and Sue Jensen (Care Team) now serving as leaders! 3. Discipleship: Grow our education department and learning opportunities to have 40% of attendees involved in something outside of Sunday worship. Our sources for this goal are Children/Adult Sunday School, Women s Fellowship, Boy Scouts and Venture Crew for our youth, our Red Bird Mission/Henderson Settlement Mission Team, and the adult Bell Choir. Total- 38 Goal-28 So, what if you cannot be in worship? No problem, you can listen to the worship service through our web site! Go to and find the Listen Live link. Choosing it, you will have streaming audio from our sound system. And if you want to listen to worship from a prior Sunday, choose the Archived Services link right next to Listen Live. When people get angry or frustrated there is a question they can ask themselves. HALT? Am I Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired? The last time you were angry, which one applied to you? -Food for Talk

6 6 November/December 2015 Stewardship: Caring for Life Worship Series October 25 A Broken Relationship Restored: It is in My Heart Our covenant relationship with God is unique, genuine, and deeply personal. Jeremiah 31:31-33 November 1 All Saints Day DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME Fall Back before worship Saints inspire us to trust God for salvation. Isaiah 25:6-9 Revelation 21:1-6 November 8 Open Communion The SCANDAL of believing in ourselves more than God. The serpent s deception leads us to believe in our possessions, wisdom, and invincibility over and above that of God. Genesis 3:1-7 November 15 Created to Worship Worship is something we can freely give to God in response to God s love. Colossians 1:9-14 Psalm 95:1-7 November 22 Worship is Giving and Giving is Worship 1 Chronicles 29:6-9; Malachi 3:10-12 Receive written giving commitments for 2016 Church Conference 5:30 pm Advent Worship Series: SACRED November 29 - Advent 1 - Sacred Time December 6 - Advent 2 - Open Communion - Sacred People Rev. Greg Lawton, GVSU Wesley Fellowship Director, guest preacher December 13 - Advent 3 - Sacred Space December 20 - Advent 4 - Sacred Knowing Blue Christmas 5:00 pm December 24 Christmas Eve (Thursday) - 7 pm - Sacred Being December 27 - Sacred Doing

7 November/December November Worship Service Servants December Worship Service Servants November 1 Daylight Savings Time Ends/ All Saints Day December 6 Communion: Julie Phillips Communion: Kelvin Lapham Opener: Bob Jackson Opener: Bob Jackson Liturgist: Gwyn Meisenbach Liturgist: Gayle Stewart Greeters: Ragan Family Greeters: Paul & Susan Schloop Ushers: Bob Jackson & Doug Cole Ushers: Bob Jackson & Paul Nyenhuis Coffee: Dawn Genther Coffee: Roxie Muczynski November 8 December 13 Opener: Harry Smith Opener: Harry Smith Liturgist: Gayle Stewart Liturgist: Roxie Muczynski Greeters: Jon & Sue Jensen Greeters: Ken & Elly Pasma Ushers: Harry Smith & Paul Schloop Ushers: Harry Smith & Keith Kohtz Coffee: Julie Phillips Coffee: Janel Hott November 15 December 20 Opener: Gayle Stewart Opener: Gayle Stewart Liturgist: Gwyn Meisenbach Liturgist: Gwyn Meisenbach Greeters: Paul & Robin Nyenhuis Greeters: Doug & Donna Cole Ushers: Gayle Stewart & Wade Greenawalt Ushers: Gayle Stewart & Pete Phillips Coffee: Dawn Genther Coffee: Janel Hott November 22 Opener: Wade Greenawalt Liturgist: Kelvin Lapham Greeters: Don & Nell Dandrow Ushers: Wade Greenawalt & Ken Pasma Coffee: Sandi Ragan December 24 - Christmas Eve Opener: Harry Smith Liturgist: Julie Phillips Greeters: Barb Josey Ushers: Harry Smith & Gayle Stewart Coffee: Margaret Smith November 29 December 27 Opener: Kelvin Lapham Opener: Wade Greenawalt Liturgist: Ron Thebo Liturgist: Ron Thebo Greeters: Pete Phillips Greeters: Kohtz Family Ushers: Kelvin Lapham & Gary Ragan Ushers: Wade Greenawalt & Brian Sprouts Coffee: Sue Jensen & Kristen VandeZande Coffee: Julie Phillips

8 8 November/December 2015 Thank you for your generous Noisy Offerings during September & October! We supported the Wayland UMC Mission Scholarship Fund & the United Methodist Community House. The November Noisy Offering supports the Local Emergency Fund. This program is used to meet emergency needs for families in the area. The December Noisy Offering will be collected for the Church World Service Blankets program, which is Lane 4 of the United Methodist Church on Relief/Hunger, Global Projects, and Church World Service Tools of Hope/Blankets. This program supplies blankets to families and individuals who have been through a recent disaster. We collected 58 lbs. of food and $15.00 for the Christian Neighbors Food Pantry during September & October! The requested Food Pantry item for November and December is peanut butter. Community Action of Allegan County Congregate Senior Meal sites for ages 60 plus Hopkins United Methodist Church 322 N Maple Hopkins Mon, Wed, Fri 11am-1pm Baraga Manor 301 Washington Otsego Mon thru Fri 11am-1pm Wayland United Methodist Church 200 Church Wayland Tues & Thurs 11:00am-1pm Come join us for a hot lunch and pleasant conversation along with interesting news, games and educational information. Call 24 hours in advance to order your meal ext. 261 ARE YOU FACING A HOUSING ISSUE? DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ON HOUSING PROGRAMS FOR ALLEGAN COUNTY? ALLEGAN COUNTY COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH HOMELESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS SEE PASTOR JEFF FOR MORE INFORMATION

9 November/December A Big Thank You A heartfelt thanks to all of our church family for the prayers and cards with good wishes. A big thank you to those who brought over meals and to Pastor Jeff for the wonderful visit. Ron & I really appreciated it so much. Hoping to mend the broken bone in my back in the next few months. Blessings to you all, Judy Shafer Smile at the One You Love Mother Teresa often gives people unexpected advice. When a group of Americans, many in the teaching profession, visited her in Calcutta, they asked her for some advice to take home to their families. Smile at your wives, she told them. Smile at your husbands. Thinking that perhaps the counsel was simplistic coming from an unmarried person, one of them asked, Are you married? Yes, she replied, to their surprise, and I find it hard sometimes to smile at Jesus. He can be very demanding. Thanks Donna Flick for the insight! Venture Crew 2097 meets Sunday evenings 6:00-8:00 pm. Troop 97 meets Mondays from 7:00-8:30 pm. All meetings are at church. Statistics indicate that of all the youth who join scouting through the church, 25 percent are United Methodists, 25 percent are members of other denominations or faiths and 50 percent come from unchurched families. Therefore, Scouting is one potential entry point for persons to join the church, which then has the opportunity to introduce, nurture and strengthen a relationship with Jesus Christ (from Ten Reasons to Consider Scouting and Civic Youth-Serving Agencies as a Ministry of the Local Church at

10 10 November/December 2015 Ministry Shares are the financial dimension of our involvement in the extension of Christ s ministry of outreaching love through the West Michigan Annual Conference. Each year we are asked to pay 100% of our Ministry Shares. For 2015, our adjusted Ministry Shares are $16,881. While right now we are not in a position to pay 100%, we are planning to grow back to that commitment. At our Administrative Council/Finance Team meeting on 4/16/15, we decided to commit 5% of the monthly General Fund offering total for our monthly Ministry Shares contribution. Each week, offerings for the General Fund and other gifts are reported in the bulletin. This is the calculation for October 2015: 10/4 $4, /11 $ /18 $4, /25 $3, Total General Fund giving $13, % Ministry Share payment $ Electronic Giving Available November 22 Our Administrative Council/Finance Team has decided to offer this option through Vanco Payment Solutions. Vanco has been associated with The United Methodist Church since 2002 and are a sponsor of the General Council on Finance and Administration. With this giving option your contributions can be debited automatically from your checking or savings account. Our new electronic giving program offers convenience for you and much-needed donation consistency for our congregation. In a survey earlier this year, 14 households indicated that they would be interested in, or use electronic giving. The process involves establishing a personal online account with Vanco and entering your giving amounts on our Church s account page. More information will be shared in the coming weeks. It is important to see this as an additional way of fulfilling your financial commitment to God through the Church. All the current ways of giving remain unchanged.

11 November/December Summer Camp Nut/Candy Fundraiser This Wayland United Methodist Church fundraiser helps provide scholarships for youth summer camp. Products come prepackaged in 1 lb. bags and are available upon purchase. Don t forget these products make great gifts and the nuts freeze well so buy ahead! Please make checks payable to: Wayland United Methodist Church. Thanks for your support! Almonds Chocolate Coated Almond, Cranberry Granola Almonds Roasted Whole Apricot Halves Black Walnuts Bridge Mix Chocolate Coated Cashews Chocolate Coated Cashews Giant Whole $8.00 $9.00 $8.00 Cashews Honey Roasted $10.00 Cranberries Mixed Chocolate Cranberries Dark Chocolate Deluxe Mixed Nuts (no peanuts) Gummi Bears Malt Balls Giant Peanuts Chocolate Coated Pecan Chocolate Coated $8.00 $8.00 Pecan Halves Pistachios Colossal Natural Praline Pecans Raisins Chocolate Coated Sweet N Salty Trail Mix Walnuts Light Yogurt Raisins NAME & PHONE NUMBER TOTAL PAID FILLED Wayland United Methodist Church (269) Sandi Ragan (269) gskeragan@charter.net

12 12 November/December 2015 Donna Flick s Kitchen Sealed with a Kiss Christmas is a wonderful time to share your favorite treat with a friend. Whip this up in a triple batch, to give them with a smile! Kiss Kringles ¾ cup sugar 1 cups finely chopped pecans 2 sticks softened butter 8 ounce bag of chocolate candy kisses 2 cups sifted flour powdered sugar for dusting Cream together sugar and butter until smooth. Stir in flour, fold in pecans. Seal dough in plastic wrap & chill at least 30 minutes. Remove foil from kisses. Completely cover each kiss with enough dough to make a 1 inch ball. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees or until lightly firm. Sift powdered sugar over tops while still warm. Makes 2 ½ dozen cookies. California Chicken Casserole 1 can (10 ¾ ounces) cream of mushroom soup, undiluted 1/3 cup milk 1 package (16 ounces) frozen california blend vegetables, thawed 1 ½ cups cubed cooked chicken 1 ½ cups (6 ounces) shredded cheese, divided Salt & pepper to taste In a large bowl, combine the soup and milk. Stir in vegetables, chicken, 1 ¼ cups shredded cheese and salt & pepper. Transfer mixture to a greased 9 square baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Uncover, top with remaining cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer. Let stand 5 minutes. Serve with rice or noodles. I think it is fun to try new recipes and this chicken & vegi combo is real good. Enjoy! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you all in April!