The Bell Ringer of the United Methodist Church of Cooperstown 66 Chestnut Street, Cooperstown NY 133236 Telephone: (607) 547-9540 NOVEMBER 2017 Email: ctownumc@gmail.com Editor: Brenda Alton stdx06@gmail.com Stewardship Report The end of the pledge year is drawing near. The last Sunday to give that will be credited to 2017, will be January 7, 2018. Please be sure that your check or envelope is clearly marked 2017 or it will be credited to 2018. Thank you. The special envelopes for Advent and Christmas that you receive inside your copy of The Bell Ringer do not have numbers on them. If you wish for your donation to be credited to you, for tax purposes, do not remain ANONYMOUS. Please be sure to put your name on the envelope before slipping it into the collection plate. COMMITMENT SUNDAY is November 13 th. If you did not receive your Stewardship letter, there are extras at the back of the Sanctuary, near the mailboxes. Thank you Laurie G. OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD Shoeboxes filled with gifts are a project of Samaritan s Purse. Each year CUMC participates in this ministry, coordinated by Mary Beekman. Pre-decorated shoeboxes and brochures may be picked up in the Sanctuary or Fellowship Room, no toothpaste or candy. Please bring your filled shoeboxes to church by Sunday, November 12 th, when a dedication service will be held and the children will be asked to carry the boxes to the Altar. The shoeboxes are taken to the area collection center at Main Street Baptist Church, Oneonta. HANGING OF THE GREENS Come and decorate the church for Advent on Sunday, November 26 th after worship. Soup and bread will be served in the Fellowship Room. The tree will be set up on Friday and ready for all our special ornaments. Also tables will need to be set up in the Chapel so that the UMW can prepare for the Christmas Tea & Bazaar which is held on Saturday, December 3 rd. Happy Birthday Kathryn Mollach Lona Smith Lucile Gilchrist Zaidee Powers Carl Banner Colin Bliss Randy Gelatt Mary Beekman Helen Smith Willis Monie, Sr. Virginia Sherwood Jeanine Harter Rena Lull, Jr. Happy Anniversary Willis & Dina Monie 01 st 03 rd 09 th 10 th 10 th 12 th 14 th 14 th 15 th 21 st 24 th 27 th 30 th 26 th CHRISTMAS TEA & BAZAAR to be held on Saturday, December 2 nd, 1-4 PM
FOOD PANTRY The Food Pantry continues its appeal for nonperishable food to keep the shelves stocked. Cash donations are also appreciated. Make checks payable to Cooperstown Food Pantry and mail to 25 Church Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326. There is always a collection box in the back of the sanctuary -- please double bag. To volunteer, call Ellen St. John at 547-9653. DEVOTIONAL LITERATURE Please help yourself to the devotional reading material in the literature racks in the church entrances. Take a copy to a homebound church member. Thanksgiving Offering envelopes are in this newsletter. The Thanksgiving offering will go toward mission work this year. Remember to take a moment on Thanksgiving to thank God for all that you have received. Have a blessed holiday! Special Giving Envelopes During the year special giving envelopes are sent to members and friends of the congregation for Lent, Easter, Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas. Unless designated otherwise, the money from these envelopes goes into the general fund of the church to be used for the operation of the church. SATURDAY S BREAD SCHEDULE 2017/2018 OCTOBER 28, 2017 JANUARY 27, 2018 MARCH 10, 2018 MAY 5, 2018 OCTOBER 27, 2018 PLEASE, PLEASE SIGN UP OR CALL RENA AT 547-5149 TO VOLUNTEER. Children ages 3 to 12 years are dismissed after the Children s Time for class in the Fellowship Hall. Bud Zaengle and Kate Evans will minister our children during November and December. As of October 15, 2017 all the months from September, 2017 through the end of May,2018 have been filled for a teacher and a helper. Rena Lull was the teacher and Judy Green was the helper for the month of September. Two families were present with a total of 5 kids for the month of September. Barbara and Will Monie are teacher/helper for October. There have been no Sunday School classes in October as of 10/15 due to October Ecumenical church at the Baptist church, no teacher/helper for Oct. 8, and a special program/presentation from Sally Zaegle (thank you, Sally!!!!) during the October 15 th service. As of May 20, Rena Lull will no longer be scheduling/coordinating the Sunday School program. We need a new coordinator to come forward to continue the UMC Sunday School program. Rena thanks all who have taught/helped, contributed to the Sunday School program since 2016. VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL There was no Summer Vacation Bible School scheduled due to the late scheduling of Spring Ecumenical Council Meeting in May 17, 2017. The next Ecumenical Meeting will be November 8, 2017 at Cooperstown UMC.
LITURGISTS NEEDED Liturgists are needed for the 10:30 AM worship services. Please check your calendars and call Judy Green, 293-7527, if you can serve. GREETERS/USHERS NEEDED Always looking for greeters and ushers. Need more help for ushering, as children are in Sunday school and others are headed South. Thanks to all who have helped. A sign-up sheet is outside the Fellowship Room or call Joan Ackerman 965-8778 to volunteer. 2017 CHURCH FUNDRAISERS December 2, 1-4 PM UMW Christmas Tea There Was No Summer Vacation Bible School schedule due to the late scheduling of Spring Ecumenical Council Meeting In May 17, 2017. The Next Ecumenical Meeting will be November 8, 2017 At The Cooperstown Umc. 2018 APRIL 27, 2018 UMC PORK DINNER UMW NEWS Thank you everyone who donated items for the baskets we put together to sell at the Christmas Tea. There are 16 in all and will make great Christmas gifts for someone. Prices range from $15 to $50. There are a variety from car wash to spa treatment. Thank you to those who helped assemble. Please remember we need LOTS of cookies for the tea on December 2 nd! We also need baked items and candy treats to sell and we will have other items as well. We would like to have some lady hostesses dressed in their finest to serve tea and cookies as well as our regular workers. Sign up will be available soon. Tell your friends and family to come shop and have tea and cookies while taking a moment to share in the meaning of Christmas. NEXT MEETING: Monday, November 13 th 10:45 AM-1 PM, soup and sandwich lunch. All are welcome as we have two special programs: 11 AM Brenda Waters presenting Hopeful Hearts Community and 11:30 Jessica Carroll and her mom, Johanna Schrom, presenting music and information on Sacred Spirits Medicine Drummers and pow wows that they attend, followed by lunch. Any questions, call Sandy Chase 287-1009 MAY, 26, 2018 HOF CLASSIC, CHURCH PARKING, ( RENA LULL AND DAWN DIETZ JULY 29, HOF CHURCH BAR-B-QUE, CHAIR: WINNIE DENNY SMITH JULY 30, CHURCH AND CHURCH PARKING : RENA LULL AND DAWNE DIETZ. NOVEMBER, 2018 HARVEST DINNER???????? IN GOOD COMPANY The fellowship of Coffee Hour after the worship service continues. Iced tea, coffee or juice and a light snack are enjoyed. A sign-up sheet is on the Bulletin Board downstairs. The Men s Breakfast Fellowship meets Fridays at 7:30 a.m. at Doubleday Café on Main Street.
Commitment Sunday Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. Exodus 23-19 Our celebration of Commitment Sunday, November 12 th, will remind us once again, of how truly blessed we are as a community of faith - blessed by God s faithful presence and generosity, blessed by the life that we live together as God s people and blessed by the possibilities and promises of the days to come. During the service we will place our commitment cards on the altar with our hopes and promises to fund local ministries in 2018. What a wonderful expression of what it means to be this Cooperstown community of faith! The financial commitments made on Consecration Sunday witness to our blessings and help us to plan ministries for the coming year. Please read over the materials provided by the stewardship team and consider how you will support the ministries of our church in the coming year. Every gift makes a difference. If you cannot be present on Commitment Sunday you may complete your giving form and mail it to the church office or place it in the Sunday offering plate. Please be in prayer with all of us for the outcome of this important giving program. United Methodist Church of Cooperstown CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP GENERAL FUND COMMITMENT CARD Giving Year: January 1, 2018 December 31, 2018 MY/OUR COMMITMENT IS Freely you have received; freely give. - Gospel of Matthew 10:8b $ per week times 52 weeks equals $ $ per month times 12 months equals $ A single sum of $ Other (Such as shares of stock) Envelopes: I/We will use ones we have. Provide me/us with new ones. I/We do not use them. Name(s) Address Date Phone ( ) City State Zip Email If you need to change your commitment, at any time, simply inform the Financial Secretary, Laurie Glockler,
EASTERN STANDARD TIME BEGINS ON NOVEMBER 5 th
Pastor s Page Rev. Thomas LeBeau Pastor, United Methodist Church of Cooperstown 66 Chestnut Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326 Telephone (607) 547-9540 Cell Phone (607) 437-7466 Email: thomaslebeau9@gmail.com Since Thanksgiving is coming this month I think a reflection or two on gratitude are appropriate. The reflections I offer are based on those from the booklet, Living Abstinently: A Guide to the FA Tools, published by Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA). You can infer from the program s name that being addicted to food is fraught with challenges. For instance, while alcoholics can separate from the bottle, we all have to eat. Those addicted to food find it especially challenging having to face the source of their addiction three times daily. So, FA s reflections on the importance of practicing gratitude as a tool of remaining abstinent from addictive eating take on special importance. And I think they can be beneficial to all of us, whatever our life challenges are. FA talks about choosing gratitude. In their program (and in life in general), we have a choice. We can choose to be grateful, whether we feel it or not. Recovering persons find that actions of gratitude lead to feelings of gratitude, not the other way around! Scriptures reinforce this concept. Take Psalm 50:14-15 for instance, Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, pay your vows to the Most High! Cry out to Me whenever you are in trouble; I will deliver you, then you will honor me. The sequence here is significant. First, we are instructed to offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Implied in the word sacrifice is that it might not be easy to do so, but we do it anyway. Then, we ask for God s help. The psalm says that God promises to deliver. And, being delivered (helped), we will then feel grateful, we will honor God. Philippians 4:6 agrees with the idea of choosing gratitude: With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Paul uses the same sequence: gratitude first (thankful hearts), then prayers and requests. Paul actually doesn t say that feeling grateful is required first. That s because it is really important to note here that the heart was considered that center of thinking, deciding and doing in Paul s time. It was not just center of emotions! So, for Paul, with thankful hearts also meant choosing to be thankful, whether or not one felt it. The FA program admits that some of us routinely see the glass as half empty rather than half full, and that we can t expect instant transformation. However, if they want to stay abstinent (and if the rest of us want to grow spiritually) we have to make the effort to practice gratitude. They suggest making a daily gratitude list as part of one s spiritual practices. That s a very good idea! As we approach Thanksgiving, I will work on that, and I hope you do, if you aren t already doing so. Let us Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His kindness endures forever! (Ps. 107:1). Happy Thanksgiving! Pastor Tom