From:                                         Woodridge United Methodist Church Communications <noreply@elexiochms.com>

Sent:                                           Friday, December 21, 2018 3:03 PM

To:                                               office@woodridgeumc.org

Subject:                                     "Sing We Now of Chirstmas 3.0" - Weekly Newsletter for Woodridge United Methodist Church

 

Woodridge United Methodist Church

Join us on Sunday for worship services
at  9:00 am & 10:30 am
& Christmas Eve at 5 pm & 11 pm
Professional nursery care available for the little ones.
All are Welcome!

 

 

 

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

 

 

Sing We Now of Christmas 3.0 OR "We're Related to Them?"

Last Sunday was the final day of Advent and next Sunday is Epiphany, which means this Sunday, December 30th, is the only Sunday we get during Christmastide.

(No, Christmastide isn’t something you spilled on your sweater. It’s the official, churchy name of the Christmas season. You know, that thing that lasts for 12 days? That’s Christmastide. But don’t worry, no collection of birds of any kind are involved in worship this week.)

In other words, this Sunday, December 30th, is a day for us to say:

“We’re in church and we’re singing…we’re in church and we’re SIIINGIIING!!”

Because that’s what we do during Christmas to celebrate Incarnation, God’s ultimate act of solidarity with humanity: we sing!

Oh sure, we will pray, light candle, read scripture, and Pastor Dave will talk a very little bit (What? It’s not impossible for him to talk only a little. It’s Christmas, it’s a time of miracles)…but, mostly, this Sunday, December 30th, at our one and only worship gathering at 10:00 a.m., we will sing.

We’ve picked a couple Christmas songs that we missed last week and we’ll leave plenty of time for a hymn sing. That’s right, a time where you, the congregation, get to play hymnal DJ and pick what we sing!

Christmas songs, like all our songs, are full of theological statements. We’ll let them do most of the talking in our (now annual?) Homily and Hymns time. This year Pastor Dave calls it “Sing We Now of Christmas 3.0” OR “We’re Related to…Them??”

See you in church this Sunday at 10:00am! All are welcome!

 

Be part of the discussion at our summer worship gathering on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. All are welcome!

Woodridge UMC is an open and loving United Methodist community striving to:       

Welcoming to all;
Uniting in service toward greater social justice for all;
Moving forward with understanding and acceptance of all peoples;
Creating disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.       

Our purpose is to offer a safe place and community to all races, cultures, religions, genders, sexual identities, ethnicities, age groups and other beliefs.      

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Sunday,  December 30th

  • Irshad at 8:00 am
  • ONE Worship Service at 10:00 am
  • Filipino Baptist at 3:30 pm
  • A.A. Meeting at 7:00 pm  

Monday, December 31st

  • Church Office CLOSED

Tuesday, January 1st

  • Happy New Year!!
  • Church Office CLOSED

Wednesday, January 2nd

  • Church Office CLOSED

Thursday, January 3rd

  • Irshad at 6:00 pm
  • Boy Scouts at 7:30 pm

Saturday, January 5th

  • Chapter Meeting at 9:00 am

Sunday,  January 6th

  • Irshad at 8:00 am
  • Worship Services at 9:00 & 10:30 am
  • 12:00 pm Youth Christmas Party
  • Filipino Baptist at 3:30 pm
  • A.A. Meeting at 7:00 pm  

 

 

 

Pastor Dave's Blog


Reflecting on 2018


We held our Church Conference a couple weeks ago. That's our annual meeting with our District Superintendent where we look back on the year that was and look forward to the next. And there are a bunch of reports. I know that sounds boring, but it actually is quite insightful to read how each committee and ministry area views its activity over the last year.

At the very least Church Conference is a needed reminder that a whole bunch of people are extraordinarily dedicated to this congregation. We do not celebrate that faithfulness nearly enough. So I highly recommend reading the full report.
To see the rest of the blog post and what Pastor Dave wrote for 2018 click
here.


Electronic Giving  

If you use electronic giving and have save the link, the website address has changed. Please visit our website and follow the e-Giving link at the bottom of the page to the new web address or go here. 

 

Have You Returned Your Commitment for 2019?

Thank you to those who have returned their commitments. We have received 60 commitments totaling $229,630. Last year, we received 69 commitments totaling $264,220 so we have a way to go.  Please return your 2019 commitment this Sunday or you can email your commitment to FINSEC@woodridgeumc.org. Also, for donations to be credited to 2018 they have to be delivered to the church by December 31 or post marked by December 31.

Thank You
Walt Read
Financial Secretary

You can find a commitment form
here.

 

 

 

 

There is ONE Worship Service on Sunday, December 30th at 10am.

DON’T FORGET OUR MEMBERS WITH LIMITED MOBILITY 

Please remember to keep in your prayers a few of our members who are not able to get to church as often as they would like because of medical challenges. We have included their addresses here in case you would also like to send a card/words of encouragement:  

Marv and Gen Bailey, 14804 S. Van Dyke Drive, #2245, Plainfield, Illinois  60544 
Vi Schobel, Westbury Care, Room 104, 1800 Robin Lane, Lisle, Illinois
  60532 

Joan Kettell, phone calls preferred but please limit the length of the conversation 

Juan Marianyi, 21422 W. Douglas Lane, Plainfield, IL 60544 

Will Grosch, 1261 Cobblestone Court, Naperville, IL 60564 (email grosch1@wowway.com


 

NO YOGA THIS THURSDAY
There will be no class December 27th through January 10th.
Yoga will start back up again on January 17th.  Any questions, please contact Carrie Santucci at 630-532-7741 or funkylarry@yahoo.com



Inquiring Minds Want to Know
Let's begin the year off in the right way!!!  Starting in January we will start a new series in our Wednesday night Bible study class and on Sunday mornings based on the book by Adam Hamilton entitled CREED, What Christians Believe and Why.  We will be offering this as an option for persons who are interested in becoming members of the church as well as everyone else who wants to learn more about what we believe as United Methodists. 

JUST HAVE QUESTIONS:  We will try to answer them as best we can. 
INTERESTED IN MEMBERSHIP:  Here is your opportunity in a non-threatening way.  
WANT TO KNOW WHAT UNITED METHODISTS BELIEVE:  We will try to share that information as well. 

A sign-up sheet is available in the narthex.  Join us on Wednesday nights at 7:00 p.m. (dinner with the youth starts around 6:30) and on Sunday mornings in January.



The Bible for Curious People - a Tuesday Morning Study

Where do we come from…spiritually speaking?
How should we read the scriptures Jesus read?
Why do we Christians call it “The Old Testament?”
How do we deal with the violence in those scriptures?

These are a few of the questions we’ll wrestle with in our bible study on Tuesday mornings beginning January 15th. When it comes to the the Hebrew Scriptures, many of us find ourselves somewhere between wanting to know more than our old Sunday School flannel graphs told us and so frustrated by it we’re tempted to chuck the whole thing away. This study is a place to ask all your questions of the “Old Testament.”

There is no cost for this study, but there will be readings assigned each week — some from the bible and some from other sources to help us better understand what we read in the bible. Materials will be available soon.

Beautiful, confounding, life-giving, scary, profane, inspired…are some of the words we can use to describe that big section at the front of the bible. Why? Let’s find out together on Tuesday mornings from 10:30am-12:00noon, starting January 15, 2019. Sign-up sheet is in the Narthex.



Reaching Out Beyond the Walls of the Church
The Aurora district is holding an outreach training event titled “Reaching Out Beyond the Walls of the Church” on morning of Saturday, January 26th at 9:30 am at Bethany of Fox Valley UMC.  Registration costs $5.  See the bulletin board in the Narthex for details.


Mission U - Winter Event
Mission U is an opportunity to study current issues impacting society based on current mission study topics with particular attention to the responsibilities of women in fulfilling the mission work of the church. Possible study options are Lembracing Wholeness,Missionary Conferences of the United States and What About Our Money?. Conference events are open to members and non-members of United Methodist Women.  The Winter mission U event runs from January 18-20th (Pastor Danita is a speaker).  See the bulletin board in the narthex for more details.


Martin Luther King Celebration 2019
There will be a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Sunday, January 20th at 4 pm at Faith UMC of Orland Park with a reception to follow.  The features speaker will be Dr. Timothy Tyson, senior research scholar at the Center of Documentary Studies at Duke University.


WOMEN'S FIESTA
Mark your calendar now!!!  WOMEN'S FIESTA - A day apart for women of all ages!!!  SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2019 form 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.. Invite a friend to hold the date as well.. Details to come...................


STAFF AND OFFICE WISH LIST
From time to time our office finds that there are items needed that are a bit more expensive than a case of paper or sometimes for special needs that occur. Currently, our list includes the following:
●    4 new dry erase/whiteboards approximately $230 each;
●    Funding to update the youth room which includes the purchase of 6 hightop chairs/stools, 4 ottomans with removable tops and storage and a coat of paint for the walls;
●    Funding to update the Friendship Room (den/parlor) for carpet and furniture cleaning and new paint for the walls;
●    Updated shelving units for the Christian Education office
While we know that you would love to run out and go shopping, our staff has looked at and chosen very specific items with the best deals!  If you would like to help in this effort, please mark your check "staff/office wish list" and make it payable to the church.  No amount is too small.  PLEASE DO NOT GO OUT AND PURCHASE THE ABOVE ITEMS ON YOUR OWN WITHOUT CONTACTING A STAFFPERSON!!!  We appreciate your support of us and are constantly looking at ways to make our daily work environment better!!  We invite you to join us in this effort.

 


THE MITTEN TREE IS CALLING FOR YOUR DONATIONS 

The mitten tree is available in the Narthex to accept your donations of children’s mittens, gloves, warm hats and scarves. The donations are going to Woodridge School District 68. They give them out to children who don’t have appropriate gear for the winter weather. We’ll be harvesting the tree a couple of times. Please donate as you can.


AMAZON SMILE 
Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible purchases to Woodridge United Methodist Church whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.          
AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service.  Support WUMC by starting your shopping
here.   

 

Looking Ahead        

February 2nd - Youth Pizza Sale

 

 Connect       

Learn ways you can get involved at Woodridge UMC!     

Sign up for our newsletter and email notifications     

Find out about upcoming events in the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church        

Every Sunday is "Selfie Sunday" at Woodridge UMC! Send your pictures of worship, fellowship, and events to office@woodridgeumc.org.  And don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!       

      

December 28th, 2018, Volume 9, Edition 51

 

 

 

 

 

 

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