Dear All,
November. Cold, shorter days, leading into “bleak” winter.
It is also the month when Ellsworth UMC goes into high gear:
- Sub Sale, Nov. 2-5 – Collection of orders begins Nov. 2, members of the congregation making subs “to order” matching exactly what people want and keeping the price at $5.00! What an amazing mission. This is one of our largest fundraisers for the year. Proceeds collected through this sale help our church carry out local and global service projects, like providing food and gifts for families in need during the holidays and supporting missions like “Nothing But Nets.”
Would you like to order lunch for delivery on Nov. 5th? Why not have everyone in your office order a sub? Download a sub order form and fax it to 667-5966 by Wednesday, Nov. 4th at 10:00AM.
- Wednesday, Nov. 11 – the gospel music concert by Ernie Couch & Revival, all the way from Nashville, at 7:30: check Amy’s notice for all information. I hope to see you there!
- Thursday, November 12, our annual Charge Conference – when we share with our District Superintendent UMC everything EUMC has been up to over the past year. We have had so many blessings and we have such good news to share!
- Sunday November 22 – We will be celebrating Thanksgiving Sunday. We will gather together and sing favorite hymns, ones many of us look forward to singing all year! A time to celebrate the blessing of being able to give to others.
The following Sunday, which happens to be the First Sunday in Advent, I will be away, as I am going to Maryland to be with my family: my grand daughter age 14, all my children, my in-laws including my 99 year old mother-in-law and old friends. God bless them one and all. I ask for prayer for our safe trip and I will be praying, for all those traveling, all those with family, all those separated from families, and for all those who have no loving families to be with during this season.
If you happen to drive past 21 Hancock Street look for our new outside cross. We know, unfortunately, doors to churches need to be locked as not everyone comes into a church with the desire to pray, be in fellowship, seek friendship, music, silence, prayer time. But we also know that many people need a special place to go to for quiet time, a place they feel is a sacred sanctuary. Ellsworth UMC is creating such a simple, we hope, place for prayer on the side lawn beside the church. A cross, a bench, a place to be for holy centering and quiet.
When I return to the pulpit on the Second Sunday in Advent, I know I shall return to a beautifully decorated sanctuary. This year as we travel through Advent I will be preaching using Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol.” I hope folks will see the theological messages in this short novel, enjoy the transformation in Ebenezer Scrooge, but also be able to see the social issues that have not changed since 1 A.D., or 1843 (when “A Christmas Carol” was published) or today, 2009. And perhaps, we, like Scrooge, may go through an amazing change and find ourselves often saying: “God Bless us one and all” – but more about that come December!
For now, stay warm, enjoy sunny November days and have a most blessed and thank filled Thanksgiving.
May God Bless,
Pastor Susan Yaruta-Young
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