View the HTML Version
Centre UMC Newsletter, Vol. I, Issue 2
View this email in your browser (http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?u=69a6577287c49a350b2087c8a&id=10ab8f0a8a&e=[UNIQID])
CentreNews Rev. Mark Gorman, Pastor
** Great Thanksgiving?
————————————————————
** Learning from Holy Communion
————————————————————
Each week at Centre we celebrate Holy Communion. Another, ancient name for Communion is Eucharist. Eucharist comes from the Greek word for “thanksgiving.” As you might notice from the hymnal or bulletin, the main prayer of our Communion service is still called the Great Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is built into the heart of Christian worship. So I’ve often been curious about the Thanksgiving holiday. Why do we Christians need a special day to say thanks if every week we gather around the Lord’s Table for our great thanksgiving? Maybe, even though we give thanks every Sunday, we could always use one more opportunity to say “thank you” to God for his many blessings. Maybe there is no such thing as saying “thank you” enough.
Unfortunately, every year it seems Thanksgiving looks less and less like a day for saying thanks and more and more like a day for grabbing as much as we can get: eating way too much food, watching way too much television, and buying way too much stuff at stores that should not be open.
This is not the kind of thanksgiving we learn from our weekly Communion service. At the Lord’s Supper we do not eat or drink as much as we can. We do not overindulge. We do not trample over each other to get to the front of the line. We share the peace of Christ with each other. We approach the Table together, in humility. We receive grace sufficient for our needs.
We have a lot to learn about how to celebrate Thanksgiving from the way we celebrate Holy Communion. There is still time to make adjustments for this year’s holiday. Maybe our Thanksgiving tables can look just a little more like our Lord’s Table.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Mark
In Brief…
*Looking for the calendar? Please visit www.centreumc.org
*Our Winter Tea is December 6^th.
* Pastor Mark will be away Nov. 19 and Nov. 21 through Nov. 26.
* See below for important announcements about the church’s finances and an exciting outreach opportunity for Thanksgiving.
============================================================
Announcements
November 30^th we will begin our Fifth Sundays Series as part of our Christian education and formation program at Centre. All youth and adult Sunday school classes will combine for a class with Pastor Mark. We will meet in the sanctuary at 11:00. This month’s topic will be Art and Christian Faith. All adults and youth are invited to attend.
November 30^th is also our Fifth Sunday potluck. Please bring a dish to share for lunch at noon.
As if that weren’t enough, November 30^th is also the first Sunday in Advent. We need individuals and families to light the Advent candles at the beginning of each service from November 30-December 21 and for both services on Christmas Eve. Please talk to Pastor Mark if you are interested.
We will decorate the church for Advent on November 29^th starting at 9:00 a.m.
November 2 is All Saints’ Sunday. If you would like to include in our prayers relatives, friends, colleagues, or neighbors who have died in the last year, please submit their names to Pastor Mark by Thursday, October 30.
Hopefully you have received information about Operation Christmas Child. The church is collecting shoeboxes of items to share with children all over the world. Shoeboxes need to be returned to the church by November 16. Please talk to Judy Potts or Pastor Mark for more information, or visit ** http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/ (http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/)
.
Our next youth group event will be November 16. Stay tuned for more details!
There will be a community Thanksgiving Eve service on November 26 at 7:00 p.m. at ** Salem Lutheran Church (http://www.salemjarrettsville.org/)
in Jarrettsville. William Watters UMC and Jarrettsville UMC are among other churches that plan to attend. All are invited.
The Church Council has created a 150^th Anniversary Committee to plan the celebration of Centre’s 150^th year. Mark your calendars now for the weekend of September 27^th 2015, which will be filled with events to mark Centre’s years of ministry in the name of Jesus Christ. If you would like to serve on the 150^th Anniversary Committee, talk to Sandy Barthel, Jeff Smart, Lina Warfield, or Pastor Mark.
The December Newsletter Deadline is November 20^th.
Adopt a Family for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a time for celebrating the many gifts God has given us. It is also a season to share with those who do not have the material blessings we may have. This year, the Church Council is asking members to adopt families from our God Provides Food Pantry.
Your family may adopt a family from the Food Pantry on your own. Or you may decide to partner with another family in the church. We ask that you choose to buy Thanksgiving dinner for a family of 1, 2, 4, or 6 members. We have provided a list of items to buy for each size family. You may decide to add items; please only bring items that do not require refrigeration. Please purchase all items and bring them to the church by November 16. We will distribute the items later that week.
A signup sheet will be on the red table in the gathering space after worship starting October 26.
If you have questions, please contact Pastor Mark, Nicky Barthel, or Lynn Davis.
Thanksgiving Dinner for a Family of 1
$20 Supermarket Gift Card*
3 lb bag of potatoes or sweet potatoes
One box of stuffing
One can of gravy
Two cans of vegetables
One can of cranberry sauce
Two cans of other fruit
One box of dessert (cake, brownie, or pie mix) Thanksgiving Dinner for a Family of 2
$25 Supermarket Gift Card*
3 lb bag of potatoes or sweet potatoes
One box of stuffing
Two cans of gravy
Three cans of vegetables
Two cans of cranberry sauce
Three cans of other fruit
One box of dessert (cake, brownie, or pie mix)
Thanksgiving Dinner for a Family of 4
$35 Supermarket Gift Card*
5 lb bag of potatoes or sweet potatoes
Two boxes of stuffing
Five cans of vegetables
Three cans of cranberry sauce
Three cans of other fruit
One box of dessert (cake, brownie, or pie mix) Thanksgiving Dinner for a Family of 6
$50 Supermarket Gift Card*
5 lb bag of potatoes or sweet potatoes
Three boxes of stuffing
Seven cans of vegetables
Four cans of cranberry sauce
Four cans of other fruit
Two boxes of dessert (cake, brownie, or pie mix)
Centre’s Finances
Last month the Church Council decided to publish some details of Centre’s financial situation. The Council is preparing the 2015 Budget and believes you should have a better sense of our finances. The chart below shows the weekly offering from July 13 through October 5. The first column has the dates for each week. The second column tells how much we collected each week. The third column is the average we need for each week to meet the 2014 Budget. The last column shows how much our collection each week was over or (under) the amount needed. At the bottom are totals for amount collected, amount needed, and the over/(under) difference.
Thanks be to God, we are close to keeping up with our budget most weeks. And, overall, we are about where we need to be for the past couple months. But we are also just barely there. The offering total for each week includes money that is designated for special funds. That money does not affect the budget. Occasionally we have needed to dip into our small reserve fund to pay a bill. And our budget is very tight. After all our bills are paid, we rarely have enough money to pay for mission projects we would like to support or programs we would like to provide.
We imagine you might have questions about this chart. Please feel free to ask Pastor Mark, Sandy Barthel, or John Griffin about the chart or our church’s finances.
We hope you will include the church’s finances in your prayers for the month of November as the Church Council prepares for next year.
Date Offering Budget Over/(Under)
7/13 $2007.00 $2448.63 ($441.63)
7/20 $2619.00 $2448.63 $170.37
7/27 $1865.00 $2448.63 ($583.63)
8/3 $3017.00 $2448.63 $568.63
8/10 $2392.50 $2448.63 ($56.13)
8/17 $1215.00 $2448.63 ($1233.63)
8/24 $3541.00 $2448.63 $1092.37
8/31 $895.00 $2448.63 ($1553.63)
9/7 $3398.00 $2448.63 $949.37
9/14 $1420.25 $2448.63 ($1028.38)
9/21 $4130.00 $2448.63 $1681.37
9/28 $1069.00 $2448.63 ($1379.63)
10/5 $4202.00 $2448.63 $1753.37
Totals: $31,770.75 $31,832.19 ($61.44)
** (http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2F6ysiH)
** Share (http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2F6ysiH)
** (http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=November+Newsletter: http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2F6ysiH)
** Tweet (http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=November+Newsletter: http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2F6ysiH)
** (http://us9.forward-to-friend1.com/forward?u=69a6577287c49a350b2087c8a&id=10ab8f0a8a&e=[UNIQID])
** Forward (http://us9.forward-to-friend1.com/forward?u=69a6577287c49a350b2087c8a&id=10ab8f0a8a&e=[UNIQID])
** (https://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2F6ysiH)
** +1 (https://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2F6ysiH)
** (https://www.twitter.com/centreumc/)
** Centre on Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/centreumc/)
** (https://centreumc.org)
** Centre’s Website (https://centreumc.org)
** (https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102609068550505779311/102609068550505779311/posts)
** Centre on Google Plus (https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102609068550505779311/102609068550505779311/posts)
** (http://centreumc.blogspot.com)
** Centre Sermon Blog (http://centreumc.blogspot.com)
** (mailto:centreumc@gmail.com)
** Email Centre (mailto:centreumc@gmail.com)
** (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz6ZrUnVGuueM8J7dn2yApQ)
** Centre’s YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz6ZrUnVGuueM8J7dn2yApQ)
Copyright © 2014 Centre United Methodist Church, All rights reserved.
** unsubscribe from this list (http://centreumc.us9.list-manage2.com/unsubscribe?u=69a6577287c49a350b2087c8a&id=0b339c364c&e=[UNIQID]&c=10ab8f0a8a)
** update subscription preferences (http://centreumc.us9.list-manage1.com/profile?u=69a6577287c49a350b2087c8a&id=0b339c364c&e=[UNIQID])
Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp
http://www.mailchimp.com/monkey-rewards/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=monkey_rewards&aid=69a6577287c49a350b2087c8a&afl=1