Our annual bazaar and quilt auction will be held November 1^st from 9:00 to 3:00 with the auction held at 1:00 p.m.

This year the large quilt to be auctioned will be a “Bargello” 98”x112” hand quilted bed cover.  Also there will be wall hangings, table runners an old crock and jug and hand painted items during the auction.

.  But the auction is only a part of the activities at the Bazaar.  There are all types of things for sale and the fellowship overflows.

Other items for sale will include antiques, wood crafts, needlework, Christmas ornaments and Garfield famous hard candy, baked goods, cider and apple butter along with canned items.

You will not want to miss the lunch stand that always has delicious home-cooked food (home-made soups, pies, ham sandwiches, fresh cut fries and others).  These items can be enjoyed at the church or for take-out.

This is a great time to come and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation, enjoy a lunch and catch up with some “old” friends.  So mark your calendars, tell you friends, neighbors and co-workers.

 

With Christmas on the horizon, we can not help but begin to think of gifts. This Christmas season, we will focusing on unwrapping the gift of Christmas. Beginning November 30^th, the first Sunday in Advent, this five week sermon series will help us focus on the real gift of Christmas – the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.

If you would like to participate in our Christmas services, please see Pastor Katie, Sandy Lewis or Jeannette Kuhn.

 

 

A new advent (four week) study for adults will begin on November 30^th during the Sunday School Hour.  The study is entitled What Do You Want for Christmas by James W. Moore.

This is and is not the same Christmas story.  This a question that gets asked more often as the holiday season approaches and so many times it is answered with the material things on our minds.  This book will search deep down and ask “Does you heart long for the gift The Christ Child brings?”  Gifts like home, freedom Christ and Salvation.

December 14^th is the date for the Children’s Christmas Service at Garfield UMC, so that means that everyone who is still a “kid” will be learning new songs and recitations.  Several songs from “It’s a Wonderful Life”, the musical and a short skit will be fun to perform.

Parts will be distributed on Sunday, November 9^th and practice sessions thereafter will be on November 16, 23, 30 and December 7^th.  Each during the worship hour in the Sunday School gathering area.

The Happy Birthday Jesus party will be hold Saturday evening, December 13^th following an afternoon practice period. 

Parents, we need your assistance in getting the children to the church and helping them to learn their parts.  Christmas is an exciting and busy time, but children worshipping and praising God for the gift of Jesus us wonderful.  Make this part of the celebration.

 

 

The Thanksgiving Eve Service will be held on November 26^th at 7:30 p.m. at Pleasant Walk United Methodist Church.

This is a time when the entire community comes together to give thanks for God’s greatness and bounty.  It is always an uplifting service and one that will start your Holiday Season off in the right direction.

  

On November 23^th at 4:00 p.m. Garfield will give the worship service at Reeder’s Memorial Home in Boonsboro.

This is a small 30 to 45 minute service where the residences gather to hear God’s word and sing hymns.

Your help is needed.  We need people to read the gospel, sing and help the residence find their pages in the hymnals.  Please prayfully think about joining this service and sharing God’s word with those who can no longer attend their own churches.

 

 

Our annual Christmas collections will begin on November 23^rd.  You will find at the church stockings for the salvation army, boxes to place in your donations for Reeder’s Memorial Home and Fahney Keeney Home both in Boonsboro.

Don’t forget our fruit basket collections for the shut ins in our community.  This is something that is always welcome.

Our church is always decorated so nicely with poinsettias for the holiday season and you will find a sign up sheet in the back of the church to place your order in honor memory of a loved one.

Food Pantry

In the midst of these difficult economic times, please keep in mind that the church has a food pantry, full of canned and boxed items for families in our church and community. If your family or a family you know could use some help, please see Pastor Katie. All request are kept confidential.

Hunter’s Breakfast

On Saturday November 29^th the church is offering a “hunter’s breakfast” beginning at 4:30 a.m.

Every hunter knows that to sit out in the cold and hunt the food for your family requires a good hearty breakfast.  Let us also send them out with our prayers.

The menu is still in the planning stages, but reservations and offerings of help can be made through Linda Reeder at 301-824-5237

 

 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. - Colossians 3:15-17

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays – and it is not just because of green bean casserole. (Although, if I am being honest, I think that is even better then turkey!). Thanksgiving is a time for family, a time for bounty, a time for reflection. Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful.

I vividly remember my first attempt at Thanksgiving on my own. It was my first year at seminary. So many of my classmates could not travel to be with their own families, so in a small on bedroom apartment on campus, we tried to make a family of our own. My friend Clair and I were in charge of making most the food. As we dressed the turkey (to the best of our ability) we thought we were hot stuff. Our mothers doubted our ability to make a thanksgiving feast, but as we stood admiring our creation, we were proud! We opened the oven, and each with a side of the tray began to slide the turkey into the oven. There was just one problem. The turkey was to big. Some how, we had forgotten to make sure the turkey would fit. No matter how we tried, turning and twisting, the turkey simply would not fit in the small apartment oven.

Thoroughly disgusted that all of our work would now have to be chopped into pieces and placed on a baking tray to cook separately and that perhaps our mothers were right, we began hacking away at the turkey.

Nothing seamed to go right. Somehow we burned the sweat potato casserole to such a point that even the mini-marshmallows could not make it taste good. Someone have added salt to the green bean casserole which made it taste terrible. The rolls were undercooked, and even the pies our friend Adam had made were half eaten by the time they got to the feast. We only got a sliver.

It was a disaster. And sitting around our makeshift table we picked at our food, trying desperately to find something edible. As we did, we each took a time to share why we were thankful. “I am thankful for a break in our studies,” one friend shared with a chuckle. “I am thankful for my family, even though we can’t be together,” another shared. We had gone all the way around the room sharing what we were thankful for, and finally it was my friend Chenda’s turn. Chenda, who grew up in Liberia , West Africa , smiled, “I am thankful for this food.” We laughed. “No really. When I grew up, we would never have a meal with this much food.” Silence filled the room.

In this scripture from Colossians 3, we hear that we are called to let the peace of Christ rule our hearts…and to be thankful. Despite struggles, despite uncertainty, despite the junk that gets in the way, despite the food that is burned, we are called to be thankful. This Thanksgiving, take time to read psalms and sing hymns to the glory of God. Take time, in word and in deed, to proclaim the love of God. And take time to be thankful - thankful for the love that God has for you, through Christ Jesus our Lord. 

I am thankful for each of you, for the way that you bless my life and the way that we journey towards the Kingdom together. May God bless you and your families this Thanksgiving.

 

At the time this article is being written, the youth are working hard on the church float for the parade that is coming up November 1^st.  The float will be in the Mummers Parade in Hagerstown, and hope you can come out to see us.  We are so thankful to those of you who have donated supplies and money to help us prepare for this.  This float is not just for the youth, but it is for the entire church.  The youth are proud that we have this opportunity to represent our church, and we are working very hard to make our congregation stand out. 

Also, don’t forget that our Bible study is still going on, and still drawing a great crowd of young people who want to learn more about the Lord. 

As always, continue praying for our youth.  Please let us know if you have someone in your family that you would like a youth representative to talk with and invite to our youth activities.  Thanks for your support! 

 Order your “kids need a stable background” t-shirts for Christmas gifts and for your children. All proceeds benefit Kings Kids and a mission project our young people will choose. They are $10 and checks can be made out to Kings Kids. Please see  Pastor Katie to get your shirts.

 

Pastor Katie is looking for a few good sewers! Do you have a machine? Would you be willing to sew to share God's love with people in Columbia ? Voice of the Martyrs are in need of parachutes (don't worry! They are small!)  that can be used to deliver the good news to people in Columbia . If you are willing, I would love to gather together AFTER the bazaar to make some parachutes to send to Columbia . See Pastor Katie for details.

 

Join us after worship on November 16^th for training and refresher for ushers, greeters, readers, and acolytes. There will be a light lunch and then we will break into groups depending on how you feel like you are called to serve. Greeters will learn about the new welcome packets and review their role in welcoming people to worship. Ushers will have an opportunity to learn how to usher during communion and review the way we collect offering. Readers will review the new outline for worship. Those who are interested in being acolytes (lighting the candles) will have an opportunity to practice.

 As we prepare for advent, this training and refresher is especially important as we seek to reach out to our community welcoming them to Christ. If you are signed up to serve, especially through the end of December, or would like to, please plan to attend. Please see Pastor Katie for details.

 

 

Income	2007	2008
Month	8390	6679
YTD	74782	83949
Expenses	2007	2008
Month	17400	10016
YTD	84262	94778
Sunday School/Missions	2007	2008
Sunday school	230	209
YTD	1671	1966
Missions	376	250
YTD	6058	6087
Attendance	2007	2008
Worship	407	330
YTD	3191	3527
Sunday School	105	96
YTD	993	927

 

--Submitted by Pastor Katie

This past month, Chris and I participated in a class at Washington County Hospital . The class was designed for ministers and congregational leaders and hoped to help us learn about the resources of the hospital. We toured the operating room, the cardiac cath lab, and the critical care unit. We got to visit the nursery and palliative care unit, for end of life care. We met doctors, nurses, hospital staff. We talked frankly about life and living, death and dying.

And I am thankful that we did. Because for the first time Chris and I were inspired to have the difficulty discussions about our lives and our death. What did Chris want to happen if he had a terminal illness and decide he could not decide for himself? What kind of casket, what kind of burial and where? Who did I want to do the service? What did he want his obituary to decide? Difficult discussions and difficult decisions.

But it needs to happen. Because in preparing for death doesn’t mean we are going to die – it just means we are ready. And those who love us can grieve more fully when we are prepared.

Chris and I decided to fill out Advance Directive forms, which are not the same as Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) forms. Advance Directives are forms that express our wishes for medical treatment at the end of our lives. It accounts what we want our funeral to be like and how and where we want to be buried. Filling out this form has made us think about the way we live our live. And I encourage you to do the same.

As we think about dying, we think about living. We celebrate the possibilities for making a difference as we live here on earth and celebrate the promise of eternal life. If you would like some spiritual direction as you discuss these issues or need an Advance Directive form, please see Pastor Kaite.

 

Isaiah, a spokesman for God, looked for the Messiah to come from a certain family. He wrote: “A shoot shall come out from the stump of ____, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:1-3, NRSV).

From whom did Isaiah say the Messiah would come?

A. Adam

B. Noah

C. Samson

D. Jesse

 

If you enjoy reading a good book, getting together with friends and fellowship or just a good snack, then we have something for you.

Do you enjoy a good book?

 Pastor Katie is looking for a few faithful women to participate in the United Methodist Women’s reading program. We commit to reading 4 books in 2009, mostly focusing on mission and service. Then, we would meet once a quarter to talk about them one evening at the church. If you are interested, let me know. The first book is going to be Amish Faith: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy. See Pastor Katie for details or to let her know to order you a book.

 

 

Monday Night Disciple Series: Jesus in the Gospels

 Our Monday night Bible Study continues every week at 6:30 pm. This year we will participate in an in depth study of the gospels seeking to grow in our knowledge and faith. It is not too late to join! Please come!

Sandwich and Study

Sandwich and Study has begun again. We gather for lunch and fellowship and then take time to study the Word of God. We have started a study focusing on the book of Matthew called, “The Kingdom of Heaven.” This 12 week study helps us look heavenward as we walk with Jesus. It is a “hit and miss” study, where you don’t have to be there every week. Just come when you can!

 

 

A heritage hymn of Thanksgiving

O God of all, Who hears the prayers of every generation,

Accept the thankfulness we feel for those who built our nation,

For frontier path with oxen cart, for circuit rider station,

For simple joy, for vision, for hope and inspiration.

We praise You for those saints of old who listened to Your call,

Who weathered storm and sacrifice to serve both great and small.

They left a legacy of love; a church that needs no wall —

But takes your Gospel through the world and shares the Faith with all.

Walk city street and foreign shore with us, Your Church, today.

Lift us to new horizons; show us Your Will, Your Way.

Be in our thoughts, our hopes, our dreams, in all we do and say.

Grant us Your benediction now, O Lord, our God, we pray. Amen.

—Peggy Ferrell

Note: This hymn can be sung to the tune of “America, the Beautiful.”