Trinity United Methodist Church December, 2014

Trinity United Methodist Church

200 N. Summit St. Bowling Green, OH 43402

Or current resident

Non-Profit U.S. Postage

PAID Bowling Green, OH

Permit No. 56

Christmas Eve Service Please join us for our

Christmas Eve Service, December 24th.

Pre-service music begins at 7:15pm and the Candlelight Service begins at 7:30pm.

Merry Christmas

Advent Unplugged A sermon series for

Advent – November 30 through December 21. Join us for a reflective advent season as we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ birth.

Job Jar If you see something around the church that needs to be fixed, cleaned or maintained in some way, fill out a Job Jar form and put it in the Job Jar. Both can be found on the bulletin table. Help the trustees keep Trinity clean and in good repair. Thank you.

Men’s Group The next meeting is

Saturday, December 13th, at 9am at the Big Boy on Wooster. Please join us!

CHRISTMAS BASKETS The Mission Team will be packing the 65 Christmas baskets for those in need on Wednesday, December 17 at 6:30pm.

They will need volunteers to help carry the baskets to people’s cars on Thursday, December 18 starting at 9am.

The last day to bring donation items is Sunday, December 14, so please continue to bring in your items to help us provide a

joyous Christmas to 65 families! Paper products (TP, tissues) Blankets Pasta & pasta sauces Canned fruits Cleaning supplies (not bleach) Canned vegetables Peanut butter/jellies Canned meats/soups Boxed Meals Cereal Baking supplies (ex: flour & sugar)

Personal items (deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste)

Deck the Halls Sale

Trinity UMC will be holding its annual Deck the Halls

Christmas Sale on Thursday, December 4th, Friday,

December 5th from 9am-4pm and Saturday, December

6th from 9am-noon. A soup, salad and sandwich lunch

will be provided on Thursday and Friday only from

11am-2pm. There will be new and gently used Christmas

items for sale. Anyone that would like to help in the

kitchen on these days would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you! Thank you for your

donations to Operation Christmas Child. We

packed 25 boxes full of gifts that will provide

joy to children this Christmas.

1.

Sunday School in December We will have a special schedule for the Pre-K through

youth classes in December. The 7th and 14th will remain our

normal schedule. On the 21st, we will have a special

Christmas celebration in the Fellowship Hall, so we hope

the children and youth will come have some extra fun that

day. On the 28th, we will take a holiday break, so there will

be no classes that day. Thank you and Merry Christmas!

19 Sandy & Tony Aspacher

20 Marge & Al Wilder

Nancy & Dick Otley

Lesley & George Riker

The Nutcracker Ballet-

All Jazzed Up! Julie’s Dance Studio is

presenting their 8th Annual

production on Saturday,

December 20th at 2pm and 7pm

and Sunday, December 21st at

2pm at Kobacker Hall, BGSU.

The George family will be well

represented with Saralynn as a

Heavenly Angel, a Candy Cane

and many other roles and Stan as

Uncle Drosselmeyer again. There

will be many styles of dance

within the show such as Tap,

Jazz, Can-Can, Acrobatic, Ballet,

Arabian and Pointe. There will

also be a “Meet & Greet” after

each show to meet the cast.

Tickets may be purchased at

nutcrackerjazzedup.com. Ticket

prices range from $15.50-$20. If

you have any questions about the

show, please contact Stan or

Konnie at 419-276-0142, email

us at sgeorge@dacor.net or see us

at church. Hope to see you at one

of the shows!

5 Elena Kramer

7 Sandy Alspacher

8 Mary Ann Bellard,

Chris Rutter

9 Pat Robinson, Helen Dukes,

Christiania Nietz

11 John Hart

13 Ben Fox, Marlyn Bender

17 Fred Fether

18 Jerry Milnor, Sandy Engle

19 Ellen Farison, Carroll Allison,

Phyllis Pickering

20 Sandy Stoots, James Collins

23 Doug Stoots

27 Stuart Sockrider

28 Melissa Hart,

Buzz Benschoter

30 Carol Fox

December Worship Volunteers

Ushers Maroe Decker Bev Robie Andy Drumm Laura Drumm Gary Manning Joan Manning Chris Sabo Sandy Stoots

Liturgists

12/7 Betty Jones 12/14 Pat Brenneman 12/21 Greg Hernandez

12/24 Bob Miner 12/28 Helen Dukes

Greeters 12/7 Tom & Claudia Ehmke 12/14 Don & Phyl Pickering

12/21 Becky & Herb Dettmer 12/24 Need Volunteers

12/28 Don & Phyl Pickering

Acolytes 12/7 Allie Parish &

Savannah Janes 12/14 Mathias & Mitchell

Drumm 12/21 Brady & Brynna Gaines

12/24 Aliyah Flores & Saralynn George

12/28 Katelyn Geiman & Jeannette Fretter

Communion Helpers 12/7 Stan & Konnie George

Helen Dukes Rose & Connor Wilson

Katelyn Geiman

Coffee Hour 12/7 Tim & Amanda Parish

12/14 June VanVorhis 12/21 Joy Pothoff & Kathy

Wittman 12/28 Sheryl Sabo

Thank you for your service !

The Esther Circle will meet at

the Church on Wednesday,

December 10th at 10am. We will

create colorful greeting cards as

our activity. A potluck lunch will

follow. All ladies are invited to

join this special holiday

gathering. As the possibility of

severe winter weather

approaches, Esther Circle

members are reminded that, if

there are school delays or no

school, our meeting is cancelled.

Winter Weather Now that the winter season is upon us, we urge you to use good judgment when

coming to church for a service or meeting.

We always hope to hold services on Sundays, but if there is a snow emergency, or if the weather is severe, please check Channels 11 and 13 for cancellations.

Bob Evans Fundraiser Monday, December 8 7am-9pm

Please have a meal at Bob Evans on Wooster on Monday, the 8th, to

support our Missions Team. Trinity will receive 15% of sales. You must give them a flyer at the time of purchase. There is a flyer in this newsletter and you can find additional flyers in the bulletin,

church office and in the sanctuary. Thank you for your support!

Angel Tree The annual Angel Tree will be on the table near the sanctuary entrance starting Sunday, November 30.

Please take a card, buy the gift listed on the card and return it to the table by Sunday, December 14. Your gift will make a

child very happy this Christmas. Thank you for your help!

The Messiah by G. F. Handel

Sunday, December 14 during second service The Chancel Choir will present portions of George Frederick Handel’s

“Messiah,” featuring vocal soloists and a string quartet from BGSU’s

College of Musical Arts. Invite friends and family to come celebrate our

Savior through this beautiful music realized by this most talented

composer. All are welcome to participate in singing this

masterpiece. Rehearsals are Thursday nights at 7 PM.

Poinsettia Orders

Remember to order your poinsettias for Christmas.

Money is due at the time of the order and orders are due by

Sunday, December 7th. Order forms are available on the

round table by the sanctuary entrance and in the church office.

Thank you!

Remember to visit our website at www.bgtrinity.com for weekly announcements and information.

Three Little Words… “All is Calm”

. Pastor Dana Ward

Every Christmas Eve, we gather to sing that familiar refrain, “All is calm; All is bright.”

But, if we are honest with ourselves, by the time we come to Christmas Eve, the season

is usually anything but calm. We will have decorated, and cooked, and bought gifts. We

will have stuffed envelopes with cards and photos and mailed them to 15 other states and

3 other countries.

And even on December 24th, we may have last minute wrapping or baking to do. And we

may wonder, what do we have to do to make things less chaotic and more calm?

In 1982, a powerful book was published titled Unplug The Christmas Machine. It suggested

that there are many ways we can put more love and joy into our lives, and thus change our

experience of the Christmas season.

Its pages detailed ways to spend less money and driving time at Christmas, and focus on

friends and family. It invited readers to give up the chase for the perfect gift, and reflect

on the true meaning of the holiday. It has been revised and updated over the past 30 years,

but the central ideas of celebrating the season with simplicity and spirituality still ring true.

This month in our worship, we will explore some of these ideas as we experience Advent

Unplugged. We will look at how the mail, the malls, the music and the menus of the season

can overwhelm us unless we identify what we truly want to get out of the holiday season, and

then find simple and satisfying ways to experience those things.

Please plan to join us as we prepare for the celebration of Christmas, and spend Advent Unplugged,

so we can truly sing and declare that for us “All is calm.”

With a wish of Peace and Joy, Pastor Dana

Financial Report for October, 2014

Sadly, October was not a financially good month for our church. We had receipts of

$18,384.32 (which included $2,000 from the Education Endowment) and expenses of

$19,604.12. Obviously, that creates a problem. The problem is not on the expense

side as the bills paid were not out of the ordinary. The shortfall is on the revenue side

of the ledger. In other words, collections in the offering plate were below what is/was

needed.

As I write this I continue to be hopeful that as the holiday season approaches, everyone

will put the church on their gift lists. Please consider doing just that. The amount we

need to pay our conference apportionments stands at $19,889. That’s a big nut to

crack. Our members and friends have usually been generous to the church around

Christmas and this year, your prayerful and thoughtful gifts will certainly be appreciated

and put to good use. Those gifts are especially needed in our operating funds. It’s from

the current operating money that we pay those apportionments. It’s also important that

we go into the new year with a healthy balance in the operating fund to be able to pay the

end of the year expenses that don’t get billed to us until sometime in January.

And while I’m soliciting, allow me to be bold enough to ask you to consider increasing

your weekly gifts to the church during 2015. Frequently, we tell ourselves that we

just can’t squeeze any more from what we have—especially for something like the church

where we really don’t have to give anything anyway. But just try to do it. I maintain

you’ll surprise yourself if you do increase your giving. Very quickly, you’ll find that

extra money is not even missed. Soon you’ll be pleased and feel good with what you’re

doing as you see the church improving and, I’m confident, God will find a way to

reward you in return. He’s like that.

Happy Holidays—

Tim