From Pastor Brad

What are the gifts you

plan to give to your loved

ones?

The Scripture has

something to say about

the gifts we give. A word to us from Scripture, from the

Message Version of Luke 6:37 and 38, starts out talking

about how we treat other people. Soon, it starts talking

gifts. The two are related. Here is the scripture:

Luke 6:37 - 38 The Message (MSG)

37-38 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their

failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course,

you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn

those who are down; that hardness can

boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life

a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life

given back, but not merely given back—given

back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not

getting, is the way. Generosity begets

generosity.”

Gift giving at its best starts deep within the heart

from love and free-flowing generosity to those you love

most. You celebrate big events with those you love by

giving gifts to them on birthdays, of course Christmas

and some folks do Easter gifts. If a person has a

graduation, a wedding, a big anniversary, an adoption,

or other special milestone in their life, often others give

gifts. A gift that starts with a close and loving

relationship expresses love through a tangible gift of

some kind.

With that same loving, close feeling you have for

specific people in your life, is it possible you may give

them a more deeply felt and gifts that cannot be

wrapped with paper and a bow?

How creative can we be with our person to person

interactions? The sky is the limit… Heaven will applaud

when your gift giving stretches far beyond what is

physical to touch. Give from what springs forth from

being in touch relationally with people. Our Scripture

for today helps us see some ways we can, so surely

invite the Spirit of God into our relationships, He will

help us to just be this person the Scripture is asking us

to be. Let’s see who that person is according to Luke

6:37-38.

Don’t

· Pick on people

· Jump on their failures

· Criticize their faults

· Condemn those who are down

Do

· Be easy on people

· Give away your life

· Focus on giving, not getting

· Practice generosity

For most of us in our relationships with others, if we

could get these gifts (these ways of interaction listed

above) all wrapped up in a package and given to us from

the people we love, these gifts may be the most

favorite and needful of any given to us this year.

These gifts may be the ones you need to really give

those you love as your first and most expensive gift that

costs you the most. Why does it cost so much?

Because it requires you to actually change something

about yourself, and the way you interact with those you

love. It is not “buy it one time” and “wrap it up” and

“give it out. “ It is giving of your life in a way that costs

you much more. Can you see the fruits of this kind of

giving are not just for a short season, but can bless you

and your loved ones for years to come? Please read

each point and consider how you can give this way of

living out the Scripture as a gift this season. The Holy

Spirit will help you if you ask. If you get stuck, let me

know I can also help. May God bless you in generous

ways.

Brad Williams

Monthly Schedule:

Milah Meekins Circle:

Canceled for December

Baum / Gibbs Circle: Canceled for December S.A.L.T. Sisters: Canceled for December

Bethany’s Table: Wednesday, December 16 Preparation Day 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Thursday, December 17 Meals Package 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Deliveries 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

United Methodist Men: Canceled for December

Special dates:

Second Sunday of Advent, December 6 Third Sunday of Advent, December 13 Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 20 First day of winter, December 21 Christmas Eve, December 24 Christmas Day, December 25 New Year’s Eve/Watch Night, December 31

Weekly Meetings at Bethany:

Sunday

9:45 am Sunday School (Classes for All Ages) 11:00 am Morning Worship - Outside

His K.R.E.W

Youth (Middle and High School) Program Keep Your eye on Facebook and Instagram.

Tuesday 7:00 pm Adult Choir Practice

Preschool Tuesday - Thursday 8:30 am – 12:00 noon

Pastor: Bradley Williams

Church 252-473-5254

Cell 252-675-8891

Email: brad.bethanychurch@gmail.com

Web Site: www.bethanyunited.com Face Book: www.facebook.com/BUMC2016 Email: bethanyuncnetwork@gmail.com Pod Cast: www.bethanyumc.sermon.net You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvKaNdMcGqS95YiViFQ1ydQ/

MITTEN TREE (month of December) You can bring gloves, hats, toboggans, scarves, socks, etc. to put on the Mitten Tree located across from the water fountain. All gifts are welcome. Later, we will take the items and donate them to children in need. CHRISTMAS CANTATA Bethany Community Choir “Messiah Heaven’s Glory” Saturday, December 5 at 4:00 pm Rain Date: Sunday, December 6 at 4:00 pm Outside behind the Church Fellowship Hall The offering will go to Bethany’s Table in memory of Wayne Gray LIGHTHOUSE BRASS Christmas Concert Sunday, December 13 One service at 11:00 am Outside in Front Parking Lot if weather permitting. CHRISTMAS PLAY FOR ALL AGES Sunday, December 20 One service at 11:00 am Outside in Front Parking Lot if weather permitting We will be putting information about practices in the bulletin. CANDLE LIGHT COMMUNION Thursday, December 24 From 5:30 pm – 6:00 pm CHRISTMAS EVENTS CANCELED Thursday, December 3 United Methodist Men Widows and Widowers’ Dinner Thursday, December 10 Milah Meekins Circle Covered Dish / Christmas Party Monday, December 14 S.A.L.T. Sisters Tuesday, December 15 Baum / Gibbs Circle Friday, December 18 Christmas Caroling

LONE CEDAR LUNCH Basnight’s Lone Cedar is holding a fund raiser lunch at Lone Cedar in Loving Memory of Lessie Tillett and Sandy Basnight Sunday, December 13, from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm. All plates $10.00. Menu: Fried Shrimp Turkey French Fries Dressing Cole Slaw Mashed Potatoes Corn Bread Green Beans Corn Bread Tea or Coffee CURB SIDE Bethany United Methodist Church is selling tickets from Sunday, November 22 through Sunday, December 6. Contact Denise Mann 216-6373 for tickets or information. Tickets also available at Lone Cedar – they will sell tickets up to and on the day of the event. Basnight’s Lone Cedar will be donating 100% of the fund raiser money to Bethany United Methodist Church. The gift will be applied to our debt. DESSERTS NEEDED: New this year will be a bake sale during the Lone Cedar lunch in the bar area. We need desserts. (No desserts that need to be refrigerated.) Also, please make sure you send desserts in containers that you do not want returned. We will have cardboard cake circles in the church kitchen for you. You need to bring your desserts to the church on Saturday, December 12 between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm. Also, we need people to help with the bake sale that day. If you can work a shift, let Denise Mann know. LET’S GET CREATIVE GET THE RECIPES OUT, AND COME UP WITH GREAT BAKE SALE ITEMS.

4 – Jose Lopez 1 – Steve and Carolyn 5 - Timothy Flowers Basnight 6 - Moses Ballance 4 – Britton and Audra 7 - Makayla Koch Shackelford 7 – William Clift 7 – Lewis and Sarah 8 – Andrew Sanderlin Mizelle 10 – Carroll Williams 15 – Ronnie and Carol 11 - Sue Berry Meekins 11 - Uriah Clift 20 – Rex and Laura 11 - Carrie Bateman Mann 12 - Asher Daniels 24 – Steve and Frances 13 - Billie Mann Bauman 13 - Jon Utz 13 - George Evans 13 - Kim O’Malley 14 - Michelle Tillett 14 - Jay Austin 14 - Amanda Well 16 - Nancy Gray 16 - Robin Etheridge 17 - Jessica Nixon 17 - Gilbert (Moon) Tillett 18 - Christine Jones 20 - Marjorie Maybin 20 - Les Toler 21 - Merichris Saunders 21 - Rob Ayers 22 - Ian Simmons 24 – William Leavel 26 - Pattie Austin 26 - Lois Dunnigan 27 - Harvey Hirsch 27 - Fletcher Casey 27 - Wallace Casey 28 – Jordan Gutshall 29 - Mackenzie Daniels 30 - Carolee Tillett 30 - Gussie Saunders 30 – Sarah Coronado 31 - Jack Tillett 31 - Jordie Curles 31 – Ava Jewel Walker 31 – Ezeikel Simonsen

SAMARITAN’S PURSE Operation Christmas Child

The church donated 38 boxes. Thanks everyone.

POINSETTIAS You can take your poinsettias home on Sunday, December 20.

Trustee Meeting Tuesday, December 15 at 7:00 pm Finance Meeting Wednesday, December 16 at 5:30 pm Church Council Meeting Wednesday, December 16 a 6:30 pm PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR A SACRED SUMMARY The simple shepherds heard the voice of an angel and found their Lamb; the wise men saw the light of a star and found their Wisdom. —Fulton J. Sheen

WELCOME NEW BABY Murray Delo Bateman Born Wednesday, November 18, 2020 7lbs 4ozs 19.5” long

Parents: Justin and Carrie Big Brother: Austin Grandparents: Mitchell and Connie Bateman Greg Meade and Laura Woodruff Great Grandmother: Francis Meade

ADVENT WREATH The Advent wreath is a symbol of watchfulness and increasing joy as we anticipate Jesus’ birth. The wreath’s circular shape symbolizes eternity, or life

without end. The candles remind us that Jesus is the Light of the World — He brought light and life to a dark world (see John 1:4-5). On each of the four Sundays of Advent, we light a new candle. As the light grows, so do our hope and joy.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH BON FIRE

NEW PRAYER CONCERNS Ethan Basnight Gail Pridgen

Shirley Beane Glenn Sawyer

Missy Dejarnette Lee Wells

Donna Medeiros

COVID -19 Outbreak

People with COVID

People under quarantine

Logan Bonner Unspoken

Elizabeth Chabay Unsaved

Kyle Gaskill, Jr. Care Givers

Corey Jackson Our Nation and Leaders

Colby Moore People in Nursing Homes John Snider Those in Prison

Jackson Utz

ONGOING PRAYERS

Marc Basnight Paul Leary

Thomas Baum Babs Meekins

G. G. Bonner Eleanor Meekins

Wayne Crossman Tom Miss

Rodney Davis Amanda Crews Moore

Wade and Annie Davis Tim Morrill

Joe Doak Penny Robbins

Winnie Dowdy Alex Ross

Kim Downing Mary Ross

Dan Drummond James and Kathy Ruhle

Margaret Dunnigan Marsha Sawyer

Kelley France Jerry Scofield

Lois Gallop Tom Slater

Dionne Glover Chuck Smith

Ted Hemilright Hank Stock

Ruth Hayes Nick Thompson

Louis Johnson Donnie Whitehurst

LOST LOVED ONES

Family of Jimmy Beales Family of Janice Midgett

Family of Betsy Midgette

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4 5

7:00 pm

Christmas

Cantata Practice

4:00 pm

Christmas Cantata

Outside

Behind the Fellowship Hall

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

4:00 pm Daisy Girl Scout Meeting

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Drop off Lone Cedar Bake Sale Items in the Dining Room

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

11:00 am

Lighthouse Brass Christmas Cantata

(Outside)

11:00 am – 2:00 pm

Lone Cedar Lunch

7:00 pm Trustee Meeting

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Bethany’s Table Preparation Day

5:30 pm Finance Meeting

6:30 pm Church Council

Bethany’s Table

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Meals Packaged

4:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Deliveries

Newsletter Articles Due

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

11:00 am Christmas Program

(Outside)

7:00 pm

Adult Choir Practice

5:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Candle Light Communion

27 28 29 30 31

Covid-19 came close to home this month. As the

week progressed, our volunteers started dropping

like flies, not necessarily with the virus but because

of having to be quarantined after being exposed to

someone who tested positive. Those who were able

to help worked double-time. I was grateful for and

proud of our team who acted like they did not mind

the extra work. We joked that they will receive time

and a half pay for their efforts.

In October, the

Roanoke Island Food

Pantry gave us a box

of bananas that

became loaves of

banana bread for the

freezer. That sweet

cache, along with a

generous donation of

sausage, pancake

mix, and syrup from

Chetty and Craig

Parker, set the menu

of breakfast for dinner. The ladies made a brightly

colored fruit salad of fresh watermelon, cantaloupe,

grapes, pineapple, and blueberries. For added

protein, an egg, cheese, and hash brown casserole

was also part of the meal. At one point, I thought,

“We should be having turkey,” but I am so glad that

was not the plan. With our volunteers down by half,

it would have been

too much work to

roast and slice

turkeys and make all

the Thanksgiving

fixings like we did last

November.

We were also

missing our

cornerstone, Ms.

Dorita, who was at

home because of the loss of her daughter, Betsy.

My family drove in from Kitty Hawk to pack meals.

They worked so quickly that I was panting to keep

the food coming to them. They broke a record when

they portioned out

the meals in one

hour. We missed

Marla’s

organizational skills,

but managed to get

the boxes counted

and the routes

assigned. One

volunteer who asked

to remain

anonymous (but

whose name is a

favorite treat) selflessly took two routes. I wound

up delivering, as well, and it was a good for me to be

on the other side of the ministry. One of my

recipients came out to yell at me for gurrying in his

yard, but started purring like a kitten when he

realized I had brought dinner.

A card and a donation came to Bethany’s Table

from Hazel Hare who has moved to Elizabeth City.

She wrote in part, “This is for Bethany’s Table in

memory of Wayne. He was so helpful in so many

ways. Will you take care of it for me? I really did

enjoy getting the meals and I miss you all very much.

Tell Lynn and Bill ‘Hi’ for

me. May God always

bless and keep you all in

His care. Hugs and

prayers, Sister Rabbit.”

By the grace of God,

we served 186 meals in

November at $1.17 per

person with 13 adult and

4 child and young adult

volunteers.

By Nancy Gray After reading a New Yorker article from the 1980s by the British writer, Anthony Bailey, my thoughts went back to his visit here during Hurricane Gloria in 1985. Bailey came to the Outer Banks to explore, “an enticing and endangered stretch of the Carolina Coastline.” As a result of his visit, he wrote the New Yorker article that was largely about the dispute that the residents of Corolla and Carova were having with the Fish and Wildlife Service about access through the Back Bay refuge. He also wrote a book, The Outer Banks, published in 1989 about his observations on local life and our glorious natural environment. The Grays became acquainted with Bailey when he stayed in the bed and breakfast we ran at the time. When Hurricane Gloria came barreling through, he opted to sleep in Queen Anne’s Revenge Restaurant along with some of our staff and family members. They stayed up half the night playing hearts. A few days later, he attended church at Bethany. Here is an excerpt from The Outer Banks: Sunday morning. I sit in a sunny chair on the Pugh porch with coffee and warm blueberry coffee cake (brought over by Nancy), and then, feeling a need to give thanks for deliverance from catastrophe, I walk half a mile up the road for the eleven o’clock service at Bethany United Methodist Church. An obvious stranger, I am welcomed warmly by others entering. The church is wooden, wainscoted within, with stained glass that is not too gaudy and fans overhead turning slowly so that one can just feel the movement of air. The church is broad rather

than long; the pews make embracing sweeps from one side to the other, and the altar—rather than being lost at the distant end of a nave—is at immediate center front. The pews are crowded. Perhaps they always are for this service, although I overhear many expressions of good fortune and I imagine that this may have brought forth a few infrequent churchgoers like me. The congregation is made up of people of all ages in their Sunday best, with a number of elderly couples but also a lot of young ones, many with babies that are remarkably well behaved. I can see Nancy with Rheanna and Richard across the church, and Nancy gives me a quiet smile. The service is led by the pastor, W.T. Clarke, who speaks with cheerful confidence. He is backed up by a choir whose members wear bright red cassocks and, in turn, are helped along by a small organ. The first hymn, “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus,” is a bit sugary for my taste, but is sung with plenty of feeling by choir and congregation—who indeed also put themselves strongly into the Apostles’ Creed. Nothing shy and withholding about the members of Bethany United. I try to take heart from this as I see that in the Order of Service, the item following the Gloria Patri is called Recognition of Visitors. Pastor Clarke calls all visitors to their feet. I have to stand up and be recognized and am glad to see that other people are doing the same; but I sit down quickly. A young woman who hails from another part of North Carolina and a family visiting from out of state take the heat for a few minutes, while the good pastor prods them gently to say something about themselves. But it is not to be so easy. An elderly gentleman, whom I had encountered in the vestibule on the way in, fingers me. He calls out from the back, “We have a visitor from London, England.” So I stand again. This is worse than a hurricane. The Reverend Clarke genially asks me what I am doing in these parts, and I say that I am touring the Outer Banks and just happened to be in Wanchese

for Gloria. Yet, suddenly, the spotlight of attention seems less dreadful than I had feared. People roundabout are looking at me kindly, and Nancy among others is smiling reassuringly. The pastor wants to know if I am a member of a Methodist congregation in London. I reply that I am more or less Church of England these days (for this doesn’t seem the moment to trace my entire religious or irreligious history, which starts with baptism as a Roman Catholic and meanders through various shades of doubt and quirks of belief). I say frankly that I came here because Bethany Church was close to where I was staying and seemed friendly. After another hymn, “’Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” there comes a solo, “Special Delivery,” sung by a plump and pretty blond teenager named Randi Harrell, who steps forward from the choir. It is a country-and-western sort of song, albeit with religious overtones, and Miss Harrell—with a recorded accompaniment—projects it sweetly and yet powerfully. It is a stirring moment. Anyone nervous about standing up in front of a large audience might feel a little abashed by the example of this young woman, so unprofessionally poised. It is a pity that being in church inhibits one’s urge to clap and shout “Encore!” The pastor’s sermon, on the theme of spiritual fitness, ranges wide. It encompasses the need for racial harmony (though I see no blacks in Bethany), the slow modifications being made to apartheid in South Africa, and what the pastor considers to be the overemphasis in our time on the “externals” of life at the expense of the “internals.” References are made to the white teeth of the Osmonds’ singing group, to Madame Bovary (a quick synopsis of the plot, highlighting Emma’s misdeeds and fate), Ralph Waldo Emerson, who provides a relevant quotation that fails to stick in my mind. The concluding hymn has some guts to it: “Come, Thou Almighty King.” I sing staunchly—I can hear myself singing. On the way out I am greeted by many people who shake hands and introduce themselves. There are lots of Midgetts, Daniels, and Tilletts. Several say, “Come again—you’re very welcome here.” If you were a member of Bethany during Rev. Clarke’s tenure, that scene described by Anthony Bailey will ring true! The book is fun to read, and

he visits Wanchese fish houses where he hears the woes of Oregon Inlet. He also describes his time in Nags Head, Hatteras, and Ocracoke. I looked up the author to see if he were still alive. He died at age 87 this past May in Great Britain. He contracted Covid-19 after having surgery to repair a broken hip. One other interesting tidbit about Anthony Bailey: As a child, he was evacuated from London during World War II. His family thought it best to send him out of London because of the bombings (It is hard to understand why the whole family did not evacuate). He wound up living with a family in Ohio for a few years. In that same neighborhood resided the elderly and kindly Orville Wright. Anthony Bailey remembered trick-or-treating at his house where children received a silver coin instead of candy.

Bible Quiz Which of the four Gospels name(s) Bethlehem as the place of Jesus’ birth?

A. Only Luke B. Matthew and Luke C. Mark and John D. All four

Answer: (See Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:1-7.)

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Permit No. 3

A FRESH LOOK

Just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives.

—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger