December 2022 Newsletter

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Pastor's Message

December, 2022

         The leaves are down, the mega-Christmas tree is up on our front lawn, and we’re busy preparing for a host of events: our traditional Christmas Tea on December 4^th, the Christmas Pageant for our children on the 18th, our Invitation Dinner at which we both celebrate the season and bring new people to our church to let them see who we are and what we do (also on the 18^th). Our Worship Team is preparing for our service of Lessons & Carols, as well as for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Truly, the season of Advent is well under way.

         Much of my working life has been spent writing, and teaching others how to write. Since I was a child, words have held a tremendous fascination for me, and I’m always curious to investigate their precise meaning. So naturally, I looked up the word Advent this morning to see what, exactly, we’re in the midst of.

         The online dictionaries give us both a standard, secular meaning (“the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event”) and the meaning for the Christian church, which tells us that “Advent is the season of reflective preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmastime, and the expected return of Christ at the Second Coming.”

         There were two things that struck me as I read the definition that applies to us as Christians. The first is the notion of Advent being a season of reflective preparation. Certainly, this is what it should be. However, for many of us, the season becomes something else; it becomes an endless checklist. Have the presents been purchased? Has the big dinner been planned? Have the Christmas cards been sent? Have the cookies been baked? It seems that the list of things that must be done goes on and on…and the time for reflection, for preparation, suddenly disappears.

         So our first challenge during this time of year is to make sure that we don’t forget why this season is special. Advent is, first of all, about the arrival of the Messiah, the one who has been promised to us from the time of the prophets. The arrival of Jesus – who is far more than just “a notable person” – marks the beginning of a new phase in the history of Creation. Clearing time to think about this huge change in human history, and to think about what it means for the way we choose to live our lives, should be at the top of our list.

         The second thing that struck me about Advent is that many of us – even those who are attuned to the need for reflection – somehow forget that we’re supposed to be considering not just the birth of Jesus, but the fact that He is coming again. We forget that we also need to prepare for that. Advent includes the whole massive sweep of spiritual history, from the birth of Christ to His Second Coming. That, too, requires a great deal of preparation. We need to prepare in our own lives, to be sure, but we also need to build the Kingdom, so that when history reaches its culmination, Jesus will find a world that is closer to what God has imagined from the beginning. Preparing the world for His return is a necessity if we want to be profitable servants of God.

         My prayer today is that everyone in our congregation – and everyone in the world – comes to know the peace and joy that come upon us when we focus our attention on our Savior, and on the boundless love and grace that God offers to us. May this Christmas season bring you closer to each other, and closer to our God, whose mercy comes to us through the birth of a little child.

Peace & Blessings –

Join The Tech Team at WHUMC

Our Tech/media team is in search of a sound booth operator or a team to operate our sound booth. The operator or team would be responsible for setting up the YouTube livestream, assisting the praise team/choir with a sound check and monitoring the sound throughout the service.

No experience is necessary and training will be provided. If you are interested in being part of the team or you would like to learn more about the operation of the sound booth, please contact me (Alberto) at whumc1959@gmail.com.

JAM News
December 2022

JAM children wrapped up November learning about gratitude but especially the gratitude they have for Jesus and their family. Children are getting into the spirit of Christmas by focusing on weekly advent lessons. To accompany the lessons, each child will receive their own Advent Calendar that will include Advent Family Activities for families to do together. Each week they'll be learning the following:

Week 1: Hope in Action

Week 2: Love in Action

Week 3: Jesus: The Gift of Joy

Week 4: Jesus: The Gift of Peace

ALL are INVITED for CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS PLAY

December 18 at 4:00 PM--- Pizza and Cake after Play
Rehearsal: December 17 5-6 p.m.

What we NEED: We are asking Middlers and Teenagers to join us in presenting the play. We are in need of performers to be Mary and Joseph. We also need superhero costumes such as: Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, Hulk, Spiderman, Cat Woman, or any other costumes.

Diane Leja

WHUMC Youth Group

Middle School and High School Youth Group Schedule – December & January

For December’s youth group we will use “A Charlie Brown Christmas” for our discussions!

Sunday, December 4^th 11:15 am -12:00 – Join us after service for a bible study

Sunday, December 11^th: 11:00-1:00 – Youth Christmas Party- join us while we wrap gifts for the Friendship Center, play games, eat pizza- optional grab bag style gift exchange not to exceed $10.

Sunday, December 18^th 11:15 am -12:00 – Join us after service for a bible study

Sunday, January 8^th – 11:15 am -12:00 – Join us after service for a bible study (off one week because of New Year’s Day!)

Sunday, January 15^th 11:15 am -12:00 – Join us after service for a bible study

Also, if interested in helping with the Christmas Tea on December 4^th or the Christmas play on December 18^th, let us know.

As always, feel free to bring a friend!

Linda Smith                               Mary Suter
Ludes1972@yahoo.com            Mary.suter@att.net
860-597-0323                           860-944-9196

Nursery School Notes December 1, 2022

Christmas began a long time ago when God gave the whole world a present. It wasn’t a toy or a book or a puzzle. It was Jesus! When the little baby Jesus grew up, He rescued us so that we could be friends with God forever. God must love us a lot to give us such a great present! At the Nursery School, we spend the month celebrating God’s greatest gift to us – Jesus. Each classroom has a child friendly Nativity Set that is set up at the beginning of the month. Then, each week, we revisit the story of the Nativity and the children are able to recreate the story on their own in the classroom. Our celebration culminates at the end of the month with our annual birthday party for Jesus, held in the Fellowship Hall. Christmas is exciting and we thank God for the fun, for presents, special food, and most especially Jesus.

Our children and families continue to support those in the community through monthly missions. This month we will again be participating in "PJ Day for the Kids" to honor kids fighting cancer at Connecticut Children's Medical Center. This is a statewide effort to provide much-needed funding for the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. On the CCMC website it states "On PJ Day, people throughout Connecticut and Western Massachusetts wear PJs in solidarity with patients who have no choice but to wear theirs, as they undergo treatment for prolonged periods of time.” We will be wearing our PJ’s on December 7^th & 8^th in order to allow every child the opportunity to participate. We are asking families to send in a small monetary donation with their child on their official PJ Day.

As we finish out the year, may God continue to bless you and your families. From all of us at the Nursery School we wish you a happy and healthy holiday season.

Lisa Brown, Director
West Hartford Methodist Nursery School
7 Berkshire Road West Hartford, CT 06110 (860)521-8063 whmns@snet.net

Dear Church Family,

Thank you all for your generosity in supporting our food and diaper drives this year. We have delivered many carloads of donations from our congregation, along with members of our community to the West Hartford Food Pantry, and they are truly grateful to receive these gifts.

I also want to thank you all again for your support of the Pumpkin Festival, especially the Silent Auction and Bakery areas. Please review the terms and conditions on any certificates that you may have purchased, and use them promptly before they expire!

Best wishes for a new year filled with blessings for you and your loved ones.

In Christ's Service,

Joy Ferguson
Food/Diaper Drive Coordinator
Silent Auction Chairperson
grammy2drewski@yahoo.com
860 523-8017

December Birthdays

December 2     Jonah White
December 5 Pastor Bill Kovacsik
December 8    Ruchi Haubrich
December 9 Amilia Greene
December 11    Guss Greene
December 16     Diane Leja
December 19    Damien Saila Ngita
Santi Galvez
December 20    Tom Haverkampf
                           Serf Piedrasanta
December 21    Calvin Borio
                           Eve Ellis
December 24    Jessica Serrano
Beverly Johnson
December 26    Alex Dube
December 27    Dorothy Weber
December 29    Nathaniel Child
December 30 Emma George

January Birthdays

January 2         Mickey Das
   Robert Hazzard
       Zachary Shuskus
January 4    Kaitlyn Stumpf
January 5 Barbara Zyla
January 8 Remy Gaulin
January 9    Sanay Das
January 13 Jeff Shuskus
January 18 Peter Suter
   William Haverkampf
January 19       Jane Srinivasan
January 22 David Larson
January 23    Linda Smith
January 25    Evan Parsons
       Anthony Sasser
January 26    Tanya Harris

December Anniversaries

December 21 Jean & Ron Cox
December 27 Anne Jones &
Kent Sinram
December 29 Sharon & A J
Speranza

January Anniversaries

January 21 Kathy & John
Barnowski
Rebecca & Jim
Bowers
January 29 Lynda & Cliff
Anderson

Please contact the church office at:

860-521-7766 or whumc1959@gmail.com
to have your birthday or anniversary added.

Please use this QR code to donate to the church.

Copyright © West Hartford UMC All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
1358 New Britain Ave., West Hartford, CT 06110

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West Hartford United Methodist Church · 1358 New Britain Avenue · West Hartford, CT 06110 · USA