Advent Song

Like I promised, here's the link to the song Lighting Candles by Rev. Bill Ekhardt. We will be singing it with a little more upbeat tempo, but you can listen to this version. 

Lighting Candles

Who can tell me what each of the candles represents?? Why do we have a pink one? What's the white one for?

What a Group

November has been quite a month for us. It always seems as if people start getting busy around the "holidays" but for the Mid Highs, it seems, to me anyway, we've been packing stuff in. We've done 2 service projects and had 2 fellowship events. I think it's been great and I hope to keep up the momentum. The only thing I have scheduled in December is our Christmas party on December 14th and our participation in worship on december 7th and on Christmas Eve at the 4:00 service.  If you can think of something else you'd like me to arrange, by all means, let me know.

January is going to get busy again I hope, tobogganing along with a lock-in and an afternoon of roller skating are planned. I'd like to find another service project for us as well. Have you let me know what weekends are good for you for a lock-in??

I have been having so much fun during our fellowship times. I am so glad that we've had such good participation. I think meeting right after church has been a good idea... what do you think? 

Here are the links to the pictures from the Salvation Army bell ringing and from the movie day and pillow making. I love taking goofy pictures of you guys!

Bell Ringing 

and 

Pillows

God's Hands

Christ has no body now on earth  but yours;

no hands but yours, no feet but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which He looks

with compassion on the world;

yours are the feet from which he walks to do good;

yours are the hands with which He blesses men.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

This is an adaptation from a poem by St. Teresa of Avila. I used this poem as the inspiration for my prayer yesterday at the First United Methodist Church in Plymouth when we were preparing and serving breakfast to the homeless guests who are being sheltered there this week. 

23 of us stepped out of our cozy homes at a VERY early hour to wash and cut up fruit, cook sausages bake egg casseroles, arrange pastries and homemade muffins and serve them to about 50 guests. I was in awe of the cheerfulness and attitudes of everyone who was there. I saw God working through the Mid-Highs, the Senior Highs, the parents, siblings and friends who came to help. We truly were God's hands yesterday. The Holy Spirit was right there guiding us all along - helping some of us step out of our comfort zones to speak with strangers,  allowing us to see these people as His children and not people we should fear, and providing the opportunity for us to make a small step in bettering His world. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you were touched yesterday...

Once again, you can view the pictures on the web at 

FUMC pictures/Noble

or

FUMC pictures/Nancy

So what's next for you? In what other ways can you be Christ's body on earth? How else can you see the compassion Christ has for people? How can YOU be Christ's hands and feet?

A Mouse Story

Jesus often used parables to teach lessons. I wonder if he would have sent emails to people, or forwarded stories that he received by email...

I received this story by email from my cousin (whose name is also Nancy, how cool is that?) It's about a mouse, AND it even tells the lesson at the end. I wish sometimes Jesus' parables were as easily understood.

So.....

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see a farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. 

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The pig sympathized, but said, "I am very sorry Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse then turned to the cow and exclaimed, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Well, Mr. Mouse, I am so sorry for you, but it's really no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house - the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was not a mouse, but a venomous snake, whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital, but she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors cam to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well, and sadly, she died. 

So many people came to her funeral that the farmer had to slaughter the cow to provide enough food for all the mourners.

From a crack in the wall, throughout all of these events, the mouse looked upon it all with great sadness.

What do you think the lesson here is?

The next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and you don't think it concerns you, remember

when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this life journey. It's important to pray for people and it's important to look out for them whenever we can, helping whenever possible.

I'll be looking out for all of you...