Methodist Church Carthage Tennessee

A common theme during the season of Advent is Israel’s expectation and waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. Scads of people are not too enthused by the celebration of Advent, partly out of their inability to be patient and wait, and others are turned off by the less than celebrative mood of the songs of Advent. Pastors sit around all the time discussing how it frustrates most of their parishioners to sing the songs of Advent, because a lot of their members just want to focus their time and energy singing the beloved hymns of Christmas. A majority of the songs for Advent are written in a minor key, which only adds to the mystery and suspense of the season. Most people who already live in a sense of frustration and chaos would rather “just get on with it”, and skip directly to Christmas with all its pageantry. However, I find great value in the discipline involved in savoring Advent. It teaches me to be patient, wait on God, and to reflect upon the true character and meaning of Christmas. Often I find that my patience pays off when I begin to truly ponder what Christmas really means to me personally, and to the world at large.

Somehow, I feel the Israelites were on target with their heightened sense of urgency, expectation, and waiting. How I would like to be a person who is so hopeful of sensing the presence of Christ in my life that everything I do or say reflects the nature of my expectation. We would do well to journey with the same kind of hope, urgency, and elevated awareness of the Divine the Israelites had. I pray for all of us to experience Christ’s presence in Advent so deeply that we are able to celebrate the birthday of the Christ-child with renewed energy and passion.

Thank you so much for all you do for us and the Church! May you all experience the hope, joy, peace, and love of the Christ-child this Christmas in a more profound and powerful way! I’m glad to be your friend and Pastor! God bless you.

Bro. Steven

THOUGHTS FOR THINKING

I want you to think about two words today. Two simple words, but the associated actions can stand in our way of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The first word is competition a noun meaning the activity of competing against others.

Competition is central to the American way of life. There are very little act ivies we do, if any, which are not competitive. We dress to look better. We drive cars to standout. We get into verbal, if not physical fights over our favorite teams. We are sure our God is the right God we kill verbally if not physically others that do not agree with us. We send out our church bus with loads of candy and other goodies, so we can have a bigger Sunday School program than our sister churches. We invite people to our church so we can have more at Sunday worship than that other church. We ask people to church so it will look good when we can say I invited so-in-so.
We fight over who asked whom to the class, so we can have a longer list that came because we asked.

The old devil must really enjoy our competition for souls. How we run down other churches, so they will come to our church, often drive a deeper wedge between the person and the church. Research has shown people claiming a relationship with the church has dropped by about 50 percent in the last five years. One of the major reasons sited was the church trying to force their agenda on others by political means. Competition.

Jesus did not compete with anyone. He presented God's love, grace, and forgiveness, which could be accepted or rejected. His approach was love and acceptance. This brings us to the second word, tolerance. It is another noun which means the ability, willingness, or capacity to tolerate something. Jesus had that capacity. He could tolerate human behavior. Observe the way he was treated. Look at how he treated the woman caught in adultery or the woman at the well. When hanging on the cross, he asked for his crucifiers to be forgive. That is Christian love. Love for the sinner, but not for the sin. Tolerance is not saying the other person is right or wrong in their action or belief, but the person is more valuable than the action. Our response should always be loving. Even if we feel the person has done us wrong, he or she is still a child of God and valuable in His eyes. The old saying you will get more bees with honey than with vinegar is still true. Tolerance can be used to win more persons to the love of Christ than all the judgments of the world. Grace is a power full tool in the war against sin. The enemy is the sin and not the sinner. Jesus saw the sin, but loved the sinner. As his disciple we are called to do the same.

It’s not competition, but it is cooperation. It is not judgment, but tolerance that will bring the world into the kingdom of God. “And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Mat 28:18-20 NRSV) I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35 NRSV)

writ-by-russ

OPEN HOUSE
You’re invited to an open house today at the Pastor’s home between 2-5 pm. Bishop Morris will be doing a brief blessing of the home at 3 pm. Light refreshments will be served. No gifts, please. Steven & Crystal reside at 95 Old Rome Pike in Lebanon. From Carthage, take hwy 70 towards Lebanon. From the old bridge, travel 15.5 miles. Turn right onto Old Rome Pike, across from Bellwood Asst. Living. First home on the left.

GIFTS TO HONOR
THE CHURCH STAFF

Gifts To Honor The Staff: As we are in the season of giving and remembering the ultimate gift of Jesus, we want to honor those who work for the church. If you would like to give a monetary gift to a staff member, please place your offering in a church envelope and mark it staff gift. If you are writing a check, please write on the memo line which staff member(s) you want to bless. Thank you in advance for supporting the church staff and helping the ministry at CUMC be successful.

If you would like to give a Christmas poinsettia in honor or in memory of a loved one, please fill out an envelope from one of the bulletin boards and put it in the offering plate or turn it into the church office by Tuesday, December 15th. The cost is $15.00 each. Please make checks payable to Carthage UMC.

Mark your calendars!

There will be a Council/Church Officer Planning and Training Session on Sunday, January 31st at 5PM. Dinner will be provided with this event.

New Sunday School Class

Crystal Lee will be teaching a new SS class in January. The book title is “Detective Stories from the Bible”. It’s the latest study by Dr. Kalas, who will be our revival speaker this Spring. He has published more books than anyone else in all of Methodism. This study will last through March. Anyone who wants to join needs to buy the book. The cost is $12 and they are available in the church office. If you are interested, please sign up on the clipboard or call the office.

New Bible Studies

Brother Steven will be teaching two new Bible studies beginning on Wednesday, January 13th.

One will begin at 10:00 AM and the other at 6:00 PM. The study is called The 10 Commandments From the Back Side by Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas.

The cost of the book is $12.00 each. Please sign up on the clipboard in the sanctuary or call the church office at 735-0343. The deadline to sign up is Thursday, January 7th.

LUMINARIAS LIGHT THE WAY AT ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARADE

The steps of our church were aglow with over 60 candles in luminaria bags during the annual Carthage Christmas Parade on Monday, November 30. The candles were lighted in honor or in memory of loved ones that have had cancer, and the bags were arranged so that they spelled out the word “HOPE”. The proceeds from the sale of the bags benefited the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. All the bags that were used have the honored person’s name written on them as well as the names of those who gave the bags. Each bag will be saved by the Relay Committee and put out again at the annual Relay for Life Event on June 5-6, 2010 at the Ag Center. Thank you to each of you who purchased the bags! Thanks also to Evan and Jackson Penfield for making sure that the bags were in position and remained lighted during the parade.

Luminarias will also be available at the actual Relay for Life Event in June. We hope to see each one of you there. However, if you are unable to attend and would like to dedicate any bags, please contact Trish Kingsbauer or Jane deLong at any time.

The Relay for Life Committee also had a float in the parade. We would like to thank Doug deLong for his help in constructing the float, Stites Ray Carter for his expertise in providing power for the lights, and Mrs. Ruby Crawford for driving her 4x4 to pull the float. Trish Kingsbauer and Jane deLong walked (sometimes ran!) beside the float handing out refrigerator magnets with the dates of the Relay Event and, of course, candy for the children.