Messenger | November 27, 2024

 This week's release at a glance:

• Pastor’s Message
• Home Bound Communion on December 1
• Season of Giving
• Baroque by Candlelight Christmas Concert
• Dedicate a Poinsettia for Christmas
• New Adult Education Class: Making Room
• Funeral Service for Carolyn Decker

Pastor's Message

This Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent, reminding us that we move into a time of preparation for the coming of the Messiah. During Advent, we are to be about preparing the Way for ourselves and others to receive the birth of Jesus into our midst. For us, as Christians, we acknowledge Christ’s birth at Christmas at which time all of life becomes new.

Advent also is known as a time of darkness since Christ, the Light, has not yet come into the world. We are to be about preparing the way through hope, love, joy, and peace—especially in our outreach and relationships with others. In the darkness that surrounds us today, there is war, suffering, grief and loss, sickness and fear. Bringing hope to those who are so challenged this first week of Advent is the focus given to us.

As our Advent theme is “preparing the way for others,” we do so in anticipation of accompanying others on their journeys and helping to bring light into the darkness. At Woods Church, we have so many ways to participate in this preparation, and you are encouraged to seek the many ways in which you may do this through our ministries and through God’s calling to you.

Once, when Jesus was with his disciples, and they were struggling with challenging situations and emotions, Jesus comforted them by assuring them that they should not let their hearts be troubled nor afraid. He tells them that he is preparing the Way and that they will go with him. One disciple questions him saying, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way?” Jesus tells him, “I am the way. Anyone who believes in my will have life everlasting.”

This Advent, as we find ourselves in darkness, let us remember that the Light has come into the world through Jesus Christ for he is our Way.

Peace and thanksgiving,

—Pastor Nancy

Church News

Homebound Communion

Woods Church will offer Homebound Communion on Sunday, December 1.

If you would like to be included or know of anyone in the congregation who would like to have communion brought to their home, please contact Maureen Adams at 410.647.2550 or madams@woodschurch.org.

The Sanctuary: A Place for Prayer and Reflection

The Woods Sanctuary will be open on Tuesdays, December 3 & 10, 6–8PM, for personal prayer and meditation during Advent.

Advent prayer cards are thoughtfully provided to guide your reflections. You can find them in a prayer basket located at the back of the Sanctuary. Outside of the above times, the prayer basket will be available in the Schoener Chapel.

We invite you to experience the peace and stillness of this sacred space throughout the Advent season.

Season of Giving

‘Tis the Season to Give at Woods! While you are Christmas shopping, share the love of Christ and buy Christmas gifts that will change the lives of people who are the heart of God, while warming the hearts of those on your gift list. Help us spread the holiday joy in more ways than one starting this Sunday, November 17, in Fellowship Hall!

Sponsor Local Children from SPAN

This year, we hope to assist 35 children from 1–18 years old to have a few gifts to open Christmas morning. If you’re willing and able to help, please consider buying toys, clothing, or a gift card for local children referred to us by SPAN (Serving People Across Neighborhoods).

Cards will be available for pick up in Fellowship Hall starting Sunday, November 17. Gifts are due back no later than Sunday, December 8, 12PM.

Gift a Laundry Basket of Household Necessities

Typically, the residents at Pinewood Village have a difficult choice to make during the holidays—a gift for their loved ones or the basic necessities for a comfortable life. While there are many programs that support their rent and utilities, we feel called to provide the 60 residents with these necessities during the Christmas season.

On Sundays throughout Advent, our youth will have a sign-up table set up for our congregation members to donate a laundry basket filled with these household necessities. Baskets are due by Sunday, December 8.

Then on Saturday, December 14, 12–2PM, our Confirmation Class will deliver the baskets to the residents at Pinewood Village, a subsidized apartment complex for elderly members of the Glen Burnie community.

Purchase an “Alternative Gift” this Holiday Season

Make your holiday gifts more meaningful! Check out how you can support our Mission Partners and those in need. Visit our Alternative Gifts table in Fellowship Hall on the Sundays in Advent or browse our online catalog.

This year’s mission partners are:

• Cecilia McKay Good Neighbor Fund
• Langton Green Community Farm
• Ministry of Hope - Malawi
• PDA Hurricanes Helene and Milton
  

Baroque by Candlelight Christmas Concert

On Saturday, December 7, 7PM, come and join the Woods Adult Choir and a professional orchestra as we perform Christmas music from the Baroque and Renaissance eras, surrounded by candlelight. With works by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Schütz, Buxtehude, Rutter—and some standard Christmas favorites—it will be a perfect beginning to your Christmas season!

This concert is free and no ticket is required, but a love offering will be collected to support the Woods Music Department. You can catch the livestream at woodschurch.org (click “Livestream”).

Email David Merrill at dmerrill@woodschurch.org with any questions.

Caroling, Cocoa, & Community

Join the Woods Deacons, Music Ministry, and community for an afternoon of singing and fellowship on Sunday, December 15, 3:30PM. We will meet at the church for carols, cocoa, and hot cider. Later, groups will walk to Sunrise to sing for the residents there, and others will caravan to several local houses to serenade our most senior and homebound members.

In case of inclement weather, Fellowship Hall will be ready with warm beverages for warm hearts. All ages are welcome. More details to come. Contact Sarah Wilson with any questions.

Dedicate a Poinsettia for Christmas

Poinsettia in Honor or Memory of a Loved One. Every year, we decorate our Sanctuary with lovely poinsettias at Christmas. The flowers are donated by members and friends to remember special people in their lives. If you would like to give a poinsettia in memory or in honor of a loved one, the suggested donation is $25.

Dedications can be made online or in Fellowship Hall, and will be accepted until December 15. If you would like to take home a plant after Christmas, you may pick one up on December 29. Consider sharing the beauty of flowers this holiday season!

A Thank You Note

Our annual Holiday Bazaar was a tremendous success! The greater community descended upon our campus this past Saturday in droves, and the spirit of Christ was made palpable amongst our rooms and halls. Thanks so much to Pam Blumenthal and Beth Hadley for their monumental effort in ensuring the Bazaar’s success.

Education & Small Groups

New Adult Education Class

Join us on Sundays through December 15, 11AM, for our Adult Education book study featuring Making Room by Dr. Ed Robb.

Often, our Advent preparations have an inward focus as we prepare for the significance of God breaking into our world through the birth of Jesus. But in a closer examination of Advent, we quickly learn that the focus of the newborn king is outward. In his book, Dr. Robb explores the warmth of welcome at Christmas following interactions with Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi. Just as Jesus made room in God’s kingdom for marginalized people, we too should be asking ourselves who we can invite at Christmas. The story of Christ’s birth encourages us to increase our sense of community and make room for others.

Books are on the office credenza. We’ll meet in the Office Conference Room and on Zoom.

Children's News

Continue the Conversation at Home

Let’s Continue the Conversation at Home about Christ the King Sunday. I call it “What if” Sunday. What if our prayer came true? What if, “thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” really was how the world worked? What would that look like?

“Shalom” is a Hebrew word for, “Peace,” but it is more than getting along nicely together. It is everyone fitting together into a connectedness, like the best of a family. It is where everyone has enough and no one has to be afraid.

Our resource this week is a story I wrote to think about what shalom peace looks like. I wonder, what does shalom peace look like for you?

I hope you have “shalom” moments of peace this week. Maybe it will be sitting around the table and giving thanks for what you have. Maybe it will be knowing that missing ones are still connected and part our lives. Next week, we start Advent. It is a time that we think about what it was like to wait for Jesus to be born, not really knowing what that would mean for the world. BUT for today, we will think of the wonderful world that God made and remember “Shalom to you, and shalom to me.”

Children’s Sunday School Offering for Pinewood Village

The children of Woods are participating in the Pinewood Village Basket Project. If your child volunteered to supply an item, you will receive an email from SignUpGenius. If you would like to have your child participate, please sign up online for the item of your choice. All items need to be donated on or by December 8, during Sunday School.



We're All Ears

On Sunday, December 15, we will be all ears...that is donkey ears, cow ears, sheep ears. The children from Sunday School and the Child Development Center will have the opportunity to dress up as an animal. During the children’s moment, they will join Ms. Kat and Pastor J.C. to sing “The Friendly Beasts” about what the animals did to prepare the stable for the baby Jesus. Your child may dress up however they wish, or ears will be available at worship.

After the children’s moment, the children will have a celebration! It’s a Baby Jesus Baby Shower, complete with gender reveal. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to spoil the surprise! We will decorate cookies, sing Christmas Carols, and celebrate that Jesus is coming to be God Among Us (Emmanuel).

Save the Date for VBS!

Vacation Bible Study for all ages—smalls, talls, and all—will be held July 14–17, 4–7PM, with dinner at 6:30PM. More information coming in January!

Church Family News

Funeral Service for Carolyn Decker

There will be a Service of Witness to the Resurrection for Woods member, Carolyn Decker, on Sunday, December 1, 2PM, in the Sanctuary.

Please continue to keep Carolyn’s family and friends in your prayers.

A Moment of Prayer

Gracious God, it is with much gratitude and a sense of hope that we come to tables of Thanksgiving this week. Whether we have abundance or simplicity we count ourselves blessed for we are all part of your Kingdom here on earth. Grant us glad and thankful hearts and the ability to accompany others wherever they may be as we begin the journey to Bethlehem.

Amen.