THE BELL RINGER January 2019
Christ United Methodist Church P.O. Box 710 Levelland, TX 79336
THE BELL RINGER January 2019 COMING IN JANUARY Sundays, January 6, 13, 20, 27 – 2:00 p.m. – Women’s Study Group Tuesdays, January 8 & 22 – Grief Support Group at 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays, January 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 –12:00 p.m. -- Glimpses of Faith Lunch, Fellowship Hall Thursdays, January 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 -- 11:30 a.m. – Pastor’s Devotional Tuesday, January 1 – Office Closed for New Years Sunday, January 6 – Epiphany of the Lord Imagine No Malaria Sunday Sunday, January 13 – Baptism of the Lord All Church Donation Lunch – Beans & Cornbread Sunday, January 20 – Second Sunday After the Epiphany/Human Relations Sunday Monday, January 21 – Office closed in honor of Martin Luther King’s Birthday Sunday, January 27 – Third Sunday After the Epiphany Thursday, January 31 – End of Year Statistical Reports Due
January Birthdays – Brenda Clanton-Jan. 1, K.W. Hill- Jan. 17, Tiah Taylor – Jan.29, Ross Joplin - Jan. 30 January Anniversaries – Wayne & Barbara Foley - Jan. 2, George & Deborah Payne – Jan. 4, Neil & Frannie Guthrie – Jan. 31
Donation Lunch for January The donation lunch for January will be January 13th following church. We will have beans & cornbread. All the donations go toward Shared Ministries. The sign-up sheet is on the podium in the narthex.
Deadline The deadline for receiving 2018 Shared Ministries gifts is Friday, January 11th. This enables us to have our church’s final offering in to the conference office by Tuesday, January 16th. Please place “2018 Shared Ministries” in the note line of your check. I encourage all of you to consider giving an end of the year gift so that our goal of 100% may be reached.
Extending The Table Ministry If you are interested in serving God by taking communion to those who are homebound, contact Sue Cates at 806-782-8607.
A Word from the Pastor Dear Resolute Saints,
As we enter yet another new year, the thought of making new year’s resolutions may come to mind. According to English Oxford Living Dictionary, the definition of resolution is as follows: “A firm decision to do or not to do something. The quality of being determined or resolute. It is this second definition that prompted me to examine our journey as Christians for 2019.
When we make a resolution for the new year, do we do so with determination? Are we resolute in what we say, or more importantly, what we do? As Christians, and certainly as United Methodist Christians, we have made promises to God when we were baptized and joined the church. We have also made promises in our individual prayers throughout our lives. Those promises are in a sense, resolutions. They are promises to live intentional Christ-like lives. Despite our resolutions, however, as time passes, we may find that we are no longer resolute in our Christian journey. This is certainly not a condition belonging solely to those communitydefined reprobates. No indeed. All of us find ourselves mired in the quagmire of lost opportunities and good intentions. What to do about our need to be more resolute in the coming year. In John 13:34-35 we read the following: “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." The question, then, before us is: are we resolute in our decision to love everyone in the whole world the way Jesus loves? Are we willing to stick with it in the coming year? Or, will we break our resolutions within the first hours of the first day of 2019? God calls us to care for one another. Think hard about who “one another” is. One of the most profound events in my life happened in December of 1973. I was on my way home from class (I was working on my masters) and stopped at a convenience store like I regularly did. The clerk asked me how things were going. I replied that sometimes it isn’t worth getting up in the morning. I paid for my items and gas and went home. Later that evening the phone rang and the voice on the other end said “I am the clerk at the convenience store. I hope you don’t mind, but I got your name off your credit card and looked up your phone number. Are you ok, because you sure didn’t look ok when you were in here?” I told her I was ok and after a brief chat, hung up. Imagine, someone I hardly knew CARED about me. That is the essence of John 13:34-35. And, that is the essence of how we are to live. I pray that you will resolve to be resolute as you write down your resolutions for the new year. I pray even more that your resolutions will focus on love of neighbor and staying true to your faith. Grace and Peace Pastor Dennis
THE BELL RINGER January 2019 COMING IN JANUARY Sundays, January 6, 13, 20, 27 – 2:00 p.m. – Women’s Study Group Tuesdays, January 8 & 22 – Grief Support Group at 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays, January 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 –12:00 p.m. -- Glimpses of Faith Lunch, Fellowship Hall Thursdays, January 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 -- 11:30 a.m. – Pastor’s Devotional Tuesday, January 1 – Office Closed for New Years Sunday, January 6 – Epiphany of the Lord Imagine No Malaria Sunday Sunday, January 13 – Baptism of the Lord All Church Donation Lunch – Beans & Cornbread Sunday, January 20 – Second Sunday After the Epiphany/Human Relations Sunday Monday, January 21 – Office closed in honor of Martin Luther King’s Birthday Sunday, January 27 – Third Sunday After the Epiphany Thursday, January 31 – End of Year Statistical Reports Due
January Birthdays – Brenda Clanton-Jan. 1, K.W. Hill- Jan. 17, Tiah Taylor – Jan.29, Ross Joplin - Jan. 30 January Anniversaries – Wayne & Barbara Foley - Jan. 2, George & Deborah Payne – Jan. 4, Neil & Frannie Guthrie – Jan. 31
Donation Lunch for January The donation lunch for January will be January 13th following church. We will have beans & cornbread. All the donations go toward Shared Ministries. The sign-up sheet is on the podium in the narthex.
Deadline The deadline for receiving 2018 Shared Ministries gifts is Friday, January 11th. This enables us to have our church’s final offering in to the conference office by Tuesday, January 16th. Please place “2018 Shared Ministries” in the note line of your check. I encourage all of you to consider giving an end of the year gift so that our goal of 100% may be reached.
Extending The Table Ministry If you are interested in serving God by taking communion to those who are homebound, contact Sue Cates at 806-782-8607.
A Word from the Pastor Dear Resolute Saints,
As we enter yet another new year, the thought of making new year’s resolutions may come to mind. According to English Oxford Living Dictionary, the definition of resolution is as follows: “A firm decision to do or not to do something. The quality of being determined or resolute. It is this second definition that prompted me to examine our journey as Christians for 2019.
When we make a resolution for the new year, do we do so with determination? Are we resolute in what we say, or more importantly, what we do? As Christians, and certainly as United Methodist Christians, we have made promises to God when we were baptized and joined the church. We have also made promises in our individual prayers throughout our lives. Those promises are in a sense, resolutions. They are promises to live intentional Christ-like lives. Despite our resolutions, however, as time passes, we may find that we are no longer resolute in our Christian journey. This is certainly not a condition belonging solely to those communitydefined reprobates. No indeed. All of us find ourselves mired in the quagmire of lost opportunities and good intentions. What to do about our need to be more resolute in the coming year. In John 13:34-35 we read the following: “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." The question, then, before us is: are we resolute in our decision to love everyone in the whole world the way Jesus loves? Are we willing to stick with it in the coming year? Or, will we break our resolutions within the first hours of the first day of 2019? God calls us to care for one another. Think hard about who “one another” is. One of the most profound events in my life happened in December of 1973. I was on my way home from class (I was working on my masters) and stopped at a convenience store like I regularly did. The clerk asked me how things were going. I replied that sometimes it isn’t worth getting up in the morning. I paid for my items and gas and went home. Later that evening the phone rang and the voice on the other end said “I am the clerk at the convenience store. I hope you don’t mind, but I got your name off your credit card and looked up your phone number. Are you ok, because you sure didn’t look ok when you were in here?” I told her I was ok and after a brief chat, hung up. Imagine, someone I hardly knew CARED about me. That is the essence of John 13:34-35. And, that is the essence of how we are to live. I pray that you will resolve to be resolute as you write down your resolutions for the new year. I pray even more that your resolutions will focus on love of neighbor and staying true to your faith. Grace and Peace Pastor Dennis
