Top 5 @ SPUMC

#1 ADVENT BEGINS
The first week of Advent was full of activity all around! Rev. Ron connected our favorite must-see Christmas movies (“seasonal comfort food”) with the opening words of Isaiah 40:1-11 – “Comfort, Comfort my people…” He preached about Isaiah’s vision of preparing a 2-way highway straight across the desert for God to come to the people in exile and for them to find their way home and encouraged us in this season of “Adventually,” to also live in hope. After church, the front porch was a busy place as people came to pick up SPAN bags, Angel Tree tags & $100 bills for our Intentional Acts of Kindness outreach. Meanwhile, we had teams put up our traditional Nativity (thanks Fred, Tommy, Dave & Ken) and a new Peanuts Nativity (thanks Erica & Heidi) that was just donated to us.

#2 ANGEL TREE: ON THE PORCH & ONLINE
This year we are supporting Arundel House of Hope, the Clothing Ministry, and Heaven’s Kitchen with gift cards as well as providing personally selected and wrapped gifts for 25 children at Germantown ES through Reach Out and Serve. We have just added more tags for children’s gifts through a new partnership with The Sharing Foundation.

How to Take a Tag: If you’d like to pick a physical tag off the tree, stop by the front porch of the church anytime after Monday evening, November 23. If you prefer to show your support online, visit the Angel Tree page on our website for links to adopt a child for Christmas giving and/or support another project.

How to Return a Gift: Physical gifts for Germantown ES children should be wrapped, labeled with the child’s name, and dropped off on the front porch of the church, under the Christmas tree, no later than Saturday, December 12. Any gift cards should be placed in an envelope, labeled with the appropriate ministry, and placed in the new drop box that is installed on the brick wall to the right of the main entrance. We ask for all gift cards to be donated by Christmas. We will check for donations daily, and bring them safely inside. Again, you can also show your support online by visiting the Angel Tree page on our website and making electronic gifts that enable the church to purchase gift cards on your behalf. Thank you for your generosity – and for brightening the holidays for many in our community! If you have any questions, please contact Becky Clapp.

#3 INTENTIONAL ACTS OF KINDNESS IV
Our Fourth Annual Intentional Acts of Kindness Advent project is a chance to reach out in a very personal way. Come this Sunday 11am – 12noon to receive a $100 bill from one of the pastors on our front porch from and turn it into an intentional act of kindness. Many people choose to match this with an equal gift of their own (or some other amount). The only “rules” are: (1) You commit to being intentional about passing on this blessing and (2) You share the story with us of what you did. Due to the generosity of a donor for the fourth straight year we will be able to give out at least $10,000 to be multiplied into blessings throughout our community and world. We are still looking for other angel donors who may allow us to give out even more and you’d like to help out in this way, contact Rev. Ron.

#4 BLUE CHRISTMAS SERVICE
For some people, the holiday season can be really hard. While other people are busy being happy and celebrating around you, if you have experienced a personal loss or are feeling particularly isolated and lonely, “Deck the Halls” can sound kind of hollow. Join us for our annual Blue Christmas Service on Sunday, December 13th at 4pm via Zoom. This is a chance to be together in prayer, to light candles, to hold on to hope and to one another. If you’d like to know more about this special, subdued celebration of the season, contact Rev. Ron. Remember: whatever you are going through, the good news of this season is that God is with us.

#5 ADVENT STUDY CLASSES
This Advent, we’re studying INCARNATION: Rediscovering the Significance of Christmas by Rev. Adam Hamilton.We have classes meeting (via Zoom) on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. You can still sign up for classes and there are several ways to get a book. You may order your own copy of the book online, or get one from church on the front porch. Books are $10. Just leave check or cash in the lock box on the wall in the far corner of the porch. Hopefully together we will rediscover the significance of Christmas in a fresh way!

Your giving and support of our church remain critical during this time and we a grateful for the outpouring of generosity in these first few Sundays out of our building. We encourage you to continue to send in your offerings via mail or through multiple options we have for digital giving (direct debit, credit card and text giving). Many Thanks!!

To contact the Church Office with questions or information, please email Beth Frank.