Dec10Jan11 Beacon

THE BEACON

Open Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors

Ware's Chapel United Methodist Church

December 2010

PASTOR'S PAGE:

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

Christmas is coming! This is an exciting time. The anticipation is in the air, the kids and grandkids are balls of endless energy, and the shopping bonanza has begun. We look forward to days off of work, Christmas meals, family traditions, and the excitement of Christmas morning. Everywhere we look, people seem to be running, preparing, or sometimes just trying to survive the Holiday rush.

There are others however that may not be looking so forward to this season. There are those for whom the holidays are a time of pain and remembrance. Perhaps they are living with the loss of a loved one, a spouse, child, or parent. Perhaps Christmas evokes painful memories from a distant or more recent past. Perhaps they are dealing with loneliness and dread another Christmas spent in solitude.

You see, we cannot know how or even if everyone we meet is anticipating the coming of this season in the same ways. Some look on it with joy, others dread, but what we do know is that this is a season of anticipation. Advent has often been called the forgotten season on the Christian calendar. We must remember that this is not Christmas yet. This is a season of preparation. We are looking forward to the birth of Christ, the coming of the Messiah, and the incarnation of God. As we anticipate this glorious event, we begin to prepare our hearts by looking at our lives, our blessings, and our faults in the light of the coming savior.

We need to take time this advent season to remember what it means to be human. We need to take a long look at ourselves and examine where we struggle, where we suffer, and where we fall short of the glory of God by temptation and sin. No, this is not a time of depression and self-abuse, but it is a time of renewal. Let us remind ourselves that we are fallen, that we are sinful, and that we are so very broken. Let us attempt to fully understand our lives and emotions, from grief to joy, from pain to elation, and better understand ourselves and our neighbors. In this way we can begin to even love ourselves and those around us……perhaps even those who trespass against us…..When we do this, then we understand our desperate need for Christ. We understand why he had to come in the manner he did. Over two-thousand years ago, humanity was in desperate need of the baby born in a manger. We need him just as much, if not more, today. Let us spend this season of Advent preparing our hearts, our minds, and our lives to receive him on that glorious Christmas morning.

God Bless You All,

Pastor Seth

UNITED METHODIST WOMEN NEWS:

Thank you to EVERYONE!!!

The United Methodist Women are extremely blessed to have the support of our congregation for our annual Smorgasbord and Bazaar. This year we served 201 paid meals plus many more to 8 Boy Scouts, their Scout Master and the 41 wonderful volunteers who greeted, cooked, served, washed dishes, cleared tables, and cleaned up. Because of your generosity we will be sharing our treasury with the following organizations: Boy Scout Troop #280; Monroe Township Food Bank; Preble County Domestic Violence Shelter; Preble County Meals for the Elderly; Preble County Habitat for Humanity; Dayton Inner City Campership; Wesley Center of Dayton; Otterbein Retirement Homes; the United Methodist Children’s Home; Henderson Settlement; McCurdy School; and the Pastor’s Emergency Fund.

Also we are grateful to the congregation for bringing in cleaning supplies, paper products and disposable diapers for the Domestic Violence Shelter. The staff and residents of the Shelter appre-ciate that we care and are concerned about their wellbeing.

During the Nov. 3 meeting, the Women will celebrate the WORLD THANK OFFERING Service. This program reflects on issues of “plenty” and “enough.” We will focus on the scriptures Mark 14: 3-9 and Acts 2: 43-47. We will also “Share the Treasury” with the many worthy groups mentioned in the above article.

There will be no December or January meetings. The first meeting of 2011 will be February 2. We will have a short program for Call to Prayer & Self Denial. As always, all women of the church are invited to be a part of our mission studies and events.

The purpose of United Methodist Women is to be a community of women who know God and experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ; who develop a creative, supportive fellowship, and who expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the church.

MONROE TOWNSHIP FOOD BANK NEWS:

Thank you for your generosity and support of the Food Bank. We’ve had a very busy year with an increased number of new families in need of assistance. We have been so blessed with a variety of food items, paper products, and monetary donations from all the area churches, 4-H Clubs, Scouts, the many, many service organizations in our community, and all of you at Ware’s Chapel. While the Food Bank is housed at Ware’s Chapel, it is truly a partnership ministry for the whole township.

Being part of Shared Harvest has truly provided us with the ability to purchase a wide variety of food items at greatly reduced prices. Chuck, Director of Agency Relations visits to inspect our Food Bank every 2 years. He praises our hard work and passes along his thanks to everyone for our mission work in our community.

Once again we had our Back-to-School program for students in grades K-12 in Monroe Township. We passed out school supplies and back packs to 63 students helping them to successfully begin a new school year by being prepared with the necessary supplies.

We also give thanks to Rick Schlotterbeck and Akey’s who continue to supply us with whole chickens, not only for our Food Bank, but other Food Banks in the county as well. We have so many people serving the Food Bank is so many ways.

A special thanks to Pratt Industries for furnishing boxes whenever needed and to Becky Petitt for delivering them.

I couldn’t possible continue the Food Bank without the help of the following who are so willing to help in a variety of ways:

Ruth Mary Parks, Pam Kessler, Joy & Steve Dearth, Pam & Darrell Meeks, Jeany & Steve Ott, Brent Driver, Loretta Garber, Tim & Kim Jones, & Pastor Seth Oiler.

Thanks again to everyone for being the hands and feet of Jesus to the people of Monroe Township. If you know of anyone who needs our services, please let them know we’re here for them.

Sarah Barker, Monroe Township Food Bank Coordinator

Sideline Notes

*****DIRECTORIES*****

If you had your picture taken or submitted a picture for the directory and you have not received one please see or call Joanna (937) 336-0339. We have some left and we want to make sure that everyone who was supposed to get one does so!

*****Friendly Food Ministry*****

If you know of someone who could benefit from our food ministry please let us know. We are willing and ready to help out! It is going well and we have served quite a few families already!

*****The Beacon*****

The next issue of the Beacon will come out in February! Please have articles ready by January 22! Thanks in advance to all who submit articles for the Beacon!

Monroe Township Food Bank