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2015 Advent & Christmas EventsChristmas Carols. Christmas Eve Cookies and Coffee Again this Christmas Eve, we plan to serve cookies and coffee in between church services. If you

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Christmas Eve Worship Services

Be sure to make plans to a end one of these services and to invite a friend.

2pm & 4pm for Children and Families

Children’s “Happy Birthday Jesus” Party at 3pm

It is Jesus’ birthday, so let’s throw him a party!

6pm & 8pm—Telling the Christmas Story through scriptures and car-ols, including choirs, soloists and hand bells.

10pm with Holy Communion

All services are candlelight services.

Sunday 11/29 1st Sunday in Advent "Thy Kingdom Come" Ma . 1:1-8

Monday 11/30 Annual Church Conf. 7p / “Tablegate” Supper 6p

Thursday 12/3 Advent Study week 1- 1 or 6p. “Unity of the Spirit”

Sunday 12/6 2nd Sunday in Advent "Bap zed By An cipa on"

Mark 1:1-8

Messiah Performances at 8 & 9:30a

Li le Blessings Christmas Program 1p & 2:30p

Wednesday 12/9 Gingerbread House Event for Parker Task Force 5:30p

Thursday 12/10 Advent Study week 2—1 or 6p “Love One Another”

Saturday 12/12 Joyful Noise Christmas Produc on at 10a

Sunday 12/13 3rd Sunday in Advent "The Witness of Light"

John 1:1-14

Encore of Joyful Noise Produc on at 9:30a

Thursday 12/17 Advent Study week 3-1 or 6p “Everlas ng Presence”

Sunday 12/20 4th Sunday in Advent "Servants of the Lord" Luke 1:26-38

2015 Advent & Christmas Events

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The 1st Sunday in Advent is 11/29. Advent devo ons begin Monday 11/30. There is a devo on for each Monday through Friday during Ad-vent. Be sure to pick up your devo-

on booklet star ng next Sun-day, 11/22. You will also be able to pick up a copy at the Informa on Desk or in the Office.

Weekly Advent Study gatherings will be on Thursdays at either 1p or 6p on 12/3, 12/10 & 12/17. The overall theme is “The Kingdom of God” and the 3 weekly sessions are ”Unity of the Spirit (12/3), “Love One Another” (12/10) and “Everlas ng Presence” (12/17).

Sunday Sermons During Advent are: 11/29 “Thy Kingdom Come (Ma . 1: 18-21); 12/6 “Bap zed by An cipa on” (Mark 1: 1-8), 12/13 “The Witness of Light” (John 1: 1-14) and 12/20 “Servants of the Lord” (Luke 1: 26-38). Make plans to be here each Sunday and Thursday.

Invite someone to come with you to the Advent Studies and Sun-day Worship.

2015 Advent Devo ons “Beyond The Manger”

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MISSIONS ‐ HOLIDAY GIVING:

TURKEYS: Thanksgiving dinners for Parker Task Force clients. This year the Parker Task Force expects to provide Thanksgiving dinner to many families. Currently, the Task Force provides short-term food bank visits and lim-ited financial assistance to over 600 families in need in the Parker, Franktown and Elizabeth areas.

To help you can either donate a food basket or provide money.

1. Food Baskets: Compile complete Thanksgiving dinners that families can prepare at home, packaged in baskets/tubs/boxes for a family of 4-6 people. Deliver to the new Parker Task Force building at 19105 Longs Way between 9:00 am & noon on Saturday, Novem-ber 21, 2015. Clients will pick them up later that day.

What to put in the basket/box/tub - a complete Thanksgiving dinner - for example: Frozen turkey, aluminum turkey pan, canned vegetables, pota-toes, bu er, stuffing, can of sweet potatoes, pie/dessert, gravy (packets or jars), can of cran-berry sauce, dinner rolls, box of flavored Jell-O, and a can of fruit. Please put items needing refrig-era on/freezing in grocery bags so we can keep them cold un l the meals are picked up later in the day. Please bag freezer items and refrigerator items in sepa-rate bags.

Or if you prefer to make a monetary contribu on

2. Monetary Dona ons: Contribu ons will be used to purchase prepared Thanksgiving dinners from local grocery store deli depart-ments for clients with special circumstances. Each meal for a family of 4-6 costs $50. Please make checks payable to Parker UMC no ng ‘PTF Thanksgiving dinners’ in the memo line and place them in the offering plate through Sunday, November 22. Any funds not need-

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ed for Thanksgiving meals will be used to provide PTF clients lim-ited assistance with winter hea ng bills.

TOYS: “Share the joy, give a toy.” The Denver In-ner City Parish has been providing toys during the holidays to deserving families in Denver since 1978. Every year there is an increase of families in need. The program invites parents to “shop” their toy warehouse for one gi per child. They accept brand new toys for children of all ages 0-18. If you’d like to help, please bring new unwrapped toys to church by noon on Decem-ber 13. Look for collec on boxes & more info at the Mission’s table/display in the Narthex.

In December look for the Global Hope Christmas Giving Tree – select a tag to learn about various and specific needs where

you can provide monetary contributions for children supported through Global Hope programs.

XYZ Christmas Carol Sing /Pizza/Salad/Dessert Party: Sunday, Dec. 13th. Noon-1:45 in the Fellowship Hall. All persons with “60+Xtra Years of Zest” (XYZ members and others within our church commu-nity) are invited to join us. A sign-up sheet is posted in the Narthex. Please join us and enjoy friendship, food and singing your favorite Christmas Carols.

Christmas Eve Cookies and Coffee Again this Christmas Eve, we plan to serve cookies and coffee in between church services. If you would like to donate cookies to share, please bring them to the church kitchen by Wednes-day, Dec. 23rd. Put up to 2 dozen on a paper plate, wrap them with plas c wrap and label them, please. Gluten-free cookies and cookies

containing nuts should be labeled as such. Thank you for helping! -Your Hospitality Team

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The season of Ad-vent is invi ng us to wait for the full ex-perience of Christ-mas and the com-plete celebra on of the birth of Jesus. Once again, we are

called to the manger and then in-structed to move out into the world as the people of God.

We come to the manger with hearts that are filled with memories of the past and a hopeful faith in the future. The experience of considering the birth of the Christ Child always s rs me with memories of family tradi ons but more than that…it con nually chal-lenges me to live a life of gra tude and generosity.

Indeed, the holiday season of Christmas is not just about gi s and trees. It is about gra tude and generosity that takes shape in our mind, shi s to our hearts, and is best expressed through our hands and our lips. Living a life of grace and speaking words of hope are central to our call as the people of God.

I hope this season of Advent is preparing you to live in grace and hope. We cherish the opportuni-

es to speak joy into the lives of

our friends and family during this me of year. We love to see the

smiles of children, hear the songs of our faith, and be a part of bring-ing something special to the earth once again.

As a church, let me invite you to find some new and fresh ways to express your natural gener-osity this year. Find a place to serve, share your table with some-one new, open your heart to a neighbor, or offer a gi to support your favorite mission. Make some-thing good happen through your generous spirit!

The season is special for the church in many ways. We are blessed with special mes of wor-ship, beau ful music, and the flow of faith that brings us to a new year. I hope you will be a part of the full season of Advent and Christmas this year. Join your sis-ters and brothers as we read Scrip-ture together with the Beyond the Manger devo ons, be a part of worship from Messiah to Christmas Eve, and be sure to take in one of our programs for children as Christ-mas begins to grow in our hearts.

Be sure to do it all with a spirit of generosity in your heart and mind. Plan now to give gener-ously as we come to Christmas Eve

“Looking Forward” by Randy Jessen, Senior Pastor

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worship. This year our offering will support the Parker Task Force and the United Methodist Commi ee on Relief. The Task Force helps people in our own area with food, jobs, and essen al resources. The ministry of UMCOR reaches out to touch people all around the world when natural disaster strikes. Both are outstanding ministries. Be generous in spirit and in giving this year.

Last year our Christmas Eve offering was $19,740.00! That was wonderful, but I think we can top that this year with a fresh spir-it of gra tude and generosity. Be sure to be a part of the blessing!

Christmas! Some say it is the most beau ful me of the year. Others wonder if they can make it through another day. Our task is to be the people of God in every se ng. Live for the Lord, bless your family, and express your faith in every moment. If we do that, the year 2016 will be off to a great start.

God bless you all!

Randy Jessen

DECEMBER ACOLYTE LIST

8:00 am 9:30am

RED ROBES ON THE FIRST SUNDAY

6TH COLTON WARNER CLAIRE BUNTEMEYER

McKENNA GEORGE CHLOE LENTZ

13TH BELLA BYINGTON JAMES SMITH

TAVIE BROWN CAS STANLEY

20TH BEN SHIER HANNAH THOMAS

MAX SHIER JOSIE THOMAS

27TH GRAYSON CASSEL GRAYSON HARDY

HAYDEN CASSEL CAITLYN VOYLES

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As we enter into this sea-son of Advent and Christmas, I am always amazed at all of the adver-

sements that are thrown my way. My kids pick them up, wide-eyed, and think that they have to have it all! They have to have all of the toys, all of the games, all of the elec-tronics, all of the… well, you get the point. And I feel constantly barged by pos ngs online about how to help my family have the perfect Christmas. I need to have a Gingerbread House Party, and I need to bake cookies for all of my neighbors, and I need to deco-rate my house from top to bo om inside and out, and I need to make snowmen with my children followed by fresh cook-ies and hot chocolate, and I need to… well, I am sure that you also get the point. And of course if I don’t do all of these things and buy all of the wonderful gi s, then Christmas will just be ru-ined, along with my children’s childhood. Oh the pressure!! It is enough for me to throw my hands up and give up on the Christmas spirit all together!

So what really is the true mean-ing of Christmas? We all have heard it: “Jesus is the reason for the season”… but what does that really mean? I mean, yes Jesus did come to earth, and we sing about his birth and arrival all of December…. we make sure to go to Christmas Eve service and sing “Silent Night” while ligh ng our candles. But what does it truly mean for us and our lives here in 2015?

O en mes during this Christmas season, we stop at ba-by Jesus in the manger and forget to figure out what this story should really look like for our lives today. Yes, Jesus was born in a manger, but he also grew up, was God here on earth, per-formed countless miracles, and showed us the way to live and to love. This powerful story of Christmas should completely transform our lives. It should be a remembrance of how much God loves us and how God keeps promises, as well as be a chal-lenge for us to grow deeper in our faith and living the life that we are called to live. And ul -mately, it should move us beyond the manger and beyond our-selves to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a world that is hur ng

Cody Anderson, Associate Pastor

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and so desperately needs to know God’s love and peace and hope and grace.

So this year, let this story transform your life. Let this be more than just a season filled with busyness and buying presents and filling our lives with all of the per-fect experiences so that our chil-dren are not scarred forever. Let the Christmas season truly trans-form your life, change you and challenge you. May you be more in

tune with God who loves you and so desires a rela onship with you. May you feel God’s love and peace and hope in your life and in your family’s life. And may you go out and be the hands and feet of Jesus in a hur ng world that needs to know God’s love. Christmas bless-ings to you and your family!

2016 Confirma on Classes

Confirma on will begin January 10th from 4-5pm and will go through April. Confirma on is for all youth 6th grade and up who are wan ng

to know more about the church and their faith, as well as learning more about becoming members of the church. For more informa on on our Confirma on class, please email Pat Bell at [email protected].

“Happy Birthday Jesus!” Join the Party at 3pm on Christmas Eve.

Bring your family and friends to one of our Christmas Eve services for Children and their Families at either 2pm or 4pm. And at 3pm, make sure to join us for a Happy Birthday Je-sus party, where we will celebrate Jesus by doing cra s and other fun and faith building ac vi es. We will also be collec ng non-perishable food items to give to those who are in need this holiday season. Invite your neighbors and your friends, and make sure to join us for a fun and mem-orable Christmas Eve as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

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4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not our-selves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Je-sus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. – 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 NIV

As I sit to write this, my mind con nues to return to the events of this past Friday. Once again the world watched in horror as evil showed itself. A group of misguided, corrupted men decided it was a good idea to kill 129 inno-cent people and injure hundreds more in Paris, France. The day be-fore in Beirut, Lebanon, 43 inno-cents were murdered and more than 200 were wounded by two bombers who had so li le regard for life that they blew themselves up in the process. And of course, it isn’t difficult to look into the state of things in Nigeria and Kenya and the Congo and see that thousands have been killed this year by a group of insurgents so determined to control life in that part of the world that they have also de-stroyed more than 1000 schools

this year alone. Hearts around the world have been broken by these and so many more manifesta ons of evil in the world.

In the above scripture passage, we read that Satan, “the god of this age,” is real and is ac ve in the world. Some-how, Satan finds himself as the rul-er over this world and the people in it. He is not all-powerful but he is a major influence on people’s opinions, decisions, worldviews, belief systems, and philosophies, and we see that influence realized in the news today. The Truth offered by God gets too o en hid-den and people turn their eyes in-stead toward falsehoods, power, and greed.

It is important to remember, how-ever, that while Satan may have authority and power in the world, it is God who is truly sovereign. In fact, God has already taken the steps necessary to free humanity from Satan’s power. He has given us the gi of His Son, and Him cru-cified as a ransom for our lives and souls. All we have to do is receive the gi .

For those who have chosen abundant life in Jesus, Satan’s pow-er is dispelled. The Holy Spirit living within us guides us and empowers

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us to resist tempta ons and pride. With that power comes responsibility, however. God calls us to shine the light of the gospel of Jesus into the world. We are called to shine into the darkness and lead others to Christ, helping them to understand that there is a be er way. How, you might ask? Love. Love God and Love our neighbor. Resist the urge to hate. Pray for those who perse-cute you. Be assured, God’s ul -mate plan cannot be stopped. Trust in God to walk with you through the trials that the “god

of the world” plans.

Ideologies, false religions, and philosophies of evil cannot be defeated through the exercise of power. I’m not saying we can’t defend ourselves, and I’m not saying it will be easy, but hard-ened hearts and blinded eyes can only be healed and changed by the love we show.

God bless you all in these difficult days.

Ushers & Greeters Needed At All Christmas Eve Services

Please Contact Eileen & Keith Carpenter [email protected]

Christmas Eve Help Wanted!

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The Novem-ber Men’s Breakfast mee ng had 20 present. A

great amount of laughter was heard, good food was eaten, and great fellowship took place. We heard from Gene Sibley that he and Kathy had worshipped at Simla UM re-cently and there were 20 pre-sent. Included was 5 or 6 chil-dren. Makes us all feel good for taking on the challenge of pain ng their church building last summer. At that me their average a endance at worship was only 8 adults. God blessed us with numbers of workers with the needed skills and me that we could be a blessing to them! We got the pleasure of working together, they received renewed excitement and new

worshippers. Best of all God gets the praise!

The Men’s Retreat will be March 11 & 12 with Pastor Randy as our “leader”. The theme will be “MOVING FOR-WARD”. All men of the church are invited and encouraged to take this “small break” from the rou nes of life for some spiritu-al renewal and social enrich-ment. Mark the dates on your calendar as you consider being part of this. More details will come next month.

The December Men’s Breakfast will be Saturday Dec. 12, 8:00am, star ng in the church kitchen. Hope to see YOU.

Keith Eipper, president

Now that Advent is here be sure to take me

to pray as part of your prepara on for Christmas and New Years. The Prayer Ministry is looking for new

members. We organize the Prayer Chains and sent out Prayer Re-quests and organize Prayer Vigils and other special events.

Sincerely Sabrina

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Handel’s Messiah.

The tradi on con nues!

Please come and in-vite all of your singing friends

to be a part of this wonderful com-munity event. Community choir

rehearsals will be held on Wednes-day December 2, 2015 @ 7pm and on Saturday December 5th at 9:00am. We will perform the Mes-siah with full orchestra on Sunday December 6th at the 8 and 9:30am services. Please make this a part of your Christmas tradi ons either by singing or a ending. For more in-forma on please contact [email protected]

Gingerbread House Decora ng

&

Parker Task Force Food Drive

Wednesday 12/9

Join us Wednesday, December 9th for a pasta dinner at 5:30 in the Narthex and gingerbread house decora ng to follow. Please RSVP at [email protected] or call 720-204-4420.

Bring your non-perishable foods and receive a decora ng kit for your family.

Gree ngs Everyone, This is a month when we tradi onally think of giving thanks,

and this is certainly an appropriate me to thank all of you who have

been in leadership of our Parker UMC. Some of you are going off a commi ee, some of you are stay-ing on or changing to another commi ee and some of you are just beginning a commitment to be on a commi ee. From all of us on the Nomina ons & Leadership Development Commi ee – “We thank you for being available and a en ve to the responsibili es of commi ee work!” As we move into this next season of the Chris an Year- Ad-vent, I want all of us to spend some me thinking of the im-portance of this upcoming season as an opportunity to deepen our individual spiritual journey of rela-

onship with our Lord and Savior. Advent is known as a me of prep-ara on for the coming of the Christ Child. Our church o en cel-ebrates with the ligh ng of an Ad-vent Wreath, with each week fo-cusing on a different aspect of this

me of wai ng. So listen and

watch for what is said during the ligh ng of the candles. Think of the candle colors and what they represent; purple represents ‘seriousness’ or ‘repentance’ or ‘royalty’, pink represents ‘joy’, and the white candle represents ‘purity’ and Christ. Here is some background of the word Advent: it is from the La n word adventus which means arrival, coming, visit, approach; just looking at the be-ginning of the word – ad, in La n means to, toward, about, or at; the end of the word – ventus, means wind. That makes me think of the breath of God coming anew in this year. My hope for you is that you will find greater meaning and joy in Christmas by spending

me preparing your spirit and mind during this Advent me. Thanks be to God for all the blessings we have been given! Ruth Wills, Lay Leader 303-693-7365, [email protected]

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LAY LEADER—RUTH WILLS

Many people, especially those new to our Church, have asked about why we are doing the Amazed By God program over the next 2 years (1 year has already passed.) So here is a very brief history. Watch for more Amazed By God updates and process photos on the main entry bulle n board.

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In 1911, the church known as Parker UMC was formed when the property deed was signed on 11-11-1911. Worship was in the li le white chapel, called Ruth Chapel now, and is s ll prominent on Mainstreet.

In December of 1996 there was an ar cle in the Parker News Press that read “The Parker United Methodist Church will leave down-town Parker for a loca on on South Parker Road.” This 10 acre property soon became our Church’s new home. The commitment was daun ng for the small congrega on, but with much faith, planning and commit-ment, the first worship was held at our current loca on in the Spring of 1997.

In 2004, as Parker UMC con-nued to grow, again people of faith

and vision in our congrega on voted to expand with a new, more tradi on-al Sanctuary, new nursery facili es, more classrooms, remodeled and ex-panded preschool rooms, and an office complex. Construc on started in 2006 and 1st worship was held in our new Sanctuary on 9/9/2007. Worship on that Sunday began in the old Sanctuary (now our Fellowship Hall) and the congrega on processed

from the old worship space to the new Sanctuary, following the aco-lytes, Pastors Mike Nickerson, and Doug McKinney carrying the church Bible. The plan called for significant addi onal parking but due to in-creased costs, that work had to be postponed. Because of this, the Town of Parker granted Parker UMC a

Temporary Occupancy Permit.

The Amazed By God cam-paign was born in August of 2014 to allow the parking lot expansion and resurfacing to proceed, along with the required new landscap-ing, all with the goal to allow us to obtain our Permanent Occupancy permit. In addi on, it was hoped money could be raised to pay down some of the loan debt and have funds to do some redesign work in the Fellowship Hall. The Campaign was planned for 3 year commitments, to run from August 2014 to August 2017.

If you have not had the op-portunity to make a commitment to Amazed by God, you can find the form on the church website at www.parkerumc.org

Parker United Methodist Church

11805 S. Pine Dr. Parker, CO. 80134

303 841-3979

Www.parkerum

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