Christmas crafts and cookies (a come and go fun event for the whole family) will be held Sunday, December 8, 2019, from 1–5 p.m. in Peatling Youth Hall.

We’ve received news that the Rev. Laney Kuhn, a retired pastor who was previously appointed to Abilene First United Methodist Church, died on November 24, 2019. 

This year the church has placed an order for 40 white* poinsettias from the Abilene High School (AHS) Horticulture Club. This project is a great way to remember or honor a loved one while supporting AHS students in the first year of a new endeavor. You can sponsor one (or more) in memory or honor of someone for just $10.00. Just make the check payable to the church and write “Poinsettias” in the memo line.

We’ll have a sign-up sheet in the narthex so that you can let us know of whom your poinsettia is in memory or honor. Please note that one sign-up sheet is for “in honor” and one for “in memory.” It’s important not to get the two mixed up.

*We’ve gone with white to match the sanctuary decorations.

Here’s the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany Hymn Schedule for 2019-2020.

December 1, 2019 — First Sunday of Advent
202 People Look East
3047 God Almighty, We Are Waiting
211 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Vss 1-4)
196 Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

December 8, 2019 — Second Sunday of Advent
206 I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
234 O Come, All Ye Faithful
211 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Vss 1, 5-6)
203 Hail to the Lord’s Anointed

December 15, 2019 — Third Sunday of Advent
238 Angels We Have Heard on High
249 There’s a Song in the Air
2095 Star Child (Vss 1-4)
216 Lo, How a Rose Er Blooming

December 22, 2019 – Fourth Sunday of Advent
229 Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
220 Angels From the Realms of Glory
198 My Soul Gives Glory to My God
219 What Child is This

December 24, 2019 — Christmas Eve
240 Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
246 Joy to the World
217 Away in a Manger
239 Silent Night

December 28, 2019 — First Sunday after Christmas Day
196 Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus*
227 The Friendly Beasts
230 O Little Town of Bethlehem
221 In the Bleak Midwinter
3052 God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
228 He is Born, the Holy Child
218 It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
219 What Child is This*
251 Go Tell it on the Mountain

January 5, 2020 — Epiphany of the Lord
220 Angels From the Realms of Glory*
237 Sing We Now of Christmas, vss 1, 3, 4, 5
254 We Three Kings
245 The First Noel

*Indicates a repeat hymn.

Tomorrow, Sunday, November 24, 2019, we will be hanging the greens (decorating the church for Christmas) right after the 10:30 a.m. service. You are invited to stay for this intergenerational activity.

As you may have already heard, Emmanuel Church here in Abilene is in the process of disaffiliating from the United Methodist Church. The Great Plains Conference has an article on their website that explains what’s going on.

Link: https://bit.ly/2QEmOHE

A service of Death and Resurrection for Shirley Ann-Bethe Ayre will be held this Saturday, November 23, 2019, at 2:30 p.m. in the sanctuary. Pie and Coffee will follow in Wright Fellowship Hall and after that burial at Abilene Cemetery.

Tomorrow, November 5, 2019, for one glorious day, from 9:00-11:00 a.m., in Wright Hall, the UMW will be selling a cinnamon roll and coffee combo for $2, a dozen cinnamon rolls for $18, and a half dozen for $9. There will also be a bake sale. I reserved my dozen yesterday.

On November 5, 2019, from 9:00-11:00 a.m., in Wright Hall, the UMW will be selling a cinnamon roll and coffee combo for $2, a dozen cinnamon rolls for $18, and a half dozen for $9. There will also be a bake sale.

If you are having a hard time reconciling our current financial shortfall in the general fund with all the landscaping work that is currently being done, we have a simple answer: memorial funds. All the work is being done is being paid for out of memorial gifts designated for landscaping. Hopefully, the work being done will honor the memory of those the gifts were given in memory of.

Thanks to monies given in memory of Wendell Gugler, we now have the new Worship and Song songbooks in every pew. You’ll find them behind the pew Bibles (at least this Sunday). Have a quartet in your pew and need more copies? Extras can be found in the Narthex.

Jenny and I will be out of the office today, we have a Clergy Network meeting at Salina First UMC. Pam Simpson, administrative assistant, will be holding down the fort.