ONLINE EDITION

Christmas Eve Services at First Church

TRADITIONAL CANDLELIGHT

SERVICE TIMES:

5:30 & 7:00 p.m. downtown,

Rev. J. Paul Brunstetter, preaching

with Chancel Choir and Orchestra

5:30 p.m., Andover,

Rev. Todd Nelson, preaching

11:00 p.m., downtown,

Rev. Todd Nelson, preaching

Holy Communion served
at 11 p.m. service only

COME & GO COMMUNION

at 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

West Chapel, downtown

Text Box: Thoughts from the Holy Land… by Rev. Todd Nelson, Pastor, Andover Campus

Susan and I want to again express our deep appreciation for the trip to the Holy Land earlier this month. We remain in a state of reflecting upon all the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and people we encountered during the 10 day journey. It is an understatement to say that it was “lifechanging.” While we were there, we were able to travel to many sights in and around the Sea of Galilee as well as Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Jericho. It is a rugged and beautiful land that seems to change by the mile.

People have been asking what impacted me the most. It was the everyday and common nature of the entire region. My vision of many of the places of the Bible was right out of Hollywood. What I saw was something distinctly different. It is a regular everyday place filled with regular and everyday people who struggle just like we do with life's issues. I was struck by the commonness of the place. And that fact was deeply comforting to me. It reminded me that our Lord Jesus truly understands our struggles as well as our joys. He knows what it means to live in a place where you must depend upon one another for your daily existence. And that gives me great hope.

Everyone told me before going that I would never read Scriptures the same way again after returning, and they are right. For a visual learner like me, I now have internal pictures, smells, tastes, and experiences to complement my reading. That is a wonderful gift you have given to both Susan and me.

We, along with the entire First Church contingency of 11 persons who traveled, will have a time to share about the trip over the coming month at both Andover (1/6/2010 @ 6:30 p.m.) and Downtown (1/13/2010 @ 6 p.m. during the Wednesday night Chapel Service.)

Text Box: Christmas Offering Each year, our Christmas and Christmas Eve offerings give us an opportunity to extend our generosity to special ministries. Our Christmas offering will be taken on Sunday, December 13, and we will collect the Christmas Eve offering in boxes located by the sanctuary doors before and after each Christmas Eve service. Both of these offerings will go to support three important ministries: High Street Neighborhood Center, Kentucky Refugee Ministries, and The Rock / La Roca’s Food Pantry. High Street Neighborhood Center is a joint ministry begun by First Church and Calvary Baptist in 1969. High Street provides day care for children from lower-income families, allowing parents to pay for quality child care at rates based on family income. Your giving at Christmas has historically provided just enough for the Neighborhood Center to finish the year even or to do necessary building repairs. Kentucky Refugee Ministries assists in resettling refugees who come to Kentucky as victims of warfare or political or religious persecution. Many refugee families have had a difficult time finding work in our current economy. Your gifts will help provide needed funds for these families’ living expenses while they continue to look for employment. The Rock / La Roca’s Food Pantry has experienced great demand this past year. The Monday night meal provides about 3,500 dinners over the course of the year, and the food pantry provides 2,000 food baskets, filled with fruits, vegetables, rice, tuna, and other food staples – enough for 1-2 meals for a family. Your gifts allow the Food Pantry to remain operational and acquire all the necessary food.

United Methodist Women Cookbooks!

Plan to purchase a cookbook for yourself and others on your Christmas list. You can pick it up in the Gathering Area for $10.00 or purchase it at Morris Bookstore for $12.00. The proceeds from the book will be used to support the missions of the UMW. Checks can be made payable to United Methodist Women.

Scholarships Available

First United Methodist Church Endowment Foundation will award four (4) Christian Scholarships of $500 each for the 2010-2011 academic year. Entering freshmen (current high school seniors) and rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors attending Kentucky colleges or universities are eligible. Applications are available in the church office. Deadline for application is December 20, 2009. For more information, contact the church office, 233-0545.

New Revelation Bible Study at Andover

Beginning Sunday, January 10 we will offer a 10-12 week study from Anne Graham Lotz book, The Vision of His Glory, Finding Hope Through The Revelation of Jesus Christ. While Revelation can be confusing due to the symbolism and language used, it was written as a book of “hope” for the early church. We will focus our study around the hope offered and yearned for by many people to face life’s challenges. We will meet each Sunday from 5:00-6:15 p.m. at Andover. We will use video plus workbooks for weekly readings. The study will be facilitated by Randy Greenup and Mary Mowery. You may sign up at rgreenup@aol.com or call Randy, 543-0361.

Andover is Growing!

Two years ago a new Worship Service and Sunday School hour was started at Andover. It was an act of faith to remodel the building and open the doors in hopes of reaching the community in and around Andover which consists of over 10,000 homes within 2 square miles of our location. There is a growing sense that we need to take another leap of faith and open the doors at Andover, and more importantly our hearts, wider in hopes of extending our impact in the community. Therefore beginning January 10, 2010, there will be two services of Worship along with two Sunday School hours at the Andover Campus.

The morning schedule will be:

9:00 a.m.—

Children and Youth Choirs
9:40 a.m.—

Worship Service/Sunday School
11:00 a.m.—

Worship Service/Sunday School

Text Box: Wednesday Night Activities will not be held December 23-January 6. Activities will resume on January 13 at 5:00 p.m. with our Fellowship Meal and Small Group gatherings.

Walk to Jerusalem

The Walk to Jerusalem begins January 10 and ends on Palm Sunday, March 28. All are welcome and able to participate regardless of fitness level! Walking packets and tabulation cards will be available to help keep you on track. Look for sign ups in the Gathering Hall. Please contact Kathy Sullivan, 277-2444, or Joyce McKinney, 224-4609, with any questions you may have.

Music Ministry Updates

While the season of Advent marks the beginning of a new year in the Christian calendar, it also marks somewhat of a new beginning for our Music Ministry. After only six weeks on the job, I can report to our entire congregation and community that our Music Ministry is on a very solid footing and we are rapidly moving towards a broadly-based program of sacred music for all ages. In particular, our Chancel Choir grows weekly. In these past six weeks we have added a minimum of one new choir member each and every week. Our total, active enrollment in the Chancel Choir is now almost sixty strong! We have our strong core of choir members who have sung for years, members of our church who have never sung before but now feel led to participate, former choir members who have returned to sing with us and brand new choir members from within the Lexington community who are quickly becoming aware that this is an ensemble of musical excellence. In the past two weeks I have had several singers from the area (non church members) to contact me and inquire about participation in our choir.

I am particularly pleased to announce our new Choral Scholars Program. This program allows us to strengthen our ties to the University Community by offering scholarships to talented music students at the University of Kentucky. While the students provide a service to our Music Ministry, we also provide ministry to them and allow them to gain valuable choral experience during their time at the University. This year's Choral Scholars are Brittany Benningfield (M.M. student in vocal performance), Taylor Eldred (B.A. student in vocal performance), Antonio Castillo (B.A. student in vocal performance) and Enoch Jacobus (doctoral student in Music Theory and Composition). Please join me in welcoming these students to our community of faith.

In the coming weeks you will hear about our plans for strengthening and expanding our Children's Music Ministry along with plans for a downtown Concert Series. Stay tuned!

In Memoriam...

Donations have been received

by these generous contributors

in memory of:

George Denmark

Dr. & Mrs. WL Boswell

Emilie Conant

John & Rita Elder

Daisy Nell Hornback

William & Janice Malicote

Wanda Long

James & Alice Anderson

Donna Ethington

Barbara J. Seitz

John Moore*

John & Martha Bartholow

John & Rita Elder

Eileen Knipe

Galen & Patricia Peckham

*Donations were made to
UMCOR through FUMC

Thank you all…

Thanks to everyone for all your good wishes at the farewell receptions for Ron and me at Andover and downtown. We are already missing all of you! I've appreciated so much your cards, emails and calls of encouragement and "goodbyes" and pray for each of you God's very best in the days to come.

Marsha Berry

Endowment Corner

The FUMC Endowement Foundation provides college scholarships to our youth. A gift to the Scholarship Fund will help us equip more Christians as they grow in their education.

From your First Church Endowment Board of Stewards

Kitchen News

We are now sharing our church kitchen with our Wednesday night chefs. If you need to schedule the kitchen for food preparation or activities, please call the church office. Your request will be posted on the church calendar. If an emergency arises such as a funeral- call the church office immediately. It will be worked out. The church family will always be our "First" priority. We appreciate your help and cooperation.

Faith Promise Update

Our Missions Team has recently decided to provide $1,500 in monthly support in 2010 to Dr. Nabil Samara for his ongoing ministry work in Israel. This is a much larger commitment than we have made in the past, but we felt compelled to provide this level of support after the reports we received from our team that recently visited the Samaras.

As many of you have heard from them, our Nazareth team was overwhelmed by the ministry work Nabil is doing in Israel. In a place where less than 3% of the population is Christian, Nabil is deeply respected and is a tireless worker, traveling across the country to train pastors and laypeople and preach to congregations. Our team also shared about Nabil's humble living conditions, a third child on the way, and some expected funding cuts next year. For all of these reasons, we have chosen to provide a significant amount of support for his ministry in 2010. Please join us in praying for Nabil, his family, and the nation of Israel.

Thanks to your generous giving to Faith Promise, we have been able to provide support to several new ministries, and more substantial support to some long-time ministries. Faith Promise recipients in 2009: Aldersgate Camp, Athletes in Action, Back to School Bash, God's Table, Habitat for Humanity, Kentucky Annual Conference mission offering, Nabil Samara's Olive Branch ministry in Israel, Room in the Inn, Step By Step, UK Wesley Foundation, and our sister congregation in Viitka, Estonia.

To give to the Faith Promise fund, simply note “Faith Promise” on any offering you give.

Methodist Children’s Home

If you were in service on Sunday, November 29, you received a wish-list in your bulletin for the United Methodist Children’s Home. These youth have many needs to be met this Christmas. Please consider giving. A few items needed are: men’s & women’s clothing sizes S-2XL, hooded sweatshirts, winter coats, hats, gloves, belts for young men. Crafts such as Fuzzy Posters or other crafting kits. Gift cards to K-Mart, Cato, and several other Versailles stores. The donations can be placed in room 123 of the Old Parsonage. If you have any further questions please contact Beth Fritz, 233-0089.

Prayer shawls, a gift of love

The United Methodist Women's Assembly will be in April in St. Louis. Units are being ask to provide prayer shawls. They will be distributed to hospitals, children of deployed military, prison ministries and retired missionaries.

Suggested sizes are triangle 65" long and 32" center back or rectangle 19" x 69" or 14" x 70". These suggested sizes should not limit your creativity. The shawls can be colorful and diverse. They can be crocheted, knitted, quilted or made of fleece. The shawls provide warmth, but also compassion and caring. In order to have shawls to send to the Assembly we will need them by February 14. You do not need to be a member of the UMW to participate. You may also participate by donating yarn. Items can be left in the former conference room in the parsonage (the room across from the copy machine). If you have any questions or are interested in participating in a ongoing shawl ministry e-mail or call UMW President, Cindy Kennedy at cindykennedy76@yahoo.com.