Messenger 12/26/24
First Sunday after Christmas
For Sunday service, Greg Hartgraves will be serving as our Worship Leader and leading us through the Opening Prayer and the Call To Worship.
This week’s scripture reading will be Luke 2:41-52
Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went on a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
A special thanks to this week’s Ushers, Judy & Dennis Doyle.
To view the entire bulletin, click the link below.
We are currently looking for help for our Coffee Hour after Service.
Some of the ways you can help is by:
Assisting in the set up of coffee hour prior to worship starting
Bringing snacks, goodies, dessert to share
Assisting in clean up after coffee hour
The Coffee Hour is a great time for everyone to come together as a community and share their thoughts, ideas, and make a connection with other members at Church. To sign up or learn more, email Holly at office@gardenstreetumc.org or stop by the desk before/after service. You can also check out other volunteer opportunities such as Ushering and Flowers for Sanctuary.
To Sign up, visit: https://bit.ly/jan25volunteers
Wesley Club Meal Volunteering
Wesley Club is very thankful for the generosity of Garden Street UMC.
Part of our hospitality as a congregation is to provide a meal for the students on Wednesday evenings. Please consider volunteering to provide a dinner. Generally, a meal for 8-10 people is adequate. There are several vegetarians.
Meals should be delivered to the Congregational Church fellowship hall by 5:45 pm on Wednesday. Please review the available slots below to provide a dinner for Wesley Club. Thank you for continuing to support campus ministry at GSUMC!
Click the link here to see open time slots. Email greg@gardenstreetumc.org for more information.
Holiday Joy Event – 2024
Sponsored by: Opportunity Council & Interfaith Coalition
Here is an update from the Interfaith Coalition on the success of this years Holiday Joy Event!
Thanks to the many, many donors, volunteers, and Planning Committee members who worked so hard to make Holiday Joy a success!
We have some preliminary numbers to share this week:
We served 121 Families, including 308 Children and Youth!
We received donations from nine faith communities, nine businesses, four community groups, and fourteen families/individuals. Together the community gave donations worth about $34,679!
Our volunteers contributed about 489 hours to the program! What a joy to be part of such wonderful generosity- thank you, Holiday Joy Team!
Coming up next week we have:
Tuesday (12/24)
Christmas Eve Service - 7:00 pm at 2401 Cornwall Ave.
Wednesday (01/01/25)
Men’s Breakfast - 7:00 am at TBD
Sunday (01/05)
Christian Book Club - 10:30 am via zoom - “Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths,” by Karen Armstrong. Email office@gardenstreetumc.org to join
Choir - 1:00 pm at 2401 Cornwall Ave.
Sunday Worship - 2:30 pm at 2401 Cornwall Ave.
Prayers
Please Pray for:
Gail's Cousins, Bob & Jim who both have suffered strokes.
For Bob who has limited movement in one eye and is using a walker, and Jim who is currently in rehab to get strong enough to return home.
And pray for Barbara who is there supporting both family members.
Can’t make it in person? View the live on YouTube!