December 2 - 15, 2007

Cover Story

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Give your soul a gift of spiritual uplift in the midst of this busy season. We have planned a variety of wonderful offerings for you:

Mid-Week Recital with the Malibu High School Chamber
Singers - December 12 at 12:10 pm

Preschool Worship Service & Party - December 14 at 3:30 pm

Sunday Advent Worship - December 16 at 9 am and 10:30 am

Yuletide Intergenerational Lunch - December 16 at 12 noon

Taizé Worship Service - December 16 at 7:30 pm, Chapel

Angel Tree for Family Place Party - December 22 from 2 - 4 pm

Service of Lessons and Carols with brass - December 23 at 9 am and 10:30 am

Christmas Eve Family Service - December 24 at 4:30 pm

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service - December 24 at 11 pm

Blessing of the Toys - December 30 at 10 am (one service only)

New Year’s Eve Prayer Vigil & Labyrinth Walk - December 31 from 3 - 8 pm

Epiphany Celebration with Holy Communion - January 6 at 9 and 10:30 am

The love of God still shines from the star, to light up our hearts and bring joy to the world. We wish a blessed and merry Christmas to you, one and all.

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A CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION
December 1 & 2 @ 7:30 pm
The Christmas Concert will include Magnificat by John Rutter and Carols, etc. for Choirs, Orchestra and Handbells compiled and arranged by our own James Smith, performed by our Chancel Choir, the SMC Concert Chorale, the Mark Twain Ringers and the Los Angeles Orchestra. Tickets may be purchased at the door.

ADVENT CRAFTS WORKSHOP
Sunday, December 9 from 1 - 4 pm
This year’s Advent Crafts Workshop will take place on Sunday, December 9 from 1 - 4 pm. Everyone is invited to participate in this fun annual tradition. All ages, individuals and families are encouraged! Tickets are on sale now during coffee hour on Sunday morning OR in the church office throughout the week. Tickets correlate with specific craft projects, allowing you to choose which and how many you would like to make. Purchase your tickets today!

ANGEL TREE FOR FAMILY PLACE
Return Gifts by December 9!
Return wrapped gifts for Family Place to the church by December 9.

BOB BAKER MARIONETTES
Friday, December 7 @ 7 pm
FUMC invites you to our traditional evening of family entertainment brought to you by the delightful Bob Baker Marionettes on December 7 at 7 pm in Simkins Hall. Donations will be greatly appreciated. Refreshments will be available for purchase. This special event for the whole family is sponsored by the Children’s Ministry Council.

POINSETTIAS
Order by December 18!
Poinsettias will adorn the sanctuary on Sunday, December 23, as we celebrate our annual Service of Lessons and Carols. In the Orders of Worship that morning will be a special insert listing the dedications. Please contact the church office by phone, email or in person to place your order and to give your dedication. Please note that all dedications will be printed as they were given to us. Be sure to include correct spellings as clearly as possible. The poinsettias are $10 per plant.

ADVENT DEVOTIONALS
Advent begins Sunday, December 2, and is the time of waiting and preparation, once again, for the birth of Jesus. All Christians are encouraged to intentionally prepare themselves for the Christmas event through prayer and reflection. The following resources are offered to give guidance in this endeavor. This year’s Advent Devotional for adults will be the November/December issue of Alive Now. This wonderful little magazine is published by the Upper Room. The title of this issue is “Fear Not,” a very appropriate theme for this time of year, as we hear that phrase echoed throughout the scriptures of Advent. Since the issue begins with November, copies are available now in the Church Office, in the Sanctuary narthex, in the Chapel narthex and at coffee hours on Sunday mornings. We are asking a donation of $2.00. Advent Worship and Activities for Families is a great little booklet “chock full” of wonderful surprises for families to experience during the Advent season!! Check it out on the table at coffee hour. We are asking a donation of $2.00

ATTENTION ALL COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS!
A Leadership Training Event has been scheduled for Saturday, January 19 from 9:30 am - 1 pm in the Fireside Room. Lunch will be served. Please plan to attend and RSVP to the church office by Friday, January 11. This will be an important gathering as we begin another year of work in the church.

HOLY ROLLERS SOFTBALL TEAM - NEW SEASON
We hope all of you enjoyed your Thanksgiving feasts, and are now ready to play some softball! The new season will start Sunday, December 2. We hope you will join us for another fun-filled season. We always welcome new players, so if you or anyone you know would like to play, please join us. Players should be 18 or older. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to come watch the games and cheer on our FUMC team! Contact Cathleen Hagins, cathleen.hagins@stjohns.org.

THOUGH OUR CAMPAIGN HAS ENDED...
We still hope to continue receiving your pledge cards! If you haven’t already submitted your 2008 pledge card to the church office, please do so as soon as possible. If you have any questions, contact the church office.

SPECIAL HOLIDAY COFFEE HOUR
All committees and councils of the church are reminded that the coffee hour on Sunday, December 23, will be jointly hosted. Members of each group should provide various types of refreshments and beverages (coffee is provided by FUMC) and help decorate, set up and clean up. This is a welcoming ministry of the church and a wonderful opportunity for fellowship. Let’s come together for one of the most joyous coffee hours of the year! Committee and Council Chairs are also reminded to sign up for 2 coffee hours in 2008 before the new year begins. Please contact Kim Crawford to do this at (310) 393-2591 or twelve@gte.net.

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“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope.”

That’s a quote from one of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver. And it provides a beautiful focus for us in the season of Advent. Advent is the four-week season of light and hope designed to help us prepare for the God’s great gift of the Christ Child.

Hope is not an easy job in this world of ours. Hope is not a kind of breezy optimism that cheerfully ignores everything that’s hard and painful about life. Hope goes much deeper. It can look anything straight in the eye. It’s strong enough to take on even the biggest and most threatening challenges. Hope is tough because it comes from God. Hope is resilient and stubborn. Hope is brave. Sometimes hope has to carry on in spite of all evidence to the contrary. Hope insists on abundant life.

To read the Advent scriptures is sort of like cheating. You get to go to the back of the book and see all the answers before you have to take the test. It’s all there—God’s intent for us and for the world. God’s plan is about peace and justice and wholeness and reconciliation, for each one of us and for us all.

And therein is the ground of our hope, the guarantee of our hope, the promise and assurance of our hope. It’s all there in Christ Jesus. In the baby, we are privileged in advance to see the fullness of all that is to be. Knowing the end of the story even while we live into it over and over again each day makes all the difference in the world.

In another place, Kingsolver says that we are to put on hope each day like we put on our shoes. Remember that when you put your shoes on in the morning. Put on hope, too. Light an Advent candle of hope. And rejoice in the everlasting love and grace of God. Rejoice in hope!

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Community

Thanks-Giving
Dear fellow angels, I was overwhelmed by your response to our first annual Adopt-A-Family for Thanksgiving at Upward Bound House. Together we sent 23 baskets filled with hope, love and yes, food. Our UMYF adopted three families, along with several local Girl Scout Troops and individuals. UBH’s Elka Gilmore responded with this note of thanks: “I don’t really know how to thank you for all your hard work on the Thanksgiving basket project. Our families (at Family Place) are so grateful. It’s very encouraging to see such an outpouring of support from the community. I really believe that knowing the community supports them is the single most important factor contributing to the healing of these families. I know it will make Thanksgiving a special day for all of them.” Thank you all! -Janette Minasian Pires

Grateful Visitors
Dear Rev. Farris: I wanted to share with you a quick word of praise and affirmation for the people of FUMC Santa Monica. My wife Lynn and I visited your congregation on Sunday, October 14, while we were on a week of vacation. We enjoyed our visit, and the opportunity to worship with others (without the responsibility to help lead!). I was very pleased with your church’s hospitality, and want to applaud the church’s members for their efforts. We were greeted warmly when we arrived by Norm (Ellis), who showed us the way to the nursery for our 1 year old. He introduced us to the nursery volunteer. When we returned, Norm remembered us and introduced us by name to Rev. Beeman. Your worship, bulletin and volunteers were all very visitor friendly. Thank you for showing such great hospitality to others. May God bless you all in your ministries. -Rev. Ron V. Bartlow, Song of Life UMC, Queen Creek, AZ

Harvest Home Thanks
Thank you for all of the gracious help and assistance that FUMC has given us over the years - including what you’ve done this year! God bless your congregation this Thanksgiving! On behalf of Harvest Home, Sincerely, Amy Nixdorff, House Manager

Congratulations on A Great Season
Kyle McCreight’s 2007 Pee Wee Vikings team was the first in the Santa Monica Youth Football league’s history to go undefeated in regular season play. They then won two playoff games, including a victory over last year’s champions, Gardena, to be in the Pacific Coast Conference Championship game. They fought hard but lost to an extremely tough Lakewood team.

 

Service Update

Upcoming Worship