Wesley United Methodist Church

Advent & Christmas are busy times at Wesley UMC.  Please join us for any and all of the following upcoming services and events.

Sunday, December 11 – 10 am Worship Service, Lighting the Third Advent Candle

Featuring The Backwards Christmas Pageant – a theatrical telling of the Christmas Story starring all of Wesley’s children and youth

Bring your Adopt-A-Family gifts to worship and present them to the Holy Family during the pageant

Following the service and pageant, come celebrate Jesus’ birth with cake!

3 pm – Wesley hosts the Cumberland/Lincoln Community Chorus Christmas Concert

Sunday, December 18 – 10 am Worship Service, Lighting the Fourth Advent Candle

Sermon by Bishop Peter Weaver, New England Conference United Methodist Church

Saturday, December 24 – 5:30 pm Candlelight Christmas Service appropriate for all ages

Sunday, December 25 – 10 am Worship Service – Merry Christmas

Start your Advent off right with a trip back in time to witness our Savior’s birth.

Live Nativity
Sunday, December 4
5:30 – 7 p.m.

View the beautiful, outdoor re-enactment of Christ’s birth by members of Wesley, then come inside for hot chocolate & cider, cookies and singing Christmas carols.  All are welcome for this time of reflection and fellowship.

The annual Christmas Bazaar is upon us.  Come shop for gift items while supporting the various programs at Wesley UMC.

Saturday, November 19
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Handmade wreaths, quilts, knitted and crocheted items
Tree ornaments & wood crafts
Homemade baked goods and frozen pies
Gift baskets, jewelry, gift cards and more

The Community Outreach Committee is collecting food for the Lime Rock Food Pantry throughout the month of November.  Lime Rock serves between 90 and 140 families each week through a free-choice system, which allows families to choose a limited number of items from each food group.  They will accept all food donations, but especially request the following:

·         Canned soup

·         Canned vegetables, especially green beans

·         Canned tuna

·         Canned fruits

There will be a basket in the Narthex for your donations.  Lime Rock would like to thank Wesley United Methodist Church for all their very generous past donations.  If you have any questions, please see Deb Bone, Becca Eriksen or Eleanor Brierly.

Wesley is pleased to welcome Rev. Richard “Dick” Garland as our Interim Pastor!

Rev. Garland is a very active “retired” Methodist minister, who in 2012 will mark 50 years as an ordained minister. Rev. Garland is a native of Indiana and a Purdue Alumnus. He graduated from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and earned his Masters at what is now UMASS-Dartmouth. For more information on Rev. Garland click here.

Rev. Garland will begin his Wesley ministry on Monday, October 24, 2011 and will begin conducting our worship services on Sunday, October 30, 2011. He is equipped and ready to minister to Wesley UMC! After our Staff-Parish Relations Committee enjoyed a visit with and got to know a little about Rev. Garland on Sunday evening, October 23, 2011, we believe he brings the gifts and talents Wesley needs at this time. At his request, his contact information is provided as part of this announcement.  Rev. Garland can be reached by telephone at: 401-294-5215 or 603-560-7672 or via email at  RevHiker@aol.com .

Fall is upon us and our Christmas Bazaar is right around the corner.  Our bazaar is being held on November 19th, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.  Wesley’s elves are hard at work making lots of interesting items.  We are going to need lots more elves to help out with decorating and working at the bazaar.  Anyone that makes crafts or other handmade items are asked to think about donating what you can to help make this another successful year.  In addition to our already great tables, we are going to have a table to sell our scrip cards for Christmas gifts.  So if you need gift cards for Christmas gifts you can purchase them at the bazaar or after church on Sunday mornings.

If you have any questions, suggestions or would like to help, please call Linda Andrews at 401-728-4164 or see her in church on Sunday mornings.

This year’s Annual Charge Conference will be Tuesday, November 8th at 7 p.m. (This is a date change.) We invite you to come to our annual Church Conference to meet our district superintendent, Rev. Seok-Hwan Hong, and to learn and participate in how our church connects to the larger United Methodist Church. Minutes from last year’s meeting are available in the narthex.