THINKING ABOUT THE NEW YEAR

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January, 2015

It’s that time of year again. Time to make New Year resolutions. We’re going to lose weight, exer-cise more, get out of debt, stick to a budget, save for the future, and spend more time with family. We make resolutions because we want to bring changes in our life. We want to improve ourselves and our quality of life. But what would a set of New Year’s resolu-tions look like for you and your church? And specifically, what if they came from the Bible? Here are some to consider:

1. Pray more. 2. Invest in your spiritual gift(s). “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” (I Timothy 4:14-15, NIV). 3. Get more intentional about evangelism. “I have be-come all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (I Corinthians 9:22, NIV). 4. Confront destructive patterns of sin. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off

everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1, NIV). 5. Quit comparing yourself to other Chris-tians. “Turning his head, Peter noticed the disciple Jesus loved following right behind. When Peter noticed him, he asked Jesus, “Master, what’s going to happen to him?” Jesus said, “If I want him to live until I come again, what’s that to you? You — follow me.” That is how the rumor got out among the brothers that this disciple wouldn’t die. But that is not what Jesus said. He simply said, “If I want him to live until I come again, what’s that to you?” (John 21:20-23, Msg) 6. Love people uncon-ditionally. “If I speak with human elo-quence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.” (I Co-rinthians 13:1-3, Msg). 7. Be more open to change. “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19, NIV)

You may have many others to add, but here is a place to start. Have a won-derful and blessed New Year.

Your Friend

Pastor Craig Moore

United Methodist women Mary Ann Soud

The United Methodist Wom-en’s Executive Board met De-cember 9, 2014 with ten offic-ers present and one guest. After joys and concerns Iris Guy gave a devotion. Thank you letters from Pac-a-Sac, the Methodist Children’s Home and Kairos were received. Minutes were read by Marlene Nelson. Lori Boggs gave the treasurer’s re-port. Our balance is $9,533.08.

Liz Mattox reported $4,763.77 was collected at the Ba-zaar from the Bake Sale, Box Chicken Lunches and Crafts. Hearts to all volunteers and to Liz for a job well done.

Brochures for the new guidelines of the Bereavement Committee is now available in the church office.

The new officers for 2015 will be Iris Guy, President; Kathy Moore, Vice President; Marlene Nelson, Secre-tary; Lori Boggs, Treasurer; Deanna May, Secretary of Program Resources and the UMW Library; Janice Teague, Nurture and Outreach; Mary Ann Soud, Public Relations.

The Christmas Friendship Luncheon was a big success. Paula Allen provided lovely piano music. Beautiful flower arrangements on the tables were created by Iris

Bennett. There were seven very well done bulletin boards from all Circles, Thrift Store and others. The dessert table was absolutely picture perfect. Belinda Shupe sang two beautiful solos, bringing tears to many in the audience.

Kathy Moore was the guest speaker. She spoke of her visits to a private juvenile detention treatment program, every Wednesday. She provides a Christian message and refreshments each week for boys 12-18 years old.

Hearts to Ruth Circle for putting the Christmas Friendship Luncheon together. They did an outstanding job.

Disbursements for 2014:

Answers $ 250.00 Lam 2,500.00 Methodist Children’s Home 1,000.00 Quigley House 500.00 Pac-a-Sac 1,000.00 Holiday Helpers 500.00 Seamark Ranch 500.00 Hospice 250.00 Woodcutters 250.00 Kitchen 500.00 Beverage Containers 200.00 Total $7,250.00 Proposed Budget for 2015 is $3,440.00.

Blessings to all in the New Year!

NEW WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY SET TO BEGIN

God will never give up on you! Explore how David’s life proves this promise to be true in Seeking a Heart Like His, Beth Moore’s updat-ed study of David. If you’ve ever experienced doubt, temptation, loss, family problems or personal inconsistencies this study is for you. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us at 9:30 on Thursday, January 8th in the Fel-lowship Hall for a 12 week journey facilitated by Cathy Sistrunk, Peggy Farmer and Kathy Barrow. Childcare will be available. Please call 473-7503 or 473-4341 to reserve a book.

Birthdays for JANUARY

Shirley Campbell 1

Dale Freeman 1

Cyndi Pyne 1

Doug Wise 2

Paula Allen 4

Frank Chamberlain 4

Elena Johns 4

Kay Mizell 6

Kylin Anderson 7

Makali Ryan Foster 7

Bud Mizell 7

Vickie Linne Bowman 8

Gabrielle Bradley 8

Jack Duane 8

Arielle Chappell 9

Joe Bruce 10

Bradley Collins 10

Lynda Pepe 10

Wylene Shank 10

Donald Stephens 11

Christina Cline-Asa 13

Kyle John Matukaitus 14

Fred Hodges 17

.Julie Ogden 17

Jesse Absher 20

James Brynildsen 22

Amy Burke 22

Violet Doolittle 23

Anniversaries for JANUARY

Tracey and Brian Kendrick Jan. 2 22 years

Cassie and John Tietjen Jan. 7 24 years

Marilyn and Dale Freeman Jan. 8 61 years

Connie and Linise Ray Wesley Jan.17 45 years

Jack Lewis 23

Kenny McLean 25

Sandra Milikin 25

Sandra Barnawell 26

Christy Hintz 26

Alyssa Chappell 27

Connie Wesley 27

Ann White 28

Genevieve Floyd 29

Linda Abernethy 29 Elizabeth Brynildsen 29

Frank Inman 29

Andrew Koehler 30

Alexis Vergara 30

Diana and Huntley Redfearn Jan. 18 46 years

Linda and Ted Stanley Jan.24 12 years

Darla and Glenn Calcote Jan.25 41 years

A NEW EVENING BIBLE STUDY

After weeks of prayer and prepara-tion your bible study team has a new bible study ready

for your consideration. Prodigal God, this six week study is offered Thursday even-ing at 6 PM, beginning January 15th. in the fellowship hall by Donna Houghton, Joyce Wester, Darla Calcote, Christy Hintz and Jesse Absher.

Two sons, one who kept the rules reli-giously and one who broke them all. One father who loved both lost sons beyond anything they could imagine.

In six captivating sessions, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timo-thy Keller opens your eyes to the power-

ful message of Jesus' best-known ---and least understood---parable: The Parable of the Prodi-gal Son.

Session Titles

1. The Parable

2. The People Around Jesus

3. The Two Lost Sons

4. The Elder Brother

5. The True Elder Brother

6. The Feast of the Father

Please call Darla Calcote in the church office 352-473-3829 or Jesse Absher

386-659-1471 to sign up now.

Open to all

JANUARY 8:00 SERVICE

Jan 4 Dr. Tom Farmer

Jan 11 Myra Carr

Jan 18 Kathy Barrow

Jan 25 Laurie Stark

The Thrift Shop held their Christ-mas party in the Fellowship Hall on December 11th. It was a great time of fellowship and sharing.

Chairman Judy Rhame an-nounced that, in this our elev-enth year, we had exceeded our giving for the last year. Accord-ing to Bill Peters, in 2013 as of Nov. 16th, we had raised $25,000 plus. As of that same date this year, we have raised over $27,000. Judy shared a list of plans and people who had benefited from our money. She also described our new storage area which has shelving com-pleted, gravel around the front and the old wooden ramp placed in front of the door. Installation of electricity and walkway will be

finished next year. We are hop-ing to obtain from Bill Peters our final figures for our income from Nov. 15th through Dec. 20th.

Pat Tennant stated that Fashion Show sales was responsible for over $600.00 and the Christmas Sale at the Bazaar raised over $900.00. We are grateful for all the volunteers who served at the shop and all those who shop and donate there. Recently our overflow was so great, that we sent about 100 bags of rum-mage to the Sheriff’s Boys Ranch Thrift Shop in Live Oak.

Kathleen Hardage, from the Jay-cee Holiday Helpers, was so ap-preciative of the $1,000 check and the many used and new toys we donated for their LAM families children for Christmas. This is an annual drive of the JAYCEES to make sure these families in need will have a few toys for their children.

Our new volunteer, Lynn Rue, has returned to Tennessee

where he took a job with the Sheriff’s Department. We wish him well. Many of us attended the wedding of our Ann Lewis to Jerry Keery on Saturday, Dec. 13th. It was a sweet ceremony performed by Pastor Craig Moore. A beautiful reception was provided by their friends in the Multi Ministry Center. Janice Goetzman made the cakes and the overall color theme was na-vy blue and gold representing the US Navy colors where Jerry served. We were so sorry Jean and Bob King were ill and Jean could not stand up with Ann.

The Shops will be closed until January 6th when we will resume business as usual.

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL. PRAISE THE LORD FOR YOUR GENEROUS GIFTS TO ALL IN NEED. GOD HAS RICHLY BLESSED US DURING 2014.

THRIFT SHOP NEWS Pat Tennant

Report from the finance committee

Nov 2014 YTD Actual Income $493.437

Nov 2014 YTD Expense $502,401

Difference $ -8,963

AN UPDATE FROM OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD Shoeboxes

Mark Houghton re-cently spent a week in Mongolia. The time he spent there was very encourag-ing. There is a lot of poverty and despair

there and the SHOEBOXES are a little light entering those communities. In 1992, there were only 4 known believ-ers in the country and now there are

thousands. The leaders spoke of how the SHOEBOXES are a tool for their ministry and allows them to show the child, their family and the communi-ty that they care for them and ulti-mately share the hope and life found in Christ.

After Mongolia, Mark spent time in Germany where, for the first time in years they collected over 510,000 SHOEBOXES!

Many of you may have seen re-cently where over 60,000 SHOE-BOXES we flown to Northern Iraq to be given to the children there.

Try to pick up items for the SHOE-BOXES whenever you go to the store. Small toys, notepads, pen-cils, crayons, socks, soap and such. What a blessing it will be the world’s children!

We are seeing the faithfulness of God’s people in giving to His Kingdom and bringing our year to a strong finish.

God bless everyone and Happy New Year.

HYMN TUNES Dr. Tom Gensel

We Three Kings of Orient Are Words And music by

John Henry Hopkins, Jr.

We are going to look at the background behind

this hymn first and then we will look at the text

and make some comments.

John Henry Hopkins, Jr. was born in Pittsburg,

October 28, 1820. He entered the University of

Vermont to study law and moved to New York

City to enter practice. While there he felt a call

to the ministry and entered General Theological

Seminary. He graduated from there in 1850 and

in 1855 he became the seminary’s first instruc-

tor in church music.

The seminary was established in the early

1820s. After the war of 1812 the Anglicans in

the United States decided they needed a semi-

nary in this country so they did not have to

send their young men back to England for train-

ing. The result was to establish it in New York

City. However, they owned no land to build it

on. At this point Clement Clarke Moore, the son

of the Episcopal Bishop of New York enters the

story. He was a real estate developer and owned

a large tract of land in north Manhattan. He

had recently become very famous for a poem he

wrote that began like this, “’Twas the night be-

fore Christmas, when all throught the house not

a creature was stirring, nor even a mouse…”

This poem increased his income greatly, so he

offered part of the property he owned for the

seminary.

Now back to Hopkins. While he was teaching at

the seminary he wrote a hymn for a Christmas

pageant in 1857. In 1863 this hymn was pub-

lished in his “Carols, Hymns and Songs.” This

hymn was “We Three Kings.” He wrote several

other hymns but none of them are sung today.

This hymn was made possible by the generosity

of another poet whose fortune was enlarged by

a still more famous poem, which ends “But I

heard him exclaim ‘ere he drove out of sight,

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Now let us look at this popular carol (We Three

Kings). We use it often during Advent and at

Christmas, but in reality it is an Epiphany

hymn. That is, it should be sung at the celebra-

tion of the visit of the Magi which we celebrate at

Epiphany. Today when you look at a crèche you

will probably see Mary, Joseph and the child

along with the shepherds and the Magi. It was

not always so, and in some places in the world it

is not so today. The Magi did not come to the

manger at Bethlehem on Christmas Night but

arrived later. As a result we used to have only

Mary, the Child and Joseph with the shepherds in

our crèche at Christmas and added the Magi on

the day of Epiphany.

Another thing we notice about the hymn is that

there are three Magi and they are named. The

gospel according to Matthew, which is the only

gospel with this story in it does not state the

number of Magi that came and therefore did not

name them. Tradition has declared that there

were three, because of the gifts given to the

Christ child. The names also come from tradition.

Who were these Magi? This was at first the name

of a tribe among the Medes, a group of people who

allied themselves with the Persians and formed

one of the greatest empires in that part of the

world. Later it became the name of the Zoroastri-

an priests and still later the name of Babylonian

astrologers. In the hymn they are called Kings,

but again this is not found in the Gospel accord-

ing to Matthew. This too comes from ancient tra-

dition.

All this does not detract from the beauty of this

popular hymn. So— it speaks of an event that

happened after Christmas, if we want to sing it

earlier what difference does it make? So— it has

Biblical inaccuracies in it, it is a lovely story and

full of meaning. If we want to sing it, what differ-

ence does it make, as long as it helps us to wor-

ship the new born king.

By the way, some of the bones of the Magi are be-

lieved by Catholics to lie in a reliquary in Cologne

Cathedral. I haven’t seen the bones, but have

seen the golden box they are said to be in. They

wouldn’t let me touch the box let alone open it!

Family Movie NightFamily Movie Night

All are invited to

“Heaven is for Real”

January 4th, starting at 6pm

Pizza will be served for $1 a slice

Free popcorn and lemonade

K-TOWN KID Z

Suzie Asa

Keystone United Methodist

4004 St Rd 21 S

Keystone Heights, FL

32656

Phone/Fax/E-mail

Phone: 352-473-3829

Fax: 352-473-0710

Email: aroady00@aol.com

Cell: 904-233-0396

Child Protection Training Will be held January 11th at 12:30 pm

Lunch and childcare will be provided

This training is required to work with

children or youth on the KUMC campus.

K Town Kidz Players Drama Club

Will begin meeting again Sunday, Feb. 1 at 4pm in the MMC.

Our Spring Musical production will be “The Miracle of the Eggs.” All school age children, kindergarten and up are welcome to join in.

Contact Suzie Asa for more information.

904-233-0396

From Dale: Clean water and church growth: Nine years ago we were part of a mission team in Tampa that install clean water systems in Cuba and Haiti. On November 21st Living in Faith” installed a clean water system in KUMC sister church, “La Europa” in Cuba. The funds were provided by our church. Unsafe drinking water is a big health issue in Cuba and other poor coun-tries.

Dale recently received a letter from a Living in Faith team that had returned from Cuba where

A REPORT FROM LIVING IN FAITH...Contributed by Dale Freeman

they installed 10 Water Purification Systems.

In this correspondence was the following: I recently received an e-mail from a Cuban in the Moron area. It was this area in which LIF installed a number of WPS. In the e-mail we were told of churches which had 50 to 75 people in worship before the Water Systems and are now experiencing 220 to 250 people in worship! We are told that the water systems attracted people to the church. The Holy Spirit and the Church did the rest!

It is amazing what $3 a day can do! Clean water and better spiritual health make for a better community. In a number of locations, the local government has thanked the church for providing clean water. In one town a house church was not welcomed. The neigh-bors complained to the local authorities about the mu-sic and singing. Once our system was installed the pastor began giving gallon jugs of clean water to peo-ple as they were on their way home. Now the church is growing and the neighbors appreciate the church.

Words from our Associate Pastor: Dr. Tom Farmer, Jr.

Well Glory to God and Praise God for

allowing us all to enter a brand new year =

2015! What do you think 2015 will bring?

The answer, I believe, can be found in a

line from the children’s story: Alice in Won-

derland. There is a scene where Alice is “lost”

and trying to find her way to Wonderland. She

comes to a place where the road forks, one

road to the left and one road to the right. In the

center of that intersection there is a tree and up

in the tree a Cheshire cat. Alice asks the cat,

“Excuse me, can you tell me which road I

should take?” The cat answers, “Well that depends

upon where you want to go.” Alice replies, “Well I do

not really know where I want to go.” Then the cat

smiles and says to Alice, “Well then, I do not think it

really matters which road you take if you do not know

where you want to go.”

Thankfully, really thankfully Jesus has come

to show us which road to take. One road leads us to

the ways of the world, the other to the Kingdom of

God! My hope and prayer for myself, for my family,

for our beloved church and for the world that God so

loved, and still loves, is that we all take the road, walk-

ing behind Jesus who clearly beckons to us and says,

“Follow Me!” Let us do it! Better than we ever have

before in this gift of 2015!

Gratefully, your Associate Pastor, Tom

Non-Profit

Organization

U. S. Postage Paid

Permit No. 9

Keystone Heights

United Methodist Church

4004 State Road 21 South

P. O. Box 744

Keystone Heights, FL 32656

We are praying for...

WHAT WILL THE NEW

YEAR BRING?