December 1, 2014

Albright Newsletter Follow Albright on Facebook www.AlbrightUMC.org

December 1, 2014

Christmas Parade

December 5th

All children are welcome to ride on the float.

Please bring your children to the church parking

lot at 5:30 that evening. If your child is younger

than 6 please have an adult ride with them on the

float. If you have older children you are more

than welcome to ride as well. We’ll bring all

children back to the church.

The Bell Choir will also have a float in the parade.

Carols, Communion, and Candlelight

Christmas Eve Service

5:30 p.m.

Nursery will be available.

Bridgeway Christmas

Dinner

December 21st at 12:00 p.m.

If you would like to help cook

and help serve this meal, for the

men at Bridgeway and their

families, please contact Carol

McGaughey or Paula Coppock.

Soup & Worship

Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014

5:15 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Children’s Christmas Program

December 14th

The children will perform a traditional Christmas

Program at 5:00 p.m. Please join us as we learn

the Christmas story and sing Christmas Carols.

A “Birthday Party for Jesus” will be held in the

Fellowship Hall immediately after the program.

Everyone is welcome to join us and enjoy birthday

cake, punch, and hot cocoa.

Canticles in Candlelight

Christmas Cantata December 21st

Our Choir has joined together with St. Paul’s choir for

our Christmas Cantata. You won’t want to miss it!

You are invited to the

UMW Salad Luncheon and Cookie Exchange

Tuesday, December 2nd at noon

The program is “Welcome to Good News”

Members and Supportive Members are requested to bring a salad and 2 dozen

cookies. Other guests just come and join in the fellowship!

All are welcome!

In the

Fellowship

Hall.

December 1, 2014

Albright United Methodist Church 128 S. Palm Ponca City, OK 74601

Return Service Requested

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage Paid Ponca City, OK

Permit #209

December 1, 2014

Published Monthly

Volume 15 Issue 11

Love God Love God Love God Love God ---- Love People Love People Love People Love People ---- Change the World!Change the World!Change the World!Change the World!

Free Neighborhood Breakfast

Saturday, December

20th

8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

UMCmarket - Your Giving Matters!

The General Council on Finance and Administration of the United Methodist Church is pleased to present UMCmarket, a tremendously rewarding oppor-tunity to earn money for our church. UMCmarket makes it possible for our church to receive donatins from retailers every time you make an online pur-chase. The best thing is that you don’t need to change anything from how you shop today, and every small donation makes a difference. This allow our church family to do together what we cannot do alone.

How it works - Every store at UMCmarket is happy to pay a percentage of the purchased amount as a dona-tion. There is no additional cost or charge for either you or our church. The stores send UMCmarket the contributions and once our church reaches $100 in total donations, a check will be mailed.

Signing up is free - You can easily sign up for free. When you go to UMCmarket, you will click on the “Get Started” button. You will have the option to sign up with your Facebook account or enter your email and create a password. You will then be prompted to download the Easy Give Button and find our church. With these three simple steps, you are ready to shop and donate!

Together Making a Difference! - We hope you will sign up and try it out. The more of our members participate, the more donations we receive and can put towards our church apportionments! We live in a global village, and the world is our parish. When we give generously, our gifts do wonderful, life-changing things in the name of Jesus Christ. Contact Chera in the office if you need help signing up for UMCmarket.

Amazon Old Navy Barnes & Noble Starbucks Walgreens Kohls Groupon Macys Expedia Lowes Sears Petco Quill Disney Store Staples Marriott AutoZone Kmart 1800Flowers Belk CVS JCPenney Tractor Supply Bets Buy Payless Lego Price Line Hertz and many more online stores

December 1, 2014

Will you help us reach our 2014 goal for connectional giving to support the ministry

of the world-wide United Methodist Church?

GOAL: $38,584

$31,600 (11-18-14)

81.9% PAID

COATS - COATS - COATS

Thank you for all of your winter outerwear

donations for the Neighborhood Breakfast. They were much appreciated. We are ask-

ing for more coats, all sizes, especially chil-dren’s sizes, for distribution at the Decem-ber 20th breakfast. The scarves and gloves

and hats were a big hit! Also, bags of socks for men, women, boys, and girls are needed again. We gave out all of the socks we had. Thank you to the Children’s Committee for hosting the breakfast on November 15th.

Many hands make light work. The food was delicious!

Missions Committee

If you donate blood through the Oklahoma

Blood Ins1tute (OBI) you can give in Sandy

Carnero’s name and she will receive credit

for any future needs she has. Sandy is a

member of Albright and is in need of a new

liver.

• For Family & Friends of Kathryn Wright who

passed away on November 4th

• For Family & Friends of Ruth Holcomb,

married to Paula Coppock and Frieda Hill’s

father for 18 years, passed away

• John Boisuert, Sherri Hill’s brother passed

away on Novembert 2nd

• For Bethany & Travis Miller on the loss of

their unborn son

• For Marilyn Keltner’s family for the loss of her

brother, Jesse Hadden, on November 8th

Upcoming Bible Studies The "Revival" study by Adam Hamilton will be offered on Sundays at 4:00 p.m. starting January 4th. It's a 6 week class which takes a look at the life of John Wesley and key turning points in his life. Each session concludes with how we can make modern day applications using concepts from Wesley's ministry. Cost is $10 for the book.

Beginning in Lent (which begins Wednesday, Feb-ruary 18th) we will offer a study called "Surprised by Hope" - this is also a 6 week course and is sub-titled "Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church." This is an exciting study by N.T. Wright, on the top biblical scholars of our day. More info on the class as we get closer to Lent. (This class will also be offered on Sunday afternoons and on Thursday mornings if we have enough people)

WEATHER REMINDER This is a reminder that anytime in the winter if Ponca City Schools are closed the office will also be closed.

During inclement weather, we will always have Sun-day worship services as long as we have electricity and Pastor Scott can get to the church. Use your own judgment regarding slick roads and a slick park-ing lot. We typically have snow drifts and/or ice on our parking lot. When possible, we will leave an an-nouncement on our church facebook page. You can always call or text Pastor Scott in case of ques-tions. 580-716-7057 (even if we have worship, we know not all volunteers and staff will make it to church and that’s quite okay!)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT IN HELPING US WITH OUR CONNECTIONAL GIVING TO THE

MINISTRIES OF THE UMC IN THE STILLWATER DISTRICT, OKLAHOMA, AND AROUND THE WORLD.

WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT $7,000 LEFT TO RAISE BY DECEMBER 31st. EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS!

If you are not personally

collecting the tickets for

the Community Wide

Santa Buck’s Giveaway,

please consider collect-

ing the tickets from local

retailers as you shop now through

December 22nd and donate them to the

church. If we win, the Santa Buck’s will

be used for our Helping Hands Fund.

Happy 90th Birthday Jill HorstmanHappy 90th Birthday Jill HorstmanHappy 90th Birthday Jill HorstmanHappy 90th Birthday Jill Horstman December 5thDecember 5thDecember 5thDecember 5th

Cards may be sent to Jill atCards may be sent to Jill atCards may be sent to Jill atCards may be sent to Jill at 424 East Bridge Ave.424 East Bridge Ave.424 East Bridge Ave.424 East Bridge Ave. Blackwell, OK 74631Blackwell, OK 74631Blackwell, OK 74631Blackwell, OK 74631

December 1, 2014

ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT

WORSHIP

For the past year, I have written about different aspects of the church year and the symbols and traditions associated with each season. This year, I want to do something different with this space in our newsletter.

Recently, we had a visitor in Sunday morning worship. They had questions about the pictures hanging around the sanctuary. These are the shields of the Apostles and we have 12 hanging in the sanctuary. These were a memorial gift to the church many years ago. Our visitor was inquiring why we had a chalice with snakes in it and why on one shield the cross was upside down.

Even though I knew all the symbols on all the shields represent each of the Apostles, I must admit I could not rattle off those meanings! But I did remember seeing a sheet of paper somewhere in the church which explained these shields. Not finding it immediately, I turned to the internet and "googled it"

So each month for the next year, I want to lift up a different Apostle and talk about the symbolism of what is on each shield in Albright's sanctuary.

Let's start with St. John - John's shield has a cup (a chalice) used to drink out of and which is also commonly a symbol for the cup on the communion table. I n this instance the cup has snakes in it! This can be unsettling if we don't know the story of St. John.

John is often thought to be the author of the gospel of John and even the book of Revelation at the end of the bible. Scholars often argue about these matters - but regardless, we have these books in the Bible and they have merit on being in the Bible regardless of authorship.

John is also closely connected to the church at Ephesus and was thought to be exiled to an island called Patmos, off the coast of Greece. Further, according to tradition, John is the only one of the apostles to die a natural death (the others were all martyred). Nevertheless, various attempts were made on his life, including poisoning his drink. Thus, the snakes symbolize the attempt on John's life by tampering with the chalice he used to drink from.

It's a reminder that to be a follower of Jesus is not always "safe" - And it's a reminder that many Christians today live with the possibility of being killed for simply believing and trusting in Jesus.

Please consider this during the holiday season....

A recent survey asked volunteers what items people would be most appreciative of at a food bank. If you’re look-ing for an easy way to help out, pick some of these up while shopping and drop them off at the church and we will get them to the New Emergency Resource Agency (NERA)

1. Spices - Think about it. People who rely on the food bank eat a lot of canned food, rice, oatmeal, white bread, etc. They love spices. Seasoned salt, cayenne pepper, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, orega-no, basil and so on.

2. Feminine Products - Can you imagine being worried about affording these? Pads, tampons, panty liners, etc. Recommended: Buy in bulk at places like Sam's for donating.

3. Chocolate - People don’t need it, but think about being in their shoes and how nice it would be to be given a chocolate bar or brownie mix along with your essentials.

4. Toiletries - Grocery stores are great about donating surplus or unsold food, but they have no reason to donate toilet paper, tooth paste, soap, deodorant, shampoo, etc. Food stamps often don’t cover these.

5. Canned meats and jerky - This isn’t true of all food banks, but some struggle to give users enough protein.

6. Crackers and tortillas - They don’t spoil and everybody likes them.

7. Baby toiletries - Diapers, baby wipes, baby formula, baby shampoo, baby soap, baby food, bottles, etc.

8. Soup packets - Sometimes you look at rice, beans, instant potatoes, and cans of vegetable and think, “What do I make with this?” Hearty soup is a complete meal.

9. Socks - From a former homeless person: “Socks mean the world to you. They keep you warm, make you feel like you have something new, and just comfort you.”

10. Canned fruit other than pineapple - Food banks get a lot of pineapple donated. Their clients love it when oth-er kinds of fruit are available.

December 1, 2014

Save the Date!

90th Anniversary Party!

Albright United Methodist Church is

planning to observe a significant mile-

stone in the church's history. Next year

will be the 90th anniversary of the found-

ing of First Evangelical Church, which lat-

er became First Evangelical United Breth-

ren Church and even later became Al-

bright United Methodist Church.

A day of celebration in connection with

the 90th Anniversary is being planned for

October 4, 2015. Bishop Robert Hayes

will be on hand that day to worship with

us. And as is usual for our church, there

will be a dinner that day.

The church's History Committee is work-

ing on the details of the celebration, but

mark the date on your calendar now, so

that you will be able to celebrate with us.

OCTOBER 4th, 2015

THANK YOU to all those who sent cards or gifts for pastor appreciation month in October! I certainly appreciated your thoughtfulness! Albright is a great church to be a part of and I am honored to be your pastor! And, we have great staff members to work with also! Please show them some love and appre-ciation as well - especially with the holidays upon us!

Peace, Pastor Scott

Thank you for all of the love, kindness, support, and generosity that was shown at my baby shower. Ba-by Eric and I greatly appreciate all of the gifts and will continue to be blessed as we use them in the future.

Sincerely, Cora Truitt

I would like to thank Pastor Scott for his visits and prayers and to everyone for your cards, help, pray-ers, and visits following my surgery. Also, thanks for your help and prayers for Nancy with all the things she had to handle. Both Nancy and I feel blessed to be part of Alright United Methodist Church. Again, thanks to each and every one of you for all you have done for us.

Garth Ritson

Travis and I would like to thank you for all your support and prayers during this very difficult time. It is wonderful knowing that we have such a great church family that is so supportive in times of need. We would also like to thank everyone that brought food for our family. It was greatly appreciated. It made a great difference not having to worry about that. Once again my entire family would like to thank you for everything you have done for our family.

Love in Christ, Bethany and Travis Miller

December 1, 2014

NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS NOVEMBER ANNIVERSARIES

The December food item for the New Emergency Resource Agency is

Ramen Noodles.

The NERA appreciates your generosity!

December 1, 2014

Meets at First United Methodist Church - located at 200 S. 6th

(south of East Middle School) Sundays 6 - 8 p.m.

Fundraiser Dinner on Wednesday, November 12th.

REV. JAMES RIGGS,

YOUTH DIRECTOR

918-774-8294

james.riggs.ok@gmail.com

KEEP UP w/CORE on facebook

December 1, 2014

October 4, 2015

Albright’s 90th

Anniversary Party

DO YOU KNOW ...........?

The history commiCee has been working on plans for

Albright's 90th anniversary that will be held in Octo-

ber 2015. If you know anyone that might have an

interest in aCending this event, please complete as

much of this informa1on as you can and drop it in

the offering plate or return it to the church office.

Name ________________________________________

Address ______________________________________

Phone ________________________________________

DO YOU KNOW ...........?

The history commiCee has been working on plans for

Albright's 90th anniversary that will be held in Octo-

ber 2015. If you know anyone that might have an

interest in aCending this event, please complete as

much of this informa1on as you can and drop it in

the offering plate or return it to the church office.

Name ________________________________________

Address ______________________________________

Phone ________________________________________

DO YOU KNOW ...........?

The history commiCee has been working on plans for

Albright's 90th anniversary that will be held in Octo-

ber 2015. If you know anyone that might have an

interest in aCending this event, please complete as

much of this informa1on as you can and drop it in

the offering plate or return it to the church office.

Name ________________________________________

Address ______________________________________

Phone ________________________________________

Albright’s 90th

Anniversary Party

Albright’s 90th

Anniversary Party

October 4, 2015

October 4, 2015