December 2015

Volume XVIV Issue 11

“In worship, fellowship and service we seek God’s peace as revealed in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.”

Advent 2015Advent 2015Advent 2015

The Madison Methodist The Madison Methodist The Madison Methodist MessageMessageMessage

The United Methodist Church in Madison

24 Madison Avenue Madison, NJ 07940

“at the corner of Drew University”

church@umcmadison.org www.umcmadison.org

Tel: 973.377.1231

A Message from the Pastor

Light that is Given

Christmas Eve Services:

5 p.m. Family Worship & Children’s Pageant 11 p.m. Candlelight Communion Service

City lights are beautiful to see at night. During this

special time of year, the different colored lights and dis-plays illuminate small towns and large cities alike. More than any other time of year we love to celebrate in light. As we read from Matthew 4:16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. Yes perhaps a different light but how we love to light up the darkness. We can provide lights for work or play at all hours of the day; stadiums, concert halls, roadways, come to life with the flip of a switch. We have brought light to many places. Perhaps it is hard to understand Matthew 4. People who sat in darkness? After all when have we been in darkness? Just as Matthew was speaking of a different type of light there are different kinds of darkness. Anyone who has lost a loved one, suffered or shared the suffering of an-other knows the meaning of darkness. Yes, darkness, even on a sunny day. And all the fancy sparkling, twinkling lights can’t change that. So we Watch for the Light. Why? Because there is some light that only God can provide. And it may be all around us and we just can’t see it. How can that be? Well, it is not hard to imagine. City lights are beautiful.

But go far away from all the man-made lights and then, and sometimes only then, you can see the stars. Grace and God’s Peace be with you this season.

2

Staff & Elected Officers Pastor

Rev. Robb W. Shoaf, Ph.D Student Assistant Pastor

Chelsea Jackson Director of Music & Organist

Susan McAdoo, D.M.A. Director of Christian Education

Kathleen Keane Office Administrator/Editor

Natalie Dines Sexton Marlice Borecki

David Green Chair, Church Council Jim Balfe Treasurer Mac Cobb Assistant to Treasurer Scot Guempel Financial Secretary Alan Voorhees Finance Chair Gordon Fleming Facility Management Vic Schumacher President, Trustees

Program Facilitators Nurture Ministries

Lisa Moro Outreach Ministries

Jeanne Eisele Witness/Igniting Ministry

Kris Pfeifer Worship Ministries

Lisa Carballo Education/Youth

Kathleen Keane & Chelsea Jackson

Trustees

December 2015

United Methodist Women

Trustees News

Vic Schumacher Gordon Fleming

Mike Kroeger Luke McKinnon

Shin-Ok Ha Wade Merrick

Donna McCoy Nori Tadano

JoAnn Van Sciver

The second phase of the three phase grounds work is now

complete. Unsightly/unkempt bushes have been removed from the area outside the office on the Drew driveway side, the area has been regraded and mulch added to aid in managing ground water run off The lower grass area, the site of summer refreshments, has been regraded and sod has been placed in the area. The brick walkway leading in from the parking lot has been secured - observers had noticed that bricks were moving away from each other creating a hazard. An in the ground drain has been installed to direct water away from the rear of # 22 and onto the exit driveway. The large plantings in front of the church will soon be trimmed and sprayed with a moisture retaining liquid to support them during the cold months. A large planting will be placed at the front right side of

the church (area in front of the cornerstone) to replace the one that was dead and subsequently removed some-time ago.

Finally, the parsonage roof will be replaced before the hard on set of winter.

Vic Schumacher

As you can see from the smiling faces in the photo (page 9)of the Naomi Circle’s visit to the Glass Art exhibit at the Morris Museum on November 18, we were dazzled by the brilliant colors and designs of the glass art from the past 100 years and beyond created by artists such as Tiffany, Chihuly and Carder. Our next outing will be on Thursday, December 17, when we will visit the Morristown UMC for a concert by the Christ-mas Singers with Patricia Ruggles, followed by a soup and salad lunch. If you would like to join us, please meet in our Church Library at 11:30 am on December 17 and we will car-pool to Morristown.

The Naomi Circle will be assembling cookie plates for house-bound members of our congregation and would welcome donations of 2 or 3 dozen home baked cookies on or before December 18. The plates will be assembled on the morning of December 19 for distribution after Church on December 20th. We will also continue to collect for The Neighborhood Center of Camden, New Jersey, which is sponsored by the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. If there are any questions, please contact Laurie

Laurie Hagerich

3

Other News ... Bits and briefs

December 2015

COOKIES PLEASE!

50th Wedding Anniversary

Celebration

Market Street Mission Coat Drive

On Saturday, Nov. 7

Donna Conley and Jeanne

Eisele, together with many

volunteers helped out at

this years Annual Market

Street Mission Coat Drive

A reminder that the cookie walk will take place at this years

Advent Festival (Dec. 5th). The youth will be using some of

the proceeds for outreach and the rest for mission of the

church. Please sign up by emailing Kathy Shoaf

nursekbs93@gmail.com or calling @ 973 975 5755.Thank

you!

On Sunday, Nov 15 we shared a delicious cake in honor

and in celebration of Paul and Yasuko Grosjean’s wedding anniversary. We wish them many more healthy years together.

4

December 2015

January Newsletter Deadline: Dec. 18

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 7:30pm Trus-tees Meetings 8 pm AA

2 7:00 am Men’s Breakfast 7:30 pm Book Study

3 8 pm Chancel Choir

4 8 pm AA

5 9:30 am Advent Festival

6

8:30 am Early Service 10 am Family Worship 11:15 am Coffee Hour 5 pm Worship

7 8 pm AA

8 8 pm AA

9

7:00 am Men’s Breakfast 7:30pm Book Study

10 8 pm Chancel Choir

11 8 pm AA

12

13 8:30 am Early Service 10 am Family Worship 11:15 am Coffee Hour 5 pm Worship

14 8 pm AA

15 7:30 pm Church Council 8 pm AA

16 7:00 am Men’s Breakfast 7:30pm Book Study

17 UMW Outing 8 pm Chancel Choir

18 Newsletter Deadline 8 pm AA

19

20

10 am Family Worship ONE SERVICE

21 8 pm AA

22

8 pm AA

23 7:00 am Men’s Breakfast

24Christmas

Eve Office Closed 5 pm Family Service & Pageant 10 pm Candle-light Service

25 Christmas Day Church Office Closed through Jan. 1

26

27 10 am Family Worship ONE SERVICE

28 8 pm AA

29 8 pm AA

30 7:00 am Men’s Breakfast

31

1 Happy New Year!

2

5

December 2015

Sunday School

News

From the

Student Assistant Pastor

The Church School has a lot of great things coming up this month. We will begin the month with the Advent Festival when we will make candy churches and have them on display for Coffee Hour on Dec 6th. Our Advent project, a

Baby Shower for Jesus, begins on December 6th. We will be collecting baby items such as diapers, baby food, formula and the like for the Interfaith Food Pan-try. We will be collecting donations through Christ-mas Eve. Our Christmas Pageant is looking to be an-other wonderful event making the Christmas Eve fam-ily service an even more special time. Practices for the Pageant will be on Sundays during Church School. Please share the invitation to participate in the pageant with families that may not be members of the church but may be interested in joining us for the season. We have a fantastic group of teachers and families in our church school which I am so very grateful for during this season and always.

Kathleen Keane

It has been a busy time here at UMC Madison! First, thank you to EVERYONE who helped with Sole Hope! Whether you donated jeans, money or your time and energy, I thank you all for your work on this project! During our three hour Sole Hope Shoe Cutting Party, about 50 people came together (some from UMC Madi-son and some from outside our church) and cut about 100 pairs of shoe patterns. It was a time of fellowship, music, food and hand cramps, and thanks to their work these patterns will be sent to Sole Hope fair wage em-ployees in Uganda who will assemble these shoes! (see pictures on right) On Monday November 23rd, the youth also helped move food for the Interfaith Food Pantry, so they could continue to hand out food to pantry guests for Thanks-giving. This is an annual project the youth does, and this year we had about 20 people help out! We love our continued work at the Pantry, and pray for their contin-ued work!

As we reflect on the past month, we also look ahead to the month of December. Early in December, the youth will be running the Cookie Walk again at this year’s Advent Festival, so be sure to come by and pick up some baked goodies! Also in December the Youth and Outreach are part-nering up to collect and wrap gifts for the Angel Tree! If you are interested in getting a gift or gift card for a family in need grab an angel from the tree in the Library and bring the gift back by the 13th of December so our youth can wrap the gifts! Lastly, this month we will be wrapping up our Youth Book Study on Shane Claiborne’s The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. We have had five youth in this study, and they have been do-ing a wonderful job! So, if you see a youth group member be sure to ask them if they’ve attended the study and what they’ve been learning! This holiday season is sure to be a busy one, but as we enter into the season of Advent, and explore what it means to “Watch for the Light,” let us prepare our hearts, hands and minds for the coming of Christ among us. Merry Christmas Everyone! In Peace,

Chelsea Jackson-Loesch

6

December 2015

OUTREACH MINISTRY TEAM Honoring God’s gift of Jesus by sharing with others

Christmas decorations are going up and celebrations

with family and friends are in the planning. We all love the journey bringing us ‘home for the holidays’. As we plan gift giving and receiving, our hearts turn to others less fortunate or who are struggling just to fulfill the basic needs of life. Let us consider those who are making journeys that mark significant changes in their lives - the refugees of the Middle East, young people aging out of foster care and the guests of Family Promise Sheltering program. By joining in the variety of Outreach choices this season, you can share that deep satisfaction and well-being with those who will benefit from our projects.

Share in the Baby Shower for Jesus with Church School which will collect donations of baby supplies for clients of Interfaith Food Pantry. Or pick an Angel from the Angel Tree sponsored by our Youth which will provide holiday gifts for the guests sheltered with Family Promise. Or the Advent/Christmas Offering which will focus on local and global service projects. Donations can be made to UMC in Madison, Advent/Christmas Offering in your check memo.

LOCAL: Roots & Wings – this non-profit support organization provides young adults who age out of foster care with safe housing, educational support, counseling, and life skills in order to empower them toward self-sufficiency. Roots & Wings offers three programs¯two comprehensive Safe Housing and Case Management Programs with tracks for youths who have completed high school and those who have not yet received diplomas, and an Intensive Case Management Program. These programs are available to those young adults ages 17 through 25 who have experienced foster care or other out of home placements. Each young adult’s program is individualized to his or her specific needs and goals, creating the best possible environment for building a successful future. More info at: http://www.rootsandwingsnj.org/

INTERNATIONAL: Global Refugee Relief - Support the efforts of UMCOR and General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) to address the global refugee and migration crisis in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Through direct service and partnership work for relief response, trained representatives are monitoring the treatment of migrants and providing support to ad-dress immediate and long term needs in refugee camps

and for migrants seeking asylum. In Austria, GBGM works with volunteers organized by Die Johanniter, a humanitarian aid organization and member of the Austrian Protestant relief group, Diakonie, to offer direct service and support to refugees in temporary shelters. Also collaborating is an organization called Maltese to bring relief services to the refugees streaming into Austria. In Hungary, The United Methodist Church is a member of the Hungarian Interchurch Aid, whose volunteers have been working at refugee camps and transit zones. Part of the ACT Alliance, Hungarian Church Aid is providing social services for children ages 3 to 14 years in temporary receptioalong with children’s clothes and toys, diapers, baby food, blankets, towels, nonperishable food and hygienic items. United Methodists also are part of the Wesleyan Alliance in Hungary, which provides special social services for refugee families with children. In Germany, local churches have special support service programs in place for refugees.

Contributions for Refugee Relief can be made through UMC in Madison, place Outreach Advance#3022144 in the memo.

UNITED METHODISTS join GIVING TUESDAY on December 1

When Methodists are united, the possibilities of supporting missionaries, projects and communities in need are endless. Extend the spirit of giving thanks into the Advent season by participating in UMC #GivingTuesday, December 1, offers an opportunity to start off the holiday season by giving instead of getting through supporting organizations and missionaries that have been researched and approved by Global Ministries. And 100 percent of all gifts made through The Advance are given directly to the designated project. To make a contribution, donors will go to www.umcmission.org

Thank you for your support of the Market Street Mission Annual Coat Drive . We delivered about 3 dozen coats which joined thousands of others donated for the distribution on Saturday, November 7th on the Green in Morristown. Donna Conley and Jeanne Eisele had a great experience joining other volunteers assisting individuals to find coats for all members of their families.

AFWH- A Future with Hope Update

To date the results include completion of restoration of 193 homes, 22 homes under construction, 10 homes in queue. Hosted 10,544 volunteers at 15 host sites with a 383 person hosting capacity. Also through your generosity, we were able to send a donation to AFWH to cover the cost for a Thank you dinner for construction workers in November.

Jeanne Eisele

7

Wade Merrick Katie Paige

People of France Jay Sardini

Alvey Family Blanca DeCharles

Sean Hart

Our Church Family People we remembered in prayer

December 2015

Known Birthdays in December

Deaths

Suji Balfe

Abigail Mikaela Bull

Brendan Cobb

Tyler Cobb

Curren De Vico

Cindy Kroeger

Kelly McCarter

Cillian McIsaac

Katie Pivarnik-Tamaki

Lydia Sung

Sawyer Tadano

Grace Voorhees

William Church Wagstaff

Fair Trade Coffee Sale — Dec. 6

During coffee hour in the church library

Mary Alvey

May 31, 1923—November 7, 2015

News from

Family Promise

Heart and Hand

Join us for breakfast at the Nautilus Diner on Saturday

December 19th at 8:30am. Please bring a donation for the Interfaith Food Pantry. All are invited and welcome to join in! God Bless,

Kirsten and Kathy

This Christmas season, our Church will be making the holiday season brighter for Family Promise families with the Angel Tree project sponsored by the Youth Ministry. You can help by pick-ing an Angel from the Angel Tree in

the library and returning the requested gift to the tree in time for wrapping by the youth on December 13. At the Advent Festival on December 5, a variety of house pins will be sold, with proceeds going to benefit Family Promise. These attractive pins make great, inexpensive gifts for family, friends or teachers, so be sure to check them out at the Advent Festival. Our first date to help with the families hosted at St. Vincent’s Martyr Church in 2016 will be the week of February 15, 2015, when we will be looking for volun-teers to help on Friday and Saturday, February 19 and 20. More information will follow in the next newslet-ter. The other host weeks for 2016 are the week of June 19-26 and the week of August 7-14.

Laurie Hagerich

8

Worship Schedule

Early Morning Worship 8:30 a.m.

Family Worship & Sunday School 10:00 a.m. Childcare is available for infants and toddlers.

Coffee and Fellowship 11:15 a.m.

Coming up: Dec. 1 Trustees Meeting

Dec. 2 Book Study at Drip at 7:30 pm

Dec. 5 Advent Festival

Dec 17 UMW Concert at UMC Morristown

Dec. 24 Christmas Eve Services

5 p.m. Family Worship and Children’s Pageant

11 p.m. Candlelight Communion & Worship Service

Dec. 20 Combined Worship at 10:00am only

Dec 27 Combined Worship at 10:00am only

(right) Director of Music, Susan McAdoo plays a newly refurbished 1924 Austin organ as she directs the choir during a recent dedication service on November 1st. (top left) Capital Campaign chairman, Stewart Robinette speaks about the purpose of the fundraising project which enabled the important improvements to our church. (bottom left) Vic Schumacher and Jeanne Eisele, Pastor Robb Shoaf, Susan McAdoo, Stewart Robinette with the refurbished 1924 Austin Organ.