finley & ruth read finley & ruth read finley(coach) and ruth were born and raised in warren county,...

Finley & Ruth Read Finley(Coach) and Ruth were born and

raised in Warren County, North Carolina,

and met on a baseball field in 7th grade.

They have been married 62 years and have 3

children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 great-

grandchildren.

Both worked at Lumberton High School,

where Finley coached football and baseball

and Ruth taught English.

After retirement in 1987, they spent 23

years fishing at Santee-Cooper Lakes and

returned to Lumberton 4 years ago. They live

at Wesley Pines, Villa 303.

Chestnut Street United Methodist Church

200 East 8th Street

Lumberton, NC 28359

NUTSHELL (PUBLICATION NO. 103-120) is published monthly by the Chestnut Street United Methodist Church, 200 E. 8th Street,

Lumberton, NC 28358. Periodical postage is paid at Lumberton, NC POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Nutshell, PO Box

1464, Lumberton, NC 28358

December 2018

Church Staff

PASTOR

Rev. Herbert Lowry, Jr.

DIRECTOR OF

EDUCATION

Jan Kennedy

ADMINISTRATIVE

ASSISTANT

Kyle Donaldson

FINANCIAL

PROCESSOR

Debra Lewis

YOUTH

DIRECTOR

Kyle Donaldson

MUSIC DIRECTOR

Tricia Horvath

ORGANIST

Jane Hale

CUSTODIAN

Dennis McBayne

910-739-3304

www.chestnutst.org

[email protected]

Mission

Statement:

Worship,

Welcome,

and Nurture

as We Serve

Christ in

Love

The Wonder of the Nativity & Sweet Shoppe will be Friday, Dec 7, 11am-8pm & Saturday, Dec. 8, 11am-2pm. Please mark your calendar & tell your friends. Your help with baking sweets for the Sweet Shoppe is most appreciated. This year we will be included on the Robeson County History Museum Home Tour on Saturday Dec. 8 from 1-2pm. The Home Tour will be from 2-5pm so begin your tour here at 1pm. Please encourage your family & friends to come for this special event.

Golden Living: Virginia Martin

Knollwood Village: Faye & Olin Welsh

Missionaries: Rev. Virgil (Butch) Huffman, Missionary,

UMVIM, 226 George Wilton Dr., Clayton, N.C. 27520

Wesley Pines Retirement Center: Ellenor Lorman, Mary

Stephenson Townsend, Margaret Folger, Dorothy Ruddle,

Catherine Black, Mary Lamm, Joyce Gammon, Meta Wood,

Grace Stallings

Prison Ministry /Jon Everson & Eddie

Smith (Leaders)

Gibson Gray

Dorothy Watts

Lucy Cline

Dr. Ben Hardin

Lynda Price

Jeanette Shanklin

Joyce Musselwhite

Linda Wade

Jada Rozier Berry

Charles Paul – NAVHOSP box 6071B

Beaufort, SC 29902-614B

PRAYER CONCERNS

WEDNESDAY NIGHT L.I.V.E. Live In Victory Everyday

Need to connect with the “flock” mid-week for spiritual food and a fellowship meal? Dinner is at 5:30 in Asbury Hall followed by Pastor Herbert leading a Bible study discussion. Dinner reservations are required by Tuesday noon by calling the church office -739-3304. $6 for adults and $3 for K-6th grade. Preschoolers eat free. Not interested in meals? Come for the devotional time at 6:00pm.

December Menus 2018 Dec. 5 BBQ, slaw, baked beans, rolls, beverage

Dec. 12 Fish, baked potato, green salad, rolls, beverage

Dec. 19 Fried chicken, mac & cheese, green beans, rolls, beverage

Dec. 26 NO WEDNESDAY NITE LIVE

Laura Artis

Helen Sharpe

Jackie Whitley

Vada Dowless

Yvonne Hutchinson

Ken Neese

Carla Franklin

Sr. Single Adult Luncheon

Monday, December 10

12:00-2:00

Asbury Hall

Please call the church office if you plan to attend (739-3304) or call Amby Taylor

(739-7807). You can also email Amby at [email protected]

A Calendar of Devotions for Advent will be

available in the narthex of the sanctuary on

Sunday, Dec. 2. Please limit one copy per

family. Enjoy these Advent daily devotionals

during this season of Advent.

Women’s Circle

Readers Circle will not meet in December Visionaries Circle will meet Sunday Dec. 9 at 12:00pm at the Country Club. Service Seekers Circle will meet Monday, Dec. 3 at the church at 6:15pm and will eat at the Peddler.

ONGOING MINISTRY Front Door Ministry Needs Vienna Sausage

Did You Know?

• 6th year of the Wonder of the Nativity & Sweet Shoppe

• $11,000 were given to local disaster relief from the United Methodist Men’s Fish Fry.

• 3 perfect gifts are offered at CSUMC. Chestnut St. UMC T-shirts - $10

Chestnut St. UMC Cookbooks - $5

Chestnut St. UMC Notecards $ 6

Circuit Riders Jan. 12 – Pembroke – UNCP 8:00pm Motown Jan. 24 – Fayetteville – Airborne Museum – Lunch – K&W Cafeteria Feb. 20 – Pembroke – UNCP – Cinderella 7:30pm Feb. 21 – Newberry, SC – Dinner – Play – Night at Hampton Inn Mar. 20 – Pembroke UNCP – Chili Pipers – 7:30pm Mar. 22 – Brunswick Community College April 12-13 – Overnight – Edenton – Tour of Homes-Hampton Inn -Lunch of Tour April 15 – Pembroke – UNCP – 7:30pm Midtown Men May 23 – Myrtle Beach – Medieval Times – Dinner Theatre June 21 – 22 – Mt. Airy – Wytheville Va.-Tour-Dinner Theatre at Wohlfahrt Theatre July – August – Tour with Holiday Tours Sept. 27 – Durham – Baseball Game at the Durham Bulls Stadium – Dinner at Mama Dips Oct. 12 – Northwood Temple – Dinner Theatre Nov. 15 or 16 – Seagrove Pottery Dec. 8 – Churchwide entertainment Carolina Theatre – Lumberton Christmas Show

In Memory: In Honor: Billy Smith Katherine Fisher

Jean Smith Mr. & Mrs. Billy Wilson

Amanda Gray Brisson Britt Mr. & Mrs. Norm Morton

Rev. & Mrs. Robert C. Mooney, Jr. Eddie Smith

Bill Doares Cindy Warwick

In Honor: Beth Thorsten

James Gibson Jerome Morton

James & Deborah Nellis Elizabeth Windley & Matt Hunt

Gary & Mary McKenzie Stan Winberry

Finley & Ruth Read James Gibson

.

Thank You to all who honored or memorialized these “saints” in the past month:

CHRISTMAS POST OFFICE

Sharing the holidays with those you love will be easy this year! The youth will be offering a

Christmas Card Delivery Service during the holidays. Please bring your Christmas cards to

share with other church members until Dec 12th. Drop them off in Santa’s Bag in the Narthex or

the education building entrance before and after church or in the office throughout the week.

Your cards will then be hand delivered by the UMYF members on Sunday, Dec. 16th. Instead of

spending hundreds and hundreds of cents on stamps, we ask that you put 25 cents per card

towards our cause this year.

Here’s how it works:

1. Address your cards to friends and members who attend Chestnut St. UMC.

(Please do not include our homebound members in this project.)

2. Please include your name in the upper left-hand corner of the envelope in case

we cannot deliver your card.

Thanks,

UMYF

Poinsettias will be placed in the sanctuary for morning worship starting on Sunday,

Dec 9th. If you would like to provide one in honor or in memory of a special

person/persons, please fill out the form below and return with a check to the church

office or put it in the offering plate by Wednesday, December 12th. The poinsettias

are wrapped with a bow and available for $12 each.

NAME____________________________________________________________

TELEPHONE______________________________________________________

NUMBER OF POINSETTIA(S)__________________________

IN HONOR OF

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

IN MEMORY OF

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

November 18, 2018

Dear Church Family,

This has truly been an amazing year at Chestnut St. United Methodist Church. Our church

Ministries and Outreach programs have demonstrated the love and saving grace of our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ in so many ways this year, including the Relief Effort from Hurricanes

Matthew and Florence.

A key component in the success of our church continues to be the hard work of our pastor and

staff. The holiday season is a time when we reflect on our blessings and express our kindness to

others. As a congregation, one of our blessings is our dedicated staff. The Staff Parish Relations

Committee would like to express our love and appreciation to our staff with a monetary gift. If

you feel blessed to have such a wonderful staff and pastor and would like to participate, please

make your check payable to the church and indicate “for staff Christmas”. You can place your

Love Offering in the offering plate or deliver it to the church office. We have set a deadline of

Tuesday, December 11, 2018.

God has richly blessed Chestnut St. United Methodist Church and we pray that He will continue

to bless us as we work together to become the church He wants us to be.

May God bless each of you with a joyful Christmas season.

In His Love,

Richard H. Monroe Jay White

Chair, SPRC Lay Leader

The United Methodist Women are collecting toys until 12/12. They will be given to Robeson County Church & Community Center to distribute

to needy families for Christmas. They can be for any gender or age

group and must be unwrapped. Please place in church office and I will

deliver them to Church & Community Center on the 12th.

HOPE’S TABLE SIGN-UP SHEET IS IN THE OFFICE FOR 2019

FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the

house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and at that time, I will cause a

righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in

the land. In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is

the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.” (Jeremiah 33:14-16)

Opposing Realities

Reality: “The quality or state of being actual or true” (The American Heritage

Dictionary). Christians live with the awareness of two opposing realities. On the one hand, there

is the harsh physical reality we confront in everyday life. This reality unveils the ugliness of life.

Through it, we see the division within the Church, our families, and the Country. The present

reality is presented to us through the many different media offered by technology 168 hours per

week. One would have to have a mental or cognitive impairment to avoid and/or to escape this

fact. Through this physical reality, we are reminded of our human frailty and brokenness; both

symptoms of humanity’s “fall from Grace” and exit from Eden’s paradise. Such a reality may be

labeled or spoken of as secular, profane and temporal. If the present reality is all there is, then as

the apostle Paul said “we are men and women most to be pitied.”

As Disciples of Christ, we also live with an awareness of a spiritual reality. We

understand that “our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers,

against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual

forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). We understand the struggle between these

opposing realities to have control and domain over our lives. Through this spiritual reality, we

are reminded of the Lordship of Christ Jesus and hold to the truth of His Word while we wander

as pilgrims through this “dry and barren land.” We understand as Disciples, we are enjoined with

dual citizenship. That physical reality will one day surrender to the spiritual reality that is sacred,

holy, divine and eternal. The spiritual reality offers Hope while the physical reality offers

despair. The choice is ours; the source is Jesus.

“As we gather with family and friends, savoring the smells, joy of laughter, anticipating

holding hands around the table, we realize how blessed we are to take refuge from the Chaos,

decompress from the stress of life’s storms and give Thanks to God for His Mercy and providing

that which we do not deserve. We are fully aware this does not describe everyone or perhaps

most, but it is with full knowledge that we can’t always control what happens to us; we can only

control how we choose to react. As for me and my family, we shall choose to be grateful, giving

thanks in all things - Rejoicing Always for our Hope, Healing and Promise of Heaven. May the

God of creation continue to bless you, your family and friends.” Note: (I received this message

and blessing from a friend a few days ago and share it with his blessings. Thanks Eskton).

Preacher

ACOLYTES

2. Sam & David Ervin

9. Garrett & Gavin Merlo

16. Ben Ervin & Ella McLean

23. Bailee Luper & Grace Stone

30. Liam White & Payne Stone

ALTAR GUILD

Brenda & Scott McLean

LECTOR

Sarah Mouser

MONTHLY NURSES

Joyce Musselwhite

Pat Horne

Jean Harris

Jo Ann Falls

NURSERY HELPER

Brittany Wade

USHERS

Greg Price

Joe & Katie Butler

Gayle Windley

TRUSTEE OF THE MONTH

Ken Windley

STEPHEN MINISTERS

2. Frances Scott

9. Bob Scott

16. Rosemary Long

23. Monroe Williams

30. Marilyn Duncan

OFFERING VERIFICATION

2. Jay White & Everett Davis

9. Ken Windley & Vicky Talton

16. Richard Monroe & Elizabeth Jobe

23. Dennis Sigmon & Jon Everson

30. Amy McQueen & Keith Taylor

FLOWER CHART

2. Kyle Donaldson

9. Available

16. Available

23. Available

30. Available

December

If you choose a florist other than

Flowers By Billy please let Billy know

so the church will not be charged.

DECEMBER Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1.

2.

9:30 Sunday School

10:00 Children’s Choir

10:30 Worship

5:00 Pastor’s Bible Study

3.

6:15 Service

Seekers

4.

9:00 Weight Watchers

Meeting

11:30 PAT – Adelios

6:30 Chancel Choir

7:30 Praise Team

5.

10:30 Pastor Bible Study

5:30 WNL

6:30 Mission Committee

Meeting

6.

7:00 Praise

Team

7.

11:00

Sweet

Shoppe &

Wonder of

the

Nativity

Circuit

Riders Trip

8.

11:00 Sweet

Shoppe &

Wonder of the

Nativity

7:00 Praise

Team

9.

9:30 Sunday School


10:30 Worship

12:00 Joy SS Class –

Lunch

12:00 Visionaries Circle


6:00 UMYF

10.

12:00 Sr. Single

Christmas

Luncheon

11.


Meeting

6:30 Chancel Choir

12.


12:00 Lunch N Fun

5:30 WNL

6:30 Finance Committee

Meeting

6:31 Christmas Card

Deadline

13.

7:00 Praise

Team

14.

15.

5:30 – UMYF

Progressive

Dinner

16.

8:00 UMM Breakfast –

Office Volunteer

Appreciation

9:30 Sunday School


10:30 Worship


7:00 White Stocking

17.

18.


Meeting

6:30 Chancel Choir

19.


12:00 Lunch N Fun

5:30 WNL

6:30 Trustee Meeting

20.

21.

22.

23.

9:30 Sunday School


10:30 Worship


24.

5:30 Christmas

Eve Service

OFFICE

CLOSED

25.

CHRISTMAS DAY!

26.

OFFICE CLOSED

27.

7:00 Praise

Team

28. 29.

30.

9:30 Sunday School


10:30 Worship


31.

DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS

7. Abby Armstrong 13. Frances Owings

Jean Crouch 17. Brittany Leggette

Jackie Utz 18. Zoe Hall

9. Pat Horne Jerry Folmar

12. Shirley Herring

**All of us enjoy celebrating our special day of the year. Birthdays will now be printed on the monthly calendar. Please notify the church office of your birthday and month if you would like to be listed. **

finley & ruth read finley & ruth read finley(coach) and ruth were born and raised in warren county,...

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