issue #74 the newsletter of saint...

Saint Andrew’s Messenger November-December 2016 of 11

Saint Andrew’s Messenger November/December 2016 Issue #74

The Newsletter of Saint Andrew’s

United Methodist Church 1230 Townsend Avenue, New haven, CT 06513

Phone: (203) 467-0117 E-mail:[email protected]

Visit us on the web at: standrewsnh.com

I am not sure Wesley would be too happy listening to the current political

campaigns. Every election season it gets crazy but this one…UFFF, it has really

been over the top. That is why I feel compelled to share my thoughts with you

about this upcoming election.

Voting is a privilege given to the citizens of a country. It is how you make your

voice count and make a difference in the way the society works. It is a civil

right; a lot of people died so you can have that privilege today. Think about it,

not long ago, people of color could not vote, same for women.

You vote because you are an (over 18) American citizen, but most importantly,

you vote because you are a child of God. Your voice reflected on that cast

vote speaks about your faith. Let me explain that.

We Christians believe we were created by God and received salvation

through Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. We believe that our Christian journey is

the response to that free Grace from God.

Table of Contents

Pages 1-2:

Pastor’s Message

Page 3:

Connectional Giving

Dates to Remember

Annual Church Conference

Help needed

Page 4:

Bible Study

Sunday School & Nursery

Acolytes

Choir Rehearsal

Many Thanks

Prayers

Pastoral Care

Page 5:

Finance News

Stewardship News

2016 Laity Convocation

Happy Thanksgiving

Page 6:

More Sunday School &

Nursery Notes

Vital Signals

Prayer for Our Congregation

Page 7:

Operation Christmas Child

Page 8:

Order your Poinsettias

Page 9:

Advent Worship Series

Page 10:

Poetry

Page 11:

Upcoming Birthdays

www.facebook.com/churchofSaintAndrews

“I met those of our society who had voted in the ensuing

election, and advised them

1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they

judged most worthy

2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against, and

3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against

those that voted on the other side.” ― John Wesley the

great theologian and founder of the Methodist

movement, wrote in his journal on October 6, 1774, some

great election advice.

mailto:[email protected]

http://standrewsnh.com/

http://www.facebook.com/churchofSaintAndrews


God's love transforms us, and our response is to live a life worthy of God. We believe we have been entrusted

to care for God’s creation. Ultimately we believe we are accountable to the great commandment to love

God with all our hearts, souls and minds and to love our neighbors just as we love ourselves. Those are the marks

of a Christian, and those are the marks of us as United Methodists.

All aspects of our lives must shine with the love and light of God that we freely receive. That includes the way

we vote.

As you select your candidates, I invite you to be intentional about the reflection of your faith on who you

choose. What is the message the candidates are sending? Is it of unity and respect for the whole country or is

it of hate and discrimination? Do they have the heart for the least, the lost, and the last of our society, or are

they just ignoring the people who need it the most?

When you cast your vote, you are casting the values that represent you. I know, no candidate will match 100%

your values, but you can find the one who represents you the best. Voting with our faith in mind allows us to

shape the world around us. The Church has had a significant impact on the changes of our country. Today it

is fundamental that The Church make its voice heard. SO GO VOTE!

I also want to encourage you not to give in to the awful rhetoric we have been hearing. Don’t engage in the

evil talking and discreditation. Be conscious and respectful of your online posting, don’t continue the rumors

that are tearing us apart. We all have a right to an opinion, and discussing politics can be fun when is done

while reminding ourselves that the person in front of us, the one who is thinking completely opposite from us, is

also a child of God.

Soon enough all the craziness of the news will go away, and we will continue to be the hands and feet of Christ

on Earth.

Happy Voting!

Ximena

Receive updates, prayer requests and what is happening in worship every week.

Subscribe to our mailing list by emailing us!


IMPORTANT NEWS

We serve God by serving others; here is what you can do:

Connectional giving — all of us giving together — allows United

Methodists to do together what we cannot do alone. We join in

with United Methodists around the world in 6 special collections

through the year. The money collected goes 100% to a specific

mission designated by the general church. For more information,

go to UMCGIVING.com. Next Collection is November 27, 2016,

World Communion Sunday.

Every first Sunday you can donate to the pastor’s Discretionary

Fund. This money is used by the pastor to help with immediate

needs in the community.

Dates to remember:

Clean-Up Day

Every First Saturday of the month.

Administrative Church Council

November 1, 2016 7:00 PM at the parsonage.

Election Day

November 8, 2016.

Pastor away at National CLM Meetings

November 16 to 18, 2016.

Laity Convocation

November 19, 2016.

Thanksgiving

November 24, 2016. Building Closed.

Christmas Eve Service

December 24, 2016 7:00 PM.

Building Closed

December 26-December 30.

Food Pantry Collection, non-perishable items

are collected during the month. Every first

Sunday of each month all the collected food

items will be taken and delivered to a local

food pantry. Fall and winter months are always

difficult and food pantries are always empty!

HELP IS NEEDED! Help our trustees with building

repairs. Contact the pastor or Jamie Lawson.

Join us in our 2016 Operation Christmas

Child campaign. Help us fill many boxes

full with hope and joy for children all over

the world. We will be collecting small toys,

school supplies and $7 per box so they can

be shipped around the world.

You are invited to our annual Church

Conference on Sunday, November 13,

2016, at 10:30 AM. Rev. Ken Kieffer will

be preaching and presiding our

conference after service. Everyone is

welcome and encouraged to attend.

Bring a potluck dish to share.


Nicole Morales for helping to

clean and organize around the

church and for making the weekly

PowerPoint.

Morris Penington for delivering our

Food Bank Collections.

Ralph Pickup for taking care of

recycling cans and bottles for our

church.

Here at St. Andrew’s, we believe in

the power of prayer! If you or

someone you know needs to be

prayed for, please contact the

pastor by phone or email.

Pastor Ximena is available for a talk,

prayers and visits; in fact, she would

love for you to invite her to visit.

Please call the office, pastor’s cell

phone, or email to set up an

appointment. Let her know if you or

a loved one is in the hospital.

Are you interested in becoming a

member of our church or do you

want to learn more about us?

Please contact the pastor!

Adult Bible Study

Discovering the Book of Esther

Join us every Tuesday night at 6:00 pm for fellowship

and learning at the parsonage. The book of Esther is

one of only two books in the entire Bible named for

women. Esther contains the story of a beautiful

young Jewess who risked her life to serve God and

save her people.

Sunday School

Children 5 years and older are invited to join

Sunday school class the second, third, and

fourth Sunday of each month.

Do you feel called to be a substitute teacher or

nursery assistant? Please talk to Carol or pastor

Ximena.

Christmas Eve Service

Choir Rehearsal Dates: December

4th, 11th and 18th after fellowship.

Join us for delicious food and

caroling on December 18th after

service!

Keep in your prayers the South Central Emmaus

XXXVI team which is preparing for the next high

school retreat on November 11-13, 2015 at Trinity

Episcopal Church in Seymour. Pray for Javier

Varas and Jean Marco Gamboa, who will serve

on the team. For more information or to sign up

as a prayer angel visit

www.southcentralemmausct.com

Acolytes

The Acolyte program continues with much

success, thanks to Briannah Morales and Brenda

Hermann. The girls look so respectful as they

perform their service to the church.


The General Council on Finance and Administration is proud to be

in partnership with Tribute to present UMCmarket.org -- the online

portal designed for United Methodists to shop online at a variety of

retailers who will donate to your local church or other United

Methodist entity, to help you raise funds for

ministry. Visit umcmarket.org, establish your free, online account

and support our church by creating donations.

AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support our

church every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop

at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast

selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com,

with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the

purchase price to our church. Make sure you select St. Andrew’s

UMC as your organization!

Stewardship Campaign: Thank you to all that have pledged to St.

Andrews UMC this year. It is with your help that we can fulfill our

operational obligations and be a vital church helping to serve the

community. As of Aug. we again had 21 Pledge Cards turned in this

year. Great Job! Thank you to all that have pledged to our

Stewardship Campaign this year and a great big Thank You to

Pastor Ximena for her wonderful sermons during this time. The

Finance Committee has made the church budget counting on the

pledges we have received and honoring your pledges helps us fulfill

our obligation. Please realize that our pledges only account for

approximately 1/3 of our budget income. That money along with

weekly giving amounts to approximately ½ of our budget income.

The balance comes from the St. Andrews Daycare which pays for

their costs. If for whatever reason you cannot fulfill your pledge,

please talk to me or the Pastor so we can adjust our budget and

your pledge accordingly. If you have not yet pledged and would

like to pledge, please see me or Lucille. Thank you.

John Quimby,

Finance Chairman

WE ARE CALLED…

(FILL IN THE DOTS)

“. . . I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness and patience. Accept each other with love, and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. You are one body and one spirit just as God also called you in one hope.” From Ephesians 4:1-4, CEB

Featuring: Rev. David Gilmore, NYAC Director of Congregational Development & Revitalization • Inspirational Worship • Workshops • Fellowship • Communion •

Please contact Roena Littlejohn with any questions (203) 331-9653 / [email protected]

ALL LAITY ARE INVITED

PLEASE REGISTER EARLY TO

RESERVE YOUR SEAT

SATURDAY,

NOV. 19

8AM – 4PM

2016 LAITY

CONVOCATION

New York Annual

Conference

Registration:

$25 per person

Registration

includes

continental

breakfast, lunch &

book: Transforming

Community – the

Wesleyan Way to

Missional

Congregations

STAMFORD HILTON

1 First Stamford Place Stamford, CT

Register by November 9 at www.nyac.com

FINANCE NEWS

https://umcmarket.org/dn-umc/

https://smile.amazon.com/


More Sunday School & Nursery Notes

The Sunday School started the year studying the occupations of people in the times of Jesus and

earlier. We learned about stonemasons, potters, fishermen and shepherds. The study of shepherds

took us to the 23rd Psalm. Stonemasons taught us about Nehemiah rebuilding the wall around

Jerusalem. The study of potters showed us how going to a potter's house helped Jeremiah speak for

God. From the lesson on fishermen we saw how Jesus called his first four disciples to be fishers of men.

All children are invited to attend. Right now we are unable to offer nursery care. We are need of an

adult supervisor for the class. If you would like to help, please see Pastor Ximena or Carol Tripp.

The mission of The United Methodist Church is to “Make Disciples of Jesus

Christ for the transformation of the world” (Matt. 28:18-20; Matt. 22:36-40).

This mission is achieved through vital congregations that equip and

empower people to be disciples of Jesus Christ in their homes and

communities around the world.

Our Vital Signs

The Vital Signs Dashboard is a tool developed by Brick River through GCFA. This tool allows us to track our

weekly worship attendance, professions of faith, small group participation, missional participation and

financial giving for our congregation. It is a tool designed to help congregations follow their progress on

the goals that they set for each year, based upon the goal-setting challenge initiated by the Vital

Congregations work. It is in response to the Call to Action to focus on fostering and sustaining an increase

in the number of vital congregations effective in the mission of The United Methodist Church:

Date Worship Attendance

Small Groups Attendance

(week)

Pledges & Offerings

Charitable Giving

New Members

10/16/16 52 7 $651 $31 0

10/9/16 42 6 $1042 $40 0

10/2/16 41 0 $1093 $73 0

9/25/16 32 5 $665 $0 0

9/18/16 43 12 $626 $5 0

9/11/16 51 17 $653 $86 0

9/4/16 45 6 $819 $59 0

8/28/16 41 7 $1085 $5 0

8/21/16 34 8 $536 $0 0

Prayer for Our Congregation

Dear God, I thank you for all the ways you are present in my life, especially today I thank

you for Saint Andrew’s United Methodist Church and all the ways you are present among

us. Lord, I ask for all the leaders of my church today, I ask that you guide us to be the

church you want us to be. Transform us O Lord, so we can truly be your hand and feet on

earth. Lord, I pray for the health and growth of St. Andrew’s UMC, I ask that you heal our

hearts and give us a courageous spirit so we can reach out to the ones that need to hear

the Good News. Lord, I ask for my brothers and sisters who are not yet in our midst; Lord,

send us all the people that no one else wants, but you are calling to follow you, and help

us to welcome them as you have welcomed us. Send your Holy Spirit to us so we can

transform the world in Jesus’ name. Give me the strength to love you with all my heart soul

and mind and to love my neighbors as myself. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen


To purchase one or more plants to help decorate the church, please complete the form below and

place it in the offering plate, mail it to the church, or give it to Carol Tripp by, December 11th, 2016.

Each plant will cost $10 and may be paid with the order. Checks should be made payable to St.

Andrew's United Methodist Church. Please print as neatly as possible, and indicate whether you wish

to take your plant following the service on Friday, December 24, or donate it.

Please note that each poinsettia donated is for one name or one couple’s name (as in “John and

Jane Smith.”) Please do not list more than one name/couple’s name per plant donated.

Your Name: ______________________________________________________________

(As you want it to appear in the Christmas Eve Bulletin)

Telephone # (in case of a question) __________________________________________

Number of Plants: ___________

Thanks to everyone in the church, we have continued to add to our inventory of items for the shoeboxes of

our Operation Christmas Child program. Our members have donated items for the boxes and some money

towards the $7.00 cost to ship each box. We have a way to go before we can meet the goal of providing

shipping for the 70 boxes we are trying to fill. There are envelopes on the side table for those people that are

able to put a few dollars in towards the shipping costs. Please put your name on the envelope so we can add

your donations on your annual statement for income tax purposes.

On Sunday, November 6 we will have our PACKING PARTY after the coffee hour at the Parsonage where

people will pack the boxes for the children. If you have any questions please call John at 203-248-1556.

Thank you and God Bless You.

The Quimby family

GIFT IDEAS TOYS:

small matchbox style cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals, kazoos, harmonicas, yo-yos, jump ropes, small Etch A

Sketch®, toys that light up or make noise (with extra batteries), Slinky®, etc.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES:

pens, pencils, crayons (24 pack) or markers, stamps and ink pad sets, writing pads or paper, solar calculators,

coloring and picture books, etc.

HYGIENE ITEMS:

toothpaste, individually wrapped bar soaps, combs.

OTHER:

Hard candy and lollipops (individually wrapped), mints, gum, T-shirts, socks, ball caps; sunglasses, hair clips, toy

jewelry, watches, flashlights (with extra batteries).

DO NOT INCLUDE:

Used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures; chocolate or food; out-of-

date candy; liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snow-globes or glass containers;

aerosol cans.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTES: Some people have already been busy and we do not need any more pencils, washcloths, cap erasers,

pencil sharpeners, 8 X 10.5 spiral bound notebooks, tennis balls and bead necklaces (like used at Mardi Gras).


To purchase one or more plants to help decorate the church, please complete the form below and place it in the offering plate, mail it to the church, or give it to Carol Tripp by, December 11th, 2016. Each plant will cost $10 and may

be paid with the order. Checks should be made payable to St. Andrew's United Methodist Church. Please print as

neatly as possible, and indicate whether you wish to take your plant following the service on Friday, December 24, or donate it.

Please note that each poinsettia donated is for one name or one couple’s name (as in “John and Jane Smith.”) Please do not list more than one name/couple’s name per plant donated.

Your Name: ______________________________________________________________

(As you want it to appear in the Christmas Eve Bulletin)

Telephone # (in case of a question) __________________________________________

Number of Plants: ___________

In Memory of: _____________________________________________________________

In Memory of: _____________________________________________________________

In Honor of: ______________________________________________________________

In Honor of: _____________________________________________________________

I wish to take my plant(s) home

l wish to donate my plant(s)


Join us every Sunday at 10:30 AM Advent Worship Series

Unwrapping God’s Greatest Gift

11/27/16

God is Expectant

Scriptures: Isaiah 9: 6-7 & Luke 1: 39-45

12/4/16

God is Dangerous

Scriptures: Nahum 1: 3-5 & Matthew 2: 1-3

12/11/16

God is Jealous

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6: 13 & Luke 10: 27

12/18/16

God is Faithful

Scriptures: Isaiah 49: 15-16 & Matthew 1: 21

12/25/16

A Season of Joy

Scriptures: Psalm 96 & Luke 2: 8-14

Just as the first wrapped gift beneath the Christmas tree marks the new season, so the birth of Jesus on

Christmas Day signaled that God’s hope and salvation and redemption plan had come into the world.

In Jesus, God gift-wrapped himself in human flesh and was born in a stable so he could come and live

among us and offer us life and salvation that we could never gain on our own.

Join us this Advent as we unwrap God’s greatest gift, our Savior Jesus.

Join us on Christmas Eve at 7:00 PM for our traditional candle light service.

Advent will start on Sunday, November 27, and we will start an exciting new

Advent worship sermon series, Under Wraps: The Gift We Never Expected.

Prepared and piloted by The Woodlands United Methodist Church in

Houston, this joyful program explores some of God’s unexpected qualities,

presented over the four weeks of Advent, plus Christmas Day:


Poetry

St. Andrew’s 1892- 1942

_______________________________

Here on this corner, by Almighty blest,

Where roads lead yonder, north, east, south and

west,

Where cross the crowded, fevered ways of life,

Amid these days of bloodshed, war and strife,

St. Andrew’s stands, serene, rock-like and strong,

Unmoved, unhurried in the rushing throng.

They built far better than ever knew,

That earnest flock, that faithful, saintly few;

They fashioned more than these material things,

These walls of weathered brick where ivy clings,

This dwarfed, square belfry-tower that stands

roof high,

That brownstone cross uplifted toward the sky.

These things are but the outer, earthly shell;

Around, above, within, our God doth dwell.

Now fifty years have sped their storm-tossed ways

Down echoing corridors of yesterdays,

But through them all St. Andrew’s church has stood

Four-square for Christ, Peace, Truth and

Brotherhood.

Nov. 20, 1942 Paul H. Stevens

Written by Nicole Morales

To a Snowdrop 6/13/15

What fair flower blooms each year

ere the heads of daffodils rear,

ere the end of winter's frost,

ere rebirth of nature's loss,

ere the trees sprout buds anew?

Ne'er they knew, how you grew!

When thy fragile head doth bloom

fresh from mother nature's womb.

Newborn snowdrop, in which we see

that He who made us all made thee.

If the hand of God above

filled thy petals meek with love,

How then have I nerve to mourn:

In His Spirit too, I'm born!

As thou push through ground and snow,

without stop or fret thou does grow,

so shall I too press on along

the path His hand hath placed me on.


Saint Andrew’s United

Methodist Church

1230 Townsend Avenue

New Haven, CT 06513

PHONE:

(203) 467-0117

E-MAIL:

[email protected]

Visit us on the Web at:

standrewsnh.com

www.facebook.com/church

ofSaintAndrews

Saint Andrew’s

United Methodist Church

1230 Townsend Avenue

New Haven, CT 06513

November/December

November 2016

07 Rhoda Sta. Maria

11 Yvonne Lynch

25 Lucille Drummond

26 Guillermo Morales

December 2016

09 Eli Arvelo

12 Lois McDonald

14 Ximena Varas

19 Morris Penington

mailto:[email protected]

http://standrewsnh.com/

http://www.facebook.com/

issue #74 the newsletter of saint...

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