The MessengerDecember 2001Volume 1, Issue 6Consecration Sunday Big
Success
Consecration Sunday Big SuccessBy Financial Secretary Noreen Nadeau December 9th’s Consecration Sunday was a huge
success despite the 6" of snow we received. "Second Christmas Eve Service"This year, in addition to our traditional 7:00 PM candelight Christmas Eve Service, we will be offering an
earlier service. A 5:30 PM family/youth based service will be offered for
the very first time. "By offering this earlier service we feel we can
attract families with younger children that may want to be home earlier
than 8:15 on Christmas Eve”, said Pastor Bae. He continues, "We plan to
have a worship service that focuses on the Christmas story and allows the
children to participate in a way no other church has done before. We'd
like to send the kids home to bed thinking about the true meaning of
Christmas and the coming of baby Jesus, not only Santa Claus." Snow Removal NeededTo make sure the Church walkways are cleared after each snowstorm.
Babysitting for ShoppersOn December 16th and again on the 23rd we are holding a Christmas Shopping Baby Sitting Service between 1 - 4 PM so you can get some shopping done and the children will have a great time with other children.For more information call Keith Boucher. Also, please let us know if you go south for the winter so we can change your mailing address. Trustees Report on our Growing Churchby Bill Ermer The trustees met Oct. 10 and Nov 5, 2001 to insure the parsonage would be ready for Pastor Bae and his family by Nov. 24, 2001 and to insure work was being performed on our new addition.The parsonage was ready on time with the exception of remodeling the downstairs bathroom and floor tile in both bathrooms by outside contractors. I am proud to report it is now complete. The work on the addition is near complete. The floors are tiled and the plumbing should be complete when you receive this news article. The facility should be ready to use by the Christmas holidays. In January I will need a few volunteers from the trustees and others willing to help stain the woodwork and doors. This will complete the work on the addition. The whole project was a team effort and I want to thank the many people that came forward to help. You should be proud of yourselves, you do make a difference. The work we do paves the way for many missions of our church. This year A.J. Farrow and family will again be donating the Christmas tree in memory of Bobby and Robert Emmert. We thank you very much, it adds so much to the decor of the church during the holiday season. Good News! We received many donations for our church office. It is being set up at the parsonage next to the youth center. We have received chairs, a file cabinet, and a conference table form Brian King whose work relocated. Thank you Brian. Donations also came from several Methodist churches, from Merrimack, NH we received desks, chairs and an organ. A desk was also picked up in Lowell, MA. From Maine we got a fairly new copier and special thanks goes out to Dawn & Steve Chalmers for getting the copier from Maine to Salem. As you can see our church is growing with a new youth center, parsonage, and addition. Most important we are sending a message through our work to spread the word of God. God Bless and Happy Holidays! Worship Committee ReportBy Nancy Collier-Welch Liturgists, Greeters and Ushers Needed We’ve had a great response from people wanting to volunteer as
liturgists, but it is even greater when more people come up to me and want
to volunteer as Greeters or Ushers. “Second Worship Service to be Added”As we work to grow our church and attract new parishioners, we’re happy to announce to you the development of a second worship service to begin on Saturday evenings at 6PM. This service is scheduled to begin on March 2nd and continue every Saturday evening thereafter. Why do we need a second service and why schedule it on Saturday evenings? Our goal is simple, to appeal to a different set of unchurched people. People that may have commitments on Sunday morning such as families that have soccer / hockey / dance; or young people not interested in getting up early on Sunday morning, but still want to have a relationship with Christ and a church family; or families with young children that just cannot meet the demands of getting everyone ready and out the door in time for a 9:15 service. What will the service be like? Although in the early planning stages, we hope to have a contemporary family worship service that includes contemporary live music and nursery care We are also seeking musicians and vocalists to make a once a month commitment to provide varied music and are discussing a simple meal prior to the service. So please pass the word to your friends and family about this great upcoming idea that will bring new people to our church.Youth Groupby Marina Brown The youth group is off to a good start this year. Since our late start we have had a lot of fun. We have painted, were scared at the haunted house and had a great time with Laurie doing crafts. Many thanks to Laurie for volunteering. Coming up this month we have the toys-for-tots drive, sledding, and our annual Christmas party with caroling at a nursing home in the area. The “youth center” room is coming along nicely, we now have the pool table and should have quite a time putting it together. Thank you to all who have helped so far this year, I am a little new at this and all the help is truly appreciated.I am planning an Open House for the parents and anyone who would like to come (tentatively) on Saturday the 15th at 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Just an informal get together to answer any questions and share ideas for what the kids and I are doing. Message from Pastor Sang-Churl BaeThe United Methodist Church has a publication from its General Board of
Global Ministries known as “the Alternative Christmas Giving Guide.” Among
the many suggestions it discusses are filling out a cost/analysis form to
discover just how much you do spend on Christmas and on what. The writers
suggest that you then cut those costs by twenty-five percent and donate
that same percentage to the poor, sick, hungry or needy this Christmas.
“Lazarus House Christmas”With your support this Christmas Lazarus House food baskets will be
distributed to more than 700 families in the greater Lawrence community
and holiday meals served to as many as 750 people. Pastor Parish RelationsMerrianne McDonald (Chair) As I sat down to write my message today, I was touched in my thoughts, to really say, “Thank You Lord for all the Blessings you have given our Church.”With this in mind, PPRC wishes to extend a sincere “Thank You” to everyone who worked so hard at the parsonage, the church and on the Palmer Gas newsletter during this past month. Without all of the efforts put forth, our goals would not have been obtainable. This goes to show what a great team of families we have and what a blessing each and everyone of us are to our church. With the celebration of the birth of our Lord just around the corner and everyone scurrying to get things done, let’s try to keep in our thoughts that Jesus is the reason for the season. Let us all try to put our God first as we were ministered to do. It becomes a real soul searching process as we try to accomplish this. A lot more difficult than I first imagined even as simple as it sounds. PPRC has been very busy with the Finance Committee in the planning of our church budget and goals for next year. PPRC would like to plan a Congregational Meeting after the first of the year to go over these issues with everyone and hopefully get some new ideas to add to the ones we have tentatively talked about. Our church has great families who work so well as a team that I know, with God’s help, we can accomplish our visions. Faith is all it takes and I know we have a great abundance of faith within our church. We have successfully moved Pastor Bae into the parsonage and, hopefully, he can find everything he needs to get by until his family returns this month. Sorry we lost your shoes and your rice making machine!! Let’s all keep Pastor Bae’s family in our prayers this month as they fly back from Korea. We look forward to seeing them with us once again. All of us on Pastor Parish wish all of you “God’s Peace and Love this Christmas Season.” Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Merrianne McDonald (Chair) Noreen Nadeau Nancy Swank Diane Boucher Keith Boucher (Layleader) Sunday SchoolDawn Trusty, Sunday School Superintendent The youth will be sharing what they are learning in
class with readings, song, music and creativity. I will be looking for
several older youth to read The Tale Of Three Trees, retold by Angela
Elwell Hunt. All students will create ornaments for the church Christmas
tree. I also welcome young singers or musicians to contribute a song they
would enjoy sharing. This is tentatively planned for December 23rd during
the regular Sunday service. |