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AWARE December 2018
St. James United Methodist Church
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Hello Everyone! Greeting from Laos.
As I am in my second week of vacation,
my thoughts of our time when we will be
together again turn to Advent. For our ser-
mons I will be using hymns from the UM
Hymnal that focus on carols from around
the world, as well as focusing on the scriptures of the
lectionary.
The first song hymn we will focus on is “Infant Holy and
Infant Lowly,” a Polish carol. It’s theme is the Holy comes
to us as an infant and He becomes the lowly. But he
was welcomed first by the lowly animals and shepherds.
The Holy comes to serve, help, and live among the
people. He becomes the Holy for the universe and the
earth, a tiny part of galaxy. He comes to save whales
whose tummies are filled with several plastics and pollut-
ed food. He comes as the global and universal Savior of
our known and unknown environment. In this confused
natural and political world, we need living and loving
Mothers and Fathers.
We will read scriptures from this perspective for the four
Sundays of Advent and Christmas Eve.
Are there infants and lowly in our presence? I am one
of the infants and lowly in front of Jesus and I learn from
his lessons and example.
The second week the focus will be on a French carol.
The third week of advent is a German carol: “Silent Night
and Holy Night”. The fourth we will have the pleasure of
hearing our choir put on a cantata of songs mostly from
the hymnal, and we will speak of an English Carol as
time allows. For Christmas Eve I will cover an American
carol and “O Holy Night.” “White Christmas” and
“Dashing through the Snow.”
I hear it snowed in areas of Wisconsin and in the mid-
west, and that the temperatures are very cold. In Laos
our average afternoon temperature is over 90’s.
Time here is coming to close, and now I am counting
days to return to my daily routine in Appleton and Onei-
da.
As we approach the Advent season, I wish all of you a
very meaningful Advent and Christmas. I will see you
soon.
Pastor Dong Su from Vientiane, Laos
~~~~~~~~~~~~PASTOR~~~~~~~~~~~
Dongsu Lee [email protected]
~~~~~~~LAY LEADERSHIP~~~~~~~
Lay Leader/Lay Member Ann. Conf.
Larry Gyrion [email protected]
Staff Parish Relation Chairperson
Gary Linstad [email protected]
Administrative Board Chairperson
Tom Schemm [email protected]
Council Secretary
Deb Kraemer [email protected]
Treasurer
Deb Ebben [email protected]
Finance Chair
Chris Bahr [email protected]
Financial Secretary
LuAnn Van Handel [email protected]
Trustees Chair
Bill Kraemer [email protected]
Mission Co-Chairs
Kay & Charlie Christenson
Member Care Lead
Dongsu Lee [email protected]
Worship Committee
Sharon Ramsaroop [email protected]
Education Leader
Sierra Gyrion [email protected]
Website
Bill Kraemer [email protected]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~STAFF~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Administrative Assistant
Deb Kraemer [email protected]
Organist
Linda Lee [email protected]
Custodian
Kari Sturm [email protected]
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12/04 Linda Lee
12/08 Ella Genke
12/08 Audrey Genke
12/08 Darcie Lind
12/08 Julie Remmel
12/10 Duane Maves
12/10 Sherri Gyrion
12/11 Pastor Dongsu
12/12 Hunter Price
12/14 Jennifer Graham
12/14 Caleb Bahr
12/16 Jon Krein
12/17 Debra Ebben
12/18 Mark Ebert
12/18 J.R King
12/19 Tenley Lang
12/21 Kelsey Shepard
12/23 Carol Carlson
12/27 Mackenna Gyrion
12/28 Martina Olson
12/28 Issabelle Davies
12/29 Preston Price
12/30 Bonnie Behling
12/01 Paul & Jamie Davies (13y)
12/04 Rich & Bev Stewart (47y)
SAVE THE DATE For updates: umcsj.org
Dec. 1 St James Holiday Fair (9a.m.-3p.m.)
Dec. 2 Flower Orders Due
Dec. 8 Homeless Connection Meal Serving (4-7 p.m.)
Dec. 10 Lunch Bunch
Dec. 15 Oneida Spaghetti Dinner (5:30 p.m.)
Dec. 23 Choir Cantata during worship
Dec. 25 Merry Christmas!! Office closed
Dec. 30 Hymn Sing
Jan. 1 Happy New Year! Office closed
Scripture Readings
Sermon titles will be given closer to each week.
December
2
Jeremiah 33:14-16, Psalm 25:1-10,
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13, Luke 21:25-36
December
9
Malachi 3:1-4, Luke 1:68-79,
Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 3:1-6
December
16
Zephaniah 3:14-20, Isaiah 12:2-6,
Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:7-18
December
23 The Choir Cantata
December
24
Isaiah 9:2-7, Psalm 96,
Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-20
December
30 Hymn Sing
Advent Candle Lighting Schedule
The Advent wreath is a symbol of watchfulness and
increasing joy as we anticipate Jesus’ birth. The
wreath’s circular shape symbolizes eternity, or life with-
out end. The candles remind us that Jesus
is the Light of the World — he brought
light and life to a dark world (see John 1:4
-5). On each of the four Sundays of Ad-
vent, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,
we light a new candle. As the light grows,
so do our hope, joy, peace and love.
Sunday, December 2- Chris and Caleb Bahr
Sunday, December 9– Wendy Lind & grandchildren
Sunday, December 16 - Mary & Tom Schemm
Sunday, December 23 - The Christenson Family
↓ 6:00 p.m. ↓
Monday, December 24 - Ed & Sharon Ramsaroop
ONGOING ACTIVITIES
Lunch Bunch: 12:00 p.m. on Monday, Dec.
10, at Primrose Retirement Community, 5715
N. Meade
Men’s Breakfast: 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, Dec 11,
at Mary’s Family Restaurant, 2312 N. Rich-
mond.
Ladies Nite Out: does not meet in Dec. See
you on January 21st at El Jaripeo in Little
Chute.
Wednesday Bible Study & Support Group:
Meets at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, in the
St James meeting room. We will finish up our
series by Max Lucado on Dec. 12th, then
take a small break.
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We are in need of people
to help serve a meal every
even numbered month on
the second Saturday from
4-7 p.m. If you can assist, contact Paul and Deb
Countney or the church office. The next date that
we need help is December 8th.
Thank you for all your donations! Our donation
was 90.2 pounds!!
Sunday Morning Mission offerings from
October to December. will go to…
Salvation Army Click on the link below
to find out more
Salvation Army
Thursday, May 2 to Sunday, May 5
Thursday, April 25 to Sunday, April 28
Are you looking for a gift for someone
who seems to have everything? Consider
the gift that keeps on giving, a weekend
with God.
The Walk to Emmaus is an experience of
Christian spiritual renewal and for-
mation.
It is an opportunity to meet Jesus Christ
in a new way as God’s grace and love is
revealed to you through other believers. It
begins with a 3-day short course in
Christianity. Christ will meet you where
you are, no matter where you are on your
Christian journey.
For more information, contact the church of-
fice by clinking on the link or call 734-5371.
Location TBA
The choir is planning on doing a cantata
this year, on Sunday, Dec. 23rd, during the
morning worship. These will simple Christ-
mas Carols. If you would like to join us, we
plan on doing most of the practicing on
Sunday mornings at 7:45 a.m. starting
Dec. 9th. We will also have one
practice on Saturday, Dec. 22nd, TBA
(most likely in the morning).
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Just in case you missed it….
Al Pellett has resigned as St
James Charter Representative for
Cub Scout Pack 3132 to the Boy
Scouts council, for which he did
for 49 years.
As a congregation, we owe Al our thanks for be-
ing the St James liaison to the cub scouts for so
many years.
Taking Al’s place as the new charter representa-
tive for St James is Tom Schemm. Thank you Tom for
being the new liaison for us.
Caring for Another
Tired of making small talk
at church about the weather
or sports? Then follow Ed-
ward Welch’s advice to “enter in” to the lives of
your fellow worshipers.
A churchgoer once asked Welch, author of Car-
ing for One Another (Crossway), two simple yet
profound questions: “What was the best thing
about your week, and what was the worst thing
about your week?” About a month later, when
some issues were weighing heavily on Welch’s
heart, he wondered who’d be willing to pray for
him. Immediately, the person who’d asked him
those two questions came to mind.
When worshipers are willing to enjoy one an-
other’s blessings and be burdened by one an-
other’s difficulties, Welch says, the body of Christ
gets built up.
The Joy Continues!
The “Joy Conference” will be held on Satur-
day, February 2, 2019 form 8:00 a.m. to 2:15
p.m. The event will be held at Fox Valley Lu-
theran High School in Appleton. This year we
welcome speakers, Gaye Lindfors, Annie
Meehan and Lanelle Vasichek. Please share
with your family and friends – and save the
date for the 44th annual Conference. Registra-
tion will open December 14th. For more infor-
mation please call Outagamie County UW—
Extension at 920-832-4763.
Personal note: I have attended this
event the past few years and was very
happy to hear that it would be continu-
ing this coming year. It is a great way
to get some “me” time for women and
have some very good laughs while I do.
I highly recommend it. There is a mini-
mal cost for this event, but well worth it.
I will give you more details as they be-
come available.
Deb
Did you know? If you miss a Sunday sermon, we
post them on our website. Just go to the home
page, and click on the square that looks like the
one below. There you will find a treasure of re-
cordings from St James. Try it now, clicking below
or go to www.umcsj.org
Look for this symbol
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Choir
Cantata
24 6:00 p.m.
Candlelight
Worship
30
GREETER Julie Remmel Rose Ann &
Chet Luce Carol Carlson Jill Featherwolf TBA TBA
SOUND &
PROJECTION Bill Kraemer Ed Ramsaroop Bill Kraemer Bill Kraemer Bill Kraemer TBA
USHER
CAPTAIN
Nancy
Von Der Osten
Bonnie Budreau
Carol Carlson Mike Shepard
Wayne
DeGrand TBA TBA
FELLOWSHIP
HOSPITALITY TBA
Tom & Mary
Schemm Jill Featherwolf N/A
ADVENT
CANDLE
READERS
Chris & her
grandson,
Caleb Bahr
Wendy Lind
& her
grandchildren
Mary & Tom
Schemm
The
Christenson
Family
Ed & Sharon
Ramsaroop n/a
LITURGIST Sherri Gyrion Cal
Christenson TBA Cantata Gary Linstad Hymn Sing
COUNTERS Julie Remmel &
Carol Carlson
Rich Stewart &
Chris Bahr
Deb Ebben &
Carol Carlson
Mike Shepard
&
Chris Bahr
N/A Chris Bahr &
Gary Linstad
COMMUN-
ION
SERVERS
Ed & Sharon
Ramsaroop,
Deb Ebben &
Pastor Lee
See UMCSJ.org for updates
Please contact the church office if you can fill in any TBA spots.
Volunteers
needed. Volunteers
needed.
Volunteers
needed.
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Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
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4:30 p.m.
Jr Girl Scouts
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29 29 30
Office Closed
8:30-Noon
Cookie/
Candy
Drop-off &
Fair Set-up
6-8 p.m.
Holiday Fair
Set-up
1 December 9 a.m.-
3:00p.m.
Holiday Fair
4-5 p.m. GCC
Music practice
2 Communion
8:10 a.m. Praise Practice
8:45 a.m. Worship
9:00 a.m. Sunday School
9:45 a.m. Coffee Time
10:15 a.m. GCC Worship
Flower Orders Due
3
4:30 p.m.
Daisy Girl Scouts
4
5
1:00 p.m.
Bible Study &
Support Group
6:00 p.m.
Praise Team
6
9:30 a.m. –
11:30 p.m.
VNA Foot
Care Clinic
6 p.m. GCC
bible study
7
Office Closed
8
4-5 p.m. GCC
Music practice
4-7 p.m.
Homeless
Connections
Meal serving
9
7:45 a.m. Choir Practice
8:20 a.m. Praise Practice
8:45 a.m. Worship
9:00 a.m. Sunday School
9:45 a.m. Coffee Time
10:15 a.m. GCC Worship
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12:15 p.m.
Lunch Bunch,
at Primrose Retire-
ment Community,
5715 N. Meade
4:30 p.m.
Jr Girl Scouts
6:30 p.m. SPRC
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8:00 a.m.
Men’s
Breakfast
12
1:00 p.m.
Bible Study &
Support Group
6:00 p.m.
Disciple Group
6:45 p.m.
Praise Team
13
6 p.m. GCC
bible study
14
Office Closed
15
4-5 p.m. GCC
Music practice
16
7:45 a.m. Choir Practice
8:20 a.m. Praise Practice
8:45 a.m. Worship
9:00 a.m. Sunday School
9:45 a.m. Coffee Time
10:15 a.m. GCC Worship
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4:30 p.m.
Daisy Girl Scouts
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19
6:00 p.m.
Praise Team
6:30 p.m.
Finance
20
Office
Closed
6 p.m. GCC
bible study
21 Office Closed
22
Morning St
James. Choir
practice for
time TBA
4-5 p.m. GCC
Music practice
23
7:45 a.m. Choir Practice
8:45 a.m. Worship-Cantata
9:00 a.m. Sunday School
9:45 a.m. Coffee Time
10:15 a.m. GCC Worship
24
Christmas Eve 6:00 p.m.
St James Worship
8:00 p.m.
Oneida Worship
25
Office
closed
26
27
6 p.m. GCC
bible study
28
Office Closed
29
30
8:45 a.m. Worship
Hymn Sing
9:45 a.m. Coffee Time
10:15 a.m. GCC Worship
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Deb out of the
office
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AWARE ARTICLES
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St. James United Methodist Church
100 W. Capitol Drive
Appleton, WI 54911-1021
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St. James United
Methodist Church
Pastor Dong Su Lee
Home: 920-364-9059
Cell: 715-254-5328
Deb Kraemer
Administrative Assistant
Office phone number: 920-734-5371
Aware is published monthly by St. James UMC,
100 W. Capitol Drive, Appleton, WI 54911
Office Hours
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Bulletin Information & Announcements Due
Monday of each week
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For more information, go to
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