Home Branch News
Worship Schedule
No in person worship until January 17th
No Sunday School until January 17th
The service will be posted to Facebook
Office Hours
9:00 am to 1:00 pm Mondays through Thursdays
The front door will be open during Office Hours
Closed Fridays
Keeping Christmas, Henry van Dyke
Dr. Henry van Dyke was, amongst many roles, a Presbyterian minister and perhaps best known to you as the author of the words to the hymn “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” which were sung to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” Here is a short sermon of his for the Christmas season (adapted to update language and other details):
Keeping Christmas, Henry van Dyke
ROMANS, xiv, 6: He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord.
It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when people agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds one to set one’s own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.
But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.
Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your sisters and brothers are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness -- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open -- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world – stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death – and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem two thousand years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.
And if you keep it for a day, why not always. But you can never keep it alone.
Bishop’s Epiphany Address
You are invited to participate with Bishop Laurie Haller in a live-stream of her Epiphany Address: "Watching Over One Another in Love" on Monday, January 4, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. You may access the live-streamed message at the Iowa Conference website https://www.iaumc.org/ or use the live-stream link https://vimeo.com/491131592.
Blanket Sunday
November 22nd was observed as Blanket Sunday this year. The SWAG group had 21 loop blankets blessed. They were delivered to our local hospital for hospice patients. A collection was asked for CWS blankets. A total of $450 was given.
Thank you.
Christmas Families Project
A huge thank you to the entire church family for purchasing food, cleaning supplies, gifts and wrapping presents for the Christmas Families Project. We were able to help nine families and 38 people have a better Christmas. Special thanks to Lydia Circle (Margaret Anderson), Evening Circle (Marci Klinkefus), Coleen Wymer, Meg Moellering and Ebby Whitford for being family coordinators. We are truly blessed to be such a generous congregation during this difficult time of the pandemic. Brenda James
Thank you to Brenda James for organizing the project. It was amazing to see it all come together.
Pastor Rick blessed the gifts and families receiving them.
Mobile Food Pantry
The Mobile Food Pantry is now being held the second Monday of every month from 4:30 to 5:30 pm at Crossfire Church.
Updating Emails
I am updating our email list at church. If you have changed your email or never given an email to the church, please email: wuumchurch@gmail.com
I plan on emailing the newsletter to as many as I can in 2021. I will still mail to those who request it that way. Or one may be picked up from church. Thank you.
Office Closures
December 24th Closed
December 25th Closed
December 31st Closed
January 1st Closed
