11/25/20451 Hogan Road, Nashville TN 37220 phone: 615-832-2897 website: www.crievewoodumc.orgPastor’s PenOn this week of Thanksgiving, my heart is filled with gratitude. Gratitude for the ways you have welcomed me and my kids to Crievewood and encouraged me as I began ministry among you in the midst of a pandemic. Gratitude for your generosity in supporting the mission of our church (and a final gentle reminder to submit your pledge card for 2021 if you haven’t done so yet). Gratitude for the ministry that takes place in and through our congregation and for the lives that are being changed. Gratitude for an amazing staff that is dedicated to their faith and to the work of the church. Gratitude for our nation, state, city, and the Crieve Hall neighborhood – all great places to live. And most of all, gratitude for God’s unfailing love, grace, and presence in my life. This coming Sunday marks the beginning of the season of Advent, a time of preparation for the arrival of Christ. We will continue to livestream a worship service from inside that sanctuary each Sunday at 10:45 and offer outdoor worship at 9:30 as long as the weather allows. During worship, our theme will be The Characters of Christmas. It’s easy to overlook the characters in a story we know so well, but they have much to teach us. Join us for worship during Advent and Christmas as we take a closer look at each of the Characters of Christmas. This Sunday, November 29, we’ll begin with the angels. We will also have a few special services during Advent. We are planning to gather outside in the church parking lot on December 13 at 5:00 to sing Christmas carols (socially distanced, of course). We will hold a Blue Christmas Service on Sunday, December 20, at 6:30 pm. And our Christmas Eve Service will be on December 24 at 5:30 pm. I hope you have a good Thanksgiving, and I look forward to sharing in worship with you during this upcoming holy season. Grace and peace, John HillAdvent Worship As we begin Advent the circumstances are such that there is an uptick in COVID cases in Nashville. Our COVID Task Force has decided that we will no longer offer indoor, in-person worship at the church and that any meetings or gatherings in the church will be limited to 10 or fewer people. The Task Force will continue to monitor the situation and make changes as its members deem appropriate. Each Sunday morning at 10:45, we will livestream a worship service to Facebook from inside the sanctuary (with no in-person congregation). Our Worship Committee has been at work to prepare the sanctuary with greenery and Advent wreath to help us celebrate the season of Advent. Weather permitting, we will also offer an in-person, outdoor worship service at 9:30. We will do our best to communicate via Facebook by 9:00 on Sunday morning if the outdoor service will not happen. There is no Kid’s Worship on November 29th or December 6th. Missions United Methodist Student Sunday Student Day is one of six UMC special offering Sundays. The money collected through this offering provides scholarships and loans for Methodist students as they prepare for life careers while further connecting to their faith. This special offering will be collected this Sunday, November 29th at Crievewood. You can pick up a special offering envelope from the church narthex, send in a donation in your own envelope, or donate online through the Miscellaneous option. Please remember to mark “Student Day” in the memo line of your check or in the memo box online. TP Sunday December 6th is our next TP Sunday. Contributions of toilet paper may be left in the narthex or dropped off during drive-up communion. Thank you for your faithful commitment in helping Community Care Fellowship serve those in need. Crievewood Serves South End is in need of some extra hands on Tuesdays to help with their Food Program. A SignUpGenius form has been created in order to organize sign-ups and so folks can see where the need is. Please click on the link below to sign up for a volunteer slot. All you have to do is show up and someone from South End UMC will tell you what to do. Also note that the 8:30-9:30am shift volunteers will meet at Second Harvest Food Bank (331 Great Circle Road, Nashville) at the loading dock to load food to be driven to South End UMC. All other volunteers should meet at South End UMC’s Fellowship Hall. Please contact Rev. Chelsey with any questions. Sign Up Link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0D4DAEA62DAAFF2-south Norman Binkley Food ProjectOur Crievewood Youth and Kids grades 3-6th under the guidance of our seasoned adult volunteers will create bags of food for children at Norman Binkley Elementary School. The goal is to continue this mission throughout the school year. This is an important mission as the food items go directly to children in need. All items must fit in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag to be placed in a child’s backpack, so look for items that are individually portioned or small enough to fit into the bag. Please help us collect the following donations, and bring them to Crievewood whenever you are able: canned fruits, vegetables, or beans, canned tuna fish, canned soups, boxes of rice, pasta, or mac n cheese, breakfast bars or protein bars, boxes of raisins, fruit cups, or applesauce. Thank you for your support! Christmas Memorials Continuing in the Crievewood tradition, you will be able to honor a loved one this Christmas by donating a Christmas memorial. As in the past either a plant or monetary memorial can be made, and either way, all memorial donations will be acknowledged in the bulletin on Christmas Eve. Money received through the monetary memorials this year will be applied to the Crievewood Serves missions. Flower envelopes will be available in the narthex and can be be filled out and used to order a plant memorial or to place a monetary memorial. At the top of the envelopes there is a line stamped “Plant Yes NO”. Please remember to circle which option you are selecting. If you are purchasing a memorial plant, the minimum donation is $12.50 per plant. Any amount of money may be given for a monetary memorial. Since the pandemic has prevented many members from comfortably entering the church building, you may also mail your gift to the church in your own envelope or donate online. If you are donating online, select the Miscellaneous option and write “Christmas Memorial” in the memo block. However, there may not be enough space to enter all the needed information electronically, so an email follow up containing the the name of the person that you wish to honor and the options you want may be necessary. Send that email to janbassett@crievewoodumc.org. If you use your own envelope, please include a note with your name, the name of the person you wish to honor, whether the gift is a memorial or honorarium, and whether or not you want a plant, and write “Christmas Memorial” on the memo line of your check. Youth Fundraiser The Crievewood United Methodist Church Youth Group is excited to announce a fundraiser for youth missions! We are selling smoked hams (10-12 lbs) and smoked turkeys (12-15 lbs) for $60 each! The meat will be hickory smoked by Firehouse Barbecue and delivered to the church hot and ready for you to pick up and eat, refrigerate, or freeze on Sunday, December 20th. Pre-orders and pre-pay only, please. You may order online by using the online order forms titled “CUMC Youth Fundraiser: HAM” or “CUMC Youth Fundraiser: TURKEY.” If you’d like a ham, please only use the link titled “ham” to order hams. If you’d like a turkey, please only use the link titled “turkey” to order turkeys–that’s how we will keep up with who has ordered what. Or you may mail a check to the church (451 Hogan Road, Nashville, TN 37220) with “Youth Missions Fundraiser” and write your selection of “ham” or “turkey” in the memo line. If you’d like more than one to take home, simply pay $60 x the number of hams or turkeys ($120 for two, $180 for three, etc). The last day to pre-order is Sunday, December 13th. You may pick up your pre-ordered meat in the Crievewood UMC parking lot (451 Hogan Road) on Sunday, December 20th from 1-2 p.m. No refunds will be offered if you’re unable to pick up your meat. Not a meat eater? Live out of town but still want to support the CUMC youth AND folks in need? We are pleased to announce that, in partnership with the Nashville Food Project, you may choose to make a meat donation to folks in need! You may purchase meat for the Nashville Food Project by using the online order form titled “CUMC Youth BBQ Fundraiser DONATE” below, or mail a check to the church (451 Hogan Road, Nashville, TN 37220) with “Youth Missions Fundraiser DONATE” in the memo line. Thank you for supporting the CUMC Youth Group and their annual missions! Questions? Contact Rev. Chelsey Hedglin at chelsey@crievewoodumc.org ORDER A HAM: https://onrealm.org/CrievewoodUMC/give/HamFundraiser ORDER A TURKEY: https://onrealm.org/CrievewoodUMC/give/TurkeyFundraiser DONATE meat to the Nashville Food Project: https://onrealm.org/CrievewoodUMC/give/BBQdonate Advent Studies The Tuesday Bible Study is meeting in person, socially distanced and with masks on in the Builders/Hilltop classroom at 9:30 a.m. each Tuesday. On November 24th the group began the Advent study Christmas in the Four Gospels by Cynthia M. Campbell which creatively imagines a home decorated for Christmas based on each of the four Gospels’ descriptions of the Christmas story. Beginning on November 30th, Pastor John will lead the same four week Advent study virtually on Zoom on Monday nights at 6:30 p.m. You can order the book for the study online through Cokesbury or Amazon. All are welcome, so feel free to invite friends who are not part of the Crievewood family. Zoom info is below. Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/5829403547 Meeting ID: 582 940 3547 One tap mobile: +13126266799,,5829403547# Dial by your location: 1-312-626-6799 Meeting ID: 582 940 3547UMW Cookbook Fundraiser The Crievewood UMW are offering for your holiday gift giving a copy of Sue Bean’s cookbook, These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things. The Bean family has generously agreed to allow the UMW to duplicate this cookbook as a fundraiser. The cost per cookbook is $10.00, and in order to have enough copies on hand, we will need to have you preorder your cookbook(s) by Friday, December 11th. Please contact Laura Benson, lauracbenson@aol.com or Mary Bryan, bryanmarym@yahoo.com to make sure you will receive your copies in a timely manner. We plan to have extra copies available as needed. We will be happy to deliver your orders to your home or make arrangements for pick up at our church. Thank you for your support for such a worthy cause.Project Thrive Crievewood, along with 17 other area churches, has partnered with the Center for Healthy Churches out of Belmont University to participate in Project Thrive, which has been funded in large part by a grant from the Lilly Foundation.This five-year initiative is designed to create opportunities for our church to reflect on our strengths and ministry focus, our unique context, and specific thriving traits. The beginning stages of the initiative were disrupted by the pandemic, but much work has continued behind the scenes. In 2021, we will have a series of 3 congregation-wide conversations to talk about the past, present, and future of Crievewood. Our Thrive Team will host these conversations, listen intently, and then work together to form an action plan and strategies to help our church thrive in the 21st century. Please mark your calendars for the first of these conversations on Sunday, January 10, at 1:00 pm. The conversation will take place on Zoom and, if possible, we will also provide an in-person option. We want as many members of the Crievewood family to participate as possible from youth group age on up. We value your input, your stories, and your relationship with Crievewood and want to take as many perspectives into consideration as possible. More details will follow, but please go ahead and make plans to give 2 hours of your time in this important step toward helping Crievewood more fully live into our calling and identity.Nov. 25 – Jim Arnette Nov. 26 – Cappi Villines Nov. 27 – Noah Hardison and Chelsey Hedglin Nov. 29 – Lillian Burch and Jo Newbill Nov. 30 – Cora Lane Dec. 1 – Worlanyo Fenih and Ashlee (Head) Walker Dec. 2 – Allie Cate, Luke Sims, and Claire Woods Dec. 6 – Jacob Lee and Katie Lindholm If you have a birthday between November 25 and December 8 and it does not appear in the list above, then it is not in our database. We would like to celebrate with you. If your birthday does not appear, please notify the church office at 615-832-2897.Still looking for more information? Below are links that may help. UM NewsLink to the Prayer ListCUMC Online GivingStewardship Commitment FormServant Leader Interest FormLive Stream Worship Sundays @ 10:45 a.m.Most gracious God, thank you for all the gifts you have bestowed on Crievewood United Methodist Church over the generations. By your Holy Spirit, grant us the grace that welcomes all of your children. Make us a community that reflects the full diversity of Christ’s body. Help us grow to love one another as You love us. Empower us to reveal Christ through worship and service. In your holy name we pray. Amen.Copyright © 2020 Crievewood United Methodist Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive the Crievewood United Methodist Church Newsletter. Our mailing address is: Crievewood United Methodist Church451 Hogan RoadNashville, Tn 37220 |